Angelus News | May 17, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 10

ANGELUS 

TIME FOR A 

TURNAROUND 

How LA’s new ‘Solidarity Schools’ 

are beating the odds 

May 17, 2024 Vol. 9 No. 10

B • ANGELUS • May 17, 2024

ANGELUS 

May 17, 2024 

Vol. 9 • No. 10 

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ON THE COVER 

VICTOR ALEMÁN 

Emma D. and Roberto M. read during a class session at San 

Miguel School in Watts, one of 24 schools in lower-income 

areas across the Archdiocese of Los Angeles participating 

in the new Solidarity Schools initiative. On Page 10, Theresa 

Cisneros examines the program’s ambitious goals and talks 

to participants who describe its early success in creating a 

‘culture of literacy’ among disadvantaged students. 

THIS PAGE 

CNS/VATICAN MEDIA 

Pope Francis meets privately with Archbishop 

José H. Gomez in the library of the Apostolic 

Palace at the Vatican Monday, April 29. After 

Rome, Archbishop Gomez traveled to Lourdes, 

France, as part of an annual pilgrimage to 

Lourdes organized by the Order of Malta 

(coverage to follow in the next issue). 

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Pope Watch.................................................................................................................................... 2 

Archbishop Gomez..................................................................................................................... 3 

World, Nation, and Local News.......................................................................................... 4-6 

In Other Words............................................................................................................................. 7 

Father Rolheiser............................................................................................................................ 8 

Scott Hahn................................................................................................................................... 32 

Events Calendar......................................................................................................................... 33 

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CONTENTS 

LA’s Polish parish marks Pope John Paul II’s 10 years of sainthood 

What’s behind the Easter 2024 bump in new Catholics? 

John Allen: Pope’s CBS interview ‘normalizes’ relations with U.S. media 

A former Catholic Worker’s take on the pro-Palestine campus protests 

Grazie Pozo Christie: U.S. immigration policy isn’t just broken — it’s cruel 

Sign up for our free, daily e-newsletter 

Always Forward - newsletter.angelusnews.com 

28 

30 

The burden of portraying Flannery O’Connor in ‘Wildcat’ 

Heather King: If we cater so much to kids, why are they so unhappy? 

May 17, 2024 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH 

Repairing the irreparable 

The following is adapted from the Holy 

Father’s May 4 address at the Vatican to 

a conference titled “Repairing the irreparable,” 

marking the 350th anniversary 

of the apparitions of Jesus to St. Margaret 

Mary in Paray-le-Monial, France. 

Reparation is a concept we find 

often in the Sacred Scriptures. In 

the Old Testament, it takes on a 

social dimension of compensation for 

evil committed, like in the Mosaic law, 

which provides for the restitution of 

what had been stolen, or the reparation 

of the damage caused (cf. Exodus 22:1- 

15; Leviticus 6:1-7). It was an act of 

justice aimed at safeguarding social life. 

But in the New Testament it takes the 

form of a spiritual process, within the 

framework of the redemption brought 

about by Christ. Reparation is fully 

manifested in the sacrifice of the cross. 

The novelty here is that it reveals 

the Lord’s mercy toward the sinner. 

Reparation therefore contributes to 

the reconciliation of men between 

themselves, but also to reconciliation 

with God, because the wrong done to 

our neighbor is also an offense to God. 

As Ben Sirac the Wise says, “Do not 

the tears of the widow fall on the face 

of God?” (cf. Sirach 35:18). How many 

tears still flow on the face of God, 

while our world experiences so much 

abuse against the dignity of the person, 

even within the people of God! 

Full reparation at times seems impossible, 

such as when goods or loved ones 

are definitively lost, or when certain 

situations have become irreversible. 

But the intention to make amends and 

to do so in a concrete way is essential 

for the process of reconciliation and 

the return to peace in the heart. 

Reparation, to be Christian, to touch 

the heart of the offended person and 

not to be a simple act of commutative 

justice, presupposes two demanding 

attitudes: recognizing oneself as guilty 

and asking for forgiveness. 

Recognizing oneself as guilty. Any 

reparation, human or spiritual, begins 

with acknowledgment of one’s own sin. 

It is from this honest acknowledgment 

of the wrong done to one’s brothers 

or sisters, and from the profound 

and sincere sentiment that love has 

been harmed, that the desire to make 

amends arises. 

Asking for forgiveness. It is the confession 

of evil committed, following the 

example of the prodigal son who says 

to the Father: “I have sinned against 

heaven and before you; I am no longer 

worthy to be called your son” (Luke 

15:21). 

Asking for forgiveness reopens 

dialogue and manifests the will to reestablish 

the bond of fraternal charity. 

And reparation — even a beginning of 

reparation or simply the will to make 

amends — guarantees the authenticity 

of the request for forgiveness … 

it touches the heart of the brother, 

consoling him and inspiring in him 

acceptance of the forgiveness requested. 

Therefore, if the irreparable cannot 

be completely repaired, love can 

always be reborn, making the wound 

bearable. 

Jesus asked St. Margaret Mary for acts 

of reparation for the offenses caused 

by the sins of humanity. If these acts 

consoled his heart, this means that 

reparation can also console the heart of 

every wounded person. 

Papal Prayer Intention for May: We pray that religious 

women and men, and seminarians, grow in their own 

vocations through their human, pastoral, spiritual, and 

community formation, leading them to be credible witnesses 

to the Gospel. 

2 • ANGELUS • May 17, 2024

NEW WORLD OF FAITH 

ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ 

The promise of ‘Infinite Dignity’ 

I 

have been reading and reflecting 

on Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity”), 

the declaration on human 

dignity published last month by the 

Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine 

of the Faith. 

It is an important restatement of 

the Catholic vision for the human 

person, and it comes at a time when 

there is widespread confusion about 

where human dignity and rights 

come from, and even what it means 

to be human. 

It’s telling that this new document 

is dated April 2, which is the anniversary 

of the death of the great St. Pope 

John Paul II. 

Throughout his long pontificate, 

John Paul reminded us that our societies 

in the West are founded on the 

Jewish and Christian understanding 

of the human person. 

He would often quote those stirring 

words of the Second Vatican Council: 

“Christ the Lord … fully reveals 

man to man himself and makes his 

supreme calling clear.” 

From the Jewish people, we inherit 

the revelation that all creation is 

God’s handiwork, that the human 

being is created in God’s image, with 

a body and a soul, and called to walk 

with God, forming families and being 

fruitful, caring for creation and loving 

goodness and doing justice. 

In the story of the Jewish people’s 

exodus out of Egypt, God reveals 

that his name is mercy, that he hears 

the cry of the poor, and that he has 

created the human person to worship 

him in freedom. 

In Jesus Christ, this God enters into 

human history and takes on human 

flesh, sharing in our humanity in 

order to show us both the human 

face of God and the true “face” of our 

humanity. 

In Jesus we come to understand that 

we are more than mere creatures. 

We are God’s children, his sons and 

daughters, and he loves each of us so 

much that his Son was willing to give 

his own life to save us from sin and 

death. 

What runs like a bright line through 

our biblical inheritance is the greatness 

to the human person in God’s 

plan for creation. As one of the saints 

said, “The glory of God is the human 

being fully alive!” 

All of the great achievements of the 

West — in science and technology, in 

medicine, in the arts and architecture; 

all our beliefs about charity, empathy, 

compassion, and social justice 

— are the fruits of the Incarnation 

and the glorious truth it reveals about 

human nature and human destiny. 

We can forget that before the appearance 

of Jews and Christians, the 

world had never heard the good news 

of God’s love, or the truth that human 

life is sacred and endowed by the 

Creator with dignity and rights. 

Values and concepts that we take for 

granted are all rooted in this vision 

that we have inherited from the 

Bible — our belief that people have 

the right to food, shelter, health care, 

and work; to be free from violence 

and coercion; our presumptions that 

human beings are born equal, that 

society has the duty to care for the 

weak and vulnerable. 

As our societies become more secularized, 

and more guided by a materialist 

and technocratic understanding 

of the world, we risk forgetting God 

and the true meaning of human life. 

Dignitas Infinita identifies many 

“grave violations” of human dignity 

already growing in the world today: 

abortion, euthanasia, the death 

penalty; poverty and war; the plight of 

migrants; human trafficking; violence 

against women, discrimination 

against the disabled; the practice of 

surrogate motherhood and gender 

theory; “new forms of violence … 

spreading through social media.” 

In confronting these challenges, 

the Church must continue to defend 

every human life as sacred, regardless 

of its condition, from conception to 

natural death. 

We need to insist that human dignity 

and rights are transcendent, that 

they come from God and not from 

governments. 

Only this truth guarantees the 

greatness and freedom of the human 

person. Only this truth guarantees 

that our rights do not become arbitrary, 

something to be granted or taken 

away at the whim of those in power. 

It’s also important that we hand 

on to our young people the sense of 

excitement and joy that comes with 

knowing that our lives are a beautiful 

gift from our Creator. 

We are called to a friendship with 

Jesus that gives our lives their true 

purpose and direction: following in 

his footsteps, being transformed in his 

likeness through the Eucharist and 

the sacraments, striving together as 

brothers and sisters to reach our destination, 

which is communion with 

God in love for all eternity. 

This is the promise of our infinite 

dignity. We should rejoice in this every 

day and share our joy with others. 

Pray for me and I will pray for you. 

And let us ask our Blessed Mother 

Mary to bring a new awareness that 

we are all children of God, made 

with infinite dignity and bound for 

glory. 


WORLD 

■ Mexican bishop 

a victim of ‘express 

kidnapping’ 

Bishop Salvador Rangel in 2018. | OSV NEWS/GUSTAVO GRAF, 

REUTERS 

A Mexican bishop famous 

for his work mediating with 

drug cartels ended up in 

the hospital after being 

kidnapped. 

Seventy-eight-year-old 

Bishop Salvador Rangel 

is the retired bishop of 

Chilpancingo-Chilapa 

in the state of Guerrero, 

where the government has 

endorsed his efforts to mediate 

between gang leaders 

to end the region’s violent 

turf wars. Already in poor 

health, he was abducted 

April 27 but released hours 

later. 

Nobody has claimed responsibility 

for the kidnapping, but it appears to be part of a trend of “express 

kidnappings,” or quick abductions by low-level criminals with low ransom 

demands. These kidnappings are meant to receive random funds more 

quickly than regular kidnappings with large random demands. 

■ More than half of Sudan 

faces starvation, aid groups 

warn 

Catholic charities are desperately working 

to ramp up food distribution campaigns in 

Sudan as civil war continues to cause extreme 

hunger. 

“People are going through trauma and 

staring at the looming famine they have 

never experienced before,” said Telley Sadia, 

country representative for Sudan for the 

Catholic Agency for Overseas Development 

(CAFOD). “They have no way to come 

out of this situation; thus, there’s a need to 

increase lifesaving food aid and allow humanitarian 

access to save the lives of women and 

children.” 

Civil war has enveloped the African nation 

for over a year, with more than 8.6 million 

people displaced and half of the country’s 46 

million population requiring life-saving assistance, 

according to the United Nations. 

According to Catholic aid group Caritas 

International, a lack of funding is preventing 

secular and faith-based organizations from 

reaching more people facing starvation. 

■ Don’t expect US to 

save the day, Jerusalem 

patriarch says 

The Holy Land’s top Catholic bishop 

warned against putting too much 

hope in a “miracle” that ends the war 

between Israel and Hamas. 

“We are all waiting for something 

big, something that changes the 

course of the history of events,” Cardinal 

Pierbattista Pizzaballa, patriarch 

of Jerusalem, said May 1. “We all 

want the United States to resolve 

the problem; we all want the peace 

negotiations to end in something big, 

important, in a way that marks the 

course of history.” 

“This is not the way the kingdom of 

God grows,” he said. “The kingdom 

of God grows in community, with 

communal gestures, calmly, little by 

little.” 

The cardinal made the remarks at 

a Mass in which he formally took 

possession as a cardinal of a historic 

church in Rome, St. Onuphrius. 

Papal cruise — Pope Francis waves as he arrives by boat from Giudecca Island to the Basilica of St. Mary of 

Health during a one-day trip to Venice, Italy, April 28. The visit included stops at a women’s prison, a meeting 

with young people, Sunday Mass, and private prayer before the relics of St. Mark the Evangelist in the famous 

basilica built in his honor. In his remarks at St. Mary of Health, the pope said that just like Venice, people are 

beautiful and fragile at the same time. “Take care of these fragilities and recognize that God always extends a 

hand, not to blame or punish, but to heal and lift people back up,” he said. | CNS/LOLA GOMEZ 


NATION 

■ Op-ed: Transitional deacons 

no longer necessary 

Is it necessary to become a deacon before 

ordination to the priesthood? A prominent 

Catholic deacon doesn’t think so. 

In a new cover story for America magazine, 

Deacon William T. Ditewig followed up on 

an October 2023 joint interview in which 

Cardinals Robert McElroy of San Diego and 

Blase Cupich of Chicago questioned the 

need for the transitional diaconate. 

Ditewig, the former executive director for 

the USCCB’s Secretariat for the Diaconate, 

wrote that not only is now “the perfect time 

to re-envision the diaconate as a whole,” but 

“I would go so far as to say it is long past time 

to do so.” 

Too often, Ditewig claimed, the diaconate 

is treated like an apprenticeship, dismissing 

the sacramental grace specific to a deacon 

and instead treating it as “on-the-job 

training.” Referring to seminarian deacons as 

“transitional” and other deacons as “permanent,” 

makes the problem worse, Ditewig 

argued. 

“To think of the diaconate as a temporary 

stop on the road to somewhere else minimizes 

the sacramental significance of where one 

is already,” he wrote. 

A homeboy’s high honor — President Joe Biden presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to LA’s 

Father Greg Boyle, SJ, during a ceremony at the White House May 3. The 69-year-old alumnus of Loyola 

High School established Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles in 1992 to improve the lives of former gang 

members. The other Catholic honorees were former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (left), retired Sen. 

John Kerry, Olympian swimmer Katie Ledecky, and longtime TV commentator Phil Donahue. | OSV 

NEWS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN, REUTERS 

■ Catholic 

Answers’ AI 

priest gets 

faculties revoked 

An artificial intelligence 

(AI) avatar of a Catholic 

priest created by popular 

apologetics website Catholic 

Answers didn’t last 

very long in ministry. 

A screenshot of “Father Justin.” | CATHOLIC ANSWERS 

“Father Justin,” a 

3D-animated parish priest who would answer questions about 

Catholicism, quickly averaged some 1,000 interactions an hour 

after launching April 22. But concerning stories started to emerge, 

like reports that he was claiming to be a real priest from Assisi, and 

appearing to hear confession and offer absolution. 

Two days later, Catholic Answers pulled the plug, announcing 

that they would work on a new AI lay apologist named “Justin.” 

“We chose the character to convey a quality of knowledge and 

authority, and also as a sign of the respect that all of us at Catholic 

Answers hold for our clergy,” said the organization’s president, 

Christopher Check. “Many people, however, have voiced concerns 

about this choice.” 

■ Miami archbishop slams Biden, 

DeSantis on Haiti policy 

Miami’s archbishop slammed both President Joe Biden 

and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for their approach to 

the Haitian migrant crisis. 

“What President Biden has done is unconscionable 

when you think of the fact that he’s deported over 

28,000 Haitians back to Haiti in the last three years, at 

a time when Haiti has been in a political, social, and 

economic free fall,” Archbishop Thomas Wenski told 

Catholic News Agency April 29. “If a house is on fire, 

you don’t force people to run back into the burning 

house.” 

After months of unrest, gangs now control Haiti’s 

capital city and prime minister Ariel Henry resigned last 

month after two months in exile. Despite an estimated 

2,500 Haitians being killed or injured in the first quarter 

of 2024, the U.S. resumed deportation of illegal Haitian 

migrants in April. 

Wenski also criticized DeSantis for deploying state 

troops throughout South Florida to “stop the potential 

influx of illegal immigration” from Haiti. 

“They are speaking about them as if they were an invasive 

species, [when] they’re human beings,” said Wenski. 


LOCAL 

Processing for prevention — Parishioners at St. John the Evangelist Church in South LA processed 

through the neighborhood with a statue of the Virgin Mary to raise awareness for April’s Child Abuse 

Prevention Month. Following the procession, first Communion and confirmation students at the parish 

formed into a circle to lead a rosary in the church parking lot. | ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST 

■ Free delivery: Prayer 

petitions for Guadalupe 

pilgrimage 

LA Catholics can submit prayer petitions 

to be blessed and offered before the tilma 

image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. 

This year’s archdiocesan pilgrimage to 

the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 

Mexico City will take place July 4-9, with a 

special Mass celebrated by Archbishop José 

H. Gomez at the basilica July 5. 

Petitions will be collected at the Chapel of 

the Relic of the Tilma of St. Juan Diego inside 

the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels 

through Father’s Day, June 16. Faithful can 

also submit prayer petitions online that will 

be printed out and taken to the basilica. 

Prayer petitions will be blessed and placed 

on the altar during the Mass on July 5. 

Add a petition or join a pilgrimage group at 

lacatholics.org/pilgrimage. 

■ LA kicks off Popeinspired 

‘ball of rags’ 

program 

Local high school students gathered 

at Norwalk Youth Center Park for 

Scholas Occurrentes’ inaugural Pelota 

de Trapo (“Ball of Rags”) event on 

May 4-5. 

The event, created by the Los Angeles 

chapter of Scholas Occurrentes 

— a program created by Pope Francis 

to bring together young people of 

different backgrounds — assembled 

students to foster teamwork and outside-the-box 

thinking. 

On the first day, students were required 

to create and play recreational 

games from recycled materials, similar 

to the ball of rags that Pope Francis 

used as a soccer ball growing up. The 

second day was focused on service, as 

students led sports and recreational 

workshops for children and families in 

the community. 

Additionally, Bridget Nunez, a sophomore 

at Sacred Heart High School 

in Los Angeles, was chosen to go to 

Rome at the end of May to be part of 

a Scholas educational summit with 

Pope Francis. 

■ Serra’s ‘Space Team’ recognized in Sacramento 

Members of Junipero Serra High School in Gardena’s National Society of Black 

Engineers Space Team were honored April 22 by the California State Assembly 

at the State Capitol. 

The students were recognized for their ground-breaking engineering work, 

which most recently involved NASA’s International Space Station Program. The 

students engineered experiments that would be sent into orbit, analyzed, and 

studied for potential future uses. 

In 2023, the team sent into space an experiment involving getting a seed to germinate 

and grow, while in 2024 the project examined the different properties of 

3D printing 

in microgravity. 

Serra students 

are also 

participating 

in SpaceX’s 

XPrize science 

competition, 

where 

its experiment 

involves 

carbon 

capture and 

storage. Serra 

High said 

they are only 

the third high 

school in the 

world invited 

to participate. 

Serra’s Space Team honorees pose with State Sen. Steven Bradford inside the Senate Chamber 

in Sacramento. | STATEHOUSE STAFF 

Y 


V 

IN OTHER WORDS... 

Letters to the Editor 

Time to tell the truth about ‘the pill’ 

Katie Breckenridge’s essay about the medical dangers of the contraceptive 

pill in the May 3 issue track with issues I’ve seen in young women for 

years. 

Now, my young adult granddaughter tells me that her friends are going off the 

pill, after experiencing weight gain and severe emotional instability. Some resent 

their mothers for recommending the pill for menstrual irregularities and acne. 

As a doctor, I warned my daughters that its dangers included risk of stroke, emotional 

disturbance, and even possibly difficulties with fertility in the future. 

As a Catholic, I’m happy that my daughters understand that the pill only interferes 

between a man and his wife when it comes to establishing a happy marriage. 

— Dr. Graciela C. Pozo, Miami, Florida 

Another story to make me grateful for being Catholic 

I got choked up reading the beautiful article by Theresa Cisneros about the 

reunification of families split across the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Imagine not seeing your Mom or your child for 20 years or more! It was truly 

heartwarming the way community and church organizations helped the parents in 

making the 2,500-mile journey to reunite with their families, in time to celebrate 

the Resurrection together on Easter this year. 

I was especially touched by the way my fellow Catholics were so committed to 

this compassionate project. Every day I find another reason to thank God that I’m 

Catholic. 

— Marilyn Boussaid, St. James Parish, Redondo Beach 

Y 

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

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

may be edited for style, brevity, and clarity. 

Co-producers with the pope 

“The church has 

buried every one of her 

undertakers.” 

~ Father Scott Emerson, pastor at St. Maria Goretti 

Church in Wisconsin, in an April 30 Associated 

Press article on the Catholic Church in the U.S. 

shifting more conservative. 

“The secular story — the 

godless story — ends up 

being too sad to want to 

continue the human race.” 

~ Timothy Carney, author and senior fellow at the 

American Enterprise Institute, in a May 3 National 

Catholic Register article on what is causing the 

fertility crisis in the U.S. 

“They didn’t throw me a 

going away party.” 

~ Mother Marla Marie, foundress of the Maronite 

Servants of Christ the Light, in a May 4 Catholic 

News Agency article on her journey from the 

Washington Post to becoming a nun. 

“Church is a village — what 

modern motherhood tries 

to make up for with gadgets 

and money and apps.” 

~ Kailyn McCord, in an April 26 The Cut essay on 

seeking salvation from postpartum anxiety. 

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles helped produce this month’s “Pope Video” for Pope Francis’ prayer intention for 

May, which focused on the formation of men and women religious, and seminarians. The video includes Pope 

Francis speaking about the importance of religious formation, with visuals featuring archdiocesan priests, religious 

sisters, and seminarians participating in ministry and community life. Watch the video at thepopevideo.org. | 

ARCHDIOCESE OF LOS ANGELES 

To view this video 

and others, visit 

AngelusNews.com/photos-videos 

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

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

“But I’m pretty friendly. I’m 

Texan, after all!” 

~ Father Clinton Ressler, a priest in Texas City, 

Texas, in a May 2 Religion News Service article 

on meeting with Pope Francis at the International 

Meeting of Parish Priests. 


IN EXILE 

FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI 

Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father 

Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual 

writer; ronrolheiser.com 

Who are our real faith companions? 

I 

work and move within church circles 

and find that most of the people 

there are honest, committed, 

and for the most part radiate their faith 

positively. Most churchgoers aren’t 

hypocrites. What I do find disturbing 

in church circles though is that many 

of us can be bitter, mean-spirited, and 

judgmental in terms of defending the 

very values that we hold most dear. 

It was Henri Nouwen who first 

highlighted this, commenting with 

sadness that many of the bitter and 

ideologically driven people he knew, 

he had met inside of church circles 

and places of ministry. Within church 

circles, it sometimes seems, almost 

everyone is angry about something. 

Moreover, within church circles, it 

is all too easy to rationalize that in 

the name of prophecy, as a righteous 

passion for truth and morals. 

The algebra works this way: Because 

I am sincerely concerned about an 

important moral, ecclesial, or justice 

issue, I can excuse a certain amount 

of anger, elitism, and negative judgment, 

because I can rationalize that 

my cause, dogmatic or moral, is so 

important that it justifies my mean 

spirit, that is, I have a right to be cold 

and harsh because this is such an 

important truth. 

And so we justify a mean spirit by giving 

it a prophetic cloak, believing that 

we are warriors for God, truth, and 

morals when, in fact, we are struggling 

equally with our own wounds, insecurities, 

and fears. Hence we often look 

at others, even whole churches made 

up of sincere persons trying to live the 

gospel, and instead of seeing brothers 

and sisters struggling, like us, to follow 

Jesus, we see “people in error,” “dangerous 

relativists,” “New Age pagans,” 

“religious flakes,” and in our more 

generous moments, “poor misguided 

souls.” But seldom do we look at what 

this kind of judgment is saying about 

us, about our own health of soul and 

our own following of Jesus. 

Don’t get me wrong: Truth is not 

relative, moral issues are important, 

and right truth and proper morals, 

like all kingdoms, are under perpetual 

siege and need to be defended. Not 

all moral judgments are created equal, 

and neither are all churches. 

But the truth of that doesn’t override 

everything else and give us an excuse 

to rationalize a mean spirit. We must 

defend truth, defend those who cannot 

defend themselves, and be faithful 

in the traditions of our own churches. 

However, right truth and right morals 

don’t all alone make us disciples of 

Jesus. What does? 

What makes us genuine disciples 

of Jesus is living inside his Spirit, the 

Holy Spirit, and this is not something 

abstract and vague. If one were searching 

for a single formula to determine 

who is Christian and who isn’t, one 

might look at the Epistle to the Galatians, 

Chapter 5. In it, St. Paul tells us 

that we can live according to either the 

spirit of the flesh or of the Holy Spirit. 

We live according to the spirit of 

the flesh when we live in bitterness, 

judgment of our neighbor, factionalism, 

and nonforgiveness. When 

these things characterize our lives, we 

shouldn’t delude ourselves and think 

that we are living inside of the Holy 

Spirit. 

Conversely, we live inside of the 

Holy Spirit when our lives are characterized 

by charity, joy, peace, patience, 

goodness, longsuffering, constancy, 

faith, gentleness, and chastity. If these 

do not characterize our lives, we 

should not nurse the illusion that we 

are inside of God’s Spirit, irrespective 

of our passion for truth, dogma, or 

justice. 

This may be a cruel thing to say, 

and perhaps more cruel not to say, 

but I sometimes see more charity, 

joy, peace, patience, goodness, and 

gentleness among persons who are 

Unitarian or New Age (people who 

are often judged by other churches as 

being wishy-washy and as not standing 

for anything) than I see among those 

of us who do stand so strongly for certain 

ecclesial and moral issues that we 

become mean-spirited and noncharitable 

inside of those convictions. 

Given the choice of whom I’d like 

as a neighbor or, more deeply, the 

choice of whom I might want to spend 

eternity with, I am sometimes conflicted 

about the choice. Who is my real 

faith companion? The mean-spirited 

zealot at war for Jesus or cause, or the 

gentler soul who is branded wishywashy 

or New Age? At the end of the 

day, who is living more inside the 

Holy Spirit? 

We need, I believe, to be more 

self-critical vis-a-vis our anger, harsh 

judgments, mean spirit, exclusiveness, 

and disdain for other ecclesial and 

moral paths. As T.S. Eliot once said: 

“The last temptation is the greatest 

treason: To do the right deed for the 

wrong reason.” We may have truth 

and right morals on our side, but our 

anger and harsh judgments toward 

those who don’t share our truth and 

morals may well have us standing outside 

the Father’s house, like the older 

brother of the prodigal son, bitter both 

at God’s mercy and at those who are, 

seemingly without merit, receiving it. 


UNLOCKING THE DOOR 

TO LITERACY 

San Miguel Catholic School students 

Xaribel G. and Andres R. do 

classwork after reading as part of a 

new program designed to help kids 

improve in reading and math. 

A new, hands-on learning initiative is showing fast results for 

Catholic school kids in some of LA’s most disadvantaged areas. 

BY THERESA CISNEROS / PHOTOGRAPHY BY VICTOR ALEMÁN 

At the start of the school year last fall, the group of kids 

who’d transferred from nearby public elementary 

schools to Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Oxnard 

were still learning English, and couldn’t read or identify 

certain letter sounds. 

But a few months later, something had changed. After 90 

days of personalized instruction, the students now know letter 

sounds, can read full sentences, and have a higher level of 

fluency. 

Such turnaround stories are the goal of Solidarity Schools, 

a three-year initiative aimed at helping students in disadvantaged 

areas with limited proficiency in English perform at or 

above grade level in reading and math. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of 18 elementary schools in 

the Archdiocese of LA participating in the initiative, which is 

also present at six Catholic high schools in the archdiocese. 

It uses a common curriculum, intervention programs, and 

professional development to create a “culture of literacy” at 

10 • ANGELUS • May 17, 2024

Izabel Duenas teaches the 

youngest students at San Miguel 

Catholic School in her transitional 

kindergarten class. 

schools where literacy doesn’t always come so easily. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe principal Lionel Garcia said he’s 

seen students in the program become more confident, more 

involved on campus, and more enthusiastic about reading. 

“It’s huge for the community, especially for marginalized 

communities, because it 

provides accessibility and 

resources that support all 

types of learners,” he said. 

“For a principal, it’s honestly 

a great initiative. And it 

works.” 

The Solidarity Schools 

program serves more 

than 4,000 students and 

is being launched with 

more than $2 million in 

support from the archdiocese 

and donors, said Paul 

Escala, senior director and 

superintendent of Catholic 

schools. 

The initiative was born 

after Escala’s team discovered 

that at many archdiocese 

schools, 70% or more of students were performing 

below grade level in reading coming out of the COVID-19 

pandemic. 

They also noticed a pattern: Many of those underperforming 

students came from chronically impoverished backgrounds, 

and in many cases, their schools lacked 

the proper resources to help. 

To launch the program, the Department of 

Catholic Schools (DCS) started looking for 

funding and identified schools that had experienced 

three or more years of below-grade-level 

performance in reading. 

“Christ teaches us that we must find the lost 

sheep and bring them back to the flock,” said 

Robert Tagorda, chief academic officer. “That’s 

what this initiative represents for us. We’re doing 

it in a way that targets the academic needs of 

these students.” 

First-grade teacher 

Carmen Arreola offers 

some extra support for 

her student, Karla M. 

The Solidarity Schools 

program is being rolled out 

over three years. 

At the high school level, 

the program is focused on 

boosting math proficiency 

this year. At elementary schools, it’s mostly 

focused on implementing Success for All (SFA), 

a literacy program that provides phonics-based 

language arts curriculum, coaching, and professional 

development. 

Each week, members of the DCS team 

overseeing the program’s rollout visit schools to 

provide feedback, review results, and organize 

materials. 


“The work that we’re doing with these 

schools really speaks to what our faith calls us 

to do,” said Gina Aguilar, Ph.D., managing 

director of the DCS Academic Excellence 

team. “To journey together, and support our 

students, and help them become who God 

called them to be.” 

For elementary students, the program 

emphasizes letting students learn at their own 

pace while continuously challenging them, 

even as their literacy skills improve. 

Christian C., a fifth-grader at San Miguel 

Catholic School in Watts, said he’s learned 

new words this year through SFA that are 

strengthening his vocabulary and reading 

comprehension skills. 

“Now I can use bigger words, longer words to 

make better sentences,” he said. 

Valery R., also a fifth-grader at San Miguel, 

said that while her reading scores have always 

been solid, SFA challenges her to achieve 

even higher. 

“I feel like SFA is just a great way to impact 

and expand our reading level,” she said. 

In the program’s second year, students will 

also get help with math, as well as continued 

literacy support. 

In the third year, the department will focus 

on making the program permanent at the 

schools before tapering off its daily support. 

Its supporters say Solidarity Schools goes 

beyond academic growth in the classroom: 

By targeting attendance, behavior, and parent 

and family involvement, it also gives valuable 

skills to help break the cycle of poverty in which some of their 

families live. 

At least two-thirds of Solidarity School participants come 

from low-income backgrounds, and 94% are Black or Latino, 

according to DCS. 

Many live in historically underserved communities, where 

access to quality housing, health care, and other services 

critical to families’ stability are limited, Tagorda said. 

Many also come from families still reeling financially from 

the COVID-19 pandemic, which can create instability at 

home and detract from student performance, he added. 

So far, testing data shows that Solidarity Schools students are 

making “huge” gains in literacy, Aguilar said. In just the first 

three months of the program, the percentage of participants 

reading at or above grade level increased by eight points. 

Studies also show that the number of elementary students 

needing “urgent intervention” is down and schools are meeting 

the program’s implementation goals. 

At St. Malachy School in South LA, Rosio Orozco — who 

serves as both the principal and a full-time fifth-grade teacher 

— said the school has seen major improvements in student 

behavior and achievement since joining the program. 

Orozco said she’s changed her classroom management 

style after participating in the program. Instead of “hovering” 

over students to ensure they stay on task, she’s now able to let 

San Miguel Catholic School student 

Keeban M. reads quietly in 

class. Supporters of the Solidarity 

Schools program have said it 

not only helps students in the 

classroom, but at home as well. 

them set their own learning routine. 

“There’s no need for reminders anymore because they are 

so involved in it and understand how the process works,” said 

Orozco, who’s been teaching for more than 25 years. “That 

allows me to take a step back and just see everything come 

alive on its own.” 

At San Miguel, Maryann Davis, principal, said she’s also 

noticed that students are more excited about reading. 

“It’s become a community where everybody’s looking out 

for each other,” she said. “The students are being responsible 

for each other because they care about each other. They’re 

working in teams and they want their team to be successful.” 

Looking toward the future, Escala said the department has 

already been contacted by other schools interested in seeking 

to join the Solidarity Schools program. 

Escala said he hopes the program grows, because the more 

students that are reached, the more lives can be changed. 

“In my heart, I believe that this is where our job is as a 

church, as a ministry,” he said. “Ending the cycle of poverty 

for many children by unlocking the door of literacy is going 

to be the biggest upside of this project.” 

Theresa Cisneros is a freelance journalist with 24 years of 

experience in the news industry. She is a fourth-generation 

Southern California resident and lives in Orange County with 

her husband and four children. 



DECADE OF DEVOTION 

Ten years after his canonization, local 

Polish Catholics remembered the pope 

who changed their lives. 

An image of St. Pope John Paul II looks 

down from the altar during a special 

Mass event on April 28 celebrating the 

10th anniversary of the former pope’s 

canonization. | VICTOR ALEMÁN 

BY NATALIE ROMANO 

When the relic of St. Pope John 

Paul II touched his head, 

Andrew Lelonek felt like a 

new man. 

“I feel rejuvenated,” said a beaming 

Lelonek, a parishioner at St. Mary 

Magdalen Church in Camarillo. “I 

leave with hope for the things I pray 

for, hope for miraculous change.” 

The memorable moment came during 

a special Mass and celebration April 

28 at Our Lady of the Bright Mount 

Church in LA’s West Adams neighborhood 

marking the 10th anniversary of 

the Polish pope’s canonization. 

Bright Mount also serves as the Archdiocese 

of Los Angeles’ official shrine 

to John Paul, and its only Polish parish. 

Regional dean Father Luis Espinoza, 

pastor of nearby St. Agnes Church, 

presided the Mass offered in English, 

Spanish, and Polish. 

In his homily, Bright Mount pastor 

Father Miroslaw “Mirek” Frankowski, 

S.Ch., reflected on how the relatively 

unknown Polish churchman — who 

visited Bright Mount during a trip to 

LA in 1976 — went on to become a 

global force for good during his 27-year 

reign. 

“Pope John Paul II changed the whole 

world,” Frankowski said. “He was not 

afraid to go to the places where people 


were oppressed and suffering because 

of political conflicts or wars. 

“He tried to reach every heart and 

every soul of all peoples with his compassion, 

love, and mercy.” 

The celebration began with the 

Divine Mercy chaplet, a devotion 

originated by Polish mystic St. Faustina 

Kowalska and made popular by John 

Paul’s establishment of Divine Mercy 

Sunday. During the recitation, parishioners 

asked for God’s grace and the 

faith to trust in Jesus. 

“Jesus, I trust in you; this is my prayer 

every day,” said Boguslawa Doerr, who 

heads the Los Angeles chapter of the 

John Paul II Foundation. “It makes me 

stronger. St. John Paul II gave us this. 

He has been a huge influence on my 

life.” 

John Paul was officially canonized 

by Pope Francis on April 27, 2014, on 

Divine Mercy Sunday. He was found 

eligible for sainthood after being credited 

with two miracles that happened 

after his death on April 2, 2005. 

Frankowski told parishioners their 

beloved intercessor healed thousands 

more, including one man sitting in the 

pews whose story was so compelling it 

was submitted to the Vatican. 

In the early 2000s, Michael Mietek 

Dutkowski was suffering from multiple 

health conditions, including liver 

failure. He says parishioners from Our 

Lady of the Bright Mount and the St. 

John Paul II Polish Center in Yorba 

Linda began praying for his recovery 

through the intercession of John Paul. 

“Prayers were answered, I was healed,” 

Dutkowski said. “My documents with 

medical history were delivered to the 

Vatican by the president of the John 

Paul II Foundation and included in the 

process of the beatification … [but] I 

believe he was a saint while alive.” 

In addition to individual blessings with 

the first-class relic of John Paul’s hair, 

worshippers were invited to kneel and 

pray where the saint once sat. In 1976, 

then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla visited the 

parish, stayed overnight in the rectory, 

then celebrated Mass. 

Several parishioners remember that 

day with awe. Andrew Goska was only 

10 years old at the time but sensed 

something special about the man and 

the moment. 

“The way he spoke to people, it was 

like the Holy Spirit was present,” said 

Goska, a parishioner at Our Lady of the 

Bright Mount. “I feel [my faith] has a 

lot to do with him being there shaking 

our hands and touching our souls. It 

was very powerful.” 

Casey Habrat was also at this acclaimed 

Mass. He remembers the 

cardinal trying to connect with every 

person, a trait he carried into his 

papacy. 

“What I really respect about him is 

that he took the Vatican out of the Vatican,” 

said Habrat, a parishioner at Our 

Lady of the Bright Mount. “He went 

out where the people were and didn’t 

wait for them to come to him.” 

Most of the Mass-goers seemed to 

have a personal story about John Paul, 

including Father Frankowski. The Polish 

native said when he was discerning 

the priesthood, he prayed for a sign and 

got one through a dream. 

“There’s Pope John Paul II sitting in 

the main chair of the sanctuary of the 

church,” Frankowski recalled. “My 

Mom says, ‘Well, Mirek, go and serve 

the pope.’ When I woke up, I knew 

what I had to do and I entered seminary.” 

Admiration for John Paul and Polish 

culture was evident throughout the 

Mass. Father Espinoza wore a vestment 

bearing John Paul’s face while some 

parishioners opted for classic folk attire. 

Chris Grzelecki, in a dark wool vest 

and colorful striped pants, helped bring 

the gifts to the altar. 

“I came here for tradition, a lot of 

tradition,” said Grzelecki, a parishioner 

at Our Lady of the Bright Mount. “Yet 

it was nice to see so many different 

nationalities come together and share a 

reverence for Pope John Paul.” 

Following Mass, attendees enjoyed a 

reception that included kielbasa, pierogies, 

stuffed cabbage, and further reminiscing 

about John Paul. Frankowski 

hopes the saint’s lessons are remembered 

in these times of global peril. 

“His legacy is the same as Jesus 

Christ,” Frankowski said. “He taught 

us to love one another, respect one 

another, and respect the freedom of all 

people.” 

Father Miroslaw “Mirek” Frankowski, S.Ch., left, pastor at Our Lady of the Bright Mount Church, and Father Luis 

Espinoza look on as a parishioner kisses the relic of John Paul. | VICTOR ALEMÁN 

Natalie Romano is a freelance writer 

for Angelus and the Inland Catholic 

Byte, the news website of the Diocese of 

San Bernardino. 


LOST AND 

FOUND 

What’s behind this year’s apparent spike 

in adult baptisms around the country? 

BY ANN RODGERS 

Archbishop José H. Gomez with the adult catechumens 

and candidates welcomed into the Catholic Church 

at the Easter Vigil at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the 

Angels March 29. | ARCHDIOCESE OF LA 

At the Easter Vigil last month in the Cathedral of Our 

Lady of the Angels, 66-year-old Michael Cardona was 

received into the Catholic Church after a spiritual 

journey that included two Protestant baptisms and 30 years as 

a Hindu guru. 

“I was lost,” said Cardona, who identifies with the prodigal 

son. He had significant health problems and sensed the Holy 

Spirit urging him not to delay. 

“I had to make sure that I at least got the Eucharist one time 

before I die,” he said. 

He joined a surge of adults who entered the Church nationwide 

this Easter. Baptisms of adults, older children, and teens 

hit an all-time high in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles with 

2,075 — an increase of 38% over the 2016 record. Cardona 

was among 1,521 candidates received after baptism in other 

Christian traditions, bringing the total to 3,696. 

National numbers are unavailable, but many individual 

dioceses reported dramatic increases. The Archdiocese of 

Baltimore rose more than a third to 663. The 2,364 converts 

in the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston marked the first 

total above 2,000 since 2019. Increases were not confined to 

large, urban archdioceses. The Diocese of Yakima in the high 

desert of central Washington reported the most converts in its 

73-year history, with 460. 

Social scientists attribute the increase to pent-up demand 

after COVID-19. 

Mark Gray crunches sacramental statistics as the senior 

research associate at the Center for Applied Research in 

the Apostolate (CARA). Pointing to indications that Sunday 

Mass attendance is back to pre-COVID levels, he believes 

increased conversions reflect that rebound. 

During COVID, “a lot of parishes were unable to have 

Mass and to celebrate the sacraments. There are people who 

would have entered the Church at that time, but couldn’t,” 

he said. 

Engagement to a Catholic is the most common reason 

people enter RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), he 

said. 

“So not only did you probably have a delay in those marriages, 

but it also delayed people being able to go through RCIA.” 

Marilyn Santos, associate director of the Secretariat of Evangelization 

and Catechesis at the U.S. Conference of Catholic 

Bishops, believes that post-COVID catch-up is just one part 

of the story. 


She hears increasing reports of 

whole families participating in the 

RCIA (which the U.S. bishops now 

refer to with a slightly changed 

translation: the OCIA, or “Order of 

Christian Initiation of Adults.” While 

most converts enter the Church at 

the Easter Vigil, this new structure 

acknowledges that converts could be baptized or welcomed 

into the Church at any point in the year, even taking multiple 

years before making the final decision. Practically speaking, 

parishes will be adjusting to this new term over the next 

few years, phasing out the term RCIA and switching over to 

the use of the term OCIA.) 

Perhaps, she said, part of COVID’s impact was to show the 

value of family, faith, and community. She also wonders if 

the explosion of devotion to Blessed Carlo Acutis during the 

National Eucharistic Revival has played a part, since he led 

his own parents into the Church. 

“We have heard some incredible stories during the National 

Eucharistic Revival of people who have experienced total 

conversion because of the revival,” she said. 

Regardless of why non-Catholics are attracted to the 

Church, “kindness and hospitality mean a lot,” she said. “If 

you do something as simple as being welcoming, the rest 

will come.” 

Just before COVID struck, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles 

had committed to upgrading its adult initiation process 

with better training for parish leaders. Leticia Perez, now 

archdiocesan coordinator for Christian initiation, began 

full-time assistance to parish initiation ministries after years 

of juggling it with other duties. 

During COVID, it was impossible to do RCIA online because 

it required liturgical gatherings. However, the sudden 

shift to virtual meetings allowed the archdiocese to immediately 

involve RCIA leaders from every parish in its extensive 

new training. Participants emerged from COVID far more 

prepared to lead the initiation of adults, Perez said. 

Candidate Sarah Engelman receives her first 

holy Communion from Archbishop Gomez at 

the Easter Vigil. | VICTOR ALEMÁN 

Former Evangelical pastor 

and Hindu guru Michael 

Cardona with Archbishop 

Gomez after entering 

the Catholic Church at 

Easter this year. | MICHAEL 

CARDONA 

She believes that’s a key to the record baptisms and receptions 

in the LA Archdiocese. 

Unlike when she was a parish RCIA leader years ago, “we 

have a lot of resources. They can call me and ask questions. 

If I don’t know the answer, I can find out.” 

A new trend she has recently become aware of is for some 

parents to delay their children’s baptism for years, so they 

receive all three sacraments through RCIA at age 7 or 8. 

She suspects that some parents think it will be too difficult 

to prepare adolescents for confirmation. 

“I think parents (are concerned) that they 

cannot control teenagers to bring them to the 

Church,” Perez said. “That is one of the realities. 

Another is work, another is convenience. 

Or you can have a situation of divorce, where 

the child isn’t baptized, or they were raised 

in another denomination. So, there are many 

different reasons.” 

Regardless of why more people became 

Catholic this year, it’s a sign that God is at 

work, said Santos at the U.S. bishops’ conference. 

“The message is that, in spite of the hard times 

— that are sometimes by our own fault — God 

is bigger,” she said. 

Ann Rodgers is a longtime religion reporter 

and freelance writer whose awards include the 

William A. Reed Lifetime Achievement Award 

from the Religion News Association. 

May 17, 2024 • ANGELUS • 17

A round-the-world conversion 

Michael Cardona, then known 

as Madhavananda das Babaji, 

was enjoying life as a Hindu 

guru in India in 2018, when he sensed 

Jesus calling him. 

Christ showed him the suffering he 

had caused by leading thousands of 

Christians to renounce their faith, he 

said. 

“He told me, you can come back to 

me if you go west, leave India as soon 

as possible, and help poor, sick, and 

homeless people with your own hands.” 

Today, Cardona, 66, lives and works in 

the Emmanuel Baptist Rescue Mission 

on Skid Row in Los Angeles. He entered 

the Catholic Church at the 2024 

Easter Vigil. 

At the Cathedral of Our Lady of the 

Angels, Caterina Krai, the director of 

sacramental life, had welcomed him. 

She has seen many dramatic journeys 

of conversion — from Islam, atheism, 

dark occultism, and even a homeless 

teenager who faithfully rode his 

bicycle to Order of Christian Initiation 

of Adults (OCIA) sessions. Cardona 

stood out as much for his humility and 

graciousness as for his radical change 

of faith. 

“He was a bright light even when he 

was suffering greatly,” she said. “He was 

a great example of perseverance, hope, 

and God’s merciful love.” 

Born near Philadelphia, he was 

baptized and raised Methodist. In the 

1970s he joined the Jesus Movement. 

Baptized again in the Delaware River, 

he became an assistant pastor in a 

Christian commune in New York City, 

where he slept on the floor in imitation 

of Jesus. 

FULL IMMERSION 

EXPERIENCE 

Stepladders, east vs. west, and a new pool: Why adult baptisms 

at San Francisco’s cathedral looked different this Easter. 

BY PABLO KAY 

Initiation into the Catholic faith as an adult involves a 

yearslong process of discernment and formation leading 

up to one life-changing moment: baptism. 

It’s a moment that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San 

Francisco believes should be expressed more “forcefully and 

convincingly.” So this year, at his cathedral’s Easter Vigil 

liturgy, he incorporated some rarely used elements of the rite 

of baptism that date back to the first centuries of Christianity. 

In a phone interview, Cordileone explained the symbolism 

of the changes and shared his thoughts on what’s behind the 

apparent rise in adult conversions to Catholicism. 

Archbishop, you did baptisms at your Easter Vigil this 

year a little differently. What did you change, and why? 

The Church has always drawn spiritual lessons from space 

and time. The symbolism of east and west, for example, was 

part of an ancient practice when Christians being baptized 

renounced sin and professed their faith. 

First, the catechumens and I stood on the west side of the 

baptismal font, with them facing west (toward me) as they 


Then law enforcement showed up 

to investigate the group’s leader for 

financial fraud, he said. Disillusioned, 

Cardona sought other paths to God, including 

the Hare Krishnas and Russian 

Orthodox Christianity. He kept moving 

east — geographically and spiritually. 

Enthralled by encounters with Hindu 

gurus, he followed them. As a former 

evangelical pastor, his testimony was 

in demand. He moved to England, 

becoming a globe-trotting guru who 

led Christians into Hinduism. He 

spent seven years in Hong Kong before 

settling in India in 2013. 

Five years later, he said, Jesus called 

him, showing him his sins so graphically 

that Cardona wept for three days 

and asked God why he didn’t just let 

him die. 

He heard a voice in his heart reply, 

“It’s because I love you.” 

That is when, Cardona said, Jesus told 

him to go west and serve the poor. 

Back in Pennsylvania, he fell in with 

missionaries who lived in a motorhome, 

traveling with them across the 

south. But when he was sent to meet 

their leader in Australia, he realized he 

had joined another corrupt ministry. 

Flat broke, Cardona contacted a 

former Hindu disciple in Hong Kong, 

who booked him a flight to Los Angeles. 

“I didn’t have a penny in any currency 

and a Mexican cleaning lady gave me 

bus fare to come downtown so I could 

sign up for food stamps,” he said. 

A street preacher directed him to the 

Emmanuel Baptist Rescue Mission, 

which is run by some of its residents. 

Cardona served as director until his 

health declined. 

He began to reread the early Church 

Fathers, who he had encountered decades 

earlier in Russian Orthodoxy. But 

this time he was drawn west. What he 

read made him love and trust in Mary 

and long for the Eucharist. 

“I found myself awash in God’s love 

and [Mary’s] sweet love and assurance. 

That was when I knew I had to become 

Catholic,” he said. 

— Ann Rodgers 

did the renunciation of sin. The west is the last place where 

the light of the sun arrives, so it’s a place of darkness. So, 

renouncing sin is renouncing the darkness. 

Then I walked to the other side and they turned around 

and faced toward the east (toward me) to profess their faith, 

because east is the source of light, where the sun rises. The 

rising sun symbolizes Christ rising from the dead, dispelling 

the darkness of sin and death. The east is also symbolic of 

paradise, where God created man and woman. The garden, 

located in the east, symbolizes the Christian journey from 

this world to the light of God’s kingdom. 

Another detail: This year, with help from local communities 

of the Neocatechumenal Way, we had an immersion 

baptismal font built in front of the regular font at St. Mary’s 

Cathedral here in San Francisco. On the sides there are icons 

painted in the style of Kiko Argüello, a Spanish artist who 

started the Neocatechumenal Way. 

So, after professing their faith, the catechumens climbed 

a stepladder to enter the baptismal font from the west side. 

They went three steps down into the water and were immersed 

three times, symbolizing the three days Christ spent 

in the tomb. Then they walked three steps back up, symbolizing 

their being united with Christ in his resurrection. 

St. Cyril of Jerusalem spoke about these signs, telling Christians 

that “when you were immersed in the water it was like 

night for you and you could not see; but when you rose again 

it was like coming into broad daylight. In the same instant 

you died and were born again; the saving water was both your 

tomb and your mother.” 

You had 17 adult baptisms at this year’s vigil. For the sake 

of time, why not just pour a little water on their foreheads, 

if the sacrament is still valid? 

Validity is a pretty low bar to determine how we celebrate 

the sacraments. Think of a married couple celebrating their 

wedding anniversary: You can take your wife to McDonald’s, 

or you can have a special candlelight dinner. They’re both 

meals, ways to mark your anniversary. But which one is really 

proper to the occasion? 

Baptism is the door to all of the other sacraments. Yes, it’s a 

lot of heavy lifting to do a baptism by immersion — especially 

with the number of adults this year — but it’s very profound. 

The meaning of the sacrament is conveyed so much 

more forcefully and convincingly. 

A couple of my traditionally minded friends were kind of 

suspicious about this idea of baptism by immersion. But what 

they saw at the Easter Vigil changed their minds, because 

they saw what it conveys and that it’s authentically within our 

tradition. In fact, we know from his writings that this was how 

baptisms were done in St. Cyril’s time. 

Your diocese, like many others around the country, saw 

a rise in adult baptisms this year. What do you think is 

behind it? 

A lot of what I hear is anecdotal, but do I know that we’ve 

been emphasizing that faith has to be a personal encounter. 

I recently had dinner with FOCUS missionaries serving 

here at San Francisco State University. And they’ll do things 

like play frisbee on the lawn and the students will come over 

and talk to them, and are surprised that they are Catholic 

missionaries. 

I would imagine the whole COVID-19 experience was part 

of it, too: People realized that we need in-person community, 

that virtual doesn’t work. 

I also wonder whether everything going on in society — the 

dehumanization, the different ideologies, the role of social 

media — kind of aggravates the sense of isolation, which 

leads to depression and anxiety. People are realizing that 

there must be a better way, and that it goes beyond this idea 

of being spiritual but not religious: They realize spirituality 

has to be within the context of a community of faith. My gut 

feeling is that these things have something to do with it. 

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




A NOD TO AMERICA 

Pope Francis’ decision to sit down with a major U.S. 

news network was a statement in itself. 

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR. 

ROME — Sometimes the most 

important aspect of a development 

isn’t its content, but the 

fact it happened at all. For instance, 

when a U.S. president throws out the 

first pitch at a baseball game, the news 

generally leads off with his presence, 

not the fact the throw was low and in 

the dirt. 

One might well apply the same 

principle to Pope Francis’ recent 

interview with Norah O’Donnell of 

CBS, excerpts from which aired on the 

network’s nightly news April 24, and 

the full version of which is set for a “60 

Minutes” episode on May 19, and then 

an hour-long prime time broadcast on 

May 20. 

In many ways, the news is not what he 

said, but rather to whom he said it. 

Despite the fact that Francis often 

seems to be on the “interview a week” 

plan, with two new book-length interviews 

appearing in just the past month, 

this was the first time the pope sat 

down with an American news anchor 

for an extended exchange. 

At the level of content, there was 

precious little we haven’t heard before, 

at least in the excerpts released by CBS 

in April. Francis repeated his calls for a 

negotiated peace in both Ukraine and 

Gaza, saying negotiations are always 

preferable to a “war without end.” He 

Pope Francis sits down exclusively with CBS 

Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell at the 

Vatican April 24, for an interview ahead of the Vatican’s 

inaugural World Children’s Day. | OSV NEWS/ 

ADAM VERDUGO, COURTESY CBS NEWS 

described, as he often has, his nightly 

phone calls to the lone Catholic parish 

on the Gaza strip and the hardships 

encountered by the people sheltering 

there. 

As he has on many other occasions, 

the pope also criticized climate change 

skeptics. 

“There are people who are foolish, 

and foolish even if you show them 

research, they don’t believe it,” he said. 


“Why, because they don’t understand 

the situation, or because of their interest, 

but climate change exists.” 

Also in keeping with previous declarations, 

Francis insisted that there’s room 

for everybody in the Catholic Church. 

“I would say that there is always a 

place, always. If in this parish the priest 

doesn’t seem welcoming, I understand, 

but go and look elsewhere, there is 

always a place,” Francis said. 

If we put the focus just on the content 

of the interview, the raw truth is that 

Francis almost didn’t have to be there. 

Regulars on the Vatican beat could 

have delivered his answers from memory, 

virtually word-for-word, so familiar 

are they by now. 

The fact he said all this to an American 

network, however, is still noteworthy 

for a couple of reasons. 

First, by this stage in his papacy no 

one any longer has an accurate count 

of all the interviews Francis has given 

over the last 11 years. The conventional 

tally is “more 

than 200,” but that’s 

really just a way 

of saying it’s a lot. 

Francis probably has 

done more media 

interviews not only 

than any previous 

pope, but than all 

previous popes 

combined. 

The fact that amid 

this flurry of papal 

chatter he’d never 

agreed to talk to 

an American news 

anchor, and has 

only spoken to a 

handful of American 

journalists of 

any sort, stood out 

like a sore thumb, 

and has been widely 

seen in the press 

corps as confirmation 

of the pontiff’s 

ambivalence about 

the United States. 

By agreeing to sit 

down with CBS, 

therefore, the pope 

effectively may 

have signaled a 

normalization of his 

relations with America and Americans, 

at least as far as the press goes. 

Second, Pope Francis showed his 

media savvy in the interview as well, 

adroitly side-stepping a couple of possible 

landmines along the way. 

This wasn’t exactly a hard-hitting interview, 

in part because the ostensible 

subject was the pontiff’s first-ever World 

Day of Children set for May 25-26 in 

Rome. Nonetheless, O’Donnell is a 

skilled veteran journalist, and for at 

least a couple of points she gave Francis 

the opportunity to make some waves. 

On Gaza, for instance, here was 

O’Donnell’s question: “There are now 

pictures of starving children coming 

out of Gaza. What about those who 

call this a genocide?” 

It’s important to recall that in November, 

a mini-tempest erupted when a 

group of Palestinians who had a private 

meeting with the pope claimed Francis 

had called the Israeli incursion in Gaza 

a “genocide.” A Vatican spokesman 

issued a mild denial but the Palestinians 

insisted, so in effect O’Donnell was 

offering Francis a chance to settle the 

confusion. 

He didn’t bite. 

Instead, the pope simply paused, 

repeated the word “genocide” as if 

to acknowledge that he’d heard the 

question, and then began discussing his 

nightly calls to Gaza. In so doing, he 

emphasized the suffering going on, but 

avoided getting drawn into the genocide 

debate. 

At another point, O’Donnell asked 

Francis, “Do you have a message 

for Vladimir Putin when it comes to 

Ukraine?” 

The pontiff has faced criticism since 

the outbreak of the war two years ago 

for his unwillingness to directly condemn 

Putin’s aggression, and has occasionally 

irked Ukrainians by describing 

Putin instead as a man of culture with 

whom one can dialogue. 

O’Donnell was giving him a chance 

to take Putin on, but 

once again the pope 

Palestinian Nozha Awad 

flees Al Shifa Hospital 

with her malnourished 

triplet children following 

an Israeli raid, moving 

southward in the central 

Gaza Strip March 21. | 

OSV NEWS/RAMADAN 

ABED, REUTERS 

demurred. 

“Please, in countries 

at war, all of 

them, stop the war 

… look to negotiate, 

look for peace,” the 

pope said, clearly 

unwilling to put the 

focus specifically on 

Putin or Russia. 

The bottom line 

from his sit-down 

with CBS, therefore, 

is that we saw 

a pope seemingly 

wanting to improve 

his relations with 

Americans, especially 

the American media, 

without creating 

new headaches with 

anyone else. 

We’ll know for 

sure in May how 

well he succeeded, 

when the full 

interview airs, but 

early returns seem 

promising. 

John L. Allen Jr. is 

the editor of Crux. 


WHERE’S THE 

DISCERNMENT? 

Protesters gather at the University of California 

Los Angeles May 1 to demonstrate 

against Israel’s ongoing military offensive 

on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in 

response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on 

Israel by Hamas that resulted in kidnappings 

and hundreds of deaths. | OSV NEWS/ 

DAVID SWANSON, REUTERS 

A retired LMU 

professor and 

longtime peace activist 

offers perspective 

on the pro-Palestine 

campus protests 

sweeping the country. 

BY JAMES G. HANINK, PH.D. 

What are we to make of the 

widespread pro-Palestine 

campus protests across the 

country? 

Here in Southern California, their 

epicenter has been at UCLA and 

USC, and counter-protests have led 

to violence. Mayor Karen Bass and 

Gov. Gavin Newsom are calling for 

investigations. They’ve even gotten the 

attention of leaders in the Holy Land, 

where Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 

the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, said 

he struggled to understand their logic. 

“Universities are places … where 

engagement with strong ideas that are 

completely different, must be expressed 

not with violence, not with boycotts, 

but with knowing how to engage,” he 

said earlier this month. 

Closer to home, one of my friends 

thinks that the protests reflect a student 

cohort that’s been molded by social media 

and that doesn’t really know what 

it’s rebelling against. Another friend has 

wondered out loud where the students’ 

money is coming from. 

Pundits are also comparing today’s 

escalating protests with the student 

protests of the Vietnam War era. 

Commentators are asking whether 

something like the protests that roiled 

Chicago’s Democratic Convention 

in 1968 will upend the Democratic 

Convention of 2024 (also taking place 

in Chicago, coincidentally). 

Well, I remember 1968. That year, 

Providence had led my wife and I to 


start a Catholic Worker House in Saginaw, 

Michigan. Folks came and left. 

Some committed, some not. Among 

them were members of the Weather 

Underground on their way to the Democratic 

Convention to “do their thing.” 

Not long afterward, we read that some 

of them managed to blow themselves 

up in a basement bomb factory. Violent 

protest has a cruel trajectory. 

What about 2024? Sure, there’s plenty 

to protest about and grieve for. War 

is always a human failure. Hamas 

fighters initially killed about 1,200 

Israelis, mostly civilians, and took about 

250 hostages. Israel, in response, has 

reportedly killed more than 34,000 

Palestinians in Gaza. Hamas continues 

to use civilians as shields. Israel continues 

its often indiscriminate attacks. 

Indifference in light of these actions is 

inexcusable. 

To be sure, we need discernment if we 

are to judge today’s protests. True discernment 

makes use of pivotal criteria. 

First, since protest is a means to an 

end, the end that protesters seek must 

be worthy and clearly stated. Protest is 

expressive, but it must be much more. 

Second, the means of protest must be 

nonviolent. The means are the end, 

so to speak, in its coming to be. Terror 

becomes tyranny. Third, those who 

protest need the personal discipline 

without which they cannot succeed. 

Without discipline, the end is lost sight 

of, and the means become disproportionate. 

It’s important to apply these criteria, 

and their application calls for prudence, 

that is, right reason in acting. 

It is a virtue at once intellectual and 

moral. So in exercising prudence we 

begin with taking counsel; having done 

so we take action. Conscience comes 

into play. Indeed, conscience as judge 

is one’s last best exercise of practical 

reason, of informed reason. No one can 

examine the conscience of another. 

Protesters, like the rest of us, must 

examine their own. 

A thought experiment comes to mind. 

Suppose I am having a conversation 

with Mayor Bass, Gov. Newsom, 

Cardinal Pizzaballa, and some of my 

dear and candid friends I referenced 

earlier. What would I offer for their 

consideration in light of the criteria I 

have identified? 

To begin with, I would politely tell the 

mayor and the governor that investigations 

must have their own criteria and 

that they should be made public. If 

they fail to do so, they lack credibility. 

And what would I say to the cardinal? 

For (another) start, I would say that 

universities are places of engagement, 

but equally they are places that ought to 

uphold justice and respect human dignity. 

Yet here in California, one major 

university helps develop the country’s 

nuclear weaponry while another 

conducts grotesque fetal experimentation. 

Students do well to hold them to 

account. 

As the thought experiment comes 

closer to home, what do I say to my 

candid friends? Yes, social media shapes 

and sometimes deforms students. But 

social media also conveys a measure of 

self-criticism. It admits to the sinkhole 

of excessive screen time, and students 

know as much. And, yes, students can 

be distressingly inarticulate about their 

own rebellion. 

But their suffering should be no 

surprise when, as happens in postmodernity, 

they have grown up in a 

culture of the absurd. That leaves my 

friend who bids us to follow the money, 

the money that props up the student 

encampments. But in most cases, there 

probably isn’t much money to follow: 

In Los Angeles, hundreds — probably 

thousands — of students are living out 

of their cars (plus, eating ramen in a 

tent doesn’t cost more than eating it in 

a dorm). 

The late 

Dorothy Day, 

founder of 

the Catholic 

Worker 

movement 

and recently 

Anti-abortion activist 

Joan Andrews Bell 

listens during a 

news conference 

on April 5, 2022, in 

Washington, D.C. 

She is a member of 

the Progressive Anti-Abortion 

Uprising 

(PAAU) group. | 

ANNA MONEYMAK- 

ER/GETTY IMAGES 

recognized as “Servant of God” by the 

Catholic Church, spoke and wrote 

often about personal responsibility. 

Reflecting on today’s situation, I 

remembered a pertinent exchange we 

had in 1968 in which she lamented the 

fecklessness of some of my generation. 

I wasn’t shy about expounding on, in 

her presence, Gandhi’s insistence on 

discipline in the practice of satyagraha, 

or passive political resistance, and how 

demonstrations would achieve nothing 

without it. 

“You are not Gandhi,” she replied to 

me. It was enough to shut me up. 

Her point, of course, was not that I was 

mistaken about what Gandhi taught. 

Rather, it was that I should spend more 

time becoming like Gandhi and less 

time bewailing the shortcomings of 

others. Nowadays, though, I am most 

thankful for a different and living example: 

a woman named Joan Andrews 

Bell, who today sits in jail for joining a 

nonviolent rescue action taken to save 

the most vulnerable of us all, preborn 

babies scheduled for abortion. 

Bell’s was an exemplary protest. Even 

in the silence of a cell, her discerning 

witness to life speaks clearly: a costly act 

for which she pays up personally. 

James G. Hanink, Ph.D., taught 

philosophy at Loyola Marymount 

University for 40 years before retiring in 

2015. A parishioner of St. John Chrysostom 

Church in Inglewood, he was the 

American Solidarity Party’s candidate 

for California governor in 2022. 


WITH GRACE 

DR. GRAZIE POZO CHRISTIE 

Our immigration disgrace 

Orlando, a migrant from Ecuador, 

carries 4-year-old Peter as they wade 

through the Rio Grande from Mexico 

into Eagle Pass, Texas, Oct. 6, 2023. | 

OSV NEWS/ADREES LATIF, REUTERS 

The United States has a long 

history of embracing successive 

waves of immigrants and integrating 

them into a varied and colorful 

populace with a shared, stable national 

identity. We Americans are hugely 

proud of being a land of immigrants 

— a hospitable, open-hearted country 

which has for centuries offered the 

hard-working poor and oppressed of 

the world a welcoming home with opportunities 

to flourish. This is the story 

that we tell ourselves, and one that I 

believe in, having lived it myself, and 

seen so many others live as well. 

We are that land, and we should be 

proud. But today, I think that this very 

legitimate pride risks interfering with 

a proper reaction to the humanitarian 

disaster which is our southern border. 

The correct reaction is horror, accompanied 

by a fierce desire to see order 

restored. Instead, we tend to equate 

an open border with kindness. It is 

anything but. 

I’m not referring here to the heartlessness 

of letting an uncontrolled border 

facilitate the flow of fentanyl and other 

illicit drugs into our country, a tragedy 

that has resulted in more than 100,000 

deaths each year. Nor am I referring to 

the exposure of Americans, especially 

those who live near the border but 

increasingly in the rest of the country, 

to violence from a criminal element 

that moves unconstrained by national 

boundaries. 

My concern, rather, is with the 

unkindness of policies that entice a 

growing number of poor and vulner- 

able people to make an increasingly 

dangerous trek to our southern border. 

The journey, which for most starts in 

South America, the crossing itself, and 

the aftermath, are rife with cruelty and 

violence. The victims of the poverty, 

corruption, and criminality of their 

own countries become victims again 

— this time of rape, prostitution, child 

labor, and human trafficking. 

Recent reporting on the conditions 

in the Darien Gap, the 60-mile-wide 

dense jungle separating Colombia 

and Panama, which most migrants 

must cross, describes a tragic situation 

comparable to that of war zones. 

The Gap’s rough terrain, its frequent 

landslides, lack of roads, and drinking 

water, scorching heat, insects, venomous 

snakes, and crocodiles, are just the 

beginning of the migrants’ troubles. 

The hordes of economic migrants 

(over half a million in 2023, and 

expected to be much higher this year 

according to Panama’s government) 

face much greater perils: The very people 

they pay to lead them through the 

jungle, their coyotes or traffickers, are 

just as likely as not to be members of 

the many narcotic and criminal gangs 

that roam the Gap, robbing, assaulting, 

raping, and killing the migrants with 

impunity. Even if the coyotes are not 

members of the Gulf Clan, Colombia’s 

largest drug cartel and a paramilitary 

group, they are certainly incapable 

of defending their charges from the 

cartel’s depredations. 

The stories and statistics are chilling. 

The actual number of dead is hard 

to know, but is believed to be in the 

hundreds per year. 

A recent New York Times report 

describes victims beaten and robbed of 

food, and even baby formula, “leaving 

people battered and starving in the for- 


Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie is a mother of five 

who practices radiology in the Miami area. 

est. And the assaults often involve cases 

in which dozens of women are violated 

in a single event.” 

Approximately one-fifth of the migrants 

are children, and half of those 

are under 5. Hundreds of children 

have been orphaned or separated 

from parents while going through the 

jungle, eventually becoming an “unaccompanied 

minor” with all the danger 

that entails (for instance, the U.S. 

reports losing track of 85,000 of them). 

Adults and children who survive the 

journey through the jungle are housed 

in detention centers in Panama, 

waiting to board a bus to the Texas 

border, with free passage granted by 

the intervening countries. This means, 

effectively, that our own southern border 

has been outsourced to Panama, as 

one Panamanian government official 

recently put it. 

Arriving in the U.S. traumatized, 

robbed, sometimes orphaned or raped, 

migrants’ troubles continue. They have 

to pay their traffickers and the cartels 

they work for, often through labor and 

sex slavery. Children are not exempt, 

as the Labor Department reports that 

child labor cases have risen steeply, 

with some jobs being dangerous or brutal. 

The children in inadequate foster 

care, left with sex traffickers, or simply 

“lost” to the system, present nightmarish 

possibilities to the imagination. 

I cannot blame a single man, woman, 

or child living in one of the many 

hellscapes of our hemisphere, be it 

Haiti, Venezuela, or Cuba, for accepting 

the invitation of a disordered U.S. 

immigration policy. But if we have sent 

a signal that all are welcome — even 

as we have no plan to successfully 

assimilate them, are not blessed with 

infinite resources for them, and have 

not talked about how fair this is to vulnerable 

Americans — we have made 

ourselves responsible for the migrants’ 

suffering. 

Thinking of ourselves as a kindhearted 

and openhanded nation may be, at 

this point, a huge mistake. The depravity, 

violence, and heartbreak that our 

policies are driving in the already-miserable 

lives of our neighbors make us 

downright cruel, no matter how good 

our intentions.

NOW PLAYING WILDCAT 

LITERATURE VS. LIFE 

Ethan Hawke’s new biopic shows the difficulty 

of capturing Catholic writer Flannery O’Connor’s 

brilliance on screen. 

Maya Hawke as Flannery 

O’Connor in “Wildcat.” | 

IMDB 

BY NICK RIPATRAZONE 

A 

big part of what made Flannery 

O’Connor stand out as a Catholic 

writer was her honesty about 

sin — including her own. 

“Ideal Christianity doesn’t exist,” she 

once wrote to a nun, “because anything 

the human being touches, even 

Christian truth, he deforms slightly in 

his own image.” 

O’Connor’s life — and her stories 

— form the basis of “Wildcat,” a 

long-awaited film directed by Hollywood 

actor Ethan Hawke, and written 

by Hawke and Shelby Gaines. “Wildcat” 

stars Hawke’s daughter Maya as 

O’Connor, and includes performances 

from Philip Ettinger as the poet 

Robert Lowell and Liam Neeson as a 

priest who visits O’Connor’s bedside. 

The film, like O’Connor’s stories, is 

ambitious. But in attempting to emulate 

her ambition, it falls short. 

Such a result was perhaps inevitable. 

Ethan Hawke’s vision is passionate; 

he clearly enjoys and appreciates 

O’Connor’s fiction. Yet she was both 

a singular and strange talent. Her 

strangeness arose from a willingness to 

embrace and channel the mystery of 

her art, a Catholic vision of the world. 

The film depicts a scene at a party 

where writers at a dinner table speak 

skeptically of the Eucharist, including 


Elizabeth Hardwick, who dismisses it 

as merely a symbol. 

O’Connor responds: “Well, if it’s a 

symbol, to hell with it.” It’s a great 

line, and it affirms O’Connor as a 

defender of the faith among secular 

intellectuals. Yet the line lands oddly 

in the film — and encapsulates one 

challenge in adapting O’Connor’s life 

for the screen. 

In “Wildcat,” the quip about the 

symbol is spoken by a Protestant 

writer at a party in Iowa City. The 

reality is much different. In a December 

1955 letter, O’Connor described 

the event as a scene. Around 1950, 

O’Connor went to dinner with Lowell 

and Hardwick, along with Mary 

McCarthy, a novelist who grew up 

Catholic but left the Church. O’Connor 

felt terribly out of place. 

“Having me there,” O’Connor recalled, 

“was like having a dog present 

who had been trained to say a few 

words but overcome with inadequacy 

had forgotten them.” McCarthy, 

in reality, was the one to make the 

comment about the Eucharist being 

a symbol — the comment having the 

sharpness of a Catholic who had left 

the faith, and now only appreciated it 

for its literary trappings. 

This isn’t merely splitting hairs. By 

having Hardwick deliver the line 

in the film, O’Connor comes off as 

a provincial, small-town scold who 

corrects a Protestant on a manner of 

life in “Wildcat” — including an 

implied attraction between her and 

Lowell, who is recast in the film as her 

professor — distract from the arresting, 

central story of her life. 

The film is at its best when it creates 

sharp, almost hallucinatory moments 

that blur O’Connor’s life and her 

fiction. O’Connor often wrote about 

Christians who skewed religion in 

their own interests, including literalists 

whose misunderstanding of 

Scripture led to prejudice. 

That vision comes alive in the film’s 

depiction of her story “Parker’s Back,” 

a brilliant tale of how a fundamentalist 

woman falls for a heavily tattooed, 

often acerbic man. In the story, Sarah 

Ruth and Obadiah Elihue Parker 

make an unlikely couple; she is 

attracted to him, but also repelled by 

his atheism. 

After an accident stirs his fascination 

with God, he gets a deeply intricate 

tattoo of the face of Christ on his 

back. He returns to Sarah Ruth and 

takes off his shirt, hoping that she will 

recognize his faith and accept him 

again, but she reacts violently, screaming 

at him that the tattoo is sinful. 

Her fundamentalist view causes her 

to mistake iconography for idolatry; 

in ways both literal and metaphorical, 

she is unable to see Christ when he is 

right in front of her. 

Maya Hawke’s portrayal of Sarah 

Ruth and Rafael Casal’s performance 

through her characters; not through a 

desire to be like them, but to investigate 

the mysteries of this world. 

“Wildcat” is marked by an unusual 

structure, interspersing real and imagined 

moments without transitions, 

effectively capturing the drifting and 

brilliant mind of a fiction writer. Yet 

the challenge of the movie is that it 

will make the most sense to those who 

already know O’Connor well, and it 

will frustrate those same viewers. The 

blessing and burden of O’Connor, 

perhaps, is that we can never recreate 

her short, troubled, and brilliant life. 

Her fiction is her best testament. 

Nick Ripatrazone is a culture editor 

for Image Journal and a high school 

literature teacher in New Jersey. He is 

the author of the book, “The Habit of 

Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in 

Mid-century America” (Fortress Press, 

$28.99). 

Film is always fiction; a movie requires a bending 

and flattening of reality. Yet the revisions to 

O’Connor’s life in “Wildcat” distract from the 

arresting, central story of her life. 

doctrine. In reality, O’Connor was 

challenging a fellow Catholic to confront 

her lost faith. She was affirming 

the real presence of Christ. 

Film is always fiction; a movie 

requires a bending and flattening of 

reality. Yet the revisions to O’Connor’s 

of Parker show two people falling into 

each other in lust and repelling in anger. 

Hawke, as director, almost seems 

freed in these moments of depicting 

literature rather than life. O’Connor 

died at 39 from lupus; her existence 

was marked by suffering. She lived 


DESIRE LINES 

HEATHER KING 

What’s with all the therapy? 

Therapy: Why the Kids 

Aren’t Growing Up” (Penguin 

Random House, $30) “Bad 

has become an instant best-seller. 

Author Abigail Shrier, an LA-based 

investigative journalist, also wrote 

“Irreversible Damage: The Transgender 

Craze Seducing Our Daughters” 

(Regnery, $26). Her new book promises 

to be equally controversial. 

Basically, says Shrier, the kids aren’t 

growing up because — with urgent 

SHUTTERSTOCK 

encouragement from the pharmaceutical 

and mental health industries — 

they’ve been hovered over, catered to, 

coddled, protected, consulted as to their 

preferences, accommodated to within 

an inch of their lives, shielded from all 

risk, and medicated to the gills since 

practically the moment they exited the 

womb. 

Some of the most privileged human 

beings ever born, they’ve been given to 

believe they’re “traumatized.” They’re 

asked the minute they enter school in 

the morning how they “feel.” They’ve 

been sent to therapists, given diagnoses, 

and labeled special problem people: a 

badge they come to wear with honor. 

Their entire childhoods they’ve hardly 

enjoyed an unsupervised, unplanned, 

unscheduled moment. They’re surveilled 

at all times by their mothers, 

who constantly text, track their whereabouts, 

and apprise themselves of the 

kids’ daily homework assignments. 

If taking a classroom test makes the 

kid anxious, they’re allowed to go sit in 

a room by themselves. If they don’t like 

what’s for dinner, they throw tantrums 

and insist on having an alternate meal 

prepared. They’re shielded from the 

slightest discomfort and praised for the 

smallest accomplishment. 

When I reported this state of affairs 

to a few of my six siblings we howled 

with laughter. The idea of turning up 

our noses at food — any food — was 

ludicrous. “Okay, starve,” we would 

have said. “Give it to us.” 

We’d bring home straight-A report 

cards: “Good for you,” Mom would say. 

“I need you to fold the laundry.” 

In those long-ago days, we had no 

computer games to absorb us. We 

arrived home from school, changed our 

clothes, and disappeared until supper. 

We hung out at a cattail-choked 

pond, in which we could easily have 

drowned, and caught tadpoles. 

We played baseball in the vacant lot 

across the street, our knuckles swollen 

from catching line drives with our bare 

hands. 

Our brother Geordie once jumped 

off the highest point of the garage roof 

clutching a bedsheet he’d hoped would 

deploy into a parachute. “I was on an 

Evel Knievel kick,” he chuckled. “I 

limped around for a few days but I got 

over it.” 


Heather King is an award-winning 

author, speaker, and workshop leader. 

Granted, this was rural New Hampshire 

in the ’50s and ’60s, and the 

neighbors up and down the street knew 

every kid. 

Granted as well, there were things that 

went on in our family and childhoods 

that shouldn’t have. 

There were wounds suffered in silence 

and not shared till years later. 

But maybe the point is that there’s no 

perfect childhood. And the effort to 

create one seems to have stripped us of 

all common sense. 

What self-respecting kid, bursting 

to explore, wants his or her mother 

hovering over every thought, word, and 

deed? 

How did humankind manage for 

thousands of years without stuffing their 

young with psychotropic meds? 

Or clamping a helmet on their heads 

every time they went outdoors? 

It would be one thing if all these 

careful, protective measures were 

producing emotionally stable, healthily 

curious, responsible adults. 

Instead, “When asked, our kids said 

they were miserable. Our kids didn’t 

want to leave their rooms. Our kids 

didn’t date. Our kids moved home and 

stayed. They didn’t want to marry and 

have kids.” 

Small wonder. 

Psychological research shows — and 

again, common sense dictates — that 

kids “thrive with a certain amount 

of independence, a certain level of 

responsibility and autonomy and, yes, 

failure. … Small failures and injuries 

help rather than hurt kids.” 

In fact, “[U]ntil very recently in human 

history,” notes Shrier, “nearly all 

markers of what we now call ‘childhood 

trauma’ were just facts of life: hunger, 

loss of a parent or sibling, war, even 

occasions of physical abuse.” 

Most to the point, as Shrier observes, 

children are actually incredibly 

resilient, sturdy, and strong. A happy 

childhood, she avers, consists of “experiencing 

all of the pains of adulthood, 

in smaller doses, so that [kids] build up 

immunity to the poison of heartache 

and loss.” 

In an especially interesting passage, 

she pooh-poohs the notion that 

teaching kids to strive for “happiness” is 

beneficial. 

In truth, she observes, as adults we’re 

almost always in some kind of physical, 

emotional, or psychic pain. We’re 

worried about paying a bill, or our back 

aches, or the guy next to us on the bus 

is playing his music too loud. Reaching 

maturity requires taking the focus 

away from these minor discomforts and 

inconveniences, and carrying on in 

spite of them. 

I don’t want to brag, but in our family 

any internal ailment short of a ruptured 

appendix was treated with a glass of 

ginger ale. Sprains merited a warm 

washcloth. Gashes rated a Band-Aid — 

if we hadn’t run out of Band-Aids. 

We managed just fine without Ritalin, 

Adderall, or Klonopin. We grew into 

caring, thoughtful adults who read 

books and have a sense of humor without 

having to monitor our emotional 

temperature every two minutes. 

Granted Mom — who once went 36 

years without seeing a doctor — could 

take things to extremes. Her theory was 

simple: If you go, they’ll find something 

wrong with you. 

After reading “Bad Therapy,” turns out 

she was right. 


LETTER AND SPIRIT 

SCOTT HAHN 

Scott Hahn is founder of the 

St. Paul Center for Biblical 

Theology; stpaulcenter.com. 

Of mice and Mom 

Small children never doubt their need for a family. 

They live in utter dependency. Without help, they 

can’t eat, or get dressed, or hear their favorite stories 

read aloud. 

They are on the receiving end of everything, and it makes 

for a good life. But, at some point, they become aware of 

yet another need: the need to be needed. They know that 

they’re not quite in “full communion” with the older family 

members, because they’re 

not yet contributing their 

fair share. To be needed — 

and not just to be loved — 

is what it means to be fully 

engaged in family life. 

One afternoon when I 

was very young, I heard a 

scream from the kitchen. It 

was Mom’s voice! Immediately, 

I bolted down the 

hall and arrived to see 

my dear Mom backed up 

against the kitchen counter, 

terror flashing in her 

eyes. Mom scared? It was 

something I’d never seen 

before. 

Her eyes were fixed 

downward, and she could 

barely get the words out: 

“Th- th-there’s a mouse!” 

Then I realized: My 

mother needed me. Little 

me. 

With the fire of filial 

courage inflaming my 

breast, off I went. 

It took less than a minute. 

After cornering it, I 

reached down and grabbed 

it by the tail and picked it 

up. It was teeny-tiny. But 

Mom still looked on with terror in her eyes. 

I then asked what seemed to be a very logical question, 

“What should I do?” 

“Just get it out of here!” 

“St. Mary (the Blessed Virgin) with the Christ Child” icon. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS 

Dutifully, I evicted the creature from the house and the 

drama was over. 

But I knew that I had ascended to a new plane. 

For the first time in my life, my Mom needed me! I could 

actually meet the needs of the person who had been meeting 

all of mine, all my life. 

It was a moment of illumination, a full initiation into 

family life, a first glimpse of a mystery that dwelt at the heart 

of our family home. 

What I glimpsed was the 

mysterious and inseparable 

relationship between love 

and sacrifice. We need 

to be needed for our own 

unique contribution, our 

own unique gifts. What we 

have been given, we long 

to give away in turn, and 

we won’t be happy until 

we fulfill that longing, 

until we give ourselves 

to someone else in love, 

holding nothing back. 

The family is where 

these needs are satisfied in 

the natural way that was 

ordained by God. St. Augustine 

spoke of the family 

as a network of mutual, 

natural needs, which were 

really God’s gentle way 

of getting us to love one 

another (see “Confessions” 

1.6). 

The sacrament of marriage 

raises these natural 

drives and natural fulfillment 

to a supernatural 

level, so that all our loving 

and all our giving prepares 

us for the supreme and 

ultimate act of loving and giving, which we call heaven. 

In May we traditionally honor our mothers, and especially 

Mary, the mother we share with Jesus. Do something great 

for them. 


■ FRIDAY, MAY 10 

Bereavement Retreat. St. Mary of the Assumption Church, 

7215 Newlin Ave., Whittier, 6-9 p.m. and Saturday, May 

11, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Register at bereavement.ministry@yahoo. 

com. Cost: $75/person, covers all food and materials. Pay 

by Zelle to 562-631-8844 by May 3. 

■ SATURDAY, MAY 11 

Eucharistic Revival Retreat. Visitation Church, 6561 W. 

88th St., Los Angeles, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Father Parker Sandoval 

will lead a parish-wide retreat on “Who is Jesus? The Real 

Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and our Mission as 

Catholics to share the Good News with Others.” Cost: $35/ 

person, includes continental breakfast, lunch, and retreat 

materials. Visit VisRetreat0524.givesmart.com. 

Mother’s Day Rosary. Catholic Cemeteries, 2 p.m. Rosary 

will be held at all 11 Catholic cemetery locations. Livestream 

available at facebook.com/lacatholics and catholiccm.org/rosary. 

Santacruzan Marian Celebration. Cathedral of Our Lady 

of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 2:30 p.m. 

Filipino Catholic community will celebrate with a pre-procession 

at 2:30 p.m. and Mass at 3 p.m. 

■ MONDAY, MAY 13 

Blue Army Statue of Our Lady of Fátima Mass. St. 

Dorothy Church, 241 S. Valley Center Ave., Glendora, 8:30 

a.m. and 7 p.m. Masses, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Exposition of the 

Blessed Sacrament. Visit stdorothy.org. 

Rosary for Eastertide and the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima. 

Zoom, 7 p.m. Join in praying the rosary, reflecting on 

the Glorious Mysteries and engaging Imago Divina. Email 

ebeall@csjorange.org to receive a link. 

■ TUESDAY, MAY 14 

Memorial Mass. San Fernando Mission, 15151 San Fernando 

Mission Blvd., Mission Hills, 11 a.m. Mass is open to 

the public. Limited seating. RSVP to outreach@catholiccm. 

org or call 213-637-7810. Livestream available at Catholic- 

CM.org or Facebook.com/lacatholics. 

When They Don’t Go: Responding When a Loved One 

Leaves the Church. Padre Serra Church, 5205 Upland Rd., 

Camarillo, 7 p.m. Session explores constructive ways to 

respond when loved ones disengage from their Catholic 

faith. Email teresa@padreserra.org. 

■ WEDNESDAY, MAY 15 

Record Clearing Virtual Clinic for Veterans. 3-6 p.m. 

Legal team will help with traffic tickets, felony reductions, 

and expungement of criminal convictions. Participants can 

call in or join online via Zoom. Registration required. Call 

213-896-6537 or email inquiries-veterans@lacba.org. For 

more information, visit lacba.org/veterans. 

■ THURSDAY, MAY 16 

Eviction Response Clinic. LA Law Library, 301 W. 1st 

St., Los Angeles, 12-3 p.m. Provides legal assistance with 

eviction court cases. Open to LA County tenants with disabilities 

and limited income. Spanish assistance available. 

Registration required. RSVP to 213-896-6536 or email 

inquiries-veterans@lacba.org. 

Children’s Bureau: Foster Care Zoom Orientation. 4-5 

p.m. Live Zoom orientation will be hosted by a Children’s 

Bureau team member and a foster parent. To RSVP for the 

live orientation or to request the online orientation, email 

rfrecruitment@all4kids.org. 

■ FRIDAY, MAY 17 

Ethical Leadership Lunch. Cathedral of Our Lady of the 

Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 

p.m. Event brings together Catholic leaders from the 

business world to discuss how ethical practices positively 

impact our community. For more information, visit lacatholics.org/events. 


37th Annual Walk for Life South Bay. Veterans Park, 309 

Esplanade, Redondo Beach, 8:30 a.m. Fun, family-friendly 

three-mile walk for all abilities, includes food, music, kids’ 

activities, and more. Register by April 23 and raise or pay 

$45/walker for the event T-shirt. Registration at the event 

starts at 7:30 a.m., walk starts at 9 a.m. Proceeds benefit 

Pregnancy Help Center in Torrance. Visit event.fundeasy. 

com/27239, supportphctorrance.org, or call 424-263-4855. 

Fresh Fire of God’s Spirit: Pentecost Rally. St. John the 

Baptist Church, 3883 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park, 

10 a.m.-4 p.m. Teachings, prayer, and Pentecost vigil Mass. 

Presenters include Father Ismael Robles, Dr. Elizabeth Kim, 

and Dominic Berardino. Free event. For more information, 

call 818-771-1361, email spirit@scrc.org, or visit events. 

scrc.org. 

Mother Luisita Dinner. Casa Sanchez, 4500 S. Centinela 

Ave., Los Angeles, 6 p.m. Join Marycrest Manor in raising 

funds for new beds for the residents. Fritz Coleman as emcee. 

Cost: $150/person, includes dinner and valet parking. 

Contact 310-838-2778, ext. 4004 or visit marycrestculvercity.com/dinner/. 

■ SUNDAY, MAY 19 

Congress of the Divine Mercy. Santa Maria Fairpark, 937 

S. Thornburg St., Santa Maria, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Organized by 

Father John Mayhew of St. Louis de Montfort Church, the 

event features priests, special guests, concerts, and food, 

along with Holy Hour, Mass, and confessions. Cost: $20/ 

person; children 11 and under are free. For more information, 

call 805-478-3123. 

■ WEDNESDAY, MAY 22 

Healthcare Professionals 2024 Spring Conference: Pastoral 

Care Conversations. Bishop Alemany, 1111 N. Alemany 

Dr., Mission Hills, 9:30 a.m. check-in and hospitality, 

10 a.m.-2 p.m. survey presentation, round table, discussion, 

and lunch. Register at lifejusticeandpeace.lacatholics.org/ 

springconference. 


“Don Pasquale” Opera. Cathedral High Theater, 1253 Bishops 

Rd., Los Angeles, 2 p.m. Full orchestra performance. 

Adult ticket includes complimentary glass of wine and 

hors d’oeuvres. Call or text 213-248-2510 or email info@ 

operaitaliala.com. 

■ MONDAY, MAY 27 

Memorial Day Mass. Catholic Cemeteries, 10 a.m. Mass 

held at all 11 Catholic Cemetery locations. Livestream available 

at facebook.com/lacatholics and catholiccm.org. 

St. John Vianney Burial Section Dedication. Calvary Cemetery, 

199 N. Hope Ave., Santa Barbara, 10 a.m. Celebrant: 

Auxiliary Bishop Slawomir Szkredka. Visit catholiccm.org. 

Memorial Day Mass. Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, 

555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 12:10 p.m. 

Items for the calendar of events are due four weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be emailed to calendar@angelusnews.com. 

All calendar items must include the name, date, time, address of the event, and a phone number for additional information.

Angelus News | May 17, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 10

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