Angelus News | August 25, 2023 | Vol. 8 No. 17

ANGELUS 

HOME 

AND 

AWAY 

From LA to Lisbon, 

youth get up close 

to Christ 

August 25, 2023 Vol. 8 No. 17

August 25, 2023 

Vol. 8 • No. 17 

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ON THE COVER 

OSV NEWS/BOB ROLLER 

Pope Francis waves alongside young people as he arrives 

to lead a prayer vigil during World Youth Day at Campo 

da Graça in Park Tejo in Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 5. 

On Page 10, Angelus details how teenagers and young 

people in LA went to great lengths both near (City of 

Saints) and far (World Youth Day) to seek an encounter 

with God and find answers to their lives. 

THIS PAGE 

ALEX SALCEDO 

The Blessed Sacrament travels through downtown Los 

Angeles near Skid Row as part of a special Eucharistic 

procession organized by the archdiocese’s Vocations 

Office, Sisters Poor of Jesus Christ, and Friars Poor 

of Jesus Christ. Dozens of religious, workers, and volunteers 

participated in the early-morning procession 

while performing outreach to those experiencing 

homelessness.

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 

18 

20 

22 

26 

28 

30 

At this year’s C3 Conference, eyes and ears were on artificial intelligence 

A cancer diagnosis spurs a healing trip to the water of Lourdes 

John Allen: When World Youth Day and Catholic politics don’t mix 

How an atheist painter designed the exquisite Vence Chapel in France 

Greg Erlandson: Division in the Church can extend to how we worship 

‘Peter Pan,’ Steven Spielberg, and the loss of innocence at the movies 

Heather King on what it really means to be a woman in this world 

August 25, 2023 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH 

Nothing is free in life 

(The following is adapted from the Holy 

Father’s vigil with young people at World 

Youth Day, Aug. 5) 

The Virgin Mary traveled, in order 

to visit Elizabeth: “Mary set 

out and went with haste.” Mary 

does something that was not asked of 

her and that she did not have to do. 

Mary goes because she loved, and 

“whoever loves flies, runs and rejoices” 

(The Imitation of Christ, 3.5). That is 

what love does to us. 

Instead of thinking about herself, 

Mary thinks of the other. Why? 

Because joy is missionary. Joy is not 

just for one person, it is for sharing 

something with others. 

You who have come to meet others, 

to find Christ’s message, to find life’s 

beautiful meaning: will you keep all 

this for yourselves or will you share 

it with others? Surely it is for sharing 

with others, because joy is missionary! 

Yet, this joy we have, others have 

helped us to receive it. Each of us, 

if we cast our minds back, can recall 

those who have been rays of light 

in our lives: parents, grandparents, 

friends, priests, religious men and 

women, catechists, youth leaders, 

teachers. They are the “roots” of our 

joy. 

The joy that has come to us, thanks 

to these roots, is what we in turn ought 

to share, because we have roots of joy. 

In the same way, we too can be roots 

of joy for others. 

Joy is not to be found in a locked 

library, even though study is necessary. 

It is not kept under lock and key, but 

must be sought, must be discovered. 

It has to be found in dialogue with 

others, where we share these roots of 

joy that we have received. 

Do you believe that those who fall 

in life, who have experienced failure, 

who even commit serious or grave 

mistakes, that their lives are over? No! 

So what are they to do? They are to 

get back up! And when we see any 

friends of ours who have fallen, what 

are we to do? Lift them up! 

When we see any friends of ours who 

have fallen, what are we to do? Lift 

them up. To do so, we look down on 

them. That is the only time we are allowed 

to look down upon others: when 

we are offering to help them up. 

In order to accomplish things in life, 

we have to train ourselves to journey 

on. Sometimes, we do not feel like 

carrying on, like making the effort. 

In life, we cannot always do what we 

want, but we must do what leads us to 

respond to the vocation we sense deep 

within us — and everyone has their 

own vocation. Keep on walking. And 

if we fall, we get back up, or someone 

will help us get back up. Let us not remain 

fallen, and let us train ourselves, 

in order to keep moving forward. 

There are no courses that can teach 

us how to journey in life. Instead we 

learn, we learn from our parents, our 

grandparents, we learn from friends, 

giving each other a helping hand. We 

learn about life and that trains us in 

how to journey onward. 

Nothing is free in life, everything has 

to be paid for. 

Only one thing is free: the love of 

Jesus! So, with this free gift that we 

have — the love of Jesus — and with 

the desire to carry on the journey, let 

us walk in hope. Let us be mindful of 

our roots, and move forward, without 

fear. Do not be afraid. 

Papal Prayer Intention for August: We pray the World Youth 

Day in Lisbon will help young people to live and witness the 

Gospel in their own lives. 

2 • ANGELUS • August 25, 2023

NEW WORLD OF FAITH 

ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

From glory to glory 

The Church is forever young, 

always being renewed in the 

Spirit in every age. 

I thought about that as I watched the 

beautiful spectacle of 1.5 million young 

people praying and worshiping with 

Pope Francis at World Youth Day in 

Lisbon, Portugal. 

Many young people from our parishes 

made the pilgrimage to be with the 

Holy Father in Lisbon. 

More than 700 others joined me back 

home for our annual City of Saints 

teen conference held at UCLA. It was a 

joyful, glorious weekend. 

I led a Eucharistic procession with our 

youth through the UCLA campus, celebrating 

the joy we have in our mission 

of bringing Jesus to our world. We held 

Eucharistic adoration to offer praise to 

Jesus and to bring him our prayers for 

our families and the world. 

We also invited our young people to 

describe their love for the Mass on social 

media, and there was time, too, for 

some fun and games where we shared 

our love for Jesus. 

Whenever I am with our young people 

I come away filled with hope for the 

Church’s future. 

In a culture of technology and endless 

media, where we are told that happiness 

is about having many things and pursuing 

lifestyles based on entertainment 

and pleasure, our young people know 

that there is so much more to life. 

Our young people understand that 

they are made for greater things, for 

holiness, for what St. Paul called “the 

glorious freedom of the children of 

God.” 

The Church’s mission is to walk with 

them and to reveal to them that “something 

more,” the greater things that God 

made them for. 

In God’s Providence, both World 

Youth Day and City of Saints fell this 

year on the feast of the Transfiguration. 

The Transfiguration is the answer to 

all the big questions — what does our 

life mean, what are we here for, and 

why and where is it all heading? 

The answer is that we are made to be 

transfigured, just as Jesus was changed 

on that mountain top and his face 

shone like the sun and his clothes were 

turned into dazzling white light. 

Jesus loves us for who we are, but he 

never leaves us where we are at. He 

is always calling us to go higher, to 

become the men and women that we 

are made to be, according to his plan 

for our lives. 

In the Gospels, he uses the word 

“repentance.” It is a call to be changed, 

transformed — transfigured — in his 

image. 

The Catechism says, “The vocation 

of humanity is to show forth the image 

of God and to be transformed into the 

image of the Father’s only Son.” 

The key word here is “vocation.” That 

means that our lives have this purpose, 

this calling, this destiny. We are made to 

be transformed in his image, to become 

more and more like Jesus. 

St. Paul said, “All of us, gazing with 

unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, 

are being transformed into the same 

image from glory to glory.” 

This is the promise that Jesus makes to 

each of us, and this is the promise that 

we are called to share with our young 

people. 

Belief is a challenge, in every age and 

in every society. 

In our age of science and technology, 

young people — all of us — are confronted 

with questions: Did God really 

create the world; did he really make us? 

Did he really enter into our history and 

live among us as a man? How can we 

know that any of this is really true? 

There is only one answer. 

At the end of the story of the Transfiguration, 

the apostles are face down on 

the ground, overwhelmed by what they 

have seen and heard. 

The Gospel says, “When the disciples 

raised their eyes, they saw no one else 

but Jesus alone.” 

Jesus alone can tell us the truth about 

our lives. Jesus alone can show us 

the way to happiness and the way to 

heaven. No one else knows the answer. 

No one else knows the way. 

That is the message that we need to 

bring to our young people. Jesus made 

each of us out of love, and died for each 

of us out of love. And now he wants to 

walk with us, to be our friend — to be 

our best friend — our companion, in 

the journey of life. 

His path alone is true, and where it 

The Church’s mission is to walk with young people 

and reveal to them the greater things that God 

made them for. 

leads there is nothing but love, the love 

that never ends. 

Pray for me and I will pray for you. 

May holy Mary our mother help all of 

us to be transformed more and more in 

the image and likeness of her Son. And 

may she help us to always be good witnesses 

and faithful guides to our young 

people as they seek Jesus and the truth 

of their lives. 


WORLD 

■ Mexico: Bishops to create plan for 

families of ‘disappeared’ children 

Bishops in Mexico have announced an effort to create a 

plan to spiritually support mothers of children who have 

“disappeared.” 

The Archdiocese of Mexico announced its aim to provide 

spiritual accompaniment for families of disappeared 

persons, with plans to extend the ministry through the 

Mexican bishops’ conference. The plan could include 

the creation of listening centers, posting the names of the 

disappeared in the church, and having each parish offer at 

least one Mass for the disappeared, Acero said. 

To be disappeared often means the children have been 

abducted — by organized crime, rebel groups, or other 

means — and unable to be confirmed alive or dead. 

“I take to myself the mothers’ fight for the lives of their 

children, even if they do not know where they are, even if 

they are dead, and their faith, because it is the only thing 

that sustains them, faith,” Auxiliary Bishop Francisco Javier 

Acero told ACI Prensa. 

Humanitarian crisis — Supermarkets in Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh have 

near-empty shelves amid a regional food shortage. Catholic aid workers say the 

shortage is the result of a monthslong blockade in the Lachin corridor linking 

Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, an Armenian-populated enclave surrounded by 

Azerbaijan. | OSV NEWS/COURTESY SIRANUSH SARGSYAN, VIA ONE MAGAZINE 

■ India: Priest’s 

homily on 17thcentury 

king 

causes controversy 

A Catholic priest in 

Goa, India, was accused 

of “hurting Hindu sentiments” 

during a Sunday 

Mass in July. Father 

Bolmax Pereira, a priest of 

St. Francis Xavier Church 

in Chicalim, called the 

17th-century king Chhatrapati 

Shivaji Maharaj 

“a national hero but not a 

god” in a homily that was 

A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj 

sits at the Gateway of India monument in 

Mumbai, India. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

posted on YouTube. The video was shared among Hindu 

nationalist groups, which publicly protested and demanded 

his arrest. 

Pereira said his remarks were shared out of context. 

“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was revered by people 

across the country and abroad cutting across religions, 

castes, creed, languages. Hence, attributing him (Shivaji 

Maharaj) to only one religion would reduce his stature and 

greatness among the people of other faiths,” he said in a 

statement. 

The controversy with Pereira is the latest sign of growing 

unease among Catholics in Goa. In June, Chief Minister 

Pramod Sawant said that “the time has come to wipe 

out signs of the Portuguese and have a fresh start,” which 

Catholics have interpreted to mean Christian churches 

and institutions. 

■ Blind pilgrim said she regained 

her sight at World Youth Day 

A 14-year-old girl from Spain traveled to World Youth Day 

in Portugal practically blind. She said she’s returning being 

able to see again. 

The girl, Jimena, lost 95% of her sight due to myopia 

when she was 11. In a viral video message originally sent 

to friends and family, Jimena announced that she had 

regained her sight Aug. 5, the feast day of Our Lady of 

the Snows and the same day Pope Francis led a rosary in 

Fátima for sick young people. She said after completing a 

novena to Our Lady with her classmates, she went to Mass 

and received Communion. 

“When I opened my eyes I saw perfectly!” she said in the 

video. “I started crying a lot because it was the last day of 

the novena … I asked God very much [for this], and when 

I opened my eyes, I saw perfectly.” 

Church leaders in Spain will investigate before officially 

declaring it a miracle. 


NATION 

An aerial view shows the community of Lahaina on Aug. 10 after wildfires driven by 

high winds burned across most of the town. | OSV NEWS/MARCO GARCIA, REUTERS 

■ Catholic Charities Hawaii takes 

donations for Maui victims 

The island of Maui continues to feel the aftermath of the 

devastating wildfires that began on Aug. 8 and destroyed 

much of the Lahaina community, with hundreds dead, 

injured, or displaced. 

Catholic Charities Hawaii has worked to help those affected 

find access to food, shelter, services, and counseling. 

The organization continues to accept donations to assist in 

its rescue efforts at catholiccharitieshawaii.org/maui-relief. 

In a telegram, Pope Francis offered his condolences and 

prayers. “His Holiness also offers the assurance of prayers 

for the dead, injured and displaced, as well as for the first 

responders and emergency personnel. As a sign of his 

spiritual closeness, the Holy Father willingly invokes upon 

all the people of Maui Almighty God’s blessings of strength 

and peace,” the telegram said. 

■ Does failed ballot initiative spell 

pro-life doom in Ohio? 

After a ballot measure failed this month that would have 

raised the threshold to change the Ohio state constitution, 

pro-life advocates are preparing to fight an amendment that 

would solidify abortion rights this November. 

The measure, known as Issue 1, would have increased the 

margin to pass a change to the state constitution to 60% of 

the vote instead of a simple majority, but was defeated in 

the Aug. 8 special election. 

The vote has largely been cast as a proxy fight on abortion, 

with proponents looking to make an amendment more difficult 

to pass in the upcoming November general election. 

“We certainly did not see it as a pure proxy vote,” Brian 

Hickey, executive director of the Ohio Catholic Conference 

told Crux. “We know our work is cut out for us to 

defeat the abortion amendment in November, but we don’t 

see it as an impossible task.” 

■ San Francisco archdiocese ‘likely’ 

filing for bankruptcy 

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone revealed 

Aug. 4 that the archdiocese would “very likely” have to file 

for bankruptcy due to the “more than 500 civil lawsuits” 

that have been filed related to clerical sexual abuse. 

Following a 2019 California law that lifted the statute of 

limitations on certain sexual abuse claims, the archdiocese 

was served with hundreds of lawsuits, the majority of 

which involved accusations of abuse with priests “who are 

deceased or no longer in ministry,” Cordileone said. 

Parishes, parish activities, and schools would not be affected 

by the bankruptcy filing, Cordileone said. 

Several U.S. dioceses have resorted to bankruptcy to 

address abuse claims, including the Archdiocese of New 

Orleans, the Diocese of Oakland, and the Diocese of Albany, 

among others. 

■ Lawsuit: Catholic couple denied foster 

care over religious beliefs 

A Catholic couple has filed suit against the Massachusetts 

Department of Children and Families, accusing the agency 

of denying their application to become foster parents over 

their religious beliefs. 

Michael and Catherine “Kitty” Burke applied to become 

foster parents after struggling with infertility. Their lawsuit 

claims they were denied because the department said the 

couple “would not be affirming to a child who identified as 

LGBTQIA.” 

The rejection followed a home interview, which the couple 

alleges had an outsized focus on their Catholic faith 

and transgender ideology. 

“We were absolutely devastated to learn that Massachusetts 

would rather children sleep in the hallways of hospitals 

than let us welcome children in need into our home,” 

the Burkes said in an Aug. 8 statement. 

Michael and Catherine “Kitty” Burke of Massachusetts are pictured in an undated 

photo. The Catholic couple allege they were denied the ability to participate in 

the state’s fostering/adoption program due to their religious beliefs. | OSV NEWS/ 

COURTESY BECKET 


LOCAL 

The newly reconstructed Our 

Lady of Guadalupe School 

in Hermosa Beach has won 

several architectural awards 

for its unique building and 

design. | PHOTO COURTESY 

ART GRAY 

■ Our Lady of Guadalupe School 

building wins architectural awards 

Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Hermosa Beach was 

recently honored as a Gold Winner from the International 

Architecture & Design Awards for its school building project 

completed in 2022. 

The building features a STEM lab, a music/arts room, 

meeting and office space, rooms dedicated for ministry, and 

outdoor gathering spaces. Some of the unique features of 

the building include a concrete elongated design, rounded 

openings in the roof for natural light, and an exposed 

ceiling in the STEM lab to reveal how utilities, framing, 

and ducting works. 

The Our Lady of Guadalupe project has also been honored 

with the BLT Built Design Awards, Titan Property 

Awards, Global Design & Architecture Design Awards, and 

Architecture & Design Collection Awards. 

The building was designed and built by Robert Kerr 

Architecture Design. 

■ Junipero Serra students send 

food experiments into space 

Five students at Junipero Serra High School in Gardena 

were chosen for a special NASA program that allows 

scholars the chance to invent new technology that might 

be used in space. 

The students — Henry Toler, Anderson Pecot, Travis 

Leonard, Christopher Holbert, and Isaiah Dunn, along 

with their science teacher, Kenneth Irvine — created a 

project around inventing edible food for space travel. The 

project was launched into space on Aug. 1 and astronauts 

on the International Space Station will be monitoring the 

experiment for one month. 

In addition to the project, the students will receive mentoring 

and after-school training from the USC Viterbi School 

of Engineering. 

“I could not be prouder of our students, who have proven 

young people can do more and be more than they thought 

possible,” said John Moran, Ed.D., Serra High president. 

■ New auxiliary bishop assignments, 

vicars announced for archdiocese 

Archbishop José H. Gomez announced pastoral region 

assignments for LA’s four new auxiliary bishops-elect and 

appointed two LA priests to leadership positions for the 

Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 

After being ordained bishops Sept. 26, Albert M. Bahhuth 

will serve as episcopal vicar for the San Fernando Region, 

Matthew G. Elshoff, OFM Cap. for the Our Lady of the 

Angels Region, Brian Nunes for the San Gabriel Region, 

and Slawomir S. Szkredka for the Santa Barbara Region. 

In an Aug. 8 announcement, Archbishop Gomez thanked 

retired LA Auxiliary Bishop Gerald Wilkerson and the 

three LA priests who have been serving as episcopal vicars 

on an interim basis: Msgr. Terrance Fleming, Father Leon 

Hutton, and Msgr. Jim Halley. 

In addition, Archbishop Gomez also announced Aug. 11 

that Father Jim Anguiano, currently vicar for clergy, will 

replace Nunes as vicar general and moderator of the Curia, 

and that Father Joel Henson, currently associate vicar for 

clergy, will serve as the new vicar for clergy. 

Folklorico in Florida — Valentina Rosas, 10, an upcoming fifth-grader at Immaculate 

Heart of Mary School in Los Angeles, danced folklorico at Disney World 

in Florida this summer. Rosas’ dance group, Thee Academy in Bell Gardens, was 

chosen as one of 15 dance academies to perform during a Magic Kingdom parade 

and at Animal Kingdom. | SUBMITTED PHOTO 

Y 


V 

IN OTHER WORDS... 

Letters to the Editor 

Barbie’s defense of equilibrium 

After watching “Barbie” in theaters, I was relieved to read Joe Joyce’s 

review in the Aug. 11 issue and appreciated that he detected a subtle 

truth revealed in it. 

As Joyce pointed out, “Barbie” doesn’t declare a winner in the battle of the sexes. 

Instead, it deftly illustrates how “machismo” parodied by the film’s “Kens” is little 

more than a reaction to the harmful elements of feminism. 

In the creators’ parody, Ken is the complement that Barbie needs to be a real 

woman. But by the end, the film cleverly makes the case that equilibrium, not 

domination, should prevail between the sexes. 

Neither men nor women have been created to be accessories for one another. 

Christianity has long proclaimed that men are men, and women are women: 

intrinsically different, but equal in dignity. 

— Amparo Gonzalez, Valencia 

Correction 

In the article “A Beacon of Hope” in the Aug. 11 issue of Angelus, the caption of 

an artist’s rendering mischaracterized the photo as what a proposed restoration of 

Wadsworth Chapel would look like. Instead, the artist’s rendering is what Wadsworth 

Chapel looked like when it was built in 1900. 

Y 

Continue the conversation! To submit a letter to the editor, visit AngelusNews.com/Letters-To-The-Editor 

and use our online form or send an email to editorial@angelusnews.com. Please limit to 300 words. Letters 

may be edited for style, brevity, and clarity. 

The world we build 

“Jesus has been after me my 

whole life.” 

~ Celebrity Chris Pratt, in an Aug. 2 Western Journal 

article on the actor speaking before the Dodgers’ 

Faith and Family Day. 

“All of a sudden she realized 

he was there and total fan 

girl screamed.” 

~ Kristin Stegmueller, in an Aug. 8 National Catholic 

Register article on her daughter with a rare form of 

cancer getting to meet country singer Luke Bryan. 

“Now you get a chance 

through this app to chat 

with Jesus.” 

~ Stéphane Peter, app developer, in an Aug. 7 

Religion News Service article on a new AI app that 

lets users “text” with Jesus. 

“I think someone offered 

some beef liver one time.” 

~ Katie Bird, in an Aug. 7 The Pillar article on the 

Buy Nothing Facebook group, which aims to reduce 

waste and foster community by exchanging items. 

“You were the first one to 

see your spouse as God 

sees him.” 

~ Catholic author Rachel Bulman, in an Aug. 8 

Catholic News Agency article on the Knights of 

Columbus’ Ladies Program highlighting the key role 

women play. 

Anthony Grumbine is a principal architect at Harrison Design, working in 

Santa Barbara. Grumbine spoke with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on 

architecture, the Church, and the beauty that can be found when people 

live as their full selves. | ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES 

To view this video 

and others, visit 

AngelusNews.com/photos-videos 

Do you have photos or a story from your parish that you’d 

like to share? Please send to editorial @angelusnews.com. 

“People always go away 

with a smile on their face.” 

~ Bernice Brady, with the Society of St. Vincent de 

Paul in Glasgow, in an Aug. 9 Vatican News article 

on the Catholic charity helping the Scottish city’s 

neediest people. 


IN EXILE 

FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father 

Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual 

writer; ronrolheiser.com 

The illusion of being self-sufficient 

A 

number of years ago, I attended the funeral of a man 

who died at age 90. From every indication, he had 

been a good man: solidly religious, the father of a 

large family, a man respected in the community, and a 

man with a generous heart. 

However, he had also been a strong man, a gifted man, a 

natural leader, someone to whom a group would naturally 

look to take the reins and lead. Hence, he held a number of 

prominent positions in the community. He was a man very 

much in charge. 

One of his sons, a Catholic priest, gave the homily at his 

funeral. He began with these words: 

“Scripture tells us that the sum of a man’s life is 70 years, 

80 for those who are strong. Now our dad lived for 90 years. 

Why the extra 20 years? Well, it’s no mystery. He was too 

strong and too much in charge of things to die at 70 or 80. 

It took God an extra 20 years to mellow him out. And it 

worked. 

“The last 10 years of his life were years of massive diminishment. 

His wife died, and he never got over that. He had 

a stroke which put him into assisted living and that was a 

massive blow to him. Then he spent the last years of his life 

with others having to help him take care of his basic bodily 

needs. For a man like him, that was humbling. 

“But this was the effect of all that. It mellowed him. In 

those last years, whenever you visited him, he would take 

your hand and say, ‘Help me.’ He hadn’t been able to say 

those words since he was 5 years old and able to tie his 

own shoelaces. By the time he died, he was ready. When 

he met Jesus and St. Peter on the other side, I’m sure he 

simply reached for a hand and said, ‘Help me.’ Ten and 20 

years ago, he would, I’m sure, have given Jesus and Peter 

some advice as to how they might run the pearly gates more 

efficiently.” 

That’s a parable that speaks deeply and directly about a 

place we must all eventually come to, either through proactive 

choice or by submission to circumstance: We all must 

eventually come to a place where we accept that we are not 

self-sufficient, that we need help, that we need others, that 

we need community, that we need grace, that we need God. 

Why is that so important? Because we are not God and 

we become wise and more loving when we realize and 

accept that. Classical Christian theologians defined God 

as a self-sufficient being, and highlighted that only God is 

self-sufficient. God alone has no need of anything beyond 

himself. Everything else, everything that is not God, is 

defined as contingent, as not self-sufficient, as needing 

something beyond itself to bring it into existence and to 

keep it in existence every second of its being. 

That can sound like abstract theology, but ironically it’s 

little children who get it, who have an awareness of this. 

They know that they cannot provide for themselves and that 

all comes to us as a gift. They know they need help. However, 

not long after they learn to tie their own shoelaces, this 

awareness begins to fade as they grow into adolescence and 

then adulthood. Particularly if they are healthy, strong, and 

successful, they begin to live with the illusion of self-sufficiency. 

I provide for myself! 

And that serves them well in terms of making their way in 

this world. But it doesn’t serve truth, community, love, or 

the soul. It’s an illusion, the greatest of all illusions. None of 

us will enter deeply into community as long as we nurse the 

illusion of self-sufficiency, when we are still saying, I don’t 

need others! I choose who and what I let into my life! 

G.K. Chesterton once wrote that familiarity is the greatest 

of all illusions. He’s right, and what we are most familiar 

with is taking care of ourselves and believing that we are 

sufficient unto ourselves. As we know, this serves us well in 

terms of getting ahead in this life. However, fortunate for 

The process of maturing, aging, and 

eventually dying is calibrated to 

teach us that we are not in charge. 

us, though painful, God and nature are always conspiring 

to teach us that we are not self-sufficient. The process of 

maturing, aging, and eventually dying is calibrated to teach 

us, whether we welcome the lesson or not, that we are not 

in charge, that self-sufficiency is an illusion. Eventually, for 

all of us, there will come a day when, as it was before we 

could tie our own shoelaces, we will have to reach out for a 

hand and say, “Help me.” 

The philosopher Eric Mascall has an axiom that says we 

are neither wise nor mature as long as we take life for granted. 

We become wise and mature precisely when we take it 

as granted — by God, by others, by love. 


FAITH NEAR AND FAR 

At City of Saints and World Youth Day, LA’s 

young people were in search of a transformative 

experience with God. 

BY NATALIE ROMANO AND PABLO KAY 

U.S. World Youth Day pilgrims cheer during a National 

Gathering at Quintas das Conchas e dos Lilases Park in 

Lisbon, Portugal, Aug. 2. | OSV NEWS/BOB ROLLER 


The dark night was suddenly lit 

up by candles, revealing young 

faces peaceful in prayer. 

After a jam-packed day at the City of 

Saints Teen Conference, the flickering 

votives, bearing the image of 

Blessed Carlo Acutis, signaled it was 

a time for the youth to slow down and 

share. 

Around the same time, halfway 

across the globe, Pope Francis was 

also speaking about light, asking 

young people to be a shining example 

in a sometimes dark world. 

“Dear young friends, today we too 

need something of this burst of light,” 

Francis said. “Yet, I would like to tell 

you that we do not radiate light by 

putting ourselves in the spotlight, for 

that type of light is blinding. No, we 

cannot illumine others by projecting 

a perfect, well-ordered, refined image 

of ourselves, or by appearing to be 

powerful and successful, strong but 

without light. No, we radiate light — 

we shine — by welcoming Jesus into 

our hearts and learning to love as he 

does.” 

Whether they were among the 

reported 1.5 million pilgrims who 

descended on Lisbon, Portugal, for 

World Youth Day, or the 700 teens 

and youth ministers who engaged in 

the City of Saints event held Aug. 

4-6 at UCLA, young people from the 

Archdiocese of Los Angeles exhibited 

their faith in major ways both near 

and far. 

Pilgrims in Portugal spent several 

days in both grueling travel and 

temperatures, but basking in the 

expressions of faith, prayer, and 

memorials, including Fátima and 

the audience with Francis. Parishes 

who sent pilgrim groups included St. 

John of God Church in Norwalk, St. 

Margaret Mary Church in Lomita, St. 

Paschal Baylon Church in Thousand 

Oaks, Epiphany Church in South El 

Monte, and St. John the Evangelist 

Church and Ascension Church, both 

in South LA, among others. 

Besides seeing the pope during the 

World Youth Day vigil and Mass, the 

St. John of God group was especially 

fortunate to see Francis up close 

multiple times, including once where 

he unexpectedly drove past them not 

more than 10 feet away. 

“I thought I’d come and see him 

from far away, but we were nearly 

10 feet within him,” said Dianne 

Oliva, 17. “That was really the biggest 

surprise.” 

Back in LA at the City of Saints 

event, with the motto “Be Here, Be 

You, Be God’s,” hundreds of young 

people experienced a weekend filled 

with adoration, reconciliation, Catholic 

lectures and worship music. 

“I felt a lot of relief and a lot of love 

through being here, through the people, 

and through God himself,” said 

Sidney Ramon, a parishioner of St. 

Frances of Rome Church in Azusa. “I 

feel embraced.” 

City of Saints, hosted by Archbishop 

José H. Gomez and the Office of 

Religious Education, was created so 

young people could encounter Jesus 

and strengthen their relationship 

with him. This eighth year marked 

the return of a full weekend program 

following the COVID-19 pandemic. 

During the Saturday evening Mass, 


Pilgrims with St. John of God Church in Norwalk use 

candles for an evening prayer session while in Portugal 

during World Youth Day. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. 

JOHN OF GOD 

Archbishop Gomez urged teens to 

think of Jesus as their most trusted 

friend. 

“Jesus wants to walk with you, to be 

your friend, to be your best friend, 

your companion in the journey of 

your life,” Archbishop Gomez said 

during his homily. “Listen to him 

… he will lead you to happiness and 

heaven. Isn’t that what we all want, 

happiness and heaven?” 

Sophia Reyes, 15, said this kind of 

encouragement is exactly why she 

came to City of Saints. 

“I’ve been far from 

God lately and just 

hearing the homily, 

reflecting on it, it impacted 

me,” said Reyes, 

a parishioner at St. 

Agatha Church in Los 

Angeles. “Sometimes I 

struggle spiritually and 

I need God’s guidance. 

“I’m finding that help 

and it’s nice.” 

On the event’s opening 

day, Archbishop 

Gomez led teens out 

of Mass and into a 

Eucharistic procession 

that wound through 

the university campus. Some parish 

youth groups wore matching T-shirts 

and carried signs with messages like 

“Free Hugs.” 

“We’ve come with open arms, ready 

to embrace the Lord and anyone who 

wants to join us,” said Zachary Venegas, 

a parishioner at St. John Vianney 

Church in Hacienda Heights. “This is 

my first time experiencing this and it’s 

beautiful.” 

The procession ended with adoration 

held in the event’s “Sacred Space,” a 

room filled with flowers, a decorative 

font, and pictures of holy people like 

teenager Carlo Acutis. The possible 

soon-to-be-saint was often highlighted 

during the conference because of 

his young age. After adoration, teens 

unburdened themselves by going to 

confession or writing their intentions 

on the Prayer Wall. 

In Portugal, pilgrims were also 

finding peace after reconciling their 

own struggles back at home. For Irene 

Cuevas, 19, the loss of several loved 

ones recently — including an aunt 

who helped raise her — has made the 

One of the activities for the City of Saints weekend was completing social media challenges, which 

included getting a photo with Archbishop José H. Gomez. | ISABEL CACHO 

past two years difficult. But being on 

the pilgrimage helped her to see that 

God is always with her. 

“It’s been really hard, but I’ve been 

trusting the Lord knowing that he has 

a plan for me,” Cuevas said. “And 

because he has a plan then all these 

things that have happened to me have 

been there for a reason. So I continue 

to put my faith and trust in him and 

he led me here.” 

It was not all serious at City of Saints. 

During their free time, young people 

played lawn games or competed in 

social media challenges like taking a 

selfie with Archbishop Gomez. Some 

teens even used the time for service 

by assembling bags of toiletries for the 

homeless. 

The joyful atmosphere continued 

into the evening when Worship Leader 

Francis Cabildo hit the stage and 

had the teens dancing to music while 

Master of Ceremonies Mike Patin had 

them laughing. Archbishop Gomez 

noted the jubilance as he walked out 

on stage and drew cheers when he 

said, “It seems like you’re having fun!” 

He told the crowd to embrace the 

fellowship being offered at City of 

Saints and to pray for their counterparts 

at World Youth Day with 

Francis. The archbishop reminded 

the teens they are in fact saints, even if 

they make mistakes. 

“To be a saint does 

not mean you are 

perfect,” Archbishop 

Gomez said. “It doesn’t 

mean we have it all 

figured out. It doesn’t 

mean we always do 

the right thing. No, it 

means we’re trying to 

do the right thing. 

“Look around you, 

this is what the City of 

Saints looks like.” 

The weekend’s 

keynote speakers were 

Ansel Augustine, 

D.Min., Noelle Garcia, 

Chris Padgett, Joel 

Stepanek, and Emily 

Wilson Hussem. The latter, known for 

her large following on social media, 

told the audience that the faithful are 

often called crazy and she herself was 

an outcast in college because of her 

beliefs. Her advice: Listen to truth and 

choose to see your faith as a present 

from God. 

“If I’m at holy Mass on Sunday 

thinking what a gift, what an unbelievable 

gift that I get to stand here and 

receive the Lord, it really will change 

everything,” said Hussem. “The Lord 

is the best gift-giver.” 


Archbishop José H. Gomez leads attendees 

at the City of Saints event at UCLA with a 

Eucharistic procession on Friday, Aug. 4. | 

ISABEL CACHO 

Teens at the conference said they 

know all too well that their faith 

makes them different. 

“A lot of teens don’t want to go 

to Mass. They just want to stay on 

their phones and video games,” said 

Thaddeus Maylone, parishioner at St. 

Lawrence Martyr Church in Redondo 

Beach. “But exploring Jesus will help 

you in the long run, which they don’t 

understand. I’m making sure I’m 

keeping up with Jesus.’’ 

Stepanek wants to help teens do that. 

His Saturday presentation included 

practical tips on how to follow your 

heart and be your authentic self. As 

chief mission officer for the National 

Eucharistic Congress, Stepanek said 

the youth are vital to the ongoing 

Eucharistic Revival called for by the 

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. 

As he travels around the country, he 

sees the potential for a generational 

shift back to religion. 

“Teenagers will actually revitalize 

the Church almost as an act of rebellion 

in a culture they find wanting,” 

Stepanek said. “They’re going to ask 

questions like, ‘What more is there?’ 

and I think if we’re ready with the 

Gospel and we go into apostolic 

mission, we’ll be able to capture a 

younger generation of people who are 

looking for Jesus.” 

City of Saints Coordinator Jenny 

Jackson said the archdiocese is doing 

that work. 

“We’re really rebuilding the Church 

again,” said Jackson, archdiocese 

coordinator of Youth Ministry Events. 

“It’s no longer just about sacramental 

preparation. It’s about introducing 

young people to the person of Jesus 

and how he transforms lives. We’re 

giving them opportunities like City 

of Saints to have authentic dialogue 

about faith. It’s exciting.” 

On Sunday afternoon, it was time for 

the young “saints” to pack up and go 

home. Many were tired but energized 

by the weekend’s most powerful moments. 

Sydney Ramon walked away 

with a new cross necklace and a new 

sense of hope. 

“I bought this for myself,” he said, 

looking down at the crucifix around 

his neck. “I’m going through a lot 

at home. It’s a reminder that God is 

always with me, a really big reminder 

that I’m not alone in 

this world.” 

Back in Portugal, 

Francis looked out into 

a sea of youthful faces, 

none of them alone 

in this world, and emboldened 

the youth to 

rise to the challenge. 

“As young people, 

you want to change the 

world — and it is very 

good that you want to 

change the world — 

you want to work for 

justice and peace,” 

Francis said. “The 

Church and the world need you, the 

young, as much as the earth needs 

rain. To all of you, dear young people, 

who are the present and the future, 

yes to all of you, Jesus now says: ‘Have 

no fear,’ ‘Do not be afraid!’ ” 

Natalie Romano is a freelance writer 

for Angelus and the Inland Catholic 

Byte, the news website of the Diocese of 

San Bernardino. 

Pablo Kay is the editor-in-chief of 

Angelus. 

Associate Editor Mike Cisneros contributed 

to this article. 

Pilgrims with St. John of God Church in Norwalk pray 

at Valinhos on the outskirts of Fátima, Portugal. | 

PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. JOHN OF GOD 


Rushton Hurley, the founder of the nonprofit Next Vista 

For Learning, was the keynote speaker for the in-person 

portion of the C3 Conference on Aug. 2. 

The tech effect 

Presenters at the C3 Conference emphasized how technology, especially 

AI, could provide teachable moments for students and their faith. 

BY TOM HOFFARTH / PHOTOGRAPHY BY JACOB HERNANDEZ 

For the hundreds of educators, school administrators, 

and faith leaders attending the 2023 Catholic 

Communication Collaboration, known as the C3 

Conference, discussion about artificial intelligence (AI) 

wasn’t the elephant in the room so much as the camel in 

the gymnasium. 

In other words: Get everyone over the hump. 

The two-day conference on Aug. 1-2 put on by the Archdiocese 

of Los Angeles focused on technology and innovation 

that could enhance learning for schools and ministries 

in the archdiocese. But what most people wanted to talk 

about was getting comfortable with how AI — including 


tools such as ChatGPT and Google Bard — might be 

uploaded, harnessed, nurtured, or abused. 

“Fascinating, powerful, and worrisome,” said Rushton 

Hurley, founder of the Santa Clara-based nonprofit Next 

Vista For Learning, who framed the overall AI concept 

during his half-hour keynote address titled “ChatGPT: An 

Earthquake in our Professional Land.” 

Hurley, who also presented a workshop at C3 in 2019, set 

a positive tone about AI for attendees, focusing more on 

how to better assess the practical usage of this emerging 

technology rather than as something problematic and its 

potential to manipulate and compromise basic communication 

skills — especially harmful for unwary students who 

might see it as a shortcut on their educational journey. 

Hurley, an innovation director at the Catholic college 

prep school Junípero Serra High in San Mateo and teacher 

of a purpose-driven 

class called “Creative 

Solutions for the Global 

Good,” said that as 

someone who grew up 

a Southern Baptist, he 

believes the approach 

that Catholics bring to 

education makes the 

transition to AI easier. 

“The archdiocese in 

LA has made it clear 

they have people 

here to care about 

getting others up to 

speed,” Hurley said. 

“They have worked for 

decades on that goal, 

and you saw how it was 

put to use during the 

pandemic at a time 

when it was very easy 

for a lot of districts to 

throw up their hands. 

But the archdiocese 

found a way to make 

things happen for their 

kids.” 

Topics of other technical 

innovation during 

the C3 Conference 

included new Google 

software applications, 

the launch of a new 

Catholic.Chat website 

to help answer 

faith-specific questions, 

advances in 3-D printing, 

robotics, and other STEM-related curriculum. But 

even discussions of those subjects circled back to how AI 

technology could affect their utilization. 

More than 80 sessions were offered over the two-day 

event — one day virtual featuring attendees from across the 

country, one day in person at Mary Star of the Sea High 

School in San Pedro. C3 organizers estimated some 1,200 

registered for the summit that the archdiocese has held 

annually since 2012. 

Archbishop José H. Gomez welcomed the attendees in 

San Pedro by reminding them, “We all have a responsibility 

for using these new technologies to share our faith. 

These new technologies are a means, not the end or the 

goal of evangelization. The goal in this digital environment 

is the same as the Church’s mission in every place. We 

want to move people to a real encounter with Jesus Christ.” 

John Wick, Ed.D., the principal at Holy Redeemer-St. 

James School in La Crescenta and CEO of WickEdLearning 

based in Long Beach, stressed the importance of dealing 

with AI head-on as part of the Catholic school’s ability 

to address moral responsibility with students. 

“It matters how we 

approach this because 

kids will use it whether 

we want them to or 

not, and I don’t like 

the idea of banning 

things,” said Wick. 

“Let’s address it and, as 

Catholic schools, let’s 

talk about the ethics. If 

Catholic schools can 

get ahead of it, they 

will produce students 

who effect better 

change.” 

Hurley added that 

children may default 

to seeing AI as “the 

ultimate cheating tool” 

until the guiding forces 

in their lives help them 

see how it can be used 

honorably to accelerate 

learning. 

“When we talk about 

the mechanics of tech, 

the children typically 

teach the adults,” 

said Hurley. “But the 

philosophy and perspective 

and insights 

and the larger systemic 

possibilities, that’s the 

realm of the adult. A 

Molly Bennett and Lauren Dennis of Designed for Learning have fun while posing during the kid can do what a kid 

in-person C3 Conference at Mary Star of the Sea High School on Aug. 2. 

knows and wants to 

do on a phone. Their 

creative response to the 

things we develop will dictate the ways we get further into 

the information age.” 

Emma Pass, an English language arts teacher for seventh 

and 10th grade at the hybrid PSD Global Academy in Colorado, 

noted during her session titled “Digital Citizenship 


Chris Bell presented a session titled 

“Generation AI: Human-centered 

Prompts for Modern Educators” 

during the C3 Conference on Aug. 2. 

in a World of AI, ChatGPT and Machine Learning” that 

even while terms of use for ChatGPT (13-18 with parental 

permission) and Google Bard (18 or older) may have 

restrictions, there is no age verification needed to create an 

account. She said she mostly has her students write essays 

in the classroom where she can monitor them best. 

Pass said because of the newness of these platforms, frequent 

discussions should involve students about how to be 

responsible, accountable, and transparent. 

“It’s exciting that we can be part of 

this ongoing discussion,” she said, 

reminding educators about the mantra 

that we “aim to be empowered and 

not overpowered” by the AI progression. 

Juanita Vasquez, left, 

a teacher at St. Cecilia 

Catholic School in Los 

Angeles, poses with 

Gretchen “Gigi” Castello 

with the Thinker Tank 

program. 

Paulette Clagon, 

the principal 

at St. Gregory 

the Great School 

in Whitter, said 

her interest in attending 

sessions 

focused on how 

students can use 

AI to get immediate 

feedback from an authentically 

written piece before submitting work. 

“When teachers teach the writing 

process then students will always have 

the brainstorming and create drafts 

before turning in the final paper 

checking for basic grammar and spelling,” said 

Clagon, who said she had been experimenting 

with AI for various administrative duties. 

“It all has to be taught to the students the 

proper ways to use digital tools. I am very 

much for progress in technology. I can see 

it helping all people. We have to help our 

students put the gauge on their moral compass 

and learn with integrity.” 

Sarah Gamboa, who teaches a combined 

fifth- and sixth-grade class at St. Paul of the 

Cross School in La Mirada, echoed what 

many attendees said about the C3 Conference 

helping them develop a better understanding 

of AI’s potential. 

“A lot of young people today seem to carry 

around a lot of confidence with their knowledge 

of technology, but that doesn’t always 

mean what they’re talking about is accurate or 

representing the truth,” said Gamboa. “I’ve always 

been told that I was tech savvy, but things are moving 

so fast these days and it’s difficult trying to wrap my head 

around it all. Now I don’t see it as chaotic as I did before. 

I know how more to use it as a tool and a resource than 

something to be afraid of.” 

Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning journalist based in Los 

Angeles. 


August 25, 2023 • ANGELUS • 17

The lure from Lourdes 

After a cancer diagnosis, a pilgrimage to 

France brings the blessings of a lifetime. 

BY JANET RUSSELL 

On my 51st birthday, my life as 

a “malade” began. “Malade” 

is the French word for “sick 

one,” and it became part of my identity 

when I was diagnosed with lowgrade 

follicular lymphoma following 

a routine checkup. Cancer was not 

the birthday gift I was expecting, but 

the spiritual journey I would embark 

upon as a result would truly change 

my life and bless me with a gift of 

understanding that I feel the responsibility 

to share. 

For as long as I can remember, 

Lourdes has held a special place in 

my heart. My mother told me I was 

a descendant of Jeanne Abadie, the 

girl who accompanied St. Bernadette 

Soubirous to gather firewood at the 

Grotto of Massabielle, where our 

Blessed Mother appeared. 

To visit the cemetery in Lourdes 

where my great-great aunt rests would 

be a blessing beyond words. And 

by no small miracle, it was where I 

found myself this past May, in the 

local cemetery, with the Abadie 

family monument on one side and the 

Soubirous family on the other. It was a 

sacred moment. 

My 16-yearold 

daughter, 

Janet Russell and her 

daughter, Michelle, pose 

Michelle — not 

in front of the Grotto of 

much older 

Massabielle in Lourdes, 

than Bernadette 

where the Virgin 

and Jeanne at 

Mary appeared to St. 

the time of the 

Bernadette Soubirous. | 

Blessed Mother’s 

SUBMITTED PHOTO 

appearance — 

and I prayed for 

both families. 

I believe that every person who 

makes a pilgrimage to Lourdes does 

so only through the invitation of the 

Blessed Mother. My story is just one 

example. I was hoping to make my 

pilgrimage in 2020, but the pandemic 

canceled my plans. It turned out to be 

a blessing in disguise. 

My lung had to be drained as a result 

of complications from my lymphoma, 

something I cannot imagine 

confronting while on pilgrimage in 

France. Instead, I was invited this past 

year by the Order of Malta Western 

Association to its annual pilgrimage to 

Lourdes. What’s more, now Michelle 

would be able to accompany me, 

which was not possible in 2020 when 

she was 13. 

The thought of making a pilgrimage 

with just one friend now seems 

preposterous after being attended to 

by the Order of Malta. I sometimes 

forget I am a sick woman and even 

the simplest tasks require extra effort, 

even more so when traveling. The 

members of the order assisted me 

with my many needs throughout the 

pilgrimage, and because of their help, 

I was able to be fully receptive to the 

blessings of the pilgrimage. 

The love, care, and friendship I 


felt from each knight, dame, doctor, 

nurse, priest, and even the teen volunteers 

will be something I will never 

forget. When a dame washed my 

feet at the church, it was the gesture 

of a true servant of Christ. Indeed, I 

felt the love of Jesus and his mother 

working through each and every one 

of them. It was a little piece of heaven 

on earth. 

It’s hard to count all the blessings I 

received in the week I was in Lourdes. 

My main goal was to visit the grotto, 

which was even more beautiful than I 

had imagined. The holy water flowed 

gently from the spring in the cave 

— the very spring that the Blessed 

Mother asked St. Bernadette to drink 

from. 

Touching the damp rocks, I was 

awed by the wondrous event that happened 

here. We placed our petitions 

in a box by the grotto, along with the 

hundreds collected by the Order of 

Malta in Los Angeles at the World 

Day of the Sick Mass. I was so moved 

by the experience that I returned to 

the grotto again and again during the 

pilgrimage. 

My daughter and I would also drink 

the holy water from the spring. With 

Michelle’s hands cupped over mine, 

the water poured onto our hands as 

we prayed through the intercession 

Janet Russell visited a local cemetery, Cimetière de 

Langelle in Lourdes, where the Abadie and Soubirous 

families are buried. | SUBMITTED PHOTO 

of our Blessed Mother. We washed 

our hands and faces and cupped our 

hands to drink the water. I felt a sense 

of cleansing and a renewal of faith, 

plus a deep love and connection with 

my only daughter. 

On a visit to the family home of St. 

Bernadette, the streets were lined with 

brass markers where one can trace her 

steps — and perhaps my great-great 

aunt Jeanne’s steps — to the grotto. I 

visualized their lives: Jeanne perhaps 

visiting Bernadette, who lived in poverty 

in what was once the town jail. 

The last full day it rained, but it was 

a chance for me to reflect. I considered 

the pain and confusion I felt 

when first diagnosed, and how clearly 

it contrasted with the peace and love 

I had experienced in the years since 

that day. In Lourdes, I made a confession 

with the priest in my group, 

in which I reflected on my life. I 

confessed everything that I felt needed 

healing and forgiveness. 

Following my confession, I visited 

the Adoration Chapel. I lit a candle 

for my prayer intentions and prayed 

through the Stations of the Cross that 

were made of beautifully sculpted 

marble. Later, I located the outdoor 

life-size bronze Stations of the Cross 

by climbing the steep hill in the rain, 

careful not to slip on the way down. It 

was a journey of passion and reflection. 

The Blessed Mother told St. Bernadette: 

“I do not promise to make you 

happy in this world but in the other. 

Would you be kind enough to come 

here for a fortnight?” Millions of 

pilgrims would soon follow St. Bernadette 

and accept the Blessed Mother’s 

invitation. And while they know they 

will not find eternal happiness in this 

life, the moments of joy they feel in 

being close to our Blessed Mother are 

an experience they will never forget. 

I for one, will hold on to the moment 

forever. It will be a source of renewal 

and peace, and for that I will be eternally 

thankful to her. 

Janet Northrop Russell grew up in La 

Cañada Flintridge, attending St. Bede 

the Venerable Church and Flintridge 

Sacred Heart Academy for high school. 

She now lives in North County San 

Diego and is a mother of three. 

Bishops-elect 

Slawomir Szkredka 


What to make of WYD 

World Youth Day’s massive popularity is contradictory to 

those who think faith is based on politics. 

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. 

ROME — My wife and I attend an urban parish in 

Rome’s Prati neighborhood. It’s a mostly white-collar 

area, dominated by lawyers and TV and film production 

firms, but there are also plenty of blue-collar types who 

clean the offices of the upper crust, tend their lawns, and 

run the stores where they shop. 

In other words, there’s a good cross-section of a big-city 

population, and that’s reflected in the parish. It’s a fairly 

thriving community, with standing-room-only crowds on 

Sundays and generally a healthy turnout even for daily 

Mass. 

Geographically, the parish of Santa Maria Regina degli 

Apostoli is located just a mile from St. Peter’s Square, but 

honestly, most of the time it feels like the Vatican might as 

well be on another planet. 

The homilies you hear aren’t focused on papal politics 

but on the Gospels and the ordinary details of daily life. 

You’re far more likely to get references to last night’s soccer 

game than to the latest “motu proprio,” and when you chat 

with people before or after Mass, the odds are awfully long 

that anything the pope has said or done will be mentioned. 

On the rare occasion when the pope does come up — 

usually because someone asks what my wife and I do for a 

living — parishioners talk about the Vatican as an exotic, 


Young people cheer as mysterious 

Pope Francis arrives world, one they 

in the popemobile for find fascinating 

the World Youth Day but not especially 

relevant 

Stations of the Cross 

with young people at directly. 

Eduardo VII Park in Bear in mind, 

Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. these are people 

4. | CNS/LOLA GOMEZ who live in the 

pope’s shadow 

every day. 

I mention all this because of the 

many category mistakes journalists 

make about the Catholic Church, 

perhaps the most chronic is the 

assumption that levels of faith and 

practice are somehow a referendum 

on papal policy — i.e., that Catholics 

make decisions about whether to 

pray, to go to church, to believe in 

God, and so on, for primarily political 

reasons. 

The point comes to mind in light of 

the recent World Youth Day in Lisbon, 

Portugal, which drew an astonishing 

1.5 million young people to a 

vigil Saturday night and the concluding 

Mass Sunday morning in the city’s 

Parque Tejo. 

World Youth Day, of course, is a 

cornerstone of the legacy of St. Pope 

John Paul II and has continued to 

thrive under both Pope Benedict XVI 

and now Pope Francis. From the point 

of view of a political interpretation of 

what drives Catholic behavior, that’s a 

deeply puzzling result. 

For decades under John Paul and Benedict, secular 

pundits confidently pronounced that the conservative ethos 

of those papacies had to be alienating people and driving 

them away from the Church, especially youth who have 

more progressive attitudes on matters such as women, gay 

rights, and sexual morality. 

Watching John Paul routinely draw wildly enthusiastic 

crowds of millions of fervent young 

believers, therefore, generated an 

epidemic of cognitive dissonance. 

A young person prays 

Conservative commentators today while Pope Francis celebrates 

Mass for World 

assert that for a religion to survive in 

the post-modern milieu, it has to be Youth Day at Tejo Park in 

clear on its own identity, to make demands, 

and challenge the prevailing 6. | CNS/LOLA GOMEZ 

Lisbon, Portugal on Aug. 

culture. A big tent form of faith, they 

assert, such as that espoused by Pope 

Francis, is destined to flounder, ending in a slide toward 

irrelevance. 

For that crowd too, the sight of Francis presiding over a 

tidal wave of young humanity just doesn’t compute. 

What both the liberal and conservative interpretations 

fail to grasp is that for most people, most of the time, the 

decisions they make about religious faith and practice have 

little to do with politics. 

A middle-aged man struggling with a serious illness, for 

example, might return to the practice of faith because his 

life situation has forced him to ask deeper questions. An 

elderly woman, nourished by the faith in her youth, may 

take comfort in its rituals now, not to mention enjoying the 

company she finds when she goes to church. A married 

couple starting a family may want to give their children a 

solid moral foundation and think that going to Mass on at 

least a semi-regular basis is a way to do that. 

As far as youth go, it may be that a particular young person, 

hungry for identity amid a vast cultural smorgasbord 

of options, may find expressions of faith attractive, such as 

going to Mass or praying the rosary. Another may discover 

in their local parish’s youth group an opportunity to channel 

their natural idealism into service by helping the poor, 

visiting the sick, offering comfort to migrants, or whatever 

else is on offer. 

The common term in all those situations, and countless 

others like them, is that they have virtually nothing to do 

with the politics of left vs. right. 

That’s not to say these folks don’t have opinions on issues 

such as the Latin Mass, women priests, blessing same-sex 

unions, how the Church ought to deal with China, or any 

of the other things Catholics argue about. It’s rather that 

those matters, however important they may be, don’t really 

drive choices about whether to show up on Sunday. 

All this is compounded by the basic bit of Catholic wisdom, 

ratified and solidified over more than 2,000 years of 

history, that there’s a difference between the faith and the 

institutional Church. The two are related but distinct, and 

one’s feelings about the latter don’t generally have much to 

do with the former. 

If the massive success of World Youth Day over what is 

now four decades should be teaching us anything, it isn’t 

that either the liberal or the conservative diagnosis of 

Catholicism is correct. It’s that neither one gets to the heart 

of the matter, and as long as they insist on seeing things 

through the lens of politics, they never will. 

John L. Allen Jr. is the editor of Crux. 


The Chapel of the 

Rosary in Vence, France. 

| SHUTTERSTOCK 

An atheist’s chapel 

How Henri Matisse came to design 

his own ‘Sistine Chapel’ in Vence. 

BY ELIZABETH LEV 

In the sun-drenched south of 

France, as World War II raged 

through Europe, in 1941 one man 

was facing the bleakest battle of his 

lifetime. Henri Matisse, the painter 

of fleeting fun and sensual pleasures, 

had been diagnosed with colon cancer. 

To make matters worse, Amelie, 

his wife of 39 years, had left him over 

his infidelities, and his daughter — 

having flouted his apolitical stance by 

joining the French Resistance — had 

been arrested and sent to Ravensbrück 

Concentration camp. 

After a lifetime of fleeing from suffering, 

Matisse was trapped in it. 

His life, health, and pride shattered, 

Matisse underwent two complicated 

operations that left him in a wheelchair 

and unable to paint and sculpt 

as before. 

In need of assistance, Matisse put 

an ad in the paper for a “young and 

pretty” night nurse, and 21-year-old 

Monique Bourgeois answered. As Matisse’s 

strength returned, he asked her 

to model for him, and the story could 

have taken the same turn as many 

of his other dalliances, except young 

Monique was discerning a vocation to 

become a Dominican sister. 

Matisse tried to dissuade her, given 

that he had rejected religion many 

years before, but the young woman 

persisted. In 1943, the two were reunited 

in the town of Vence (not Venice), 

where Matisse had moved, and 

Monique, now Sister Marie-Jacques, 

was recovering from tuberculosis. 

An intrigued Matisse rekindled their 

friendship, and upon discovering the 

community was using a leaky garage 

as their chapel, he took matters 


in hand. From this came what the 

82-year-old artist would describe as 

“the result of my entire working life. 

Despite all its imperfections I consider 

it to be my masterpiece”: The Chapel 

of the Rosary in Vence. 

This project would prove to be Matisse’s 

greatest challenge. Objections 

mounted on both sides to the commission. 

His old “frenemy” Picasso 

was aghast. “A church!” he cried. 

“Why not a market? Then you could 

at least paint fruits and vegetables.” 

Catholics, on the other hand, were 

up in arms that an agnostic libertine 

was designing a sacred space from the 

ground up. Physically, Matisse could 

not stand and paint energetically as 

he once did, and spiritually, despite a 

newfound interest in Catholicism, he 

was religiously illiterate, his lifetime 

spent in ignorance of saints, Scripture, 

and sacraments. Who was this man, 

weakened in body and deficient in 

faith, to stand in the footsteps of the 

great chapel decorators like Giotto, 

Michelangelo, or even Caravaggio? 

Matisse did the same as the great 

masters before him — he played to 

his strengths. Color spoke to him, 

hues moved him, his palette had the 

potential to communicate a universal 

language. During his convalescence, 

Matisse had begun experimenting 

with cutouts from construction paper, 

making clean, crisp, colored shapes 

and patterns. Assisted by Dominican 

artist and theologian Father Marie-Alain 

Couturier, Matisse launched 

himself into this project that, like the 

Sistine Chapel, would occupy four 

years of the artist’s life. 

The chapel celebrates St. Dominic, 

the founder of the Order of Preachers 

(commonly known as the Dominicans) 

and his role in promulgating the 

Marian prayer of the rosary throughout 

the Catholic world. 

Perched high above the coast of the 

French Riviera, the little village of 

Vence is flooded with bright Mediterranean 

light, which Matisse harnessed 

for the little chapel. Some of the 

walls are covered with reflective white 

tiles, but the power of the chapel 

comes from the stained-glass windows 

designed in his new cutout style and 

fired by master glazer Paul Bony. 

Following the tradition of France’s 

greatest cathedrals, Matisse would 

tame light and color within a sacred 

space. 

Five petals fill each of the long slender 

windows, reminiscent of the beads 

of the rosary. The rhythmic pattern of 

the shapes evokes the soothing repe- 

tition of the prayer. For Matisse, religion 

served to conquer his passions, 

so he favored blue, a typically Marian 

color, alongside yellow and green. 

The rosary windows lead to the 

sanctuary, where the artist drew upon 

the mosaic decorations that had once 

entranced him in Italy. Sun-colored 

glass fills the 

Henri Matisse and 

Sister Jacques-Marie. | 

CHAPELLE MATISSE 

space behind 

the altar, like the 

golden apses of 

Rome. Blocking 

the full force of 

the light, lapis 

panes form a hanging drape, symbolic 

of Mary’s protective mantle, decorated 

with stylized cutouts of acanthus 

leaves, the ubiquitous decoration of 

early churches and symbol of eternal 

life. 

Matisse had found “a second life” in 

this project. “Every day that dawns is 


Detail of the outside of 

the chapel. | SHUTTER- 

STOCK 

a gift to me, and I take it in that way. 

I accept it gratefully without looking 

beyond it. … I think only of the joy 

of seeing the sun rise once more and 

of being able to work a little bit, even 

under difficult conditions,” he said. 

He saw new beauty, a beauty of hope 

and renewal. He became so absorbed 

in the project that he designed every 

detail, from altar furnishings to liturgical 

garments. 

He painted 

the walls with a 

brush attached 

to a long pole 

that he could 

wield from his chair. The shapes seem 

almost childlike, reflecting his newfound 

love of simplicity. The image 

of St. Dominic next to the altar was 

drawn without facial features, so that 

each priest whose face was reflected 

in the shining tiles could be a new 

incarnation of the founder. 

Indeed, there are no faces at all in 

the chapel, not in the Madonna and 

Child that stretches along the nave 

nor in the Stations of the Cross traced 

in spartan black lines at the back of 

the church, perhaps an expression of 

his approach to work, forsaking his 

name and fame to take on this task 

“with the greatest humility… like a 

communicant approaching the Lord’s 

Table.” 

Matisse only sketched one visage in 

the entire chapel. Amid the tangle of 

shapes that form his 14 Stations of the 

Cross, he drew the face of Christ into 

the Veronica, the cloth that wiped 

Jesus’ face as he climbed toward his 

crucifixion, and upon which his image 

remained impressed. It is a face of 

suffering, moments from death, but a 

death offered to give new life to all. 

In that tiny chapel Matisse used his 

skills and talents to transform his personal 

suffering into new life, offering 

peace, light, and hope to generations 

to come. 

Elizabeth Lev is an American-born 

art historian who lives and works in 

Rome. 


INTERSECTIONS 

GREG ERLANDSON 

Divided we stand, or kneel 

A young Australian World Youth Day pilgrim prays during 

Mass at the Church of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fátima in 

Lisbon, Portugal, July 31. | OSV NEWS/BOB ROLLER 

Too many years ago, I attended 

Mass one Sunday in a Catholic 

church in Kuala Lumpur, 

Malaysia. The Mass was celebrated 

in Chinese, of which I understood 

few words. Yet the Mass was familiar 

to me. I knew when to stand, kneel, 

and sit. I recognized the Liturgy of the 

Word, the Offertory, the Consecration, 

and when to proceed to receive 

the Eucharist. 

I felt the same in a crowded Sunday 

Mass I attended earlier this year in 

Paris. There is a unity in the liturgy of 

the Roman Rite, whatever language in 

which it is celebrated. 

This unity is addressed in the working 

document of the upcoming synod. 

“It is through shared liturgical action, 

and in particular the eucharistic celebration, 

that the Church experiences 

radical unity, expressed in the same 

prayer but in a diversity of languages 

and rites,” the document said. 

This “radical unity” within diversity 

is elemental to the celebration of the 

Eucharist, yet at various times over 

the past few decades, it has become 

tempting even in our liturgies to focus 

on our differences of behavior, allowing 

them to drive us apart. 

On the ground floor of the five-story 

building that houses the U.S. Conference 

of Catholic Bishops, there is 

a small, rather austere chapel where 

daily Mass is celebrated. Many years 


Greg Erlandson is the former president and 

editor-in-chief of Catholic News Service. 

ago, long before I worked there, I 

attended one of those daily Masses. I 

was surprised at the disorder I saw at 

that time. Some people knelt during 

the Consecration. Some stood. Some 

recited the masculine pronoun for 

God, some emphatically did not. I felt 

a bit like I was worshipping amid a 

liturgical riptide, different ideological 

currents bumping into one another, 

everyone making their individual 

statements. 

That no longer describes those 

daily Masses, but fast forward to our 

post-COVID present and there seem 

to be other rip currents pulling us in 

different directions at many parishes. 

A few women wear veils, most do not. 

Some receive Communion in the 

hand, others on the tongue. Some 

on their knees and on the tongue. 

A few prefer not to receive from an 

extraordinary minister of holy Communion. 

Some parishes are bringing 

back Communion rails, but even here 

there is a bit of visual chaos: some 

kneel, some stand, some receive in 

the hand, some on the tongue. 

More worrisome from a pastoral 

point of view in terms of the unity we 

strive for is that people of all stripes 

are sensitive to being judged for the 

choices they make regarding this 

central act of our worship. One group 

may feel itself judged as uber-pious, 

but judge others as too casual, and 

vice versa. 

The judgments do not stop there: 

The vestments worn, the songs sung, 

the incense burnt, the amount of 

Latin used or avoided, the Kiss of 

Peace, the addition of the St. Michael 

Prayer at the end of Mass. These are 

all potential pain points that may drive 

people to seek parishes where they 

feel more comfortable. At the very 

least, they are distractions to our own 

spiritual equanimity. 

We are all brothers and sisters in 

baptism, yet we allow our differences 

to divide us. This disunity can also impact 

how effectively we evangelize the 

larger culture. The great unrequited 

hunger of our age is for community, 

something that our Church should 

be able to satisfy. Yet when we turn 

everything from how to receive Christ 

to whether we support this pope or 

that pope into a point of division, 

we ourselves become roadblocks to 

community. 

If our goal is to win converts for a 

behavior or way of acting rather than 

to Christ and his entire community, 

then we risk emphasizing our disunity 

rather than our community. 

In all of this, I admit that I can be as 

“judgy” as the next person. At times 

I might wish the pastor or bishop or 

Rome would simply mandate uniform 

behavior, but such a mandate would 

more likely drive us further apart. 

Perhaps a better solution would be to 

start by looking into our own hearts. 

Are we being the judgmental ones? 

Are we allowing ourselves to feel 

judged? How can we embrace our 

differences, or at least pay them no 

heed? 

More importantly, how do we recover 

a sense of Christian community 

that should characterize our parish 

life? Our baptismal bond makes 

us brothers and sisters in the most 

profound spiritual sense, but it is not 

sustained without effort. Being a true 

community, unified in our diversity, 

means that the parish has to become 

more to us than our local spiritual 

filling station, good for an hour dropby 

once a week. 

The synodal document says that our 

desire for communion means “taking 

on the incompleteness of being able 

to live unity in diversity.” Maybe that 

is our challenge, my challenge, now: 

to see past the differences and to celebrate 

what we share. 


NOW PLAYING PETER PAN & WENDY 

NEVER TOO OLD FOR FAIRY TALES 

If “Peter Pan & Wendy” and Steven Spielberg are any 

indication, filmmakers seem disenchanted with whimsy, 

innocence, and wonder. 

A promotional image for 

David Lowery’s Disney+ 

film “Peter Pan & Wendy.” 

| IMDB 

BY HANNAH LONG 

There’s a moment in all of our 

childhoods when we stop 

daydreaming about running 

away from home and start wishing we 

didn’t have to. J.M. Barrie’s 1911 novel, 

“Peter and Wendy,” is about that 

last moment, in all its bittersweetness. 

Buoyed by pixie dust and camaraderie, 

Wendy Darling meets the figures 

of her imagination: pirates and Indians, 

mermaids and fairies. Yet Faerie 

is a world of deceptive pleasures. Free 

of responsibility, it is therefore free of 

home, of family, of time. It’s a wise 

myth. 

David Lowery’s Disney+ film 

“Peter Pan & Wendy” is not so wise, 

partly because it removes gender 

distinctives. There’s no sense that the 

eponymous pair will play father and 

mother to the gang of motley lost boys 

(some of whom are girls, all of whom 

are indistinguishable). 

Ross Douthat wrote recently about 

how wrongheaded it is to think Barbie 

and Ken don’t need each other, and 

that self-defined isolation is a bad definition 

of being grown up. Yet in this 

story, egalitarian Wendy muses that 

she probably doesn’t want children, 

and her mother assures her that her 

value lies in her leadership, not her 

future motherhood. 

Peter’s cardinal sin is not that he 

is immature and heartless, but that 

he conceals a grown-up’s cunning 

and bitterness beneath a boy’s face. 

Between Wendy’s rebellious dreams of 

professional achievement and Peter’s 

cynical secretiveness, we get a watered-down 

vision of both adulthood 

and childhood. 

Presumably, those involved in the 

new film see these changes as deconstructing 

the colonialist ethos of 


the Edwardian story. But Barrie, like 

Charles Dickens, loved skewering authority 

figures. Consider Mr. Darling’s 

anxiety about their Newfoundland dog, 

Nana. He “had sometimes a feeling 

that she did not admire him.” 

The line is exquisite in its comic 

simplicity. In its understatement, it 

makes him rather pitiable and lovable, 

despite his flaws. Captain Hook, who 

went to a prominent public school, is 

obsessed with good form and at one 

point his paranoia causes him to be 

jealous of Smee: “Had the bo’sun good 

form without knowing it, which is the 

best form of all?” 

Such satiric deftness is beyond the 

ability of films assembled by corporate 

committees. Despite whatever flaws 

imposed on him by Disney, Lowery 

himself, as illustrated by his recent 

adaptation of “The Green Knight,” so 

distinct from his fantastic 2016 tale of 

whimsy, “Pete’s Dragon,” seems to feel 

he’s too old for fairy tales. 

In “Peter Pan & Wendy,” there is no 

sense of wonder or surprise, no yearning, 

no mystery. 

The audience’s knowledge of the material 

is assumed to such a degree that 

the story races past plot points — like 

learning to fly, why Peter’s shadow is in 

the children’s drawer, why a crocodile 

ticks like a clock, etc. — to spend long 

monologues trying to piece together 

Captain Hook’s childhood trauma. 

“The body keeps the score, Cap’n!” 

Steven Spielberg (right) on 

the set of his 2022 film “The 

Fabelmans.” | IMDB 

I interjected during one of these 

moments. 

Wonder is in short supply at the movies 

these days. For transcendence, we 

have substituted political awakening. 

For innocence, we have substituted 

sentimentality; and for awe, we have 

substituted convincingness. In such 

a world, it’s impossible to understand 

fairy tales, the most whimsical and 

unrealistic of forms. More foolish than 

our ancestors, we rip away the veils of 

metaphor, fancying that we have uncloaked 

the real thing, when in fact we 

lose something vital in the unmasking. 

Photo-realistic lions just don’t convey 

the same emotion when reenacting 

Shakespearean drama. 

Consider the great cinematic poet of 

wonder. Steven Spielberg’s last great 

foray into the land of whimsy was in 

“A.I.: Artificial Intelligence,” a patchwork 

film of deep imagination and 

feeling that digs itself a philosophical 

hole it doesn’t begin to have the tools 

to escape from. Spielberg asked the 

right questions in this “Pinocchio”-esque 

tale: What makes us human? 

What makes humanity valuable? What 

do we owe to those we create? What do 

we owe to those under our power? Are 

we simply fleshy machines constructed 

by unfeeling deities? 

Again, through the lens of story, Spielberg’s 

emotions led him in the right 

direction. Human value lies in our 

uniqueness, the imprint of something 

greater than us, to which we flee for 

love. In order to be reconciled with 

these higher beings, we must be made 

more like them — made more real 

than we are. 

Yet here we run into early 2000s 

Spielberg, feeling he’d outgrown fairy 

tales. The higher beings are alien 

robots, memories trapped in glass, 

phantom resurrections that do the exact 

same thing that AI toys do: lie to us 

that we are loved. Much like “Interstellar,” 

it becomes an ouroboros fairy tale 

of the protagonist’s own making, what 

C.S. Lewis as a young atheist called 

“lies breathed through silver.” There is 

no God in the Ark, no bridge of faith, 

no father to catch us and call us by our 

name. Just crystal skulls and data. 

No wonder Spielberg backed away 

from the edge. He’s dismissed the 

big questions now for the little ones: 

What are the policy problems that lead 

to youth delinquency? Why did my 

parents get divorced? I’m exaggerating, 

of course. “West Side Story” and “The 

Fablemans” are neatly crafted, but 

their seemingly adult concerns mask 

the fact that Spielberg’s early work 

delved even deeper than drama, to the 

realm of myth. 

His new work is more simplistic and 

pat, polished and careful. The only 

moment in “The Fabelmans” where 

it veers into the realm of the bizarre 

and unexpected is with the arrival of 

a figure larger than life, the greatest 

American mythmaker: John Ford. 

Who knows what he’ll do next? 

An alternate version of the film 

features Ford climbing into a biplane 

and heading off to Monument Valley 

with Sammy in tow. Ford could have 

directed a pretty good version of “Peter 

Pan,” I bet. 

We have accepted Spielberg’s 

conclusions, and stopped asking him 

questions. But maybe one day we’ll 

grow “old enough to start reading fairy 

tales again.” At least, we might do if we 

rewatch “Peter Pan.” The 2003 version. 

Hannah Long is an Appalachian 

writer based in New York City. 


DESIRE LINES 

HEATHER KING 

What it means to be a woman 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

My path as a woman has been 

far from cookie-cutter. Years 

as an active alcoholic barfly 

left wounds that, decades later, I’m 

still working through. A marriage 

ended in divorce and annulment. I 

am childless and unmarried. 

And I celebrate, exult in, embrace, 

and increasingly marvel at my womanhood. 

Though I’m way past childbearing 

age, in Christ my life bears ever 

richer fruit. 

The culture, by contrast, has now 

succeeded in almost completely 

pathologizing womanhood. Puberty, 

menstruation, our attractiveness to 

men, our capacity to bear children, our 

longing and fitness for marriage and 

motherhood, menopause: every facet 

of our lives, we are told, consists of unremitting 

pain, shame, and oppression. 

Can I be the only woman on earth 

who has found womanhood to be a 

beautiful, mysterious, cross-and-crown 

joy? Who looks back with tenderness 

at the shy delight at being noticed 

by the opposite sex, the bewildered 

wonder of puberty, the explosive first 

kiss, the experience of falling in love 

with its sense of being simultaneously 

flayed and brought fully, electrically 

alive? Who has embraced the seasons 

of womanhood: ever-changing, ever 

more profound? Who in maturity 

has the sense of being supernaturally 

wedded to the Source of All Love? 

In 2022, conservative commentator 

Matt Walsh went around posing the 

question “What is a woman?” to various 

people — friends out for a stroll, 

a small-town shop owner, villagers in 

Africa — then filmed their predictably 

uncertain, if not nonsensical, replies. 

Although the resulting documentary 

“What Is a Woman?” exposed, with 


Heather King is an award-winning 

author, speaker, and workshop leader. 

Walsh’s signature snark, the flailing 

groundlessness of gender ideologues, 

the film struck me as gimmicky and 

mean-spirited. Many people were, no 

doubt, flummoxed, as I would have 

been, by the vastness of the question. 

Do you want the poetic answer, the 

metaphysical answer, the personal 

answer? Are you asking what it is to 

be a woman emotionally, physically, 

psychically, intellectually, socially, 

spiritually? Do you want to know what 

it is to be this woman: to be me? If 

so, does your camera crew have a few 

weeks, if not months? 

The correct answer by Walsh’s lights 

— “A woman is an adult human 

female” — is one answer. It’s a political 

answer, a biological answer, a textbook 

answer. But it’s far from the only 

answer or the fullest answer. 

Because the operative fact of being 

a woman is that we have wombs, and 

every single facet of our being, our 

essence, our psyches, is organized 

around that fact. It’s no accident that 

the Hail Mary includes, “Blessed art 

thou among women, and blessed is the 

fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” 

Of course we’re very much more 

than our wombs. But everything in 

us constellates 

around that fact, 

and to deny it, 

as the gender 

extremists do, is 

to maintain that form and function 

are unrelated and that the organizing 

principle of the world is chaos. 

Walsh wouldn’t disagree with that 

(I hope), but to smugly report that a 

woman is an adult human female is 

to miss what a woman really is by a 

million miles. 

Any child can see, feel, understand, 

and feel secure in the difference 

between a man and a 

woman. Our very genitals 

shout the distinction: Men 

thrust outward: they tend to 

fix, forge, and do. Women 

are oriented inward, we’re 

built to receive, invite, nurture, 

foster. We have hidden 

depths. We’re sensitive to 

relationship. We nest. 

Above all, we women are 

mothers. Archetypically, 

and whether or not we ever 

biologically bear children, a 

woman is a mother. 

Because of all that, we 

suffer in a different way than 

men. To men who think 

they can become women, I 

want to say, you’re not strong 

enough. 

Men are strong, beautifully 

strong in their way. But women 

are strong in different 

ways: in our capacity to foster, support, 

and nurture; in our ability to patiently 

endure sorrow, anxiety, and loneliness. 

The difference doesn’t arise because 

men are vile oppressors, nor because 

the best of them don’t try to understand 

us, nor because 

A woman is organized 

around her womb. 

“the system” 

is skewed: all 

worldly systems 

are skewed. It 

comes about because the way men and 

women are made, particularly around 

reproduction, a tragic split exists, better 

known by many of us as The Fall. 

No political change or civil right can 

ameliorate that split. Because of it, 

women suffer — again, our cross and 

our crown — in a way that no man can 

possibly imagine. We feel the wound of 

The “Pietà” in the Basilica di San Marco, Italy. | SHUTTERSTOCK 

relationship, the loss inherent in bringing 

life into the world and then letting 

it go, the vulnerability of longing for 

the men whose motives, desires, and 

emotions we can never quite fathom. 

To want to be a real woman is to 

want the psyche, the ability to endure, 

the capacity to stand at the foot of the 

cross as your beloved Son is tortured to 

death, as Mary did. It is to long to give 

all of yourself — body, mind, soul — 

in such a way that your womb embraces 

the suffering of the whole world. 

To want anything other or less is 

to want to be a woman as cartoon 

character, caricature. It is to want to be 

a woman without the terrible, life-shattering 

perils and risks. It is to want to be 

a woman without a womb. 


LETTER AND SPIRIT 

SCOTT HAHN 

Scott Hahn is founder of the 

St. Paul Center for Biblical 

Theology; stpaulcenter.com. 

Holy are the lowly 

“The Conversion of St. Augustine,” by Charles-Antoine Coypel, 1694- 

1752, French. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

St. Augustine’s youth was 

a trial for his mother. St. 

Monica made sure her son 

received a Christian education, 

and she set a good example. 

Though she probably couldn’t 

read, she attended her parish’s 

funerals, just so that she could 

hear the Gospel proclaimed. 

All the best training, however, 

cannot ensure a child’s 

fidelity. Her son spent his teen 

years causing trouble — stealing 

pears, just for the thrill of 

rebellion. 

In his late teens, Augustine 

moved from his small hometown 

to the big city. Though he 

excelled in his collegiate studies, 

he behaved badly. He took a 

mistress and got her pregnant. 

He stopped going to church 

and expressed contempt for the 

Scriptures. They seemed primitive 

compared to the trendy 

philosophy he was studying at 

school. Still worse, he began to 

dabble in heresy. 

Monica was heartbroken. 

Though Augustine’s prestige 

soared, she found no delight in 

it. His pride only made matters 

worse. 

Monica complained to God 

with tears. She spent long hours 

haunting chapels. And she kept 

this up for 17 years! 

For Augustine, the turning point came with his journey 

from North Africa to Italy in A.D. 384. He was appointed 

to the most prestigious position in his field: the chair in 

rhetoric at the emperor’s court. Monica, by then a widow, 

decided to accompany him. 

In Milan Augustine was attracted by the reputation of 

the Church’s bishop, St. Ambrose. Ambrose was a man of 

formidable skills. He had served as regional governor before 

he was brought to Church 

office. 

But Augustine was surprised 

by what he found in the bishop: 

“Every Sunday I listened as he 

preached the word of truth to 

the people, and I grew increasingly 

certain that it was possible 

to unravel the tangle woven by 

those who had deceived me and 

others with their cunning lies.” 

Augustine discovered that he 

had judged the Scriptures unfairly. 

He soon came to profess 

that “the Scriptures were delivered 

to mankind by the Spirit of 

the one true God who can tell 

no lie.” 

At first attracted by the humility 

of Ambrose, Augustine 

was converted by the profound 

humility of God, who cloaked 

his divine word in homely attire 

— all in order to draw “so great 

a throng in the embrace of its 

holy humility.” 

God answered Monica’s prayers 

in a way that was best not only 

for her son and herself, but for 

all humanity. Augustine went 

on to become a bishop who 

reconciled entire congregations 

of heretics to the Catholic faith. 

He could not have done this if 

he had not had firsthand experience 

of heresy. 

Nor could he have taught the 

Church to appreciate the Scriptures so deeply if he had not 

once held them in contempt. 

God does not will that any of us should sin. Yet his will is 

accomplished in spite of our sins. 

St. Augustine disturbed years of his mother’s life; but God 

put those years to good use, and we’re all the beneficiaries. 

We celebrate the feasts of both Monica and Augustine this 

month. 


■ SATURDAY, AUGUST 19 

San Gabriel Mission Marimba Ensemble Concert. San 

Gabriel Mission, 428 S. Mission Dr., San Gabriel, 6:30 p.m. 

Concert to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Marimba 

Ensemble. Tickets: $5/person through July and August, $8/ 

person at the door. 

■ TUESDAY, AUGUST 22 

Office of Life, Justice, and Peace Ministry Meeting: San 

Pedro Region. St. Dominic Saivo Church, 13400 Bellflower 

Blvd., Bellflower, 7-9 p.m. Open to all parish leaders in life, 

justice, and peace ministries, to learn about why people 

have a right and responsibility to participate in society. For 

more information, call 213-637-7690 or email gvides@ 

la-archdiocese.org. 

■ FRIDAY, AUGUST 25 

Personal Transformation and a New Creation: Weekend 

Retreat on “The Spirituality of Beatrice Bruteau.” Holy 

Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, Friday, 5 

p.m.-Sunday, 1 p.m. With Father Stephen Coffey, OSB, 

Cam. Visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-784-4515. 

■ SATURDAY, AUGUST 26 

One Mother, Many Peoples Mass. Cathedral of Our Lady 

of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 3 p.m. cultural 

dances, 3:30 p.m. rosary, 4 p.m. Mass with Archbishop 

José H. Gomez. Join LA Catholics and representatives of the 

many cultures, papal orders, and fraternal service orders to 

pray for peace and unity through Our Lady of the Angels’ 

intercession. For more information, visit lacatholics.org/ 

one-mother-many-peoples. 

St. Barnabas Praise & Worship Night. St. Barnabas 

Church, 3955 Orange Ave., Long Beach, 6-8:30 p.m. Free, 

all are welcome. Refreshments will be served. Call 562-424- 

8595. 

■ MONDAY, AUGUST 28 

Opus Angelorum/Mission on the Angels. Our Lady of 

Grace Church, 381 W. Center St., Covina. Conference runs 

Monday-Wednesday with speakers, Mass, confessions. 

Topics include “Sanctifying Power of Forgiveness” and “The 

Holy Angels in Family Life.” Opportunity to consecrate to 

one’s guardian angel or apply for consecration. For more 

information, call 877-526-2151. 

■ TUESDAY, AUGUST 29 

Office of Life, Justice, and Peace Ministry Meeting: San 

Fernando Region. St. Joseph the Worker Church, 19855 

Sherman Way, Winnetka, 7-9 p.m. Open to all parish 

leaders in life, justice, and peace ministries, to learn about 

why people have a right and responsibility to participate in 

society. For more information, call 213-637-7690 or email 

gvides@la-archdiocese.org. 

■ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2 

SCRC Catholic Renewal Convention: “Regather in 

Anaheim.” Anaheim Marriott Ballrooms, 700 W. Convention 

Way, Anaheim, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. More than 20 popular 

Catholic speakers, including Father Robert Spitzer, SJ, and 

Father Parker Sandoval. Three Masses and healing services 

offered. For more information, visit scrc.org or call 818- 

771-1361. 

■ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3 

Holy Silence Contemplative Prayer Group. St. Andrew 

Russian Greek Catholic Church, 538 Concord St., El Segundo, 

12-1:30 p.m. Call 310-322-1892. 

■ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6 

Good Grief Bereavement Support Group. St. Bede the 

Venerable Church, 215 Foothill Blvd., La Cañada, 6:30-8 

p.m. Free six-week support group for those who have lost a 

loved one runs through Oct. 11. Bring a small photo of your 

loved one to the first session. To pre-register or learn more, 

call 626-840-7478 or 818-949-4300. 

■ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8 

Beginning Experience Weekend Retreat for Widowed, 

Separated, and Divorced. Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 

4316 Lanai Rd., Encino. Retreat runs Sept. 8-10. Trained 

peer ministers will support and guide adults on their grief 

journey through loss. For more information, visit familylife. 

lacatholics.org/beginning-experience or beginningexperience.org. 

$75 deposit/person required in advance. Needbased 

financial aid may be available. Call Maria at 909-592- 

0009 or email beginningexp.losangeles@gmail.com. 

■ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12 

Memorial Mass. San Fernando Mission, 15151 San 

Fernando Mission Blvd., Mission Hills, 11 a.m. Mass is 

virtual and not open to the public. Livestream available at 

catholiccm.org or facebook.com/lacatholics. 

LACBA Unlawful Detainer Answer Clinic. LA Law 

Library, 301 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, 12-3 p.m. Providing 

limited assistance with reviewing unlawful detainer complaints, 

jury demands, fee waiver requests, and more. Open 

to the disabled veteran community in Los Angeles County. 

Spanish assistance available. RSVP to 213-896-6536 or 

email inquiries-veterans@lacba.org. 

Women at the Well. Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 

Lanai Rd., Encino, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. With Sister Chris 

Machado, SSS. Group meets on the second Tuesday of each 

month. For more information, visit hsrcenter.com or call 

818-815-4480. 

■ WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13 

Young Adult Rosary. Morgan Park, 4100 Baldwin Park 

Blvd., Baldwin Park, 6 p.m. Rosary for young adults and 

youth groups. Meets on the 13th of every month through 

December. Wear your ministry uniform and bring a flag or 

banner. 

St. Padre Pio Mass. St. Anne Church, 340 10th St., Seal 

Beach, 1 p.m. Celebrant: Father Al Baca. For more information, 

call 562-537-4526. 

■ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16 

St. John’s Seminary Annual Gala. Cathedral of Our Lady of 

the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 5-9 p.m. Vigil 

Mass will be followed by cocktail reception on the Cathedral 

Plaza and al fresco dining. Distinguished alumni and 

Catholic leaders will be honored. For more information, 

visit lacatholics.org/catholic-la-events. 

■ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 

Day in Recognition of All Immigrants Procession and 

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

St., Los Angeles, 3 p.m. Archbishop José H. Gomez will 

celebrate a special Mass at 3:30 p.m., which will be in 

person and livestreamed via Facebook.com/lacatholics and 

lacatholics.org/immigration. 

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.

Angelus News | August 25, 2023 | Vol. 8 No. 17

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