my people, vol. 31, issue 10
October 1, 2018
My People
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Access To Water Is Essential Right
The annual Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation was held on September 1. In his message for the Day, Pope Francis stated:
"... I wish first to thank the Lord for the gift of our common home and for all those men and women of good will committed to protecting it. I am likewise grateful for the many projects aimed at promoting the study and the safeguarding of ecosystems, for the efforts being made to develop more sustainable agriculture and more responsible nutrition, and for the various educational, spiritual, and liturgical initiatives that involve Christians throughout the world in the care of creation.
"It must be acknowledged that we have not succeeded in responsibly protecting creation. The environmental situation, both on the global level and in many specific places, cannot be considered satisfactory. Rightly, there is a growing sense of the need for a renewed and sound relationship between humanity and creation, and the conviction that only an authentic and integral vision of humanity will permit us to take better care of our planet for the benefit of present and future generations. For 'there is no ecology without an adequate anthropology' (Laudato Si', 118).
"On this World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which the Catholic Church for several years now has celebrated in union with our Orthodox brothers and sisters and with participation of other Churches and Christian communities, I would like to draw attention to the question of water. It is a very simple and precious element, yet access to it is, sadly, for many people difficult if not impossible. Nonetheless, 'access to safe drinkable water is a basic and universal human right, since it is essential to human survival and, as such, is a condition for the exercise of other human rights. Our world owes a great social debt towards the poor who lack access to drinking water, because they are denied the right to a life consistent with their inalienable dignity' (ibid., 30).
"Water invites us to reflect on our origins. The human body is mostly composed of water, and many civilizations throughout history arose near great rivers that marked their identity. In an evocative image, the beginning of the book of Genesis states that, in the beginning, the spirit of the Creator 'swept over the face of the waters (1:2).'
"In considering the fundamental role of water in creation and in human development, I feel the need to give thanks to God for 'Sister Water,' simple and useful for life like nothing else on our planet. Precisely for this reason, care for water sources and water basins is an urgent imperative. Today, more than ever, we need to look beyond immediate concerns (cf. Laudato Si', 36) and beyond a purely utilitarian view of reality, 'in which efficiency and productivity are entirely geared to our individual benefit' (ibid., 159). We urgently need shared projects and concrete gestures that recognize that every privatization of the natural good of water, at the expense of the human right to have access to this good, is unacceptable.
"For us Christians, water represents an essential element of purification and of life. We think immediately of baptism, the sacrament of our rebirth. Water made holy by the Spirit is the matter by which God has given us life and renewed us; it is the blessed source of undying life. For Christians of different confessions, baptism also represents the real and irreplaceable point of departure for experiencing an ever more authentic fraternity on the way to full unity. Jesus, in the course of His mission, promised a water capable of quenching human thirst for ever (cf. Jn 4:14). He prophesied, 'If any one thirst, let him come to Me and drink (Jn 7:37). To drink from Jesus means to encounter Him personally as the Lord, drawing from His words the meaning of life. May the words He spoke from the cross - 'I thirst' (Jn 19:28) - echo constantly in our hearts. The Lord continues to ask that His thirst be quenched; He thirsts for love. He asks us to give Him to drink in all those who thirst in our own day, and to say to them, 'I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink' (Mt 25:35). To give to drink, in the global village, does not only entail personal gestures of charity, but also concrete choices and a constant commitment to ensure to all the primary good of water.
"I would like also to mention the issue of the seas and oceans. It is our duty to thank the Creator for the impressive and marvellous gift of the great waters and all that they contain (cf. Gen 1:20-21; Ps 146:6), and to praise Him for covering the earth with the oceans (cf. Ps 104:6). To ponder the immense open seas and their incessant movement can also represent an opportunity to turn our thoughts to God, who constantly accompanies His creation, guiding its course and sustaining its existence (cf. St. John Paul II, Catechesis of May 7, 1986).
"Constant care for this inestimable treasure represents today an ineluctable duty and a genuine challenge. There is need for an effective cooperation between men and women of good will in assisting the ongoing work of the Creator. Sadly, all too many efforts fail due to the lack of effective regulation and means of control, particularly with regard to the protection of marine areas beyond national confines (cf. Laudato Si', 174). We cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless fields of floating plastic. Here too, our active commitment is needed to confront this emergency. We need to pray as if everything depended on God's providence, and work as if everything depended on us.
"Let us pray that waters may not be a sign of separation between peoples, but of encounter for the human community. Let us pray that those who risk their lives at sea in search of a better future may be kept safe. Let us ask the Lord and all those engaged in the noble service of politics that the more sensitive questions of our day, such as those linked to movements of migration, climate change, and the right of everyone to enjoy primary goods, may be faced with generous and farsighted responsibility and in a spirit of cooperation, especially among those countries most able to help.
"Let us pray too, for all those who devote themselves to the apostolate of the sea, for those who help reflect on the issues involving maritime ecosystems, for those who contribute to the development and application of international regulations on the seas in order to safeguard individuals, countries, goods, natural resources - I think, for example, of marine fauna and flora, and coral reefs (cf. ibid., 41) or sea beds - and to guarantee an integral development in view of the common good of the entire human family and not particular interests. Let us remember, too, all those who work to protect maritime areas and to safeguard the oceans and their biodiversity, that they may carry out this task with responsibility and integrity.
"Finally, let us be concerned for the younger generation and pray for them, that they may grow in knowledge and respect for our common home and in the desire to care for the essential good of water, for the benefit of all. It is my prayerful hope that Christian communities may contribute more and more concretely helping everyone to enjoy this indispensable resource, in respectful care for the gifts received from the Creator, and in particular rivers, seas, and oceans."
Pope Addresses Moral Crisis
Pope Francis sent a Letter to the People of God on August 20, addressing the moral crisis involving sexual abuse of minors by clergy and consecrated persons. His letter follows:
" 'If one member suffers, all suffer together with it' (1 Cor 12:26). These words of Saint Paul forcefully echo in my heart as I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons. Crimes that inflict deep wounds of pain and powerlessness, primarily among the victims, but also in their family members and in the larger community of believers and nonbelievers alike. Looking back to the past, no effort to beg pardon and to seek to repair the harm done will ever be sufficient. Looking ahead to the future, no effort must be spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, but also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated. The pain of the victims and their families is also our pain, and so it is urgent that we once more reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection of minors and of vulnerable adults.
1. If one member suffers...
"In recent days, a report was made public which detailed the experiences of at least a thousand survivors, victims of sexual abuse, the abuse of power and of conscience at the hands of priests over a period of approximately seventy years. Even though it can be said that most of these cases belong to the past, nonetheless as time goes on we have come to know the pain of many of the victims. We have realized that these wounds never disappear and that they require us forcefully to condemn these atrocities and join forces in uprooting this culture of death; these wounds never go away. The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced. But their outcry was more powerful than all the measures meant to silence it, or sought even to resolve it by decisions that increased its gravity by falling into complicity. The Lord heard that cry and once again showed us on which side He stands. Mary's song is not mistaken and continues quietly to echo throughout history. For the Lord remembers the promise He made to our fathers: 'He has scattered the proud in their conceit; He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty' (Lk 1:51-53). We feel shame when we realize that our style of life has denied, and continues to deny, the words we recite.
"With shame and repentance, we acknowledge as an ecclesial community that we were not where we should have been, that we did not act in a timely manner, realizing the magnitude and the gravity of the damage done to so many lives. We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them. I make my own the words of the then Cardinal Ratzinger when, during the Way of the Cross composed for Good Friday 2005, he identified with the cry of pain of so many victims and exclaimed: 'How much filth there is in the Church, and even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to [Christ]! How much pride, how much self-complacency! Christ's betrayal by His disciples, their unworthy reception of His body and blood, is certainly the greatest suffering endured by the Redeemer; it pierces His heart. We can only call to Him from the depths of our hearts: Kyrie eleison - Lord, save us! (cf. Mt 8:25)' (Ninth Station).
2. ... all suffer together with it
"The extent and the gravity of all that has happened requires coming to grips with this reality in a comprehensive and communal way. While it is important and necessary on every journey of conversion to acknowledge the truth of what has happened, in itself this is not enough. Today we are challenged as the People of God to take on the pain of our brothers and sisters wounded in their flesh and in their spirit. If, in the past, the response was one of omission, today we want solidarity, in the deepest and most challenging sense, to become our way of forging present and future history. And this in an environment where conflicts, tensions, and above all the victims of every type of abuse can encounter an outstretched hand to protect them and rescue them from their pain (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 228). Such solidarity demands that we in turn condemn whatever endangers the integrity of any person. A solidarity that summons us to fight all forms of corruption, especially spiritual corruption. The latter is 'a comfortable and self-satisfied form of blindness. Everything then appears acceptable: deception, slander, egotism, and other subtle forms of self-centeredness, for "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light" (2 Cor 11:14)' (Gaudete et Exsultate, 165). Saint Paul's exhortation to suffer with those who suffer is the best antidote against all our attempts to repeat the words of Cain: 'Am I my brother's keeper?' (Gen 4:9).
"I am conscious of the effort and work being carried out in various parts of the world to come up with the necessary means to ensure the safety and protection of the integrity of children and of vulnerable adults, as well as implementing zero tolerance and ways of making all those who perpetrate or cover up these crimes accountable. We have delayed in applying these actions and sanctions that are so necessary, yet I am confident that they will help to guarantee a greater culture of care in the present and future.
"Together with those efforts, every one of the baptized should feel involved in the ecclesial and social change that we so greatly need. This change calls for a personal and communal conversion that makes us see things as the Lord does. For as Saint John Paul II liked to say: 'If we have truly started out anew from the contemplation of Christ, we must learn to see Him especially in the faces of those with whom He wished to be identified' (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 49). To see things as the Lord does, to be where the Lord wants us to be, to experience a conversion of heart in His presence. To do so, prayer and penance will help. I invite the entire holy faithful People of God to a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting, following the Lord's command.[1] This can awaken our conscience and arouse our solidarity and commitment to a culture of care that says 'never again' to every form of abuse.
"It is impossible to think of a conversion of our activity as a Church that does not include the active participation of all the members of God's People. Indeed, whenever we have tried to replace, or silence, or ignore, or reduce the People of God to small elites, we end up creating communities, projects, theological approaches, spiritualities, and structures without roots, without memory, without faces, without bodies and ultimately, without lives.[2] This is clearly seen in a peculiar way of understanding the Church's authority, one common in many communities where sexual abuse and the abuse of power and conscience have occurred. Such is the case with clericalism, an approach that 'not only nullifies the character of Christians, but also tends to diminish and undervalue the baptismal grace that the Holy Spirit has placed in the heart of our people.'[3] Clericalism, whether fostered by priests themselves or by lay persons, leads to an excision in the ecclesial body that supports and helps to perpetuate many of the evils that we are condemning today. To say 'no' to abuse is to say an emphatic 'no' to all forms of clericalism.
"It is always helpful to remember that 'in salvation history, the Lord saved one people. We are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people. That is why no one is saved alone, as an isolated individual. Rather, God draws us to Himself, taking into account the complex fabric of interpersonal relationships present in the human community. God wanted to enter into the life and history of a people' (Gaudete et Exsultate, 6). Consequently, the only way that we have to respond to this evil that has darkened so many lives is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God. This awareness of being part of a people and a shared history will enable us to acknowledge our past sins and mistakes with a penitential openness that can allow us to be renewed from within. Without the active participation of all the Church's members, everything being done to uproot the culture of abuse in our communities will not be successful in generating the necessary dynamics for sound and realistic change. The penitential dimension of fasting and prayer will help us as God's People to come before the Lord and our wounded brothers and sisters as sinners imploring forgiveness and the grace of shame and conversion. In this way, we will come up with actions that can generate resources attuned to the Gospel. For 'whenever we make the effort to return to the source and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with new meaning for today's world' (Evangelii Gaudium, 11).
"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. An awareness of sin helps us to acknowledge the errors, the crimes, and the wounds caused in the past and allows us, in the present, to be more open and committed along a journey of renewed conversion.
"Likewise, penance and prayer will help us to open our eyes and our hearts to other people's sufferings and to overcome the thirst for power and possessions that are so often the root of those evils. May fasting and prayer open our ears to the hushed pain felt by children, young people, and the disabled. A fasting that can make us hunger and thirst for justice and impel us to walk in the truth, supporting all the judicial measures that may be necessary. A fasting that shakes us up and leads us to be committed in truth and charity with all men and women of good will, and with society in general, to combatting all forms of the abuse of power, sexual abuse, and the abuse of conscience.
"In this way, we can show clearly our calling to be 'a sign and instrument of communion with God and of the unity of the entire human race' (Lumen Gentium, 1).
" 'If one member suffers, all suffer together with it,' said Saint Paul. By an attitude of prayer and penance, we will become attuned as individuals and as a community to this exhortation, so that we may grow in the gift of compassion, in justice, prevention, and reparation. Mary chose to stand at the foot of her Son's cross. She did so unhesitatingly, standing firmly by Jesus' side. In this way, she reveals the way she lived her entire life. When we experience the desolation caused by these ecclesial wounds, we will do well, with Mary, 'to insist more upon prayer,' seeking to grow all the more in love and fidelity to the Church (SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, Spiritual Exercises, 319). She, the first of the disciples, teaches all of us as disciples how we are to halt before the sufferings of the innocent, without excuses or cowardice. To look to Mary is to discover the model of a true follower of Christ.
"May the Holy Spirit grant us the grace of conversion and the interior anointing needed to express before these crimes of abuse our compunction and our resolve courageously to combat them."
[1] "But this kind [of demon] does not come out except by prayer and fasting" (Mt 17:21).
[2] Cf. Letter to the Pilgrim People of God in Chile (May 31, 2018).
[3] Letter to Cardinal Marc Ouellet, President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America (March 19, 2016).
Labor Day Statement 2018
Just Wages and Human Flourishing
Most Reverend Frank J. Dewane
Bishop of Venice
Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
September 3, 2018
The plight of our brothers and sisters who work hard but struggle to make ends meet calls us all to reflect in a special way this Labor Day. Today, we read in St. Luke's Gospel how Jesus, upon returning home to Nazareth, read from the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue declaring, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor."1 Sadly, in our times too many people are excluded, marginalized, and politically and economically disenfranchised. The struggle of working people, of the poor, as Pope Francis reminds us, is not first a "social or political question. No! It is the Gospel, pure and simple."2 There has been some notable progress in our economy in recent years, but it is also apparent that it is not where it should be for many, and we can all play a productive role in making sure it is a system that upholds the dignity of all people.
Recent economic news and data report that poverty continues to decline, unemployment is down to one of the lowest levels in decades and there has been economic growth with production, stocks and profits rising to record levels. But is this the whole story? Do these developments give an entirely accurate account of the daily lives and struggles of working people, those who are still without work, or the underemployed struggling with low wages?
It is encouraging that poverty has gone down, but still almost one in three persons have a family income below 200% of the federal poverty line.3 Today, there are many families who, even if they have technically escaped poverty, nevertheless face significant difficulties in meeting basic needs. Wages for lower income workers are, by various accounts, insufficient to support a family and provide a secure future. A recent study examined whether a minimum wage earner could afford an average two-bedroom apartment in their state of residence. Shockingly, in all 50 states, the answer was no.4 A recent report from the Federal Reserve shows that four in ten adults could not cover a $400 emergency expense, or would rely on borrowing or selling something to do so.5
Although the national median income has increased over the last two years, it is still relatively stagnant when compared to top earners. Taking into account inflation and the rising cost of living, workers at the lower end of the income spectrum have seen their wages stagnate or even decrease over the last decade.6 From 2014 to 2015, the rate of income growth was more pronounced at the lower end of the spectrum, possibly due to state increases in the minimum wage and increased employment. But from 2015 to 2016, the rate of growth was highest at the top.7
Another alarming trend is the continuing disparities in median incomes between different racial and ethnic groups and between women and men. For example, in 2016, the median household income of non-Hispanic whites was $25,500 more than that of blacks, and the real median earnings of women were $10,000 lower than that of men.8 Clearly no examination of our economy, in light of justice, can exclude consideration of how discrimination based on race and sex impacts the just distribution of wages.
Every worker has a right to a just wage according to the criterion of justice, which St. John XXIII described as wages that, "give the worker and his family a standard of living in keeping with the dignity of the human person."9 St. John Paul II elaborated on the systematic implications of just wages, describing them as "the concrete means of verifying the justice of the whole socioeconomic system."10 However, when a society fails in the task of ensuring workers are paid justly, questions arise as to the underlying assumptions of that system. A society that is willing to exclude its most vulnerable members, Pope Francis suggests in Evangelii Gaudium, is one where "the socioeconomic system is unjust at its root."11 Pope Francis warns that absent a just response, these disparities can lead to deep societal divisions and even violence.
The Church's traditional teaching holds that wages must honor a person's dignity and ability to contribute to the common good of civil society and family well-being. As the Catechism states, "The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings. Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the service of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community."12 The economy must serve people, not the other way around. Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of participating in God's creation. If the dignity of work is to be protected, then the basic rights of workers must be respected, including the right to productive work, to decent and fair wages, to organizing and joining unions, to private property, and to economic initiative.
All persons can help build an economy that recognizes the dignity of every life. Business owners and managers have a duty to seek profits to ensure the stability and long-term success of their businesses. However, they also "have an obligation to consider the good of persons and not only the increase of profits."13 A part of this obligation is to pay a just wage, which provides a dignified livelihood for workers and their families to meet their basic needs. A just wage not only provides for workers' financial well-being, but fosters their social, cultural and spiritual dimensions as individuals and members of society. This is the essence of what the Church refers to when speaking of integral human development.
The traditional teaching of the Church also recalls that the mere fact that workers and employers have agreed to a certain wage "is not sufficient to justify morally the amount to be received in wages."14 Questions of justice and wages need to be examined in the context of the well-being and flourishing of the individual, the family and society. The cost of severe wage inequality, besides injury to the dignity of the person, is ultimately society's peace and harmony.
How are we as Christians, who are members of society, called to respond to the question of wages and justice? First, we are called to live justly in our own lives whether as business owners or workers. Secondly, we are called to stand in solidarity with our poor and vulnerable brothers and sisters. Lastly, we should all work to reform and build a more just society, one which promotes human life and dignity and the common good of all. We also need to recognize the gifts and responsibilities that God has entrusted to each of us. In his recent Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete et Exultate, Pope Francis asks us to reflect on the following: "Do you work for a living? Be holy by laboring with integrity and skill in the service of your brothers and sisters... . Are you in a position of authority? Be holy by working for the common good and renouncing personal gain."15
For reform to be possible, Pope Francis calls us to see our "life as a mission," and to "ask the Spirit what Jesus expects from you at every moment of your life and in every decision you must make, so as to discern its place in the mission you have received."16 This will require personal conversion and corresponding action in civil society. Practically speaking, in the setting of wages, there must be due consideration for what justly ensures security for employees to establish and maintain all significant aspects of family life, and care for family members into the future. Likewise, those engaged in public policy and finance should consider the structural causes of low wages, especially in the way that corporations distribute profits, and respond by working to address unjust disparities. The rights of workers to organize should be respected, as should the rights of unions and worker centers to advocate for just wages, health benefits that respect life and dignity, and time for rest, and to guard against wage theft. Labor too, must pursue its mission with integrity, as Pope Francis recently said, "Renewing labour in an ethical sense means in fact renewing the whole of society, banishing fraud and lies which poison the market, civil coexistence and the lives of people, especially the weakest."17
As Christians, we believe that conflict or enmity between the rich and the poor is not necessary or inevitable. These divisions are in fact sinful. But we live in the hope that our society can become ever more just when there is conversion of heart and mind so that people recognize the inherent dignity of all and work together for the common good. This Labor Day, let us all commit ourselves to personal conversion of heart and mind and stand in solidarity with workers by advocating for just wages, and in so doing, "bring glad tidings to the poor."
1 Lk. 4:18.
2 "Pope Francis dedicates Mass to 'noble Chinese people,'" Vatican News (May 24, 2018) https://www.vaticannews.va/
3 U.S. Dep't of Comm'r, U.S. Census Bureau, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016, 17 (Sept. 2017).
4 Tracy Jan, "A minimum wage worker can't afford a 2-bedroom apartment anywhere in the U.S.," The Washington Post (June 13, 2018).
5 Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2017, 21 (May 2018).
6 See, e.g.,U.S. Dep't of Comm'r, U.S. Census Bureau, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016, 31 (Table-A2) (Sept. 2017); Patricia Cohen, "Paychecks Lag as Profits Soar, and Prices Erode Wage Gains," The New York Times (July 13, 2018).
7 See id.
8 U.S. Dep't of Comm'r, U.S. Census Bureau, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016, at 5 (Figure 1); 10 (Figure 2).
9 Pope John XXII, Pacem in Terris, no. 20.
10 Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, no. 19 (emphasis in original).
11 Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium, no. 59.
12 Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2426.
13 CCC, no. 2432.
14 CCC, no. 2434.
15 Pope Francis, Gaudete et Exultate, no. 14.
16 Gaudete et Exultate, no. 23.
17 Pope Francis, Address to Participants at the National Convention of the Italian Masters of Labour
Federation (June 15, 2018) http://w2.vatican.va/content/
©2018 United States conference of Catholic Bishops
(Editor's note: This statement is reprinted with permission.)
Author Considers Church's Future
Many people are understandably concerned about the future of the Catholic Church. Garry Wills' book The Future of the Catholic Church with Pope Francis could help. In it Wills explains where the Church and the pope have come from to understand where they are going. The five sections of the book deal with on five major changes, "Comings and Goings," he calls them, in Latin, Monarchy, Anti-Semitism, Natural Law, and Confession.
He connects the emphasis on Latin as an over-reaction to the so-called Reformation. He also connects the openness to the vernacular to the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements in the Church.
Wills quotes Augustine, "We are, at our best, not only members but patriots of our blundering state and sinning Church, mudding along in our shared third city." The Church and the state both changed in response to the Holocaust. They will continue to change in response to the current Jihadist and Modernist persecutions. The Vatican II document Nostra Aetate (In Our Time), re-emphasized our Judeo-Christian unity against the godless for He Who made us one.
In the chapter, "The Pope as Sex Monitor," Wills tells of the break with other christians over the immorality of contraception in 1930. Pope Pius XI wrote the encyclical Casti Connubi, (Of Caste Wedlock) he says, responding to Jesuit theologian Arthur Vermeerisch. "God has entrusted the defense of the integrity and purity of the midst of the moral ruin which surrounds her," is even truer now. Another Jesuit, John C. Ford, was in the minority when Humanae Vitae (Of Human Life) in 1968 and then Familias Consortio (In the Family) in 1981 were also discounted by many clergy and laity.
Pope Francis confesses, "My style of government as a Jesuit at the beginning had many faults. That was a difficult time for the Society: an entire generation of Jesuits had disappeared. Because of this found myself provincial when I was very young. This was crazy." This premature promotion was the case in many orders and seminaries.
Going against the liberation theology of the time he ordered two of his own teachers, Frs. Orlando Yoria and Franz Jalics, to stop their work in the slums. They stayed, even without priestly faculties, were arrested and tortured as Marxists. As bishop of Buenois Aires, however, he himself lived in the same slums. Wills writes, "Francis went to the poor to learn, not to teach. He went to find God there."
Delaying First communion until after First Confession was discontinued in 1973, restoring the practice started in 1910 by Pius X. Pope Benedict told the laity, "It is necessary to return to the confessional as a place in which to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but also as a place in which 'to dwell' more often." Speaking to priests Pope Francis exhorted them to offer the Sacrament of Confession more frequently, to "open the doors of the Church" and "leave the light" of the confessional on longer.
When Cardinal Borgoglio responding to the question, "Do you accept the papacy?" he answered with, "I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite mercy and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ and I accept in a spirit of penance." Then he chose the name Francis of Assisi, the penitent. Wills continues, "His kindness to his predecessor/neighbor, Benedict, has the air of one who has himself been lofty and above the people. In loving Benedict, he is forgiving his former self."
When he was told that many who believe in God can no longer believe in their priests, he answered, "And that's just fine. Many priests are not worthy of their belief."
Wills concludes his book with "His favorite music of Bach is the 'Erbarme dich' from St. Matthew's Passion, asking God for mercy toward Peter's repentant tears. That kind of hope bodes well for the future of the Catholic Church."
Race Towards Holiness
This year the Church in Poland and the world celebrates St. Stanislaus Kostka, the young Polish Jesuit priest. Pope Francis sent a letter, dated August 15, to the bishop of Plock, Poland, to mark a significant anniversary. The message follows:
"Today, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it is the 450th anniversary of the death of Saint Stanislaus Kostka. At the age of only 18, due to a serious illness, this pupil of the Jesuit novitiate in Rome, one of the most excellent sons of your country and of the Society of Jesus, ended his earthly pilgrimage. Therefore, in commemorating his entry into the glory of the Lord, I join in the prayer of thanksgiving of the faithful of the Diocese of Pock and of the whole Church in Poland, who will soon be attending the central celebrations of the year dedicated to him in Rostkowo, the birthplace of the saint.
"I would like to take this opportunity to address first of all the young people of whom Saint Stanislaus is patron. I like to recall the phrase that Saint John Paul II pronounced in the church of Saint Andrew at the Quirinal, when he venerated his relics: 'The journey of his short life, begun in Rostkowo in Mazowsze, through Vienna and then to Rome, can be compared to a great cross-country race towards the goal of every Christian's life, which is holiness' (November 13, 1988).
"Dear young friends, I know that many of you, in September, will make the pilgrimage on foot from Przasnysz to Rostkowo, from the place of his baptism to the place of his birth. It is, so to speak, the first stage in Stanislaus' 'race' towards holiness. I encourage you to remember, not only during this march, but on all the paths of your daily life, that you too are capable of performing this 'race.' You too are driven by the love of Christ and strengthened by His grace. Be brave! The world needs your freedom of spirit, your confident gaze on the future, your thirst for truth, goodness and beauty. Saint Stanislaus teaches you that freedom which is not a blind race, but rather the ability to discern the goal and to follow the best ways of behavior and life. He teaches you always to seek first of all friendship with Jesus; to read and meditate on His word and welcome in His Eucharist His merciful and powerful presence, to resist the conditioning of the worldly mentality. Saint Stanislaus teaches you not to be afraid of the risk and dreams of true happiness, whose source and guarantee is Jesus Christ. 'Jesus is the Lord of risk, He is the Lord of the eternal "more"... He wants your hands to continue building the world of today. And He wants to build that world with you' (cf Address at the Prayer Vigil of World Youth Day, Krakow, July 30, 2016). May Saint Stanislaus support you from heaven, and inspire you with his motto: 'Ad maiora natus sum' - 'I was born for greater things.'
"Dear Brother, by the intercession of Saint Stanislaus Kostka, I invoke divine protection upon you, on all the bishops and priests, on the faithful and especially on the young people of the Church in Poland. I ask you to pray for me, and bless you from my heart in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Edge To Edge
Pray The News
Because we are sons and daughters of God, saved by Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we do not merely read the news but make the news. We direct the course of world events by faith expressed in action and intercession. Please pray for the stories covered in this paper. Clip out this intercessory list and make it part of your daily prayer.
- We pray for a great spirit of repentance and conversion in the Church and that all would turn to Jesus.
- We pray for openness to God's Spirit.
- We pray for healing for all who have been hurt by abuse.
- We pray that we will care for all of God's creation, especially water.
- We pray that we will share with others.
- We pray that we will learn and follow the social teachings of the Church.
- We pray that we will work for a labor system that upholds the dignity of all people.
- We pray for a conversion of heart and mind in regards to the needs of workers.
- We pray that we will be peacemakers.
- We pray that we will love God with everything we have.
- We pray for healing and reconciliation in our nation.
- We pray for all priests to grow in holiness.
- We pray that we will learn from the example of the saints, especially the saints of October.