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Angelus News | October 12, 2018 | Vol. 3 No. 34

An artistic rendering of the seven men and women being canonized saints of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis on October 14. On page 3, Archbishop José H. Gomez writes from Rome about what these new saints offer the Church today. Pilar Marrero reports on page 10 how the new St. Oscar Romero’s legacy lives on in a special way in the City of Angels. On page 14, editor Pablo Kay sits down with the man who chronicled the new St. Pope Paul VI’s papacy to millions of American readers for more than a decade. And on page 18, Crux’s Elise Harris takes a look at the lives of the five other, lesser-known “blesseds” being elevated to sainthood.

An artistic rendering of the seven men and women being canonized saints of the Catholic Church by Pope Francis on October 14. On page 3, Archbishop José H. Gomez writes from Rome about what these new saints offer the Church today. Pilar Marrero reports on page 10 how the new St. Oscar Romero’s legacy lives on in a special way in the City of Angels. On page 14, editor Pablo Kay sits down with the man who chronicled the new St. Pope Paul VI’s papacy to millions of American readers for more than a decade. And on page 18, Crux’s Elise Harris takes a look at the lives of the five other, lesser-known “blesseds” being elevated to sainthood.

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ANGELUS<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> <strong>Vol</strong>. 3 <strong>No</strong>. <strong>34</strong>


C<br />

ON THE COVER<br />

Seven “blesseds” will be canonized saints of the Catholic Church on <strong>October</strong> 14. On page 3,<br />

Archbishop José H. Gomez writes from Rome on what these new saints offer the Church today.<br />

Starting on page 10, Pilar Marrero reports on how the new St. Oscar Romero’s legacy lives on<br />

in Los Angeles. On page 14, editor Pablo Kay sits down with the man who chronicled the new<br />

St. Pope Paul VI’s papacy to millions of American readers. And on page 18, Crux’s Elise Harris<br />

looks at the lives of the five other, lesser-known men and women being elevated to sainthood.<br />

DIANNE ROHKOHL<br />

IMAGE: Two men sit outside a damaged church <strong>October</strong> 8<br />

after an earthquake in Port-de-Paix, Haiti. At least<br />

<strong>12</strong> people were killed and nearly 200 injured after<br />

a magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck northern Haiti<br />

the evening of <strong>October</strong> 7, the country’s interior<br />

ministry said.<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/ORLANDO BARRIA, EPA


Contents<br />

Archbishop Gomez 3<br />

World, Nation and Local <strong>News</strong> 4-6<br />

LA Catholic Events 7<br />

Scott Hahn on Scripture 8<br />

Father Rolheiser 9<br />

Remembering the special gifts of Msgr. Royale Vadakin 20<br />

How high is the price of the Holy See’s deal with China? 24<br />

Mike Aquilina: The St. Michael Prayer, explained 28<br />

Dr. Grazie Christie: Paul VI, Romero, and a woman named Lupita 30<br />

Heather King wonders how the Fowler Museum can be free 32


ANGELUS<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> | <strong>Vol</strong>.3 • <strong>No</strong>. <strong>34</strong><br />

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POPE WATCH<br />

Anointed by hope<br />

As the senior shepherd participating<br />

in this month’s Synod on Youth, the<br />

Faith and Vocational Discernment, it<br />

fell to Pope Francis to set the tone for<br />

the gathering.<br />

What did he say? In remarks at the<br />

beginning of the summit, the Holy Father<br />

encouraged delegates to be open<br />

to one another’s perspectives and experiences<br />

in the spirit of discernment<br />

as the Church looks at how to engage<br />

young people in the 21st century.<br />

“The synod must be an exercise in<br />

dialogue, above all among those of<br />

you participating,” the pope told bishops<br />

and auditors at the opening of the<br />

15th General Assembly of the Synod<br />

of Bishops on Wednesday, <strong>October</strong><br />

3. “The first fruit of this dialogue is<br />

that everyone is open to newness, to<br />

change their opinions thanks to what<br />

they have heard from others.”<br />

Practically speaking, the pope<br />

suggested that meant being open to<br />

changing the prepared versions of<br />

their “interventions,” or short speeches,<br />

as that dialogue progressed.<br />

“Let us feel free to welcome and<br />

understand others and therefore to<br />

change our convictions and positions:<br />

this is a sign of great human and<br />

spiritual maturity.”<br />

What potential changes in “convictions<br />

and positions” by delegates<br />

could result in has been the subject<br />

of some speculation going into the<br />

synod.<br />

During the synod’s initial sessions,<br />

issues such as liturgy, apologetics, and<br />

social media were raised in interventions<br />

and small group discussions.<br />

info@<br />

angelusnews.com<br />

www.angelusnews.com<br />

FOLLOW US<br />

<strong>Angelus</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong><br />

At a Mass earlier that day, the pope<br />

framed the exercise in dialogue as a<br />

moment of hope for the Church in<br />

the midst of so many challenges.<br />

“Anointed by hope, let us begin a<br />

new ecclesial meeting,” he told the<br />

crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square,<br />

quoting from his 2013 apostolic exhortation<br />

“Evangelii Gaudium” (“Joy of<br />

the Gospel”).<br />

“One that can broaden our horizons,<br />

expand our hearts and transform those<br />

frames of mind that today paralyze,<br />

separate, and alienate us from young<br />

people, leaving them exposed to<br />

stormy seas, orphans without a faith<br />

community that should sustain them,<br />

orphans devoid of a sense of direction<br />

and meaning in life.<br />

“Hope challenges us, moves us and<br />

shatters that conformism which says,<br />

‘it’s always been done like this,’ ”<br />

he continued. “Hope asks us to get<br />

up and look directly into the eyes of<br />

young people and see their situations.<br />

This same hope asks us to make efforts<br />

to reverse situations of uncertainty,<br />

exclusion and violence, to which our<br />

young people are exposed.”<br />

At the end of his homily, Francis<br />

repeated the words of soon-to-be-saint<br />

Blessed Pope Paul VI to young people<br />

at the close of the Second Vatican<br />

Council.<br />

“Fight against all egoism. Refuse<br />

to give free course to the instincts<br />

of violence and hatred which beget<br />

wars and all their train of miseries. Be<br />

generous, pure, respectful and sincere,<br />

and build in enthusiasm a better<br />

world than your elders had.” <br />

Papal Prayer Intentions for <strong>October</strong>: That consecrated religious men and women may bestir<br />

themselves, and be present among the poor, the marginalized, and those who have no voice.<br />

@<strong>Angelus</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong><br />

www.la-archdiocese.org<br />

@<strong>Angelus</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong><br />

2 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


NEW WORLD<br />

OF FAITH<br />

BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ<br />

Holiness wears many faces<br />

Here in Rome, we are approaching<br />

the midpoint of the Synod on Young<br />

People, the Faith, and Vocational<br />

Discernment, and we are preparing<br />

for a special moment in the Church’s<br />

life — the canonizations of seven<br />

men and women by Pope Francis on<br />

<strong>October</strong> 14.<br />

Even as I write, they are preparing to<br />

hang the large tapestries bearing the<br />

images of our new saints on the facade<br />

of St. Peter’s Basilica.<br />

It is a beautiful reminder that holiness<br />

in the Church wears many faces.<br />

The saints show us that the purpose<br />

of our lives is to be saints — and this<br />

is true for every one of us.<br />

Our new saints reflects the diversity<br />

of roles in the Church — there<br />

is a young layperson, two women<br />

religious, two priests, a bishop and<br />

a pope. And the stories of these new<br />

saints show us how exciting it is to<br />

give your life to Jesus Christ and the<br />

mission of his Church.<br />

Of course, the most well-known are<br />

Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Oscar<br />

Romero.<br />

Paul VI was the pope of Vatican II,<br />

who called the Church to proclaim<br />

holiness and salvation to the modern<br />

world and to rediscover the beauty<br />

and ethics of human love.<br />

Archbishop Romero was a heroic defender<br />

of the poor and a martyr for the<br />

faith. I am looking forward to celebrating<br />

his canonization with hundreds of<br />

Salvadoran pilgrims from Los Angeles<br />

this week.<br />

The others being canonized, while<br />

not “household names,” followed the<br />

call of Christ and led fascinating lives,<br />

overcoming personal setbacks and<br />

sufferings in order to spread God’s<br />

kingdom in their time and place.<br />

Two of our new saints show us what<br />

holiness looks like in the lives of<br />

ordinary parish priests. St. Francesco<br />

Spinelli preached holiness and<br />

fostered adoration to the Blessed<br />

Sacrament in his parishes, while St.<br />

Vincenzo Romano had a special love<br />

for orphan children and was known<br />

for his beautiful expression, “Do the<br />

good well.”<br />

Our new St. Maria Caterina Kasper<br />

lost her father when she was 21 and<br />

was forced to work as a farmhand to<br />

support her family.<br />

Inspired by the Blessed Virgin Mary’s<br />

self-offering to God, she founded<br />

the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ,<br />

which continues to serve the poor in<br />

India, Brazil, Mexico, and in parts of<br />

Africa, Europe, and the United States.<br />

The new St. Nunzio Sulprizio was<br />

orphaned at a young age, abused by a<br />

stepfather and later an uncle who took<br />

him in when his mother died.<br />

He died at 19, enduring a long and<br />

painful struggle with bone cancer,<br />

including having his leg amputated.<br />

Throughout a short lifetime of sufferings,<br />

he was known for his cheerfulness<br />

and patience, offering everything<br />

to God and trying to bring others to<br />

know Jesus.<br />

Our new St. Nazaria Ignacia March<br />

Mesa lived in Mexico and founded<br />

a religious order to spread what she<br />

called “a crusade of love” throughout<br />

South America.<br />

“Loving, obeying and cooperating<br />

with the Church in its work of preaching<br />

the Gospel to every creature. That<br />

is our life, that is who we are,” she<br />

said.<br />

That is a beautiful description of<br />

what all of us should be striving for.<br />

This is our life, this is who we are<br />

made to be.<br />

But what we see in the lives of our<br />

new saints is that much of the “stuff”<br />

of holiness is ordinary. It does not<br />

make for dramatic stories. Often the<br />

saints live in silence, known only to<br />

the people in their families and immediate<br />

communities.<br />

One “constant” we find in the stories<br />

of our new saints is that they were<br />

raised to take their Catholic faith seriously,<br />

that they had a strong personal<br />

relationship with Jesus and believed<br />

in the power of the sacraments, especially<br />

the Eucharist.<br />

It is a beautiful privilege to be able<br />

to spend these weeks in Rome praying<br />

and reflecting in the presence of the<br />

Vicar of Christ and the successors of<br />

his apostles.<br />

As I think about the words and experiences<br />

of the bishops gathered here<br />

from around the world, I am more<br />

and more convinced that we need to<br />

understand our work in the Church as<br />

the work of making saints.<br />

And also, I think we need to pay<br />

special attention to supporting those<br />

young people who are already trying<br />

hard to live their faith in Jesus Christ<br />

and those families who are already<br />

trying hard to raise and form their<br />

children in the faith.<br />

Holiness is the quiet work of a<br />

lifetime and it begins when we are<br />

young. So we need to be there to<br />

accompany our young people and<br />

our families in this precious work of<br />

making saints.<br />

Pray for me this week and I will be<br />

praying for you from Rome. And let us<br />

continue to join our Holy Father Pope<br />

Francis in making this month of <strong>October</strong><br />

a time of prayer for the Church.<br />

And may Our Lady, Mother of the<br />

Church, continue to intercede for the<br />

Holy Father and the bishops gathered<br />

here for the synod. <br />

To read more columns by Archbishop José H. Gomez or to subscribe, visit www.angelusnews.com.<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 3


CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/PAUL HARING<br />

WORLD<br />

Cardinal Marc Ouellet at the Vatican<br />

<strong>October</strong> 3.<br />

Vatican moves on<br />

McCarrick probe<br />

The Vatican announced it has<br />

begun to investigate all files in<br />

the archives of the dicasteries<br />

and the offices of the Holy See<br />

related to disgraced archbishop<br />

and former cardinal Theodore<br />

McCarrick.<br />

The investigation will examine<br />

the history of sexual abuse allegations<br />

against McCarrick, who has<br />

been accused of abuse of both<br />

adults and minors, according to<br />

an <strong>October</strong> 6 Vatican statement.<br />

A day later, Cardinal Marc<br />

Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation<br />

for Bishops, published a<br />

stinging three-page open letter<br />

responding to Archbishop Carlo<br />

Maria Viganò’s recent plea for<br />

Ouellet to tell what he knew<br />

about the handling of the McCarrick<br />

case.<br />

The letter confirmed in part at<br />

least one of Viganò’s allegations:<br />

That the Vatican had indeed<br />

asked McCarrick to keep a low<br />

public profile after his retirement<br />

as archbishop of Washington,<br />

D.C., in 2006 on account of rumors<br />

of sexual misconduct.<br />

Still, the Canadian cardinal<br />

blasted Viganò’s call on Pope<br />

Francis to resign over the McCarrick<br />

affair.<br />

“In response to your unjust and<br />

unjustified attack, I conclude that<br />

the accusation is a political frame<br />

job without a real foundation<br />

intended to incriminate the pope<br />

and … that it has profoundly<br />

wounded the communion of the<br />

Church,” wrote Ouellet. <br />

Execution or exile?<br />

As Pakistani woman Asia Bibi<br />

waits to learn whether she will die<br />

a martyr’s death, a panel of three<br />

judges has postponed its ruling on<br />

her appeal challenging her death<br />

sentence.<br />

The appeal was originally set to be<br />

decided by the end of <strong>October</strong>, but<br />

the panel said it would “reserve”<br />

judgment on the case and asked the<br />

media to not comment on the case.<br />

If the appeal fails, Bibi’s only<br />

chance to escape death would be<br />

a pardon from President Imran<br />

Catholics pitch in aid after<br />

deadly Indonesia quake<br />

Khan. If she is acquitted, Bibi and<br />

her family plan to immediately seek<br />

sanctuary outside of Pakistan.<br />

Bibi is the first Catholic woman to<br />

be condemned to death in Pakistan<br />

for blasphemy. She was sentenced<br />

in <strong>No</strong>vember 2010 after being accused<br />

of blaspheming against Islam<br />

after drinking from a common well<br />

— an act that offended her accusers<br />

because of her Christian faith.<br />

Bibi has spent the past eight years<br />

in solitary confinement, though<br />

at the beginning of the month she<br />

was allowed see her husband and<br />

daughter and receive Communion<br />

while in prison. <br />

Villagers carry relief supplies from a Red Cross helicopter on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island<br />

<strong>October</strong> 5.<br />

Catholic aid agencies are among those with boots on the ground helping<br />

relief efforts in Indonesia, where humanitarian groups are struggling to get<br />

aid to victims of a 7.5 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on September 28.<br />

Both Catholic Relief Services and Malteser International have sent emergency<br />

response teams to the disaster-torn country. The Manado Diocese of<br />

<strong>No</strong>rth Sulawesi has also begun to offer relief services.<br />

Father Joy Derry Clement, chairman of the diocese’s Socio-Economic<br />

Commission, told UCA<strong>News</strong> that teams were being formed to assess damage<br />

and gather material aid from local Catholics.<br />

At least 1,700 people died and thousands were missing in the wake of the<br />

earthquake and tsunami, according to the National Disaster Mitigation<br />

Agency. It also damaged the area’s local airport, complicating relief efforts. <br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/DARREN WHITESIDE, REUTERS<br />

4 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


NATION<br />

A blogger’s plea<br />

to bishops<br />

A young Catholic blogger<br />

concerned about efforts to shift<br />

Church teaching on same-sex attraction<br />

has written an open letter<br />

to bishops as they convene for this<br />

month’s synod on youth.<br />

“As someone who has not only<br />

grown up in the Church, but<br />

has also come to love her and<br />

her teachings for myself, I would<br />

hate to see her teachings altered<br />

in any way, especially in a way<br />

that could cause such a grave<br />

amount of damage,” wrote Avera<br />

Maria Santo, a 22-year-old from<br />

Alabama who writes about her experiences<br />

as a practicing Catholic<br />

and being same-sex-attracted.<br />

In her letter, published on her<br />

blog “Inside My Holy of Holies,”<br />

Santo described both her coming<br />

to terms with her same-sex-attraction<br />

and her journey learning<br />

about Catholic sexual teaching.<br />

“Telling me that my cross of<br />

same-sex attraction is too heavy<br />

for me to love as Christ calls me<br />

to is not just degrading; it is also a<br />

lie,” Santo wrote. <br />

OCTOBER OATH — New Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is sworn in as Chief Justice<br />

John Roberts administers the constitutional oath in a private ceremony <strong>October</strong> 6 while<br />

Kavanaugh’s wife, Ashley, holds the family Bible and his daughters, Liza and Margaret, look<br />

on. He was confirmed in a 50-48 vote after a divisive and emotional Senate confirmation<br />

debate centered on disputed accusations of sexual misconduct. Kavanaugh will be the sixth<br />

Catholic on the court.<br />

Judge blocks termination of TPS<br />

A San Francisco judge blocked a Department of Homeland Security<br />

(DHS) plan to terminate the protected status of approximately 300,000<br />

immigrants from Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, citing President<br />

Trump’s racial bias.<br />

Temporary Protected Status (TPS), has granted more than 300,000<br />

immigrants fleeing violence from those countries legal status in the United<br />

States. U.S. District Judge Edward Chen argued that the DHS’ plan to end<br />

it ignored evidence that such a move would create more harm than good.<br />

“Many have U.S.-born children; those may be faced with the Hobson’s<br />

choice of bringing their children with them (and tearing them away from<br />

the only country and community they have known) or splitting their families<br />

apart,” Chen wrote in his injuction.<br />

The decision is only a temporary injunction intended to give time to allow<br />

the plan’s merits to be considered in court. <br />

U.S. SUPREME COURT<br />

Rich Catholics plan ‘Red Hat Report’<br />

AVERA MARIA SANTO/MEDIUM.COM<br />

Avera Maria Santo<br />

A group of wealthy Catholic lay people want to take Church accountability<br />

into their own hands amid the reawakening clerical abuse scandal.<br />

The “Better Church Governance Group,” which met in September in<br />

Washington, D.C., plans to audit the sexual abuse response records of all<br />

<strong>12</strong>4 cardinals eligible to participate in the next papal election.<br />

“Each dossier will have a rating at the top for the cardinal’s connection<br />

to scandal and abuse, such as ‘severe guilt, credible accusations of guilt,<br />

clean.’ This final verdict on each will be based on our best evidence and<br />

the recommendations of best experts,” Philip Nielsen, the managing editor<br />

of the report, told Crux.<br />

The “Red Hat Report” is scheduled to be released by April 2020 and<br />

expected to cost upward of $1 million to complete. <br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 5


LOCAL<br />

Chargers QB defends big Catholic family<br />

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS/FACEBOOK<br />

CAROLINA GUEVARA<br />

Are eight children too<br />

many? One high-profile<br />

LA dad doesn’t think so,<br />

and he’s not afraid to say<br />

it.<br />

During a September<br />

17 interview with sports<br />

talk host Dan Patrick,<br />

LA Chargers quarterback<br />

Philip Rivers was asked if<br />

he and his wife, Tiffany,<br />

were done having kids<br />

after their eighth child<br />

was born almost three<br />

years ago.<br />

“Heck no! I hope not,”<br />

replied Rivers.<br />

Philip Rivers with some of his children in September <strong>2018</strong>.<br />

“I should talk to your<br />

wife,” Patrick replied. “Does your wife know that you want to have more?”<br />

After assuring Patrick that his wife “is all in,” Rivers explained how his oldest<br />

children help take care of the younger ones and described his marriage’s<br />

openness to life as “awesome.”<br />

Rivers has spoken openly about his Catholic faith before, crediting the<br />

sacraments and a relationship with Jesus Christ as the key to the success of<br />

his marriage.<br />

“I hope that God has used me to touch one of you in your faith journey<br />

with Jesus,” Rivers told Patrick at the end of the interview.<br />

SOCAL AT THE SYNOD — The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ two delegates at the Synod on<br />

Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment, Archbishop José H. Gomez and Auxiliary<br />

Bishop Robert E. Barron, pose outside the Synod Hall in Vatican City after the <strong>October</strong> 4<br />

morning session.<br />

Juan Romero at the <strong>2018</strong> Tribeca Film<br />

Festival in April <strong>2018</strong>.<br />

RFK’s final<br />

companion dies<br />

The man famously pictured<br />

cradling Robert F. Kennedy’s<br />

dying body at a Los Angeles hotel<br />

50 years ago has died.<br />

Juan Romero died following a<br />

heart attack <strong>October</strong> 1, the Los<br />

Angeles Times reported. He was<br />

68.<br />

Romero was a busboy at the Ambassador<br />

Hotel in 1968 and had<br />

rushed to congratulate Kennedy<br />

for winning the California presidential<br />

primary moments before<br />

he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan.<br />

The site of what used to be the<br />

hotel sits next to the Archdiocesan<br />

Catholic Center on Wilshire<br />

Boulevard in Koreatown.<br />

“I could feel a steady stream<br />

of blood coming through my<br />

fingers,” Romero told NPR in a<br />

recent interview recounting the<br />

night of June 5, 1968. “I remember<br />

I had a rosary in my shirt<br />

pocket and I took it out, thinking<br />

that he would need it a lot more<br />

than me. I wrapped it around his<br />

right hand and then they wheeled<br />

him away.” <br />

BRYAN BEDDER/GETTY IMAGES FOR NETFLIX<br />

6 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


LA Catholic Events<br />

Items for the Calendar of events are due two weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be mailed to <strong>Angelus</strong> <strong>News</strong> (Attn: Calendar), <strong>34</strong>24 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241;<br />

emailed to calendar@angelusnews.com; or faxed to (213) 637-6360. All calendar items must include the name, date, time and address of the event, plus a phone number for additional information.<br />

Fri., Oct. <strong>12</strong><br />

Italian Cooking/Language Class. Our Lady of Perpetual<br />

Help Church hall, 23233 Lyons Ave., Newhall,<br />

6 p.m. Cost: $25/person prepaid, and includes delicious<br />

Italian dinner and wine. Recipes provided to<br />

take home. Call Anna Riggs at 661-645-7877 by Oct.<br />

7 to RSVP.<br />

Sat., Oct. 13<br />

NRVC Day of Reflection. De Sales Hall, 13856 Bellflower<br />

Blvd., Bellflower, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Open to<br />

young adults 18-35 years old. Includes adoration<br />

and Mass. Suggested donation: $10/person. Includes<br />

morning snack and lunch. Register at bit.ly/Decision-<br />

Making<strong>2018</strong> or contact Carole Blanks at 213-738-<br />

7192 or email caroleasbs@gmail.com.<br />

From Creation to New Creation: A Journey of Transformation.<br />

Mary & Joseph Retreat Center, 5300<br />

Crest Rd., Rancho Palos Verdes, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Stephen<br />

Coffey, OSB, will focus on the path of creation<br />

spirituality, emphasizing the role of contemplation<br />

and compassion on the journey to transformed consciousness.<br />

It will feature the mystical writings of<br />

St. Francis of Assisi, Dr. Beatrice Bruteau, Meister<br />

Eckhart and Thomas Merton. Cost: $55/person and<br />

includes lunch. Call Marlene Velazquez at 310-377-<br />

4867, ext. 2<strong>34</strong>.<br />

Generational Healing: Praying for Our Loved Ones,<br />

Living and Deceased. St. Robert Bellarmine Church,<br />

St. Eleanor Hall, 133 N. Fifth St., Burbank, 9 a.m.-3<br />

p.m. Led by Father Teodoro Dirk Kranz and Dominic<br />

Berardino, this event will cover topics including the<br />

“sinful weight” of our ancestors and the impact of<br />

negative spiritual consequences of past generations.<br />

Includes Mass and prayer for the healing of generations.<br />

Bring sack lunch or eat at nearby restaurants.<br />

Cost: $30/person. Limited seating. Contact SCRC at<br />

818-771-1361 or email spirit@scrc.org. Register online<br />

at http://www.scrc.org.<br />

Alexandria House’s 2nd Annual Speakeasy & Casino<br />

Night. St. Sophia Church, 1324 <strong>No</strong>rmandie Ave.,<br />

Los Angeles, 7 p.m. Evening will honor Ann and Michael<br />

Mulvihill.<br />

Spiritual Warfare, Healing & Miracles. St. Jerome<br />

Church, 5550 Thornburn St., Los Angeles, 10 a.m.-4<br />

p.m. Speaker Bob Canton. Love offering will be taken.<br />

Free registration starts at 9:15 a.m. Bring a sack<br />

lunch. Call 310-508-4940 or 310-877-9560.<br />

Guibord Center: Life of Father Raimon Panikkar. St.<br />

John’s Episcopal Cathedral, 514 W. Adams Blvd., Los<br />

Angeles, 2-4 p.m. Dr. Joseph Prabhu will discuss the<br />

life and works of the late Father Panikkar, who was<br />

known for his interfaith work. Free event; freewill<br />

offerings gratefully accepted. Visit theguibordcenter.<br />

org.<br />

Romero Canonization Vigils and Live Broadcasts.<br />

St. Thomas the Apostle Church, 2727 Pico Blvd., Los<br />

Angeles, 7 p.m. Dolores Mission Church, 171 S. Gless<br />

St., Los Angeles, 10 p.m. St. Thomas the Apostle<br />

Church, 2727 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 11 p.m.<br />

Sun., Oct. 14<br />

Diaconate Formation Information Day. San Roque<br />

Church, 3200 Calle Cedro, Santa Barbara, 2-4 p.m.<br />

The Office of Diaconate Formation is hosting a day<br />

for interested people to learn about the permanent<br />

diaconate, including requirements, application process,<br />

and the program itself. Event is for single men<br />

and married couples, and wives are highly encouraged<br />

to attend.<br />

9th Annual Simi Valley Dream Cuisine Food and<br />

Wine Festival. St. Rose of Lima Church, 1305 Royal<br />

Ave., Simi Valley, 5 p.m. Special honorees are Deacon<br />

Brian and Sherry Clements, with a donation made<br />

to “Get-on-the-Bus.” All-inclusive festival will have<br />

50 restaurants, fine wineries, a Frank Sinatra cover<br />

band and more. Call Cliff at 805-208-8970 or visit<br />

svdream.com.<br />

Our Lady of Fátima Event. St. Joseph’s Salesian<br />

Youth Renewal Center, 8301 Arroyo Dr., Rosemead,<br />

Oct. 14-31. Daily Mass at 9 a.m. and evening rosary<br />

at 7 p.m. in the chapel. Guest speaker Juan Williamson<br />

Garcia will give a series of talks about Our Lady<br />

of Fátima on Oct. 15, 22, and 29 at 7:30 p.m. Candlelight<br />

rosary procession and Mass will be held on<br />

Saturday, Oct. 20, at 6 p.m. Call 626-280-8622.<br />

Masses in honor of “San Romero.” Precious Blood<br />

Church, 435 S. Occidental Blvd., Los Angeles, 6:30<br />

p.m. Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W.<br />

Temple St., Los Angeles, <strong>12</strong>:30 p.m. Church of the<br />

Immaculate Conception, 1433 James M. Wood Blvd.,<br />

Los Angeles, 3 p.m.<br />

Mon., Oct. 15<br />

Healing Mass. St. Linus Church, 13915 Shoemaker<br />

Ave., <strong>No</strong>rwalk, 7:30 p.m. Celebrant: Father Stephen<br />

Viblanc. Call 562-921-6649.<br />

St. Padre Pio Healing Mass. St. Anne Church, <strong>34</strong>0<br />

10th St., Seal Beach, 1 p.m. Celebrant: Father Al<br />

Scott. Call 562-537-4526.<br />

Tues., Oct. 16<br />

“It’s a Way of Life: A Dance Series.” Holy Spirit Retreat<br />

Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 7-8:30 p.m.<br />

John West, choreographer and director of the Valyermo<br />

Dancers, will lead an eight-class series on Tuesdays<br />

and Thursdays Oct. 16-30 and <strong>No</strong>v. 1-8. Cost:<br />

$140/person for eight classes, paid in advance; $60/<br />

person for four classes, paid in advance; $20/person<br />

for one class. Call 818-815-4496. Register online at<br />

hsrcenter.com/event/registertoevent.<br />

36th Annual Red Mass. Cathedral of Our Lady of the<br />

Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m.<br />

Celebrant: Bishop Marc Trudeau. Invitation for all<br />

clergy to concelebrate. Contact Suzanne Austin at<br />

sla-law@pacbell.net. Plan to arrive by 5:15 p.m. with<br />

your white alb. Vestments will be provided.<br />

Wed., Oct. 17<br />

LACBA Legal Clinic for Veterans: Cleaning Criminal<br />

Records and Clearing Outstanding Tickets and<br />

Warrants. Bob Hope Patriotic Hall, 1816 S. Figueroa<br />

St., Los Angeles, 5:30-8:30 p.m. Includes pro bono<br />

consultations with attorneys. Call 213-896-6537 to<br />

RSVP.<br />

Thurs., Oct. 18<br />

American Life Insurance Financial Seminar. AIG Financial<br />

Network, 800 E. Colorado Blvd., Building <strong>No</strong>.<br />

2, Floor 6, Pasadena, 10:30 a.m.-<strong>12</strong>:30 p.m. Topic:<br />

Supplemental retirement and education fund. Speaker:<br />

James Vuong, agency director. RSVP required. Call<br />

626-991-0451 or email nely.go@aig.com.<br />

Fri., Oct. 19<br />

St. Paschal Baylon Fall Fest. 155 E. Janss Rd., Thousand<br />

Oaks. Friday, 6-11 p.m., Saturday, 3-11 p.m.,<br />

Sunday, <strong>12</strong>-9 p.m. Carnival rides, games, ethnic<br />

foods, beer garden, silent auction, and more. Grand<br />

prize is <strong>2018</strong> Cadillac ATS or $25,000 cash. Visit<br />

www.spbfestival.com or call 806-496-0222.<br />

Holy Angels Annual Fiesta. 370 Campus Dr., Arcadia.<br />

Friday, 6-10 p.m., Saturday, 2-10 p.m., Sunday,<br />

<strong>12</strong>-7 p.m. Enjoy carnival rides, pumpkin patch, live<br />

music, games, delicious food, raffle, bingo, poker<br />

tournament, and live plants sale. Raffle grand prize of<br />

$5,000. Call 626-447-1671. <br />

This Week at <strong>Angelus</strong><strong>News</strong>.com<br />

Visit <strong>Angelus</strong><strong>News</strong>.com for these stories<br />

and more. Your source for complete,<br />

up-to-the-minute coverage of local news,<br />

sports and events in Catholic L.A.<br />

• The latest in news from the <strong>2018</strong> Synod on Youth.<br />

• Mike Nelson’s sports reports for LMU and local Catholic high schools.<br />

• “A Star is Born” promises an Oscar-worthy study of fame.<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 7


SUNDAY<br />

READINGS<br />

BY SCOTT HAHN<br />

Wis. 7:7-11 / Ps. 90:<strong>12</strong>-17 / Heb. 4:<strong>12</strong>-13 / Mk. 10:17-30<br />

Detail from “The Last Judgment,” by Jan van Eyck (1390-1441), Netherlandish.<br />

The rich young man in today’s Gospel<br />

wanted to know what we all want<br />

to know — how to live in this life so<br />

that we might live forever in the world<br />

to come. He sought what today’s<br />

Psalm calls “wisdom of heart.”<br />

He learns that the wisdom he seeks is<br />

not a program of works to be performed,<br />

or behaviors to be avoided. As<br />

Jesus tells him, observing the commandments<br />

is essential to walking the<br />

path of salvation — but it can only get<br />

us so far.<br />

The Wisdom of God is not precepts,<br />

but a person — Jesus Christ. Jesus is<br />

the Wisdom whose Spirit was granted<br />

to Solomon in today’s First Reading.<br />

Jesus is the Word of God spoken of in<br />

today’s Epistle. And Jesus, as he reveals<br />

himself to the rich man today, is God.<br />

In Jesus we encounter Wisdom, the<br />

living and effective Word of God.<br />

As he does with the rich man today,<br />

he looks upon each of us with love.<br />

That look of love, that loving gaze,<br />

is a personal invitation — to give up<br />

everything to follow him.<br />

<strong>No</strong>thing is concealed from his gaze,<br />

as we hear in the Epistle. In his fiery<br />

eyes, the thoughts of our hearts are<br />

exposed, and each of us must render<br />

an account of our lives (see Revelation<br />

1:14).<br />

We must have the attitude of Solomon,<br />

preferring Wisdom to all else,<br />

loving him more than even life itself.<br />

This preference, this love, requires a<br />

leap of faith. We will be persecuted<br />

for this faith, Jesus tells his disciples<br />

today. But we must trust in his promise<br />

— that all good things will come<br />

to us in his company.<br />

What, then, are the “many possessions”<br />

that keep us from giving<br />

ourselves totally to God? What are we<br />

clinging to — material things, comfort<br />

zones, relationships? What will it take<br />

for us to live fully for Christ’s sake and<br />

the sake of the gospel?<br />

Let us pray for the wisdom to enter<br />

into the kingdom of God. With the<br />

Psalmist, let us ask him, “Teach us.” <br />

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART<br />

Scott Hahn is founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, stpaulcenter.com.<br />

8 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


IN EXILE<br />

BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI<br />

The search for an indubitable truth<br />

In the book “<strong>12</strong> Rules for Life — An<br />

Antidote to Chaos,” which is justifiably<br />

making waves in many circles<br />

today, Jordan Peterson shares his own<br />

journey toward truth and meaning.<br />

Here’s that story:<br />

At one point in his life, while still<br />

young and finding his own path, he<br />

reached a stage where he felt agnostic,<br />

not just about the shallow Christianity<br />

he’d been raised on, but also about<br />

most everything else in terms of truth<br />

and trust. What really can we believe<br />

in? What’s ultimately to be trusted?<br />

Too humble to compare himself<br />

to one of the great minds in history,<br />

René Descartes, who, 500 years ago,<br />

struggled with a similar agnosticism,<br />

Peterson nonetheless could not help<br />

but employ Descartes’ approach in<br />

trying to find a truth that you could<br />

not doubt.<br />

So, like Descartes, he set off in<br />

search of an “indubitable” (Descartes’<br />

term), that is, to find a premise that<br />

absolutely cannot be doubted. Descartes,<br />

as we know, found his “indubitable”<br />

in his famous dictum: “I think,<br />

therefore, I am!”<br />

<strong>No</strong>body can be deceived in believing<br />

that since even to be deceived would<br />

be indisputable proof that you exist.<br />

The philosophy that Descartes then<br />

built upon the indubitable premise<br />

is left for history to judge. But history<br />

doesn’t dispute the truth of his dictum.<br />

So Peterson sets out with the same<br />

essential question: What single thing<br />

cannot be doubted? Is there something<br />

so evidently true that nobody<br />

can doubt it? For Peterson, it’s not the<br />

fact that we think which is indisputable,<br />

it’s the fact that we, all of us,<br />

suffer.<br />

That’s his indubitable truth, suffering<br />

is real. That cannot be doubted:<br />

“Nihilists cannot undermine it with<br />

skepticism. Totalitarians cannot<br />

banish it. Cynics cannot escape its<br />

reality.” Suffering is real beyond all<br />

doubt.<br />

Moreover, in Peterson’s understanding,<br />

the worst kind of suffering isn’t<br />

that which is inflicted upon us by the<br />

innate contingencies of our being and<br />

our mortality, nor by the sometimes<br />

blind brutality of nature.<br />

The worst kind of suffering is the<br />

kind that one person inflicts upon<br />

another, the kind that one part of<br />

humankind inflicts upon another part,<br />

the kind we see in the atrocities of the<br />

20th century — Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot,<br />

and countless others responsible for<br />

the torture, rape, suffering, and death<br />

of millions.<br />

From this indubitable premise he<br />

submits something else that cannot<br />

be disputed: This kind of suffering<br />

isn’t just real, it’s also wrong! We can<br />

all agree that this kind of suffering is<br />

not good and that there is something<br />

that is (beyond dispute) not good. And<br />

if there’s something that is not good,<br />

then there’s something that is good.<br />

His logic: “If the worst sin is the<br />

torment of others, merely for the sake<br />

of the suffering produced — then<br />

the good is whatever is diametrically<br />

opposed to that.”<br />

What flows from this is clear: The<br />

good is whatever stops such things<br />

from happening. If this is true, and<br />

it is, then it is also clear as to what is<br />

good, and what is a good way of living.<br />

If the most terrible forms of suffering<br />

are produced by egotism, selfishness,<br />

untruthfulness, arrogance, greed, lust<br />

for power, willful cruelty, and insensitivity<br />

to others, then we are evidently<br />

called to the opposite: selflessness,<br />

altruism, humility, truth-telling, tenderness,<br />

and sacrificing for others.<br />

<strong>No</strong>t incidentally, Peterson affirms all<br />

of this inside a chapter within which<br />

he highlights the importance of sacrifice,<br />

of delaying private gratification<br />

for a greater good long-range.<br />

His insight here parallels those of<br />

René Girard and other anthropologists<br />

who point out that the only way<br />

of stopping unconscious sacrifice to<br />

blind gods (which is what happened<br />

in the atrocities of Hitler and what<br />

happens in our own bitter slandering<br />

of others) is through self-sacrifice.<br />

Only when we accept at the cost of<br />

personal suffering our own contingencies,<br />

sin, and mortality will we<br />

stop projecting these onto others so<br />

to make them suffer in order to feel<br />

better about ourselves.<br />

Peterson writes as an agnostic or perhaps,<br />

more accurately, as an honest<br />

analyst, an observer of humanity, who<br />

for purposes of this book prefers to<br />

keep his faith private. Fair enough.<br />

Probably wise, too. <strong>No</strong> reason to<br />

impute motives.<br />

It’s where he lands that’s important,<br />

and where he lands is on very solid<br />

ground. It’s where Jesus lands in the<br />

Sermon on the Mount; it’s where the<br />

Christian churches land when they’re<br />

at their best; it’s where the great religions<br />

of the world land when they’re<br />

at their best; and it’s where humanity<br />

lands when it’s at its best.<br />

The medieval mystic, Theresa of<br />

Ávila, wrote with great depth and<br />

challenge. Her treatise on the spiritual<br />

life is now a classic and forms part of<br />

the very canon of Christian spiritual<br />

writings.<br />

In the end, she submits that during<br />

our generative years the most important<br />

question we need to challenge<br />

ourselves with is: How can I be more<br />

helpful? Jordan Peterson, with a logic<br />

and language that can be understood<br />

by everyone today, offers the same<br />

challenge. <br />

Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual writer, www.ronrolheiser.com.<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 9


‘SAN ROMERO’<br />

OF LOS ANGELES<br />

After what’s felt like a long wait for some,<br />

local Salvadorans prepare to celebrate the<br />

canonization of one of their own<br />

BY PILAR MARRERO / ANGELUS<br />

As he does every Saturday, Oscar<br />

Vasquez arrived one recent<br />

September evening to St.<br />

Patrick’s Church in <strong>No</strong>rth Hollywood<br />

with his guitar in tow to sing at Mass.<br />

While the rest of the parishioners<br />

trickled in and greeted one another,<br />

someone offered tamales for sale next<br />

to the parking lot. The sound of fastpaced<br />

Spanish language conversation<br />

filled the air.<br />

Vasquez walked slowly toward the<br />

church, limping a bit. He just had<br />

knee-replacement surgery, the only<br />

thing that could possibly keep him<br />

from joining the trip that more than<br />

50 others in the church have been<br />

planning excitedly.<br />

Otherwise, he could have never<br />

imagined not joining them for the<br />

journey of a lifetime: the canonization<br />

of El Salvador’s Archbishop Oscar<br />

Arnulfo Romero by “el Papa Francisco”<br />

in Rome.<br />

It’s a big day that’s fast approaching<br />

after what has seemed like a long wait.<br />

On Oct. 14, <strong>2018</strong>, the martyred<br />

archbishop of San Salvador killed in<br />

1980 by a gunman while celebrating<br />

Mass will become St. Romero (“San<br />

Romero”), more than 37 years after his<br />

assassination.<br />

But today, so many years later,<br />

Vasquez has a very good reason to feel<br />

connected to Romero. As he tells the<br />

story, he gets a little bit emotional,<br />

can’t finish a few sentences, tears up<br />

and pauses.<br />

It all started with a call to a wrong<br />

number back in the late 1970s, when<br />

Vasquez was dialing some clients,<br />

and somehow he got through to the<br />

Archdiocese of San Salvador, and a<br />

“<br />

He fought for<br />

the poor at a<br />

time when no<br />

one could do it,<br />

and he paid<br />

with his life.<br />

”<br />

familiar voice picked up the phone.<br />

“I’m Archbishop Romero.”<br />

The words coming from the other<br />

side of the line shocked Vasquez for a<br />

moment. He didn’t mean to call there,<br />

but somehow it happened.<br />

And this changed everything<br />

for Vasquez and his family, as he<br />

recounted.<br />

“My 3-year-old son had been ill for<br />

a while, in and out of hospitals. The<br />

doctors had found a congenital heart<br />

condition that needed surgery. We took<br />

him home several times, but there was<br />

a doctor strike and then an outbreak<br />

of infection in the hospital, so the<br />

intervention was postponed over and<br />

over again,” Vasquez explained.<br />

When Romero picked up the phone,<br />

the man told him he always listened<br />

to his Sunday homilies on the radio,<br />

a custom of the archbishop, who<br />

broadcast from the cathedral every<br />

week.<br />

“I told him about my son,” Vasquez<br />

recalled. “He immediately said, ‘What’s<br />

your son’s name? Do not worry, put<br />

your son in God’s hands. Have faith. I<br />

will pray for him and he will be OK.’ ”<br />

After that conversation, Vasquez<br />

took his son out of the hospital for the<br />

last time, and soon, as violence got<br />

worse in the country where a civil war<br />

was brewing, decided to move to the<br />

United States with his wife and two<br />

sons.<br />

He took with him all the medical<br />

paperwork they had accumulated and<br />

immediately started visiting specialists<br />

in New York, where they would live<br />

for two decades before moving to Los<br />

Angeles.<br />

“I took him to this doctor, one of the<br />

best cardiologists I could find. She said:<br />

‘Who told you that this child is ill?<br />

Your son is completely healthy. He has<br />

PILAR MARRERO<br />

OSCAR VASQUEZ<br />

Oscar Va<br />

Oscar Va<br />

old, duri<br />

10 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


PILAR MARRERO<br />

Oscar Vasquez with a stole used by Archbishop Romero on display at St. Patrick’s Church in <strong>No</strong>rth Hollywood.<br />

OSCAR VASQUEZ<br />

Oscar Vasquez with his son Marvin, then 3 years<br />

old, during the time of his illness in El Salvador.<br />

OSCAR VASQUEZ<br />

Marvin Vasquez, now 43 years old and healthy, with his son Emilio in a recent photo.<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 11


no problem in his heart.’ ”<br />

For Vasquez, this was a miracle<br />

delivered through the “wrong” number<br />

he dialed, a miracle performed by his<br />

faith and by Romero.<br />

That may be the reason why he’s not<br />

completely despondent about missing<br />

the canonization.<br />

“I went to the beatification in<br />

El Salvador and it was beautiful,<br />

and I think his becoming a saint is<br />

wonderful. He fought for the poor at<br />

a time when no one could do it, and<br />

he paid with his life,” the elderly man<br />

said, “but to me, he was already a<br />

saint.”<br />

‘A dream come true’<br />

A couple of days later, several<br />

dozen parishioners sit in a sweltering<br />

bungalow next to a soccer field in front<br />

of the church. The parish priest, Father<br />

Nicholas Sanchez, stands in front of<br />

the room explaining details of the<br />

trip: “Don’t take a big suitcase, it is a<br />

mistake,” said the priest, smiling. “Just<br />

like in life, we must carry little baggage<br />

if we can.”<br />

The group of mostly Salvadoran<br />

parishioners is showing nervous<br />

excitement. Many raise their hands<br />

repeatedly to ask about this or that<br />

detail.<br />

“Should we wear the same color for<br />

the ceremony?” “Are we going to see<br />

the pope?” “How much money do we<br />

need and do we buy Euros here or<br />

there?”<br />

A woman interrupts the discussion<br />

of practical details to thank the priest,<br />

who a while ago suggested they travel<br />

together to Rome as they did to the<br />

beatification in May of 2015.<br />

“It’s almost a dream that I never dared<br />

to have,” said one woman. “Thank you,<br />

father,” said another.<br />

Sanchez knows Rome pretty well and<br />

is leading his flock to the “origins of<br />

Christianity as it relates to martyrdom”<br />

and to participate in the canonization,<br />

he explained.<br />

Aside from being present in the<br />

ceremony, Sanchez is planning to<br />

celebrate at least three Masses with<br />

his group at different sites of historical<br />

significance. He seemed as excited as<br />

they are.<br />

A tall, lean man, Ricardo Castillo, is<br />

one of the participants who will travel<br />

with his wife to Rome. He hopes that<br />

the first Salvadoran saint in history will<br />

make a difference for his birth country.<br />

“I came here in ’86 during the war,”<br />

he recalled. “I never met Romero but I<br />

was on my way to the cathedral for his<br />

funeral when all hell broke loose, there<br />

was a lot of violence that day. I didn’t<br />

think we were going to make it.”<br />

Some see the killing of Romero as the<br />

Parishioners at St. Patrick’s Church meet with Father Nicholas Sanchez to prepare for their<br />

pilgrimage to Rome.<br />

real start of a bloody war that lasted for<br />

<strong>12</strong> years and killed more than 100,000<br />

people, but Castillo thinks that the<br />

situation in El Salvador is even worse<br />

now.<br />

“There’s so much violence, one<br />

cannot even go out at night,” he said.<br />

“Sometimes we ‘salvadoreños’ talk<br />

about this situation right now as worse<br />

than the war. At least then we were<br />

used to it.”<br />

El Salvador currently competes with<br />

Honduras for the title of “most violent<br />

country” in the Americas, as the two<br />

Central-American nations are deeply<br />

shaken by violent gangs and poverty.<br />

Things, according to Castillo, haven’t<br />

changed that much.<br />

DAVID AMADOR RIVERA<br />

Representatives of LA’s Salvadoran community process into the Cathed<br />

Mass in September.<br />

“Maybe ‘San Romero’ will help,” he<br />

said, with a sad smile.<br />

Los Angeles celebrates<br />

The City of Angels has the largest<br />

Salvadoran community outside of<br />

El Salvador, and many of those who<br />

revere the martyred archbishop and<br />

can’t go to Rome are preparing to mark<br />

the occasion with activities here.<br />

Between <strong>12</strong> to 15 people are traveling<br />

from St. Thomas the Apostle Church<br />

in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles,<br />

according to María Echeverría, a<br />

spokeswoman for the parish. The rest,<br />

she said, will hold a vigil in the church<br />

and watch a live broadcast of the<br />

ceremony at 4 a.m., local time.<br />

The Cathedral of Our Lady of the<br />

Angels, Dolores Mission in East<br />

LA, Blessed Sacrament Church in<br />

Hollywood and several other churches<br />

will hold celebrations, Masses, and<br />

vigils.<br />

Mount Saint Mary’s University<br />

showed a digitally restored version<br />

of the 1989 film “Romero” and held<br />

a panel discussion on the impact of<br />

Romero in today’s world.<br />

Ana Grande, dean of undergraduate<br />

programs at the university who helped<br />

organize the film and panel event,<br />

will also travel to Rome to celebrate<br />

the canonization of Romero, who was<br />

a good friend of her uncle, Father<br />

Rutilio Grande.<br />

It was Grande’s assassination, in<br />

<strong>12</strong> • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


y process into the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels with an image of Blessed Romero at the Celebration of Cultures<br />

1977, which led to Msgr. Romero’s<br />

transformation in reputation as a<br />

traditionally conservative bishop into<br />

a staunch defender of the poor and<br />

the exploited being “disappeared”<br />

and massacred, mostly by the security<br />

forces of the country.<br />

“At that time, Romero had just been<br />

elevated to archbishop and he was<br />

seen as a conservative,” Grande said.<br />

“Rutilio was just the opposite. He<br />

was trying to implement the Second<br />

Vatican Council, started ecclesial base<br />

communities, and said one had to<br />

pray with one’s feet by being with the<br />

people.”<br />

Romero and Grande met in the<br />

seminary years before and became<br />

friends. The killing of Grande<br />

marked the beginning of a campaign<br />

of persecution of the Church in El<br />

Salvador and it shook Romero to the<br />

core.<br />

“Romero said, if he gave his life for<br />

his people, why shouldn’t I? That’s<br />

when he radically changed his<br />

approach,” Grande said. “You couldn’t<br />

have a Romero without a Rutilio<br />

Grande.”<br />

After Father Grande’s death, during<br />

the last two years of Romero’s life<br />

he accused the security forces and<br />

the Salvadoran government of<br />

being the leaders of the repression.<br />

The archdiocese didn’t only pray<br />

for peace, but it worked for justice<br />

by hiring lawyers to document the<br />

disappearances and killings.<br />

‘Microphones of God’<br />

Maria Hilda Gonzalez is used to<br />

microphones. She is a television host<br />

for El Sembrador, a Catholic TV<br />

station. She and her family own several<br />

relics of Blessed Romero, among them<br />

the microphone that was used by the<br />

archbishop to deliver his homilies in<br />

San Salvador.<br />

She and her husband picked the<br />

microphone up from the floor during<br />

the confusion that ensued in the<br />

cathedral during the archbishop’s<br />

funeral in 1980.<br />

She had met Romero a few years<br />

earlier during church activities and at<br />

the funeral of Grande.<br />

“We believed he was a living saint,”<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE PHOTO/OCTAVIO DURAN<br />

VICTOR ALEMÁN<br />

Gonzalez said. “These 37 years<br />

were like a long night. We know not<br />

everyone in our country or community<br />

agree with his canonization, but we<br />

believe that’s due to ignorance, that<br />

people don’t know about him. And for<br />

years we have tried to educate people<br />

about who he was.”<br />

She will travel with several members<br />

of her family to participate in events<br />

surrounding the canonization and is<br />

taking the microphone with her, one<br />

of the relics of Romero that her family<br />

owns.<br />

The other relics include the<br />

manuscript of his last homily, an<br />

autographed photo and a piece of cloth<br />

with his blood from the day he was<br />

killed.<br />

“His message was prophetic and his<br />

canonization means we need to live up<br />

to his example,” said Gonzalez. “He<br />

always said that if one voice is silenced,<br />

we are all called to be the microphones<br />

of God.”<br />

She is glad that Pope Francis helped<br />

push the canonization of the first<br />

Salvadoran saint in history, which was<br />

delayed for many years.<br />

“Justice prevails,” she said. “We will<br />

be there to celebrate that God is just<br />

and that we have more reasons than<br />

ever to show the world who he is.” <br />

Pilar Marrero is a journalist and<br />

author of the book “Killing the<br />

American Dream.” She worked as a<br />

political and immigration writer for<br />

La Opinion and as a consultant for<br />

KCET’s “Immigration 101” series.<br />

San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero poses with women and children in an undated photo.<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 13


PAUL IN<br />

PERSPECTIVE<br />

He followed him from<br />

Milan to Rome more than 50<br />

years ago. <strong>No</strong>w, a retired AP<br />

Vatican correspondent explains<br />

to <strong>Angelus</strong> why he believes<br />

soon-to-be-saint Paul VI was<br />

‘one of the greatest popes’<br />

BY PABLO KAY / ANGELUS<br />

Former AP<br />

correspondent<br />

Edoardo Magri<br />

speaks to <strong>Angelus</strong><br />

editor Pablo Kay at<br />

his home in Rome<br />

in May.<br />

PABLO KAY<br />

14 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


It’s been 40 years since the world lost the pope who<br />

Edoardo Magri used to cover for a living.<br />

The former Associated Press correspondent in Italy<br />

from 1962 to 1980 (he moved to Rome from Milan in<br />

1964, one year after the archbishop of Milan was elected<br />

pope) is 82 years old now. He still speaks nearly impeccable<br />

English, a trait that explains why the wire service<br />

trusted this Italian to deliver the day’s news in English from<br />

Italy for 18 years.<br />

Earlier this year in Rome, Magri, a devout Catholic, sat<br />

down for an exclusive interview with <strong>Angelus</strong> <strong>News</strong> to<br />

talk about Blessed Pope Paul VI, whom Pope Francis will<br />

officially declare a saint<br />

<strong>October</strong> 14 in Rome.<br />

The interview was<br />

done in anticipation<br />

of the 50th anniversary<br />

of the publication of<br />

the papal encyclical<br />

“Humanae Vitae” (“Of<br />

Human Life”).<br />

But Magri noted<br />

during our lengthy<br />

conversation at his<br />

home in Rome that the<br />

divided reaction to the<br />

encyclical was only one<br />

of the many sufferings<br />

that afflicted the pope<br />

— sufferings which, one<br />

might say, made a saint<br />

out of him.<br />

Pablo Kay: Blessed<br />

Pope Paul VI is going<br />

to be canonized a saint<br />

this year. Based on your<br />

time spent covering<br />

him, do you think he<br />

was a saint?<br />

Edoardo Magri: I do. I<br />

knew from the beginning,<br />

it was incredible.<br />

His faith, his courage.<br />

Pope Paul VI in an undated photo.<br />

Many, many people<br />

that I know in Rome have always loved him very much and<br />

always thought he was really one of the greatest popes the<br />

Church has ever had. The courage he put on to bring to an<br />

end the [Second Vatican] Council and then to put it into<br />

practice: It was incredible, the courage it took.<br />

Kay: Can you describe what the situation was like before<br />

and after “Humanae Vitae” came out?<br />

Magri: Before “Humanae Vitae” came out, the opinion<br />

of a commission of theologians was released, which was<br />

basically in favor of the Pill.<br />

When “Humanae Vitae” came out and there was the<br />

press conference to discuss the text, of course all the press<br />

just jumped on the paragraph that said you couldn’t use<br />

the Pill or any other device in intercourse.<br />

I was friends with a theologian, who at the time taught<br />

and served as rector of the Lateran Seminary in Rome.<br />

He suggested, “Ask whether the teachings are based on<br />

Scripture.”<br />

So I asked that question. And I remember very well that<br />

Archbishop Lambruschini, who was the archbishop of Perugia<br />

around that time, answered that a number of theologians<br />

told the pope that he could have based his teachings<br />

on the Scripture, and that he had responded, “<strong>No</strong>, I’m not<br />

going to do that.”<br />

And of course that was a part of the press conference that<br />

everyone stressed.<br />

And then I remember<br />

very well that a lot of<br />

episcopal conferences<br />

around the world<br />

issued documents and<br />

statements more or less<br />

emphasizing the papal<br />

teachings, especially on<br />

this section, and probably<br />

not putting enough<br />

importance on the rest<br />

of the text, which is also<br />

very important to understanding<br />

his teachings.<br />

Kay: Why do you think<br />

he chose not to base it<br />

on Scripture?<br />

Magri: I haven’t the<br />

faintest idea. He never<br />

said why he didn’t. I’m<br />

not going to try to guess<br />

(laughs). Lambruschini<br />

said that some theologians<br />

thought it would be<br />

possible. So from what<br />

I understood, the pope<br />

said, “<strong>No</strong>, I’m not trying<br />

to do that.”<br />

Kay: Looking back<br />

at the 50 years since<br />

“Humanae Vitae,” do you think that history has vindicated<br />

Pope Paul VI?<br />

Magri: I think that those who have accepted this papal<br />

teaching believe that it was inspired by the Holy Spirit,<br />

and it has proven that you can be a happy family living that<br />

teaching. That is from my experience … because I know<br />

many such people, including my own family!<br />

Kay: You were the only journalist allowed inside the papal<br />

apartment in the Vatican where doctors operated on Paul<br />

VI for an enlarged prostate in 1967. It was the first time a<br />

pope had ever been operated on. How did that happen?<br />

Magri: It was a pool report [where one journalist is chosen<br />

to gather information on behalf of other outlets], and I<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE /VATICAN MEDIA<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 15


NEWSPAPERS.COM<br />

was told [by the Holy See Press Office]: ‘We have chosen<br />

you, Edoardo Magri.”<br />

One reason was that I was with a big international news<br />

agency. Another reason, as far as I understood, was that<br />

I was an Italian working with the foreign press, so I was<br />

kind of in the “middle of the road.” But yes, I was the only<br />

newsman in there.<br />

Kay: Would you say that Paul VI suffered a lot?<br />

Magri: Oh, yes.<br />

The reactions [to “Humanae<br />

Vitae”] by some episcopal conferences<br />

caused him a lot of suffering.<br />

But he publicly accepted the<br />

criticism, he did not reject it. In<br />

that sense he was not weak, but he<br />

suffered, of course.<br />

Kay: According to you, what<br />

were some of the reasons, besides<br />

the reaction to “Humanae Vitae”?<br />

Magri: A lot of the problems<br />

came from the ecumenical council<br />

and the reactions against it.<br />

There was also the problems<br />

with Archbishop [Marcel] Lefebvre.<br />

He was very sensible, Paul VI.<br />

I remember that many believed<br />

that he was kind of indifferent or<br />

aloof or something like that.<br />

One story that I remember.<br />

There were five children from a<br />

family in Sicily who, because of<br />

infection or something like that,<br />

had become blind. There was a<br />

surgeon who was also a member<br />

of Parliament at the time who operated<br />

on them free of charge so<br />

that they could regain their sight.<br />

They came to Rome to meet<br />

with the pope with a priest who<br />

had been helping them. They<br />

ranged from 3 or 4 years old to <strong>12</strong>,<br />

if I remember correctly.<br />

It was a big family. I remember<br />

that they met the pope and I<br />

interviewed them afterwards. They told me that they loved<br />

the pope. They felt that he was very close to them and that<br />

he had a fatherly affection for them. They also said that as<br />

soon as the meeting started, they immediately felt free to<br />

talk to him freely.<br />

When they told me, I was very much impressed. And other<br />

people who were very close to the pope would tell me<br />

that his real nature was completely different than what appeared<br />

from the outside if you didn’t know him. Children<br />

are very sincere, and when I saw them after this meeting,<br />

from the youngest to the oldest — they were so happy to<br />

have been with him.<br />

An AP article by Magri that appeared in Pasadena’s Independent<br />

Star-<strong>News</strong> in 1965. The “five blind brothers” were<br />

the same ones that Magri interviewed after their audience<br />

with Pope Paul VI in 1964.<br />

Kay: Fifty years ago, was it ever possible for a journalist<br />

such as yourself to interview the pope, like some do today?<br />

Magri: <strong>No</strong>, not like today. I asked for an interview for the<br />

AP and they [the Holy See Press Office] said that I couldn’t<br />

meet the pope to interview him, but I could send written<br />

questions and he would have given me written answers.<br />

So I discussed what to do with some colleagues and they<br />

gave me a long list of questions, asking things like how he<br />

spent his days, what he liked, what he disliked. I gave this<br />

list to the press office.<br />

After, I think, two or three<br />

months, I got the replies. The<br />

only problem with that was the<br />

Press Office said it was not fair for<br />

the pope to give these replies to<br />

one journalist alone. So they gave<br />

them to everybody. So it was no<br />

longer a real interview! Of course<br />

it wasn’t as personal as a real<br />

interview.<br />

Kay: But was it the first time he<br />

answered questions?<br />

Magri: That was the first time a<br />

pope had ever answered a list of<br />

questions from a journalist.<br />

Kay: What’s something memorable<br />

about Paul VI that’s stuck with<br />

you?<br />

Magri: One big problem with<br />

Paul VI was his syntax. It was almost<br />

impossible to translate what<br />

he said, like his audiences and his<br />

speeches, into English. English is<br />

a very “neat” language, where you<br />

can’t have a very lengthy sentence.<br />

I remember the AP, they<br />

told me, “This is your job!” To try<br />

to translate every speech and do a<br />

story with his quotes.<br />

Recently I was listening to<br />

Vatican Radio and they aired one<br />

of his many speeches again. And<br />

when I heard it again, his Italian<br />

and his syntax, it came to my<br />

mind immediately. “Oh, I remember what a problem it<br />

was!” (laughs).<br />

Kay: So the sentences were very long?<br />

Magri: Very long and complex. If you just follow his syntax<br />

as a reader, it was almost impossible to follow what he<br />

was saying, it was a problem. He was intelligent, no doubt,<br />

so maybe that was his problem (laughs).<br />

In that sense, he’s the opposite of Pope Francis. His<br />

speech is so simple, so clear, everybody can understand it<br />

immediately. <br />

Editor’s note: This interview was edited for brevity.<br />

16 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


ANSWERS<br />

TO THE<br />

CALL<br />

They may not get all the spotlight<br />

this month, but the lives of the<br />

Catholic Church’s five ‘other’ new<br />

saints shouldn’t be overlooked<br />

BY ELISE HARRIS / ANGELUS<br />

ROME — On <strong>October</strong> 14, Pope Francis will canonize<br />

seven new saints at the midway point of this<br />

month’s Synod on Young People, the Faith, and<br />

Vocational Discernment, highlighting them as key<br />

examples of how to live the theme of the gathering, which<br />

is responding to God’s call in every state of life.<br />

Most of the attention leading up to the ceremony has<br />

been directed toward the two towering figures being elevated:<br />

Archbishop Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI.<br />

But a look at the lives of the other five “blesseds” being<br />

canonized at the Mass shows some sterling examples of<br />

responding to God’s call at every state in life.<br />

A saint for youth<br />

Of the five saints being canonized this month, four are either<br />

priests or religious, three of them founders of religious<br />

orders.<br />

Nunzio Sulprizio, an Italian teen who died at the age of<br />

19 after living a difficult life as an orphan, achieved what<br />

has been judged a heroic level of virtue in his suffering.<br />

Born in Pescara, Italy, in 1817, Sulprizio’s life was marked<br />

by a series of tragic losses, beginning with the death of his<br />

father when he was just 3 years old. A few months later,<br />

Sulprizio’s little sister also died.<br />

His mother remarried in 1822 to provide financial support<br />

for the family, but Sulprizio did not get along with his stepfather,<br />

and was often treated harshly. His mother died just<br />

a year after her second marriage, and Sulprizio was then<br />

sent to live with his maternal grandmother who, though<br />

illiterate, was firm in her faith.<br />

Under his grandmother’s care, Sulprizio attended a school<br />

for poor children that was run by a local priest. But when<br />

his grandmother’s death essentially left him an orphan at<br />

the age of 9, he was taken out of school and sent to work as<br />

an apprentice at his uncle’s blacksmith shop.<br />

However, Sulprizio’s uncle was harsh and treated his<br />

nephew like a slave, refusing to feed him if he thought<br />

Sulprizio had misbehaved, or beating him if he did not<br />

perform strenuous errands as his uncle saw fit.<br />

Eventually, the strain of the work became too much, and<br />

Sulprizio was hospitalized with gangrene, spending months<br />

of suffering offering his pain to God.<br />

When he recovered enough to get on his feet, Sulprizio<br />

dedicated himself to helping other patients. At one point<br />

he met a priest, the now-St. Gaetano Errico, who promised<br />

to allow him to enter a religious order when the time was<br />

right, so he deepened his spiritual life and began to receive<br />

the sacraments more often.<br />

In 1835 doctors amputated Sulprizio’s leg, as his condition<br />

had continued to grow worse. After ordering that a<br />

crucifix be brought to his room so he could look at it as he<br />

lay in bed, Sulprizio died from bone cancer in 1836 at the<br />

age of 19.<br />

He was beatified by Paul VI, who said Sulprizio is someone<br />

who shows young people that “the period of youth<br />

should not be considered the age of free passions, of inevitable<br />

falls, of invincible crises, of decadent pessimism, of<br />

harmful selfishness. Rather, he will … tell you how being<br />

young is a grace.”<br />

Responding to God’s call<br />

Yet while Sulprizio is someone young people can look<br />

up to, the four other people being raised at the altar on<br />

Sunday are among examples of living the call to holiness in<br />

18 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


From left to right: Blesseds Vincenzo Romano, Caterina Kasper, Nunzio Sulprizio, Nazaria Ignacia March Mesa, and Francesco Spinelli.<br />

a religious or priestly vocation.<br />

Born in Milan in 1853, Blessed Francesco Spinelli suffered<br />

from severe spinal problems as a child, but he made<br />

a full recovery at the age of 18. In his youth, he and his<br />

mother would make frequent visits to the poor and the sick.<br />

Ordained a priest in 1875, he traveled a few months later<br />

to Rome for the Jubilee Year called for by Pope Pius IX.<br />

While he was there, he prayed in front of what are believed<br />

to be relics of the crib of the infant Jesus, and during his<br />

prayer, he was inspired to establish a new religious congregation<br />

for women dedicated to praying in eucharistic<br />

adoration.<br />

In 1882 he co-founded the Sacramentine Sisters in<br />

Bergamo, however, the first convent established failed, in<br />

part due to financial troubles, leaving Spinelli penniless.<br />

He then left the city and made his way to Rivolta d’Adda,<br />

where he eventually established the Sisters Adorers of the<br />

Blessed Sacrament order in 1892. He died in 1913 and was<br />

beatified by St. Pope John Paul II in 1992.<br />

Blessed Vincenzo Romano, from Torre del Greco, Italy,<br />

was born into a life of poverty in 1751, but developed a<br />

strong devotion to the Eucharist as a child.<br />

He first felt the call to religious life at the age of 14, and<br />

his parents, though wanting him to be a goldsmith, saw<br />

his draw to the spiritual life, and allowed him to enter the<br />

seminary.<br />

He was ordained a priest in 1775 in Naples, and became<br />

known for his simple, yet austere life, as well as his charitable<br />

work with orphans and seminarians. Romano placed a<br />

strong emphasis on education throughout his ministry, but<br />

his health began to decline after falling and breaking his<br />

femur in 1825.<br />

Culminating in a long illness, the priest died in 1831, and<br />

was also beatified in 1963 by Blessed Pope Paul VI.<br />

Blessed Maria Caterina Kasper, who hails from Germany,<br />

was born in Dernbach in 1820. During her youth, Kasper<br />

and her friends would often walk to a Marian shrine near<br />

their village, establishing the foundation of an early devotion<br />

to God and Mary.<br />

When she was 21, Kasper’s father died and, according to<br />

the law at the time, the property had been given to his first<br />

wife, meaning that Kasper and her mother were forced to<br />

leave their home and rented a home with another family,<br />

where Kasper worked as a farmhand.<br />

She gained a reputation for helping others, and, after her<br />

mother passed away, joined four other women in founding<br />

the Institute of the Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ. She<br />

died in 1898, and like many of the others who will be canonized<br />

this week, she was beatified by Pope Paul in 1978.<br />

Blessed Nazaria Ignacia of St. Teresa of Jesus was born<br />

in Madrid in 1889. She first felt the call to give her life to<br />

God at the age of 9, however, her parents initially resisted<br />

her interest in religious life, but relaxed their position.<br />

Eventually, the family was forced to move to Mexico due<br />

to financial difficulties, and it was there that she finally<br />

joined the Little Sisters of the Abandoned Elderly in 1908.<br />

She was soon sent to Bolivia, where she tended to the<br />

elderly and sick for nearly <strong>12</strong> years.<br />

Ignacia later felt the call to establish a new religious order,<br />

and 1925 founded the congregation of the Missionary<br />

Sisters of the Papal Crusade. She died in 1943 and was<br />

beatified by John Paul II in 1992. <br />

Elise Harris is the senior correspondent for Crux in Rome.<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 19


Msgr. Royale Vadakin (above), and with St. Anastasia School students in an undated photo.<br />

‘A churchman in the best sense’<br />

Friends remember Msgr. Royale Vadakin’s life<br />

as an LA pastor, pioneer, and peacemaker<br />

BY MIKE NELSON / ANGELUS<br />

On a bright Sunday morning<br />

in the late spring of 1964,<br />

Hermine Lees, her husband<br />

Walter and their four<br />

young children were just stepping out<br />

of All Souls Church in Alhambra after<br />

Mass when they saw a young man<br />

bounding out of the rectory, hurrying<br />

toward them, wearing clerics, dark<br />

horn-rimmed glasses and a huge<br />

smile.<br />

It was Father Royale Vadakin, All<br />

Souls’ new (and newly ordained) associate<br />

pastor, all of 26 years old, and<br />

anxious to meet — well, everyone.<br />

“And we were the first people he<br />

met,” recalled Hermine with a smile.<br />

“It was the beginning of a close and<br />

wonderful friendship.”<br />

Such was the case with many, if not<br />

most, of the people fortunate to make<br />

the acquaintance of Msgr. Royale M.<br />

Vadakin, who died September 17 at<br />

age 80 from pancreatic cancer.<br />

Though he served as vicar general of<br />

the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and<br />

pastor of several parishes, and was a<br />

pioneer in the local ecumenical and<br />

interfaith movement in his 54 years of<br />

priesthood, he was equally known for<br />

creating a warm and extensive series<br />

of relationships — in the parish, at the<br />

archdiocesan Catholic Center, and<br />

on any number of civic and religious<br />

boards and commissions.<br />

“And that’s what made him so good<br />

at any level — relationships mattered<br />

to him,” said Msgr. Gregory Cox, executive<br />

director of Catholic Charities<br />

of Los Angeles, who lived with Vadakin<br />

for 28 years at St. Anastasia Church<br />

in Westchester. “He liked to get out<br />

of his office to meet and deal with<br />

people personally, and that meant so<br />

much to them because it meant so<br />

much to him.<br />

“He could talk to and relate to<br />

anyone. He’d talk to second-graders<br />

in the morning and explain a homily,<br />

and speak at a civic commission that<br />

evening about matters far more complicated,<br />

and feel totally comfortable<br />

in both settings.”<br />

That was clear to those he studied<br />

ST. ANASTASIA SCHOOL<br />

20 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


with at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo,<br />

from where Vadakin was<br />

ordained to the priesthood in 1964.<br />

“Everyone knew and loved Royale,”<br />

said Cardinal Roger Mahony, a<br />

member of the 1962 class. “His great<br />

sense of purpose, his sense of humor,<br />

and his incredible organization skills<br />

endeared all of us to him.”<br />

Lees recalled how Father Vadakin<br />

recruited her and others at All Souls<br />

to form a Christian Family Movement<br />

in the parish. After the 1965 Watts<br />

Riots, the young priest — determined<br />

to find solutions to the disharmony<br />

and turmoil that gripped the city —<br />

invited Lees to work with him, Rabbi<br />

Alfred Wolf of the Wilshire Boulevard<br />

Temple, and others in developing<br />

what became the Catholic-Jewish<br />

Women’s Dialogue, now in its fifth<br />

decade.<br />

“That was right after ‘<strong>No</strong>stra Aetate’<br />

[the 1964 Second Vatican Council<br />

document on Catholic-Jewish relations],”<br />

said Lees, who later worked<br />

28 years at The Tidings (after Vadakin<br />

encouraged her to apply for a staff<br />

writer opening).<br />

“He spearheaded [a] whole ecumenical<br />

and interreligious process, reaching<br />

out to Muslims, to Buddhists, to<br />

everyone. He realized that instead<br />

of criticizing or not understanding<br />

people of other faiths, we needed to<br />

talk with them, to help us accept and<br />

understand why they believed as they<br />

believed.”<br />

“Msgr. Vadakin was a trailblazer in<br />

interfaith relations and particularly<br />

in Catholic-Jewish relations in Los<br />

Angeles,” said Doris Haims, Jewish cochair<br />

of the Catholic-Jewish Women’s<br />

Conference and an American Jewish<br />

Committee Los Angeles board member.<br />

“He leaves behind a rich legacy<br />

that will benefit our communities for<br />

years to come.”<br />

The ‘gift of tact’<br />

Vadakin’s “gift of tact,” as Lees called<br />

it, was not lost on those who came<br />

after him, regardless of the setting.<br />

“Very often, in Church leadership,<br />

you’re trying to put out fires,” noted<br />

Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Joseph<br />

V. Brennan, who in 20<strong>12</strong> succeeded<br />

Vadakin as vicar general and moderator<br />

of the curia.<br />

“You try to get people to talk with<br />

each other, especially now in a society<br />

and a Church where talking and<br />

listening is sorely needed. And there<br />

was no one better at doing that than<br />

Royale.”<br />

Chuckling, Bishop Brennan continued,<br />

“With no disrespect meant to<br />

our Lord, I often catch myself saying,<br />

‘What would Royale do in this situation?’<br />

I can still remember coming to<br />

[the former Cathedral of] St. Vibiana<br />

in 1987 as a young associate when<br />

Royale was pastor, and the three years<br />

serving with him there was the best<br />

thing that happened in my life. He<br />

was a wonderful teacher and mentor,<br />

a priest who loved to serve people.”<br />

“He was a true servant-leader, and I<br />

would underline both terms,” added<br />

Cox. “He made everyone feel not<br />

just included but important. And he<br />

had great faith, a strong foundation<br />

and work ethic, for which he’d always<br />

credit his mom and dad for providing.<br />

His parents were part of the St. Anastasia<br />

community, too, and to know<br />

them was to better know their son.”<br />

He was, his friends added, a priest<br />

who had a special compassion for<br />

those in distress. When Vadakin came<br />

to the chancery as vicar general in<br />

2003, the archdiocese was in the<br />

throes of dealing with the scandal<br />

involving clergy abuse of minors.<br />

“Without him,” said Cardinal Mahony,<br />

“we would never have charted a<br />

course which emphasized the plight<br />

of the victims, and the need to guarantee<br />

the protection of all children and<br />

young people in our care.”<br />

‘Taking time to be a friend’<br />

Yet even in the midst of such a monumental<br />

task, Vadakin never lost sight<br />

of personal relationships. He regularly<br />

visited his aging parents<br />

in the years prior to their<br />

deaths, “regardless of what<br />

other crises were going on,”<br />

said Lees. “He knew how<br />

much they looked forward<br />

to seeing him, and nothing<br />

was going to interfere with<br />

that.”<br />

“He had the weight of the<br />

world on shoulders, but he<br />

always took the time to be<br />

a dear friend,” added David<br />

Herbst, a St. Anastasia<br />

Church parishioner who<br />

served with Vadakin on the<br />

William H. Hannon Foundation<br />

board of directors.<br />

“When my father died, I<br />

would often get a call early<br />

in the morning from Monsignor,<br />

checking up on me,<br />

asking how I was doing.”<br />

VICTOR ALEMÁN<br />

Archbishop José H. Gomez sprinkles holy water on the casket carrying Msgr. Vadakin’s<br />

body at his funeral Mass at St. Anastasia Church in Westchester September 29.<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 21


COURTESY CARDINAL’S AWARDS DINNER VIA FACEBOOK<br />

Left to right: Then-Msgr. Joseph Brennan, Archbishop Gomez, Msgr. Vadakin and Chancellor Sister<br />

Mary Elizabeth Galt at a retirement party for the outgoing vicar general in 20<strong>12</strong>.<br />

And when his <strong>12</strong>-year-old daughter<br />

Margaret Mary faced long and<br />

difficult spinal fusion surgery, Vadakin<br />

gathered the Herbst family together<br />

for a pre-surgery anointing.<br />

“He involved us all, and did it with<br />

such thoughtful kindness that we<br />

weren’t scared anymore,” said Herbst.<br />

“Afterward the doctor told us, ‘These<br />

surgeries don’t always go as they’re<br />

supposed to, but everything on this<br />

one went 100 percent right.’ I called<br />

Monsignor and said, ‘You haven’t lost<br />

your touch.’ ”<br />

Herbst and others also appreciated<br />

their friend’s sense of humor. “The<br />

first time I saw Monsignor was in<br />

1990, when he and Rabbi Wolf were<br />

receiving honorary doctorates from<br />

Loyola Marymount, where I was a<br />

student,” Herbst smiled. “Right as they<br />

were receiving the honors, the skies<br />

opened up, and Monsignor smiled<br />

and said, ‘It’s amazing what can happen<br />

when Catholics and Jews work<br />

together.’ ”<br />

He also remembered, at foundation<br />

meetings, dessert being passed around<br />

and Vadakin grabbing his arm and<br />

saying, with a smile, “David, remember<br />

Natalie and the kids. Do you<br />

really need all that?”<br />

Lees recalled covering the 1987 visit<br />

of Pope John Paul II to Los Angeles,<br />

particularly the ecumenical-interfaith<br />

event hosted and organized by Vadakin.<br />

“I pull up to the parking lot,” she<br />

said, chuckling, “and, there’s Royale,<br />

out in front, directing traffic. He wanted<br />

everything to go right, and it did.”<br />

Reaping the fruits<br />

1987 was the year Father Alexei<br />

Smith arrived in Los Angeles as pastor<br />

of St. Andrew Russian Greek Catholic<br />

Church in El Segundo. Soon, he was<br />

serving on the local Catholic-Orthodox<br />

Dialogue panel, after being invited<br />

by Vadakin (who helped launch<br />

the dialogue).<br />

“And he’d never admit it,” Smith<br />

said, “but I believe he put my name<br />

forward to become the archdiocesan<br />

Ecumenical and Interfaith officer in<br />

2000, and I’ve been in that role ever<br />

since. But Royale was the one who<br />

enfleshed the Second Vatican Council’s<br />

call to ecumenism and interfaith<br />

relationships, who really planted the<br />

seeds, and today those of us who work<br />

in that area are reaping fruits of his<br />

labors.”<br />

That includes Mike Kerze, who in<br />

the early 1980s was a visiting professor<br />

in the LMU Theology Department,<br />

specializing in world religions, when<br />

he was invited to participate in the<br />

Southern California Colloquium on<br />

Science and Religion with Vadakin<br />

and Wolf.<br />

Soon the group had formed Project<br />

Discovery, the Catholic-Jewish Educational<br />

Enrichment Program, which<br />

sent a rabbi to teach about Judaism<br />

in Catholic high schools, and Kerze<br />

became the Catholic teaching about<br />

Christianity for more than a decade<br />

at a Jewish high school, now Milken<br />

Community High School near the<br />

Skirball Center.<br />

“The pilot program, managed by the<br />

American Jewish Committee, became<br />

nationwide and continues to this day,”<br />

said Kerze. “This too is part of Msgr.<br />

Vadakin’s continuing legacy.”<br />

In 1989, Kerze — at Vadakin’s invitation<br />

— joined the initial Los Angeles<br />

Buddhist-Catholic Dialogue, which<br />

has since become a model program<br />

for other dialogues nationwide. “I am<br />

still a member of the Dialogue and<br />

count it as one of the greatest blessings<br />

in my life,” said Kerze.<br />

‘Be open to change’<br />

Vadakin’s work in developing and<br />

maintaining relationships, Brennan<br />

said, was rooted in his ability to not<br />

simply accept but embrace change.<br />

“Royale used to tell me, ‘Joe, be<br />

open to a future that is different from<br />

what we’ve seen and known. Be open<br />

to change and transformation that is<br />

rooted in God. And listen to what the<br />

people have to say.’<br />

“So much of what is wrong with the<br />

world, and even in our Church, is because<br />

people, including the hierarchy,<br />

won’t listen to one another. Royale<br />

was all about bringing people together,<br />

and that’s why he will be missed, as<br />

a beautiful, wonderful churchman in<br />

the best sense.”<br />

And his friends — though sad, now<br />

that Vadakin is gone from this world<br />

— are grateful for his loving service to<br />

the Church, and their connection to<br />

him. <br />

Mike Nelson is the former editor of<br />

The Tidings (predecessor of <strong>Angelus</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong>).<br />

22 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


China’s new door<br />

Why the Holy See hopes a new agreement will be worth the sacrifices<br />

BY PETER JESSERER SMITH / ANGELUS<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY/DANIEL IBANEZ<br />

At the opening Mass of the<br />

Synod on Young People,<br />

the Faith, and Vocational<br />

Discernment in Rome,<br />

Pope Francis wept before his brother<br />

bishops.<br />

“Today, for the first time, we have<br />

also with us two bishops from Mainland<br />

China,” the Holy Father stated<br />

with tears in his eyes, his voice breaking<br />

for a moment before continuing.<br />

“We offer them our warm welcome:<br />

The communion of the entire episcopate<br />

with the successor of Peter is yet<br />

more visible thanks to their presence.”<br />

Their presence with government<br />

approval at the worldwide gathering of<br />

bishops was both a sign of the Church<br />

in China’s restored communion with<br />

the Bishop of Rome, and an affirmation<br />

from China’s government of the<br />

historic provisional agreement on the<br />

selection of bishops signed in Beijing<br />

on September 22.<br />

For more than 60 years, the Catholic<br />

faithful and their bishops in China<br />

have been painfully divided into two<br />

communities: one registered and<br />

official, the other unregistered and<br />

“underground.” The split stems from<br />

1957, when nationalist forces within<br />

the Chinese Church demanded<br />

Catholics abandon their loyalty to the<br />

pope.<br />

Building on decades of diplomacy<br />

begun during the papacy of St. Pope<br />

John Paul II, the Holy See has signed<br />

a provisional agreement with Beijing<br />

to normalize the selection of bishops<br />

and to restore seven previously excommunicated<br />

government-approved<br />

bishops to full communion.<br />

Rachel Zhu Xiaohong, a scholar of<br />

religious studies at the Fudan University<br />

in Shanghai, told <strong>Angelus</strong> <strong>News</strong><br />

the provisional agreement — a text<br />

that remains under wraps — is “an<br />

achievement” that will help unite<br />

China’s <strong>12</strong> million Catholics, the majority<br />

of whom belong to the official<br />

Church.<br />

“The whole Church will be in full<br />

communion,” she said. The pope’s<br />

creation of a new diocese outside<br />

Beijing, and government authorization<br />

for two bishops to attend the<br />

conference on behalf of the Chinese<br />

Church, showed that even with the<br />

agreement’s provisional nature, rapid<br />

progress was being made.<br />

While China’s nearly 100 Catholic<br />

bishops now are in full communion<br />

with Rome, more work remains for<br />

both the Vatican and the government.<br />

A patchwork of diocesan boundaries<br />

have to be reconciled, long vacant<br />

sees must be filled, and approximately<br />

30 underground bishops have to be<br />

accepted by the government.<br />

In his letter to China’s Catholics,<br />

the Holy Father said the agreement<br />

between the Holy See and the<br />

24 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired archbishop of Hong Kong, attends an early February news<br />

conference in Hong Kong.<br />

Bishop Yang Xiaoting and Bishop And Guo<br />

Jincai from China attended the opening<br />

day of the 15th Ordinary General Assembly<br />

of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican<br />

Synod Hall on Oct. 3.<br />

government is aimed at “providing<br />

the Catholic community with good<br />

shepherds,” not simply religious functionaries.<br />

The pontiff also acknowledged the<br />

painful sacrifices borne by Catholics<br />

who remained loyal to Rome, but said<br />

he hoped the agreement would lead<br />

to a process of much-needed reconciliation.<br />

If the process ends up resembling<br />

anything like the current process for<br />

bishop selections in Shanghai, the<br />

Vatican may have a say at possibly two<br />

points in the selection process of a<br />

bishop, according to Zhu.<br />

In such a scenario, the local Church<br />

has an election with representatives of<br />

the clergy, the religious, and eligible<br />

lay people. (One of the ad hoc<br />

practices for dioceses seeking papal<br />

approval, prior to the agreement, has<br />

been to submit the names of nominees<br />

to the Vatican in case there is any<br />

objection.)<br />

Once the nominee is elected, the<br />

name is then submitted to the local<br />

party bureau.<br />

If it passes the muster of the local<br />

government, the nominee is then sent<br />

to the Chinese Catholic bishops’ conference,<br />

which is subordinate to the<br />

Catholic Patriotic Association. Once<br />

they approve the candidate, he is then<br />

given a final check by the government<br />

and cleared for ordination.<br />

At this point, the pope could have<br />

final veto power, and either allow<br />

him to proceed to ordination or veto<br />

the candidate and restart the process,<br />

said Zhu, who stressed that the actual<br />

details of the process aren’t known for<br />

certain.<br />

“This is only the beginning, not the<br />

end of the dialogue,” she said. “They<br />

have a long way to go.”<br />

But the agreement also has its<br />

skeptics, particularly from human<br />

rights advocates that note China’s<br />

government is brutally cracking down<br />

on minority religious groups, including<br />

unregistered Christian churches<br />

and the Uighur Muslims in western<br />

China.<br />

Religious Freedom Institute<br />

President Thomas Farr testified<br />

September 27 before a U.S.<br />

House of Representatives committee<br />

on religious liberty in China that<br />

Chinese President Xi Jinping has<br />

orchestrated “the most comprehensive<br />

attempt to manipulate and control<br />

religious communities” since China’s<br />

Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.<br />

Part of the Chinese Communist<br />

Party’s program involves changing<br />

“the fundamental nature of certain<br />

religions,” he said, including Catholicism<br />

in China.<br />

In his testimony, Farr discussed<br />

the agreement reached between the<br />

Vatican and China regarding the appointment<br />

of bishops. Farr said that as<br />

a Catholic and an expert on religious<br />

liberty, he was “skeptical” of the deal.<br />

The Church has previously made<br />

concessions to some states around the<br />

appointment of bishops, but within<br />

the context of a Chinese government<br />

committed to controlling religious<br />

institutions within its borders, the<br />

agreement “seems untimely and dangerous,”<br />

he said.<br />

Farr maintained bishops nominated<br />

by the government will likely be<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/BOBBY YIP, REUTERS<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 25


Altar servers lead a Palm Sunday<br />

procession March 25 in Youtong,<br />

in China’s Hebei province.<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/DAMIR SAGOLJ, REUTERS<br />

valued for their acquiescence to party<br />

ideology rather than their fidelity to<br />

the Catholic Church.<br />

“I sincerely hope that I am wrong. I<br />

hope there are parts of the agreement<br />

that will alleviate these concerns,” he<br />

said.<br />

But he doubts the agreement would<br />

help Catholics or advance religious<br />

freedom. “The Chinese know what<br />

they are doing. The Vatican’s charism,<br />

on the other hand, is not diplomacy,<br />

but witness to the truth about God<br />

and man.”<br />

Therese (real name withheld by<br />

request), a Chinese Catholic<br />

studying in the U.S., told <strong>Angelus</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong> she was mostly happy about<br />

the agreement.<br />

“People need bishops because they<br />

need valid sacraments,” she said,<br />

explaining the decision opens the<br />

channels of God’s grace for the benefit<br />

of all Catholics in China. “The<br />

small underground Church obviously<br />

cannot get everyone in. At the same<br />

time, the ‘above-ground’ Catholics<br />

might lose their faith if they can’t live<br />

a sacramental life.”<br />

Therese however said Catholics will<br />

have to “wait and see” whether the<br />

new relationship is just “superficial.”<br />

She said Beijing still aims to corral<br />

the Church within the state’s patriotic<br />

ideology, while the Vatican wants<br />

oversight of the Church, and neither<br />

seem to trust each other very much.<br />

“I’m curious how exactly Beijing and<br />

Vatican would cooperate when we get<br />

the next bishop,” she said.<br />

Therese said among fellow young<br />

Chinese Catholics, she has heard<br />

“far more applause than critics.” But<br />

critics of the agreement, she said,<br />

come mainly from towns where the<br />

local government and Church are in<br />

conflict, and other places where the<br />

underground Church is active.<br />

“They think the agreement between<br />

Beijing and Vatican won’t change<br />

anything,” she said. Some believe the<br />

government will violate the provisional<br />

agreement, and the Vatican<br />

will once again regularize illegally<br />

consecrated bishops without getting<br />

anything in return.<br />

Among Chinese Catholics who oppose<br />

the agreement is Cardinal Joseph<br />

Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong.<br />

In an interview with Reuters, Zen<br />

called on Vatican Secretary of State<br />

Cardinal Pietro Parolin to resign, and<br />

termed the agreement a “complete<br />

surrender” and betrayal of the Faith.<br />

Therese said that if the government’s<br />

new attitude toward the Church<br />

holds, the underground Church<br />

should reintegrate with the official<br />

Church. She acknowledged this<br />

would be difficult due to memories<br />

of persecution, but China has been<br />

changing, and the Church cannot<br />

accept division as the norm.<br />

26 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


Michel Chambon, an anthropologist<br />

who has studied<br />

Christianity in China on the<br />

ground, told <strong>Angelus</strong> <strong>News</strong> the Vatican<br />

wants this deal because the underground<br />

Church is stagnating, and the<br />

situation undermines the authority of<br />

bishops to govern and teach.<br />

Chambon said the Vatican allowed<br />

underground bishops to consecrate<br />

their own successors without seeking<br />

prior papal approval, and even in<br />

secret, as a result of fierce persecution<br />

during the 1970s. But the Vatican has<br />

lost track of some of these bishops and<br />

their episcopal lineage, and there are<br />

doubts as to whether some alleged<br />

underground bishops in China are<br />

actually valid.<br />

“That doesn’t please the Holy See at<br />

all,” he said. The Holy See also wants<br />

to stop the “underground” Church’s<br />

existence from being used as a means<br />

to escape episcopal oversight.<br />

In some cases, Chambon said,<br />

wealthy entrepreneurs, who do not<br />

like the main official churches in<br />

the area, just build an unregistered<br />

church, say they are “underground,”<br />

and pay for a priest to come in.<br />

Father Zhaojun “Jerome” Bai, SVD,<br />

a native of China who ministers to the<br />

Chinese Catholic community in the<br />

Greater Los Angeles area, told <strong>Angelus</strong><br />

<strong>News</strong> he believed the restored<br />

communion will free up the Church<br />

in China to devote its energies toward<br />

evangelization.<br />

He noted that lay Chinese Catholics<br />

are trying to evangelize, and a united<br />

Church would facilitate a renewal of<br />

theological formation and initiatives.<br />

Bai believes the agreement between<br />

the Vatican and China may give the<br />

government a model of rapprochement<br />

with other religious groups.<br />

In this and other ways, he said, the<br />

Church can help the government<br />

achieve the peaceful coexistence Confucius<br />

envisioned.<br />

“Christianity will help China reach<br />

the dream of a harmonious society.” <br />

Peter Jesserer Smith is a staff writer for<br />

EWTN’s National Catholic Register,<br />

and a frequent contributor to <strong>Angelus</strong>.<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 27


Restarting the Michael cycle<br />

Why the pope’s call to invoke a trusted defender’s<br />

help during time of trouble is nothing new<br />

BY MIKE AQUILINA / ANGELUS<br />

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ<br />

At his September 26 General<br />

Audience, Pope Francis<br />

spoke of the “spiritual<br />

turbulence” the Church<br />

is experiencing right now. Among<br />

the remedies he prescribed was the<br />

traditional Prayer to St. Michael the<br />

Archangel.<br />

Michael’s mission, he noted, is “to<br />

protect the Church from the devil,<br />

who always aims to divide us from<br />

God and among ourselves.”<br />

A large number of U.S. dioceses —<br />

from Portland, Oregon, to Bridgeport,<br />

Connecticut — followed the Holy Father’s<br />

lead and required or requested<br />

that priests recite the prayer with their<br />

congregations at the end of all Masses.<br />

It’s not an innovation; it’s a restoration.<br />

From 1886 until the mid-1960s,<br />

the Prayer to St. Michael was included<br />

among a number of prayers offered<br />

at the end of every Low Mass.<br />

They were called the Leonine<br />

Prayers because they were decreed, at<br />

least in their final form, by Pope Leo<br />

XIII.<br />

He and his predecessor, Blessed Pius<br />

IX, added the prayers in order to call<br />

down heaven’s help for the resolution<br />

of worsening divisions in the Church<br />

and in society — the divisions that<br />

made the pope a “prisoner of the Vatican”<br />

and diminished his peacemaking<br />

influence as Europe hurtled toward a<br />

series of bloody wars.<br />

The Prayer to St. Michael was Leo’s<br />

particular contribution. The story is<br />

commonly told that he composed<br />

the prayer immediately after seeing<br />

a vision of the evils that would be<br />

unloosed in the coming century.<br />

There is no contemporary documentation<br />

or eyewitness reports for<br />

Leo’s vision, and he made no public<br />

mention of it. The story first appeared<br />

in print in the 1930s, long after Leo’s<br />

A statue of St. Michael the Archangel at the Church of St. Michael the Archangel in New York City.<br />

death in 1903, and was almost immediately<br />

disputed by some historians.<br />

But it’s undeniable that Michael, as<br />

the angelic defender of the Church,<br />

became a preoccupation for Leo<br />

during the years the vision allegedly<br />

occurred.<br />

He composed that prayer and mandated<br />

its use at Mass. He promulgated<br />

a rite of exorcism in which Michael<br />

figures prominently. And he published<br />

other mid-sized prayers to the<br />

archangel as well.<br />

In doing so, he drew deeply from<br />

the most ancient sources of biblical<br />

religion.<br />

Michael is mentioned by name in<br />

three books of the Bible. In the Old<br />

Testament Book of Daniel he appears<br />

three times.<br />

He is identified as the heavenly<br />

guardian of God’s Chosen People,<br />

who receive assurance that he will<br />

defend them in the tribulations of the<br />

end times (see Daniel 10:<strong>12</strong>-14, 10:21,<br />

and <strong>12</strong>:1).<br />

In the New Testament, Michael<br />

appears as the leader of God’s forces<br />

in the great cosmic war against Satan:<br />

“<strong>No</strong>w war arose in heaven, Michael<br />

and his angels fighting against the<br />

dragon” (Revelation <strong>12</strong>:7). In the<br />

Letter of Jude (1:9) he makes a cameo<br />

appearance, defending the dead body<br />

of Moses against the devil.<br />

In early rabbinic Judaism, Michael<br />

was invoked as Israel’s great defender.<br />

The ancient rabbis believed that he<br />

had been involved in the history of<br />

the Chosen People since the time of<br />

Abraham’s calling.<br />

The Jewish sect that produced the<br />

Dead Sea Scrolls (around the first<br />

century) expected Michael to appear<br />

28 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


Prayer to St. Michael<br />

As part of his call to pray the rosary<br />

every day during the month<br />

of <strong>October</strong>, Pope Francis has<br />

asked that the recitation conclude<br />

with the prayer written by Pope<br />

Leo XIII:<br />

Saint Michael Archangel, defend<br />

us in battle.<br />

Be our protection against the<br />

wickedness and snares of the devil.<br />

May God rebuke him, we humbly<br />

pray; and do thou, O Prince of<br />

the heavenly host, by the power of<br />

God, cast into hell Satan and all<br />

the evil spirits who prowl through<br />

the world seeking the ruin of souls.<br />

Amen.<br />

as their leader during an impending<br />

world war.<br />

The early Christians eagerly took up<br />

the devotion to Michael and looked<br />

to him as their defender in times of<br />

persecution.<br />

Soon after the Faith was legalized in<br />

A.D. 313, the Emperor Constantine<br />

raised a great church in honor of the<br />

archangel in his capital city.<br />

Devotion appeared in varied forms.<br />

There were many other churches<br />

named for Michael. He appears in<br />

Christian art and texts that have survived<br />

from the early centuries.<br />

In 2005, archaeologists in Sudan<br />

unearthed a unique expression of love<br />

for Michael — a tattoo of his name<br />

preserved on the mummified remains<br />

of a young woman who died in the<br />

seventh or eighth century.<br />

Pope Francis has asked the Church<br />

to pray the prayer, and so Catholics<br />

will simply do what followers of biblical<br />

religion have done in every age<br />

— call to Michael to “defend us … be<br />

our protection.”<br />

It’s good advice, time-tested by millennia.<br />

<br />

Mike Aquilina is a contributing editor<br />

for <strong>Angelus</strong> and the author of many<br />

books, including “Angels of God,” “A<br />

Year with the Angels,” and “Entertaining<br />

Angels.”<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 29


WITH GRACE<br />

BY DR. GRAZIE POZO CHRISTIE<br />

Lupita and two new saints<br />

There’s a young woman in<br />

my parish named Lupita.<br />

She’s Mexican, and about<br />

as pretty and charming a<br />

woman as you would ever hope to see.<br />

She carries a little copy of herself on<br />

her hip, most days — a little toddler<br />

called Mercedita whose hair is always<br />

perfectly slicked into a ponytail and<br />

whose hands are always sticky.<br />

Lupita is certified in a natural family<br />

planning technique called NaPro, and<br />

she teaches it to married couples as<br />

a vocation. She is the perfect ambassador,<br />

because she radiates joy and<br />

confidence in God’s perfect plan.<br />

In this you could say she is very<br />

much in the spirit of Blessed Pope<br />

Paul VI. But also you could say that<br />

she is very much in the spirit of Blessed<br />

Archbishop Oscar Romero, even if<br />

this connection is not so obvious.<br />

NaPro is short for Natural Procreative<br />

Technologies, a scientific<br />

approach to women’s reproductive<br />

health that works with nature, not<br />

against it. Lupita teaches married and<br />

engaged couples how to use NaPro<br />

to space their children, whom they<br />

rightly consider the highest gift of<br />

marriage.<br />

Where the birth control pill does violence<br />

to the rhythmic dance of female<br />

hormones, NaPro uses biomarkers to<br />

monitor the delicate intricacy of the<br />

female cycle so that a man and his<br />

wife can plan their intimacy around<br />

them.<br />

Instead of side effects from the pill<br />

(caused by suppression of natural hormonal<br />

functions) such as depression,<br />

stroke, and cancer, Lupita’s system has<br />

side effects like increasing a man’s re-<br />

GUADALUPE TREVIÑO<br />

30 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Oscar Romero in an undated photo.<br />

spect for his wife’s complex femininity<br />

and enhancing mutual thoughtfulness<br />

and consideration.<br />

Paul understood how only a marriage<br />

in which the husband accepts and<br />

cherishes his wife’s totality, even her<br />

healthy, natural fertility, can truly be<br />

said to mirror divine love. Abstaining<br />

for part of the month can be hard, or<br />

tantalizing, depending on how you<br />

look at it.<br />

Then, when the infertile period<br />

recurs, the couple “use their married<br />

intimacy to express their mutual love<br />

and safeguard their fidelity to one another.<br />

In doing this they certainly give<br />

proof of a true and authentic love.”<br />

That quote is from “Humanae<br />

Vitae,” Paul’s momentous encyclical<br />

that sang an elegy to marriage as<br />

representing the union of Christ and<br />

his Church.<br />

It also explained just how artificial<br />

contraception would cause a “general<br />

lowering of moral standards” by teaching<br />

men to “forget the reverence due<br />

to a woman,” thus reducing women<br />

to an instrument for the satisfaction of<br />

desire.<br />

He also wrote of the terrible temptation<br />

of governments, especially<br />

of those of developing nations, to<br />

address their understandable anxieties<br />

through antenatal programs that trample<br />

on the essential dignity of man.<br />

What a strong temptation, when<br />

material goods are scarce or unevenly<br />

distributed due to selfishness or<br />

corruption, to encourage the poor to<br />

prevent their own joy by preventing<br />

their children — or worse — abort<br />

them.<br />

This brings us to Romero. He was a<br />

man who drank deeply of the suffering<br />

of his brothers and sisters, the<br />

peasants who eke out a bare subsistence<br />

with all their drudgery, and too<br />

often go hungry.<br />

He is the darling of many progressive<br />

liberals, who assume that he would<br />

have supported the legalization of<br />

abortion and the spread of artificial<br />

contraception from Yankee do-gooders<br />

as a liberation from the rigors of<br />

biology.<br />

But they are wrong.<br />

Romero spoke out forcefully against<br />

what Pope Francis would later call<br />

“ideological colonization,” the system<br />

by which affluent countries impose<br />

their decadent values on the vulnerable<br />

poor.<br />

He railed against the “foreign<br />

specialists in the suppression of life”<br />

who came to El Salvador to teach the<br />

people that completely materialistic<br />

conception of family where a child is<br />

not a blessing but only a drain of scant<br />

resources.<br />

He criticized secular societies like<br />

ours in the U.S., where pleasure and<br />

material well-being are the only yardsticks<br />

of fulfillment and cause a deep<br />

and wide hedonism that leads to all<br />

sorts of social injustice.<br />

One of these is government policies<br />

that keep the poor immiserated, but<br />

another is what he called the “entire<br />

terrible campaign of contraceptives,<br />

of abortions … sins against the faith of<br />

Abraham; against the God who, as a<br />

gift, makes men and women fertile in<br />

their core.”<br />

He was a firebrand, Romero, and it<br />

is no wonder he was martyred while<br />

celebrating Mass. Lupita is not a<br />

firebrand, but she lives a bit of martyrdom.<br />

It’s hard, even in Catholic circles,<br />

to be a spokeswoman, no matter how<br />

pretty and charming, for something so<br />

countercultural as living marriage in<br />

joyful cooperation with God’s love. It<br />

leads to children!<br />

And her smile and that little Mercedita<br />

on her hip are sure signs that<br />

through them, it leads to joy. <br />

Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie grew up<br />

in Guadalajara, Mexico, coming to<br />

the U.S. at the age of 11. She has<br />

written for USA TODAY, National<br />

Review, The Washington Post and The<br />

New York Times, and has appeared<br />

on CNN, Telemundo, Fox <strong>News</strong> and<br />

EWTN. She practices radiology in the<br />

Miami area, where she lives with her<br />

husband and five children.<br />

EQUIPO MAIZ, COURTESY CAFOD, JUST ONE WORLD<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 31


THE CRUX<br />

BY HEATHER KING<br />

Fowler favorites<br />

Beauty and art on display<br />

at UCLA’s Fowler Museum<br />

I<br />

can’t say enough for the Fowler Museum at UCLA.<br />

It’s set into a little dell beneath Royce Hall, so en route<br />

you get to see the sweep of the campus and let your<br />

heart be lifted by the old-growth trees, green lawns, and<br />

the dear young students making their way in the world.<br />

It’s free.<br />

It’s the perfect size. You can tour the whole thing in an<br />

hour and a half.<br />

It has a great gift shop, especially if you like batik throws,<br />

corn husk dolls, and change purses made of soda can poptops.<br />

There’s always at least one exhibit about a facet of global<br />

anthropology, history, geography, or culture you never even<br />

knew existed and turns out that you’re dying to learn more<br />

about.<br />

Through Dec. 30, <strong>2018</strong>, for example, you can catch<br />

“Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths.”<br />

Most scholars believe that sub-Saharan Africans began<br />

smelting iron around 2,500 years ago. The artifacts on<br />

display range in date from the 17th century to the present.<br />

There are agricultural tools: hoes, sickles, axes, and adzes.<br />

There are blades in the form of spears, axes, knives, and<br />

swords that were used both in battle and as insignia of<br />

property, prestige, and political power. There are bracelets,<br />

neck torques, earrings, hair ornaments, and small-scale iron<br />

blades used in bodily scarification by certain sub-Saharan<br />

Africans to indicate status, identity, and life transitions.<br />

There’s a thumb piano called the lamellophone from the<br />

Shona peoples of Zimbabwe, a nkishi — “power figure”<br />

from the Democratic Republic of the Congo — made of<br />

cowrie shells, leather, iron, wood, plant fiber, and “sacrificial<br />

material,” and a magnificent 19th-century ceremonial<br />

blade, featuring a Janus pommel and hammered panels of<br />

copper alloy, from Gabon.<br />

The Fon peoples in the Republic of Bénin construct ancestral<br />

altars known as asen. These umbrella-shaped staffs,<br />

decorated with human figurines, animals, plants, and hanging<br />

rattles honor the dead by creating “memory-scapes” of<br />

their lives on earth.<br />

The Himba peoples of Namibia and Botswana fashion<br />

“Lamellophone (chisanji),” late 19th century, wood and iron. Artist<br />

unknown (Chokwe peoples, Angola).<br />

finely crafted headdresses, necklaces, and belts to celebrate<br />

female rites of passage and social status. Young girls wear<br />

necklaces of leather cord threaded with tiny iron beads.<br />

At puberty, they don a pendant necklace made from the<br />

shell of a venomous sea snail, captured at great peril by<br />

© MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MUSEUM/TROY SHARP, 2016<br />

32 • ANGELUS • <strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong>


The “Striking Iron: The Art of African Blacksmiths” exhibit installation at UCLA’s Fowler Museum.<br />

men. At marriage, the women are presented with a headdress;<br />

at the birth of their first child, a belt. All are carefully<br />

treated with a mixture of butterfat and red ochre, as is the<br />

skin to protect from the savage desert sun.<br />

Forging iron objects is, rightly, considered a wondrous act,<br />

and the blacksmiths in many places are viewed as akin to<br />

gods. The startling power, beauty, and sophistication, the<br />

fine detail, the thrust of vitality and life, are all the more<br />

remarkable in that even today blacksmiths tend to work<br />

without benefit of a shop, expensive tools, or safety regulations.<br />

A quote from Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński’s African<br />

memoir, “The Shadow of the Sun,” came to mind:<br />

“Many of my neighbors here have just the one thing.<br />

Someone has a shirt, someone a panga, someone a pickax.<br />

The one with a shirt can find a job as a night watchman<br />

(no one wants a half-naked guard); the one with a panga<br />

can be hired to cut down weeds; the one with a pickax can<br />

dig a ditch. Others have only their muscles to sell.”<br />

As the commentary notes, “The cadence of [the blacksmith’s]<br />

hammer striking red-hot iron echoes the beating<br />

of the human heart as it steadily pumps iron-rich blood,<br />

keeping us alive.”<br />

But the thing about the Fowler is that you really can’t go<br />

wrong, whenever you come and whatever you see.<br />

Through December 9 you can catch “South of <strong>No</strong> <strong>No</strong>rth:<br />

Gato Negro Ediciones,” featuring classic texts of resistance<br />

by a Mexican independent publisher led by activist designer<br />

León Muñoz Santini. “Summoning the Ancestors:<br />

Southern Nigerian Bronzes” runs through March 10.<br />

And on long-term view is the exhibit “Intersections: World<br />

Arts, Local Lives.”<br />

Here you can learn, among other things, about “The Versatile<br />

Gourd,” “Resting the Head” (wooden neck supports<br />

from Asia, Africa, and Pacific peoples), and “Capturing<br />

Beauty” (Japanese basket makers). Masks, totems, textiles,<br />

puppets, dolls, jewelry, and items used in religious ceremonies<br />

are also showcased.<br />

One thing not to miss is the video about Sisilia Sii, an Indonesian<br />

weaver who specializes in the traditional craft of<br />

ikat: an almost unbelievably meticulous, laborious process<br />

requiring months of work to produce a single gorgeous<br />

cloth.<br />

Sii attributes her ability to work long hours at the loom to<br />

chewing betel nuts, a practice that generates a brown-red<br />

viscous goo.<br />

If you’re a Somerset Maugham aficionado, as I am, you<br />

have read scores of stories featuring this exotic custom, and<br />

to observe such an elegant, highly skilled artist looking like<br />

an extra from “Night of the Living Dead” made me feel<br />

at one with my brothers and sisters across the globe in a<br />

whole new way.<br />

Smiling and talking like everything was normal, she<br />

looked throughout to have just scarfed down a raw human<br />

liver.<br />

But you’ll find your own favorite spots at the Fowler. <br />

Heather King is a blogger, speaker and the author of several books.<br />

JOSHUA WHITE/JWPICTURES.COM<br />

<strong>October</strong> <strong>12</strong>, <strong>2018</strong> • ANGELUS • 33

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