Angelus News | November 9, 2018 | Vol. 3 No. 38

ANGELUS 

ORIGINAL HIPSTERS 

The Catholic elements of Beat literature 

November 9, 2018 Vol. 3 No. 38

C 

ON THE COVER 

Allen Ginsburg (left) and Jack Kerouac were part of the Beat movement that 

helped lay the foundation for the postmodern “hipster” label. Was it all just 

spiritual self-indulgence, or did the Beats, crying from the depths, ever find God? 

On page 10, Mike Aquilina looks at the lives of Jack Kerouac and his fellow 

“Beats” and finds that the movement’s Catholic influences gave it an often notso-subtle 

spiritual dimension. On page 26, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo professor Dr. 

Robert Inchausti offers his impressions on a book about one of the Beats’ most 

sympathetic readers: Trappist monk Thomas Merton. 

ALAMY STOCK PHOTO 

IMAGE: Students from St. Benedict School in Montebello dressed as their 

favorite saints for All Saints Day November 1. Pictured after 

Mass with students outside St. Benedict’s Church is pastor Father 

Michael Stechmann, OAR (left), and Deacon David Estrada (right). 

The Augustinian Recollect Community has staffed the parish for 

20 years and instituted this tradition upon its arrival. Four of the 

children dressed as Augustinian saints Monica, Ezekiel Moreno, 

Rita and Augustine. 

ST. BENEDICT SCHOOL

Contents 

Archbishop Gomez 3 

World, Nation and Local News 4-6 

LA Catholic Events 7 

Scott Hahn on Scripture 8 

Father Rolheiser 9 

In Granada Hills, prayers for penance and healing for abuse crisis 16 

A priest’s forgotten heroism during the Black Plague’s visit to LA 18 

John Allen breaks down the field of potential future popes 20 

Gary Jansen: Did a supernatural visit seal John Bosco’s vocation? 22 

Grazie Christie on the most difficult diagnosis faced by parents 24 

Heather King: Where love for LA’s favorite Okie lives on 28

POPE WATCH 

ANGELUS 

November 9, 2018 | Vol.3 • No. 38 

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‘Listen, O Israel!’ 

The following is an excerpted version 

of Pope Francis’ Sunday Angelus address 

to faithful and pilgrims gathered 

in St. Peter’s Square November 4. 

At the center of this Sunday’s Gospel 

(cf. Mark 12: 28b-34), there is the 

commandment to love: love for God 

and for neighbor. 

A scribe asks Jesus: “Of all the 

commandments, which is the most 

important?” (verse 28). He answers by 

quoting that profession of faith with 

which every Israelite begins and ends 

the day, and which starts with the 

words, “Listen, O Israel: the Lord our 

God, the Lord is one.” (Deuteronomy 

6:4). 

Thus Israel safeguards its faith in the 

fundamental reality of the whole of its 

creed: there is only one Lord and that 

Lord is “ours,” in the sense that he 

bound himself to us with an indissoluble 

pact; he has loved us, he loves us 

and he will love us forever. 

It is from this source that the twofold 

commandment stems: “You shall love 

the Lord your God with all your heart, 

and with all your soul, and with all 

your mind, and with all your strength. 

[...] You shall love your neighbor as 

yourself” (verse 30-31). 

Choosing these two Words addressed 

by God to his people and, putting 

them together, Jesus taught that love 

of God and love of neighbor are inseparable; 

rather, more than that, they 

support one another. 

Our God is donation without reservations; 

he is unlimited forgiveness; 

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he is a relationship that promotes and 

makes one grow. Therefore, to love 

God means to invest one’s energies 

every day to be his collaborators in 

serving our neighbor without reservations, 

in seeking to forgive without 

limits and in cultivating relationships 

of communion and fraternity. 

The evangelist Mark is not concerned 

with specifying who my 

neighbor is, because my neighbor is 

the person I meet on the way during 

my days. It is not about pre-selecting 

my neighbor: This is not Christian, it 

is pagan. It is about having the eyes 

to see him and the heart to wish him 

well. 

If we train ourselves to see with Jesus’ 

eyes, we will always listen to, and be 

beside, those in need. Our neighbors’ 

needs certainly require effective 

answers, but first of all they call for 

sharing. With an image we can say the 

hungry person needs not only a plate 

of soup but also a smile, to be heard, 

and also a prayer, perhaps together. 

Today’s Gospel invites us all to be 

projected not only to the urgencies of 

our poorest brothers but especially to 

be attentive to their need of fraternal 

closeness, the meaning of life, and 

tenderness. 

God, who is love, created love for us 

so that we can love others, remaining 

united to him. It would be illusory to 

pretend to love our neighbor without 

loving God, and it would also be illusory 

to pretend to love God without 

loving our neighbor. 

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 9, 2018

NEW WORLD 

OF FAITH 

BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

Days of the dead, hope of the living 

This past weekend, I celebrated our 

annual Día de los Muertos (Day of 

the Dead) Mass at Calvary Cemetery 

in East Los Angeles. 

Día de los Muertos is a beautiful cultural 

expression of the Church’s traditional 

All Souls’ commemoration, in 

which we remember and intercede for 

our loved ones who have gone before 

us. Also, last week I had the privilege 

of celebrating that commemoration at 

All Souls Cemetery in Long Beach. 

This month of November is traditionally 

the month when the Church 

asks us to think about our mortality 

and the “last things” — death and 

judgment, heaven and hell. 

These beliefs and customs are 

another reminder of the “realism” that 

is at the heart of our Catholic faith. 

The reality of every human life is that 

there is a time to be born and there is 

a time to die. But this is not the end of 

the story. 

As Catholics, we understand these 

last things in the light of Jesus Christ 

— the Son of God who came to 

become a son of Mary, who came to 

share in our human condition. 

By his love, he was born in the womb 

of his mother and he suffered death. 

But he rose again on the third day and 

ever since then, human life has been 

open to the hope of the Resurrection. 

Our society today needs the realism 

of the Gospel, the realism of the 

Church’s traditions. 

On the one hand, death surrounds 

us. Our news is filled with reports 

about people being killed or dying 

tragically. Just pick up the newspaper 

or turn on the nightly news. We also 

have a strange fascination with death 

in our popular entertainment. 

While on the one hand, we treat 

death as a spectacle, something we 

watch, on the other hand, death is a 

topic we seem to want to avoid. 

This is part of the reason that our 

consumer society is obsessed with 

products promising “health and 

fitness” and “anti-aging” schemes to 

combat the natural processes of getting 

older and closer to death. 

The sad truth is that in our society 

and culture, we are afraid of death. 

I think this is because in a world 

where faith in God is fading away, 

people can no longer see or hope for 

anything beyond the horizon of this 

world. There is a kind of quiet despair, 

as people come to believe that there is 

“nothing more.” 

This unspoken despair is behind 

some of the most alarming trends in 

our society — the push for euthanasia, 

the dramatic rise of suicides and 

addictions, most tragically among our 

young people. 

But the reality of our lives is that 

death is not the end of our journey. In 

Jesus Christ, death is a crossroads that 

leads us to a new beginning, to a love 

that never ends. 

Eternity is our destiny! This is the 

goal of this earthly pilgrimage that we 

are walking. This is our hope and our 

hope will not disappoint, as St. Paul 

used to say. 

In these days of November, the 

Church celebrates All Souls’ Day 

and All Saints’ Day. And these feasts 

belong together. 

Every soul is created to be a saint. 

That is the reality of our lives. This 

is what God wants for your life and 

for mine. It is so much more beautiful 

than we could ever imagine. We are 

born to be God’s children, and when 

we die we will belong to God forever 

in heaven. 

The life of every saint in heaven 

begins here on earth — in the choices 

we make, in the way we choose to 

live. 

That is why the Church gives us 

these “days of the dead” in November 

— to remind us why we are living. 

Jesus Christ came to share in our 

human life and in our death. He lived 

and died, and he rose again. And so 

if we die with Jesus, we will rise with 

him, to live forever in his kingdom of 

life and peace. 

If we follow Jesus in this life — if we 

take his hand and live according to 

his plan of love — then he will raise 

us up. A grave can only hold the body. 

The soul who believes in Jesus Christ 

is free, no chain can hold it down. 

Pray for me this week and I will keep 

praying for you. 

And let us intensify in these days our 

prayers for those who have gone before 

us marked with the sign of faith. 

We are all connected — the dead and 

the living and every one of us who 

hopes in Jesus. We are all connected 

in a communion of love, a Communion 

of Saints. 

Let us ask Mary our Blessed Mother 

to intercede for our loved ones — for 

God to grant them salvation, and let 

the perpetual light of eternal life shine 

upon them. 

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

November 9, 2018 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD 

Asia Bibi’s husband, Ashiq Masih, and 

daughter, Eisham Ashiq, in October. 

Will Asia Bibi 

escape Pakistan? 

A fight over Franco’s tomb 

Catholic and government authorities 

in Spain have become entangled 

in a debate over where to move 

the remains of Francisco Franco. 

In an effort to distance itself from 

the late dictator’s legacy, Spain’s socialist 

government announced plans 

earlier this year to move Franco’s 

remains from a Spanish Civil War 

memorial site outside of Madrid to a 

less prominent location. 

His nine grandchildren insist he be 

reinterred in a family tomb under 

Madrid’s Almudena Cathedral. 

Deputy Prime Minister Carmen 

Calvo told reporters that the Vatican 

Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro 

Parolin had agreed to prevent Franco’s 

reburial in the cathedral. 

But the Vatican press office 

countered this claim, saying in an 

October 30 statement that the Holy 

See “does not oppose exhumation of 

Francisco Franco if competent authorities 

have decided in favor, but 

will at no time comment regarding 

the place of burial.” 

To ensure that Franco is not buried 

in the cathedral, Calvo plans to 

invoke Spain’s Historic Memory 

Law, which she claims will apply to 

Almudena Cathedral. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/SIMON CALDWELL 

Protesters in Pakistan are trying 

to keep a Christian woman 

acquitted of blasphemy charges 

from leaving the country. 

Forty-seven-year-old Asia Bibi 

had been sentenced to death for 

allegedly insulting the name of 

Muhammed. On October 31, 

Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned 

the death sentence. 

“It’s really a great day, and it’s a 

very important step, especially for 

Asia Bibi’s family to come back 

to normality, because now we 

have the verdict of the Supreme 

Court and she has to be released,” 

Thomas Heine-Geldern, 

executive president of the papal 

foundation Aid to the Church in 

Need International, told Crux. 

“Then we have to see how the 

family can start a normal life 

again.” 

But members of the Islamist 

movement Tehreek-e-Labbaik 

(TLP) have taken to the streets, 

seeking to pressure Pakistan’s 

government to add Bibi’s name to 

the “exit control list.” 

Bibi has been offered asylum in 

numerous countries, including 

the U.K., where her husband and 

children lived throughout her 

trial and appeal process. 

SAND IN THE SQUARE — A depiction of Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem sculpted 

from compressed sand is being donated to the Vatican for display in St. Peter’s Square 

during the Christmas season. The 52-foot-wide Nativity scene will be unveiled during the 

Vatican’s annual tree-lighting ceremony December 7. 

Egypt: Pilgrims 

ambushed by ISIS 

At least seven pilgrims were killed 

and 16 were injured during an ISIS 

ambush in Egypt. 

Two buses full of Coptic Orthodox 

Church members were on pilgrimage 

to the Monastery of St. Samuel 

the Confessor near Cairo when 

attackers ambushed the pilgrims, according 

to the Interior Ministry. Isis 

later claimed credit for the attack 

through its Amaq news service. 

This is the second recent attack 

to target pilgrims to St. Samuel the 

Confessor monastery. In May 2017, 

30 people were killed in a similar 

ambush. 

JESOLO TOURISM OFFICE 


NATION 

High-tech help for blind Catholics 

A New York-based ministry is looking to technological 

advances to enhance the experience of the Mass for 

Catholics who are blind. 

The Xavier Society for the Blind is a free publication 

that provides free Braille-editions of Mass readings, 

religious texts, and even the Catechism of the Catholic 

Church. 

With the help of refreshable Braille display devices 

and the National Library’s Service for the Blind and 

Physically Handicapped’s audio player-reader system, 

they are looking to expand their ministry to aid more 

Catholics engage with Mass readings and religious 

education. 

“Half a million Americans have those readers,” Xavier 

Society Executive Director Malachy Fallon told 

Catholic News Service. “It is very easy for someone 

to use compared to our current technology of using 

CDs.” 

BEATRICE NJEMANZE/MISSISSIPPI CATHOLIC 

THEA THE EVANGELIST — The U.S. bishops will consider 

endorsing the sainthood cause of Sister Thea Bowman, pictured 

in an undated photo, during their November 12-14 fall assembly 

in Baltimore. The granddaughter of slaves, she was the only 

African-American member of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual 

Adoration, and she transcended racism to leave a lasting mark on 

U.S. Catholic life in the late 20th century. 

N.Y. auxiliary investigated 

for alleged sexual abuse 

An auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New York 

has been removed from ministry after being accused of 

sexual abuse. 

Bishop John Jenik, who became an auxiliary bishop 

in 2014, has claimed he is innocent of the accusations, 

which include an inappropriate relationship with 

accuser Michael Meenan during the 1980s. During 

that time, Meenan would have been between 13 and 

17 years old. 

Meenan’s accusation was made privately through the 

archdiocese’s Independent Reconciliation and Compensation 

Program (IRCP). However, after Bishop 

Jenik was removed, Meenan came forward publicly 

with his accusations and claimed there were other 

victims. 

“While I have the utmost respect for both the IRCP 

and the Review Board, and know that they have a great 

burden to confront the evil of sexual abuse, I continue 

to steadfastly deny that I have ever abused anyone 

at any time,” Bishop Jenik wrote in response to the 

allegations. 

Catholics urge ‘humane’ 

response to migrant caravan 

Migrants from Central America, attempting 

to reach the U.S., climb aboard a 

truck October 21 in Tapachula, Mexico. 

As the Trump 

administration 

prepares to send 

up to 15,000 troops 

to the southern 

border in response 

to a large group of 

Central American 

migrants’ march 

across Mexico, 

Church leaders are 

calling on governments 

to show 

both compassion 

and respect for due process. 

In an October 29 joint statement, the U.S. Conference 

of Catholic Bishops, Catholic Charities USA, 

and Catholic Relief Services advocated for the importance 

of “U.S. investments to address the underlying 

causes of violence and lack of opportunity in Central 

America,” while affirming that “seeking asylum is not 

a crime.” 

“While nations have the right to protect their borders, 

this right comes with responsibilities: governments 

must enforce laws proportionately, treat all people humanely, 

and provide due process,” read the statement. 

The growing caravan’s slow approach to the U.S. 

border had brought immigration back to prominence 

as a campaign issue in the weeks leading up to the 

November 6 midterm elections. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/UESLEI MARCLINO, REUTERS 


LOCAL 

Vida Nueva wins 

big in Vegas 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ 

Spanish-language publication, 

Vida Nueva, was recognized as 

the year’s best monthly Hispanic 

newspaper in the United States 

by the National Association of 

Hispanic Publications during its 

annual convention held October 

24-27 in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Vida Nueva was awarded a total 

of 11 José Martí Media Awards, 

the oldest and largest Latino 

mainstream media contest in the 

nation, for its photojournalism 

and articles with a local and Latin 

American perspective. 

“Personally, I feel deeply fortunate 

to have been working as an 

editor for Vida Nueva for the last 

28 years,” said Vida Nueva editor 

Victor Alemán, who is also photo 

editor for Angelus. 

“I always pray to God and to 

Our Lady of Guadalupe that we 

may continue to be inspired to 

inform our community in this 

great city of Los Angeles, because 

as the saying goes, ‘Information is 

power.’ ” 

HEALING PROS — Student volunteers from St. Mary’s Academy in Inglewood assisted at 

this year’s White Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels Sunday, November 4. 

The Mass honored doctors, nurses, and other health care professionals for their dedicated 

service in the archdiocese and in mission countries. Honorees included the Carmelite Sisters 

of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles and Doctor Tom Catena, M.D., who since 2009 has 

served in the war-torn area of the Nuba Mountains in Sudan. 

New media from the monastery 

Members of the Norbertine order in Southern California announced a 

digital outreach initiative they hope will help nourish people’s faith during 

difficult times for the Church. 

Launched on All Saints’ Day, the Abbot’s Circle website (www.theabbotscircle.com) 

includes video, podcasts, and written reflections, as well 

as chant recordings and audio lectures and a documentary on the fathers 

called “City of Saints.” 

“St. Norbert, a Catholic reformer, founded the Norbertines to lift up a 

demoralized clergy, preach to the lay faithful, and so renew the Church in 

difficult times,” Father Chrysostom Baer, prior of St. Michael’s Abbey in 

Orange County, said in a statement about the Abbot’s Circle. 

“We are fulfilling this very same mission today, in a time when both laity 

and clergy are demoralized by scandal, by using new media to connect with 

the faithful and offer support and guidance,” Baer said. 

DAVID AMADOR RIVERA 

LA’s tiny house test 

VICTOR ALEMÁN 

An LA woman holds a copy of Vida Nueva during 

a pilgrimage to Rome for the canonization 

of St. Oscar Romero in October. 

Los Angeles County has introduced a pilot program that would provide 

subsidies to homeowners building “accessory dwelling units” (ADUs), or 

“tiny houses,” as a way to address the area’s homeless crisis starting next 

spring. 

To qualify for the subsidy, homeowners would agree to rent the ADUs, 

which are typically built behind a home or are converted garages, to homeless 

men and women for three years after construction. 

LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, announced October 29 that the city had received 

$1 million from the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge to help 

fund the program. 

“The ADU pilot is specifically designed to pair homeowners with homeless 

Angelenos who are stable, prepared to move into housing, and ready to 

rebuild their lives,” said Garcetti, according to Los Angeles Daily News. 


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. 

Fri., Nov. 9 

Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekend. Courtyard, 

Marriott Long Beach Airport, 3841 N. Lakewood 

Blvd., Long Beach. Three-day retreat from Nov. 9-11 

will include presentations by married couples and a 

priest’s instructions on valuable communication tools 

and more. RSVP at ilovemyspouse.net or call 424- 

777-9963. 

Knights of Columbus New Orleans Fish Fry. 8049 

Manchester Ave., Playa del Rey, 5:30-8 p.m. Catfish 

meal $14/person, shrimp meal $15/person, catfish 

and shrimp meal $16/person, red snapper meal $15/ 

person, red snapper and shrimp meal $16/person. All 

meals include fries, hush puppies, and cole slaw. Pay 

at the door. Call Kathy at 310-703-2519. 

Sat., Nov. 10 

St. Jerome Church Arts and Crafts Faire. Parish hall, 

5550 Thornburn St., Westchester. Sat., 9 a.m.-4 p.m. 

and Sun., 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Handcrafted items for sale 

and raffles every few hours. Food and beverages 

available. All proceeds benefit St. Jerome Church. To 

reserve tables and learn more, call Joan at 310-670- 

7801 or Joyce at 310-649-5586. 

Practicing Presence: Journeying Inward Through 

the Labyrinth. Mary & Joseph Retreat Center, 5300 

Crest Rd., Rancho Palos Verdes, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Spend 

a day learning to deepen our sense of living in the 

present moment using the labyrinth. Meets requirements 

as a Veriditas qualifying workshop. Cost: $55/ 

person. Lunch included. Call Marlene Velazquez at 

310-377-4867, ext. 234. 

“Drawing Closer to God in Prayer” Silent Retreat. 

Pauline Books & Media, 3908 Sepulveda Blvd., 9:30 

a.m.-4 p.m. Led by Sister Patricia Shaules, FSP. Participants 

will consider various aspects of prayer, how 

to deepen our prayer life, and how prayer is transformed 

during our spiritual journey. 4 p.m. Mass 

available. Donation: $30/person, includes lunch. For 

more information or to register, call 310-397-8676 or 

email culvercity@paulinemedia.com. 

Eighth Annual African American Catholic Ancestral 

Mass. St. Odilia Church, 5222 Hooper Ave., Los 

Angeles, 12 p.m. In special memory of the Charter 

Members of St. Odilia “Negro National Church,” and 

the recently deceased members of the black Catholic 

community. For more information, call AACCFE at 

323-777-2106. 

“Salt and Light: Church, Disability, and the Blessing 

of Welcome for All.” St. Mel Church, 20870 Ventura 

Blvd., Woodland Hills, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Author Maureen 

Pratt will explain the historical and theological 

underpinnings of Christ’s welcome, particularly to 

those with physical, psychological, and emotional 

challenges. Cost: $20/person. RSVP at http://store. 

la-archdiocese.org/salt-and-light-ofw. Books will be 

available for purchase at each workshop. 

“The Loving Touch of God.” Our Lady of Grace 

Church parish hall, 5011 White Oak Ave., Encino, 1-4 

p.m. Speakers include Father Jay Cunnane, pastor of 

Our Lady of Grace Church, Jeff Steffon, LMFT, and 

Dominic Berardino, president, SCRC. Teachings include: 

Becoming Free From Oppression; Forgiveness 

Brings Freedom; God’s Heart is Full of Love for You! 

Prayer ministry will be available. Cost: $10/person. 

Contact SCRC at 818-771-1361 or register online at 

www.scrc.org. 

Annunciation Parish Family Fun Fest. 2701 S. Peck 

Rd., Monrovia, 12-9 p.m. Fun games, great food from 

around the world, beer and wine garden, and live 

entertainment. Call Arcie Reza at 626-446-1625. All 

funds raised support Annunciation Church’s religious 

education and youth/young adult ministries. 

Children’s Bureau Adoption and Foster Care Information 

Meeting. 11335 Magnolia Blvd., Suite C, 

North Hollywood, or 460 E. Carson Plaza Dr., Suite 

102, Carson, 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 213-342-0162 or toll free to 800- 

730-3933, email RFrecruitment@all4kids.org, or 

visit https://www.all4kids.org/program/foster-care/. 

Nazareth House Christmas Bazaar. 3333 Manning 

Ave., Los Angeles. Nov. 10-11, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Raffle, 

baked goods, and lots to see and buy! 

Holy Mass of Thanksgiving concelebrated by Polish-American 

Clergy. Cathedral of Our Lady of the 

Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 5 p.m. Following 

Mass, a concert will be performed on the cathedral’s 

majestic pipe organ. 

Magnificat San Gabriel Valley Meeting. San Dimas 

Canyon Golf Course, 2100 Terrebonne Ave., San Dimas, 

10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sister Regina Marie will speak 

about her “hymn of praise” from the mercy that has 

covered her journey. Cost: $32/person. Mail RSVP 

and check to Magnificat SGV Chapter, P.O. Box 4469, 

San Dimas, CA, 91773. Call Clara Luera at (626) 963- 

5532. 

Sun., Nov. 11 

“Blessings of the Earth” Interfaith Concert. Cathedral 

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

Angeles, 7 p.m. More than 150 Catholic and Jewish 

musicians from Southern California will combine 

their talents to raise awareness about environmental 

causes. For more information, call Joan Patano Vos at 

213-637-7588 or email jpvos@la-archdiocese.org. 

Ministry of Consolation: San Gabriel Region. St. 

Louise de Marillac, 1728 E. Covina Blvd., Covina, 8:30 

a.m.-1:30 p.m. English trainings held on Saturdays, 

Nov. 17-Dec. 15, excluding Nov. 24. Cost: $25/session. 

Email ehernandez@la-archdiocese.org for more 

information. Register at http://store.la-archdiocese. 

org/ministry-of-consolation-training-4. 

Cathedral Mass of Dedication for Veterans & Families. 

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple 

St., Los Angeles, 10 a.m. Mass will be celebrated 

by Bishop Joseph V. Brennan. 

Annual LMU Interfaith Forum: “Caring for the 

Stranger.” LMU University Hall, 1 LMU Drive, Ste. 

1840, Los Angeles, 2-5 p.m. A panel of representatives 

of the Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim communities 

will talk about their own traditions’ relationship to 

God, as well as the challenges and opportunities interfaith 

encounters present those working in pastoral 

ministry throughout the Southland. Free to the public. 

Mon., Nov. 12 

42nd Annual Catholic-Jewish Women’s Conference: 

Facing the Human Challenge of Forgiveness. 

Temple Judea, 5429 Lindley Ave., Tarzana, 8:30 

a.m.-3:30 p.m. Morning speakers: Rabbi Cantor Alison 

Wissot and Ellie Hidalgo, pastoral associate at 

Dolores Mission Church. Afternoon program will be 

participant dialogue groups. Cost: $40/person, includes 

lunch. Pre-registration required at catholicjewishwomenla.org. 

Call 805-497-1380. 

Loyola High School Eighth Grade Student and Parent 

Visitors’ Day. 1901 Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, 

8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Loyola students will accompany 

eighth-grade visitors through classes and recess, 

while parents tour the school and meet with administrators, 

faculty, and students. Visit http://www. 

loyolahs.edu for more information. 

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. 

• 10 things to know about the migrant caravan. 

• Robert Brennan’s thoughts on learning from young people. 

• Why it’s important to talk about martyrs. 


SUNDAY 

READINGS 

BY SCOTT HAHN 

1 Kings 1:10-16 / Ps. 146:7-10 / Heb. 9:24-28 / Mk. 12:38-44 

“Prophet Elijah and the Widow of Sarepta” (Zarephath), by Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644). 

We must live by the obedience of 

faith, a faith that shows itself in works 

of charity and self-giving (see Galatians 

5:6). That’s the lesson of the two 

widows in today’s liturgy. 

The widow in the First Reading isn’t 

even a Jew, yet she trusts in the word 

of Elijah and the promise of his Lord. 

Facing sure starvation, she gives all 

that she has, her last bit of food — 

feeding the man of God before herself 

and her family. 

The widow in the Gospel also gives 

all that she has, offering her last bit of 

money to support the work of God’s 

priests in the Temple. 

In their self-sacrifice, these widows 

embody the love that Jesus last week 

revealed as the heart of the Law and 

the Gospel. They mirror the Father’s 

love in giving his only Son, and 

Christ’s love in sacrificing himself on 

the cross. 

Again in today’s Epistle, we hear 

Christ described as a new high priest 

and the suffering servant foretold by 

Isaiah. On the cross, he sacrificed 

once and for all to take away our sin 

and bring us to salvation (see Isaiah 

53:12). 

And again we are called to imitate 

his sacrifice of love in our own lives. 

We will be judged, not by how much 

we give — for the scribes and wealthy 

contribute far more than the widow. 

Rather, we will be judged by whether 

our gifts reflect our livelihood, our 

whole beings, all our heart and soul, 

mind, and strength. 

Are we giving all that we can to the 

Lord — not out of a sense of forced 

duty, but in a spirit of generosity and 

love (see 2 Corinthians 9:6-7)? 

Do not be afraid, the man of God 

tells us today. As we sing in today’s 

Psalm, the Lord will provide for us, as 

he sustains the widow. 

Today, let us follow the widows’ 

example, doing what God asks, confident 

that our jars of flour will not 

grow empty, nor our jugs of oil run 

dry. 

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

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


IN EXILE 

BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

A right way of dying 

“I do not want to die from some 

medical condition; I want to die from 

death!” Philosopher Ivan Illich wrote 

that. What’s meant here? Don’t we all 

die from death? 

Of course, in reality that’s what we 

all die from, but in our idea of things, 

most often, we die from a medical 

condition or from bad luck through 

cancer, heart disease, diabetes, 

Alzheimer’s, or as the victim of an 

accident. Sometimes, because of how 

we think of death, we do die from a 

medical condition. 

That’s what Illich is trying to highlight 

here. Death is meant to be met 

and respected as a normal human 

experience, not as a medical failure. 

Death and its inevitability in our 

lives are to be understood as a growth 

point, a necessary maturation, something 

to which we are organically 

and spiritually destined and not as 

an aberration or unnatural intrusion 

into the life cycle (an intrusion that 

could have been avoided except for an 

accident or failure of medicine). 

We need to understand death 

the way a woman carrying a child 

contemplates its delivery, not as some 

aberration or risky medical procedure 

but as the full flowering of a life 

process. 

We pay a price for our false idea on 

dying, more than we imagine. When 

death is seen as a medical failure 

or as tragic bad luck, its threat then 

becomes a menacing specter and a 

threatening darkness inside that cauldron 

of all those other energies and 

fears we do not consciously deal with 

and into which we dare not venture. 

Anthropologist Ernest Becker speaks 

of something he calls “the denial of 

death” and suggests that our refusal 

to meet and respect death as a natural 

process rather than as an aberration 

impoverishes us in untold ways. When 

we falsely fear death then the inchoate 

sense of our own mortality becomes a 

dark corner from which we stay away. 

We pay a price for this in that, paradoxically, 

by falsely fearing death we 

are unable to properly enter into life. 

Philosopher Martin Heidegger 

affirms much the same thing in his 

understanding of life. He suggests that 

each of us is (in his words) a “being-towards-death,” 

that is, from the second 

we are born we already have a terminal 

condition (called life) and we can only 

be free of false fear if we consciously 

live out our lives in the face of that 

non-negotiable truth. 

We are dying. His language around 

this can leave us depressed but, like 

Illich, he makes a positive point. For 

Heidegger, in the end, we don’t die 

because of bad medicine or bad luck. 

We die because nature has its course 

and nature runs that course and we 

will, in fact, enjoy our lives more if we 

respect that natural course because 

that acceptance will help us to value 

more how precious our moments of 

life and love are. 

Ironically, euthanasia, for all its 

sophisticated claims to be something 

that lets us control death, would have 

us die precisely from a medical condition 

and not from death (which is a 

natural process). 

Of course, wanting to die from 

death and not from a medical condition 

does not mean we do not value 

medicine and what it offers for our 

health and the preservation of our 

lives. We are obliged by our nature, 

by our loved ones, by common sense, 

and by an inalienable principle right 

within the moral order itself to take all 

ordinary medical measures available 

to preserve our health. 

Modern medicine is wonderful and 

many of us, including myself, are 

alive today thanks only to modern 

medicine. But we must be clear, too, 

that when we come to die it won’t be 

because of a medical failure but rather 

because death is our natural end. 

Just as we were once born from our 

mother’s womb, there comes a time 

when we need to be born again from 

the earth’s womb. 

Moreover, accepting death in this 

way is not a negative stoicism that robs 

life of delight and joy. To the contrary, 

as anyone who has ever had a health 

crisis that brought him or her close to 

death will tell you, facing death makes 

life all the more precious since it is no 

longer taken for granted. 

One cautionary flag: This kind of 

talk is not necessarily for the young 

in whom the denial of death is, for 

a good reason, very powerful. While 

young people should not be willfully 

blind to their own mortality or live 

their lives as if life here were to go on 

forever, they shouldn’t yet be focused 

on death. 

Their task is to build a future for 

themselves and the world. Death can 

be dealt with later. Metaphorically 

speaking, they need to be focused 

more on nurturing the embryo than 

worrying about its delivery. 

At the center of Jesus’ teaching lies a 

great paradox: “Whoever seeks to gain 

his life will lose it, but whoever loses 

his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). 

Ivan Illich, it would seem, agrees. 

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


BEAT DOWN A 

The spiritual 

vision (and 

blindness) of 

Jack Kerouac 

& Company 

BY MIKE AQUILINA / ANGELUS 

Jack Kerouac 

TOM PALUMBO/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

Allen Ginsberg 


The fiction and poetry of 

the Beat movement have 

arguably never been 

more popular. 

The Beats emerged in 

the 1940s and ’50s as a party of rebellion 

and resistance. The country was 

settling into prosperity and relative 

peace after the successive trials of the 

Great Depression and World War II. 

But what others called “peace” the 

Beats saw as complacency and conformity, 

and they raged against it — 

dropping out of society, hitchhiking 

across the continent, abusing drugs, 

and flouting the established norms 

for everything from sexual morality to 

punctuation. 

They reported their adventures in 

barely fictionalized form. Beat was to 

literature what bop was to music: a 

new style, spontaneous, improvisatory, 

exuberant, and ecstatic. Among the 

movement’s most prominent authors 

were Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, 

Gary Snyder, William S. Burroughs, 

and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. 

Beat literature was at once a cry from 

the depths — a howl — and a desperate 

reach for a transcendent high. 

From the beginning, moreover, it 

was consciously religious, and its dominant 

religious influence was, oddly 

enough, Roman Catholicism. 

The core members of the 

movement — Kerouac, 

Ginsberg and Burroughs — 

met at Columbia University toward 

the end of World War II. They wrote 

much, but their work met with little 

success. They gained notice, however, 

as a bohemian presence in New York 

City, an underground collective. 

Kerouac gave them their name, 

when he referred to them as a 

“Beat Generation.” He used “beat” 

originally to mean “exhausted,” 

“fatigued,” “defeated” — beaten down 

— but he later came to associate 

it with “beatific,” the peculiarly 

Catholic term for the state of the 

saints in heaven. 

Both connotations were intentional. 

The authors of the movement were 

“beat down” by society, but deeply 

wanting to get “beatitude” by any 

means available. 

Kerouac saw his mission as a writer 

in religious terms. He was born 

in 1922 and raised in a devoutly 

Catholic French-American home in 

Lowell, Massachusetts. His name at 

baptism was Jean-Louis. 

When he was 4 years old, his older 

brother Gerard died of rheumatic 

fever. Afterward his mother, 

encouraged by the religious sisters 

in the parish, venerated Gerard as 

a saint. His father, however, lost his 

faith and grew anticlerical. 

The young Kerouac seemed to have 

inherited equal parts of his mother 

and father. He reported having 

mystical experiences from early 

childhood. But he stopped attending 

Mass in his teen years, and he never 

went back. 


AND BEATIFIC 


Gary Snyder 

LARRY MILLER/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

William S. Burroughs 

BRIAN DUFFY/FLIKR 

Lawrence Ferlinghetti 


Yet, like his mother, he kept a lively 

devotion to Jesus. In adulthood, he 

habitually began his writing sessions 

by praying to Jesus and reading from 

the Bible. 

He also read the classic works of 

Christian mysticism and shared them 

with the other Beat authors. Allen 

Ginsberg, a Jew, was drawn especially 

to St. Teresa of Ávila and the 17thcentury 

British Catholic poet Richard 

Crashaw. 

Other religious influences pressed 

upon Kerouac and his friends. There 

was, in America, a growing interest 

in Eastern traditions, and Kerouac 

took up the study of Buddhism. In 

his poems and fiction he sometimes 

imitated Buddhist forms. In his 

journals and letters, Jesus and Buddha 

seem to vie for his soul. 

Kerouac was capable of filling pages 

with tender piety for Jesus, but he 

could also fill pages with blasphemy, 

comparing Jesus to Buddha and 

finding the Christ wanting in many 

respects. 

Much of his ranting was influenced 

more by alcohol than by meditation. 

Kerouac was a heavy drinker from 

his youth, and he found writing and 

social situations impossible to navigate 

without the help of a bottle. 

He took drugs as well — 

smoked marijuana and popped 

amphetamines. And he observed none 

of the sexual discipline commanded 

by Jesus or recommended by Buddha. 

He had two marriages in the 1950s, 

but was unfaithful to both wives. He 

pursued sexual encounters mostly 

with other women, but also with men. 

He traveled often, hitchhiking west 

and to Mexico with Neal Cassady, a 

high-spirited dropout and ex-con — 

and fellow lapsed Catholic — who 

became a sort of muse to the Beat 

movement. Cassady had intermittent 

sexual relationships with both 

Kerouac and Ginsberg. 

Kerouac wrote it all down, first in 

his journals, but gradually he drew 

material from the journals to build 

novels. 

The Beats’ first small successes 

came with the new decade. 

Kerouac’s novel “The Town 

and the City” appeared in 1950 to 

moderate critical praise. 

Literary stardom arrived with the 

publication of “On the Road” in 1957. 

He had drafted the novel in 1951 in a 

three-week spree of almost round-theclock 

writing fueled by Benzedrine 

and coffee. He fed a continuous roll 

of teletype paper into his typewriter, 

so that he would never be interrupted 

by the end of a page. 

Allen Ginsberg was meanwhile 

achieving his own notoriety. He had 

moved to San Francisco in 1954 and 

established the city as a center of Beat 

writing. In 1956 he published his long 

poem “Howl,” whose opening line is a 

gloss on Kerouac’s initial intuition of 

Beatness, both beat down and beatific: 

“I saw the best minds of my generation 


destroyed by madness, starving 

hysterical …” 

“Howl” appeared in print in 1956, 

published by City Lights Bookshop, 

which was owned by the poet 

Lawrence Ferlinghetti. As a publishing 

imprint, City Lights would become 

closely identified with the Beats. 

Ginsberg’s debut ended abruptly 

when city police and U.S. customs 

officials seized the publisher’s stock 

of the book and charged Ferlinghetti 

with obscenity. But that was the kind of 

publicity that made fame, and sales of 

“Howl” soared when the court ruled in 

favor of Ferlinghetti. 

By the end of 1957, both Ginsberg 

and Kerouac had achieved instant 

celebrity, even appearing in the 

news and on television talk shows. 

Ferlinghetti’s second book of poems, 

“A Coney Island of the Mind,” 

appeared in 1958 and quickly 

became one of the best-selling poetry 

collections in history. 

The word “beatnik” entered 

the national vocabulary, and the 

authors began to influence not only 

mainstream literature, but also fashion. 

The Beatles took their name from the 

movement. 

was a rant — a 

breathless tirade against 

“Howl” 

conformity, a celebration 

of transgressive behavior. 

“On the Road” was a different kind 

of art. It was manic, but lyrical and 

affirming. According to Kerouac, the 

book “was really a story about two 

Catholic buddies roaming the country 

in search of God. And we found him.” 

Though the narrative turns on 

episodes of drunkenness and 

promiscuity, the book’s climax is a 

visionary moment when the narrator, 

Sal Paradise (a barely disguised 

Kerouac), says, “And of course no one 

can tell us that there is no God. We’ve 

passed through all forms. Everything is 

fine, God exists, we know time.” 

Paradise, whose name is no accident, 

is a man in search of meaning. He 

wants to upend the banality that 

passes for postwar peace. His vision is 

a rejection of trendy nihilism and a 

grasping for transcendence in God. 

Indeed, the work of both Ginsberg 

and Kerouac drew its energy from 

religious language and imagery. 

Their vocabulary, from the name 

Beat onward, was largely religious, 

shot through with “angels,” “saints,” 

“glory” and “God.” In his 1956 poem 

“America” Ginsberg wrote, among 

other observations: 

Vesuvio and City Lights Bookstore on Jack Kerouac Alley in San Francisco, California. 



America when 

will you be angelic? … 

You made me want 

to be a saint. … 

I have mystical visions 

and cosmic vibrations… 

America how can I write 

a holy litany in your 

silly mood? 

Kerouac’s fiction after “On the 

Road” became more overtly religious. 

And the author seemed gradually to 

resolve the struggle between Buddha 

and Jesus — in favor of Jesus. 

In a 1959 essay, he expressed outrage 

that Mademoiselle magazine, after 

a photo session, had airbrushed out 

the crucifix that hung from a chain 

around his neck. “I am a Beat,” he 

wrote, “that is, I believe in beatitude 

and that God so loved the world that 

He gave His only-begotten Son to it.” 

Ginsberg seemed to thrive on fame. 

Kerouac, an extreme introvert, found 

it difficult. Already a heavy drinker, he 

now could not begin a public reading 

or television interview unless he was 

very drunk. 

He tried on several occasions 

(recorded in his novels) to find 

relief in solitude. In 1960, he took 

a working vacation at Ferlinghetti’s 

remote cabin, but there he suffered 

a sudden, insane terror, believing 

that his companions were plotting to 

poison him. 

Then, according to his account, he 

had a vision of the Blessed Virgin 

Mary, the cross of Jesus Christ and 

numerous angels. He said, “I’m with 

you, Jesus, for always. Thank you.” 

And so it was that he renounced 

Buddhism and, in intention at least, 

took up the Faith of his childhood. 

Gradually, too, he renounced other 

associations, including the Beat label. 

In his novel “Lonesome Traveler” 

(1960), he wrote: “I’m actually not 

a Beat but a strange solitary crazy 

Catholic mystic.” 

In “Satori in Paris” (1966), he says 

definitively: “I’m not a Buddhist, I’m 

a Catholic.” Indeed, one “satori” in 

the book — “satori” is a Japanese 

Buddhist term for “illumination” — 

is an impassioned apologia for the 

Catholic faith. 

The Beats — even those who 

were not Catholic — found 

a sympathetic reader in the 

monk Thomas Merton. 

Merton’s 1948 memoir, “The 

Seven Storey Mountain,” had sold 

spectacularly and had received 

favorable notice from the literary 

establishment on both sides of the 

Atlantic. He achieved the paradoxical 

status of celebrity-monk, a prolific 

author somehow bound by a vow of 

silence. 

Like many of the Beats, Merton was 

an alumnus of Columbia University, 

and he shared many mutual friends 

with Kerouac and Ginsberg. He 

also shared their interest in Eastern 

religions, though his study was far 

more disciplined than theirs. 

In a 1960 letter, Merton took note 

of the poetry of Ginsberg: “I think 

it is great and living poetry and 

certainly religious in its concern. In 

fact, who are more concerned with 

ultimates than the beats? … I am 

a monk, therefore by definition, as 

I understand it, the chief friend of 

beats. …” 

Kerouac, Snyder, Ferlinghetti, and 

others had read Merton’s memoir 

and cited its influence on their lives. 

Merton kept up a correspondence 

with some of the Beats and published 

their work in his own literary 

journal, “Monk’s Pond.” They, in 

turn, included him in some of their 

anthologies. Kerouac was an admirer 

of Merton. They met once, but 

Kerouac was too drunk to sustain a 


Jack Kerouac’s scroll where the first draft of his book, “On the Road,” was written is on display at the Lilly Library at Indiana University. The scroll is 

120 feet long. 

JEREMY HOGAN/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO 

conversation. 

From the late 1950s onward, Kerouac 

regularly contributed stories and 

poems to Catholic periodicals, refusing 

payment for his work. Even Allen 

Ginsberg was known to give free poetry 

readings at Catholic Worker houses, 

and he corresponded with the Servant 

of God Dorothy Day. 

As the 1950s wore into the 1960s, 

many of the Beats found their 

place as high priests in the 

new hippie counterculture. Ginsberg 

became a guru of sexual liberation and 

hallucinogenic drug use. 

Kerouac became more withdrawn. 

He spent increasingly less time on 

the road, and he moved back in with 

his mother. Though he resisted any 

return to the practice of the Faith, he 

became increasingly more strident in 

expressing his Christian identity. 

When a prominent literary critic 

derided him as a “square,” he replied, 

“If he means because I’m a French 

Canadian Catholic … sometimes 

devout … then I guess that makes me 

a square.” 

An interviewer in 1963 asked 

Kerouac if the Catholicism in the 

novel “Visions of Gerard” represented 

“something new” for him. Kerouac 

responded, somewhat testily, that all 

his novels had been Catholic, and he 

walks through them one by one. “I’m 

born a Catholic,” he said, “and it’s 

nothing new with me … I always carry 

my rosary.” 

In 1964 he complained about his 

cohort: “These beatnik poets have been 

insulting Jesus and the Virgin Mary 

right and left for the last six years in 

poems, including Ferlinghetti and all 

those guys!” 

If anyone said anything critical about 

Jesus in Kerouac’s presence, he would 

reply, “Ah, he died for bums like you.” 

The walls of the home of his mother, 

Gabrielle, had already been dominated 

by Christian images. Kerouac filled 

up remaining space with his own oil 

paintings, including crosses, pietàs, 

images of the saints, and even a portrait 

of the pope at the time, St. Pope Paul 

VI. 

Near the place where he worked 

he tacked up two prayers, one by St. 

Augustine, the other by St. Teresa of 

Ávila. He confessed to a friend that he 

liked to sneak at dusk into the nearby 

Catholic church to hear the priest and 

people pray Vespers. 

But he continued to consume large 

quantities of alcohol; and the alcohol 

consumed him in turn. In 1969, at age 

47, he suffered a massive, fatal stomach 

hemorrhage while watching “The 

Galloping Gourmet” on TV. 

The other Beats held some limelight 

in the decades that followed, but 

mostly as an oldies act. Ginsberg, a 

consummate showman, took up a 

series of causes that were guaranteed to 

win him notice in the media. 

He protested the Vietnam War. 

He argued for the decriminalization 

of drugs. In the years leading up to 

his death in 1997 he was an ardent 

promoter of the legalization of 

pedophilia. He was the most prominent 

public member of the North American 

Man-Boy Love Association, and this 

extremely creepy cause was the subject 

of his last published essay. 

Snyder, who usually maintained some 

distance from the Beats — and often 

refused the label — embraced Japanese 

Buddhism and entered the mainstream 

of American poetry, winning the 

Pulitzer and other major prizes. 

Ferlinghetti, at 99, is still writing and 

publishing. 

In material terms, the Beat 

Movement is doing better than 

ever. More of Kerouac’s books 

are in print today than appeared, 

cumulatively, during his lifetime. The 


ooks continue to sell to successive 

generations of restless young people, 

who dream about abandoning the 

world for footloose travel. In 2002, the 

manuscript of “On the Road” sold at 

auction for $2.2 million. 

The spiritual legacy of the Beats is 

messier, though Catholicism has left its 

indelible mark. 

Last year appeared an excellent 

anthology, “Hard to Be a Saint in 

the City: The Spiritual Vision of the 

Beats.” The editor, Robert Inchausti, 

is professor emeritus of English at 

California State Polytechnic University 

in San Obispo. 

Inchausti told Angelus News that, 

after studying the Beats for decades, he 

has concluded that the “links between 

the Beats and Catholicism run deep.” 

“I think the Catholic elements are 

essential,” he added. “Kerouac’s 

incarnational, sacramental, worldinclusive 

faith came out of his Catholic 

upbringing and led to his definition of 

‘Beat’ as ‘Beatific.’ ” 

The Beats, according to Inchausti, 

were unique among American literary 

movements for their foregrounding of 

Catholicism. But he acknowledged 

that the lives of the authors failed to 

live up to their sometime religious 

influences. 

Still, he sees the spirit of the Beats 

alive in some Catholic authors writing 

today. He singles out Heather King, 

whose work “strikes me as having 

much in common with Kerouac’s 

confessional writing.” 

“Unfortunately,” he said, “Kerouac 

never found the Twelve Steps or lived 

long enough to write a midlife ‘second 

conversion’ story. Had he done so, his 

last books might have been his best. 

Who knows?” 

Mike Aquilina is a contributing editor 

of Angelus. He is author of many books, 

including “Yours Is the Church: How 

Catholicism Shapes Our World.” 


Dr. Heather Banis, left, coordinator for the Victims Assistance Ministry at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and Bishop Joseph V. Brennan listen to a 

question during the Mass of Reparation and Healing at St. Euphrasia in Granada Hills October 25. 

Healing for a wounded Church 

Bishop Joseph V. Brennan calls for accountability, transparency, 

and input from laity at Mass of Reparation and Healing 

WILL JOBE 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS 

Moments into a Mass of 

Reparation and Healing 

at St. Euphrasia Church 

in Granada Hills on 

Thursday, October 25, Bishop Joseph 

V. Brennan invited the congregation 

to kneel. 

He then explained how appropriate 

he thought it would be for him to lay 

prostrate in front of the altar, asking 

Msgr. James Gehl and Father Anselm 

Nwakuna to join him on each side in 

the act of submissive humility. 

“We do this when we are ordained as 

priests, and bishops, and we do this on 

Good Friday, but frankly I don’t think 

we do this enough,” said Brennan, 

who then listened to the “Kyrie, Eleison” 

sung by the cantor. 

For the last several weeks, in the 

wake of the reawakening abuse scandal 

affecting the Catholic Church 

in the U.S., Gehl thought it was also 

appropriate to allow his church — 

which is just steps away from the 

elementary school that it supports — 

to gather and pray for strength as well 

as allow conversation to begin for the 

healing process. 

The Mass of Reparation and Healing 

was the conclusion of a Novena 

for Healing of Our Church. After 

Brennan’s Mass celebration, an hourand-a-half 

public forum in the church 

followed to allow for questions and 

answers. 

It achieved what Gehl said he hoped 

it could. 

“As soon as I heard about this issue 


come up again, it brought back a lot 

of emotion in me,” said Gehl, who 

used to work as director of the Office 

of Family Life for the Archdiocese of 

Los Angeles. 

“I put out a prayer that we recite at 

church each Mass that we have been 

doing for weeks. Then we decided 

to do something more formal, the 

novena — nine days with a prayer 

— which was to culminate with this 

Mass.” 

Brennan said in his homily that as 

he prepares to go to Baltimore this 

month for a meeting of bishops, he 

wants to take concerns from parishioners 

and present them as the next 

step in finding a resolution. 

“I’ve only been a bishop for three 

years — I’m pretty much a rookie in 

this thing,” said the former vicar general 

and pastor at Holy Trinity Church 

in San Pedro. 

“Having gone to these meetings 

the past three years, it was kind of 

business as usual. This time, we all 

have a sense it cannot be, it will not 

be, business as usual. Things need to 

change. Especially with the bishops in 

terms of accountability and transparency. 

We need to be accountable for 

our own mistakes and how things have 

been mishandled. 

“I think bishops have been for too 

long in damage-control mode. The 

first thought is to protect the institution, 

to defend the Church. This 

means different things to different 

people. This is not unique to the 

Church. It happens with big institutions. 

Big government. They are in 

‘fix it’ mode, but they really don’t fix 

things. Things get worse instead of 

better. We have to do things differently.” 

Brennan referenced a letter he said 

he received that read, “I’m tired of 

your apologies. Don’t apologize. Do 

something. Change.” He ended his 

homily with a new stanza he created 

for the song “We Are One Body” that 

included his singing the words, “See 

the victims long for a chance to speak. 

By the word of the Lord that we all 

seek.” 

As part of an expressive outpouring of 

comments in the post-Mass conversation, 

Brennan was seated facing the 

congregation in front of the altar with 

Gehl and Nwakuna. Joining them was 

Dr. Heather Banis, the coordinator of 

the Victims Assistance Ministry at the 

archdiocese, who explained what her 

office does in concert with the office 

of Safeguard the Children. 

“This has been an awful scourge on 

our Church, an awful experience for 

those directly impacted as well as all 

of those who love and care for the 

victim-survivors,” said Banis, a clinical 

psychologist educated at both USC 

and UCLA who specializes in trauma. 

“This work is challenging to talk 

about in public because it is so 

private. But everything we are doing 

is working. I want to be clear that it’s 

rare to get a call now about current 

clergy abuse allegations. We aren’t 

seeing new cases. It’s because we’re 

doing what we’re doing and not letting 

people have access to do harm that 

has been done in the past. A huge 

thank you to all who have been involved 

in these programs.” 

Banis also admitted to a statistic she 

is painfully aware of: An estimated 

1 in 6 men and 1 in 3 women have 

experienced sexual abuse. 

“Stats can fluctuate,” she added. 

“But even if those are close to being 

true, as I look at all of you, we have 

survivor-victims in our midst. And 

you can’t tell by looking at them. But 

many say that’s not how they feel. 

They feel as if it’s in neon on their 

forehead. 

“We can’t tell, but what we can also 

do is be mindful and sensitive about 

something we think is a joke or a 

flip comment, something we saw on 

the news. It could pierce and wound 

someone deeply. We need to listen. 

You don’t have to fix it — you can’t fix 

it — but you can listen.” 

Parishioners also heard the petitions 

read after the Gospel of Matthew that 

asked not just for healing of abused 

victims and their families, but also to 

victims who died from suicide as a 

result of anxiety caused by abuse, and 

a call for those clergy found guilty of 

abuse “may face reparation for their 

sin but also find forgiveness in God’s 

mercy.” The response: “Heal our 

wounded Church, oh Lord.” 

Gehl reiterated that, as Brennan 

said at the beginning of the Mass, this 

might be the first of many. 

“I feel this is something each parish 

can do — look their parishioners in 

the eye and give them a chance to 

talk, said Gehl. “You saw the emotions 

that came out. It spoke volumes. My 

suggestion is other pastors do something 

like this, and have people with 

the know-how who can help.” 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning 

journalist based in Los Angeles. 

St. Euphrasia Church 

parishioners pray during 

the Mass of Reparation 

and Healing October 25. 

WILL JOBE 


Plague in paradise 

The story of Father Medardo Brualla, the priest who 

protected his community against the Black Plague 

BY DR. JEFFREY COPELAND & EILEEN O’BRIEN / ANGELUS 

COURTESY ARCHIVAL CENTER, ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES 

Our Lady Queen of Angels 

(“La Placita”) is the oldest 

Catholic parish in the city 

of Los Angeles. Today, 

those who attend services there come 

from all over the city and throughout 

the country. 

Where they don’t come from is the 

immediate area because, as Father 

Arturo Corral Nevárez recently 

pointed out, the church doesn’t 

have a surrounding neighborhood of 

parishioners, as is the case with most 

churches. 

However, this wasn’t always the case. 

In 1924, there were more than 2,500 

individuals living in the immediate 

area, known at the time as the Macy 

Street District, and La Placita was the 

hub and focal point of the community. 

In late September of that year, 

everything changed when Los Angeles 

was visited by one of humankind’s 

ancient enemies: the Black Plague. 

A ship carrying cargo from the Orient 

docked at a relatively new section 

of the Port of Los Angeles. One of the 

crates aboard that ship found its way 

to the Mexican-American community, 

and inside that crate, along with its 

regular goods, were rats that hosted 

plague-carrying fleas. 

Soon, some of La Placita’s parishioners 

became ill, but doctors at first 

misdiagnosed the symptoms and told 

those who were stricken simply to get 

some rest and let whatever they had 

run its course. 

Perhaps the first hero in fighting this 

outbreak was Father Medardo Brualla, 

CMF, a priest at La Placita and a 

member of the Claretian order. At the 

time, the Claretians were a relatively 

new order, founded by St. Anthony 

Our Lady Queen of Angels (“La Placita”), 

circa 1924. 

Father Medardo Brualla, January 1924. 

Claret in Spain in 1849, and coming 

to the United States in 1902. 

Given their founder’s Spanish roots, 

the Claretians had always been a 

strong presence in the Hispanic community, 

and were known for reaching 

out to the poor and dispossessed. 

As the plague made its way through 

the neighborhood, Brualla made 

calls to the homes of those who fell 

ill to offer them help. Realizing that 

the situation was much more serious 

than the medical community thought, 

Brualla contacted physicians at Los 

Angeles County Hospital, who were 

able to determine the illness was 

pneumonic plague. 

Once the correct diagnosis was 

made, city officials and other prominent 

groups in and around Los Angeles 

decided the best way to handle 

the illness was to set up a quarantine 

around the Macy Street District. 

The quarantine was set up all along 

these boundaries, essentially forming 

a square around the neighborhood: 

Alameda Street, Alhambra Avenue, 

the Los Angeles River, and Macy 

Street (known today as Cesar E. 

Chavez Avenue). 

At the specified time the quarantine 

was to begin, those from the community 

who were inside the boundaries 

were not allowed outside until 

further notice; those outside at jobs 

and other responsibilities were not let 

back inside. This sudden act and lack 

of communication helped increase 

the already growing fear within the 

community. 

Catholic Charities brought food and 

water for seven days to each family 

living in the neighborhood to help 

them through the crisis. A local Baptist 

church and a few area schools also 

opened their doors and provided room 

for those who were trapped outside 

the quarantine when it began. 

Some business and civic leaders took 

advantage of this outbreak in ways that 

were not so charitable. They saw the 

plague as an opportunity to acquire 

COURTESY CLARETIAN MISSIONARIES ARCHIVES USA-CANADA 


Our Lady Queen of Angels (“La Placita”), at present. 


land, which was becoming more precious 

as Los Angeles expanded. 

When the sick were taken to an 

isolation ward at Los Angeles County 

Hospital, many of their homes were 

burned or torn down, the excuse 

being that these places might be harboring 

rats. It is estimated that more 

than 2,000 structures in the community 

were either burned or torn down 

during the outbreak. 

Sadly, very few received compensation 

for their losses because the action 

was taken in what was described as the 

“common good” and for “emergency” 

purposes. 

As a result, many of those who were 

eventually allowed to come back to 

the neighborhood found nothing but 

empty lots waiting for them. They 

were then forced to relocate farther 

east in the city or down to new developments 

near the harbor. 

During this crisis, few outside the 

Macy Street District knew what was 

happening because some officials felt 

a complete media blackout would be 

best for the city. They did not want 

word of the plague to get out and 

damage Los Angeles’ growing reputation 

as the “Paradise of the West.” 

Even those within the Macy Street 

District still had no idea why the 

quarantine was taking place and why 

so many were falling ill. It was Brualla 

and a few medical personnel who 

finally met with representatives of the 

community and explained what was 

happening — and why. 

However, they never used the word 

“plague.” Instead, they described the 

illness as “malignant pneumonia.” 

Without regard for his own personal 

safety and well-being, Brualla provided 

spiritual comfort to those who were 

afflicted and even made room at the 

church for many of those who had not 

yet been taken to the hospital. He did 

this as long as he could, but eventually 

he contracted the plague and 

died. He is interred at the San Gabriel 

Mission. 

Brualla’s actions were truly heroic. 

He felt what he was doing was the 

“right” thing and a part of his journey, 

and he never once worried for his own 

safety. 

The Los Angeles outbreak, which is 

still considered the last major outbreak 

of the plague in the U.S., eventually 

ran its course, but not before 

close to 50 people lost their lives. 

Once the rest of Los Angeles learned 

that the illness was the plague, the 

once vibrant Macy Street District 

became known as “Plague City,” and 

very little rebuilding took place. Instead, 

more and more families moved 

to different parts of the city. 

Today, that area is now home to the 

Twin Towers Correctional Facility, a 

transportation center, and a wide variety 

of businesses. Most of the streets 

that once crisscrossed the neighborhood 

are now gone, and only a few 

residential homes remain. 

However, today there remains a 

plague of a different sort in the area: 

poverty. Each day La Placita provides 

food and other care for hundreds of 

homeless individuals. It has been a 

refuge in years past for Central American 

refugees. 

The parish also continues its sacramental 

mission, celebrating 10 Masses 

each weekend, and baptizing approximately 

1,000 children per month. 

Our Lady Queen of Angels continues 

to serve as a champion for the rights 

and dignity of all. 

Dr. Jeffrey S. Copeland is a professor 

at the University of Northern Iowa and 

the author of “Plague in Paradise: The 

Black Death in Los Angeles, 1924” 

(Paragon House, $20). Eileen O’Brien 

is director of Facilities and Operations 

at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center, 

Los Angeles. 


CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/PAUL HARING HARING) 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/LIAM BURKE, COURTESY PRESS 22 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/GREGORY L. TRACY, THE PILOT 

From left: Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, and Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley. 

The pontifical parlor game 

Who’s the talk of Rome to be the next pope after October’s synod? 

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. / ANGELUS 

ROME — The Synod of Bishops, a summit of 

roughly 300 prelates from around the world the 

popes have now summoned 28 times since it was 

created after Vatican II in 1965, are always a bit 

like the Iowa Caucuses of the Catholic Church. 

It’s just about the only time, at least in the early phases of 

the race, that all the “candidates” to become the next pope 

are on display for an extended period of time, which means 

it tends to be a moment when Church-watchers get into 

the traditional parlor game of speculation about what, and 

who, might come next. 

To be honest, there really wasn’t a lot of “next pope” talk 

in Rome this October, during the monthlong Synod on 

Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment. Mostly 

that’s a reflection of the fact that there’s no health crisis 

around Pope Francis, and no sense that the drama of this 

papacy is coming to an end anytime soon. 

Still, Francis will turn 82 in December, and it’s inevitable 

that people are at least pondering “what if?” scenarios. 

Before proceeding, let’s deal with the traditional eye-rolling 

exercise that always comes up whenever anyone talks 

about this topic out loud. To wit, there’s always going to be 

that person who objects, “Anyone who knows doesn’t talk, 

and anyone who talks doesn’t know.” 

Sorry, but hogwash. 

First of all, no one right now “knows.” There is no secret 

compact that’s already determined the result of the next papal 

election, and frankly, cardinals are generally reluctant 

to talk about these things outside their narrow circles of 

trust, even among themselves, for fear of appearing disloyal. 

Most will only wake up to making concrete choices when 

the time comes, so for now, speculation about what might 

happen is legitimate. 

Second, it’s a myth to assert that one can never see the 

next pope coming. In the last six papal elections, a real surprise 

only prevailed twice — Angelo Roncalli as John XXII 

in 1958, and Karol Wojtyla as John Paul II in 1978. 

Other than that, the men elected were either clear 

front-runners — Giovanni Battista Montini as Paul VI in 

1963, Joseph Ratzinger as Benedict in 2005 — or at least 

on most people’s “B” lists, which was the case for both 

Albino Luciani as John Paul I in 1978 and Jorge Mario 

Bergoglio as Francis in 2013. 

OK, Roman handicappers aren’t infallible, but they’re not 

blind either. 

Over the last month, I’ve discussed this question with 


some three dozen people, sometimes one-on-one and 

sometimes in groups, from a variety of different cultural 

and geographic settings. What follows is a kind of statistical 

average of three names that seem to surface most often. 

1. Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Italian, 63 

Parolin is pretty much everybody’s consistent “safe” pick. 

The current secretary of state is in sync with Pope Francis, 

so he’d represent continuity with this papacy, but he’s also a 

career Vatican diplomat, making him a good bet for a more 

cautious and calmer version of the boss. 

He’s respected for his deft handling of international affairs 

and his stable, reassuring leadership, though some wonder 

if the way he’s ceded management of internal Vatican affairs 

largely to his subordinates up to now would augur well 

for finishing the job on Vatican reform. 

2. Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Austrian, 73 

A grand irony is that Schönborn’s main problem as a papal 

candidate right now is that after spending two decades 

as the dauphin of Ratzinger, potentially making it difficult 

to attract liberal support, the Austrian scion of a family 

that’s produced two cardinals and 19 archbishops, bishops, 

priests and religious sisters so far, he might now have a 

hard time attracting conservatives because of his backing 

for Francis, especially on “Amoris 

Laetitia” (“The Joy of Love”). 

Yet precisely that background might 

allow the Archbishop of Vienna to 

cross traditional divides, and anyway, 

as a genuine Dominican intellectual, 

many of his fellow cardinals just think 

he may be the brightest bulb they’ve 

got. 

position him to build a two-thirds vote in a conclave. 

Beyond those conventional choices, the October 2018 

synod also put a couple of other personalities on the radar 

screed as possible popes, even if neither man is yet a cardinal. 

The first is Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, who, 

despite being remarkably short in physical stature, left a 

large impression. He’s been the Vatican’s top prosecutor 

on sex abuse and the pope’s lead man in Chile, but that’s 

not his only issue. Scicluna generally came off as smart, 

informed, multilingual, and the real deal as a “reformer.” 

The second is Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, 

Australia, who turned heads consistently throughout the 

synod with his articulate, thoughtful, and almost completely 

nonideological commentary. A Dominican like 

Schönborn, Fisher, despite being the Australian protégé of 

Cardinal George Pell, strikes people more for how smart he 

is than how opinionated. 

Scicluna is 59, Fisher 58, so the sky’s the limit for both. 

Time will tell if the 2018 synod was the turning point for 

either one, but don’t dismiss the possibility — St. Pope 

John Paul II, among others, first made his mark on the 

global Catholic stage in the 1974 Synod on Evangelization 

in the Modern World, where he was the relator, or chairman. 

 

3. Cardinal Sean O’Malley, 

American, 74 

Although O’Malley’s age might 

appear to be a problem, the last 

two popes were elected at 78 and 

76, respectively, so clearly it’s not a 

deal-breaker. Otherwise, the American 

Capuchin has a lot going for him. 

Because of his background and 

languages, the archbishop of Boston 

is not seen as excessively “American.” 

He’s got a reputation as a leader and 

reformer on the clerical sexual abuse 

scandals, and he also has strong 

appeal to popular Italian sentiment 

because he reminds them of Padre 

Pio, the celebrated Capuchin stigmatic 

and healer. 

Further, O’Malley is a good combination 

of a Francis loyalist who’s 

nevertheless sensitive to concerns of 

those a bit disaffected, which could 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/PAUL HARING 

From left: Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Archbishop Anthony Fisher. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/JOEL CARRETT, EPA 


The haunting of John Bosco 

News of heaven from beyond the grave 

BY GARY JANSEN / ANGELUS 

The lives of the saints abound 

with miraculous and supernatural 

events. St. Francis 

experienced the stigmata 

and St. Thérèse of Lisieux battled it 

out with demons; St. Teresa of Ávila, 

St. Catherine of Siena, and even St. 

Ignatius were known to levitate inches, 

and sometimes several feet, off the 

floor during prayer. 

St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Padre 

Pio experienced bilocation, or being 

in two places at once. St. John of 

Egypt was a clairvoyant. St. John of 

the Cross, St. Bernadette, St. Jerome, 

Tomb of Luigi Comollo in the Church of San Filippo, Chieri, Turin, Italy. 

and St. Clare of Assisi all experienced 

apparitions and visions of Jesus, Mary, 

or prophecied future events. 

And even one saint had an encounter 

with a ghost. 

On April 2, 1839, a young Catholic 

seminarian named John Bosco sat 

in a church mourning the death of 

his dear friend Louis Comollo. Six 

years earlier, the two had met during 

Bosco’s last year in secondary school 

in Piedmont, a mostly mountainous 

province in northern Italy. 

They attended the seminary together 

in Chieri, an important textile town 

about 11 kilometers from Turin that 

had once been under the thumb of 

Napoleon Bonaparte in the late 18th 

century. 

They had an enduring friendship 

and the two complemented each 

other’s dispositions. Comollo had 

always been quiet, frail, and devout; 

Bosco, on the other hand, while a 

sensitive and serious young man in his 

own right, was also funny, loving, and 

sociable. 

Bosco grew up in poverty, but from 

the age of 9 believed he was on a 

mission from God. He had his first 

prophetic dream at that age, when a 

vision, possibly of Jesus, told him that 

it was with charity and gentleness that 

he must bring people together. The 

dreams would continue for the rest of 

his life. 

Though devoted to God, he was not 

without his doubts, and the death of 

his friend was a painful blow to the 

young student, whose father had died 

when he was 2 years old. 

While they were attending school together, 

both Bosco and Comollo were 

captivated by the stories of the saints, 

and one day they made a pact. 

After reading about the exploits of 

the likes of St. John the prophet, St. 

Francis the servant, and St. Anthony 

the desert hermit tormented by devils, 

they agreed that whoever was the 

first to die would bring back word of 

life on the other side to the surviving 

friend. 

That agreement resounded in 

Bosco’s ears like the church bells that 

rang through the town that morning 

of Comollo’s funeral. He sat in the 

church and looked around for a sign 

from his friend — a light, a vision, 

a sudden movement, anything. He 

listened intently to the words of the 

funeral rite and to the sounds around 

him. Nothing. 

But Bosco was patient and vowed 

ADRIAN COMOLLO/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 


to keep vigil of the agreement. The 

words of that old dream he had years 

ago surely passed through his mind: 

“What seems so impossible you must 

achieve by being obedient.” He would 

be obedient and patient. He would 

wait as long as he had to for a sign. 

It seems Bosco didn’t have to wait 

long. The next night, he was in his 

dormitory, a large open room that 

housed 20 other seminarians, preparing 

to go to sleep. It had been a long 

couple of days and the death of Comollo 

was still burning inside of him. 

He lay in his bed, and as his roommates 

drifted off to sleep, Bosco 

prayed. He was praying to hear from 

his friend, to have word from heaven, 

to confirm for him that he was on the 

right path and that his dreams weren’t 

deceptions of the mind, but direct 

messages from the Almighty. 

He lay in bed and waited when a 

sign, which he documented in one of 

the many books he wrote during his 

lifetime, came to pass: 

On the stroke of midnight, a deep 

rumble was heard at the end of the 

corridor. The rumble became deeper 

and louder as it drew nearer. It was like 

the sound of a large cart, or a railway 

train, or even artillery fire. I do not 

know how to describe the sound adequately 

except to say that it was such a 

mixture of throbbing and rather violent 

sounds as to leave the hearer utterly 

terrified and too frightened for words. 

As the rumble drew nearer, it made 

the ceiling, walls, and floor of the hallway 

vibrate like sheets of metal struck 

by the hand of some mighty giant. Yet 

the sound approached so that it was 

very difficult to pinpoint how close it 

was, the way one is uncertain where a 

locomotive is on the track from the jet 

of steam. All the seminarians in the 

dormitory woke up, but no one spoke. 

I was frozen with fear. The noise 

came nearer and nearer and grew more 

frightening. It reached the dormitory; 

of itself the door slammed open. The 

roar grew louder, but there was nothing 

to see except a ghostly multicolored 

light that seemed to control the sound. 

Suddenly there was silence, the light 

intensified, and Comollo’s voice was 

distinctly heard: “Bosco, Bosco, Bosco 

— I am saved.” 

St. John Bosco in 1880. 

At that moment the dormitory grew 

even brighter. The noise erupted again, 

much longer and louder than before. 

It was like thunder, so violent that 

the house seemed about to collapse; 

then suddenly it stopped and the light 

vanished. 

Was it a dream? The wishful thinking 

of a young man in mourning? Or 

had Bosco’s friend come back from 

the dead for one last goodbye and to 

affirm that there are more things in 

heaven and earth than are dreamt of 

in our philosophies? 

God only knows. What we do know 

is that Bosco — who would go on to 

found the Society of St. Francis de 

Sales in 1859 and was canonized a 

saint in 1934 by Pope Pius XI — had 

received the sign he had been praying 

for. 

Gary Jansen is the author of “Holy 

Ghosts, Or How a (Not So) Good 

Catholic Boy Became a Believer in the 

Things that Go Bump in the Night.” 



WITH GRACE 

BY DR. GRAZIE POZO CHRISTIE 

Memorial site 

for Payton 

Summons. 

Death by diagnosis 

IMAGE VIA GO FUND ME 

Death is perplexing. Someone we love is with us 

in all the rich complexity of his or her personhood 

one moment; the next moment the body 

is a lifeless husk. It’s all, ultimately, incomprehensible. 

And yet, while humans have always wrestled 

with accepting the awful finality of death, we have had no 

trouble knowing when it occurs. 

Today, however, due to technological advances in critical 

care, even knowing when death occurs has become a 

bewildering thing. 

As if end-of-life decisions weren’t hard enough, the difficulties 

increase exponentially when a child is involved, and 

the natural desires of parents (and their rights) come up 

hard against the sad reality of death. 

A Texas family recently lost a child after having been 

caught for several agonizing weeks in both the essential 

perplexity of death and the difficulty of accepting its occurrence. 

Payton Summons was a 9-year-old girl who went 

without warning into cardiac and respiratory arrest, perhaps 

from a tumor affecting her circulatory system. 

Doctors put her on ventilatory and cardiac support, 

keeping her heart pumping and her lungs moving oxygen. 

Unfortunately, tests determined that all Payton’s neurological 

function had ceased. This prompted a declaration of 

brain death and a plan to remove the machines. 

Her family, however, refused to accept the diagnosis. They 

insisted their little girl was still alive. A court imposed a 

restraining order against the hospital, giving the family 12 

days to find a new facility before the hospital could discontinue 

mechanical ventilation. Finally, even as it was being 

supported, Payton’s heart stopped beating. 

This Texas case echoes in some ways recent well-known 

events in England in which parental rights were trampled. 

There, toddler Alfie Evans was deliberately allowed to die, 

despite the objections of his parents and an offer of further 

treatment from a Catholic hospital in Italy. 

But the Payton case is substantially different. By all 

scientifically and ethically accepted measures, Payton, 

although breathing with assistance, was brain dead. Alfie, 

by contrast, was reported to be in a “semi-vegetative coma.” 

He breathed on his own when taken off the ventilator. Alfie 

was on life-support. Payton was not. 


In Catholic hospitals, a deeply reasoned philosophy that 

cherishes every life until its natural end protects the lives of 

the unborn, disabled, terminal, and comatose. It’s this ethic 

that prompted Bambino Gesu hospital in Rome to offer to 

care for Alfie. 

In the case of Payton, however, even a Catholic hospital, 

informed as it is by an intensely life-affirming ethic, would 

act no differently than the hospital in Texas. 

Catholic end-of-life ethics hold that the competency to 

determine death belongs to medical science, which uses 

four neurologic criteria to make the call: unresponsiveness, 

absence of cerebral reaction to pain, lack of brainstem 

reflexes, and inability to breathe. 

The Church accepts the medical assessment that the patient 

has died and, from a religious perspective, that means 

that the soul has flown. Ceasing ventilation and cardiac 

support is not the cause of death. It’s simply a recognition 

or acceptance that death has already happened. 

Of course, the situation was dreadful for Payton’s family. 

To be told that Payton was dead, while she was breathing 

with assistance and looked not so different than nearby 

ICU patients who are in comas but alive — to be told that 

it was time to “pull the plug” — was a terrible thing. A 

terrible and perplexing thing. 

Most nonmedical people do not understand the definition 

of brain death, and most people are not ethicists. These are 

complex issues, shrouded in fear and misunderstanding. 

The media adds to the confusion with irresponsible reporting 

about hurried organ donations and a general ignorance 

about brain death’s diagnosis and meaning. 

The media also use imprecise language about patients 

who were brain dead having had “life support removed, 

and then died.” It is, of course, impossible for a dead person 

to die again. 

Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth has a 

sterling reputation, and diagnosis of brain death, especially 

of a child, is not given lightly in any hospital. One can be 

certain that the tests were done and redone, in hopes that 

some positive sign might be found. 

Payton, sadly, had died, and her family should have 

moved down the hard path of acceptance. Parents have the 

right, and duty, to demand the best medical care for their 

sick children, even when hopes of recovery are slim. 

But there is no reason to continue intensive care for a 

person who is no longer with us, no matter how beloved. 

Of course, every feeling person that contemplates the 

reaction of Payton’s family will be sympathetic. 

To go from cheerful, humdrum family life to the antiseptic 

world of the ICU with a catastrophic diagnosis in one 

short day is enough to bewilder anyone. And, then, to face 

the perplexity of death — the death of a beloved child — 

is to enter into tragedy, completely unprepared. 

Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie grew up in Guadalajara, Mexico, 

coming to the U.S. at the age of 11. She has written for USA 

TODAY, National Review, The Washington Post and The 

New York Times, and has appeared on CNN, Telemundo, 

Fox News and EWTN. She practices radiology in the Miami 

area, where she lives with her husband and five children. 


Genius 

apostles in 

conversation 

A new book analyzes 

the tensions between 

the monk and the writer 

in the works of Thomas 

Merton 

BY ROBERT INCHAUSTI / ANGELUS 

Father Thomas Merton, OCSO, one of the 

most influential Catholic authors of the 20th 

century, in an undated photo. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/MERTON LEGACY TRUST AND THE THOMAS MERTON CENTER AT BELLARMINE UNIVERSITY 

Thomas Merton was a man 

of many contradictions: a 

Trappist contemplative who 

advocated political protest, 

a poet who believed silence was the 

ultimate eloquence, a social critic 

who distrusted sociological categories, 

and a world-famous hermit. 

These paradoxes don’t untie themselves 

easily, if at all, and so it is an occasion 

of some significance when one 

of our most accomplished contemporary 

Catholic writers, Mary Gordon, 

attempts to disentangle some of the 

confusion through a candid appraisal 

of his work. 

Gordon may be the perfect person 

for this task. She is a novelist, essayist, 

and master of the short story. 

Her works include “There Your 

Heart Lies” and “Final Payments,” 

six works of nonfiction, including 

“Reading Jesus” and the prize-winning 

collection “The Stories of Mary 


S 

Gordon.” She is also a professor at 

Barnard, a New Yorker, a feminist, 

and a lifelong Roman Catholic. 

Her book “On Thomas Merton” 

grew out of a lecture she delivered 

on the 100th anniversary of Merton’s 

birth when the Columbia Rare Book 

and Manuscript Library prepared an 

exhibition of his papers. 

As Gordon tells it, she was selected 

because she was “the only literary person 

on the Columbia campus known 

to be a practicing Catholic.” 

Shambhala Publications then asked 

her to turn the lecture into a book, 

but she admits she kept asking herself, 

“Why me?” 

“As I became aware of the mass 

of books and articles written about 

Merton the question became more 

pressing. And I could only answer it 

in one way: I am a writer. I wanted to 

write about him writer to writer.” 

Gordon finds the tension between 

Merton’s calling as a monk (with its 

vows of silence and obedience) and 

his equally strong calling as a writer 

(with its obligations to honesty, accuracy, 

and complete candor) “a supersaturated, 

or perhaps super-distilled, 

form of the conflict that strikes every 

artist: the conflict between being an 

artist in solitude and being a human 

in the world.” 

She begins with Merton’s most 

famous work, “The Seven Storey 

Mountain” (1948), because it presents 

both the best and worst sides of Merton 

as a writer: “The pious, closed, 

almost inhuman voice is there, but so 

is his greatest gift: his power of close 

observation.” 

After examining several passages, 

Gordon is happy to note that Merton 

ultimately disavowed the book’s 

“triumphalist rhetoric,” “Manichean 

self-loathing,” “hatred of the world 

and flesh” and “cavalier dismissal of 

other faith traditions.” 

“Indeed,” she reminds us, “as early as 

1951, Merton declared that the man 

who wrote that book was dead.” 

“The next twenty remaining years of 

Merton’s life,” Gordon claims, “will 

be a series of convulsions that will topple 

the certainty of the Mountain that 

brought him to the attention of the 

world, perhaps blocking the world’s 

view of the living man, and forcing 

the writer into postures and forms that 

would limit his creative possibilities.” 

Gordon then turns to one of the novels 

Merton wrote before he entered 

the monastery — “My Argument with 

the Gestapo” — as an example of 

the kind of writer Merton might have 

become had he not become a monk. 

It is an inspired move, for not only 

was it written between the wars, at a 

time not unlike our own, when democratic 

societies throughout the world 

were under threat, but, as Gordon so 

eloquently observes, it contains “in 

a particularly concentrated form the 

subjects that would dominate [Merton’s] 

writing for the rest of his life: 

the problem of war and violence, his 

particular calling as a writer, and his 

vexed identity as an American whose 

imagination has been found in and 

marked by Europe. And woven in a 

pastel thread through the saturated 

primary colors of the cloth, is Merton 

the convert making his way through 

the world with a new anointing.” 

Merton’s “success,” Gordon later 

writes, “came about, then, not from 

following the daring path of “My 

Argument with the Gestapo,” but by 

turning radically away from it, becoming 

the writer-monk, writing what 

would be of use: to the Trappists, to 

the Catholic Church, for the salvation 

of what he would call ‘the hearts and 

minds of men,’ and what his superiors 

would call ‘soul.’ ” 

This is harsh criticism which is compounded 

by the fact that it’s probably 

true. 

“But then,” Gordon immediately 

adds, “there are the journals.” 

Merton’s journals, from Gordon’s 

point of view, are his most lasting 

contribution to contemporary letters. 

His best ideas are born there, as are 

his most unvarnished descriptions of 

embodied spiritual experience. 

Their open, multi-valent, dialogic 

form is perfectly suited to Merton’s 

unique gifts as a writer, and, although 

Gordon doesn’t use the term herself 

— the journals bring Catholicism 

into direct conversation with what can 

only be described as postmodernism. 

“To be postmodern,” Gordon once 

wrote, “is to be, above all, aware of 

the partiality and incompleteness of 

our knowledge, and of the horrors that 

have come about from what we have 

not seen, could not see, failed to see.” 

And her book on Merton makes it 

quite clear — that no matter how 

much we might wish otherwise, Merton 

shares this challenging awareness 

with the rest of us. And it was his 

integrity as an artist — even more 

than his monastic vows — that made 

that possible. 

Like any writer, Merton was only 

“sometimes” a genius, but as a contemplative 

monk, he was always an 

apostle — perpetually at odds with his 

time, pen bravely tilted against Kitsch 

Catholicism and the techno-corporate 

idols of our age. 

What we have in Gordon’s reflection 

is one Catholic genius/apostle in 

conversation with another. And so it is 

fitting that she ends this concise, powerful, 

and thought-provoking set of 

observations with a line from Merton’s 

“Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander”: 

“The beauty of God is best praised by 

the men (and the women) who reach 

and realize their limit, knowing that 

their praise cannot attain to God.” 

Robert Inchausti is the author of 

“Thomas Merton’s American Prophecy” 

(SUNY Press, 1998) and editor of 

“Echoing Silence: Thomas Merton on 

the Vocation of Writing” (Shambhala, 

2007). 


THE CRUX 

BY HEATHER KING 

Guthrie and Geer 

A tribute to Woody Guthrie at the Theatricum Botanicum, 

where they sing, play, and fight the good fight 

You know him as Grandpa 

Walton. What you may not 

know is that actor, activist, 

and gardener Will Geer has a 

major backstory. 

In the midst of a successful New 

York stage, film, and radio career in 

the mid-1950s, he was called before 

the House Un-American Activities 

Committee and blacklisted. 

He moved his wife and family to 

LA’s Topanga Canyon, began growing 

flowers, vegetables, and herbs, and 

founded a community theater known 

as Theatricum Botanicum (literally, 

“Garden Theater”), initially for other 

blacklisted actors, playwrights, and 

folk singers. 

In 1973, Geer began his successful 

run with the popular TV series “The 

Waltons.” He and his wife, actor Herta 

Ware, established a nonprofit, expanded 

the theater, and became known, 

among other things, for their staging 

of Shakespeare plays. 

Geer died in 1978, but his family has 

carried on. Under the artistic direction 

of his daughter, Ellen Geer, the 

theater now offers an annual summer 

season of five repertory plays, as well 

Woody Guthrie 

as year-round classes to actors of all 

ages. They host live music concerts, 

nurture fledgling playwrights, and 

reach out to schools and students 

across LA County. 

And once a year they pay tribute 

to one of their dearest friends and 

greatest heroes: folk singer-songwriter 

Woody Guthrie. 

This year the date was October 6. 

The venue is right on Topanga Boulevard, 

about halfway between the 101 

and PCH. You can pay $7 to park or 

you can street-park along the guardrail 

for free. You can bring a picnic, 

wander around a bit, and find a place 

to eat, or you can buy drinks and a 

bite to eat at The Elephant, the TB’s 

on-site snack bar. 

The musicians, many of them 

members of the extended Geer family, 

played, sang, and took turns telling 

the story of Guthrie’s life: the Oklahoma 

childhood, the sister Clara who 

set her clothes on fire and died when 

Guthrie was 7, the mother who went 

insane (she drank but may also have 

been suffering from undiagnosed 

Huntington’s disease) and was carted 

off to the asylum. 

Instruments included guitar, flute, 

harmonica, dulcimer, cello, banjo, 

fiddle, washtub bass, and washboard. 

That a few of the voices veered toward 

older, cracked and quavering, only 

added to the down-home, old-timey 

feel. 

“This train is bound for glory.” 

“If I had wings like Norah’s dove.” 

IMAGES VIA THEATRICUM.COM 


Will Geer at the Theatricum Botanicum. 

“Keep your hand on that plow.” 

Many of us looked to need help 

walking, never mind plowing a field, 

but no matter. For us children of the 

1960s and ’70s, these were the songs 

of our youth, the anthems we were 

going to be singing as we ushered in 

an era of peace and love such as the 

world had never before known. 

Woody started singing on one or two 

watts Texas radio stations. Outside, the 

dust started blowing. He left his family 

and headed west with the Okies. 

Hard traveling, hard fighting, hard 

sweating. 

“Have you seen that vigilante man?” 

“If you ain’t got the do re mi.” 

The performers urged us to sing 

along but the crowd, though friendly 

and receptive, seemed a little tired. 

“You can’t scare me, I’m sticking 

with the union,” we mouthed, while 

the guy next to me sucked on a clandestine 

can of beer. 

Guthrie’s life was marked by tragedy, 

poverty, and illness. He married three 

times and had eight children. He 

traveled incessantly. 

Will Geer and his wife were friends 

from way back. They invited him to 

sleep on their couch in New York 

for a bit in the 

early ’40s, right 

around the time 

Geer was doing 

“Tobacco Road” 

on Broadway. 

World War II 

came along. 

“What were their 

names, tell me 

what were their 

names?” 

The FDR era 

followed: “Roll 

on Columbia, 

roll on.” 

Inevitably, we 

came to “This 

Land is Your 

Land,” Guthrie’s 

most well-known 

song. I haven’t 

felt that sad in a 

long time. 

I thought of 

how, dog-eared 

copy of “On the Road” in hand, I’d 

hitchhiked in my early 20s up and 

down the Eastern Seaboard and at 

one point to Southern California. I 

thought of how, in spite of our youthful 

political ideals, not a whole lot had 

changed. 

In 1945, Guthrie was drafted. When 

he came home, his beloved 4-year-old 

daughter Cathy died in a house fire. 

In 1962, his oldest son Bill died at 

23 in a car accident. Meanwhile, he 

became afflicted with Huntington’s 

disease, a crippling and fatal nerve 

disorder (they left out the rampant 

alcoholism, but that’s OK). 

Guthrie left his second wife and 

went to California. Just outside Theatricum 

Botanicum’s main stage stands 

the rustic wooden structure where 

he stayed and that is still known as 

“Woody’s Shack.” He married a third 

time, moved to Florida, burned his 

arm in a campfire explosion — he 

could no longer play the guitar — and 

died in 1967 at the age of 55. 

So long, it’s been good to know you. 

And may Will Geer’s descendants, 

and all at the Theatricum Botanicum, 

continue to sing, play, and fight the 

good fight. 

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

Angelus News | November 9, 2018 | Vol. 3 No. 38

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