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ANGELUS<br />
THE POOR<br />
GO FIRST<br />
A Getty exhibit’s timely<br />
message for LA<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>Vol</strong>. 8 <strong>No</strong>. <strong>19</strong>
ANGELUS<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong><br />
<strong>Vol</strong>. 8 • <strong>No</strong>. <strong>19</strong><br />
3424 Wilshire Blvd.,<br />
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Published by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese<br />
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(a corporation), established 1895.<br />
Publisher<br />
ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ<br />
Vice Chancellor for Communications<br />
DAVID SCOTT<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
PABLO KAY<br />
pkay@angelusnews.com<br />
Associate Editor<br />
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Photo Editor<br />
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Managing Editor<br />
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ON THE COVER<br />
GETTY MUSEUM/GOTHENBURG MUSEUM OF ART<br />
A painting titled “Beggar,” from about 1735–40 by Italian<br />
painter Giacomo Ceruti, is among the pieces in a special<br />
exhibit now at the Getty Museum in Brentwood. On Page<br />
10, contributor Stefano Rebeggiani reviews the collection<br />
of art by Ceruti — who almost exclusively painted the poor<br />
and the outcasts — and ponders what they have to say to<br />
us today.<br />
THIS PAGE<br />
CNS/VATICAN MEDIA<br />
Pope Francis greets actor and director Sylvester<br />
Stallone during a private audience at the<br />
Vatican Sept. 8. Stallone visited with the pope<br />
along with his brother, Frank, his wife, Jennifer<br />
Flavin, and their daughters, Sophia, Sistine, and<br />
Scarlet. “We grew up with your films,” the pope<br />
told him during the meeting. Stallone, jokingly<br />
making fists, responded: “Ready, we box!”<br />
ANGELUS is published biweekly by The<br />
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Pope Watch.................................................................................................................................... 2<br />
Archbishop Gomez..................................................................................................................... 3<br />
World, Nation, and Local <strong>News</strong>.......................................................................................... 4-6<br />
In Other Words............................................................................................................................. 7<br />
Father Rolheiser............................................................................................................................ 8<br />
Scott Hahn................................................................................................................................... 32<br />
Events Calendar......................................................................................................................... 33<br />
14<br />
16<br />
<strong>22</strong><br />
24<br />
26<br />
CONTENTS<br />
Serra High students are over the moon about their special NASA project<br />
The scope of an LA jail chaplain’s quiet ministry emerges after his death<br />
How Poland’s new ‘blessed’ family speaks to us all<br />
What a ‘Brat Pack’ actor found walking the Camino de Santiago<br />
Robert Brennan finds inspiration in some ‘shady’ saints<br />
Sign up for our free, daily e-newsletter<br />
Always Forward - newsletter.angelusnews.com<br />
28<br />
30<br />
New documentary tells the story of the ‘Mother Teresa of Honduras’<br />
Heather King on the ‘weakness of God’ in Eucharistic adoration<br />
B • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 1
POPE WATCH<br />
God’s nomads<br />
The following is adapted from the<br />
Holy Father’s homily during Mass on<br />
Sunday, Sept. 3, at the Steppe Arena<br />
in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, at the<br />
conclusion of his apostolic journey to<br />
the Asian country Aug. 31-Sept. 4.<br />
“O<br />
God ... my soul thirsts for<br />
you; my flesh faints for you,<br />
as in a dry and weary land<br />
where there is no water” (Psalm 63:2).<br />
This magnificent plea accompanies<br />
our journey through life, amid all the<br />
deserts we are called to traverse. It is<br />
precisely in those deserts that we hear<br />
the good news that we are not alone in<br />
our journey: God the Father has sent<br />
his Son to give us the living water of<br />
the Holy Spirit to satisfy our souls.<br />
Jesus, as we heard in the Gospel, shows<br />
us the way to quench our thirst. It is the<br />
way of love, which he followed even to<br />
the cross, and on which he calls us to<br />
follow him, losing our lives in order to<br />
find them (cf. Matthew 16:24-25).<br />
Many of you know both the satisfaction<br />
and the fatigue of journeying,<br />
which evokes a fundamental aspect<br />
of biblical spirituality represented by<br />
Abraham and, in a broader sense, by<br />
the people of Israel and indeed every<br />
disciple of the Lord. For all of us are<br />
“God’s nomads,” pilgrims in search of<br />
happiness, wayfarers thirsting for love.<br />
Deep within us, we have an insatiable<br />
thirst for happiness; we seek meaning<br />
and direction in our lives. More than<br />
anything we thirst for love, for only<br />
love can truly satisfy us and make us<br />
happy, inspire inner assurance and<br />
allow us to savor the beauty of life.<br />
The Christian faith is the answer to<br />
this thirst; it takes it seriously, without<br />
dismissing it or trying to replace it with<br />
tranquilizers or surrogates.<br />
The love that quenches our thirst is the<br />
heart of the Christian faith: God, who<br />
is Love, has drawn near to you, to me,<br />
to everyone, in his Son Jesus, and wants<br />
to share in your life, your work, your<br />
dreams, and your thirst for happiness.<br />
It is true that, at times, we feel like a<br />
“dry and weary land where there is no<br />
water,” yet it is equally true that God<br />
cares for us and offers us clear, refreshing<br />
water, the living water of the Spirit,<br />
springing up within us to renew us and<br />
free us from the risk of drought. Jesus<br />
gives us that water.<br />
The Lord has ensured that you not<br />
lack the water of his word, thanks especially<br />
to the preachers and missionaries<br />
who, anointed by the Holy Spirit, sow<br />
among you the seeds of its beauty. That<br />
word always brings us back to what<br />
is essential, to the very heart of our<br />
faith: allowing ourselves to be loved by<br />
God and in turn to make our lives an<br />
offering of love.<br />
At the heart of Christianity is an<br />
amazing and extraordinary message.<br />
If you lose your life, if you make it a<br />
generous offering in service, if you risk<br />
it by choosing to love, if you make it a<br />
free gift for others, then it will return<br />
to you in abundance, and you will be<br />
overwhelmed by endless joy, peace of<br />
heart, and inner strength and support.<br />
This is the truth that Jesus wants<br />
us to discover, the truth he wants to<br />
reveal to all of you and to this land of<br />
Mongolia. You need not be famous,<br />
rich, or powerful to be happy. <strong>No</strong>!<br />
Only love satisfies our hearts’ thirst,<br />
only love heals our wounds, only love<br />
brings us true joy. This is the way that<br />
Jesus taught us; this is the path that he<br />
opened up before us.<br />
Papal Prayer Intention for <strong>September</strong>: We pray for those<br />
persons living on the margins of society, in inhumane life<br />
conditions; may they not be overlooked by institutions and<br />
never considered of lesser importance.<br />
As I’ve been praying for the<br />
upcoming Synodal Assembly,<br />
which will be held in Rome Oct.<br />
4–<strong>22</strong> as part of the three-year Synod<br />
on Synodality called by Pope Francis,<br />
I find myself reflecting on the diversity<br />
and vitality of the Church in America.<br />
Everywhere I look, I see the Church<br />
alive, youthful, living from her love for<br />
Jesus Christ and engaged in the beautiful<br />
work of calling people to follow<br />
him and promoting his vision for the<br />
dignity of the human person.<br />
In Los Angeles, all summer our<br />
diocesan offices and local churches<br />
have been working with city leaders<br />
and community groups to welcome<br />
asylum-seekers being bused here from<br />
the Texas border.<br />
It is a reminder that across this<br />
country, Catholics can be found on the<br />
frontlines of serving the poor — providing<br />
food, clothing, shelter, and other<br />
assistance.<br />
Catholic Charities agencies do much<br />
of this work, with the help of a network<br />
of dedicated volunteers. But there are<br />
also many other independent groups<br />
and religious orders.<br />
In Los Angeles we are blessed to have<br />
such orders, including the Missionaries<br />
of Charity, the Lovers of the Holy<br />
Cross and the Friars and Sisters of the<br />
Poor Jesus Christ, among so many who<br />
are serving the poorest among us.<br />
Here in Los Angeles and nationwide,<br />
Catholics are also working for policy<br />
solutions and cultural changes that<br />
promote human dignity and social<br />
justice.<br />
There are Catholics making important<br />
contributions to discussions<br />
about how to make public policy more<br />
supportive for married couples and<br />
families. There are Catholics doing<br />
creative work to spread the Church’s<br />
NEW WORLD OF FAITH<br />
ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ<br />
The American Church is alive<br />
profound teaching on the beauty of<br />
sexuality in God’s plan.<br />
So many individuals and smaller<br />
apostolates are making bold strides in<br />
proclaiming the Church’s vision for<br />
the human person, not only in areas<br />
like foster care and adoption, but<br />
also in areas such as criminal justice<br />
reform, affordable housing, immigration<br />
reform, and improving wages and<br />
conditions for workers.<br />
I am also encouraged by Catholic leadership<br />
in a number of initiatives that<br />
are promising new ways of thinking<br />
about our health care system, especially<br />
as it relates to vulnerable women<br />
and children.<br />
The energy and life in the American<br />
Church flow from the strength and<br />
diversity of the laity and so many apostolates,<br />
which complement the good<br />
work of parishes, the United States<br />
Conference of Catholic Bishops, and<br />
so many other Church institutions.<br />
In the American Church, we truly see<br />
the flowering of the Second Vatican<br />
Council’s vision of the universal call<br />
to holiness and the duty of baptized<br />
Christians to be disciples, using their<br />
talents to bring the Church’s teachings<br />
into every area of our society and<br />
culture.<br />
Recently, I had the blessing to spend<br />
time with members of two apostolates<br />
that I helped to found years ago.<br />
The first is Endow, which empowers<br />
women to live out their authentic vocation<br />
in the Church, what St. John Paul<br />
II called “the feminine genius.”<br />
The other is the Catholic Association<br />
for Latino Leadership, which equips<br />
Hispanics to bring their faith and heritage<br />
to bear in business and in their<br />
civic affairs.<br />
I am gratified to see these apostolates<br />
now well established in dioceses across<br />
the country. It is another reflection of<br />
the evangelical zeal in the American<br />
Church.<br />
There is so much more that we could<br />
point to — the faithfulness of America’s<br />
bishops, the dedication of our<br />
priests, the quality of the men in our<br />
seminaries, the flourishing of Catholic<br />
education at all levels, the many<br />
Catholic media outlets and publishing<br />
houses.<br />
We could also hold up the example of<br />
the many religious education programs<br />
and apostolates that are working to<br />
help young people grow in their love<br />
for Jesus and their knowledge of the<br />
faith. We are also making great strides<br />
in this country to fulfill Vatican II’s call<br />
for biblical renewal, so that our people<br />
are enlightened and strengthened by<br />
the word of God.<br />
Pope Francis has encouraged us to lift<br />
up the contributions of women in the<br />
Church. And it is amazing how many<br />
of America’s most accomplished and<br />
influential Catholics are laywomen,<br />
and how many women are thought<br />
leaders in the American Church.<br />
The faith is being lived in our homes<br />
and parishes. I am inspired every day<br />
by the young men and women who are<br />
living their love for Jesus in a difficult<br />
culture, who are committed to growing<br />
in holiness, to raising strong families,<br />
and to glorifying God by the lives they<br />
lead.<br />
When I think of Pope Francis’ vision<br />
for synodality, these are the things I<br />
think of. And I find so much to be hopeful<br />
for! We are preparing for a new<br />
springtime of evangelization.<br />
Pray for me and I will pray for you.<br />
And let us ask holy Mary, our Blessed<br />
Mother, to keep us always faithful to<br />
her Son, and always courageous in<br />
speaking of his love.<br />
2 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong><br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 3
WORLD<br />
Prayers sparked by a politician — Bishops and priests prepare to celebrate a Mass Sept. 5 in the “villa 21-24”<br />
neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to rebuff attacks on Pope Francis by presidential candidate Javier<br />
Milei, of La Libertad Avanza coalition. The “anarcho-capitalist” Milei was the surprise winner in Argentina’s<br />
Aug. 13 primaries and has publicly insulted Francis several times. He is considered a contender in next month’s<br />
general elections. | OSV NEWS/AGUSTIN MARCARIAN, REUTERS<br />
■ Mexico moves closer to legal abortion nationwide<br />
Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled a state-level abortion ban unconstitutional, moving<br />
the country closer to full decriminalization of the procedure.<br />
The court’s First Chamber ruled unanimously against the state of Aguascalientes’<br />
ban on abortions, saying that “the legal system that penalizes abortion in the<br />
Federal Criminal Code is unconstitutional, since it violates the human rights of<br />
women and persons with the capacity to gestate.”<br />
Despite the Aug. 30 ruling, the court does not itself have the power to directly<br />
change the penal code. Mexico’s Federal Congress will have to pass changes to<br />
the penal code in order to decriminalize abortion in the country. But this ruling,<br />
as well as one in 2021 that decriminalized abortions in the state of Coahuila, are<br />
expected to set a legal precedent for challenges to abortion bans in other parts of<br />
the country.<br />
■ Vatican to limit media access at synod<br />
The upcoming Synod of Bishops, held in Rome Oct. 4-29, will<br />
be the first to include women and laymen. But reporters will be<br />
mostly kept out.<br />
During a Sept. 4 flight to Rome from Mongolia, Pope Francis<br />
told journalists that the upcoming synod, focused on creating a<br />
more “synodal church,” will not be livestreamed or allow reporters<br />
access to the proceedings in order to “safeguard the synodal<br />
climate.”<br />
“This isn’t a television program where you talk about everything,”<br />
Pope Francis said. “<strong>No</strong>, it is a religious moment, a religious exchange.”<br />
Days later, however, Vatican communications chief Paolo Ruffini<br />
clarified that some portions of the synod, including the opening<br />
Mass and first general session, will be livestreamed and open to<br />
accredited reporters.<br />
■ Documents: Orders<br />
sheltered more than 3,000<br />
Jews from Nazis in Rome<br />
Researchers in Rome presented<br />
rediscovered documents outlining the<br />
role Catholic religious congregations<br />
had in sheltering Jewish people from<br />
Nazi persecutions.<br />
Some of the information presented at<br />
a workshop at Rome’s Museum of the<br />
Shoah on Sept. 7 had been previously<br />
published in <strong>19</strong>61. Newly uncovered<br />
in the archive of the Pontifical<br />
Biblical Institute however, was a list<br />
of more than 4,300 Jews who received<br />
shelter, compiled by Italian Jesuit<br />
Father Gozzolino Birolo in <strong>19</strong>44 and<br />
<strong>19</strong>45.<br />
One-hundred women’s and 55 men’s<br />
religious congregations participated<br />
in the sheltering during the Nazi<br />
occupation of Rome Sept. 10, <strong>19</strong>43<br />
through June 4, <strong>19</strong>44. There were<br />
3,600 individuals named, including<br />
3,200 Jewish Romans. Their names<br />
will not be released to the public out<br />
of respect for privacy.<br />
“This documentation thus significantly<br />
increases the information on<br />
the history of the rescue of Jews in the<br />
context of the Catholic institutions<br />
of Rome,” said a joint press release<br />
from the Pontifical Biblical Institute,<br />
the Jewish Community of Rome, and<br />
Yad Vashem International Institute for<br />
Holocaust Research.<br />
Pope Francis answers questions from journalists aboard his flight back to<br />
Rome from Mongolia Sept. 4. | CNS/LOLA GOMEZ<br />
NATION<br />
Buoys along the Rio Grande River near Eagle Pass, Texas, in July. | OSV NEWS/ADREES<br />
LATIF, REUTERS<br />
■ Judge orders Texas to remove<br />
Rio Grande River buoy blockade<br />
The state of Texas was ordered to remove its series of<br />
controversial buoys from the Rio Grande River by a federal<br />
judge Sept. 7.<br />
The buoys were part of a Texas border program championed<br />
by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to deter migrant<br />
border crossings. The approximately 1,000-foot line of<br />
buoys were deployed near Eagle Pass, Texas, without authorization<br />
from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which<br />
has jurisdiction of the country’s navigable waterways.<br />
Catholic leaders have condemned parts of the border<br />
deterrence program, including the use of buoys and razor<br />
wire.<br />
“There are other more human ways to engage with people,”<br />
wrote San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller<br />
in an Aug. 31 post on X (formerly Twitter). “Lord have mercy<br />
on the hundreds injured and move the hearts of those<br />
who make these cruel decisions to change their ways.”<br />
■ Super Bowl champion wants to<br />
repurpose empty churches<br />
Super Bowl champion Harrison Butker is challenging<br />
parishes to rethink how to use their property.<br />
In partnership with the University of <strong>No</strong>tre Dame’s<br />
Church Properties Initiative, the Kansas City Chiefs kicker<br />
announced a $10,000 award for innovative use of Church<br />
property amid U.S. demographic changes.<br />
“When discussing Church real estate, we are talking about<br />
more than just physical buildings,” Butker said in a news release.<br />
“We are talking about our patrimony, and it is essential<br />
that we work together to ensure that the work of generations<br />
of Catholics before us was not done in vain.”<br />
A panel of experts will choose the award winner based on<br />
applications that are “distinctively Catholic” and provide an<br />
innovative and scalable plan to best use Church property.<br />
The award comes as several dioceses face parish consolidations<br />
and church closures due to decreased Mass attendance,<br />
shrinking Catholic communities, and a shortage of priests.<br />
■ HHS mandate could challenge<br />
Catholic emergency shelters<br />
The U.S. bishops are warning that a Biden administration<br />
rule change could hamper efforts by Catholic aid agencies<br />
to help the poor.<br />
A proposed rule change from the Department of Health<br />
and Human Services would bolster anti-discrimination<br />
rules for grant recipients by “clarifying and reaffirming the<br />
prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation<br />
and gender identity in certain statutes.”<br />
According to a Sept. 5 statement from the U.S. Conference<br />
of Catholic Bishops’ legal office, “any charity that has<br />
separate men’s and women’s bathrooms or changing areas<br />
could be required to allow men to use the women’s facility<br />
and vice versa” as a result of the change. Many Catholic<br />
charities that run emergency shelters, the conference<br />
pointed out, are divided into single-sex environments.<br />
“We urge HHS to reconsider the NPRM’s reinterpretation<br />
of those sex discrimination provisions … and to implement<br />
a religious exemption that properly respects religious charities’<br />
statutory and constitutional rights,” the letter read.<br />
Praying for the harvest — Father Mike Perucho, vocations director for the<br />
Archdiocese of Los Angeles, sings during Mass at the National Conference of<br />
Diocesan Vocation Directors’ 60th annual convention at Immaculate Conception<br />
Seminary in Huntington, New York, Aug. 29. Some 250 participants from the<br />
U.S., Canada, Mexico, Germany, Italy, and Australia attended the Aug. 28-Sept. 1<br />
gathering. To his right is LA’s Associate Vocations Director Father Peter Saucedo.<br />
| OSV NEWS/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ<br />
4 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 5
LOCAL<br />
IN OTHER WORDS...<br />
■ ‘Gender affirmation’<br />
must factor into child<br />
custody fights, CA says<br />
California courts will soon be required<br />
to consider whether a parent affirms<br />
a child’s “gender identity or gender<br />
expression” in child custody decisions,<br />
according to a bill expected to be signed<br />
into law by Gov. Gavin <strong>News</strong>om next<br />
month.<br />
Affirmation of gender would become<br />
one factor among others in granting<br />
child custody as part of concerns for<br />
a child’s health, safety, and welfare.<br />
“Affirmation includes a range of actions<br />
and will be unique for each child, but<br />
in every case must promote the child’s<br />
overall health and well-being,” the bill<br />
states.<br />
Assemblymember Lori Wilson, a<br />
Democrat who introduced the bill, said<br />
gender affirmation could mean letting a<br />
child play with toys associated with his or<br />
her gender identity, getting nails painted,<br />
or wearing his or her hair at a desired<br />
length. There are no specific requirements<br />
regarding purported gender-affirming<br />
surgeries, which minors can<br />
undergo in California only with parental<br />
consent.<br />
The California Catholic Conference<br />
opposed the bill, saying it “would elevate<br />
a loving, protective parent’s non-consent<br />
to a child’s social or medical transition<br />
to the same level as abuse, violence, or<br />
substance use in the eyes of the court for<br />
custody disputes and parenting time.”<br />
Desks, chairs, and school supplies lay overturned in the<br />
break-in at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School<br />
in Santa Clarita. | PHOTO COURTESY OF OLPH SCHOOL<br />
■ Bishops-elect to be ordained<br />
Sept. 26; special issue available<br />
The episcopal Ordination Mass of LA’s four new auxiliary bishops will be a ticketed<br />
invite-only event, but will be livestreamed for the public at LACatholics.org/<br />
NewBishops.<br />
The Ordination Mass for Bishops-elect Albert Bahhuth, Matthew Elshoff, OFM<br />
Cap., Brian Nunes, and Slawomir Szkredka will begin at 1 p.m. Sept. 26 at the Cathedral<br />
of Our Lady of the Angels. A celebration of Solemn Vespers and the blessing<br />
of the new bishops’ pontifical insignia will take place the day before, on Sept. 25 at 6<br />
p.m. The liturgy is open to the public.<br />
<strong>Angelus</strong> will publish a special double issue in October with full coverage of the<br />
ordinations, the new bishops’ backgrounds and stories, and congratulatory messages.<br />
Extra copies of the special issue can be ordered at <strong>Angelus</strong><strong>News</strong>.com/NewBishops<strong>Issue</strong>.<br />
Orders received through Sunday, Oct. 8, will arrive the week of Oct. 13.<br />
Veneration for Vibiana — Associate Pastor Father Michael Mesa accompanied visitors who prayed at St. Vibiana’s<br />
Chapel and shrine at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Sept. 1 — St. Vibiana’s feast day. St. Vibiana is<br />
the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. | VICTOR ALEMÁN<br />
■ Santa Clarita parish school damaged by vandals<br />
Vandals broke into Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic School in Santa<br />
Clarita on Sept. 2, causing damage that temporarily closed the school. Thanks<br />
to staff, volunteers, and the school community, the damage was cleaned up and<br />
restored for the classrooms to reopen on Wednesday, Sept. 6.<br />
According to the school, four classrooms and the hall were vandalized, which<br />
included more than a dozen broken windows, smashed flat-screen monitors, discharged<br />
fire extinguishers, spilled school supplies, and overturned desks, chairs,<br />
and trash cans.<br />
After being flooded with support, food, and volunteers, the school was able<br />
to clean, reorganize, and repair most of the damage to reopen the damaged<br />
classrooms.<br />
In a statement, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles thanked law enforcement for<br />
“their diligent response” and called for prayers for those responsible for the<br />
break-in.<br />
V<br />
Letters to the Editor<br />
When we sell our ‘high birthright’<br />
Thank you for publishing Dr. Grazie Christie’s moving column in<br />
the Sept. 8 issue “From guilt to grace,” which expressed the spiritual<br />
roller coaster of a mother who has decided to abort her child.<br />
It can be discouraging to see how, still today, many women are tricked into selling<br />
their “high birthright.” But the column reminded me of St. Paul’s famous<br />
words: “Where sin abounds, grace abounds much more.”<br />
I hope that in the future, we can find ways to give a voice to men who experience<br />
the suffering and regret connected to also being involved in the decision to<br />
abort.<br />
— Harold Durango, Los Angeles<br />
Y<br />
Continue the conversation! To submit a letter to the editor, visit <strong>Angelus</strong><strong>News</strong>.com/Letters-To-The-Editor<br />
and use our online form or send an email to editorial@angelusnews.com. Please limit to 300 words. Letters<br />
may be edited for style, brevity, and clarity.<br />
Awarding everyday ‘Angels’<br />
Bishop Jaime Soto, center, of the Diocese of Sacramento, stands with<br />
Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez and Auxiliary Bishop Marc V.<br />
Trudeau as Soto was honored during Catholic Association for Latino<br />
Leadership (CALL)’s 11th Annual Angel Awards at the Cathedral of Our<br />
Lady of the Angels on Sept. 9. Also honored during the event was actor<br />
Jonathan Roumie, philanthropists Dan and Coco Peate, and the Catholic<br />
Community Foundation of Los Angeles. | GUILLERMO A. LUNA<br />
View more photos<br />
from this gallery at<br />
<strong>Angelus</strong><strong>News</strong>.com/photos-videos<br />
Do you have photos or a story from your parish that you’d<br />
like to share? Please send to editorial @angelusnews.com.<br />
“Did these people really<br />
float in the air?”<br />
~ Carlos Eire, professor of History and Religious<br />
Studies at Yale, in a Sept. 6 Commonweal<br />
commentary on making sense of levitating saints.<br />
“Some of my best<br />
customers are actually<br />
atheists.”<br />
~ Melissa Scaccio, manager of St. James Coffee in<br />
Rochester, Minnesota, in a Sept. 7 Our Sunday Visitor<br />
article on the coffee shop with an adoration chapel.<br />
“Suddenly nuns started<br />
coming around the corner,<br />
and they kept coming and<br />
coming.”<br />
~ Carolyn Knapp, employee at Merrill Dairy Bar in<br />
Michigan, in a Sept. 6 Catholic <strong>News</strong> Agency article<br />
on 58 members of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of<br />
Alma, Michigan, showing up for ice cream.<br />
“You mistakenly believe a<br />
learned Catholic professor<br />
manufactures robots for a<br />
living.”<br />
~ Brianna Heldt, writer, in a Sept. 6 National<br />
Catholic Register commentary on the lack of human<br />
connection in the world.<br />
“I held my tongue and<br />
walked the yard just<br />
stunned, like somebody<br />
had just shot me.”<br />
~ Moonlight Pulido, an inmate at Valley State Prison<br />
for Women, in a Sept. 5 The <strong>19</strong>th <strong>News</strong> article on<br />
California promising reparations to survivors of<br />
forced sterilization.<br />
6 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 7
IN EXILE<br />
FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI<br />
Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father<br />
Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual<br />
writer; ronrolheiser.com<br />
Divine permission for human fatigue<br />
Someone once asked Thérèse<br />
of Lisieux if it was wrong to fall<br />
asleep while in prayer. Her answer:<br />
“Absolutely not. A little child is<br />
equally pleasing to her parents, awake<br />
or asleep — probably more when<br />
asleep!”<br />
That’s more than a warm, cute<br />
answer. There’s a wisdom in her reply<br />
that’s generally lost to us, namely, that<br />
God understands the human condition<br />
and gives us sacred permission<br />
to be human, even in the face of our<br />
most important human and spiritual<br />
commitments.<br />
This struck me recently while listening<br />
to a homily. The preacher, a sincere<br />
and dedicated priest, challenged<br />
us with the idea that God must always<br />
be first in our lives. So far so good.<br />
But then he shared how upset he gets<br />
whenever he hears people say things<br />
like, “Let’s go to the Saturday evening<br />
Mass, to get it over with.” Or, when a<br />
celebrant says: “We will keep things<br />
short today, because the game starts at<br />
noon.” Phrases like that, he suggested,<br />
betray a serious weakness in our prayer<br />
lives. Do they?<br />
Maybe yes, maybe no. Comments<br />
like that can issue out of laziness,<br />
spiritual indifference, or misplaced<br />
priorities. They might also simply be<br />
an expression of normal, understandable<br />
human fatigue — a fatigue which<br />
God, the author of human nature,<br />
gives us permission to feel.<br />
There can be, and often is, a naiveté<br />
about the place of high energy and<br />
enthusiasm in our lives. For example,<br />
imagine a family who, with the best of<br />
intentions, decides that to foster family<br />
togetherness they agree to make their<br />
evening meal, every evening, a fullblown<br />
banquet, demanding everyone’s<br />
participation and enthusiasm and lasting<br />
for 90 minutes. Wish them luck!<br />
Some days this would foster togetherness<br />
and there would be a certain<br />
enthusiasm at the table; but, soon<br />
enough, this would be unsustainable<br />
in terms of their energy, and more<br />
than one of the family members would<br />
be saying silently, “Let’s get this over<br />
with,” or “Can we cut it a little short<br />
tonight because the game is on at 7:00.”<br />
Granted, that could betray an attitude<br />
of disinterest; but, more likely, it would<br />
simply be a valid expression of normal<br />
fatigue.<br />
<strong>No</strong>ne of us can sustain high energy<br />
and enthusiasm forever. <strong>No</strong>r are we<br />
intended to. Our lives are a marathon,<br />
not a sprint. That’s why it is good<br />
sometimes to have lengthy banquets<br />
and sometimes to simply grab a hotdog<br />
and run. God and nature give us<br />
permission to sometimes say, “Let’s get<br />
it over with,” and sometimes to rush<br />
things so as to not miss the beginning<br />
of the game.<br />
Moreover, beyond taking seriously<br />
the normal ebb and flow of our<br />
energies, there is still another, even<br />
more important angle to this. Enthusiastic<br />
energy or the lack of it doesn’t<br />
necessarily define meaning. We can<br />
do a thing because it means something<br />
affectively to us — or we can do<br />
something simply because it means<br />
something in itself, independent of<br />
how we feel about it on a given day.<br />
Too often, we don’t grasp this.<br />
For example, take the response people<br />
often give when explaining why<br />
they are no longer going to church<br />
services, “It doesn’t mean anything to<br />
me.” What they are blind to in saying<br />
this is the fact that being together in<br />
a church means something in itself,<br />
independent of how it feels affectively<br />
on any given day. A church service<br />
means something in itself, akin to<br />
visiting your aging mother. You do<br />
this, not because you are always enthusiastic<br />
about it or because it always<br />
feels good emotionally. <strong>No</strong>. You do it<br />
because this is your aging mother and<br />
that’s what God, nature, and maturity<br />
call us to do.<br />
The same holds true for a family<br />
meal together. You don’t necessarily go<br />
to dinner with your family each night<br />
with enthusiasm. You go because this<br />
is how families sustain their common<br />
life. There will be times when you do<br />
come with high energy and appreciate<br />
both the preciousness of the moment<br />
and the length of the dinner. But there<br />
will be other times when, despite a<br />
deeper awareness that being together<br />
in this way is important, you will be<br />
wanting to get this over with, or sneaking<br />
glances at your watch and calculating<br />
what time the game starts.<br />
So, Scripture advises, avoid Job’s<br />
friends. For spiritual advice in this<br />
area, avoid the spiritual novice, the<br />
over-pious, the anthropological naive,<br />
the couple on their honeymoon, the<br />
recent convert, and at least half of all<br />
liturgists and worship leaders. The true<br />
manual on marriage is never written<br />
by a couple on their honeymoon and<br />
the true manual on prayer is never<br />
written by someone who believes that<br />
we should be on a high all the time.<br />
Find a spiritual mentor who challenges<br />
you enough to keep you from<br />
selfishness and laziness, even as she or<br />
he gives you divine permission to be<br />
tired sometimes.<br />
A woman or man at prayer is equally<br />
pleasing to God, enthusiastic or tired<br />
— perhaps even more when tired.<br />
8 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong>
PAUPERS AND PILGRIMS<br />
A forgotten Italian master who devoted his talent to painting the poor<br />
completes his comeback at the Getty. Is it any accident?<br />
BY STEFANO REBEGGIANI / ART COURTESY OF THE GETTY MUSEUM<br />
“Two Beggars,” about 1730-1734, by Giacomo Ceruti.<br />
Oil on canvas. Pinacoteca Tosio-Martinengo, Brescia.<br />
Oct. 29, “Giacomo Ceruti, A Compassionate<br />
Eye” brings together 17 of<br />
Ceruti’s finest works.<br />
There are more than a few aspects<br />
that make this one of the Getty’s most<br />
important exhibits in recent years.<br />
The quality of Ceruti’s painting is extraordinary,<br />
and his realistic style and<br />
sympathetic attitude make his works<br />
easy to appreciate even for those with<br />
no particular knowledge or interest in<br />
painting. And it’s hard to believe that<br />
the exhibit’s destination is by chance,<br />
in a city where the plight of the homeless<br />
and those living on the margins of<br />
society has never been more visible.<br />
According to art historian Tom Nichols<br />
(“The Art of Poverty,” Manchester<br />
University Press, $114.64), there are<br />
two major trends in the way European<br />
artists depicted the poor from the 16th<br />
century onward. An ‘ironic’ approach<br />
was predominant in <strong>No</strong>rthern Europe,<br />
where the destitute were<br />
stereotypically depicted<br />
as lazy, deceitful, and<br />
morally debased. In the<br />
Catholic world, however,<br />
an idealized view<br />
prevailed which looked<br />
at the impoverished<br />
individual as “another<br />
Christ” (“alter Christus”).<br />
The work of Caravaggio<br />
marked a major turning<br />
point in this tradition.<br />
He was the first to devote<br />
“Women Working on Pillow<br />
Lace (The Sewing School),”<br />
about 1720-1725, by Giacomo<br />
Ceruti. Private Collection.<br />
Jesus, Mary, and the saints. There<br />
was an outcry when his “Madonna di<br />
Loreto” was uncovered and viewers<br />
noticed the dirty feet and scrappy hat<br />
of the pilgrims depicted at the Virgin<br />
Mary’s feet.<br />
historical characters.<br />
The first painting in the exhibition<br />
depicts an elderly beggar, sitting alone<br />
against a blurred background. He<br />
looks at the viewer as if to ask for help,<br />
with a bundle of clothes — probably<br />
In a society obsessed with comfort and control,<br />
Ceruti’s portraits suggest that perhaps the road to<br />
happiness is the one taken by the pilgrim.<br />
Ceruti comes from the same area of<br />
Italy as Caravaggio, and his approach<br />
is influenced by the great Lombard<br />
master. But Ceruti went even further.<br />
He granted the outcasts of the time<br />
–– the beggars, the homeless, the<br />
physically and mentally disabled ––<br />
the space and dignity that had so far<br />
only been granted to the nobles and to<br />
the extent of his possessions — in his<br />
hands.<br />
Until Ceruti’s time, commoners<br />
were depicted according to pre-existing<br />
“types.” In Ceruti’s paintings, we<br />
are looking at real people, with their<br />
unique stories and characters. Ceruti’s<br />
art restores to them the dignity of being<br />
human, and we empathize with<br />
Giacomo Ceruti is one of the<br />
masters of Italian painting in<br />
the 18th century. This artist<br />
is also known by the nickname of<br />
“Pitocchetto” (“the little beggar”),<br />
because of the compelling portraits of<br />
beggars, vagrants, and impoverished<br />
workers which form a large part of his<br />
production.<br />
Despite his popularity in life, art<br />
historians of later generations largely<br />
looked down on Ceruti’s humble subjects,<br />
and he was all but forgotten after<br />
his death. His genius was rediscovered<br />
only in the 20th century, partly thanks<br />
to the fortuitous finding of 12 large<br />
paintings known as the “Padernello<br />
cycle” in a castle near the city of Brescia<br />
in northern Italy.<br />
One could say that Ceruti’s comeback<br />
is complete with the arrival of<br />
a major exhibition of his work at the<br />
Getty Center, the first of its kind to<br />
come to the U.S. Running through<br />
large canvases to everyday<br />
life scenes featuring<br />
peasants and commoners.<br />
And he abolished<br />
the distinction between<br />
sacred and profane by<br />
bringing his poor peasants<br />
into the picture with<br />
10 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 11
them as we recognize them as part of<br />
the human family.<br />
Ceruti does not idealize his subjects,<br />
though, and there is no overt moralistic<br />
intent in his art. Take the exhibit’s<br />
impressive portrait of two men playing<br />
cards. The two are sitting at a table<br />
with a jug of wine, their stupefied<br />
faces suggesting it is not their first.<br />
One of them, dressed in a worn-out<br />
military cloak, is probably an ex-soldier<br />
and holds a kitten in his hands.<br />
Clearly these two are no moral paragons,<br />
yet the painter embraces their<br />
whole humanity, with its weaknesses<br />
and flaws. They are who they are,<br />
and they have been found worthy of<br />
representation.<br />
Or take the painting of a man of<br />
short stature. In Ceruti’s sensitive<br />
rendering, this unusually short man<br />
dominates the background, his almost<br />
heroic figure like a monument emphasized<br />
by the low point of view. But<br />
this hero is dressed in rags, and in his<br />
eyes, there is the sadness and tiredness<br />
of a long struggle against poverty.<br />
For Ceruti’s time, this was a revolutionary<br />
painting. The life of this<br />
man, an outcast, is now a work of art.<br />
The viewer is meant to be struck by<br />
the sophistication with which he is<br />
painted, in a work that’s hard not to<br />
find beautiful. Instead of turning away<br />
our heads, we are compelled to look<br />
at this man with compassion.<br />
One of the most telling paintings is<br />
the artist’s mesmerizing self-portrait<br />
as a pilgrim. Pilgrims and beggars are<br />
sometimes hard<br />
to distinguish in<br />
“Self-Portrait as a Ceruti’s works:<br />
Pilgrim,” 1737, by they look the<br />
Giacomo Ceruti. Oil on same with their<br />
canvas. Museo Villa Bassi worn-out clothes,<br />
Rathgeb, Abano Terme tattered shoes,<br />
and walking<br />
sticks.<br />
Pilgrims and beggars both live day<br />
by day, in precariousness, depending<br />
on the generosity of others. But unlike<br />
beggars, forced into poverty by the<br />
circumstances of life, pilgrims have<br />
chosen this condition for themselves<br />
in the hope of saving their souls.<br />
<strong>No</strong> doubt Ceruti wished to be identified<br />
with the men and women he<br />
painted. One could say that, just as a<br />
pilgrim, he had chosen to share their<br />
lot by making them the subject of his<br />
art. Perhaps Ceruti was suggesting<br />
that there is something precious in<br />
the condition of a pilgrim, somebody<br />
who has voluntarily accepted a life of<br />
precariousness and dependency.<br />
Here lies one of the crucial takeaways<br />
of this exhibit. On the one hand,<br />
there is an imperative to relieve the<br />
condition of those suffering, because<br />
we are all part of the human family.<br />
The Italian painter Salvator Rosa<br />
attacked the hypocrisy of those who<br />
“love painted what they loathe in life.”<br />
In this month’s papal prayer intention,<br />
Pope Francis warned against a<br />
culture of indifference so pervasive in<br />
our society that “our necks are going<br />
to get stiff” from constantly turning<br />
away from the suffering of marginalized<br />
people. Ceruti’s art is the perfect<br />
antidote to this.<br />
But this Italian master’s art also<br />
points to an even more fundamental<br />
theological truth: that the poor are<br />
closer to the kingdom of God than we<br />
are.<br />
In a society obsessed with comfort<br />
and control, Ceruti’s portraits suggest<br />
that perhaps the road to happiness is<br />
the one taken by<br />
the pilgrim.<br />
We spend our<br />
lives planning<br />
ahead for the<br />
future, striving<br />
to eliminate the<br />
unexpected. But<br />
“Little Beggar and Woman<br />
Spinning,” circa 1730-<br />
33 by Giacomo Ceruti.<br />
Private Collection.<br />
what if, Ceruti seems to ask us, true<br />
freedom comes from living day by<br />
day, like pilgrims, abandoned to the<br />
will of another?<br />
Stefano Rebeggiani is an associate<br />
professor of classics at the University of<br />
Southern California.<br />
12 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 13
TAKING UP SPACE<br />
A unique project with NASA allowed five<br />
Serra High School students to rocket their<br />
seed experiment into the heavens.<br />
BY GREG HARDESTY<br />
Junipero Serra High School students Henry Toler,<br />
Anderson Pecot, Travis Leonard, Christopher Holbert,<br />
and Isaiah Dunn — along with their science teacher,<br />
Kenneth Irvine (fifth from left) — participated in a<br />
special NASA project where their experiment was sent<br />
to the International Space Station. | PHOTO COURTESY<br />
OF SERRA HIGH SCHOOL<br />
Students won’t get the full results of<br />
their experiment until the astronauts<br />
return, but the belief is the seed in<br />
space will grow at a rate comparable<br />
to the rate in a parallel experiment on<br />
Earth — if the seed receives enough<br />
water.<br />
Getting a seed to grow in space<br />
requires a pump, water, fans, wicking<br />
materials, LED grow lights, and a<br />
nutrient solution.<br />
The pump delivers water to the seed,<br />
which is covered in a wicking material<br />
— an absorbent cloth — for the seed<br />
to consistently receive water.<br />
Fans move oxygen and carbon dioxide<br />
around the chamber, and light is<br />
needed for taking photos and growing<br />
the plant.<br />
By using grow lights, the plant would<br />
be able to carry out photosynthesis and<br />
flourish once germinated — or so the<br />
theory goes. Things are different in<br />
space.<br />
The students used a variety of the<br />
Wisconsin Fast Plant due to it being<br />
able to grow in the timeframe of the<br />
experiment.<br />
So, what’s the point of trying to grow<br />
a seed in space?<br />
Plants and food would be necessary<br />
for potentially living in space, as well<br />
as for medicinal use for the potential<br />
treatment of diseases. The experiment<br />
also may help design systems for<br />
removing carbon dioxide from a sealed<br />
environment while contributing oxygen<br />
back to the surroundings, which<br />
could be helpful in long-term space<br />
flight and living situations.<br />
Finally, the experiment also could<br />
yield information that could contribute<br />
to the development of agricultural<br />
systems on Earth.<br />
and Dunn were the only remaining<br />
students to see the project to its completion.<br />
“It was a process, with deadline after<br />
deadline,” Irvine said. “We had two<br />
to three weeks to come up with the<br />
experiment. At first, it kind of felt like<br />
‘Looney Tunes,’ where the train is going<br />
off the cliff and they’re still laying<br />
down the track below.”<br />
Pecot, who handled many of the<br />
electrical duties involved in the experiment,<br />
said he thought the project<br />
— conducted in collaboration with<br />
the Quest Institute, an educational<br />
nonprofit organization that develops<br />
and markets STEM educational programs<br />
and materials for K-12 schools<br />
— was far-fetched when he first heard<br />
about it.<br />
“When people say they want to grow<br />
up and be an astronaut, that’s far in the<br />
future,” Pecot said. “To be able to be<br />
doing this in high school didn’t seem<br />
possible. But this experience has been<br />
amazing.”<br />
Meanwhile, on Earth<br />
As the students await word on how<br />
their experiment went, they recall a<br />
process that was a lot of work — they<br />
each toiled on it a total of about 120<br />
hours — but very rewarding.<br />
“It was definitely an experience,”<br />
said Toler, who with Leonard handled<br />
the mechanical engineering aspect<br />
of the project. Dunn was the software<br />
engineer and Holbert also tackled<br />
electrical and mechanical engineering<br />
duties. “We all have a lot of other<br />
things going on as high school students.<br />
Being able to do this shows our<br />
dedication, grit, and motivation.”<br />
The ISSP program also sent the<br />
students to the USC Viterbi School of<br />
Engineering to stoke their interest in<br />
engineering.<br />
“During their visit, the students<br />
participated in a Broader Impact<br />
workshop, which is part of a multi-university<br />
(National Science Foundation)<br />
superconducting workshop that USC<br />
Viterbi is a part of,” said Darin Gray,<br />
Ed.D., co-director of the USC Viterbi<br />
K-12 STEM Center, which hosted the<br />
students.<br />
During the visit, the students conceptualized<br />
the societal impacts of<br />
their research and toured the school’s<br />
innovative Baum Family Maker Space.<br />
Irvine said that in addition to his<br />
students, the experience was rewarding<br />
for him, too.<br />
“My biggest goal was teaching the<br />
team the skills and how to use the<br />
tools, without giving them the answer<br />
to the problems they were trying to<br />
solve,” he said. “And they all did an<br />
excellent job.”<br />
Greg Hardesty was a journalist for the<br />
Orange County Register for 17 years,<br />
and is a longtime contributing writer to<br />
the Orange County Catholic newspaper.<br />
On the night of Aug. 1, Christopher<br />
Holbert did something<br />
unusual.<br />
To the sound of crickets, he put<br />
a blanket down in his backyard in<br />
Torrance, laid on his back, and gazed<br />
at the sky.<br />
“Thankfully no one peeked over the<br />
fence,” Holbert said with a laugh.<br />
Henry Toler, Holbert’s fellow senior<br />
at Junipero Serra High School in Gardena,<br />
also started exhibiting uncharacteristic<br />
behavior beginning Aug. 1.<br />
“Every night,” said Toler of Carson, “I<br />
sat on the roof and just looked up.”<br />
Holbert and Toler hadn’t suddenly<br />
become UFO nuts.<br />
Rather, they and three other Serra<br />
seniors — Anderson Pecot, Travis<br />
Leonard, and Isaiah Dunn — were<br />
focused on the skies because a science<br />
project they worked on for months had<br />
been launched Aug. 1 on a SpaceX<br />
rocket as part of NASA’s “International<br />
Space Station Program.” Serra was<br />
one of nine high schools nationwide<br />
picked to participate in the elite student<br />
initiative.<br />
Growing a seed in space<br />
The program began last year when<br />
they were juniors. After weeks of the<br />
students tossing around ideas, they<br />
settled on “Automated Germination of<br />
Wisconsin Fast Plants in Microgravity.”<br />
The experiment? Trying to get a seed<br />
to germinate and grow, potentially for<br />
food, plants, and medicine in space.<br />
For the month of August, astronauts<br />
aboard the International Space Station<br />
monitored the students’ experiment<br />
and downloaded data to them weekly.<br />
Preparing for liftoff<br />
Kenneth Irvine, science teacher and<br />
Science Department chair at Serra,<br />
worked closely with the students<br />
during their junior year to ensure the<br />
project would, well, get off the ground.<br />
Many students who initially got involved<br />
in the project were members of<br />
the chapter of the National Society of<br />
Black Engineers (NSBE) that had just<br />
opened at the school.<br />
But juggling athletics, classes, and<br />
other demands of high school isn’t<br />
easy. Holbert, Toler, Pecot, Leonard,<br />
Christopher Holbert, Travis Leonard, Henry Toler, Anderson Pecot, and Isaiah Dunn watched live on Aug. 1 as their<br />
experiment of growing a seed in space was sent to the International Space Station. | PHOTO COURTESY OF SERRA<br />
HIGH SCHOOL<br />
14 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 15
A LIFE THAT<br />
CONTINUES<br />
After dying unexpectedly, jail<br />
chaplain Michael Ladisa’s legacy<br />
lives on with his family and the<br />
inmates he helped bring to Christ.<br />
BY TOM HOFFARTH<br />
Michael Ladisa, a chaplain with the Office of Restorative<br />
Justice (ORJ) who died in May, with his grandson<br />
Matteo. | COURTESY OF LADISA FAMILY<br />
Monica Ladisa never knew the<br />
full scope of it all.<br />
She was very much aware<br />
that her husband of 48 years, Michael<br />
Ladisa, worked tirelessly for the<br />
Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Office<br />
of Restorative Justice’s prison ministry.<br />
The hundreds of hours driving<br />
thousands of miles for more than a<br />
decade, often spending the night away<br />
from their home to connect with a<br />
prison community few were willing to<br />
become immersed with.<br />
She knew he bought books and<br />
things for the inmates, but wasn’t<br />
always sure of the how, the where, the<br />
why.<br />
She heard him say how he benefited<br />
from trips made to Valyermo to the<br />
monastery near the Mojave Desert,<br />
where he would have deep discussions<br />
about the ups and downs in his faith<br />
journey.<br />
But it wasn’t until Michael died of<br />
an unexpected massive heart attack<br />
last May — just a few weeks shy of<br />
his 70th birthday — that she began to<br />
understand the true impact he had on<br />
others.<br />
It started with the thank you messages<br />
that came to her on his behalf on<br />
3x5 notecards stuffed into a post-office<br />
box, or written in pencil on lined<br />
sheets of paper. More of them were<br />
posted online.<br />
Trying to convey all the love,<br />
guidance, and redemption he gave<br />
to them, some were not even written<br />
by the inmates themselves, but by<br />
thankful spouses, friends, and family<br />
members.<br />
Sadly, Michael didn’t get to see<br />
them. But Monica has.<br />
“Many of them just thanking me<br />
for sharing my husband with them,”<br />
Monica said. “They wanted me to<br />
know how he put them on the right<br />
road. He knew everyone was made in<br />
God’s image and treated them that<br />
way.”<br />
***<br />
“Thanks to his kind and encouraging<br />
words, I looked deeper inside myself<br />
and that helped me realize I’m not<br />
a complete failure. … Thank you so<br />
much for supporting him in his selfless<br />
service to all of us who are incarcerated.”<br />
— <strong>No</strong>te written about Ladisa<br />
***<br />
Family and friends filled St. Kateri<br />
Church in Santa Clarita in July for<br />
Ladisa’s funeral Mass. The homily<br />
and eulogies touched on his humble,<br />
boundless generosity. The tireless<br />
hours driving back and forth from his<br />
home in Castaic to visit those in Santa<br />
Barbara’s jails in an old green Honda<br />
pickup truck with more than 300,000<br />
miles on it.<br />
“It never broke down for the grace<br />
of God,” said Monica, trying to laugh<br />
through tears, speaking recently about<br />
how the grieving process continues.<br />
“He really believed in the motto we<br />
have at our office: It’s all about them,”<br />
said Gonzalo De Vivero, the Office<br />
of Restorative Justice ministry director<br />
who hired Ladisa 12 years ago.<br />
“You do whatever you can to help<br />
the inmates — this is Christ in jail<br />
and they need your help to the best<br />
of your ability. He became a model of<br />
that kind of person in real life.”<br />
Father Francis Benedict, a longtime<br />
member of St. Andrew’s Abbey in<br />
Valyermo, became Michael’s spiritual<br />
director and talked about the devotion<br />
he had to prison outreach.<br />
“Michael loved the ministry because<br />
of the empathy he had on many<br />
levels, a desire to bring people closer<br />
to God and, for some, bring them<br />
back to the Church,” Benedict said.<br />
“He really went the extra 20 miles if<br />
needed.”<br />
All those miles suddenly caught up<br />
with him in late May.<br />
After a long day of gardening at his<br />
home, he went upstairs to shower. He<br />
was short of breath. He called down to<br />
Monica, an experienced nurse, who<br />
ran to him and tried chest compressions.<br />
The paramedics who arrived<br />
could not revive him.<br />
“The last thing he did was smile,”<br />
Monica said.<br />
The couple had five children and<br />
eight grandchildren. They knew the<br />
pain of a sudden loss. Their twin sons,<br />
Steve and John, both died as adults.<br />
Steve was killed in a hit-and-run<br />
accident years ago. The second, John,<br />
was living at their home and died in<br />
<strong>September</strong> 20<strong>22</strong> of a sudden illness.<br />
He was 44.<br />
“Michael was still deeply affected by<br />
that,” Monica said. “Those were heavy<br />
on his heart.”<br />
***<br />
“Thank you for everything. I remember<br />
you blessed my cell with holy water<br />
when I told you there was an evil spirit,<br />
paranormal activity, and prayed for<br />
me. Thank you. … I fall short at times,<br />
but, honest to God, I’m thankful and<br />
happy that I have you as a mentor and<br />
friend.” — <strong>No</strong>te written about Ladisa<br />
***<br />
De Vivero first connected with Michael<br />
from his volunteer trips to the<br />
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s <strong>No</strong>rth<br />
Michael Ladisa (left) with ORJ colleagues at a luncheon for archdiocesan employees<br />
on May 23, just days before his death. | OFFICE OF RESTORATIVE JUSTICE<br />
County Correctional Facility in Castaic.<br />
That building was a maximum-security<br />
complex with some 1,600<br />
inmates, a place De Vivero called<br />
“heavy duty members.”<br />
De Vivero said Michael would “always<br />
ask a million questions, wanting<br />
all the details he could get. What I<br />
found out was that he did that because<br />
he really wanted to do the best job he<br />
could, to blend in with the people,<br />
and not break any rules. He was able<br />
to establish a trust, and I began to<br />
appreciate his work even more.”<br />
During dinner one night, De Vivero<br />
approached him about a problem: He<br />
couldn’t fill a local chaplain role at<br />
the Santa Barbara main jail, a minimum-security<br />
facility with about 700<br />
inmates. The pay wasn’t much.<br />
“Michael said, ‘Why don’t I help<br />
you? I think I can handle that,’ ” said<br />
De Vivero, knowing it would entail<br />
more than 150 miles and up to three<br />
hours of driving round-trip from his<br />
home.<br />
Years went by and Ladisa was known<br />
for the respect he drew from the<br />
inmates based on his dependability<br />
and compassion. One example that<br />
was not well known even to his circle<br />
of friends: He and Monica took in<br />
a woman released from jail with<br />
nowhere to go. Michael converted his<br />
home office into a living space for her.<br />
She has been living with the couple<br />
for the past 30 years.<br />
He also enriched his spiritual life by<br />
16 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 17
Michael Ladisa and his wife, Monica, on the Sea of Galilee during a<br />
20<strong>19</strong> trip to the Holy Land. | COURTESY OF LADISA FAMILY<br />
visiting the monks at the St. Andrew’s<br />
Abbey, about an hour east from his<br />
home. He made monthly visits for retreats<br />
and confessions with Benedict,<br />
who met Michael in <strong>19</strong>92 and helped<br />
him discern going into full-time prison<br />
ministry.<br />
Benedict was also fascinated about<br />
how Michael described his life’s journey<br />
— born Catholic, converted to<br />
a Protestant at one point, then came<br />
back to the Catholic Church later in<br />
life.<br />
“He had a humble demeanor, always<br />
thinking of a holy life, but underestimating<br />
what his own worth was,”<br />
Benedict said. “I was always trying to<br />
make him see he was doing things<br />
God sent him to do. He accepted<br />
people where they were.”<br />
***<br />
“I never met Michael Ladisa, yet the<br />
life he lived touched mine in many<br />
ways. … Michael had a profound<br />
impact on my husband. He credits the<br />
positive changes that he is making to<br />
turn his/our life around, to Michael’s<br />
godly leadership and caring.” — <strong>No</strong>te<br />
written about Ladisa<br />
***<br />
The letters and notes weren’t the<br />
only things that Monica discovered.<br />
A few weeks after Michael’s death,<br />
Monica visited a nearby storage unit<br />
she knew he had been renting. She<br />
had no idea what was inside.<br />
What greeted her were walls of boxes<br />
filled with clothes, books, and Bibles<br />
he had collected for inmates.<br />
But why clothes?<br />
De Vivero found out that when some<br />
inmates are released from the Santa<br />
Barbara jail, it can happen in the<br />
middle of a chilly night when they’re<br />
wearing just the clothes they came in<br />
with — T-shirts, shorts, and maybe<br />
sandals. Michael took it upon himself<br />
to have clothes ready.<br />
<strong>No</strong>w Monica didn’t know what to do<br />
with all this. She called De Vivero.<br />
“He never told me about it,” De<br />
Vivero said. “I sent one of our chaplains<br />
over with his pickup truck to<br />
bring it to our office. He needed two<br />
trips to collect it all.”<br />
***<br />
“I knew Michael only by name and<br />
reputation, as the well-respected and<br />
beloved chaplain who helped turn<br />
my husband, and many others lives,<br />
around for the good. I am deeply grateful<br />
for the life he lived … the effect he<br />
had on this earth will ripple out into<br />
eternity.” — <strong>No</strong>te written about Ladisa<br />
***<br />
Monica is even<br />
more grateful that<br />
she and Michael<br />
took a trip to Jerusalem<br />
last year<br />
instead of waiting<br />
to celebrate their<br />
Michael Ladisa and former<br />
LA Auxiliary Bishop<br />
Robert Barron at the<br />
LA Religious Education<br />
Congress. | COURTESY<br />
OF LADISA FAMILY<br />
50th anniversary.<br />
She plans to move to Wisconsin to<br />
be near her daughter’s family and<br />
grandchildren, living within walking<br />
distance to the local Catholic Church.<br />
Wrapping things up, Monica said<br />
she went recently to close out Michael’s<br />
post-office box. The bill was<br />
past due. When Monica explained<br />
what it was used for, they waived the<br />
fees.<br />
That’s where she picked up the latest<br />
stack of note cards. De Vivero was<br />
also collecting correspondence related<br />
to him.<br />
Benedict said he knew that as part<br />
of Michael’s vigilance in educating<br />
inmates about the Catholic faith, he<br />
continued with letter-writing exchanges<br />
long after some left prison.<br />
“That wasn’t in his job description<br />
— promoting fidelity to their faith,”<br />
Benedict said. “As some leave jail,<br />
they have no support system, so he<br />
was really their spiritual director<br />
through the letters he kept in correspondence.”<br />
Monica said she wants all to know<br />
she has found comfort in the words<br />
and notes she continues to receive.<br />
“I want to write back to every one of<br />
them,” she said. “Some I have to tell<br />
how Michael went to his just reward. I<br />
will tell them all that, in my husband’s<br />
honor, to please keep on the straight<br />
and narrow.”<br />
“I am overwhelmed by how many<br />
he touched, and to think I had a<br />
wonderful man for so many years, I’m<br />
thankful to God.”<br />
Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning<br />
journalist based in Los Angeles.<br />
It was 2020, and the world suddenly<br />
lost its bustle. Isolated from the<br />
workplace and other social contact,<br />
we were left with ourselves, and none<br />
of our distractions seemed adequate to<br />
the task of amusing us. We were ready<br />
to learn how to think.<br />
It was 2020, and the world suddenly<br />
lost its bustle. Isolated from the<br />
workplace and other social contact,<br />
we were left with ourselves, and none<br />
of our distractions seemed adequate to<br />
the task of amusing us. We were ready<br />
to learn how to think.<br />
Mike Aquilina is a contributing<br />
editor to <strong>Angelus</strong> and author of many<br />
books, most recently “Friendship and<br />
the Fathers: How the Early Church<br />
Evangelized” (Emmaus Road Publishing,<br />
$<strong>22</strong>.95).<br />
18 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • <strong>19</strong>
On a diplomatic doorstep<br />
In Mongolia, Pope Francis played goodwill<br />
ambassador for the Catholic Church with an<br />
eye on China and Russia’s influence.<br />
BY ELISE ANN ALLEN<br />
ROME — During his recent four-day trip to Mongolia,<br />
Pope Francis played the role of Catholicism’s<br />
goodwill ambassador, going to great lengths to sell<br />
his hosts and other powerful regional leaders on all the<br />
reasons it can be of benefit to society.<br />
From the start, the pope’s Aug. 31-Sept. 4 trip to Mongolia<br />
was seen as not only an opportunity to show pastoral<br />
care and encouragement to one of the Catholic Church’s<br />
smallest flocks (there are less than 1,500 Catholics in Mongolia)<br />
but also to send a message to the country’s powerful<br />
neighbors: Russia and China.<br />
Since the beginning of his papacy, Francis has gone to<br />
great lengths to bolster relations with both Chinese and<br />
Russian authorities.<br />
A controversial 2018 agreement on bishop appointments<br />
between the Holy See and China was penned on his<br />
Pope Francis and<br />
Mongolian President<br />
Ukhnaagiin Khürelsükh<br />
attend the official<br />
welcoming ceremony for<br />
the pope in Sükhbaatar<br />
Square in Ulaanbaatar,<br />
Mongolia, Sept. 2. |<br />
CNS/LOLA GOMEZ<br />
watch. More recently, his Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro<br />
Parolin floated the proposal of establishing a permanent<br />
liaison office in Beijing.<br />
Meanwhile, since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine following<br />
Russia’s invasion last February, the pope has sought<br />
to establish regular dialogue with Russian authorities, and<br />
in June sent his personal peace envoy for Ukraine, Italian<br />
Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, to both Moscow and Kyiv in a bid<br />
to carve out a path for an eventual cease-fire.<br />
Francis’ trip to Mongolia marked the first papal visit to the<br />
country, and the closest a pope has ever come physically to<br />
either Russia or China.<br />
In Mongolia, the pope flattered his hosts with his opening<br />
speech to national authorities, containing what was essentially<br />
an ode to Mongolia’s culture and natural beauty, as<br />
well as their commitment to the environment, democracy,<br />
and religious freedom following the fall of Soviet Communism<br />
in <strong>19</strong>92.<br />
In a remark that seemed directed at the country’s Russian<br />
neighbors, he expressed hope that “the dark clouds of war<br />
be dispelled, swept away by the firm desire for a universal<br />
fraternity wherein tensions are resolved through encounter<br />
and dialogue.”<br />
He also repeatedly referenced the Church’s social and<br />
charitable initiatives as a reason why governments should<br />
not be afraid of the Church, offered a special greeting to<br />
the Chinese people, and hit back against criticism of his<br />
outreach to China and Russia.<br />
In a Sept. 3 address to missionaries and bishops, he stated<br />
that Jesus did not send his disciples “to spread political<br />
theories, but to bear witness by their lives to the newness of<br />
his relationship with his Father.”<br />
“The Church born of that mandate is a poor Church,<br />
sustained only by genuine faith and by the unarmed and<br />
disarming power of the risen Lord, and capable of alleviating<br />
the sufferings of wounded humanity,” he said.<br />
By pointing to examples of the Church’s social outreach,<br />
the pope sought to offer reassurance to state leaders in<br />
Mongolia, but also within China, that “they have nothing<br />
to fear from the Church’s work of evangelization, for she<br />
has no political agenda to advance, but is sustained by the<br />
quiet power of God’s grace and a message of mercy and<br />
truth, which is meant to promote the good of all.”<br />
During his final Sept. 3 Mass in Ulaanbaatar’s Steppe<br />
Arena, attended by some 2,000 people, including several<br />
groups of Catholics from mainland China, Francis paused<br />
at the end of the ceremony and offered a special greeting to<br />
“the noble Chinese people.”<br />
“To the entire people I wish the best, go forward, always<br />
progress. And to the Chinese Catholics, I ask you to be<br />
good Christians and good citizens,” he said.<br />
On his return flight from Ulaanbaatar to Rome Sept. 4,<br />
the pope fielded questions over criticism he has received<br />
over his engagement with China and Russia, and the soft,<br />
at times appeasing approach he has taken with both.<br />
Some observers took issue with Francis’ greeting to the<br />
Chinese and his instruction for Catholics on the mainland<br />
to be “good citizens” given the government’s decision to<br />
ban both faithful and bishops from attending papal events<br />
in Mongolia, meaning many came under the radar and<br />
sought to avoid all public and media attention, taking<br />
measures to ensure they could not be identified.<br />
Critics have also accused the pope of remaining silent on<br />
human rights abuses and violations of religious freedom in<br />
exchange for the 2018 deal, an agreement which Beijing<br />
has violated on at least two occasions just this year.<br />
Francis also got himself into hot water shortly before the<br />
trip by praising the legacy of “Great Mother Russia” in a<br />
video conference with Catholic youth, which generated<br />
immediate blowback from Ukrainian Catholics and national<br />
officials, who accused the pontiff of recycling Russian<br />
“imperialist propaganda.”<br />
During his inflight press conference, the pope rejected<br />
criticism on both fronts, saying the Vatican enjoys a “very<br />
respectful” relationship with China and praising Russia for<br />
possessing a culture with “great beauty and depth.”<br />
“Personally, I have a great admiration for the Chinese<br />
culture, they are very open,” he said, saying, “we must<br />
keep going forward in the religious aspect to understand<br />
each other better so that the Chinese don’t think that the<br />
Church doesn’t accept their culture or their values, and<br />
that the Church depends on a different foreign power.”<br />
He also rejected objections to his recent comments praising<br />
Russia and historic leaders such as Catherine II and<br />
Peter the Great, saying he always tells young people to embrace<br />
their legacy, and that his reference to “Great Mother<br />
Russia” was “was not so much geographic but cultural.”<br />
Despite some “dark political years” in the country, the<br />
pope said, “Russian culture must not be canceled because<br />
of politics.”<br />
Overall, the pope’s objective in Mongolia seemed determined<br />
to help cement the Church’s footprint in this part<br />
of the world, while making a down payment on future dialogue<br />
with both China and Russia. The pope’s visit came<br />
almost 800 years after the Holy See’s first contact with the<br />
Mongol Empire. Following that precedent, no one in the<br />
Vatican expects a papal visit to China<br />
or Russia to unfold overnight.<br />
Francis’ latest journey expressed<br />
hope that sometimes the long and<br />
difficult road of dialogue does pay<br />
off. Though what exactly that means<br />
for the Vatican’s currently tenuous<br />
relationships with China and Russia is<br />
yet to be seen.<br />
Elise Ann Allen is the Senior Correspondent<br />
for Crux in Rome.<br />
A boy gives Pope Francis scarves as he arrives at the<br />
headquarters of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ulaanbaatar,<br />
Mongolia, Sept. 1. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo<br />
(left) is the country’s apostolic prefect and the youngest<br />
cardinal in the world. | CNS/VATICAN MEDIA<br />
20 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 21
A PORTRAIT OF CHARITY<br />
Eighty years ago, the Ulmas died protecting<br />
Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland. <strong>No</strong>w declared<br />
“blessed,” their witness has something to tell us.<br />
BY MICHAEL O’SHEA<br />
This month, the illustrious ranks<br />
of beatified Poles grew by nine.<br />
On Sunday, Sept. 10, Józef<br />
and Wiktoria Ulma and their seven<br />
children — Stanisława, Barbara,<br />
Władysław, Franciszek, Antoni, Maria,<br />
and an infant whose name isn’t known<br />
to history — were officially declared<br />
“blessed” in a special ceremony<br />
in their home village of Markowa,<br />
Poland.<br />
German gendarmes murdered the<br />
entire family in March <strong>19</strong>44 in retaliation<br />
for the Ulmas’ sheltering of Jews.<br />
Their beatification process began in<br />
2003, and Pope Francis declared them<br />
“venerable” last year.<br />
The Ulma family owned a modest<br />
farm in Markowa in the Subcarpathian<br />
(currently southeastern) region<br />
of Poland, to this day a stronghold<br />
of Polish Catholicism. Józef was an<br />
amateur photographer and active<br />
member of community and church<br />
organizations. His photographs offer<br />
precious insights into the life of this<br />
family of martyrs.<br />
The children knew only a world at<br />
war. The oldest, Stanisława, was just<br />
three when the Germans and Soviets<br />
carved up her homeland.<br />
At the Wannsee Conference in <strong>19</strong>42,<br />
Priests raise their hands during the consecration of<br />
the Eucharist at the Sept. 10 beatification Mass of the<br />
Ulma family Markowa, Poland. In the background is a<br />
photo of the Ulmas taken shortly before their death, in<br />
which Wiktoria is seen visibly pregnant. | CNS PHOTO/<br />
JUSTYNA GALANT<br />
senior German leadership resolved<br />
to deport and murder Europe’s Jews.<br />
Later that year, the Ulmas began to<br />
hide eight Jews on their farm, an act<br />
punishable by death in occupied Poland.<br />
Additionally, Józef helped build<br />
a shelter in a nearby ravine, to which<br />
Wiktoria delivered food to four Jewish<br />
women in hiding. German authorities<br />
discovered and murdered those<br />
women in December <strong>19</strong>42. The eight<br />
endured with the Ulmas until March<br />
<strong>19</strong>44, just four months before Soviet<br />
forces arrived in the area.<br />
A local man, Włodzimierz Les,<br />
informed the German authorities<br />
sanctity of life is particularly relevant<br />
in Poland. Abortion has been a key<br />
issue in this year’s contentious election<br />
campaign, with opposition leader<br />
Donald Tusk announcing that candiabout<br />
the Ulmas’ charity, likely due<br />
to a personal dispute. Les previously<br />
sheltered one of the Jews in hiding<br />
in exchange for valuables. A dispute<br />
over the possessions likely spurred his<br />
denunciation. Elements of the Polish<br />
underground observed Les for the<br />
remainder of the war. They tried and<br />
shot him in <strong>September</strong> of that year.<br />
After the denunciation, a patrol of<br />
German gendarmes arrived at the<br />
Ulma farm in the early hours of<br />
March 24, <strong>19</strong>44. After shooting some<br />
of the fugitives in their sleep, they led<br />
the remaining inhabitants outside.<br />
First they shot the remaining Jews,<br />
then they murdered Józef and Wiktoria<br />
in front of their children. Initially<br />
unsure what to do with the children,<br />
the Germans soon shot them as well,<br />
“so there would be no trouble.” Later<br />
examination of the bodies suggested<br />
Wiktoria had partially given birth (the<br />
Vatican has clarified that this child,<br />
too, will be officially counted among<br />
the beatified).<br />
“Look how the Polish pigs that<br />
shelter Jews are dying!” exclaimed one<br />
of the German perpetrators during<br />
the proceedings. The gendarmes<br />
proceeded to loot the farm and drown<br />
their consciences in vodka. A hidden<br />
photograph of two Jewish women was<br />
found with stains of a victim’s dripping<br />
blood.<br />
That stained photograph proved<br />
symbolic of a time and place: The<br />
leadership of Poland’s Nazi occupiers<br />
envisioned a future in which a portion<br />
of the Slavs would survive as a slave<br />
race with minimal education; the rest<br />
would be exterminated, along with<br />
the Jews.<br />
Of the numerous<br />
countries that Germany<br />
occupied during the war,<br />
only in Poland did civilians<br />
face execution for<br />
aiding Jews. Whereas the<br />
occupied peoples of Western<br />
Europe maintained a<br />
semblance of normal life,<br />
Poles could take nothing for granted.<br />
Ultimately, 6 million people — onefifth<br />
of the country’s prewar population<br />
— perished during the war.<br />
The German occupiers’ official suppression<br />
of human dignity unleashed<br />
a barbaric tide throughout society.<br />
The Holocaust was a central part of<br />
it but not the only one. Ukrainian<br />
paramilitaries murdered tens of thousands<br />
of Poles in the Polish-Ukrainian<br />
borderlands. Scoundrels thrived.<br />
Some — ostensibly including the<br />
neighbor who reported the Ulmas —<br />
were willing to play the executioner<br />
for little in return.<br />
These conditions also kindled the<br />
best in humanity, as demonstrated by<br />
this now-beatified farm family. The<br />
underground organization Zegota,<br />
unique in German-occupied Europe,<br />
existed for the purpose of saving Jews.<br />
Tens of thousands benefited from the<br />
organization’s aid. Poles comprise the<br />
largest nationality of the Righteous<br />
Among Nations.<br />
Nearly 80 years later, Poland’s Sejm<br />
(Parliament)<br />
announced the<br />
Ulma family<br />
would be among<br />
its patrons for the<br />
year 2024.<br />
But the Ulmas’<br />
beatification<br />
comes at a time<br />
when their<br />
witness to the<br />
From left: Franciszek, Stanislawa,<br />
Barbara, and Wladyslaw Ulma in an<br />
undated photo before their death. |<br />
INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL REMEM-<br />
BRANCE<br />
Chief Rabbi of Poland<br />
Michael Schudrich at the<br />
Sept. 10 outdoor beatification<br />
Mass of the Ulma<br />
family. He said the Ulmas<br />
are “mentors.” | OSV<br />
NEWS/POLISH BISHOPS<br />
CONFERENCE<br />
dates on his party’s parliamentary list<br />
must support abortion. A large-scale<br />
pro-abortion rally is being planned in<br />
Warsaw two weeks before the October<br />
elections.<br />
Meanwhile, following the postwar<br />
redrawing of borders, the Ulmas’<br />
Markowa now sits very close to the<br />
Poland-Ukraine border, across which<br />
hundreds of thousands have fallen<br />
victim to the region’s greatest conflagration<br />
since World War II.<br />
But the Ulmas’ beatification reminds<br />
us how the simplest and smallest<br />
among us can testify to Christ’s love.<br />
History offers few details of what<br />
went through Józef and Wiktoria’s<br />
minds when deciding to undertake<br />
their selfless acts of charity. Likewise,<br />
the modern observer knows little of<br />
the hardship they undoubtedly faced.<br />
What do remain are photographs of<br />
a beautiful family, a testament to life<br />
and love.<br />
In one of these surviving photographs,<br />
taken soon before the family’s<br />
death, a visibly pregnant Wiktoria<br />
tends to an infant, a loving sister feeds<br />
her young sibling, and the remaining<br />
children cast their gazes in every<br />
which direction. Józef stares knowingly<br />
into the camera, as if to say, on<br />
behalf of the family, a humble yes.<br />
Michael O’Shea is a visiting fellow at<br />
the Danube Institute and a dual citizen<br />
of the United States and Poland,<br />
and a board member of the Pittsburgh-area<br />
pro-life organization People<br />
Concerned for the Unborn Child. His<br />
great-grandparents, Jan and Waleria<br />
Lech, sheltered Jews on their farm in<br />
Poland.<br />
<strong>22</strong> • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 23
Letting the<br />
Camino<br />
do its work<br />
An ‘80s star’s booklength<br />
account of<br />
his pilgrimage in<br />
Spain illustrates why<br />
many struggle to<br />
associate faith with an<br />
institution.<br />
BY EVAN HOLGUIN<br />
Just over 25 years ago, Andrew Mc-<br />
Carthy was trying to run away from<br />
his reputation.<br />
A member of the infamous ’80s “Brat<br />
Pack,” McCarthy was just as well<br />
known for his history of partying and<br />
drugs as he was for his starring roles<br />
in “Pretty in Pink,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,”<br />
and “Weekend at Bernie’s.” Attempting<br />
to flee public perception and its<br />
effect on his own self-image, McCarthy<br />
ran to Spain.<br />
More accurately, he walked there —<br />
nearly 500 miles on the Camino de<br />
Santiago, a pilgrimage dating from the<br />
Middle Ages from the French city of<br />
St. Jean-Pied-du-Port to the traditional<br />
burial site of St. James the Great in<br />
northwest Spain.<br />
McCarthy’s <strong>2023</strong> book, “Walking<br />
with Sam” (Grand Central Publishing,<br />
$28) jumps forward 25 years. Still<br />
best known for his role in the Brat<br />
Pack, McCarthy has grown a larger<br />
career, which includes acting, directing,<br />
and travel writing. He’s also raised<br />
a son, the eponymous Sam, who has<br />
Actor Andrew McCarthy and his son, Sam, walked together on the famed Camino de Santiago in Spain,<br />
culminating in McCarthy writing a book of the experience, “Walking With Sam.” | ANDREW MCCARTHY<br />
joined his father’s second trip on the<br />
Way of St. James.<br />
What follows is part memoir-part<br />
travelogue with a dash of history. But<br />
mostly it is a love letter to one of the<br />
most enduring pilgrimages in Europe<br />
and a glimpse into the raw heart and<br />
experience of a pilgrim.<br />
“While we all walk the same route<br />
— millions of us over the centuries<br />
— no one walks the same Camino.<br />
In a very real way, this trip is a private<br />
one,” he writes.<br />
The private trip is laid bare for the<br />
reader, who follows McCarthy’s<br />
wandering mind through a painful<br />
relationship with his father and the<br />
feelings of insecurity that arise in his<br />
own fatherhood. Less explicit yet still<br />
consistent throughout the pilgrimage<br />
are peaks into McCarthy’s own<br />
spiritual journey.<br />
McCarthy is among the nearly 16<br />
million Americans who say they were<br />
brought up Catholic but now identify<br />
with no religious tradition.<br />
“I long ago walked away from the<br />
dogma of my religion,” McCarthy<br />
writes, “even as seeds of a spiritual<br />
connection to something beyond my<br />
comprehension began to grow in me.”<br />
McCarthy never dives much deeper<br />
into the structure of his “spiritual<br />
connection,” besides referencing his<br />
choice not to raise his children — including<br />
fellow pilgrim Sam — according<br />
to any formal faith tradition.<br />
Instead, McCarthy uses the five-week<br />
walk across Spain to simply be present<br />
to his son — providing a listening ear<br />
as Sam works through his first adult<br />
breakup, sharing some of his own personal<br />
baggage but very rarely sharing<br />
advice.<br />
“Let the Camino do its work, I silently<br />
remind myself,” McCarthy said.<br />
“Just walk along beside him.”<br />
Some readers might find the elder<br />
McCarthy goes too far in his laissez<br />
faire approach to his son’s travails and<br />
adolescent habits, but it does impart a<br />
lesson in listening — especially those<br />
committed to the kind of accompaniment<br />
called for by Pope Francis.<br />
McCarthy’s challenge is to learn<br />
how to treat his son as a fellow adult<br />
while still maintaining paternal love<br />
and responsibility. Along the Way, his<br />
patronizing morphs into respect.<br />
Yet his accompaniment is wanting,<br />
not only because of the author’s freely<br />
admitted faults, but because the entire<br />
exercise is lacking a solid footing.<br />
McCarthy’s Camino differs from the<br />
medieval one because it is detached<br />
from Christian tradition.<br />
Repopularized by books and movies<br />
— including the 2010 film “The<br />
Way” by fellow Brat Pack alum Emilio<br />
Estevez — the Way of St. James<br />
has become choked with walkers,<br />
new hostels, and even (as McCarthy<br />
recounts during a stay at his favorite<br />
town of O Cebreiro) a thriving bustour<br />
trade.<br />
The glut of pilgrims with no connection<br />
to faith have also called into<br />
question the historical veracity of St.<br />
James’ final resting place. And while<br />
McCarthy may find mythology of<br />
anecdotal interest, past pains with the<br />
institutional Church keep him from<br />
seeing the Way of St. James as more<br />
than a good, long walk.<br />
Andrew McCarthy is an actor best known as a member<br />
of the “Brat Pack” from the <strong>19</strong>80s. He’s also a director<br />
and travel writer. | GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING<br />
“What I didn’t understand then was<br />
that the institutions … protect themselves<br />
first, no matter the platitudes<br />
and slogans they boast,” he writes of<br />
the school systems that failed his son.<br />
In the book, he references a nun<br />
who plays the scrooge, chasing the<br />
father-son duo from a hostel with<br />
rude demands of payment; historical<br />
injustices committed by the Knights<br />
Templar and the Franco regime along<br />
the Way; and, of course, the decades<br />
of clerical sexual abuse that injured so<br />
many and poisoned trust of Catholic<br />
leadership.<br />
“While I was vehement in my<br />
outrage,” McCarthy writes about<br />
the abuse crisis, “Sam bypassed my<br />
repulsion and left the church to its<br />
own devices.”<br />
The line is possibly the most heartbreaking<br />
in the book. Throughout the<br />
memoir, Sam is depicted almost as a<br />
caricature of Gen Z — foul-mouthed,<br />
late-rising, gender-inclusive, and<br />
constantly spouting the latest slang.<br />
And, in this instance, so completely<br />
detached from Catholic institutions<br />
that he faces scandal with apathy rather<br />
than his father’s antipathy.<br />
It’s a painful reminder of the challenge<br />
that faces the modern Church:<br />
attracting souls either so wounded by<br />
failed Catholic leaders or so numbed<br />
by them that the Gospel’s foothold in<br />
the West seems to be slipping.<br />
Yet even in the face of this apparent<br />
uphill battle, a look back on the<br />
Camino offers a foundational piece of<br />
hope.<br />
“Legend goes on to tell us that after<br />
Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection, and<br />
ascension, James headed off to the<br />
Iberian Peninsula in order to preach<br />
the Word,” McCarthy explains. “But<br />
he seemed to lack persuasiveness, or<br />
at least the oratory skills required to<br />
hold a crowd. He attracted just seven<br />
disciples for his troubles.”<br />
In 20<strong>22</strong>, a record 438,182 pilgrims<br />
completed the Way of St. James. The<br />
Camino is a long journey on foot. The<br />
road to faith is also a long journey for<br />
some. St. James is still at work.<br />
Evan Holguin is a graduate of the<br />
University of <strong>No</strong>tre Dame. Originally<br />
from Santa Clarita, he now writes from<br />
Connecticut.<br />
“Walking With Sam: A Father, a Son, and Five Hundred<br />
Miles Across Spain” written by actor Andrew McCarthy.<br />
| GRAND CENTRAL PUBLISHING<br />
24 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong><br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 25
AD REM<br />
ROBERT BRENNAN<br />
Robert Brennan writes from Los Angeles, where<br />
he has worked in the entertainment industry,<br />
Catholic journalism, and the nonprofit sector.<br />
What I learned from some<br />
shady saints<br />
and she certainly seemed like a lost<br />
cause. But God works on his own<br />
timetable, and when Mary was traveling<br />
the Pilgrim’s road to the Holy<br />
Land for very unholy reasons, God got<br />
through to her. She secluded herself<br />
in the desert, was cleansed from her<br />
impurities, and lived the rest of her<br />
life in holiness.<br />
Blessed Bartolo Longo straddled the<br />
<strong>19</strong>th and 20th centuries, being born<br />
in 1841 and dying in <strong>19</strong>26. Born and<br />
raised Catholic, he went off to college<br />
and threw himself into a world of<br />
atheism, anti-Catholicism, and the<br />
occult. (That is an old story that can<br />
be retold by countless modern Catholic<br />
parents who have watched their<br />
own children follow this same path in<br />
some of the most prestigious institutes<br />
of higher education — and have the<br />
student loan debt to prove it.)<br />
If exiting the Catholic Church was<br />
not bad enough for his devout parents<br />
to take, his entrance into the occult<br />
that culminated in “ordination” as a<br />
priest of Satan would have finished<br />
the job. Only it did not. Tradition tells<br />
us that through the intercession of his<br />
deceased father, Bartolo saw the light<br />
and returned to God. For the next 50<br />
years he built schools and orphanages<br />
for the children of criminals and used<br />
the rosary as his weapon of choice<br />
against the dark one. The real hero<br />
in this saint’s story is his father, who<br />
proves that sometimes our petitions<br />
for those we love have to be taken all<br />
the way to the home office before an<br />
answer is given.<br />
It is a strange kind of comfort<br />
knowing that in a world so racked<br />
with trouble, there are a lot more than<br />
just three saints. Such heroic stories<br />
offer an alternative to the chaos and<br />
confusion our world wallows in, and<br />
reminders that by the grace of God we<br />
also share in a saint’s future.<br />
“Longinus the Centurion,” by Fyodor Zubov, 1615-1689,<br />
Russian. | S.D. CASON CATHOLIC GALLERY (PUBLIC<br />
DOMAIN)<br />
“St. Mary of Egypt,” by José de Ribera, 1591-1652, Spanish |<br />
WIKIPEDIA<br />
Blessed Bartolo Longo. | WIKIPEDIA<br />
These are the times when I<br />
find myself praying more than<br />
watching the news or caring<br />
about things happening that I have no<br />
control over in the first place.<br />
During one of my spiritual health<br />
breaks from the culture at large, I<br />
started thinking about saints. As much<br />
as asking for the prayers of A-listers<br />
like Sts. Peter, Paul, Augustine, and<br />
Teresa of Ávila is time well spent, I<br />
took to ruminating about some of the<br />
more than 10,000 men and women<br />
the Church has declared saints. I<br />
wondered: Could the stories of some<br />
of the most obscure saints help bolster<br />
weaker vessels like me in these times?<br />
What I discovered was living proof<br />
of the adage that every sinner has a<br />
future, and every saint has a past. I was<br />
enlightened by learning of basically<br />
forgotten saints who have a lot to say<br />
to many of us in the here and now.<br />
One of them was St. Longinus. I’m<br />
sure many of those reading this know<br />
who St. Longinus was — but I certainly<br />
did not, until I Googled “saints<br />
with shady pasts.” The list I found was<br />
a long one, and Longinus probably<br />
ranks in the top five. Tradition holds<br />
he was the centurion who drove the<br />
spear into Jesus’ side on Golgotha and<br />
then proclaimed, “Truly this man was<br />
the Son of God.” He then spent the<br />
rest of his life as an evangelist.<br />
If there was hope for the man<br />
whose job it was to make sure Jesus<br />
of Nazareth was dead, then who are<br />
we to worry? St. Longinus is actually<br />
as relevant today as he was when<br />
he was a Roman centurion in good<br />
standing: I think of the testimonies<br />
that have been shared from doctors<br />
who were abortionists, or individuals<br />
who worked at Planned Parenthood<br />
abortion mills who had their moments<br />
of clarity and redemption.<br />
The past of St. Mary of Egypt is<br />
harder to recount in a publication<br />
meant for readers of all ages: to put it<br />
politely, hers is a tale of debauchery.<br />
Unlike Mary Magdalene, this Mary<br />
offered her “services” for free. The<br />
descriptions of her lifestyle convey a<br />
fourth-century version of the libertine<br />
lifestyle choices that we currently see<br />
promulgated by the popular culture,<br />
26 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 27
NOW PLAYING WITH THIS LIGHT<br />
In <strong>19</strong>32, Maria Rosa Leggol was<br />
an orphan in one of the poorest<br />
countries in the world. By the time<br />
of her death in 2020, this woman had<br />
created thousands of projects focused<br />
on helping children and their families,<br />
including more than 500 homes<br />
for orphans, teens, and single mothers,<br />
150 medical clinics, factories,<br />
bakeries, agricultural cooperatives,<br />
and schools.<br />
How was this possible?<br />
“With This Light” is a meticulous,<br />
elegant, and beautifully shot new<br />
documentary on the life and legacy<br />
of the woman sometimes called “the<br />
Mother Teresa of Honduras.” It has<br />
been screened at the Vatican for Pope<br />
Francis, and in several locations in Los<br />
Angeles.<br />
The film features both archival and<br />
new footage of Sister Maria Rosa Leg-<br />
GIVING OUT MERCY<br />
A new documentary captures the life and work of<br />
the little-known nun revered as ‘the Mother Teresa of<br />
Honduras.’<br />
BY STEFANO REBEGGIANI<br />
gol (“Sor Maria,” as everyone called<br />
her). Rather than showcasing her projects<br />
(there are too many of them), the<br />
doc wants us to meet Sor Maria herself<br />
and the people impacted by her work.<br />
The film intertwines Sor Maria’s<br />
story with those of two young women.<br />
Rosa, 18, spent all her life in one of<br />
orphanages founded by the Honduran<br />
nun and is preparing to go to college.<br />
We see her recall her childhood of<br />
violence and abuse and confront her<br />
fears of the future. Meanwhile, Maria,<br />
14, risks her life every day to get a high<br />
school education in one of Sor Maria’s<br />
schools, in the hope of breaking free<br />
from the cycle of poverty and violence<br />
that has entrapped her family.<br />
We hear Sor Maria recount the exact<br />
day when, at the age of 6, she saw three<br />
Franciscan nuns in the town of Puerto<br />
Cortes. She was shocked to learn that<br />
The late Sister Maria<br />
Rosa Leggol hugs a child<br />
in a scene from “With<br />
this Light.” | MIRA-<br />
FLORES FILMS<br />
they had come to tend people like<br />
her, orphans. Soon after, she recounts,<br />
she entered their house and told the<br />
nuns, “Sisters, I want to stay with you<br />
because I want to become one of you.”<br />
What emerges is the portrait of a<br />
woman who, having lost her parents<br />
early in life, felt that her mission was<br />
to be a mother to the many lost and<br />
abandoned children of Honduras. The<br />
heart of her vocation was not the calling<br />
to be a woman religious, but the<br />
fundamental calling to every Christian:<br />
to love, to give one’s life for the other.<br />
Sor Maria understood this at an early<br />
age, and stayed faithful to this mission<br />
throughout her life. “The only brief<br />
I received from God is to love and to<br />
serve,” she says in the film.<br />
In a remarkable testimony of faith,<br />
she even comes to regard the tragedy<br />
of losing her parents as a blessing:<br />
“When I was little, the Lord took from<br />
me everything that could hinder a girl<br />
from doing God’s will.”<br />
Through the words of Sor Maria, the<br />
documentary shows us how to live this<br />
vocation in our everyday life. For example,<br />
Sor Maria never put money first.<br />
At every step in her life, she begged<br />
God to show her the way, to give her<br />
signs. “God’s projects are not determined<br />
by money; and when we think<br />
we can’t do it, let us ask the Lord, give<br />
me a light.”<br />
Somebody who wants to do God’s<br />
will cannot accept to settle down and<br />
try to live comfortably. “My path is to<br />
open paths so others can walk,” she<br />
says. “I cannot stay put, I have to move<br />
forward.”<br />
The Franciscan nun is best known<br />
for founding Sociedad Amigos de los<br />
Niños in <strong>19</strong>66. Shortly afterward, Sor<br />
Maria rescued children living inside<br />
a Honduran prison with their parents<br />
and placed them in the foundation’s<br />
first homes.<br />
Sor Maria recalls the advice she<br />
received by Father Guillermo, one of<br />
her earliest collaborators. “Sister, do<br />
not worry to let them go around a bit.<br />
When they come back bruised up, you<br />
help them. They come back because<br />
they know that this is their place, that<br />
here they are loved.”<br />
Honduran teenager Rosa Polada (left) with her sisters in “With this Light.” | MIRAFLORES FILMS<br />
One of the most moving scenes<br />
comes at the end of the documentary,<br />
when Rosa and her mother meet with<br />
Sor Maria shortly before her death.<br />
“Until the day that God takes me, I<br />
will be here loving you,” she says to<br />
Rosa. And she invites her not to be<br />
too harsh on her mother, who, despite<br />
everything, always came to visit her.<br />
Rosa’s mother had “loaned” her<br />
daughter to her former husband and<br />
mother-in-law, who subjected her to<br />
unspeakable violence and abuse. Sor<br />
Maria’s words to the young woman<br />
invite her not to hold grudges based on<br />
“Sor Maria” speaks to<br />
the press in Honduras. |<br />
MIRAFLORES FILMS<br />
the past, but to<br />
forgive.<br />
The documentary<br />
focuses<br />
heavily on the<br />
work done by Sor<br />
Maria’s collaborators<br />
to help Honduran<br />
children<br />
get an education,<br />
become independent,<br />
and escape<br />
the poverty and<br />
violence in which<br />
they are enmeshed.<br />
This is important and fundamental<br />
to understanding who she was<br />
and what she did. But the film could<br />
have benefited from more attention to<br />
another key, fascinating aspect of her<br />
legacy: how Sor Maria’s collaborators,<br />
most of them laypeople and women<br />
religious, care for the spiritual needs of<br />
the children.<br />
Receiving an education and becoming<br />
financially independent are<br />
very important. But more important<br />
is seeing how children can be led to<br />
discover that their vocation is to love,<br />
just like Sor Maria did and taught, and<br />
that living this vocation is crucial to<br />
their happiness.<br />
“My job is to continue giving out mercy<br />
… for this, my children, you have a<br />
mission. Reflect what Sociedad Amigos<br />
de los Niños is: a work of redemption<br />
and love,” she says in the film. “There<br />
cannot be a person that you do not<br />
love.”<br />
The power to follow this mission<br />
comes from the Lord. In “With this<br />
Light,” Sor Maria is always seen with a<br />
crucifix in her hands: “Without Jesus I<br />
do not take one step forward,” she says.<br />
“With this Light” is available on demand<br />
on various platforms. Visit<br />
WiththisLight.com for more information.<br />
Stefano Rebeggiani is an associate<br />
professor of classics at the University of<br />
Southern California.<br />
28 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong><br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 29
DESIRE LINES<br />
HEATHER KING<br />
Heather King is an award-winning<br />
author, speaker, and workshop leader.<br />
The God of the impossible<br />
A monstrance containing the Blessed<br />
Sacrament is displayed on the altar during<br />
a Holy Hour at St. Patrick’s Cathedral<br />
in New York City July 13. | OSV NEWS/<br />
GREGORY A. SHEMITZ<br />
all are repressed. Faith alone triumphs<br />
and faith is hard, dark, stark.”<br />
In a chapter called “The God of the<br />
Impossible,” he writes of a time later<br />
in his stay, again sitting in adoration<br />
one blazing hot morning. He’d been<br />
injured while working alongside the<br />
local laborers.<br />
toward “wellness”: mental and spiritual<br />
health; excellence. Those who sit in<br />
adoration, by contrast, wouldn’t dream<br />
of trying to market what they do. <strong>No</strong><br />
one is trying to perfect or pass on a<br />
technique, or hold themselves out<br />
as experts, or offer a certain kind of<br />
experience.<br />
Anyone who regularly sits before<br />
the monstrance in silence knows that<br />
prayer arises from total poverty. That to<br />
pray is to be overshadowed by mystery.<br />
That prayer, grounded in Christ, is<br />
grace.<br />
<strong>No</strong>where is the scandal of the cross<br />
more apparent than in adoration. <strong>No</strong><br />
election is won. <strong>No</strong> wounds are bandaged.<br />
<strong>No</strong> garden is tended, no child is<br />
comforted, no prisoner is visited.<br />
“It is love that gives things their<br />
value. It makes sense of the difficulty<br />
of spending hours and hours on one’s<br />
knees praying while so many men need<br />
looking after in the world, and in the<br />
context of love we must view our inability<br />
to change the world, to wipe out evil<br />
and suffering…<br />
It is love which must determine man’s<br />
actions, love which must give unity to<br />
what is divided.<br />
Love is the synthesis of contemplation<br />
and action, the meeting point between<br />
heaven and earth, between God and<br />
man.”<br />
With a gentle rain falling outside,<br />
I began to catch my breath from the<br />
long journey. A hundred dilemmas<br />
passed through my mind. Was I a<br />
“pilgrim,” as I liked to tell myself, or<br />
an unstable crank? Why, after so much<br />
prayer, was I still so judgmental, petty,<br />
and envious? What would become of<br />
me if I started to lose my memory?<br />
I thanked Our Lord, over and over. I<br />
asked him to shore me up, one day at a<br />
time. And then I fell asleep.<br />
I’ve been for several weeks in Ireland’s<br />
County Galway, “enjoying”<br />
some of the worst summer weather<br />
in living memory. When even the<br />
Irish acknowledge the gloom, you<br />
know you’re in trouble.<br />
One bright spot has been the Church<br />
of the Immaculate Conception, a<br />
huge stone structure with ornamental<br />
battlements that towers over the village<br />
of Oughterard.<br />
Adoration is held after 10 a.m. Mass<br />
Tuesdays and Fridays. That first Tuesday,<br />
Father Michael guided us into the<br />
Lamb of God Chapel, led the Divine<br />
Praises, and dimmed the lights.<br />
I looked around at the seven or eight<br />
other oldish women — there were<br />
no men that day — and thought of<br />
the plodding, steady devotion of the<br />
women who come to church all over<br />
the world, day in, day out, week in,<br />
week out; who attend daily Mass, say<br />
the rosary, pray the novenas, grip the<br />
holy cards, wear the scapulars. Who<br />
carry the flame. Who wait. And who in<br />
a very real way have kept the Church<br />
going.<br />
I thought of Carlo Carretto (<strong>19</strong>10-<br />
<strong>19</strong>88), an Italian priest who burned his<br />
address book and set out for the Sahara<br />
to follow in the steps of St. Charles de<br />
Foucauld. Murdered by the Tuareg<br />
he’d longed to convert, Foucauld had<br />
been found dead in the sand, inches<br />
away from the monstrance.<br />
Carretto wrote a book about his time<br />
in the Sahara: “Letters from the Desert”<br />
(Orbis Press, $18). I’d gone back to<br />
it many times, and found a copy in the<br />
house where I was staying.<br />
He describes a whole week he spent<br />
alone with the Eucharist, exposed day<br />
and night.<br />
“Silence in the desert, silence in the<br />
cave, silence in the Eucharist. <strong>No</strong> prayer<br />
is so difficult as the adoration of the<br />
Eucharist. One’s whole natural strength<br />
rebels against it.<br />
One would prefer to carry stones in the<br />
sun. The senses, memory, imagination,<br />
“My leg was hurting terribly, and I had<br />
to work up the force to stop my mind<br />
from wandering. I remembered Pius XII<br />
once asking in one of his audiences,<br />
‘What does Jesus do in the Eucharist?’<br />
and he awaited the reply from his students.<br />
Even today, after so many years, I<br />
do not know how to reply.<br />
What does Jesus do in the Eucharist? I<br />
have thought about it often.<br />
In the Eucharist Jesus is immobilized<br />
not in one leg only, but both, and in his<br />
hands as well. He is reduced to a little<br />
piece of white bread. The world needs<br />
him so much and yet he doesn’t speak.<br />
Men need him so much and he doesn’t<br />
move!<br />
The Eucharist is the silence of God,<br />
the weakness of God.”<br />
How grateful I was to be there,<br />
surrounded by fellow members of the<br />
Mystical Body. The YouTube influence/meditation<br />
gurus had nothing<br />
on these outwardly perfectly ordinary<br />
women who sat in total silence, barely<br />
moving a muscle.<br />
Meditation in secular culture tends<br />
30 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 31
LETTER AND SPIRIT<br />
SCOTT HAHN<br />
Scott Hahn is founder of the<br />
St. Paul Center for Biblical<br />
Theology; stpaulcenter.com.<br />
Angels among us<br />
<strong>No</strong>t long ago, devotion to the guardian angels was<br />
quite popular — and for good biblical reasons. The<br />
plot of the Acts of the Apostles is borne forward by<br />
the action of angels. Angels set the apostles free from prison<br />
(5:<strong>19</strong>, 12:7). An angel guides Philip from Jerusalem to<br />
Gaza for his meeting with<br />
the Ethiopian court official<br />
(8:26). Angels bring<br />
about the meeting of Peter<br />
and Cornelius (10:3-5).<br />
The story of the Church<br />
moves forward with the<br />
guidance, protection, and<br />
assistance of angels. So do<br />
our lives. The early Christians<br />
knew this.<br />
We need to have such<br />
faith and such a lively<br />
awareness of our guardian<br />
angels. For God has given<br />
us the same powerful<br />
heavenly guidance, protection,<br />
and assistance.<br />
Devotion to the angels<br />
did not arise as something<br />
new with the proclamation<br />
of the Gospel. It has<br />
always been part of biblical<br />
religion. Angels fill the<br />
Bible, from beginning to<br />
end. They are among the<br />
key players in the drama<br />
of the Garden of Eden.<br />
They appear frequently in<br />
the life of the patriarchs:<br />
Jacob even wrestles with<br />
one. They go before the Israelites<br />
during the exodus.<br />
They deliver God’s word to the prophets.<br />
The New Testament opens with an explosion of angelic<br />
activity. Neither Joseph nor Mary seems particularly surprised<br />
to receive the help of angels.<br />
Still today, when a priest offers Mass, the congregation<br />
is never small, even if it is nonexistent in terms of human<br />
attendance. The angels are there, as is evident even in the<br />
“Jacob Wrestling with the Angel” (detail), by Eugène Delacroix, 1798-1863, French. |<br />
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS<br />
words of the Mass: “And so with all the choirs of angels we<br />
sing …” The Mass itself cries out for us to be aware of our<br />
angels.<br />
From the time we are smallest, each of us has a guardian<br />
angel. Jesus said, “See that you do not despise one of these<br />
little ones; for I tell you<br />
that in heaven their angels<br />
always behold the face of<br />
my Father who is in heaven”<br />
(Matthew 18:10).<br />
God provides these<br />
guides so that we may<br />
have superhuman help on<br />
our way to heaven. Our<br />
guardian angels want to<br />
help us do God’s will, and<br />
they want to keep us from<br />
sinning. They want to help<br />
us to help others — and<br />
they want to keep us from<br />
mucking up the lives of<br />
others. They want the best<br />
for us, which does not<br />
always coincide with the<br />
things we desire most. The<br />
difficult fact is that what’s<br />
best for us does not necessarily<br />
correspond with our<br />
comfort, health, or safety.<br />
Sometimes suffering is<br />
what’s best for us, if only<br />
because it keeps us from<br />
sinning or tempting others<br />
to sin.<br />
Still, our guardian angels<br />
do work diligently to win<br />
our trust. So they help us<br />
sometimes to find an open<br />
parking space or navigate a confusing grid of city streets.<br />
The angels follow after God’s pattern of governance: They<br />
sometimes give us what we want so that we’ll learn to ask<br />
for what we need.<br />
The guardian angels’ feast day is coming up on Oct. 2.<br />
The archangels’ feast is on Sept. 29. Remember to celebrate!<br />
■ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16<br />
St. John’s Seminary Annual Gala. Cathedral of Our Lady of<br />
the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 5-9 p.m. Vigil<br />
Mass will be followed by cocktail reception on the Cathedral<br />
Plaza and al fresco dining. Distinguished alumni and<br />
Catholic leaders will be honored. For more information,<br />
visit lacatholics.org/catholic-la-events.<br />
■ SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17<br />
Day in Recognition of All Immigrants Procession and<br />
Mass. Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple<br />
St., Los Angeles, 3 p.m. Archbishop José H. Gomez will<br />
celebrate a special Mass at 3:30 p.m., which will be in<br />
person and livestreamed via Facebook.com/lacatholics and<br />
lacatholics.org/immigration.<br />
Traditional Filipino Breakfast Fundraiser. St. Barnabas<br />
Church, 3955 Orange Ave., Long Beach, 7-11:30 a.m. Cost:<br />
$10/plate. For more information, visit StBarnabasLB.org.<br />
■ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18<br />
Della Robbia: A Retrospective. Holy Family Church<br />
Holtsnider Pastoral Center, Galilee Room, 1527 Fremont<br />
Ave., South Pasadena, 9 a.m. Curator Anne Yee provides<br />
a portrayal of the Della Robbia families. Day includes<br />
refreshments, lecture, and guided campus tour. Free and<br />
open to the public. Select pieces of the artwork available<br />
for purchase in the bookstore. Contact maryhannon123@<br />
gmail.com or Diane.collison@outlook.com.<br />
■ TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER <strong>19</strong><br />
18th Annual Los Angeles Catholic Prayer Breakfast.<br />
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St.,<br />
Los Angeles, 6:30 a.m. This year’s address will be delivered<br />
by Joe Sikorra, marriage and family therapist and host of the<br />
Joe Sikorra Show. To reserve a table or for more information,<br />
visit lacatholicprayerbreakfast.org.<br />
■ WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 20<br />
LACBA CFJ Veterans Record Clearing Clinic. 3-6 p.m. virtual<br />
clinic. Provides assistance with clearing traffic tickets,<br />
expunging criminal records, and felony reductions. Open<br />
to Southern California veterans. Registration required; call<br />
213-896-6537 or email inquiries-veterans@lacba.org.<br />
“Holy is his Name” Weekly Series. St. Dorothy Church,<br />
241 S. Valley Center Ave., Glendora, 7-8:30 p.m. Series runs<br />
every Wednesday through May <strong>22</strong>, 2024. Deepen your<br />
understanding of the Catholic faith through dynamic DVD<br />
presentations by Bishop Robert Barron, Dr. Edward Sri,<br />
Dr. Marcellino D’Ambrosio, Dr. Brant Pitre, and Dr. Scott<br />
Hahn. Free, no reservation required. Call 626-335-2811 or<br />
visit the Adult Faith Development ministry page at www.<br />
stdorothy.org for more information.<br />
Protecting God’s Children VIRTUS Training Session. St.<br />
Barnabas Church, 3955 Orange Ave., Long Beach, 6-9 p.m.<br />
Open to all. Must RSVP to the parish office at 562-424-<br />
8595 or church@stbarnabaslb.org.<br />
■ THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21<br />
Theology on Tap. Newman Pasadena Center, 151 S. Hill<br />
Ave., Pasadena, 6-8 p.m. Father Robert Spitzer will present<br />
about near-death experiences. Event is open to 21+<br />
students and young adults only. For more information, visit<br />
youngadultministry.lacatholics.org.<br />
Children’s Bureau: Foster Care Zoom Orientation. 4-5<br />
p.m. Children’s Bureau is now offering two virtual ways for<br />
individuals and couples to learn how to help children in<br />
foster care while reunifying with birth families or how to<br />
provide legal permanency by adoption. A live Zoom orientation<br />
will be hosted by a Children’s Bureau team member<br />
and a foster parent. For those who want to learn at their<br />
own pace about becoming a foster and/or fost-adopt parent,<br />
an online orientation presentation is available. To RSVP<br />
for the live orientation or to request the online orientation,<br />
email rfrecruitment@all4kids.org.<br />
■ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER <strong>22</strong><br />
Feast Day of St. Padre Pio Vigil Mass and Relic Veneration.<br />
St. Dorothy Church, 241 S. Valley Center Ave.,<br />
Glendora, 6 p.m. rosary and exposition of the Blessed<br />
Sacrament, 7 p.m. Mass and healing service. First-class relic<br />
of St. Padre Pio available for veneration. Celebrant: Father<br />
Ron Clark. Call 626-914-3941.<br />
Fil-Am Masquerade Night. St. Barnabas Church, 3955<br />
Orange Ave., Long Beach, 6-11 p.m. Wear purple, green,<br />
and gold. Features entertainment, dancing, door prizes,<br />
and surprise performances. Music by DJ Ronnie. Donation:<br />
$30/person, $10/children age 12 and under. For more information,<br />
visit StBarnabasLB.org.<br />
■ SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23<br />
Jason Evert Live Double Feature: Purified and Gender. St.<br />
Kateri Church, <strong>22</strong>508 Copper Hill Dr., Santa Clarita, 11:30<br />
a.m.-1 p.m. Purified, 1-2 p.m. lunch break, 2-3 p.m. Gender<br />
and the Theology of the Body, 3-5:15 p.m. adoration and<br />
confession. Visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/doublefeature-with-jason-evert-tickets-67100<strong>22</strong>44777<br />
for tickets<br />
and more information.<br />
15th Annual Regional Feast Day of San Lorenzo Ruiz de<br />
Manila. St. Elisabeth of Hungary Church, 14655 Kittridge<br />
St., Van Nuys, 10 a.m. rosary procession, 10:30 a.m. Mass<br />
with reception and fellowship to follow. Celebrant: Archbishop<br />
Socrates B. Villegas, DD, of Lingayen-Dagupan, Philippines.<br />
For more information, call Jun Corn at 818-397-<br />
8087 or email juncorpin.stelisabethchurch@gmail.com.<br />
Young Adult Ministry Fall Kickoff. St. Monica Church,<br />
725 California Ave., Santa Monica, 8:15 a.m.-1 p.m. The<br />
Archdiocese of Los Angeles is hosting a leader event for<br />
parish staff, volunteers, and clergy working with young<br />
adult ministry. For more information, visit https://lacatholics.org/catholic-la-events/.<br />
Holy Fire: Middle School Event. St. John Eudes Church,<br />
9901 Mason Ave., Chatsworth, 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m.<br />
Middle-schoolers are invited to embrace their baptismal<br />
call with talks, peer witness, praise and worship, and the<br />
sacraments. Cost: $45/person. Register by Sept. 18. For<br />
more information, visit https://lacatholics.org/catholic-laevents/.<br />
St. Padre Pio Feast Day Celebration. St. Anthony of Padua<br />
Church, 1050 W. 163rd St., Gardena, 10:30 a.m.-5:15 p.m.<br />
With Msgr. Sal Pilato and Dominic Berardino. Hear the<br />
story of Consiglia Caretti, cured of terminal cancer through<br />
the prayers of Padre Pio. Presentations and personal blessing<br />
with St. Pio’s relic glove. For more information, email<br />
spirit@scrc.org.<br />
■ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25<br />
St. Rose of Lima Charismatic Prayer Ministry Mass and<br />
Healing Service. St. Rose of Lima Church, 1305 Royal Ave.,<br />
Simi Valley, 7 p.m. Presider: Father Charles Lueras with<br />
Deacon Pete Wilson.<br />
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.<br />
All calendar items must include the name, date, time, address of the event, and a phone number for additional information.<br />
32 • ANGELUS • <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> <strong>September</strong> <strong>22</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> • ANGELUS • 33