Kennedy family priest says Bobby Kennedy Jr. is ‘disappointed’

Mary Richardson Kennedy nearly missed her own wake Friday after her siblings tried to legally take the body from her husband, Bobby Kennedy Jr.

An eleventh-hour court order enabled Kennedy to retrieve her remains from the Westchester County medical examiner and get them to the family home in Bedford where she hung herself Wednesday — and where friends and family were gathering Friday for her wake.

“The body has now been picked up,” said Donna Greene, a spokeswoman for Westchester County.

“The Medical Examiner had completed the autopsy yesterday, but a court proceeding was brought by the brother of Mary Richardson as to who would have possession of the body and where the body would go.”

Sources told the Daily News that her brothers and sisters did not want their sister buried in Hyannisport, Bobby Kennedy’s choice of last resting place for the woman he was in the final days of divorcing.

Mary Kennedy was depressed over her looming divorce from the son of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. when she killed herself. And that just widened the ugly rift that already existed between the two families.

Bobby Kennedy was “disappointed” that his estranged wife killed herself, the family’s priest said Friday.

“He’s profoundly moved,” Monsignor George Thompson said outside the Westchester church where Mary’s funeral is to be held Saturday. “He’s very disappointed.”

Friends of the doomed woman said they’re still going ahead with plans to hold their own memorial for the 52-year-old mother of four.

“It will be held at sunset on Monday night at the Standard Hotel,” said one of Mary’s bereaved friends, referring to the luxury hotel in Manhattan. “This will be a celebration of Mary’s life.”

While it wasn’t clear who would show up for the wake, both sides were expected to gather for the funeral at St. Patrick’s Church in Mount Kisco, a small and intimate house of worship that seats 300 — and where the couple’s kids had their First Communions.

“I’m as shocked as well as everybody else,” said Thompson, who said he saw Mary Kennedy just last Sunday. “Nothing seemed different about her. She’d come every Sunday when she was in town.”

Roman Catholic theology deems suicide a serious sin, but Thompson said “the Church looks at any suicide as a moment of temporary insanity.”

“When a person gets to that level of hopelessness and despair they can’t be held responsible,” he said. “It’s not really them acting.”

The couples’ four children — Conor, Kyra, William and Aiden, who range in age from 11 to 17 — were not living with their mom when she killed herself.

Bobby Kennedy had gotten temporary custody of them in February.

His estranged wife had been battling depression for years and had been “in a lot of agony for a lot of her life,” Kennedy told the New York Times.

His sister, Kerry Kennedy, told the paper Mary Kennedy had joined Alcoholics Anonymous and been sober for the past five months.

Friends said she wasn’t dealing well with being separated from her kids.

After Kennedy filed for divorce in May 2010, he dated a series of women, including TV actress Cheryl Hines, who was seen on his arm at the Sundance Film Festival and at gala benefits for his Riverkeeper Foundation.

Meanwhile, the distraught mom descended into a miasma of drug and alcohol abuse — and racked up two DUI incidents — before her husband stepped in and took custody of the kids.

Robert Kennedy is the third of 11 children of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968, five years after his older brother, President John F. Kennedy, was killed in Dallas.

jmolloy@nydailynews.com

Leeds Trinity to Host Major Catholic International Conference

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, Leeds Trinity University College is hosting a major Catholic international theological conference from 26 – 29 June 2012.

(PRWEB) May 18, 2012

The beginning of the Second Vatican Council had a profound impact on the life of the Catholic Church and its mission, in particular by starting an engagement with the modern and secularized world through a renewed proclamation of the Gospel. Pope John Paul II described this as the ‘New Evangelization’, and in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI confirmed this priority by creating the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

The 50th anniversary provides a unique opportunity to revisit that seminal event, and ‘Vatican II: 50 Years On: The New Evangelization’ will reflect on the impact of the council and deepen understanding of New Evangelization. Hosted by Leeds Trinity in conjunction with the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, the conference will take place from 26 – 29 June at Leeds Trinity University College, and is the first in a series of conferences to celebrate Catholic Higher Education in the UK.

A number of international, high profile church leaders and theologians will address the conference, including Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the newly formed Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, and Gavin D’Costa, Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bristol. Representatives of church, academy and society will also take part in panels assessing the local and global impact of the Council and its meaning for today. There will be an opportunity to celebrate the Council and the New Evangelization at public events each evening.

The Right Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, has lent his support for the conference, saying:

“I welcome the forthcoming International Theological Conference at Leeds Trinity University College. This represents an important moment in the Church’s outreach to society following the Papal Visit in 2010. Our Catholic faith has a specific content. Rearticulated at the Second Vatican Council, this faith is to be constantly explored and treasured. God is calling us to share its saving truths respectfully with others so that they may share our joy. I hope that your reflections will bear much fruit.”

For further information and to book a place, visit http://www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/vaticanIIconference or contact Kathy Stenton, k(dot)stenton(at)leedstrinity(dot)ac(dot)ukor +44 (0)113 2837102.

Notes for editors

Leeds Trinity University College is an independent higher education institution offering foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in a range of subjects including Business, Education, Humanities, Journalism, Media, Psychology and Sport. Formerly Leeds Trinity All Saints, the institution attained University College status in September 2009, following the granting by the Privy Council of Taught Degree Awarding Powers.

All degrees involve a professional placement for students to extend their experience and explore their career aspirations. With around 3000 students studying for full and part-time degrees Leeds Trinity retains a community atmosphere which provides a supportive and friendly environment to help people realise their full potential.

For more information:

Lisa Farrell, Communications Officer, Leeds Trinity University College

Tel: 0113 283 7273

Email: l(dot)farrell(at)leedstrinity(dot)ac(dot)uk

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebleedstrinity/internationalconference/prweb9514946.htm

Leeds Trinity to host major Catholic International Conference

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, Leeds Trinity University College is hosting a major Catholic international theological conference
from 26 – 29 June 2012.

/PressPort/ – The beginning of the Second Vatican Council had a profound impact on the life of the Catholic Church and its mission, in particular by starting an engagement with the modern and secularized world through a renewed proclamation of the Gospel. Pope John Paul II described this as the ‘New Evangelization’, and in 2010, Pope Benedict XVI confirmed this priority by creating the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.

The 50^th anniversary provides a unique opportunity to revisit that seminal event, and ‘Vatican II: 50 Years On: The New Evangelization’ will reflect on the impact of the council and deepen understanding of New Evangelization. Hosted by Leeds Trinity in conjunction with the Centre for Catholic Studies, Durham University, the conference will take place from 26 – 29 June at Leeds Trinity University College, and is the first in a series of conferences to celebrate Catholic Higher Education in the UK.

A number of international, high profile church leaders and theologians will address the conference, including Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the newly formed Pontifical Council for New Evangelization, and Gavin D’Costa, Professor of Catholic Theology at the University of Bristol. Representatives of church, academy and society will also take part in panels assessing the local and global impact of the Council and its meaning for today. There will be an opportunity to celebrate the Council and the New Evangelization at public events each evening.

The Right Reverend Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, has lent his support for the conference, saying:

 “I welcome the forthcoming International Theological Conference at Leeds Trinity University College. This represents an important moment in the Church’s outreach to society following the Papal Visit in 2010. Our Catholic faith has a specific content. Rearticulated at the Second Vatican Council, this faith is to be constantly explored and treasured. God is calling us to share its saving truths respectfully with others so that they may share our joy. I hope that your reflections will bear much fruit.”

For further information and to book a place, visit  www.leedstrinity.ac.uk/vaticanIIconference or contact Kathy Stenton, k.stenton@leedstrinity.ac.uk or +44 (0)113 2837102.

ENDS

Notes for editors

Leeds Trinity University College is an independent higher education institution offering foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in a range of subjects including Business, Education, Humanities, Journalism, Media, Psychology and Sport. Formerly Leeds Trinity All Saints, the institution attained University College status in September 2009, following the granting by the Privy Council of Taught Degree Awarding Powers.

All degrees involve a professional placement for students to extend their experience and explore their career aspirations. With around 3000 students studying for full and part-time degrees Leeds Trinity retains a community atmosphere which provides a supportive and friendly environment to help people realise their full potential.

For more information:

Lisa Farrell, Communications Officer, Leeds Trinity University College

Tel: 0113 283 7273

Email: l.farrell@leedstrinity.ac.uk 

Sheshan Monastery

( chinadaily.com.cn )

Updated: 2012-05-17

At the southwestern foot of West Sheshan and on the former site of Xuanmiao Temple, there are a few buildings. Here lies Sheshan Monastery – a cradle of Catholic priests in China.

The monastery is well equipped and covers 20 acres of land. Its building area is 6,000m2. The main buildings in the monastery adopted a style of the European Renaissance. The layout is reasonable and harmonious. The environment is quiet and tasteful.

The monastery admits aspirants who have received 2~3 years’ training in liberal arts in the minor seminaries from all over the country, as students for priesthood. The courses in literature mainly include Chinese contemporary literature, Chinese modern literature, Chinese history, world history, politics and foreign languages.

The courses in philosophy mainly include church philosophy, history of Chinese philosophy, logistics, epistemology, cosmology, theory of human nature, philosophical anthropology, ethics, history of Western philosophy, and philosophical theology. The courses in theology mainly include Catholic theology, bibliology, dogmatic theology, ecclesiology, ethical theology, liturgical theology, fundamental theology, patrology, church history and spiritual theology.

Sheshan Monastery trains 160 five-year seminarians from East China each year. In the 1990s, it introduced subjects for 10-year seminarians. In addition, it also sends excellent seminarians to the United States, France, Germany and other Western countries for advanced study and training at the public expense. After graduation or returning to China, the seminarians will comply with national unified assignments and become high-level management personnel and professionals dedicated to religious activities in China.

Early English masses sung by Canonici with the Fritts organ at Grace Lutheran

Early music doesn’t get much better than this: an a cappella quartet of gorgeous voices singing music they know inside and out, along with period music played on a historically-inspired organ. That’s what you’ll get this Sunday afternoon at Grace Lutheran church, Tacoma, as the Canonici Consort of Voices presents early English masses along with Jonathan Wohlers playing Renaissance English music on the church’s beautiful Fritts organ.

When John Dunstable, John Plummer, John Bedyngham and Walter Frye were writing music, Henry VIII was yet unthought of and England was still part of the Catholic church. Yet all around Europe the Renaissance was just beginning to flower, with new styles like pleasant-sounding triad harmony swirling polyphonically around the cantus firmus melody. The masses these 15^th-century composers wrote merged Catholic theology with the new harmonic ideals of beauty; hearing them sung is to be transported to a different, calmer moment of time.

The four members of Canonici directed by Dr. Anne Lyman are all early-music specialists, and sing this music with knowledge and grace. Rounding out the program is Trinity Lutheran’s organist Jonathan Wohlers performing English organ music from the period on the golden Fritts organ, inspired by early European organs and built here in Tacoma. He’ll also give a short demonstration during intermission.

3 p.m. May 20. $15/$12. Grace Lutheran, 6202 S. Tyler St., Tacoma. 253-472-7105, gracelutherantacoma.org, canonici.org

Fine art and decorative art from area churches & private collections at Paul …

LAFAYETTE, LA – Faith and Form surveys some of the remarkable fine art and decorative art from area churches, cathedrals and private collections. The exhibition will be on view May 19 through September 1, 2012 as part of Louisiana’s Bicentennial Celebration.

As the title of this exhibition suggests, faith is often signified in visual form. Evidence suggests that visual imagery and objects have been created to communicate with higher powers and educate others for as long as humans have roamed the earth. If not part of prayer, homage to the gods, or rites of passage, spiritual significance was integrated into objects used in daily life. Through these objects, sacred beliefs could be honored and taught.

In Faith and Form, visitors will have the opportunity to consider objects used in Catholic rituals; the shapes, the iconography, the symbolism, and the functions which signify Catholic faith. Catholicism has a long presence in the State of Louisiana beginning with its history as French and Spanish territories. Catholic practices of these European nations persisted as the state grew in population during the 18th century. By the early 19th century immigrants from Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Germany furthered proliferation of Catholicism as they settled in the Southern part of the State. Until the American purchase of the LouisianaTerritory in 1803, everyone in the Lafayette area was legally required to be Catholic. As Anglo Americans moved in to region Protestantism grew and by the end of World War II the northern part of the state was predominately Protestant. In Acadiana, Catholicism remains the primary denomination mirroring that of the nation as a whole. Catholics make up about 22% of the population or 77.7 million as the largest religious denomination in the United States.

This exhibition consists of religious artifacts from a variety of Catholic churches in Acadiana as well as a few artworks from the Museum’s permanent collection. Participating Churches and lenders include:

St. Peter’s (1838) New Iberia, Rev. Charles Langlois

St. Joseph (1892), Iota, Rev. Mikel A. Polson

Sacred Heart of Jesus (1906), Baldwin, Rev. Gregory Cormier

The Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist (1916), Lafayette, Janice McNeil, Curator

Holy Ghost (1920), Opelousas, Rev. Jaison Mangalath

Our Mother of Mercy Josephite (1928), Rayne, Rev. Richard Wagner, SSJ

Our Mother of Mercy Josephite (1941), Church Point, Rev. Francis Butler, SSJ

Holy Cross (1965), Lafayette, Rev. Howard J. Blessing

St. Basil (1970), Duson, Rev. A. Rex Broussard, Jr.

Faye Drobnic, Lafayette

The exhibition has been in development for over two years and is a partnership between the HilliardMuseum and the UL Lafayette Public History program. Initial research for this exhibition was performed by the following graduate students in public History taught by Dr. John Troutman: Lauren Albarado, Alaina Comeaux, Meagan Dossmann, Jennifer Hopkins, Leigh Rutherford, Lauren Talley, and Simon Wooster. The exhibition would not have been possible without the endorsement of the Most Reverend Michael Jarrell, Bishop of Lafayette.

Exhibition Didactics

The earliest forms of religious or spiritual iconography are thought to be images of animals and human hands drawn on cave walls 30,000 years before Christ such as those found at Lascaux, in southern France. No one knows why these images were painted on cave walls but it is assumed they have something to do with spiritual communication “to the “gods” and to the group. Images were obviously important to define ideas and translate concepts among the tribe and whatever higher power early humans conceived of functioning in their lives.

Symbols are an important aspect of ritual and religious practice because they function as an immediate form of communication, especially when much of the population was illiterate. Signs and symbols represent layers of meaning that can be understood quickly and efficiently once their meanings have been digested.

Early Christian imagery grows out of the available visual vocabulary found in the frescoes of the catacombs and from Greco-Roman art that filled both cities and residences. These visual signs and symbols conveyed important concepts intended to teach Catholic theology while assisting with one’s spiritual understanding of the Word of God. Early Christians were accustomed to this visual language and thus it was easily transferred to the new belief system. Re-interpreting pagan symbolism also maintained the mystery of early Christian beliefs and practices when practitioners’ feared exposure of their monotheistic convictions.

Transitions from pagan meanings to a Christian interpretation was relatively easy to accomplish given that the population was accustomed to seeing and worshipping statues of gods, emperors, and heroes. Images of Christ were likely modeled after pagan figures in Greco-Roman mythology such as of Hermes Kriophorus, Aristaeus, Apollo, and Orpheus. Narratives of sacrifice, leadership, baptism, visitation, death and resurrection, were also easily transformed from pagan and Judaic rituals and beliefs to the new faith and into a new iconography.

The use of symbolic imagery continues to hold an important function in communicating beliefs both intellectually and emotionally. For example, the dove represents the Holy Spirit but it also symbolizes peace, tranquility, and hope.

Early Icons

In 313, Roman Emperor Constantine I issued the Edict of Milan legalizing worship of all religions in the Roman Empire. Soon thereafter, however, he declared his own allegiance to Catholicism citing the protection of the (one) High God responsible for his personal successes. It took until 325, however, for Constantine to recognize Christianity and Catholicism as the official religion of the empire. At that time, the seat of the empire was located in Constantinople (currently Istanbul, Turkey), once the center of the Byzantine Empire.

Under the Greco-Roman tradition, pagan gods and idols were given visual form to evoke a presence and assure a connection with the viewer. Ideals of beauty as professed by the Greeks and naturalism as practiced by the Romans humanized gods and made them accessible. Traditionally, Eastern visual traditions shunned figurative imagery in favor of natural forms such as botanical and linear patterns. Representative images of humans were particularly frowned upon in the East, but under Roman influence the conflation of Western and Eastern aesthetics became one. Catholic iconography thus evolved from pagan signs and symbols in the West to include those familiar in the East. The result of this merger became known as Byzantine art reflecting the Eastern Empire prior to Constantine’s arrival.

All art at this time was created in service to religion; to educate, to provoke, and to remind the masses about theology. Aesthetic imagery provided a pathway from which to probe the mysteries of life and nature and to discover solutions to the practical as well as the spiritual problems that surround humans, and could endow spiritual and symbolic revelations. During the Byzantine period of the empire, secular and spiritual worlds were woven together as one. The emperor was closely associated with the church and considered its head whereas in the West, the pope was considered the sole spiritual leader. Under Constantine’s rule, religious ceremony and artistic production merged the desire to educate with a need to awe the masses.

Making heaven and God accessible meant the sinner needed to be emotionally moved. Dazzling displays of color and gold attracted those who sought redemption, elevation, and spiritual harmony. Thus, in Byzantine art, we find an abundance of glass mosaics, and gold leaf reflecting the light from candles and creating the surreal quietude one seeks for contemplation and a vision of heaven. To compromise the figural tradition of Greco-Roman art and the Eastern tradition of the Byzantine art, figures were elongated and features exaggerated. Figures also stood in rigid positions and were placed in abstract environments meant to represent the heavenly space all penitents desired. The use of glass remained common in the Eastern Church but evolved into painted icons in the west. Meant to represent a transcendent world, the world of the spirit, images of saints, Mary or Christ were painted on wooden panels used in both personal and public devotion. The calm pious images reassured spectators of the mysterious knowledge of God and His ever-present gaze through his earthly representatives.

On your left, made with small pieces of glass formed into mosaics, you see a reproduction of the early form of Byzantine Christian iconography. This image is based on one of Justinian found in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy completed in 546 AD.

Later Icons

Icon is the Greek word for image which became associated with Catholicism through the Roman and Byzantine eras. Artists attempted to represent the image of God or an aspect of God through the image of a person. Thus the icon can best be considered a trans-personalized artistic and spiritual representation of a sacred person or a sacred event. Since most people at the Time were illiterate, it was important for leaders of the faith to use visual tools, such as paintings of Christ, Mary, an Old or New Testament character, some hero of the Church or some event from salvation history such as the Nativity of Christ or the Crucifixion. Images of people are known as icons but there were other images that contributed to telling the story and the symbols for other characters became known as iconography. In order to fully tell the story, symbolic images of sacred people and acts needed to be systematized. A believer was expected to live through the sacred icon or image.

Icons are meant to educate and assist one’s spiritual growth. They are a means to practice devotion to God by aiding one in prayer and meditation as well as reminding us of God’s presence in everyday life. The tradition of painted icons continues today. All of the paintings on this wall were done by local icon painters: Father Gregory Cormier, Father Rex Broussard, and Faye Drobnic.

Icon painters follow a specific set of guidelines for icon painting rather than create a unique individual style like traditional fine artists do. They reproduce images from early Christian icons in a set order. No two icons will ever be alike due to incremental personal touches of each iconographer. While creating an icon, the painter meditates in order to seek the religious inspiration for capturing the elements of devotion that will then speak to the viewer.

Chalices and Ciboria

Objects used during the performance of Mass are essential to illustrating the presence of Christ. Ciboria hold the consecrated particles used for Communion of the laity and chalices hold the wine drunk by the priest during the Communion ceremony. Together, the hosts and wine represent the body and blood of Christ. The Chalice is the most important of the Sacred Vessels because Christ used a chalice at the Last Supper. Thus, it reminds us of Christ’s promise to His followers, “if ye shall drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt you.” Symbolically, the chalice represents the priesthood and is the one object that priests may personalize upon being ordained. A bishop consecrates each chalice before use in the sacrifice of the mass. A broken, perforated, or re-gilded chalice must be re-consecrated before it is returned to use.

Neither the form or decoration of chalices, nor the materials used in their creation, have altered significantly over time. The Church has decreed that a chalice must be made of precious metals such as gold or silver, though in cases of poverty, the outer body of the chalice may be made of pewter but the interior of the cup must be gilded. Contemporary chalices also have less decoration than pre-Vatican II cups but they still require good materials and skilful artisanship. A paten covers the chalice prior to or after use. It may or may not be decorated. In this exhibition are several patens each with a different form of ornamentation.

One thing that has changed over time is the size of the chalice cup. Prior to Vatican II in the 1960s, the cup needed only to hold enough wine for the priest. After Vatican II, the size increased to accommodate the communicants as well as the priest.

Ciboria (meaning food containers in Latin) are similar to chalices in that they hold the sacred body of Christ. It, too, should be made of precious metals and the inside should be lined with gold. Its style is a bit shorter and there should be a slight rounded elevation in the center so that the priest may easily remove a host when few remain in the cup. Unlike chalices, ciboria have a metal cover adorned with a cross. Since it functions as a container for sacred hosts, it should be covered with a white cloth of precious material when hosts are within. A Ciborium, again unlike a chalice, is not consecrated but rather blessed by a bishop or priest.

Two chalices from St. Peter’s church in New Iberia illustrate the diversity found in chalice design: one has an outer shell cast in pewter and the other is hand-carved olive wood. Both show figures in a processional similar in format to Ancient relief sculptures and paintings.

Vestments

Vestments are the articles of clothing worn by the clergy while performing church ceremonies. Their origin and symbolism, like the early period of Catholicism, is shrouded in mystery and uncertainty but it is thought that the vestments probably developed from the secular dress of the Greco-Roman World. There were four main periods of development of the vestments: The era before Constantine, where dress differed little from secular dress except it was of much higher quality. The second period, spanning the fourth to the ninth century, saw the development of a specific priestly dress style that is similar to current trends. The current style of vestments was determined between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Beyond this period, the primary changes involved types of material, embroidery, and ornaments.

Vestments symbolize the priestly virtues of the wearer and the differing colors used to represent different emotions. For example, white or gold represent purity, joy, and triumph and are worn at Easter, Christmas, holy days and feast days throughout the year. Red represents royalty, fire, and martyrdom and is worn during the week of the Pentecost and during the feasts of Martyrs, Evangelists, and Apostles. Green is the color of nature and the sign of life and growth, it also represents ordinary time. Violet symbolizes sorrow, purification, and penance and is worn during Lent and Advent. Pink represents joy and is worn on the third Sunday of Lent. Black represents mourning and death and is worn during funerals and on Good Friday.

Specific Vestments

The Chasuble is an outer decorative garment worn by priests when performing Mass. The word is derived from Latin meaning casual or “little house” because on occasion the cloak was literally used as a shelter by clergy. Traditional chasubles were required to have a large cross on the back to signify the yolk of service to God, although this practice is no longer required on contemporary chasubles.

The Alb, meaning “white” in Latin, is a long linen garment symbolizing innocence and purity. It goes beneath the chasuble and hangs lower on the body.

The Amice is a rectangular piece of cloth with an embroidered cross which is wrapped around the neck, shoulders and breast. It represents the garment of the fool. Roman soldiers placed an amice over God’s head as they blindfolded, mocked and struck Him. It was once used as a head covering to protect monks and clergy from the elements and represents the helmet of salvation.

The Stole is the long thin vestment worn around the neck and hangs down on both sides in front. It is meant to remind us of the priest’s apostolic authority and ability to forgive sins.

Monstrances, Reliquaries, and Statues

A Monstrance, sometimes called Ostensorium, is a vessel designed to exhibit an object of piety. In the center is a glass or crystal viewing compartment, just big enough to hold the object of a sacred host or the relic of a saint. The center is surrounded by gold or silver “rays” which function to draw one’s attention to the central object. Monstrances have been used in Catholic processionals since the 15th century. The “rays” are designed to draw the eye toward the center, and the Blessed Sacrament inside. Most Monstrances are mounted on a cross, which is then positioned on an altar or similar pedestal.

Reliquaries are containers that protect and display relics associated with saints or other religious figures. A relic is a tangible object such as a piece of bone, hair, clothing or other physical element related to the revered person. These objects are often believed to hold miraculous powers and form a direct connection to God through the saint or religious person.

The form of reliquaries is quite diverse and varies considerably in size, shape and decoration, but most are meant to be portable so they can be carried in processions or held by the faithful. In this exhibition, you will see the most common form of contemporary reliquaries, often resembling a small monstrance.

Statues of religious figures have a long and varied history and purpose. Primarily carved, cast, or fabricated, figural images of saints, Christ, and Mary, can be found in most Catholic churches. Statues vary greatly in size, form and style, but their purpose is always to remind congregants of the deeds or lives of the religious person.

African American Catholic churches in Acadiana

Southern Louisiana has the largest per capita Black Catholic population in the United States. The long history of Catholicism among blacks in Louisiana dates back to the time when the French governed Louisiana and required slaves to be baptized. Despite this history, segregation laws and practices in the American south prevented black Catholics from practicing with white Catholics until the mid 20th century.

Creole churches and parishes, especially those in rural areas and some poorer urban neighborhoods, have often been viewed by the church as missionary districts. Irish and French-Canadian clergy and the Baltimore-based Josephite Fathers have been the most active in establishing African-American congregations in Louisiana. Given the racial and ethnic mix of cultures in Louisiana, early black churches incorporated a range of folk religious practices, including African, medieval Catholicism, African-American belief and ritual systems, and Native American beliefs and medicinal practices.

With few exceptions, Church doctrine outlines the form and design of objects used to celebrate Mass or perform rituals. Thus, these influences typically reflect the building and performance of the Mass through imagery in statues, stained glass, vestments, and architecture. Occasionally, statuary and paintings include images of African saints.

Given the aesthetic requirements of the Church, most objects retain similarity in their design, although personal ornamentation or design choice does appear in vestments. For example, in African-American parishes vestments often reflect an African heritage.

As the outer garment, the chasuble is often decorated with images important to the identity of a specific church or parish. Included in this exhibition are chasubles unique to African-American churches, such as the examples from Holy ghost Catholic Church in Opelousas, and one complete garment set and miter worn by Bishop Joseph Abel Francis (1923-1997) from the cathedral of St. John in Lafayette. Bishop Francis was the first black bishop Emeritus of the arch Diocese of Newark, New Jersey.

Religious Imagery in Southern Folk Art

Southern folk artists – sometimes referred to as vernacular or outsider artists – often create highly personal artworks made for decorative, critical, didactic, proselytistic or contemplative reasons. Church life, for many vernacular artists is an important part of their identity and cultural context. Many artists identify themselves as evangelical Christians who believe that the Bible’s words should be taken literally as the history of God’s people. Some American vernacular artists create objects with religious iconography as a way to pay homage to their religious convictions. They focus on subjects specific to scriptures such as the birth, baptism and death of Christ; Old Testament figures such as Moses and Noah; as well as the story of Adam and Eve. Others use religious iconography because it is where they learn an aesthetic language. Churches filled with objects devoted to the stories of the Holy Family, Christ, even the Devil, are common to folk artists not trained in traditional academic methods. They create objects based on or inspired by what they see and learn from attending Church.

The Crucifixion by Mississippi-born Sulton Rogers, and Adam and Eve by Dow Pugh are typical examples of the American folk arts tradition. Rogers’s style is unique to the artist but his subject matter is classic Catholic iconography. The objects are carved in soft woods and painted with acrylics, as are the angels by Fred Webster.

The Cross

The cross is an important symbol to all Christian religions though it varies somewhat in style for each. One of the oldest symbols known to human civilization, the cross was used both in the East and West. The origin of the cross is uncertain, but we do know there are no representations of the Crucifixion found in early Catholic iconography, and few, if any, representations of the cross. Allusions to the Cross and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ do appear in the Old Testament, however. According to St. Jerome and other Fathers noted in Ezekiel (9:4), the cross was seen as a solemn symbol of the Cross of Christ. The only other symbol of crucifixion indicated in the Old Testament refers to the brazen serpent in the Book of Numbers (21:8-9). Christ Himself interpreted the passage: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14). The Psalmist predicts the piercing of the hands and the feet (Psalm 21:17). This was seen as a true prophecy, because the practice of nailing the condemned to a T-shaped cross could not be found in any existing custom prior to the Roman practice. Surprisingly, the cross was a positive emblem in many pagan customs, but the Romans viewed the cross solely as a material instrument of punishment.

Today we associate the cross with memory of the crucifixion of Christ and Christ’s sacrifice for other’s sins. It may be the most iconic of all Christian symbols and is typically featured prominently in all Catholic churches. In Protestant forms, the cross is figureless, representing the risen Christ. Catholic versions of the cross show the suffering Christ and therefore include a figural representation.

In this exhibition we find visual reference to the cross in many different forms including traditional representations of the suffering Christ and one that depicts an abstraction of Christ as risen. The diversity in stylistic and ornamental embellishment of the cross is well represented in this exhibition given the variety in size, color, materials, and textures represented here.

Following Vatican II

In the 200 years of church history, only twenty councils have been called to initiate changes to policies and practices within the Catholic Church. Vatican II was the first council called since the Reformation in the fifteenth century. The Second Vatican Council opened October 11, 1962. The council was led by Pope John XXIII and the primary goal was to modernize the Church, making it more focused on its people, rather than the institutional structure. The Pope sought opinions from Bishops and non-Catholic Christians alike. Their dictate was to be less concerned with buildings, fine vestments, and hierarchy in order to create a new church model based on the “People of God.” The council examined the liturgy (prayers, songs, and the Mass); the role of the laity (from spectator to participant); the role of the church in the political and social world; and religious freedom and respect for other spiritual paths.

Changes put in place as a result of Vatican II include:

· Priests now faced the congregation, the altar was moved forward, and the altar railing was removed.

· Members of the congregation could read scriptures from the altar, services were in the vernacular, and members greeted each other during the service with a handshake.

· Church members were handed the communion rather than the priest placing it on their tongue.

· Parish councils let laity participate in church governance.

· The Church Focused more on learning biblical scriptures rather than the Catechism emphasizing that God was present in the sacred word of the scriptures as well as in the sacraments.

· The Church would now listen and learn from diverse cultures and times.

· Clergy began participating in social and political issues much more with the intent to seek social justice. The new definition of being Catholic was to be involved with the issues of the world and to seek justice.

The council issued “The Declaration of Religious Liberty” which declared that all people have the right to religious freedom. They directed a more open stance towards other Christians and also reached out to other faiths with the intent to share beliefs rather than impose the Catholic faith. Diversity and individuality would be encouraged rather than discouraged. The traditional dress code for clergy was relaxed.

The Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum in Lafayette, Louisiana is Acadiana’s architectural landmark and the largest art museum between Houston and New Orleans. The Museum features a variety of changing exhibitions and a continuing schedule of lectures and programs. Come enjoy the Museum and the beauty of University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus, just blocks away from the galleries, shops and famous restaurants of downtown Lafayette and the OilCenter.

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Ratzinger’s Faith

I first became acquainted with the writings of Tracey Rowland in the pages of the Tablet, where she is a fairly regular contributor. I am not sure why I did not see her book “Ratzinger’s Faith” when it was published by Oxford Press in 2008. But, I saw it at a local bookstore this past winter, bought it, and put it on my list of books to read. I completed it last weekend and highly recommend it to anyone interested in learning more about the theological pedigree and distinctive theological perspectives of Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI.

The first casualty of Rowland’s scholarship is the meme – let us be frank, a meme that has more than a little currency in leftie Catholic circles – that Joseph Ratzinger may have been on the side of the reformers at Vatican II, where he served as a peritus to Cardinal Frings of Cologne, but that after Vatican II, with the social and religious tumult of 1968, he turned hard to the right and has essentially been trying to put the Vatican II toothpaste back into the tube ever since, leading the Church back into pre-conciliar days. Rowland points us towards several instances in which Ratzinger has made his criticism of pre-conciliar scholasticism quite clear. He has allowed that it has its excellences but that he always found it dry and impersonal. She quotes a seminary Prefect who knew Ratzinger as a student who relates this observation, at once charming and profound: “[According to Raztinger] God is not recognized because He is a summum bonum that is able to be grasped and demonstrated with exact formulas, but because He is a You who comes forward and gets Himself recognized…In the dialect of Bavaria we would say: it[scholasticism] wasn’t his beer….He’s not interested in defining God by abstract concepts. An abstraction – he once told me – doesn’t need a mother.” Rowland relates throughout the book how Raztinger has stayed true to his suspicions of pre-conciliar scholasticism.

The second casualty of Rowland’s scholarship, again offered early in the book but sustained throughout its pages, is the idea that Ratzinger’s Augustinianism is “the problem” and that this characteristic differentiates him from the upbeat mood of the Council: Whereas the Council was opening the windows of the Church to the world, Raztinger has been trying to shut them ever since. She writes:

Ratzinger’s Augustinian dispositions should not be construed as having anything to do with wanting the Church to retreat from the world, or wanting her scholars to close down conversations with the rest of non-Catholic humanity. Unfortunately, in popular parlance the adjective “Augustinian” has often been tarred with a Calvinist brush…. The promotion of a puritan-style retreat from the world is based on an interpretation of the spiritual standing of the world in the thought of St. Augustine which flows from the reformation branch of this tradition. Ratzinger belongs to a different branch with people like the great Jesuit Erich Pryzwara (1889-1972), for whom Augustine, steeped in classical culture, and rejoicing in its achievements, none the less recognizes the necessity of Christ’s Revelation to transcend its limitations and breach its aporia, or doubt.

Well said. I would add that Ratzinger, like John Paul II, understandably and rightly has a certain suspicion, not to say pessimism, about modern culture’s ability to seek the good, and it has nothing to do with their reading of Augustine. Both men grew up in the horror of World War II.

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The first chapter of Rowland’s book presents a very fine survey of the pre-conciliar theological landscape, how the Council absorbed the different theological streams that fed it documents, and some of the emerging post-conciliar schools of thought, how they overlap and how they don’t. She notes how pre-conciliar Thomism fostered a “two-tier” approach to the relationship between grace and nature, and that this two-tier approach, or dualism, unintentionally fostered the secularization of culture. She notes that this two-tier approach was especially adopted by Catholic scholars in Protestant countries, such as the U.S., in their efforts to build bridges between Catholics and non-Catholics. “The idea was that Catholics and non-Catholics could find common ground on the territory of ‘pure nature’, while the more socially contentious supernatural beliefs and aspirations of Catholics could be relegated to the privacy of the individual soul.” She quotes Henri de Lubac who, on a tour of the U.S. in 1968 had warned that such a construction of the relationship between grace and nature resulted in “a total secularization that would banish God not only from social life but from culture and even from relationships in private life.”

This debate about the relationship between nature and grace may seem like the stuff, exclusively, of theological symposia. Instead, it is the heart of the matter. The influence of de Lubac and Balthasar on both John Paul II and Benedict XVI, I would submit although Rowland does not, is precisely the part of both men’s thought that Catholic neo-cons like George Weigel, Richard John Neuhaus, and Michael Novak were never able to grasp, or were afraid to grasp. How could they, committed as they were to John Courtney Murray’s attempts to reconcile the theological constitution of the Church with the Constitution of the United States. It was Murray, after all, who once wrote that “the dualism of mankind’s two hierarchically ordered forms of social life has been Christianity’s cardinal contribution to the Western political tradition.” It is all very well and good to repeat the words of Jesus about rendering unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and rendering unto God the things that are God’s, but what if everything is God’s? One of the difficulties some of us have seen in the USCCB’s statements about religious liberty is precisely the way those statements embody the Murray approach. This is what Professor Schindler was getting at in his brilliant essay on that subject to which I earlier called readers’ attention here.

It would be going too far to say that the struggle between liberals and conservatives over the interpretation of the Council has been a sideshow. It is not going too far to recognize that there is a certain symbiotic relationship between the two that misses the more interesting struggle within Catholic theology. As Balthasar once wrote: “[The] program of Christian progressivism is curiously close to that of its opponent, Christian integralism…Both, ultimately, have reduced the problem of power between God and the world, between grace and nature, to a monistic form which is easy to handle and can be managed by men.” Liberals and conservatives may be fighting over the rules, but the de Lubac, Balthasar, Ratzinger project is to go deeper, and to assert, boldly, that for the Christian, the absolute imperative is love, not obedience, except and only insofar as love entails a type of obedience, a demanding obedience indeed, to its own dictates. Rowland is careful to note that many post-conciliar Thomists has been wrestling with this issue of grace and nature, and the problems of dualism, whether that dualism is attributed to mis-readings of Thomas by pre-conciliar thinkers, or to Cajetan, or to Thomas himself. It is the most fascinating theological issue of our time.

The different approaches towards the relationship between grace and nature profoundly affect how one reads the Council, especially Gaudium et Spes, and also how one views our understanding of Revelation, Scripture and Tradition. We shall take up these issues tomorrow.

Religion: Pope Benedict lectures the professors

In his latest address to American bishops visiting Rome, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that Catholic educators should remain true to the faith — a reminder issued just in time for another tense season of commencement addresses.

No, the pope did not mention Georgetown University by name when discussing the Catholic campus culture wars.

Yes, he did mention the law requiring professors who teach Catholic theology to obtain a Canon 812 “mandatum” (“mandate”) document from their bishops to certify that they are truly Catholic theologians.

Many American bishops have cited a “growing recognition on the part of Catholic colleges and universities of the need to reaffirm their distinctive identity in fidelity to their founding ideals and the church’s mission. … Much remains to be done, especially in such basic areas as compliance with the mandate laid down in Canon 812 for those who teach theological disciplines,” said Benedict, who taught theology at the university level in Germany.

“The importance of this canonical norm as a tangible expression of ecclesial communion and solidarity in the church’s educational apostolate becomes all the more evident when we consider the confusion created by instances of apparent dissidence between some representatives of Catholic institutions and the church’s pastoral leadership: such discord harms the church’s witness and, as experience has shown, can easily be exploited to compromise her authority and her freedom.”

Benedict’s remarks to the bishops of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming came during the fourth of five Vatican visits by Americans reporting on life in their dioceses. His January address, to the bishops of Washington, D.C., Baltimore and the U.S. Armed Services, made news with its focus on threats to religious liberty. It came shortly before Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the Obama administration would not withdraw its rules requiring the majority of religious institutions to cover all Food and Drug Administration-approved forms of contraception in health-insurance plans offered to employees, as well as to students.

Now, the pope has emphasized the need for Catholic educators to remain faithful in the same time frame as Georgetown University’s announcement that one featured speaker during its commencement rites will be none other than Sebelius — a liberal Catholic who last year warned abortion-rights activists that “we are in a war” to protect women from conservatives.

Conservative Catholics protested — see GeorgetownScandal.com — claiming that the Jesuit school’s invitation represented yet another violation of the 2004 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops policy stating: “Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” The University of Notre Dame ignited a 2009 firestorm by granting President Barack Obama an honorary doctor of laws degree.

While it’s easy to focus on this new commencement controversy, Benedict’s address represents another skirmish in more than two decades of conflict between Rome and liberal Catholics entrenched on many college and university campuses. At the heart of the conflict is a 1990 “apostolic constitution” on education issued by Pope John Paul II titled “Ex Corde Ecclesiae” (“From the Heart of the Church”).

That document contains numerous statements that trouble American academics, including this one: “Catholic teaching and discipline are to influence all university activities, while the freedom of conscience of each person is to be fully respected. Any official action or commitment of the university is to be in accord with its Catholic identity.”

“That captures pretty much everything,” noted Patrick J. Reilly, president of the conservative Cardinal Newman Society.

Thus, in his address to the visiting American bishops, the pope stressed that Catholic universities are supposed to be helping the church defend its teachings, in an age in which they are constantly under attack.

The goal, said Benedict, is for Catholic schools to provide a “bulwark against the alienation and fragmentation which occurs when the use of reason is detached from the pursuit of truth and virtue. …

“Catholic institutions have a specific role to play in helping to overcome the crisis of universities today. Firmly grounded in this vision of the intrinsic interplay of faith, reason and the pursuit of human excellence, every Christian intellectual and all the church’s educational institutions must be convinced, and desirous of convincing others, that no aspect of reality remains alien to, or untouched by, the mystery of the redemption and the Risen Lord’s dominion over all creation.”

(Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Contact him at tmattingly(at)cccu.org or www.tmatt.net.)

The Radicalization of Islam & The Western Response – An interview with Fr …

ACN Interview: Monday 30th April 2012

The Radicalization of Islam The Western Response

Fr. Samir Khalil Samir S.J., is an author, professor at the St Joseph University in Lebanon in Catholic theology and Islamic studies and advisor to numerous church and political leaders. Mark Riedemann for Where God Weeps in cooperation with Aid to the Church in Need interviews Fr. Samir Khalil Samir S.J. about the increasing radicalisation of Islam and the implications for western policy.

(Fr. Samir Khalil Samir SJ)

Q) Unfortunately we start to see an increasing radicalisation in Islam. Why is this radicalization occurring and where is this leading us?

A) The radicalization started with the Muslim Brotherhood at the end of the 1920s specifically with the end of the First World War and the fall of the Caliphate in 1923 -1924 in which the Ottoman Empire, the last Muslim empire, ended after 1300 years. Additionally there was the secularization of Turkey. The Muslims did not know what to do. They asked themselves who is to be the new Caliph? Saudi Arabia, Egypt? They could not find anyone to take over this empire. A movement started which said: We have to Islamize the Muslim countries. They are too westernized. And it was true: their juridical system was based on the systems in France, in Switzerland etc., and so they founded and started the Muslim Brotherhood, which was not very powerful then. Their intention was just to change the society towards something more Muslim. They started as a political movement within Egypt. Initially they refused violence absolutely, but with time, violence became part of the struggle against the Socialist revolution of Egypts President Gamal Abdel Nasser. The Muslim Brotherhood were persecuted, put in prison or killed. Then they started to organize the resistance and the opposition. They became, every year, more violent.

Q) But it did not remain just an Egyptian issue?

A) We have to remember that in 1948 the State of Israel was created. The Arab countries waged war against Israel. The war ended with all the Arab countries defeated by this small country. They were humiliated. They then said that this was due to the fact these countries were not Muslim enough; we now have to start the revolution. War after war was waged between Israel and the Arab world and every time it was a defeat for the Arab countries. Things began to change economically in 1973 – 1974, when there was a boom in the demand for petrol. The price of petrol increased four times and a lot of petrol dollars were suddenly available. What could these oil producing countries like Saudi Arabia do with this money? They built mosques and Islamic centres. In Egypt, they financed the building of thousands of schools and mosques. They are still doing that today.

Q) Is there a religious agenda and if yes, what is the purpose?

A) Yes. Wahhabism originates from the name of Abdal Wahhab who lived in 1780 who made an agreement with Prince Muhammad ibn Saud. He supported this prince and the prince adopted the religious ideology of Abdal Wahhab. There are four Sunni juridical schools in Islam. The most rigorous one is called Hanbali, which was practiced in Saudi Arabia at that time. Abdal Wahhab found even this Hanbali was not strict enough and so Wahhabism. It is the strictest practice of Islam. When Saudi Arabia was established at the beginning of the twentieth century, this kind of Islam became the state religion which everyone was required to follow. With their money they exported this ideology, and so it is introduced in Egypt and in the 1990s in Algeria and Indonesia.

Q) So in simplistic terms, oil money from the US and Europe is fuelling the expansion of radical Islam?

A) Absolutely and it is going on today; they have plenty of money and a vision, an ideology.

Q) The inter linking of politics and religion: in the West we experience secularisation and a separation of Church and state. Is this possible in the Muslim world and how do we move to peace?

A) For the Muslim people who have not experienced secularization, almaniyyah means atheism. They cannot imagine a state without religion. Secularization for them means that religion is apart and is therefore atheism. I never use this word in Arabic. I say a civil state, which does not mean that religion has no part.

Q) What is the approach then?

A) I think we must say to the Muslims and the Oriental Christians that religion is a very important part of a public life, and this we want to keep. An example is Lebanon, which has more religion than anywhere else, but all religions are recognized and respected. Here is a proposal: We all believe in God. We have different approaches to God, the Muslim approach, the Christian and Jewish as well as other approaches. This is the proposal; we will not touch religion because it is too rooted in us, but we want citizenship. We are all citizens and we want equality.

Q) Is it too late? The Christians are leaving the Middle East. Is this trend reversible?

A) Yes, that is why we have hope and this is very important. We would like, before it is too late, to say Stop; we as Christians have a proposal, not a Christian proposal but a proposal for everyone. The proposal is, please, for all those who are willing to apply this proposal, dont leave, whether you are Christian, Muslim or Jews, we have to build together a society based on human rights.

Q) because today the Middle East, tomorrow Europe and the United States.

A) because if it is not done today and you dont help us realize this project, Europe and the US be forewarned that today the radical Muslims are here but tomorrow they will come to you. They will attack you as colonialist and imperialist; these words are often used because it is expedient. You will be labelled as the bad one; youve put us in this situation and now we shall take revenge upon you.

Q) But violence cannot be the answer

A) We cannot fight an ideology with bombs. It provokes more anger among the aggrieved people. The more we kill this so called terrorist more will come to replace them because they do not perceive it as terrorism. It is an honour. It is the only honour they can achieve because they are often marginalized in their own country. They then say we are martyrs. We use the word martyr Shahid every day.

Q) And the answer?

A) What we, Christians, are saying; the meaning of our life is to make peace, to have justice for the poor, the women, for everyone. For example, to have an educational system where not only the rich benefit. Egypt has one of the worst educational systems in the world. People after an obligatory nine years come out of the school unable to read or write. I was in charge of the educational system during the Socialist government in Egypt in the 1970s and I discovered during this that time, at least half of the young people particularly boys could not read or write. I as a government representative, even went to a so-called model schools where maybe 10 – 20% of the pupils could learn, and for the others it is too late. The key word is to build together because we know that we alone do not have the power to change the whole of society.

Q) You stated together

A) Together that is to say that the solution has to be peaceful, it cannot be a violent solution. It has to start with a political project. Firstly, the war has to end between Palestine and Israel. We will support the proposal to create two states. One would be ideal but after 60 years of war, this proposal will be impossible today. So two states with defined borders. We need one generation to transcend this. These borders are not to be walled to allow a free movement of people. The same in Iraq, we need peace between the Sunni and the Shia Muslims. I preach this among Muslims. So together with peace we can build our project on one of social justice because this precept is in the Koran, the Bible and it is the ideal for Christians, Muslims and Jews. We propose this common project. We start. It cannot be, however be an Islamic one because it could be manipulated. The constitution is religious and will recognize God in different manners and it has to be based on human rights. Lebanon could be a model, not a perfect model but some ideas could come from there. And we will developstep by step. It will take some generations

Q) but it is achievable!

A) I think it is achievable. Then we invite the richer countries to help us then we will do the same to help them build a society of mutual co-existence. The king of Arabia would like to change the system. He built and started a university with mixed students; can you imagine this in Saudi Arabia and by the king? He is being criticized by the Mullahs, by the shaykh but he is taking this step.

————————
This interview was conducted by Mark Riedemann for “Where God Weeps,” a weekly television and radio show produced by Catholic Radio and Television Network in conjunction with the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need.
On the Net: www.WhereGodWeeps.org and www.aidtochurch.org

Editor’s Notes

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.
The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiatives launch in 1979, Aid to the Church in Needs Childs Bible God Speaks to his Children has been translated into 162 languages and 48 million copies have been distributed all over the world.
While ACN gives full permission for the media to freely make use of the charitys press releases, please acknowledge ACN as the source of stories when using the material.

For more information or to make a donation to help the work of Aid to the Church in Need, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148.

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CathBlog – How Catholic are we?

BY DRASKO DIZDAR

Fifty years ago, at the beginning of the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church set itself a number of goals. Among those were opening up to the rest of the world and the unity of the church, indeed, of humankind. 

The Council insisted that, far from being exclusive and sectarian, the church is only truly catholic when it embraces the living and lively diversity of everything that is genuinely human. As the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church put it quite unambiguously: 

All are called to this catholic unity of the People of God…. And to it, in different ways, belong or are ordered: the Catholic faithful, others who believe in Christ, and finally all mankind, called by God’s grace to salvation (Lumen Gentium 13; emphasis added). 

According to the Catechism: “The word ‘catholic’ means ‘universal,’ in the sense of ‘according to the totality’ or ‘in keeping with the whole’” (§830). It comes from the Greek words kata (according to) and holos (whole). In other words, “catholic” means inclusive, holistic, open to everyone.

Let’s be clear about what “catholicity” does not mean then: it is not a fancy word for the religious beliefs and practices that make Roman Catholics different from everyone else (so-called “Catholic cultural identity”). On the contrary, “catholicity” denotes what unites rather than what divides; it speaks of communion rather than difference; of unity-in-diversity.

By calling itself “catholic” the church asserts that which unites and opens it up to all people, beyond all differences. Paradoxically this openness is the distinguishing and specific mark of its “identity” and the heart of its “culture”.

So, far from being a “tribal cipher” that merely marks the church off as yet another of the world’s religions, catholicity is a deeply mysterious and paradoxical process. It is a way of saying that we are discovering ourselves becoming something unique precisely because we find our differences transformed in a universal communion where everyone is welcome just as they are. 

We are “catholic”, then, to the extent that we are open. Open to what? Christ and the world. As the Catechism makes very clear, catholicity is first and foremost about Christ: “First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. ‘Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church.’” (§831).

Only when we are absolutely clear about the centrality and primacy of Christ as the embodiment and giver of catholicity, can we speak of its specifically human dimension and scope: “Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race” (§831).

Our catholicity is a mark of “identity” as communion, not tribe or institution. Catholicity is the means of our healing, our restoration to the integrity and wholeness for which we are created. In and through the church as “catholic communion” all humanity is called to participate in realising its likeness to the Triune God who is a “communion of love”.

Catholicity is the ecclesial way of speaking about God’s transforming humanity into the image and likeness of God as communion of love; an image and likeness we see absolutely realized in Christ, the One who is at once one-with-God and one-with-us, so uniting us with God. As Pope Benedict XVI puts it: 

The essence of original sin is the split into individuality, which knows only itself. The essence of redemption is the mending of the shattered image of God, the union of the human race through and in the One who stands for all and in whom, as Paul says (Gal 3:28), all are one: Jesus Christ… [T]o be a Christian means to be Catholic, means to be on one’s way to an all-encompassing unity. (Joseph Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology, 49).

“Catholicity” is not a fancy word for Catholic tribalism, then, but a call “to an all-encompassing unity” that excludes no one since all are “children of God”, and equally so.

So, how catholic are we? The catholicity of our parishes, schools and other ecclesial communities has nothing to do with statues of Mary, pictures of the pope and “bums on seats”. It has everything to do with openness of mind, heart and embrace towards the world God loves and Christ renews by his life-giving Spirit.  

Show me how wholeheartedly you accept the “other” in the “Wholly Other” become “One-with-us”, and I’ll show you how catholic you are.

Dr Drasko Dizdar is a member of the Emmaus monastic community, and a theologian with the Tasmanian Catholic Education Office.

Disclaimer: CathBlog is an extension of CathNews story feedback. It is intended to promote discussion and debate among the subscribers to CathNews and the readers of the website. The opinions expressed in CathBlog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the members of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference or of Church Resources.