Angelus News | March 11, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 5

ANGELUS
THE JESUS
ISSUE
New ways to meet
Christ this Lent
March 11, 2022 Vol. 7 No. 5

ANGELUS
March 11, 2022
Vol. 7 • No. 5
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ON THE COVER
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
A sixth-century icon of Christ Pantocrator from St. Catherine’s
Monastery in Mount Sinai, Egypt. The season of Lent is an opportune
time for Catholics to look at Jesus Christ with new eyes — and new
questions. On Page 10, eminent Catholic writer Russell Shaw reflects
on connecting with the person of Jesus through the Gospels. On Page
13, Mike Aquilina draws Lenten inspiration from the life and writings
of the Catholic Church’s newest (and oldest) “Doctor.” And on Page
16, Stefano Rebeggiani talks to a missionary priest in the Holy Land
about what the “Fifth Gospel” reveals about Christ.
THIS PAGE
VICTOR ALEMÁN
Ukrainian Catholics gathered at a Feb.
24 prayer vigil for peace at Nativity of
Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Catholic
Church in East Hollywood. Complete
coverage of the vigil and Archbishop
Gomez’s special message to parishioners
in light of the Russian invasion of
Ukrainia can be found on the LA Catholics
section of AngelusNews.com.
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CONTENTS
Pope Watch.................................................................................................................................... 2
Archbishop Gomez..................................................................................................................... 3
World, Nation, and Local News.......................................................................................... 4-6
In Other Words............................................................................................................................. 7
Father Rolheiser............................................................................................................................ 8
Scott Hahn................................................................................................................................... 36
Events Calendar......................................................................................................................... 37
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20
26
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32
34
What retiring Bishop Ed Clark leaves behind to LA Catholics
CEF runners aim for a new record at LA Marathon
John Allen on what’s behind the Vatican’s discretion on Putin’s war
Charles Camosy on fighting the temptations of war
What are the limits of technology in church?
Heather King: Choir promises a ‘tour de force’ at upcoming OC concert
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH
The ‘favorable time’ of Lent
The following is adapted from Pope
Francis’ message for Lent 2022, published
by the Vatican on Feb. 24.
Lent is a favorable time for personal
and community renewal,
as it leads us to the paschal
mystery of the death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Christ’s resurrection
enlivens earthly hopes with the “great
hope” of eternal life, planting the seed
of salvation in our present time.
Bitter disappointment at shattered
dreams, deep concern for the challenges
ahead and discouragement
at the poverty of our resources, can
make us tempted to seek refuge in
self-centeredness and indifference to
the suffering of others. The Lenten
season calls us to place our faith and
hope in the Lord, since only if we
fix our gaze on the risen Christ will
we be able to respond to St. Paul’s
appeal, “Let us never grow tired of
doing good.”
Jesus taught us to “pray always
without becoming weary.” We need to
pray because we need God. Thinking
that we need nothing other than
ourselves is a dangerous illusion. If
the pandemic has heightened the
awareness of our own personal and
social fragility, may this Lent allow us
to experience the consolation provided
by faith in God, without whom we
cannot stand firm.
No one attains salvation alone, since
we are all in the same boat, amid
the storms of history; and certainly
no one reaches salvation without
God, for only the paschal mystery of
Jesus Christ triumphs over the dark
waters of death. Faith does not spare
us life’s burdens and tribulations,
but it does allow us to face them in
union with God in Christ, with the
great hope that does not disappoint,
whose pledge is the love that God has
poured into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit.
May the corporal fasting to which
Lent calls us fortify our spirit for the
battle against sin. Let us not grow
tired of asking for forgiveness in the
sacrament of penance and reconciliation,
knowing that God never tires of
forgiving.
Let us not grow tired of fighting
against concupiscence, that weakness
which induces selfishness and all evil,
and finds in the course of history a variety
of ways to lure men and women
into sin. One of these is addiction to
the digital media, which impoverishes
human relationships. Lent is a propitious
time to resist these temptations
and to cultivate instead a more integral
form of human communication
made up of “authentic encounters,”
face-to-face and in person.
During this Lent, may we practice
almsgiving by giving joyfully. While
it is true that we have our entire life
to sow goodness, let us take special
advantage of this Lenten season to
care for those close to us and to reach
out to our brothers and sisters who lie
wounded along the path of life. Lent
is a favorable time to seek out — and
not to avoid — those in need; to reach
out — and not to ignore — those who
need a sympathetic ear and a good
word; to visit — and not to abandon
— those who are lonely.
Papal Prayer Intention for March: We pray for Christians
facing new bioethical challenges; may they continue to
defend the dignity of all human life with prayer and action.
2 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

NEW WORLD OF FAITH
ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ
A tenderness revolution
We begin Lent this year with
the world under the cloud
of war.
Pope Francis asked that we pray
and fast on Ash Wednesday for our
brothers and sisters in Ukraine, whose
homeland is under attack from Russia.
We ask the Lord of Peace to touch
the hearts of the aggressors, and move
them to conversion. We pray for a just
peace that recognizes the dignity and
sovereignty of the Ukrainian people.
Every war, in some way, has its beginnings
deep in the human heart.
“Where do the wars and where do
the conflicts among you come from?”
St. James asks in the New Testament.
“Is it not from your passions that make
war within your members?”
Our hearts are divided. The good
that we want to do, often we do not
do. Too often we find that we are
pulled in the opposite direction,
away from what is good and true and
beautiful. The apostle St. Peter wrote
that we must “keep away from worldly
desires that wage war against the soul.”
We know that our Christian life is
a daily struggle for self-mastery, to
overcome our natural inclinations to
selfishness and self-love, and to direct
our love wholly to God and to our
neighbors.
What makes our lives a beautiful
adventure is that we are walking with
Jesus and relying upon his grace to
help us. It is Jesus who sets us on this
path. He is the One who calls each of
us by name to follow him; he calls us
to be holy as he is holy, and promises
to show us how.
Lent is a privileged moment that we
have, each year, to concentrate on
our struggle, to really work on making
progress in our ongoing conversion to
Christ.
I was reading one of the saints, St.
Josemaría Escrivá, in my own preparations
for Lent, and he said this: “I
have decided not to let this Lent go by
like rain on stones, leaving no trace. I
will let it soak into me, changing me.
I will be converted, I will turn again to
the Lord and love him as he wants to
be loved.”
Lent is a privileged
moment that we
have each year to
convert to Christ.
That is the attitude we all should
have in Lent. I encourage you to visit
our website, LACatholics.org, often
during these next 40 days.
There, we have prepared a variety
of resources to help you to make this
a Lent that will change you. We are
concentrating this Lent on some
essentials for our spiritual growth —
the daily examination of conscience,
regular confession, praying for others,
and practicing mercy and tenderness.
No one can make progress in the spiritual
life without developing the habit
that the saints and spiritual masters
call the “examen.” This practice was
emphasized especially by St. Ignatius
of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, and
it is essential for all of us.
We need to make a good examination
of our conscience every day,
without fail. It is not difficult to do, it
takes two minutes. Do it either at the
end of the day or sometime near the
middle.
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you
review the day — the blessings you
received, the good you have done
during the day, and the ways you have
sinned or fallen short. Thank God for
the good, tell him you are sorry for
your failures, and make a resolution to
improve.
Do this every day and you will find
that you know God better and know
yourself better. You begin to see
yourself as God sees you, with all the
tenderness that he has for you, and the
beautiful things that he wants for you.
Confession becomes much easier
when you have this daily habit, and I
will write about this beautiful sacrament
of mercy in my next column.
Praying for others every day is another
important habit that we ought to
develop. It helps us to grow in compassion,
and to become less selfish
and self-centered.
And our prayer must be matched
by our actions. Which is why during
Lent I am urging that we become
more intentional about practicing
tenderness.
Pope Francis has said that all of us
must be “active players” in what he
called the “revolution of tenderness”
that Jesus began.
This is our mission, as followers of
Jesus.
We are called to walk with him, and
work with him to spread the tender
mercy of God in the world, beginning
with the people in our lives. This is
what our troubled world needs, above
all. More kindness. More tenderness.
And it starts with you and me.
Pray for me, and I will pray for you.
Let us keep praying to the Immaculate
Heart of Mary for peace in the
world. And let us ask her to help us to
make this a Lent that lasts, and to play
our part in the tenderness revolution
begun by her Son.
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD
■ Bishops decry
Colombia’s legalization
of abortion
Colombia’s Catholic bishops
warned that the country’s recent
legalization of abortion “puts at risk
the very foundation of our social
order and the rule of law.”
On Feb. 21, the country’s highest
court ruled 5-4 to decriminalize
the practice up to 24 weeks of
pregnancy. Previously, abortion was
only allowed in cases of rape, fetal
abnormality, or for the life of the
mother.
Archbishop Luis José Rueda Aparicio
of Bogotá noted that Colombia’s
constitution considers life a
“fundamental right” from which all
others proceed.
“For us believers,” he said, “in
addition to being a natural right,
life is a gift from God and we will
continue to announce, defend, and
promote human life, from gestation
to natural death.”
Colombia is the latest Latin America
country to legalize abortion in
the last year after similar rulings in
Mexico and Argentina.
Franciscan friars pray evening prayer at the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem in 2020.
| GALI TIBBON/AFP VIA GETTY
■ Israel drops park plan for Mount of Olives
The Israeli Nature and Parks Authority has abandoned a plan to turn part of the
Mount of Olives into a national park, following criticism from Christian leaders.
The Armenian, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox churches petitioned publicly
against the plan, which they said would “confiscate and nationalize one of the
holiest sites for Christianity and alter its nature.” The planned park would have
encompassed locations believed to be connected with the events of Jesus’ life, and
is home to several churches.
The general counsel for the Catholic Custody of the Holy Land, Farid Jubran,
told the Associated Press that the Authority was giving control to “people who have
no other agenda but to wipe off any non-Jewish characteristic on this mountain.”
In scrapping the plans, the Authority said “it is not ready for discussion without
coordination and communication with all relevant officials, including the churches,
in the area.”
Families in flight — A Ukrainian family carries belongings after crossing over the
border in Medyka, Poland, on Feb. 25, after Russia launched a massive military
operation against Ukraine. The Permanent Council of the Polish bishops’ conference
met Feb. 25 and urged Poles to “open for our sisters and brothers from
Ukraine homes, hostels, diocesan, parish, retreat houses, and all places where
help can be provided to people in need.” | CNS/BRYAN WOOLSTON, REUTERS
■ Pope gives traditionalist group
a pass on Latin Mass rules
Pope Francis appeared to soften new rules restricting
the use of the Traditional Latin Mass for a community of
traditionalist priests.
In a document dated Feb. 11, the pope specified that the
conditions of his 2021 “motu proprio” “Traditiones custodes”
(“Guardians of the Tradition”) did not apply to the
Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP), which celebrates
the Mass and other sacraments according to pre-Vatican II
liturgical books.
The announcement came weeks after a recent meeting
between FSSP leadership and the pope in the Vatican. The
official decree confirmed that the FSSP could continue to
celebrate the Latin Mass in their own churches and oratories
freely, but would require their local bishop’s approval
to celebrate elsewhere.
“Grateful to the Holy Father, the members of the Fraternity
of St. Peter are in thanksgiving for this confirmation of
their mission,” the FSSP said Feb. 21.
4 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

NATION
■ Miami archbishop tangles with governor over migrants
Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski publicly criticized Gov. Ron DeSantis of
Florida for stating it was “disgusting” to compare migrant children from Central
America to Cuban immigrants from the 1960s.“Children are children — and
no child should be deemed ‘disgusting’ — especially by a public servant,” said
Archbishop Wenski at a Feb. 10 news conference.
The archbishop’s comments came as the Republican’s re-election campaign seeks
the support of Cuban immigrants, especially those brought to the U.S. through
Operation Pedro Pan, a joint immigration program between the Catholic Church
and the U.S. government.
“Even while recognizing the good care afforded them by Catholic Charities 60
years ago, they begrudge that same care being extended to migrant children today.
Msgr. Bryan O. Walsh, the revered ‘father’ of the Operation Pedro Pan children, is
rolling over in his grave,” Archbishop Wenski said.
Bishop-designate Jacques E. Fabre. | CNS/MICHAEL
ALEXANDER, THE GEORGIA BULLETIN
Healing an old wound — Father J. Ronald Knott, left, and others pray at Matilda Hurd’s grave in the old St.
Theresa Cemetery on the grounds of St. Theresa Church in Rhodelia, Kentucky, on Jan. 27. Hurd is the maternal
grandmother of Father Augustus Tolton, the first recognized African American priest ordained for the U.S.
church and who is now being considered for sainthood. Father Knott recently became aware that Hurd was
buried in the cemetery, and that there were once some 50 families at St. Theresa who collectively enslaved about
200 people. | CNS/RUBY THOMAS, THE RECORD
■ The pope’s historic
pick for South Carolina
A Scalabrinian priest picked by Pope
Francis to lead the Diocese of Charleston,
South Carolina, is set to become
the first Haitian-American bishop in
the country’s history.
Sixty-year-old Father Jacques E. Fabre
was born in Haiti but immigrated to
New York while in high school. Since
becoming a priest in 1986, he has
served in rural parishes in Florida,
Georgia, the Dominican Republic,
and as a refugee chaplain in Cuba.
Father Fabre, who surprised the audience
at his Feb. 22 introductory press
conference by speaking in English,
Creole, French, Spanish, and Italian,
joked that he felt a bit like the prophet
Amos: “I’ve been called from a mission
Church into a cathedral.”
■ America’s churches face a post-COVID pastor shortage
Across the country, churches are
facing a new shortage of pastors.
More than 3,500 Catholic parishes
are lacking a priest, according to a
new CARA report from Georgetown
University. Pastor shortages have
expanded to Protestant churches, too,
with an October study from the Barna
Group finding that 38% of pastors
were seriously considering leaving
ministry.
Jewish denominations have reported
similar problems: 80 of the country’s
nearly 600 Conservative Jewish
synagogues will be looking for a new
rabbi this year, as well as 5% to 10%
of Reform Jewish communities.
The drop in priests, pastors, and
rabbis has been fueled by stresses
from the pandemic, according to the
Barna Group report, among them
online-only services, deepening political
divides, and fights over pandemic
response.
“Pastors are tired,” said Laurie
Jungling, a Montana bishop for the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America. “They’re giving a lot of
themselves to help folks deal with the
trauma of the pandemic.”
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 5

LOCAL
■ Calling all pilgrims:
An 11-mile ‘Walk with
Jesus’ through East LA
Local Catholics are being invited
to join Archbishop José H. Gomez
and fellow pilgrims for an 11-mile
pilgrimage walk as part of the ongoing
“Forward in Mission” Jubilee Year.
The Saturday, April 2 “Camino: A
Walk with Jesus” spiritual pilgrimage
will feature relics of St. Mother Teresa,
St. Pope John Paul II and St. Frances
X. Cabrini, all who visited Los Angeles
and walked with Angelenos in their
lifetime.
Pilgrims will begin walking from the
mission at 9 a.m. and arrive downtown
in time for a 2:30 p.m. prayer service
at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the
Angels.
Six parishes along the route will serve
as rest and water stops. Lunch will be
provided at Cathedral High School for
free, as well as shuttles for the return
trip to the mission.
For more details, visit ForwardinMission.com.
Organizers Debbi Drewry of American Martyrs
Church and Father Claude Williams (both in white)
with volunteers at Sts. Peter and Paul’s “February
19th Parking Lot Extravaganza.” | COURTESY PHOTO
■ Wilmington parish hosts
swap meet for area families
More than 300 families received donated clothes and other goods at a special
parish swap meet in Wilmington on Feb. 19.
“This was a way to help struggling families in our neighborhood and surrounding
neighborhoods,” said Norbertine Father Claude Williams, pastor of Sts.
Peter and Paul Church.
With the help of volunteers from St. Eugene Church in South LA and American
Martyrs Church in Manhattan Beach, a truckload of new and lightly used
clothes was distributed within hours to visitors who were only charged a $1
entrance fee.
Father Williams said the swap meet is part of a new joint ministry with other
parishes aimed at helping members of the parish community, many of whom
live below the poverty line.
Among the saints — A young altar server looks out from the sanctuary of Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary
Ukrainian Catholic Church in East Hollywood during a Feb. 24 prayer vigil. Local Catholics have been gathering
at the historic church to pray for peace in Ukraine amid the attack by Russian forces. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
■ San Diego Catholics
notified about priest’s
invalid baptisms
Headlines about a Phoenix priest found
to have used an incorrect formula for
baptisms for decades have reached San
Diego, where he previously served.
A Vatican investigation confirmed that
thousands of baptisms by Father Andres
Arango were invalid due to his use of the
word “we” instead of “I” as part of the rite
of baptism.
Father Arango served in the Diocese
of San Diego from 2000 to 2005. The
diocese has asked faithful who may have
been affected to contact their parish pastor
about the possible need to be “fully
baptized.”
In a statement, Bishop Olmsted of
Phoenix said he did not believe that Father
Arango “had any intentions to harm
the faithful or deprive them of the grace
of baptism and the sacraments” and that
he remained a priest in good standing.
Y
6 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

V
IN OTHER WORDS...
Letters to the Editor
Are today’s ‘rosary rallies’ onto something?
In the Feb. 25 issue cover story “Trending: The rosary,” Notre Dame’s
Timothy O’Malley is correct in stressing that the citadel of prayer is glorification
of God, and is correct in his concern over blurring prayer with protest.
Those are things to consider.
But as Catholics, we have recourse to intercessory prayer (see Catechism of the
Catholic Church 2634-2636), and protest requires sacrifice and action, of which
St. Josemaría Escrivá said, “Action is worth nothing without prayer; prayer grows
in value with sacrifice.”
As for the rosary, I remember a late priest friend who once told me, “Our mother
is never out of reach.” Never, and wherever.
— James Hanna, McMurray, Pennsylvania
Don’t overlook the biggest detail of pope’s Ukraine gesture
I was surprised to find that the great part of a story on AngelusNews.com, “Pope
visits Russian embassy to show concern over ‘war’ in Ukraine” by Elise Allen of
Crux, focused on Vladimir Putin’s behavior, and seems to portray the pope’s visit
as an occasion to prompt the commentary.
It missed one very important event: Pope Francis stepped on Russian soil! He
has been known to want to visit Russia. Now he did, just like Pope Pius IX had
stepped on American soil almost two centuries ago when he boarded an American
ship in Gaeta.
Pope Francis, in his usual way of dismissing rigid protocol, went quietly to the
Russian Embassy with a message of love, caring, and encouraging peace. Many
of us already know the ongoing misdeeds of Putin. This visit was a historical papal
act and something to celebrate and diffuse, rather than overlook.
— Msgr. Larry Spiteri, Vatican City
Y
Continue the conversation! To submit a letter to the editor, visit AngelusNews.com/Letters-To-The-Editor
and use our online form or send an email to editorial@angelusnews.com. Please limit to 300 words. Letters
may be edited for style, brevity, and clarity.
A ‘slice of American history’
“Old people were alone
before COVID, and remain
alone after it.”
~ Marco Trabucchi, president of the Italian
Psychogeriatric Association, on the “loneliness
crisis” in Italy in a Feb. 26 interview with EuroNews.
“To teach children that
modesty is unnatural is
to demand that they be
sexualized long before they
even have the intellectual
and emotional maturity to
handle it.”
~ Carl R. Trueman, “A Society Ashamed of Shame,”
First Things, Feb. 17.
“Putin only has one way. He
can’t turn around. He must
save face. Unfortunately,
people are suffering.”
~ Nataliya Padilla, a Ukrainian Catholic from Kyiv
who now lives in LA, at a Feb. 24 prayer service for
peace in Ukraine.
“He wasn’t special. He was
just a little boy.”
~ Deacon Arthur Miller of the Archdiocese of
Hartford, Connecticut, on his childhood neighbor
and schoolmate Emmitt Till at a recent talk hosted by
the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois.
View more photos
from this gallery at
AngelusNews.com/photos-videos
The life and contributions of African Americans
were celebrated during the 20th Black History
Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the
Angels on Feb. 19. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
Do you have photos or a story from your parish that you’d
like to share? Please send to editorial @angelusnews.com.
“There’s a cost to civil
disobedience, but the
ability for it to happen is the
hallmark of a free society.”
~ Iain Benson, a Catholic legal scholar and lawyer in
Canada on the standoff between truckers protesting
vaccine mandates and public authorities.
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 7

IN EXILE
FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI
Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father
Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual
writer; ronaldrolheiser.com.
The perfect ritual
Sometimes it takes an outsider to
help you to see the beauty and
depth of something you have
never fully appreciated. I suspect this is
true for many of us, myself no exception,
regarding the celebration of the
Eucharist in our churches.
David P. Gushee, an evangelical, recently
published a book entitled “After
Evangelicalism” (Westminster John
Knox Press, $17.29), within which he
describes his decades-long struggle to
make peace with some issues inside
his own church. He has remained in
his church, though now on Sundays
he also goes (with his wife who is a
Roman Catholic) to a Catholic Mass.
Here’s his description of what he sees
there.
“I view design of the Catholic Mass as
something like a polished gem, refined
over time to a state of great beauty — if
you know what you are looking at. …
The movement of the Mass manages
to accomplish so much in something
like an hour — a processional, with the
cross held high; greetings in the name
of the triune God; early confession of
sin, brief but compelling; an Old Testament
reading read by a lay person;
a sung psalm; an Epistle reading by a
layperson; the Gospel reading by the
priest, and the ceremony around it; a
brief homily; the centering movement
provided by the creed and the prayers
of the people. An offertory and music.
Then right to the Table — the people
offer gifts that are then offered to
God and come back to the people as
Christ’s body and blood; the kneeling
in humility; the Lord’s Prayer as an
important part of the Eucharistic rite;
the precious chance to pass the peace
with neighbors just before the supper;
more kneeling; the chance to watch
the people come up for Communion
and pray for them, or instead be quiet
with God; the final Trinitarian blessing
and recessional.”
What an insightful description of
the ritual by which we celebrate the
Eucharist! Sometimes when we’re
inside something, we don’t see it as
clearly as does someone from the
outside.
Let me add two other descriptions
that highlight the eucharistic ritual in
a way that we often don’t think about
or meet in our usual theology and
catechesis on this.
The first, like Gushee’s, also comes
from a non-Catholic. A Methodist
layman shares this: “I’m not a Roman
Catholic, but sometimes I go to a Roman
Catholic Mass just to take in the
ritual. I’m not sure if they know exactly
what they’re doing, but they’re doing
something very powerful. Take their
daily Mass, for example. Unlike their
Sunday Mass, they do daily Mass more
simply, with the ritual stripped down
to its skeleton. What you see then,
in essence, is something akin to an
Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.” Why
does he make that connection?
Here are his words. “People who go to
daily Mass don’t go there to experience
anything novel or exciting. It’s always
the same, and that’s the point. Like
people going to an Alcoholics Anonymous
meeting, they’re going there to
receive the support they need to stay
steady in their lives, and the steadiness
comes through the ritual. Underneath
the surface, each person is saying, “My
name is ___ and my life is fragile. I
know that if I don’t come to this ritual
regularly my life will begin to unravel.
I need this ritual to stay alive.” The
ritual of the Eucharist functions too as
a “12-Step” meeting.
Another perspective comes from
Ronald Knox, a British theologian. He
submits that we have never truly been
faithful to Jesus. When we’re honest,
we have to admit that we don’t love our
enemies, don’t turn the other cheek,
don’t bless those who curse us, don’t
forgive those who kill our loved ones,
don’t reach out enough to the poor,
and don’t extend our compassion out
equally to the bad as well as to the
good. Rather, we cherry-pick the teachings
of Jesus. But, says Knox, we have
been faithful in one great way, through
the ritual of the Eucharist. Jesus asked
us to keep celebrating that ritual until
he returns and, 2,000 years later, we
are still celebrating it. The ritual of the
Eucharist is our one great act of fidelity,
and the good news is that this ritual
will ultimately be enough.
Jesus left us two things: his word and
the Eucharist. Various churches have
taken different approaches as to which
of these to give priory. Some churches,
like Roman Catholics, Episcopalians,
and Anglicans have prioritized the
Eucharist as the foundation on which
they build and maintain community.
Other churches, most Protestant
and evangelical communities, have
reversed this and prioritized the word
as the foundation on which they build
and maintain community. How do
the word and the Eucharist play out
together?
On the road to Emmaus, when the
disciples of Jesus fail to recognize him
even as they are walking with him,
Jesus stirs their hearts with the word,
enough so that they beg him to stay
with them. Then he sits down with
them for Eucharist, and the ritual does
the rest.
8 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

BECOMING PART OF THE
JESUS
STORY
How reading the
Gospels with new eyes
can be the start of a
deeper friendship with
Christ this Lent.
BY RUSSELL SHAW
“Christ and the Rich Young Ruler,” 1889, by Heinrich Hofmann. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
People who write about religion
sometimes refer to something
they call “getting to know Jesus.”
But read a little further, and you may
discover that what is actually meant is
“getting to know about Jesus.”
There’s nothing wrong with that, of
course. Learning things about Jesus
and his times — what it was like
growing up in Nazareth, how people
lived and worked and worshipped, the
big religious and political issues of the
day, who the Pharisees and Sadducees
were and what they taught — can be
very helpful. But it isn’t the same as
getting to know Jesus himself.
This is the difference between learning
about someone and becoming
that person’s friend. The information
is interesting and may even be useful,
but it isn’t friendship.
Suppose, then, that Jesus really wants
to be friends with you. (As a matter of
fact, he does.) How can you reciprocate?
How can you be friends with
him?
One way — a very important, indeed
indispensable way — is by meditation
and prayer. So is receiving the
sacraments, especially the Eucharist,
which is the Real Presence (“body
and blood, soul and divinity” an old
formula says) of Jesus himself. But
there also is a third way, not to be ne-
10 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

glected by anyone who truly wants to
know Jesus. It’s reading the Gospels.
The Second Vatican Council says of
the gospels that they “faithfully hand
on what Jesus, the Son of God …
really did and taught.” As material for
a friendship with Jesus Christ they are,
quite simply, unsurpassed.
Reading the Gospels with the aim
of getting to know Jesus and being his
friend is far removed from the way we
read a newspaper or watch TV news
— distracted, superficial, skimming
the surface but not absorbing very
much. But before we look at some
practical suggestions on how to read
the Gospels, let me say something
about the Gospels themselves.
As everybody knows, there are four
that are recognized as authentic and
reliable — the Gospel of Matthew,
the Gospel of Mark, the Gospel of
Luke, and the Gospel of John. The
first three — Matthew, Mark, and
Luke — are known as the synoptic
Gospels (“synoptic” means they
tell the story from much the same
viewpoint). John’s Gospel, by contrast,
proceeds according to another pattern
and tells us a great deal that the others
leave out.
Each Gospel is significantly different
from the other three. Matthew’s Gospel
emphasizes Jesus’ teaching — for
example, it contains the fullest version
of the Sermon on the Mount — as
well as his fulfillment of Old Testament
prophecies. Mark’s, the shortest,
appears to be based on the preaching
of St. Peter himself. Luke’s Gospel
contains famous parables like the
good Samaritan and the prodigal son,
and supplies information about the
birth and childhood of Christ, leading
some to believe Mary herself was one
of its sources. And John places special
emphasis on Jesus’ divinity, while
tracing his growing conflict with the
religious establishment in Jerusalem.
Every Sunday a passage from one
of the four Gospels is read during
Mass, thereby giving most Catholics
at least some familiarity with them.
But this reading of excerpts taken out
of context has its limitations. Let me
illustrate that with a true story.
A man I know — a well-educated,
lifelong practicing Catholic who had
heard the Gospels read in bits and
“The Calling of St. Matthew,” circa 1625–30, by Giovanni Battista Caracciolo. | METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
pieces at Mass for years — finally sat
down one day and read the Gospel
of Matthew straight through from beginning
to end. When he finished, he
exclaimed to others, “You know what?
It’s telling a story!”
Indeed it is. The story is about the
life of Jesus Christ.
I had people like that man in mind
in writing my book “The Life of Jesus
Christ: Understanding the Story of
the Gospels” (Our Sunday Visitor,
$15.95). The book’s aim is to present
the life of Christ in a single narrative
that draws on all four Gospels while
keeping commentary to the minimum
necessary to understand the background
of events.
This is hardly new. “Harmonies”
of the Gospels, as they are called,
have often been composed over the
centuries as have many lives of Christ.
And in modern times there have been
some excellent movies and fictionalized
accounts that flesh out the
Gospels’ account.
The earliest “harmony” was produced
in the second century AD by
a Christian writer named Tatian and
was widely used in the Church for
a number of years. Unfortunately,
though, Tatian apparently thought
his work could replace the Gospels
themselves. That definitely was not
my aim — my small book is intended
to help people read and understand
the Gospels and the story they tell, not
take their place.
Here, then, are a few suggestions
for reading the Gospels as important
aids in developing and maintaining a
friendship with Jesus.
First of all, this should be something
you do every day. I don’t suggest imitating
the man I mentioned above by
regularly reading one of the Gospels
straight through from beginning to
end. Five or 10 minutes a day are
enough. But except in emergencies,
that has to be a daily practice. At the
rate of five or 10 minutes daily, you
will cover all four of the Gospels
several times each year.
Ideally, the best time to do it is early
in the morning, before the predictable
distractions of everyday life set in.
Read slowly and thoughtfully. The
point isn’t to see how much text you
can cover in the allotted time but to
absorb what you read. And although I
caution against getting bogged down
in Scripture commentaries, you will
find it helpful to have at hand, for use
as needed, a New Testament like the
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 11

The Book of the Gospels in Latin is pictured
in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican
on Jan. 6, 2021. | CNS/PAUL HARING
Ignatius Bible (Ignatius Press) or the
Navarre Bible (Scepter Publishers),
both of which contain good, helpful
notes.
When you finish reading, spend
some time — 15 minutes or so if you
can manage it — thinking about
what you’ve read and talking with
Jesus about it. This is prayer, and it’s
essential. A technique many people
find helpful is to imagine themselves
present at the events in the Gospel
passage you read — a shepherd at the
crib on Christmas, one of the crowd
hearing the Sermon on the Mount, a
servant at the Last Supper, or whatever
it might be.
During the rest of the day, keep
what you’ve read in the back of your
mind and continue turning it over as
time and circumstances permit. No
daydreaming, though. Just a moment
or two, then back to whatever you’re
supposed to be doing here and now.
How important is reading the
Gospels for someone who wants to
know Jesus? An older writer says this:
“For devout souls, each utterance,
each act of the Master holds a special
grace that facilitates the practice of
the virtues. … This sort of reading is
a meditation, a loving conversation
with Jesus, and souls emerge from it
determined more than ever to follow
him who is the object of their admiration
and their love.”
The language is old-fashioned, but
the idea is eminently sound. If you’re
already reading the Gospels like this,
keep it up. If you aren’t, Lent is a
great time to start. Books alone won’t
make anybody friends with Jesus, but
good books can help, and the Gospels
of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are
the biggest help of all.
But let me give the last word on
the subject to the Beloved Disciple,
St. John, near the conclusion of his
Gospel.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in
the presence of his disciples, which
are not written in this book; but these
are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life
in his name” (John 20:30–31).
Russell Shaw is a freelance writer
from Washington, D.C. He is the
author of more than 20 books, and
previously served as secretary for public
affairs of the National Conference of
Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic
Conference from 1969 to 1987.
12 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

THE
DOCTOR’S
ORDERS
Want to draw closer to Jesus this
Lent? Catholicism’s newest (and
oldest) Doctor is here to help.
BY MIKE AQUILINA
Jesus is just what the doctor ordered — every doctor, in
fact, when the doctors in question are the Doctors of the
Church.
And the most recently named of those — though the earliest
in history — is St. Irenaeus of Lyon.
St. Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey)
around the year 130, and as a youth converted to Christianity
under the guidance of St. Bishop Polycarp. St. Polycarp in
turn had been a disciple of the apostle St. John.
On Jan. 21 of this year, Pope Francis named St. Irenaeus as
the 37th Doctor of the Church, giving him the title “Doctor
of Unity.” The classical sense of the word “doctor” is “teacher,”
and the saints who bear that title are considered history’s
great masters of Christian doctrine.
This Lent, as we draw closer to Jesus Christ, it will be good
to consult this teacher, the better to see the Lord as he was.
• • •
His pedigree was remarkable. His tutor, St. Polycarp, had
learned about Jesus from the closest of eyewitnesses. St. John
was the “disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, 20:2, 21:7,
20), who had laid his head on Jesus’ breast (John 13:23,
25, 21:20). St. Polycarp, though very old when St. Irenaeus
knew him, remembered St. John’s memories vividly, as if
they were his own.
He also took up St. John’s causes. St. John was the apostle
much concerned about heresy and heretics — those who
taught false doctrine about Jesus Christ (2 John 1:7, 9–10,
Revelation 3:15). St. Polycarp shared this passion and, in his
Letter to the Philippians, railed against “false brethren” who
“draw away vain men into error.”
Those particular heretics, called Docetists, believed that
Jesus was not truly human, but rather only seemed to be
human. He was simply God, they taught, and his human appearance
was a cleverly wrought illusion. When St. Polycarp
met Marcion, a famous teacher of heresy, Marcion said to
him, “Don’t you know who I am?” And St. Polycarp replied,
“I do know you. You’re the firstborn of Satan.”
St. Irenaeus is pictured in a stained-glass window at the Church of St. Irenaeus in Lyon,
France. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 13

A page of St. Irenaeus’ “Against Heresies.”
| WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
St. Irenaeus,
however, took the
condemnation
of heresy to the
next level. By the
middle of the
second century,
Christianity was
still fairly new on
the world scene,
but already there
was great confusion
about Jesus
— who and what
he was, what he
did and what he
taught.
The confusion
spilled from a
new category
of heresy: Gnosticism. At the heart of Gnosticism was the
belief that people are saved not by faith, but by knowledge
(“gnosis,” in Greek). Jesus, the Gnostics believed, had come
into the world to reveal secret mysteries to an elite class of
spiritual people. He was their Savior exclusively, and he was
uninterested in the common rabble, who could not possibly
understand or accept his message.
The Gnostic gospel was revealed privately, secretly, and was
quite different from the gospel preached by the mainstream
Church. But it differed in different ways, depending on the
Gnostic teacher. Since it was all a secret, passed down in a
whisper, only the teachers could explain it, and the Gnostic
teachers disagreed as fundamentally with one another as
they did with the Catholic Church.
Yet they succeeded to a remarkable degree by appealing to
the pride of individual Christians — telling them they were
superior to ordinary folks in their congregation and ready to
receive special messages from Jesus.
Gnosticism was like a religious country
club.
The heresy was especially dangerous
because it hawked its false Jesus not
to pagans, but to Christians. It was a
parasite on the Church, diverting and
perverting the faith of those who had
accepted Jesus, but were nonetheless
gullible and vain.
This alarmed St. Irenaeus, and he
resolved to do something about it —
something very big. In response to the
proliferation of Gnostic teachers, he
wrote a sprawling, multivolume work
titled “Against Heresies.” In five books
he examined the doctrine of every false
teacher whose works he could acquire.
He quoted extensively from their
writings, and he refuted them decisively,
showing that their tenets could
not be reconciled with the Church’s
authoritative Scriptures — or with the beliefs that Christians
had held dear through the 150 years since Jesus’ ascension
to heaven.
St. Irenaeus urged his readers not to pay any mind to
“secret” doctrine reserved only for the elite. He directed
their attention instead to Christian doctrine that was public
and objectively verifiable: namely, Scripture, Tradition, and
Magisterium (the teaching of the bishops and especially the
pope).
The true doctrine of Jesus was not something concealed. It
was proclaimed in the assembly. It was interpreted soundly
in preaching. It was applied in the decisions of the clergy. It
was embedded in the sacraments and prayers of the liturgy.
St. Irenaeus himself could confirm that these sources had
been reliable from the time of the apostle John and through
the long life of St. Polycarp. The particular claims of the
Gnostic teachers, however, had been consistently and authoritatively
rejected.
The great historian Johannes Quasten called St. Irenaeus
“the founder of Christian theology.” In our own time, the
historian James Papandrea has called him “the first theologian.”
Appearing early in Christian history, he provided
the first extensive, reasoned reflection on the data of divine
revelation — what God had revealed by taking flesh in Jesus
Christ.
“Against Heresies” is a rambling work and sometimes repetitive.
St. Irenaeus took on a variety of wayward teachers and
sects and addressed them one by one. So there was much
overlap, many errors held in common, but also significant
differences. The Ebionites denied the divinity and pre-existence
of Jesus. The Docetists denied his humanity and his
ability to suffer. The Marcionites held that the Old Testament
preached a different God than the New, and that Jesus
opposed the Old Testament God. And there were many
others, in many other shades of falsity.
St. Irenaeus didn’t simply condemn the teachers and reject
their doctrine. He consistently articulated the positive truth
“The Last Supper,” 1562, by Juan de Juanes. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
14 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

drawn from Christianity’s commonly accepted sources. He
did what theologians ever afterward have imitated.
His teaching about Jesus was detailed, clear, scriptural, and
inspiring.
He taught that Jesus Christ is truly God — and uniquely so.
“Jesus Christ [is] our Lord and God and Savior and King.”
What can be said of Jesus “cannot be said of anyone else
who ever lived, that he is himself in his own right God and
Lord.” Moreover, “those who assert that he was simply a
mere man, begotten by Joseph, remain in the slavery of the
old disobedience, and are in a state of death since they have
not yet been joined to the Word of God the Father.”
He taught that Jesus Christ is truly human. St. Irenaeus insisted
that “the divine Scriptures do testify both these things
of [Jesus]: that he had in himself that pre-eminent birth that
is from the Most High Father; and also that he experienced
that pre-eminent generation which is from the Virgin. Also,
that he was a man without comeliness, and liable to suffering;
that he sat upon the foal of a donkey; that he was given
vinegar and gall to drink; that he was despised among the
people, and humbled himself even to death.”
He taught that Christ pre-existed the incarnation. “It has
been clearly demonstrated that the Word, who existed in
the beginning with God, by whom all things were made …
became a man liable to suffering. … The Son of God did
not then begin to exist. He was with the Father from the
beginning. But, when he became incarnate and was made
man, he commenced afresh the long line of human beings,
and furnished us, in a brief, comprehensive manner, with
salvation; so that what we had lost in Adam — namely, to be
according to the image and likeness of God — that we might
recover in Christ Jesus.”
He taught that Jesus is truly present today in the Eucharist.
Jesus “has declared the cup, a part of creation, to be his own
Blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and the
bread, a part of creation, he has established as his own Body,
from which he gives increase to our bodies.” This sacrament,
according to St. Irenaeus, contains the Lord’s body, blood,
and divinity: “The Word of God becomes the Eucharist,
which is the body and blood of Christ.”
In one breathtaking passage in Book 3 of “Against Heresies,”
St. Irenaeus summarizes the entire history of salvation,
beginning with the word’s pre-existence and culminating in
the gift of the Mass.
For such reflections, the “first theologian” has become the
37th Doctor. He does not always speak with the precision
that would be required in later centuries. He was responding
to the heresies of his day; but heresy is like a virus, always
producing new variants that resist earlier remedies. St. Irenaeus
could not have anticipated the strange heresies of the
fourth century or the 21st.
What he did, however, was provide believers with a test
for the virus. He gave us a way to tell the real Jesus from the
false that were on offer from heretics. He knew that we could
not truly love a Lord we did not truly know.
Mike Aquilina is author of a new biography, “Saint Irenaeus,”
available March 14 at OSV.com.

Lessons from the
‘Fifth Gospel’
The Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Galilee overlooking the Sea of Galilee, near the site of what is believed to be the Mount of Beatitudes. | SHUTTERSTOCK
To know Jesus, it’s
important to know
where he lived and
what he believed
as a Jew.
BY STEFANO REBEGGIANI
During his time on Earth, Jesus
of Nazareth grew up, worked,
and preached throughout a region
in the Middle East that we today
call the “Holy Land.”
But another name sometimes given
for present-day Israel is the “Fifth
Gospel.” As any Christian who has
made a pilgrimage to Israel will tell
you, the land of Jesus itself speaks
almost as eloquently about him as the
other four Gospels. Its ancient cities,
ruins, shrines, and landmarks all help
us know Jesus as a person better: his
Jewish faith and culture, his miracles,
and his own words.
One of those places is the Mount
of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of
Galilee. Today, the site is home to
the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of
Galilee, where the next generation of
Catholic priests for the Holy Land are
formed and educated.
If there’s anyone who knows the
Fifth Gospel, it’s the seminary’s rector,
Father Francesco Voltaggio. Originally
from Rome, Father Voltaggio is the
author of several books on the Jewish
culture of the time of Jesus.
Father, you’ve lived in Israel for
more than 20 years now and written
a lot about the Jewish roots of our
faith. What has been the biggest discovery
or revelation for you personally
that has come from living and
studying there?
For me, it has been rediscovering the
sources of our faith not only through
the books, but through the living
contact with the Jewish people, their
feasts, and traditions. This has happened
through the contact with the
Arab Oriental churches, and especially
through a familiarity with the holy
places for our faith.
How much does geography matter
in understanding Jesus and his
mission?
Almost all the events in the life of
Jesus cannot be fully understood without
a knowledge of the places where
they occurred.
A good example is Jesus’ baptism.
The Jordan River is located at the
bottom of the Rift Valley, considered
the deepest cut, the deepest “wound”
on the Earth’s surface. This is where
Jesus is hailed by John as the one who
takes away the sins of the world. It is
no coincidence: Christ descended
all the way to our deepest wounds,
penetrating into the folds of humanity,
where he takes upon himself the sins
of the world.
Another example is the episode of
Zacchaeus, which takes place in
16 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

TERSTOCK
Jericho, the lowest and very possibly
the oldest town on Earth. Here Jesus
meets a man, Zacchaeus, who was
short and had spent his life trying to
climb up the social ladder, becoming
a chief tax collector.
Jesus meets this man at this low
point, both literally and figuratively,
and yet even there he manages to put
himself underneath him. Zacchaeus
had climbed a tree to see Jesus, so
Jesus must literally look up to him to
meet Zacchaeus’ eyes. Jesus, who is
God, descends to the lowest point on
Earth to meet a sinner, Zacchaeus,
and he conquers him not only by not
judging him, but by loving him to the
point of making himself smaller than
him.
The geographical setting enhances
our understanding of this episode, but
most of the details are lost on those
who ignore the geography of the Holy
Land.
What about Jesus’ Jewish background?
How important is it?
Very. Scholars have tended to pay
more attention to the Greco-Roman
context, and for good reason, at the
expense of the Jewish background.
But research on the “second temple”
era of Judaism (from 538 B.C. to A.D.
70) has made a lot of progress lately,
thanks to major discoveries such as
the Dead Sea scrolls, but also thanks
to a renewed interest in Rabbinic
literature, which, although compiled
at a much later date, still likely reflects
debates and discussions going on at
the time of Jesus.
We cannot ignore that the authors of
the Gospels and their early audiences
not only had a profound knowledge
of the ancient testament and of the
Jewish liturgy, but they were also acquainted
with the interpretation of the
Old Testament propagated in the oral
tradition. Jesus constantly engaged
these oral traditions, which would
have been familiar to his disciples and
are therefore crucial for a full understanding
of his words.
Can you give an example?
Take the Sermon on the Mount.
There is a very close relationship
between Mount Sinai, where the
people of Israel receive the Law, and
the Mount of Beatitudes, where Jesus
reveals the ultimate interpretation of
the Torah. This is visible at every step
in the Gospel accounts.
There is a somewhat odd turn of
phrase at the beginning of the episode
in Matthew. In the Greek original it
reads: “He went up the mountain and
sat down … and having opened his
mouth he taught them saying.”
In most translations the sentence is
abridged into “he sat down and taught
them.” Why is the mouth of Jesus
mentioned, though? And why the
emphasis on going up the mountain?
Well, a Jew would have understood
immediately. The Jews had been
taught that on Mount Sinai, God gave
Moses not only the written Torah,
but also its interpretation, the oral
Torah, which they believed had been
transmitted to him “from mouth to
mouth,” from the mouth of God to
that of Moses. Moses in turn transmitted
this teaching to Joshua, who then
passed it to the greater assembly, and
from there down the line from rabbi
to rabbi.
Many Jews believe that at the end
of this chain stands the Messiah, the
ultimate rabbi, the one who will come
and provide the definitive interpretation
of the Torah. And some Jewish
commentators say that this final
interpretation will be so beautiful that
it will be called a New Torah, a new
Law.
And yet the Sermon on the Mount
seems very different from what God
taught Moses on Sinai. The beatitudes
do not look like commandments
at all.
On the contrary, when Jesus says
“blessed are you,” he is saying something
that is deeply consistent with
Father Francesco Voltaggio. | IMAGE VIA VATICAN NEWS
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 17

Jewish ideas about the Torah.
We tend to understand the commandments,
and the Torah more
generally, as a set of rules, a list of prescriptions.
And yet the first and most
important commandment recites: “I
am the Lord your God, the one who
freed you from Egypt.”
It is not a prescription at all. Then
why is it referred to as the first
commandment? The rabbis answer
that the first step is for God to reveal
himself, to save us from our slaveries,
just as he freed the people of Israel. In
a word: to make us happy. Only when
God has revealed himself to us and
freed us from our slaveries, after he
has made us “blessed,” are we able to
fulfill the commandments.
That is why Jesus begins by saying
“blessed are you.” He is the one who
comes to free us from our slaveries,
he is the ultimate manifestation of the
God of Sinai, who makes us “blessed.”
Only once he’s done this will we be
able to fulfill his new commandments.
When you look at the Sermon on
the Mount in the light of the rabbinic
tradition, Jesus doesn’t come across as
a moralizer or a legislator. He appears
as the Son of God, who was made
man so he could give us his Holy
Spirit and could write this law on our
hearts of stone.
The way you read the Sermon on
the Mount in continuity with the
Old Testament is surprising. Many
people tend to understand this passage
as positing a number of antitheses
between Jesus’ teaching and the
Jewish Law. “You have heard … but
I tell you. …”
That is again because we misunderstand
what the Torah is. The Torah in
Hebrew is a teaching, which contains
first the history of salvation, and then
the Law.
Of course, both for Jews and Christians
alike the temptation always
existed of reducing the Torah to a set
of laws, to a code. But St. Paul never
taught that the Torah and Grace are
in contradiction. On the contrary, he
writes that Christ is the fulfillment of
the Law. St. Paul opposes the idea that
we can be justified by fulfilling the
prescriptions of the Law, because he
believes that no one can truly fulfill
the Law relying on their own strength.
When it comes to the Law, the
difference between Judaism and
Christianity has more to do with what
allows humans to really fulfill the
Law, rather than with the actual prescriptions.
Great Jewish scholars such
as A.J. Heschel said that man has to
become an incarnation of the Torah.
This is true in a more profound sense
for us Christians, because the spirit
of sanctity that animated the Torah in
the Pentecost descended in the hearts
of the disciples.
Today, this same Spirit, through the
word of God and the sacraments, descends
in our hearts and we become a
temple of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ
has made out of us living temples,
we become the “sancta sanctorum.”
In other words, you could say that
the difference between Judaism
and Christianity lies in the paschal
mystery, provided that we do not
forget the final accomplishment of the
paschal mystery: the descent of the
Holy Spirit.
What can the Church today learn
from an encounter with the Jewish
tradition?
I think the most important gain would
be to rediscover the idea of initiation,
which was crucial both for Judaism and
for the early Church.
For the Jews, Moses’ 40-day long
encounter with God was difficult to
communicate in its entirety and depth.
It took time and a gradual process.
In the New Testament Jesus initiates
the apostles, who in turn do an
initiation to their disciples and this will
eventually develop into the catechumenate,
the path of initiation through
which people were prepared to receive
baptism and were initiated to the
mysteries.
I think recovering the idea of Christian
initiation would go a long way in
settling some of the current disagreements
between so-called liberals and
conservatives within the Church.
Stefano Rebeggiani is an associate
professor of classics at the University of
Southern California.
18 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

A SHEPHERD
ON THE
MARGINS
Friends and collaborators
reflect on the legacy of LA
Auxiliary Bishop Ed Clark,
who retired last month.
BY MIKE NELSON
Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Edward W. Clark smiles during a Nov. 17, 2021, session of the fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. | CNS/BOB ROLLER
The Vatican announced the morning of Feb. 15 that
Pope Francis had accepted the retirement of Auxiliary
Bishop Edward W. Clark of Los Angeles, who
oversaw the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ most populous and
diverse pastoral region for more than two decades.
Bishop Clark became episcopal vicar of the central Our
Lady of the Angels Pastoral Region in 2001 after his appointment
by St. Pope John Paul II as an auxiliary bishop. He
turned 75 on Nov. 30, 2021, and as required by canon law,
turned in his resignation to the pope when he reached 75.
“I congratulate Bishop Clark on his retirement,” said Los
Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez in a statement the
morning of Feb. 15. “For more than 20 years now, he has
served Jesus Christ and the faithful of Los Angeles with zeal,
dedication, and love.
“As the auxiliary bishop entrusted to the archdiocese’s largest
and most diverse pastoral region, he will be remembered
as a shepherd who was always close to the people he served,
especially those who were poor and living on the margins.”
Archbishop Gomez noted that Bishop Clark’s tenure was
marked by his tireless efforts to bridge old divisions during
his two decades as a bishop.
“His lasting legacy includes his strong work against the
scourge of racism and discrimination against African
Americans and his commitment to building up the bonds of
mutual trust and respect with our Native American brothers
and sisters,” said the archbishop.
Those who have known and worked with Bishop Clark
over the years described him as an open-minded, compassionate
leader able to understand and serve the needs of
Catholics in the region.
‘A friend and mentor’
Edward William Clark was born Nov. 30, 1946, in Minneapolis,
but moved to California with his family and
attended local schools before enrolling in the archdiocesan
high school seminary and eventually, St. John’s Seminary
in Camarillo. He was ordained to the priesthood by the
then-archbishop of Los Angeles and future cardinal Timothy
Manning in 1972.
Dave Estrada remembers becoming friends with Clark
on their first day of class in September 1960 at Our Lady
Queen of Angels Seminary High School in Mission Hills.
The pair graduated from the high school in 1964 and
from St. John’s four years later in 1968. Estrada eventually
discerned out of the seminary and went on to serve in the
U.S. Air Force and as an LA County probation officer. Six
decades since they first met, the two have remained close
friends.
“As a minor seminarian, who would think that any of
us would someday be a bishop, right?” said Estrada, who
today serves as a permanent deacon at St. Benedict Church
in Montebello. “But God works in ways we don’t always
understand.”
20 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

Deacon Estrada credits Bishop Clark for not only being
a friend, but also a mentor who “enabled me to grow as a
deacon.”
For those who have known him as a student or later, a
teacher and bishop, a couple of Bishop Clark’s attributes are
hard to forget. One of them is his remarkable intellect.
“He is an avid reader, from U.S. and world history to ecclesiology
to novels,” Father Truc Nguyen told Angelus. “He
has a photographic memory and is able to recall so many
stories and backgrounds of the people he meets.”
As a student at St. John’s in the mid-1990s, Father Nguyen
was impressed by how his Christology professor, Father Ed
Clark, explained incarnational spirituality in a way “that
made it easy to understand.”
“He introduced a side of Christ’s humanity and divinity
that I could connect to, and it made a difference in understanding
who is Jesus for me,” said Father Nguyen, who
since 2006 has served as pastor at Cathedral Chapel in the
Mid-City area of Los Angeles, where Bishop Clark has been
in residence since 2001.
Not only does he have a “remarkable memory,” said
Deacon Estrada, but his old classmate “has a good sense of
humor, which is very important in dealing with any sort of
challenges.”
Upon taking up his new assignment as a bishop, Bishop
Clark’s years of experience as an educator also proved valuable
beyond the boundaries of the archdiocese.
In his statement on Feb. 15, Archbishop Gomez recalled
Bishop Clark’s work as chair of the California Catholic Bishops’
education committee and his “instrumental” leadership
in a yearslong process that led to a 2016 action plan “for the
growth and sustainability of Catholic schools in the state’s
12 dioceses.”
‘A godsend’
Long before he became an auxiliary bishop, Father Clark
was in residence at Transfiguration Church in South LA,
one of a handful of historically Black parishes in the archdiocese.
Not because he had to, but because he wanted to.
“He has been a godsend for us,” said Anderson Shaw, director
of the African American Catholic Center for Evangelization
(AACCE). “As African American Catholics, we are
such a small number that we can easily be overlooked. But
Bishop Clark never let that happen. He’s always there at our
activities, like the Martin Luther King Jr. Prayer Breakfast,
showing his support.”
When Shaw first came to the AACCE, he served on Bishop
Clark’s regional advisory committee. Later, the AACCE
established a parish representative council, where parishioners
from two dozen parishes meet monthly. At first, Bishop
Clark said he would try to come to at least two or three
meetings a year, “because he wanted to get a feel for the
needs of the African American community,” Shaw recalled.
“Well, he’s ended up attending almost every single meeting,
every month, and that has really been an asset.”
“He’s totally committed to serving the community,” added
Shaw. “When we’ve needed to have someone to support us,
he’s been there for us,” even despite health challenges in
recent years.
That kind of openness to dialogue and other cultures, local
Catholics say, has made a big difference during Bishop
Clark’s tenure.
“He’s taught me and brought me with him to experi-
Bishop Clark talks to local Native
American leaders and Archbishop José
H. Gomez at the signing of the Native
American protocols at the Museum
and Cultural Center at Kuruvungna
Springs in Los Angeles in March 2018. |
VICTOR ALEMÁN
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 21

ence cultures I maybe haven’t known as well,” said Father
Nguyen. “He’s involved with the Black community, he’s
traveled to Asia to gain new perspectives on serving those
communities, he participates in rituals with the Native
American community. He just doesn’t discriminate.”
Sister Kathleen Bryant, a religious Sister of Charity from
Los Angeles, remembers knowing then-Father Clark when
he was rector-president of St. John’s Seminary, and being
impressed by his efforts to make the increasingly ethnically
diverse student population feel welcome.
“At one point he had beautiful statues made of saints and
historical figures of each culture that were represented at St.
John’s, so that students from every culture could recognize
that they had a place in the seminary and in the Church,”
recalled Sister Bryant. “And that comes from his being so
open to every culture and expression of faith within our
Church.”
Sylvia Mendivil Salazar, coordinator of the archdiocesan
Office of Native American Concerns Ministry, likes to recall
the time Bishop Clark was bestowed with the name “Talking
Fire Hawk” in a special ceremony led by the Gabrielino/
Tongva Band of Mission Indians.
In the Native American culture, Salazar explained, “Fire”
symbolizes strength while “Hawk” symbolizes messenger.
The moment was a recognition of his advocacy and support
for the local Native American community.
“Los Angeles County alone has the largest population of
Native Americans in the country — over 150,000,” Salazar
said. “And Bishop Ed has always been ready and able to be
Bishop Clark blesses a woman at the 2017 World
Day of the Sick Mass. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
A conversation
with Bishop Ed
BY PABLO KAY
Bishop, the Holy Father just accepted
your resignation after 21 years as
an auxiliary bishop here. What’s the
biggest change in the Church that
comes to mind since you were named
a bishop in 2001?
The complexity of the Church today
is the biggest thing that comes to mind.
The Church has become not only
much more involved in the world’s
situations, but also much more a target
for people’s disappointment or unhappiness.
I think we’ve gone in these
years from a Church that was welcomed
and appreciated and respected,
to an institution that more people are
suspicious and critical of. It’s become
much more difficult for the priests and
religious and laypeople who are representing
and ministering in the Church
to find acceptance.
On the positive side, I think that the
Church has become a more visible
sign of offering a challenge to the
world.
What are some of the fondest
memories you take from your time in
the Our Lady of the Angels Pastoral
Region?
Apart from all the beautiful examples
mentioned in the recent Angelus
article by Mike Nelson, I have to say
one of them has been working with
the priests. I’ve been very blessed with
the priests who’ve served in this region
in these 21 years and developed a lot
of friendships among them. I admire
how hard they are working to make a
change and to be present to people.
I know it’s been very difficult these
last couple of years for a lot of them.
We thrive on our relationships with
people, and COVID has made that
more distant. That’s been harder on
the priests than people realize.
For the priests, the people they serve
are their family, especially if they don’t
have personal family any longer, or
they are distant from them. The people
of the parish become their family.
One of the hardest things about being
a bishop is that you don’t have those
relationships with people like a pastor
has. Pastors can spend years in a parish,
and they see families formed, they marry
couples, they baptize their kids and
sometimes their grandkids. They see
people grow up and they grow up with
them, seeing them week after week.
I always tell the priests, a pastor is the
best job in the world. It’s much better
than being a bishop.
Another highlight that stands out was
the rebuilding of St. Patrick’s Church
(in South LA). It has always been a
poor, immigrant parish, a transitional
parish that’s gone through a lot of phases.
The church building was lost after
the 1971 San Fernando earthquake,
and for years they celebrated eight,
22 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

with us, to participate in our rituals, to learn about our ways
and our forms of prayer, to attend our annual Tekakwitha
Conference.”
Salazar praised Bishop Clark’s efforts in rallying California
bishops’ support for state legislation that offers better protection
for sacred Native American burial grounds. In 2018,
he was instrumental in establishing a series of protocols
recognizing the Native Americans of California as the “First
People of the Land” and offering guidelines for pastoral
service toward their communities.
“We regard Bishop Ed as a messenger for us,” said Salazar.
“There were so many years where we were neglected by
the Church, but he has opened a lot of doors that had been
closed to us.”
‘A gift for the region’
Cardinal Roger Mahony, who ordained Bishop Clark to
the episcopacy in 2001, said Bishop Clark’s 21 years of “superb
episcopal service” were “marked by fresh and creative
pastoral outreach efforts” for parishes in his region.
“His past experience in Catholic education and the seminary,
together with his doctoral studies, gave him a unique
background to lead a complex and varied region,” the
cardinal said.
The cardinal credits Bishop Clark with creating “a unique
survey process” during his tenure involving parish listening
sessions about the future of their parish when fewer priests
were available, challenging them to decide how best their
own parish would be served with varying scenarios of priest
availability.
“That exercise at the parish level was sobering for the
parishioners, since they presumed they would always have
the same number of priests available to serve their parish,”
the cardinal noted. “The reality of fewer priests began to
sink in.”
But during the process, “creative solutions emerged,” such
as changing Mass and ministry schedules, twinning with
another parish, and creating more collaborative programs
with neighboring parishes.
“Bishop Clark’s vision in looking forward to parish life and
ministry with fewer priests was groundbreaking,” said Cardinal
Mahony. “His constant presence to the priests, parishes,
and the many other institutions and apostolates, was a gift
for the region.”
Outside of the parish, Sister Bryant said Bishop Clark was
a trusted ally and advocate for the communities of women
religious serving the archdiocese.
“During the year of consecrated life (2015), we’d celebrate
that in our houses,” Sister Bryant said. “Bishop Clark came
to our celebrations with a relaxed and informal manner
that put everyone at ease. And one year he asked me to
deliver an academic address at the college seminary. “And
as women religious, we appreciate that. He has always been
very respectful to us. He listens to, empowers, and celebrates
women. He has deep respect for all cultures and all people.”
Mike Nelson is the former editor of The Tidings (predecessor
of Angelus).
nine Masses every Sunday out of a little
classroom.
We came up with the idea of asking
all the parishes of the region to contribute
toward rebuilding the church.
They finally got a beautiful church,
adequate in size, and it’s all paid off.
The people worked so hard, too. It
was really a testament to the sense of
the interparochial relationships in the
archdiocese.
Also, I have to say that working with
both archbishops (Cardinal Mahony
and Archbishop Gomez) has been different,
because they’re different people,
but I certainly have enjoyed my years
working with them.
So, what’s next? Any retirement
plans?
I don’t have any big plans at the
moment. I was hoping to be able to
travel but it’s just not possible with the
pandemic. I have dear friends in Italy
… Indonesia … India, all places I want
to go to and spend time with them. But
that’s completely up in the air at the
moment.
Other than that, I’m still focused on
trying to finish getting moved out of
the rectory at Cathedral Chapel (in
Mid-City LA) and the regional office
at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver
City. It’s a bigger task than I expected.
Twenty-one years in the same house
— it’s amazing how much stuff you
accumulate. We’ve been going through
the files, cleaning things, deciding
what goes to the archives, what has to
be disposed of, and what should be
saved for the next bishop.
I’ll be living at a house in the Diocese
of San Bernardino, and I’ll also have
rooms at one of the parishes here in
Los Angeles when I’m in town for
confirmations or events. Even in retirement,
I’m still an auxiliary bishop. I’ll
still have events that I’m expected to
attend.
Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of
Angelus.
Priests welcome Auxiliary Bishop Edward W.
Clark after his episcopal ordination March 26,
2001, at St. John Chrysostom Church in Inglewood.
| VICTOR ALEMÁN
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 23

Theresa Fragoso (center) with Shannon Feldmann
(right), a teacher at Bishop Conaty Loretto High
School, and a former CEF running team member at
the finish line of the 2020 LA Marathon. | CEF
RUNNING FOR THE FUTURE
This year’s CEF marathon team will go as far as their feet — and their
friends — will carry them toward a new fundraising goal.
BY TOM HOFFARTH
Theresa Fragoso had only three
months of prep time to run the 2019
Los Angeles Marathon, and her longest
run prior to that was 14 miles.
Instead of panicking, she prayed.
“On the morning of the race, I set
26.2 miles into my mind,” Fragoso
said, recalling the day she sandwiched
herself between some 23,000 others
at the starting line at Dodger Stadium.
Buoyed by the crowds cheering on
the runners, she remembers making
“be still and know that I am God” her
mantra as she began to set her pace.
“That is what ultimately carried me
across the finish line that day. It truly
was a spiritual experience rather than
a race.”
When she isn’t running, Fragoso
works for the Catholic Education
Foundation of Los Angeles (CEF) as
director of operations. And so when
it came to asking others in CEF to be
part of a team to raise money toward
tuition assistance for local Catholic
school students, she couldn’t just talk
the talk, or even walk the walk.
Fragoso has run the run, and then
some.
In early March 2020, when the LA
Marathon was held just days before
the initial COVID-19 shutdown, she
returned to do the half-marathon.
This year, she’s dialing down the
distance for the sake of her 5-year-old
granddaughter, who will be accompanying
her for the 5K the day before
this year’s marathon taking place on
Sunday, March 20.
“I want to introduce her to the idea
of giving back to the community,”
said Fragoso, who has been with CEF
for 24 years and is a parishioner at St.
Philomena Church in Carson.
To celebrate CEF’s 35th anniversary,
the 60-member-strong racing team is
aiming to set a different kind of record
for the 2022 event: raising $100,000
26 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

in pledges.
They know it won’t be easy, since
both they and their benefactors are on
shorter rest: Because of the pandemic,
the 2021 LA Marathon was delayed
from its usual March spot until
November. That event attracted just
13,000 total runners, and less than a
dozen CEF participants.
Back in 2019, the team’s inaugural
year, Fragoso joined Juan Munoz, the
CEF’s engagement and stewardship
manager, and Andrew Garcia, a senior
program officer, in leading the charge.
They found 17 Catholic teachers,
administrators, parents, and staff, and
raised more than $65,000 for tuition.
They matched that amount a year
later.
The team still includes Cathedral
High School president Martin Farfan,
Bishop Conaty High School vice
principal Jackie Lucero, as well as
Salesian High School president Alex
Chacon and his wife.
The team runs with an explicit mission
statement: to empower and drive
ambassadors to educate, fundraise,
and spread awareness about the importance
of Catholic education.
“It was difficult to ask others to
participate without making a commitment
ourselves, but I know my team,
and our inspiration to run was CEF’s
mission and the children, schools,
and communities that we serve,” said
Fragoso.
“We understand and know firsthand
the sacrifices many of the families
make to send their children to a
Catholic school and why a Catholic
school education is so important to
them. It’s inspiring and we run for
them and for their future.”
Each participant on the CEF Racing
Team sets up a profile on the organization’s
website and puts up their own
pledge in hopes of inspiring family
and friends to give generously.
Munoz ran the 2019 LA Marathon
in just more than five hours. He plans
to participate this year focused more
as a coach to train the group’s new
participants. He will also man the
Health and Fitness booth for CEF to
raise more awareness and support for
the team.
His hope is that more than a dozen
of the team’s runners are able to
participate in one of the three events.
The 2022 LA Marathon will use the
course from last year that still begins
at Dodger Stadium but now ends at
the Avenue of the Stars in Century
City, instead of the Santa Monica
Pier.
“It’s a little tough to ask loyal donors
again who’ve just helped us out four
months ago,” Munoz admitted. “But
we will make it happen.”
Online registration for the 2022 event
closes March 11. For more information,
call 213-637-7480 or email jbmunoz@
cefdn.org.
Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning
journalist based in Los Angeles.

Holy discretion
The invasion of Ukraine certainly got the pope’s attention.
But why didn’t he call out Russia by name?
BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Pope Francis walks with Russian
President Vladimir Putin
during a private audience at
the Vatican on July 4, 2019.
| CNS/PAUL HARING
ROME — Despite the best efforts
of nations around the world to
isolate and punish Russia for its
invasion of Ukraine, as of this writing
the war grinds on, with Russian tanks
encircling the capital city of Kiev despite
unexpectedly stiff resistance from
Ukrainian military and civilians alike.
The motives driving Putin’s war reflect
a toxic blend of naked geopolitical
ambition and conceptions of Russian
nationalism, but it would be a serious
analytical mistake to overlook the religious
component of the conflict.
Putin sees himself as the great defender
of the Orthodox faith on the global
stage, and the conflict in Ukraine is,
to some extent, a contest for what kind
of orthodoxy is going to prevail — the
ecumenical, dialogic vision of Patriarch
Bartholomew I of Constantinople,
traditionally the “first among equals” in
the Orthodox world — or the Kremlin-backed,
anti-Western orthodoxy of
Moscow?
If religion is part of the problem, then
it seems natural to hope it can also be
part of the solution. This explains why,
from the beginning of the conflict,
there’s been a focus on what Pope
Francis and his Vatican team are saying
and doing — or, in some cases, what
they’re not saying and doing.
To be sure, Pope Francis has made
clear that the war has his attention.
Aside from regular appeals for peace,
the pontiff took the dramatic step
Friday of exiting the Vatican for a short
ride down Rome’s “Via della Conciliazione”
to visit the Russian Embassy
to the Holy See. That’s just not what
popes do — when they want to talk to
an ambassador, they summon them to
the Vatican, they don’t go to them.
While the Vatican released no details
about the visit, describing it only as an
expression of the pope’s “concern for
the war,” it’s safe to say this wasn’t a
courtesy call. Popes don’t go storming
out of the Vatican in a moment of crisis
just to say hello.
Pope Francis also designated March
2, Ash Wednesday, as a day of prayer
and fasting for Ukraine. He’s been in
regular contact with Major Archbishop
Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church,
28 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

who’s reported that Pope Francis has
assured him he’s doing everything
possible to help.
On the other hand, it’s now been
several days since Russian forces rolled
across the border into Ukraine, despite
a personal pledge from Russian President
Vladimir Putin shortly beforehand
that there would be no war. Yet so far,
Pope Francis has not named Russia
in any of his public commentary as
the aggressor, nor has he condemned
Putin by name as so many other global
leaders have.
That discretion is rankling many
observers, naturally moved to sympathy
for the Ukrainians.
Veteran Vatican-watcher Robert
Mickens, writing in La Croix, asked
some pointed questions about why the
pontiff seems to be holding his fire:
“Do the pope and his Vatican aides
really believe that appeasing Russian
oligarchs and hierarchs is their best
strategy in advancing the cause of
Christian unity?” he asked. “And on
which altar are they willing to sacrifice
the Ukrainian people to do so?”
How do we explain the apparent
reticence?
For one thing, avoiding naming aggressors,
and getting involved in public
disputes with them, is more or less
standard Vatican operating procedure.
In 2003, the Vatican under St. Pope
John Paul II went to great lengths to
avoid naming U.S. President George
Bush or publicly rejecting his actions,
leaving just enough wiggle room that
U.S. officials could insist the Vatican
never “condemned” Bush’s invasion
of Iraq, despite the fact that Rome’s
opposition was clear to everyone.
The most famous example of all, of
course, is the fact that Ven. Pope Pius
XII never directly condemned (or
excommunicated) Adolf Hitler, once
again despite the fact that the Vatican’s
repugnance for National Socialism was
obvious.
The logic for that discretion is
twofold. First, rash statements from
the pope or the Vatican could actually
make things worse for the people on
the ground they’re trying to defend,
unleashing retribution from the aggressor.
Second, if the pope or the Vatican
wants to engage in behind-the-scenes
conflict resolution, sometimes biting
Worshippers attend an evening prayer service at the
Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in
London on Feb. 24. | CNS/HENRY NICHOLLS, REUTERS
their tongues in public is the price of
doing business.
When it comes to Russia, Pope Francis
has a special motive for restraint.
It has been the policy of every pope
since St. Pope John XXIII to pursue
détente with Orthodoxy, an effort that
accelerated under Pope John Paul
and his vision of a Christianity that
“breathes with both lungs,” East and
West. As a result, popes and Vatican
officials are extraordinarily reluctant
to do anything that might reawaken
Russian suspicions that Rome is perennially
hostile to Moscow.
At the moment, it still appears possible
that Pope Francis might be able to
play a role in defusing the war. Ukrainian
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has
said he’d welcome a papal mediation
effort, even saying the Vatican would
be a great place to sign a peace deal.
While so far Russia hasn’t sent up
any signals of interest, if sanctions
continue to escalate while the offensive
bogs down and Putin is forced to find
a face-saving exit strategy, taking up a
papal invitation might just start to look
good.
If so, perhaps the historical assessment
will be that the Vatican’s discretion
paid off. In the meantime, however,
one can probably forgive the mounting
impatience of many Ukrainians, who
believe the time for discretion ended
the moment Russian tanks rolled
across their borders and Russian bombs
started falling on their cities.
John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux.
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 29

What we know
about war
The prospect of military
intervention in Ukraine requires
a firm no from pro-lifers.
BY CHARLES C. CAMOSY
In his “Defenders of the Unborn:
The Pro-Life Movement Before
Roe v. Wade” (Oxford University
Press, $35.95), historian Daniel K.
Williams tells of a pro-life movement
that was deeply connected to activists
protesting against the war in Vietnam.
For reasons that should be obvious,
these activists publicly burned their
draft cards — but they also discarded
their birth certificates at pro-life
rallies.
Much like a draft card, a birth certificate
was seen as an oppressive government
document serving anti-life
oppression by arbitrarily declaring that
human life mattered at one point in
its development, but not another.
This beautiful consistent ethic of
life has been the beating heart of
the U.S. pro-life movement from its
beginnings. And now, with war taking
place in Ukraine, it is time once again
for pro-lifers to fiercely resist coming
attacks on human life.
This is especially if we claim Christ
as Our Lord and live according to his
commands.
Jesus couldn’t have been more clear
about loving our enemies and refusing
to live by the sword. The early
Church just assumed that this meant
that they weren’t permitted to join the
Roman army — though idolatry of the
emperor and other pagan gods were
concerns there as well. Indeed, they
had no sense at all that they were to
use the world’s standards in making
sure things turned out right. And
they certainly didn’t think they were
permitted to shed blood in order to
make it so.
For some, there is desperate talk
about the U.S. and other Western
countries needing to step up in a
violent way in Ukraine in order to
preserve our “global dominance” —
especially against what some see as a
growing alliance between Russia and
People in San Francisco gather for a “Stand with
Ukraine” rally Feb. 20. About 150 people, mostly from
the Ukrainian community, called for an end to the Russian
military buildup on Ukraine’s border and urged
the European Union to impose economic sanctions
against Russia as a deterrent to an invasion of Ukraine.
| CNS/DAVID MAUNG
30 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

China. But the idea that we should
send some of the most economically
vulnerable citizens to kill and be
killed in the name of global dominance
should send shivers down the
spine of everyone with a commitment
to Christ.
For others, however, the conflict in
Ukraine may seem like something far
away, of little concern. Perhaps gas
prices will go up and my 401K will go
down. For a bit. But this was happening
already and other issues may seem
to be of much more concern.
However, if there’s anything we know
about war, it is that without a broad
coalition willing to resist, it tends to
build on its own insane logic and
spin out of control. That was true in
Vietnam and it was true most recently
in both Iraq and Afghanistan. It will
almost certainly be true in Ukraine.
As Mike Baxter, my friend and mentor
from my time as a doctoral student
in moral theology at Notre Dame,
pointed out in a recent interview I
did with him at The Pillar: “you may
not be interested in war, but war is
interested in you.”
And consider this: During the first
Cold War, Ukraine had the third
biggest nuclear arsenal in the world.
They gave up these weapons in the
1990s in return for security guarantees,
but today there are serious regrets
about this decision. Indeed, last year
a Ukrainian ambassador said that if
they were not able to join NATO it
may have to reconsider rebuilding its
arsenal.
This is one of Vladimir Putin’s stated
reasons for his aggressive action and,
in a related story, he has personally
overseen nuclear weapons tests
recently.
And just a reminder in case you
forgot this story from back in 2018:
Russia has developed nuclear weapons
which evade missile defense systems.
And what if this spins out of control?
As Baxter pointed out in our interview,
the United States leads the world with
an astonishing 3,750 nuclear warheads
in its active stockpile — with detailed
plans to deliver them from the land,
sea, and air.
China has upped its game to compete
with Russia and the U.S. So has
Pakistan. The U.K. recently pledged
to share its nuclear submarine technology
with Australia.
North Korea continues on its path
to becoming a nuclear power, as does
Iran, though it is opposed by Israel,
which has a secret nuclear capacity of
its own.
It doesn’t take a genius to imagine
how all of this could end in utter
disaster. We’ve been a hair’s breadth
away from nuclear war several times
before based on mistakes. It could
easily happen again.
So, let the pro-life movement stand
up once again and be heard. In the
name of the Prince of Peace: let us
give a firm and aggressive no to war.
Charles C. Camosy is an associate
professor of theology and bioethics at
Fordham University. His most recent
book is “Losing Our Dignity: How
Secularized Medicine is Undermining
Fundamental Human Equality” (New
City Press, $22.95).

A Maryland Catholic watches from a computer screen a March 22, 2020,
livestream Mass, celebrated at St. Rose of Lima Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland. | CNS/CHAZ MUTH
The digital
temptation
The pandemic has revealed
what technology can give
Catholics — and what it can’t.
BY FATHER DORIAN LLYWELYN, SJ
On a recent early Saturday morning, I wrote a letter
of condolence, arranged a doctor’s appointment,
bought a book, scrolled through social media and
searched for cheap flights to Chicago.
All using an iPad while I was still in bed.
Rapid communications technology has shrunk our world
and sped up time. It affects who we are in contact with and
what we are aware of, and how we think and behave in nearly
all aspects of our lives.
Our faith is not immune to these effects.
Faith and evangelization
Christianity has historically been an “early adopter” of technological
change, even leading it. Early Christian missionaries
carried the Scriptures in the innovative form of bound
manuscripts, rather than using the Jewish long scrolls, which
were more expensive to make and less portable. Monks created
lettering that was clear to read and easy to copy. Several
centuries later, Father Patrick Peyton and Ven. Fulton Sheen
pioneered Catholic broadcasting.
Today’s internet appears to be tailor-made for evangelization.
Some sectors of Christianity, e.g., Protestant megachurches,
enthusiastically and effectively incorporate music
and video to spread their message. In the Catholic world,
Word on Fire shares the gospel through videos and podcasts,
and EWTN has a global reach, beaming its programming
into television screens in 140 countries, 24 hours a day. Research
shows that people who do not normally go to a physical
church to worship are more likely to access the church’s
website, particularly if it is easy to use, visually appealing
and entertaining. Popular prayer apps such as Hallow target
young people.
But ready access, ease of control, speed, and convenience
are not necessarily Catholic values. What is attractive is not
necessarily good. And what is good is not always good in
unlimited quantities.
The digital divide
Some of the long-term effects of technological shifts are
truly disconcerting. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed
huge global inequalities between the digital haves and havenots.
Inner-city schools have taken the worst of the brunt of
damage to children’s educational attainment, according to a
recent study by the Pew Research Center. And the older generation
can struggle with such things as using touch screens,
32 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

filling out online forms, and keeping in touch with family.
The dark realities tend to pile up.
Any priest who hears confessions will tell you that pornography
addiction is widespread.
Our personal information, including the details of our
browsing history and, alarmingly, the contents of our private
messages, are financially valuable, routinely sold to advertisers,
and used to manipulate the content we see on our
social media feeds. Young people — teenage girls and young
women especially — are under daily pressure to conform to
impossibly glossy ideals in all aspects of their lives. Research
shows that we are losing our ability to concentrate and retain
the information we consume.
Given that we cannot simply unplug forever, how should
Catholics use communications technology in all its forms?
Ways forward
The question is big and complex and requires both prayer
and serious study. To date, neither the Church nor Catholic
universities have responded in sufficient depth to the growth
of technology’s influence and vast reach. I am hoping that
the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC, which
I lead, can be a center for such a conversation. And in the
meantime, I offer one principle and one value as my modest
contribution to that important question.
The Principle and Foundation of St. Ignatius of Loyola is
that we should make use of things to the extent that they
help toward what we are created for — which is loving and
serving God. If they don’t help, then don’t use them.
That means reflecting on how much we use technology
and how much we end up being used by it. No easy task
when new software springs up overnight and we are so easily
distracted.
The value is the spiritual need for real community. Active
belonging to a religious community is declining and religiously
unaffiliated people (the “nones”) are mostly young
adults and make up about a quarter of the American population.
Yet many young people yearn for a sense of belonging.
The community that technology creates by algorithms
drives us toward people who agree with us and away from
those who don’t. And screen time is fundamentally time
spent alone.
During the pandemic, many parishes livestreamed Masses
and prayer vigils, bringing comfort and a sense of continuity
during widespread uncertainty and disruption.
But am I the only person who has watched online events
where I have simultaneously done other things, like scrolling
through social media, or fast-forwarding when I got bored?
Physically attending Mass needs a different level of commitment.
Showing up, gathering with people we may not know
or feeling we have a lot in common with can be time-consuming
and inconvenient.
And that’s where the blessing lies — because our faith is
about what we contribute, not only about what we get.
Father Dorian Llywelyn, SJ, is president of the Institute for
Advanced Catholic Studies, an independent research center
located at the University of Southern California.

DESIRE LINES
HEATHER KING
Sacred sounds made for 2022
Artistic Director Robert Istad conducts Pacific Chorale | DOUG GIFFORD PHOTOGRAPHY
Robert Istad | DREW KELLEY
The Grammy-nominated Pacific
Chorale, led by artistic director
Robert Istad (a Long Beach resident),
will perform six transcendent
contemporary choral works on March
19, at Our Lady Queen of Angels
Church in Newport Beach.
The program is entitled “Songs of the
Soul.”
Works include:
Frank Martin’s “Mass for Double
Choir,” a masterful setting of the Latin
Mass;
Estonian composer Galina Grigorjeva’s
vocal symphony “On Leaving,”
a contemplation on the soul’s release
from the mortal body;
Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw’s
and the swallow, a setting of Psalm 84
inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis;
“Spiritus Mundi,” Dale Trumbore’s
hymn of gratitude for the fruits of the
earth and an exploration of the notion
of trust in something greater than
oneself;
Paul Fowler’s wordless, hypnotic
“Calling” and Edie Hill’s “We
Bloomed in Spring,” a setting of the
words of St. Teresa of Ávila.
The Orange County-based, nationally
acclaimed Pacific Chorale regularly
appears with the LA Philharmonic.
Their many awards include two
2022 Grammy Award nominations;
Best Choral Performance and Best
Engineered Album, Classical, as part
of the Gustavo Dudamel-conducted
live performance of Gustav Mahler’s
“Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major,”
the recording of which was released by
Deutsche Grammophon in June 2021;
and selection as a semi-finalist for the
prestigious The American Prize for Virtual
Performance, 2021-22/professional
division, for “The Wayfaring Project,”
an original concert film produced by
and featuring Pacific Chorale performing
J.S. Bach’s motet, “Jesu meine
Freude,” interwoven with contemporary
works of American folksong.
Robert Istad was appointed Pacific
Chorale’s artistic director in 2017. He’s
also professor of music and director of
choral studies at Cal State Fullerton,
34 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

Heather King is an award-winning
author, speaker, and workshop leader.
EY
where he was recognized as the 2016
Outstanding Professor of the Year.
In graciously agreeing to discuss
“Songs of the Soul,” he first noted the
fortuitous timing of the performance.
“It’s almost like the program was
delayed for two years by some kind of
divine providence. We need this music
now more than ever.”
The concert was originally planned
for mid-March 2020. “The singers
and I were rehearsing a week out. We
didn’t know March 10 would be our
last day together. We were all ready
and so excited. So it was particularly
heartbreaking to make the wise choice
to cancel at that time.”
As they were programming this
comeback season, the Chorale took to
calling their pause the great fermata: a
musical term meaning “to hold for an
indefinite period of time.”
“We just looked at each other around
the table and said, ‘We need to bring
back “Songs of the Soul.” ’ The singers
were so connected to this music. We
had to perform it for everyone. So
it’s really a triumphant return of this
program.”
At their first rehearsal after a twoyear
break, they wondered how they’d
sound. But right away they started singing
the “Kyrie” from the Frank Martin
Mass and the music was right there. “It
was as if that ‘Lord, have mercy’ had
been resounding the whole time and
we just picked up where it left off.
“It was gorgeous. I looked around the
room and the singers were just welling
up with tears.”
The music is constant: a source of
continued respite and inspiration that
the Chorale hopes to transmit to the
audience. “We want people to have a
cathartic, soul-filled experience that
gives them an opportunity to reflect on
the past and also to imagine a brighter
future. Our hope is that the music
helps the audience better to connect
with each other and with the greater
world, regardless of where they choose
to worship or whether they do at all.
There’s something about this music
that winds itself around your heart in a
really special way.”
Istad considers the “Mass for Double
Choir” by Frank Martin, a Swiss
composer (1890-1974), one of the most
beautiful in all the repertoire.
“His ‘Kyrie’ is haunting. He sort of riffs
on an old Gregorian chant, then winds
it around itself. It blossoms into this
explosion of grief and penitence. It’s a
tour de force that balances his respect
for the Mass with a proclivity for vocal
fireworks.”
That and Estonian composer Galina
Grigorjeva’s “On Leaving” are the two
centerpieces of the program, both about
25 minutes. The other four are shorter
works providing an interesting modern
commentary.
Grigorjeva (b. 1962) has been hailed as
the first lady of Estonian choral music.
“She’s taken her favorite chants from the
Russian Orthodox Requiem Mass and
arranged them in a modern, minimalist
setting that’s simply mesmerizing.
There’s a flute, some mystical percussion
instruments.
“The service upon which it’s based is
called ‘The Canons of Jesus Christ Our
Lord and the Virgin Mary On the Hour
of Leaving of Orthodox Souls.’ So the
piece is to honor those who have just
passed.”
The full choir comprises 140 people
from many different perspectives, political
leanings, and religions. “And they’re
dear friends who love and support each
other. I think it’s because they breathe
together, they harmonize together, they
learn to understand and respect each
other.
“Of course I’m biased,” Istad laughs.
“But I truly believe that if everyone sang
together, this world would be a much
better place.”
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 35

LETTER AND SPIRIT
SCOTT HAHN
Scott Hahn is founder of the
St. Paul Center for Biblical
Theology; stpaulcenter.com.
Lent with St. Paul
It’s Lent — and every Lent presents a great opportunity
to revisit the Letters of St. Paul and to strive to live
according to his spirit.
St. Paul lived with an intense awareness of the grace of
the moment. “Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold,
now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6: 2). And, like
Jesus before him, he was eager to observe the seasons of
grace, even if it required a little extra effort (see Acts 20:16).
He recognized, too, that there were appointed times for
penance and purification, and he was happy to keep them
(see Acts 21:26-27), matching external observance with
interior repentance. He fasted (Acts 14:23). He shaved
his head (Acts 21:24). He disciplined his body with some
degree of severity (1 Corinthians 9:27).
But it wasn’t all show. He did it so that he could go about
“serving the Lord with all humility and tears” (Acts 20:19).
St. Paul, after all, had reason to be repentant. Remember,
in his youth he was the Church’s most ardent persecutor!
I can identify with him. I, too, did my share of persecuting
the Church. For a solid 10 years of my life, I was happiest
when I drew Catholics away from the practice of their
faith. I was unsparing in my assault on their beliefs. Like
St. Paul, I consider Lent a mercy, because it reminds me of
where I was, how far I’ve come — and how much further
God wants me to go!
He wants us all to go far. We live in demanding times,
and only with discipline can we meet the demand with an
adequate “supply.” Lent is a season of grace, a free gift from
God, but he waits for our free response, our cooperation.
The traditional three “marks” of Lent are prayer, fasting,
and almsgiving, all marks of a truly Pauline spirituality.
Throughout these 40 days, you and I will pray. Let’s pray
for one another. I need you! Throughout these 40 days,
you and I will fast, as the Church requires; let’s fast for one
another. And, throughout these 40 days, you and I will give
alms.
We need one another. I need you, especially in these
demanding times, when so many of us are called to “be
imitators” of St. Paul (1 Corinthians 11:1), following him
along the most difficult path: to rejoice in suffering. “Now
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I
complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake
“Apostle Saint Paul,” by El Greco,
1541-1416, Greek.
of his body, that is, the Church” (Colossians 1:24).
Prayer, fasting, almsgiving: St. Paul did it all with a penitential
spirit, and look where it got the Church. God has
great things left to do. Just wait and see where Lent takes
you and me this year.
36 • ANGELUS • March 11, 2022

■ FRIDAY, MARCH 4
Fish Fry. Nativity Annex, 1415 Engracia Ave., Torrance,
5-7 p.m. Fish fry, hosted by Knights of Columbus council
#4919, will be held every Friday in Lent through April 8.
Baked or deep-fried fish, baked potato or french fries,
coleslaw, roll, and cake. Cost: $12/adults, $10/seniors,
$7/children under 12. Limited seating, and facemasks
required. Takeout service is also available.
■ SATURDAY, MARCH 5
Lenten Silent Saturday, Centering Prayer, and Silence.
Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-
12 p.m. With the Contemplative Outreach Team. For more
information, visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784-4515.
Lenten Retreat. St. James Church Kavanagh Hall, 415
Vincent St., Redondo Beach, 8-11:45 a.m. Mass followed
by retreat, sponsored by Catholic Daughters of Our Lady
of Victory. Facilitator: Father Mark Warnstedt. For more
information, call Mary Costello at 310-316-0768 or email
mmcostello1@verizon.net.
Sitting at the Feet of the Holy One — Listening to the
Voice of God: A Lenten Retreat for Chaplains and
Healthcare Professionals. St. Philip the Apostle Church,
151 South Hill Ave., Pasadena, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. In-person
retreat (livestream available) will include conferences by
director Msgr. Sal Pilato, quiet time for personal prayer,
eucharistic adoration, and Mass. Free retreat for all health
care professionals, courtesy of Dan Murphy Foundation.
For more information, email Ann Sanders at asanders@
la-archdiocese.org or call 213-637-7655.
■ SUNDAY, MARCH 6
Stations of the Cross. Calvary Cemetery, 4201 Whittier
Blvd., Los Angeles, 2 p.m. Stations will be held each Sunday
of Lent. Special reenactment of the passion of Christ
on April 10, presented by Resurrection Church. For more
information, visit http://CatholicCM.org/stations or call
323-261-3106.
■ TUESDAY, MARCH 8
Memorial Mass. San Fernando Mission, 15151 San
Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills, 11 a.m. Mass is
virtual and not open to the public. Livestream available at
CatholicCM.org or Facebook.com/lacatholics.
■ SATURDAY, MARCH 12
“Not my will Lord, but Yours be done” Catholic Men’s
Fellowship of California Super Saturday Conference.
St. John Vianney Church, 1345 Turnbull Canyon Rd.,
Hacienda Heights. Day begins with 8 a.m. Mass with
Bishop David O’Connell and Msgr. Tim Nichols. Guest
speakers include Father Parker Sandoval, vice chancellor
of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Charlie Aeschliman,
former Navy SEAL, Deacon Steven Greco, from Spirit
Filled Hearts Ministry, and more. Cost: $25/person,
includes continental breakfast and pizza lunch. Fathers are
encouraged to bring their sons. For more information or to
register, visit catholicmen.org.
Cards of Hope for Easter. Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of
Loretto High School, 2900 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, 11
a.m.-12:30 p.m. Free workshop where children and families
will learn to make an Easter pop-up card. Cards will
be distributed by religious sisters to many of the elderly
population in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Livestream
option via Zoom available. Registration required. For more
information, visit https://lacatholics.org/liturgical-workshops/.
■ WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16
ALPHA at Our Lady of Lourdes. 18400 Kinzie St.,
Northridge, 7-9:15 p.m. This 12-week experience invites participants
to a personal encounter with Christ and connection to
the joy of the Holy Spirit. Free event, includes dinner. For more
information, email alphaoll@oll.org or call 818-349-1500.
■ THURSDAY, MARCH 17
Children’s Bureau: Foster Care Zoom Orientation. Children’s
Bureau is now offering two virtual ways for individuals and
couples to learn how to help children in foster care while reunifying
with birth families or how to provide legal permanency by
adoption, 4-5 p.m. A live Zoom orientation will be hosted by a
Children’s Bureau team member and a foster parent. For those
who want to learn at their own pace about becoming a foster
and/or fost-adopt parent, an online orientation presentation
is available. To RSVP for the live orientation or to request the
online orientation, email rfrecruitment@all4kids.org.
■ FRIDAY, MARCH 18
Religious Education Congress. Anaheim Convention Center,
800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim. Conference runs March 18-20
(Youth Day March 17) and includes in-person and virtual offerings.
Virtual format includes 31 on-demand workshops, keynotes,
livestreamed events, and liturgies. Cost: $35/person for
both youth and adult day content. Registration closes March
31. In-person format includes keynote workshops, liturgies,
entertainment, art exhibits, and more. Cost: $35/youth day,
$75/adult days. Registration closes March 10. Visit recongress.
org to learn more.
■ SATURDAY, MARCH 19
St. Joseph: The Silent Partner Speaks Volumes. Holy Spirit
Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. With
Michael O’Palko, HSRC staff. For more information, visit hsrcenter.com
or call 818-784-4515.
Protect Us, Oh Lord! Feast of St. Joseph Celebration. St.
Didacus Church hall, 14325 Astoria St., Sylmar, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Presenters: Father Bob Garon and Dominic Berardino. Topics
include “Why St. Joseph is Called the Terror of Demons?” and
“God’s Many Provisions of Spiritual Protection.” Mass included.
Cost: $25/person before March 14, $35 afterward, includes
catered chicken lunch. To register, visit scrc.org/stjoseph.
■ SUNDAY, MARCH 20
Spring Equinox Labyrinth Walk. Holy Spirit Retreat Center,
4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 7-9 p.m. With the HSRC team. For
more information, visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784-4515.
■ SATURDAY, MARCH 26
Alleluia Dance Theater, Trust in the Lord! Holy Spirit Retreat
Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. With Stella Matsuda,
Marti Ryan, and Emmalyn Moreno. For more information,
visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784-4515.
Cards of Hope for Easter. St. Kateri Church, 22508 Cooper
Hill Dr., Santa Clarita, 2-3:30 p.m. Free workshop where
children and families will learn to make an Easter pop-up card.
Cards will be distributed by religious sisters to many of the elderly
population in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Livestream
option via Zoom available. Registration required. For more
information, visit https://lacatholics.org/liturgical-workshops/.
■ SUNDAY, MARCH 27
Diaconate Virtual Information Day. The Diaconate Formation
office invites all interested in joining the diaconate program to
learn more, 2-4 p.m. Send your name, parish, and pastor’s name
to Deacon Melecio Zamora at dmz2011@la-archdiocese.org.
Presentations will be in English and Spanish.
Items for the calendar of events are due four weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be emailed to calendar@angelusnews.com.
All calendar items must include the name, date, time, address of the event, and a phone number for additional information.
March 11, 2022 • ANGELUS • 37