Angelus News | October 21, 2022 | Vol. 7 No. 21

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October 21, 2022 Vol. 7 No. 21

October 21, 2022
Vol. 7 • No. 21
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ON THE COVER
DIOCESE OF ORANGE
Children were among those who rallied for a pro-life
future in California at the start of a Respect Life Month
“Walk for Life” rally at Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove
on Oct. 1. On Page 10, Natalie Romano reports on the
statewide efforts by California Catholics to push back
against the latest “extreme, expensive, and unnecessary”
proposal to expand abortion in the state.
THIS PAGE
VICTOR ALEMÁN
Hundreds of faithful venerated the “peregrina”
image of Our Lady of San Juan de los Lagos
Oct. 1 at San Francisco Church in East LA, the
statue’s final stop during a monthlong tour of
the archdiocese. This year marked the statue’s
first time back in LA since 2019, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.

CONTENTS
Pope Watch............................................... 2
Archbishop Gomez................................. 3
World, Nation, and Local News...... 4-6
In Other Words........................................ 7
Father Rolheiser....................................... 8
Scott Hahn.............................................. 32
Events Calendar..................................... 33
14
16
20
22
26
28
30
How the call to catechize has changed after COVID
LA priests asked to open minds and hearts in racism discussion
John Allen on the chances of the next pope coming from the east
Meet the Catholic women shaping new feminism
Grazie Christie on the perils of the growing literacy divide
‘Don’t Worry Darling’ and our awkward relationship with the ’50s
Heather King gets to the substance of transubstantiation
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH
How to smell a saint
The following is adapted from the Holy
Father’s Oct. 6 address to participants
in the “Holiness Today” conference organized
by the Dicastery for the Causes
of Saints.
The witness of virtuous Christian
conduct, lived out today by so
many of the Lord’s disciples, is
for all of us an invitation to respond
personally to the call to be saints. They
are the “saints next door” we all know.
In the midst of this multitude of
believers, there are the beatified and
canonized saints, who remind everyone
that living the Gospel to the full
is possible and beautiful. Holiness,
in fact, is not a program of effort and
renunciation, it is not about doing
“spiritual gymnastics,” no, it is something
else; it is first and foremost the
experience of being loved by God, of
receiving his love, his mercy, freely
given. This divine gift opens us up to
gratitude and allows us to experience
great joy, which is not the emotion of
an instant or mere human optimism,
but the certainty of being able to face
everything with the grace and boldness
that come from God.
Without this joy, faith is reduced to
an oppressive and sad exercise; but one
does not become a saint with a “long
face”: one needs a heart that is joyful
and open to hope.
The saints do not come from a
“parallel world”; they are believers who
belong to God’s faithful people and are
integrated into everyday life made up
of family, study, work, social, economic,
and political life. In all these contexts,
the saint walks and works without
fear or preclusion, fulfilling God’s will
in all circumstances.
The people of God have always had a
particular “nose” for recognizing these
extraordinary witnesses of the Gospel.
It is therefore necessary to take into
due consideration the consensus of the
people around these Christianly exemplary
figures. The faithful are endowed
by divine grace with an undeniable
spiritual perception to identify and
recognize certain baptized persons the
heroic exercise of the Christian virtues.
However, it is necessary to confirm
that such a reputation for holiness is
spontaneous, stable, lasting, and widespread
in a significant part of the Christian
community. Indeed, it is genuine
when it resists the changes of time, the
fads of the moment, and always generates
salutary effects for everyone, as we
can see in popular piety.
In our day, proper access to the media
can promote knowledge of the Gospel
experience of a candidate for beatification
or canonization. However, in the
use of digital media, especially social
networks, there can be a risk of forcing
and mystification dictated by less than
noble interests.
When the faithful are convinced
of the holiness of a Christian, they
have recourse to his or her heavenly
intercession; the fulfillment of the
prayer by God is a confirmation of this
conviction.
The saints are precious pearls; they
are always living and relevant, they
never lose their value, because they
provide a fascinating commentary
on the Gospel. Their lives are like a
catechism in images, the illustration
of the good news that Jesus brought to
humanity: that God is our Father and
loves everyone with immense love and
infinite tenderness.
Papal Prayer Intention for October: We pray for the Church;
ever faithful to, and courageous in preaching the Gospel,
may the Church be a community of solidarity, fraternity, and
welcome, always living in an atmosphere of synodality.
2 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

NEW WORLD OF FAITH
ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ
Why the saints can do great things
In September, we celebrated two
important events in the life of the
family of God here in the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles.
We marked the 20th anniversary of
the dedication of the Cathedral of
Our Lady of the Angels. We also offered
the closing Mass for the jubilee
year commemorating the 250th anniversary
of Los Angeles’ first church,
Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, which
was founded by St. Junípero Serra.
The story of the Catholic faith in
Los Angeles can be told in these two
churches.
It is the story of mission, the great
task that Jesus Christ entrusted to
his apostles before he ascended into
heaven, the ongoing drama of salvation
that he is still working out in the
history of the nations and peoples of
the earth:
“Go, therefore, and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded
you.”
St. Junípero and the Franciscan
missionaries answered that call when
they set out from Spain to Mexico,
and when they later came up to evangelize
California.
I think about these things when I
celebrate Mass in the cathedral. As
I look out upon the faithful in the
sanctuary, they are “framed” on both
sides by tapestries that depict the
communion of saints.
In one of these tapestries, the
Gospel writer St. Mark stands next
to St. Junípero. For me, it is a perfect
symbol for how the mission of Jesus
continues in the mission to Califor-
nia and the New World.
This is the reality of the Church
and the reality of our lives. Each of
us who is baptized is called to answer
Jesus’ call, and to play our part in his
great mission of salvation, his beautiful
plan of love for the nations and
for every soul.
If we could lift the veil of creation,
move from the things we can see to
the things that are unseen, we would
realize that we are alive always in
God’s presence, that we walk now
in the company of angels and saints,
our ancestors and loved ones, both in
heaven and on earth.
The Church is the communion of
saints. This is the definition that we
find in the Catechism.
Saints was the original name that
Christians used to describe themselves.
It simply means holy ones. Not
ones who have achieved holiness,
but those who are striving for it, those
who know that God’s will for our
lives is that we become holy as he is
holy.
From the earliest times, the eucharistic
liturgies of the Christian East
have included the prayer: “Sancta
sanctis!” It’s a Latin expression that
means, “God’s holy things for God’s
holy people.”
The idea is that in the Eucharist,
the holy ones, the “sancti,” received
the “sancta,” the holy gifts of the
Lord’s body and blood. Sharing in
that one bread, we are drawn together
in a mysterious way with one another
to form one body in Christ.
Our communion in “holy things”
makes us a “holy people.” That
means that in the Church, we are
never alone. We walk with the saints
and we share in their mission. The
Letter to the Hebrews tells us, “We
are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses.”
And there is power in this union.
The communion of saints is a mysterious
solidarity of charity. Joined in
Jesus, what we offer in charity for our
brothers and sisters — our prayers,
mortifications, and sacrifices — in a
mysterious way, can help them.
Belonging to the communion of
saints means also that we can count
on the intercession of the saints in
heaven. St. Augustine said wonderfully,
“Why can the dead do such great
things?”
It is a beautiful mystery. In the Bible’s
last book, we are given a glimpse
of what their intercession looks like.
There is that great scene of golden
bowls, filled with “the prayers of
the holy ones,” being offered before
God’s heavenly throne.
St. Thérèse of Lisieux promised on
her deathbed, “I want to spend my
heaven in doing good on earth.”
So we can turn to the saints, ask
them for help in our weakness, ask
them to do great things for us.
We can pray to our heavenly Father,
as we do in the third Eucharistic
Prayer: “with all the saints, on whose
constant intercession in Your presence
we rely for unfailing help.”
Pray for me and I will pray for you.
And as we enter the month of November,
the month where we remember
the dead, let us ask our blessed
mother Mary, Queen of All Saints,
to help us to have greater devotion
to the saints, and greater awareness
that we belong to this great cloud of
witnesses, this communion of saints.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD
■ East Timor: Nobel
prize-winning bishop
accused of abuse
Newly published allegations of
sexual abuse against a retired bishop
are shaking up the tiny country of East
Timor.
A Dutch newspaper published
accounts in September from two men
who claim that they were abused by
Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo,
retired bishop of Dili and winner of
the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize, when
they were 14 and 16.
The revelations prompted the Holy
See to acknowledge that it first became
“involved” in the case of Bishop
Belo in 2019 and placed “certain disciplinary
restrictions” on his ministry
in September 2020. Those restrictions
were modified again in November
2021, said Matteo Bruni, director of
the Vatican press office, on Sept. 29.
The article claims that their investigation
began in 2002, when Bishop
Belo retired, claiming “both physical
and mental fatigue” and served as
a missionary priest in Mozambique
before settling in Portugal.
Bishop Belo shared the 1996 Nobel
Peace Prize with then-resistance
leader (and current president) José
Ramos-Horta for their work in nonviolent
opposition to the Indonesian
occupation of East Timor.
■ Northern Ireland: A
Catholic majority in a
Protestant country?
Northern Ireland, founded along
boundaries intended to keep a majority
Protestant population, now has more
Catholics than Protestants for the first
time in its history.
New census data for the country
shows that 43.5% of the population is
Protestant, down from 48.4% in 2011.
Meanwhile, the percentage of people
identifying as Catholic has remained
stable, at 45.7% now compared to
45.1% then. The percentage of people
listing no religion climbed from about
10% to nearly 20% over the same
period.
The changing demographics could
be a major factor in a possible future
referendum on whether Northern
Ireland will remain a part of the United
Kingdom or join the majority Catholic
Republic of Ireland, even though
Catholic and Protestant congregations
in both countries have seen major
drops in church attendance in recent
decades.
“There is no doubt change is underway
and irreversible,” John Finucane,
a lawmaker with the pro-Irish unification
party Sinn Féin, said. “How
that change is shaped moving forward
requires maturity to take the challenges
which face our society.”
An apostle’s light show — Projected images detailing the life of the apostle St. Peter are seen on the facade of
St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Oct. 2. Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli sang for thousands in St. Peter’s Square as
the Vatican inaugurated a two-week showing of a short film about the life of St. Peter. | CNS/PAUL HARING
A restorationist cleans an indigenous shield design found
in one of the Tepotzlán’s convent’s chapels. | INAH/JOSÉ
MORALES
■ Indigenous art found
in early Mexican convent
Art restorationists in Mexico discovered
evidence of indigenous symbols
being used in Christian architecture
as early as the 16th century.
Indigenous symbols — including
the headdress, flowers, ax, and shield
— were discovered during a cleaning
of three small “posing chapels” found
at the former Dominican convent
in Tepotzlán. The chapels sit at the
corners of an open patio that Spanish
priests used to celebrate Mass and
teach Indigenous groups after the
1521 conquest of Mexico.
Early speculation is that the Spanish
priests allowed use of Indigenous art
on the wall to accommodate converts,
though researchers at the National
Institute of Anthropology and
History said they are studying the images
to determine if they correspond
to Tepoztécatl, the native tribe’s god
of fermentation and drunkenness, or
to some other indigenous god.
4 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

NATION
■ The Catholic school comeback explained?
A new poll
suggests that dissatisfaction
with
public schools
during the
COVID-19 pandemic
is driving
an increase in
Catholic school
enrollment in
the U.S.
The EWTN
News/RealClear
Opinion Research
poll found
that 74% of
Catholic voters
are concerned
about a so-called
Students from All Souls World Language School in Alhambra at a March 25 prayer
service for peace. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
educational “COVID deficit” caused by distance learning.
A majority of Catholic voters polled supported parents’ concerns about trends
in public schools, like biological boys who identify as girls being allowed in girls
sports and the introduction of Critical Race Theory in teaching curricula.
Statistics from the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA) show
that while Catholic school enrollment nationwide has not returned to pre-pandemic
levels, the 3.5% increase in enrollment since 2021 is notable: Before the
pandemic, enrollment was trending down 2% to 3% each year.
■ Man attacks Tulsa
cathedral with fire, sword
Police have arrested a man who
allegedly attacked a desk attendant with
a sword before starting a fire at Holy
Family Cathedral in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
on Oct. 5.
The attendant, identified as Ron
Nozon, confronted the suspect, who
appeared to have lit an object on fire
and thrown it into the side of the
cathedral. According to cathedral rector
Father Gary Kastl, the suspect was seen
attempting to enter the front doors of
the cathedral, which were locked before
the attack, while students were taking
school pictures on the front steps.
“We express our gratitude and appreciation
for the faculty and staff who
reacted quickly and immediately moved
the students inside the school,” wrote
Father Kastl. “The whole school was
immediately placed on lockdown and
remained so until cleared by local law
enforcement.”
No children were hurt during the attack.
A Mass was offered at the cathedral
for Notzon’s healing on Oct. 6.
■ Archbishops urge White House to
rethink hospital transgender mandate
The Catholic archbishops of New York and Chicago
criticized the Biden administration’s proposal to mandate
hospitals to provide gender-transition surgeries.
The proposed change would add sexual orientation and
gender identity to the nondiscrimination proposal of Section
1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which critics say could
force people with sincerely held religious beliefs to perform
gender-transition surgery.
“This is government coercion that intrudes on the religious
freedom of faith-based health care facilities,” wrote Cardinals
Blase Cupich of Chicago and Timothy Dolan of New York
for America magazine Sept. 26. “Such a mandate threatens
the conscience rights of all health care providers and workers
who have discerned that participating in, or facilitating, gender
transition procedures is contrary to their own beliefs.”
The cardinals also responded to accusations that refusing
gender-transition surgeries were discriminatory against transgender
people.
“Does objecting to performing gender transition procedures
— but welcoming patients who identify as transgender —
constitute discrimination? Of course not,” they wrote. “The
focus of such an objection is completely on the procedure,
not the patient.”
Religious to the rescue — Volunteer parishioners join clergy and religious sisters
of the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará order at St. Michael Church
in Wauchula, Florida, Oct. 2, to serve hot meals. In the days after Hurricane Ian
hit Sept. 28, volunteers cooked meals — without electricity — so that locals could
have a hot meal. | CNS/DAVID GONZALEZ, FLORIDA CATHOLIC
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 5

LOCAL
Sunlight hits the altar of Our Lady of the Assumption in Silverado during
Sept. 29 vespers. | KIERNAN COLIFLORES/DIOCESE OF ORANGE
■ OC Norbertines mark
‘Michaelmas’ in style
Visitors to the new Church of Our Lady of the Assumption
in Silverado witnessed a visual spectacle on Michaelmas, the
feast of St. Michael and All Angels Sept. 29.
The church, which was completed in June 2021, belongs
to the Norbertine order of priests, along with the new St.
Michael’s Abbey 10 miles away in eastern Orange County.
The church’s location was calculated so that light from the
special stained-glass window at the back of the nave would
flood the altar with light once a year on Michaelmas.
As intended, the moment came at the beginning of the
5:30 vespers service on Sept. 29.
Afterward, the Norbertines hosted a special feast for visitors
in the church courtyard, where they served their home
brewed beer.
The gathering “is an opportunity to get to know members
of the religious community in a way people ordinarily don’t,”
Father Ambrose Criste, director of formation at the abbey,
told Catholic News Service.
■ Cathedral service to remember
those lost to homelessness
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels will host a memorial
service for those who have died on the streets this
year in LA.
The Homeless Persons’ Interreligious Memorial will take
place at 7 p.m. on Dec. 21, the first day of winter and the
longest night of the year. It is being organized by the archdiocesan
Office of Life, Justice and Peace in collaboration
with the St. Vincent de Paul Society and SOFESA, a local
nonprofit helping homeless and low-income families.
More than 1,000 people have died on the streets in Los
Angeles County so far this year, according to the county
coroner’s office.
■ UCLA acquires former
Marymount California campus
Two properties belonging to Marymount California
University (MCU), which closed earlier this year, are being
purchased by UCLA as part of an expansion plan.
The $80 million deal involves MCU’s main campus in
Rancho Palos Verdes and an 11-acre residential site in San
Pedro. The state university announced Sept. 27 that the
“land acquisition is the largest in UCLA history, enabling
the instruction of nearly 1,000 students.”
MCU officially closed this summer following years of
struggling finances and low enrollment.
The campus site may host academic programs as soon as
next year, according to UCLA.
Delegations from different parishes and religious organizations at the Sept. 24 San
Lorenzo celebration. | LYNNE LAMIEL
■ Philippines bishop celebrates
San Lorenzo during LA visit
More than 500 local Catholics celebrating the feast of St.
Lorenzo de Ruiz in Glendale this year were joined by a
bishop visiting from the Philippines.
“San Lorenzo”’ lived in the early 1600s and is known as
the first Filipino saint and martyr. This year’s 14th annual
Feast of San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila was organized by the
San Fernando Regional Filipino Ministry and took place at
Incarnation Church on Saturday, Sept. 24.
Bishop Roberto C. Mallari from the Diocese of San Jose
Nueva Ecija celebrated a special Mass in honor of the saint
following an outdoor procession and rosary. The celebration
also included a special lunch, live traditional Filipino
music, and dance.
Y
6 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

V
IN OTHER WORDS...
Letters to the Editor
In defense of the Notre Dame I know
As someone who is impressed with Angelus week after week, I was
gravely disappointed in Robert Brennan’s column in the October 7
issue, “Thoughts on a South Bend conversion.”
The article was ostensibly about the Catholic conversion of Notre Dame’s football
coach, but the piece actually said nothing about the man. Instead, it took a
series of cheap shots at the university, questioning its Catholic charism.
As the father of a young man who attends Mass every week of his own accord —
one who graduated this spring from Notre Dame along with 12 of his Loyola High
School classmates — I can assure your readers that the Catholic faith is alive and
well at Our Lady’s university.
— Dr. Patrick Whelan, Corpus Christi, Pacific Palisades
It’s true: Amazon’s ‘Rings of Power’ has a philosophy problem
As the first season of “The Rings of Power” winds down, I find that Stefano Rebeggiani’s
assessment of the series in the Sept. 23 issue has proven correct: None
of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “aesthetic and philosophical impact” is anywhere to be found
in the show.
Whereas there was still some hope for future character development and a
deepening of “Tolkienian themes” in the first two episodes, that is now gone. The
series’ shallow characters seem to stumble from episode to episode while major
plot holes go unexplained. Perhaps our society is no longer able to ponder the
existential questions that formed the heart of Tolkien’s mythology.
— Laura Carey, Playa del Rey
Y
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Our Lady on the move
“Extremism is very much
in the driver’s seat —
and mainstream media
protect it through bias and
misinformation.”
~ Richard M. Doerflinger, in an Oct. 5 America
magazine column, “The U.S. bishops aren’t the
extremists in the abortion debate.”
“When climate change
meets poverty … it is a
kind of perfect storm of
challenges.”
~ Yohannes Subagadis, a Catholic Relief Services
worker, in a CNS interview Oct. 4 about the needed
Catholic response to climate change.
“We are an incarnational
Church, and livestreams are
never going to give us that
deep miracle that happens
on the altar.”
~ Sarah Yaklic, chief digital officer of the
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, in a Sept. 30 EWTN
interview on the LA Catholic Back To Mass
campaign.
“I stand on the porch and
smoke and I meet the
world.”
~ Rev. William Holt, the New York Dominican priest
who went viral on Humans of New York, in an Oct. 6
interview with America magazine.
View more photos
from this gallery at
AngelusNews.com/photos-videos
The “peregrina” image of Our Lady of San Juan de los
Lagos wrapped up its LA tour at San Francisco Church in
East LA the weekend of Oct. 1-2. | VICTOR ALEMÁN
Do you have photos or a story from your parish that you’d
like to share? Please send to editorial @angelusnews.com.
“We know that students
learn best when they are
learning alongside their
teachers and classmates.”
~ Brandon Meyer, director of admissions at a
Cincinnati Catholic high school, in an Oct. 7
interview with Catholic News Agency about the rise
in Catholic education across the country.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 7

IN EXILE
FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI
Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father
Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual
writer; ronaldrolheiser.com.
Writing your own obituary
comes a time in life
when it’s time to stop writing
your résumé and begin “There
to write your obituary.” I’m not sure
who first coined that line, but there’s
wisdom in it.
What’s the difference between a
résumé and an obituary? Well, the
former details your achievements, the
latter expresses how you want to be
remembered and what kind of oxygen
and blessing you want to leave behind.
But how exactly do you write an
obituary so that it’s not, in effect, just
another version of your resume? Here’s
a suggestion.
There’s a custom in Judaism where
as an adult you make out a spiritual
will each year. Originally, this will was
more in line with the type of will we
typically make, where the focus is on
burial instructions, on who gets what
when we die, and on how to tie up the
unfinished details of our lives legally
and practically.
Through time, however, this evolved
so that today this will focuses more on
a review of your life, the highlighting
of what’s been most precious in your
life, the honest expression of regrets
and apologies, and the blessing, by
name, of those persons to whom you
want to say a special goodbye. The will
is reviewed and renewed each year so
that it is always current, and it’s read
aloud at your funeral as the final words
you want to leave behind for your
loved ones.
This can be a very helpful exercise
for each of us to do, except that such
a will is not done in a lawyer’s office,
but in prayer, perhaps with a spiritual
director, a counsellor, or a confessor
helping us. Very practically, what
might go into a spiritual will of this
sort?
If you are looking for help in doing
this, I recommend the work and
the writings of Richard Groves, the
co-founder of the Sacred Art of Living
Center. He has been working in the
field of end-of-life spirituality for more
than 30 years and offers some very
helpful guidance vis-à-vis creating a
spiritual will and renewing it regularly.
It focuses on three questions.
First: What, in life, did God want me
to do? Did I do it? All of us have some
sense of having a vocation, of having
a purpose for being in this world, of
having been given some tasks to fulfill
in life. Perhaps we might only be dimly
aware of this, but, at some level of
soul, all of us sense a certain duty and
purpose. The first task in a spiritual
will is to try to come to grips with that.
What did God want me to do in this
life? How well or poorly have I been
doing it?
Second: To whom do I need to say,
“I’m sorry”? What are my regrets? Just
as others have hurt us, we have hurt
others. Unless we die very young, all
of us have made mistakes, hurt others,
and done things we regret. A spiritual
will is meant to address this with
searing honesty and deep contrition.
We are never more big-hearted, noble,
prayerful, and deserving of respect
than when we are down on our knees
sincerely recognizing our weaknesses,
apologizing, asking where we need to
make amends.
Third: Who, very specifically, by name,
do I want to bless before I die and gift
with some special oxygen? We are most
like God (infusing divine energy into
life) when we are admiring others,
affirming them, and offering them
whatever we can from our own lives as
a help to them in theirs.
Our task is to do this for everyone, but
we cannot do this for everyone, individually,
by name. In a spiritual will,
we are given the chance to name those
people we most want to bless. When
the prophet Elijah was dying, his servant,
Elisha, begged him to leave him
“a double portion” of his spirit. When
we die, we’re meant to leave our spirit
behind as sustenance for everyone; but
there are some people, whom we want
to name, to whom we want to leave a
double portion. In this will, we name
those people.
In a wonderfully challenging book,
“The Four Things That Matter Most”
(Atria Books, $26), by Ira Byock, a
medical doctor who works with the dying,
submits that there are four things
we need to say to our loved ones before
we die: “Please forgive me,” “I forgive
you,” “Thank you,” and “I love you.”
He’s right; but, given the contingencies,
tensions, wounds, heartaches,
and ups and downs within our
relationships, even with those we love
dearly, it isn’t always easy (or sometimes
even existentially possible) to
say those words clearly, without any
equivocation. A spiritual will gives us
the chance to say them from a place
that we can create, which is beyond
the tensions that generally cloud our
relationships and prevent us from
speaking clearly, so that at our funeral,
after the eulogy, we will have no unfinished
business with those we have left
behind.
8 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

An estimated 2,500 Catholics participated in an Oct. 1 Respect Life Month kick-off event at
Christ Cathedral in Garden Grove that included a trilingual Mass. | DIOCESE OF ORANGE
Defending our
‘GREATEST GIFT’
To save preborn lives, Catholics are answering California’s
extreme pro-abortion push with a campaign of their own.
BY NATALIE ROMANO
The morning of Saturday, Oct. 1, some 2,500 Catholics
descended on Christ Cathedral in Garden
Grove to pray for their state.
Some did so by walking in the eucharistic procession,
while others watched and kneeled with heads bowed low.
Local Knights of Columbus members carried a canopy
over the Blessed Sacrament, held high in a monstrance by
Orange Diocese Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer.
The demonstration marked the kickoff for Respect Life
Month, established by America’s bishops 50 years ago to
call attention to the need to protect preborn children and
other vulnerable members of society. Participants prayed
the rosary, heard from pro-life speakers, and took part in a
trilingual Mass outdoors.
The rally was also the first major Catholic demonstration
in Southern California since the U.S. Supreme Court’s
10 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

eversal of Roe v. Wade in June, and part of an urgent push
by California’s bishops to mobilize Catholics, who make
up the state’s biggest religious denomination, to oppose
Proposition 1.
The ballot initiative would enshrine the state’s wide abortion
permissions into the state’s constitution and guarantee
a “right” to abortion until the final moments of a woman’s
pregnancy. State voters will decide on the measure, which
is backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Planned Parenthood,
and many medical groups, on Nov. 8.
“We are fighting the power of evil, the power of Satan,
and all his death,” Bishop Freyer said at the Oct. 1 rally.
“Proposition One is truly evil.”
Later, speakers rallied the crowd in repeating, “Yes to life,
No to Prop 1!”
Since the Supreme Court’s June Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s
Health Organization decision, which returned abortion
law to the decision of the states, California has moved
to fulfill Gov. Newsom’s vow to make the state an “abortion
sanctuary.”
Last month, the Democratic governor signed a package of
12 bills broadening access to abortion, strengthening privacy
rules for women who obtain the procedure, and helping
to cover travel and medical costs for out-of-state women to
seek abortions here.
The California Catholic Conference
(CCC), the public policy arm of the
state’s bishops, has criticized Prop 1 as
extreme, expensive, and unnecessary.
The bishops say the measure will
allow late-term abortions at taxpayers’
expense and note that abortion has
long been legal in the state.
While recent polling suggests Prop
1 is headed for victory, the bishops
haven’t given up hope.
Last month, they invited Catholics to
join them in a Sept. 29-Oct. 7 novena
to Our Lady of the Rosary, timed to
conclude on her feast day. Bishops
from each of the state’s 12 dioceses
recorded accompanying messages.
The prayer campaign got a big boost
from national Catholic radio network
Relevant Radio, which emailed novena
invitations to California listeners
and has been including prayers for the
defeat of Prop 1 (as well as of Prop 3,
a similar ballot measure in Michigan)
every night on its “Family Rosary
Across America” broadcast.
“In his eyes, every human life is
sacred. It has meaning, purpose, and dignity,” said LA
Archbishop José H. Gomez in a video message for Day
Four of the novena. “Let’s keep working for a California
that protects the weak and vulnerable, a California where
every human life is considered sacred and is welcome and
cherished from conception to natural death.”
At the demonstration in Orange County, a broad, multicultural
gathering of Catholics expressed outrage that Prop
1 would greatly expand the abortion license. The state
has even begun a marketing campaign in states where the
practice is restricted, encouraging women to have their
abortions in California.
“It makes me want to cry,” said Kathie Hibbard of St.
Edward the Confessor Church in Dana Point. “Society is
selling a lie that children are a burden. Of course, they are
challenging but they’re our greatest gift.”
Vietnamese Catholics, who turned out in large numbers,
stressed the need to protect human dignity.
“I escaped Communist Vietnam by boat then went
through Cambodia to Thailand. It was a hard journey.
Many people didn’t make it,” said Huy Nguyen, a parishioner
of Blessed Sacrament Church in Westminster. “I take
nothing for granted. All life is sacred.”
In the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Office of Life,
Justice and Peace is encouraging Catholics to address the
state’s abortion crisis through prayer and volunteer service
opportunities.
“Prayer reminds us we are united, we are one,” said Gina
Vides, who leads parish outreach efforts for the office.
“When we are able to fill ourselves with God’s love, we can
go out into the community and reciprocate that love to our
brothers and sisters.”
The office encourages Catholics
to support organizations like the
St. Vincent de Paul Society, which
serve the needy, and pregnancy
centers that provide medical care
and baby supplies to expectant
mothers. During Respect Life Week
Auxiliary Bishop Timothy
Freyer of Orange leads
a eucharistic procession
at an Oct. 1 Walk for Life
event at Christ Cathedral in
Garden Grove. | DIOCESE
OF ORANGE.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 11

Archbishop José H.
Gomez blesses Harvest
Home’s new Pico Home
for homeless pregnant
women and their
children on Aug. 19.
| VICTOR ALEMÁN
Catholic crisis
pregnancy
resources
While California’s bishops are urging
Catholics to vote no on Prop 1, they are also
promoting the Church’s statewide programs
for expectant mothers and women in crisis
pregnancies.
— We Were Born Ready. The California
Catholic Conference (CCC) launched this
campaign in June, seeking to “empower,
equip, mobilize” and provide resources to
California Catholics facing crisis pregnancies:
WeWereBornReady.com.
— Options United. Options United is an
umbrella for all the pregnancy resource
centers in Southern California, connecting
pregnant women with medical care, insurance,
food, housing, baby items, childcare,
and more: OptionsForPregnancy.com or
call 877-398-7734.
— Women Deserve Better. This website
has tips for health, housing, parenting, education,
and career advice for new parents:
WomenDeserveBetter.com.
(Oct. 2-7), students in LA’s Catholic
schools studied Church teachings on
life and dignity and discussed practical
ways to build a “culture of life” in
their communities.
Vides’ team also is working to spread
awareness among Hispanic Catholics.
The archdiocese’s largest Latino parish,
St. Emydius Church in Lynwood,
will host an informational meeting on
Prop 1 on Oct. 21. Similar Spanish-language
sessions are also planned
at St. John the Baptist Church in
Baldwin Park and St. Patrick Church
in North Hollywood, on Oct. 18 and
20, respectively.
Gov. Newsom has positioned himself
as a national leader for the expansion
of abortion access. His marketing
campaign, which includes billboard advertisements in
states like Mississippi, has come under fire for what many
perceive as its blasphemous use of the words of Jesus
Christ. At least one of Newsom’s abortion ads quotes the
Gospel of Mark, “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is
no greater commandment than these.”
CCC head Kathleen Domingo called it “unconscionable
that these ads distort Scripture to support abortion.”
“To advertise in other states for women to come to
California to have their children killed — in the name of
God — is demonic,” said Catholic League president Bill
Donohue.
Molly Sheahan, associate director for Life and Family
Advocacy for the CCC, said the measure’s $200 million
budget for expanding abortion services could better be
Molly Sheahan, associate
director for Life and
Family Advocacy for
the California Catholic
Conference, has been
crisscrossing the state
to rally support against
Prop 1 on behalf of
the state’s bishops.
| DIOCESE OF ORANGE
12 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

used on supporting families in a state where surging costs
of living are pushing people into despair and even homelessness.
“How coercive of the state to say we will pay for your abortion,
along with your flight, hotel, childcare, gas money,
but if you want to welcome your child you’re on your own,”
said Sheahan. “How much more
money will be spent on abortion with
Prop 1?”
Sheahan has been crisscrossing
the state from San Francisco to San
Diego. Just days prior to the walk, she
spoke at the annual priest convocation
in the Diocese of San Bernardino,
where Day One was dedicated to life
issues and coincided with the novena.
Father Benedict Nwachukwu-Udaku
helped set aside time for the entire
group to pray a rosary for life.
“It was very moving,” said Father
Nwachukwu-Udaku, pastor of Sacred
Heart Church in Rancho Cucamonga.
“Seeing all of us priests coming
together to recite prayers on the
behalf of life, for the petition of life, it
brought a lot of tears to my eyes.”
Father Nwachukwu-Udaku wants
his parishioners to be equally moved,
and has added a shrine to the unborn
inside the church. Other priests in
the Inland Empire are also getting creative with visual aids.
Missionary Society of St. Paul Father Juan Martin Escobedo,
pastor of St. Joseph Church in Fontana, had a giant
rosary built and strung around the sanctuary. Parishioners
are being asked to wear blue, a pro-life color in some Latin
American countries.
Sheahan credits parishes for doing a good job getting the
word out with pew cards and bulletin announcements.
While a UC Berkeley poll shows registered voters favor the
measure, Sheahan points to a recent Rasmussen poll that
found that most Californians are against late-term abor-
California’s Catholic bishops
have criticized Prop
1’s promotion of abortion
as extreme, expensive,
and unnecessary.
| DIOCESE OF ORANGE
tions. She believes “there is a strong
path to victory.”
If not successful, the state’s bishops
say they’ll continue to promote resources
for pregnant women through
programs like “We Were Born Ready.”
But Sheahan said she’s concerned
the measure will expand abortions in
low income, minority, and immigrant communities, where
women already are often pressured into abortions.
“Privileged people push abortion on low-income women,
seeing it as a solution for their struggles. It’s patronizing,
it’s ignorant, and it’s wrong,” said Sheahan. “Low-income
women are far more likely to say they do not want to have
abortions than their wealthy counterparts.”
Coryna (last name withheld for privacy) said she was one
of those women. The young mother gave her testimony at
the Christ Cathedral event, recalling the abortion pressure
she experienced. Ultimately she “chose to parent” and
credits a pregnancy center for making that possible.
“As a single mom who didn’t have $75 in her bank
account, a free pack of 18 diapers just brought me hope,”
explained Coryna. “Today I’ve been married four years and
have two more beautiful children.”
Father Juan Martin Escobedo had a giant rosary strung around the sanctuary of St. Joseph Church in Fontana for Respect
Life Month this year. | SUBMITTED PHOTO
Lori Loy had her own reason for coming to the walk.
“I lost a son when he was a baby and he’s still so precious
to me,” said Loy, a parishioner at La Purisima Church in
Orange. “Whatever you do, keep the baby or give the baby
up for adoption, just choose life.”
Natalie Romano is a freelance writer for Angelus and the
Inland Catholic Byte, the news website of the Diocese of
San Bernardino.
Editor-in-Chief Pablo Kay also contributed to this story.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 13

WANTED: Catechists for LA
As ministry leaders assess the impact of COVID on religious education,
parishes pray that more new catechists step forward.
BY TOM HOFFARTH / PHOTOGRAPHY BY VICTOR ALEMÁN
Kenneth Arguelles has been a
catechist in the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles for more than 20
years. But in the process of learning
how to teach others, he’s learned a lot
more about himself.
The 60-year-old parishioner of St.
Mary Church in Palmdale was part
of a group of certified catechists
officially commissioned last month
at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the
Angels following four years of studies
at Loyola Marymount University and
the Catholic Bible Institute.
His mission as a catechist is a busy
one, now including Bible study on
Thursday nights on Zoom; Order of
Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA)
classes on Monday nights; and first
Communion classes on Wednesday
nights.
“My spirituality is much more developed
and life has more joy in it today
because of the gifts I received from
our Church as a certified catechist,”
said Arguelles, who by day works for
the Los Angeles County Assessor’s
office as a real property appraiser in
the Antelope Valley.
Arguelles traces his vocation as a
catechist back to an encounter more
than 20 years ago with Flor de Maria
Luna, then the director of religious
education at St. Mary and now catechist
formation coordinator for the
entire archdiocese.
Arguelles was first certified as a
catechist in 2006, then as a master
Kenneth Arguelles (second
from left, in blue) at this year’s
Catechist Commissioning
Ceremony at the Cathedral
of Our Lady of the Angels
Sept. 11.
catechist in
2019 following
a three-year
formation
program.
Today, he’s part
of a team that
meets on Saturdays
to develop certified catechists in
the Antelope Valley and the rest of the
San Fernando Pastoral Region.
Not all are officially certified, since
pastors ultimately decide how catechesis
is given and who gives it in
each parish. The Catechist Formation
Ministry estimates that about 95% of
the more than 1,500 active catechists
in the archdiocese are female. The
average catechist age is about 55.
14 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

Luna admitted the recent pandemic
saw a notable number of older
catechists decide to step back from
ministry work. Connecting catechists
with children, teens, adults, and new
converts across various programs
became more difficult.
But following the worst of the pandemic,
Luna said her office is working
to identify people’s needs and “ways to
accompany them.”
Giovanni Perez, the archdiocese’
coordinator of catechistic formation
in Spanish for the last 10 years and a
catechist for 30 years, sees not only
a need for new English and Spanish-speaking
catechists, but also those
in Korean, Chinese, and Vietnamese,
plus a growing population of Indigenous
Mayan communities.
“I remember the first message that
Pope Francis sent in 2020 — from a
crisis like a pandemic, one comes out
either better or worse, but we’re not
the same,” said Perez, who lives in
Whittier and attends Dolores Mission
Church in Boyle Heights.
“We as a Catholic community in
general are coming out much better
equipped to address the needs of the
people in the 21st-century reality.
Technology is only one part of it. The
whole paradigm has changed. It has
asked that families be more involved.”
But when it comes to the technology
part, the pandemic seems to
have inspired some fresh creativity
in catechists like Monalisa Hasson.
The catechist at St. Joseph Church
in Hawthorne who taught in public
schools for 30 years, she created a
free website (GoodNewsCatechist.
com) to help fellow catechists get on
board with simple things like lesson
planning.
“I struggled so much at the beginning
I thought it would be good to
create a clearinghouse of resources,”
said Hasson.
She recently completed two faith
formation and catechist preparation
programs offered through the archdiocese:
One Faith, One Mission
(OMOF) and Vision and Skills for
Faith Formation (VSFF). Now back
in the classroom for the second year
in a row, she sees COVID as an event
that unexpectedly “brought us together
to meet each other’s needs through
unconventional means.
“Zoom helped me engage more with
parents, to chat about things they were
facing,” said Hasson.
But Hasson believes the effects of
pandemic-induced isolation on young
people — apprehension, hesitancy,
social awkwardness — calls for
catechists to spend more time in the
“pre-evangelization stage of getting to
know our students.”
“In many ways, I believe we have to
take a step back from teaching facts to
learning about our students in order to
activate an interest in learning about
Jesus with the heart, mind, and soul,”
she said. “This becomes the true
evangelization.”
Likewise, Ernesto Vega, coordinator
for adult faith formation in Spanish,
sees “pros and cons” to the consequences
of the pandemic on religious
education.
“We just had to keep figuring out
how we as a ministry could keep
making things interesting by virtual
means,” said Vega. “That includes, in
that spirit of missionary discipleship,
to build bridges with the pastors and
brother priests so we become one
larger team.”
Vega has found using Facebook and
Instagram effective in recruiting new
catechists on the parish level, but
an overwhelming percentage come
through personal relationships that
lead to recommendations by a friend
or a pastor.
As Luna outlined in a recent essay
on AngelusNews.com, it is those
personal relationships that in turn
form the true foundation of effective
catechesis.
“The programs feel more like retreats
than ‘educational’ learning,” said Cara
Crosetti, business
Giovanni Perez (left)
and Flor de Maria
Luna (right) with newly
certified catechists,
including Monalisa
Hasson (second from
right), after the Sept. 11
Catechist Commissioning
Ceremony celebrated
by retired Bishop Gerald
Wilkerson.
manager and
coordinator for
adult initiation
formation at Our
Lady of Sorrows
in Santa Barbara.
“I have learned
so much about
how God speaks
to us in our day,
how to connect
with him at a
deeper level and
how to share this
with others.”
Crosetti, who received OMOF
certification in 2021 and is now in the
Advanced Ministry Studies program,
said she’d recommend the archdiocese’s
programs to anyone considering
the calling to be a catechist.
“I think we need more catechists in
our world, and this is a call to all who
love their faith and seek to share it,”
said Crosetti. “Every religious education
program needs someone and
you’ll find your love for Our Lord will
grow more deeply by sharing it with
others.”
Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning
journalist based in Los Angeles.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 15

Cynthia Jones-Campbell and Father Patrick Mullen of Padre Serra Church
in Camarillo address priests at Presbyteral Day Sept. 26. | SIMON KIM
Ready for reconciliation
Priests serving in the LA Archdiocese reflected on the sin of
racism at their annual Presbyteral Day gathering.
BY PABLO KAY
When Father John Maria Vianney
arrived in the U.S. from
his native India more than 20
years ago, the welcome he received was
not always a warm one.
In one of his first assignments in
the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, an
“all-English-speaking parish,” he
recalled the day his new pastor showed
him the cleaning supplies used in the
restrooms.
“People love seeing you clean the
toilets on Sunday,” Father Vianney
remembered the pastor telling him.
“I thought when I left India, I was escaping
from the caste system in India,”
said Father Vianney, now pastor of
Miraculous Medal Church in Montebello.
“And then I come here … and
you end up with another challenging
time.”
Father Vianney’s experience was one
of several shared at the annual Presbyteral
Day gathering Sept. 26, where
priests serving in the Los Angeles Archdiocese
spent an afternoon reflecting
on racism in the Church.
The Archdiocesan Task Force on Racism,
formed last year by Archbishop
José H. Gomez, led the reflection. The
LA task force is similar to those formed
in other California dioceses as part of
a statewide initiative launched in 2020
by the state’s Catholic bishops.
“I don’t think you have much to fear
from most Catholic people,” when it
comes to addressing the sin of racism,
task force coordinator Msgr. Timothy
Dyer told the nearly 500 priests
gathered in the Cathedral of Our Lady
of the Angels conference center. “I
think most of our Catholic people will
respond well to a conversation that
begins in prayer, self-reflection, and a
lot of listening.”
Father Richard Vega, pastor of St.
Frances of Rome Church in Azusa,
spoke about the discrimination he
faced dating back to his time as a
seminarian for his skin complexion
— despite being born to American
parents of Latino descent in Southern
California.
“As I went forward, one of the things
I recognized is that for some I’m too
brown, for others, I’m too white,”
said Father Vega of his first years of
priesthood. “The reality is I straddle
two worlds. For some, the skin tone
indicates one style of life. For others, a
very foreign way of life.”
Priests also heard from several lay task
force and committee members during
16 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

the gathering.
Cynthia Jones-Campbell of Padre
Serra Church in Camarillo was joined
by her pastor, Father Patrick Mullen, as
they explained how the upheaval that
followed the George Floyd protests in
the summer of 2020 led them to work
together and form a racial justice task
force.
“Anger can change minds and hearts,
but sometimes it entrenches them,”
said Father Mullen, recalling the mood
of those months.
Parishioners initially met via Zoom
to talk freely about the challenges of
the moment, including raising their
families during the time of heightened
unrest and strained race relations.
“We weren’t content at the end that
we had done enough,” Father Mullen
said. “So we began a whole series of
opportunities for parishioners to open
their minds and hearts.”
The anti-racism work at Padre Serra
the priests on the conference stage by
leading them in singing songs of healing
and unity, including “We Are the
World,” a bestselling anthem originally
produced as part of a 1985 all-star celebrity
effort to raise money for African
famine relief.
Afterward, Msgr. Dyer introduced the
children to Archbishop Gomez outside
the conference center and led them
in a special prayer and blessing for his
ministry.
Some of those offering reflections expressed
hope that the Gospel can help
Catholics transcend racial prejudices
and differences.
Father Tesfaldet Asghedom, pastor
of Sacred Heart Church in Lincoln
Heights, came to the U.S. from his native
Eritrea to study for the priesthood
in the early 1980s. Despite various
experiences of racism, he said he felt
welcomed by Black Catholic and Latino
communities in Los Angeles and
Students from LA Catholic schools pray over Archbishop José H. Gomez in the cathedral conference center. | PABLO KAY
is ongoing, Father Mullen explained,
and Jones-Campbell now serves on the
archdiocesan task force.
With Msgr. Dyer’s guidance, the task
force gave priests an action plan aimed
at helping them work for racial reconciliation
in their parishes, through
education, dialogue, and group prayer.
To date, 15 “pilot parishes” throughout
the archdiocese have worked with
the task force to begin racial justice
ministries; there are also seven Catholic
elementary schools participating in
a pilot program.
At the end of the Presbyteral Day
meeting, several dozen students from
four local Catholic schools surprised
other parts of the U.S., where he served
as a Combonian missionary before
eventually becoming an archdiocesan
priest in Los Angeles.
He compared God’s command
to Moses in the book of Exodus to
remove his sandals on sacred ground to
his experience ministering to different
ethnic communities and parishes.
“For me the African American, the
Hispanic, the Asiatic, the Anglo, the
African … are holy grounds that need
my respect and attention, when they
allow me to enter their holy ground,”
said Father Asghedom.
Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of Angelus.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 17

Youth process at the opening Mass of the National Catholic
Youth Conference at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on
Nov. 18, 2021. | CNS/JOHN SHAUGHNESSY, THE CRITERION
NCYC
comes to
the LBCC
The country’s largest
Catholic youth
event will open a
new chapter when it
debuts in Long Beach
next month.
BY EVAN HOLGUIN
Over the last decade, the National
Catholic Youth Conference
(NCYC) — the largest Catholic
youth event in the United States —
has made itself at home in the centrally
located city of Indianapolis every two
years.
Now, by planting a foot on the West
Coast, the event is expanding in more
ways than one: For the first time ever,
the gathering will take place in Long
Beach this fall, marking the start of a
new schedule that will turn NCYC
into an annual conference, alternating
between the two cities.
Organizers say the reasoning behind
the move west seeks to expand coastal
participation, given that most years typically
saw less than 1,000 participants
from the West Coast.
“We had seen for a number of years
that participation for those living
on the West Coast was challenged,
primarily because of finances,” said
Christina Lamas, executive director of
the National Federation for Catholic
Youth Ministry (NFCYM).
According to Dayrin Perez, coordinator
of youth ministry for the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles, the idea came
from Los Angeles Archbishop José H.
Gomez after attending the event in
Indianapolis.
“Our delegations in the past have
been small due to travel costs,” said
Perez. “Having NCYC here in Long
Beach makes it much more accessible
and affordable.”
To make the cost of this year’s NCYC
— which will take place at the Long
Beach Convention Center — even
more affordable for teens in Los
Angeles, the Dan Murphy Foundation
provided scholarships to parishes and
Catholic schools to support conference
attendance. So far, more than three
18 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

times the usual number of Archdiocese
of Los Angeles attendees have signed
up.
Those attending expect the standard
fare for NCYC — stadium Masses,
dynamic speakers, breakout sessions,
and service opportunities — but with a
California twist.
“I do have to say that there has been
a lot of intentional efforts in building
NCYC in Long Beach to be reflective
of the community, of the cultures that
are represented on the West Coast,”
said Lamas, who is based in Washington,
D.C., but grew up in Los Angeles.
“That has been very intentional in all
the programming, and I think you’ll
see that come forth in the workshops,
in the main stage.”
It’ll also show up in the conference’s
“villages,” or interactive exhibits
that engage students with hands-on
activities ranging from Catholic social
teaching to open mics, and music from
four-time Grammy award-winning
Christian pop duo For King + Country.
And for Perez, the timing of this event
is more important than ever.
“One of the things that we have
learned coming out of the pandemic
Christina Lamas, executive director of the National
Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry. | CNS/COURTE-
SY NFCYM VIA THE CRITERION
is that teens aren’t going to believe
what we tell them,” she said. “They
need to experience it for themselves
so that they can believe it. We can tell
them every day that they are beloved
children of God. Until they experience
that love in some way, nothing is going
to change.”
That experience is what is intended to
make the entire process — which usually
involves travel, admission fees, and
time off from school or work — worth
it for high-schoolers seeking something
new in their spiritual lives.
“So often our young people feel
alone, feel the pressures of school and
life in general,” Perez said. “NCYC is
a safe space. It’s a space where you can
be with people and feel welcomed,
loved, appreciated, like you belong.”
Sometimes, it is also a place for
challenge and growth. Lamas likes to
tell the story of last year’s 2021 NCYC
in Indianapolis, where she had been
scheduled to give a short, 15-minute
address to attendees. But she ultimately
decided that the high-schoolers in
attendance would be more interested
in hearing from one of their own. So
she worked with two teens — one boy
and one girl — and prepared them to
take her spot.
“I turned it over to them,” Lamas
said. “It was such a powerful moment.
… The young woman who joined me
onstage from that point on was able
to go back into her home diocese and
continue sharing. She was invited to
different parishes. She was invited to
share her testimony with her diocesan
paper.”
The young woman is one of the
members of the National Youth Advisory
Committee, a panel of 12 young
people and four adults who provide
insight and guidance to NFCYM.
Though the pope has sent a written or
video message to attendees at previous
NCYCs, this year he agreed to meet
with the Youth Council Oct. 12 in
Rome, where he presented a message
to NCYC for the representatives to
deliver on his behalf.
“I look forward to sharing my experiences
with not only my peers and
parish but also at NCYC this November,”
said Julia Zerbes, Youth Council
representative, last month. “I hope the
stories I share will open people’s hearts,
minds, and souls to the many possible
things Christ can do for everyone.”
Registration to NCYC is $320 for
general admission, or $280 for NFCYM
members, with scholarships available
for those facing financial hardship. To
register or find more information, visit
ncyc.us.
Evan Holguin is a writer originally
from Santa Clarita now living in Connecticut.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 19

POSSIBILITIES
on the PERIPHERIES
Vatican watchers have long talked up the
prospect of the next pope being African.
An Asian may be a better bet.
BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
ROME — In the run-up to at least
the last two papal elections, speculation
swirled on many fronts,
with one of the most popular talking
points being whether a candidate from
Africa was a live possibility.
For whatever reason, the prospect of a
“black pope” seems to excite the global
imagination, even though Catholic
insiders may insist that we’ve actually
had a “black pope” for centuries in the
person of the Superior General of the
Society of Jesus, i.e., the Jesuits.
Whenever the next conclave may
occur, the question is likely to present
itself again: Could there be an African
pope?
For whatever such guesswork is worth,
here’s my answer: Of course an African
pope is possible, but right now, if you’re
trying to think outside the box, I’d say
Asia is a better bet. Let’s begin with the
“of course an African’s possible” part.
Just as the election of St. Pope John
Paul II in 1978 shattered the Italian
monopoly on the papacy, the choice of
Pope Francis in 2013 ended the era of
the European hold on the Throne of
Pope Francis talks with Cardinal Albert Malcolm
Ranjith of Colombo, Sri Lanka, during an audience
with pilgrims from Sri Lanka after a Mass in St. Peter’s
Basilica at the Vatican in 2014. | CNS/PAUL HARING
Peter. In an era of social mobility and
instantaneous communication, the
pope could come from anywhere.
In the abstract, many cardinals probably
would find the idea of electing an
African attractive. It would be a vivid
demonstration of the Church’s solidarity
with the developing world, it would
be a powerful statement against racism,
and it would also be a recognition
of the growth and dynamism within
African Catholicism.
The problem, as ever, is that one
doesn’t elect popes in the abstract.
You need a concrete, flesh-and-blood
candidate, and looking around today,
it’s not clear who that would be. The
African favorite the last time around,
Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, is
now retired from his Vatican post as
prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting
Integral Human Development.
20 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

Similarly, Cardinal Robert Sarah of
Guinea is also gone as prefect of the
erstwhile Congregation for Divine
Worship. While Cardinal Turkson
would appeal to progressive cardinals
and Cardinal Sarah to conservatives
looking for a course correction, it’s not
clear either man could command a
two-thirds majority.
Many of the other African cardinals
aren’t sufficiently well known outside
their own contexts, such as Cardinal
Fridolin Ambongo of Congo or Cardinal
Antoine Kambanda of Rwanda.
Granted, that could change if enough
time passes between now and whenever
the next election takes place.
However, even if a conclave were to
happen today, there are several Asian
cardinals who’d probably be on the “A
lists” of many papal handicappers.
To begin with, there’s Cardinal Luis
Antonio “Chito” Tagle, currently
co-leader of the new Dicastery for
Evangelization. Cardinal Tagle was
also considered a candidate last time
around, but a decade ago he was in his
mid-50s and many cardinals may not
have been in the mood for another
long papacy. Today he’s 65, and
he’s also perceived as a charismatic,
popular public figure, a personally
humble man who would charm the
world. Broadly speaking, Cardinal
Tagle would appeal to the “continuity”
vote in the next conclave, meaning
cardinals who want to continue the
Congolese Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa.
| CNS/REMO CASILLI, REUTERS
approach of Pope Francis.
The major question mark about
Cardinal Tagle probably is whether
he’s strong enough for the job, given
his “nice guy” persona. On the other
hand, after a decade of what’s been perceived
as an extremely decisive papacy,
a candidate who might augur a bit
more calm, and thus less turbulence,
could be attractive.
Next up is Cardinal Malcolm
Ranjith of Sri Lanka, who turns 75 in
November.
He has extensive Vatican experience,
having served in the Congregation for
the Evangelization of Peoples, as the
pope’s nuncio to Indonesia and East
Timor, and then as secretary for the
Congregation of Divine Worship. He
also studied in Rome at the Urban University
and is proficient in Italian. That
background would appeal to cardinals
who believe that one of the next pope’s
main tasks will be continuing the
reform of the Roman Curia launched
by Pope Francis.
Cardinal Ranjith would be a strong
candidate among more conservative
cardinals. In Rome he was known as
the “little Ratzinger,” in part for his
short physical stature but also due
to his perceived closeness to Pope
Benedict XVI. He also gets high marks
for his leadership of the Church in Sri
Lanka during that country’s various
political crises.
One also has to consider Cardinal
Charles Bo of Myanmar, who turns
74 on Oct. 29. He’s got experience of
the global Church as a member of the
worldwide Salesian order, and enjoys
the respect of his fellow prelates in Asia
who elected him as president of the
Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences
in 2018.
Choosing Bo also would be a statement
of solidarity with persecuted
Christians around the world, since the
Church in Myanmar faces a whole
series of restrictions and challenges, as
Cardinal Charles
Bo of Yangon,
Myanmar,
and Cardinal
Luis Antonio
Tagle of Manila,
Philippines in
2018. | CNS/
PAUL HARING
well as a recognition of Cardinal Bo’s
shrewd maneuvering in the wake of
the country’s military coup. Although
Catholics are a tiny minority in Myanmar,
Cardinal Bo has emerged as
the country’s most important religious
voice.
As an outside possibility, there’s also
Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik of
South Korea, currently head of the
Vatican’s Dicastery for Clergy. He’s
the first Korean to head a Vatican
department, and an old Rome hand
after studying at the Pontifical Lateran
University. He’s also got an international
base of support as a close friend of
the Focolare movement.
Cardinal You Heung-sik isn’t as familiar
as the other three Asians mentioned
above, but as head of the Dicastery for
Clergy he’s got ample opportunity to
win friends and influence people.
So, to sum up: If the question simply
is whether an African pope is possible,
then the answer is “sure.” If you’re
looking for a realistic Third World runner,
on the other hand, you may want
to look a bit farther east.
John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 21

DIOCESE OF ORANGE
Catholicism and feminism:
A turning point?
These Catholic feminists believe the
movement doesn’t need to depend on
things like abortion, contraception, or
gender theory to achieve its goals.
BY ELISE ITALIANO URENECK
22 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

For as long
as it’s existed,
feminism
has been a
thorny topic for
Catholics to talk
about. Debates
within the movement
about its
goals — and how
to achieve them
— have exposed
both areas of
agreement and
disagreement
between Church
teaching and
feminism.
Elise Italiano Ureneck. | CNS
In his 1995
encyclical “Evangelium
Vitae” (“The Gospel of Life”), St. Pope John Paul
II weighed in, calling for a “new feminism,” which would
“affirm the true genius of women” and transform “culture
so that it supports life.” Where are we today?
Interestingly, the contours of those debates are changing
in surprising ways. The recent Supreme Court Dobbs decision,
new evidence of the grim consequences of the sexual
revolution, and emerging questions about gender identity
all suggest a turning point.
Three fresh voices — Erika Bachiochi, Abigail Favale,
and Leah Libresco Sargeant — are among those arguing
for a pro-life, sex-based feminism built on appreciation for
and accommodation of sexual difference, the acceptance
of the body rather than liberation from it, and community
over autonomy. Angelus contributing editor Elise Italiano
Ureneck recently spoke with them about their work. Their
conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Elise Italiano Ureneck: How do you define feminism?
Should a Catholic be a feminist?
Abigail Favale: A good baseline definition has two parts:
first is a belief in the equal dignity of men and women;
second is a belief that there are significant social forces undermining
that dignity. I draw on the work of Edith Stein,
who said that a consequence of a fallen world is that the
dynamic of harmony and communion between men and
women has been disrupted into one of domination. Catholic
feminism seeks to correct that dynamic of domination
through the help of grace.
Leah Libresco Sargeant: The place where Catholic
feminism might diverge from mainstream feminism is that
we don’t believe women are interchangeable with men,
which a sexist world asks of us. If we take male norms as
the default, women have to compete in ways that cut across
who we are — bodily, spiritually, and physically. Catholic
feminists want a world for women to be in the world as
women.
Erika Bachiochi: It’s helpful to think about our similarities
and differences with men on three levels.
One is our shared human nature and dignity, which is
oriented toward excellence. That involves the use of our
reason, growth in virtue, and sanctity. The second is our
sexual difference, which impacts every single cell in the
body. In the Catholic vision, the Incarnation reveals how
special, important, and unique the body is. The third is our
individuality — who we are as a particular instantiation of
a human woman. This is important for anti-discrimination
law — the fact some women and men have gifts that are
different from those which tend to correlate with their
particular sex.
All three of these things need to be kept in tension and
harmony when thinking about what feminism is.
Ureneck: All three of you have argued that many “givens”
of feminism work against its goals: individualism,
autonomy, casual sex, contraception, abortion — and in
some circles, the inclusion of biological men who wish
to be treated as women. Your vision for feminism is gaining
traction with surprising audiences, like New York
Times readers. What’s changing?
Sargeant: I see
two key factors at
play. One is the
Dobbs decision.
The Supreme
Court didn’t
make abortion
legal, nor did it
make it illegal.
It made it a
question that gets
fought about on
the state level.
Now, pro-lifers
can’t be marginalized;
they have
to be argued
with. And it
Leah Libresco Sargeant. | COURTESY IMAGE behooves people
to spend a little
time finding out what they think and why.
Second, people are confronting that the sexual revolution
has been unsatisfying, and they’re wondering about the
people who predicted its deficiencies for so long.
Bachiochi: The marketplace, educational institutions,
and public settings have prioritized the autonomous
individual so much that women who pursue educational or
career goals have had to mold themselves as men.
Younger generations of women are wondering whether
that race for material gain or prestige provides real meaning.
Many women say that they want more children, but
they’re wondering why they can’t be a mom and work at
the same time.
Last, more and more young women can’t find mates to
marry because of the pornography epidemic. And now
they’re competing against men in their athletic events.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 23

All of this means they’re looking for answers that liberal
feminism can’t give them because it’s articulated on the
grounds of autonomy.
Favale: We’re witnessing the logical and sometimes
absurd conclusions of ideas that have been in the feminist
mix for decades, including suspicion toward femaleness
and reluctance to settle on a shared understanding of
woman.
“Woman” is used in a nominal way, as a cultural idea
that someone can step in and out of, a political word that
doesn’t signify anything real. Why does something like that
need a movement to defend its dignity? Women who’ve
grown up in a pornified
culture want
some ground to
stand on to protect
their dignity.
Sargeant: I love
that question
— ”What is the
foundation you are
standing on?” As more characteristics of womanhood are
argued away, it seems like the only thing it means to be a
woman is to be the victim of sexism. Without downplaying
the seriousness of confronting sexism, that’s not a satisfying
account. I wouldn’t cease to be a woman in a world where
sexism was wholly resolved. That account lacks a positive
articulation of what it means to be a woman.
Ureneck: What’s the best argument for a sex-based
feminism, one that does not rely on abortion or contraception
to achieve its ends?
Favale: When I
talk about abortion
and contraception,
I make
the pro-woman
argument, which
catches people
by surprise. I
point out that
the freedom
feminism has
promised sets
them at war with
their own bodies.
It says they need
to function as
much like a man
as possible in
Abigail Favale. | COURTESY IMAGE
society.
We should be
changing society to accommodate the realities of childbirth,
pregnancy, and lactation, not asking women to
change their nature. Centering feminism on contraception
and abortion reveals a fundamentally biased account
toward the male way of being.
Sargeant: Pro-lifers share a goal with those who are prochoice:
reproductive justice. But our system is not just, and
those who oppose us know it. One choice — abortion — is
much more supported than the choice to have children.
You see that in companies that pay for travel for abortions
or egg-freezing but don’t give substantial maternity
benefits or leave. You see it in the push for long-acting
reversible contraceptives like IUDs, which means not having
children is the default. And they argue the best thing
we can do for poor, nonwhite women is to foreclose the
possibility of them having children instead of supporting
them in having the children they want.
Bachiochi: It’s helpful to look at the unequal consequences
when men
and women engage
in the same sexual
act. It’s not only that
women get pregnant
and men don’t.
There’s a hormonal
asymmetry, too:
Testosterone makes
men more likely to want casual sex, and estrogren and
oxytocin facilitate the need for women to bond. But our
society is biased toward the male experience. We say that
because men can walk away from unexpected pregnancy,
women should be able to. Men should be able to seek
the corner office without being encumbered. So women
should, too.
Women have long argued for a different response to these
asymmetries — that men should be responsible, present
collaborators in caring for the children they create, that
they should be deeply encumbered just as the woman is.
That would make for a virtuous cycle, where men and
women take responsibility for their actions rather than escaping
them. And that’s just better for everyone’s happiness
as well. When you present an alternative argument, people
respond.
Sargeant: Just to be clear, when we say we want to burden
men, it’s not part of a war of women against men. It’s
that men don’t know who they are without these burdens.
Being light and unencumbered doesn’t leave us freer. It
leaves us shapeless, directionless. That’s why we see so
many men leaving the workforce, falling into drug use or
succumbing to deaths of despair. To a real extent, men are
asking, “Who needs me?” and feel like the answer is “No
one.” They deserve a better answer.
“The feminist movement in all its waves has
been responding to real societal problems.
But sometimes the solutions they offered
made those problems worse.”
Ureneck: You’re all well-versed in secular feminist
scholarship and have praised its best contributions to
the discourse on women’s dignity. What would you say
to people who might blame feminism for the issues that
men are facing?
Favale: When John Paul II first talks about the “new
feminism,” he says that we need a feminism which does
not simply replicate masculine modes of domination. One
could argue that in some ways feminism has replicated
those dynamics. But it would be a mistake to say that feminism
invented them.
24 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

The feminist movement in all its waves has been responding
to real societal problems. But sometimes the solutions
they offered made those problems worse. I would point to
the sexual revolution more specifically as a root cause, as
well as industrialization, which took men out of the home
to begin with. That created a split sphere of work and
domesticity that is somewhat novel historically. Feminism
plays into that separation.
Bachiochi: Right, men left the home to seek their own
economic independence, yet they were dependent on
capitalism. And women responded by seeking their own
economic independence. I read something in a new book
by Richard Reeves, “Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern
Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters and What to Do about
it” (Brookings Institution Press, $28.99), on this. He writes
that we didn’t realize that once women sought economic
independence from men — and so could choose not to be
with them at all — how much men would suffer because
of how emotionally dependent they were upon women.
That’s where a new feminism sees if one rises the other
can rise, and if one falls the other falls.
Sargeant: I’ll also put some blame on a particular error
that’s very prevalent in America broadly, and thus in all
American movements — that sense that we find ourselves
through independence and should be suspicious of all
constraints. It comes up in feminism, but it’s not a particular
problem of feminism. It’s the fact that we think about
freedom as freedom from people or things who have a
claim on us, not freedom to act rightly, having a particular
path cleared for us.
Ureneck: What can the Church do to make it easier to
live out Catholic teachings on life, sex, and marriage?
Sargeant: The Church should set the standard for how
to support parents in the workplace. I know the economics
can be hard to work out, but that’s why the Church should
set a model of how to make them work. It could be a guide
star for businesses.
Last, Catholics
should hear about
NFP well before
they sign up for
pre-Cana [marriage
courses], and parishes
should be natural
places for people to
share their needs.
Favale: The complementarity
of men
and women should be seen at higher levels of ecclesial
administration, which doesn’t require ordaining women.
Pope Francis has begun to do this, but there’s more we
could do. There are ways of thinking with the Church’s
tradition on increasing complementarity. Cardinals don’t
have to be priests. Maybe we could have a female cardinal.
Or we could look to the male and female communities
that were part of medieval monasticism. They had a powerful
synergy between them which we’ve sort of lost.
Erika Bachiochi. | EPPC
Bachiochi: One
thing that would
help would be
making it very
ordinary for
men to talk to
other men about
fatherhood, even
in the office.
Along those
same lines we
should see more
babies on college
campuses. I’m
an advocate of
babies at work
generally. Having
babies around
more often is just
a really good,
practical thing.
Erika Bachiochi, J.D., is a legal scholar at the Ethics
and Public Policy Center and a senior fellow at the Abigail
Adams Institute, where she founded and directs the
Wollstonecraft Project, which guides and supports scholarly
engagement of questions of sexual equality and freedom
from a “sex realist” position. Her most recent book is
“The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision” (Notre
Dame University Press, $35). She and her husband have
seven children.
Abigail Favale, Ph.D., is a professor at the McGrath
Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame,
writing and teaching on topics related to women and
gender from a Catholic perspective. Her most recent book
is “The Genesis of Gender: A Christian Theory” (Ignatius
Press, $17.57). She and her husband have four children.
Leah Libresco
Sargeant is a
writer and speaker
focusing on faith,
feminism, and
community-building
whose writing
has appeared in
The New York
Times and First
Things. Her most
recent book is “Building the Benedict Option: A Guide
to Gathering Two or Three in His Name” (Ignatius Press,
$16.95). Her Substack, “Other Feminisms,” is written “for
women who are an uncomfortable fit with present-day
feminism.” She and her husband are raising two daughters.
“The marketplace, educational institutions,
and public settings have prioritized the autonomous
individual so much that women
who pursue educational or career goals have
had to mold themselves as men.”
Elise Italiano Ureneck is a communications consultant
writing from Rhode Island.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 25

WITH GRACE
DR. GRAZIE POZO CHRISTIE
Literacy as a mission
Many children don’t take to
reading like ducks to water. A
kindergartner or first-grader
sitting at his desk in a crowded classroom,
or in a circle at his teacher’s
feet, is just as likely to be mystified as
he is to be illuminated by her earnest
reading demonstrations.
There are letters that correspond to
sounds that, when in certain combinations,
make words some of the
children know. But for other kids,
like my fourth child, the mystery was
nearly impenetrable.
By early second grade, the “whole
language” pedagogy favored by educators
had failed him, as it does so many
children. I was lucky enough to know
what he needed, having learned to
SHUTTERSTOCK
read English as a second language in
middle school. I understood that the
old-fashioned phonetic approach was
his only way into the complexity of
the written word. He needed to learn
how to “decode” the complicated
English relationship between sounds
and the order of letters.
I rummaged through our bookshelves
for our Bob Books, short and
colorfully illustrated, each one working
on a consonant/vowel/consonant,
and then variations, slow and orderly.
Every evening, tired after a long day of
work, driving, housework, and other
children’s homework, I would set a
30-minute timer and slowly drill the
combination of letters that produced
certain sounds into his brain. By the
clock, as it slowly ticked away the
time, I would point to each page and
say, “Try it again.” And then, “Try it
again.”
Slowly the Bob Books sank their phonetic
roots into his recalcitrant brain.
The gray cells in his head were stubborn,
though. I would sound out the
letter “T” in tip, tot and top, making
the hard first noise sound against my
teeth. “Teh, teh, teh,” I would utter
directly into his ear. “Teh, teh, teh,” I
would repeat obediently.
I would make him trace the little t
and the big T and touch the tip of his
tongue to the roof of his mouth, just
posterior to his new front teeth. The
triumph of “He’s got it!” would, two
minutes later, give way to crushing disappointment
when the word tot again
posed a complete mystery to him.
“What sound does this make?” I
would beg. He would look at the
word, puzzlement growing into anxiety
and then desperation. He wanted to
please me. He knew that somewhere
in his foggy head was the answer. I
couldn’t always hide the tears in my
eyes when after a long session he
again forgot the sound that “T” made.
Through months of persistence and
heroic efforts on my son’s side, phonetics
finally dawned on him. There
was a system in the madness. There
were words that he could learn, words
that came up again and again, like
“the” and “and.” There were words
that he had never seen but now could
decipher. Sound by sound, tripping
tongue and meeting lips, ahs, ehs
and ees could be strung together and
make the magic of words.
Those words would make the magic
of sentences. And the sentences would
make the magic of stories, where boys
26 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie is a mother of five
who practices radiology in the Miami area.
and girls did heroic things and slew
dragons, or just caught fish. By the
time fourth grade came around, he
was at the top of his class and reading
long chapter books. The mystery of
other worlds was open to him. Each
book was a door to a reality far from
his.
Of course, all that patient work didn’t
just help launch him into the delight
of literature and poetry. It helped
him open every door on the way to
academic achievement and professional
success, a world of unlimited
possibilities.
In today’s fast-paced, technologically
dizzying world, it’s no secret that early
literacy tracks closely with the metrics
of human flourishing: College enrollment
and graduation rates, income
level, entrance into the middle class,
and even incarceration rates are all
impacted by the ability to read proficiently
in third or fourth grade.
The evil news is that too many
children fail to read at school level,
including 52% of Black fourth-graders
and 45% of Hispanic fourth-graders.
These pre-COVID numbers are surely
more dismal now, in the wake of
lockdowns and remote learning. If the
racial divide on prosperity and stability
disturbs you — and it should — consider
that American schools’ failure to
teach our children to read is growing
that divide every day.
Those children who don’t have
a mother or father to step into the
breach are at the mercy of “the
system.” Perhaps there are patient
second-grade teachers who don’t have
their own children waiting for them to
come home, who can spend the extra
time with the boys and girls like my
son — but I don’t imagine there are
many.
Let’s hope that school systems across
the country find their way back, somehow,
to fulfilling what may be their
most important mission.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 27

NOW PLAYING DON’T WORRY DARLING
LIVING IN A MAN’S WORLD
Whatever point ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ is trying to make
about the 1950s, something doesn’t add up.
BY JOE JOYCE
Florence Pugh and Harry
Styles in “Don’t Worry Darling.”
| ROTTEN TOMA-
TOES/WARNER BROS.
The United States is perhaps the
last empire still within living
memory of its Golden Age. The
sun set on the British long ago and the
Greeks have been quite literally resting
on their laurels for a few thousand
years.
But America sits within shouting
distance of the postwar boom, close
enough for it to shout back. Our
country is haunted by the 1950s like
no other decade. The dividing line
through the American heart isn’t the
Mason-Dixon, but rather the debate
over if the 1950s are something to run
to or run from.
“Don’t Worry Darling,” the latest
from director/actor Olivia Wilde, is no
exception to this obsession. The story
follows the young married couple of
Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry
Styles, whose appearance earned a
rousing standing ovation from a row
of teen girls at my screening). They
and their neighbors live in the edenic
company town of Victory, run by the
mysterious Frank (Chris Pine).
As this is the 1950s, the men drive off
to work at Frank’s top-secret company
while the wives stay at home to cook,
clean, and otherwise refrain from
abstract thought. All except for Alice,
of course, who begins to pick up on
incongruences in her perfect life.
It wouldn’t be too much of a spoiler
to reveal that there’s a dark underbelly
to this suburban paradise. When was
the last time there was a movie about
the 1950s that wasn’t about the seedy
undercurrent beneath the facade?
It would be more of a shock to see a
positive depiction of consumerism
28 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

and emotionally distant parenting. In
a not-so-shocking twist, Alice uncovers
that Victory is a virtual reality town,
where husbands wipe the memory of
their wives so they can live in a world
where the patriarchy is in full swing. I
know, stop the presses.
Still, the brazen predictability of the
story here raises a far more interesting
question, not about gender roles, but
rather the aesthetics of traditionalism.
The current battle for America’s soul
has bogged down into trench warfare,
with neither side conceding an inch.
As a result, the war has shifted to more
frivolous battlegrounds, particularly
the field of aesthetics: both right and
left try to wring meaning out of the
polyester, believing there is something
inherently good or evil in what
amounts to a mound of fabric.
The film is correct in its diagnosis
that there are plenty of men who think
tradition comes from aesthetics, rather
than aesthetics reflecting established
virtues.
The men of the story have done
nothing to deserve their wives’ respect;
they feel it is owed to them. If there
is a crisis of masculinity these days, it
comes from trying to reconcile that
the respect once obligated must now
be earned. The literal retreat by the
men of Victory reflects the spiritual
retreat some men make of old-fashioned
dress-up, hiding from the world
instead of working to change it. I’ve
seen many a man’s pained expression
as he coughed on a pipe, smoking not
out of desire but to follow the furrows
of masculinity already cut before him.
Director Wilde hints more at this
with her villain, Frank, who appears
to be modeled after popular psychologist
and conservative speaker Jordan
Peterson. Like Peterson, Frank attracts
a following of directionless men, adrift
in a society that has no real need for
them. Frank often speaks in Petersonian
axioms, the substance of which
matters less than the conviction he
inspires in his devotees.
Peterson, of course, is far more constructive
and less murderous in his advice,
but the parallels seem deliberate.
A declared agnostic, Peterson speaks
favorably of Christ but sees more use
in the teachings of Jesus than any
divine considerations. Peterson sees
religion and tradition as tools for a
good life, merely means and not ends
in themselves.
The other side of the coin is just
as disordered, treating traditional
aesthetics as a black magic totem.
Throughout history, numerous articles
of clothing have become symbols of
female oppression. There are hardly
any positive correlations with the corset,
and there is a horrifying chance
that your mother burned a bra in her
day.
But that each era needs a new symbol
of subjugation suggests that the
evil never lay in these articles of clothing,
but in a shifting system outside of
it. The patriarchy is crafty and blends
well into whatever age it finds itself
in. After all, there were a lot of men
in the audience of those liberating bra
burnings.
By treating mantillas and dresses past
the knee as the chains of misogyny,
they are granted a power they never
asked for, and credit where men never
tried. The male sex is not dictating
fashion; we can barely stay awake
while we wait for you outside the
dressing room.
The corset was made by women and
for women, and the slander against it
is technically misogynist. Even as Wilde
paints this 1950s world as a male
fantasy, her
camera lovingly
Chris Pine as Frank in trails up and
“Don’t Worry Darling.” down Alice’s
| ROTTEN TOMATOES/ many dresses. If
WARNER BROS. it is a cage, even
she must admit
it’s gilded.
If there is a lesson here, it’s that there
is no lesson. Traditional aesthetics
don’t impart any meaning beyond
their own beauty; the only thing worse
than burdening them with sociopolitical
purpose is to burden them with
purpose at all. Beauty is a gift from
God, and the best gifts are useless. So,
if you insist on swilling your glass like
Don Draper, have the decency to kill
your liver simply for the pleasure of it.
Joe Joyce is a screenwriter and freelance
critic based in Sherman Oaks.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 29

DESIRE LINES
HEATHER KING
The perfect sense of transubstantiation
SHUTTERSTOCK
“For some extraordinary reason, there is a fixed notion that
it is more liberal to disbelieve in miracles than to believe in
them. Why, I cannot imagine, nor can anybody tell me. For
some inconceivable cause a ‘broad’ or ‘liberal’ clergyman
always means a man who wishes at least to diminish the
number of miracles; it never means a man who wishes to
increase that number.”
— G.K. Chesterton, “Orthodoxy”
The Church teaches that “the Eucharist is ‘the source
and summit of the Christian life.’ ” Without transubstantiation,
Christ is but a symbol. The Crucifixion
and Resurrection are but metaphors. Communion is virtual
reality, not the real body and blood of Our Lord.
Yet a 2019 Pew Research Center survey found — distressingly,
astoundingly — that under a third of U.S. Catholics
believe that “during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine
actually become the body and blood of Jesus.”
“Transubstantiation” is defined by the Catechism as “the
change of the whole substance of bread into the substance
of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine
into the substance of his Blood. This change is brought
about in the eucharistic prayer through the efficacy of the
word of Christ and by the action of the Holy Spirit. However,
the outward characteristics of bread and wine, that is
the ‘eucharistic species,’ remain unaltered” (CCC 283).
As with Mary’s question to the angel Gabriel in Luke
1:34, “How could this be?”
But coming into the Church as a recovering alcoholic, for
me transubstantiation made perfect sense.
For almost two decades before getting sober I had been in
total bondage. I craved a drink 24/7. My life was ordered
to its smallest particularity around alcohol. There was no
possible way I could have gone from that state to one day
at rehab, over 36 years ago now, realizing that the obsession
to drink had simply lifted. I was the same person, yet
interiorly completely different. I was no longer slave to a
malign master.
I hadn’t yet converted but I remember thinking, Oh,
this is like the resurrection of Christ or Mary giving birth
without ever having slept with Joseph. The transformation
couldn’t have happened — and yet it had.
And because it had, I reflected upon it in the ensuing
months and years from every angle. Clearly, it had been
put in motion by something or Someone greater than me.
I’d tried to stop a thousand times myself; the results had
been nil.
Still, a miracle is no fairy tale. I hadn’t gotten better-looking,
or skinnier, or younger; I hadn’t won the lottery.
The transformation was psychological and spiritual. My
center of gravity had shifted. My organizing principle had
changed.
I couldn’t have effected the change myself, but neither
did it occur against my will. It was as if on some deep subconscious
level I had given permission. I had said Mary’s
yes without knowing, as she didn’t, what the yes might
mean.
Moreover, not only could the transformation not have
happened, it really couldn’t have happened if I’d had to
have first done something to deserve it.
Whatever had happened to me, in other words, was an act
of total grace and mercy.
I was welcomed back to the human table: no questions
asked; no account demanded or given. That came later
— though even then, Christ never demanded it. Instead —
30 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

Heather King is an award-winning
author, speaker, and workshop leader.
another miracle — he led me to the Church.
So why does it matter whether we believe that, in transubstantiation,
the bread becomes the real body of Christ? For
those of us who do believe, what does it mean? How does
our belief manifest in our daily lives?
Reality becomes shot through with an added dimension.
The kingdom of God becomes like yeast, all through the
loaf (Matthew 13:33). We begin to see all of life as an ongoing
journey of death and resurrection.
The fierce, self-giving love that arises in the heart of a new
mother on fire with Christ is a kind of transubstantiation.
The courage that nerves us to stand up for our faith in the
face of public censure and ridicule is a kind of transubstantiation.
The patient endurance that keeps us at our posts
out of fidelity and obedience, however unglamorous those
posts may be, is a kind of transubstantiation. Our outward
species remains unchanged, but inwardly we’re being continually
transformed.
A priest friend asks the rhetorical question: “How do you
know it’s God?” Answer: Because it’s too good to be true.
That the thing is too good to be true doesn’t mean it brings
euphoria, success, or peace as the world knows peace.
The consent to the crucifixion of our own identities,
desires, and wills opens the way to tremendous suffering in
service to love.
That suffering becomes the point and purpose of our
existence. And the Eucharist assures us that our love — all
evidence often seeming to the contrary — bears abundant,
everlasting fruit.
“To pick up a pin for love can convert a soul,” observed
St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Christ’s sacrifice on Mount Calvary
could convert the whole world, if only the world would
consent to it.
“At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into
his Passion,” runs the eucharistic prayer. Praying for miracles,
may we enter ever more willingly into ours.

LETTER AND SPIRIT
SCOTT HAHN
Scott Hahn is founder of the
St. Paul Center for Biblical
Theology; stpaulcenter.com.
The psalms’ deepest meaning is Christo-clear
Sixth in a series on the Book of Psalms.
Among Christian commentators, the
overwhelming conviction is that the story
of the “Psalter” is christological: the “Psalter,”
they say, is about Jesus Christ.
Said St. Pope John Paul II in the first of his
series of reflections on the psalms (March 28,
2001): “The Fathers of the Church emphasized
that the mystery of Christ is the key to understanding
the psalms. In the psalms we contemplate
the saving deeds of God in creation and
history. They speak not only of the individual
person of Christ but of the total Christ, composed
of Christ the head and the members of his
body.”
This is the conviction of a majority of the
Fathers of the Church, including St. Justin
Martyr, St. Cyprian, St. Hippolytus, Origen, St.
Athanasius, Eusebius, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose,
St. Augustine, Cassiodorus, and many others.
St. Augustine went so far as to say that Psalm 22
alone “describes [the Passion of Christ] with all
the evidence of a Gospel.” Jerome held that certain
psalms could be held as true of no one else
but Jesus Christ. The Second Council of Constantinople
denounced the prominent exegete
Theodore of Mopsuestia precisely because he
denied the messianic content of certain psalms.
This early christological reading finds further
confirmation in the texts of the most ancient
liturgies. In the patristic era, Psalm 34 — with
the refrain, “Taste and see the goodness of the
Lord” — was almost universally employed as a
Communion hymn.
And the christological reading was hardly a
passing fad. Centuries after the age of the Fathers, St. Thomas
Aquinas deemed the “Psalter” to be “almost Gospel.”
The christological reading of the “Psalter” fell on hard
times, however, in the 19th and 20th centuries, when the
historical-critical method was ascendant among academics.
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, for example,
devoted 30 pages of small print to the psalms without ever
mentioning tradition’s overwhelmingly christological interpretation.
Scholars have their reasons, of course,
for rejecting the tradition. Put simply:
many think it wrong to read Christian
theology back into pre-Christian
Jewish texts. Some go so far as to say
that a christological interpretation does
violence to the original authors’ intentions.
“St. Augustine,” by
Philippe de Champaigne,
1602-1674, French. |
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
In the weeks ahead, I’ll address two of the most common
objections to the traditional consensus.
32 • ANGELUS • October 21, 2022

■ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14
Marriage Encounter Weekend. Mater Dolorosa Passionist
Retreat Center, 700 N. Sunnyside Ave., Sierra Madre, 7
p.m. Weekend runs until 4 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 16. Couples
stay at the Retreat Center for the entire weekend. This
retreat is for spouses who wish to rediscover the person
they first fell in love with. For more information and to
apply, visit sacramentallove.org, or call 909-938-2682.
■ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15
Alleluia Dance Theatre, Trust in the Lord! Holy Spirit Retreat
Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. With
Stella Matsuda, Marti Ryan, and Emmalyn Moreno. For
more information, visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784-4515.
Jesus in the Holy Eucharist Retreat. Pauline Books & Media,
3908 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Led
by Sister Patricia Shaules, FSP, retreat will reflect on Jesus’
presence in the Eucharist. Donation: $30, includes lunch.
Call 310-397-8676 or email culvercity@paulinemedia.com
to register.
■ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16
International Thomas Merton Society Chapter Meeting.
Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino,
2-4 p.m. Hosted by Sister Chris Machado, SSS. For more
information, visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784-4515.
Diaconate Virtual Information Day. The Diaconate
Formation Office invites all interested in joining the diaconate
program to learn more. Email your name, parish, and
pastor’s name to Deacon Melecio Zamora at dmz2011@
la-archdiocese.org. Presentations will be in English and
Spanish.
■ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18
Three Evenings in Narnia, Introducing C.S. Lewis and the
“Chronicles of Narnia.” Padre Serra Church, 5205 Upland
Rd., Camarillo, 7 p.m. Series runs Oct. 18 and 25, with Paul
Ford examining the wisdom and genius of C.S. Lewis. For
more information, email teresa@padreserra.org.
■ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19
“What Catholics Believe” weekly series. St. Dorothy
Church, 241 S. Valley Center Ave., Glendora, 7-8:30 p.m.
Series runs Wednesdays through April 26, 2023. Deepen
your understanding of the Catholic faith through dynamic
DVD presentations by Bishop Robert Barron, Dr. Edward
Sri, Dr. Brant Pitre, and Dr. Michael Barber. Free event, no
reservations required. Call 626-335-2811 or visit the Adult
Faith Development ministry page at www.stdorothy.org for
more information.
MCA Youth Appreciation Mass. Cathedral of Our Lady of
the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 10 a.m. Mass
in recognition of members of the Missionary Childhood
Association. For more information, visit lacatholics.org.
■ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21
Priests vs. Seminarians Soccer Game. Junipero Serra
High School, 14830 S. Van Ness Ave., Gardena, 7-10 p.m.
Support vocations in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at
the first annual priests vs. seminarians soccer game.
Carmelite Nuns Auxiliary Holiday Luncheon and
Boutique. Holy Family Msgr. Connolly Hall, 1501 Fremont
Ave., South Pasadena, 10:30 a.m. boutique and social
hour, 12 p.m. luncheon. Treasure sale, nuns’ specialty
breads, nuts, handmade items, plants, and holiday gift
items. Cost: $35 donation per person. RSVP to Kathy Cardoza
by Oct. 13 at 626-570-9012. Send checks payable
to Cloistered Carmelite Nuns Auxiliary to 710 Lindaraxa
Park South, Alhambra, CA, 91801.
■ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22
19th Annual Harvest on the Hill featuring “Sister’s Back
to School Catechism.” Mater Dolorosa, 700 N. Sunnyside
Ave., Sierra Madre, 4 p.m. Interactive theater “The
Holy Ghost & Other Terrifying Tales” brings laughter and
spooky fun to Mater Dolorosa. Outdoor evening includes
Mass, social, dinner, performance, live auction, and raise
your paddle. Overnight accommodations available. Reservations
required. Cost: $150/person, adults only. Visit materdolorosa.org/harvest-on-the-hill
or email Jeane Warlick
at jwarlick@materdolorosa.org or call 626-355-7188, ext.
103, or email Rachel Ramirez at rramirez@materdolorosa.
org or call 626-355-7188, ext. 130.
Halloween Costume Ball: Italian Catholic Club of Santa
Clarita. Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish hall, 23225
Lyons Ave., Santa Clarita, 6-10 p.m. Evening includes
Italian dinner, complimentary wine, DJ, dancing, costume
contest, and door prizes. Cost: $40/person. To RSVP, mail
payment to The Italian Catholic Club, 23045 Lyons Ave.,
Santa Clarita, CA 91321, by Oct. 17, call Anna Riggs at
661-645-7877, or email italians@iccscv.org.
Barnafest: Annual St. Barnabas Parish Festival.
St. Barnabas Church, 3955 Orange Ave., Long Beach,
4 p.m. vigil Mass, 5-10 p.m. festival. Food, silent auction,
games, entertainment, beer garden, raffles, and more.
Visit stbarnabaslb.org for more information.
■ SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23
Annual Mass for Healthcare Professionals. Cathedral of
Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles,
3:30 p.m. Celebrant: Archbishop José H. Gomez. Reception
immediately following in the cathedral conference center.
RSVP at lacatholics.org/event/white-mass/.
■ WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26
Red Mass. Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W.
Temple St., Los Angeles, 5:30 p.m. Celebrant: Archbishop
José H. Gomez, homilist: Cardinal Wilton Gregory. Mass
honors judges, lawyers, legislators, and legal professionals.
LACBA Family Law Clinic. Zoom clinic for LA County
veterans will cover child support, child custody, divorce,
and spousal support, 2-5 p.m. Registration required. Call
213-896-6537 or email inquiries-veterans@lacba.org.
■ FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28
St. Agatha Church Fall Festival. St. Agatha Church, 2646
S. Mansfield Ave., Los Angeles, 4-10 p.m. Saturday, 3-11
p.m, Sunday, 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Live music, international foods,
car raffle, and festival rides. For more information, call 323-
382-2788 or 323-935-8127 or email marisol.p.gonzalez@
gmail.com or pastorcenteroffice@gmail.com.
■ SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29
Día de Los Muertos Community Day. Calvary Cemetery,
4201 Whittier Blvd., Los Angeles, 12 p.m. Mass will be celebrated
by Msgr. John Moretta from Resurrection Church,
and livestreamed on LA Catholics social media. Procession
and blessing of altars to follow Mass. Music and folklorico
dance begins at 1:30 p.m. Visit catholiccm.org/diadelosmuertos
for more information.
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.
October 21, 2022 • ANGELUS • 33