Sharing the spirit of St. Francis with the world V O L . 1 2 7 / N O . 1 • JUNE 2019
IN THIS ISSUE:
The Evangelization Challenge page 36
SEX ABUSE IN THE CHURCH
HELP. HEAL. HOPE. JUNE 2019 • $4.99 StAnthonyMessenger.org
A PRIEST SPEAKS OUT ABOUT CLERGY SEX ABUSE A FAITH SHAKEN: HEALING SPIRITUAL WOUNDS A SURVIVOR’S STORY OF HOPE AND FORGIVENESS
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The True Meaning of Authentic Manhood and Virtue ◆ THE CATHOLIC GENTLEMAN: Living Authentic Manhood Today Sam Guzman
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◆ ON THE EDGE OF INFINITY: A Biography of Michael O’Brien Clemens Cavallin
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◆ KNIGHT OF THE HOLY GHOST Dale Ahlquist
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VOL. 127 NO. 1
2019 JUNE
COVER STORY
SPECIAL SECTION: SEX ABUSE IN THE CHURCH: HELP. HEAL. HOPE. 19 St. Anthony, Help Us Find Healing! By Pat McCloskey, OFM
20 A Priest Speaks Out about Clergy Sex Abuse By Janice Lane Palko
In the aftermath of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, this priest calls for personal holiness, repentance, and a solid foundation in Jesus Christ.
26 A Faith Shaken: Healing from the Sex-Abuse Crisis By Sarah Margaret Babbs
COVER: CNS PHOTO/EVANDRO INETTI
I wasn’t abused, but I was betrayed. Now is the time for voices to rise into a chorus of solidarity and rebuilding.
36 The Evangelization Challenge By Juliana Gerace, DMin
From St. Paul to the woman at the well, Jesus tapped unlikely candidates to spread the good news. If he chose them, why not us?
30 Forgiving the Unforgivable By Daniel Imwalle
Being sexually abused by a priest could have destroyed Michael Vanderburgh. Instead, he channeled his pain into a place of compassion and service to others. COVER: “It is essential that we, as a Church, be able to acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated by consecrated persons, clerics, and all those entrusted with the mission of watching over and caring for those most vulnerable. Let us beg forgiveness for our own sins and the sins of others.” —Pope Francis
40 Walking with St. Anthony By Susan Hines-Brigger
This new exhibit presents St. Anthony in a fresh new way. StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 1
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THE PADUA PROGRAM
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OPENS September 23, 2019
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A RADICAL PROPOSAL for confronting
THE CATHOLIC SEX ABUSE CRISIS
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“Adam DeVille’s vision is at once forward-thinking and eminently traditional. Without a doubt this is a book that can raise quite a stir. And I hope it will. It deserves serious, prayerful reading.” — BISHOP JOHN MICHAEL BOTEAN “This book eloquently and cogently pleads for the Roman Catholic Church to be released from the captivity of an over-centralized, over-individualized model of authority, arguing that this model is at the heart of many other dysfunctionalities. A sober, theologically informed, and very significant work.” — RT. REV. ROWAN WILLIAMS “Adam DeVille’s proposal for cleansing and reform in the Catholic Church is crystal-clear: the Church must stop being governed by a caste of clerical guardians and start governing itself. In this learned, passionate, and ecumenically informed book, DeVille leaves his readers eager to get to work on his proposal today.” — PAUL VALLIERE
DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS, Our work has made us realize once again that the gravity of the scourge of the sexual abuse of minors is, and historically has been, a widespread phenomenon in all cultures and societies. Only in relatively recent times has it become the subject of systematic research, thanks to changes in public opinion regarding a problem that was previously considered taboo; everyone knew of its presence, yet no one spoke of it. The brutality of this worldwide phenomenon becomes all the more grave and scandalous in the Church, for it is utterly incompatible with her moral authority and ethical credibility. Consecrated persons, chosen by God to guide souls to salvation, let themselves be dominated by their human frailty or sickness and thus become tools of Satan. No explanations suffice for these abuses involving children. We need to recognize with humility and courage that we stand face-to-face with the mystery of evil, which strikes most violently against the most vulnerable, for they are an image of Jesus. For this reason, the Church has now become increasingly aware of the need not only to curb the gravest cases of abuse by disciplinary measures and civil and canonical processes, but also to decisively confront the phenomenon both inside and outside the Church. She feels called to combat this evil that strikes at the very heart of her mission, which is to preach the Gospel to the little ones and to protect them from ravenous wolves. I make a heartfelt appeal for an all-out battle against the abuse of minors both sexually and in other areas, on the part of all authorities and individuals, for we are dealing with abominable crimes that must be erased from the face of the earth: This is demanded by all the many victims hidden in families and in the various settings of our societies.
Pope Francis
February 24, 2019 For the full address, go to Vatican.va.
CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
FOR INFORMATION AND/OR REGISTRATION CONTACT:
2 • June 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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“Praised be to You, my Lord, through Brother Fire, who is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.”—St. Francis of Assisi
14 SPIRIT OF ST. FRANCIS 10 Ask a Franciscan
VOL. 127 NO. 1
2019 JUNE
46 POINTS OF VIEW 5
The Kingdom of God
12 Franciscan World & St. Anthony Stories
Your Voice
Letters from Readers
16 Faith Unpacked
Young OFM Friars Meet in Taizé Inveni Me Librum! (I Found My Book!)
Undoing Life’s Knots
17 Editorial
13 Followers of St. Francis
No More Excuses, Please
Father Paul Gawlowski, OFM Conv
46 At Home on Earth
14 Notes from a Friar
On the Mountaintop
A Question for Fathers
54 Faith & Family
Supporting Families at Mass
CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
50 MEDIA MATTERS
55
48 Reel Time
51 Audio File
50 Channel Surfing
52 Bookshelf
UglyDolls
Hanna
Norah Jones | Begin Again
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 4 Dear Reader 6 Church in the News 15 Cartoon
51 Pete & Repeat 55 In the Kitchen 56 Reflection
The Pope
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dear reader
ST. ANTHONY
MESSENGER
History, Repeated
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n 2003, I attended a gathering of clergy sex-abuse survivors in Lexington, Kentucky, for St. Anthony Messenger’s June special issue on the crisis. It was our attempt to address the topic after the Boston Globe’s reporting of rampant sexual abuses in the Church. To say it was a difficult assignment is an understatement. I interviewed a dozen survivors—all of whom were at varying stages of the healing journey. Some could talk about it openly; for others, the pain was still too close to the surface. I left for home depleted, angry, but hopeful. That hope was in vain. Exactly 16 years later, the editors are devoting extensive coverage to the sex-abuse crisis yet again—in response to the 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report documenting 301 priests and religious who abused more than 1,000 minors. Boston, it seems, was only the beginning. In this issue you’ll find Janice Lane Palko’s interview with a Pennsylvania priest whose anger will surely resonate. Author Sarah Babbs was not abused by a priest, but the pain she writes of is all too real. Managing Editor Daniel Imwalle interviews a man who endured clergy abuse but whose faith remains unblemished. And Susan Hines-Brigger editorializes on Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s April letter on the crisis. We hope this issue provides some hope. We hope it’s not in vain this time.
PUBLISHER
Daniel Kroger, OFM PRESIDENT
Kelly McCracken EXECUTIVE EDITORS
Christopher Heffron Susan Hines-Brigger
FRANCISCAN EDITOR
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Mary Catherine Kozusko MANAGING EDITOR
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A Faith Shaken
The Evangelization Challenge
Forgiving the Unforgivable
writer
PAGE 26
Sarah Margaret Babbs is a wife, mother, and writer who, as her website states, is cultivating the good life “through books, beauty, and celebrating God’s bounty.” This Indiana resident enjoys football, the smell of freshly baked goods, and lazy Sundays. Learn more about her at patheos.com/blogs/ FumblingTowardGrace.
writer
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Juliana Gerace, DMin, is a married author and educator who enjoys finding beauty in nature, art, music, and writing. Originally from Bayside, New York, she currently resides in Palm Desert, California. A former high school religion teacher, she is the director of youth ministry at St. John Henry Neumann Church in Irvine.
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interview subject PAGE 30
Michael Vanderburgh was born in Huber Heights, Ohio. He served as a police officer for seven years and was the chief development officer for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati for 10 years. Currently, he is the executive director of St. Vincent de Paul Society in Dayton, where hundreds of people in need are provided food, shelter, and comfort every day. He’s married and a father of four.
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POINTSOFVIEW | YOUR VOICE Take Climate Change Issue a Step Further Mark P. Shea’s April 2019 article, “A Prudent Approach to Climate Change,” doesn’t adequately defend the critical need to take care of the environment. Human life is the crown of creation, but it is not separate and above it. The water that flows through our veins, the air we breathe, and the nutrients we receive from the earth and its plants and animals give us our biological, incarnate existence. To pollute the air, to poison the waters, to abuse the land and biosphere that maintain all life is to pollute and destroy our own existence. Climate change is a part of that destruction. Yet the article makes no mention of this. We must make sure that protecting the environment is considered a critical pro-life issue, which is as important if not more than the current issues centered on human life alone (as if human life can exist apart from creation). We must no longer uncritically support “pro-life” politicians who oppose abortion but whose ignorant, destructive energy and environmental policies of greed are destroying the very ecology that sustains us. Paul Schryba Mountainside, New Jersey
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The ‘Seamless Garment’ As a longtime reader of St. Anthony Messenger magazine, I salute you for not shying away from difficult topics such as abortion and sexual abuse of minors. I always appreciate the “Your Voice” column and read with interest Dave and Kathy Hutchison’s letter in the April issue (“‘Beyond the Rhetoric’?”). Firstly, thank you, Mr. Hutchison, for serving in Wisconsin’s House of Representatives, and I appreciate you and your wife’s viewpoint. Certainly, as you said, being pro-life is all-encompassing. However, when listening to some pro-life individuals one gets the feeling that only the fetus is important life. I personally know “pro-life” people who say people on death row deserve what they get and should die. Who are we to short-circuit any person’s journey toward God? Also, they sometimes have a pro-war position expressing a militaristic nationalism that sublimates the Gospel message. Denying that there are numerous Catholics for whom pro-life refers
only to protecting the unborn flies in the face of reality. As the late Cardinal Bernardin suggested metaphorically, we should wear the “seamless garment” when it comes to pro-life issues. A pro-life position must be all-encompassing. I strongly believe when Catholics by word and deed fully witness this way, we’ll someday see very small numbers of pregnancies terminated by abortions. Mark Dorais Nashville, Tennessee
April Letter Spot-On I absolutely loved Laurie Mecum’s letter, “Abortion Not a Conservative vs. Liberal Issue,” in the “Your Voice” column from the April issue, especially when she noted abortion “is a human rights issue, a matter of human justice.” I simply cannot understand how on earth support of abortion rights became a “liberal” and a “progressive” position. It’s always been my understanding that liberals and progressives stand with the weak, vulnerable, and voiceless members of the human family. Is there a more voiceless, weak, vulnerable member of our family than an unborn daughter or son? There is an enormous disconnect—a huge moral chasm—in the mindset of pro-choice “liberals” and “progressives.” Louis H. Pumphrey Shaker Heights, Ohio
Where Is the Justice? I’m writing in regard to Susan Hines-Brigger’s “Church in the News” column from the April issue (specifically, the news item titled “Former Cardinal McCarrick Laicized”). No matter what rank someone holds in the Catholic Church, that person should be sent to prison with hard labor—not a friary or mission—should they be found guilty of sexual abuse. The victims of clergy sex abuse have to struggle with the aftermath for the rest of their lives. Some of them will suffer from mental illness while others may turn to drugs, alcohol, and even suicide. Carol Breslich Cuba, Missouri
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church IN THE NEWS
people | events | trends By Susan Hines-Br ig ger
n the aftermath of the destructive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, on April 15, numerous organizations from across the world have offered both prayers and pledges of assistance to help rebuild the iconic church, reported Catholic News Service (CNS). The day after the fire, Pope Francis spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron, expressing his solidarity with the people of France. He also sent a message to Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit, expressing his hopes that the cathedral will be restored. “May Notre Dame Cathedral once again become—thanks to reconstruction efforts and the mobilization of all—a sign of the faith of those who built it,” he wrote. The Vatican has offered its expertise for restoring the church and its icons. At his general audience the following day, Pope Francis expressed “the gratitude of the whole Church . . . to those who did everything they could, even risking their lives, to save the basilica.” One of those individuals has been reported to be Father Jean-Marc Fournier, chaplain of the Paris Fire Brigade, who is credited with saving a reliquary containing the crown of thorns and the Blessed Sacrament. The fire chaplain reportedly demanded to be allowed into the cathedral along with firefighters to retrieve the cathedral’s relics. According to reports, the priest was at the top, or “hot end,” of the human chain that included city workers and church caretakers who entered the burning cathedral to save irreplaceable religious items and pieces of art. Speaking outside the cathedral the night of the fire,
Archbishop Aupetit said: “We are living through an extreme moment. This is Holy Week, and it isn’t an accident. Having marked the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are now experiencing our own passion, but we know that after it will come the resurrection. We believe in this and we will proclaim it by rebuilding this cathedral.” French president Emmanuel Macron vowed to rebuild the cathedral, saying: “Notre Dame de Paris is our history, our literature, our imagination, the place where we have experienced our great moments, the epicenter of our life. We built this cathedral over centuries, raising it up and improving it, and I now state solemnly that we will, all of us together, reconstruct it. This is undoubtedly part of the French destiny.” New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan announced on April 18 that a fund-raising effort for the Paris cathedral called “From St. Patrick’s to Notre Dame” has been established because he wanted “to twin our beloved St. Patrick’s Cathedral, America’s parish church here on Fifth Avenue, with Notre Dame.” A website has been set up for the fundraiser, sptond.org. All donations will be sent to Archbishop Michel Aupetit to assist with the restoration of the cathedral and its historical relics and artistic treasures. The University of Notre Dame has also offered to donate $100,000 toward the renovation of the cathedral, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception announced the creation of the website SupportNotreDame.org, where people could contribute money for the cathedral’s rebuilding.
LEFT: New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan speaks to the media about the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral. Days later, he announced the “From St. Patrick’s to Notre Dame” fund-raising effort to help restore the cathedral. MIDDLE: Though a good portion of Notre Dame was destroyed by the fire, there were parts that survived, such as a statue of the Pietà, seen in front of the cross. RIGHT: One day after the fire, flowers are seen on a bridge near Notre Dame Cathedral. 6 • June 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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LEFT: PROVIDED BY FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
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CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: ARMANDO MACHADO, CATHOLIC NEW YORK; MIDDLE: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
PRAYERS, DONATIONS COME IN FOLLOWING NOTRE DAME FIRE
RETIRED POPE ISSUES LETTER ON SEX-ABUSE CRISIS
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ope Emeritus Benedict XVI released a 6,000-word article in April for the German periodical Klerusblatt, in which he reflected on the sexual abuse of minors perpetrated by members of the clergy, reported Vatican News. The article was in response to the February meeting at the Vatican regarding the abuse crisis. The retired pope offered a number of contributing factors to the abuse, including what he called the “egregious event” of the cultural and sexual revolution in the Western world in the 1960s and a collapse in the belief in the existence and authority of absolute truth and God. The scandal of child sexual abuse reached such terrible proportions, both in society and in the church, he said, because of “the absence of God” and a refusal to hold God as the guiding principle. He said that what is required “is the renewal of the faith in the reality of Jesus Christ given to us in the Blessed Sacrament.”
Pope Benedict said that he contacted Pope Francis and Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, before releasing the article. The retired pope, who turned 92 on April 16, led the Church from 2005 to 2013 before stepping down. Prior to that, he headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 23 years. The congregation is charged with handling cases of the abuse of minors by priests. He also served as a theological consultant during the Second Vatican Council, between 1962 and 1965.
PRESIDENT OF FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY RESIGNS
LEFT: PROVIDED BY FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITY; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
CNS PHOTOS: LEFT: ARMANDO MACHADO, CATHOLIC NEW YORK; MIDDLE: CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/PAUL HARING
“
After a great deal of prayer,” Franciscan Father Sean O. Sheridan, president of Franciscan University of Steubenville since 2013, submitted his resignation to the university’s board of trustees on April 5. He will stay in the position until the completion of this academic year. “I feel called to continue my service to the Catholic Church in Father Sean O. Sheridan another capacity,” Father Sheridan wrote in a letter to the college community released on April 8. His next assignment, he said, will be determined in consultation with the minister provincial of his order, the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. “In my years in higher education, as student, faculty member, and researcher of ‘Ex Corde Ecclesiae’ and the Code of Canon Law, I have not encountered members of a university community so committed to pursuing their beliefs,” Father Sheridan said. “I leave Franciscan a better teacher and catechist and appreciative of the time to grow in this area of my ministry.” Franciscan Father Malachi Van Tassell, chairman of the board of trustees, said, “We are thankful for Father Sheridan’s years of leadership and dedication throughout which he continued the Franciscan University tradition of exceptional education grounded in a passionately Catholic faith that enables our alumni to evangelize and transform the culture.”
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LAWSUIT FILED AGAINST FORMER BISHOP OF WEST VIRGINIA
former altar server, seminarian, and secretary to Bishop Michael J. Bransfield, former bishop of WheelingCharleston, West Virginia, filed a civil lawsuit on March 22, alleging that he was sexually assaulted by Bishop Bransfield, according to CNS. The suit, which was filed in Ohio County Circuit Court, lists the complainant as “J.E.” The US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and “John Does” associated with the diocese are also named as defendants. The alleged assault occurred in 2014, but, fearing retribution for himself, his parents, and family because of “treatment and ostracism of once highly regarded Church members who had dared to criticize or speak ill of the Catholic Church or Bishop Bransfield,” the suit alleges, he did not report the incident at the time. According to the lawsuit, Bishop Bransfield sexually abused, molested, fondled, and assaulted J.E. and other adolescent and adult males during his employment as bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston. The bishop denied the allegations in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer. In response to the lawsuit, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore, apostolic administrator of the WheelingCharleston Diocese, sent a letter to the priests, religious, and laity of the statewide diocese regarding the situation. “We are addressing this lawsuit appropriately and with the utmost seriousness while steadfastly affirming our ongoing commitment to the rigorous policies and practices in place to ensure the absolute protection of those young people entrusted to our care,” the archbishop said. StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 7
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church IN THE NEWS
PAPAL DOCUMENT ADDRESSES BENEFITS, CHALLENGES OF THE DIGITAL AGE
PAPAL COMMISSION FOR PROTECTION OF MINORS MEETS IN ROME
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Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, holds Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Christus Vivit” (“Christ Lives”), during a news conference for its presentation at the Vatican on April 2. The document contains the pope’s reflections on the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment.
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n April 2, the Vatican released Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation to young people, “Christus Vivit” (“Christ Lives”), which addresses the challenges of evangelizing in the digital age. The document is a follow-up to last October’s synod on young people, the faith, and vocational discernment. In the document, the pope notes that the digital world has had a “profound impact” on young people’s ability to communicate and develop relations with others. There are, however, advantages and pitfalls of digital communication, which has shaped today’s “ideas of time and space, our self-understanding, our understanding of others and the world, and our ability to communicate, learn, be informed, and enter into relationship with others.” The digital environment, he warns, also can be a world of “loneliness, manipulation, exploitation, and violence” that has the power to create “a delusional parallel reality that ignores human dignity.” During a briefing on the document at the Vatican press office April 2, a journalist asked if the Vatican really expected to reach young men and women with a 183-page exhortation, reported CNS. Bishop Fabio Fabene, undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops, said the task of informing young Catholics about the contents of “Christus Vivit” would fall to the Dicastery for Laity, the Family, and Life. “It will be their task, and we will pass along this request so they can do a summary or find a way to pass along the content of this apostolic exhortation, even in the digital world, by using the language of young people,” Bishop Fabene said.
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LEFT: CNS PHOTO: KAREN CALLAWAY/CATHOLIC NEW WORLD; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/COURTESY JORDAN’S ROYAL HASHEMITE COURT
reported CNS. Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley of Boston, president of the commission, told members of Pope Francis’ “appreciation for the commission’s assistance in initially proposing both the February meeting with presidents of bishops’ conferences on the protection of minors and the recently published safeguarding guidelines and norms for Vatican City State, the Vicariate for Vatican City, and the Roman Curia.” During the course of their meeting, members of the papal commission discussed a number of projects that are currently underway. Among them are the creation of a Virtual Survivor’s Advisory Panel (SAP), through the commission’s Working with Survivors Working Group. “This method of listening to and learning from survivors in a safe and culturally familiar space is added to the local SAPs already developed within the local Churches in Brazil, Zambia, and the Philippines,” states the group’s website. It was also noted that, in December of this year, there will be an international academic seminar on issues related to “confidentiality and transparency,” with particular attention to canonical criminal proceedings. Just prior to the group’s meeting, Pope Francis issued an apostolic letter given motu proprio (“on his own initiative”), which established a new law and set of safeguarding guidelines for Vatican City State and the Roman Curia. The new law “On the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons” further enhances a major set of criminal laws for Vatican City State that the pope approved in 2013. The earlier laws dealt with child sexual abuse, child pornography, and the sale or prostitution of children and specified that any Vatican employee around the world can be tried by the Vatican court for violating those laws. The new law will now cover all forms of physical and emotional abuse—not only sexual violence through coercion—as well as serious forms of mistreatment, neglect, abandonment, and exploitation against minors, who are below the age of 18, and vulnerable adults.
CNS PHOTOS: RIGHT: VATICAN MEDIA; LEFT: PAUL HARING
Pope Francis and Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley, OFM
he Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors gathered in Rome April 4–7 for its 10th plenary assembly, where members discussed their ongoing work to address ways the Church can better protect minors and vulnerable adults,
FRANCISCANS GIVE JORDAN’S KING LAMP OF PEACE AWARD
DOMINICAN SISTER GETS BASEBALL CARD
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Jordan’s King Abdullah II
LEFT: CNS PHOTO: KAREN CALLAWAY/CATHOLIC NEW WORLD; RIGHT: CNS PHOTO/COURTESY JORDAN’S ROYAL HASHEMITE COURT
CNS PHOTOS: RIGHT: VATICAN MEDIA; LEFT: PAUL HARING
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ast year, Dominican Sister Mary Jo Sobieck became a media sensation after she threw out a perfect pitch before a Chicago White Sox game. Now she has her own baseball card. On April 8, Sister Mary Jo—known as the “Curveball Queen”—signed 260 limited-edition baseball cards bearing her image in the gym at Marian Catholic High School, reported CNS. Topps, the baseball card company, contacted Sister Mary Jo after her famous pitch and said a card picturing her would be perfect for their Allen & Ginter series. That series also features pop culture icons and historical figures in its packs. Sister Mary Jo received $1,000 for the cards, which she is donating to the Sister Mary Jo Endowed Scholarship fund, established after she threw out the now-famous pitch. The picture on the card shows Sister Mary Jo after she came off the mound and pointed at White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito, who caught her pitch. She is wearing a Marian Catholic T-shirt over her white habit with the number 60 on it for the school’s 60th anniversary. The White Sox were hosting Marian Catholic Night at the park that evening. Sister Mary Jo told the Chicago Tribune that she never could have imagined being on a baseball card. “It is so out there. As a kid and athlete growing up, you always went to the store and bought the baseball cards and bubble gum.”
he Conventual Franciscans of the Sacred Convent of Assisi have honored Jordan’s King Abdullah II with the Lamp of Peace Award for his tireless promotion of peace in the troubled Middle East, support of interreligious dialogue, welcome of refugees, and educational reforms, reported CNS. After receiving the award from Franciscan Father Mauro Gambetti in Assisi’s Basilica of St. Francis, King Abdullah said that for him the award “symbolizes how peace lights our way forward to a better future for all people, of every faith and country and community. But it is our task to provide the fuel for that light, and what fuels global peace is mutual
respect and understanding.” The Lamp of Peace Award, which began in 1981, is given annually to those seeking the peaceful coexistence of people. It has been granted to several political and religious leaders, most notably trade unionist and former Polish President Lech Walesa, former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Pope Francis, St. John Paul II, the Dalai Lama, St. Teresa of Kolkata, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Lamp of Peace is a replica of a local glass oil lamp that glows at the grave of St. Francis of Assisi. WANT MORE? Visit our newspage:
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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS | ASK A FRANCISCAN By Pat McCloskey, OFM
Kingdom of God Term
What does kingdom represent in the Gospels that speak of the “kingdom of God” and the “kingdom of heaven”? What about the expression “The kingdom is at hand” (Mt 3:2 and elsewhere)?
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ONLINE: StAnthonyMessenger.org E-MAIL: Ask@FranciscanMedia.org
‘I’ve Killed a Lot of People’
MAIL: Ask a Franciscan 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
In the US Navy, I served in Desert Shield/Storm/Provide Comfort and other missions. The commandment says, “Thou shall not murder.” Well, Father, I’ve killed a lot of people. I’m just trying to make things right with the Lord. I’ve talked to others, but none of their answers seem to work. I live with this every day and need to figure it out.
All questions sent by mail need to include a self-addressed stamped envelope.
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WE HAVE A DIGITAL archive of “Ask” Q & As, going back to March 2013. Just click: • the Ask link and then • the Archive link. Material is grouped thematically under headings such as forgiveness, Jesus, moral issues, prayer, saints, redemption, sacraments, Scripture—and many more!
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War is hell,” said Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman. Today’s technology makes it even worse by physically separating people even more. As long as you did not kill people whom you knew were innocent noncombatants, you did not commit the sin of murder. If you did kill people you knew were innocent noncombatants, I encourage you to confess that as a sin and receive God’s forgiveness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The killing of enemy combatants is regrettable because of the loss of human life, but it is not murder. We cannot rewind time and undo a past action, but each day we can choose which past actions we will reinforce or dilute, which ones more truly characterize us. Your wartime experience can fuel your determination to become a peacemaker, “an artisan of peace,” as St. John Paul II said. It is entirely possible that St. Francis of Assisi killed soldiers from nearby Perugia, which was at war with Assisi when Francis was about 20 years old. Francis went on to become one of the greatest peacemakers the world has ever known. Allow him to guide you.
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Father Pat welcomes your questions!
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Pat McCloskey, OFM
atthew uses “kingdom of heaven” where other Gospels speak of the “kingdom of God.” They mean the same thing: an acceptance as normal what God considers normal. Jesus describes two groups of people who differ radically about what normal means (Mt 25:31–46). Thus, they ask the same question: “When did we see you naked?” and so on. Their questions reflect what each group considers normal. The saved people consider generosity normal. The condemned people do not. Those who are saved are willing to be stretched until God can become “all in all,” as St. Paul writes (1 Cor 15:28). The kingdom of God has already begun, but it is not yet complete.
Quick Questions and Answers In simple terms, how can I explain the Trinity to a non-Christian?
St. Patrick is said to have used a shamrock to illustrate unity and diversity. Believing in many rival gods and goddesses is very easy. Believing in a single God whose three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) never act out of rivalry or resentment shows us what our being made in the divine image means.
What is the “unforgivable sin” against the Holy Spirit (Mt 12:31)? Can it, in fact, be forgiven?
There is no sin beyond God’s power to forgive. That would be like a rock so heavy that God could not move it—a contradiction in terms. The “unforgivable sin” is a refusal to submit any sin to God’s healing grace.
CELEBRATE
Feast of St. Anthony the
Why is intinction (dipping a consecrated host into consecrated wine) rarely permitted? I refuse to drink from a common cup for health reasons.
Millions of Catholics worldwide drink from the cup at Mass. If this were as dangerous a health hazard as you indicate, most of them would become sick, but that does not happen. Many people feeling ill refrain from receiving from the cup temporarily. Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches use intinction, administered by a bishop, priest, or deacon who uses a spoon to drop the consecrated bread and wine into the communicant’s mouth.
Visit StAnthony.org to read about St. Anthony of Padua, post your prayer request, light a candle for your special intention, and much more.
Can you suggest good readings to use at a funeral?
Wisdom 3:1–9 and John 11:32–37 are quite popular. Parishes have booklets with appropriate readings for use in planning or preplanning funerals. CNS PHOTO/CHAZ MUTH
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on June 13!
What is the mystical part of the Church?
In addition to God, the saints in heaven represent the mystical part of the Church. So do the saints living among us.
The Franciscan Friars, Province of St. John the Baptist 1615 Vine St., Ste 1 Cincinnati, OH 45202-6492
www.stanthony.org
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SPIRITOFST.FRANCIS “The more someone striving for virtue is opposed, the more strongly that person will triumph.”
—Blessed Thomas of Celano
FRANCISCAN WORLD
By Pat McCloskey, OFM
Young OFM Friars Meet in Taizé
Born on the island of Mallorca in 1235, the same island where St. Junipero Serra was born in 1713, Ramon Llull heard a sermon that inspired him to work for the conversion of Muslims in North Africa. He founded a college to prepare missionaries for this work. Already a Secular Franciscan, he spent nine years as a hermit and then began enlisting the support of kings and popes for Islamic studies. Ramon died in 1315 and was beatified in 1514. His feast is June 30. —Pat McCloskey, OFM
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WANT MORE? Learn about your saints and blesseds by going to: SaintoftheDay.org
In 2012, the IV International Chapter of Mats for Under Ten friars was held in Zapopan, Guadalajara, and Mexico City.
ST. ANTHONY STORIES
Inveni Me Librum! (I Found My Book!)
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his school year has been a rather forgetful one concerning books and binders. This past January, I lost my binder for Latin class at school. It contained a lot of useful information, and I was very upset to see it disappear. As Catholic as I am, I somehow forgot to pray to St. Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost things! I soon purchased a new binder and started filling it up with notes. Recently, and much to my parents’ and my chagrin, I left it at school— again. I was quite concerned about being able
to find it, based on the earlier experience and because of a huge event taking place in the location where I figured I might have left it. My father suggested that I pray to our favorite saint, St. Anthony. This time, without hesitation, I said a quick prayer. (And so did my dad.) And sure enough, after searching around for it the next day, I stumbled upon it. Thank you, St. Anthony! —Harrison F. Cerone, Darnestown, Maryland
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PHOTO COURTESY OF FATHER PAUL GAWLOWSKI, OFM CONV
In an age of Crusades, he urged Catholics to learn Arabic and understand Muslim culture.
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BLESSED RAMON LLULL
etween July 7 and 14, approximately 200 Friars Minor who have made their solemn (final) profession in the past 10 years will gather for the V International Chapter Under Ten OFM. The theme is “Friars in Dialogue,” helping all the friars in this demographic share the good news of Jesus Christ. The friars going to Taizé, designated by their respective provinces, gathered last year with all the “Under 10” friars of their country or region. These larger groups will meet again before January 1, 2020, to continue their listening and dialogue. Approximately 70 entities in more than 40 countries will be represented by young friars in Taizé. Since 1995, similar chapters have been celebrated in Santiago de Compostela (Spain), Canindé (Brazil), the Holy Land, and Zapopan/ Guadalajara (Mexico). The general council of the Order of Friars Minor will be in Taizé, as will between 1,000 and 2,000 young people who gather there during an average week in July. Meals, prayers, and biblical reflections will be shared with all participants. More information is available at UnderTenOFM.org/2019/en. The Taizé Community began in 1940 as an ecumenical monastic community. It now numbers approximately 100 monks from about 30 countries; they sponsor annual youth gatherings in various parts of the world and welcome around 100,000 pilgrims each year. Its chants are used throughout the world.
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FOLLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS
ST. ANTHONY
God’s Dream for Us
“If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” —Matthew 19:21
PHOTO COURTESY OF FATHER PAUL GAWLOWSKI, OFM CONV
LEFT: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; BOTTOM: NITO/FOTOSEARCH
Father Paul Gawlowski, OFM Conv
From the start, Father Paul felt called to work with the poor. He did not want to become a priest, more interested in direct service than the sacramental aspects of priesthood. That changed after novitiate, when he was assigned to a high school in Torrance, California. “I fell in love with teaching the faith,” he recalls, something he knew was integral to the role of the priest. Father Paul’s first assignment in 1998 was as associate pastor of St. Paul of the Shipwreck Church in San Francisco, a diverse community where he coordinated social outreach ministries. He started a food pantry and an after-school program, and became involved in helping the homeless and anti-violence street vigils. After seven years, Father Paul was asked to become pastor. Initially reluctant, he later embraced his role.“I became motivated to help people grow in the faith by teaching, preaching, and through the sacraments,” he recalls. In 2014, Father Paul became vocation director for the Conventual Franciscans of California, continuing to study the new evangelization. “I really feel that’s where God is calling the Church and where God is calling me,” he says. In July 2018, Father Paul became pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, where the young engineer had first met the Franciscans. He is excited about implementing the new evangelization, helping the parish reach beyond the pews to invite others to encounter Christ. “For all of us, I think that’s what God’s got in store: to really take us places we never dreamed of going if we have the courage to follow his will wherever that might lead,” he says. —Patricia Mish
FRANK JASPER, OFM
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aul Gawlowski had arrived, by many standards. An up-andcoming engineer at Hughes Aircraft in southern California, he made good money, owned a home, and loved his job. Yet something was missing. “I recognized that I was empty inside and longing for more,” he recalls. Then in his 20s, he asked his father for advice, who told him, as he had so often, “God’s the answer for everything.” He recommended that Paul read The Imitation of Christ. Paul carried it everywhere and one day found his way to Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Hermosa Beach, California, run by the Conventual Franciscans. The friars invited churchgoers to come up to the Nativity scene and say a prayer. Paul prayed, “God, if you’re really real, if you can make a difference in my life, please show me.” The Franciscans made an impression on him. “They were down to earth, fresh. They weren’t formal or stuffy,” he recalls. As he became more involved in the parish, a friar suggested spiritual direction. His spiritual director invited Paul to reflect on a passage from Matthew 19:16, 21 that was instrumental in the life of St. Francis: “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” Jesus replied, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” The passage haunted Paul. He had taken a leave of absence to discern what to do with his life when one of the friars preached on Vocation Sunday. At around age 30, Paul decided to become a Franciscan. He never looked back. “It was like finding true riches for the first time,” he recalls.
BREAD s
The National Shrine of St. Anthony is located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Consecrated in 1889, it includes a first-class relic of St. Anthony and serves as a center for daily prayer and contemplation. The Franciscan friars minister from the shrine. To help them in their work among the poor, you may send a monetary offering called St. Anthony Bread. Make checks or money orders payable to “Franciscans” and mail to the address below. Every Tuesday, a Mass is offered for benefactors and petitioners at the shrine. To seek St. Anthony’s intercession, mail your petition to the address below. Petitions are taken to the shrine each week. viSit our webSite to:
StAnthony.org
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mAil poStAl communicAtionS to:
St. Anthony Bread 1615 Vine St. Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
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NOTES FROM A FRIAR by Jim Van Vurst, OFM
A QUESTION FOR FATHERS
et me set up a scenario upon which a father might reflect. Let’s say that after significant medical examinations, you discover that you have a terminal illness. You are still in the prime of your life, and this has shaken you deeply. You’ve always been aware of your mortality, but now you are shocked because you must face death far sooner than you expected. You have, perhaps, a month to live. You are very much in touch with your mind and your thoughts. The disease has affected your body, not your mental capacity. Gathering all your strength, you prepare to deal with this new course of events. Being responsible, you make sure your will is up to date; you do your best in providing for the financial future of your wife and children. Everything seems to be in order. But I want to ask one more important question: What would you want your last words to your children to be before your life ended on earth? A loved one’s final words are considered almost sacred. Requests from a
dying father are heard with an openness that can never be matched at any other time in one’s life. WHAT YOU MIGHT SAY TO YOUR CHILDREN
Think about writing a letter to your children expressing your last thoughts and wishes for them. If you have both sons and daughters, you might want to write separate letters. There might be things you would want to say specifically for your boys and your girls. Allow me to offer a few suggestions. First and most important, you would want to tell them, “Children, I love you with all my heart.” At a moment like this, you would know the meaning of fatherly love in a way you could not have known it at any other time in your life. Second, you would want to tell them that, while you tried to be a good dad, you are asking their forgiveness for any ways in which you hurt them unjustly. As you prepare to leave them, you would want to open a way for any old wounds to be healed. You would sincerely ask your children to pray for you,
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their dad. You’ve prayed for them many times as you watched them grow up. Now you need their prayers as you end your journey on earth. Tradition holds that, just as parents’ prayers for their children have special efficacy, so, too, the prayers of children for their parents have an extraordinary power before God. Parents sometimes forget that they can bless their children. Equally true, a child can bless his or her parents with the prayer that can only come from the heart of a child. You might urge your sons, depending on their age, to grow up to be just and honest men, treating neighbors with respect. For your daughters, there might be some special things that you know fit them perfectly; remind them to be fair and kind to those they encounter throughout their lives. Tell them with deep sincerity: “Take care of your mom. She gave birth to you and nurtured you. She’s prayed for you every day, cried with you when you were hurting, and was filled with joy when you were laughing and happy. Never forget her.” Finally, you might tell them that when you see God face-to-face, you will ask for the privilege of being able to continue watching over them, walking with them, and, though they might not see you, you will be by their side as a good father would be for his children. Can you imagine that after Joseph died, he was not walking with Jesus during his ministry and with Mary, especially as she stood beneath the cross?
“What would Jesus do?”
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WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A DAD
The idea of being able to leave these kinds of final words to your children is so touching that you will undoubtedly have many more ideas. Even though you’re healthy now, this exercise might remind you what it means to be a dad here and now. Father’s Day is your day, after all. Your role is so very special in a family. Your example and your attitudes touch your children more deeply than you can imagine. I came across a beautiful observation about dads and wanted to share it with you: “The warmest scarf a man can wear is the arm of his little boy or girl around his neck.” It is so true. I wish all of you dads a very blessed Father’s Day! Jim Van Vurst, OFM, is a retired friar at St. Clement Friary in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is a longtime contributor to St. Anthony Messenger and FranciscanMedia.org.
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tim@timtime.me | 513-378-4994 StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 15
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POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH UNPACKED Undoing Life’s Knots
By David Dault, PhD
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David hosts the weekly radio show Things Not Seen: Conversations about Culture and Faith. He also cohosts the Francis Effect podcast with Father Dan Horan, OFM. He lives with his family on the South Side of Chicago. Want a certain topic covered? Send us your request. E-MAIL:
FaithUnpacked@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL:
Faith Unpacked 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202 PODCAST:
The Francis Effect podcast can be streamed live at FrancisFXPod.com.
MY SON, MY TEACHER
My son has difficulty keeping his shoes tied. For a bow knot to work properly, it takes attention. It is all in the details. Over, under, around, and through. Pay attention to the bunny ears. All of this is lost on him. My son likes to think about cars and spaceships. Knots elude him. That means, most days, I am bending
Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, pray for us. down to work on a snarl of laces that have become bundled from inattention and the tasks of running and jumping and being a kid. My son’s shoes need attention; I work the knots. You can’t rush through such work, for that would only make things worse. Some knots come loose easily. Other knots are deceptive. As you move to get them loose, they trick you and become tighter. Attention . . . Detail . . . That is the key. Working the knots on my son’s shoes, I become aware that he is untroubled by them. They bother me. And I wonder: Is part of my job as a parent wrapped up in teaching him to have the anxieties I have? Is making him more caring and careful about the knots what I am supposed to do? When I bend down, I know he trusts me to make things right. He never doubts that the problem can be fixed. Instead, he plays, and gives up the tension about the knot to me. This is part of why I carry the card. I am too frazzled to undo my own knots, but also too tied up in them to really play. Like my son, I am trying to learn to trust that knots can be untied and that I do not always have to be the one to untie them. Trust is hard work. I am not good at it. I am learning it from my children. Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, pray for us.
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David Dault, PhD
very day, I carry a card among the items in my left pocket. I believe it was a gift from my wife, Kira (who has given me similar wonders through the years). It is a prayer card for Our Lady, Undoer of Knots. In the picture, the Blessed Virgin is surrounded by numerous figures, each holding out tangled balls of twine. She stands in the middle, patiently at work, with a long strand of unknotted string trailing behind her. I meditate often on this picture. I spent a good deal of my young life ensnared in troubles. I was born into a family that was haunted by old ghosts and everyday violence. Because this is in my history, I am my own worst enemy most days. I was a child plagued by fears and troubles. I find that now, as an adult, my habit is to imagine or invent troubles, even when my circumstances do not directly threaten me. I tangle myself up. Again and again in the Gospels, our Lord reminds us that we should not be afraid. In Philippians 4:6, Paul tells us, “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” I admit I have a hard time with those teachings. I rehearse anxiety. I craft it like an artisan shapes metal into an intricate chain. I grow it the way some folks grow tomatoes in the garden—with elaborate wire trellises for the vines to climb, and plenty of sunlight and fertilizer. Because of my difficult childhood, I learned these habits of anxiety very early. Now that I am a parent, I find that I struggle with them in a new and surprising way.
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POINTSOFVIEW | EDITORIAL
No More Excuses, Please
The former pope’s letter detracts from any progress the Church has made.
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between either celibacy or homosexuhis past April, Pope Emeritus “The letter presents a ality and the sexual victimization of Benedict XVI returned to the public lot of speculation and children in the Church. So, blaming eye in a spectacular fashion. In response theological issues, but it the clergy abuse crisis in the Catholic to the February meeting of the world’s contains very little that Church on gay men or celibacy is bishops at the Vatican to discuss the unfounded.” clergy sex-abuse crisis, the former pope will bring any sense of “compiled some notes by which I might comfort or understandLOSS OF FOCUS contribute one or two remarks to assist ing to those who have in this difficult hour.” At one point in his letter, Pope Benedict been harmed.” Those notes took the form of a 6,000recalls meeting with a young woman word essay, in which the pope emeritus who was abused when she was an altar offered his take on the current crisis plaguing the Church server. This woman, he says, “told me that the chaplain, her and what factors may have caused it. Among those factors, superior as an altar server, always introduced the sexual he believes, were the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the abuse he was committing against her with the words: ‘This is effects it had on priestly formation, the changes brought on my body, which will be given up for you.’” by Vatican II, and an overall collapse of moral authority. A survivor’s story would have been a perfect opportunity The letter presents a lot of speculation and theological to express righteous anger and sadness over what has taken issues, but it contains very little that will bring any sense of place in the Church. While he did acknowledge “the horcomfort or understanding to those who have been harmed. rific distress of her abuse,” the retired pope failed to take it any further. His apparent takeaway from the encounter: “We PLACING THE BLAME must do all we can to protect the gift of the Holy Eucharist Regarding the sexual revolution, he says: “In the 1960s, an from abuse.” egregious event occurred, on a scale unprecedented in hisGo back and read that last line again—“We must do all tory. It could be said that in the 20 years from 1960 to 1980, we can to protect the gift of the Holy Eucharist from abuse.” the previously normative standards regarding sexuality colWhat about the young woman? Shouldn’t the Church be lapsed entirely, and a new normalcy arose.” worrying about protecting her from abuse? He goes on to insinuate that the clothing of the time Throughout the course of the lengthy letter, Pope contributed to this revolution as well as his belief that “part Benedict certainly offers a wide range of what he believes are the causes for the situation the Church is facing. What he of the physiognomy of the Revolution of ’68 was that pedophilia was then also diagnosed as allowed and appropriate.” does not offer, however, is remorse. Not once does the word “Allowed and appropriate”? What does that even mean? apologize appear among the 6,000 words of the letter. The According to the 2011 study by the John Jay College of word wrong appears only once, and not in any sense of the Criminal Justice, “The majority of priests with allegations of Church’s culpability for its role in the crisis. abuse were ordained between 1950 and 1979 (68 percent). Given the fact that the crisis took place partly under his Priests ordained prior to 1950 accounted for 21.3 percent of watch, I would expect a more conciliatory tone to his letter. the allegations, and priests ordained after 1979 accounted for Unfortunately, the letter seems to do what the Church has 10.7 percent of allegations.” done repeatedly during this crisis, and that is to shift blame The former pope says a collapse of moral theology that and find ways to explain away the evil that took place. occurred at the same time—perhaps a reference to Vatican In giving his reasoning for publishing the letter, Pope II—“rendered the Church defenseless against these changes Benedict noted that, “Since I myself had served in a position in society.” of responsibility as shepherd of the Church at the time of He also makes reference to the issue of homosexuality, the public outbreak of the crisis, and during the run-up to which often comes up in relation to the crisis. “In various it, I had to ask myself—even though, as emeritus, I am no seminaries, homosexual cliques were established, which longer directly responsible—what I could contribute to a acted more or less openly and significantly changed the new beginning.” climate in the seminaries,” he wrote. If he is trying to draw a This letter was not the contribution the Church needed. parallel between the two, the John Jay study again debunks If we have made any progress, this letter is definitely a step the corollary. backward. The study found “that there is no causative relationship —Susan Hines-Brigger StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 17
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To all the victims of sexual assault,
WE BELIEVE YOU. Have faith that
YOU ARE NOT ALONE.
We pray for all survivors.
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St. Anthony, Help Us Find Healing! By Pat McCloskey, OFM
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any of us have wanted to believe that the Catholic Church had finally turned a corner in dealing with the crime of clerical sexual abuse. Last August’s Pennsylvania grand jury report about 70 years of abuse in six dioceses and the July revelation of abuse of teens and adults committed by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick confirm that is not the case. Similar inquiries by approximately 20 state attorneys general, continuing efforts to lift the statute of limitations in many states for this crime, and the February 21–24 summit at the Vatican for presidents of bishops’ conferences all ensure that this issue will be in the Catholic and secular spotlight for the forseeable future. This issue’s special section responds to this changed environment. We present the following articles: • Managing Editor Daniel Imwalle’s interview with a man who survived clergy abuse but whose faith has grown stronger (p. 30); • Sarah Margaret Babbs’ reflection on not being abused by a priest but dealing with the excruciating pain that she and countless others are facing (p. 26); • Janice Lane Palko’s interview with a young priest in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, ministering to Catholics reeling from these revelations (p. 20); and • Executive Editor Susan Hines Brigger’s editorial on a subject that she has reluctantly but thoroughly covered for 17 years through news items in our “Church in the News” column and in other forums (p. 17). At www.franciscanmedia.org/crisis-in-the-church, we offer a sampling of our past coverage of this ongoing and heart-wrenching scandal. For those who wish that we not publish so much on this subject, we recall that on February 24, Pope Francis
told participants at the Vatican summit on clergy sexual abuse, “In people’s justified anger, the Church sees the reflection of the wrath of God, betrayed and insulted by these deceitful consecrated persons.” The pope’s concluding address at the February summit can be found at www.Vatican. va. The pope noted the widespread abuse in society of minors and vulnerable adults but added: “We need to be clear: While gravely affecting our societies as a whole, this evil is in no way less monstrous when it takes place within the Church. The brutality of this worldwide phenomenon becomes all the more grave and scandalous in the Church, for it is utterly incompatible with her moral authority and ethical credibility.” Father Federico Lombardi, the summit’s moderator and one of it planners, later emphasized the importance during the summit of personal testimonies from survivors of clergy sexual abuse. Responsibility, accountability, and transparency were the focus of each day during the summit. On other occasions, the pope has said that the Church must be grateful to journalists who have covered this painful issue honestly. The Church needs the work of dedicated journalists everywhere in order to accompany survivors of such abuse and all those wounded by it. We cannot change past events, but each day we can reinforce what we accept as normal and work to mitigate the horrendous damage already done. “Honesty Comes before Healing” was the title of my lead article in our June 2003 special issue on clergy sexual abuse. It still does. May St. Anthony of Padua help our Church find healing and hope. May he also assist our society in eliminating a scourge and crime that profoundly affects people in families, neighborhoods, and everywhere else. StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 19
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A PRIEST SPEAKS O In the aftermath of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on clergy sex abuse, this priest calls for personal holiness, repentance, and a solid foundation in Jesus Christ.
about C
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By Janice Lane Palko
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n August 2018, a Pennsylvania grand jury released a report on clerical sexual abuse in six Catholic dioceses in the state. The report identified more than 1,000 victims of 300 accused priests and the effort by Church authorities to ignore or conceal those allegations. The dioceses investigated were Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, and Scranton. (The dioceses of AltoonaJohnstown and Philadelphia had previously posted on the Internet the names of priests who had been credibly accused.) Father Stephan A. Isaac, 31, a priest in the Allentown Diocese, was horrified when he read the report. “My initial reaction to the findings was sheer outrage at the heinous evils and crimes that were committed against innocent, vulnerable children and teenagers— outrage at the fact that the priesthood of Jesus Christ was abused so satanically in order to manipulate children and viciously violate their intrinsic dignity,” he says. “I remember literally getting physically sick reading the
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A VOCATION SPANNING EAST TO WEST
Ordained in 2016, Father Isaac is assistant pastor of St. Ignatius Loyola Parish and chaplain of Berks Catholic High School, both in Reading, Pennsylvania. Of Lebanese descent, he was baptized and confirmed in the Maronite Catholic Church but received the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church. “I was blessed to be born and raised a Catholic in a devout Catholic family where the faith was extremely important to my parents. I honestly don’t know where I’d be right now in my life without my Catholic faith.” Though he thought about the priesthood as early as seventh grade, he says: “It wasn’t until about my sophomore year in college at American University that I started to think about and discern the priesthood again. . . . The deeper I delved into the Catholic faith, the more I loved it.” By the time he graduated from college in 2010, he knew he wanted to enter the seminary. He credits his Lebanese heritage for his inherent zest for life. “I love being Lebanese, and I take great pride in my ethnic heritage. Our Lebanese culture is centered on God and family. And the Lebanese love the gift of life. I definitely think being Lebanese has shaped my personality and my love for life and all the adventures that life brings,” says Father Isaac. He says he feels blessed to be a Maronite Catholic who is ordained in the Roman Catholic Church. “My vocation encompasses both East and West, and so, as a priest, I feel that my priesthood is enriched by both the Eastern and Western traditions of the Church. In his papal encyclical ‘Ut Unum Sint,’ Pope John Paul II famously remarked that ‘the Church must breathe with her two lungs!’ And so, in my priesthood, you could say that I literally breathe with both lungs of the Church, and I think that only enriches my priestly service to the people of God.” A CONTINUING CRISIS IN THE CHURCH
At this difficult time in Church history, Father Isaac seems to have taken a deep breath with both of those lungs and called on his faith and Lebanese love for life to rise to the challenges the Church is facing today. “The sexual abuse of children by clergy and their subsequent cover-ups are disgusting and repulsive evils that have absolutely no place in Christ’s Church, and we cannot
condemn these evils enough. I can’t see how any human being with a functioning moral conscience could read the Pennsylvania grand jury report and not react with sheer outrage and horror in the face of such evil and barbaric crimes committed by men who were supposed to embody Christ himself,” says Father Isaac, who knew two priests from his childhood listed in the report for the Allentown Diocese. “I felt so hurt and betrayed by those who committed such horrific crimes and those who actively covered them up.” Unfortunately, while predator priests have victimized thousands, their deeds have also tarnished good priests. “I would say that the grand jury report has made being a priest more difficult for all priests,” he says, but observes that “Jesus was punished and vilified for the sins and crimes of others—sins and crimes that he never committed. Therefore, why should his priests not also share in his suffering in this regard? I couldn’t care less if people look at me with a judgmental hatred or condemnation. I’m more concerned about the victims/survivors and their families and the justice and healing that they deserve.” Most of the Catholics he has interacted with since the release of the grand jury report have had a similar reaction. Some have suggested that the Church should abolish priestly celibacy. Father Isaac feels that blaming celibacy is “falsely attributing the evil of child sexual abuse to the beautiful discipline that is nothing but an expression of love for Christ and his Church.” He and his brother priests at St. Ignatius have received an outpouring of love and support from parishioners: “They know us, and they know that we strive to love and serve them with every fiber of our being. They also know . . . that the overwhelming majority of priests are good and holy men who honestly and sincerely do their best to love and serve the people of God. “I’ve always believed in a very fundamental principle: Contrast provides clarity. And the contrast between a good, holy priest and the evil criminals listed in the Pennsylvania grand jury report is stark. And when people see that contrast and encounter a good, holy priest, they will hopefully know that such evil criminals who’ve abused children are an extreme minority who in no way represent the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he says. The scandal has not changed how Father Isaac carries out his ministry, but it has deepened his desire for holiness. “I’ve always strived to carry out my priestly ministry with great prudence. If I have to meet alone with someone for the sake of privacy and confidentiality, I try to make sure that one of us is plainly visible to any onlookers and bystanders,” he says. “If anything, the entire scandal has motivated me to be the best priest I can be with the help of God’s grace. The
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details of the sexual abuse and the subsequent cover-ups. I couldn’t stop thinking about the victims/survivors and their families and all of the pain and suffering they’ve had to endure over the years because of these horrific crimes.”
scandal has deepened and intensified my hatred for sin and evil, which we all need if we’re truly going to allow Christ to transform our lives and sanctify us.” KEEPING THE FAITH
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In addition to the many practical measures to prevent sexual abuse and ensure transparency and accountability within the Church, Father Isaac believes there are two indispensable remedies for combating this evil: “Personal holiness and repentance are and always have been the two antidotes to all of the sin, evil, scandal, and corruption in the Church’s
history. All practical reforms and renewal within the Church must begin with personal holiness and repentance.” He also believes that Catholics must build their faith on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ: “We must root our entire Catholic faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in the mission and identity of his Catholic Church, not in any one pope, bishop, priest, deacon, or layperson. Christ is our eternal hope and salvation, and so he will carry us through this dark period of the Church’s history, and by his grace the Church will be purified of this disgusting filth and renewed in his love and mercy.” In addition, he says there is no sin,
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A NEED FOR RENEWAL AND TRANSFORMATION
Father Isaac believes that the Church needs an authentic renewal in Christ. “First and foremost, every single one of us
as Catholics needs to allow the Lord Jesus to transform our lives and make us saints. Throughout her nearly 2,000-year history, whenever the Church was in great need of reform and renewal, God raised up saints—holy men and women— to help purify and strengthen his Church.” Second, Father Isaac says, “We need to take prudent, practical measures to strengthen transparency and accountability within the Church so that there can be no abuses of power and cover-ups of sexual abuse and misconduct. Catholics in the pews need to hold us clergy accountable, and that most especially includes bishops. Nobody is above the law, especially God’s divine law.” He hopes the Church will “adopt practical, effective measures to hold bishops and other highranking prelates accountable to make sure that sexual abuse and misconduct are prevented and dealt with decisively. “Thankfully, since 2002, the Church has taken strong measures of reform to ensure that our children are safe and that any sexual abuse of minors is reported immediately to law enforcement. At least in the Diocese of Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Church is going above and beyond the requirements of state law—as we should—to ensure the safety and protection of all of our children. All clergy, staff, and volunteers in the Diocese of Allentown undergo seri-
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scandal, or crime that could destroy “the eternal, unchanging, and saving truths of our Catholic faith. . . . I absolutely refuse to let a bunch of criminals, child molesters, rapists, and their enablers destroy my Catholic faith and rip me away from Christ and his Church.” Last August, in response to the grand jury’s report, Allentown Bishop Alfred Schlert suggested that all priests observe Thursdays as a day of penance and fasting in reparation for the evils committed against the body of Christ in the form of clergy sexual abuse. Father Isaac explains that the bishop chose Thursdays “because it is on Holy Thursday that we celebrate the institution of the priesthood by Christ himself. Prayer, fasting, and penance are also a most appropriate response to this entire scandal, and that is something all Catholics can do to not only grow in faith, hope, and love, but to also make reparation for the barbaric crimes of clergy sexual abuse. Such spiritual practices can and should be offered up for the Christ-centered healing of the victims/ survivors and their families.”
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ous training to be able to identify and report suspected child abuse. The Church must continue down the path of practical reform that began in 2002 to make sure these evils never happen again.” Finally, he says, “Clergy, especially bishops and priests, must listen to the people in the pews, accompany them on the path to holiness and healing, and empower them to be an integral part of the solution and the ongoing reform and renewal within the Church. The bishops should step up and lead in this regard. Hiding in chanceries and rectories behind lawyers and carefully crafted press releases and talking points is not going to help the Church to heal and move forward effectively. “We must regain credibility and lost trust among our own people and those outside the Church,” he continues. “We must discuss the scandal openly and honestly with our people; listen to their concerns, ideas, feedback, and morally justified anger; and empower them to be a part of the
solution. Open and honest dialogue and collaboration with our people must be at the core of the Church’s healing and ongoing renewal.” TIME FOR BOLD ACTION
Father Isaac insists that the clerical sexual abuse scandal is a call to action for all Catholics. “Now is not the time to cower in fear and be ashamed to be Catholic. Now is precisely the time to boldly live our Catholic faith in all of its truth, goodness, and beauty, in all of its splendor, so that the world may know what it truly means to be a Catholic,” he says. “Let’s show people by our own holiness and love what it means to be Catholic and what the Catholic Church really is.” Janice Lane Palko is an author with over two decades of writing experience who has written for numerous Catholic and secular publications including Reader’s Digest, the Christian Science Monitor, and this magazine.
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Father Stephen Isaac, pictured here in Lebanon, is particularly proud of his Lebanese heritage.
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A Faith Sha ke n Healing from the
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Sex-Abuse Crisis
By Sarah Margaret Babbs
I wasn’t abused, but I was betrayed. Now is the time for voices to rise into a chorus of solidarity and rebuilding.
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received my first Eucharist from the hands of a sexual abuser—and this has shaken my faith. When I was a child, in the years after my mother’s death, I found comfort in my local parish community, including our pastor, Father Martin Boylan. Since he was our pastor for most of my childhood, my family got to know him quite well. His housekeeper was my grandmother’s close friend, and when it came time for me to choose a Confirmation sponsor, I chose her. Father Boylan was kind to me and to my family. It was a tumultuous time. At age 7, I was navigating the death of my mother; my grandparents lost their only daughter at 32. I had such fond memories of him that, when planning my wedding, my fiancé and I asked him to officiate for us, which he happily did. To my shock and horror, a couple of years ago, I learned that Father Boylan had been removed from active ministry for “personal reasons.” Having been around long enough to know what “personal reasons” usually meant, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it of him, whose presence was a hallmark of spiritually significant moments in my young Catholic life. All that changed with the release of the Pennsylvania grand jury report in August 2018. The backdrop of this story is the Diocese of
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‘IT HAPPENED EVERYWHERE’
attention, to call for change, to use my voice. I didn’t notice until it happened close to home, tainting the places that were spiritually significant to me. I finally woke up because this report features the place where I grew up and learned the contours of Catholicism. The sense of betrayal runs deep. I was not abused, but I was betrayed. Men who said they stood for God, who were charged with teaching the faith, with being privy to our vulnerabilities, struggles, moments of joy, sorrow, and spirit tainted those moments forever with their poison. I will never be able to think of my first experience of the Eucharist or repeating my marriage vows without a fleeting thought of the man—in persona Christi—who enjoyed the privilege of witnessing those moments with filthy hands. I deserved better. We all, the body of Christ, deserved so much better than this. Yet, despite its personal nature, this betrayal isn’t unique to me or to people from Pennsylvania. I’m not naïve enough to think this was a problem isolated to Boston, Ireland, Australia, Chile, Pennsylvania, and whichever community is next laid bare. Every state in the United States could produce a similar report. And I believe many more will: What we have seen is only the beginning. As the prophet Amos says so eloquently in 5:24: “Let justice surge like waters, and righteousness like an unfailing stream.” However, in the face of what so obviously is a call to serious repentance and change within the Church, what we, the lay faithful, have heard
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A credible accusation of sexual abuse of a minor was made by someone from the parish Father Boylan was assigned to before ours. He had been removed from active ministry in 2014 as the person—now an adult—had pressed charges. A small amount of digging uncovered that the charges were dropped last year because the man changed his mind and would no longer testify. Father Boylan remains a priest barred from active ministry. As you may know from reading it yourselves, the grand jury report begins: “We, the members of this grand jury, need you to hear this. We know some of you have heard it before. There have been other reports about child
sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale. For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: It happened everywhere.” Sadly, this was the case for me. I had just graduated from high school in 2002 when the Boston sex-abuse scandal broke. I was rightly horrified but also grateful that it hadn’t happened in my hometown—that no priest I knew would ever hurt a child. Or so I thought. However, for most of the past 30 years, investigations into the global Church have revealed patterns of abuse consistent with Pennsylvania on nearly every continent. This is not merely an American Catholic problem. This is a Catholic problem. I am part of the problem as well. When I first became aware of the widespread abuse in Boston, I did not stop what I was doing long enough to pay
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Scranton, Pennsylvania, and many names on that list were painfully familiar to me. One in particular—Martin Boylan—especially. It gutted me to read descriptions of the things that had been done to children and teens, and the crimes that had been covered up. I was pained to see the name of the man whose face will always be present when I remember my wedding day.
are the same empty platitudes and meaningless gestures as in every other case. No one associated with the Church hierarchy has spoken loudly enough of repentance, of reform, of tearing down and rebuilding unjust and rotting structures that prop up these abusers and their crimes. These crimes cry out to heaven for recompense.
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CALLED TO HOLINESS
A pair of verses from the Old Testament began to repeat over and over in my mind during moments of prayer. As is usual in my dialogue with the Spirit, no answers were forthcoming—only an abiding sense of presence and these two passages: “Come, let us rebuild” (Neh 2:17), and “I will lead her into the wilderness” (Hos 2:16). I scribbled both down and tacked them to my bulletin board. I knew when I hung these up that the words were given to me by God, and I needed to keep seeing and thinking about them. With the passage of time, I understood why. These are days of reckoning for the Church, and the Spirit is calling us to assist in the work of tearing down, brick by brick, the evil that has infected the body of Christ. Like St. Francis, we are being called to rebuild Christ’s Church. I knew these were messages from the Spirit. I’d been looking at those passages for a month, wondering what I was tearing down and which wilderness I was being led to. The Church today is the wilderness. Laypeople, good priests, sisters, and brothers who mourn and cry out for justice: We are in the wilderness. We, the faithful, have been lied to and abandoned. While women and families staggered under the heavy burdens of Church teachings on sexuality with little compassion or support from
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the pulpit, a good number of the men promulgating those teachings were assaulting children and teens. We have been treated as simpleminded inferiors, incapable of grasping the complexities of faith and the spiritual life. Instead of genuine communion and compassion, those charged with being our shepherds have disregarded the well-being of our children, our families, and our souls. It may seem hopeless, and I think in many ways the current Church hierarchy is. In patriarchal structures such as these, abuses of power come as no surprise. Of course, I know many wonderful priests, deacons, and religious who give of themselves unfailingly and would rather die than ever hurt or allow a child to be hurt. Yet, these men and women are often at the bottom of the power structure. This must change. Every single Catholic, through the grace of Baptism and Confirmation, is called to holiness and to act as part of the priesthood of all believers. Every single one of us is called by God. No one is exempt. WRITING THE VISION
We are in the wilderness today, but
the Spirit has equipped us for such a time as this. Everything must change, and we are the ones who will shape the narrative. We bind the wounds of the broken, bring the good news to the forgotten, and suffer with the suffering. We share the sacramentality of creation with all. We boldly speak the truth to power, using our voices for the voiceless and our privilege for the marginalized. We write the vision and keep on writing it. We preach, we teach, and we offer whatever amount of water we have to put out this unholy fire. We embrace our identity as beloved children of God. We know that our kingdom is the justice and flourishing of every living thing. The challenges are great, but so is the God who calls us to go into the wilderness to rebuild the Church. Sarah Margaret Babbs is a writer living in Indianapolis, Indiana. She has worked in teaching and in ministry. Her justice work over the years includes anti-death-penalty advocacy, women’s prison ministry, and advocacy for the environment. StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 29
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FORGIVING
THE UNFORGIVABLE Being sexually abused by a priest could have destroyed Michael Vanderburgh. Instead, he channeled his pain into a place of compassion and service to others. By Daniel Imwalle
—Leonard Cohen
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ichael Vanderburgh is a people person. A self-described extrovert, he thrives on connection and communication with others, no matter what their backgrounds or particular station in life might be. Case in point: When Vanderburgh sat down with St. Anthony Messenger at a restaurant just outside of Dayton, Ohio, for the first of multiple interviews, he asked the waitress, “So, what’s good here?” A warm smile formed on his face as the waitress recognized him from the previous week and, smiling herself, replied, “Oh, pretty much everything.” In various ways and in different capacities, Vanderburgh has spent his life building and nurturing relationships with people, and, extrovert that he is, he wouldn’t have it any other way. However, Vanderburgh has every reason to have done just the opposite, to run away from people instead of toward them. When he was 12 years old, his world came crashing down as he became a target and victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest. As crushing and damaging as the abuse was to Vanderburgh’s soul and psyche, there was still room for God’s grace and mercy to accompany him in his suffering. Poet and folk singer Leonard Cohen once wrote, “There is a crack in everything/ That’s how the light gets in.” Interestingly, Vanderburgh recites a short prayer every morning that is strikingly similar in spirit:
“Lord, take my brokenness and make something beautiful today.” In spite of and amid his brokenness, Vanderburgh now shares the light of God’s love with the people he encounters daily on their own paths of suffering in his work as executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Dayton. But his path to the present was fraught with trial and trauma. THE SEED OF FAITH
The youngest of nine children in a middleclass, suburban family, Vanderburgh grew up in the 1970s in Dayton. “We were a rather typical Catholic family that went to church every week,” he says. “Every school morning we all ate breakfast together, and every evening we had a family dinner. My mother was a nurse who worked evenings and nights during my youth, so it was mostly my father who was around me during the school year.” Grace was said by all before meals, save for one person at the table: Vanderburgh’s father, Richard. His father self-identified as an agnostic, someone who maintains that it’s not possible to know if God exists. Once grace was said and the meal began, though, his father would engage in discussions about current events and encourage his children to weigh in on issues and develop strong criticalthinking skills. His father was an astronomer and mathematician, and his point of view, as he would
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“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
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Part of Michael Vanderburgh’s healing from the trauma of sexual abuse stems from his work as the executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Dayton, Ohio. Employees such as Mollie Little (right) and Melissa Jackson (upper left) power the engine of St. Vincent de Paul’s mission to serve those in need of food, shelter, and hope. Martina Welch (bottom left) works for a nonprofit organization called Homefull, which operates alongside St. Vincent de Paul and serves many of the same individuals.
—Michael Vanderburgh’s morning prayer
FROM PAIN TO PURPOSE
As is the case with many victims of abuse— especially children—Vanderburgh’s sense of how long and how frequently the abuse occurred is somewhat vague. He estimates that it took place over the course of about two years in the early 1980s, beginning when he was 12. The priest abused other children and was eventually accused and, before being officially laicized, voluntarily left the priesthood in 2006. Vanderburgh himself wouldn’t reveal the abuse to anyone for many years to come. “What’s easy about youth is that life dynamics change very fast, so there is much to distract one from trauma,” says Vanderburgh about his life while the abuse occurred. “But you still feel helpless because you don’t really have much control over your life.” The helplessness and pain were intense, and he even considered suicide. But the abuse eventually stopped and Vanderburgh just kept plodding along, a bit aimless, but alive nonetheless. Vanderburgh’s Catholic faith was more of a backdrop in his teen years, and his Mass attendance dropped from weekly to monthly.
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“Lord, take my brokenness and make something beautiful today.”
express repeatedly in debates about religion, was, “If it’s not observable, if it can’t be measured, you can’t say it exists.” When his father looked up at the night sky, he saw a beautiful array of astronomical bodies but not the mysterious, subtle touch of the Creator. The crucial difference between Vanderburgh and his father on faith was never resolved. His father passed away in 2010, having never known of the abuse his son experienced. On the other hand, his mother, Mary, embraced a devout, “old world” type of faith rooted in her upbringing in Hungary. She and her family emigrated from Hungary following the devastation of World War II. The faith she impressed on her children was of the traditional sort (grace before meals, weekly Mass attendance, reciting prayers), but, as Vanderburgh puts it, “We didn’t talk about a personal relationship with Jesus or any other aspects of faith beyond obligations.” Yet the kernel of faith had been instilled in him—a small, smoldering coal that would accompany him through the coming darkness.
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That all changed when, at 20, his 22-yearold brother took his own life. A fresh wave of agony washed over him, but this time, Vanderburgh made a dedicated leap toward a deeper faith. “I vaguely remember reading or hearing somewhere at the time that every decision is an opportunity to turn toward God or turn away from him,” he recalls. “I then made the decision to double down on turning toward God as a lifelong challenge.” His choice to embrace his faith more fully led to a number of surprising career twists and turns and ultimately played a crucial part in both his personal and professional development.
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TO SERVE AND PROTECT
When a person who currently works for the St. Vincent de Paul Society lists the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and the Knights of Columbus as previous employers, one might not expect to see “police officer” as a bullet point on a résumé. However, Vanderburgh’s life has never been a very predictable one. It was actually a vocation he had felt called to since he was about 13. So, as soon as he could, he joined a local police force (at age 18) and worked in that capacity for seven years. He even received special training on how to handle child-abuse cases. “Looking back, that path was an attempt to vicariously right wrongs in my own childhood,” he explains. When he was 25, Vanderburgh left the police force and began working for the Knights of Columbus as a life insurance agent, his first job directly affiliated with his faith. It might not seem that there is much continuity to Vanderburgh’s career path, but he’s able to see a common thread: service to others. “Police work is primarily service to others and often for those most in need,” he explains. “When I went to work for the Knights of Columbus, I carried that desire for service to keep people financially secure.” Making the step toward fund-raising and development work was a natural one, Vanderburgh says. He eventually worked his way to a position with the Archdiocese of Cincinnati as chief development officer in 2007. He would go on to spearhead the most ambitious fund-raising campaign in the
archdiocese’s history, collecting $75 million in donations. Some might wonder how someone victimized by a Catholic priest could turn around and work for the very institution that covered up the abuse scandal for years and continues to struggle with adequately addressing the crisis. In fact, Vanderburgh was at the receiving end of much anger and disbelief over his decision to work for the Church. He even had to distance himself from clergy sex-abuse survivors’ groups because of the frequent piling on that would occur when group members found out what he did for a living. “Over a period of months, I discovered that many abuse victims were stuck in an ‘anger phase’ of their grief, and I remember feeling very fortunate that I was able to move well beyond that,” he recalls. REDEMPTIVE SUFFERING
For Vanderburgh, there was and still is only one way forward for someone who has been wronged, no matter what the offense is or its severity. And it’s often the hardest thing to do: to forgive. “The hard part of forgiveness is realizing that you are the primary beneficiary of it,” he says. That can be extremely difficult when, especially in the case of sex-abuse survivors, the trauma of the offense lowers a person’s self-esteem so much that he or she might not believe that forgiveness is available or even possible. But forgiveness is crucial in order for any kind of genuine healing to occur. It’s also a pillar of our faith. “Forgiveness is a basic component of mercy, which itself is undeserved love,” Vanderburgh says. “That’s the identity of a Christian: imitating God’s endless mercy.” Forgiving also dissolves the power dynamic in the abuser/abused relationship. It’s ultimately a loving act that releases both individuals from the death grip of sin and opens up the possibility of growth for all involved. Vanderburgh’s resilience in the face of the blackness of sin is truly inspiring. But he’ll be the first to tell you that he wasn’t alone. There were some spiritual guides along the way, both in his personal life and from our faith’s pantheon of holy people, who helped inform and inspire his path to well-being.
“I seek to learn how to suffer and to accompany others in their suffering, which is what I think the Scriptures call us to do.”
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Michael Vanderburgh stands outside his home in the Dayton, Ohio, neighborhood of Oakwood. His vocation as a husband and father of four helps keep him grounded. “I’m not a very talented husband or dad,” Vanderburgh quips. “I have a great wife and great kids who are patient and tolerant—and a merciful God.”
grows. In that sense, healing is not recovery from suffering, but rather about nurturing it to grow love. The best fertilizer is full of all kinds of dirty nastiness, isn’t it?”
Vanderburgh has come to the realization that healing isn’t actually the ultimate goal after all. “I’m not as keen to heal as I am to learn,” he says. “The Way of the Cross is not about healing, but redemption. I seek to learn how to suffer and to accompany others in their suffering, which is what I think the Scriptures call us to do.” In his current position as executive director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society in Dayton, Vanderburgh gets to respond to that same Gospel call every day. He initially wasn’t sure if he was the right person for the job, and he was happy with his work for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. But he could hear God beckoning him in the direction of the poor and marginalized, and, in December 2017, he made the leap to a new phase in his professional life. “The more that I was vulnerable and loving to people in great need, the more empowered I felt to
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CNS PHOTO/TONY GENTILE/REUTERS
BEYOND HEALING
MC KOZUSKO/FRANCISCAN MEDIA
“The hard part of forgiveness is realizing you are the primary beneficiary of it.”
His mother is one such figure. When he finally told her of the abuse only a few years ago, he took heart from her matter-of-fact response. “I was concerned that she would be guilt-ridden, because I understand that is how many parents react. But this is a woman who has lived through nearly unimaginable hardship and tragedy,” Vanderburgh explains. “Her reaction was along the lines of, ‘Well, these things happen, and, unfortunately, that’s a part of life.’ I needed to hear that. It was in the context of someone who always demonstrated sacrificial love in her day-to-day actions, so she had great credibility. Mom has always been a solid rock of emotional support for me, and that day was no exception.” Holy people such as Mother Teresa, St. Vincent de Paul, Dorothy Day, Thomas Merton, and Pope Francis have all served as inspiration for Vanderburgh’s faith life and his response to the call to serve others. In particular, St. Catherine of Siena has put suffering into a meaningful context for Vanderburgh. “I have learned not to waste suffering, and I have learned to experience love in my suffering and the suffering of others,” he says. “St. Catherine of Siena noted how love grows when suffering
Daniel Imwalle is the managing editor of St. Anthony Messenger.
The Way Forward
CNS PHOTO/TONY GENTILE/REUTERS
MC KOZUSKO/FRANCISCAN MEDIA
THE CHURCH can and should do more to address clergy sex abuse, according to Michael Vanderburgh. But a major cultural shift needs to happen in order for real change to come about. “The clericalized culture of the Church, by both ordained and lay members, is the greatest enabler [of abuse],” he says. “Abuse of any sort is about power, desire for control, and personal ambitions. I think we are making good progress on the reactive side of things (how to handle abuse cases when they are discovered), but we have much more to do on the preventive side. That begins with a radical declericalization of our hierarchy, which requires great humility and vulnerability.” Fortunately, the Church has a leader who embraces those virtues and illuminates the way ahead. “Pope Francis brought humility and vulnerability to the Catholic center stage,” he says. “He is not afraid to show his own vulnerabilities and humanity in what he says and does. I think he knows that authenticity is much more attractive than manufactured perfection when it comes to living our faith. He reminds us that the law [civil and Church] is at the service of God and humanity, not the other way around.”
ST. VINCENT de PAUL PILGRIMAGE
embrace my own trauma and struggles,” Vanderburgh says. “It was therapeutic for me to accompany people in need, and what a great blessing it would be to have that opportunity every day, serving hundreds of people.” Working for St. Vincent de Paul has also provided Vanderburgh the opportunity to lead a pilgrimage to France this coming October (see ad on the right). A massive operation, St. Vincent de Paul provides meals, shelter, clothes, and hope for individuals and families struggling with poverty and homelessness in the Dayton area. The organization serves well over 100,000 people annually. “I am incredibly fortunate to have wonderful employees and volunteers who are completely dedicated to their work,” he says. “I also get regular opportunities to visit with employees and volunteers at over 40 area locations where we have ministries, so I find myself focusing on encouraging a unified culture of accompaniment for people in need.” After all he’s been through, Vanderburgh still loves people and recognizes their inherent dignity and worth. His suffering, though profound, is intertwined with his vocation and path to redemption. “I wouldn’t wish suffering on anyone, but I also wouldn’t wish away my own suffering,” he says. “I probably wouldn’t try to be a faithful Christian without it.”
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FROM ST. PAUL TO THE WOMAN AT THE WELL, JESUS TAPPED UNLIKELY CANDIDATES TO SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS. IF HE CHOSE THEM, WHY NOT US?
IQONCEPT/FOTOSEARCH
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ay the word evangelization to the average Catholic and you’ll notice an urgent glance for the exits. Invite that same person to consider his or her role as an evangelizer—called, gifted, and sent through Baptism—and an image from vintage animation films comes to mind: a character fleeing from its pursuer, punched through a wall like a running gingerbread figure. Yet St. Paul VI reminds us that evangelization is at the heart of what it means to be Catholic. In the apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Nuntiandi,” he writes: “The Church exists in order to evangelize.” The disconnect between his words and many Catholics’ reluctance to openly share their faith is pandemic and very real. In all fairness, this kind of resistance to or discomfort with the idea of evangelization is not new. Consider St. Paul—arguably the greatest evangelizer. He had to be thrown to the ground and blinded before he considered the life-changing question that turned his
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By Juliana Gerace, DMin
IQONCEPT/FOTOSEARCH
former worldview on its head: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (Acts 9:4). Until this encounter, he had been incited to fanaticism in his ferocious pursuit of Christians. Saul “was trying to destroy the Church” (Acts 8:3). Let’s not forget who held the cloaks and looked on in tacit consent as the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen, was stoned to death. The Acts of the Apostles describes Saul’s disposition at this time as “breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord” (Acts 9:1). Then he encounters Jesus, who stops him in his tracks— rendering him blind and helpless. Only then does he understand that to persecute the Church is to persecute Christ, who is Lord, the long-awaited Messiah.
This sacred encounter is key. It is certainly the game changer in St. Paul’s life. Pope Benedict XVI described it beautifully in “Deus Caritas Est” (“God Is Love”): “Being Christian is not
the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Following this encounter, Saul is led into Damascus, where his sight is miraculously restored. Now a new, humbled Saul seeks Baptism. After Baptism, Saul, now named Paul, is filled with the Holy Spirit and begins preaching that Jesus is truly the Son of God awaited by the prophets. It doesn’t take long until a plot to murder him is hatched, and he escapes by being lowered in a basket over the city walls (Acts 9:25). His troubles and his mission have begun. This is the one of whom the Lord had said, “This man is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before gentiles, kings, and Israelites, and I will show him what he will have to suffer for my name” (Acts 9:15–16). How true! In his travels, Paul endured many hardships: hunger, cold, thirst, nakedness, and shipwrecks (three times). He faced the hostility of gentiles, Jews, bandits, and unbelievStAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 37
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comes alone to avoid their searing glances. Jesus is resting at the well. In this encounter, Jesus initiates the conversation. He asks her for a drink. This in itself was revolutionary, for Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans and less to do with a woman of questionable reputation. Jesus tells her he can give her living water, after which no one thirsts or needs to draw water again. Now it is she who thirsts! Jesus then asks her to call her husband and return. The woman responds truthfully: She doesn’t have a husband. Jesus brings her pitiful position to light while appreciating her honesty: “For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband” (Jn 4:18). What follows? The Samaritan woman reveals her faith that the Messiah is to come and that “he will tell us everything.” Jesus identifies himself: “I am he.” The woman leaves her water jar—the very reason she came to the well—and runs to the city to proclaim fearlessly: “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” (Jn 4:29). Many Samaritans come to believe in him because of the woman’s testimony. Suddenly, she is a credible witness. The Samaritans ask Jesus to stay with them—which he does—for two more days. Many more come to believe in him. The woman at the well, formerly outcast and a recluse, is transformed into a proclaimer and witness. Once again we see that, in the words of St. John Paul II, “The desire to bear witness to Jesus arises in the hearts of believers from their personal encounter with him” (homily on April 18, 1999).
If St. Paul was a surprising choice on the part of the Lord, he is only one of many. This should give each of us pause, as well as encouragement. Consider the Samaritan woman in the fourth chapter of John’s Gospel. The sun is high, and all the women of the area have come earlier in the day to draw water from the well to avoid the heat. This woman
In first-century Rome, the term was used to proclaim a battle victory made by the emperor or his armies. It meant glad tidin gs. Picture a herald calling out the news. Christians adapted it and took it to a new level—one quite countercultural at that. They were proclaiming a new and definitive victory. As Bishop Robert Barron wrote in one of his daily Gospel reflections: “Jesu s went into the belly of the beast, into the heart of our dysfunction, to the limits of godf orsakenness, and he defeated the dark powers. He demonstrated that the divine love is greater than our greatest enemies” (from the bishop’s commentary on the Gosp el for July 11, 2017).
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ers. He was beaten with rods, left for dead after a stoning in Lystra, and five times received “40 lashes minus one” at the hands of the Jews (2 Cor 11:24). He was a holy man on the move, proclaiming Christ’s love—embracing unimaginable hardships of every kind only to suffer imprisonment and finally, for all his efforts, decapitation. This is the same apostle who asks: “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?” (Rom 8:35). Most emphatically, he responds: “No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other Have I encountered Jesus? Has that encounter borne fruit creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in and continued to change my life? Have I allowed the grace Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:37–39). of conversion to continue to transform my thoughts and, St. Paul spread the Gospel to all the known corners of the consequently, my actions and way of life? Perhaps it is time world. He has inspired countless saints, misfor a retreat or just some dedicated prayer time in which sionaries, and martyrs to do the same, and is a model to us to do our part for “the sake of the Gospel.” Most fundamentally, St. Paul models what it means to have encountered the risen Jesus, with all the transformational power latent in that meeting that made of him a THE TERM EVANGELIZATION comes off the pages of the New Testament like a rous“new creation.” ing trumpet blast. It was not the invention of Christians but an adaptation from the culture of their time.
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we ask the Lord for that very kind of experience. Would the Lord, who died for us, ever refuse such a request? Would he hide from those who seek him? Countless Scripture passages deny that emphatically! A simple one—easy to remember—is from the Letter of James: “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (4:8). The Lord waits patiently for us, but we do not live forever. The pages of the New Testament rustle with an urgency to awaken, listen, and follow. Usually, it is fear that holds us back. And what have we to fear? Is it persecution? Fair enough. But, St. Paul would remind, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). Pope Francis assures us that Jesus is the face of mercy and shows us the Father’s love. In the parables about mercy, Jesus reveals a father who “never gives up until he has forgiven the wrong and overcome rejection with compassion and mercy” (“Misericordiae Vultus,” 9). In that passage from the papal bull proclaiming the Year of Mercy, Pope Francis invites us to consider that the Father is restless until we find his love and mercy. Once found, we truly need to share it with others—in word and deed. This is the heart of evangelizing. We have what it takes. After all, the ability to evangelize is in our “baptismal DNA” and strengthened through the Sacrament of Confirmation. We have received the Spirit! So, rather than bolting for the nearest exit, why not allow the Spirit to lead us so that the saving message of God’s unconditional and limitless love and mercy can reach someone who needs its life-giving and transformative power? We can begin this very day—in our towns, our families, our circles, and on social media. Someone is waiting, perhaps in pain and hopelessness. Let’s go! Juliana Gerace, DMin, is a married writer and educator living in Palm Desert, California. An avid traveler and music lover, she previously wrote a fiction piece for St. Anthony Messenger titled “Decision” (January 2018).
CHOOSE A
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PILGRIMAGE FOR 2019
• Journey to Loyola, Pamplona, Javier, Montserrat, Manresa, Barcelona, and more places that were important to Ignatius and his early companions. • Explore Ignatian discernment, conversion, meditation, and the Spiritual Exercises in the places Ignatius developed them. • Travel with Ignatian author and spiritual director, Tom Elliott. • Explore the evangelizing path of Mary Magdalene in Provence. • Explore the Holy Grotto where Mary spent her final years. • Celebrate the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene with solemn processions and colorful festivities. • Stay at the famous Hotel le Couvent Royal, next door to the Basilica and tomb of Mary Magdalene. • See the famous Oberammergau Passion Play, held every ten years. • Tour some of the most beautiful and sacred places of Bavaria, Austria, and Switzerland. • Stay at superior hotels and dine on a delicious variety of local cuisine. • Sign up now because this trip is limited to 30 pilgrims and will fill quickly.
Pilgrimage Leader: Stephen J. Binz
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or email Stephen J. Binz at sjbinz@aol.com StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 39
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Nel 120° anniversario del
APERTURA Domenica 16 settembre 2018
Walking w
Orari di visita
B
Percorso multimediale sulla vita e le opere del Santo
9.00 - 18.00. A tutti i visitatori sarà dato un piccolo omaggio.
da martedì a domenica 9.00 - 13.00/14.00 - 18.00. Chiuso lunedì, Natale, Capodanno.
Pontificia Basilica di Sant’Antonio Padova
Provincia Italiana di Sant’Antonio di Padova Frati Minori Conventuali
Si ringraziano per il sostegno The Anthonian Association of the Friends of St. Anthony (USA)
Saint Anthony of Padua Mission Aid (Canada)
Borden Family (USA)
Media partner
Basilica del Santo - Piazza del Santo, 11 - 35123 Padova www.santantonio.org
By Susan Hines-Brigger
eginning last September, visitors to the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy, were greeted by the image at left announcing a new state-of-the-art exhibit—Antonius— chronicling the life and works of St. Anthony, as well as the Conventual Franciscans who continue his ministry. The guide for visitors when they walk through the door is none other than St. Anthony himself—or, rather, the narrative voice of the saint (played by actor Giuseppe Russo). What follows is a 25-minute multimedia exhibition that immerses visitors in the life of St. Anthony through the use of the latest technology in hopes that the experience will deepen people’s insight into the personality of the saint. In honor of its opening, Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, president of the Senate of the Republic, praised the exhibit, saying it “seeks to be a new way for the whole world to know who St. Anthony was, his life of courageous witness to faith and charity, his simple language, and the calm responses he gave to people to whom he spoke.”
ALL IMAGES USED IN KIND PERMISSION MESSENGER OF SAINT ANTHONY - PADUA, ITALY
i Frati del Santo sono lieti di presentare
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g with St. Anthony ALL IMAGES USED IN KIND PERMISSION MESSENGER OF SAINT ANTHONY - PADUA, ITALY
This new exhibit presents St. Anthony in a fresh new way.
Antonius replaces the previous exhibit, Exhibitions on the Life and Works of St. Anthony, which was created in 1976 by the late Father Claudio Mattuzzi and welcomed over 3 million visitors during its lifetime. The remake was needed to replace outdated technology and adapt the spaces to current safety standards. A press release at the time of the opening from the Messenger of St. Anthony Publishing House stated, “If the strength of the narrative allows the pilgrim to experience a sort of personal encounter with the saint, the power of the images and the evocative soundtrack have the aim of involving the viewer and almost ‘wrapping it’ in the story.” MEET ST. ANTHONY
Entering the first room of the exhibit, patrons are immediately immersed in the life of Anthony, thanks to a docufiction-style video. Visitors learn about Anthony’s life, both from his perspective and that of other significant people
throughout his life. Each character gradually materializes on the many screens in the room (seen above), telling tales and revealing the traits of Anthony’s personality of “uneasy man of the Gospel and radicality in life choices,” says Father Paolo Floretta, coauthor of the texts. Each of the characters, played by professional actors in period costumes, represents those who were witnesses to Anthony’s life, including his mother, Mary Bulhom; João Cesar, prior of the Augustinian monastery in which the young Fernando spent the first years of consecrated life and who received Anthony after he was shipwrecked in Messina; Brother Graziano, Anthony’s first Franciscan superior at the hermitage of Montepaolo, who discovered the saint’s gifts as an excellent preacher; St. Francis, who commissioned Anthony to instruct the friars in theology; and, finally, Brother Luca Belludi, a close friend of St. Anthony who helped at times with crafting the saint’s sermons. Brother Luca is buried in the basilica along with Anthony. StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 41
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An actor portraying St. Francis talks about his role.
St. Anthony’s mother is one of many people from the saint’s life featured in the exhibit.
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bit.
The actors’ testimonies regarding Anthony’s life are intertwined with the projections of images of historical, landscape, and naturalistic context. A LIVING LEGACY
Visitors are then escorted by way of an interactive floor (as seen on the right) into the second part of the exhibit. The floor features a symbolic “ford” running from the story of Anthony’s life into tales of the realization of his message. Anthony’s voice introduces visitors to the many works of charity and evangelization of the Conventual Franciscan friars and the ways they continue to grow the teaching of the saint. The final video immerses visitors in the traditional procession that takes place in Padua every June 13—St. Anthony’s feast day—making them part of the crowd. This procession carries them to the exit, accompanied by the words of Antonio, who has now become a concrete, friendly presence for them. At the end, visitors can sign up to stay in touch with the friars of the basilica before stopping at a “selfie space” that allows people to take photos with a series of backgrounds from the complex of the basilica. A number of sponsors contributed to the creation of the exhibit, including the Messenger of Saint Anthony magazine, which has been the voice of the friars for 120 years and has organized and coordinated all the phases of the project. VISITOR INFORMATION
The Antonius exhibit will remain permanently at the basilica and is free for all visitors. It is open Tuesday through Sunday StAnthonyMessenger.org | June 2019 • 43
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The Basilica of St. Anthony is one of eight international shrines recognized by the Vatican. It houses the body of St. Anthony as well as a number of museums containing various relics of the saint. The Museum of Popular Devotions contains offerings donated by pilgrims as a token of gratitude for graces received through the intercession of St. Anthony.
from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and then 2–6 p.m. It is closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day. The exhibit is available in 10 different languages: Italian and, with audio guide, English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, Croatian, Arabic, and Russian. Also available is an audio track for the visually impaired. For more information, visit SantAntonio.org/en. Susan Hines-Brigger is an executive editor of this magazine.
A Novena to St. Anthony of Padua RESPONSORY AND PRAYERS
If you ask for miracles, Death, error, all calamities, The leprosy and demons fly, And health succeeds infirmities. The sea obeys and fetters break, And lifeless limbs thou dost restore; Whilst treasures lost are found again When young or old thine aid implore. All dangers vanish at thy prayer, And direst need doth quickly flee. Let those who know thy power PROCLAIM: Let Paduans say: These are of thee. The sea obeys . . . (repeat) To Father, Son, may glory be, And Holy Ghost eternally. The sea obeys . . . (repeat) V. Pray for us, blessed Anthony:
LET US PRAY: Let your Church, O God, be made joyful by this solemn commemoration of blessed Anthony, your confessor and doctor; that the Church may always be defended by your spiritual help and merit to possess eternal joys. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
— excerpted from Saint Anthony of Padua: His Life, Legends, and Devotions, edited by Jack Wintz, OFM, and published by Franciscan Media
LEFT: MC KOZUSKO/SAM; RIGHT: NARVIKK/ISTOCK
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
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POINTSOFVIEW | AT HOME ON EARTH By Kyle Kramer
Kyle Kramer
?
WANT MORE? Visit our website: StAnthonyMessenger.org
E
arlier this year, I took a weeklong rockclimbing trip to the Red Rock Canyon area of Nevada. One day, because of a late start and some miscalculation about how much time our 800-foot climb would require, my two climbing partners and I arrived at the top of the cliff around dusk. The descent hike was too treacherous to navigate safely with our small headlamps, so we decided to stay the night on the mountain and hike down the next morning. We had been—in climbing lingo—“benighted.” Unfortunately, we had brought nothing with us for an overnight stay: no tent, no sleeping bags, no extra food or water, no survival blankets, and woefully insufficient clothing for nighttime desert temperatures that dipped into the 40s. As the night wore on, the three of us huddled closer and closer together, hugging each other for dear life and rotating the person who was shivering the worst into the center of the pile like penguins trying to survive Antarctic blizzards. That long, sleepless night was miserable, but it also brought some unexpected gifts. With no one else within miles of us, and with no cell phone service or easy way to signal for help, we were both disconcerted and exhilarated to realize that we were on our own in this adventure. On that desert mountaintop, I experienced a silence and solitude more complete than almost anything I’ve ever known. It felt as if we were utterly alone in a world unimaginably older, vaster, wilder, and
H
more mysterious than we mere mortals could fathom. Although I’ve spent most of my life living in the relative peace and quiet of rural areas, there was no comparison between the settled farms and towns of my native Midwest and the stark, beautiful solitude of the desert. God is everywhere, of course, but this experience made clear to me why remote mountains and deserts figure so prominently in the epiphanies of Scripture. In such places, there is no human artifice to bolster your ego. There is nothing to distract you from your own vulnerable smallness relative to the infinity of the cosmos. Søren Kierkegaard was right to insist that fear and trembling are part and parcel of genuine faith; God’s holy creation is both lovely and terrifying at the same time. And yet, as alone as we were on that mountaintop, we weren’t alone at all. First of all, we had each other. As we struggled to keep each other warm, I realized once again how radically we human beings need each other. We’re not like the solitary bear; our species is inherently social and cooperative because that’s the only way we poor, weak creatures can survive: together. When our dependence on others tends to be masked by mostly anonymous money transactions, it’s good to be reminded that however much we may hide behind our glowing screens, our bank accounts, or the walls of our houses, we can only live by belonging to the larger human family.
T
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COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER
EarthandSpiritCenter.org
On the Mountaintop
LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; RIGHT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER
Kyle is the executive director of the Passionist Earth & Spirit Center, which offers interfaith educational programming in meditation, ecology, and social compassion. He serves as a Catholic climate ambassador for the US Conference of Catholic Bishopssponsored Catholic Climate Covenant and is the author of A Time to Plant: Life Lessons in Work, Prayer, and Dirt (Ave Maria Press, 2010). He speaks across the country on issues of ecology and spirituality. He and his family spent 15 years as organic farmers and homesteaders in Spencer County, Indiana.
It’s one thing to acknowledge human interdependence intellectually; it’s another to feel it deep in your (shivering) bones. The other gift of that cold night was the gift that all hardship offers: the chance for us normally comfortable folk to open our hearts to those who suffer hardship every day and not by choice—but because of inadequate food or shelter, violence, disease, and other challenges. While I knew that my buddies and I would make it through the night and that the morning would bring relief, others are not so fortunate. If we all belong to the same human family, how can their suffering not concern me? Isn’t that the simple, heart-breaking-open truth of human solidarity? Isn’t that what it means to belong to the body of Christ? I probably didn’t need to climb to the top of a mountain for these truths to become real to me—nor do you. It’s possible to get out of our comfort zones wherever we are. In fact, I suspect that doing so may be the best way to find and follow Jesus.
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You don’t have to look too far to find someone who is struggling; suffering is the common denominator of human existence. How and for whom might you be called to help relieve it?
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Nature is often where the veil between this world and the sacred world is thinnest. What epiphany moments has God given you through creation?
COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER
LEFT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER; RIGHT: COURTESY OF KYLE KRAMER
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media MATTERS
reel time | channel surfing | audio file | bookshelf
By Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
Sister Rose Pacatte, FSP
FILMS FAMILY,
KINDNESS, AND
COMMUNITY
Bully (2011) The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind (2019) Leave No Trace (2018) The Hate U Give (2018) The Wedding Plan (2016)
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factory produces different kinds of felt dolls, and all of them must pass through quality control inspection. When a doll is deemed imperfect, it is sent to a hidden and remote inlet along the shoreline called Uglyville. There, Ox (voice of Blake Shelton) is the paternal figure watching over the community of misfit dolls, who enjoy life. They do not see their imperfections or compare themselves to anyone else. Moxy (voice of Kelly Clarkson) is a happy doll who loves to sing songs. But she knows that every human child is supposed to have a doll to love, and she wants to find her child. Moxy wants to see what is on the other side of the mountain where ugly dolls come from. She and her friends make their way through a pipeline and discover a town called Perfection. Lou (voice of Nick Jonas) is the mayor of the town. He tells all the brand-new dolls that he will help them get ready to pass the final test to become a doll that a child will want to have. Lou assigns Mandy (voice of Janelle Monáe) to find a place for Moxy and her
friends to stay in the cookie-cutter doll village. It turns out to be a shed, but the dolls make the best of it. Mandy accidentally drops her eyeglasses that were hidden in her pocket. She knows that if Lou discovers she is not perfect, she will be rejected and sent to Uglyville or be recycled. The next day, when all the dolls must begin the process of quality control, truths are revealed and life lessons are learned. UglyDolls is named for a popular line of plush toys that hit the US market around 2001. The idea for an animated film, according to director Kelly Asbury, has been around for about as long. Themes of being true to oneself, self-confidence, positive body image, and kindness abound in the face of bullying and peer pressure. While this is obviously a movie directed at children, adults can appreciate the opportunity to reflect on the power of positive self-esteem and looking for the good in everyone. Clarkson is a perfect voice for Moxy. Not yet rated, PG • Brief moments of animated peril.
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KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE: NETFLIX, INC. (2); PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS/JOE D’SOUZA
about
Sister Rose’s FAVORITE
UGLYDOLLS
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; UGLYDOLLS: MOTION PICTURE ARTWORK/STX FINANCING, LLC
Sister Rose is a Daughter of St. Paul and the founding director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies. She has been the award-winning film columnist for St. Anthony Messenger since 2003 and is the author of several books on Scripture and film, as well as media literacy education.
PHOTOGRAPH
KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE
KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE: NETFLIX, INC. (2); PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS/JOE D’SOUZA
LEFT: COURTESY SISTER ROSE PACATTE, FSP/MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS; UGLYDOLLS: MOTION PICTURE ARTWORK/STX FINANCING, LLC
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his documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year and is now available on Netflix. It documents the primary campaigns of four female Democratic candidates who decide to run for the seats in Congress: Amy Vilela of Nevada, Cori Bush of Missouri, Paula Jean Swearengin of West Virginia, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Each of these candidates was chosen through the efforts of two organizations made up of people who supported Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential campaign. What stands out about these four female candidates is twofold: They have never run or won a race for elected office; and they represent gender and ethnic diversity. Taking on the House and the Senate, which are made up of mostly white males, would not be easy. In fact, only Ocasio-Cortez, or “AOC” as she is widely known, won her primary election. Each woman has a story that motivated her to run. Vilela lost her 22-year-old daughter, who went to the hospital with signs of a blood clot but was refused care because she could not find her insurance information.
R Bush’s district includes Ferguson, Missouri, where riots broke out in 2014 after the shooting of Michael Brown. Swearengin tells of how she comes from one of the poorest states in the nation and that no one in America should have to beg for clean water. Ocasio-Cortez, a waitress and bartender with a college education, stands up for working people and against corporate interests in the political process. While this is a documentary about these four candidates, it glosses over the grassroots organizations that empowered these women to take back a political system that they believe has been hijacked by lobbyists and corporate interests. I would have liked to learn more about these mostly young people and seasoned community organizers. AOC is the film’s darling, but the three other strong women profiled are deeply inspiring and committed in their own right. Not yet rated • Mature themes.
Catholic News Service Media Review Office gives these ratings. A-1 General patronage
A-2 Adults and adolescents
A-3 Adults
L Limited adult audience
O Morally offensive
afi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) lives in Mumbai with several other young men working to support themselves and send money back home. Rafi is particularly focused on earning enough to pay off debts and buy back the family home in his village. One day he takes a photo of Miloni (Sanya Malhotra), a young woman who is visiting the tourist attraction where he has stationed himself to take pictures and develop them on the spot for money. Miloni is attending classes to become an accountant, but her parents want her to marry a young man who is going to America to study. It seems that everyone in Rafi’s Mumbai neighborhood knows that his grandmother, who wants him to get married, has stopped taking her medication until he does. Desperate, he sends her the photo of Miloni, whom he doesn’t even know, and tells his grandma that she is his fiancée. When Grandma decides to come for a visit, things become complicated. This sweet coming-of-age story is by writer-director Ritesh Batra, who made 2013’s The Lunchbox. I love both of these films because they offer insights into humanity, family, culture, and the values that guide us through life. Photograph is in Hindi and English with English subtitles.
Not yet rated, PG-13 • Mature themes that may require parental guidance.
Source: USCCB.org/movies
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media MATTERS
reel time | channel surfing | audio file | bookshelf
By Christopher Heffron UPCLOSE CLOSE UP
Mission Declassified
T
elevision shows that focus on the textured relationship between fathers and daughters can often backslide into the predictable or the saccharine-sweet. Conflicts arise and are neatly put away inside of 22 minutes—but that isn’t real life. Those who are looking for a different kind of father-daughter dynamic should tune in to Amazon Prime’s thrilling new series Hanna. Based on the 2011 Saoirse Ronan film of the same name, the series follows its predecessor’s formula: 15-year-old Hanna (Esme Creed-Miles) is a young woman raised off the grid in a seemingly impenetrable Polish forest by her father (or father figure), Erik (Joel Kinnaman), an ex-CIA agent who protects her. Hanna is unlike any teenage girl you can imagine. Erik has raised her like a soldier primed for war: deadly at hand-to-hand combat, physically strong beyond comparison, and masterful at languages. These are essential skills when trying to evade Marissa (Mireille Enos), a CIA operative who wants to destroy her. The reasons behind Marissa’s ruthless, singular focus unfold in the ensuing episodes in an exhilarating fashion. Hanna works perfectly well as a thriller, but as a coming-of-age exploration, it soars—and the series rests on the capable shoulders of the astonishing CreedMiles in the title role. More physically robust than Ronan’s waifish Hanna, she has the time and space to explore her character’s flowering into womanhood. Cut off from society by the overprotective Erik, Hanna is curious, boundary-pushing, and desperate to understand who she is and why her life feels so innately different. And Creed-Miles never hits a false note in playing her complex character. The supporting cast shines, particularly Enos, the icy CIA operative whose mission has eroded her humanity, and Kinnaman as the stalwart Erik, whose love for Hanna permeates his hardened exterior. Themes of family, identity, and personal independence are explored under the assured direction of Sarah Adina Smith. Hanna, perhaps the best new streaming series today, is a celebration of girl power for 21st-century channel surfers. 50 • June 2019 | StAnthonyMessenger.org
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NEIL YOUNG: REPRISE; NORAH JONES: BLUE NOTE; PETE & REPEAT: TOM GREENE
Amazon Prime
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HANNA: JONATHAN PRIME/AMAZON STUDIOS; MISSION DECLASSIFIED: THE TRAVEL CHANNEL, LLC
Hanna
Sundays, 10 p.m., Travel Channel he assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963. The kidnapping and murder of the Lindbergh baby in 1932. The art heist at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. For crime and history buffs (such as this reviewer), Travel Channel’s Mission Declassified is event television. Hosted by awardwinning journalist Christof Putzel, this investigative series dives headfirst into some of history’s most puzzling crimes—solved or unsolved. And Putzel, an amiable host with a rich background in investigative journalism, has a trove of government declassified materials to explore. The premiere episode—about three inmates who escaped from the infamous Alcatraz prison—gets viewers off to a thrilling start. The episodes that follow continue the pace. From the unsolved Black Dahlia murder in 1947, to uncovering the real identity of hijacker D.B. Cooper, Putzel guides viewers through these cases and, in the process, uncovers some startling truths. But a closer look at the series yields a deeper meaning. Putzel understands our collective love for mysteries and our very human need to solve them. Mission Declassified is a fun assignment.
reel time | channel surfing | audio file | bookshelf
By Daniel Imwalle
Retro-spective NEIL YOUNG | UNPLUGGED
W
NORAH JONES | BEGIN AGAIN
W
hen Norah Jones burst on the scene in 2002 with her debut, Come Away with Me, her music was a welcome breath of fresh air among manufactured pop acts, angry and adolescent rap-metal, and overproduced, caricatured country music. Jazz and blues were nearly forgotten art forms—found more in the history books than on the Billboard charts. Fortunately for us, Jones and a small group of other artists (Alicia Keys comes to mind) helped resuscitate these important genres and bring them into the 21st century. She continues her soulful musical trajectory with Begin Again, her seventh album. The opener, “My Heart Is Full,” is a sort of love song to freedom and goodwill toward humankind. The tone on the track is distinct from the six pieces that follow, with minimal instrumentation and echoing vocals that slowly build for dramatic effect. At the end of the song, Jones sings, “My heart is full/My eyes are open/I can see.” Healthy self-love, compassion for others, and the need to truly see, in the deepest sense, the world for what it is are themes that run throughout Begin Again and which tap into the Catholic imagination. The title track follows, and the piano-driven, bluesy delivery that has been Jones’ hallmark sound for years is readily apparent. Her skills at the piano are not to be underestimated, as witnessed in this song. Jones plays with restraint, adding subtle flourishes in just the right places and letting the chords tell the musical story. Lyrically, she seems to be telling two tales: one about rebuilding a relationship after damage has been done and another about a world in need of rebirth. It’s a gutsy maneuver, but Jones shows that she is more than capable of taking it on. Other songs of note are Jones’ two collaborations with Wilco lead singer Jeff Tweedy (“A Song with No Name” and “Wintertime”). It’s the first time these two musical titans have worked together, and it’s a joy to hear. For an album that’s so short but also so good, Jones makes sure every second counts.
NEIL YOUNG: REPRISE; NORAH JONES: BLUE NOTE; PETE & REPEAT: TOM GREENE
PETE&REPEAT
These scenes may seem alike to you, But there are changes in the two. So look and see if you can name Eight ways in which they’re not the same. (Answers below)
GET THE Great fun for BOOK puzzlers of all ages!
Go online to order: Shop.FranciscanMedia.org For ONLY $3.99 Use Code: SAMPETE ANSWERS to PETE & REPEAT: 1) Sis is no longer wearing a headband. 2) There are now four stars visible on the flag. 3) The sleeve on Pete’s shirt has a cuff. 4) A stripe on the flag is missing behind Pete. 5) Pete has a stripe on his shirt collar. 6) One of the tree branches is missing. 7) One of Sis’ collars is rounded. 8) A piece of hair is missing from Pete’s cowlick.
HANNA: JONATHAN PRIME/AMAZON STUDIOS; MISSION DECLASSIFIED: THE TRAVEL CHANNEL, LLC
hen folk-rocker Neil Young took the stage for an MTV Unplugged performance in 1993, he was already a legend and had been dubbed the “Godfather of Grunge” about two years prior. In 1993, grunge was all the rage, and Young’s appearance on the popular series was highly anticipated. Though the recording session was apparently tense and Young was not entirely pleased with the end result, the album is still an inspiring listen and a key moment in Young’s career. With 14 songs on the album, there’s plenty of ground for Young to cover from his large catalog, which stretches back to the early 1970s. In “The Needle and the Damage Done,” Young sings about a friend he lost to heroin addiction, a topic that, sadly, is still of relevance today. At various times on the album, Young plays guitar, harmonica, piano, and even a pump organ. One of Young’s most beautiful and endearing pieces of music, “Long May You Run,” is an ode to the car he drove from northern Ontario to California back in the 1960s, and thus on to his life in music.
Editor’s Pick
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media MATTERS
reel time | channel surfing | audio file | bookshelf
By Julie Traubert
Author’s Hollywood Style Comes with a Few Errors
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THE POPE BY ANTHONY MCCARTEN Flatiron Books
“This is a gripping story: compelling, well-told, and sometimes lyrical . . . unputdownable, but also irritating, melodramatic, candid, scathing, dogmatic, and inaccurate by turns.”
he title is simple and unassuming, but the content of The Pope is definitely not. It is detailed and opinionated. It can also be flat-out wrong. A little medallion on the cover proclaims this to be “the true story behind the major motion picture,” which prepares readers that there will be ample helpings of Hollywood within the book’s 233 pages. The prepublication materials set the tone and loudly proclaim that the major motion picture stars Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. The reader is thus forewarned, and the emphasis (judging the book by its cover) seems to be more on the movie, which McCarten also wrote the script for, than on the events it purports to chronicle. Yet, all in all, the book is much more than this: unputdownable, irritating, melodramatic, candid, yet frequently touching. It is a “curate’s egg” of a book: “Good in parts,” as the young clergyman said respectfully when asked how his breakfast egg was. Author Anthony McCarten certainly has a gripping story to tell and the journalistic, if not the theological, credentials to tell it. He covers the background of the men who would become Popes Benedict XVI and Francis comprehensively and sympathetically yet not uncritically, both in the academic and judgmental sense of the word. Once McCarten gets into his stride, his story is compelling and well-told, though the style is such that one can hardly forget that its narrator is an award-winning novelist, playwright, and Hollywood screenwriter. He maintains a fast pace, and the book is quite absorbing.
There is a prologue of 20 pages, and if a serious and well-read Catholic were to read it, the number of factual errors—about infallibility, celibacy, the magisterium, the Eucharist, and the theological meaning of ex cathedra—might well be sufficient to deter any further perusal of the book. That, however, would be unfortunate because there is much to learn in the pages that follow. Raised a Catholic, the author still has some of the scars left by what looks like the “pay, pray, and obey” school of religion, and he can be scathing, dogmatic, and inaccurate by turn in some of his assessments of the Church. Yet at other times his writing is lyrical and respectful. His understanding of papal infallibility would not warrant a passing grade in undergraduate theology, but his handling of the “inside story” of two papal conclaves is fascinating and generally persuasive. Yet it is difficult to read these chapters and not imagine Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce in the leading roles, as Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, respectively. This is a real distraction. The book is evidently intended to inform but also to entertain, to be a serious piece of writing but also marinated in a screenwriter’s style. For this reader it succeeds and fails in equal measure. The author’s credentials are impressive, but his style is less spiritual reading than Sunday supplement; readers should be aware of this. Reviewed by Anthony J. Gittins, CSSp, who has taught graduate theology for 30 years at the Missionary Institute, London, and Catholic Theological Union, Chicago.
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FORTY REASONS I AM A CATHOLIC
CATHOLIC AND CURIOUS
BY PETER KREEFT
BY MSGR. CHARLES POPE
Sophia Institute Press
Our Sunday Visitor
“#25: I am Catholic because Catholics, like their saints, are a little crazy.”
“Is saying ‘Oh my God!’ . . . taking the name of the Lord in vain?”
H
F
ave you ever considered why you are Catholic? Because of your family? Because of the Bible? Prolific author and professor Peter Kreeft gives 40 straightforward and wellexplained reasons why he is Catholic. Having converted from reformed Protestantism, he adds considerable knowledge based on contrasting Protestant denominations with Catholicism. Some of the reasons are humorous (“because of the movies,” “because of the nouns”), and many are thought-provoking (“because, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, no man can live without joy”). You will gain insight from Kreeft’s experiences, prompting you to reflect on why you are Catholic.
CATHOLIC TRADITIONS & TREASURES
ive hundred questions and answers about Catholicism—that’s what you’ll find in this 506-page reference book. Compiled from the “Questions and Answers” column in Our Sunday Visitor’s OSV Newsweekly, Msgr. Pope gives explanations to questions many of us have about the Catholic faith but may be hesitant to ask. Topics range from the Bible and sacraments to more probing questions that focus on morality and the end of life. When you feel confused about the Church’s stance on an issue or you’re curious about a certain prayer or practice, you can pop open this book and find guidance.
Catholic Best Sellers from Amazon.com Why We’re Catholic: Our Reasons for Faith, Hope, and Love, by Trent Horn
KIDS’ SPOT J
Signs of Life: 40 Catholic Customs and Their Biblical Roots, by Scott Hahn A Biblical Walk through the Mass: Understanding What We Say and Do in the Liturgy, by Edward Sri My First Interactive Mass Book for Catholic Kids, by Jennifer Sharpe The Cries of Jesus from the Cross: A Fulton Sheen Anthology, by Fulton Sheen
BY DR. HELEN HOFFNER Sophia Institute Press
“Until the late 1960s, women did not enter a Catholic church without a hat or a veil.”
S
ubtitled “An Illustrated Encyclopedia,” this book details the nuts and bolts of the Catholic faith and the unique ways this faith is shown. While it contains the common topics of sacraments and prayer, it also defines the religious orders, features what Catholics wear, and explains the meaning of “Bathtub Madonna.” The origin of many traditions is explained as well as how some traditions have been modernized, such as using an electronic device to dispense holy water in churches for sanitation. Filled with photos and illustrations, it is a handy reference for lifelong Catholics as well as those who are new to the faith.
CATHOLIC FUNNY FILL-INS WRITTEN BY KAREN & TOMMY TIGHE ILLUSTRATED BY JASON BACH Pauline Kids
ust in time for those road trips for summer vacation, this interactive book is fashioned after other fill-in-the-blank word games asking for nouns, verbs, or adjectives. However, the stories will teach about the saints, sacraments, and even electing a pope. What a fun way to learn about the faith!
Books featured in this section can be ordered from:
St. Mary’s Bookstore & Church Supply
1909 West End Avenue • Nashville, TN 37203 • 800-233-3604
web: www.stmarysbookstore.com e-mail: stmarysbookstore@gmail.com
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POINTSOFVIEW | FAITH & FAMILY By Susan Hines-Brigger
Supporting Families at Mass
Susan Hines-Brigger
Susan has worked at St. Anthony Messenger for 24 years and is an executive editor. She and her husband, Mark, are the proud parents of four kids—Maddie, Alex, Riley, and Kacey. Aside from her family, her loves are Disney, traveling, and sports.
Susan welcomes your comments and suggestions! E-MAIL: CatholicFamily@ FranciscanMedia.org MAIL: Faith & Family 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
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o you ever have one of those moments where something you see strikes a memory in you out of the blue? That happened to me the other week at Mass. Now that my kids are older, I love to see the families with young kids come into church. Many of them I see week in and week out. There is one family, though, that always catches my attention—in a good way. The kids act well-behaved. The parents work well together. But as every parent knows, that scenario is not always sustainable nor the reality. On this particular Sunday, things were not going as smoothly as usual. Maybe one of the kids didn’t get enough sleep. Maybe one of them didn’t like the shirt he or she had to wear. What I do know, though, is that this mom and dad were working really hard to corral and keep their kids calm. One kid was climbing on the pew. One was trying to escape down the aisle. And a third was just done with Mass and letting her parents and the congregation know it. I watched the mom scurry out toward the cry room. As she rushed past, I found myself smiling. I’ve been there. I looked at the faces surrounding me. Some people wore scowls on their faces; others bore obvious looks of judgment. One woman rolled her eyes. A HELPING HAND
And that’s when the memory popped up. It was of Christmas Eve many years ago—1977, to be exact. I was 5 years old, and Santa had brought me a Marching Mickey Mouse doll for Christmas. (We opened our gifts on Christmas Eve.) My parents allowed me to bring it to midnight Mass—perhaps simply in order to make it to church on time. At some point during the Mass, I climbed up on the pew, hoisted Mickey high in the air, and squeezed his hands to make him march. My dad immediately moved to stop me. Not surprisingly, I resisted. I remember verbally protesting and squirming away from him. I’m sure he felt as mortified by my behavior as almost all of us parents have at one time or another about our own kids in church. Almost immediately, I was swooped up by
someone from the pew behind me. Luckily they were close friends of my parents. For some reason, the change in scenery and company diverted my attention, and the showdown between my dad and me was averted. DOING OUR BEST
I’m not suggesting that people go swooping up kids from the pews around them. What I am suggesting, though, is that we all cut parents a little bit of slack and not shoot disapproving looks of judgment at them when they’re struggling. Trust me, we parents see it and we feel it and it makes us want to just skip going to Mass altogether. The looks I saw in church that Sunday were ones I remember getting myself and sometimes even still get now that my kids are teenagers. Getting them to church can be as much of a battle as it was when they were little. The unhappiness is often written all over my kids’ faces, letting everyone around them know how they feel about their current situation. Again, we see the way fellow parishioners look at our sulking teenagers. And, by the way, so do they—which doesn’t help us convince them that they want to be part of the loving environment of the Church. What I’m asking is that, as a community, could we do a little less judging and a little more supporting? If we want families in our churches, maybe we should let them know that we want them there not only through our words but also through our actions.
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in the kitchen
with Chef Claudia Sandoval
Nonalcoholic Pineapple Jalapeño Mock-a-Rita Prep time: 5 minutes | Yield: 1 Mock-a-Rita
Ingredients: 1 cup
pineapple juice
1 oz.
orange juice
4 pieces of chunk pineaple 1
jalapeño, cut into thin, round slices
2
sugar cubes
1 oz.
lime juice, fresh squeezed
Tajín
Instructions: Rim your glass with lime juice and Tajín. Add jalapeño slice, pineapple chunks, sugar cubes, and a dash of Tajín to bottom of glass. Muddle until fragrant. In a shaker filled with ice, shake pineapple juice, lime juice, and orange juice. Pour over muddled pineapple, jalapeño, and sugar. Fill cup with ice.
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Garnish with a pineapple wedge and jalapeño slice. Cheers!
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FIND THIS AND OTHER RECIPES AT: FranciscanMedia.org/source/recipes
We are always on the lookout for tasty, easy recipes. If you have a favorite recipe you want to share with SAM readers, send it to us.
Chef Claudia Sandoval was the winner of the sixth season of MasterChef US. She is now a judge on MasterChef Latino, a TV cooking competition on Telemundo. She published her best-selling cookbook Claudia’s Cocina: A Taste of Mexico in 2016.
By sending your recipe, you are giving us permission to reprint/post the recipe. Please include your contact information in case we have any questions. Photos of the recipe are welcome.
WHAT IS TAJÍN? Tajín is a simple seasoning mix consisting of dried and ground red chilies, sea salt, dehydrated lime juice, and a tiny bit of an anti-caking agent. It can be used to coat the rim of the glass for your Mock-a-Rita.
E-MAIL: CatholicFamily@ FranciscanMedia.org
MAIL: In the Kitchen 28 W. Liberty St. Cincinnati, OH 45202
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reflection
“My father didn’t tell me how to live. He lived and let me watch him do it.”
GRANDRIVER/ISTOCK
—Clarence Budington Kelland
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THE
DATING PROJECT MOVIE
CURRICULUMS FOR ALL GROUPS: FAMILY | HIGH SCHOOL | COLLEGE | YOUNG ADULT | FATHER AND SON
GUIDE THE CONVERSATION. BRING THE FILM TO LIFE. Each curriculum includes outlines, talking points with guided prompts for activities and questions to ignite discussion. Designed to serve the needs of all groups, there are one session or multi-session options. Download the free curriculums and obtain the movie license at
TheDatingProjectMovie.com Dating should be a manifestation of the good, the true and the beautiful. Help shape change.
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4/30/19 10:18 AM
28 W. Liberty Street Cincinnati, OH 45202-6498
A Daily Prayer Podcast A mix of beautiful music, scripture and a spiritual message to begin your day with God. Listen on your way to work, while taking a walk, with your coffee in the morning. See how easy and beautiful prayer can be.
4 WAYS TO LISTEN
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Mon-Sat | 10 minutes.
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4/30/19 10:18 AM