The Beatification of John Paul II

Blessed John Paul II was beatified yesterday, Divine Mercy Sunday. For many of us it will be a day that we wont soon forget. In fact so much happened this weekend that I couldn't possibly post about it all, but as a person that was deeply moved by the former Pope, I would be remiss if I did not mention his beatification.

There is a lot of commentary about the speed at his Beatification and the appropriateness of the matter. All that I can say is that his life was a holy inspiration for me, and he helped me to "Come Home" to the Faith. 

No one is perfect, not even saints, but there are those that in the totality of their life walk a path towards God and are so instep with Him, that their path is one to be admired and followed. Pope John Paul II was one of those people. As someone that finds myself drawn to more traditional practices within the faith, my love and admiration for Blessed Pope John Paul II finds at times questions regarding Vatican II and his role. All I can say is that from what I have read and understand, the Church we find today, is not a result of the intentions of Vatican II or those of Blessed John Paul II, but instead of the intentions of those that saw Vatican II as an opportunity to distort the Faith in some way. 

So I find myself answering those questions with one answer, and that answer is the motto he lived his life by. "Totus Tuus." If we all consecrate ourselves to the Immaculate and Hearts of Jesus and Mary, we will find ourselves not as perfect individuals, but as imperfect humans trying to walk a path of holiness and striving for perfection amidst our faults. 

Blessed John Paul II, Pray for us.

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Divine Mercy Sunday...recap

A lot happened this weekend. I have been doing a bad 'job' at blogging, mostly because our internet is currently really slow. This is a temporary situation, but it makes blogging tough. Plus the weather has been nice and the days are getting longer.

As for all of the events that happened this weekend, my best recap is to advise you to pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy. The good, bad, and ugly - as they say, can all be addressed through seeking the Divine Mercy of Christ.

I can say this, the world is forever changed after this weekend in very large and compelling ways. We must understand that while we can hope and pray for things, ultimately we are all in need of a savior, and one that imparts mercy and love upon us, even when we dont deserve it.

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Pope John Paul II - Beatification in 2011?

A reliable report has come out today describing a scenario where Pope John Paul II receives Beatification this spring. CNA reports that Andrea Tornielli, a well regarded Vatican insider, has reported that this is what he is hearing.

CNA reports what Tornielli said in an Italian newspaper:

In the Jan. 4 edition of the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, he reports that medical advisers of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints have ruled favorably on a miracle attributed to John Paul II’s intercession. The documentation has also passed the scrutiny of theologians.

The case involves the healing of a French religious sister from Parkinson’s disease. Sr. Marie Simon-Pierre was diagnosed with an aggressive form of the disease in 2001. Her order prayed to John Paul II after his death for help. After writing the Pope’s name on a piece of paper one night in June 2005, she reportedly awoke the next morning cured and was able to resume her work as a maternity nurse.

This puts the whole process one step closer to full Sainthood, which many feel is inevitable. The process though is very deliberate and there is a lot that has to happen before Canonization can occur. On top of that, John Paul's immense popularity places logistical issues into the mix. CNA explains the rest of the process:

The cause for beatification will now advance to the bishops heading the congregation. They will vote on the matter in several weeks.

In theory, it is possible that Pope John Paul II could be beatified on April 2, 2011, the sixth anniversary of his death. Other possible dates are the late pontiff’s birthday, May 18, or the Oct. 16 anniversary of his 1978 election to the papacy.

A beatification Mass would draw huge crowds and would require significant preparation. This makes a later date more likely.

Pope John Paul II was declared “venerable” in December 2009. If he is beatified, another recognized miracle would be required to declare him a saint.

It seems like we will most likely know something in the next month or two, until then we must continue to pray.



For the original story please see:
John Paull II Beatifiation could be possible in 2011 - CNA

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A lesson in humanity: Taught by Matt Archbold and Dick Clark

Two nights ago I, like millions of others, watched TV on New Year's Eve. Also like many others, part of that time was spent watching Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve. And again, like many, I made the statement: "Aww, they need to let him retire. It's just too sad to watch. It's just cruel to have him on TV." Most everyone around me mumbled in agreement, and we nervously changed the subject and tried not to comment on or focus on the images coming from our TV.

This same situation has played out the last few years... in pretty much the same way, by many who watch that show. I thought we were all on the same page, all correct in our assesment. I figured that this was nothing more than a TV gimmick to pull people in. Maybe it was ABC's version of broadcasting a "car-wreck." Regardless, it was wrong, it was cruel, and we all might even be doing something immoral simply by watching. Who would do that to someone just for the sake of ratings? How could they be so inhumane?

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Then I read Matt Archbold's, from the Creative Minority Report, most recent article over at the National Catholic Register: Making Fun of Dick Clark. It make me realize how wrong I was. I was dead wrong, and if you agreed with what I said above – you are wrong as well.

Matt Archbold made some really interesting points in his article, which you should really read in its entirety. Interestingly, he took what I thought about Dick Clark and made me realize that I wasn't really concerned about him. Instead, his article made me realize that I was being selfish and that I was concerned only with my own comfort and entertainment. As Archbold writes:

Dick Clark is not a legacy, he is a human being.

In these modern times, we seem to feel increasingly “uncomfortable” with anyone who looks less handsome than an A-lister or doesn’t speak as well as Ryan Seacrest. We don’t do sickness anymore. We don’t do ailments. The disabled are something to be hidden away, embarrassed about.

We used to care for our grandparents at home so we all grew up knowing a little something about it. We watched our father carry his mother upstairs after dinner every night. We watched our mother wipe her mother’s face with a napkin. And we learned. We helped pick them up when they fell. And we tried not to notice how embarrassed they were.

But as a culture, we don’t really do that anymore. The old and disabled are all too frequently shipped off and visited infrequently. We prefer to remember them as they were we tell ourselves - as a way of honoring them. But that’s not what’s going on. We just don’t want to be reminded that life isn’t perfect, sickness happens, and disabilities don’t discriminate.

Maybe that’s why 90 percent of Down Syndrome babies are aborted. Maybe that’s why the elderly are euthanized for fear of becoming a burden. They must not be seen. They are the imperfect.

Wow – I was stunned after reading this. He was dead on. But even as I read the above paragraphs, I wouldn't let myself be 100% convinced. I agreed with him, but only in passing. It was as if I said out-loud: "Oh yes, I agree." But then silently disagreed with him, still holding on to my belief that having Dick Clark on TV was somehow wrong. But that is when Archbold dropped the hammer:

I recall when Pope John Paul II bravely faced Parkinson’s in such a public way and we all watched as that always charming and so loved face was radically altered by prescription drugs and transformed into that immovable Parkinson’s Mask. So many publicly urged the Pontiff to retire. Oh they had their reasons. They said he should do it for his own good. Or for the good of the Church.

I found it scary that so many followers of a crucified Christ should think that a suffering man was unfit to lead the Church.

Dick Clark has had an amazing life. And this is the phase of life he’s in right now. Dick Clark was always a great host. But he seems to be more than that now. He seems heroic to me now. He knows he’s slurring his words. He knows he doesn’t look like the teenager he looked like for so long. And I think he’s exactly what we need to see. In these days when everyone on television looks vaguely perfect in a similar way, to me Dick Clark looks…human.

Wow, actually double-WOW! He got me. I could not argue out of this. He is completely right. Dick Clark, like the late Pope John Paul II, in his frailty, suffering, and imperfection... is nothing less than human.

He was right in so many ways. What really hit home though was when he said: "I found it scary that so many followers of a crucified Christ should think that a suffering man was unfit to lead the Church." Yes – again, I was floored. Here I am, taking my usually rock solid beliefs and throwing them out the window because I was so blinded by my own... well pride. But I was also blinded by my comfort and my desire to exist in a humanity that is, well... pretty.

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It is quite humbling to realize you are wrong, especially when it is in the private of your mind. I realized that not only was I wrong, but that I was wrong not in how I analyzed the situation – but wrong in how I actually thought about humanity. As someone that considers them self Pro-Life, I had somehow gotten this one horribly wrong. Where was my compassion? No, not compassion... where was my respect? Who was I trying to protect? It wasn't Dick Clark... I was trying to protect myself. The same way we try and shield young children from the realities of life, I tried to guard myself from the reality of humanity. 

Matt Archbold is right: "Dick Clark was always a great host. But he seems to be more than that now. He seems heroic to me now. He knows he’s slurring his words. He knows he doesn’t look like the teenager he looked like for so long. And I think he’s exactly what we need to see. In these days when everyone on television looks vaguely perfect in a similar way, to me Dick Clark looks…human."

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You may not agree with Matt or I right away, but you should think about it. Life isn't always pretty, but it is always beautiful. It is really easy to disagree with this idea – it is more comfortable and safe to say that people like Pope John Paul II and Dick Clark should sit hidden away to prevent our sensitivities from being shaken. But why should we hide away those that choose to fight on in life, despite the suffering and struggles they face? Isn't that what we teach from an early age? "Walk it off." "No crying in baseball." Etc...? 

Well then why as adults do we shy away from suffering? Is that why we hang "Resurrected Christ" in our parishes now as opposed to Crucifixes? Are we afraid to admit that our salvation comes in the form of suffering? It seems odd that we have gained so much from the pain and struggles of Christ and the Saints and yet we hide it away in favor of comfort and ease. Certainly it was the Resurrection that brought us Salvation. But that Resurrection wasn't accomplished on its own. 

We shy away from watching Dick Clark, for the same reason we don't want to watch the movie The Passion of the Christ. We are too afraid to watch what haunts our dreams. We are too afraid to upset the happiness of life, because happiness is easy – suffering is hard. Pain and suffering are often accompanied by fear. The emotion that freezes us in our tracks and prevents us from moving forward. To defeat fear, we often have to face it head on. 

We cannot defeat fear without facing those things which create the fear. We cannot have salvation without first the crucifixion. Matt Archbold through Dick Clark has taught me that humanity isn't about the pretty faces, and new years are not only about the successes we achieve but also the sufferings we endured and the trials we overcame. Our redemption isn't from our own suffering... but from Christ's. He chose to endure for our sake, so that we could know beauty and comfort. Sometimes we must look upon the destruction that blossomed the beauty... so that we may remember our own humanity.

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The Manhattan Declaration

There is a new "petition" of sorts out there on the interwebs. The "Manhattan Declaration" is an online manifesto of sorts. Ironically, it shares part of its name with the secret government project which helped to create the Atomic Bomb - "The Manhattan Project." This however is intent on saving and preserving life...

From their website:

Christians, when they have lived up to the highest ideals of their faith, have defended the weak and vulnerable and worked tirelessly to protect and strengthen vital institutions of civil society, beginning with the family.

We are Orthodox, Catholic, and evangelical Christians who have united at this hour to reaffirm fundamental truths about justice and the common good, and to call upon our fellow citizens, believers and non-believers alike, to join us in defending them. These truths are:

1. the sanctity of human life
2. the dignity of marriage as the conjugal union of husband and wife
3. the rights of conscience and religious liberty.

Inasmuch as these truths are foundational to human dignity and the well-being of society, they are inviolable and non-negotiable. Because they are increasingly under assault from powerful forces in our culture, we are compelled today to speak out forcefully in their defense, and to commit ourselves to honoring them fully no matter what pressures are brought upon us and our institutions to abandon or compromise them. We make this commitment not as partisans of any political group but as followers of Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Lord, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

I suggest you read the whole thing here: http://manhattandeclaration.org/decdocs/ManhattanDeclaration.pdf
I was skeptical at first too, but after reading the document I think the statement this is trying to make is important. There is a place to sign, and it appears that more and more blogs and websites are picking up on this.

New Pope John Paul the Great Book: About the Rosary

I saw this article posted on the CNS Blog:

Pope John Paul II “wanted so much for the family, the young, the sick and elderly, deacons and priests and bishops to learn and adopt his new method of praying the rosary so that the rosary would be come more of a contemplative prayer and therein have its true beauty and depth discovered,” author and educator Robert Feeney wrote in a recent note to CNS.

He wanted to make us aware of a new book he has written, “The Rosary: The John Paul II Method,” released by Aquinas Press and distributed by Ignatius Press. He covers the history of the rosary; writings about Mary by Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict XVI; Our Lady of Fatima and the rosary; and the mysteries of the rosary. But the book’s centerpiece is how Pope John Paul recited the rosary, including his suggestion that after each mystery, a person used a picture or icon to “open up a scenario,” to visualize being part of that mystery.

The pope also suggested a person pray for a virtue with each mystery and pause briefly to meditate “on the word of God and the content of the mystery.”

“The pope always saw the young as the future and hope of the church and wanted to, in spirit, pass the rosary beads on to them,” said Feeney. He added that during the Year of the Rosary, declared by the late pope from October 2002 to October 2003, Feeney taught his own students how the pope prayed the rosary. “They were very impressed with the contemplative dimension and interjections of silence,” he said.

Feeney said he wrote the book because he wants to help the young to discover the rosary to help them “in their trials and tribulations,” like it did for him as a young man serving in the Vietnam War. He was seriously wounded and nearly died, he said, but he called on Mary, whom he credits for his recovery.

Feeney’s book on the pope and the rosary follows an earlier one he wrote titled “The Catholic Ideal: Exercise & Sports.” He has been told that it’s being used as a textbook in the PE department at some Catholic colleges and universities.

There is always room for books about John Paul II and his many talents and gifts. I look forward to adding this to my Amazon Wish list.

Christopher West, Theology of the Body, and Personalism...

... or what are 3 things that I am trying to figure out in my head. I really want to post about these things, but I don't really know where I stand on everything. I had planned a post today about "Personalism and Catholic Moral Childbirth" but I scratched that idea after seeing a few blog posts over the past few days dealing with Christopher West, Theology of the Body, and Personalism/Phenomenology. I know that a lot of people may not know what all or any of those things are, and thats OK! Ask me a year ago and I knew maybe one, and definitely couldn't explain it to you. I will try and provide a little primer below, and come back to this post at another time. As the CMR crew did as well, I open this post to comments hoping to inspire a little discussion and hopefully knowledge on the topics.

Christopher West: I know that a lot of hub-bub was out in the Cathologosphere(tm) a bit ago over Christopher West. (A quick blip from ABC):

This created some controversy, among some other things Mr. West said. A lot of his teaching was "misrepresented" on ABC, as the MSM does quite often to Catholicism. Yet, so many people had a problem with this, that BISHOPS had to issue a statement concerning their opinion of the situation:
Two Bishops Issue Defend Chris West's Theology of the Body Work

Meanwhile the Cathologosphere(tm) chimed in:
Matt Archbold @ Creative Minority Report: West Open Comment Post
The Fifth Column: West Commentary

Cheeky Pink Girl: "Christopher West Responds to His Critics"

So the question seems to be: What do Traditionalist Catholics and even more "Modernist" Catholics do with Mr. West?

I think the question hinges on your ideas on Personalism, what the Theology of the Body "SAYS," and how those two "items" apply to an American Catholics life. I don't think it is an easy question. But I would like to know everyones thoughts on this issue, so please comment.

On a side note: I think a major contention many have with West is not so much the essence of his message, but its means or method. The comparison to Hefner is ridiculous, yet West seems open to criticism and is willing to listen and change for the better. Let's see where this all ends up in a few months and as time progresses, especially as TOB and its teaching grows in this country.

Birth, Death, Sickness, and Strife...

... these are some of the issues I have been dealing with recently. I confusingly have my philosophy training, natural law training, and my Catholic Faith to try and sort these things out in my head. Unfortunately I don't have enough training in any one area to do myself much good. I have found an article on Birth and Catholicism, taking from a personalist point of view, so when I am done reading that and following some of the footnotes, I will post some thoughts. Consider this your teaser... or consider it a lazy post.