Angelus News | March 6, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 9

ANGELUS
NEXT-GENERATION
FEMINISM
Will the pro-life issue change
the movement’s future?
March 6, 2020 Vol. 5 No. 9

Join the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Official
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
11 Days: October 26 to November 5, 2020
Under the Spiritual
Leadership of
Archbishop José H. Gomez
along with:
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
including Bethlehem, Sea of Galilee,
Nazareth, Jerusalem, and much more!
$4,299 from Los Angeles (LAX)
plus $195 in tips
Bishop
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Msgr.
Antonio
Cacciapuoti
Space is limited – sign up today!
Fr.
James
Anguiano
Fr.
Parker
Sandoval
Download a brochure and registration form today at
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Contact: Mrs. Judy Brooks, Director
Archbishop’s Office for Special Services
(213) 637-7551 or pilgrimage@la-archdiocese.org
CST#: 2018667–40

Contents
Archbishop Gomez 3
World, Nation, and Local News 4-6
LA Catholic Events 7
Scott Hahn on Scripture 8
Father Rolheiser 9
The Catholic oversight board with one of LA’s hardest jobs 14
San Bernardino kicks off extended welcome for new bishop 16
Revelations of abuse by a revered layman prompt soul-searching 20
Judgment: Why the second ‘Last Thing’ matters now and forever 22
The new book arguing that success has ruined us 26
Heather King on heights, desert, and the angels who minister to us 28
t
3
ON THE COVER
Annie Schoen and her son, Titus, both of Galena, Ohio, at the 2020
March for Life in Washington, D.C., Jan. 24. On Page 10, Sophia Martinson
reports on the challenges Catholic women in the U.S. are facing
in the 21st century: making mainstream feminism pro-life again.
IMAGE:
A woman receives ashes on her
forehead during an Ash Wednesday
Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of
the Angels Feb. 26.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/TYLER ORSBURN
VICTOR ALEMÁN

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March 6, 2020
Vol. 5 • No. 9
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POPE WATCH
Starting Lent right
Lent is a time to remove all distractions
and bitterness from one’s
life in order to better hear God and
those who suffer silently and need
help, Pope Francis said at his weekly
general audience on Ash Wednesday,
Feb. 26.
“It is the right time to turn off the
television and open the Bible. It is the
time to disconnect from cellphones
and connect ourselves to the Gospel,”
as well as to “give up useless words,
idle chatter, rumors, gossip” and speak
intimately with the Lord, he said.
In his address, the pope explained
“the spiritual significance” of the desert,
where Jesus spent 40 days praying
and fasting to prepare for his public
ministry.
Jesus often headed off to “deserted”
places to pray, “teaching us how to
seek the Father who speaks to us in
silence,” the pope said.
“The desert is a place to get away
from the racket that surrounds us. It is
the absence of words in order to make
room for another word, the word of
God, who, like a light breeze, caresses
the heart,” he said.
Just as Jesus spent time in the desert,
he said Catholics must spend Lent
creating similarly sparse surroundings
and a “healthy environment of the
heart.”
These places need a thorough
“cleaning,” he said, because “we live
in an environment polluted by too
much verbal violence, by so many
offensive and harmful words, which
the internet amplifies.”
People today lob insults with the
same frequency and nonchalance as if
they were saying hello, he said.
“We are buried under empty words,
advertisements, devious messages,”
the pope said. “We are used to hearing
everything about everybody and we
risk slipping into a worldliness that
atrophies the heart. And there is
no bypass [surgery] to fix that, only
silence.”
For Christians, the desert isn’t a
place of death, but of life, “because
being in silence, in dialogue with the
Lord, gives us life again,” he said.
Pope Francis asked that people strip
away the superfluous and unnecessary
in their lives so they could find what
really counts, what is essential and
even rediscover the people already by
their side.
Fasting is part of that process, he
said, because it exercises the ability to
go without things that are excessive or
frivolous.
Making time for silence and solitude
will also help the faithful become
more aware of those who suffer silently
around them, the pope said.
Lent is a time to draw near to those
who are alone, abandoned, poor or
elderly, and anyone else in need of
help, he said.
“Prayer, fasting, and acts of mercy —
this is the path of the Lenten desert,”
because it is only in the desert that
one finds the way from death to life,
the pope said. “Let us follow Jesus in
the desert and with him our deserts
will bloom.”
Reporting courtesy of Catholic News
Service Rome correspondent Carol
Glatz.
Papal Prayer Intention for March: We pray that the Church in China may
persevere in its faithfulness to the Gospel and grow in unity.
2 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

NEW WORLD
OF FAITH
BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ
The virtue of doing the right thing
We are deeply concerned in our
society with justice, we talk a lot
about equality and equity. We want
to make sure that people have what
they deserve, that they get their fair
share, that no one is denied what they
are entitled to. We worry when some
people have more privileges, possessions,
and opportunities, while others
have less.
Our concern for justice shows the
deep influence of our Jewish and
Christian inheritance. Even in an
advanced secular society, biblical
ideas are still shaping our assumptions
about right and wrong and our
expectations for what makes for a
good society.
In the Scriptures, the word for “justice”
is sometimes translated “righteousness,”
and the concept is mentioned
more than 800 times. “Justice and
justice alone shall be your aim,” Moses
teaches the Israelites.
Justice in the Bible is “social.” But
before that, justice is personal, it’s a
virtue of the human heart.
That personal dimension is what’s
missing in our secular society’s
understanding of justice. Nowadays,
we start with the rights of individuals
or groups and we think in terms of
what they are “owed” by society, often
defining these things only in legal or
material terms.
But justice is more than that. It’s one
of the cardinal virtues, essential for
right relations between ourselves and
God and between ourselves and other
people. Justice is not so much about
getting our “just desserts,” it’s about
our duty to give others what they
deserve.
The Catechism defines it like this:
“Justice consists in the firm and constant
will to give God and neighbor
their due.”
What is “due” to our neighbor? This
is a question our secular society has
trouble answering, because we no
longer agree that there is an objective
purpose or “end” for human existence.
But the Christian virtue of justice
presumes that God has a plan for
every person, that he endows us with
rights and obligations, that he gives
each of us a transcendent dignity and
destiny.
Justice means respecting the God-given
rights of others: their right to life,
to freedom, to the goods of the earth
that God has intended for all.
Justice means doing right by others
in our personal relationships and
social transactions. It also means
working for a society that promotes
fairness, equality, and human rights in
its legal system and economy.
Jesus defined our obligations to God
and our neighbor in terms of love. We
are to love God with all our hearts
and strength and we are to love our
neighbor as ourselves. What is due
to God is love. What is due to our
neighbor is love.
So, works of justice are works of love.
But justice is more than works we
perform or rules we follow. Jesus said
our justice must exceed the justice
of the scribes and Pharisees, who
reduced justice to external compliance
with the letter of the law.
Our Lord wants us to be filled with a
deep, inner desire for justice, a deep
longing that every person receive the
goodness that God intends for them.
“Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for justice,” he tells us.
So, how do we grow in the virtue of
justice?
Gratitude is essential. Everything
we have, beginning with our life, is a
gift from God. The more grateful we
are for what we have been given, the
more we will want to see that others
receive the gifts that God wants for
them, not only the things of this earth,
but also the things of heaven.
Another way we grow is by trying
hard to do what is right and just, even
in the smallest areas of daily life. Do
your work well, pay your debts, when
you use something that belongs to
someone else, treat it with care. Virtue
grows through practice.
We should reflect often on the Ten
Commandments, the Sermon on the
Mount, and in everything practice the
golden rule: “Do to others whatever
you would have them do to you.”
We should also be attentive to the
little injustices we can commit: talking
about people behind their backs,
being judgmental, gossiping. These
are injustices because they take away
from others what is rightfully theirs,
their reputation and good name, the
personal esteem they deserve.
A final way we grow is to endure the
little offenses and indignities that we
experience every day with patience
and forgiveness. This helps us grow in
humility, as we are aware that we are
following in the footsteps of Christ,
who is the “Just One.”
The just man in the Scriptures is the
good man. As the prophet teaches,
“What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, to love goodness and
to walk humbly with your God?”
Pray for me this week and I will pray
for you.
And let us ask the Blessed Virgin
Mary to help us to grow every day in
our hunger and thirst for justice.
To read more columns by Archbishop José H. Gomez or to subscribe, visit www.angelusnews.com.
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD
DON’T SCREEN US OUT
Woman sues UK government over abortion law
British law prohibits abortion after
24 weeks, unless the unborn baby
is “seriously handicapped.” In that
case, abortion is allowed up until
birth. Heidi Crowter is working to
change that.
Crowter, a 24-year-old woman with
Down syndrome, has sued the British
government for unjust discrimination.
“What it says to me is that my
life just isn’t as valuable as others,”
Crowter wrote in a Feb. 23 statement
Heidi Crowter (right) with other demonstrators.
sent to Catholic News Service. “I
think it’s downright discrimination.”
Crowter decided to take action after
the U.K. ignored advice from the
United Nations Committee on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities to
change the law.
“The U.K. has a legal duty to ensure
equality and protect people with
disabilities,” she wrote on her crowdfunding
site, “but when it comes to
abortion law, the government just
isn’t listening.”
Vatican and Big Tech
team up on AI
In an unlikely partnership, the Vatican
has joined tech giants Microsoft
and IBM to promote ethical use of
artificial intelligence (AI) and other
invasive technologies.
A joint document released Feb. 28
at the end of a three-day conference
organized by the Vatican’s Academy
for Life asserts that AI must respect
privacy and human rights, avoid bias,
and exercise transparency.
“New forms of regulation must be
encouraged to promote transparency
and compliance with ethical principles,
especially for advanced technologies
that have a higher risk of impacting
human rights, such as facial
recognition,” stated the document.
Brad Smith, Microsoft president,
and John Kelly, IBM executive vice
president, signed the document after
discussing “human-centered” AI at
the conference.
Pope Francis voiced support for the
document in a message delivered to
the conference, stating that while
inequalities could expand “enormously,”
the dangers “must not detract
from the immense potential that new
technologies offer,” reported Reuters
Feb. 28.
A World Youth Day for the Middle East?
At a meeting in Rome Feb. 17-20, 14 bishops from Middle
Eastern countries floated the idea of a gathering for young
Catholics in their regions.
Bishops representing Catholics in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon,
Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Cyprus, Somalia, and countries of
the Arabian Peninsula discussed a proposal that the “World
Day of Youth of the Arab Regions” take place in Jordan,
aiming to draw “mass participation” from the region, according
to the Latin patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Political turmoil, poverty, and difficulties obtaining travel
visas have long made it difficult for Middle Eastern Catholics
to attend World Youth Days in large numbers in the
past.
Further details about the proposal were not disclosed, but
the bishops are expected to discuss the idea again at their
meeting next February in Lebanon.
IT’S GOING AROUND —
Pope Francis uses a handkerchief
during Ash Wednesday
Mass at the Basilica of Santa
Sabina in Rome Feb. 26. The
83-year-old pope, who lost
part of a lung to a respiratory
illness in his youth, was
forced to skip several events
on his calendar — including
the Roman Curia’s annual
five-day Lenten retreat —
due to what the Holy See
Press Office described as a
“slight indisposition.” The
Vatican made the statement
as Italy deals with heightened
concern over hundreds of
cases of coronavirus in the
country.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/REMO CASILLI, REUTERS
4 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

NATION
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/SCHOOLTEACHER MARZIO TONIOLO, REUTERS
Coronavirus prompts liturgy changes
At least one American Catholic diocese is making
temporary changes to Mass practices as apprehension
over the global spread of COVID-19 (aka coronavirus)
grows.
Boston Archbishop Cardinal Sean O’Malley announced
that effective Feb. 29, the distribution of the
Precious Blood at Mass would be suspended in his
archdiocese. He also directed that faithful “refrain from
physical contact” during the sign of peace, and that
holy water fonts be cleaned regularly.
Several other U.S. dioceses, including the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles, asked that faithful stay home from
church if they are feeling sick and called on parishes
and schools to take extra hygiene precautions.
A protective mask on a statue of St. Francis in San Fiorano, Italy,
one of the Italian towns on lockdown due to a coronavirus outbreak.
Minnesota priests told not to vote
Minnesota priests were asked by the state’s bishops not to
vote in the state’s March 3 presidential primary, as the state
requires voters to confirm support for a political party.
“In light of the possibility that the information related to
a priest’s participation and ballot selection could be made
public … it would be imprudent for them to participate
in this particular primary process,” Jason Adkins, executive
director for the Minnesota Catholic Conference, told
Catholic News Agency Feb. 27.
In a Feb. 25 email to priests and deacons in the St.
Paul-Minneapolis Diocese, Archbishop Bernard Hebda
explained that because the state does not guarantee the privacy
of voters’ party affiliations, voting in the primary might
hinder clergy’s ministerial work.
“It could be seen as ‘partisan’ political activity,” he wrote,
“to align oneself with a party and to vote in its primary,
which the Church generally discourages clergy from doing
for evangelical reasons.”
Senate blocks two pro-life bills
Lawmakers blocked two pro-life bills from going to the
floor of the U.S. Senate for a vote Feb. 25.
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act would
protect unborn children from late-term abortions, while
the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act would
prohibit infanticide by ensuring that a child born alive following
an abortion would receive the same degree of care
as any other newborn. Both failed to receive the 60 votes
needed in the Senate to advance to a vote on passage.
“It is appalling that even one senator, let alone more than
40, voted to continue the brutal dismemberment of nearly
full-grown infants, and voted against protecting babies who
survive abortion,” said Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of
Kansas City, Kansas, chairman of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
St Thérèse’s Michigan family reunion
A Michigan parish has just become
one of the only sites to house relics
of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and her
parents, Louis and Zelie Martin.
Father John Fain, pastor of St.
Therese Church in Lansing, requested
the relics after buying a picture of
the Martin family for the parish.
“What St. Thérèse is known for is
‘The Little Way,’ ” Father Fain told
Catholic News Agency. “Her parents,
I think, taught her that.”
The Martins, who led ordinary yet
radically charitable lives, have gotten
renewed attention in recent years
since Pope Francis canonized Louis
and Zelie in 2015, making them the
first married couple to be declared
saints together.
Father Fain said that their example
can remind Catholics that marriage
is a path to sanctity. “[Holiness]
doesn’t have to be an extraordinary
thing,” he told Catholic News
Agency. “It can just be living a good,
saintly life in a simple way. That’s
ultimately how they made it to
heaven.”
The first-class relics of Sts. Louis and Zelie
Martin.
CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY/FATHER JOHN FAIN
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 5

LOCAL
Skipping class for God’s will
More than 400 sixth-graders from
17 Catholic schools in the San Fernando
Region took a day off from
classes to learn, pray, and reflect on
God’s plan for their lives.
The Focus 11 all-day event Feb.
18 at St. Charles Borromeo School
in North Hollywood was organized
in collaboration with religious
communities from around the archdiocese,
with the goal of educating
students about vocations to the
priesthood and religious life.
The day began with prayer and
Mass with Bishop Alex Aclan,
followed by a series of activities and
panel discussions, a pizza lunch,
and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
“It was a
wonderful
opportunity
to plant seeds
and let the
young people
interact and get
to know priests
and religious
just as normal
people who
have a special
mission in the
world and in
the Church,”
Father Sam
Salesian Sister Sydney Moss, FMA, speaks to sixth-graders at the Feb.
18 Focus 11 event.
Ward, director of Vocations for the
archdiocese, told Angelus.
This was the third Focus 11 day held
in the archdiocese in recent years,
following similar events for the San
Gabriel and San Pedro Regions.
FRED BRYANTR
STEM academy in Burbank to close
St. John Paul II STEM Academy in
Burbank will close its doors this summer
amid struggles with low enrollment.
In a Feb. 28 statement, the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles said that despite
“the admirable efforts and goodwill of
many people,” the number of applications
for next year was not enough “to
demonstrate growth toward self-sufficiency.”
Launched in 2019 as “a new and innovative
STEM Catholic high school
model,” the school began operating at
the former site of Bellarmine-Jefferson
Common sense to fight contagion
(Bell-Jeff) High School with an inaugural
ninth-grade class last August.
Paul Escala, LA Catholic schools
senior director and superintendent,
said that the archdiocese would work
with families of current ninth-graders
to place them in other nearby Catholic
high schools and “to identify new
opportunities for faculty and staff.”
“We are committed to collaborating
with families, students, teachers, and
staff during this time of transition, and
pray for those in our community who
are impacted by this decision,” said
Escala.
SOCAL’S NEWEST BISHOP — The Vatican
announced Feb. 27 that Pope Francis has
appointed Father Ramon Bejarano, a priest
of the Diocese of Stockton, California, to
be an auxiliary bishop of San Diego. The
50-year-old, who grew up in Texas, Mexico,
and Central California, most recently served
as rector of the Cathedral of the Annunciation
in Stockton.
DIOCESE OF SAN DIEGO
As concerns mount about the spread
of novel coronavirus, or COVID-19,
the Archdiocese of Los Angeles urged
Catholics to use “common sense” in
liturgies, including approaching practices
such as shaking hands at the sign
of peace, holding hands during the
Our Father, and receiving commun-
ion on the tongue, with caution.
In a set of recommendations and
guidelines sent to parishes Feb. 28,
the archdiocesan Office of Worship
did not issue restrictions on the
celebration of the Mass, but suggested
that “during this time of heightened
precaution, it might be prudent to
receive communion in the hand.”
The Office of Worship also reminds
parishioners that “the obligation to
attend Sunday Mass does not apply to
those who are ill, especially those who
have a contagious disease,” and urged
those with flu-like symptoms to stay
home and avoid spreading germs.
6 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

LA Catholic Events
Items for LA Catholic Events are due two weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be mailed to Angelus News (Attn: LA Catholic Events), 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241; emailed to
calendar@angelusnews.com; or faxed to 213-637-6360. All items must include the name, date, time, and address of the event, plus a phone number for additional information.
Fri., March 6
Alan Ames Presentations. Our Lady of the Rosary
Church, 14815 Paramount Blvd., Paramount, 7 p.m.
Mass, 8 p.m. talk followed by exposition, adoration,
and healing service. March 7 at Divine Saviour
Church, 2911 Idell St., Los Angeles, 5 p.m. Mass, 6
p.m. presentation. March 8 at St. Louis de Montfort
Church, 1190 E. Clark Ave., Santa Maria, 6 p.m. Mass,
7 p.m. presentation.
St. Clare’s Lenten Fish Fry. 19606 Calla Way, Santa
Clarita, 4:30-8 p.m. Dinner: Beer-battered cod, coleslaw,
choice of French Fries, rice pilaf, and beans.
Fish tacos with rice and beans also available. Cost:
$11/person for two-piece dinner, $12/person for
three-piece dinner. Dine in or take out. Call 661-252-
3353 or visit st-clare.org.
Sat., March 7
Drawing Closer to Jesus Retreat. St. Margaret Mary
Alacoque Church, 25511 Eshelman Ave., Lomita, 1-4
p.m. Led by Sister Kathryn Hermes, FSP, this free retreat
guides you on a journey to trust more in God’s
love and his plan for you. Call 310-397-8676 or email
culvercity@paulinemedia.com.
Lenten Silent Saturday. Holy Spirit Retreat Center,
4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Quiet morning
of centering prayer and silence, with time for
communal prayer, contemplative walk, private journaling,
and reflection. All are welcome. Register at
HSRCenter.com or call Amanda Berg at 818-815-
4480. Freewill offerings accepted.
Discipuli Christi: Created to Love Teen Conference.
St. Louis of France Church, Mulchany Hall,
13935 E. Temple Ave., La Puente. Registration 9:30-
10 a.m., event 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Presentations include
“Freedom to love,” “Are you being used?” and “A
heart that never tires of loving.” Donation: $12, $15/
person at the door. Open to ages 12-18. Food available
for purchase. For information and registration,
call Josie at 562-417-6612 or email josefina5513@
gmail.com.
Sixth Annual Holy Trinity Gala. Holy Trinity Church
auditorium, 209 N. Hanford Ave., San Pedro, 5:30
p.m. Mass, 6:30 p.m. cocktails. Honoring Tim and
Connie McOsker and supporting Holy Trinity School.
For information, call 310-833-0703.
Is There a Future for Church? Symposium: 200th
Anniversary of the Life of Isaac Hecker. St. Paul
the Apostle Church parish center, 1536 Selby Ave.,
Los Angeles, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Paulists reflect on Hecker’s
vision for the future of the Church with three
theologians: Cecilia González-Andrieu, Ph.D., Loyola
Marymount University, Hosffman Ospino, Ph.D., Boston
College, and Father Thomas Rausch, SJ, Loyola
Marymount University. Cost: $25/person and includes
breakfast refreshments and lunch. $10/student. Register
at symposium.pushpayevents.com.
Foster Care and Adoption Information Meeting.
Children’s Bureau, 1529 E. Palmdale Blvd., Ste. 210,
Palmdale, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Discover if you have the
willingness, ability, and resources to take on the challenge
of helping a child in need. RSVP or learn more
by calling 213-342-0162, toll free at 800-730-3933,
or emailing RFrecruitment@all4kids.org.
Sun., March 8
Drawing Closer to Jesus Retreat. Holy Trinity
Church, 1292 W. Santa Cruz St., San Pedro, 1-5
p.m. Led by Sister Kathryn Hermes, FSP, this retreat
guides you on a journey to trust more in God’s love
and his plan for you. Donation: $15/person. Call 310-
397-8676 or email culvercity@paulinemedia.com.
Mon., March 9
The Triduum Training. St. Matthias Church, 7125
Mission Place, Huntington Park, 6:30-9 p.m. Cost:
$15/person. Register at http://store.la-archdiocese.
org/el-triduo-pascual-st-matthias-2020.
Tue., March 10
Ministry of Hospitality Training. San Gabriel Mission,
428 S. Mission Dr., San Gabriel, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Cost: $20/person. Register at http://store.la-archdiocese.org/hospitality-ministry-training-san-gabriel-mission-2020.
Wed., March 11
Senior STARS Present Tommy Newman. St. Paul
the Apostle Church, 1536 Selby Ave., Los Angeles,
10 a.m. Tommy Newman, from the United Way,
will speak on solving homelessness and proposed
housing for the unsheltered at Greenfield and Santa
Monica Blvd. For more information, call Claire at 310-
474-5977.
Catholic Social Teaching Workshop: English. St.
Vincent de Paul Church, Sharpe Hall, 621 W. Adams
Blvd., Los Angeles, 7 p.m. Hosted by the Office of Life,
Justice, and Peace. To register, call 213-637-7632.
Thu., March 12
Nazareth House Auxiliary Luncheon. 3333 Manning
Ave., Los Angeles, 11:30 a.m. Donation: $20/
person. RSVP by calling 310-650-6358.
Fri., March 13
St. Clare’s Lenten Fish Fry. 19606 Calla Way, Santa
Clarita, 4:30-8 p.m. Dinner: Beer-battered cod, coleslaw,
choice of French Fries, rice pilaf, and beans.
Fish tacos with rice and beans also available. Cost:
$11/person for two-piece dinner, $12/person for
three-piece dinner. Dine in or take out. Call 661-252-
3353 or visit st-clare.org.
Sat., March 14
Drawing Closer to Jesus Retreat. Pauline Books
and Media, 3908 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, 10
a.m.-4 p.m. Led by Sister Kathryn Hermes, FSP, this
retreat guides you on a journey to trust more in God’s
love and his plan for you. Donation: $30/person and
includes lunch. Call 310-397-8676 or email culvercity@paulinemedia.com.
Divine Mercy and the Family in this Challenging
Time: Lenten Retreat. Sacred Heart Church, Cavanagh
Hall, 344 W. Workman St., Covina. Registration
starts at 8 a.m. Featured speakers: Father Robert
Spitzer, SJ, Ph.D, Father Ed Broom, OMV, Father Lou
Cerruli, and Donna Lee. Cost: $35/person on-site.
Lunch included. Call Estrella Mijares at 562-972-
5675, or email angelstar73@earthlink.net, or call
Ruby Gonzales at 626-482-1284, or email Lourdes
Garrison at 714-585-9579.
Foster Care and Adoption Information Meeting.
Children’s Bureau’s Carson office, 460 East Carson
Plaza Dr., Ste. 102, Carson, or Andrew’s Plaza, 11335
West Magnolia Blvd., Ste. 2C, North Hollywood, 10
a.m.-12 p.m. Discover if you have the willingness,
ability, and resources to take on the challenge of
helping a child in need. RSVP or learn more by calling
213-342-0162, toll free at 800-730-3933, or email
RFrecruitment@all4kids.org.
Ninth Annual St. Patrick’s Day Car Show. St. Louis
de Montfort Church, 1190 E. Clark Ave., Orcutt, 10
a.m.-3 p.m. More than 100 cars, live music, vendors,
and food. Free event. Information at kofccarshow.
com.
Sun., March 15
Italian Catholic Club of Santa Clarita Valley: Bingo
Games. The Smokehouse Restaurant, 24255 Main
St., Santa Clarita, 12 p.m. Cost: $25/person. Call Anna
Riggs to RSVP at 661-645-7877, or email Italians@
iccscv.org, or visit www.iccscv.org.
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.
This Week at AngelusNews.com
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March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 7

SUNDAY
READINGS
BY SCOTT HAHN
Gen. 12:1–4 / Ps. 33:4–5, 18–20, 22 / 2 Tim. 1:8–10 / Mt. 17:1–9
Today’s Gospel portrays Jesus
as a new and greater Moses.
Moses also took three companions
up a mountain and on the
seventh day was overshadowed
by the shining cloud of God’s
presence. He, too, spoke with
God and his face and clothing
were made radiant in the encounter
(see Exodus 24, 34).
But in today’s Lenten liturgy,
the Church wants us to look
back past Moses. Indeed, we are
asked to contemplate what today’s
Epistle calls God’s “design
… from before time began.”
With his promises to Abram
in today’s First Reading, God
formed the people through
whom he would reveal himself
and bestow his blessings on all
humanity.
He later elevated these promises
to eternal covenants and
changed Abram’s name to Abraham,
promising that he would
be father of a host nation (see
Genesis 17:5). In remembrance of
his covenant with Abraham, he raised
up Moses (see Exodus 2:24; 3:8) and
later swore an everlasting kingdom to
David’s sons (see Jeremiah 33:26).
In Jesus’ transfiguration today, he is
revealed as the One through whom
God fulfills his divine plan from of
old.
Not only a new Moses, Jesus is also
the “beloved son” promised to Abraham
and again to David (see Genesis
22:15–18; Psalm 2:7; Matthew 1:1).
Moses foretold a prophet like him
to whom Israel would listen (see
Deuteronomy 18:15, 18), and Isaiah
“Transfiguration,” by Lorenzo Lotto, 1480-1557, Italian.
foretold an anointed servant in whom
God would be well-pleased (see Isaiah
42:1). Jesus is this prophet and this
servant, as the Voice on the mountain
tells us today.
By faith we have been made children
of the covenant with Abraham
(see Galatians 3:7–9; Acts 3:25). He
calls us, too, to a holy life, to follow
his Son to the heavenly homeland he
has promised. We know, as we sing in
today’s Psalm, that we who hope in
him will be delivered from death.
So like our father in faith, we go
forth as the Lord directs us: “Listen to
him!”
Scott Hahn is is founder of of the the St. St. Paul Center for for Biblical Theology, stpaulcenter.com.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
8 • ANGELUS • August March 6, 16-23-30, 2020 2019

IN EXILE
BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI
Our congenital complexity
The renowned spiritual writer Ruth
Burrows begins her autobiography
with these words: “I was born into this
world with a tortured sensitivity. For
long I have puzzled over the causes of
my psychological anguish.”
Unfortunately, to our loss, too many
spiritual biographies don’t begin like
this, that is, by recognizing right at
the start the bewildering, pathological
complexity inside our own nature.
We’re not simple in heart, mind, and
soul, nor even in body. Each of us has
enough complexity to write our own
treatise on abnormal psychology.
And that complexity must not only
be recognized, it needs to be respected
and hallowed because it stems
not from what’s worst in us but from
what’s best in us. We’re complex
because what beguiles us inside and
tempts us is not, first of all, the wiliness
of the devil, but rather the image
and likeness of God.
Inside us there’s a divine fire, a greatness,
which gives us infinite depth,
insatiable desires, and enough luminosity
to bewilder every psychologist.
It’s my belief that Christian spirituality
has too often not taken this seriously
enough. In short, the impression
has too much been given that Christian
discipleship shouldn’t be complicated:
Why all this resistance within
you? What’s wrong with you?
But, as we know from our own
experience, our innate complexity is
forever throwing up complications
and resistances to becoming a saint, to
“willing the one thing.” Because our
complexity hasn’t been recognized
and honored spiritually, we often feel
guilty about it: Why am I so compli-
cated? Why am I so often confused?
Why is sex such a powerful impulse?
The simple answer: Because we are
born with a godly fire within. Thus the
source of so many of our confusions,
temptations, and resistances comes as
much from what is best as from the
wiles of Satan and the world.
What should we do in the face of our
own bewildering complexity?
Some counsels for the long haul:
Honor and hallow your complexity:
Accept that this is a God-given gift
inside you and it’s what is best inside
you. It’s what separates you from
plants and animals. Their nature
is simple, but having an immortal,
infinite soul makes for lots of complications
as you struggle to live out your
life within the finitude that besets you.
Never underestimate your complexity,
even as you resist massaging it:
Recognize and respect the “demons
and angels” that roam freely inside
your heart and mind. But don’t
massage your complexity either, by
fancying yourself as the existentialist
who’s heroically out of step with life.
Befriend your shadow:
It’s the luminosity you’ve split off.
With proper caution and support, face
the inner things that frighten you.
Hallow the power and place of
sexuality within you:
You’re incurably sexual, and for a
godly reason. Never deny or denigrate
the power of sexuality, even as you
carry it with a proper chastity.
Name your wounds, grieve them,
mourn your inconsummation:
Whatever wounds that you don’t
grieve will eventually bite you. Accept
and mourn the fact that here, in this
life, there is no finished symphony.
Never let your “transcendental impulse”
become drugged or imprisoned:
Your complexity continually lets you
know that you’re built for more than
this life. Never deaden this impulse inside
you. Learn to recognize, through
your frustrations and fantasies, the
ways you often imprison it.
Try to find a “higher love” by which to
transcend the more immediate power of
your natural instincts:
All miracles begin with falling in
love. Hallow your spontaneous impulses
and temptations by searching
for that higher love and higher value
toward which they’re pointing. Offering
others your altruism and the gaze
of admiration will feel so good and
right that it will bring to fulfillment
what you’re really yearning for.
Let your own complexity teach you
understanding and empathy:
By being in touch with your own
complexity you will eventually learn
that nothing is foreign to you and that
what you see on the newscasts each
day mirrors what’s inside you.
Forgive yourself often:
Your complexity will trip you up
many times and so you will need to
forgive yourself many times. Live,
knowing that God’s mercy is a well
that’s never exhausted.
Live under God’s patience and understanding:
God is your builder, the architect
who constructed you and who is
responsible for your complexity. Trust
that he understands, and is more anxious
about you than you are. The God
who knows all things also knows and
appreciates why you struggle.
Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher, award-winning author, and president of the Oblate School of Theology
in San Antonio, Texas. Find him online at www.ronrolheiser.com and www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser.
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 9

Pro-life supporters participate
in the annual March for Life in
Washington, D.C., in 2019.
JEFFREY BRUNO/SHUTTERSTOCK
Will all the pro-woman ladies
PLEASE STAND?
Both pro-choice and pro-life advocates
emphasize empowering women. Where’s the divide?
BY SOPHIA MARTINSON / ANGELUS
10 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

icipate
Life in
19.
JEFFREY BRUNO/SHUTTERSTOCK
In January 2020, an art exhibition
called “Abortion is Normal” opened
in New York City.
The art collection proclaims itself
an “EMERGENCY exhibition” in
response to the heavy abortion restrictions
that 43 states passed last year,
beginning with Alabama’s near-total
ban passed in May 2019.
One piece, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh’s
“To Be Without Choice,” features two
sketches of African American women
staring solemnly at the viewer. Next to
them is a polaroid photo of a woman
holding a baby in her lap.
Below the images are several lines of
text from a 1989
brochure: “Somebody’s
saying that
we must have
babies whether
we choose to
or not,” the text
reads. “Doesn’t
matter what
we say, doesn’t
matter how we
feel. Meanwhile,
those somebodies
who claim they’re
‘pro-life’ aren’t
moved to help
the living.”
“Abortion is
Normal” is not
the only place
voicing concerns
about abortion
restrictions. In a
New York Times
op-ed published on the 47th anniversary
of Roe v. Wade, Ylonda Gault
echoed the sentiment that limiting
abortion means limiting women.
This year’s anniversary of the pivotal
Supreme Court decision, Gault wrote,
is “a call for deliberate action to safeguard
the most basic and ordinary right
of all: to control your own body.”
Arguments in favor of abortion range
from denying the unborn child’s
identity (“it’s just a clump of cells”) to
justifying a necessary evil (“safe, legal,
rare.”) Now, the mainstream argument
preaches women’s empowerment,
which must entail giving them total
control over their bodies — and whatever
resides in it.
Two days after Gault’s op-ed ran, the
47th March for Life filled the streets
of downtown Washington, D.C. This
year’s theme offered a direct response
to the popular pro-choice stance: “Life
Empowers: Pro-Woman is Pro-Life.”
While the crowd waved several signs
that read “Save the baby humans”
and “A person’s a person, no matter
how small,” a host of women-focused
messages permeated the streets: “I am a
pro-life feminist.” “Pro-life, pro-health,
pro-woman.”
At the front of the line, a group of
young women, all students at Oakcrest
School for girls, carried the March for
Life banner to lead the way.
Victoria Claflin Woodhull, the first female candidate for president, addressing a congressional
committee on women’s suffrage in 1872.
“Being pro-life is supporting women
at all stages, no matter what the
circumstances,” said Laura Cermak,
an Oakcrest alum who attended the
March.
Both the pro-choice and pro-life
narratives profess to be adamantly
“pro-woman,” but their vision for
empowering women couldn’t be more
different. Where’s the dividing line,
and how did it get there?
UNITED WE STAND
As the March for Life crowd on Jan.
24 passed by the National Archives,
which houses the U.S. Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution, a
large banner stating “Rightfully Hers”
hung from the front of the building, in
celebration of the 100th anniversary of
the 19th Amendment, which granted
women the right to vote.
Although the 19th Amendment
passed in 1920, the suffragist movement
had begun decades earlier, at
the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.
This gathering focused on a range of
women’s rights, and its Declaration of
Sentiments summarizes several issues
that still motivate the feminist movement
today.
Besides the right to vote, the declaration
included the assertion that men
and women are equal, that women
have a right to equal educational and
professional opportunities,
that
men and women
should be held to
the same behavioral
standards,
and that women’s
role in society
should not be
confined to the
“circumscribed
limits” of “corrupt
customs.”
EVERETT HISTORICAL/SHUTTERSTOCK
For the next 60
years, women
would fight to
assert their equal
place in society
through the suffragist
movement,
led by ardent
leaders like Susan
B. Anthony and
Elizabeth Cady
Stanton.
But among the rights that these women
fought for, “reproductive rights” was
not one of them.
Although modern-day abortion was a
far-off phenomenon, abortion was not
uncommon. Many original feminists
saw the practice as a crime against
women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who
helped organize the Seneca Falls Convention,
wrote, “When we consider
that women are treated as property, it
is degrading to women that we should
treat our children as property to be
disposed of as we see fit.”
Alice Paul, who drafted the original
Equal Rights Amendment, called
abortion “the ultimate exploitation
of women.” And Victoria Woodhull,
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 11

the first woman to run for president,
declared, “Every woman knows that
if she were free, she would never bear
an unwished-for child, nor think of
murdering one before its birth.”
So, what happened? Why is a nation
so united in honoring the suffragists so
divided on something they stood for?
In her book “Who Stole Feminism?
How Women Have Betrayed Women”
(Simon & Schuster, $19.99),
philosopher and scholar Christina
Hoff Sommers outlined the evolution
of the feminist movement, and how
its modern ideology has taken many
steps back from the Seneca Falls
Convention. Sommers herself is prochoice,
but her evaluation still identifies
the radical changes in feminist
values that have made abortion one of
its token crusades.
According to Sommers, the shift
partly had to do with women getting a
little too zealous about their collective
resentment toward society, building
a groupthink that touts female power
over universal human dignity.
“The aims of the Seneca Falls
activists were clearly stated, finite, and
practicable,” wrote Sommers. “They
would eventually be realized because
they were grounded in principles —
recognized constitutional principles
— that were squarely in the tradition
of equity, fairness, and individual
liberty.”
Over time, however, some women
drew motivation precisely from their
anger against society, and particularly
against patriarchy.
“Most of those [people today] who
publicly bemoan the plight of women
in America are moved by more dubious
passions and interests,” Sommers
observed.
“Theirs is a feminism of resentment
that rationalizes and fosters a wholesale
rancor in women that has little to
do with moral indignation.”
This “wholesale rancor” has fueled
demands within the feminist movement
that are not grounded in principles
of equity, fairness, and individual
liberty, but mainly with power. Gradually,
many feminists held as their
goal not so much to place women on
equal footing with men, but to assert a
position of control over what they saw
as a misogynistic society.
A “Pro-life, Pro-woman” sign at the March for Life rally in Washington, D.C., Jan. 24.
RENAISSANCE FEMINISM
As potent as modern feminism is
today, it has not won over all feminists.
In 1972, a group of women decided
to launch a “renaissance to the original
American feminism” and founded
Feminists for Life (FFL). Since then,
the organization has provided support
programs and educational resources
for women experiencing crisis pregnancies,
with the goal of “eliminating
the root causes that drive women to
abortion.”
At the March for Life, an FFL member
described how the organization
upholds true feminism. “The feminist
principles of justice, of nondiscrimination,
of nonviolence, are completely
contrary to abortion,” she said. “Women
deserve better, [but they] too often
feel that they don’t have choices [and]
have to resort to an abortion.”
The numbers tell the same story:
About half of the women who get an
abortion live below the federal poverty
line. Already desperate, an unexpected
pregnancy could further aggravate
their lives and intensify the idea that
abortion is necessary.
But like the suffragists, Feminists for
Life believe that what really oppresses
women is not abortion restrictions but
abortion itself. A pro-abortion mindset,
they argue, tells a woman that
the only way for her to climb out of a
crisis pregnancy is to reject her unborn
child. In other words, there is no room
for turning a crisis pregnancy into a
normal pregnancy.
“To support women means to support
not just choice but choices,” the FFL
member continued, “so that women
can keep their babies while they work,
while they’re in school.”
In an effort to help women discover
that range of choices, Women’s Care
Center, the largest national network of
pregnancy support facilities, employs
the same pro-woman, pro-life philosophy
in its daily work.
“Our work is really woman-centered,”
vice president Jenny Hunsberger said.
Founded in 1984, Women’s Care
Center’s goal is to accompany each
woman throughout her pregnancy, giving
her the resources and support she
needs to have and care for her child.
Admittedly, many women face very
difficult situations that make the prospect
of having a child overwhelming,
if not terrifying. One client, Hunsberger
noted, had been in an accident that
led her to get her arm amputated.
Soon after, she got pregnant.
In response, the Women’s Care
Center team researched information
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/TYLER ORSBURN
12 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

about caring for a child with one
arm. But even more importantly, said
Hunsberger, the client’s counselor
affirmed her courage against all odds.
“Our counseling model is strengthsbased,”
said Hunsberger. “Each
woman, no matter how challenging
her situation is, is gifted with deep and
abiding strengths. … Our work focuses
on uncovering those incredible gifts
and letting her see them.”
Rather than sending the message that
pregnant women “must have babies
whether we choose to or not,” Women’s
Care Center prioritizes empowering
women to feel truly free and build
a thriving future for themselves and
their families. That approach has attracted
nearly 30,000 women annually
to its 32 sites. Last year, 16,246 babies
were born to Women’s Care Center
clients.
LIBERTY, JUSTICE FOR ALL (MOMS)
The day after the March for Life,
Charlotte Pence, daughter of Vice
President Mike Pence, gave a keynote
address at the Pro-Life Summit in
Washington, D.C. In it, she reminded
her audience that women are stronger
than abortion advocates make them
out to be.
“The pro-choice argument ultimately
tells a woman that if she’s met with
an unforeseen circumstance, an
unplanned pregnancy … she can’t rise
above those unforeseen circumstances,”
said Pence. “She can’t have the
best life that she wants if she chooses
to keep this child. And that’s a lie. And
it’s a message of defeat. Our message,
the pro-life message of a post-Roe
America, has to be one of victory.”
The pro-life movement is often criticized
for valuing the life of an unborn
child over the life of a struggling
woman. But as this growing movement
stresses, being pro-life must be
pro-woman.
Despite the fact that abortion is still
prevalent in our society, Hunsberger
sees the tides turning.
“There is so much more to be
hopeful about than there is to be
discouraged about,” she said. “Life is
winning.”
Sophia Martinson is a writer living in
New York City.
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 13
Knights of Columbus
California State Council
PUT YOUR FAITH INTO ACTION!
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and the Knights of Columbus are doing
that work every day. Through the
Knights, men find hope in their Catholic
faith and a deep connection to
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countless benefits. Join online at
www.kofc.org.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION WATCH A LIVE
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STARTING AT 6:00 PM:
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For
Past members of CMOB at an event in April 2018, marking the 25th year of a lay review board
in Los Angeles. Fourth from left is former CMOB chair and retired Judge Richard “Skip” Byrne.
ALEXANDRA COOPER
Voices of
A look inside the quiet,
often painful work of the
men and women who
help review allegations
of clerical abuse in LA
BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS
almost the last 20 years, a handful of men and
women — among them attorneys, mental health
professionals, a couple of priests, a woman religious,
even a pediatrician — have met regularly to provide a
service Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez couldn’t do
his job without.
Known as the Clergy Misconduct Oversight Board
(CMOB), the independent board has reviewed every case
of suspected sexual impropriety committed by priests and
deacons in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles since 2002.
Some are survivors of sexual abuse by clergy themselves.
Their task: to carefully evaluate every accusation before
advising the archbishop on what actions should be taken,
whether related to policy or outreach to those affected by
abuse.
As the global Catholic Church deals with a reawakening
sexual abuse crisis, the role of such boards is back in the
spotlight, especially in the U.S. Church, which is widely
recognized as a leader in promoting anti-abuse mechanisms
that provide independent lay oversight of abuse cases.
Here in Los Angeles, such a board has existed since 1994,
well before the U.S. bishops mandated the creation of
such a board in every American diocese following the 2002
abuse crisis.
Since its initial start as the Sexual Abuse Advisory Board
14 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

(SAAB) and as CMOB since 2002, the group has relied on
independent investigators — among them retired FBI special
agents — to investigate allegations of abuse committed
against both adults and minors long before doing so was the
national standard for Catholic dioceses.
The investigators report their findings to the board, which
in turn deliberates on the claims’ credibility and how the
archdiocese should proceed.
Among those who watch CMOB work from a seat in the
room for those meetings is Heather Banis, Ph.D., who in
2016 took over as coordinator of the Victim Assistance
Ministry for the archdiocese. She is not a member of the
board, but presents cases to it with an overview of allegations,
a summary of what has been reported and what
counseling has been offered.
“To me, as a psychologist, the board is comprised of members
whose diverse areas of expertise converge to create a
very appropriate and sensitive interdisciplinary response to
the serious matters of sexual misconduct,” said Banis.
“These people are volunteers and listen to detailed reports
of the allegations and the findings of the investigation. I see
in the board’s efforts a tenacity and perseverance to understand
the truth of what happened as best they possibly can
and to make a fair and just recommendation to the archbishop.
I believe the process is healthy and has integrity.”
For Kathy Moret, her time on CMOB for the last decade
is just one of the roles she considers part of her
longtime ministry in Catholic education.
As a parishioner at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena,
Moret was asked to consider serving on CMOB by
the late Msgr. Royale Vadakin, who then served as vicar
general for the archdiocese but who had known her since
she was in parish school in Alhambra, where he was once
the associate pastor.
She recalled hesitating at first, but said she trusted in
the priest’s faith that she would bring fair-mindedness and
compassion from her background on boards such as the
Loyola Marymount University’s School of Education, and
her work in politics.
“For the first couple of years, I did a lot of listening and
learning,” said Moret, reflecting on the work of the board.
“We have a mutual respect for everyone at the table. We
are one. I think it’s a cohesive board and we’re all on the
same page.”
The matters discussed in the meetings do not leave the
room, Moret said. Some on the board don’t even share
with friends that they participate on CMOB.
“If the subject comes up, I will do my best to explain, but
it can seem complicated,” she said. “I am proud of this
work. I would really just want people to know that we are
not here to protect clergy. We’re laypeople doing the best
we can to make the Church a place we are all proud of and
which is sacred and safe for our children.
“There are many times at dinner I will tell my husband
that I feel really good about what we did that day as a
board. Again, I look at it as a ministry. It’s not necessarily
the easy job. I have faith in myself that I am someone who
is fair and compassionate and loving in my ministry.”
Since CMOB only gives recommendations to the archbishop
about what steps to take next, Moret said the board’s
focus has to do the best it can at processing information
and not trying to act as a decision-maker.
“When there are cases involving children, I’m not sure
there will ever be 100% justice,” said Moret. “That’s really
up to God. But as far as what our temporal powers are and
given the options we can take for justice, I think and hope
we might bring some peace.”
At times, the most important voice in CMOB’s deliberations
is that of a victim-survivor of abuse.
Dolores (last name withheld) has been on the board
with Moret for the last decade. More than a victim-survivor,
Dolores comes from a life journey that took her in
many different directions before finding a path to healing.
“At the essence of our faith is compassion, and it grieves
me that some people seek retribution,” said Dolores. “It’s
difficult enough to live a Christian life in our world and
with one of our most basic human instincts to seek revenge
or retribution.
“There’s no place for that on the board; there is much
more we are called to be and do. What my serving in the
board meetings did was open up a more compassionate
view for me, not only for the people who are violated but
for the perpetrators as well.”
Dolores pointed out that the board takes a particularly
whole-minded approach in responding not just for the
victims and their healing process, but for assessing the
principal offenders.
“A lot of people are hurting on both sides, and I wanted
to be of service in helping move forward on the topic,” she
said. “I think I’m helping find resolution and some sort of
just treatment for the perpetrator, whether that’s removal
or therapy or supervised activities, so the issues that were
caused by that person would no longer affect the Church
in the way it did before the case was brought to the board.
“Ultimately, we live in a land where justice is supposed
to be dispensed by law. I only speak for myself, but I see
the change that’s been brought about within the Church
because of this board, and others like it, as a just way to
approach the predicament.”
Adding that she understands some things can’t be resolved
except through extreme measures, “I guess that speaks to
helping out in some way and, if that’s the outcome for that
person, that also helps society and the Church. I don’t
think I carry any untoward feelings with me when each
meeting concludes as I remain centered within myself and
God,” Dolores said.
“As I reflect on the board’s participation and whatever
decisions have been made, I know we’ve made the best
recommendations collectively.”
This article is the first of several to appear in Angelus in the
coming weeks on the groundbreaking efforts to combat sexual
abuse in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning journalist based in Los
Angeles.
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 15

Taking the reins
in the Inland
Empire
After three decades
in the Windy City,
Mexican native Bishop
Alberto Rojas begins
his yearlong welcome
as San Bernardino’s
next shepherd
BY PABLO KAY / ANGELUS
Bishop Alberto Rojas shows the papal bull declaring his appointment as coadjutor bishop of
San Bernardino at his Feb. 24 Mass of Welcome.
DIOCESE OF SAN BERNARDINO
In his nearly nine years as auxiliary
bishop in Chicago, people warned
Bishop Alberto Rojas that something
like this might happen.
“Somebody told me before, ‘You’re
not very old, and you’re probably
going to get a diocese of your own, so
that I knew, but I wasn’t sure when
or where,” he recalled in a recent
interview.
In December 2019, Bishop Rojas
found out “where.” Pope Francis
tapped him to succeed Bishop Gerald
Barnes as shepherd of San Bernardino,
the nation’s sixth largest diocese.
As the new “coadjutor” bishop, Bishop
Rojas will work alongside Bishop
Barnes until Pope Francis accepts
Bishop Barnes’ retirement sometime
next year. After that, Bishop Rojas will
take the reins himself. Bishop Barnes
has led the Inland Empire diocese
since 1996.
On Feb. 24, nearly 2,500 people
packed inside St. Paul the Apostle
Church in Chino Hills to welcome
Bishop Rojas to his new home. Two
cardinals and more than two dozen
bishops were there for his Mass of
Welcome, including Los Angeles
Archbishop José H. Gomez and Archbishop
Christophe Pierre, the pope’s
apostolic nuncio to the United States.
But while Bishop Rojas joked with
the crowd about whether to call his
transfer a move from the Midwest to
the “very west” or the “wild west,” he is
no stranger to Southern California.
Bishop Rojas was born in 1965, in
Aguascalientes, Mexico, the sixth of
eight children. He entered minor
seminary in Mexico at 13, but eventually
asked for time away to experience
working life, according to the Chicago
Catholic, the official newspaper of the
Archdiocese of Chicago.
After immigrating to the U.S. from
Mexico a few years later, he spent a
short time in the LA area working before
moving to Chicago and entering
seminary.
In the 30 years since, the 55-yearold
has called the Windy City home,
first as a seminarian, then as a priest,
ordained in 1997, and most recently
as an auxiliary bishop, a post he was
appointed to in 2011 by Pope Benedict
XVI.
For Bishop Rojas’ niece, Norma
Gallo of Ontario, the surprise news
16 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

that her uncle was going to become
her bishop was bittersweet.
“I felt so much joy, but also sad for
him, thinking of all the time he’s been
in Chicago,” she said. “It’s going to
be a big change for him. But it’s a
blessing from God to have him here
so close.”
As a parish priest, Bishop Rojas
had a reputation for being
available and accessible,
accepting dinner invitations from parishioners
and ready to receive anyone,
any time, in his home in the parish
rectory. During his time on the staff at
Mundelein Seminary, he was known
to frequently help cover Masses in
parishes around the archdiocese.
As auxiliary bishop, he helped
minister to Chicago’s large, heavily
Mexican Latino Catholic population.
He was the only Latino bishop in the
U.S. Church’s Region VII (Wisconsin,
Illinois, and Indiana), making him the
natural choice to serve as the region’s
lead bishop representative during the
V National Encuentro of Hispanic/
Latino Ministry process, which culminated
in 2018.
“He understands the everyday struggles
of people, but he also is of the
mind of Pope Francis, where he sees
it’s important for people to encounter
Christ,” Chicago’s Archbishop Cardinal
Blase Cupich said in an interview
at the Mass of Welcome.
Cardinal Cupich said he relied on
Bishop Rojas from the day he arrived
in the Windy City in 2014. Bishop
Rojas provided translation help and
welcomed and introduced him to the
archdiocese’s Latino community.
Cardinal Cupich has been Bishop
Rojas’ boss over the last five years and,
as a member of the Vatican’s Congregation
of Bishops, he was also involved
in identifying candidates for Pope
Francis to select from in sending a new
bishop to San Bernardino.
“We had a wonderful opportunity as a
congregation to look at all of the candidates
that were eligible for this see,
and he obviously won the attention of
everybody, including the Holy Father,”
Cardinal Cupich said.
In his welcoming Mass homily, Bishop
Rojas laid out his vision for the
Church’s mission in contemporary
society. He recalled the answer Pope
Francis gave him recently when he
asked the Holy Father what he feared
the most.
The pope’s immediate reply? “Division.”
“Division comes from the devil, and
unity comes from God,” Bishop Rojas
quoted the pope as telling him and his
ishop of
DIOCESE OF SAN BERNARDINO
Cardinal Blase Cupich (left) at an evening vespers service Jan. 19 in Des Plaines, Illinois, with bishops and clergy from the Archdiocese of Chicago to
say farewell to Bishop Alberto Rojas, who has called Chicago home for nearly 30 years.
KAREN CALLAWAY/CHICAGO CATHOLIC
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 17

other bishops from Region VII in
their “ad limina” visit in December.
“From the watering down of marriage,
to the young adults going away,
to the scandals in the Church, and
so on, these are sources of division,
sources of evil that seem to be taking
the world over,” Bishop Rojas told the
faithful.
In the face of divisions, he said, the
Church needs “wisdom from above,”
which comes from “the knowledge
that we need to live in this life and to
interact with our circumstances and
with those around us united in the
love of God.”
Bishop Rojas stressed that every
Catholic has a duty to be a “missionary
disciple,” using a favorite term
of Pope Francis, and he said the
Church’s mission is to bring Jesus
Christ to “a world that is starving for
God.”
Archbishop Jerome Listecki of Milwaukee and Bishop Alberto Rojas with pilgrims from Illinois and
Wisconsin at World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
At the start of the Mass of Welcome, representatives of six different communities presented
Bishop Rojas with a gift while identifying their community.
SUBMITTED PHOTO DIOCESE OF SAN BERNARDINO
C
“Our challenge as missionary disciples
is to help the world distinguish
between good and bad,” as well as to
distinguish “good religion from bad
religion.”
To distinguish, he said, “and to listen
to the voice that is coming from the
Lord Jesus among the many other
noisy and loud voices, and there are so
many of them.”
To make his point, Bishop Rojas
quoted a Bob Dylan song (“Gotta
Serve Somebody”): “It may be the devil,
or it may be the Lord, but you have
to serve somebody.”
“Well, we want to serve the Lord.
We are God’s children, we belong to
him,” Bishop Rojas said. “The very
day we were baptized the Lord Jesus
said to us, you belong to me, you don’t
belong to the devil.”
18 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

Mariachis serenaded Bishop Rojas as he posed for pictures at his post-Mass of Welcome reception.
At the reception after Mass, San
Bernardino’s new coadjutor
was greeted by a mariachi
band, local Catholic students, tables
with trays of Mexican “flautas” and
Filipino “lumpia.” Dozens of families
lined up for a blessing and a photo
with their new shepherd.
Among those waiting in line for a
blessing was 29-year-old Erika Regalado.
She said Bishop Rojas’ words
struck a chord in her own experience
as a music coordinator in her parish,
where she sees divisions even between
PABLO KAY
younger and older music ministers.
Noting that Bishop Rojas appears to
be “on the younger side,” she expressed
hope that he will have “a good
sense of how to bridge the different
types of connections among people of
different backgrounds.”
According to his family, from a young
age Bishop Rojas showed signs of a
special vocation, in addition to talent
as a musician and actor.
“He’s dedicated to helping people,”
said Javier Luevano, who is married
to Bishop Rojas’ niece and has known
him since childhood in Aguascalientes.
“Not to mix the political and
the religious, but I would call him
incorruptible. He’s just a good man.”
As he spoke, Bishop Rojas’ niece was
sitting next to him, watching her uncle
take pictures with relatives, friends,
and even police officers. She had a
simpler assessment: “Va a llegar muy
lejos,” she said. “He’s going to go very
far.”
Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of
Angelus.
Archbishop José H. Gomez invites you to join him
July 8-13 in Mexico City
Come experience one of the most beautiful of shrines with Archbishop Gomez & Monsignor Jim Halley, Vicar for Clergy
Our visit will include the Nation Museum of Anthropology, Excursion to Puebla,
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the Metropolitan Cathedral and Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Under the direction of Judy Brooks, Archbishop’s Office of Special Services
Call Judy or Mary Kay Delsohn at (213) 637-7520
Pilgrimage Travel planned by our friends at Catholic Travel Centre, Burbank

A tainted
witness
Revelations of abuse by renowned
thinker and L’Arche founder Jean
Vanier have prompted serious
soul-searching among Catholics
BY ELISE ANN ALLEN / ANGELUS
ROME — When news went public last week that
Jean Vanier, the renowned Canadian theologian
who transformed the way the world views the
disabled, had sexually abused several women seeking his
spiritual counsel, the revelations provoked not just shock,
but also serious reflection.
Given that the news was so unexpected from a figure
such as Vanier, many Catholic experts and admirers
pondered deep questions, such as just how widespread this
form of manipulative abuse of adults is within the Catholic
Church; the speed at which such towering figures as Vanier
are popularly declared as saints; as well as the complex
intersection of sin and virtue, as Vanier is someone who
clearly exhibited both deviance and inspiration.
Cristina Gangemi, an expert in the pastoral care of people
with intellectual disabilities and a longtime admirer of
Vanier, said his misconduct is the opposite of “the values
Jean Vanier otherwise stood for.
“All humans have the capacity for evil, for sin, to fall. All
of us. What he did was deviant. What he wrote is what he
otherwise stood for,” she said, stressing that delving into
this paradox is a task that Catholic theologians will have to
tackle, though it is still too early to do so.
Similarly, Father Daniel Hess, a Cincinnati priest currently
writing a doctoral thesis on the reception of the Eucharist
by people with disabilities, and who himself has an
intellectually disabled sister, voiced his sadness at hearing
the news, lamenting that now “I can’t cite Vanier without
Jean Vanier, in a file photo, met Pope Francis at the Vatican March 21,
2014, during a trip to Rome to mark the 50th anniversary of L’Arche, the
international federation of communities he founded where people with
and without intellectual disabilities live and work together.
his comments on human dignity being a little tainted.
“The principles remain true. He says many true things;
but the credibility of his voice is lessened, which is very
sad,” he said, voicing his belief that with time, himself
and other admirers will be able to look at Vanier’s life and
works and still recognize “what is life-giving and good,”
while also “acknowledging the hurt he also caused and
imperfections of Jean as a man.”
Yet for Gangemi, Father Hess, and many others, this is a
task for the future. Now, most are still recovering from the
shock of the news.
Born in Geneva, Switzerland, to Canadian parents in
1928, Vanier initially pursued an academic career, but later
abandoned that path and, after meeting a French priest,
he came into direct contact with people living with various
disabilities.
As a result of his experience with the disabled, Vanier
invited friends to come live with him and several disabled
persons in France, launching what was to become the
international L’Arche movement.
In 1971, Vanier also co-founded the Faith and Light
movement, focused on people with learning disabilities.
NANCY WIECHEC/CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
20 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

Since then, L’Arche has spread to
more than 37 countries, and Faith
and Light to around 80.
When Vanier died in May 2019,
Pope Francis, while returning from a
pastoral visit to Bulgaria and Macedonia,
hailed Vanier as “a man who
knew how to read the Christian
efficiency of the mystery of death, the
cross, of sickness, the mystery of those
who are disrespected and discarded by
the world.”
“He didn’t just work for the least
of us, but also for those who, before
being born, there is the possibility of
condemning them to death,” the pope
said, calling Vanier “a great witness.”
However, on Feb. 22 L’Arche International
issued a statement announcing the shocking news
that after receiving several credible complaints that Vanier
had sexually abused multiple women, it conducted an independent,
internal investigation that found Vanier to have
engaged in coercive sexual relationships with six women
from 1970 to 2005.
The inquiry, launched by L’Arche in 2019 and carried
out by the independent, U.K.-based GCPS Consulting
group, found that Vanier had sexual relations with six adult
women who were seeking his spiritual counsel. While
none of them were disabled, the statement described their
lives as having been significantly impacted by the coercive
relations with Vanier.
The statement also said Vanier’s behavior was found to be
similar to the deviant practices of Father Thomas Philippe,
who Vanier had long seen as a spiritual father. Father
Philippe underwent a canonical trial and was condemned
by the Vatican in 1956 for committing several acts of sexual
abuse against women. He was subsequently barred from
Jean Vanier, founder of the L’Arche communities, March 3, 2011.
Pope Francis visits with the “Chicco” community, part of the L’Arche movement, in Ciampino, Italy,
May 13, 2016. The pope spent the afternoon with 18 people who have developmental disabilities.
COURTESY JEAN VANIER ASSOCIATION VIA CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
ministry and offering spiritual direction.
In the wake of these revelations, Cardinal Thomas
Collins of Toronto condemned Vanier’s “very disturbing
behavior,” saying the news “is tragic and heart-wrenching.”
Offering his prayers for the victims amid their intense suffering,
Cardinal Collins said “a ray of light” can be found
“in those who so faithfully serve in L’Arche communities
worldwide and have dedicated their lives to friendship,
care, and love.”
In a statement issued by the Canadian bishops’ conference
after news of the inquiry’s findings went public, the
bishops called the results “shocking,” saying it is “all the
more difficult and incomprehensible given that Mr. Vanier
had a profound influence on the way people with mental
and physical disabilities are perceived and treated today.”
His writings, they said, “have had a positive influence on
people’s lives within many different cultures and languages,”
making it that much more difficult to reconcile his
misdeeds with the good that he sowed.
“Nonetheless, any harm that was done cannot be excused,”
they said, calling abuse “an appalling manipulation
of trust and is always to be condemned. In any form,
it is unacceptable.”
The bishops commended both the courage of the victims
who came forward, and the leadership of L’Arche for being
unafraid to initiate the inquiry into the allegations.
They stressed the need to support L’Arche as it absorbs
the impact of the revelations around the globe, insisting
that despite the misdeeds of their founder, the communities
are “devoted to helping the intellectually disabled and
their families based on the principles of love, friendship,
community, and the dignity of the person.
“As sins and injustices are denounced, there is also an
urgent duty to remember and acknowledge the life-giving,
selfless and compassionate ministry which the members,
volunteers, and leadership of the organization have
brought to the lives of so many and for decades,” they
said.
Elise Ann Allen is a senior correspondent for Crux in
Rome, covering the Vatican and the global Church.
L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO/CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 21

How
God
udges
A Lenten look at how the second of the ‘Four
Last Things’ can help us now — and forever
BY MIKE AQUILINA / ANGELUS
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
During this year’s liturgical season
of Lent, Angelus is featuring
a four-part series of interviews
with Catholic scholars on the “Four Last
Things” in Christian eschatology: death,
judgment, heaven, and hell.
Maria C. Morrow is something of an
expert on sin and judgment. An independent
scholar, she holds a doctorate
in theology from the University of
Dayton, and she is author of the widely
praised book “Sin in the Sixties:
Catholics and Confession, 1955-1975”
(Catholic University of America Press,
$65). She spoke with Angelus about
the second of the traditional “Four
Last Things”: judgment.
It seems that the Gospel passage
most quoted today is “Judge not lest
ye be judged.” What exactly is judgment?
And who gets to do it?
Judgment, first and foremost, belongs
to God, who knows all. It can be
dangerous to judge other people since
we will never know the whole story.
However, Jesus never said that we
can’t judge right from wrong.
Part of living a Christian life is
forming our consciences well so that
we can discern right from wrong,
acting in love and avoiding sin in our
thoughts, words, and deeds. Justice is
a virtue, and we should all desire and
make efforts to grow in this virtue,
judging right from wrong and acting
accordingly.
This will sometimes involve judgment
of others’ actions, but we can’t generally
judge the people themselves as well
as we might judge certain actions.
Is it possible to live a life apart from
judgment? Is it possible for anyone
to leave all judgment to God? If
not, how can we learn to judge in a
healthy way?
Judgment is a part of life! We will
never be able to avoid it. And yet, we
know that we often make mistakes in
our judgment, so we benefit from recognizing
God as the ultimate judge.
Seeking the wise counsel of others,
as well as spending time in thoughtful
reflection, can prevent us from
rushing into problematic judgments
of others. Often there is a charitable
interpretation for others’ actions; this
should be our first instinct. And when
we are mistaken, we should, in humility,
let this error lead us back to God.
22 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

A man waits to go to confession at Old St. Mary’s Church in Detroit Feb. 29, 2016.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/MIKE STECHSCHULTE, THE MICHIGAN CATHOLIC
Pope Pius XII once said that “the
evil of this civilization” is “the loss
of the sense of sin.” How exactly
did we lose the sense of sin? What
trends, events, and thinkers made us
lose it?
It’s not easy to describe how we lost
the sense of sin. There have certainly
been tendencies in the past to
emphasize sin to the point of causing
inordinate guilt and scrupulosity in
the faithful.
The spiritual paralysis resulting
from such an overemphasis of sin was
enough to convince some people,
particularly in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s,
that it might be better to forget about
sin altogether.
This is what Dr. Karl Menninger
described in his famous book “Whatever
Became of Sin?” Pop psychology
books such as “I’m OK, You’re OK”
popularized the idea that judging ourselves
and others was causing undue
stress.
Sin has biblically and traditionally
been described as a burden or weight,
but an extensive list of inescapable
sins with little relief led many to feel
a sense of despair in regard to living a
virtuous, holy life.
A common solution to this was to
explain away the sin, saying it’s not
really a sin, or to excuse the sinner for
some reason or another, such as problematic
influences in their upbringing
or lack of self-control.
It’s not a good solution to the problem,
however, because the flip side
involves a loss of agreement on the
identification of sin, and second (perhaps
even worse!), a loss of the sense
of free will and choice.
Does the loss of a sense of sin
distort our understanding of God?
It seems that every Christian generation
has seen him eminently as a
judge.
Without a sense of sin, we are prevented
from recognizing the mercy
of God. Key to the image of God as
judge is the belief that God is merciful,
that he wants to extend the grace of
forgiveness to us.
St. Thomas Aquinas describes this in
relation to penance. Our penance can
never adequately compensate for our
sin; our relationship with God is always
characterized by inequality because
God is so far above and beyond us.
And yet, despite this, God accepts our
penance in an act of relative justice.
His mercy is not unjust, but rather
transcends justice. When we lose the
sense of sin, we also lose the opportunity
to benefit from this relative justice
extended to us. To borrow the phrase
of biblical scholar Gary Anderson, the
system is “gamed in our favor.”
If we deny our sins, we subvert that
system, putting ourselves in a position
to suffer from God’s absolute justice
rather than benefiting from the
relative justice that he wants to extend
to us.
How does God judge us? How does
this happen from day to day? How
does it happen at the end?
God’s judgment is objective because
he knows our will, conscience, context,
and knowledge perfectly. Day by
day, his judgment allows opportunities
for us to grow closer to him, both in
choosing well and growing in virtue
and holiness, as well as in sinning,
which gives us the opportunity to
return to him in humility.
At our death, we will have a personal
judgment where we are judged by
God on the gravity of our faults, but
also with God’s mercy. At the final
end, we will find public judgment,
understanding how the sins and works
of our life fit into the full tapestry of
salvation history woven by God.
How can the sacraments and
structures of the Church help us to
cultivate a healthy sense of judgment
— of ourselves and others?
The sacraments and structures of the
Church help to form us in the theological
virtues of faith, hope, and love.
They expand our vision to encompass
heaven and earth, recognizing the reality
of the kingdom of God. We find
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 23

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/STEFANO SPAZIANI, POOL
Pope Francis hears confessions during
a Lenten penance service in St. Peter’s
Basilica at the Vatican March 13, 2015.
that we already share in Christ’s victory over death, and
we can participate in the kingdom, alongside the angels
and saints.
This knowledge can assuage fears of judgment. While we
know that we are sinners deserving of punishment, we also
know that we are children of God, whose grace reaches
out to us and others in all circumstances and situations.
We genuinely care about judgment and thus desire to live
virtuously without sin.
We know that we will be happiest when we do God’s will,
and the sacraments and structures of the Church aid us in
doing this. But they also aid us when we fail, liberating us
from sin and sustaining our hope. Even our mistakes can
bring us and others closer to God.
Jesus uses the word “hypocrite” to describe people who
judge unjustly, and they receive his strongest condemnation,
but the other New Testament authors never use the
word. Why do you suppose this is so?
God is the ultimate judge with the right and power to
judge, and Jesus truly knew the hearts of those he described
as hypocrites. Thus Jesus was fully capable of making an
accurate assessment.
The apostles and other disciples, including the New Testament
authors, might exhibit more caution before making
such a harsh judgment, as they could not know or understand
people’s intentions so clearly.
How can we sinners make moral judgments without
convicting ourselves as hypocrites?
We must, first and foremost, recognize ourselves as sin-
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!!
,
se
ls
g)
ners. In humility, we should keep in
mind the possibility of being mistaken
in our judgment; we can remember
our own experiences of being unfairly
judged.
It is also helpful to cultivate good
friendships and look for charitable
interpretations of others’ questionable
actions before rushing into judgments.
Having a solid prayer life can aid in
our ability to make moral judgments.
Admonishing the sinner is considered
a spiritual work of mercy in the
Church, but such an act also presumes
a community of like-minded
believers, who genuinely want what is
best for one another and thus give and
receive correction with that in mind.
What practical ways can we prepare
ourselves for God’s judgment this
Lent, at the hour of death, and in
ordinary time?
The most crucial way of preparing
ourselves for God’s judgment is
seeking his mercy and forgiveness in
the sacrament of reconciliation. The
season of Lent is an excellent time to
receive this sacrament, and it is even
expected of Catholics annually in
preparation for Easter.
It is also wonderful to receive the sacrament
in preparation for one’s death.
However, the sacrament of confession
should not be relegated to Lent or
death! To make the most of this sacrament,
we should seek it frequently,
developing a habit of examining our
consciences, confessing our sins, and
making reparation in small acts of
penance.
Perhaps even more importantly,
regular confession helps us develop a
habit of seeking God’s grace and mercy.
Although the sacrament involves
intentional human action, it is the
divine action, ministered by the priest
in absolution, that is a great gift to us.
Cultivating a desire for God’s mercy
and forgiveness allows us to grow in
humility and prepare ourselves for
God’s judgment.
Mike Aquilina is a contributing editor
to Angelus and the author of many
books, including “How Christianity
Saved Civilization … And Must Do
So Again” (Sophia Institute Press,
$18.95).
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 25
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The cost of
having it all
A Catholic New York Times
columnist argues that having
so much has made our lives
— and our society — more
stagnant than ever before
Ross Douthat
discusses his book
“The Decadent Society”
with Dr. Joseph
Capizzi, the Institute
of Human Ecology
executive director,
at The Catholic University
of America
in Washington, D.C.,
Feb. 25.
PATRICK RYAN / CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
BY NICK RIPATRAZONE / ANGELUS
“In our culture,” writes Ross
Douthat early in his new book,
“the word decadence is used
promiscuously but rarely precisely
which, of course, is part of its cachet
and charm.” Douthat uses the term
promiscuously in “The Decadent
Society: How We Became the Victims
of Our Own Success” (Simon &
Schuster, $24), but he does manage
some measure of precision, as much as
can be expected when attempting to
diagnose societal ills.
Douthat, a columnist for The New
York Times, is a deft writer unafraid
of ambition, which is requisite for the
scope of his project.
In our modern society, he notes, “it
remains a central cultural assumption
that unexplored frontiers and fresh discoveries
and new worlds to conquer are
not just desirable but the very point of
life.” We live to spend more, accumulate
more, be more.
Those ambitions cause real problems.
According to Douthat, the “end of
the space age” has “coincided with a
turning inward in the developed world,
a crisis of confidence and an ebb of
optimism and a loss of faith in institutions,
a shift toward therapeutic philosophies
and technologies of simulation,
an abandonment of both ideological
ambition and religious hope.” The
more we have, the more we long for
something beyond the material.
Such longing isn’t a new story, of
course, but Douthat sees related decadence
as a particularly modern disease.
Following the work of cultural critic
Jacques Barzun, Douthat explains that
although decadence is often associated
with “decay and decline,” decadence
doesn’t always portend “a collapse.”
Sometimes the rich get richer, and
richer, and richer.
What offers precision to Douthat’s
discussion of decadence is his focus on
stagnation: our intellectual, cultural,
religious, and technological stasis.
The latter might be surprising: Aren’t
we surrounded by the digital world?
Isn’t everything more accessible, faster,
more fluid now?
Douthat doesn’t want us to be distracted
by shine over substance: The internet
and other digital innovations are
“still a blip compared with the cascade
of changes between 1870 and 1970,
and a letdown compared with what we
dreamed about not so very long ago.”
Douthat sums it up in a pithy observation:
“We used to go to the moon; now
we make movies about space — amazing
movies with completely convincing
special effects — in which small
fortunes are spent to make it seem like
we’ve left earth behind.”
I was initially skeptical of that assertion
— its parallel structure feels a bit
too perfect — but Douthat manages
to convince me by the end of the book
that he is on to something.
A Catholic convert, one of Douthat’s
previous books, “Bad Religion,”
laments the “slow-motion collapse of
Neil Armstrong on the moon, July 1969.
26 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

traditional Christinaity and the rise of
a variety of destructive psuedo-Christianties
in its place.” “The Decadent
Society” is a less overtly religious work,
but it is suffused with a Catholic sense:
a curious yet authentic mixture of
concern and optimism. We are stuck in
a bad place, Douthat argues, but there
is hope.
Such hope can’t happen without being
honest about our modern situation.
He identifies the “problem of mediocrity”:
how the digital world “pressures
creators to make things clickable,
browsable, capable of holding attention
briefly, but always with the understanding
that the reader or watcher will
swiftly move on to the next hyperlink,
the next video, the next tweet or status
update or Instagram pic.”
While it might seem an exaggeration
to credit the internet with such power,
unfortunately for a part of our world,
their digital life is emblematic of how
they treat people off-screen. It would
be naive to assume that we can be
superficial online, and then become
empathetic offline.
Douthat is correct that “the internet,
in effect, is a surveillance state: the
virtual fulfillment of Jeremy Bentham’s
Panopticon, where Big Brother doesn’t
have to watch everyone because everyone
is always watching everybody else.”
In many ways, we have chosen a
stagnation of convenience: It is easier
to live within one’s ideology, to critique
those across the political aisle (or even
across the street), rather than to do the
messy work of real dialogue.
Perhaps the strongest and most
nuanced part of his book is the observation
that critics of decadence need
“to give decadence its due,” and that
“starts with the reality that complaining
about decadence is, almost by
definition, a luxury good — a feature
of societies where the mail is delivered,
the trains and planes are running on
time, the crime rate is relatively low,
and there are plenty of entertainments
at your fingertips.”
Our decadent discontent is not on par
with suffering of other eras, but that
doesn’t mean we should accept our
moral stagnation.
Douthat returns to the space age as he
concludes his analysis. Channeling the
work of historian Kendrick Oliver —
who argued that the American space
program was sustained by a sense of
religious aspiration, and when that religious
verve disappeared, so did the will
to explore — Douthat thinks we must
look elsewhere to escape stagnation.
“I suspect that a truly globalized
civilization cannot help tending
toward decadence so long as it remains
earthbound, so long as there is no hope
of finding actual new worlds to leap
toward, conquer, or explore,” Douthat
claims.
Our symptoms, “the turn toward
simulations and virtual realities; the
declining birth-rates: the sense of
repetition, stagnation, and futility”
are “connected on a deep level to the
post-Apollo mission sense that such a
hope does not exist.”
Here a more pointedly Catholic
solution, or perhaps a Catholic vision,
would feel more effective. Douthat’s
return to the space race feels steeped in
cultural nostalgia rather than theology.
Sure, let’s keep looking to the heavens
for inspiration, but I suspect the answer
to what ails us resides less in the stars,
and more within our souls.
NASA/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Nick Ripatrazone’s writing has received
honors from Esquire, The Kenyon
Review, ESPN: The Magazine, and has
been featured at Verse Daily. He teaches
contemporary literature at Rutgers
University, and lives with his wife and
daughters in New Jersey.
March 6, 2020 • ANGELUS • 27

THE CRUX
BY HEATHER KING
To live on a
PRECIPICE
Finding a real safety net
in this season of Lent
“Then the devil took him to the holy
city, and set him on the pinnacle of
the temple, and said to him, ‘If you are
the Son of God, throw yourself down;
for it is written: He will give his angels
charge of you,’ and ‘On their hands
they will bear you up, lest you strike
your foot against a stone.’ Jesus said to
him, ‘Again it is written, You shall not
tempt the Lord your God.’ ”
— Matthew 4:5–7
Alex Honnold free-solo climbing
Heaven in Yosemite Park in 2014.
I
have an almost morbid fear of heights.
So I’m fascinated by Philippe Petit (b.
1949), the French high-wire artist, and
more recently, by Alex Honnold, the only
person on earth to have climbed the face
of Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
28 • ANGELUS • March 6, 2020

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
The documentary “Man On Wire”
(2008), tells Petit’s story. In 1971, he
evaded the authorities and walked
between the towers of Notre Dame
Cathedral.
Next he somehow managed to string
a clandestine cable between New York
City’s Twin Towers. On the morning
of Aug. 7, 1974, he set forth and in the
course of 45 minutes, crossed between
them eight times. At one point, he
stopped in the middle with his balancing
pole to sit down, take a bit of a
breather, and survey his realm. He was
24 years old.
When asked by the police why he’d
done it, he allegedly replied, “If I see
three oranges, I have to juggle. And if I
see two towers, I have to walk.”
Honnold similarly feels that free
soloing (that is, climbing without
ropes, harness, or a safety net of any
kind) is his vocation and his destiny.
The activity is so dangerous that less
than 1% of people who climb attempt
it. Of course he was scared: the face
of “El Cap” is almost a vertical wall:
“3,200 feet of sheer granite.” Still, “I’ll
never be content, until I at least put in
the effort.”
He climbed it with ropes for 20 years.
He mapped out every inch of the wall
on paper, in his brain, in his fingertips,
nerves, and toes.
And then, in June 2017, he did it.
“Free Solo,” the 2018 Oscar-winning
documentary that charted the climb, is
a thrilling watch.
The extreme discipline and dedication,
the relentless training, and the
sheer physical beauty are stunning. A
human being almost dancing on an
inch-thick cable 1,350 feet in the air!
Another young man, single-handedly
scaling a rock face so sheer and so high
that many of us are afraid just looking
at it on a screen!
These are feats of the human mind,
body, and spirit that border on the miraculous
and before which we instinctively,
and rightly, bow in homage.
And yet, in both cases an element
struck me as missing. Petit reached the
end of his walk; Honnold clambered
over the lip of El Capitan. Neither
knelt and gave thanks, or in any way
acknowledged the help of a power
greater than themselves.
Instead, after being released by the
cops, Petit ditched the loving, loyal
group who had accompanied him
every step of the way, including his
long-term girlfriend, and spent the
night with a groupie.
Honnold called his girlfriend on his
cell phone, then descended to his
van and performed his usual workout.
Last year he appeared nude in ESPN’s
annual Body Issue.
It’s impossible not to like and admire
both these guys. But their adventures
raise an age-old question: Does belief
in God weaken or strengthen? Does
love make a person soft?
The climbing guys know, for example,
that a woman is bad news. A
woman, whether she wants to or not,
sets up a conflict between her and
climbing.
A woman, simply by her existence,
poses the question: What if something
were at stake beyond our own sense
of self-accomplishment? How steady
would any of us be if we knew a fall
would mean leaving behind a wife, or
husband, or child?
Both Petit and Honnold practiced
obsessively and incessantly, memorizing
every inch of the cable, every
handhold and foothold.
“I like to differentiate between risk
and consequence,” says Honnold.
“The chance of me falling off is quite
low even though the consequence is
extremely high.”
That may be, but what of a risk in
which the consequence is certain
death? What of the first responders
who will be tasked with cleaning up
scattered body parts? What of the
people left behind to imagine what he
experienced and felt?
And what does this have to do with
the temptation of Christ in the desert?
We don’t have to throw ourselves off
the parapet, Christ seems to be telling
us. Life — the world — will push us
off, again and again.
The fact is that if our goal is to grow
in love, then all of life is lived on a
precipice, a tightrope, an inch-thick
cable. To know our only safety net consists
in prayer, fasting, and almsgiving
— and to keep walking — now that’s a
feat that borders on the miraculous.
That’s why, especially this season,
we entreat the angels to come and
minister to us.
Heather King is a blogger, speaker, and the author of several books.
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