Bishops Boost Marriage

BY JOAN FRAWLEY DESMOND

REGISTER CORRESPONDENT

BALTIMORE — Over the last five years, the defense of marriage has emerged as a key catechetical, legislative and religious liberty issue for the U.S. episcopacy.

Few bishops understand that better than Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington.

As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops gathered for its fall general meeting, Archbishop Wuerl had to keep one eye on a same-sex “marriage” bill in Washington that likely will pass early next month.

Public debate on the bill has prompted bitter resistance to any broad exemption for Catholic social institutions with city contracts. City council members have accused the archdiocese of issuing “ultimatums.” Church officials contend that “without a meaningful religious exemption in the bill, Catholic Charities and similar religious providers will become ineligible for contracts, grants and licenses to continue those services.”

When marriage is the topic of debate, the U.S. bishops face a war that must be fought on multiple fronts: theological, cultural and political. No surprise that Archbishop Wuerl — who has defended Catholic teaching in the pages of The Washington Post, in parish bulletins and in public forums — applauds the arrival of the bishops’ new pastoral letter, “Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan.”

“The heart of the pastoral statement is the definition of marriage,” said Archbishop Wuerl. “It is so important for our faithful and for the wide community to understand this; we want to reaffirm this teaching so that people can speak with assurance about marriage. What is it about marriage that makes it unique and important? Why do people follow through with all the effort associated with marriage?”

In 2004, the bishops approved a multilayered pastoral initiative designed to strengthen marriage; the pastoral letter, approved during this month’s meeting, is described as “both an end and a beginning” of this effort.

As the teaching authority of the American hierarchy is increasingly challenged in battles over same-sex “marriage,” Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, chairman of the Subcommittee on Marriage and Family, heralded the letter as a “foundational document” and an “authoritative point of reference.”

The letter addresses marriage’s critical role in the nurturing and education of children; it challenges modern attempts to reduce married love to a “private” couples relationship and warns against the destructive consequences of redefining marriage to include same-sex unions.

Theology of the Body

Chastened by the increasingly skeptical response they have received from younger Catholics in particular, the bishops plan to communicate the central teaching of the pastoral in Web-based campaigns as well as through more traditional catechetical methods. The letter presents marriage as both a “natural institution” and a “Christian sacrament,” and takes note of social science research confirming the essential role of traditional marriage.

“There is a huge need for catechesis on marriage,” confirmed Bishop Richard Malone of Portland, Maine, who helped to lead a repeal of same-sex “marriage” in Maine earlier this month. “Throughout that public debate in the state, I was alarmed by the number of our Catholic people who have a shallow understanding of what marriage is.”

The pastoral letter incorporates the central teaching of Humanae Vitae (The Regulation of Birth) on the unitive and procreative dimensions of conjugal unions. But it also embraces the fresh insights of John Paul II’s theology of the body.

During an era when mass media encourages Americans to shrug off the distinctive characteristics of men and women, and where the young learn to treat the human body as a kind of machine that can be exploited or manipulated at will, the theology of the body offers an integrated vision of the human person. In this teaching, sexual complementarity is a gift to be embraced as the foundation for deep marital communion.

The late Pontiff provided a modern meditation on a fundamental truth: The body expresses the person’s deepest values. Sexual relationships that ignore marital vows of faithfulness, permanence and openness to children violate basic human dignity.

“In drafting the letter, the committee felt that the insights John Paul II made in the theology of the body strengthened the case we can make to people today. Paul VI provided a great foundation, but Humanae Vitae didn’t get the proper catechesis when it was first promulgated,” said Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kan.

The U.S. hierarchy’s initial failure to effectively defend Humanae Vitae is now viewed as a primary reason for ongoing confusion among Catholics about the evils of contraception and — subsequently — the immorality of some reproductive technologies and of same-sex “marriage.”

A New Hunger

Yet, Archbishop Naumann suggests that the past 40 years also have created a new hunger for this teaching.

“We have the experience of the past 40 years. That has given us a lot of empirical data to substantiate the teaching and encourage an openness to the teaching that didn’t exist in the ’60s,” he suggested.

The bishops’ pastoral initiative on marriage may also help to shore up catechetical efforts in states where same-sex “marriage” is already legal. “The pastoral gives us an opportunity to develop a new apologetics,” said Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston. “We don’t hate gays, and we are not trying to deny anyone their civil rights. This is about the defense of marriage.”

The bishops acknowledge that a more intensive effort to present the countercultural elements of Church teaching on marriage is likely to provoke intense resistance not only from homosexual couples seeking social approbation, but also from poorly catechized Catholics.

The pastoral letter addresses a number of sensitive issues — including reproductive technologies that help infertile couples to begin families but violate Catholic teaching. The USCCB also approved a separate document that provides more detailed doctrinal analysis and pastoral reflection on in vitro fertilization, cloning and related procedures.

But bishops who have ministered to infertile couples acknowledge that many are bemused by the Church’s apparent departure from what they define as a pro-child theological tradition.

“I expect that many couples won’t see the need for ethical reflection on reproductive technologies,” said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, Calif., who helped jump-start California’s Proposition 8 ballot measure that led to the repeal of same-sex “marriage” in the state and is eager to bring the pastoral letter to his diocese.

Pushback from dissenting Catholics and political opponents is a given, but during the Baltimore meeting, the bishops appeared both revitalized and resigned as they considered the challenges ahead. Same-sex “marriage” fights appear likely in New Jersey and New York, and many bishops planned to meet with their senators about health-care reform before returning home.

During an afternoon press conference, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the bishops’ conference, was asked if his colleagues had “regained their political strength.”

“We know many of these issues are both moral and political. Our task is to bring the moral voice to the debate,” responded Cardinal George.

But then he acknowledged that the bishops’ work occasionally influenced the larger public debate, roiling partisan emotions that could fuel a backlash against the hierarchy. “There is something more than Catholic doctrine involved. Some issues are also political, and they draw on loyalties that go beyond Church membership.”

Joan Frawley Desmond filed this report from the U.S. bishops’ meeting in Baltimore.

Copyright © 2007 Circle Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Big Apple Bishop

BY PAUL BARRA

Archbishop Timothy Dolan couldn’t keep it to himself anymore.

Half a year into his tenure as archbishop of New York, he was bothered by widespread anti-Catholicism in the media. So he wrote a column about it and offered it to The New York Times. Most of the examples he cited were found in the pages of the Times.

The newspaper declined the column, saying it doesn’t publish op-ed pieces in response to things in the newspaper.

But Archbishop Dolan has a blog, The Gospel in the Digital Age, and that’s where the column can be found now.

All that was going on when the archbishop, leader of New York’s 2.6 million Catholics, spoke with Register correspondent Paul Barra Oct. 26.

How have your expectations met the realities of life in the Big Apple?

They’ve been extremely happy months so far. I keep repeating myself by thanking the gracious people of the Archdiocese of New York and, indeed, the wider New York community, for their warm embrace. As a Midwesterner growing up in Missouri and having spent the last nearly seven years in Wisconsin, I’m afraid I have to confess that I harbored some caricatures about New Yorkers, falling into the trap of thinking they were icy and aloof and kind of unfriendly. That caricature is about as inaccurate as they get. The people here have just been exceptionally kind. So, the honeymoon is still on, but I feel right at home.

In many ways, culturally and intellectually, New York seems to be secular or a left-wing city, but I’m also pleasantly surprised at how religious it is. First of all, it’s overtly Catholic; people seem to be proud to be Catholic. St. Patrick’s Cathedral is jammed with people praying, and Sunday Masses are filled. There seems to be a sense of confidence in being Catholic and a sense of legitimate pride in being religious. That would almost seem to balance the reputation New York has of being a secular, pagan city.

Cardinal Francis George has appointed you the new moderator of Jewish affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying that you are “a friend of the Jewish community who communicates the joy of his own faith, while … conveying profound respect for the spiritual gift of the other.” Is that a good fit for you? You must be busy with Catholic Relief Services.

Since New York is second only to Israel in its number of Jewish citizens, I want to take that with the utmost seriousness. So far, the dialogue, the friendship and the neighborly meetings with the Jewish community have been most inspirational and constructive. So, I’m honored and welcome the new invitation to serve.

I had considered giving up the chairmanship of CRS, although it’s a duty I relish, because of the demands on my time. Then I decided that my role here would give CRS more prominence and publicity, and the executive director, Ken Hackett, said that he still finds me accessible and attentive as chairman of the board to his needs. So far, so good. I look forward to continuing through my last year.

(The CRS Ambassadors program at Cabrini College and Villanova University) is one of our priorities. We want to be able to respond to the numbers of young people who want to give a year or two of their lives in service to the world’s poor in the name of Jesus Christ. We literally cannot keep up with the number who want to serve overseas. One of our goals is to expand (the program).

Does your position as spiritual leader of New York make you a major voice in the USCCB?

Like it or not, I suppose that I am, not because of Timothy Dolan, but because I inherited the cathedra at St. Patrick’s Cathedral; whoever occupies that has more attention rendered to him because of his role as the archbishop of New York. John Paul II referred to New York as the “capital of the world.” And St. Patrick’s is not just a museum or a tourist stop; it’s a real living, breathing, praying church. An Episcopalian friend of mine told me the story of a cab driver who was asked by a fare to be taken to Christ Church. He took him to St. Patrick’s. When the person said, “This is not Christ Church,” the cabbie said, “I don’t know much about religion, but I know that when Christ comes to town, this is where he stays.”

There’s something transcendent, something tangibly pious about the cathedral, situated as it is at Fifth Avenue and Rockefeller Center. The rector, Msgr. Robert Ritchie, opens the vast bronze doors to the street whenever the weather permits, to give the impression that “You’re welcome.” And people will come in and find themselves refreshed and spiritually uplifted from a busy, hectic day.

How do the demands of your ministry affect your own spiritual life, and how would a typical day for the archbishop of New York go?

I concluded a long time ago that to nurture my spiritual life through a good chunk of time in prayer, spiritual reading, reverent celebration of the Mass is not just a hobby, not just a luxury, not just a good idea: That’s essential for survival. And the bigger the challenge that you have in the Church, the more you find yourself on your knees. One of the great gifts I’ve inherited is to have a chapel literally next to my study, so first thing every morning I’m in that chapel. I literally step from my dining room into the magnificent St. Patrick’s Cathedral, so there I offer Mass every morning at 7:30, which is the heart of my day.

I returned to a custom of Cardinal John O’Connor of always offering the 10:15 Mass at St. Patrick’s on Sunday morning. I find that Mass to be particularly exhilarating. You’ve got over 2,000 people there, the choir is superb, the quality of the liturgy is excellent, and it’s a real icon of the Church universal. I try to visit the parishes of the archdiocese on Saturday evening and late Sunday afternoon. So, I say three Sunday Masses on a weekend — what priest doesn’t these days?

What are the big needs that you face in the changing culture of the times, especially the growing popularity of same-sex “marriages” and the battle over conscience clauses for physicians and Catholic hospitals?

Those are burning issues. Recently, we bishops have spoken about the threats that seem to be high in American culture to the whole religious-liberty question, the whole First Amendment question. There’s no denying the fact that there seem to be potent voices in our culture that would like to diminish if not mute the voice of religion and morality in public discourse, not only because we believe heart and soul in truth, but also because America is at her best when people pay attention to morals, to ethics, to religious values.

And, indeed, most of the grand causes in this noble experiment in democracy that we call the United States of America, from the Revolution itself, to anti-slavery, to the peace movement, to the civil-rights movement, to the pro-life movement have all been generated by people’s strong religious faith. To take the voice away, to diminish it, would be to gravely imperil our American experience.

We can’t let that happen. We must ensure that the Church is strong in its defense of its right to speak the truth. We don’t come at these combustible issues merely from religion; we also remind our neighbors and our fellow citizens that this is part of ingrained human reason, and this is part of natural law, of certain inalienable rights that are normative in the American constitutional tradition.

How have you been treated by the exuberant secular New York press?

The press has been exceptionally attentive; they have been interested in what I have to say; they have joined in the chorus of welcome, and I can’t keep up with the requests for interviews and articles and appearances. Now, I know that’s going to take a nosedive sooner or later and, as a matter of fact, as I’m speaking with you now, there are some matters that have been aired in the local press that I feel as a Catholic leader that I must take strong exception to, and intend to do so. As Catholics, we must never pass up an opportunity to catechize.

Paul Barra writes from

Reidville, South Carolina.

Copyright © 2007 Circle Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Woman Banks on National Shrine

BY JOSEPH PRONECHEN

The double rainbow seen at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., turned out to be pointing to something rarer than the proverbial pot of gold: a woman’s faith and a worker’s integrity.

As a campus groundskeeper raked leaves at the National Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes Nov. 9, he struck two bags of gold and silver coins. He immediately brought it to shrine director Bill Tronolone, who knew he had to contact the police to make sure the coins — worth $40,000 — weren’t stolen goods.

The university didn’t have far to go to reunite the life savings with its rightful owner.

Tronolone said Nov. 12 a woman approached him after Mass to ask him, “Did anybody find two bags of coins, my life savings?”

She had to go out of town on an emergency, had a safety deposit box, but knew only one place to trust the rare coins.

“The owner just wanted a safe place to keep her life savings, and in her thinking, ‘What better place than the grotto, right next to the statue of Mary?’” said Tronolone. She told him, “I have great love and trust and devotion in Mary. What better person to leave it with? She would never hurt me.”

Amazingly, she left the money in the open only 10 feet from where thousands of people sit, pray and light candles near our Blessed Mother’s statue at this grotto, built in 1875 by seminarians to honor Mary as Our Lady of Lourdes. Falling leaves covered the bags.

“It’s a miracle nobody saw these bags,” said Tronolone. The other miracle is what he and many others see as great lessons, even though some others thought the woman’s actions were “crazy.”

“It’s about faith and the devotion you have to God in a unique way,” explained Tronolone, pointing out a line in a recent Gospel where Jesus says to leave everything and follow him. “This is basically what this woman did with her life savings. She was putting her money where her faith is.”

The other part is about the integrity of the anonymous groundskeeper.

“Everybody,” the shrine director said, “did the right thing in a very wrong world.”

Linda Sherman, Mount St. Mary’s communications director, who was at the grotto with school officials at a photo shoot, said, “In this time, especially when the economy is down, it’s such a tremendous story of great faith — great faith in the Blessed Mother and in the protection of the Blessed Mother.”

She added, “It’s also very telling of the integrity of the man who found the coins and turned them in immediately.”

The university considers itself blessed to have this gentleman working here.

“This time of year, too, when we’re looking at our blessings, it restores our faith in humanity,” she said. “It gives us hope, and we sure can use a dose of that.”

“God really treats us well,” Sherman said. “He takes care of us in just the way we need to be taken care of.”

Especially when his Mother is involved.

Copyright © 2007 Circle Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

‘Never Was It Known …’

The Might of the Memorare

BY Joseph Pronechen

November 15-21, 2009 Issue | Posted 11/9/09 at 10:01 AM

When Benedictine College needed to raise funds for a Marian grotto on its Atchison, Kan., campus, the college’s president, Stephen Minnis, turned to his “Memorare Army.”

He recruited members for this after considering the story of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta when her newly formed Missionaries of Charity needed money to build their motherhouse. She promised to pray 85,000 Memorares for the Virgin Mary’s help. Needless to say, she got her motherhouse.

“I can recognize a great idea when I see one,” Minnis told the Register. He asked students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the college to join the Memorare Army for the cause of Mary’s Grotto. More than 100 people enlisted.

“Before I asked for the money, we had completed pretty close to 100,000 Memorares,” Minnis recalls. This past Sept. 8 — the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary — hundreds attended the official dedication of the finished grotto.

For those who haven’t worked the Memorare into their daily prayers, the next Marian feast — the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated Nov. 21 — would be an ideal time to start. (For the words of the prayer, see “The Memorare” on page B2.)

Blessed Teresa stands as one of the prayer’s greatest champions. “The Memorare is a prayer that effectively expressed Mother Teresa’s trust in the power of Mary’s intercession as the mediatrix of all graces,” explains Father Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity, the postulator of the cause for Blessed Teresa’s canonization. “It flowed from the love and confidence she had in Mary and was a simple way to present her petitions to her. The speedy response she received inspired her with ever greater confidence to have recourse to Mary with the words of the Memorare.”

All Ages

The centuries-old Memorare — its name comes from the prayer’s opening word, which is Latin for “remember” — counts St. Francis de Sales among its most ardent devotees.

As a student experiencing spiritual torments in the 1580s, his problem suddenly disappeared as he knelt in church before a statue of the Blessed Mother imploring her help through the Memorare. After that, he recited the prayer daily. (He would go on to author one of the Church’s most widely studied and beloved devotional books, Introduction to the Devout Life.)

Joe and Megan Wurtz share his zeal for the Memorare. They lived in Virginia when they first learned of Benedictine College’s Memorare Army and joined. Eventually, they moved to Kansas. Joe is now the school’s dean of students.

The decision to relocate came naturally. Devoted to Our Lady, the couple began praying the Memorare together daily while dating. As a married couple, “We have adopted the Memorare as our bedtime prayer,” Joe explains. “The last thing we say to each other before sleep is this prayer.”

The Wurtzes are teaching the Memorare, along with the Rosary, to their young children. And why not? The Memorare is agreeable to Catholics of all ages. Benedictine students kneel for the Memorare after Masses. Among them is sophomore Rachel G’sell, who also prays it nightly at the grotto for a friend stricken with cystic fibrosis, which is presently incurable. She is especially moved by the plea “despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.”

After two weeks praying this prayer, G’sell spotted a news article about doctors who discovered part of the pathology causing cystic fibrosis. She discussed it with her chemistry teacher, who told her that with the new discovery, a cure could be found in a few years.

“I just ran to the grotto thanking Mary like crazy,” says G’sell. “We’re one step closer to a small miracle.”

Mother Teresa’s Trust

The Memorare Army continues as it successfully campaigns for increasing enrollment, explains Minnis, who credits the Memorare with yet another blessed outcome on that dedication day as rain threatened the outdoor event. Archbishop Joseph Naumann, who was to preside, called to report that it was raining in Kansas City.

Minnis recalls his words: “I know you have devotion to the Memorare, and the campus does. I suggest you pray the Memorare.” That prompted two straight hours of Memorares. Earlier, Minnis specifically requested the rain to hold through 9 p.m. For Mass at 5 p.m., the sun came out. In the evening, everyone strolled for a look at the grotto at night. As they returned inside, it began to rain. Minnis checked his watch. It was exactly 9 p.m.

In one plea for good weather, Mother Teresa had her sisters pray what she called a “flying novena.”

“It consisted of nine Memorares, which she would pray as the need arose or a difficulty presented itself,” Father Kolodiejchuk says. “She definitely inspired the same devotion in her sisters, but also in others.”

He quotes Mother Teresa herself describing one of many instances: “In Rome during the Holy Year (1984), the Holy Father was going to celebrate Mass in the open, and crowds of people were gathered. It was pouring rain, so I told the sisters, ‘Let us say a flying novena of nine Memorares to Our Lady in thanksgiving for beautiful weather.’ As we said two Memorares, it started to pour more rain. We said the third … sixth … seventh … and at the eighth one, all the umbrellas were closing, and when we finished the ninth one, we found all the umbrellas were closed.”

Mother Teresa’s point: When you pray the Memorare, you can trust fully in Mary’s intercession — no matter the circumstances.

Father Kolodiejchuk notes that Blessed Teresa also taught: “Get into that habit of calling on her (Mary). She interceded — at the wedding feast, there was no wine. … She was so sure that he will do what she asks him. … She is mediatrix of all graces. … She is always there with us.”

 Remember, O most gracious

Virgin Mary …

Staff writer Joseph Pronechen is based in Trumbull, Connecticut.

The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.

Named for the Latin word for “remember,” the Memorare is often mistakenly attributed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux. It was popularized by Father Claude Bernard in the 17th century.

Copyright © 2007 Circle Media, Inc. All rights reserved.