Angelus News | December 25, 2020-January 1, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 31

SAVING 2020 

How we found God in a troubled year 

ANGELUS 

December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021 Vol. 5 No. 31

ON THE COVER 

A family visits the “100 Nativity Scenes at the Vatican” exhibit under the colonnade in St. 

Peter’s Square at the Vatican Dec. 14. The trials of the past year have tested the faith of 

many. So, as we celebrate the time of Christmas, we might ask: Can God bring good out of 

a bad year? Starting on Page 10, a special lineup of Angelus contributors and guest writers 

share how they’ve seen God’s providence at work in a year that no one saw coming. 

IMAGE: 

People wearing protective masks and face shields 

light candles after the first of the nine-day novena 

Masses for Simbang Gabi at the National Shrine of 

Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Manila, Philippines, 

on Dec. 16. 

PAUL HARING/CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/LISA MARIE DAVID, REUTERS

Contents 

s, 

UTERS 

Pope Watch 2 

Archbishop Gomez 3 

World, Nation, and Local News 4-6 

Scott Hahn on Scripture 8 

Father Rolheiser 9 

A Westside parish takes on the pain of the pandemic economy 20 

Inés San Martín looks for silver linings in the Church’s bruising year 24 

Kathryn Lopez on trying to find ‘Christ in the crisis’ 26 

Robert Brennan: Why 2020 was my ‘tuneup year’ 28 

‘Chapucismo’ and the perils of sloppy art restoration 30 

Heather King looks ahead to the ‘real victories’ of 2021 32

POPE WATCH 

December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021 

Vol. 5 • No. 31 

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Accepting, not explaining 

On Dec. 8, Pope Francis published the 

apostolic letter “Patris Corde” (“With a 

Father’s Heart”) and announced a “Year 

of St. Joseph” for the Catholic Church. 

The following is an excerpt from a 

section of the letter on the saint as “an 

accepting father.” 

Joseph accepted Mary unconditionally. 

He trusted in the angel’s words. 

Today, in our world where psychological, 

verbal, and physical violence 

toward women is so evident, Joseph appears 

as the figure of a respectful and 

sensitive man. Even though he does 

not understand the bigger picture, 

he makes a decision to protect Mary’s 

good name, her dignity, and her life. 

In his hesitation about how best to act, 

God helped him by enlightening his 

judgment. 

Often in life, things happen whose 

meaning we do not understand. Our 

first reaction is frequently one of disappointment 

and rebellion. Joseph set 

aside his own ideas in order to accept 

the course of events and, mysterious as 

they seemed, to embrace them, take 

responsibility for them and make them 

part of his own history. Unless we are 

reconciled with our own history, we 

will be unable to take a single step 

forward, for we will always remain 

hostage to our expectations and the 

disappointments that follow. 

The spiritual path that Joseph traces 

for us is not one that explains, but accepts. 

Only as a result of this acceptance, 

this reconciliation, can we begin 

to glimpse a broader history, a deeper 

meaning. We can almost hear an echo 

of the impassioned reply of Job to 

his wife, who had urged him to rebel 

against the evil he endured: “Shall we 

receive the good at the hand of God, 

and not receive the bad?” (Job 2:10). 

Only the Lord can give us the 

strength needed to accept life as it is, 

with all its contradictions, frustrations, 

and disappointments. Jesus’ appearance 

in our midst is a gift from the 

Father, which makes it possible for 

each of us to be reconciled to the flesh 

of our own history, even when we fail 

to understand it completely. 

Just as God told Joseph, “Son of David, 

do not be afraid!” (Matthew 1:20), 

so he seems to tell us, “Do not be 

afraid!” We need to set aside all anger 

and disappointment, and to embrace 

the way things are, even when they 

do not turn out as we wish. Not with 

mere resignation but with hope and 

courage. In this way, we become open 

to a deeper meaning. Our lives can 

be miraculously reborn if we find the 

courage to live them in accordance 

with the Gospel. It does not matter if 

everything seems to have gone wrong 

or some things can no longer be fixed. 

God can make flowers spring up from 

stony ground. 

The apostle Paul says, “We know that 

all things work together for good, for 

those who love God” (Romans 8:28). 

To which St. Augustine adds, “even 

that which is called evil.” In this greater 

perspective, faith gives meaning to 

every event, however happy or sad. 

Nor should we ever think that believing 

means finding facile and comforting 

solutions. The faith Christ taught 

us is what we see in St. Joseph. He did 

not look for shortcuts, but confronted 

reality with open eyes and accepted 

personal responsibility for it. 

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Papal Prayer Intention for January: May the Lord give us the grace to live in full fellowship 

with our brothers and sisters of other religions, praying for one another, open to all. 

2 • ANGELUS • December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021

NEW WORLD 

OF FAITH 

BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

St. Joseph and 2020 

As 2020 comes to an end, we know 

that sadly the trials and challenges 

caused by the coronavirus pandemic 

will not. 

For me, and I know for many of you, 

this long year has brought us face-toface 

with basic facts: that life is fragile 

and uncertain, that powers beyond 

our control can suddenly disrupt our 

plans and hopes, that sickness and 

death can come into our lives at any 

time. 

In the light of faith, however, this 

encounter with our weakness has 

become an opportunity to deepen our 

awareness of our dependence on God. 

In this pandemic, we remember the 

promise of mercy and eternity that 

we have in Jesus Christ, whose love is 

stronger than death. 

This challenging year calls us back 

to the truth that what matters is seeking 

God’s will for our lives, following 

his commands, fixing our hearts on 

heaven as we carry out our duty to 

love here on earth. 

So, we approach Christmas this year 

with renewed hope. 

Christmas is the feast of the living 

God who comes to be with us. In his 

humility and love, he takes on our 

human flesh, in all its vulnerability 

and weakness. 

The saints remind us that Christ was 

born to die for us, to deliver us from 

death forever. The crib of Christmas 

begins a path that leads to the cross of 

Good Friday. His whole life — from 

his incarnation to his resurrection — 

are united in the single mystery of 

God’s personal love for each one of 

us. 

We need to remember that, especially 

this year when we have seen so 

much loss and sorrow. The coming of 

Jesus means that death is no longer a 

barrier, but a gate that opens into the 

kingdom of heaven. 

Pope Francis has declared this coming 

year, from Dec. 8, 2020, to Dec. 

8, 2021, as the “Year of St. Joseph.” 

This is a powerful gesture by our Holy 

Father and I encourage you all to 

read his beautiful new letter, “Patris 

Corde” (“With a Father’s Heart”). 

In many ways, we can look to St. 

Joseph as “the person for 2020.” He 

can show us how to live with courage 

and confidence in Christ in this year 

when our faith and hope have been 

truly tested. 

As we hear it in the Gospels, Joseph’s 

life is a series of frustrated expectations, 

of plans and priorities he was 

forced to abandon. 

He finds his wife carrying a child 

that is not his own. He is forced by 

government decree to travel a long 

and difficult journey in the final days 

of her pregnancy. On the night Mary 

is set to deliver, they cannot find anywhere 

to stay, and the baby is born in 

a place where animals are kept. 

After that, a tyrant king sets loose a 

persecution, and Joseph is forced to 

lead his family into exile, and to make 

a new life for them as refugees in a 

foreign land. 

Joseph knew fear, anxiety, and danger. 

He endured his sufferings without 

complaining, without giving in to 

sadness or discouragement. 

He prayed and listened for God’s 

voice, he let himself be guided by the 

angels. Like Mary, in every circumstance 

he wanted to know God’s will 

— and he wanted to do it. 

Joseph is silent in the Gospels, not a 

single word of his survives. We hear 

only of his deeds: “Joseph … did as 

the angel of the Lord commanded 

him.” 

By his witness, he teaches us to accept 

the hard realities in our own lives 

with the obedience of faith, trusting 

that in all things God is working for 

the good of those who love him. 

Joseph and Mary were not privileged 

or powerful. Neither are we. Yet each 

of us is here because God wants us to 

be here. 

He calls each of us to place our lives 

in the service of his plan of salvation. 

We do that, just as Joseph and Mary 

did, by putting Jesus Christ at the 

heart of our lives and our families. 

Like Joseph and Mary, we serve God 

by faithfully carrying out the demands 

and duties of love in our roles as children 

and parents, brothers and sisters, 

as friends and neighbors, coworkers. 

There is an ancient prayer to Joseph 

that includes this beautiful line that 

recalls the silence of Christmas: “I 

never weary contemplating you and 

Jesus asleep in your arms. I dare not 

approach while he reposes near your 

heart.” 

This was Joseph’s secret. He kept 

Jesus near to his heart. Always. Let us 

do the same. 

As this long year of plague continues 

into the new year, pray for me and I 

will pray for you. 

Let us ask Mary and Joseph to help 

us remember — that with God all 

things are possible. He will strengthen 

us always if we stay faithful, if we stay 

close to him. 

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

December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD 

No frankincense to offer have I 

Thanks to climate 

change, global 

strife, and economic 

inequalities, frankincense 

is a bit harder 

to find than it was 

for the three Magi 

2,000 years ago. 

The trees, which 

produce frankincense 

resin, are 

facing extinction, 

with climate change 

and conflict causing 

older trees to be unable 

to seed a younger 

A worker taps a frankincense tree in the West Bank. 

generation. The trees only grow in the harsh, dry climates of parts of the Arabian 

Peninsula, East Africa, and northwestern India. 

According to a Dec. 10 story by Catholic News Service (CNS), farmers also deal 

with a muddled supply line, meaning that the churches and essential oil industry 

that purchase their product often don’t know if their harvesters are paid fairly. Low 

pay has led many farmers to clear their land for other crops. 

“It is absolutely possible for us to take care of trees, take care of harvesters, take 

care of their communities and take care of ourselves,” Stephen Johnson, an 

organismal biologist, told CNS. “Everybody involved in the supply chain should 

benefit.” 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/RONEN ZVULUN, REUTERS 

Vatican takes zeroemissions 

pledge 

Pope Francis has made a commitment 

that the Vatican will achieve 

net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. 

During a Dec. 12 meeting of almost 

75 global leaders on climate change, 

Pope Francis announced a new goal 

for the Vatican City State to “reduce 

and offset their emissions by the end 

of three decades.” 

“The time has come for a change 

in direction,” he said in his recorded 

message. “Let us not rob the new 

generations of their hope in a better 

future.” 

Pope Francis is joined in his pledge 

to move toward net-zero emissions 

by more than 20 other conservation 

leaders, including those of the 

United Nations, the United Kingdom, 

France, Italy, and Chile. This 

“culture of care,” as the pope calls 

it, will be brought about with more 

green energy, sustainable agriculture, 

increasing energy efficiency, and 

reforestation. 

Iraq’s unexpected holiday 

In a year of so many unpleasant 

surprises, Iraq just got a more hopeful 

one: the majority Muslim country has 

declared Christmas a national holiday. 

The country’s parliament voted unanimously 

in favor of the move on Dec. 

16, with the national calendar going 

into effect in time for Christmas 2020. 

Until now only Christians, who make 

up less than 3% of Iraq’s population, 

had been given the day of Dec. 25 off. 

The decision came after Iraq’s top 

Catholic leader, Cardinal Louis 

Raphael Sako, proposed the idea to 

the country’s president in October. But 

many believe the Dec. 7 announcement 

of Pope Francis’ planned visit to 

the country next March helped seal 

the deal. 

“This is one of the first fruits [of the 

visit] we hope will bring many others 

in the future,” Baghdad Auxiliary Bishop 

Basilio Yaldo told AsiaNews after 

the vote. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/LINCOLN HOLDER, NEWSDAY VIA REUTERS 

NO EASY WAY OUT — Venezuelan migrants arrive on shore at Los Iros Beach after their return 

to the island in Erin, Trinidad, and Tobago, Nov. 24. After another boat carrying refugees was 

allegedly denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago in December and subsequently shipwrecked, 

Venezuelan bishops said the treatment of migrants fleeing the country constitutes serious 

human rights violations. 


NATION 

A doctrine test for church hymns? 

Some well-known church hymns may not be quite 

Catholic enough for liturgical use, according to a new 

document produced by the U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee. 

Meant as a resource to be shared by bishops with musicians 

and liturgists at diocesan and parish levels, the new 

document released in November suggests that bishops 

examine whether hymns are “in conformity with Catholic 

doctrine” and whether “the hymn expressed in image and 

vocabulary” is “appropriately reflective of the usage of 

Scripture and the public liturgical prayer of the church.” 

The new guidelines listed six categories of potential 

doctrinal deficiencies in hymns, including the tendency 

to imply that eucharistic elements remain bread and wine 

after consecration. 

The document named “All Are Welcome” and “Let 

Us Break Bread Together on Our Knees” as examples of 

hymns that offend this representation of the Eucharist, 

and suggested “Taste and See” and “You Satisfy the Hungry 

Heart” among the better alternatives. 

Other areas of potential deficiencies include the ways 

in which doctrine on the Trinity and views of the Jewish 

people are expressed in church music. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/ED WILKINSON, THE TABLET 

THE PILGRIMAGE CONTINUES — “Angels Unawares,” a replica 

of the artwork that sits in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, was 

unveiled Dec. 8 in Grand Army Plaza in downtown Brooklyn, New 

York. The replica was on display in the plaza of the Cathedral of Our 

Lady of the Angels earlier this year. 

Bishop Earl A. Boyea Jr. celebrates Mass in September during the dedication 

of 40 acres of land in Howell, Michigan, donated for the Casa USA project. 

Bringing Padre Pio’s vision to Michigan 

The dream of St. Pio of Pietrelcina — better known as 

Padre Pio — is finally coming to fruition in the Diocese of 

Lansing, Michigan. 

Construction on Casa USA, a new Catholic hospital, 

began this fall. The complex will include an outdoor grotto 

and will expand to include medical service, a public policy 

institute, a medical school, and a replica of Padre Pio’s 

chapel in Italy. 

“Padre Pio is a great intercessor for healing,” Boyea told 

Catholic News Service. “I think there is a lot of potential for 

people to find great blessings in this encounter with him and 

in this shrine to him.” 

Casa USA will be a duplicate of the Casa Sollievo della 

Sofferenza, a hospital founded by Padre Pio in Italy. The expansion 

of the hospital internationally was Padre Pio’s stated 

hope when he founded the first, and until now only, center 

nearly 70 years ago. 

Report: Empty pews 

may continue past COVID 

Although many hope the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines 

will signal a return to normal — including for the Catholic 

Church — scholars warn of a tough road ahead for Catholic 

institutions. 

“This pandemic has led to the acceleration of so many 

trend lines we were already on,” Dan Cellucci, CEO of the 

Catholic Leadership Institute, told Religion News Service. 

“It’s going to feel like things are being taken from us. And 

they are going to be taken from us. Churches are going to 

close, we are going to lose money. It’s happening and it’s 

going to happen.” 

Fifteen percent of weekly Mass-attending Catholics say 

they are falling or moving away from the Church, according 

to a survey the institute ran on 230,000 Catholics. 

RICHARD G. LIM/CATHOLIC HEALTHCARE INTERNATIONAL 


LOCAL 

LA County allows churches to 

reopen with safety measures 

Kelly Gonez 

Bishop Alemany grad 

becomes LA school 

board president 

LAUSD 

Los Angeles County ended its ban on indoor religious gatherings in place since 

the summer, citing recent Supreme Court rulings overturning similar restrictions 

in other parts of the country. 

The county health officer’s modified order did not establish a set limit on how 

many people can attend an indoor service, but rather required that attendance 

“not exceed the number of people who can be accommodated while maintaining 

a physical distance of six feet between separate households.” 

The Dec. 19 announcement came amid an unprecedented end-of-year surge in 

COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates throughout California. Since March, 

the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has received numerous reports of COVID-19 

cases, but is not aware of any cases of the virus spreading from one parishioner to 

another attending the same Mass. 

As of press time, the archdiocese was evaluating the update in order to provide 

guidance on what it would mean for parishes. The latest updates and guidelines 

from the archdiocese can be found at LACatholics.com and AngelusNews.com. 

The Los Angeles Unified School 

District’s (LAUSD) new school board 

president is a product of local Catholics 

schools. 

Thirty-two-year-old Kelly Gonez was 

selected president of the seven-member 

board on Dec. 15. She attended St. Euphrasia 

School in Granada Hills and 

Bishop Alemany High School in Mission 

Hills before going to UC Berkeley, 

where she became the first in her family 

to graduate from college. She later 

received a master’s in education from 

Loyola Marymount University. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, 

Gonez’s election represents “a generational 

shift” for LAUSD and “potentially 

a shift toward more influence for 

backers of charter schools.” 

Gonez has “emphasized racial and 

social justice issues as areas where the 

school system needs to do better,” the 

LA Times reported. 

VICTOR ALEMÁN 

LA GUADALUPANA, LIVESTREAMED — The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels hosted its 

annual Our Lady of Guadalupe celebration via livestream this year. Thousands tuned in Dec. 11 

for a mariachi tribute, praying of the rosary, and holy Mass celebrated by Archbishop José H. 

Gomez. Pictured are the event’s MCs, Lianna Rebelledo and Ernesto Torres. 

In a pandemic, Adopt-A-Family adapts 

Thirty years after it 

first started, the annual 

Adopt-A-Family program 

looked a little different this 

year for the underserved 

families it typically serves. 

COVID-19-related health 

measures led the program 

to replace its traditional gift 

and food delivery with the 

distribution of gift cards to 

more than 500 families in 

the downtown LA area. 

Among the organizations 

that donated to support the 

effort were Homeboy Industries, 

St. Anne’s Center, 

Los Angeles Police Department 

and the Knights of 

Columbus, which donated 

200 coats for boys and girls. 

“Neither sleet, nor snow 

or COVID has diminished 

either the need or the ‘will’ 

to deliver this,” said Msgr. 

Terrance Fleming, executive 

director of the archdiocese’s 

Mission Office. “I am 

overwhelmed by the generosity 

of our donors and very 

thankful for all who help 

carry out this dream.” 

Anyone interested in 

donating to the program 

can visit AdoptAFamilyLA. 

org. 


SUNDAY 

READINGS 

BY SCOTT HAHN 

Sir. 3:2–6, 12–14 / Ps. 128:1–5 / Col. 3:12–21 / Lk. 2:22–40 

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

“The Flight Into Egypt,” by Guiseppe Bottani, 1717-1784, Italian. 

Why did Jesus choose to become a 

baby born of a mother and father and 

to spend all but his last years living in 

an ordinary human family? In part, to 

reveal God’s plan to make all people 

live as one “holy family” in his Church 

(see 2 Corinthians 6:16–18). 

In the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary 

and Joseph, God reveals our true 

home. We’re to live as his children, 

“chosen ones, holy and beloved,” as 

the First Reading puts it. The family 

advice we hear in this week’s readings 

— for mothers, fathers, and children 

— is all solid and practical. 

Happy homes are the fruit of our 

faithfulness to the Lord, we sing in 

Sunday’s Psalm. But the liturgy is 

inviting us to see more, to see how, 

through our family obligations and 

relationships, our families become heralds 

of the family of God that he wants 

to create on earth. 

We see this in Sunday’s Gospel. 

Notice that Joseph and Mary aren’t 

identified by name, but are called “his 

parents” or referred to separately as his 

“mother” and “father.” The emphasis 

is on their “familial” ties to the “child 

Jesus.” 

As the “firstborn” male of his family, 

Jesus is consecrated to the Lord. But 

he is also the firstborn of creation, and 

the firstborn from the dead, that he 

might be the firstborn among many 

brothers (Colossian 1:15, 18; Romans 

8:29). Through him, through his Holy 

Family, all the families of the world 

will be blessed (see Ephesians 3:15). 

It is significant, too, that all the 

action takes place in the Temple. The 

Temple we read is God’s house, his 

dwelling (see Luke 19:46). But it’s 

also an image of the family of God, 

the Church (see Ephesians 2:19–22; 

Hebrews 3:3–6; 10:21). 

In our families we’re to build up this 

household, this family, this living temple 

of God. Until he reveals his new 

dwelling among us, and says of every 

person, “I shall be his God and he will 

be My son” (see Revelation 21:3, 7). 

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


IN EXILE 

BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

The illusion of invulnerability 

“Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you 

stronger.” That’s a pious axiom that 

doesn’t always hold up. Sometimes the 

bad time comes and we don’t learn 

anything. Hopefully, this present bad 

time, COVID-19, will teach us something 

and make us stronger. 

My hope is that COVID-19 will teach 

us something that previous generations 

didn’t need to be taught but already 

knew through their lived experience; 

namely, that we’re not invulnerable, 

that we aren’t exempt from the threat 

of sickness, debilitation, and death. 

In short, all that our contemporary 

world can offer us in terms of technology, 

medicine, nutrition, and insurance 

of every kind, doesn’t exempt us from 

fragility and vulnerability. COVID-19 

has taught us that. Just like everyone 

else who has ever walked this earth, 

we’re vulnerable. 

I’m old enough to have known a 

previous generation when most people 

lived with a lot of fear, not all of it 

healthy, but all of it real. Life was fragile. 

Giving birth to a child could mean 

your death. A flu or virus could kill 

you and you had little defense against 

it. You could die young from heart disease, 

cancer, diabetes, bad sanitation, 

and dozens of other things. 

And nature itself could pose a 

threat. Storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, 

drought, pestilence, these were all 

to be feared because we were mostly 

helpless against them. People lived 

with a sense that life and health were 

fragile, not to be taken for granted. 

But then along came vaccinations, 

penicillin, better hospitals, better medicines, 

safer childbirth, better nutrition, 

better housing, better sanitation, better 

roads, better cars, and better insurance 

against everything from loss of work, 

to drought, to storms, to pestilence, to 

disasters of any kind. And along with 

that came an ever-increasing sense that 

we’re safe, protected, secure, different 

than previous generations, able to take 

care of ourselves, no longer as vulnerable 

as were the generations before us. 

And to a large extent that’s true, at 

least in terms of our physical health 

and safety. In many ways we’re far less 

vulnerable than previous generations. 

But, as COVID-19 has made evident, 

this is not a fully safe harbor. Despite 

much denial and protest, we’ve had to 

accept that we now live as did everyone 

before us, that is, as unable to guarantee 

our own health and safety. 

For all the dreadful things COVID-19 

has done to us, it has helped dispel the 

illusion of our own invulnerability. 

We’re fragile, vulnerable, mortal. 

At first glance, this seems like a bad 

thing; it’s not. Disillusionment is the 

dispelling of an illusion, and we have 

for too long (and too glibly) been 

living an illusion, that is, living under 

a pall of false enchantment that has 

us believing that the threats of old no 

longer have power to touch us. And 

how wrong we are! 

As of the time of this writing, there are 

70.1 million COVID-19 cases reported 

worldwide, and there have been more 

than 1.6 million reported deaths from 

this virus. Moreover, the highest rates 

of infection and death have been in 

those countries we would think most 

invulnerable, countries that have the 

best hospitals and highest standards of 

medicine to protect us. 

That should be a wake-up call. For all 

the good things our modern and postmodern 

world can give us, in the end it 

can’t protect us from everything, even 

as it gives us the sense that it can. 

COVID-19 has been a game-changer; 

it has dispelled an illusion, that of 

our own invulnerability. What’s to be 

learned? In short, that we must take 

our place with all other generations, 

recognizing that we cannot take life, 

health, family, work, community, travel, 

recreation, freedom to gather, and 

freedom to go to church, for granted. 

COVID-19 has taught us that we’re 

not the Lord of life and that fragility 

is still the lot of everyone, even in a 

modern and post-modern world. 

Classical Christian theology and 

philosophy have always taught that as 

humans we are not self-sufficient. Only 

God is. Only God is a “Self-sufficient 

Being” (“Ipsum Esse Subsistens,” in 

classical philosophy). 

The rest of us are contingent, dependent, 

interdependent, and mortal 

enough to fear the next appointment 

with our doctor. Former generations, 

because they lacked our medical 

knowledge, our doctors, our hospitals, 

our standards of hygiene, our medicines, 

our vaccines, and our antibiotics, 

existentially felt their contingency. 

They knew they weren’t self-sufficient 

and that life and health could not be 

taken for granted. I don’t envy them 

some of the false fear that came with 

that, but I do envy them not living 

under a pall of false security. 

Our contemporary world, for all the 

good things it gives us, has lulled us 

asleep in terms of our fragility, vulnerability, 

and mortality. COVID-19 is a 

wake-up call, not just to the fact that 

we’re vulnerable, but especially to the 

fact that we may not take for granted 

the precious gifts of health, family, 

work, community, travel, recreation, 

freedom to gather, and (yes) even of 

going to church. 

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. 


Rescuing 2 

Can God bring good out 

of a bad year? Here are 

some people who think so 

BY PABLO KAY / ANGELUS 

At the beginning of Advent last year, I received a somewhat 

unusual Christmas greeting. 

“Merry Christmas, and a providential New Year 

2020” read this person’s version of a holiday card. 

A few months later, during the summer of 2020, a friend 

who had received the same greeting reminded me about it. 

We wondered if that “providential” well-wish had been a prophetic 

word for the year that awaited us, a call to remember 

that the sufferings of the present are ultimately meant to lead 

us to a greater good. 

It is not easy to understand the why behind the events of a year 

like this one. Some of us have experienced the pain of losing 

loved ones — whether to COVID-19 or other causes — compounded 

by a sense of physical separation, or the inability to hold 

funeral services. Some of us have fallen ill ourselves. Others have 

lost jobs, seen relationships tested, and experienced the harmful 

consequences of prolonged isolation, including addiction, 

depression, and loneliness. 


2020 

So it may seem inappropriate, even insensitive, to propose that 

perhaps this year of death, sickness, social unrest, political turbulence, 

and overall confusion could have done us some good — 

or, to use the Christian term, been providential. 

And so, for this final 2020 issue of Angelus, we invited several 

people of different backgrounds, parts of the world, and walks 

of life to reflect on the good they have seen come out of this 

year. Among them are a cardinal and a newly confirmed RCIA 

candidate, a grandfather and a new mother, a retiring pastor and 

a millennial college chaplain. 

Lastly, we want to hear from you, the reader. If you have a 

personal story or experience in which you have seen God’s 

providence at work in this difficult year, please send us an 

e-mail at editorial@angelusnews.com. Submissions will be 

evaluated and published as part of an ongoing series on our 

website, AngelusNews.com. 

Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of Angelus. 


In God’s 

time and in 

God’s way 

BY MSGR. JAMES GEHL 

The cover of the Dec. 14 issue of TIME magazine 

described 2020 as “the worst year ever,” and honestly, 

I can understand the sentiment. No doubt this has 

been a year of suffering and distress on a widespread scale. 

But that doesn’t mean God hasn’t brought blessings — even 

miracles — out of it. 

In February of 2020, I was diagnosed with an aggressive 

form of cancer known as Burkitt Lymphoma. The morning 

after I was admitted to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical 

Center, my doctor told me that had I arrived a few hours 

later, my condition might not have been able to be reversed. 

Following 2 1/2 rounds of chemotherapy, my doctor explained 

that while the chemo had brought my cancer marker 

down, it wasn’t keeping it down: the marker was spiking 

each time I went home to regroup for the next round. 

My doctor had a difficult “heart to heart” chat with me, 

and we decided to discontinue the chemo. Afterward, I was 

referred to a hospice worker. I was, to put it plainly, being 

sent home to die. 

It was time to prepare to “meet my Maker.” I began saying 

my farewells, packing, getting my business in order, and 

praying a lot. 

There was, however, one last “Hail Mary” pass in my 

oncologist’s playbook: an experimental immunotherapy 

treatment that might at least add a few extra days to my life. 

What happened next amazed even the oncologist. The 

immunotherapy brought my cancer marker down and unbelievably, 

kept it down. This from a treatment that had no 

history of treating Burkitt Lymphoma. 

Today, my cancer is in remission, and I continue the immunotherapy 

once a month. 

Throughout all of this, I never questioned God’s will for 

me. He helped me to be totally open to whatever he had 

in mind for me. Throughout my life, I’ve made a point of 

thanking God every day that I wake up, placing my life in 

his hands. There was no reason to stop doing this during my 

illness. 

I have a long list of people to whom I am grateful to, people 

whom I count among the blessings of 2020. 

During this time, the prayers of my parishioners, medical 

Msgr. Jim Gehl distributes Communion at morning Mass outside St. 

Euphrasia Church in Granada Hills on Tuesday, Dec. 15. 

staff, family, friends, brother priests and bishops, and so 

many others whom I will never know, no doubt saved my 

life and helped me to live this trial with faith. I am grateful 

to them and to my oncologist, Dr. John Glaspy, God’s miracle 

worker for me and, no doubt, many others. 

Since the day of my diagnosis, I have been sustained by 

the intercession of our Blessed Mother, who has held me 

close. I will continue to pray her rosary and the Memorare 

every day for the rest of my life. 

I also thank Servant of God Sister Ida Peterfy, whose 

intercession I invoked for a miracle together with my priest 

support group. 

After 46 years as a priest, I am getting ready for retirement 

in June of next year. For now, it seems God has chosen 

to give me more days. I know not how many more, but I 

pledge to make the best use of each one of them as I am 

able, keeping in mind the words that became my mantra 

this year: “Everything in God’s time and in God’s way!” 

Msgr. James Gehl is the pastor of St. Euphrasia Church in 

Granada Hills. 

JOHNMICHAEL FILIPPONE 


A year to love my crosses 

BY ALISON NASTASI 

I 

almost talked myself out of wearing the veil I chose for 

my first confirmation and Communion this summer. 

Would my RCIA classmates think I was making an obnoxious 

statement about piety? Would it slip off? 

The pandemic had prevented us from gathering indoors. 

We were under the blazing sun among roses, statues of beloved 

saints, and a trickling fountain in the piazza where we 

once gathered for coffee and conversation after Mass. The 

bells seemed to ring at just the right moment, signaling to us 

that it was all meant to be. 

My soul was fed for the first time by the very body, blood, 

soul, and divinity of Christ. Despite my trembling, the veil 

never moved from my head. It shielded me from the sun, as 

it continues to protect me during Mass from all distractions 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

in a world that is continually trying to lead me further away 

from his truth. 

There are days that everything breaches the veil: news of 

relatives and friends gone forever and my mind at war with 

itself. God is present among the pots and pans, St. Teresa of 

Ávila tells us, but my domestic church is not the sanctuary I 

long for. 

Our parish priest was just diagnosed with COVID-19. 

I never realized until that moment just how much I was 

relying on his leadership to get me through each week. “Be 

at peace. God will provide” is his call to our congregation 

every Sunday. 

God provides through the volunteers at my church as 

they feed and clothe our most vulnerable brothers and 

sisters, never once shutting the doors to those in need. He is 

embracing me in the sweet friendship I have built with my 

neighbors as we trade notes of support and small tokens of 

appreciation. 

He is there in conversations with my father, who was 

supposed to witness me receiving my sacraments, but 

instead lovingly listened to my nervous chatter on the phone 

moments before the ceremony that day in July. In my messy 

paint palette and the brain fog I battle while writing, I know 

him. I see his face in the frontline workers, parents, teachers, 

elderly, and strangers around me. 

During my journey back to the Church, I’ve come to 

appreciate what theologian Father Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, 

a former teacher of St. Pope John Paul II, says in his 

book, “The Love of God and the Cross of Jesus,” about being 

“docile to Him in darkness as well as in light, in dryness 

as well as in joy.” 

He writes: “When we accept supernaturally the daily trials 

sent to us by Providence, we should also ask God not for 

crosses but for the love of the crosses which He Himself has 

laid upon us, that we may be purified and become instruments 

for the salvation of our neighbor.” 

Surrendering to radical compassion amid our shared 

suffering has given me more hope than I ever expected. In 

my breathless pursuit of unshakable holiness, it has become 

easier to embrace these trials and rest in the grace and peace 

of “thy will be done.” 

When the world falls down, I look to Christ with a burning 

heart as St. Maria Faustina described in her “Diary”: “In 

comparison with you, everything is nothing. Sufferings, 

adversities, humiliations, failures and suspicions that have 

come my way are splinters that keep alive the fire of my love 

for You, O Jesus.” 

Alison Nastasi is an arts and culture writer and artist living 

in Los Angeles. 


Becoming a ‘good Simon’ 

BY PATTY BREEN 

Patty Breen 

with her father 

at World Youth 

Day in Rio de 

Janeiro, Brazil, 

in 2013. 

SUBMITTED IMAGE 

Each week as I pull into my parents’ driveway, I put 

the car into park. I take a few deep breaths. In the 

faintest whisper, I pray, “Jesus, help me be a good 

‘Simon’ to my dad.” Several times a week I go to my parents’ 

home to help care for my dying father. His physical 

body is rapidly declining from a rare neurological disease 

similar to ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s 

Disease. 

We are navigating the painful reality that these are the 

last holidays together as a family, while preparing for 

things like his final resting place and funeral plans. 

Throughout the difficult year that has been 2020, I have 

had the additional challenge of caring for a dying parent. 

While COVID-19 has interrupted many aspects of daily 

life as we knew it, those who were terminally or chronically 

ill before the pandemic have experienced their disease 

progress. 

Unfortunately, time did not stop, even though life 

seemed to. For some, the pandemic feels like a big “time 

out” of normal life, which we hope will return after our 

vaccinations. But for my family, time has marched forward, 

bringing with it a future we know will at some point 

not include my dad’s physical presence in our daily lives. 

In this anxious and exhausting period unlike anything 

most of us lived through, I’ve found inspiration in one 

particular figure from the Gospels. 

Simon of Cyrene was a helper to Jesus, a companion on 

the hard road of suffering. He showed up and met Jesus 

when he needed help most. While not taking away the 

immense physical or emotional suffering Jesus endured, 

he helped to lighten the load. He was a quiet, supportive 

presence. Simon accompanied Jesus. 

Throughout his papacy, Pope Francis has called for a 

“ministry of accompaniment,” one in which the Church is 

willing to get messy and go into the spaces of the human 

heart that hurt the most. He has called for a Church that 

is unafraid of suffering with people. 

My father’s illness has shown me what this ministry is 

really about, as I accompany him toward death; a chance 

to walk with Jesus, like Simon. And I have found it to be 

life-giving. 

I am Simon when I help my dad wash his face and beard 

because he can no longer bathe himself. 

I am Simon when I help dad get up from his chair, lift 

his legs into bed to take a nap, or help put his compression 

socks on. 

I am Simon when I validate his emotions and feelings 

when he feels scared or lonely. 

I am Simon when I cry with my dad and tell him how 

much I love him. 

This pandemic has felt like an endless Good Friday. This 

disease has felt the same for my dad and our family. But 

there is a promise for us in whatever “Good Friday” we are 

facing or walking through in life. Good Friday does not 

have the final say. It surely did not for Jesus. 

It has been devastating to watch my dad suffer like this. 

And yet, somehow it is sacred and holy. 

Life right now may feel like Good Friday, but Easter 

Sunday is coming. 

Patty Breen is a Catholic writer and speaker living in 

Michigan. She writes at AModernGrace.blogspot.com. 


God’s 

providence 

will prevail 

BY CARDINAL GEORGE PELL 

Cardinal George Pell during an interview in Rome in December 2020. 

This year, 2020, has not been a good year with the 

COVID-19 plague raging through the United States 

and most parts of the world. As well, the economic 

consequences, e.g., job losses and struggling businesses, will 

last much longer than the pandemic. 

I went against the trend, because this year was better for me 

than 2019. 

On the Tuesday of Holy Week, I was released after 404 

days in jail for sex crimes I had never committed, found 

not guilty seven-to-zero by the judges of the High Court of 

Australia. 

Where was God in all of this? Is there a God, or the one 

God, who might be watching and interested in our suffering? 

An enormous amount depends on how we answer 

this question, because being a monotheist or an atheist, or 

not knowing, makes a world of difference. Being naturally 

religious, having a love of nature, does not help much when 

©DANIEL IBÁÑEZ/CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY-EWTN 

catastrophe strikes. 

I write as a believing Christian and a Catholic. For us 

the one true God is not only the Creator of the universe, 

immense beyond our imagining, home to billions, perhaps 

trillions, of stars, black dwarfs, black holes, blue giants, red 

supergiants, and our tiny planet earth, but this Creator is 

the only transcendent mystery outside the universe, and he 

has clear ideas of how we should live and where we go after 

death. 

He sent his only Son to take on our human nature, live 

among us, teach us the importance of love and forgiveness, 

and demonstrate through his life and death that suffering 

can be used for good, in the next life if not in this one. 

God is in charge. As he is good and just, all will be well 

eventually and the scales of justice will balance out in eternity, 

where the poor and the unfortunate will be helped by 

positive discrimination. God’s providence will prevail. 

My leading barrister (a lawyer in the English court system) 

at the trials was an agnostic Jew who observes the basic Jewish 

seasonal rituals, loves the music of Bach’s “St. Matthew 

Passion,” and knew the story of Job very well, the first Jewish 

attempt to wrestle with the problem of innocent suffering, of 

why bad things happen to good people. 

The prison authorities allowed me to keep my breviary, the 

official prayer book of the Church, from the first night, and 

readings from Job came up regularly in those early days. My 

barrister compared my situation to Job’s, and I replied that I 

was happy with this, because Job’s fortunes were restored in 

his lifetime. I was not sure that would be my lot. 

Job’s sufferings were far worse than mine. His flocks and 

farms were attacked, he lost all his property, was covered 

in ulcers, ostracised to live on a rubbish dump, and abandoned 

by his friends. Even his wife urged him to curse God 

and die. While he complained to God more than I did, he 

refused to condemn or curse God. 

But I had advantages Job never enjoyed. The Jews then had 

no clear ideas of a personal afterlife of reward and punishment, 

of ultimate justice, beyond a shadowy semipersonal 

existence in Sheol or Hades, and they had no clear ideas on 

redemptive suffering. 

Their Messiah had not been linked to the suffering servant 

of Isaiah, so their misfortunes remained exclusively misfortunes. 

In faith, but only in faith, we know better. We hail 

the cross, our only hope (“Ave crux, spes unica”). This is 

God’s providence at work, redeeming us through his Son’s 

suffering. 

During my years as a priest many have asked me why this 

or that disaster, e.g., death, sickness, etc., has happened to 

them or their family. I don’t know, but I reminded them that 

Jesus, God’s only Son, did not have an easy life and suffered 

badly. I, too, remembered this in gaol. And it helped. 

Cardinal George Pell is the archbishop emeritus of Sydney, 

Australia, and the former prefect of the Holy See’s Secretariat 

for the Economy. He was acquitted on charges of sexual abuse 

by Australia’s highest court and released from jail on April 7, 

2020. “Prison Journal, Volume 1: The Cardinal Makes His 

Appeal” (Ignatius Press, $19.95), written during his time in 

prison, is now available for purchase online. 


Providential 

poetry in 

a pandemic 

BY T.J. BERDEN 

A lithograph print illustration of Eugenio Montale’s poem “In the Rain.” 

SUBMITTED PHOTO 

A lithograph print using a quote from 

Eugenio Montale’s poem “In the Rain.” 

As the fog 

of COV- 

ID-19 

began to descend 

on 2020, I found 

myself suffocating 

within my 

own bubble, 

beset by stay-athome 

orders, 

riots, political 

turmoil, and 

perhaps the worst 

threat of all: the 

relapse of my 

mother’s cancer. 

As one wave of 

turmoil upon the 

next beat against 

the metaphorical 

shore of my 

life, the riptide seemed to pull me further and further from 

myself. But, as I learned from a wise Italian, it’s when we 

begin to cry out, we realize we are crying out to Someone 

who listens. 

As I didn’t have much mental bandwidth for common 

prayers, reading books, or watching movies, I turned to the 

simplest and shortest form that I could find for help: poetry. 

I began to read voraciously and share what I discovered 

with others. Surprisingly, others responded, and in turn, 

people began suggesting different authors, and what began 

as a solo act eventually became a monthly Zoom poetry 

night organized around themes like, “The Only Cure to 

Loneliness is Solitude.” 

It seemed others were also taking solace in the warmth of 

the verse: atheists and evangelicals, actors, musicians, and 

scientists. It was during the first stay-at-home order that I was 

turned on to the writing of Swedish economist and former 

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld. 

In his 1963 book, “Markings,” he sums up the search for 


identity that rang particularly true for me at the start of the 

pandemic. 

“At every moment you choose yourself. But do you choose 

your self?” was the first line of one particular journal entry 

that sent my companions on a search for more words that 

could help bring light to the present darkness. 

It was during one of the darkest days of my mother’s battle 

with cancer, her sixth hospitalization in seven weeks, that I 

found myself manically scrolling Instagram looking for Godknows-what. 

That was the day that light broke in through a 

post in a language I didn’t even speak: Portuguese. 

The way the lines were structured spoke to me and I 

hunted down the English translation of this line by the blue 

collar, would-be Brazilian mystic named Adelia Prado: 

“Once in a while God takes poetry away from me, I look at a 

stone and I see stone.” 

Facing the grim reality of cancer during a pandemic, it was 

a freeing act of realism (and therefore faith) to call the stone 

the stone. As dark and dry as it got, my heart never stopped 

searching and there never failed to be a response, even 

in the unexpected form of an Instagram post in a foreign 

language. 

Prado became my summer muse and her poetry was like 

being welcomed into a humid Brazilian “favela” (“shack”) 

and being offered an ice-cold beer after a day of walking 

under the summer sun. 

And the journey has gone on like that: friend to friend, poet 

to poet, and heart to heart. I find myself willing to listen to 

anyone who has something real to offer, helping me overcome 

my own limits and see something new. 

The most recent companion on the journey is the Italian 

poet Eugenio Montale, whose poem “In the Rain” has a 

line that sums up the end of this trying year and the hope for 

what’s to come. 

“Your record screamed, ‘Adios Muchachos, campaneros 

de mi vida,’ from the courtyard: And I’ll gladly play the part 

if beyond the hurricane of fate the skip survives that sets me 

back on your path.” 

T.J. Berden is a Catholic film producer and writer living in 

Los Angeles. 


Father Patrick 

Mary Briscoe, OP, 

and another priest 

celebrate outdoor 

Mass for students at 

Providence College’s 

Rosary Grotto. 

The singing friars of Providence 


BY FATHER PATRICK MARY BRISCOE, OP 

When Providence College announced that it would 

receive students on campus this fall, I was enthusiastic, 

even if apprehensive. 

I was delighted to be welcoming students back on campus 

for in-person instruction. I had seen the months our 

facilities team spent transforming the campus: adding sites 

for outdoor classes, installing plexiglass barriers, planning 

for quarantine protocols, and developing a rigorous testing 

program. 

I value learning as a community, and as a chaplain, knew 

that students would be looking to us (and to God) to help 

them make sense of 2020. 

On the whole, our students took the COVID-19 health 

and safety protocols seriously. We were able to have regular 

Masses and eucharistic adoration (including outdoors in 

our lovely Rosary Grotto), an in-person freshman retreat, 

and religious instruction (almost 20 students joined our 

RCIA program this fall). 

We also launched an app to help bolster a sense of 

community and make prayer resources readily available, 

and my fellow chaplains and I spent countless hours with 

students in one-on-one meetings and at meals on campus. 

But the greatest moment of grace, without a doubt, was 

the relief we were able to provide during a two-week 

lockdown after a brief surge in COVID-19 cases among 

students. 

Armed with guitars and holy water, we used a Providence 

College-emblazoned golf cart to travel around campus and 

through the adjacent off-campus neighborhood to comfort 

students with a socially distanced song and house blessing. 

We rang bells and shouted hello, and students flocked to 

porches, decks, and windows to greet us. 

Students expressed their delight at seeing the friars come 

to them in quarantine. As chaplains, we wanted them to 

know that we were there for them, and to turn their minds 

to God. We had real conversations, offering a word of 

encouragement and a joyful moment of prayer. 

Parents echoed their sons’ and daughters’ gratitude, emailing 

and calling the chaplaincy to thank us for reaching 

out. One student told me that she thought we were going 

to break Snapchat; everyone was sharing videos of friars 

singing and visiting in their “stories.” 

The moment was powerful because it was a bright spot in 

a difficult moment this semester. We used light songs and 

a bit of comical levity (Dominican friars touring in a golf 

cart! “Quelle vue!”) to remind our students that although 

they felt isolated, God was near and at work in their midst. 

It’s a lesson that captures so much of 2020. We may feel 

alone at times, but we are not forgotten. The Lord will 

send his workers to the vineyard and continue to spread the 

extraordinary message of his love. 

Father Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, is a Dominican priest of 

the Province of St. Joseph and assistant chaplain at Providence 

College in Rhode Island. He is also deputy senior 

editor of Aleteia English. 


A surprise 

support 

group 

BY ELISE ITALIANO URENECK 

The author holding her son’s hand on Mother’s Day, 2020. 

ELISE ITALIANO URENECK 

I 

gave birth on All Saints’ Day, 2019, to our firstborn. I remember 

that my biggest worry on the way to the hospital 

that day had nothing to do with labor, delivery, or recovery. 

It had to do with my fear of transitioning to motherhood 

without the support of my family and friends. 

Since I had recently relocated to a new city where my 

husband was pursuing his graduate degree, there were approximately 

500 miles between me and my loved ones. And 

because of illness, my mother was unable to assist with the 

transition after we brought the baby home. I was terrified of 

having to figure out everything on my own. 

Little did I know that three months later, I would be 

joined by a company of women who were giving birth in 

isolation — away from mothers, grandmothers, neighbors, 

and support systems — many of whom had to deliver their 

children without their husbands by their side. New moms 

and seasoned moms would be bringing children into a 

world that looked utterly different than it did when they 

were expecting. 

Mothers are having a tough time keeping their heads above 

water in this pandemic. Whether they work inside or outside 

of the home, moms statistically take on the majority of child 

care and household duties. They’re hardwired for relationships 

and meeting needs. The moms I know are finding the 

circus act of balancing laundry, meal preparation, children’s 

Zoom classes, and professional deadlines to be dizzying. 

But the hardest part for all of us has been going it alone, 

without the ability to commiserate, trade life hacks, or share 

wisdom with one another. Women need to talk to other 

women. Every Jane Austen novel attests to this reality. 

Absent a parish moms’ group or the opportunity to be with 

family, I’ve turned to conversing with the saints. As I navigated 

my first year of motherhood in isolation, I began to talk 

to Our Lady, asking her about what it was like to spend her 

first year of motherhood with only Jesus and St. Joseph, in 

circumstances marked by instability and fear. 

I’ve asked St. Monica for help with patience, St. Jane 

Frances de Chantal for practical wisdom, and St. Gianna 

Beretta Molla for help when my son has been ill. 

What I’ve learned from each of them is that meeting needs 

may at times feel like a burden, but it is ultimately a blessing. 

To be needed is to have a purpose. Motherhood, by its 

design, is communal. It is the ultimate antidote to loneliness 

and isolation. 

Hearing a crying baby at 5 a.m. does not immediately 

usher in these thoughts. But those waves of consolation do 

come when I am rocking him quietly in his room as the sun 

comes up, praying for the other mothers around the world 

doing the same thing. 

When my son was born on All Saints’ Day, I was moved by 

the fact that he would have any number of them to invoke 

for support. Little did I know that I would have a communion 

of friends to lean on, too. 

Elise Italiano Ureneck is a communications consultant 

writing from Boston. 


A year of 

fragility 

BY GREG ERLANDSON 

A health care worker in Los Angeles takes care of a coronavirus patient. 

It has been, to use a pop culture phrase, a “dumpster fire” 

of a year. We have lost 300,000 of our fellow Americans to 

a pandemic. Our democracy has been shaken by unsubstantiated 

claims of fraud and conspiracy allegedly so vast 

as to steal a national election. Our Church has been rocked 

by a report detailing the rise of a now-disgraced American 

former cardinal to the highest ranks of the Church despite 

his scandalous behavior. 

One might be hard-pressed to find the providential 

presence of God amid this mess, yet there are graces to be 

found. We see the heroism of health care providers, teachers, 

and food pantry workers as they risk their lives to aid the 

sick, the isolated, and the hungry. We see brave government 

officials who resist death threats and pressure, refusing to 

compromise their integrity in the face of the mob. And 

we see victim survivors who bravely testified to what had 

been done to them. We see a pope who made good on his 

promise to deliver a public report chronicling how Church 

leaders failed in their responsibilities. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/LUCY NICHOLSON, REUTERS 

God has given us heroes to match our flaws, witnesses of 

hope that sustain us when our fears and our doubts threaten 

to overwhelm. Yet I think the most providential gift that God 

has given us is an overwhelming sense of our own fragility. 

“Vanity of vanities! All things are vanity,” Ecclesiastes tells 

us. For too long, we felt somehow that we were protected 

from grievous misfortune. That our wealth, our power, our 

traditions, our history somehow protected us, our exceptionalism 

would always overcome our flaws. 

Yet day after day, we are hearing stories of death and grief 

as the pandemic stalks us. We wear masks and keep our 

distance to fend off threats and to protect others. Instead of 

dipping our fingers in a font of holy water, we squirt sanitizer 

on our hands to ward off germs. 

We are living a nationwide “memento mori,” being reminded 

over and over that we are not fully in control, that 

we are vulnerable, that we are mortal. This, I believe, is a 

blessing. In realizing our own fragility, we are more likely 

to recognize the fragility of others. We see in them our own 

mortality, and this recognition is a bond that unites us. 

The pandemic has been an opportunity to care for one 

another. When we wear the mask, when we sacrifice visits 

with families and friends, we seek to protect others even as 

we seek to protect ourselves. 

Ultimately, the fragility points us toward God. It is God 

who is our strength, and we turn to him in our need, in our 

vulnerability. It is a sentiment worthy of the psalmist: 

“You have given my days a very short span; 

My life is as nothing before you… 

And now, Lord, what future do I have? 

You are my only hope.” (Psalm 39:6, 8) 

Our hope is in the Lord. This year more than ever. 

Greg Erlandson is a native of Los Angeles and now lives in 

the Washington, D.C., area. He is the president and editor-in-chief 

of Catholic News Service. 


A drive-in force 

The tests of 2020 have inspired families at one 

Westside parish to come together like never before 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS 


Some 200 cars pass through the parking lot of St. Mark Church in Venice every Saturday to pick up free groceries. Organizers say many of the beneficiaries 

are families hit hard by the financial fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In the days of “safer at home” and 

social distancing, the corner of 

Lincoln Boulevard and Garfield 

Avenue might be the busiest spot in 

Venice on Saturday mornings. 

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., some 200 

cars make their way into the parking 

lot of St. Mark Church via a COV- 

ID-conscious drive-thru system. Waiting 

for them are volunteers in bright 

yellow safety vests and face masks with 

grocery bags carrying fresh fruit and 

vegetables, canned goods, milk, and 

bread. 

The order is first come, first serve. No 

sign-up required, no questions asked. 

Organizers said 6,000 pounds of food 

are served here every week, although 



they’re not really sure how their small 

effort has gotten this big. 

“This is all driven by God,” said 

Cookie Barthel, a St. Mark Church 

parish council member and parishioner 

since the 1980s, who coordinates 

the project with parishioners Miriam 

Galarza and Katty Rakfeldt. “We started 

this without knowing a food source. 

But God has provided everything we 

need.” 

Certainly, the food drive’s success 

is at least partly thanks to a thriving 

partnership with Culver City nonprofit 

Nourish L.A. Parishioners and parents 

of the parish school, located one block 

west of the church on Coeur d’ Alene 

Avenue, have been a driving force 

behind the initiative. 

Barthel lost her job managing a dental 

practice that was shut down during 

the pandemic and then sold. She said 

her motivation to push forward with 

the project — an extension of the 

parish’s “Loaves & Fishes Ministry” 

to families in need — came from her 

own experience of seeing how quickly 

people’s circumstances can change in 

a pandemic economy. 

“I think if you’re a parent, not 

knowing where you’ll get food for your 

children has to be the most horrible 

feeling in the world,” Barthel told 

Angelus during a recent Saturday 

morning food drive. “That’s what we 

want to alleviate.” 

For St. Mark’s administrator Father 

Albert van der Woerd, the project is a 

testimony to the good that can come 

out of a difficult year like 2020. 

“Gratitude is the main feeling, but 

also wonder in how the Lord wanted 

this to happen,” said Father van der 

Woerd. “The right word here is ‘awe.’ 

You see how everyone is responding to 

that call.” 

Originally from the Netherlands, 

the 60-year-old has only been 

a priest for four years. When 

he arrived at St. Mark’s last year, he 

could not have imagined that besides 

having to close his parish in a pandemic, 

he would also be spending time in 

negotiations over the development of a 

40-unit supportive housing project for 

the chronically homeless on Lincoln 

Boulevard. 

The issue centered around the proposed 

location of the taxpayer-funded 

project, known as the Lincoln Apartments, 

next to St. Mark’s parish center. 

Involved in the proposal was Safe 

Place for Youth (SPY), a nonprofit that 

currently works out of the location. 

Parish families expressed safety and 

privacy concerns, since a private 

driveway behind the complex provides 

access to the church parking lot, used 

often by parents and children for the 

Left to right: Miriam Galarza, Cookie 

Barthel, and Katty Rakfeldt help coordinate 

the new extension of St. Mark 

Church’s “Loaves & Fishes Ministry.” 




Address _ 


Organizers estimate the St. Mark Church drive-thru food bank serves some 6,000 pounds of fresh food every week. 

school, and now, for the Saturday food 

drives. 

After months of discussion between 

developers, lawyers, local citizen 

groups — often in the public forum 

— the archdiocese and developers 

reached an agreement that addressed 

the concerns raised. The project got 

final approval in September. 

“Thankfully, we were able to come 

together to a mutual commitment for 

the safety of children,” Father van der 

Woerd said. 

From a church that has some 1,500 

registered families and 300 children 

at the school, parishioners Geoff and 

Michelle Forgione have a second-grader 

and another starting transitional kindergarten 

at St. Mark. The Forgiones, 

living in nearby Mar Vista, were 

among some 200 families that wrote 

personal letters to LA City Councilman 

Mike Bonin to express concerns. 

Geoff, who recently joined the parish 

council, said he admired how Father 

van der Woerd navigated criticism by 

sticking to his principled approach. 

“Father Albert really did his homework 

and did a lot of listening to a lot 

of people,” said Geoff, an attorney by 

trade. “There was a concerted campaign 

to undermine him and compel 

him to change course. To his credit, 

he fought through it in a very dignified 

and determined way, and in the end 

we extracted significant concessions 

from the developers in the interest of 

child safety.” 

Among the St. Mark parents working 

the food distribution line was 

Steve Wallace, wearing a bright 

yellow vest handing out bags as cars 

made their way up. 

“The [Lincoln Project] is all in the 

future, and we want to protect our future,” 

he said. “But the important thing 

now is we have this. All the people 

working here today need to be safe. 

This is a very safe environment and 

[Father van der Woerd] has a fantastic 

program going on.” 

Father van der Woerd expects 

parishioners to continue helping with 

volunteer projects related to the SPY 

program. The parish hall kitchen, for 

example, was recently upgraded to 

better serve SPY meal-service projects. 

Send __ 

Name __ 

22 • ANGELUS • December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021 

City ____


For the Saturday morning grocery 

distribution program, representatives 

of SPY donated two industrial refrigerators 

to facilitate storage of fresh food. 

SPY also helped St. Mark find contacts 

to help supply groceries. 

Barthel, Galarza, and Rakfeldt — 

who Father van der Woerd calls the 

project’s “founding mothers” — asked 

the priest for access to a garage behind 

the parish office. He did and donated 

much of the contents to the St. Vincent 

de Paul Society. Since a second 

garage was needed as well, both were 

upgraded with three new electrical 

circuits to handle the refrigeration food 

storage. 

“Too many are struggling now,” said 

Rakfeldt, a St. Mark parishioner for 

the last 20 years with an eighth-grade 

daughter at the school. “We’ll do this 

as long as we keep getting food, and 

we are finding there is no shortage of 

food.” 

Galarza, whose social media marketing 

push has helped get the word out, 

said she sees a community coming 

together like never before. 

“People who six to eight months ago 

may have been OK are now in trouble. 

There is no shame in coming here and 

asking for food. And those who may 

feel isolated and have nothing to do, 

they are coming out to serve.” 

“We started small and every week we 

see this grow and inspire other people 

to help,” she added. 

Looking out at the line of cars varying 

from family vans to Teslas waiting for 

food, Barthel repeated a reminder to 

the volunteers. 

“We don’t know their story. It’s not 

for us to judge. How we give is what 

matters. How they receive is up to 

them.” 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning 

journalist based in Los Angeles. 


St. Mark 

Church’s 

administrator 

Father Albert van 

der Woerd helps 

distribute boxes 

of food to drivethru 

visitors. 

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Pope Francis leads his 

weekly general audience 

via livestream from the 

library of the Apostolic 

Palace at the Vatican 

on June 10 during the 

COVID-19 pandemic. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/VATICAN MEDIA 

A blessed hiatus? 

How the Church and Pope Francis have tried making the most 

of a year no one saw coming 

BY INÉS SAN MARTÍN / ANGELUS 

ROSARIO, Argentina — Lives 

lost too soon. Closed churches. 

Political polarization. More 

scandals. The Catholic Church has 

not been spared the hardships that 

the year of the novel coronavirus has 

inflicted on most of our planet. 

Yet for two millenia, that same 

Church has proclaimed what it 

considers to be a fundamental truth: 

that God chose to take on our human 

nature to free us from sin, to give us 

hope in the face of death and human 

mortality. 

In that vein, it is worth keeping in 

mind that an institution living through 

one of its most challenging periods in 

recent history has had some blessings 

to count lately, small yet bright rays 

peeking through the dark cloud that 

has been the year 2020. 

Take Pope Francis, to begin with. 

The COVID-19 pandemic forced 

the octogenarian pontiff to stay put in 

Rome, frustrating his plans but also 

allowing him to go full-steam ahead in 

his push to reform the Roman Curia, a 

much-needed endeavor that had been 

undertaken by his predecessors but left 

incomplete. 

The text of the new Vatican Constitution 

outlining the bureaucratic restructuring 

has been under review for 

months, and the council of cardinals 

advising him on the project has gone 

ahead, albeit in the form of Zoom 

meetings. Already some of the reforms 

have been implemented, with some 

offices merged, new ones formed, and 

others downsized. 

The Holy See also saw its fair share 

of scandal in 2020. There was the 

long-awaited release of an internal 

report detailing the rise of former 

cardinal Theodore McCarrick, as well 

as the swift resignation of Cardinal 

Angelo Becciu from a top Vatican post 

and the pope’s stripping of his rights 

and responsibilities as a cardinal. 

Cardinal Becciu has long been 

suspected of corruption, and though 

some of the circumstances of his 

resignation at the pope’s request have 

yet to be clarified, he is currently being 


investigated for his involvement in a 

real-estate scandal related to a building 

the Holy See bought in London under 

his watch. 

One could argue that the Vatican has 

sacked personnel over corruption before. 

But this is the first time in recent 

memory that a cardinal has so publicly 

taken the fall for crimes not sexual in 

nature. To see a pope who talks the 

talk about uprooting corruption in the 

Church give the ax to a man who was 

once a very close adviser is a strong 

sign. 

The pope’s inability to travel and the 

clearing of most of his agenda has also 

given him plenty of time to review the 

curriculum vitaes of several candidates 

for leadership positions in the Church. 

He will soon have the opportunity to 

overhaul the Church’s central government: 

By the end of the next calendar 

year, six of the nine current Vatican 

department heads will have exceeded 

the retirement age of 75. 

One of the more tangible consequences 

of the pandemic was the 

closure of churches around much 

of the world in the early days of the 

COVID-19 pandemic. For Catholics, 

this hiatus provided a reminder that 

the Church is, by principle, universal, 

and that there is more to it than what 

we find in our own little parish life. 

Many tuned in to attend Mass online, 

either with the pope, or with priests 

and bishops broadcasting from sometimes 

faraway places. 

As challenging as it might have been 

for parishes, with many having to shut 

down because they couldn’t make 

ends meet without Sunday’s collection, 

this 2020 offered a chance for the 

Church to give a whole new meaning 

to “New Evangelization,” and to 

having an online presence to reach the 

“nones.” 

Polls suggest fewer people will be 

returning to Mass once restrictions are 

over, a dire challenge that will need 

to be addressed. But there have been 

many promising signs: stories of more 

families praying together, the organizing 

of virtual spiritual retreats, and the 

option of finding solace in eucharistic 

adoration when unable to sleep at 3 

a.m. 

The Vatican ended the year with 

perhaps one final silver lining: the announcement 

of the pope’s plans to visit 

Iraq March 5-8 in 2021. It will be his 

first foray outside of Italy in 16 months, 

and a resumption in papal travel will 

go a long way toward beginning to 

restore a sense of normalcy: If the trip 

indeed materializes (pandemic conditions 

permitting), it would signal that 

the time of travel bans and seemingly 

arbitrary restrictions on public worship 

are behind us. 

But more importantly, the trip will 

shine a much-needed light on some 

of the world’s most persecuted and 

long-suffering Christians. 

Since the U.S.-led invasion to Iraq, 

the Christian population has diminished 

by two thirds — from an estimated 

1.4 million to less than 400,000 

— thanks to a long war and an even 

longer and bloodier campaign by the 

Islamic State to extinguish Christianity 

in the country. As a result, those who 

want to stay are few, and those who 

want to return to their home country 

from abroad are even fewer. 

Pope Francis hopes that the trip 

to Iraq, which will include several 

stops in the contested Nineveh Plains 

region, will bring hope to this afflicted 

community. It also gives him another 

global stage to continue reminding the 

world beyond the pandemic that there 

are still “piecemeal wars” being waged 

in too many parts of the world. 

Inés San Martín is an Argentinian 

journalist and Rome bureau chief for 

Crux. She is a frequent contributor to 

Angelus. 

Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, 

preacher of the papal household, 

presents Advent meditations 

for Pope Francis, officials of the 

Roman Curia and Vatican employees 

in the Paul VI Audience 

Hall at the Vatican Dec. 18. 

VATICAN MEDIA 

December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021 • ANGELUS • 25

The graces 

of the 

coronavirus 

COVID-19 has taken a lot 

from us. In a new e-booklet, a 

priest and layman look for the 

lessons of this pandemic 

BY KATHRYN JEAN LOPEZ / ANGELUS 

In this illustration photo, a disposable medical mask hangs on the side of a pew at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 

CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/DAVE HRBACEK, THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT 

If you’ve felt abandoned this year, 

you are far from alone — suffering 

tends to do that. 

And what a year of suffering it has 

been. A pandemic, political strife, unrest 

in our cities, and a sense of division 

and confusion even in the Church can 

all seem like too much. 

In Christianity, however, we have a 

God who draws us near in such trials 

— and even uses them to teach us 

some useful lessons. 

The new e-booklet, “Finding Christ 

in the Crisis: What the Pandemic 

Can Teach Us” (Our Sunday Visitor, 

$1.95), is perhaps the first serious written 

attempt to figure out what those 

lessons are. Thankfully, authors Father 

Harrison Ayre and writer Michael 

Heinlein prove to be helpful guides in 

discerning the graces of the time of the 

novel coronavirus. 

For me (and surely for many Catholics), 

the first grace that comes to mind 

has been the longing for the Eucharist 

that we experienced at the beginning 

of the pandemic. 

All of a sudden, what helped keep us 

spiritually breathing was taken away. 

We all witnessed or heard stories of 

priests going around to parishioners’ 

homes and blessing them with the 

Blessed Sacrament. Some went out 

of their way to provide the sacraments 

of confession and the Eucharist when 

and where possible. 

But still, that feeling of abandonment, 

even frustration with the decisions 

made over access to the sacrament, is 

hard to avoid at times. While recognizing 

the essential nature of the 

sacraments, Father Ayre and Heinlein 

remind us that “the sacraments are a 

communion with the entire Church, 

because communion with Christ is 

communion with all who constitute his 

body.” 

“In the end,” they write, “reception of 

the sacraments is meant for the good of 

the Church and humanity, which is to 

say more than just for our own good.” 

What Father Ayre and Heinlein try 


CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/DAVE HRBACEK, THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT 

Father Harrison Ayre 

Michael Heinlein 

IMAGE VIA SOUNDCLOUD IMAGE VIA TWITTER 

existential meaning of what such a crisis 

means for people of faith, reminding 

us that “God uses our history to 

bring us closer to himself.” 

“Understanding this is essential to seeing 

God’s action in the present,” they 

write. “As God used the Babylonian 

exile for Israel’s good, he can use this 

pandemic to draw his Church closer to 

himself through Christ. God’s freedom 

never overwhelms, but always cooperates 

with humanity. That can help 

us understand the events of our world 

without falling into discouragement or 

despair.” 

How is God using COVID-19 to draw 

his Church closer to himself? Well, 

for one, it has definitely challenged us 

to trust that God really, truly provides, 

even in the midst of suffering. Isn’t 

and mission he has established in his 

Church?” 

There can be little doubt that they are 

right. I think back to a Pew Research 

study suggesting that many Catholics 

do not believe in the Real Presence of 

Jesus in the Eucharist. Those are the 

people, perhaps, who are not coming 

back to church after the pandemic. 

For those who do, though, are we 

living our lives as monstrances in the 

world, showing God? The other day I 

watched a woman scream at another 

woman running into Planned Parenthood: 

“Jesus wants to save your soul!” 

I suspect the hollering didn’t make her 

curious about just who this Savior is. 

But by blazing charity, as St. Catherine 

of Siena would put it, perhaps she will. 

As Father Ayre and Heinlein put it, 

“Might God be drawing us into 

a time of purification to recommit 

ourselves to the covenant and mission 

he has established in his Church?” 

to emphasize are the ways in which 

this time has been an opportunity — a 

notion that is perhaps easier to see for 

those of us who have regular access to 

the sacraments again. 

When it comes to the Eucharist, that 

“good” comes from Christ’s sacrifice 

on the cross, to which we are united in 

the sacrament. 

“This reality,” the authors write, 

“should bring us great comfort even 

in the midst of pandemic, when we 

might not be able to make it to Mass. 

Because of our unity in Christ’s body 

through baptism, even when we are 

not physically present at the Eucharistic 

sacrifice, each of us is united to 

every Mass.” 

As an example, the authors point to 

St. Charles Borromeo, who during 

times of plague in 16th-century Italy 

would ask priests to celebrate Mass 

outdoors so that people could watch 

from their homes. 

But perhaps even more importantly, 

Father Ayre and Heinlein tackle the 

that what the cross of Christ is — him 

taking on our suffering to redeem it? 

If we believe that, it changes 

everything. Yes, we must be prudent, 

but we also can’t hide in fear binging 

on Netflix, waiting it out until the 

threat of COVID-19 passes. We love. 

We care for our neighbor, even with 

masks and social distancing. And we 

pray. We listen for the voice of God in 

Scripture and the sacraments. 

In the meantime, the clear message 

from Father Ayre and Heinlein’s 

analysis is that we take advantage of 

this “opportunity for deep purification 

of the Church,” similar to what the 

people of Israel experienced in exile. 

“God had to remove a lot from Israel 

in order for them to see their mission 

clearly again,” they point out, comparing 

clergy-related scandals and hints 

of lukewarmness of faith to the trials of 

the Israelites. 

The authors wonder: “Might God be 

drawing us into a time of purification 

to recommit ourselves to the covenant 

“As disciples we are called to follow 

Christ’s way more and more each 

day, and that is, of course, ultimately 

the way of the cross. That Christian 

journey is the way of charity, service, 

and sacrifice.” 

Our mission, they write, is “the love 

of Christ and his cross, the love that 

has motivated and sustained the saints 

— the very love in which we are daily 

called to persevere.” 

Or, as the closing words of the Mass 

put it, “Go in peace, glorifying the 

Lord by your life.” 

Having survived 2020, we are called 

to take this mandate more seriously 

and be Christ’s peace in this chaotic 

world. 

Kathryn Jean Lopez is senior fellow 

at the National Review Institute, 

editor-at-large of National Review 

magazine, and author of the new book, 

“A Year with the Mystics: Visionary 

Wisdom for Daily Living” (Tan Books, 

$44.95). 


AD REM 

BY ROBERT BRENNAN 

Thanking God for my tuneup year 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

It is that time of year that asks us 

to look backward and forward at 

the same time. And while looking 

backward is not something I would 

regularly recommend, the year 2020 

demands it. 

We have all heard versions of the 

same sentiment, whether from people 

within earshot at the grocery store, 

at church, or anywhere else you’re 

lucky enough to find people these 

days: Thank God 2020 is almost over. 

Similarly, almost all of them appear 

remarkably optimistic about the better 

prospects of 2021. 

Frankly, I don’t understand the conventional 

wisdom that next year will 

necessarily be any better. It reminds 

me of the saying about the difference 

between an Irish pessimist and an Irish 

optimist: The Irish pessimist sadly states 

that things just can’t get worse, whereas 

the Irish optimist happily assures him 

that yes, they can! 

No one can predict the future. If 

someone could have, they should have 

made a fortune betting that a former reality 

TV host would become president 

of the United States. Fortune-telling is 

dicey business. 

So I will look backward, but only for 

a point of reference. It’s never good to 

dwell on bad times, but neither is it 

good to stay locked in the memories of 

better times. Needless to say, I doubt 

many people will be tempted to do the 

latter when they think of 2020. 

This was the year I learned to be 

grateful for the Mass. You do not know 

how much you cherish something you 

have until it’s taken away from you. I 

will never take it lightly again, so thank 

you, 2020. 

Now this may sound crazy — and 

it may be a symptom of some kind 

of “2020 Derangement Syndrome” 

that will appear in a future issue of 

the Journal of the American Medical 

Association — but I have liked being in 

close quarters with my adult children. 

It hasn’t always been easy, and I haven’t 

always been the most patient and understanding 

parent, but that’s what the 

sacrament of reconciliation is for, and 

access to that particular sacrament is 

another thing I am truly more appreciative 

of — thanks again, 2020. 

The year 2020 is also the year my 

2-year-old grandson came to live with 

us. How long he will be with us I do 

not know, but I try to cherish every 

moment I can with him, even when 

he’s having a 2-year-old moment, or he 

28 • ANGELUS • December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021 

December

continues to toss rocks into my outdoor 

water garden. All that seems a small 

price of admission for getting to read to 

him at night and feeling him slip off to 

dreamland (while I do so, too). 

I’m thankful in general to the catastrophe 

that has been 2020 for the 

amount of time it has provided me for 

self-reflection and the challenges to my 

faith that it posed. There may not be 

any atheists in foxholes, but there really 

is no room for lukewarm Catholicism 

in the heat of a pandemic that, at one 

time, shut us all out from the sacraments, 

including the anointing of the 

sick — a particularly cruel irony, when 

you think about it. 

My addiction to watching sports on 

television has also been substantially 

curtailed, thanks to the ramifications of 

COVID-19. I’m not totally “clean,” as 

a family of devoted Dodgers fans who 

had been waiting (in the case of all my 

children, their entire lives) for a return 

to championship form, indulged in a 

lot of postseason television watching. 

But even though both college and 

professional football have pulled off 

seasons in one form or another, and 

there has been plenty to watch on TV, 

it somehow doesn’t resonate with me 

like it used to. That’s probably another 

good thing I owe to 2020. 

So, as I look back, for hopefully the 

last time, the most brilliant thought I 

can come up with is that life is good, 

but that sometimes life can also be hard 

at the same time. My family has been 

blessed with generally good health, and 

if that situation ever changes, we will 

hopefully have the grace to see such a 

cross as a way of honoring God. 

And finally, I am thankful for the sense 

of calm I have, even though so much 

around me isn’t so calm. I have my 

moments — we all do — but overall, 

this year has served as a fairly good 

tuneup for me and my faith journey. 

But alas, it is a journey that keeps going, 

and detours and potholes await just over 

the next hill. 

As the year 2020 sinks into the sunset, 

I pray for patience and courage and for 

all who are suffering. And 2021, show 

us what you got. 

Robert Brennan is director of communications 

at The Salvation Army California 

South Division in Van Nuys. 

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11/6/20 7:26 AM

Sloppiness as 

entertainment 

A series of bad restorations of 

good art in Spain has earned a 

special nickname and a cult internet 

following. But not everyone’s laughing 

BY ELIZABETH LEV / ANGELUS 

Art restoration is a tricky business. 

Taking a brush, sponge, or scalpel 

to a masterpiece requires remarkably 

steady nerves, not to mention 

technical expertise. As restorers repair 

the ravages of neglect or damage, they 

are dogged by the concern for fidelity 

to the original, responsibility toward 

posterity, and the nagging fear of complaints 

from the peanut gallery that the 

work has been “irreparably damaged” 

by incompetence. 

A spate of disastrous restorations in 

Spain has increased the stakes for the 

beleaguered professional restorer, as 

amateurs have created an art form that 

appears to be taking on a life of its own. 

The botched restoration of “St. George and the Dragon.” 

Known as the 

“Chapucismo” 

movement, meaning 

a sloppy cob job, it 

was started in 2012 

by the restoration 

of an “Ecce Homo” 

(“Behold the Man”) 

in Borja, Spain, 

when an elderly 

parishioner, worried 

that a 1910 fresco by Elías García 

Martínez was falling into ruin, attempted 

to restore the work herself. 

The result, unrecognizable from the 

original, was dubbed “Ecce Mono” 

(“Behold the Monkey”), launching 

a tourist sensation 

with more 

reproductions 

of the “restored” 

version sold than 

the original. 

Other notable 

examples of the 

trend include the 

2018 repainting 

of a 16th-century 

“St. George and 

the Dragon” 

ACRE RESTORERS ASSOCIATION 

wooden statue, 

now known as 

“Tintin” for his 

resemblance 

to the famous 

Belgian cartoon 

sleuth. Or the 

“Ecce Homo” before and after Cecilia Giménez’s 

2012 attempted restoration of the fresco. 

2020 restoration that turned a copy 

of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s “The 

Immaculate Conception” into what 

now looks like a Modigliani painting 

on hallucinogens. 

The most recent work to join this 

rogue’s gallery of ruined art was a 

decorative stucco of a young woman 

on a bank building in the Spanish city 

of Palencia, now deformed into what 

pundits are calling “Mr. Potato Head.” 

The term “Chapucismo movement” 

was coined by Spanish comedian Dani 

Mateo. Tongue in cheek, he extolled 

its characteristics of “color without 

criteria and nonexistent perspective … 

yet filled with emotion, sentiment and 

Botox — because of all the retouching.” 

He interprets the “Chapucismo” 

manifesto as “Who needs a restorer? I 

can fix this in five minutes.” 

While expertise in the Chapucistas’ 

body of work has become a popular 

form of internet entertainment, 

especially during the coronavirus 

pandemic, there are many who are not 


laughing. 

ACRE, the association of professional 

restorers in Spain, has been active on 

Twitter pointing out the irresponsibility 

of allowing amateurs to work on priceless 

pieces of Spanish heritage. Having 

spent five years in training, learning 

theory as well as practice, they are appalled 

to see the good name of Spanish 

restorers ruined by a few dilettantes. 

The solution, according to ACRE, 

would be increased regulation to 

ensure that restoration projects only fall 

to trained professionals. 

As great art requires a great patron, 

however, bad restorations are often 

made possible by negligent owners. 

Each one of these notorious restorations 

was undertaken with the acquiescence 

of the people responsible for 

the work. 

In the case of Cecilia Giménez’s 

efforts on the “Ecce Homo,” the octogenarian 

claimed that she acted on her 

own initiative, but in full view of the 

clergy in charge of the church. 

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

The private owner of “The Immaculate 

Conception” was apparently 

trying to save money when he hired a 

local furniture restorer — instead of a 

trained restorer — to fix the painting 

for an alleged 1,200 euro. 

The priest in the Spanish town of 

Estella who hired a “crafts group” to 

repair the St. George statue may have 

been trying to support locals as well as 

conserve funds, but the “unrestoration” 

proved quite costly at 34,000 euro. 

The author of “Mr. Potato Head” 

remains at large, with investigations 

pending to discover how the restoration 

was commissioned. One could argue 

that the real proponents of “Chapucismo” 

are the owners, not the executors. 

Art is often deemed “priceless,” underscoring 

the happy convergence of 

genius, skill, and material to produce 

a unique work. Yet sadly, the stewards 

who are entrusted with the care of 

these objects sometimes look for conservation 

bargains to the detriment of 

their precious charges. 

Great art costs money, as the builders 

of Chartres or the sponsors of timeless 

paintings would readily acknowledge. 

And when it comes to great art, the 

price tag can be 

remarkably high. 

St. Pope John 

Paul II was 

stymied at how 

to raise the $10 

million needed to 

clean the Sistine 

Chapel in 1980, 

and was only able 

to get the ball 

rolling by selling 

the photographic 

rights to Nippon 

Television Company 

for $4.2 

million. 

The attention 

drawn by the 

project brought 

about the 

creation of the 

Patrons of the 

Arts of the Vatican 

Museums, 

an association of 

benefactors who donate exclusively to 

the task of restoring the art in the papal 

collections. 

As a result, the Vatican Museums 

leads the world in art restoration for its 

extensive diagnostic testing, innovative 

approaches, ecological concern, and 

conservation integrity. 

So far, the 21st century has shown 

itself to be unkind to art. There’s been 

rampant vandalism of churches and 

historic monuments, toppling of statues, 

and a rejection of the magnificent 

parade of masterpieces of western art 

under the auspices of political correctness. 

Perhaps the “Ecce Mono” best sums 

up our present era, where people take 

more delight in laughing at a damaged 

image of Christ than in him. Indeed, 

“Chapucismo” may be the perfect 

movement to represent our age — sloppy 

in stewardship as well as faith. 

If so, the remedy may also be the 

same. A recovery of appreciation for 

the treasures of the Christian faith may 

well lead to a reevaluation of the rich 

history and legacy of Christian art. 

Elizabeth Lev is an American-born art 

historian who lives and works in Rome. 

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s “The Immaculate Conception” and two 

“restored” versions. 

IMAGE VIA TWITTER @ARTNET 

December 25, 2020-January 1, 2021 • ANGELUS • 31

THE CRUX 

BY HEATHER KING 

Notes from the coast 

An invitation to find ‘real victories’ 

in the new year that awaits 

The Coal Oil Point Reserve. 

HEATHER KING 

A 

few weeks ago, I drove up the 

coast to the Coal Oil Point Reserve, 

a splendid area, lush with 

sea life and birds, on the edge of the 

University of Santa Barbara, California 

(UCSB) campus. The reason for the 

trip was to meet a dear friend — a 

spiritual companion, a guide, a mentor, 

though she is 15 years my junior. 

Part of the University of California 

Natural Reserve System, and one of 

the premier coastal-strand environments 

in southern California, the area 

comprises a mixture of dune vegetation 

and rare wildlife. The protection 

of these natural habitats aims to 

support research, education, outreach, 

and stewardship. 

My friend and I stood on the bluffs 

overlooking the water and marveled 

at the ocean, the incoming waves so 

smooth their surface had the sheen of 

syrup. We took our picnic lunch down 

by the pond (technically Devereux 

Slough, a seasonally flooded tidal 

lagoon), spread out a blanket, and 

feasted. 

A snowy egret, perched on a slender 

branch, fixed us with an impassive 

stare. We spotted a black-bellied plover 


and a northern flicker. The reserve 

is part of Audubon’s Important Bird 

Area (IBA), and boasts, among other 

species, pelicans, loons, teal, osprey, 

larks, and grebes. 

But mostly we talked: about our families, 

our hearts, the state of the world. 

A good spiritual companion doesn’t 

invite you to condemn the world. A 

good spiritual companion makes your 

heart burn within you to offer yourself 

to the world, in whatever way has been 

given. 

After lunch, we made our way 

around the slough, meandered toward 

the shore and discovered a series of 

inviting trails that led south along the 

bluffs. The winter vegetation spread 

itself around us in shades of russet, 

bronze, green-gold, amber. Gulls 

wheeled overhead. We couldn’t get 

over the beauty. 

At one point we spoke of the ease 

of getting sucked into the vortex of 

“doom-scrolling,” to use the current 

term: actively seeking out bad news, 

people to despise, reasons to despair of 

the world. 

It was then that my friend passed on 

a piece of recently heard wisdom: “We 

don’t fondle temptation.” 

We don’t flirt with or give temptation 

a foothold. We pass briskly by, giving 

“the glamour of evil,” the phrase used 

when we renew our baptismal promises, 

a wide, wide berth. The glamour of 

evil can take many forms, often subtle: 

crowing, lording it over, virtue-signaling, 

self-righteousness. 

We talked about how we’re called to 

be faithful to a Person, not a person, 

not an ideology, a political party, an 

issue, or even a country. Empire is 

never the primary place to live out our 

Gospel call. 

When the sheep are separated from 

the goats, is Christ more likely to ask, 

“How did you vote?” or “How did you 

treat your daughter, your father, your 

employee, your tenant, your boss, your 

cleaning lady, your business rival, your 

manicurist, your neighbor?” 

Did you bear your cross with even a 

smidgen of equanimity? 

Madeleine Delbrêl (1904-1964), a 

Catholic French laywoman, journalist, 

and friend to the poor, put it this way: 

“In fact, it is through our small 

sufferings that we are given a marvelous 

means of putting the vast expanse 

of suffering in the world to good use 

and making it fruitful. … Has it ever 

occurred to us — so fond of news as 

we are and so swift at interpreting it 

whether with joy or gloom — have we 

Madeleine Delbrêl 

ARCHIVES CIRIC/PUBLIC DOMAIN 

ever thought that the fact of botching a 

small part of our allotted daily suffering 

— whether it be by getting up with 

bad grace in the morning, by turning 

up our noses at insipid food, or simply 

by cursing the numbing cold — is of 

greater significance to the real victory 

of the world than the current disaster 

or victory reported on the radio?” 

Across the country, on the opposite 

coast, another woman who loves birds 

had recently contributed in her own 

way to that “real victory.” 

“A Sick Swan Is Saved After a 23- 

Mile Odyssey by Foot, Car and Subway,” 

read the The New York Times 

headline. 

Ariel Cordova-Rojas had planned 

to spend the last day before her 30th 

birthday at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife 

Refuge in Queens. She rode her 

bike there but, having trained for five 

years while working at Manhattan’s 

Wild Bird Fund rehabilitation center, 

quickly spotted a female mute swan 

who seemed to be ill. 

“If there’s an animal in need,” she 

later noted, “I’m going to do whatever 

I can.” So she walked the 17-pound 

bird a mile back to her bike, begged a 

ride from a pair of strangers, rode the 

A train with her bike and the swan to 

Brooklyn, begged for more help, and 

after two more rides, at last delivered 

her charge to the Wild Bird Fund on 

Manhattan’s Upper West Side. 

Who’s to say that Cordova-Rojas’ 

selfless rescue of a mute swan didn’t 

weigh more in the scale of the world 

than that day’s White House palace 

intrigue or the debate du jour over 

whether to wear masks? 

May the words of this splendid young 

woman resound as we ring in 2021: 

“That was kind of the perfect culmination 

of my 20s. It was the perfect 

birthday present to be in nature and be 

able to save a life.” 

Heather King is an award-winning author, speaker, and workshop leader. For more, visit heather-king.com. 


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Angelus News | December 25, 2020-January 1, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 31

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