The E a g l e A Quarterly Journal published by The Basilica of St. John the Evangelist Stamford, Connecticut

Volume 4, Number 7 online @ www.stjohnsstamford.com/the-eagle September 2013

“A fellow pilgrim in the journey of faith” From Brooklyn to Bridgeport, our new Shepherd On July 31, 2013, Francis named I have every confidence that the Lord Auxiliary Bishop Frank J. Caggiano will always provide us with whatever of Brooklyn, NY as the new bishop of we need to meet the challenges that we the of Bridgeport, succeeding face and, through the struggles that we William E. Lori. Bishop have together, as we do as any family, Caggiano, 54, will be installed as the to deepen our faith in the Lord and, fifth Bishop of Bridgeport on September really, the love that we should have for 19 at St. Theresa in Trumbull. one another. . .

Born in Brooklyn, Bishop Caggiano at- “Jesus is alive here in tended Yale University, Cathedral Col- lege in Queens, NY, and Immaculate Bridgeport. We are willing to Conception Seminary in Huntington, share Him with anyone who NY. He holds a liccentiate and doc- is willing to walk with us.” torate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a priest for the Brooklyn Dio- My friends, I come to you today as a cese in 1987 and elevated to auxiliary fellow pilgrim on the journey of faith bishop in 2006. Here is his statement and I am very eager to learn about all from his first press conference, held in the good that is already being done in Bridgeport on July 31. the Diocese each and every day. I am ready to listen and learn more about the Bishop-elect Frank Caggiano meets the press llow me to begin by express- needs of God’s people. on July 31 in Bridgeport. (AP Photo) ing my sincere gratitude to our Holy Father, , for I stand here committed to collabo- theA trust and confidence he has shown with it many opportunities to bring people rate with all who are in leadership, me by appointing me to be the Shep- together to pray, and to invite each and ev- in our parishes, our schools, our col- herd of this wonderful, vibrant, and ery one of us to grow in holiness of life. leges, our institutions that serve the diverse Diocese. It is an awesome and poor, and, in a very special way, with exciting ministry that I know will bring There are always challenges in ministry, but *Please turn to BI SHOP on page 2

Pope Francis Inspires World’s Youth to Go, Be Not Afraid, and Serve...... page 4 on the Archbishop Charles Chaput on Culture Change Via the Fire of Faith ...... page 8 Siobhan Heekin-Canedy on Being an Olympic “Athlete of Christ” ...... page 12 Pat Toole, Jr. on the Transfiguration and Our Hope in the Cross ..... page 14 Fr. Al Audette Discovers Wonders and a “” on the African Serengeti ... page 16 In si d e Fr. Terry Walsh Says It’s Time to Join a Parish Group or Ministry ...... page 18 Msgr. Stephen DiGiovanni Offers “The Last Word” on Renewal ...... page 36 Questions and answers from the Bishop-elect’s press conference “Sometimes God whispers; He is not easily heard”

You worked as a textbook salesman answer it this way. What do I hope to bring? The challenges here in Bridgeport are before becoming a priest. How does First and foremost, a gentle and compas- perhaps universal challenges. If you experience in the secular world help sionate heart. I think what the world needs were to ask me coming in, tabula rasa, your ministry? to see is the mercy of God. Pope Francis is what would be the concerns I have, receiving such an enormous welcome from it would be to invite everyone to be- I worked for McGraw Hill as a sales rep believers and non-believers alike because come evangelizers. To be witnesses for a year and a half. On a personal level he very beautifully is presenting the merci- to the gospel, to invite people of good it helped me to discern my vocation as ful love of God. To the extent in my own will to know what we know, He whom a priest. There was a point in my life way that I can do that, I am hoping that I we know, He whom we love. We have where I thought that I knew everything I can bring that to this ministry. the best of news to share and we don’t wanted and needed. I thought I needed a always do it effectively, perhaps, in good job, a great salary, a company car, part, because there is a lot of noise in and an expense account. God, in all of “What do I hope to bring? the modern world. Sometimes God His wisdom, gave me all that. A gentle and compassionate whispers; He is not easily heard. And then I realized that I was not happy. heart, and a great love for Do you think the legacy of the priest I realized that there was something more all that has to do with the abuse scandal hangs over your new to life. I realized that the Lord wanted transmission of the faith.” diocese? to do it His way. When I overcame that initial stubbornness and started to do it I see this as a question of trust. When His way, I have never been happier. So, I also hope to bring a great love for all that trust is broken it takes a while to re- it has helped me listen better to the will has to do with the transmission of the faith. build that trust. Perhaps now, 11 years and voice of God. I hope to bring that to It is all about the Good News of being a after, we are still working to rebuild my ministry as well. Christian, of the message of the trust among some individuals who in Jesus. I love catechesis, faith may have felt as if that trust certainly What qualities do you think Pope formation, and education. This is what I am was broken and therefore needs to be Francis saw in you that prompted involved with back home in Brooklyn, and mended and healed. him to give you this honor? I hope that can be of help here. Archbishop Lori should be commend- I honestly cannot answer this on the What do you think will be your biggest ed for the work that he did. He was Holy Father’s behalf, but allow me to challenge as Bishop of Bridgeport? a national leader in making sure our

* BISHOP continued from page 1 with Pope Francis. It was a truly graced mo- we, have found Jesus, they will have my priests, , and ment in the life of the Church. While I was found everything they need to have women and men in there, I was filled with an even greater sense a happy and joyful life. who lead us throughout this great of hope and excitement that the Church is Diocese. I ask each and every one very much alive in the hearts of our young Let me end by saying that I ask for of you for your prayers and for your people. Many are on fire with the joy and your prayers, and I ask our Blessed support and, particularly, for your enthusiasm and energy that they want to Lady, the Mother of God, the Moth- help. Let us work together in the share with the whole Church. er of the Church, and St. Augustine, years ahead to grow into deeper love our patron, to pray for all of us that, of the Lord and His people. Let us So, as I stand before you and prepare in together, as sisters and brothers, we recommit ourselves to bring the the coming weeks to take up this awesome will go forward in faith. We will Good News of salvation that comes mystery, I want to say to all of the young bring a renewed sense to the mis- to us in Jesus to anyone who is people of our Diocese and to those young sion of the gospel that Jesus is alive willing to listen. people who are searching, wandering, won- here in Bridgeport and we are will- dering what the direction of their life is go- ing to share Him with anyone who is I have in my mind and, particularly, ing to be, that I am here to serve them and to willing to walk with us. I thank you in my heart, a very special place for walk with them in their journey of faith to all very much and look forward to our young people. Recently, I was in discover anew a profound personal relation- meeting you all individually in the Rio de Janeiro for World Youth Day ship with Jesus Christ. For when they, like weeks and months ahead.

Page 2 The Eagle • September 2013 children are protected, and every not one of them because in the enthusiasm, the tears, the joy, the danc- Bishop in this country stands commit- we all know that marriage is a man and a ing. He is almost like a grandfather to ted to do exactly the same thing. woman called together in a lifetime of love them in his gestures and his symbols, and to procreate as a sign of their love. which are authentic. There is no show- You have taken a special interest in manship there. He is allowing people young people and, especially, their My position, which is the Church’s and the to realize that our God, first and fore- use of social media. Holy Father’s position, is that the Church most, is a loving God who will reach out to you wherever you are. In my catechesis sessions at World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro I had a In my catechesis in Rio, I said to the magnificent, energetic group of young young people that there is a part of your people. They are the first generation that heart that probably is shrouded. There was actually born into this electronic are secrets that you are carrying in your world. A person like myself uses it fairly life that you desperately want no one to competently, I hope, but they were ac- know. There is a part of you that you tually born into it, which means they think is ugly that no one will love. And are formed by it. They see the world the Lord knows all of your secrets and a certain way. They socialize a certain has seen all of your shadows and loves way. You know what I mean if you have you as you are. The Holy Father is abso- young children or teenagers. That is the lutely brilliant in allowing people to feel venue of their lives. And the Church that as well as know Him. To the extent need not to run away from that venue that I could follow in a small way in his but – allow me to put it this way – to footsteps, I would be very grateful. “baptize” the venue, for there are many individuals who are using the electronic You were born on Easter. Does that world to their own benefit which is not Bishop Caggiano celebrates Mass at the have any special significance to you? to the benefit of our young people. It is, Catholic Center. (Photo by Amy Mortensen) in many ways, the Wild, Wild West. Yes. My mother never let me forget it. For my mother it was a great sign. Per- So, I have a keen interest in listening to “I have a keen interest in haps it was. When I announced that I young people who will be able to teach listening to young people wanted to be a priest my father was furi- me and teach us about this world and be to teach us about social ous. My mother was absolutely thrilled. able to go into it to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. I look forward to work- media to proclaim the gospel Also, my doctor never let me forget that ing with all of you to make that happen. of Jesus Christ.” I ruined his Easter dinner. I was born at 1:40 in the afternoon, right when the What your position on gay people in pasta would have been served. the ? welcomes and invites all people, that the love of God is extended to all people. Do you have any hobbies? In Rio this was the very first question Everyone is to be invited to live authentic that young people raised, because it is a Christian lives, whatever that means to the I am an avid Mets fan, so I am a man of burning issue in the life of the Church. individual person. hope. I like to do, believe it or not, man- First and foremost, we have to be very ual labor. I love painting and wallpaper- clear as Catholic Christians that the What are your impressions of Pope Fran- ing, and carpentry. I love gardening. I love of God is universal, that gay and cis and this new chapter for the Church? find it to be a tremendous release. Plus, lesbian Catholics and those who are it has a beginning, middle, and end. You straight are loved by the Lord and we He is a great gift to the Church. You know, know when you get your jobs done. are to love them as well. Everyone is every Pope brings gifts that are needed in welcome into the life of the Church. the time and age in which he is called to I also like to read. The book that But, there is a need for all of us to live serve through the guidance of the Holy changed me the most while growing up an authentic Catholic life. And, there- Spirit. Pope Francis has given a remarkable was the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I read fore, chastity is an important issue in opportunity for people, even who do not be- it for the first time in freshman year in all of our lives. lieve, to take a second look at the Church high school when I went to the beach. I through his humility, his simplicity. And he read it every summer after, and I think For those who are homosexual, they has a way of connecting in the heart that is that it is a brilliant parable of many of certainly have aspirations to be loved, tremendous. It is an inspired gift. the basic themes of Christian life. It to seek friendship, and there are appro- opened up my imagination. Imagina- priate ways to do that. But marriage is I saw it with the young people in Rio. The tion is an under-utilized road to faith.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 3 Pope Francis inspires at World Youth Day Three simple ideas: Go, do not be afraid, and serve More than 3 million young people the time,” but He said: “Go and make dis- feel the warmth of His mercy and His gathered on Copacabana Beach in ciples of all nations.” Sharing the experi- love. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for the conclud- ence of faith, bearing witness to the faith, ing Mass of World Youth Day on July proclaiming the Gospel: this is a command In particular, I would like Christ’s com- 28, and heard Pope Francis say that that the Lord entrusts to the whole Church, mand, “Go,” to resonate in you young the enormous enthusiasm on display and that includes you; but it is a command people from the Church in Latin Amer- “must not remain locked up.” “Faith that is born not from a desire for domina- ica, engaged in the continental mis- is a flame that grows stronger the more tion, from the desire for power, but from the sion promoted by the Bishops. Brazil, it is shared,” the Pope told the young force of love, from the fact that Jesus first Latin America, the whole world needs people. Warning them against keeping came into our midst. He did not give us just Christ! St. Paul says: “Woe to me if I do their faith to themselves, he said: “That would be like withholding oxygen from a flame that was burning strongly.” Instead he challenged them to help spread the faith across the world. The Holy Father’s homily follows.

o and make disciples of all nations.” With these words, Jesus is speaking to “Geach one of us, saying: “It was wonder- ful to take part in World Youth Day, to live the faith together with young people from the four corners of the earth, but now you must go, now you must pass on this experience to others.” Jesus is call- ing you to be a with a mission!

Today, in the light of the word of God that we have heard, what is the Lord saying to us? What is the Lord saying to us? Three simple ideas: Go, do not be afraid, and serve.

Go. During these days here in Rio, you a part of Himself, but He gave us the whole not preach the Gospel!” (1 Corinthians have been able to enjoy the wonderful of Himself. He gave His life in order to save 9:16). This continent has received the experience of meeting Jesus, meet- us and to show us the love and mercy of proclamation of the Gospel which has ing him together with others, and you God. Jesus does not treat us as slaves, but as marked its history and borne much fruit. have sensed the joy of faith. But the people who are free, as friends, as brothers Now this proclamation is entrusted also experience of this encounter must not and sisters; and He not only sends us, He to you, that it may resound with fresh remain locked up in your life or in the accompanies us. He is always beside us in power. The Church needs you, your en- small group of your parish, your move- our mission of love. thusiasm, your creativity, and the joy ment, or your community. That would that is so characteristic of you. be like withholding oxygen from a Where does Jesus send us? There are no flame that was burning strongly. Faith borders, no limits: He sends us to every- A great Apostle of Brazil, Blessed is a flame that grows stronger the more one. The Gospel is for everyone, not just José de Anchieta, set off on the mis- it is shared and passed on, so that ev- for some. It is not only for those who seem sion when he was only nineteen years eryone may know, love, and confess closer to us, more receptive, more welcom- old. Do you know what the best tool Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and history ing. It is for everyone. Do not be afraid to is for evangelizing the young? Another (cf. Romans 10:9). go and to bring Christ into every area of young person. This is the path for all of life, to the fringes of society, even to those you to follow! Careful, though! Jesus did not say: who seem farthest away, most indifferent. “Go, if you would like to, if you have The Lord seeks all; He wants everyone to Do not be afraid. Some people might

Page 4 The Eagle • September 2013 Pope Francis inspires at World Youth Day way. Go forth and don’t be afraid! The final word: serve. The opening Three simple ideas: Go, do not be afraid, and serve words of the psalm that we proclaimed are: “Sing to the Lord a new song” (Psalm 95:1). What is this new song? It does not consist of words, it is not a melody. It is the song of your life; it is allowing our life to be identified with that of Jesus, it is sharing His senti- ments, thoughts, and actions. And the life of Jesus is a life for others. It is a life of service.

In our Second Reading today, St. Paul says: “I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more” (1 Cor- inthians 9:19). In order to proclaim Je- sus, Paul made himself “a slave to all.” Evangelizing means bearing personal witness to the love of God. It is over- coming our selfishness; it is serving by Pope Francis waves from the Popemobile (left) along Copacabana Beach, where three million bending down to wash the feet of our people gathered (above) for the closing Mass of World Youth Day on July 28. (AP Photos) brethren, as Jesus did.

Three ideas: Go, do not be afraid, and think: “I have no particular prepara- form a group, a community. serve. If you follow these three ideas, tion. How can I go and proclaim the you will experience that the one who Gospel?” My dear friend, your fear is I would like to address you, dear priests evangelizes is evangelized, the one not so very different from that of Jere- concelebrating with me at this Eucharist: who transmits the joy of faith receives miah, as we have just heard in the read- you have come to accompany your young more joy. ing, when he was called by God to be people, and this is wonderful, to share this a prophet. “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do experience of faith with them! Certainly He Dear young friends, as you return to not know how to speak, for I am only a has rejuvenated all of you. The young make your homes, do not be afraid to be gen- youth.” God says the same thing to you erous with Christ, to bear witness to as He said to Jeremiah: “Be not afraid His Gospel. In the first Reading, when . . . for I am with you to deliver you” “Bringing the Gospel is God sends the prophet Jeremiah, He (Jeremiah 1:7, 8). He is with us! bringing God’s power to gives him the power to “pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to over- “Do not be afraid!” When we go to pluck up and break down throw, to build and to plant” (1:10). proclaim Christ, it is He Himself who evil and violence, to destroy goes before us and guides us. When He and overthrow the barriers It is the same for you. Bringing the Gos- sent His disciples on mission, He prom- of selfishness, intolerance, pel is bringing God’s power to pluck up ised: “I am with you always” (Matthew and break down evil and violence, to 28:20). And this is also true for us! and hatred, so as to build destroy and overthrow the barriers of Jesus never leaves anyone alone! He a new world.” selfishness, intolerance, and hatred, so always accompanies us. And then, Je- as to build a new world. sus did not say: “One of you go,” but “All of you go”: we are sent together. everyone feel young. But this experience is Dear young friends, Jesus Christ only a stage on the journey. Please, contin- is counting on you! The Church is Dear young friends, be aware of the ue to accompany them with generosity and counting on you! The Pope is count- companionship of the whole Church joy, help them to become actively engaged ing on you! May Mary, Mother and also the communion of the in the Church; never let them feel alone! of Jesus and our Mother, always on this mission. When we face chal- And here I wish to thank from the heart the accompany you with her tender- lenges together, then we are strong, we youth ministry teams from the movements ness. “Go and make disciples of all discover resources we did not know and new communities that are accompany- nations.” Amen. we had. Jesus did not call the Apostles ing the young people in their experience of to live in isolation; He called them to being Church, in such a creative and bold – Pope Francis

The Eagle • September 2013 page 5 Pope Francis’ first encyclical,Lumen Fidei Illuminating the mystery and the reality of Faith ot infrequently, it is a disservice encyclical, hopefully slowly and prayer- truth, in that faith enables us to see re- to summarize an encyclical fully, on our own. Lumen Fidei is divided ality more deeply, to know the good, before it has had a reasonable into four chapters, each drawn from a and – secure in this knowledge – to chanceN to make its own direct impact on passage in Scripture: stand firm in the course of our lives. readers around the world. I think this is Indeed, the deepest knowledge of the very much the case with Pope Francis’ 1. We have believed in love. (1 John 4:16) truth comes through the love of God first encyclical, Lumen Fidei (The Light and of others which faith enables. As of Faith), dated June 29, 2013. 2. Unless you believe, you will not faith comes through hearing and sight, understand. (Isaiah 7:9) it is an intensely personal experience For some encyclicals, such reticence which opens out into a unique trustwor- might not be justified, but everyone 3. I delivered to you what I also received. thy knowledge, stimulating a constant should be encouraged to read for him- (1 Corinthians 15:3) dialogue between faith and reason. self this relatively short and tightly- structured reflection on Faith. 4. God prepares a city for them. The Pope notes that the Hellenic (Hebrews 11:16) impulse, taken to represent the thrust I recall that Pope Benedict’s large 2009 social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate (Char- “Here we have a work of some 60 paragraphs ity in Truth), was a horse of a different color, affording a devoted to the fundamental religious question good argument for extensive of our age: How are we to understand faith in commentary. That encycli- a world which dismisses it as mere sentiment cal incorporated a number of different themes, and relied and, moreover, does not even understand heavily on the whole body the concept of universal truth?” of social teaching. Few would read it in its entirety; it would be the subject of endless claims In the first chapter, Pope Francis – who has of reason, is contained within Scripture by those desiring to score points in con- deliberately drawn on the previous prepa- itself, as the philosophical interplay with temporary social, political, and eco- rations for this encyclical by his predeces- faith was expressed under divine inspi- nomic debates; and many people would sor – explores the rootedness of faith in the ration in the course of Jewish history. need at least some help to make sense absolute fidelity of God, Who is completely But the truth of faith, a fruit of love, is out of it – to extract what was new and trustworthy. Thus faith opens up an under- not some totalitarian imposition. It is a identify the thematic trajectory within standing of God’s plan and God’s promise, true gift for the common good. Its light the many topics addressed. which gives us a deeper understanding of is a light within the believing subject, reality, and enables us to know how to live which is the whole Church. Lumen Fidei, however, demands a dif- in response to the seemingly more immedi- ferent sort of response. Here we have ate vagaries of life in the world. This leads directly to the third chapter, a work of some 60 paragraphs devoted in which Francis explains that faith is to the fundamental religious question This faith is relational. God enters human not passed on as if from individual to of our age: How are we to understand history and invites each person to partici- individual, which can only produce an faith in a world which dismisses it as pate in His plan of love. Thus faith reaches increasing distance from and uncertain- mere sentiment and, moreover, does its fullness in the community of the Church, ty about the original events on which not even understand the concept of where the love of God is manifested in the faith is based. Rather, it is transmitted universal truth? Indeed, the introduc- one body of Christ. St. Augustine captured whole and entire by the Church which, tion to the encyclical traces briefly the the bond created by faith when he explained: under the real authority of Christ in the history of man’s response to faith to the “Man is faithful when he believes in God Magisterium, always contains the entire present moment, faith which now starts and His promises; God is faithful when He content of faith – the entire ecclesial at a disadvantage in comparison with grants to man what He has promised.” And memory and the full life of Christ. the other claims on a busy life. God is fidelity incarnate. Thus the Church extends the relational The proper thing to do, then, is to In the second chapter, the Pope explores reality of Faith not only through her doc- whet the appetite for reading the the intrinsic connections between faith and trines, but through her very sacramental

Page 6 The Eagle • September 2013 life. The Creed becomes an invitation to enter the Divine mystery and be trans- formed in love. This ecclesial life is also An excerpt from Lumen Fidei transmitted in the path of the Ten Com- mandments and, of course, in prayer. To believe, we need the Church This faith in the one God, directed to- ward the one Lord, is shared in the one he Church is a Mother who teaches us to speak the language of faith. St. Church, and so must be professed in its John brings this out in his Gospel by closely uniting faith and memory and full unity and integrity. associating both with the working of the Holy Spirit, who, as Jesus says, “willT remind you of all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). The love which is the Finally, in the fourth chapter, Pope Fran- Holy Spirit and which dwells in the Church unites every age and makes us contem- cis more thoroughly explores the impact poraries of Jesus, thus guiding us along our pilgrimage of faith. of the gift of faith on the community. He had already noted its role in securing the It is impossible to believe on our own. Faith is not simply an individual decision common good, for from the first those which takes place in the depths of the believer’s heart, nor a completely private who put their faith in God have been relationship between the “I” of the believer and the divine “Thou,” between an preserved not only individually but as autonomous subject and God. By its very nature, faith is open to the “We” of the a people. Thus the great Old Testament Church; it always takes place within her communion. mediators of faith, Noah, Abraham, and Moses, brought all who believe to the We are reminded of this by the dialogi- fulfillment of God’s promises. cal format of the Creed used in the bap- “It is impossible to believe tismal liturgy. Our belief is expressed on our own. Faith is open This principle of mediation enables in response to an invitation, to a word others to participate in the vision of the which must be heard and which is not to the ‘We’ of the Church; mediator, preparing us to participate my own; it exists as part of a dialogue it always takes place in the vision of Christ Himself, who and cannot be merely a profession within her communion.” irrevocably places God’s action in the originating in an individual. We can context of human history and so se- respond in the singular — “I believe” cures the dignity of the human person. — only because we are part of a greater fellowship, only because we also say “We Without Christ, this sense of human believe.” This openness to the ecclesial “We” reflects the openness of God’s own dignity is always lost. With Christ, all love, which is not only a relationship between the Father and the Son, between an the saints mediate this vision to others, “I” and a “Thou,” but is also, in the Spirit, a “We,” a communion of persons. fruitful with new life and new hope. To all those who suffer, the Church pro- Here we see why those who believe are never alone, and why faith tends to spread, vides a service of hope against a new as it invites others to share in its joy. Those who receive faith discover that their horizon of absolute confidence in the horizons expand as new and enriching relationships come to life. Tertullian puts reality of the faithfulness of God. this well when he describes the catechumens who, “after the cleansing which gives new birth” are welcomed into the house of their mother and, as part of a new fam- I hope that it is easy to see, from these ily, pray the Our Father together with their brothers and sisters. brief highlights, the richness and depth of Lumen Fidei. Faith is very difficult The Church, like every family, passes on to her children the whole store of her in the modern period, and almost nev- memories. But how does this come about in a way that nothing is lost, but rather er understood. Clearly, if we can read everything in the patrimony of faith comes to be more deeply understood? It is only one explanation of the mystery through the apostolic Tradition preserved in the Church with the assistance of the and reality of faith, we should read this Holy Spirit that we enjoy a living contact with the foundational memory. What was jewel of an encyclical, given to us in handed down by the Apostles – as the states – “comprises the first year of the pontificate of Pope everything that serves to make the live their lives in holiness and in- Francis – the Year of Faith, the year of crease their faith. In this way the Church, in her doctrine, life and worship, perpetu- the New Evangelization. ates and transmits to every generation all that she herself is, all that she believes.”

– Dr. Jeff Mirus Faith, in fact, needs a setting in which it can be witnessed to and communicated, a means which is suitable and proportionate to what is communicated. For trans- mitting a purely doctrinal content, an idea might suffice, or perhaps a book, or the Dr. Mirus founded Communications, the non-profit organization which runs repetition of a spoken message. But what is communicated in the Church, what is CatholicCulture.org, the premier source for handed down in her living Tradition, is the new light born of an encounter with the Catholic news and information on the web. true God, a light which touches us at the core of our being and engages our minds, To read Pope Francis’ encyclical, visit the wills, and emotions, opening us to relationships lived in communion. Resources section of CatholicCulture.org.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 7 Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia Changing our culture with the fire of our Faith In his address to the Laity Engaging the human person. And “sanctity” is Laity Conference in Colorado Springs, an idea that makes no sense without CO, on August 13, Archbishop Charles God, who seems less and less welcome J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., of Philadel- in our national discourse. The histo- phia spoke about American culture and rian Gertrude Himmelfarb once noted how the fire of faith could change and that America in our lifetime is “living renew it. “The Christian faith is not off the religious capital of a previous simply a habit,” the Archbishop insist- generation, and [that] capital is being ed. “It’s not a useful moral code. It’s perilously depleted.” When the capital not an exercise in nostalgia. It’s a rest- is gone, we may not like the results, be- lessness, a consuming fire in the heart cause the more we delete God from our to experience the love of Jesus Christ public life and our private behavior, the and then share it with others – or it’s more we remove the moral vocabulary nothing at all.” His address follows. that gives our culture meaning.

y task today is talking about We need to understand that the more our culture, and how we secular we become, the more our sense might change and renew it. of community erodes, and the more we AndM I’m glad to do that. But I’d like to feed four problems that cripple us as a begin with a few observations. society.

Some years ago I was browsing through Here’s the first problem: More and the newspapers, and I came across a sto- more often, we’re unable to think ry from The New York Times. The head- clearly. The American Founders cre- line read: “Why the ignorant are bliss- ated a political system that depends ful: Inept individuals ooze confidence, for its success on a literate, reasoning study shows.” It turns out that David population grounded in moral maturity. Dunning, a professor at Cornell Univer- Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia Reasoning requires time. It demands a sity, did a study of incompetence. And announces that his archdiocese will host reverence for ideas. It involves the test- what he found is that most incompetent the eighth World Meeting of Families, ing and comparison of arguments. people don’t know they’re incompetent. a global event, in September 2015. (AP Photo) In fact, people who do things badly tend But the America we have today is a cul- to be very confident about their ability. smile at it. But the lesson we need to draw ture built on marketing – and marketing They’re often more confident than the from it today is a serious one. works in exactly the opposite way. Mar- people who do things well. keting appeals to desire and emotion. It As a nation and as individuals, we’re not as depends on the suppression of critical Dunning went on to find that the smart as we think we are. What we learned thought, because thinking can get in the ignorant overestimate their abilities for – or should have learned – from 9/11, Iraq, way of buying the product or believ- a good reason. The skills they lack for and Afghanistan, is that we stumble and ing the message. And that explains why competence are usually the same skills bleed just like everyone else. We pay for marketing is tied so tightly to images. they need to recognize their own in- our overconfidence and self-absorption just Images operate below the radar of criti- competence. In fact, according to one like everyone else. Fools with tools are still cal thought. This is why car dealers put of Dunning’s colleagues, “not only do fools. Technology, wealth, and power may an attractive female model next to their [incompetent people] reach errone- feed our vanity, but they’re not the same as latest sports car, instead of a stack of ous conclusions and make unfortunate wisdom, moral purpose, and character. And performance statistics. choices, but their incompetence robs they don’t give us any security, because them of the ability to realize it.” only God can do that. Here’s the second problem: More and more often, we’re unable to remem- I should add that, as a result of his I believe that Americans are a great peo- ber. The scholar and critic Christopher study, Dr. Dunning soon began worry- ple, a good people, and that, even today, Lasch often argued that Americans have ing about his own competence. America remains a great experiment in an addiction to the new. We’re a people human dignity. But it’s an experiment that of the “now.” We enjoy nostalgia, be- Now that’s a true story, and we can depends on our respect for the sanctity of cause it’s a kind of entertainment. But

Page 8 The Eagle • September 2013 we don’t really like history because the Americans stop believing that any absolute The results are predictable. Pornogra- past – as it really happened – burdens us principles of right and wrong exist, then how phy wrecks thousands of marriages and with memories and unfinished business. can we even begin to discuss things like families every year. It ruins the voca- It imposes obligations on the present. freedom, truth, and the dignity of the human tions of thousands of rabbis, priests, Americans like to think that we can in- person in a common vocabulary? How can and ministers every year. It infantiliz- vent and reinvent ourselves, unencum- we agree on which rights take precedence, or es our ideas about sex; it cripples our bered by our mistakes and promises. who has responsibility for what obligations? imagination as a people; and it makes But the cost of that illusion is that we permanence and selflessness more and tend to have a very poor grasp of his- What we get in place of freedom is a kind more difficult to secure in relations be- tory. We learn too little, too late, from of anarchy of conflicting appetites, pressure tween men and women. Nonetheless, the lessons of the past. groups, and personal agendas, refereed by in a sense, pornography is the perfect the state and held together by just one fragile proof of Rifkin’s observation about Here’s problem three: More and more thread: the economy we all share – and mon- modern culture. Pornography reduces often, we’re unable to imagine and ey is rarely the best glue for brotherhood, or even the most intimate dimension of hope. At least until recently, Ameri- good will, or community. In fact our econo- the human person to a product avail- cans have never been ideologues. We’re my, more than anything else in American life able for purchase. pragmatists and toolmakers. We believe today, teaches us to see almost everything as in results. So it’s really no surprise that a commodity to be bought or sold. My point is this: The more our econ- we built the strongest economic ma- omy misuses the language of our chine in the world; or that we excel at Jeremy Rifkin, the author and social critic, desires, dreams, and ideals to sell science and technology; or that these once described modern culture – in the products, to create new hungers and disciplines enjoy such esteem to commodify life, then the in our culture. darker our appetites grow, and “Americans are a great people, a good the more mixed up our dreams But science and technology people. Even today, America remains a and ideals become. We feed always carries with them a our spiritual longings with “revenge of unintended conse- great experiment in human dignity. But it’s material things, and we end up quences.” And one of the un- an experiment that depends on our respect starving morally. We confuse intended consequences of our for the sanctity of the human person. And ourselves to a point where we science is that we’ve become ‘sanctity’ is an idea that makes no sense no longer know what real love, its objects and its victims. C.S. real intimacy, honest work, Lewis saw this coming 70 without God, who seems less and less personal maturity, freedom, years ago when he published welcome in our national discourse.” virtue, duty, family – and even his extraordinary book, The a meaningful life itself – look Abolition of Man. The price like. We’re left with a chronic tag for our science has been a decline and elsewhere in the devel- aching for more; more of everything in our vocabulary of the soul, a rise in oped world – as a “paid-for experience” and anything, except the one thing that the materialist view of the world, and based on the commodification of passion, matters: God. We end up cocooned in a collapse in our confidence that hu- ideals, relationships, and even time. That’s unreality; a Fantasyland of our own manity is somehow unique or sacred in a hard judgment, but too often it seems to making. creation. Hope and imagination depend be true. If we want freedom, we try to buy on things we can’t measure. They flow it by purchasing this car or that smartphone. This is the culture we’re called to out of a belief in a higher purpose to If we want romance, we try to buy it by change in a “new evangelization.” And our lives. If all we are is a collection of purchasing this vacation cruise or that hotel here’s what that means. intelligent carbon atoms, then hope and package. imagination are just sentimental quirks All evangelization begins with two of our species. And so is any talk about And if we want to skip the romance and questions: Why should we do it? the sanctity of the human person, or get straight to the sex, we can buy that, And how should we do it? The human rights, or human dignity. too. More than 11,000 new pornography “why” has two very obvious answers: films get produced in the United States First, Jesus commands it in Matthew Here’s problem four: More and more every year. More than 116,000 Internet 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make dis- often, we’re unable to recognize and searches for child pornography happen ev- ciples of all nations, baptizing them in live real freedom. Freedom is more ery day. Americans spend well over $4 bil- the name of the Father, and of the Son, than just an endless supply of options lion on pornography annually – more than and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them and choices. Choice for its own sake is on any major sport. That revenue includes to observe all that I have commanded just another form of idolatry. Freedom the rental of more than 800 million porn you . . .” We can’t call ourselves His is the ability to see – and the courage videos. But it doesn’t include the ocean of disciples and not be missionaries. to do – what is morally right. But if free pornography anyone can find online. * Please turn to C HAnge on page 10

The Eagle • September 2013 page 9 * CHANGE continued from page 9 begin with our own repentance and con- faith among many adults have faded We’re hard-wired into the mission of version. That hasn’t changed since St. Paul into a kind of vague “spirituality.” Jesus Christ by virtue of our . walked the roads of Asia Minor. We can’t This ambiguity then shapes the world We need to be active witnesses of our give what we don’t have. As individuals, we into which American adolescents are faith, or we’re lying to ourselves when control very little in life; but we do control socialized. we claim to be Catholic. what we do with our hearts. We can at least make ourselves available to God as His For many young people, the moral- Second, despite all the distractions and agents. Personal conversion is the essential istic part of “moralistic therapeutic comforts that surround us in American first step of real discipleship. It immediately deism” simply means being pleasant culture, the stakes involved in every hu- affects the people around us. and responsible, working on “self- man life are real. The blood and brutal improvement,” taking care of one’s suffering of Jesus on the Cross were the The “how” of evangelization also means health, and doing one’s best to suc- cost required for our redemption. Christ trying to understand the future shape of our ceed. “Therapeutic” means focusing on bought us at a very high price. We need- culture, a shape that’s emerging even as we feeling good and happy, being secure ed to be saved from something terrible. meet here today. and at peace. It’s about subjective well- We needed to be ransomed from an Evil being and getting along amiably with One bent on our destruction. Which The future belongs to the young. And what other persons. And “deism” means that means that evil is more than just a meta- this future may hold is worth some concern. God exists – He created our world – phor; more than just the sum of our Christian Smith, Notre Dame’s distinguished but He’s not particularly involved in human moral or psycho- our affairs, especially when logical deficiencies. Evil we don’t want Him around. is something real and “Any evangelization needs to begin with our He’s available to meet our conscious and murderous. own repentance and conversion. That hasn’t needs. He’s not demand- ing on us, but we can be Baptism makes us disciples changed since St. Paul walked the roads of demanding on Him. of Jesus Christ. It involves Asia Minor. We can’t give what we don’t have. us in a struggle for the soul As individuals, we control very little in life; Obviously very little of this of the world. As we’ve al- has anything to do with the ready seen, the world today but we do control what we do with our hearts. Gospel of Jesus Christ. And makes it very easy to de- We can at least make ourselves available to that’s a problem. Morality is lude ourselves. The natural God as His agents. Personal conversion is not simply a matter of “self- and social sciences have improvement.” The goal of weakened man’s ability to the essential first step of real discipleship. It feeling good and happy, se- believe in unseen things by immediately affects the people around us.” cure and at peace, is not the exalting the material world faith of the martyrs. Genuine and implying that human charity demands much more knowledge alone can explain reality social researcher, suggests that – already, to- than just getting along amiably with oth- – but without actually disproving any- day – the de facto dominant religion among ers. And God is not our butler. We need thing about God or the supernatural. American teenagers is something he calls to make ourselves available to God be- Modern unbelief is vigorous, confi- “moralistic therapeutic deism.” He frames fore we can reasonably ask God to be dent, and also a very clever cheat. the creed of the new religion in this way: available to us.

Yet people still suffer and die. And be- First, a God exists who created and orders In practice, American society now cause they suffer and die, they hunger the world and watches over human life on breeds a kind of radical self-focus and ultimately for a higher, comprehensive earth. Second, God wants people to be good, practical atheism – not by refuting faith meaning to their lives. Which means nice, and fair to each other as taught in the in God, but by rendering God irrelevant they still can be, and still need to be, Bible and most world religions. Third, the to people’s needs and urgencies of the reached by the Word of God. Eternity central goal of life is to be happy and to feel moment. As Christopher Lasch wrote is real, and the content of eternity for good about oneself. Fourth, God doesn’t in The Culture of Narcissism, con- every human person depends on know- need to be involved in one’s life except when sumer culture tends to create weak per- ing and loving God. So as disciples of he’s needed to fix a problem. And fifth, good sonalities dependent on group behav- Jesus Christ, we need to be as vigor- people go to Heaven when they die. ior and approval, and therefore more ous and confident as those who oppose susceptible to advertising and product Jesus Christ. Since teen religion largely derives from the consumption. The natural and social world of adult religion, especially parental sciences replace the clergy as a source So much for the “why” of evangeliza- religion, it flows naturally from what the of guidance and meaning. And social tion. The “how” of a new evangeliza- parents of these teens actually practice. At media and mass entertainment abolish tion, or any evangelization, needs to the everyday level, old patterns of religious solitude and personal reflection.

Page 10 The Eagle • September 2013 So in an age of massive self-absorption, paradise, has poured out the streams would forget his destination and real individuality and self-mastery are of the Gospel in a holy flood over the start inviting all the elements to actually withering. Why? Because the whole world. [St. Francis] preached praise Jesus” (115). communities that root and shape an in- the way of the Son of God and the dividual in distinctive moral codes and teaching of truth in his deeds. In him The heart of every new work of evan- histories – in other words, our families, and through him an unexpected joy gelization is this kind of ardor; a sim- synagogues, churches, and fraternal and a holy newness came into the ple, passionate faith that can only come organizations – can’t compete with the from seeking out and giving ourselves noise of consumer society. entirely to Jesus Christ, no matter what the cost. It’s fitting that Francis of As a result, many self-described Chris- Assisi is the patron saint of Colorado, tians don’t know Jesus Christ, have and that our new Holy Father took the never met Him, and feel no need to name of Francis. Just as St. Francis was change. They don’t know the Word of raised up in his time to preach the Gos- God. They don’t love the Church as pel with new passion in new kinds of Pope John XXIII loved her – in other ways, so God asks all of us here today words, as a mother and teacher. And to follow the same path, with the same they don’t like to be told that they’re unshakeable faith, to preach Jesus on the wrong path. Christ by word and deed in our fami- lies, our friendships, our business deal- But they are. The Christian faith is not ings, and in every corner of daily life. simply a habit. It’s not a useful moral code. It’s not an exercise in nostalgia. The Word of God remains young and It’s a restlessness, a consuming fire alive only to the degree that you and I in the heart to experience the love of live it zealously ourselves and share Jesus Christ and then share it generously with others. it with others – or it’s noth- If we do that one decisive ing at all. Mastering the “It’s fitting that our new Holy Father took thing, God will take care of new social and demograph- the name of Francis. Just as St. Francis was the rest. God will make all ic data that describe today’s raised up in his time to preach the Gospel with things new. The irony, the world, and the new com- glory, and the joy of faith in munications tools to reach new passion in new kinds of ways, so God asks Jesus Christ is that, the more it, are vitally important for all of us here today to follow the same path, we give it away to others, the Church. But nothing can with the same unshakeable faith, to preach the stronger it grows, and the be accomplished if we lack more we have for ourselves faith and zeal ourselves. Jesus Christ by word and deed in our families, to feed our own hearts. our friendships, our business dealings, We – and that means you and in every corner of daily life.” George Bernard Shaw and I – are the means God once said that “When I was uses to change the world. young, I observed that nine The material tools are secondary. Peo- world. A shoot of the ancient religion out of every ten things I did were fail- ple, not things, are decisive – which suddenly renewed the old and decrepit. ures, so I did ten times more work.” means that changing our culture be- A new spirit was placed in the hearts Shaw was never a friend of Christianity, gins here, right now, in each one of of the elect, and a holy anointing has but that just makes me happier to bor- our hearts. Jesus revolutionized all of been poured out in their midst” (89). row his words. Young or old, we need to human history starting with 12 simple live our faith as St. Francis did – all in, men. God already did it once. And God Elsewhere Thomas of Celano writes: 100 percent, holding nothing back, with can do it again, but it begins with us. charity, endurance, passion, and hope. “The brothers who lived with [St. That kind of faith changes lives and In the second book of The Life of St. Francis] knew that daily, con- remakes the world. Francis by Thomas of Celano we read stantly, talk of Jesus was always this description of the 13th century man on his lips. He was always with Je- Francis heard the Gospel, and believed, who sought to live the Gospel without sus: Jesus in his heart, Jesus in and acted on it. Today, here, beginning gloss or compromise, and who inspires his mouth, Jesus in his ears, Jesus now, God calls us to the privilege of our current Holy Father so powerfully: in his eyes, Jesus in his hands. He doing the same. bore Jesus always in his whole body “In these last times, a new evan- . . . Often as he walked along a road, – Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, gelist, like one of the rivers of thinking and singing of Jesus, he O.F.M. Cap.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 11 Siobhan Heekin-Canedy, ice dancing champion Heading to the Olympics, with God as my partner

“Every Christian is called to be- thought to how the two remarkable people, I have also been in come a strong athlete of Christ, aspects of my life were some very difficult situations. I have had that is, a faithful and courageous related. Soon I started coaches who did not support or believe witness to his Gospel. But to noticing examples in me, whose approach was to break me succeed in this, he must persevere all around me: in down until I had lost all confidence in in prayer, be trained in virtue, the news, on the myself. I have had partners who treated and follow the divine Master in Internet, even in me disrespectfully. I have been the vic- everything.” my daily life. tim of poor sportsmanship in practice – Blessed Pope John Paul II In my own per- and competition. sonal t first glance, the Holy The emotional toll Father’s words, spoken at the has been huge; at Jubilee of Sports Celebration times I have felt inA 2000, may seem surprising. Why experience, would the Pope use the example of though, one athletics to describe the life of a theme stands Christian? What could sports and faith out above all possibly have in common? the rest: sacrifice. that I just In my experience, quite a lot! Every athlete who could wishes to achieve not go I first began taking figure skating a high level must on. At lessons in Stamford when I was five make sacrifices. I was no excep- more years old, and I soon began dreaming of tion; once I reached a certain level, than some day competing at the World and I had to start making some difficult one Olympic level. I have come a long way decisions. For example, I was home- point since then and, now 22, have already schooled from seventh through twelfth in my career, I achieved many of my goals. With my grade. Once I graduated from high school, thought I was ready ice dancing partner, who is Ukrainian, to quit skating. I am a two-time Ukrainian National Somehow, though, Champion (my partner is Ukrainian, “At every turn, God has been I always managed enabling me to represent Ukraine). I there for me, finding a way to push on just a have also placed in the top 12 at the to make everything turn out little longer, until European Championships, and in the things changed for the better. top 14 at the World Championships. for the best. As long as I let My partner and I recently competed Him guide me, I know I Looking back, I can now see how God in the 2013 World Championships, cannot make a wrong turn.” has been active in my life. Of course, where we earned an entry to the 2014 He is not the reason I suffer. I believe Olympics for Ukraine, to be held in many of the roadblocks in my life are Sochi, Russia, next February. I was accepted to college, but I am deferring there because evil is present in the until I have finished my skating career. world, and the Devil does not want me Last summer, I read an article about the to succeed. Vatican’s Church and Sport Section, a I have missed out on many things because committee within the Pontifical Council of my training – parties, vacations, even However, God has a plan for me, and for the Laity that was formed to explore just hanging out with friends. However, I He always manages to make something the relation between the Church and ath- know that these sacrifices have been worth good come out of a bad situation. He letics. This got me thinking: I had been it, since they have allowed me to be where has strengthened me when I thought a Catholic my entire life, and an athlete I am today. I had nothing left, and He has helped for almost as long. I felt I had done a me to use adversity to grow stronger. fairly good job of growing in my faith I have had a harder time coming to terms At every turn, He has been there for even while training at an elite level. with the sacrifices that were not of my own me, finding a way to make everything choosing. While I have had many won- turn out for the best. As long as I let However, I had never given much derful experiences and worked with many Him guide me, I know I cannot make

Page 12 The Eagle • September 2013 a wrong turn.

For Catholics, sacrifice is an important The Catholic Difference theme. After all, Jesus made the ul- timate sacrifice, giving up His life so On really really not getting it that we might live. He taught us that sacrifice is not something to be dreaded n the wake of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s homicide convictions or avoided, but to be embraced as the this past May, several state legislatures began crafting laws that would protect road to true life in God. Suffering is unborn life at earlier stages of gestation while shutting down horror houses never easy, and in the moment it feels likeI Gosnell’s Philadelphia “clinic.” Whether these laws will stand constitutional terribly unfair. scrutiny remains to be seen; what is worth noting now is the degree to which deeply-entrenched supporters of the unrestricted abortion license created by the However, when we offer our hardships Supreme Court in 1973 still don’t get it – and still continue to muddle the public to God, we make room in our hearts for debate with their confusions. His love and healing. My experiences with skating have helped me to gain a Thus a June 29 editorial in The Washington Post deplored the fact that these deeper understanding of all this. I still proposed state statutes would “. . . require abortion clinics to meet the same stan- struggle to accept the burdens I must dards as surgery centers, like those in hospital wings.” Moreover, “doctors who bear, but I now know that I can do any- perform abortions would have to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. thing if I let God show me the way. . . . The case that such standards are needed to protect the health of abortion patient . . . is weak.” I hope that, even after my skating career is finished, I can use what I have Say what? In many states, learned to help me become a better abortuaries are not re- Why did all of Great “athlete of Christ.” quired to meet health and Britain ask “Is it a baby safety standards required girl or a baby boy?” – Siobhan Heekin-Canedy of the local McDonald’s or Wendy’s. After testi- when the Duchess of Siobhan lives in Stamford and is a mem- mony in the Gosnell case Cambridge became ber of St. John’s, where she is one of the depicted a foul, cluttered, pregnant? Why did no one ask, “Is Young Adult Team Members for two parish ghoulish “clinic” in which groups, The Flock and the St. Francis & basic sanitary standards it a male fetus or a female fetus?” St. Clare Society (details on pages 14-15). were massively violated, how can anyone reasonably suggest that the case for protecting women by en- forcing proper sanitation and safety standards for surgical procedures is “weak”?

How can anyone reasonably suggest that there is a “weak case” for requiring that those who perform those procedures have the minimal professional credentials of other surgeons and doctors? How can anyone plausibly and conscientiously claim to promote “women’s health” by resisting such regulations?

The Post’s obfuscations were of a piece with the deep confusions of one of the paper’s regular op-ed writers, Ruth Marcus, who, in an April column, described state legislative efforts to hollow out Roe v. Wade’s abortion license through state regulation of abortion clinics as “the result of a sincere and intense belief – one I do not share – that abortion is the taking of a human life.”

Well, one wants to ask, what is it, then?

What, precisely, are those creatures whose spinal cords Kermit Gosnell cut with scissors? Why did all of Great Britain ask “Is it a baby girl or a baby boy?” when the Duchess of Cambridge became pregnant? Why did no one ask of the former Kate Middleton and future Queen of England, “Is it a male fetus or a Champion Ice Dancer Siobhan Heekin- female fetus?” Why does a widely-used embryology textbook state what every Canedy and her partner, Dimitri Dun, first-year biology student can see, absent ideological blinders: that the product hope to represent Ukraine in the of human conception is a human being with a unique genetic identity, capable 2014 Winter Olympics. * Please turn to A BOrt on page 15

The Eagle • September 2013 page 13 Ryan Boyle’s miracle Transfiguration reminds us: our hope is in the Cross ountains and hills played an important role in Jesus’ life. Upon the mountains and hills ofM Israel He was tempted, He preached, and He prayed. He was transfigured, experienced His great agony, was cru- cified, and then finally rose from the dead. Mountains represent a special closeness with God. They are a place of spiritual ascent, freedom from the burdens of everyday life. They give us a broader perspective, surround us with the beauty of God’s creation, and fill us with a sense of wonder and awe.

On August 6, we celebrated the Feast of the Transfiguration where Jesus re- vealed His glory on Mount Tabor. The

“Mountains represent a special closeness with God. They are a place of spiritual ascent, freedom from the burdens of everyday life.” image of mountains and hills reminds me of a pilgrimage I made over six years ago. I was one of several chaper- ones who traveled with a group of teen- agers to an international Catholic youth festival. There were about 40,000 peo- ple at the festival which ended on the Feast of the Transfiguration. “The Transfiguration” (detail) by Raphael (1518-1520) One of the students in our group was a young man from our Diocese named surgery about 20% of his brain had to be the Stations of the Cross to pray as pil- Ryan Boyle. At the age of 10, while removed, so he had to relearn everything grims made their ascent. At the base riding a big wheel at a friend’s house, from breathing to talking. of the mountain, custom chairs were Ryan lost control and went backwards available to aid in carrying people who down the steep driveway into the street. I first met Ryan at the airport as we were were unable to make the climb. We Tragically, a Dodge Daytona pickup about to leave for our pilgrimage. He could called them “King Tut” chairs because truck was driving by at 40 miles per barely walk, even with the assistance of they looked like a chair made to carry hour, couldn’t stop, and ran over him. two canes with forearm braces. His mother royalty in ancient times. We decided His skull was crushed at the base of his walked next to him at all times to help him that we were going to carry Ryan to the neck. Doctors gave him no chance to keep his balance. top of the mountain. live. The location of the youth festival had a Ryan, now 19 years old, recently wrote Miraculously Ryan survived the sur- small mountain. There was a very rough a book about his life entitled, When the gery, two months in a coma, and years and rocky path cut from the bottom of the Lights Go Out. He devotes a chapter to of painful rehabilitation. During his mountain to the top. Along the path were our pilgrimage. This is what he wrote

Page 14 The Eagle • September 2013 about his experience climbing the glory of God. When we experience these mountain: grace-filled moments, we carry them with * ABORT continued from page 13 us for the rest of our lives. These moments of self-directed development so “It was amazing that I got to the give us the strength we need to persevere in long as neither nature (in the form top without a scratch or anything. difficult times. of miscarriage) nor technology (in I think this is when I started to real- the form of abortion, chemical or ize that God is great, and I should The Transfiguration of Jesus made an enor- surgical) intrudes? thank Him for giving me a second mous impression on St. Peter. Thirty-five lease on the gift of life. Maybe my years after witnessing Jesus’ glorified body, Ms. Marcus’s confusions do not stop life is really difficult, but just think St. Peter writes in his second letter: at Embryology 101, however. After about how much more difficult it correctly noting that the legal battle could be. . . People came up to me “We did not follow myths when we for unborn human life was largely and hugged and kissed me. At first made known to you the power and being won when the Supreme Court I thought, ‘I don’t know you, and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but preempted the state legislative this is just plain weird so go away.’ we had been eyewitnesses of His maj- struggle in 1973, Marcus noted that, Later, I realized that these esty. For He received irrespective of what was happening people saw God in me, so honor and glory from in state capitols, a 1973 Gallup Poll they wanted to get as close God the Father when “found 64 percent agreeing that ‘the to me as they could.” that unique declaration decision to have an abortion should came to Him from the be made solely by a woman and her This is what happens majestic glory, ‘This is physician.’” when we open ourselves My Son, My beloved, to receive God’s grace. with Whom I am well And here is another of the canards Others begin to see God in pleased.’ We ourselves of Those Who Really Don’t Get It. us. heard this voice come from Heaven while The abortion decision is most fre- On our way back to the air- we were with Him on quently made, not by a woman and port, people began to share the holy mountain” “her physician,” but by a frightened their experiences from the (2 Peter, 1:16-18). woman talking with a “counselor” pilgrimage. At one point ev- in a clinic run by an agency like eryone started chanting Ryan’s name, so We must not forget, though, what Jesus was Planned Parenthood, which has a he made his way to the front of the bus. discussing on the mountain with Moses and deep financial interest in abortion. It was amazing that he was able to keep Elijah. Their conversation centered around That frightened woman, who has his balance while the bus was moving. Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension often been abandoned by an irre- He talked about how he had never had into Heaven. sponsible man, is then remanded much faith even before his accident and to an abortion “provider” who is only went to church because his parents Jesus freed us from sin and death by His no more “her physician” than he or made him. The pilgrimage changed all Cross. The glory of the Transfiguration she is “her hairdresser.” of that. He writes, “Now I want to go to reminds us that our hope is in the Cross. church. . . For the first time I understood We unite ourselves with the Cross through And in light of the Gosnell case, [my purpose]: I was meant to inspire prayer, fasting, and acts of charity. We chal- which revealed grotesqueries like other people with my story.” lenge ourselves to grow in virtue as we as- infant feet and hands kept in jars in cend toward God. We experience healing refrigerators, do Ruth Marcus and I visited Ryan and his family last sum- through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. the Post editorial board really think mer in Atlanta, GA. He is now able to of the Kermit Gosnells of this world walk without any assistance, although Each Sunday we come to Mass to listen to as “physicians”? Are the Chinese sometimes he uses a cane. He has his Jesus’ words and witness His glory in the doctors who remove organs from driver’s license, is attending college, Eucharist. May we be filled with the hope political prisoners “physicians?” and is training to make the 2016 U.S. that one day we, too, will share in Jesus’ Paralympic Cycling Team. The doc- resurrection and our lowly bodies will be Is the abortion license worth this tors can only describe his recovery as glorified like His. shameful abdication of decency a miracle. and reason? – Deacon Patrick Toole, Jr. Just as both Moses and later Elijah wit- – George Weigel nessed the presence of God on Mount Deacon Toole serves as Permanent Deacon at George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Horeb and then Peter, James, and John St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Fairfield. Ryan Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy on Mount Tabor, so did Ryan spiritual- Boyle’s book, When the Lights Go Out, can be Center in Washington, DC. ly ascend the mountain and witness the ordered through his website, www.ryanboyle.me

The Eagle • September 2013 page 15 “What happened to your priest?” Finding wonders – and a “saint” – on the Serengeti hile in the U.S. Diplomatic Corps my family and I were fascinated with Africa talk. AlmostW every family posted to Africa avowed the beauty of that continent such that many wished to return for vacations – and many did.

Needless to say, my own thoughts to vis- it Africa germinated during those years; and so it happened, after some five de- cades, I talked some family and friends into joining me on safari, two weeks in Tanzania in July! Just as the diplomats vowed to return, so we twelve sipped a toast on our last eve to return one day.

Africa is grand, Africa is beautiful, Africa is mysterious – and, the central East of the continent is slowly entering the twenty-first century. Fr. Al Audette with Ezekiel, his Maasai guide and friend.

The questions most asked since my re- visiting our camp. His weapon of choice was “What happened to him?” I asked. turn dealt with what I thought to be the neither his rifle nor his bow and arrow; best of the safari, and the worst. There rather, he and his companion waved torches Ezekiel answered, “Three years ago, was no “worst.” Not only did our tour from a respectable distance. the people were waiting for daily Mass company (Thompson Tours) cater to to begin, but the priest didn’t appear. every need, but it made sure that each Ezekiel is also Roman Catholic, as are, from We sent someone to his house, and day was more spectacular than the first reports, some 40% of the Maasai People. they found him in his bedroom, unable – vast savannahs that swept into the The other dominant faiths are Muslim and to get up. He’d collapsed and couldn’t next; ancient craters that define the ori- Lutheran. When the Maasai learned that I stand up!” gins of man; flora and fauna that feast and protect predator, foul, and prey “What had happened?” I asked, think- – dazzles of zebra, towers of giraffe, “Some 40% of the Maasai ing the worst. countless elephants, wildebeests, lions; People are Catholic. When endless numbers of hippopotamuses, the Maasai learned that I was “He was such a great man. He was and even more gazelles. our pastor for over 62 years and had a Catholic priest, my stock worked himself to exhaustion. The With all this beauty and the lure of went up a trillion percent!” Diocese took him away. No one since the wild, why does one happenstance has replaced him.” gnaw at my very bones? was a Catholic priest, my stock went up a I can’t describe my feelings as Ezekiel For a few days, Ezekiel was our guide trillion percent! Most of the Maasai asked if spoke. Well into his 90s, this old man (it appears that most members of the they could call me their father; even among had served as he’d vowed. I wanted to Maasai People have Biblical names). the Lutherans I was called Father. This af- stop the car, go to his house, and pick He is a warrior, married with two chil- fection was strong enough to melt my heart up where this old and exhausted saint dren. He wears a Serengeti-green uni- every time I heard the familiar reference! had left off. form and carries weapons to protect safari-travelers, especially at night. One day, when passing a near-by village, Since that day, I’ve wondered about my Ezekiel pointed to an old cinderblock Cath- own spirituality and motives. Am I as He displayed his extraordinary brav- olic church he referred to as his own, even dedicated a priest? Could I even walk in ery during the two nights when though it had been closed some three years the shadow of this man? I’d love to try. a solo rogue elephant insisted on ago, when his priest had been taken away. I tell you this with great sincerity. I may

Page 16 The Eagle • September 2013 A balloon floats above the vast Serengeti plain, filled with majestic wildlife of all shapes and sizes.

never serve the Maasai in Tanzania, but I will press on in my ministry until I, too, am “unable to get up!”

In the shadow of this saintly priest, how can a Catholic priest, in conscience, ever retire? The great cloak of relativism in- fluences the vast majority of our youth and, as a result, few have the courage to become priests or or missionaries So, in my opinion, the spiritual bottom line Without a solid Catholic presence, – and, not surprising, not many parents in Tanzania is not Catholicism. Though where else can a Christian family go? endorse a spiritual vocation. there is a shortage of Catholic priests, there are many Lutheran ministers. It is no won- – Rev. Al Audette, M.S., M.H. Half a century ago, the United States der that the Lutheran Church is growing sent Catholic missionaries throughout well in the Serengeti. Fr. Audette, St. John’s Priest-in-Residence, the world; today, other countries send is also a practicing psychotherapist and missionaries to us. It is in the nature of man to seek God. Life Coach.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 17 A wide array of spiritual and social opportunities at the Basilica Mark your calendars and prepare to be enriched s the daylight hours begin to for fear that your infant or young child wane ever so slightly and the can’t sit still and quiet for the half hour. tips of the trees reveal the spec- You’ll be in good company. After Ado- tacularA colors hidden within the leafy ration, Moms and Tots meet in the Rec- green canopy, the autumn air summons tory Garden (weather permitting) or in us back from our summer siesta to begin the Msgr. Nagle Hall for refreshments anew the many parish activities here at and activities. It’s a wonderful chance the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist. A for Moms to spend time together. simple glance over the Sunday bulletin unveils various opportunities for spiri- “The Flock,” the St. John’s Young tual and cultural enrichment and a wel- Adult Group, meets on Tuesdays in coming invitation to broaden one’s un- the Nagle Hall twice each month for derstanding of the faith that we profess, faith, fellowship, and food. In addi- as well as contribute to the good of the tion to the bi-monthly program, these parish at large by enriching others with meetings also make known various one’s own insights and experiences. social and volunteer opportunities for the young adults (20’s and 30’s), such In other words, come join us and help as tree planting, gardening, and other “build up the Body of Christ” and see volunteer projects. Social outings have the gift of your own Baptismal grace included a Long Island Sound cruise, flourish and water the garden of our visits to New York for various cultur- The offers personal spiritual parish community! al events, skiing, and hiking. Bring a growth though apostolic works. friend and expand your horizons! Allow me to offer a simple glace over some of the opportunities that await Help build up our parish by On Wednesdays, the Legion of you. Bear in mind that special events contributing your gifts and Mary, under the title of “Our Lady of are scheduled throughout the course talents and joining in the Sorrows” meets in the Nagle Hall from of the year, so keep a close eye on the 7:30-9 p.m. The Legion of Mary is a bulletin each week. wonderful experiences world-wide lay organization of men offered for your spiritual and women under the patronage of the Let’s look at a typical week here at the enrichment and fellowship. Blessed Mary. It was founded parish. On Monday evenings, there by Servant of God, Frank Duff, in 1921 is Eucharistic Adoration from 7-8 in Ireland. The Legion of Mary attends p.m., which typically includes praying Confirmation. Many uncover a new and pro- to the personal spiritual growth of each the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Ro- found understanding of the Church founded member through a weekly prayer meet- sary. What better way to begin the new by our Lord and discover the deeply intimate ing, including the Rosary, as well as week than by adoring our Lord and love of God in a new and vibrant way. Like various apostolic works such as visit- contemplating His love for us through the sea of color hidden within the summer ing the sick, teaching the faithful, and our meditation on the Mysteries of His leaves, the RCIA meetings help to reveal the assisting in other needs of the parish. All Life? Come for an hour and then join Presence of God and the vibrant life we are are welcome! your friends for a late meal together. called to share with Him. Come join us! Throughout Wednesdays in October, Tuesdays in the Rectory, we of- On the First Tuesday each month, the our Basilica’s St. Monica Institute for fer the Rite for Christian Initiation Moms and Tots Group meets in the Basil- Patristic Studies will present a series on for Adults (RCIA) program for any- ica at the Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary St. Maximus the Confessor’s Life of one interested in becoming Catholic. for half an hour of Eucharistic Adoration the Virgin, the oldest biography of The RCIA meets at 7 p.m. beginning at 10:30 a.m. One of our beautiful stained- Our Lady. Lectures begin at 7:30 October 8 to teach the basic Truths of glass windows illustrates the Gospel pas- p.m. in the Rectory. Wednesday the Faith and prepare adults of all ages sage where Jesus invites the children to nights in the Rectory will con- to be received into the Church. Many come near so He may bless them. That is tinue on November 6 with a new are already baptized (both Catholic and precisely what happens in our monthly visit Bible Study program (7-8 p.m.). Protestant) and would like to receive the in front of Him, who pours out His graces This year we will study the Book of Sacraments of Holy Communion and from the Monstrance. Don’t be deterred Isaiah, the great prophet who is

Page 18 The Eagle • September 2013 sometimes called the “Fifth Evange- and the St. Maria Goretti Society (girls in We hope all our high school parishio- list.” Bring your Bible! 7th and 8th grade, mandatory; high school ners will join us and build a vibrant, girls welcome) meet one Sunday a month exciting parish youth group! Finally, those interested in brushing for faith formation, fellowship, and food. up on their Latin (Wednesdays, 6:15 Among their various activities, the Societ- The Sunday Morning Coffee Hour p.m.) or Greek (Thursdays, 6:30 ies sponsor the Food Drive each November resumes this month in the Nagle Hall p.m.) will enjoy the friendly meetings that benefits many families of our parish. following the 10 a.m. Family Mass. It’s each week in the Rectory while read- There have also been social events such as a wonderful opportunity to make new ing scriptural and patristic classics in ice skating and optional field trips to New friends and learn about parish activities the original ancient languages. York City. from those already well-engaged.

Friday mornings in the Rectory be- The St. Francis & St. Clare Society is Three times a year, the St. Anne gin with the Holy Name Society at 7 our parish youth group for high school Family Society meets in the Nagle a.m. Men of the parish gather for cof- girls and boys and coincides with the 9th Hall following the 5 p.m. Sunday Mass fee and a bit of banter. At 7:20 a.m., grade Confirmation Program, although all for pizza, pasta, and other assorted Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament foods. A brief talk on the faith and begins, along with a brief spiri- a spirited Q&A rounds out the eve- tual conference. The meeting con- ning over a variety of desserts. The cludes in time for 8 a.m. Mass, after next meeting is on October 6. The which many of the men head out May meeting concludes the Reli- to breakfast. The Holy Name Soci- gious Education year and features a ety hosts two fraternal gatherings “Celebration of the Sacraments” in each year, along with other smaller honor of all our students, especially excursions, such as boating in Long those who have received their First Island Sound. Holy Communion or Confirmation.

Some of our Parishioners meet each Remember to keep watch for Friday morning in support of Life special programs through- by praying for an end to abortion. out the year. Our first special They gather from 7-10:30 a.m. on event, “The Photographer and the sidewalk in front of Planned Par- the Saint,” will take place on enthood on 1039 East Main Street Saturday, September 21 at 5:30 in Stamford. Through their prayerful Fun, fellowship, and enrichment for all ages p.m. in the Nagle Hall. Commemorat- witness and moral support, they have at the St. Anne Family Society. ing the 45th anniversary of the death of had a significant impact in helping oth- St. Padre Pio, the evening will include ers grow in their understanding of the high schoolers (grades 9-12) are invited a book presentation and photo exhibit, sanctity of human life. Many have seen and encouraged to attend. They meet two followed by refreshments. the light and have chosen life. Sundays a month (one Sunday is required for the Confirmation Class, the second is On December 14, join us for a Our Religious Education program optional). The meetings offer students Marriage Retreat at the Convent of resumes on Sunday, September 22 at the opportunity to discuss current events St. Birgitta of Sweden in Darien. Orga- 8:30 am. How truly blessed we are to through the eyes of our faith, as well as ex- nized by parishioners, the retreat will welcome back our faithful and dedi- amining the faith in exciting and creative include talks by Msgr. Robert McCor- cated volunteer teachers! Year after ways. Generous young adults of our parish mick, Alice Von Hildebrand, Fr. An- year they eagerly greet the children prepare a specific program for each session drew Apostoli, C.F.R., and the priests of our parish and lead them in the that includes fun and games, creative ways of St. John’s. Watch for details. ways of faith. Classes meet on Sunday to learn, and, of course, plenty of refresh- mornings from 8:30 to 9:45 and then ments. The program is designed to comple- So, we’re off and running! Please come all attend the 10 a.m. Family Mass. ment the lessons the students learn in their join us. Help build up our Basilica parish classroom sessions on Sunday mornings. In by contributing your gifts and talents, In addition to the classroom obliga- particular, the Society focuses attention on and join in on the wonderful experienc- tions, the parish also has special pro- the dignity of the human person and the re- es offered for your spiritual enrichment grams for the older candidates. There spect we owe to one another. It is a wonder- and fellowship. Bring a friend! are three distinct youth groups that ful opportunity to build lasting friendships students in grades 7-9 are required as our young people walk the path to spiri- – Rev. Terry Walsh to attend. The St. Dominic Savio tual maturity and become faithful witnesses Society (boys in 7th and 8th grade, to Christ. This fall, the Society will visit Fr. Walsh is Parochial Vicar and Director of mandatory; high school boys welcome) the Cloisters Museum in New York City. Religious Education at the Basilica.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 19 Thoughts inspired by the birth of Prince George Much ado out there about the hair of the new heir

he birth of Prince George Alexander Louis stirred up much celebrating, save for a fewT curmudgeons like Vladimir Zhiri- novsky, leader of Russia’s Liberal Democratic Party, who rather exces- sively predicted that the little prince would “suck the blood” of the Russian people by the middle of this century.

Choice of the name George was par- ticularly gratifying to those under the patronage of that saint. He may well be the patron of more nations, provinces, and institutions than any saint save Our Lady. The removal of St. George to a third class minor saint by Pope Paul VI in 1963 was undone by Pope John Paul II when he restored him to the universal calendar and gave him special first class rank in England and India. George is the baptismal name of Pope Francis, and so April 23 will have special resonance during his reign.

Most iconography shows St. George Celebrating the royal birth at the Annual with thick curly hair, which is strange and 1706, and Benedict XIII ordered Scarecrow Festival in Muston, England. since his demotion in 1963 was be- Cardinal Alberioni out of a procession (Rex Features via AP Images) cause supposedly little is known about for wearing one, but courtiers could him. Little Prince George Alexander wear them. Benedict XIV mitigated the Louis, like many babies, even royal not have any need to change styles. The first strictures in 1725, and understandably ones, came into the world with fine Elizabeth went bald and had at least 80 wigs, so since he wore one in winter months. but sparse hair. Some of the press oc- but she was a queen and not a king, and bald cupied airtime remarking that his fa- queens are not as handsome as bald kings. Curiously, wigs assumed an almost ther is balding. This is also the case liturgical significance in the Church of with Prince William’s uncle, Prince Louis XIII regretted his hair loss and affect- England and were required for official Edward. Prince Harry has thick red ed wigs, and they became the fashion for a acts; there was a special design for the hair, encouraging gossips to claim that long time. Emperor Joseph abolished them clerical wig, as there were for barris- he is not royal at all. as court dress in 1780 but the final blow was ters and judges. In the early nineteenth the French Revolution when wigs were dis- century in New York, a question arose Prince George’s maternal great grand- dained as aristocratic symbols, and soon the among Episcopalians about the valid- father, the 8th Earl Spencer, was pretty guillotine saw to it that there were no heads ity of their bishops consecrated without thin on top, as was the 2nd Earl, and to put them on. wigs. his youngest son, the Venerable Igna- tius Spencer, a Catholic convert and In the early days of the Church they were As for the hair of the Windsors, the Passionist priest. Fr. Spencer collapsed condemned as vanities: St. Cyprian said roots go back well into Saxon mists, and died in a ditch in 1864 in con- that wearing a wig was worse than commit- assuming that the most common form summation of arduous preaching and ting adultery, and St. Clement of Alexandria of male pattern baldness, androgenic begging for the poor. held that when a blessing was given, it was alopecia, is hereditary. This genetic blocked by the wig and did not reach the tradition is, according to experts, The Queen has great hair and, being soul. In the eighteenth century Clement XI “autosomal dominant with mixed monarch of all she surveys and titular forbade the wearing of wigs by local Roman penetrance.” I quote that without head of two billion people, she does clergy in the provincial councils of 1701 * Please turn to HAIR on page 22

Page 20 The Eagle • September 2013

Living in “ordinary” time Time is money, but where in the world does it go?

y father was never late a day sympathy and reverence. The more science explains the uni- in his life. In fact, on the day verse and the outline of our experience, he died, he passed away at Children have no sense of time, and they the greater our sense of uncertainty M5 a.m., the usual time he got up and can sometimes shiver with a joy and delight and doubt. We can wander though ready for work throughout his adult life. that is no longer available to us. Their world life with all of the answers and still is simultaneous. Then at some point they not have a clue; only religious experi- My mother, on the other hand, was march in time like the rest of us, bound by ence opens the door to wholeness and never on time; her dreamy progress plans and schedules. acceptance. through the day, the perfect pique to his anxious punctuality. With seven Yet, if we live long enough, After my mother died this spring, children, she had earned the right to we lose our sense of time time stopped for me and life inhabit her own time zone. as decades disappear became a blur. Yet, early in the blink of an this summer I found I fall somewhere in between; managing eye – the leap myself drawn to the to be on time for the important things, from 40 years notion of “Ordi- and running a bit late on everything old to 60 is like nary Time” as the else. For my father, being on time was nothing at all. Church defines it; a matter of character and respect and, the celebration of in spite of my own routine lapses, I Is time the dis- Mass in between largely hold to that view. tance between the major liturgi- two places? cal seasons such as In our culture, “time is money,” but Between deaths Easter and Advent. we also wistfully ask, “Where does the in the family? Be- We live in Ordinary time go?” We lose track of it, seem baf- tween marriages Time, which the Church fled and perplexed by its passage, won- and births? Do we tells us is anything but der what it’s really about – this dimen- ordinary because Christ has sion of time that’s freed from the clock, transformed our lives by entering so intimately tied with our sense of “Children have no sense into our pain, suffering, and death. being, of living finite lives and not of time. They can shiver really understanding why we are here with a joy and delight Their time is done now, I think, as I or what it means. stand over my parents’ graves in the that is no longer available little St. Thomas Cemetery, a stone’s A few years back, George Will wrote an to us. Their world is throw from the busy Post Road in intriguing column about the amount of simultaneous.” Fairfield. His marker with birth and time we wait in line, get stuck in traffic, death dates already completed in work at the office, brush our teeth, and stone; hers with only the birth date, perform other daily routines. When he stand still while time moves under us, November 25, 1925, where it has gone added all of that up, there seemed to be so we are wind-burned by time even if unanswered until April 12 of this very little time for anything else, as if for long stretches of our lives we seem year—the final date waiting to be we’ve made time servile and have lost unconsumed? chiseled in granite. the sense of the sacred. For a few years now, we’ve been hearing As I stand over it, my shadow falling on Is it perhaps more Calvinist than about the great proton collider in Switzer- the grass alongside me, I wonder about Catholic to wonder how we work out land that has unlocked the “God” particle the nature of time because, though out our salvation between the lines of these and can explain the “Big Bang” origin of of reach, both parents are still so much mundane tasks that take up so much the universe. But the more scientists talk, alive to me and the conversation is in- of our time? Just what are the choices the more it sounds like fiction; which is tense as always. we make that determine the charac- not to say that I don’t believe it, but simply ter of our souls? Perhaps as much as to suggest that science (with its charmed – Brian D. Wallace we come to perceive our worthiness quarks, string theory, and black holes) de- based on our actions and choices, we mands its own leap of faith and seems to Brian, Director of Communications for overlook the need for a moral imagi- be moving toward metaphor in its pursuit of the Diocese of Bridgeport, is a member of nation that connects us with all life in the ineffable. St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Fairfield. The Eagle • September 2013 page 21 * HAIR continued from page 20 ruler Idwal Foel (Idwal the Bald) but as that comment, since I do not know what it alliance ended on the death of Aethelstan, it means, but I do know that bald royals cannot be proven that any genetic trait was tend to beget bald royals here and there. passed through a royal marriage. The present Prince of Wales is thinning, appropriately, on In the present case of the Mountbatten- the crown of his head. Windsors, one might check out the Count of Flanders, Baudouin I, born in Fast forwarding through the royal ages, 864, who passed the gene through the androgenic alopecia cropped up in the Princess Elfridam of Wessex. The pres- reign of George III. His tenth child, Prince ent alopeciac Prince Edward is Earl of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, was totally Pope Francis’ Wessex. The saintly (later canonized) bald and became the uncle of Queen Vic- king of the Angles, Aethelberht, son of toria who married the prematurely balding Prayer Intentions Eormenric, was the first English king Prince Albert. Prince Adolphus was also, ach month, the Holy to convert to Christianity. On his return through the Wurttemburg line, the grand- Father issues prayer with his son Alfred from pilgrimage to father of Mary of Teck, who became the intentions and invites Rome where he bestowed on the Pope queen consort of George V and the present CatholicsE the world over to lavish gifts of Saxon gold, he visited Queen’s grandmother. Queen Mary’s broth- unite in prayer. These inten- the court of Charles the Bald, king of er took the name of his great great uncle as tions may be prayed through the western Franks. There he married 1st Marquess of Cambridge and, as can be the Morning Offering prayer: Charles’ 12-year- seen in a chromo- old daughter Judith, lithograph by Sir O Jesus, through the his first wife, Ber- “We do know that God’s Leslie Ward, was Immaculate Heart of Mary, I tha, having died. judgments are severe bald at an early age. offer You all of my prayers, Bertha may have against those whose sense works, joys, and sufferings been key in per- One wishes the best of this day, for all the inten- suading Pope Greg- of humor is so primitive for every baby, and tions of Your Sacred Heart, ory I to send St. that they resort to telling it is certainly hoped in union with the Holy Sac- Augustine and his bald jokes.” that the newborn rifice of the Mass through- retinue to Britain. Prince George will out the world; in reparation not be like Absa- for all my sins; for the inten- Aethelberht divided the Kentish king- lom, the princely son of King David, with tions of all Your associates; dom between his eldest son Aethelbald hair so long that it got caught in the branch- for the reunion of Chris- and his favorite son Alfred. Aethelbald es of a terebinth tree, leading to his death. tendom; and in particu- (whose name has nothing to do with lar for [the Holy Father’s hair) married his stepmother upon the What the Bible teaches us about all this is monthly intentions, below], death of this father and was succeeded left for dispassionate exegetes to tell. We and I desire to gain all the by Alfred. The new king commissioned do know that God’s judgments are severe indulgences, granted by a book of charms, that is, Latin verses against those whose sense of humor is so the Church, for my prayers describing medical cures, which had primitive that they resort to telling bald and good works of this day. been passed along to him by Elias, jokes. Amen. the of Jerusalem. An extant version of the book is called “Bald’s A crowd of boys jeered at the prophet SEPTEMBER 2013 Leechbook” for its owner, mentioned Elisha on his way to Bethel, shouting: in a colophon at the end of the Leech- “Go up, baldhead! Go up, baldhead!” General Intention: Value of book: “Bald habet hunc librum Cild The prophet cursed them in the name of the Silence. That people today, of- quem conscibere iussit (Bald is the Lord. “Then two she-bears came out of the ten overwhelmed by noise, may owner of this book which he ordered woods and tore forty-two of the children to rediscover the value of silence Cild to compile.)” pieces” (2 Kings 2:24). and listen to the voice of God and their brothers and sisters. In early Anglo-Saxon usage, “bald” The meaning of this edifying scene is for meant bold or courageous, and only those wise enough to understand. Missionary Intention: Perse- gradually in Middle English did it come cuted Christians. That Chris- to mean a lack of hair. The Welsh equiv- – Rev. George W. Rutler tians suffering persecution in alent for bold is ddewr and the word for many parts of the world may by their witness be prophets of bald is foel. When the Saxon king Aeth- Fr. Rutler is Pastor of St. Michael’s Church in elstan took the throne in 924, he joined New York City. This article was published first in Christ’s love. forces against the Scots with the Welsh Crisis Magazine: www.crisismagazine.com.

Page 22 The Eagle • September 2013 Theology Lessons from Catholic High School Where is Heaven? Where is communion with God?

t is not unusual, during classroom to be in communion with another hu- discussions of Heaven, for some man person means to be spiritually, student eventually to ask, “Where emotionally, and intellectually close isI Heaven, anyway?” It is not an unu- him, regardless of location, the same sual question because it is perfectly must be true for communion with the natural for us to understand any des- Persons who are God. To be in Heaven tination, any place to which we would means to be perfectly, completely, fully go, as occupying a particular location. “where” God is emotionally, spiritu- ally, morally, and intellectually. If this Because the end of Luke’s Gospel and is true, the extent to which our “who- the beginning of the Acts of the Apos- ness” is directed toward God deter- tles tell us that after His Resurrection mines how close we are to Heaven. our Lord “ascended” into Heaven, we think of Heaven as “up there” (cf. Luke Thankfully, God’s “who-ness,” His 24:50ff and Acts 1:6ff). Similarly, St. Personhood, is always completely Paul exhorts us to set our minds on the open and directed toward each of ours. things that are “above,” not on things The problem is that our “who-ness,” that are on earth (Colossians 3:2). our personhood, is not always directed toward God’s. The task of the Chris- Furthermore, the Scriptures and the tian life is the continual turning back Creed assure us that at the end of time toward God (conversion) to remain our glorified bodies and souls will be in communion with Him. If we die in reunited in some presently unfathom- “Heaven is not so much a communion with God in this world we able way. It would seem that there must will be in communion with Him in the be some aspect of space or location to place as it is a relationship next. The elusive “Heaven on earth” “contain” our resurrected bodies. How- with the Persons who are the for which so many seek is, in fact, ever, if you were to sail in a rocket ship Trinity. Where God is, communion with God. to the end of the universe, you could get no closer to God than by staying is who God is. And who The Apostles were “filled with joy” right where you are. He is, is where He is.” when the Lord departed from them at the Ascension. Why would this be un- In order to grapple with this mystery it less they understood that they would no will be useful to set aside the idea of Notice that this emotional or spiritual longer have to look for Him in Galilee, Heaven as a place. We can summarize closeness (communion) does not depend or Jerusalem, or some other “place”? the definition of Heaven given in the on place or location. For example, I may Catechism of the Catholic Church as call on a student in my classroom sitting Now, having directed His Personhood follows: Heaven is communion with no more than 15 feet from me whose eyes completely toward the Father’s and God. If Heaven is communion with look at me, who is breathing, whose heart completed the Father’s will for Him, God, we may rephrase our original must be beating, but who is completely un- He “went to Heaven.” He was com- question: Where is Communion with responsive to my voice. They are in another pletely “with” the Father. He could God? Or, more simply: Where is God? “place” (emotionally or spiritually) while now be more completely with the dis- occupying the same “place” (physically) ciples than ever before because He was Consider that God has revealed Him- that I do. We are not in communion. now always everywhere and nowhere. self to us as a Trinity of Persons. To be in communion with another person is Leaving aside for the moment our under- Heaven is not so much a place, as it is to be spiritually, emotionally, intellec- standing of God’s particular presence to us a relationship with the Persons who are tually, morally, or “personally” close to in the Eucharist, we could say that God is the Trinity. Where God is, is who God him. We speak of “being on the same everywhere and nowhere. “Place” seems to is. And who He is, is where He is. page” as someone else, or of a “meet- be a concept that interferes with our under- ing of the minds.” Perhaps “being standing of Heaven. – Rev. F. John Ringley, Jr. in love” with someone is the most common experience of this commun- Rather than thinking of God’s “where- Fr. Ringley is Spiritual Director of Kolbe- ion between persons. ness,” let us consider His “who-ness.” If Cathedral High in Bridgeport.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 23

Review: “The Ear of the Heart” A remarkable journey from Hollywood to vows

onsider the following as a A Catholic con- “I left the world movie plotline: The setting vert, Dolores’ first in order to re- is Los Angeles, 1957. An or- attraction to the faith enter it on a more Cdinary, but beautiful, teenager barely was the result of profound level. out of high school is discovered by envy, observing the Many people an important Hollywood producer, Catholic students in don’t understand whose credits include Casablanca. her third-grade class the difference In her film debut she gives the big- at St. Gregory’s be- between a voca- gest heartthrob in America his first ing treated to hot tion and your screen kiss. She politely turns him chocolate and sweet own idea about down for a date, making her possi- cakes after morning something. A vo- bly the only person who ever did so Mass. Non-Catholic cation is a call to Elvis Presley. students, such as – one you don’t Dolores, were ex- necessarily want. Within a year she establishes her- pected to have eaten The only thing I self as a serious actress, with a Tony breakfast at home, ever wanted to be nomination to her credit from a hit not being required was an actress. Broadway play. Her friends include to fast before Mass. But I was called Anthony Quinn and Gary Cooper. by God.” She has top-billing in MGM’s high- Soon Dolores’ ap- est grossing movie of 1961, the icon- preciation of the Mother Dolores ic teen film,Where the Boys Are. Faith deepened beyond hot chocolate. Early gives witness in her book to a strong on she was attracted by the sense of com- and mature Faith. Her adjustment Then, with career established and to monastic life was difficult. This engaged to a handsome beau, she “A vocation is a call – one was not the bliss and serenity of a leaves Hollywood and the prospect Buddhist ashram. She cried herself of marriage for the life of a contem- you don’t necessarily want. to sleep every night for her first plative at a Benedictine monas- The only thing I ever wanted three years. A journal entry dur- tery in Connecticut. to be was an actress. But ing her first year read: “It is harder than I ever dreamed. It is so real it Sound too far-fetched? It is not. This I was called by God.” hurts and yet anything less would be is the story of Mother , unbearable in its sham.” O.S.B., told in her new memoir, The munity among Catholics, and derived peace Ear of the Heart (Ignatius Press). from the Real Presence of Christ in church. She persevered, realizing that suf- Her adolescence progressed uneventfully fering is inextricably bound to God’s The public became reacquainted with until enrolling at Loyola University. A rigid- plan of salvation. She reflects: “If Mother Dolores last year through the minded nun refused to reschedule a final the price of loving Him is the pain Academy Award-nominated docu- exam which conflicted with an audition at of having to look for Him, then the mentary God Is the Bigger Elvis. Paramount Studios. Decades later her failing price of finding Him is the pain of Her memoir fleshes out much greater grade in the course was offset by an honorary having to share His loneliness in the detail of what the film established as degree from what had become Loyola Mary- Garden of Gethsemane.” Her per- a fascinating and rich life. mount University. Mother Dolores observed, severance as a faithful religious has “The Lord has the last laugh.” lasted fifty years. Dolores came from a broken home and spent much of her youth living While her vocation caught the public un- The seriousness of her vocation not- with grandparents. Her grandfather awares, it was not something that came withstanding, what is also engag- was a projectionist at a movie theater upon her suddenly. Nearly five years ing about The Ear of the Heart is in Chicago. Accompanying him to elapsed between her first visit to the Regina the humanity and sense of fun that work, little Dolores enjoyed acting Laudis in Bethlehem, CT and her resounds throughout its pages. We out mannerisms of screen actresses. decision to enter. As she explains: * Please turn to EAR on page 29

Page 24 The Eagle • September 2013 Msgr. Stephen DiGiovanni answers given under both kinds, since Precious Blood, and no, you do your questions about the Catholic Faith in that form the sign of not receive an “extra share” and the Catholic Church. Send ques- the Eucharistic meal of Eucharist. tions to: [email protected]. appears more clearly’ [General Instruction A Catholic wedding In a church where Holy Communion of the Roman Mis- must be conducted in is offered under both species, is it sal, 240]. This is the a Catholic Church, disrespectful to decline receiving the usual form of receiv- but a Mass is option- Precious Blood? Some people think ing communion in al. Why? Catholics are obligated to receive both the Eastern rites” species, while others think consuming (Catechism, 1390). atholic marriage the Host and drinking the Precious Cis an act of wor- Blood offers double the grace/twice The term “concomitance” ship of God, and, so, the benefit. (from the Latin concom- the most proper place itantia, meaning “ac- to worship God is he Catechism of the Catholic companiment”) applies Quick Answers in a church. In vari- Church answers this: to the reality that the ous unique circum- T fullness of Christ: His to stances, and the local “Since Christ is sacramentally Divinity and Humanity, bishop’s instructions, present under each of the spe- His Body and Blood, Short Questions a marriage may be cies [bread or wine], communion are fully present in both conducted outside a under the species of bread alone Eucharistic species of bread and wine. So church. Being married in the context makes it possible to receive all that, when one receives either, one receives of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the fruit of Eucharistic grace. the whole Christ: He is indivisible, and the optional, especially when one of the For pastoral reasons this man- words of consecration at Mass are His own persons marrying is not a Catholic. ner of receiving communion has by which He instituted the Eucharistic Sac- Sometimes non-Catholic families feel been legitimately established rifice of the Mass during the Last Supper: uncomfortable at a religious ceremony as the most common form in the “This is My Body; This is My Blood.” to which they are unaccustomed. In Latin rite. But ‘the sign of com- such a case, a simple scriptural service munion is more complete when So no, it is not disrespectful to decline the is usually offered instead.

Basilica Calendar: Autumn 2013 Every Monday: Holy Hour, with Adoration of the Blessed Beginning Sunday, September 22: First Day of Religious Sacrament and the Rosary: 7 p.m. in the Basilica. Education Classes. Please pre-register by calling the Basilica Office: (203) 324-1553, ext. 21. Every Wednesday: Latin Reading Group, 6:15 p.m. in the Rectory. Beginning Wednesday, October 2: St. Monica Institute for Patristic Studies, 7:30 p.m. in the Rectory. Join us for a Every Thursday: Introduction to Biblical Greek class, new weekly discussion of The Life of the Virgin by St. Max- 6:30 p.m. in the Rectory. New students welcome. imus the Confessor, the oldest biography of Jesus’ mother.

Every Friday: Holy Name Men’s Society, 7-8 a.m., Sunday, October 6: St. Anne’s Family Society, after the the Rectory. All men are welcome. 5 p.m. Mass. Benediction, prayer, supper, and a talk by Dr. Joan Kelly on the Rosary. All families are welcome. Thursday, September 19: Installation of Bishop Frank J. Caggiano, 2 p.m., St. The- Sunday, October 13: Re-Consecration of the Basilica resa Parish, Trumbull. Attendance is by ticket Parish to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, during the 10 only. The installation will be broadcast live a.m. Family Mass. Please join us. on www.bridgeportdiocese.com Beginning Wednesday, November 6: Bible Study, 7 p.m. Saturday, September 21: “The Photogra- in the Rectory. Explore the Book of Isaiah every week with pher and the Saint,” a multimedia presen- Fr. Terry Walsh. All are welcome. tation marking the 45th anniversary of the passing of St. Pio of Pietrelcina (Padre Pio), For the latest news, calendar updates, and 24/7 webcam, 5:30 p.m. in the Msgr. Nagle Hall. All welcome. visit www.stjohnsstamford.com

The Eagle • September 2013 page 25 Not the same as loneliness Solitude is necessary for all to seek the face of God

“I will allure her, and will lead sociability of our her into the wilderness, and I will age few have the speak to her heart.” – Hosea 2:14 desire for solitude. Most seem averse ur culture encourages us to to being alone, and socialize continually. So many seek distractions of advertisements imply that all every sort. freeO time is to be interactive time. The writer Erica Jong observed how “soli- Still, solitude is the tude is un-American . . . This country most profound re- seems to be the official home of the quirement of the big dinners and the party hearty.” A inner journey. It is French writer has advanced the seem- the backdrop for ing paradox that very few Americans the silence we need know how to take a walk. to hear the Word of God, and for It seems to me that many Catholics knowing ourselves today want us to think of faith as a col- truly, for ventur- lective thing, as something that has to ing into the truth of do almost exclusively with “fellow- ourselves. ship.” The good Catholic is always community centered. “You’re all by Hence we are told yourself” is always said in a tone of that, no matter our sadness and concern. state in life, we must have regular We have coined a derogatory term for periods of solitude, the person who likes now and then to times of absence be alone – we call such a person “anti- from human beings social,” as though s/he were an enemy and human vanities, of society. just being alone be- fore God. Teresa “The Temptation of Saint Anthony” by Cornelis Saftleven (1629) Yet the ancient Christian Desert Fathers of Avila told us to had a saying about being “never less “shun over much alone than when alone.” A basic prin- “Some people shudder at company.” Blase Pascal, the 17th cen- ciple of the spiritual life is that solitude the idea of solitude; they tury Catholic French philosopher, said is an essential condition for any spiritual that “we need to fast from too much deepening. St. Athanasius (who wrote a experience only boredom and togetherness and enjoy more solitude.” biography of St. Anthony of the Desert) even paralyzing fear when This was a radical condition for deep said that “solitude is an essential to the alone with themselves.” prayer. spiritual life as water is to the survival of a fish.” The psychologist Carl Jung The Gospels clearly depict Jesus as said that “true maturity or depth of soul necessity to talk or explain or argue or even someone who often retreated into soli- happens when solitude becomes our to listen. tude. Jesus seems to have needed to be best life’s companion.” Solitude is not alone quite a bit. Luke 5:16: “He would the same as loneliness. Contented solitude should be regarded as habitually go off to deserted places a gift. Some people shudder at the idea of where he could be alone and pray” Solitude is more congenial for some solitude; they experience only boredom (cf. Mark 2:35, 6:46; Luke 6:12). than for others. Some people have a and even paralyzing fear when alone with taste for solitude; indeed, they have a themselves. The recommendation is that one should need for solitude, that can be like the strive to have a period of solitude ev- need for eating or sleeping. They have All religious traditions agree that soli- ery day, and try to have a “desert day” an irresistible urge to be alone at times, tude is necessary for all who seek the face every month – a day away from peo- away from people, away from the of God. But it seems that in the constant ple in order to be alone someplace.

Page 26 The Eagle • September 2013 Ideally, one has some kind of hermitage to go to, where one can have a reprieve from people and can live the slow quiet Liturgy of the Hours rhythm of a day. We don’t find time to do this; there is no time lying around Two kinds of life to be lived waiting to be discovered. We make time, carve out some time for solitude. St. Augustine of Hippo (d. 430 A.D.), Bishop, , and Patron of the Diocese of Bridgeport, was one of our greatest theologians. The following Personally, I’ve always had a taste for is from a treatise he wrote on St. John the Evangelist. solitude. During the days of my child- hood, I enjoyed being by myself and he Church recognizes two kinds of life as having been commended have never lost the sense of the charm to her by God. One is a life of faith, the other a life of vision; one that surrounded those days. By cur- is a life passed on pilgrimage in time, the other in a dwelling place rent canons I probably would have in“T eternity; one is a life of toil, the other of repose; one is spent on the road, the been drafted into some supervised other in our homeland; one is active, involving labor, the other contemplative, the group activity thought up by adults. reward of labor. It seems that everything has become a group activity. A child who wants to be “The first kind of life is symbolized by the do anything alone has to fight off the apostle Peter, the second by John. All of the organizers. first life is lived in this world, and it will come to an end with this world. The second life will There is a report of a 31-year-old Nor- be imperfect till the end of this world, but it wegian named Borge Ousland who, will have no end in the next world. And so pulling a 300-pound sled, cross-skied Christ says to Peter: Follow Me; but of John alone to the North Pole, over more than He says: If I wish him to remain until I come, 600 miles. He later said: “Being alone what is that to you? Your duty is to follow Me. proved to be one of the greatest experi- You are to follow Me by imitating My endur- ences of the entire trek.” ance of transient evils. John is to remain until My coming, when I will bring eternal bless- Again, I think it is one of the tragedies ings. A way of saying this more clearly might of our times that most people are un- be: Your active life will be perfect if you fol- able to enjoy solitude. I have found that low the example of My Passion, but to attain “Perfect patience very few ordinary Catholics appreciate its full perfection John’s life of contemplation the value of solitude. However, sooner must wait until I come. is to follow Christ or later, if you have not found soli- faithfully, even tude, it will find you. Probably no one “Perfect patience is to follow Christ faithfully, to death, but for escapes solitude. even to death, but for perfect knowledge we must await His coming. Here, in the land of perfect knowledge Inevitably, aging brings a time of soli- the dying, the sufferings of the world must be we must await tude. No matter how it comes, solitude endured; there, in the land of the living, shall His coming.” can bring us to God. God is within every be seen the good things of the Lord. . . solitude waiting to be discovered. “And so for the sake of all the saints inseparably united to the body of Christ, Let me end with some words from to guide them through the storms of this life, Peter, the chief of the apostles, re- Gerard Manley Hopkins: ceived the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven with the power to bind and loose sins; and for the sake of those same saints, to plumb the depths of that other, hidden Elected Silence, sing to me life, John the Evangelist reclined on the breast of Christ. And beat upon my whorled ear, Pipe me to pastures still and be “For it is not only Peter but the whole Church that binds and looses from sin; and The music that I care to hear. as for the sublime teaching of John about the Word, who in the beginning was – “The Habit of Perfection” God with God, and everything else he told us about Christ’s divinity, and about the trinity and unity of the Godhead, which now, until the Lord comes, is all like – Dr. Thomas Hicks a faint reflection in a mirror, but which will be seen face to face in the Kingdom of Heaven – it was not only John who drank in this teaching that came forth from Dr. Hicks, a member of St. Theresa Par- the Lord’s breast as from a fountain. All who belong to the Lord are to drink it ish in Trumbull, is Professor Emeritus of in, each according to his capacity, and this is why the Lord Himself has spread Theology and Psychology at Sacred Heart John’s gospel throughout the world.” University in Fairfield.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 27 Faith at the Movies Catholics left a big mark on Old Hollywood films

he list of Catholics in old-time McHugh’s Going My Way co-star, Hollywood is long. Be they Bing Crosby, was well known for his cradle Catholics or converts, Academy Award-winning portrayal TinseltownT was once populated by of Fr. O’Malley and less known as a folks who, although sometimes unable generous benefactor of his alma mater, to resist the temptations of a glitzy life- Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, style, were nonetheless proud and open and of . practitioners of the Faith. So let’s meet a few of your Catholic brethren who Another Christian gentleman was gave us so many entertaining moments Ricardo Montalbán, who once re- in days gone by. ferred to his Catholic faith as “the most important thing in my life.” He The Guys Pat O’Brien and James Cagney was made a Knight of the Order of St. The so-called “Irish Mob” included in “Angels with Dirty Faces” (1938) Gregory the Great – the highest honor Spencer Tracy (who played Fr. Flana- a lay person can receive – by Bless- gan in 1938’s Boys Town), and several the seminary. He played so many cellu- ed Pope John Paul II in 1998 for his Warner Brothers stars, among whom loid priests he once quipped, “One more contributions to the Church. was James Cagney, beloved celluloid and they’ll have to ordain me.” Who could gangster and talented hoofer (1942’s forget him as Fr. Connolly opposite Cagney The Gals Yankee Doodle Dandy) who remained in Angels with Dirty Faces? Then there were the actresses who, married to his wife Billie for 64 years although a few gave in to the Holly- until his death in 1986. His funeral was Rounding out the gang was the kindly wood proclivity to sexual dalliances, held at St. Frances de Sales Church in Frank McHugh; he of the singsong laugh nevertheless were proud and charita- Harlem, where he had been confirmed who played Fr. Timothy O’Dowd in 1944’s ble Catholic women. These included and served as an altar boy. Fellow al- Going My Way (directed by Leo McCarey, Rosalind Russell, Maureen O’Hara, tar boy Pat O’Brien was also married a Catholic) and was also married to the Jane Wyman, Irene Dunne, and for 53 years and seriously considered same woman for 50 years. . These and many other stars attended Mass together, worked hard for Church charities, and were una- shamed and vocal Catholics. Young was T H E E A G L E the godmother of Marlo Thomas, while is published quarterly by Dunne – a daily communicant – and her husband were both Knights of Malta. The Basilica of St. John the Evangelist 279 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT 06901-3506 Telephone (203) 324-1553, ext. 21 Lovely Ann Blyth and her husband E-mail: [email protected] were awarded the rank of Lady and Knight of the Holy Sepulchre by Ter- Edited by Dr. Joseph McAleer Original photography by John R. Glover rence Cardinal Cooke. Now 85, Blyth Stock photography by Shutterstock Images is the picture of grace and elegance – quite unlike her star turn at age 17 as Printed by Greg Duffey, Minuteman Press, Norwalk the wicked daughter Veda opposite Joan Current and past editions are posted online: www.stjohnsstamford.com/the-eagle Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945). Annual subscription (4 issues): $25. Basilica Mass Times: A beautiful story concerns Grace Monday through Saturday: 8:00 a.m., 12:10 p.m. Kelly; she of the storybook life and Sunday: Saturday Vigil, 4:00 p.m.; tragic death. In 1954, on the 100th Sunday, 7:30 a.m. (No Frills), 10:00 a.m. (Family Mass); 12 Noon; anniversary of the official definition of 5:00 p.m. (No Frills); 6:00 p.m. (Creole). the dogma of the Immaculate Concep- Confessions available prior to every Sunday Mass * tion, Prince Rainier of Monaco made * Except the 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. Masses on Sunday. a pilgrimage to Lourdes to pray to Our Live 24/7 webcam: www.stjohnsstamford.com Lady for a suitable wife. Several years later, Princess Grace revealed that her © 2013 The Basilica of St. John the Evangelist. All rights reserved. confirmation name was Bernadette,

Page 28 The Eagle • September 2013 after the French girl to whom the “I accept absolutely now and with no before his death in 1978 after raising Blessed Virgin appeared in Lourdes. effort that I am in the actual presence all seven of his children as Catholics. On the 25th anniversary of the prince’s of God on the altar. There have been pilgrimage, Princess Grace would also very few days this year when I haven’t The Directors visit Lourdes in thanksgiving. paid a visit – even if only for three min- And of course there were the direc- utes – to a church, merely to kneel and tors, who seemed to leave a palpable While filming 1961’s Francis of Assisi be astonished at the humility of God.” Catholic impact on most or all of their in Rome, Dolores Hart met Blessed films; be it the rosy optimism of Frank Pope John XXIII and told him, “I am Then there was Bing Crosby’s “road” Capra, the serio-comic genius of Dolores Hart, the actress playing St. buddy, Bob Hope. Although he led the Alfred Hitchcock, or the hauntingly Clare.” The Pontiff replied, “Tu sei redemptive films of John Ford. While Chiara!” (“You are Clare!”). Two Capra is best remembered for the Yule- years later, at the height of her career tide classic It’s a Wonderful Life, it is at age 24, she left Hollywood for the Ford’s 3 Godfathers (1948) that remains Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis one of my favorite Christmas movies. in Bethlehem, CT (featured in 1949’s Come to the Stable, starring Loretta One seldom thinks of Hitchcock as a Young), where today she is Prioress. religious man, much less a Catholic, yet he directed Montgomery Cliff in The Converts I Confess, a 1953 film about a priest The fine British actor, Alec Guinness, accused of a murder actually commit- said his conversion began while filming ted by a man who admitted the crime The Detective (1954), a delightful mov- Celeste Holm and Loretta Young to him in the confessional. Although a ie in which he played G.K. Chesterton’s in “Come to the Stable” (1949) very good film, it remains one of the Father Brown. On his way to the set one director’s least popular. Hitch knew day, a small French boy came running typical Hollywood life of carousing and why, acknowledging: up, calling “Mon Père! Mon Père!” and womanizing, Hope finally converted to seized his hand. He later recalled: Catholicism seven years before his death; “We Catholics know that a priest much to the joy of his wife of 69 years, cannot disclose the secret of the “I reflected that a Church that Delores, who, like St. Monica, “prayed” confessional, but the Protestants, could inspire such confidence in a him into the Church. Another actor whose the atheists, and the agnostics all child, making priests, even when conversion was influenced by his wife was say, ‘Ridiculous! No man would unknown, so easily approachable, Gary Cooper, who was baptized in 1958. remain silent and sacrifice his life could not be as scheming or as for such a thing.’” creepy as so often made out. I be- Our list of stars who converted to the Faith gan to shake off my long-taught, would be incomplete without mentioning – Lisa Fabrizio long-absorbed prejudices.” John Wayne, whose grandson, Matthew Muñoz, is a Catholic priest in the Diocese Lisa is a columnist for the American In a letter to his wife, he wrote: of Orange, CA. Wayne converted shortly Spectator (www.spectator.org).

* EAR continued from page 24 recalls: “I once whistled like that in the people who find themselves living learn that Mother Dolores was the common room at the monastery, and food in contradiction between their in- casket-maker for the community, dropped from mouths.” ner truth and the values of the world and once saluted the entry of Gen- around them.” eral George S. Patton’s granddaugh- When pressed by a visitor once if she need- ter into cloistered life with a gunshot ed anything, she whispered through the The title of Mother Dolores’ book volley. Her given name was Hicks, grille, “A vodka martini – very dry.” comes from the prologue of St. Bene- not Hart, leading one of her uncles dict’s Rule, which beckons: “Listen, to congratulate her on her early film Why a book at this time? Simply because, O my son, to the precepts of thy mas- success, but question, “Where in the she says, “the Community asked me to write ter, and incline the ear of thy heart.” world did you pick up a name like my story.” Obedience is another virtue Natalie Wood?” Mother Dolores has cultivated. Her book It is well worth lending an ear to this is an important gift to our secular society, life of purpose and this affectingly She has the ability to whistle in a especially its youth. As her writing collabo- written memoir. loud, piercing way, “effective for rator and life-long friend Dick DeNeit ex- hailing cabs in New York City.” She plains, “Her story can reach out to young – Andrew McAleer

The Eagle • September 2013 page 29 ack by popular demand, THE EAGLE prize crossword puzzle this time is based on the Old Testament, principally the Books of Genesis and Exodus. Clues by Fr. Terry Walsh are based on the Revised Standard BVersion (RSV) translation of The Bible. Good luck! ACROSS served 7 Down. 22. 54 Across’ new name, given at the 1. 38 Down died and was buried 45. The Egyptian maid who gave birth to establishment of the Covenant. there. Ishmael. 25. This first Tiller of the soil planted 4. The mysterious priest, king of 46. The Feast of ____ for the “first fruits.” one. Salem. 47. Bride of Christ. 27. Where did 58 Across see his 6. Daughter-in-law of 41 Down. 48. Number of the sons of 14 Down. brothers “bow down to my 8. The fair virgin who filled her jar 52. This brother tried to foil the plot to kill sheaf”? with water and shared it with 58 Across. 29. Son of Jesse who became King; Isaac. 54. God called him to a new land and later also Fr. Audette’s middle name. 10. Brother to the leader, he was his changed his name. 30. The elder who served the younger. spokesperson. 55. The Hallowed Day. 31. 7 Down wore one because his face 11. The voice of his blood cried out 58. The son Israel loved the most. shone. from the ground. 59. The youngest received five times as 35. From there, God confused their 13. The New Tree of Life. much at the table of 58 Across. language and scattered them 15. God spoke these words to 60. The Story of the Israelites from Slavery abroad. 7 Down in the desert – “signposts” to Freedom. 37. The older sister, mother to six sons to Heaven. of 14 Down. 18. “What is it?” DOWN 38. Loved by 14 Down, she gave birth 19. The Mountain of God. 1. Although it burned, it was not to the youngest two. 21. You shall keep this day holy. consumed. 39. She gave birth to Isaac. 23. The sign of the Covenant with 2. Nephew of 54 Across who chose the 41. The Scepter shall not depart from 26 Across. land to the east. him, nor the ruler’s staff . . . 24. The Lamb’s blood on their 3. Days and nights on Mt. Horeb. 42. The sign of the Covenant “on the doorposts on the night of the 10th 4. Abraham took his son up this mountain 8th day.” plague. as a sacrifice. 43. 58 Across prefigures another who 26. The father of Shem, Ham, and 5. Sister of Simeon and Levi. was stripped of his garment and Japheth. 7. “I drew him out of the water.” thrown into a pit. 28. He dreamed he saw angels upon it. 9. The land in Egypt where the Israelites 44. God changed 14 Down’s name – 32. Sold for 20 pieces of silver, he was dwelt. because he prevailed. taken to this foreign land. 12. 10 Across and his sons were anointed, 49. Brother of 8 Across to whom the 33. The Ark of the Covenant was ordained, and consecrated as ____. “younger” fled. made with this wood. 14. He tricked Isaac and received the 50. Jacob named the place where God 34. Bride of Adam, formed from this. Blessing. spoke to him. 36. Throughout their journeys, it 15. Asked if he were his brother’s keeper. 51. 58 Across was wrongfully accused rested over the Tabernacle by day. 16. 14 Down’s bargain with 49 Down and sent there for two years. 39. She “looked back” upon Sodom involved this animal. 53. 58 Across warns of this and is and Gomorrah and became ____. 17. “In the beginning . . .” greatly rewarded. 40. Forbidden Fruit. 20. Pharaoh hardened it to the demise of 56. “Go to” 58 Across to buy it. 41. He was the son of Nun who his people. 57. God formed man from it.

ubmit your completed puzzle by September 16 to win two prizes: Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith), Pope Francis’ first encyclical, and Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio, His Life in His Own Words by Sergio Rubin and Francesca Ambrogetti. Drop these two pages at the Parish Office, or mail them to: The Basilica of St. John the Evangelist, EAGLE Prize Crossword, 279 Atlantic Street, Stamford, CT 06901.

Name: ______

Daytime telephone: ______

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EclipseCrossword.com The Eagle • September 2013 page 31 A letter to an incoming seventh-grader Hit the ground running, but take time to pause, too

Dear Soon-to-Be Seventh Grader, think about it. Everything He was doing was good in and of itself – preaching, ime to get back to work. You’ve healing, converting hearts. Why had a pleasant summer and all wouldn’t He try to do more of that in the beaches and road trips and His short time on Earth? Couldn’t He late-nightT movies and soccer camps make more of an impact if He had that go with it. You’ve had the luxury spent more time with the crowds? of afternoons without clarinet practice and evenings without geometry home- Shouldn’t He have worked a little work. You’ve spent enough hours in harder? the sun to look like a cherry tomato. And yet that’s not what He did. The But this changes now. You’re almost Son of God, by retreating occasion- in high school, after all, so the ex- ally to the quiet, demonstrated that pectations rise. You want to excel? sometimes one of the most worthwhile Then you’ll have to demonstrate you and fulfilling and powerful things you can handle the rigors of a three-hour can do is to do nothing at all. Embrace homework load and enough extracur- the silence, He seems to say, because riculars to make you well rounded: it’s the only environment that allows tennis, student council, guitar club, us to truly listen to God and reflect: Meals on Wheels. Why am I here? What am I called to do? Am I living my life as I should? Someone like you, with so many tal- Who are my friends? Why did I call ents and so much to offer, can carve her that? out a clear path to success, but it won’t happen on its own. You have to grasp at And even: That physics problem that every opportunity. It’s September: time Ms. Benton gave to us – how exactly to hit the ground running. “You may feel overwhelmed should I tackle it? at times, surviving only on That’s at least what you’ll hear from adrenaline and a desire to Soren Kierkegaard thought that the a lot of people. But may I offer one prescription for many of the world’s additional piece of advice? succeed. Remember that – ills is something so simple that hardly like Christ Himself – anyone ever does enough of it. “Create Ignore it. we need to withdraw. silence!” he wrote. “The Word of God cannot be heard in the noisy world of By that, I don’t mean not to pursue In times like these, your today.” excellence or cultivate your gifts from homework is to go to the God or pursue knowledge. In and of backyard, say three Hail Noisy – yes, that’s what the school themselves, these are very good things. year can be. Tests and quizzes and text Learning how to factor binomials or Marys, and then stare messages and e-mail and dances and diagram a sentence sharpens your mind at the tree leaves in the wind movies and YouTube and tryouts and that you may use it for good. Education for a half hour.” chores and essays and apps and shop- is a gift. ping and studying and more text mes- sages. It’s exhausting. But . . . crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. Paradoxically, though, it’s also some- Every time you’re asked to be more But Jesus often withdrew to lonely times very easy. Sometimes it’s easier productive or you’re reminded of what places and prayed.” to succumb to the pressure and distrac- it takes to succeed at the higher levels, – Luke 5:15-16 tions than it is to step back, take a deep I’d ask that you remember one verse: breath, and just be. Retreating takes a Did you catch that? Jesus often withdrew. certain discipline and wisdom, an un- “Yet the news about [Jesus] Took a step back. Put down the metaphori- derstanding that there is much more spread all the more, so that cal iPhone. Which is a little odd when you * Please turn to LETTER on page 35

Page 32 The Eagle • September 2013 Beware the boundless, untouchable ego On the Ship of Faith, be more than just a passenger “It wasn’t that I left the ship. It was the ship that deserted me.”

his is an apt description by someone who stopped practic- ing their religion. Sometimes theT ship is indeed to blame, but much more frequently it is the passengers who are at fault. The tendency to blame someone (or something) other than oneself is as old as Adam blaming Eve, and Eve, the serpent.

The deep-seated vanity of keeping the ego intact, and the contortions one prac- tices to preserve one’s amour propre, would dazzle Houdini, and cause even Macchiavelli to stretch his eyes.

To continue the nautical analogy, I picture some vast liner, turning a wide circle, then sailing over the horizon. The twinkling lights and drift of human “There is much rejoicing time during their lives. For many voices fade and disappear. Tossing in the when one battered coracle this must have come about after the frothy wake of the big ship bobs a tiny Second Vatican Council when they had coracle, a one-person vessel. The little rejoins the ship, and many to re-think and re-align themselves to a craft is adrift, and since (of course) it is a mariner abandons his ego- “changed” Church. dead of night and moonless to boot, the cruise with sighs of relief.” lone sailor is plunged in darkness. A fan- Bear with me if I pick up the shipping ciful vision of infinite peril and solitude. parable (No islander can resist the rich and the very real desire to linger longer in vein of sea-doggerel!). I, and thousands The resources in the coracle comprise the Real Presence of Christ. The necessity like me, didn’t join a rusting hulk, a only what the man has within himself, of getting on usually takes precedence. But fossil fixed in amber. If you believe there is no lifebelt or even a light. He it is salutary to ask oneself at regular inter- the Church was founded by God, is the has some accumulated experience, a vals, “Why am I (still) a Catholic?” human Body of Christ, and was and is few physical attributes, a mind aware directed by the Holy Spirit, you have to of what it has abandoned, and a deter- A few years ago I was asked to talk to a stay aboard, however inconvenient the mination to supplant those beliefs with clutch of high-school students on the rea- cabins or tasteless the decor. ideas of his own. And a boundless, sons why I became a Catholic. It was great untouchable ego. fun, not least because they asked such pe- What’s more, it’s not enough to be a culiar questions. They were all “cradle” mere passenger. One has to contribute to There are as many ways of copping Catholics, a species I have always envied the running of the ship, from swabbing out of Catholicism as there are lapsed for their lack of inhibitions about their faith. decks to filling-in the logbook. One’s Catholics. A particularly rich example They are so thoroughly at home in it. Genu- ego intrudes at every turn, and the devil was the intellectual who said something flecting, the Sign of the Cross, the Real and his minions suggest a hundred good along the lines of: “If I really believed Presence, addressing Mary as “Our Lady” reasons for not doing this or that. Christ was present in the Eucharist, I and so on, all things that come strangely would never leave the orbit of the taber- and embarrassingly to your average con- How do you visualise your ego? I nacle.” This remark gives one pause as vert. One had to accustom oneself to this see mine as an incredibly tough nut. one turns to leave the church. new “freedom.” For freedom it is. A Brazil nut perhaps, and you have only your fingernails with which to We have all experienced the tug-of-war But even they, I understand, often ben- tackle it. Ouch. between the demands of everyday life efit from a sort of conversion at some * Please turn to S HIP on page 35

The Eagle • September 2013 page 33 * TREE continued from page 36 C C C

inally, our Mass schedule will change slightly this fall. The pro- fessional choir will begin singing atF the 10:00 a.m. “Family Mass” begin- ning in September. They will sing more modern pieces and Mass settings than the Mozart and Haydn Masses they have been singing during the 11:30 Solemn Mass (which will be moved to 12 Noon). Some of the new Mass settings are composed by our own choirmaster, Chris Mueller, who, be- sides being a superb choir director and organist, is a talented jazz musician. That should liven up the 10:00 Fam- ily Mass. It is already full, so with more people coming to church, maybe we’ll have to add on to the Basilica! Only joking!! Young prodigies practice in the Chamber Music Institute held in the Msgr. Nagle Hall.

So there you have it – the bare bones of a general plan to make our parish even more family-friendly in the com- ing years. With many new parishioners joining each week, and many more in the upcoming years with the construc- tion of much new housing in the down- town area, the future and life of the Basilica parish looks very bright.

Truly, the Summer of 2013 has been a very interesting time of refurbishing, restoration and rebirth for the Dio- cese of Bridgeport and for St. John’s. While the tree growing in Brooklyn gave much hope to the Catholic im- migrant family in the novel, the many trees of faith growing throughout the Diocese of Bridgeport and at St. John’s are signs that the Church is very much alive. For all these blessings, for our new Bishop, and for the continued growth of St. John’s, we should daily thank Our Lord.

– Msgr. Stephen DiGiovanni, H.E.D.

Msgr. DiGiovanni is Pastor of the Basilica of St. John the Evangelist. His new book, Ignatius: The Life of Ignatius Cardinal Kung Pin-Mei, is on sale in the Basilica Tony Colon has overseen the restoration of the Rectory gazebo. (Photo by John Glover) bookstore and on Amazon.com (print and Kindle editions).

Page 34 The Eagle • September 2013 * SHIP continued from page 33 * LETTER continued from page 32 Like all good yarns, this deserves a to life than what you can cross off on happy ending. I put it to you that there a list. In a word, retreating is counter- is much rejoicing when one battered cultural. coracle rejoins the ship, and many a mariner abandons his ego-cruise with So, be countercultural. That’s what sighs of relief. prayer is, anyway. It’s taking a moment to elevate above the frenzy and say that P.S. The other day, an Italian priest the only thing that really matters is my serving the missions in the Far East relationship to God. the view from the read what I had written above. He had been through the maelstrom of Vatican School is crucially important, friends II, and was a witness to many friends, too, family more so. But God comes back pew clergy and lay, leaving the Church. He above all and, as Elijah found, He is commented: found not in the wind or the earthquake e have a Bishop, at long last. or the fire, but in the silence (1 Kings A sede vacante of 498 days “But the Boat is a mixture of 19:11-13). – one year, four months, Divine and Human elements. It Wand 11 days, to be precise – came to comes to the final shelter only I know it’s easier said than done, but an end with the surprise mid-summer at the end of the world, and for that makes it no less true. It has to be announcement from the Vatican on the the time being it has to deal with an active choice. You have to create Feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. its limits, with the waves and the silence, as Kierkegaard said. storms. Fortunately the Boat’s What can we expect of the Fifth rudder is controlled by Him.” As school be- Bishop of Bridgeport? Will he be a “Be counter- gins, you’re “warrior” in the spirit of St. Ignatius, – Virginia Barton likely to be cultural. pursuing a much-needed and long- quickly swept postponed campaign of reform and Virginia, a writer, wife, mother, and grand- That’s what up in Spanish renewal in our Diocese? We hope so. mother, lives in Oxford, England. Her prayer is, conjugations, collected writings are posted on the web at: www.VirginiaBarton.com anyway.” A Midsummer Goodness knows we crave strong lead- Night’s Dream, ership. Many in our Diocese nodded in and the lat- assent last May when Pope Francis ad- est gossip. You will feel the burden of dressed the Catholic Bishops of Italy wanting to please your parents, your and warned about a disturbing trend: friends, your teachers, your coaches, and your pastor. “Lack of vigilance – we know – makes the shepherd lukewarm, You may feel overwhelmed at times, makes him distracted, forgetful, surviving only on adrenaline and a and even impatient. It seduces desire to succeed. him with the prospect of career, the lure of money, and compro- And so I’d suggest that, when all this is mises with the spirit of the world. happening, remember that – like Christ It makes him lazy, transforming Himself – we need to withdraw. To be him into a functionary, a cleric truly successful, you need to create more worried about self, about silence. organization and structures than the true good of the People of In times like these, your homework is God. It runs the risk then, as did to go to the backyard, say three Hail the Apostle Peter, of denying the Ignatius Cardinal Marys, and then stare at the tree leaves Lord, even though formally pre- Kung Pin-Mei in the wind for a half hour. senting itself as, and speaking in, His name. It obscures the holi- 1901 - 2000 – Ricky J. McRoskey ness of the hierarchical Mother Please pray one “Hail Mary” Church, making it less fruitful.” daily for the opening of the Ricky, a member of St. John’s and father cause of canonization of two who lives in Norwalk, writes for a Welcome aboard, Bishop Caggiano. for Cardinal Kung New York-based financial firm.

The Eagle • September 2013 page 35 ne of my favorites of Ameri- Knowing how large a job that will can literature is A Tree Grows be, we have used the past weeks test- in Brooklyn, published in 1943 ing the exterior before we begin the byO Betty Smith. It is the story of a fam- serious work of restoring and updat- ily of Catholic immigrants and their ing. The gazebo on the church side children living their hardscrabble life of the rectory, dating from 1857, has in the Williamsburg section of Brook- been rebuilt with new foundations lyn. Through the pages of their hopes, and footings. The new decking and sufferings, sins, and failures, they roof are nearly completed, using all never give up. The symbol of their the original decorative and structural perseverance is a “Tree of Heaven” woodwork, which has been pains- (Ailanthus altissima) – an invasive takingly stripped and sanded by our species from China that crops up ev- The Last Word Basilica custodian, Tony Colon. erywhere in abandoned city proper- ties – growing between their apartment This small project has given us an op- building and the local school. Despite that he can find the County’s best Italian portunity to look into the walls of the years of attempts to destroy it, uproot food in Stamford – within the boundaries of building in order to plan for the larger it, and cut it down, the Tree of Heaven our Basilica!]. work next year. Architects will be con- stubbornly insists on surviving, grow- tacted and asked to submit plans for ing, and flourishing. the residing of the rectory, installation of new windows and insulation, and Just like the novel, much refurbishing, the creation of a small addition to the restoration, and rebirth has taken place offices and classrooms at the rear of the both in the Diocese of Bridgeport and building. our Basilica parish during these sum- mer months. We have been blessed Once ideas and plans are drawn up, with a new bishop, His Excellency all this will then be submitted to the Frank J. Caggiano, who was named diocese for approval. by our Holy Father the fifth Bishop of Bridgeport on July 31. The son of C C C Italian immigrants, Bishop Caggiano comes to a diocese created and formed ach summer, St. John’s plays by Catholic immigrants from nearly host to the Chamber Music In- every country on the globe. stitute for young Musicians, led byE Asya Meshberg, the founder and He will also find a diocese in trouble. principal violinist of the Lumina String Despite the efforts of immoral and Quartet. Asya leads these young peo- troubled priests, and of political or self- ple – 7 to 17 years of age!! – and they interest groups to weaken and destroy “The appointment of are all superb musicians. the Church during the past decade, Bishop Frank J. Caggiano Pope Francis’ appointment of Bishop to Bridgeport is a sign of This is not a beginner’s course. These Caggiano to Bridgeport is a sign of great remarkable kids play cello, violin, vio- hope for all of us. Like the Tree of Heav- great hope for all of us.” la, and other instruments like pros, be- en in the novel, the Catholic Church in cause they are all going to perform in Fairfield County is still alive and will the Stamford Symphony. Some are pre- continue to grow, resisting evil plots to C C C paring for studies at the Julliard School uproot her by friend and foe alike. in Manhattan. The students are divided t St. John’s, likewise a parish that into quartets and assigned string works One thing we can assure our new has weathered periods of trial, by Mozart, Borodin, Beethoven, Weber, bishop: he will find his new sisters and nearly died, and yet still is very and Schubert, and practice each week- brothers in the faith speaking many muchA alive and flourishing, these sum- end in the Msgr. Nagle Hall to perfect languages, yet professing one Creed. mer months have been filled with ac- their technique and performance. He will also find the vast majority of tivity of refurbishing and restoration. Catholics, both laity and clergy alike, Everyone in the parish has been so very Allowing Asya and her young prodi- very willing to cooperate with him as generous during these past 15 years of res- gies of the Chamber Music Institute he begins to rebuild the Church in Fair- toration of our church. Now it’s time to free use of our hall is a great honor for field County. [And, while not Brook- move on to repair the rectory, which is our St. John’s. lyn, I can also promise our new Bishop final major project. * Please turn to TREE on page 35

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