Return to Rome – A Review by David J. Engelsma

 

Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic
By Francis J. Beckwith
Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2009
144 pages
ISBN: 978 1 58743 247 7 (paperback)
List price $15.00

The blurb on the front cover explains this book: ‘Why the President of the Evangelical Theological Society Left His Post and Returned to the Catholic

Church.’

Francis Beckwith was a prominent theologian in evangelical circles in North America. In 2007, he and his wife joined the Roman Catholic Church. At

the time, he held the prestigious position of president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS). The ETS is an organization devoted to the study

and promotion of evangelical theology. Some 4,500 of the most prominent, influential theologians, scholars, professors of theology, and churchmen in

many Protestant churches and seminaries are members of ETS.

Since ‘evangelical’ refers roughly to non-Roman Catholic, Protestant proclamation and defence of the gospel of salvation by grace alone, Beckwith’s

defection to Rome caused no small stir in the ETS, as also more widely in Protestant circles.

The book is Beckwith’s defence of his apostasy. It is, at the same time, encouragement to other evangelicals to follow Beckwith’s lead.

The book by Beckwith is, therefore, not groundbreaking. It is only the most recent of the genre. The earliest, and best known, was John Henry

Newman’s Apologia Pro Vita Sua [English translation: An Apology for His Own Life]: Being a History of His Religious Opinions

(originally published in 1865). Newman’s book was his account of his leaving the Church of England, in the nineteenth century, for Rome. More

recently, the erstwhile Presbyterian Scott Hahn has written Rome, Sweet Home: Our Journey to Catholicism (San Francisco: Ignatius Press,

1993).

Noteworthy Aspects of the Defection

Several aspects of Beckwith’s defence of his abandoning evangelicalism for the Roman Catholic Church are worthy of note. First, none of the various

evangelical churches that Beckwith bounced around in prior to his joining Rome had a strong, solid ecclesiology. None took itself seriously as a

genuine manifestation of the elect body of Jesus Christ, as determined by the infallible marks of the true church listed in Article 29 of the Belgic

Confession. Accordingly, Beckwith felt himself committed to none of them. Whenever it was convenient for him, he would leave a supposedly evangelical

church and join another. In such a church environment, Rome’s claim to be the historic, mother church is irresistible.

For example, one of the churches that Beckwith attended regularly, if he was not a member of it, was a ‘Foursquare Church’ (41). This is the church

founded by the rebel against the prohibition of the apostle that a female not be a preacher, the charlatan and the adulteress Aimee Semple McPherson.

If I were confronted with the choice between the woman-made church of McPherson and the man-made Church of Rome, I would choose Rome, also in view of

the fact that there is no essential difference between the Arminian gospel of the Foursquare Church and the semi-Pelagian theology of Rome.

Second, Beckwith is superstitious. Circumstances in his life speak to him more powerfully regarding church membership than do the truths of Holy

Scripture. Direction from God to join the Roman Catholic Church came in the form of a request from Beckwith’s nephew that Beckwith sponsor the nephew

at the Roman Catholic sacrament of confirmation (19). Beckwith received an important message from God by means of the unusual, accidental switching

of stations on his radio (41). Beckwith was confirmed in his decision to join the Roman Catholic Church by the coincidence that Edith Schaeffer, wife

of the well-known Francis A. Schaeffer, signed his book on the same day that Beckwith was publicly received back into the Roman Church (55, 56).

Assurance of the salvation of Beckwith’s father-in-law, who died outside the Roman Catholic Church, is based on two visions God supposedly gave to

Beckwith’s wife (70, 71).

Rome is the appropriate home of the superstitious.

Third, Beckwith’s admission into the Roman Catholic Church consisted of his involvement in the Roman sacrament of penance. To enter the Church of

Rome, Beckwith had to confess his sins to a priest in the confessional. The climax of the spurious sacrament was Beckwith’s performance of penance.

He performed a work that paid for his sins. Thus, necessarily and appropriately, entrance into the communion of Rome consisted of denying the one

sacrifice of Jesus Christ for sins on the cross.

For Francis J. Beckwith, membership in the Roman Catholic Church took place by way of a public denial of Jesus Christ and his cross.

And the nature of the penance was significant: one public recitation of the Lord’s Prayer and one public recitation of the ‘Hail, Mary.’ ‘The priest

then heard my confession and granted me absolution. I found my way to the main sanctuary, where I did my penance, which consisted of one “Our Father”

and one “Hail Mary”‘ (18).

In the Roman Catholic Church, the grace of pardon is cheap — not free, but cheap. The sinner can purchase this grace, and the purchase price is

ridiculously cheap: rattle off one Lord’s Prayer and one paean to mediatrix Mary.

But the price of forgiveness and of admission to Rome includes adoration of Mary, that is, idolatry. Rome insists on being Rome, even in the case of

the joining by a president of the ETS, who knows full well what the ‘Hail, Mary’ means in Roman Catholic theology and liturgy.

Denying the cross of Jesus Christ as the sole and entire payment of the debt of sin and practicing the idolatry of the worship of and reliance upon

Mary, Francis J. Beckwith is a lost soul. He has plunged himself under the curse of God, and, if he does not repent, will perish forever.

The response of the ETS to the apostasy of its former president did not include any such warning. This lack betrays the weakness of the ETS. An

evangelicalism that cannot condemn the Roman Catholic Church as a false church is not worthy of the name. The evangel is the gospel of Scripture, and

the gospel of Scripture condemns the theology and church that posit another mediator between God and men in addition to Jesus Christ; that judge the

cross of Christ insufficient for redemption; and that attribute salvation to the will and works of the sinner, rather than only to the grace of God,

to say nothing of the rejection of the lordship of the risen Christ over the church by the invention of the papacy.

The Urgent Concern: Justification

If these aspects of Beckwith’s defence of his falling away to Rome catch the attention of every Reformed reader, there is one element of the defence

that ought to be of utmost concern to Reformed and Presbyterian believers today, especially Reformed and Presbyterian officebearers.

This element is Beckwith’s defence of his return to Rome in terms of the doctrine of justification.

Showing a theologian’s awareness of the significance of justification regarding the division between Rome and Protestantism, Beckwith put the

doctrine of justification at the head of the list of issues that had to be resolved in his mind, if he were to join the Roman Catholic Church.

Our questions focused on several theological issues that prevented us from becoming Catholic and seemed insurmountable: the doctrine of

justification, the Real Presence in the Eucharist, the teaching authority of the Church (including apostolic succession and the primacy of the Pope),

and Penance (79).

It is Beckwith’s resolution of the issue of justification that ought to concern Presbyterians and Reformed today. He resolved the issue by adopting

Rome’s doctrine of justification and rejecting the doctrine of the Reformation.

What is significant is Beckwith’s presentation and defence of the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification to his evangelical critics. It is exactly

the explanation of justification that is given by Norman Shepherd and the theology of the Federal Vision in Reformed circles. If one did not know

that the explanation of justification in Return to Rome is that of Romanizing and Romanist Beckwith, he would attribute it to Shepherd, the

men of the Federal Vision, and those who carry water for the Federal Vision.

Justification, Beckwith came to be convinced, is not exclusively legal and forensic. It is also, and chiefly, ‘transformation’ of the sinner into a

holy and good person by his ‘sharing in the divine life of Christ’ (86).

Justification is not the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to the guilty sinner, but the infusing of Christ’s righteousness

into a wicked person so that he becomes increasingly inherently righteous (101, 102).

Justification is not the definitive verdict of God rendering the justified sinner perfectly righteous through faith, but a progressive activity of

God beginning with the infusion of grace at baptism, continuing throughout one’s life, and concluding at the final judgment (101, 102).

In justification, ‘works done in faith by God’s grace contribute to our . . . eventual justification’ (102). Beckwith explains Romans 4:1-8 as

repudiating only ‘the works of the Mosaic law’ for justification (100). Genuinely good works, that is, good works that proceed from true faith, are

taken into account by God when he justifies a sinner.

Justification at the final judgment will take place on the basis of every man’s own good works: ‘Works serve in some way as the basis on which

his [Jesus'] judgment of their eternal fate is made’ (97; the emphasis is Beckwith’s).

Justification is a cooperative effort of God and the sinner. God’s grace enables the sinner to accomplish his own justification, but the sinner must

cooperate with grace by his own free will (112). Such is the reality of this cooperation that it is a possibility that one in whom God has begun the

process of justification may fail to cooperate and, therefore, lose his justification and go lost eternally. In support of this terrifying, God-

dishonouring view of justification, Beckwith appeals to John 15:1-5, Jesus’ teaching of the vine and the branches (95).

And, of course, James 2 is the decisive passage on justification, teaching ‘God’s justification of the Christian’ and teaching that ‘justification is

not by faith alone’ (104, 105).

A Forewarning

In every respect, Beckwith’s doctrine of justification, justifying his journey to Rome, is that of Norman Shepherd and the men of the Federal Vision.
The only difference between Beckwith and the men of the Federal Vision is that Beckwith honestly and openly states, and has acted upon, the

conclusion of his Roman Catholic doctrine of justification: renunciation of the Protestant Reformation and return to Rome.

It does not suit the Federal Vision theologians as yet to declare to their Presbyterian and Reformed audiences that their doctrine of justification,

and their doctrine of a conditional covenant, whence the heretical doctrine of justification springs, imply membership in the Roman Catholic Church.
Shepherd has hinted at the implication of his theology:

Is there any hope for a common understanding between Roman Catholicism and evangelical Protestantism regarding the way of salvation [that

is, especially justification]? May I suggest that there is at least a glimmer of hope if both sides are willing to embrace a covenantal understanding

of the way of salvation [that is, the doctrine of a conditional covenant] (Norman Shepherd, The Call of Grace: How the Covenant Illuminates

Salvation and Evangelism, Phillipsburg, New Jersey: PR, 2000, 59).

The bold declaration of a return to Rome is coming.

In the meanwhile, Francis J. Beckwith, formerly president of the ETS, forewarns the members of Reformed and Presbyterian churches where the doctrine

of justification of the Federal Vision will take them and, if not them themselves, their children and grandchildren: Return to Rome.

---

Taken with permission from the Protestant Reformed Theological Journal, April 2013.

Church Approval Or Not, More Women Seeking Priesthood

CHICAGO (CBS) – For centuries, priesthood has been a sacred calling in the Roman Catholic Church; one only answered by men acting “in persona Christi” meaning “in the person of Christ.”

Eleven years ago, that gender barrier began to crack when the first women priests were ordained in secrecy. Since then, it’s grown into a movement, but it’s condemned by the church.

Still, since 2002, 122 women worldwide have been ordained bishops, priests or deacons; 92 of them in the United States, including two who are active in the Chicago area.

CBS 2′s Mai Martinez reports, at a Lakeview church on a recent Sunday, parishioners celebrated a Catholic Mass, presided over by Barbara Zeman.

But that mass and others like it are not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, they’re condemned, because they’re led by women priests.

“There are no women priests in the Catholic Church, and there never will be,” explained Monica Mavric de Beltrami, a metropolitan tribunal judge with the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Mavric de Beltrami said the Vatican views the ordination of women priests as one of the highest crimes against the church.

“Rome has spoken and the case is closed,” she said.

Rome might have spoken, but Barbara Zeman isn’t listening. Ordained in 2008, she’s one of a growing number of Roman Catholic women priests.

“It’s not about me. I want to be clear. This is about women and affording people the dignity they deserve and the ability to answer the call,” said Zeman, who presides over Sunday mass for Dignity Chicago, an LGBT organization.

Many in the parish welcome Zeman.

“It increases the diversity,” explained parishioner Mike Cook.

“It was a dream of mine for many, many years that women could be priests,” added another parishioner, Marilyn O’Leary.

Video of the mass almost brought Mavric de Beltrami to tears.

“I want to cry,” she said after viewing the video. “Because it’s a mockery of the Catholic faith. It’s a mockery of the mass. That is not a mass.”

But some Catholics have said it’s time for the Roman Catholic church to open its doors to everyone. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll released just before Pope Francis was elected, 69 percent of Catholics said the next pope should support women becoming priests.

At Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, there were differing opinions.

“It’s time to add the woman’s point of view,” said Dr. Rosemary McHugh.

But others say no.

“I’ve been invited to women masses, but I feel it’s disobedience,” said a parishioner who didn’t want to want her name used.

Mary Grace Crowley-Kock, ordained in 2010, said it’s not about disobedience, it’s about inclusion.

“Where ever it’s going to lead me, or whatever it’s going to cost me, I guess it will cost me. At least I die being true to myself,” explained Crowley-Kock.

She has the full support of the people who attend her mass, but they and all those who are facilitating the women priest movement risk excommunication.

“I’d like them to reconsider what they’re doing, and ask for forgiveness,” said Mavric de Beltrami.

The women priests said they have no plans to do that.

“We may never see an official welcome in to the church, but who was the biggest rebel of all? Jesus,” said Zeman.

Supporters of women priests add that allowing women to become priests could also help ease the current priest shortage in the United States.

So far, however, Pope Francis has shown no sign he’ll break with the church’s more than 2000-year-old tradition of male priests only.

Food for the soul

Enlarge Image

Father Darrin Gurr of St. Gianna Beretta Molla Roman Catholic Church with low-gluten communion wafers. (BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ) Photo Store

These days Fran Van Walleghem can take communion in her southwest Winnipeg parish and feel confident it will feed her spirit without hurting her body.

“It’s very special to go to mass and know that you’re going to be OK,” says the Roman Catholic woman of the low-gluten option now available.

“I’m very happy this step has been taken in the church.”

Van Walleghem has celiac disease, a digestive condition affecting one in 333 people. It is triggered by the consumption of gluten, a protein found in grains such as wheat, rye and barley.

Regular communion hosts also contain gluten, but recently the Archdiocese of Winnipeg adopted a protocol for serving low-gluten communion hosts to people who have celiac disease or a wheat allergy.

These low-gluten wafers contain only 0.01 per cent wheat, just enough to satisfy the Catholic tradition that the bread or wafer be made from wheat, but low enough so people with gluten intolerance can consume it, says Rev. Darrin Gurr of St. Gianna Beretta Molla Roman Catholic Church, where Van Welleghem attends.

“The issue for us is the element of validity,” says Gurr, who researched the issue for the archdiocese.

“For bread to be worthy to be used as the host, it has to have some element of wheat.”

Produced by the Sisters of St. Benedict in Clyde, Miss., the low-gluten hosts are slightly smaller and crisper than the regular hosts. Each parish supplies a small container, or pryx, of the low-gluten hosts to people requesting them. Before mass, these pryxes are collected and blessed along with the regular communion hosts, and kept closed during the mass.

“For those who identify themselves as gluten intolerant, they will receive a packet of low-gluten hosts and a little container (for them) and when they come for communion, they put it in the communion bowl,” says Gurr.

This solution works well for Van Walleghem, who avoided taking communion before because she didn’t want to consume wheat products.

“You don’t eat gluten at home and you don’t eat gluten at church,” she says.

That’s why Monique Clement has not participated in communion for 11 years in her parish in the Archdiocese of St. Boniface, which does not have a protocol for low-gluten wafers. Even if the archdiocese did, she is not convinced that only a miniscule amount is safe for her and others who suffer from celiac disease.

“Every little bit of gluten you ingest may be damaging your intestines,” says Clement, president of the Manitoba chapter of the Canadian Celiac Association.

“To me, it’s not OK.”

The Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Winnipeg also does not have a protocol on low-gluten wafers.

Clement says she would like the Catholic Church to change its position on including wheat in communion wafers and offer gluten-free ones instead.

“I think they need to modernize a little more and part of that to me is to tolerate allergies,” she says.

Taking communion in some form is central to Catholic theology and worship, says Gurr.

“In the Catholic Church, receiving the body and blood of Jesus (through the wafer and the wine), receiving the Eucharist is the heart of the Catholic tradition and Catholic theology,” he says.

Across the Christian denominations, how communion is served depends on theological interpretation of the elements of bread and wine.

“The whole gluten-free issue is a wider health issue,” says Rev. Jennifer Marlor of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, whose congregation has several people with celiac disease.

“If people are not able to be included in that aspect, they are excluded, and it was not Christ’s intent that people be excluded.”

In her Charleswood-area congregation, gluten-free hosts are placed in a paper muffin liner in the communion basket and are handed out as requested.

Anglicans accommodate gluten-free requests as needed, but unlike Catholics, do not require that communion hosts have some wheat in them, says Bishop Donald Phillips of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land.

“Anglicans don’t require wheat flour. It’s not the official doctrine of the church,” he says.

“We’re probably stricter than some about the wine. We do use wine, not grape juice.”

brenda@suderman.com

Program celebrates 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council

CLINTON —
“Sharing the Vision” of Vatican II with a Latin American bishop, a Franciscan nun who led American Catholic Sisters during the Vatican investigation of their leadership organization, and a young, feminist theologian whose nationally published columns challenge the “Vatican II generation” to speak to what today’s young people need to know about what is called the most significant event in modern Church history is all in store at the closing session of the “Celebrating Vatican II” lecture series.

The Catholic Sisters of the Upper Mississippi River Valley will conclude the four-part lecture series they have sponsored in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church on April 21, beginning at 2 p.m. at Prince of Peace Church, Clinton.

“Celebrating Vatican II: Sharing the Vision” has offered lectures by a variety of expert commentators at venues throughout the region since October 2012. The lecture series, which explores four key themes of the Council, coincides with the “Year of Faith” being observed by the Catholic Church, and is free and open to the public.

“We developed this four-part event as a gift to the Church and the people of God in celebration of the Council. We felt a responsibility to bring a renewed awareness of the great gifts of Vatican II to the people with whom we minister throughout the Upper Mississippi River Valley,” explained Anne Martin Phelan, OSF, president of the Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton, and chairwoman of the organizing committee.

“It is providential that a Latin American Bishop should be with us in these days, following the election of the first Latin American Pope. We are all looking forward to his perspective on how Pope Francis might approach Vatican II heritage during his papacy.”

At the program, Dr. Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA, former president of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, will describe Vatican II’s invitation to read the signs of the times and respond in dedicated service; Most Rev. Daniel Turley, Bishop of Chulucanas, Peru, will reflect on ways the Church is called to solidarity with the people of God throughout the world; and Jamie Manson, columnist with the National Catholic Reporter, will speak to what young people in today’s Church need from the Vatican II generation.

Sister Weisenbeck is a member and former president (2002-2010) of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse, Wis., as well as former president of LCWR, a canonically approved membership organization that exists as a support system and corporate voice for leaders of religious institutes of Catholic Sisters in the United States. She also serves as chairwoman of the Catholic Health Association’s Sponsorship/Canon Law Committee and is a consultant in religious law.  She is past president of the National Conference of Vicars for Religious and chancellor for the Diocese of La Crosse.

Sister Weisenbeck holds a B.M. Ed. degree from Viterbo University, an M.M. from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, a J.C.L. in Canon Law from Saint Paul University-Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Bishop Turley, an Augustinian priest and a native of Chicago, is the second Bishop of Chulucanas where he has served since 1996. He was elected to the Permanent Council of the Peruvian Bishops’ Conference and has been awarded an honorary doctor of Humane Letters by Villanova University, Philadelphia. In 2011 he was awarded the Peace Prize by the Peruvian government’s Ministry for Women’s Rights and Social Development in recognition of his outstanding work in defense of farmers in the Upper Piura region of the Diocese of Chulucanas. Bishop Turley insisted that farmers’ concerns about environmental degradation, which would destroy their livelihood, be heard as part of the discussion about opening a large mining operation in the area. In the process he received death threats. The Ministry called Bishop Turley “a tireless promoter of a culture of peace.”

Jamie L. Manson writes a monthly column for the National Catholic Reporter, addressing the plight of the poor, the future of the Church, issues of gender and sexual orientation, and ways of finding God’s presence in our everyday lives. She received her Master of Divinity degree from Yale Divinity School, where she studied Catholic theology and sexual ethics. Her NCR columns have won numerous awards, most recently second prize for Commentary of the Year from Religion Newswriters.

 There is no registration for the lecture series and no admission charge. Follow-up sessions to the lectures are offered in the cities where the sponsoring Sisters congregations minister.

“Celebrating Vatican II: Sharing the Vision” is sponsored by Carmelite Nuns, Eldridge; Congregation of the Humility of Mary, Davenport; Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, La Crosse; Sinsinawa Dominicans, Sinsinawa, Wis.; Sisters of Mercy, West-Midwest Region, Omaha; Benedictine Sisters, Rock Island, Ill.; Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton; and Sisters of Charity BVM, Sisters of the Presentation, Sisters of St. Francis, Sisters of the Visitation and Trappistine Nuns, all of Dubuque.

For details, see www.facebook.com/catholicsisters or call Sisters of St. Francis, Clinton at 242-7611.

Communion candidates say yes to first special dress – USA Today

The little white church dress is the first of many fashion milestones for young girls.

When the little angel is grinning from ear to ear, that’s when Carol Harvey knows her pint-sized client has found the first of many special dresses to come.

Whether it is silk, satin or cotton, sprinkled with rhinestones, pearls or lace, the First Communion dress might be the last garment she wears that truly embodies her innocence and purity. A series of dress-up dates will follow: Sweet Sixteen, Prom, Graduation and the Grand Poobah of white-dress occasions: The Wedding.

For Catholics, the milestones of Holy Communion and Holy Matrimony — sacraments in the church — often are uttered in the same breath. Not surprisingly, bridal company Mon Cheri also dabbles in Communion dresses.

“Unless a little girl says yes to the dress, she’s not happy,” says Harvey, who owns Hansel and Gretel Children’s Boutique in Wilmington, Del.

“She knows it’s her day.”

And so do a slew of gown and accessories manufacturers, who appreciate the parents (and grandparents and godparents and aunts and siblings) who arrive like clockwork every January to scour the racks for cap sleeve or sleeveless, ballet flat or strappy sandal, tiara or double veil.

The only decision left out of their hands is the color. It’s always diamond white.

The Communion ritual is celebrated in other Christian denominations, but the parade of white dresses with tiny hands folded in prayer is Roman Catholic Church territory.

Typically, Catholic children ages 7 to 8 make First Communion in May, which, according to their faith, involves receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ through bread and wine to symbolize their union with the church.

Like another coming-of-age ceremony, the Bar and Bat Mitzvah for Jewish preteens, First Communion celebrations have evolved into elaborate affairs, particularly among smaller families with more disposable income. Replacing the backyard barbecue and sheet cake are custom-made dresses, tuxedo rentals, catering halls, limousine rides and manicures — much to the church’s chagrin.

Attire also has changed with the times. Some shops keep meticulous records of all the dresses purchased by members of the same church to avoid duplicates. What’s out in finery: socks, crowns, knee-length dresses, hand-sewn cotton smock dresses or anything screaming pageant.

In the old days, the only choice was puffy or puffier and pearls. Today, cashmere sweaters and rhinestone-encrusted boleros cover bare shoulders, while glittery stockings and sleek satin purses complete the look.

Girls generally prefer slim lines to tutu styles, favoring tea-length over floor-length, according to Ashley Murphy, manager of Two Sisters in Greenville, Del. When a special touch is desired, Murphy calls in the bling, such as beading on the neckline or waist.

The tween and teen boutique carries a dozen different Communion dress styles (from $156 to $180) and four different veils. Girls twirl around the “runway” and marvel at their beauty. For many, it’s their first time wearing heels, albeit only 1 inch off the ground.

“Some of them aren’t even getting Communion,” says Murphy. “They’re just trying the dresses on.”

Harvey has encountered “Mom Bridezillas” who insist that their daughters model all 30 different dress styles in the store or pile on crinoline after crinoline. More often than not, this results in a dressing room meltdown.

Most moms, however, let the girl pick the dress, while subtly exercising their veto power.

After all, grandma is usually the one holding the purse strings.

“This is almost a 100 percent grandma market,” Harvey says.

The process is more streamlined for boys. They simply choose from a white suit, navy suit or a combination of the two. Their biggest accessory dilemma is Holy Eucharist pin or tie tack.

Communion and flower girls help Hansel and Gretel stay in business. Part of a dying breed of independent special occasion kids’ boutiques — there is also Sara’s Children’s Boutique in Rutherford, Del., and A Star is Born in South Philadelphia — the one-stop shop has catered to three generations.

Major chains, from Neiman Marcus to Wal-Mart, also carry Communion dresses but their selection is limited, says Harvey, who only carries brands under $200.

After selecting their dresses, Hansel and Gretel girls receive a free charm bracelet and choose their first charm in the shape of a heart, cupcake or Ugg boots.

“When they put the veil on, the mom starts crying,” she says. “They’re just a vision.”

Occasionally, dad shares in the moment. Harvey recalls that one father was the deciding vote between a flashier dress favored by his daughter and a more classic look selected by his wife. The wife won.

Maria Rapucci bought her eldest daughter’s Communion dress at Hansel and Gretel last year and returned this year to outfit her second oldest. The mother of four girls makes a day of it with the kids’ grandmother and aunt, treating them to lunch.

All of Rapucci’s children wore their mom’s christening gown, monogrammed with each of their names. It is now preserved in a shadow box.

But for Communion, Rapucci encouraged her second-oldest Carina to express her individuality. Carina’s older sister selected a Grace Kelly-inspired lace dress that was similar to her mother’s wedding gown. Even after her Communion, the child asked to wear it around the house.

“She said, ‘If I’m ever sad or in a bad mood, I can put on my Communion dress,’ ” Rapucci remembered.

But Carina preferred a more playful dress covered in silk flowers, after trying on nearly 10 others. Once they added a sweater, shoes, veil and crystal cross bracelet, the total cost came to about $300.

“Her little face lit up,” Rapucci said. She just said, ‘Mom, I love it.’ “

Challenges Facing the Roman Catholic Church

Communion candidates say yes to first special dress

The little white church dress is the first of many fashion milestones for young girls.

When the little angel is grinning from ear to ear, that’s when Carol Harvey knows her pint-sized client has found the first of many special dresses to come.

Whether it is silk, satin or cotton, sprinkled with rhinestones, pearls or lace, the First Communion dress might be the last garment she wears that truly embodies her innocence and purity. A series of dress-up dates will follow: Sweet Sixteen, Prom, Graduation and the Grand Poobah of white-dress occasions: The Wedding.

For Catholics, the milestones of Holy Communion and Holy Matrimony — sacraments in the church — often are uttered in the same breath. Not surprisingly, bridal company Mon Cheri also dabbles in Communion dresses.

“Unless a little girl says yes to the dress, she’s not happy,” says Harvey, who owns Hansel and Gretel Children’s Boutique in Wilmington, Del.

“She knows it’s her day.”

And so do a slew of gown and accessories manufacturers, who appreciate the parents (and grandparents and godparents and aunts and siblings) who arrive like clockwork every January to scour the racks for cap sleeve or sleeveless, ballet flat or strappy sandal, tiara or double veil.

The only decision left out of their hands is the color. It’s always diamond white.

The Communion ritual is celebrated in other Christian denominations, but the parade of white dresses with tiny hands folded in prayer is Roman Catholic Church territory.

Typically, Catholic children ages 7 to 8 make First Communion in May, which, according to their faith, involves receiving the body and blood of Jesus Christ through bread and wine to symbolize their union with the church.

Like another coming-of-age ceremony, the Bar and Bat Mitzvah for Jewish preteens, First Communion celebrations have evolved into elaborate affairs, particularly among smaller families with more disposable income. Replacing the backyard barbecue and sheet cake are custom-made dresses, tuxedo rentals, catering halls, limousine rides and manicures — much to the church’s chagrin.

Attire also has changed with the times. Some shops keep meticulous records of all the dresses purchased by members of the same church to avoid duplicates. What’s out in finery: socks, crowns, knee-length dresses, hand-sewn cotton smock dresses or anything screaming pageant.

In the old days, the only choice was puffy or puffier and pearls. Today, cashmere sweaters and rhinestone-encrusted boleros cover bare shoulders, while glittery stockings and sleek satin purses complete the look.

Girls generally prefer slim lines to tutu styles, favoring tea-length over floor-length, according to Ashley Murphy, manager of Two Sisters in Greenville, Del. When a special touch is desired, Murphy calls in the bling, such as beading on the neckline or waist.

The tween and teen boutique carries a dozen different Communion dress styles (from $156 to $180) and four different veils. Girls twirl around the “runway” and marvel at their beauty. For many, it’s their first time wearing heels, albeit only 1 inch off the ground.

“Some of them aren’t even getting Communion,” says Murphy. “They’re just trying the dresses on.”

Harvey has encountered “Mom Bridezillas” who insist that their daughters model all 30 different dress styles in the store or pile on crinoline after crinoline. More often than not, this results in a dressing room meltdown.

Most moms, however, let the girl pick the dress, while subtly exercising their veto power.

After all, grandma is usually the one holding the purse strings.

“This is almost a 100 percent grandma market,” Harvey says.

The process is more streamlined for boys. They simply choose from a white suit, navy suit or a combination of the two. Their biggest accessory dilemma is Holy Eucharist pin or tie tack.

Communion and flower girls help Hansel and Gretel stay in business. Part of a dying breed of independent special occasion kids’ boutiques — there is also Sara’s Children’s Boutique in Rutherford, Del., and A Star is Born in South Philadelphia — the one-stop shop has catered to three generations.

Major chains, from Neiman Marcus to Wal-Mart, also carry Communion dresses but their selection is limited, says Harvey, who only carries brands under $200.

After selecting their dresses, Hansel and Gretel girls receive a free charm bracelet and choose their first charm in the shape of a heart, cupcake or Ugg boots.

“When they put the veil on, the mom starts crying,” she says. “They’re just a vision.”

Occasionally, dad shares in the moment. Harvey recalls that one father was the deciding vote between a flashier dress favored by his daughter and a more classic look selected by his wife. The wife won.

Maria Rapucci bought her eldest daughter’s Communion dress at Hansel and Gretel last year and returned this year to outfit her second oldest. The mother of four girls makes a day of it with the kids’ grandmother and aunt, treating them to lunch.

All of Rapucci’s children wore their mom’s christening gown, monogrammed with each of their names. It is now preserved in a shadow box.

But for Communion, Rapucci encouraged her second-oldest Carina to express her individuality. Carina’s older sister selected a Grace Kelly-inspired lace dress that was similar to her mother’s wedding gown. Even after her Communion, the child asked to wear it around the house.

“She said, ‘If I’m ever sad or in a bad mood, I can put on my Communion dress,’ ” Rapucci remembered.

But Carina preferred a more playful dress covered in silk flowers, after trying on nearly 10 others. Once they added a sweater, shoes, veil and crystal cross bracelet, the total cost came to about $300.

“Her little face lit up,” Rapucci said. She just said, ‘Mom, I love it.’ “

Sunday’s Divine Mercy event in Stockbridge expected to draw more thousands

Saturday April 6, 2013

STOCKBRIDGE — The recent installation of Pope Francis is expected to be an added blessing for this weekend’s annual Divine Mercy Sunday celebration at the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy on Eden Hill.

Typically, the religious event draws between 15,000 and 20,000 pilgrims from all over the eastern United States and Canada, with an estimated 17,000 pilgrims the previous two Mercy Sundays, according to the Marian Fathers of the Immaculate Conception (MIC).

However, the local order of Marians expect an uptick in attendance this year, given last months’ election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

“Pope Francis has rejuvenated the Catholic faith and I expect more people than last year,” said the shrine’s rector, the Rev. Ken Dos Santos, MIC. “We still have people calling to register bus tours.”

As of Wednesday, organizers had to limit to 261 the number of buses that will be allowed Sunday on the shrine’s 350-acre campus. Additional off-site parking is available with shuttle-buses continually running to and from Eden Hill.

Divine Mercy Sunday is an international Catholic feast day promoting Jesus’ message that he’s merciful to everyone and that people should trust in his mercy and lead a compassionate life.

The Friday through Sunday celebration held the weekend after Easter Sunday culminates with the area’s largest outdoor Catholic Mass starting at 1 p.m. Sunday.

This year’s main celebrant is the Rev. Martin D. Holley, auxiliary bishop of Washington, D.C. Holley is a member of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, serving on several subcommittees, including chairman of the panel on African-American Catholics.

Francis’ willingness to regularly mingle with the public outside the Vatican and be an advocate for the world’s poor has resonated with many Catholics here and abroad, according to the Rev. Kazimierz Chwalek, MIC, the Marians’ provincial superior.

“He has re-awakened the beautiful side of Catholicism,” Chwalek said.

In addition to a rejuvenated faith, shrine officials also expect the newly installed bronze statues depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross — Jesus’ path to crucifixion on Good Friday — could boost attendance on Eden Hill this weekend and year-round. Overall, more than 70,000 people visit the shrine each year.

“The mystery of Christ’s suffering and death manifest his mercy to the highest degree,” Chwalek noted. “God sacrificing his only son shows his love and mercy for humanity.”

One of five life-like stations in the United States, commissioned by an anonymous benefactor, are along a winding path on a grassy knoll across from the shrine’s chapel. The hollow, bronze figures were created by Canadian sculptor Tim Schmalz and installed last summer and fall.

In September, they were formally blessed by the Most Rev. Timothy A. McDonnell, bishop of he Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield.

To reach Dick Lindsay:
rlindsay@berkshireeagle.com,
or (413) 496-6233.

If you go …

What: Divine Mercy Sunday Weekend

When: Friday through Sunday, with celebration Mass at 1 p.m. Sunday

Where: National Shrine of the Divine Mercy, Eden Hill, Stockbridge

Information: www.thedivinemercy.org

Diocese issues warning about misleading ministries

HOUSTON (FOX 26) -

Father Kevin Collins pastors at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Houston’s East End district, home to some of our city’s oldest Hispanic neighborhoods.

“Here’s one from 1935,” Collins said as he opened a registry book, so old it’s spine had been reinforced with tape.

The church registry books record dates and information for faithful parishioners.

“Here’s our brand new baptism registries,” he said. The latest entries were recorded in February because the church didn’t hold baptisms during Lent.

Each registry tracks the lives, the sacraments, of everyone baptized at Immaculate Conception, even if they relocate to another parish.

“Then that church where you are confirmed sends a record to me and I enter it here,” Collins said. “And then when you’re married, that church sends me a record, and I record you’re married all in the same register.”

And that’s how church leaders discovered what they described in a recent newsletter as: non-catholic “ministries,” groups offering “misas” which is Spanish for mass, drawing Hispanic people from their Catholic Religion.

It’s happened several times over the years, including just last March. According to the newsletter, the group is called “Catholic Church in America.”

They have their own priests and a bishop, who travel from another state to offer baptisms and first communions.

Collins says instead of tithes, they ask for payments for their services.

“Over 100 dollars to have their child baptized,” he said.

The group is not affiliated with the Galveston-Houston Archdiocese.

“It’s a church,” Collins said. “It’s a church. They follow a lot of things that the Roman Catholic Church does, but they’ve broken away and they don’t come under the jurisdiction of the pope.”

The paid baptism, for example, comes with a certificate, one that many Hispanic Catholics have held tight to in anticipation of their child’s next sacrament.

“They’ll come in for first communion, and they’ll bring and say ‘here’s my baptism certificate,’ Collins said. “And we’ll look at it and say it’s not legitimate.”

The church doesn’t turn people away, but similar to the process of recording each parishioners sacraments in the registries, there is a process in attaining each milestone.

And it may be years until parents discover their child hasn’t been baptized through their church.

“We will find out in six years when they show up for first communion.”

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ROME — Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, a humble pastor and Jesuit known for his care of the poor, was elected the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic Church on Wednesday. He chose the name Francis.

He is the first non-European pope in modern times and the first ever from Latin America, now home to 42 percent of the world’s Catholics. He is also the first member of a religious ­order elected since the early 19th century.

As a jubilant crowd of 100,000 in St. Peter’s Square cheered under bright lights and spitting rain, Francis, speaking in Italian, his bearing serene, accepted the duty thrust upon him.

“You know that it was the duty of the conclave to give Rome a bishop,”
he said. “It seems that my brother cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one. . . . I thank you for your welcome.”

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Photos

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• Graphic: Meaning of papal regalia
• Coverage: Electing a new pope

His election was a surprise. Many in the crowd turned to one another in puzzlement when his name was announced in Latin from a red-curtained window high above the square. Although he was said to have finished second to Joseph ­Ratzinger in the last conclave in 2005, he was not thought to be a front-runner this time.

He considers social outreach, rather than doctrinal battles, to be the essential business of the church. Catholics are still buzzing over his speech last year accusing fellow church officials of hypocrisy for forgetting that Jesus Christ bathed lepers and ate with prostitutes.

While his selection was historic, Francis appears unlikely to substantially alter the theological trajectory of the church. Much like his predecessors, Benedict XVI and John Paul II, he is a strident foe of abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage, having waged a forceful but ultimately unsuccessful battle against same-sex marriage in his homeland.

Across the planet, Latin Americans burst into tears and jubilation at news that the ­region finally had a pope to call its own.

‘‘It’s a huge gift for all of ­Latin America,’’ said Jose ­Antonio Cruz, a friar at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. “We waited 20 centuries. It was worth the wait.’’

New popes traditionally bless the vast sea of people below them; Wednesday night, Francis asked the people to bless him first. “Before the bishop blesses his people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me,” he said. “The prayer of the people asking the blessing for their bishop. Let us make, in silence, this prayer: your prayer over me.”

JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images

With some displaying Argentine flags, spectators greeted the papal announcement with jubilation.

For a few moments, a square that had echoed with tens of thousands of voices grew quiet.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who spoke with ­reporters later in the evening, said the new pontiff chose his name in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, known for reform and care for the poor.

Cardinal Bergoglio is known for riding the bus to work, cooking his own meals, and regularly visiting the slums around Buenos Aires.

Eric LeCompte, who directs Jubilee USA, a religious organization that works on finan­cial reforms to help the poor, said the pontiff has a deep sense of solidarity with the poor and ­refers to extreme poverty as a violation of human rights.

“When times were tough” in his native Argentina, “he made sure people didn’t forget the poor and vulnerable,” LeCompte said.

Bergoglio’s elevation to the papacy was greeted with wariness in some quarters. Marianne Duddy-Burke — ­executive director of DignityUSA, an ­advocacy group for gay Catholics — lamented that in Argentina, Bergoglio “made some very harsh and inflammatory statements about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.”

“We recognize that sometimes this new job on which he embarks can change the man called to it,” she said. “We ­invite him to take the time to learn about our lives, our faith, and our families before he makes any papal pronouncements about us, and we stand ready to enter into dialogue with him at any time.”

John F. Schwaller, author of a history of the Catholic Church in Latin America, said that Francis’s selection marks a signal moment in the life of the church and its 1.2 billion ­adherents worldwide. “The fact that someone from the region has been chosen as pope is going to be seen as a major recognition of interest in the issues of the Third World, Latin America specifically,” he said.

He noted that because of the pope’s ancestry, some early ­detractors of Francis’s have called him an Italian pope who happened to be born in Argentina. But Schwaller said that Bergoglio was born and raised in Argentina and has spent most of his life there.

Schwaller also said that with his choice of name, Francis may be acknowledging the legacy of liberation theology, but in a less ­political way than the liberation theologians of the 1960s and 1970s. Followers of liberation theology believe Catholicism should be viewed through the prism of freedom from economic and social oppression.

But Francis has been the target of criticism by some in ­Argentina who allege that he failed to intervene during the country’s Dirty Wars of the 1970s, when thousands were tortured and murdered. Those critics says he was aware of atrocities but would not stand up to the dictatorship. Francis has rejected that assertion, saying he hid people on church property during that era.

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, archbishop of Boston, visited Bergoglio on a trip to Buenos Aires in December 2010, O’Malley’s priest secretary, the Rev. Jonathan Gaspar, said.

O’Malley, a Capuchin Franciscan who was considered a contender for pope, has much in common with the new pontiff. In addition to membership in a religious order, a preference for simplicity, and concern for the poor, O’Malley is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.

O’Malley did not grant interviews last night, opting to spend an extra night at the ­Domus Sanctae Marthae, the Vatican residence where the cardinals stayed during the conclave. But Gaspar said the Boston cardinal was thrilled with Bergoglio, calling him someone who is “not just concerned about the poor, but his pattern of living eschews the trappings of power.”

Dolan said he was shocked, as he got off the minibus ferrying cardinals from the Apostolic Palace to the Domus Sanctae Marthae, that Francis had skipped a chance to ride in the waiting popemobile and hopped aboard the minibus, musing that he needed to drop by his hotel the next morning and settle his bill.

Francis told the other cardinals he plans to visit his predecessor, Benedict XVI, at the Castel Gandolfo on Thursday, Dolan said. He also plans to visit the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome to pray.

At 76, Bergoglio has slowed a bit with age and is feeling the effects of having a lung ­removed due to infection when he was a teenager.

The Rev. Thomas Worcester, a historian at the College of the Holy Cross who has written about the papacy, said the cardinals clearly felt no pressure to pick someone younger. “I think Benedict’s resignation opened the way,’’ Worcester said. “He could do eight, nine, or 10 years and ­resign if he has health problems.’’

The selection was surprisingly quick, coming after only three votes produced black smoke Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

At 7:06 p.m. Wednesday, when the smoke first appeared over the Sistine Chapel, a few despairing cries of “it’s black” rang out among the tens of thousands assembled on St. Peter’s Square. But not for long. As the smoke billowed white against the evening gloom, cheers rang out across the rain-soaked square.

An echelon of Swiss Guards marched into the square and assembled at the foot of St. ­Peter’s Basilica, under the red-curtained balcony. Cheers erupted when those curtains parted at 8:12 p.m., and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran walked out and proclaimed, in Latin, “I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope.”

As soon as he announced that the new pontiff had chosen the name Francis, the crowd began to chant, “Francesco, Francesco.”

Soon thereafter, Francis ­appeared on the balcony to a thunderous ovation and gave a slight, shy wave.

He led the crowd in the Lord’s Prayer, Hail Mary, and Gloria before asking his followers to say a silent prayer of blessing for him.

And then the pontiff finished his address with a wish of “rest well,” and the square rumbled back to life.