Angelus News | November 2, 2018 | Vol. 3 No. 37

SAFE AT 

ANGELUS 

HOME 

When God and baseball 

meet at the ballpark 

November 2, 2018 Vol. 3 No. 37

ON THE COVER 

Dodger fans point to the heavens during a NLCS playoff game in 2008. While the baseball season may 

have ended on a sour note for LA fans after their Game 5 loss in the World Series to the Boston Red Sox, 

some lesser-known stories of faith emerging from Chavez Ravine may offer some consolation. On page 

10, Tom Hoffarth has the untold story of how the sacraments of the Eucharist and confession nourish the 

faith of Catholics before every Sunday home game. On page 12 is the story of how Vin Scully is lending 

his magical voice to help Catholics pray the rosary. And on page 14, Hoffarth talks to former Dodgers 

third-base coach Rich Donnelly about how God helped him make the most of life’s toughest moments 

outside the diamond to deepen his faith. 

SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGE 

IMAGE: People participate in a pilgrimage hike 

from the Monte Mario nature reserve in 

Rome to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican 

October 25. Participants in the Synod on 

Young People, the Faith, and Vocational 

Discernment, and young people from 

Rome parishes took part in the hike. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/PAUL HARING 

C

Contents 

Archbishop Gomez 3 

Mike Aquilina: The Church’s real revolutionaries 16 

World, Nation and Local News 4-6 Kathryn Lopez: Is Charles Borromeo the saint for our times? 20 

LA Catholic Events 7 John Allen on the synod’s delicate dance around ‘zero-tolerance’ 24 

Scott Hahn on Scripture 8 

Robert Brennan on how deal-makers can become villains 26 

Father Rolheiser 9 Elizabeth Lev discovers hidden faith in a worldly artist’s biblical painting 28 

Heather King: A hobby shop love story 32

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November 2, 2018 | Vol.3 • No. 37 

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POPE WATCH 

Not a nuisance 

Speaking on behalf of all adult 

Catholics, Pope Francis formally 

closed the Synod of Bishops by asking 

young people for forgiveness. 

“Forgive us if often we have not 

listened to you; if, instead of opening 

our hearts, we have filled your ears. As 

Christ’s Church, we want to listen to 

you with love” because young people’s 

lives are precious in God’s eyes and 

“in our eyes, too,” the pope said in his 

homily October 28. 

The Mass, celebrated in St. Peter’s 

Basilica, closed a monthlong Synod 

on Young People, the Faith, and 

Vocational Discernment. The pope 

thanked the 300 synod members, 

experts, observers, and ecumenical 

delegates for working in communion, 

with frankness and with the desire to 

serve God’s people. 

The pope used the day’s Gospel reading 

(Mark 10:46-52) and its account of 

Jesus helping Bartimaeus as a model 

of how all Christians need to live out 

and share the faith. 

Bartimaeus was blind, homeless, and 

fatherless, and he begged for Jesus’ 

mercy as soon as he heard he was 

near, the pope said. Many rebuked 

the man, “telling him to be silent.” 

“For such disciples, a person in 

need was a nuisance along the way, 

unexpected and unplanned,” the pope 

said. Even though they followed Jesus, 

these disciples wanted things to go 

their way and preferred talking over 

listening to others, he said. 

“This is a risk constantly to guard 

against. Yet, for Jesus, the cry of those 

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pleading for help is not a nuisance but 

a challenge,” the pope said. 

When Jesus asks Bartimaeus, “What 

do you want me to do for you?” it 

shows the Lord acts “not according to 

my own preconceived ideas, but for 

you, in your particular situation. That 

is how God operates. He gets personally 

involved with preferential love for 

every person.” 

Being present and close to people’s 

lives “is the secret to communicating 

the heart of the faith, and not a secondary 

aspect,” the pope said. 

“When faith is concerned purely 

with doctrinal formulae, it risks speaking 

only to the head without touching 

the heart,” he said. “And when it is 

concerned with activity alone, it risks 

turning into mere moralizing and 

social work.” 

Being a neighbor, the pope said, 

means bringing the newness of God 

into other people’s lives, fighting the 

“temptation of easy answers and fast 

fixes” and of wanting to “wash our 

hands” of problems and responsibility. 

The third step in the journey of faith 

is to bear witness, particularly to those 

who are seeking life and salvation, but 

who “often find only empty promises 

and few people who really care.” 

“It is not Christian to expect that our 

brothers and sisters who are seekers 

should have to knock on our doors; we 

ought to go out to them, bringing not 

ourselves but Jesus.” 

Reporting courtesy of Catholic News 

Service Rome correspondent Carol Glatz. 

Papal Prayer Intention for November: That the language of love and dialogue may always 

prevail over the language of conflict. 

@Angelus 


www.la-archdiocese.org 

@Angelus 


2 • ANGELUS • November 2, 2018

NEW WORLD 

OF FAITH 

BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

‘It starts with the personal encounter’ 

(In the final week of the Synod on 

Young People, the Faith, and Vocational 

Discernment, Archbishop José 

H. Gomez was interviewed by Deborah 

Castellano Lubov for the international 

Catholic news agency, Zenit. Excerpts 

from their conversation follow.) 

What must the Church convey to 

young people? 

That God is with us all the time and 

he has a beautiful plan for us. The 

young people of the United States 

need to understand that they are the 

present of the Church, not just the 

future. 

They are absolutely essential to the 

life of the Church. We want their full 

participation and contributions. 

I would tell them, too, to not be 

afraid to talk to priests and bishops, 

as we are totally open to listening to 

them and want to help. 

What advice do you have for young 

people who want to follow what the 

Church teaches and calls for, but 

still find themselves falling short? 

It starts with the personal encounter 

with Jesus Christ. Before that, you are 

wasting your time and efforts, because 

you do not know what they are for. 

Jesus himself gave everything for us, 

to the point of giving his life in the 

crucifixion. 

We are supposed to be imitating our 

Lord Jesus Christ. This challenge is 

for us, too, to sacrifice and give ourselves 

similarly — to really know Jesus 

— because that is what our Catholic 

faith is all about. It is not about the 

bishops or only fulfilling regulations, 

it is about Jesus Christ. 

What practical recommendations 

do you have for young people who 

would like to know Jesus better in 

their daily lives? 

First, prayer: talking to God and 

listening to God. Sometimes it is difficult 

for young people to understand 

that God is present in our lives all the 

time. But that is the truth! We were 

created by God, with the generosity 

and love of our parents. But God is 

the one who keeps us alive. He knows 

everything and is interested in us and 

every aspect of our lives. 

Second, read the Gospel. It is important 

to read the life of Jesus because 

Christianity is about Jesus Christ. Just 

like many people are interested in 

knowing all about celebrities or sports 

figures, it makes sense to get to know 

he who matters most: Jesus. 

Third, Holy Communion, because 

in Holy Communion we receive 

God himself. Young people have an 

incredible devotion for the Eucharist. 

I have seen it in Los Angeles, how 

important it is for them, to have the 

exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. 

It is beautiful to see how young people 

are attracted to the presence of Jesus 

in the Eucharist. 

Prayer, the Gospels, and the Eucharist 

are essential. Then obviously one 

must serve people, because it is not 

just about ourselves, but about making 

life better for others. 

What about young people who feel 

the Church is prejudiced because 

women cannot be priests or vote in 

a synod? 

The Church started with two women, 

the Blessed Mother and St. Elizabeth. 

Women are absolutely essential 

to the Church. We all participate in 

the common priesthood of our Lord 

Jesus Christ. 

The fact that some are priests and 

women cannot be priests does not 

diminish their incredible importance 

in the Church. The functions of 

people are not what is essential. Many 

women and lay people are saints. Our 

Blessed Mother was not a priest, but 

she is the mother of Jesus. That is 

much more important than any priest. 

During this synod was the 40th 

anniversary of St. Pope John Paul 

II’s election as pope. How can he be 

a model for the Church today? 

Well, he was a model for me. I am 

celebrating my 40th anniversary 

of being a priest. I was ordained in 

August of 1978, and he became pope 

in October. My whole priesthood was 

under and with Pope John Paul II. 

He was a wonderful example for all 

of us, for priests, for bishops, for everyone, 

on how to be faithful to God 

and to, at the same time, give himself 

completely to people, until his death. 

It was beautiful to see that papacy. 

To have come from nothing, a 

country suffering persecution, then 

become the Holy Father and evangelize 

all over the world, left such an 

impact and was so inspirational to me 

and to so many others worldwide. 

Anything else you would like to 

add? 

I am very hopeful things will go in 

the right direction in the future, and 

it is important that we realize that 

with the grace of God we can do 

everything. You think of what Jesus 

asked the apostles to do: to be united 

together. 

They had differences among them, 

but they worked together. It is important 

for all of us to be positive. It is not 

our Church, but Christ’s Church. 

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

November 2, 2018 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD 

Argentina: Protesters 

attack church 

VATICAN MEDIA CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/FREDRICK NZWILI 

Burned-out vehicles after a terror attack in Lamu, Kenya, in 2014. 

Kenyan Catholics on high alert 

The murder of two Christian teachers in Kenya in early October has 

heightened concerns that Catholic churches and services will become 

targets of terror attacks. 

“I think there are some elements who don’t want to see Christian presence 

in this region,” Father Alfred Murithi of Our Lady of Consolation Cathedral 

in Garissa told Catholic News Service. “They are misled to believe that 

Christians are infidels.” 

In response to the growing concerns of violence, Catholic churches have 

cut evening Masses and night prayers, which were once the norm. Christmas 

and Easter celebrations, which traditionally began at 10 p.m. and lasted 

until the early hours of the morning, are also expected to be shortened 

for safety. 

While cutting liturgical offerings, churches in the African country are 

increasing security measures, adding additional guards as well as closed-circuit 

cameras and metal detectors, among other preventative measures. 

PARTING PRESENT — Pope Francis accepts an icon of Christ, 

Ruler of the Universe, from Catholic News Service reporter Junno 

Arocho Esteves, after the final weekday session of the Synod 

on Young People, the Faith, and Vocational Discernment, at the 

Vatican October 26. Arocho presented the icon as a gift on behalf 

of the U.S. delegation at the synod. 

An annual feminist rally in 

Argentina ended with bare-chested 

women throwing Molotov 

cocktails at a Catholic church in 

the southern city of Trelew. 

Though mostly composed 

of peaceful women protesting 

for several political causes, the 

three-day National Encounter of 

Women’s closing rally has been 

used in recent years by violent 

protesters as an opportunity to 

target Catholic buildings. 

Ten people were arrested in 

connection to this year’s attacks, 

which centered on the city of 

Trelew and Our Lady Auxiliadora 

Church. Parishioners were inside 

praying before the Holy Sacrament 

at the time of the attack. 

“Church and state, separate 

affair,” “Death to the macho is 

not a metaphor,” and “Abort your 

heterosexuality,” were among the 

slogans an estimated 50,000 women 

who rallied through downtown 

Trelew left behind, with graffiti 

scrawled on storefronts, privately 

owned homes and churches, 

according to Crux, Angelus News’ 

partner. 

Longtime suspect charged 

in St. Oscar Romero’s slaying 

After almost 40 years, an arrest order has been made 

in connection to the death of newly canonized St. 

Oscar Romero. 

Salvadoran judge Rigoberto Chicas ordered the arrest 

of Alvaro Rafael Saravia, a 78-year old former military 

officer who has been accused of ordering the 1980 killing 

of the former archbishop of San Salvador. Romero 

was killed while celebrating Mass in a hospital chapel 

and was named a saint by Pope Francis on October 14. 

Though Saravia has been a key suspect for years, a 

1993 law banned any criminal trials in connection 

to El Salvador’s civil war, during which Romero was 

killed. In 2016, the amnesty law was overturned, and 

Romero’s case was reopened in May 2017. 

Saravia has yet to be arrested, as his whereabouts are 

unknown. 


NATION 

Pleas for peace after Pittsburgh 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/JOHN ALTDORFER, REUTERS 

Mourners hold a vigil for the 

victims of the Tree of Life Synagogue 

shooting in Pittsburgh 

October 27. 

Both Pope Francis and 

the head of the U.S. 

Conference of Catholic 

Bishops called for peace 

while mourning the loss 

of life at a shooting in a 

Pittsburgh synagogue. 

Eleven people were 

killed and six more 

injured when gunman 

Robert Bowers entered 

the Tree of Life Synagogue 

and opened fire during a baby-naming ceremony, 

allegedly shouting “All Jews must die.” Bowers is in 

federal custody and charged with 29 federal offenses. 

“We condemn all acts of violence and hate and yet 

again, call on our nation and public officials to confront 

the plague of gun violence,” said Cardinal Daniel 

DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston and 

president of the USCCB. Cardinal DiNardo is a native 

of Pittsburgh and ordained a priest of that archdiocese. 

“May the Lord help us extinguish the fires of hatred 

that develop in our society,” Francis prayed during his 

October 28 Sunday Angelus address. 

Catholic school donations in danger? 

A proposed rule change that would reduce the 

amount a donation to a School Tuition Organization 

(STO) could be deducted on itemized federal tax 

returns could have serious consequences for Catholic 

schools. 

The rule change, which has been proposed but won’t 

go into effect until after a November public hearing, 

would reduce STO donations by up to 65 percent. 

The rule is seen as a move by the IRS to close a tax 

loophole in “high-tax” states such as Iowa, where some 

are worried about the potential impact on low-income 

private schools. 

The Archdiocese of Dubuque’s newspaper The Witness 

reported the change could impact 30 percent of 

the area’s Catholic school population. 

“Decreasing the federal deductibility for an STO 

donation from 100 percent to 35 percent could cause 

donors to reduce their donation amount or not donate 

to an STO at all,” Trish Wilger, executive director of 

Iowa’s Alliance for Choice in Education, told The 

Witness. 

“If STOs can’t raise funds because of this regulation, 

they won’t be able to give out as much in tuition 

grants, and fewer children will be served.” 

WINTER RETREAT — The University of St. Mary of the Lake in 

Mundelein, Illinois, will host a weeklong retreat for the bishops 

of the U.S. to reflect on the situation of the Church, especially 

the reawakening sexual abuse crisis. The retreat, which will take 

place Jan. 2-8, 2019, was first suggested to the bishops by Pope 

Francis. Papal preacher Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFM Cap., 

will serve as the retreat’s spiritual director. 

Study: Hookup culture hurts marriages 

A report from the Institute for Family Studies shows 

that both men and women are more likely to report 

having “very happy marriages” if they have only been 

sexually intimate with one person: their spouse. 

“The surprisingly large number of Americans 

reporting one lifetime sex partner have the happiest 

marriages,” according to the study published October 

22. “Past one partner, it doesn’t make as much of a 

difference. The overall disparity isn’t huge, but neither 

is it trivial.” 

Sixty-five percent of women and 71 percent of men 

with only one partner reported being very happy with 

their marriages. For men who have had two or more 

sexual partners, the number drops to 65 percent; for 

women with between six and 10 partners, the number 

drops to 52 percent. 

MUNDELEIN SEMINARY 


LOCAL 

More domination by Bosco Braves 

MARCELO SUÁREZ OROZCO 

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco meets Pope 

Francis in 2013. 

Pope Francis 

recruits a Bruin 

Pope Francis has named a 

UCLA professor and fellow 

Argentine as an ordinary member 

of the Pontifical Academy of the 

Social Sciences. 

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco is dean 

of UCLA’s Graduate School 

of Education and Information 

Studies and considered a leading 

expert on the impact of forced 

mass migrations on families, children, 

and young people. 

According to a UCLA press 

release, Suárez-Orozco has been 

leading a major study on the 

effects of modern day “catastrophic” 

migrations and violent family 

separations with an emphasis 

on the health, mental health, 

education, and legal protections 

for forcefully displaced children 

and youth. 

The appointment, which was 

announced October 27, means 

Suárez-Orozco will advise the 

pope in a fuller capacity after having 

already served as an academician 

for the same academy. 

St. John Bosco’s Braves concluded the 2018 regular season much as they 

began it, by dominating their opposition and maintaining their status as the 

best high school football team in the country. 

A 56-0 romp over Servite October 26 gave the Braves a 10-0 overall record, 

a Trinity League championship (at 5-0), another No. 1 national ranking 

from Maxpreps, and a top seed in the Division 1 bracket. 

To win their first CIF-SS title since 2016, the Bellflower school’s team has 

plenty of tough games ahead, including a potential finals bout with Santa 

Ana’s Mater Dei, which is currently ranked second in the Maxpreps national 

football rankings. 

Complete local CIF results and final league standings can be found at 

AngelusNews.com. 

TAC to go coast to coast 

Thomas Aquinas College 

students may finally get a 

snow day or two. 

The Santa Paula-based 

Catholic university announced 

October 23 that 

it plans to open a branch 

campus in Northfield, Massachusetts, 

after receiving 

unanimous approval from 

the Massachusetts Board of 

Higher Education. 

TAC New England campus’ Sage Chapel in the snow. 

“This is a great accomplishment 

for the college,” said school president Michael McLean, “and we are 

grateful to the board for its thoughtful review.” 

Students who attend the New England campus will be able to receive 

Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts degrees. 

In a statement, the college said a formal extension of its accreditation 

is expected to be granted to the second campus in the coming months. 

Meanwhile, the school is already accepting student applications to the 

campus. 

ST. JOHN BOSCO HIGH SCHOOL 

THOMAS AQUINAS COLLEGE 


LA Catholic Events 

Items for the Calendar of events are due two weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be mailed to Angelus News (Attn: Calendar), 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241; 

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. 

Sat., Nov. 3 

Journeying in Grief Through the Holidays. Mary & 

Joseph Retreat Center, 5300 Crest Rd., Rancho Palos 

Verdes, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. We will consider possible ways 

of preparing for and participating in the holidays 

while honoring the memory of our absent loved one. 

We will also reflect on our ongoing everyday experience 

of grief, its various dimensions, and ways that 

may help us along the path. Cost: $50/person and includes 

lunch ($55/person after Oct. 26). Call Marlene 

Velazquez at 310-377-4867, ext. 234. 

Sacred Heart 37th Annual Fall Boutique and Family 

Festival. 920 E. Alhambra Rd., Alhambra, 9 a.m.-4 

p.m. Festival includes handmade items, homemade 

goodies, and a silent auction of unique furniture, 

collectible items, and antiques. Eucharistic adoration 

will be offered in the Sacred Heart Chapel. For more 

information on volunteering or donations, call 626- 

289-1353, ext. 201 or email assistantrd@carmlitesistersocd.com. 

Magnificat: A Ministry to Catholic Women Prayer 

Meal. Odyssey Restaurant, 15600 Odyssey Dr., 

Granada Hills, 10 a.m. Guest speaker: Jess Echeverry, 

advocate for children, women, and the homeless. 

Hear Jess’ testimony of her life on the streets and 

abuse, and then her glorious conversion. Cost: $35/ 

person. Call Teri Thompson at 805-527-3745 for 

more information. Register online at www.magnificatsfv.org. 

Laudato Si Workshop. Our Lady of Grace Church, 

5001 White Oak Ave., Encino. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Speaker: 

Bob Hurd. Register online at store.la-archdiocese. 

org/laudato-si-and-the-liturgy. Cost: $20/person. Call 

Joan Vos at 213-637-7588. 

St. Peter Claver’s Annual Holiday Boutique. Corner 

of Stow and Cochran Sts., across from Simi Valley 

High School. Saturday, Nov. 3, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday, 

Nov. 4, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. More than 70 vendors selling 

crafts, gift items, clothing, jewelry, home decor, and 

more. Food, gift card basket raffle, 50/50 drawing, 

photos with Santa, and baked goods table. Call Lisa 

at 805-583-0466. 

Dia de los Muertos Celebration. Calvary Cemetery, 

4201 Whittier Blvd., 12 p.m. Mass celebrated by 

Archbishop José H. Gomez. The family-friendly event 

will feature altars for the departed, activities for children, 

and a special performance by Mariachi Las 

Colibrí. If you are interested in honoring a deceased 

loved one by building an altar, please call Calvary 

Cemetery at 323-261-3602, ext. 423. 

“Other than Quakers — Part I: 125 Years of the 

Catholic Community in Whittier, CA (1893-2018).” 

6755 Newlin Ave., Whittier, 1-4 p.m. All-day events 

will be held at St. Mary’s Church (7215 Newlin Ave.). 

5 p.m. Mass celebrated by Archbishop José H. Gomez. 

Children’s Bureau Adoption and Foster Care Information 

Meeting. 1529 East Palmdale Blvd., Ste. 210, 

Palmdale, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Discover if you have the 

ability to help a child in need. To RSVP or for more 

information, call 661-208-4212 or 661-272-9996, 

email RFrecruitment@all4kids.org, or visit https:// 

www.all4kids.org/program/foster-care/. 

Sun., Nov. 4 

Annual Mass for Health Care Professionals. Cathedral 

of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los 

Angeles, 3:30 p.m. Archbishop José H. Gomez will 

preside; Bishop Marc V. Trudeau will be the homilist. 

Reception to follow in the Cathedral Conference Center. 

Call Sister Angela M. Hallahan, CHF, at 213-637- 

7538 or email healthaffairs@la-archdiocese.org. 

10th Annual Saints Alive Parish Pageant. Holy Trinity 

Parish Center Auditorium, 209 N. Hanford Ave., San 

Pedro, 3:30-5 p.m. Free event with fun for all ages. 

Come see how the priests, deacons, staff, ministries, 

and parishioners bring our Saints Alive! Call the parish 

office at 310-548-6535, ext. 300. 

Recruitment Sunday for the San Fernando Mission. 

15151 San Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills. 

Anyone who is interested in volunteering to become 

a tour guide at the San Fernando Mission can learn 

more after the 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. Masses. Guides 

will be handing out flyers and talking to anyone interested. 

Call Maureen Wiggins at 818-897-7031. 

18th Annual Main Street Canoga Park Dia de los 

Muertos Family Festival and Car Show. Canoga Park 

on Sherman Way, between Topanga Canyon Blvd. 

and Canoga Ave., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free event featuring 

kids’ activities, car show, delicious food, unique 

craft and art vendors, chalk art, a Family Ofrenda/ 

Altar area, live music, and Aztec dancers. For more 

information, call Mary Paterson at 818-346-7480 or 

818-606-8652. 

Fall Food Festival. North parking lot of Cathedral 

Chapel of St. Vibiana, 923 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, 

9 a.m.–2 p.m. Great food, drinks, prizes, and 

fun, with the flavors of the parish’s diverse cultures. 

Food tickets: $1, $5/person; Raffle: $1/person. For 

more information, call 323-930-5976 or visit cathedralchapel.org. 

Tues., Nov. 6 

Venus and Mars Revisited: A New Look at Male and 

Female Spirituality. Padre Serra Church, 5205 Upland 

Rd., Camarillo, 7 p.m. Father Jim Clarke and Sister 

Kathleen Bryant, RSC, will unpack the differences 

between men and women in spirituality through stories, 

analogies, images, and humor. Free event. RSVP 

to parish@padreserra.org. 

Wed., Nov. 7 

Christian Service 4LIFE 2018: Be a Rebel! Microsoft 

Theatre at LA Live, 777 Chick Hearn Ct., Los Angeles, 

9 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Field trip for Catholic teenagers featuring 

Inky Johnson, Archbishop Peter Sartain (Seattle), 

a multimedia dramatization of the life and works 

of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, and Archbishop José 

H. Gomez celebrating Benediction with other bishops 

and priests. Food, live music, action booths, confession, 

and much more. Cost: $10/person. Call Carol at 

626-755-7323 or visit www.LIFEsocal.org. 

Care and Prepare: Finding Loving Care at the End of 

Life. St. Rose of Lima, 1305 Royal Ave., Simi Valley, 

7-9 p.m. Discussion: Accessing quality care, protecting 

loved ones, Church teachings on end of life and 

pastoral care. For more information, visit archla.org/ 

oljp. 

Thurs., Nov. 8 

Women’s Connection Ministry: Ministry on Prayers 

for Children. Holy Family Church Galilee Room, 1527 

Fremont Ave., S. Pasadena, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Includes 

refreshments, socializing, program, and Q&A. Cost: 

$5/person. Call 626-403-6116 or email fponnet@ 

holyfamily.org. 

The Holy Spirit Animating from the Global “Ministry 

for Children.” Holy Family Pastoral Center, 1527 Fremont 

Ave., South Pasadena, 9-11:30 a.m. Presenter: 

Donna Gibson, founder of Ministry for Children. 

Blessing by Father Denis Maher. $5/person donation 

requested. Includes continental breakfast. Email 

Frank Ponnet at fponnet@holyfamily.org or Diane 

Collison at diane.collison@yahoo.com. 

This Week at AngelusNews.com 

Visit AngelusNews.com for these stories 

and more. Your source for complete, 

up-to-the-minute coverage of local news, 

sports and events in Catholic L.A. 

• Robert Brennan on the lessons we can learn from Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” 

• What the Kavanaugh hearings have to say about society’s problems today. 

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SUNDAY 

READINGS 

BY SCOTT HAHN 

Deut. 6:2-6 / Ps. 18:2-4, 47, 57 / Heb. 7:23-28 / Mk. 12:28-34 

Love is the only law we are 

to live by. And love is the 

fulfillment of the Law that 

God reveals through Moses 

in today’s First Reading (see 

Romans 13:8–10; Matthew 

5:43–48). 

The unity of God — the 

truth that he is one God, 

Father, Son, and Spirit — 

means that we must love 

him with one love, a love 

that serves him with all our 

hearts and minds, souls, and 

strength. 

We love him because 

he has loved us first. We 

love our neighbor because 

we can’t love the God we 

haven’t seen unless we love 

those made in his image 

and likeness, whom we have 

seen (see 1 John 4:19–21). 

And we are called to 

imitate the love that Christ 

showed us in laying his life 

down on the cross (see 1 

John 3:16). As we hear in today’s 

Epistle, by his perfect 

sacrifice on the cross, he 

once and for all makes it possible for 

us to approach God. 

There is no greater love than to lay 

down your life (see John 15:13). This 

is perhaps why Jesus tells the scribe in 

today’s Gospel that he is not far from 

the kingdom of God. 

The scribe recognizes that the burnt 

offerings and sacrifices of the old Law 

were meant to teach Israel that it is 

love that he desires (see Hosea 6:6). 

The animals offered in sacrifice were 

symbols of the self-sacrifice, the total 

gift of ourselves that God truly desires. 

“Crucifixion,” possibly by Hermann Schadeberg, French, 

between 1410 and 1415. 

We are called today to examine our 

hearts. Do we have other loves that 

get in the way of our love for God? 

Do we love others as Jesus has loved 

us (see John 13:34–35)? Do we love 

our enemies and pray for those who 

oppose and persecute us (see Matthew 

5:44)? 

Let us tell the Lord we love him, as 

we do in today’s Psalm. 

And let us take his word to heart, that 

we might prosper and have life eternal 

in his kingdom, the heavenly homeland 

flowing with milk and honey. 

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

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


IN EXILE 

BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

Faith and levity 

Shusaku Endo, the Japanese author 

of the classic novel, “Silence” (upon 

which Martin Scorsese based his movie) 

was a Catholic who didn’t always 

find his native land, Japan, sympathetic 

to his faith. 

He was misunderstood but kept his 

balance and good heart by placing a 

high value on levity. It was his way 

of integrating his faith with his own 

experience of occasional personal 

failure and his way of keeping his perspective 

on a culture that misunderstood 

him. Levity, he believed, makes 

faith livable. 

He’s right. Levity is what makes faith 

livable because humor and irony give 

us the perspective we need to forgive 

ourselves and others. When we’re too 

serious there’s no forgiveness, least of 

all for ourselves. 

What is humor? What’s its meaning? 

A generation ago, Peter Berger wrote a 

book, “A Rumor of Angels,” in which 

he looked at the question of humor 

philosophically. I like his conclusion. 

In humor, he submits, we touch the 

transcendent. To be able to laugh at a 

situation, no matter how dire or tragic, 

shows that we’re in some way above 

that situation, that there’s something 

in us that’s not imprisoned by that 

situation, or any situation. 

There’s a wonderful example of this 

in the writings of the Russian poet 

Anna Akhmatova. During the purges 

of Stalin, her husband had been 

arrested. She occasionally tried to visit 

the prison he was in to leave letters 

and packages for him. 

Standing in long lines outside of that 

prison in St. Petersburg, she waited 

alongside other women whose husbands 

or sons had also been arrested. 

The situation bordered on the absurd. 

None of them even knew whether 

their loved ones were even alive, and 

the guards made them wait for hours 

without explanation. 

One day, as she was standing in line 

waiting, another woman recognized 

her, approached her, and asked: “Can 

you describe this?” Akhmatova replied: 

“I can,” and when she said this 

a smile passed between them. 

A smile passed between them. That 

smile contained some levity and 

that allowed them both to realize, 

however unconsciously, that they 

were transcendent to that situation. 

The smile that passed between them 

alerted them both to the fact that they 

were more than what they were in 

that moment. 

Awful as it was, they weren’t ultimately 

prisoners to that moment. 

Moreover, that smile was a prophetic 

and political act of defiance, based 

upon faith. Levity is subversive. 

This is true, too, not just for how we 

live inside our faith lives; it’s true, too, 

for how we live, healthily, inside our 

families. A family that’s too serious 

will not allow for forgiveness. Its heaviness 

will eventually drive its members 

either into depression or away from 

the family. Moreover, it will make an 

idol out of itself. 

Conversely, a family that can take 

itself seriously but still laugh at itself 

will be a family where there is forgiveness 

because levity will give them a 

healthy perspective on their foibles. A 

family that’s healthy will sometimes 

look at itself honestly and with the 

kind of smile that passed between 

Akhmatova and her friend, say of 

itself: “Aren’t we pathetic!” 

That’s true, too, of nationalism. We 

need to take our nation seriously, 

even as a certain kind of levity keeps 

this seriousness in perspective. I’m a 

Canadian. As Canadians, we love our 

country, are proud of it, and would, if 

push came to shove, die for it. 

But we have a levity about our patriotism. 

We make jokes about it and 

enjoy it when others make jokes about 

us. Consequently, we don’t have any 

bitter controversies regarding who 

loves the country and who doesn’t. 

Our lightness keeps us in unity. 

All of this, of course, is doubly true 

of faith and spirituality. Real faith is 

deep, an indelible brand inside the 

soul, a DNA that dictates behavior. 

Moreover, real faith does not sidestep 

the tragic within our lives, but equips 

us to face the heaviness in life where 

we meet disappointment, personal 

failure, heartbreak, injustice, betrayal, 

the breakdown of cherished 

relationships, the death of loves ones, 

sickness, the diminishment of our own 

health, and ultimately our own death. 

This is not to be confused with any 

natural or contrived optimism that 

refuses to see the dark. Rather real 

faith, precisely because it is real and 

therefore keeps us inchoately aware of 

our identity and transcendence, will 

always allow us a discreet, knowing, 

smile, no matter the situation. 

Our lives often are pathetic. But it’s 

OK. We can still laugh with one another! 

We’re in good hands. The God 

who made us obviously has a sense of 

humor — and therefore understanding 

and forgiveness. 

Too many books on Christian spirituality 

might more aptly be titled, “The 

Unbearable Heaviness of Faith.” 

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


Brian Golden recites a reading during a Mass at the Vin Scully/Billy DeLury Chapel in 2016. 

The interview room is used for Dodger manager Dave Roberts’ post-game media briefings 

CATHOLIC ATHLETES FOR CHRIST 

BLUE HEAVEN ON EARTH 

For those who attend 

it, the makeshift 

Mass beneath Dodger 

Stadium is about much 

more than fulfilling 

a Sunday obligation 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS 

10 • ANGELUS • November 2, 2018 

During the regular season, 

just a few hours before the 

first pitch on a Sunday game 

at Dodger Stadium, the 

100-or-so-seat capacity media-interview 

room next to the Dodgers’ home team 

clubhouse would be called the “Vin 

Scully and Billy DeLury Chapel.” 

A white cloth would be neatly 

stretched out over the head table, 

where Dodgers manager Dave Roberts 

would sit behind a microphone for 

his post-game briefing with the media 

— a table quickly converted into an 

altar where a chalice, ciborium, and 

sacramentary were placed. 

As the Dodgers built momentum 

toward their second World Series 

appearance in two years this October, 

a unique Catholic Mass became part 

of the tapestry of their unifying faith 

for a group of players, coaches, team 

officials, and stadium workers. 

Because of Major League Baseball’s 

facility needs and for security reasons 

during the current Fall Classic, Dodger 

Stadium didn’t host a Mass before 

Game 5 on Sunday, October 28 as 

was hoped. 

Judging by that game’s outcome 

Tim Klosterman, right, is given a Dodgers 

jersey by Brian Golden, the sacristan, after a 

ballpark Mass. 

(a season-ending loss to the Boston Red 

Sox), one might argue they could have 

used the help. 

During the just completed season, 

how could one measure the success of 

these celebrations? 

“I can tell you that of the 36 Masses 

we’ve had on Sundays during Dave 

Roberts’ time as the Dodgers’ manager, 

the team has won 31,” Brian Golden, 

the astute Antelope Valley News sports 

columnist who serves as the Mass 

sacristan and local organizer, says with 

a laugh. 

“You might remember there was a 

CATHOLIC ATHLETES FOR CHRIST


Vin Scully, right, with a portrait of Pope Francis, after his final Dodger Stadium ballpark Mass in 

September 2016 with presiding priests Father Steve Davoren, left, and Father Tim Klosterman. 

weekend when the Astros came to 

town — their first visit since winning 

the World Series last season — and 

handed the Dodgers a 14-0 loss on a 

Saturday night. It just put a pall over 

the ballpark. But on Sunday, after the 

Mass, the Dodgers went out and had a 

3-2 win. I believe it was all a return to 

normalcy.” 

The Washington, D.C.-based 

Catholic Athletes for Christ 

(CAC) has facilitated this 

revival of a ballpark Mass for more 

than a decade. Its mission is to “give 

players more time during their busy 

schedule to incorporate family and 

faith, after giving it all on the field 

night after night,” said Kevin O’Malley, 

the CAC Major League Baseball Mass 

ministry coordinator. 

He calls the Dodgers organization 

“extremely supportive and receptive” 

to the ministry since it started in 2008, 

noting the Catholic influence going 

back to Walter O’Malley’s ownership in 

Brooklyn, continuing with his son Peter 

and daughter Terry (Siedler) in LA, and 

including players such as Gil Hodges 

and Mike Piazza, plus managers 

Tommy Lasorda and Joe Torre. 

Archbishop José H. Gomez is part 

of the group’s 18-member episcopal 

board. Former Dodgers star Mike 

Piazza is on the athlete advisory board 

along with vice chairman Jeff Suppan, 

the Crespi Carmelite High of Encino 

graduate who had a successful 17-year 

pitching career in the major leagues. 

The Dodger Stadium half-hour Mass 

has started at 9:30 a.m. prior to 1 p.m. 

games, and at 1:30 p.m. before 5 p.m. 

games. It concludes in time for players 

to begin warmups. Part of its intent is 

to relieve any concerns about trying to 

find an early morning Sunday Mass 

following a late-night Saturday game. 

When it first began, the Masses 

were offered late Saturday afternoon 

and held in what Golden called 

“the catacombs” of Dodger Stadium 

— a dark, first-base corner of the 

underground Dugout Club area. 

When Dodger Stadium underwent 

renovations in 2012, the expanded 

manager’s interview room was made 

available for the CAC Mass on 

Sundays. 

Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully 

said he and longtime friend Billy 

DeLury, the team’s traveling secretary 

going back to their days in Brooklyn, 

would often travel together to St. 

Vincent Medical Center on Third 

Street in downtown LA for 4 p.m. Mass 

on Saturday and rush through traffic to 

the stadium 10 minutes away to make 

the team’s TV production meeting. 

This new arrangement afforded 

them, and others, a more peaceful and 


reflective procession to celebrate the 

Mass. 

“I admire so much the group 

who brought me to this beautiful 

connection,” said Scully, who retired 

in 2016 and, after the passing of 

DeLury in 2015, brought DeLury’s 

blue Dodgers windbreaker jacket to 

drape over a chair in his memory for 

the stadium Mass. 

Scully had been one of the Mass 

lectors from the start, along with 

former Dodgers outfielder and recently 

retired Andre Ethier. Coach Manny 

Mota has been another regular 

attendee of the liturgy, to which 

attendance can range from a dozen to 

50-plus on any Sunday. 

Father Willy Raymond, then at St. 

Monica Catholic Church in Santa 

Monica, had been the longtime 

presider until his recent transfer back 

to his native Boston area — which has 

led CAC members to dub this year’s 

Dodgers-Red Sox World Series battle 

“The Fr. Willy Series.” 

As it turned out, Raymond has been 

on assignment in East Africa and only 

able to keep tabs on the games through 

email. 

In recent years, Father Tim 

Klosterman and Father Vince 

Kuna have become the regular 

presiders. 

“The best part of this Dodgers 

ministry is that we’ve created a family 

community,” said Kuna. He used the 

example of support given to Dodgers 

employee Maria Harman, a wellknown 

press box dining-room director 

who regularly attends the Mass. She 

was nearly killed by a hit-and-run 

driver in mid-September and has been 

hospitalized since. 

“We came together as a community 

to remember her in prayer and offer 

Mass for her. Through the work of her 

Father Willy Raymond, second from left, with Dodgers players Mark Loretta, left, Andre Ethier and 

Juan Pierre after a Dodger Stadium Mass in the late 2000s. 

November 2, 2018 • ANGELUS • 11 


doctors and, I believe, our collective 

prayers, she’s now on the road to 

recovery,” he said. 

“I also appreciate that the opposing 

team is invited to Mass and there are 

almost always representatives present. 

You don’t see that in other professional 

sports and certainly not at the collegiate 

level. So, the Dodgers and whomever 

they play serve as a reminder to the 

professionalism I should bring to my 

own priestly ministry.” 

Dodgers pitchers Rich Hill, Pat 

Venditti and Ryan Madson have 

been frequent attendees this season. 

Madson, who came to the team in a 

mid-season trade from Washington, 

said it has “allowed me the opportunity 

“The best part of this Dodgers 

ministry is that we’ve created 

a family community.” 

to attend Mass nearly every week 

during the regular season.” 

Often the presiding priest is available 

after Mass to hear confessions or 

provide spiritual guidance for players 

who request it. 

During the 2018 Major League 

Baseball season, CAC facilitated nearly 

350 Catholic Masses at 28 ballparks, 

including Angel Stadium in Anaheim, 

where then-manager Mike Scioscia 

was an active participant. 

During Scully’s final Mass at Dodger 

Stadium, concelebrated by Klosterman 

and Father Steve Davoren, CAC 

presented Scully with a portrait of Pope 

Francis to thank him for his support of 

the group. 

Scully and his wife, Sandi, took the 

portrait to the Vin Scully press box 

and placed it in one of the chairs of 

the TV booth as he called a game. 

The Dodgers tied the contest with the 

Colorado Rockies in the ninth inning 

and won it on a Charlie Culberson 

home run in the bottom of the 10th to 

clinch the National League West title. 

“You can’t make that up,” said Golden 

with another laugh. “I can’t emphasize 

how much we are deeply appreciative 

to the Dodgers for continuing this. I 

joke that down the hill, there’s always 

the Cathedral of Our Lady of the 

Angels, but up here, it’s the Cathedral 

of Our Lady of the Dodgers.” 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning 

journalist based in Los Angeles. 

12 • ANGELUS • November 2, 2018 

Vin’s final call: 

THE ROSARY? 

From left: CAC MLB ministry coordinator Kevin O’Malley, Father Tim Klosterman and 

Relevant Radio’s Joe Sikorra assist Vin Scully in the recording of the rosary CD in 2016. 

The final innings of Vin Scully’s 67-season career as the 

Dodgers’ Hall of Fame voice in October 2016 — which 

included his attending ballpark-hosted Masses at Dodger 

Stadium and in San Francisco on the final two Sundays — also 

marked the beginning of something that has become a cherished 

part of his legacy for Catholics in Southern California and beyond. 

Scully’s narration of “The Most Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin 

Mary,” a two-CD set conceived by Catholic Athletes for Christ 

(CAC) in conjunction with Relevant Radio, continues to raise 

funding for the nonprofit organization’s key high school-related 

outreach programs two years later. 

Nearly 12,000 copies have been sold, downloaded, and streamed, 

not to mention the donations to religious groups, through various 

media platforms. A copy was also delivered to Pope Francis that 

elicited a response of gratitude. 

“I get more favorable comments about me and my faith, but I 

just want to say: I only read the prayers,” said Scully, who recites 

the Annunciation with Christ’s Nativity, Last Supper, Crucifixion, 

Resurrection and Ascension from the Gospel of Luke. He also 

prays the beginning of each Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be 

and “O My Jesus” Fátima prayer. 

“All the people behind the scenes are far more responsible. This 

isn’t false modesty. I was just privileged to do it and grateful it’s 

circulating. God knows the faith we can use in solidarity right about 

now.” 

CAC Major League Baseball ministry coordinator Kevin O’Malley 

came up with the idea after hearing Scully recite Mass readings in 

the summer of 2015. 

“So many have heard him call a Kirk Gibson home run or a 

Sandy Koufax no-hitter, but how few have heard him read from the 

Bible?” said O’Malley. “Now I’m told stories about those in their 

60s or 70s who say they haven’t prayed the rosary since they had 

their confirmation in eighth grade, but it’s remarkable how they 

pray it again because of Vin’s participation.” 

Brian Golden, the Antelope Valley News sports columnist who 

has been the sacristan for the Dodger Stadium CAC Mass, said 

he hears about “Dodgers fans who pray the rosary home now 

with their family before going to bed. More and more are 

discovering the peace and power of the rosary through this.” 

For more information on the CD that can be downloaded 

from Apple iTunes, Amazon music and Google Play: 

http://www.catholicathletesforchrist.org/rosary/. 

— Tom Hoffarth 



Thanking God 

from third base 

When faced with tragedy and pain, 

faith gave Rich Donnelly the answers 

that baseball glory could not 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS 

Years before Rich Donnelly 

shouted encouragement and 

flashed signs to Los Angeles 

Dodgers’ hitters from the 

third-base coaching box during the 

2006 and 2007 seasons, he could have 

used some spiritual and life coaching 

to help him get through some of the 

most heartbreaking events that put his 

Catholic faith to the test. 

As he was entering high school, he 

lost his older brother to cancer. That 

was his baseball hero growing up. 

With ideas of becoming a priest, Donnelly 

instead went into a shell. 

A painful divorce he admits was a 

result of his own selfish behavior was 

difficult to reconcile. It divided his 

family. 

When his teenage daughter, Amy, 

died of a brain tumor in 1993, Donnelly 

was full of grief and doubt. But 

it was her inspirational words that 

came back to him in a most heavenly 

moment after he waved home the 

winning run for the Florida Marlins 

in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series 

— a run scored by Craig Counsell, 

who this October managed the Milwaukee 

Brewers against the Dodgers 

in the National League Championship 

Series. 

A new book by Tom Friend with an 

otherwise quirky title, “The Chicken 

Runs at Midnight” (Zondervan 

Publishing, $24.99), best explains the 

impact Amy Donnelly had then and 

still does now on her father’s faith, and 

it remains his mantra. 

This comes after two more 

soul-searching events in the last 12 

months involving more of his children. 

One was the death of his son, 

38-year-old Michael, trying to be 

a Good Samaritan with a stranded 

motorist last January. 

And last fall, daughters Tiffany and 

Leighanne witnessed the mass shooting 

at the Route 91 Harvest Music 

Festival in Las Vegas, avoiding harm 

while tending to several victims in 

dire need. 

From his home in Steubenville, 

Ohio, the 72-year-old Donnelly, who 

has also endured two cancer battles 

himself, talked about how this book is 

part of his healing process as well as a 

way to comfort others. 

JON SOOHOO/LOS ANGELES DODGERS 


Tom Hoffarth: You’re a cradle 

Catholic who has called himself a 

“ridiculous Catholic” because of the 

way you were brought up. Then you 

went through a period as a “casual 

Catholic” to perhaps best be characterized 

as evolving into a “born-again 

Catholic.” What is your status at the 

moment? 

Rich Donnelly: I’d not sure how 

you’d rate me now (laughing). I’m 

always trying to be a better husband, 

a better father and a better human 

being. This book is a way of doing 

that. 

At one point in 

my life, when I 

was 16, I thought 

I was all Catholic-ed 

out. I went 

in a bad direction. 

I do know 

that when Amy 

passed away, I 

asked the Lord: 

Please help me 

be connected 

again. 

I prayed every 

day. I needed 

someone who 

could strengthen 

my faith. I was at 

church one day 

and the pastor, 

Msgr. Jerry Calovini, 

asked me if 

I could join some 

men for coffee 

and talk about 

my baseball days. 

That was 15 years 

ago. 

Now I go to Mass every day with 

Msgr. Jerry, have breakfast with him a 

few times a month, and he’s become 

my best friend. We talk God, baseball 

… everything. 

When you reach an age like where I 

am, and you realize you got to accomplish 

so much even if there were some 

roadblocks and tragedies, you find out 

that the main reason you go to church 

is to thank the Lord for my life. 

Many forget the thanking part 

of all that. I ask for the strength to 

resist temptation, the strength to get 

through anything, and to make me 

more caring about others. 

Hoffarth: Could baseball do anything 

to reinforce about how to act 

upon your faith? 

Donnelly: I can relate to sports in 

that it’s about helping teammates. 

That’s also what you do in life. Your 

family and friends are your teammates. 

You ask them for help and also 

give them strength. I know I need 

someone to help me. 

I have my moments of weakness. I 

need people to shield me from things 

that I’ve learned are bad for me. My 

wife, Roberta, is so good at that. She 

Florida Marlins player Craig Counsell celebrates scoring the winning run at midnight at the 

end of Game 7 of the 1997 World Series against the Cleveland Indians. The moment inspired 

the name of the book by Rich Donnelly, who as the Marlins’ third-base coach directed Counsell 

to run toward home plate. 

doesn’t have to tell me; she shows me 

every day in what she does. 

When I give talks to groups, I find 

out that everyone really has issues 

they’re dealing with — illness, money, 

loss of a loved one, their jobs, their 

faith. … I want to remind people: 

Don’t run with the herd. Don’t be 

around negativity. When I see successful 

people, they are extremely positive. 

My dad used to have me study famous 

coaches in sports — Don Shula 

and Vince Lombardi, very strong 

Catholics. I just did a talk to some athletes 

at the University of Wisconsin, 

and they sent me a note: “You helped 

our team with your message of being 

strong, helping teammates.” In life, 

that’s what we do. Just like in sports. 

Hoffarth: Does today’s Major League 

Baseball provide a better culture 

for family focus? We see road trips 

happen where players can take their 

families, where technology allows you 

instant time with your children. 

Donnelly: Years ago, they had what 

was called the Baseball Chapel, but 

there was this thing that, if you went, 

you were less of a 

man. There were 

only a couple of 

stadiums that had 

a Catholic Mass 

on Sundays before 

games. 

That has improved 

so much now. And 

it is much easier to 

communicate with 

phones and texting. 

It’s no excuse for 

how I acted or the 

mistakes I made, but 

back in the day, I 

could have used all 

those things. 

Hoffarth: What’s 

the greatest takeaway 

you want people to 

have from this book? 

Donnelly: Everyone 

has goals, no 

matter what your 

line of work. Mine 

happened to be 

baseball. 

But you can’t put your goals ahead of 

your family. I did that. I got to the big 

leagues, and ignored my family, especially 

my daughter, because I think I 

paid more attention to my sons. 

You hear that term “workaholic.” But 

that cannot come before being present 

in your kids’ lives. The simple act of 

just being there instead of at some party 

or some convention or something 

work related, that means the world to 

them. If you have a choice, choose 

family. 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning 

journalist based in Los Angeles. 

AFP/GETTY IMAGES / JEFF HAYNES 



MONASTERYICONS.COM 



St. Macrina the Younger St. Scholastica St. Catherine of Siena St. Hildegard of Bingen 

Agents for radical change 

The heroic history of nuns, sisters, and consecrated virgins and widows 

BY MIKE AQUILINA / ANGELUS 

Anyone who has grown up in 

a devout home knows that 

the work of the Church turns 

on the prayers, decisions, 

and actions of Catholic women — 

ordinary mothers and wives who live 

in the parish. 

And anyone who reads about the 

past knows that Church history turns 

on the prayers, decisions, and work 

of religious women — nuns, sisters, 

consecrated virgins, and consecrated 

widows. 

It has been this way since the beginning. 

The company of Jesus’ disciples 

included a large number of women, 

at a time when mixing of the sexes 

was uncommon. Some seem to have 

dedicated their lives completely to 

him, leaving behind family life as the 

apostles did. 

St. Paul, in his First Letter to the 

Corinthians, speaks of women who 

consecrated themselves to lifelong virginity 

and celibacy (1 Corinthians 7). 

Such women were numerous by 

the end of the first century, and their 

place in the Church was so deeply 

respected that two of the earliest 

Church Fathers, St. Clement of Rome 

and St. Ignatius of Antioch, warned 

that the greatest temptation faced by 

religious women was to pride and 

boasting. 

In the Greco-Roman world, this was 

a radical development. The wider 

society had no special regard for 

virgins and widows. They were seen 

as accursed. They were impoverished 

because they had no means of income 

— no men to provide for them. 

Roman women derived whatever 

personal identity they had from the 

males in their lives: father, husband, 

or sons. On their own, women lacked 

status and opportunity. You’ll find very 

few literary works by pagan women. 

And only men appear as heroes in the 

epics of non-Christian antiquity. 

The duty of Roman women was to 

provide male children to carry the 

family name. From the beginning, 

however, Christian women distinguished 

themselves as leaders, writers, 

and teachers — and even epic heroes. 

One of the bestselling novels among 

the early Christians was the so-called 

“Acts of Paul and Thecla.” 

It showed the great apostle to be 

dependent on the work of a strong 

woman who had consecrated her 

virginity to God. 

In the second century, Christians 

from Athens to Rome — from Justin 

Martyr to Athenagoras — remarked 

upon the special place of consecrated 

women in the Church. 

The third-century physician Galen 

despised Christianity, but he had to 

grudgingly admire these women, who 

courageously took up a difficult life 

and, “in self-discipline and self-control, 

have reached a level not beneath 

that of real philosophers.” 





of Bingen St. Teresa of Ávila St. Thérèse of Lisieux St. Teresa of Calcutta 

Christian women used this unprecedented 

freedom to carry forward the 

work of the Church. Consecrated 

virgins and widows served as catechists 

and assisted in the administration of 

baptism. 

Women religious pray during the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life at the Basilica 

of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. 

In Christianity, for the first time in 

history, women enjoyed the freedom 

to pursue their chosen vocation. They 

were subject to the dictates of their 

own conscience. In Greek and Roman 

society, girls were married off at age 

11 or 12 to a much older man chosen 

for them by their father. 

In the pagan world the situation 

drew not admiration, but rather suspicion 

and fear. To be an independent 

woman — or a woman living in a 

community of consecrated women 

— was seen as a revolutionary act, a 

threat to the traditional social order. 

Consecrated virgins were often specifically 

targeted in the Roman persecutions. 

Many of the most renowned 

early martyrs were persecuted because 

they refused the marriages arranged 

for them. Their names are hallowed 

in the First Eucharistic Prayer. 

In fourth-century Rome, communities 

of women distinguished themselves 

for scholarly research and 

knowledge of ancient languages. They 

also eagerly took up works of charity, 

providing relief for the poor, sick, and 

abandoned — classes of people who 

were shunned in the pagan world. 

Consecrated women played a 

decisive role in the creation of the 

hospital. Before Christianity there had 

been no hospitals. It appeared as an 

institution only with the legalization 

of the Church in A.D. 312. And it was 

women — Fabiola in Rome, for example, 

and Olympias in Constantinople 

— who took the lead in establishing 

these first places of healing. 

Women also played an important 

part in the development of monastic 

life. As early as the third century there 

were women living in community and 

as solitaries in the Egyptian desert. In 

Cappadocia in the fourth century, St. 

Gregory of Nyssa presented his sister, 

St. Macrina, as a leader in monastic 

life. 

St. Benedict’s sister, St. Scholastica, 

did for cloistered women what her 

brother was doing for cloistered men. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/BOB ROLLER 


She set for them a way of life. 

What was established in earliest 

Christianity continued as a pattern 

through all the centuries that followed. 

Religious women rose to 

prominence in the affairs of the 

Church. They were responsible for 

major developments in Church order, 

philanthropic work, scholarship, 

spirituality, and even the sciences. 

At every turn in history, contemplative 

nuns and active sisters were there 

to take the lead. 

Consider St. Catherine of Siena, 

whose letters of counsel reformed 

a wayward papacy. She succeeded 

where diplomats and strategists had 

failed. 

Consider St. Hildegard of Bingen, 

who composed music and wrote major 

works in medicine and theology. 

Consider St. Teresa of Ávila, who 

brought about the reform of religious 

life in spite of fierce opposition from 

Church and secular authorities. 

Consider St. Thérèse of Lisieux, 

who is peerless in her influence on 

modern spirituality. 

Consider St. Teresa of Calcutta 

— Mother Teresa — who won the 

Nobel Peace Prize and remains, even 

21 years after her death, the world’s 

most recognized icon of charity and 

philanthropy. 

Since the first proclamation of the 

gospel, the women we address as “Sister” 

and “Mother” have been movers 

and shakers in history. Christianity 

has given women a place that remains 

unrivaled in the world. And they hold 

that place today, in our convents and 

cloisters and diverse religious communities. 

It is at least worth noting that other 

religions, even those that count 

women among their clergy, have not 

produced figures as iconic as ours. 

As we celebrate vocations, we should 

turn our attention to these religious 

women still active (and contemplative) 

among us — though they never 

shine the spotlight on themselves. 

Mike Aquilina is a contributing editor 

of Angelus News and the author of 

many books, including “The Witness 

of Early Christian Women: Mothers of 

the Church” and “St. Monica and the 

Power of Persistent Prayer.” 


CONVERSION OUT 

OF CONFUSION 

Why the writings of St. Charles Borromeo offer 

the Church a spiritual road map to renewal 

BY KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ / ANGELUS 

“If you want to go to hell, become a priest.” 

Such a situation, thanks be to God, is perhaps 

not quite what we’re facing today, even after the 

revelations about former Cardinal Theodore Mc- 

Carrick’s alleged abuses and the release of the Pennsylvania 

grand jury report. 

But it was a common saying in 16th-century Milan during 

the time when St. Charles Borromeo served as the city’s 

archbishop, a time well-known for corruption and confusion 

inside the Church. 

He had actually petitioned Pope Pius IV, who was also his 

uncle, to let him reside there, after a three-decade absence 

of a bishop. An effective administrator and reformer, 

Borromeo could have had a cushy life. But he knew he was 

made for more, that the Church needed more. 

“It is difficult to appreciate how challenging the times 

were during Charles’ life and how badly the Church was in 

need of reform and renewal, especially among her bishops 

and clergy,” writes Msgr. John R. Cihak in his introduction 

to a recent translation of some of his sermons in a book 

titled “Charles Borromeo: Selected Orations, Homilies and 

Writings” (Bloomsbury, T&T Clark, $29.95). 

Religious orders in Milan, too, “had fallen into laxity.” 

(Though that may be an understatement when you learn 

that “civil authorities in Milan decreed the death penalty 

for whomever had carnal relations with a nun.”) 

Among the laity, meanwhile, people weren’t receiving the 

sacraments and were more likely to be superstitious than 

knowledgeable about their Catholic faith. 

There are no easy answers or “takes” in this time of scandal 

other than more radical conversion, gazing at the cross 

and meditating on Scripture and understanding that we 

all have a role to play and a responsibility in reforming the 

Church. 

In our own season of scandal, the consequences of 

decades of divides and laxity in the Church — at times 

and in many places surrendering to or blending in with or 

hiding from the culture that had been consumed by sexual 

revolutionary values — the folks who have the right idea 

are talking about and praying for saints. 

Among the laity. Among religious. Among priests. Among 

the bishops and cardinals. That’s only going to bear fruit in 

serious prayer and fasting all around. 

To do so, it helps to get to know a saint like Borromeo 

better — and calling upon his intercession can only help. 

Reading through his writings, you can hear him speaking 

to the priests and bishops of today: “For woe shall it be to 

you, if through you comes scandal, and if on account of 

you the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles, 

and the majesty of our Most Holy Mother the Church is 

brought into contempt!” 

That’s from a Pentecost season sermon in 1587 in the 

Cathedral of Milan to men on the road to the priesthood. 

This is the kind of witness — not just words — the Church 

needs. 

Pope Francis, for his part, has often touched on a theme 

found frequently in Borromeo’s writings: Remembering 

one’s first love, Jesus Christ — the one who chose you, who 

called you, and who draws you to a deeper life in God. 

your past life, go over the years of your 

life, place your past ways of acting before your 

“Scrutinize 

gaze,” Borromeo said in a 1584 homily. “Inspect 

and evaluate your black spots and faults.” Decide, he 

said, to start examining your errors “not perfunctorily but 

seriously.” 

Today it has been pointed out that policies put in place in 

the past decade and a half have improved things, that the 

Pennsylvania grand jury report was about past evils. 

Borromeo seems to have been dealing with a similar 

reality: “As you have heard, the state of our clergy is such 

as to offer us occasion both for thanksgiving to God and for 

tears at the same time; thanks indeed for the amendment 

of life already established, but tears indeed for the errors 

still allowed to pass,” he said in the same homily. 

Sounding very much like Francis in some of his homilies, 

Borromeo warned priests about the “great and fearful sickness” 

that is “the tepidity that is found in men consecrated 

to God.” 

“Oh how many seem to be alive to others, but are close 

to death! They are indeed a little reformed outwardly, but 

interiorly they are cold, tepid, dead. Great is the battle of 

the Spirit against the tepid, brothers.” 

This is not a time for going along and getting along with 


St. Charles Borromeo 

sculpture by Attilio 

Selva in San Carlo 

al Corso Church in 

Rome, Italy. 

SHUTTERSTOCK

the ways of the world. Nor was yesterday. But yesterday we 

leave to God’s mercy. Trusting in his Providence, the sins 

will be uncovered and the institutions will have to look 

much different in the future. 

Speaking at a provincial council in 1569, Borromeo said: 

In this crisis… see how great is the obligation laid upon us, 

who are the chosen standard-bearers of the Christian army 

and the doctors of souls … so that coming together as many 

into one, with the Holy Spirit leading, we may more easily 

implore aid from the Father of mercies and the God of all 

comfort (see 2 Corinthians 1:3). 

This, Fathers, is our task. This is our office. If indeed we 

have been placed in the exalted Chair of episcopal dignity, 

then we must as if from a watchtower be on the lookout for 

and repel whatever dangers hang over those who come under 

our faithfulness and our care. ... If we are shepherds, we must 

never cast our eyes away from the sheep, which Jesus Christ 

rescued from the jars and gullet of hell by his most holy 

death. And if any of them are wasting away in the impure 

stain of vices, we must heal them with the salt of keen correction. 

Later in the same talk, he continues: 

Let us direct our counsels, thoughts, efforts and actions to 

the certain norm of the will of God. ... So we may take care 

to restore by our decrees, not a mere sketch, but the express 

image of Christian discipline, which with the breath of the 

Holy Spirit at the Church’s birth, was instituted by the word 

of God, which is living and effectual, and more piercing 

than any two edged sword; and reaching until the division 

of the souls and the spirit, of the joints and the marrow, and 

is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart (see 

Hebrews 4:12). 

He adds: 

If we do not strive to tear up the seeds of vices by the roots, 

but instead consider it sufficient to use a light touch to 

correct only certain external matters that cause offense to the 

popular mind, then it will turn out for us as it does for farmers. 

They neglect to tear out weeds by the roots, but only cut 

off those that spring up and do not purge the field of noxious 

stems. In doing so they bring about what they plainly do not 

want, namely, that after a few days the weeds spring up more 

abundantly. 

Teach. Instruct. Restore. Recreate, Motivate. These, too, 

are Borromeo’s entreaties to bishops. He seems to be urging 

the whole Church to a penitential posture, but one that 

is boldly confident in the Holy Spirit. 

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow at the National Review 

Institute, where she directs the Center for Religion, Culture, 

and Civil Society, editor-at-large of National Review and a 

contributing editor to Angelus. 


The synod’s delicate document 

Bishops’ summit pulls back from endorsement of ‘zero tolerance’ on abuse 

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. / ANGELUS 

ROME — Sixteen years after 

the U.S. bishops adopted 

their Dallas charter, a global 

summit of Catholic bishops 

meeting in Rome walked up to the 

brink of endorsing “zero tolerance” on 

clerical sexual abuse but pulled back 

at the last minute. 

In its concluding document, the 

October 3-28 Synod on Young People, 

the Faith, and Vocational Discernment 

expressed a “firm commitment 

to the adoption of rigorous prevention 

measures that prevent [abuses] from 

being repeated.” 

However, an earlier draft of that 

document had the bishops “confirming 

the policy of ‘zero tolerance,’ ” a 

phrase that was eliminated prior to the 

final vote on October 27. 

The omission is especially striking 

given that Pope Francis himself repeatedly 

has invoked the idea of “zero 

tolerance” to express the Church’s 

anti-abuse stance. 

“The Church, irrevocably and at all 

levels, wishes to apply the principle 

of ‘zero tolerance’ against the sexual 

abuse of minors,” he said in October 

2017 in a speech to the Pontifical 

Commission for the Protection of 

Minors. 

According to synod sources, resistance 

to the phrase “zero tolerance” 

came from bishops concerned that 

while it’s popular in media coverage 

and casual conversation, it’s imprecise 

because it “means different things to 

different people.” 

Further, some of those bishops 

argued, it would have been premature 

for this synod to commit to any specific 

policies since Francis has called a 

summit of the presidents of all bishops’ 

conferences around the world to 

discuss child protection in Rome Feb. 

21-24, 2019. 

The resistance over “zero tolerance” 

was part of what was described as 

a broader tension within the October 

synod, between bishops whose 

countries have been scarred by abuse 

crises seeking stronger and more 

extensive languages, and bishops from 

other places, especially the developing 

world, concerned that too much 

attention to the abuse scandals would 

overshadow more pressing concerns 

for them. 

The final document acknowledged 

a “lack of responsibility and transparency 

with which many [abuse] cases 

were handled,” flagged clericalism 

as a primary cause of the scandals, 

and expressed gratitude to victims for 

coming forward, which said, helps 

“the Church to become aware of 

what happened and of the necessity of 

reacting decisively.” 

Francis himself wrapped up the 

synod in a closing speech after the 

final vote on the document with what 

many observers took to be an indirect 

reference to the abuse scandals that 

have rocked the Church in recent 

months, saying the Church as “mother” 

is under attack from the “great 

accuser” and needs to be defended. 

“At this moment, [the devil] is 

accusing us very strongly,” the pope 

said. “And this accusation becomes 

persecution.” 

Following almost a month of 

discussions in the Vatican’s synod 

hall, meetings that Francis attended 

virtually every day, the bishops and 

other participants — including, for 

the first time, 36 young people — also 

called for greater roles for women in 

the Catholic Church. 

They urged reflection on “the female 

presence in ecclesial organs at all 

levels, also in positions of responsibility, 

and of female participation in 

ecclesial decision-making processes 

respecting the role of the ordained 

ministry.” 

“It is a duty of justice, which finds 

inspiration in the way in which Jesus 

has related to the men and women of 

his time, in the importance of the role 

of some female figures in the Bible, in 

the history of salvation and in the life 

of the Church,” the bishops said. 

The final document of the synod also 

struck a delicate balance on matters of 

gender and sexuality, clearly affirming 

the “difference between masculine 

and feminine.” Notably, the terms 

“LGBT” and “gender” do not appear. 

Yet the document also encourages 


Pope Francis arrives in 

procession to celebrate 

the closing Mass of the 

Synod on Young People, 

the Faith, and Vocational 

Discernment in St. 

Peter’s Basilica at the 

Vatican October 28. 

pastoral programs of outreach to homosexual 

persons, saying “in this way, 

every young person, no one excluded, 

is helped ever more to integrate the 

sexual dimension into their personality, 

growing in the quality of relationships 

and journeying toward the gift 

of self.” 

In another twist that stirred some 

controversy within the synod, the final 

document contains several paragraphs 

on the idea of “synodality,” roughly 

meaning a more inclusive and participatory 

model of Church governance, 

often expressed through groupings of 

bishops and other participants at the 

local, regional, national, and continental 

levels. 

“In this synod, we felt that the collegiality 

which unites the bishops ‘cum 

Petro et sub Petro’ (‘with Peter and 

under Peter’) in solicitude for the People 

of God is called to be articulated 

and enriched through the practice of 

synodality at all levels,” the document 

reads. 

While it’s a familiar phrase in 

Francis’ lexicon, it had not been the 

subject of much reflection within 

the synod itself. Some participants 

objected that the language appeared 

to come from neither synodal discussions 

nor a drafting committee elected 

by the bishops, but rather aides of the 

pope charged with organizing synod 

operations. 

Although those paragraphs in the 

final document attracted the largest 

number of “no” votes, they were 

nevertheless adopted by comfortable 

majorities. Several participants said 

that while the idea may not have been 

discussed much, it was practiced. 

“The synod to me has been practicing 

the art of co-responsibility and 

synodality, this buzzword that’s come 

up toward the end of the synod, which 

is how we be Church together,” said 

Jonathan Lewis, an American youth 

delegate and the assistant secretary for 

pastoral ministry and social concerns 

for the Archdiocese of Washington, 

D.C. 

In his homily on Sunday for the synod’s 

closing Mass, the pontiff’s parting 

words concerned the importance of 

translating doctrine into a concrete 

commitment to others. 

“We cannot choose between doctrine 

and activism,” Francis said. “We 

are called to carry out God’s work 

in God’s own way: in closeness, by 

cleaving to him, in communion with 

one another, alongside our brothers 

and sisters.” 

“Closeness,” the pope said, “is the 

secret to communicating the heart of 

the faith, and not a secondary aspect.” 

The next summit of prelates from 

around the world under Francis will 

come in 2019, in a special Synod of 

Bishops devoted to the Pan-Amazonian 

region. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/PAUL HARING 


AD REM 

BY ROBERT BRENNAN 

Deal-making villains 

Though there seems to be a 

lull in the sexual sin scandal 

in the Church, there is no 

doubt this hydra-headed 

monster will rise again whether in the 

guise of the meeting in Rome at the 

beginning of next year, in the headlines 

of The New York Times or in the 

next State’s Attorney General report. 

Whole forests will die to supply the 

paper that will be used to explain how 

we got here and, hopefully, how we 

get out of here. 

But although using popular culture, 

especially Hollywood movies, as beacons 

of moral navigation is peccable, 

there are a couple of excellent examples 

of movie industry product that 

showcase what happens when men of 

God begin to worship at the altar of 

pragmatism. 

In the pre-video/cable/DVD/streaming 

days, the only way I was able to 

see old movies was when they would 

appear on television. So, it was with 

great anticipation that I prepared to 

watch the 1948 film “Joan of Arc” 

when it cycled into the television 

rotation a couple of decades later. 

It was a costume drama, check; it was 

about medieval warfare with knights 

in armor, check. I settled in to be taken 

away to the battlefields of France. 

I knew Joan of Arc was a saint and 

that she fought the English. That was 

about the extent of my knowledge. It’s 

like saying “War and Peace” is a novel 

about Russia. Upon that first viewing, 

between commercials for used cars 

and cigarettes, my preteen self was a 

little disappointed. 

The film was more about Joan’s internal 

life and the subsequent consequences 

of it than cool action scenes 

with swords banging against shields 

and armored challengers charging 

lines of pike-wielding foot soldiers. 

My ignorance of the real story of 

Joan was no match for understanding 

the last part of the film where Joan is 

on trial. I was confused. She was being 

judged by men who were dressed 

as bishops and cardinals. 

They were obviously the villains of 

the piece, but I couldn’t figure out 

why Catholic bishops were being so 

cruel to a nice Catholic girl … even 

if she had led an army and routed 

Orson Welles and Paul Scofield in 

“A Man for All Seasons,” 1966. 

Ingrid Bergman, José Ferrer, and Gene Lockhart in “Joan of Arc,” 1948 

their armies in a most embarrassing 

fashion. To further my consternation, 

I knew, even when I saw this film for 

the first time, that Joan of Arc was St. 

Joan of Arc. 

Time, that great incubator, allowed 

me to revisit this film and the life 

of St. Joan of Arc with a little less 

ignorance and the film became more 

profound to me. In light of today, it is 

depressingly current. Not that anyone 

is getting fastened to and then burned 

at a stake. 

But Catholic churchmen, men 

who are supposed to have God first 

and foremost in their hearts and 

minds, make deals. Time also lets 

the Church fix things, as the same 

Church that condemned Joan in 1431 

canonized her in 1920. 

Keeping with the theme of compromised 

deal-making bishops, I was a 

little older when I first saw “A Man 

For All Seasons” and was better “tutored” 

to understand what was going 

on in the plot. 

In the film, Orson Welles played 

Cardinal Wolsey, a man who attached 

himself to the hip of King Henry VIII 

and rose in stature, wealth, and influence 

accordingly. He was the consum- 

© 1966 HIGHLAND FILMS, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 


t in “Joan of Arc,” 1948. 

IMAGE VIA IMDB 

mate deal-maker both in the fictionalized 

version of Welles’ imagination 

and from all historical accounts. 

But he could not get Thomas More 

to budge and he could not, try as he 

might, get the most underexamined 

character in this tragedy to move an 

inch. The bishop Wolsey molded 

himself to whatever situation benefited 

himself. 

But Catherine of Aragon knew exactly 

who she was. She was the lawful, 

and according to Church teaching, 

only wife Henry ever had. Because 

Catherine took her vows and her marriage 

seriously and refused to compromise 

despite the pleadings of the 

deal-making Wolsey, he was detached 

from the regal hip and found himself 

under arrest and awaiting trial. 

The trial never took place because 

Wolsey died before he could be found 

guilty and probably executed. In the 

film, a dying cardinal played brilliantly 

by Orson Welles, laments his 

fall with the real Wolsey’s own words, 

“Had I but served God as diligently as 

I have served the king, he would not 

have given me over in my grey hairs.” 

Sober words of warning for the 

deal-maker in all of us. 


Strength in the tempest 

How Eugene Delacroix’s religious art reveals a hidden trust in Christ 

BY ELIZABETH LEV / ANGELUS 

METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 

It’s hard to imagine what the 

dandyish 19th-century painter 

Eugene Delacroix and the 

action-film paladin Mel Gibson 

might have in common. 

Yet both famously scandalized 

audiences with violent imagery, both 

were ostracized by their contemporary 

artistic institutions, and both drew 

inspiration from Blessed Anne Catherine 

Emmerich’s visions of Jesus’ 

suffering and death. 

Emmerich, a German nun beatified 

by St. Pope John Paul II, recounted 

her ecstatic experiences in “The 

Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus 

Christ,” published in 1833. 

Her book not only inspired Gibson’s 

2003 “Passion of the Christ,” but also 

caught the attention of Delacroix, at 

the time a rock-star painter known for 


Gibson’s conversion is well-known, 

but Delacroix’s faith remains hidden 

behind the patina of secularist art 

history. 

Delacroix was born in 1798 during 

the French Revolution to Charles 

Delacroix, who had voted to execute 

King Louis XVI and for the destruction 

of Versailles. Persistent rumors, 

however, suggested his true paternity 

was Maurice Talleyrand, an excommunicated 

bishop-turned-revolutionary. 

Either way, not an environment 

to foster faith in a young boy. 

As one of the fathers of the Romantic 

Movement, Delacroix is touted today 

as a man without religion, a spiritual 

disciple of Diderot or Rousseau, 

and his most famous work, “Liberty 

Leading the People,” celebrating the 

revolution of 1830, would suggest that 

Eugene had followed in his father’s 

footsteps. 

Nonetheless, Delacroix turned out 

an astonishing amount of religious art, 

more than 120 works, most of them 

executed in his later years. These tell 

a different story. 

“Christ Asleep during the Tempest,” 

1853, by Eugène Delacroix. 

his raucous personal life and a family 

history that was none too friendly with 

the Catholic Church. 

Their biographies would suggest that 

both men were distant from spiritual 

matters, yet each, albeit a century 

apart, was deeply affected by religion. 

Delacroix’s life, like that of all of 

human beings, was a journey. 

A talented rake in Restoration 

Paris, the young painter sought glory 

and sated his desires with numerous 

affairs. A lover of drama, literature, 

and music, his first salon work in 

1822, the “Barque of Dante,” brought 

together all his passions. 

The languid bodies undulating in 

the churning sea and the juxtaposition 

of a raging fire with obfuscating 

fog evoked epic poetry or operatic 

prowess. 

While not a biblical scene, the metaphor 

of ships on troubled seas would 

accompany him for the rest of his 

life. He would return to this theme 

in 1840, painting “The Shipwreck of 

the Don Juan,” inspired by Lord Byron’s 

poem, until he found the most 

congenial outlet for his fascination 

with frightened sailors and dangerous 

waters. 

After shocking the Academy for years 

with paintings like the “Death of Sardanapalus” 

(also from Byron) and the 

pseudo-political “Massacre at Chios,” 

Delacroix, rejected seven times by 

that august institution, became the 


father of romantic painting. 

His exotic animal hunts and odalisques 

captured primal fire and fury 

through color and brushstroke, until 

ill health began to slow him down in 

the 1840s. 

Perhaps, however, as one flame 

waned, another ignited. On Feb. 28, 

1847, Delacroix noted in his journal 

plans to read an “exceedingly interesting” 

book by Sister Emmerich containing 

“extraordinary details about 

the Passion, that were revealed to this 

young girl.” 

He had just completed an image of 

the “Crucifixion” and was working 

on “The Entombment.” These were 

followed by a “Lamentation” and an 

“Incredulity of Thomas,” to become 

what art historian Joyce Polistena 

describes as a “quartet of images of the 

passion of Christ that, taken together, 

come closer to portraying Christological 

theology than nearly any other 

19th-century contemporary artist.” 

Polistena explains that they “illustrate 

the sacred body as anointed, adored, 

caressed, carried, lanced and probed, 

wrapped and mourned over.” 

Delacroix embarked on a 

remarkably fertile period of religious 

subjects, including his 

“Good Samaritan” (inspirational for 

Van Gogh) and two beautiful murals 

in the Parisian church of St. Sulpice. 

But one image captivated him so 

deeply that he painted it six times 

from 1841 to 1854 — “Christ Asleep 

during the Tempest.” Although he 

made slight variations on poses and 

colors, for more than 13 years he kept 

the same central composition. 

Delacroix’s earlier boats had lain 

flat along the horizon line, while his 

biblical depictions showed a boat 

tilted at an angle and pitched toward 

the viewer, ready to hurl the occupants 

into the sea. The charcoal-green 

waves rise ominously around the little 

figures in the rickety vessel. 

The apostles react in different ways, 

so that panic tosses the boat as violently 

as the waves. Only Jesus sleeps 

peacefully in the stern. In one version 

he is swathed in red; in most of the 

others he wears blue. 

The compelling 1853 painting in the 

Metropolitan Museum of Art shows 


a teal sea lit by pale, churning froth 

as the waves overwhelm the low-lying 

boat. 

One shadowy figure huddles in the 

prow, clutching a beam. Two disciples 

next to him try to row, but their oars 

flail ineffectively. Another clasps his 

mantle as it flies away, while his companion 

loses his paddle. The compositional 

axis is given to the frenzy of two 

distraught apostles throwing their arms 

in the air. 

The russet tones hinted at through 

the composition find their full expression 

in the scarlet sleeves of the aghast 

apostle. Then one figure, nestled 

quietly next to Jesus, leads the eye to 

the sleeping Christ. He must be John, 

at peace as long as he is near the Lord. 

Jesus, his head resting on his fist, 

sleeps. His mantle and halo seem to 

shield him from the madness around 

him. Oblivious to the man trying to 

master the rudder, Jesus appears uninterested 

in the imminent threat. 

Delacroix came of age during 

Napoleon’s final stand, and he lived 

through two more revolutions, as 

well as the Crimean War. France had 

restored the monarchy and the Catholic 

faith, yet between insurrections, 

revolts, and war, Delacroix’s world 

seemed contradictory and crazy. 

In the midst of overwhelming uncertainty 

and violence, Delacroix’s insistence 

on this artistic theme appears to 

echo Christ’s rebuke: “Why are you 

afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 

(Mark 4:40). 

In the modern age, where political, 

existential, and physical tempests 

threaten to engulf our little barque 

of faith, Delacroix illustrates that our 

strength is not in how we row, cry, or 

complain, it is in our trust in Christ 

— though at times he appears to be 

asleep. 

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 

New York is holding the first exhibition 

on Eugene Delacroix in the United 

States, including several of his tempest 

paintings and other religious works, 

through Jan. 6, 2019. 

Elizabeth Lev is an American art 

historian, author, and speaker living in 

Rome. 


THE CRUX 

BY HEATHER KING 

One more 

model to 

make 

From Vikings Stadium 

to Watts Tower, Greg 

Kelly is rebuilding 

bits of history with his 

hands 

COURTESY GREG KELLY 

MINNESOTA VIKING STADIUM — Kelly said, “The most difficult part was attaching the main spine 

on top to coincide with front to rear. I built in air, no rulers, tape measures, just sight.” 

For Greg Kelly, 67, model 

building is a form of meditation. 

He was raised in Long 

Beach, the third in a family of 12. 

“My dad and older brother would 

build little balsa wood airplanes, I was 

probably 3 or 4, and they’d work on 

it on the kitchen table. I’d just sit and 

watch, curious. They learned to take 

it and put it on top of the refrigerator 

to make sure it was away from me.” 

As a kid Kelly never built a model. 

He was always in sports. He had 12 

years of Catholic school. “I had some 

nuns who were saints, some not so 

much. But I wouldn’t trade the experience 

for anything. It taught me with 

my projects that they weren’t going to 

be easy or simple. It was up to me to 

figure things out.” 

He and his classmates were being 

groomed to be doctors and lawyers. 

“When I graduated from high 

school, I started working in factories 

and I enjoyed it. I found I personally 

enjoyed working with my hands!” 

The family had moved to Orange 

County. One day Kelly was walking 


past a discount chain store called Zodys, 

and in the window was a visible 

V-8 engine model. He bought it, ostensibly 

for his brothers. They weren’t 

interested. So he built it himself, and 

was hooked. 

Meanwhile, his father had built 

a 3,000-square-foot commercial 

building in downtown Tustin. So in 

November 1971, he got a 180-squarefoot 

space to open a business. 

He had $325 to spend on inventory. 

“I was 20 years old, I was still working 

at the factory, and I knew nothing 

about retail.” Kelly’s Hobby Shop was 

open for the next 43 years. 

He learned from his customers. 

When they showed him the boat 

and plane models they’d built from 

kits, Kelly started building his own 

gas-powered airplanes and going out 

to local fields and flying them. He 

kept evolving. 

Once you learn the fundamentals, 

he discovered, you can take off with 

your own design and embellishments. 

“I got super big into rockets. I did 

everything short of getting in one and 

being launched into space.” He had 

no engineering background but his 

fellow rocketeers loved his work. 

He never started a family. “I was 

married to the shop.” 

He loved doing work while passersby 

watched, like a guy spinning pizzas in 

the front window of his shop. 

“People would stop and say, ‘What 

are you doing?’ Kids would drop by 

after school. They don’t necessarily 

have to make the model. But just to 

get a child to sit and watch, they’re 

learning.” 

As he got older, he found he couldn’t 

bend over or get onto his knees so easily. 

So around 2000, he thought he’d 

start doing buildings. He proceeded 

by trial and error: old movie theaters, 

a group of Irish cottages with cornhusk 

roofs, a replica of the Minnesota 

Vikings’ U.S. Bank Stadium fashioned 

from 6,500 toothpicks. 

His work began to be recognized. 

Ripley’s offered to buy the stadium 

(but low-balled him so he kept it). “Initially, 

my father would walk past my 

displays and say, ‘What are you doing 

that for?’ But as the years passed, he 

started going through the shop giving 

tours. ‘Look what my son made here!’ 

That would make my day. They felt 

really good.” 

More recently, he realized that no 

one, to his knowledge, had ever done 

a 3D model of Simon Rodia’s iconic 

Watts Towers, by which he’d been fascinated 

since childhood. So five years 

ago he started one himself. 

For the rings, he soaked reeds in 

water and set them in place with cyanoacrylate 

(CA) glue. For the broken 

shards of pottery, he came up with 

the idea of cutting up soda cans with 

tungsten scissors, creating thousands 

of tiny specks of color, then gluing on 

each piece separately with an X-Acto 

blade. 

Each project takes about four 

months and is like running a marathon: 

the Titanic’s grand staircase, 

the Twin Towers’ “Stairway to Hope.” 

Over the course of a thousand hours, 

he built an early-1900s-era schoolhouse, 

complete with individual desks 

and an 88-key piano, and donated it 

to his grade school alma mater, St. 

Cornelius in Long Beach. 

“People say, ‘Greg, you have such 

patience!’ I have no patience. That’s 

why I do this. It helps calm me down. 

I understand why people do needlepoint. 

It’s like therapy.” 

He met his wife, Dana, at his 45th 

high school reunion. They married 

in 2015. He shut down his shop and 

moved to the Minneapolis area soon 

after. 

His Native American teepee model, 

dedicated to Ira Hayes, the Pima 

Indian soldier who helped raise the 

flag at Iwo Jima, won a blue ribbon 

at the Minnesota State Fair over the 

summer. Dana’s gluten-free chocolate 

cake won third place. 

He has a shop in his basement, and 

though he’s undergoing treatment for 

prostate cancer, continues to work. 

“Every day as I get older, I just thank 

God that I’m still here. I always pray 

to Jesus that I still have one more 

model to make. That he’ll spare me 

to do another one. ’Cause I just love 

building models so much.” 

Heather King is a blogger, speaker and the author of several books.

Angelus News | November 2, 2018 | Vol. 3 No. 37

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