Angelus News | December 13, 2024

ANGELUS

TAKING

HOLY ORDERS

How LA’s new

transitional deacons

charted a different

course to ordination

December 13, 2024 Vol. 9 No. 25

B • ANGELUS • December 13, 2024

ANGELUS

December 13, 2024

Vol. 9 • No. 25

3424 Wilshire Blvd.,

Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241

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Published by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese

of Los Angeles by The Tidings

(a corporation), established 1895.

Publisher

ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ

Vice Chancellor for Communications

DAVID SCOTT

Editor-in-Chief

PABLO KAY

pkay@angelusnews.com

Associate Editor

MIKE CISNEROS

Multimedia Editor

TAMARA LONG-GARCÍA

Production Artist

ARACELI CHAVEZ

Photo Editor

VICTOR ALEMÁN

Managing Editor

RICHARD G. BEEMER

Assistant Editor

HANNAH SWENSON

Advertising Manager

JIM GARCIA

jagarcia@angelusnews.com

ON THE COVER

VICTOR ALEMÁN

Seven men were ordained transitional deacons for the

Archdiocese of LA on Nov. 23, the first class to be formed

under a revamped program for men pursuing the priesthood.

On Page 10, associate editor Mike Cisneros captures

the sight and sounds of an unusually timed ordination

Mass for the new deacons.

THIS PAGE

VICTOR ALEMÁN

A woman holds a large flag bearing the image of

Our Lady of Guadalupe during the Archdiocese

of Los Angeles’ 93rd annual procession and

Mass in honor of the Blessed Mother in East

LA on Dec. 1.

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CONTENTS

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

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

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

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

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

Scott Hahn................................................................................................................................... 36

Events Calendar......................................................................................................................... 37

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14

18

22

26

28

30

32

34

How LA’s Called to Renew campaign is restoring both people and parishes

Black Catholics congress marks 40 years since landmark bishops’ letter

Back in Long Beach, NCYC asks Catholic youth to seek ‘the way’

John Allen: A big-picture look at the Synod on Synodality’s conclusions

Grazie Christie on the opposing messages of Volvo and Jaguar’s holiday ads

Exactly what kind of story is Netflix’s ‘Mary’ movie trying to tell?

‘Gladiator II’ entertains, but how much does it get right about ancient Rome?

Heather King: The mysterious spirituality of a fictional Russian woman

December 13, 2024 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH

The ‘good wine’ of marriage

The following is adapted from the Holy

Father’s Nov. 25 address to the academic

community of the Pontifical John Paul II

Theological Institute for Marriage and

Family Sciences at the Vatican.

We know how decisive

marriage and the family are

for the life of peoples; the

Church has always taken care of them,

supported them, and evangelized

them.

Unfortunately, there are countries

where the public authorities do not

respect the dignity and the freedom

that is the inalienable right of every

human being as a child of God. Often

constraints and impositions weigh especially

heavily on women, forcing them

into positions of subjugation.

Since the beginning, on the other

hand, there were also women among

the Lord’s disciples, and “in Christ

Jesus,” writes St. Paul, “there is neither

male nor female” (Galatians 3:28).

This does not mean that the difference

between the two is annulled, but rather

that in the plan of salvation there is

no discrimination between man and

woman: both belong to Christ.

The sacrament of marriage is like the

good wine served at the wedding feast

of Cana. The first Christian communities

developed in a domestic form,

expanding family units by welcoming

new believers, and met in homes. As

an open and welcoming home, from

the very beginning the Church did its

utmost to ensure that no economic

or social constraints prevented people

from following Jesus. Entering the

Church always means inaugurating a

new fraternity, founded on baptism,

that embraces the stranger and even

the enemy.

Engaged in the same mission, even today

the Church does not close the door

to those who weary on the path of faith;

on the contrary, she throws the door

wide open. When those invited to the

wedding did not come, Jesus said: “Go

into the streets and bring everyone.”

The logic of integration is the key

to pastoral care of those who cohabit,

postponing indefinitely their marital

commitment, and for divorced and remarried

people. Their presence in the

Church bears witness to the willingness

to persevere in faith, despite the

wounds of painful experiences.

Without excluding anyone, the

Church promotes the family, based on

marriage, contributing in every place

and in every time to making the marital

bond more solid, by virtue of that

love which is greater than everything:

charity. The strength of the family lies

in its capacity to love and to teach how

to love. No matter how wounded a

family may be, it can always grow, beginning

with love. In families, wounds

are healed by love.

The problems and hopes that affect

marriage and the family today are

inscribed in the relationship between

Church and culture. The possibility of

carrying out a Christian’s evangelizing

mission depends on the capacity to face

these challenges, and the Church’s

very unity demands the commitment

to overcome cultural estrangements or

conflicts.

I hope that all over the world this

institute may support married couples

and families in their mission, helping

them to be living stones in the Church

and witnesses of fidelity, service, openness

to life, and receptiveness.

Papal Prayer Intention for December: We pray that this

jubilee year strengthens our faith, helping us to recognize the

risen Christ in our daily lives, and that it may transform us

into pilgrims of Christian hope.

2 • ANGELUS • December 13, 2024

NEW WORLD OF FAITH

ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ

Meeting the Word of God

The saints and popes have long

taught us that we cannot truly

know and love Jesus unless we

know how to meet him in the pages of

the sacred Scriptures.

St. Jerome asked this question in the

early days of the Church, and it is still

crucial: “How could one live without

the knowledge of Scripture, by which

we come to know Christ himself, who

is the life of believers?”

That is why I believe the publication

of the new Ignatius Catholic Study

Bible is an important moment in the

life of the Church.

For almost 25 years, Ignatius Press

and the editors, American Scripture

scholars Scott Hahn and Curtis Mitch,

have been working on this project,

releasing the individual books as they

became ready.

Now completed, this new Bible is

quite an achievement: more than 2,300

pages long, with nearly 18,000 footnotes,

along with extensive cross-references,

word studies, topical essays, maps,

and more.

It is the first Catholic Bible to reflect

the findings of the best academic research

while at the same time providing

authentic interpretations and spiritual

insights based on the Catechism of

the Catholic Church, the Church’s

doctrine and liturgy, and the writings of

the Church’s saints and doctors.

My hope is that this new Bible will

continue the biblical renewal already

underway in this country, helping to

give strong biblical foundations to the

next generation of Catholic preaching

and teaching, prayer, and devotion.

These days we are seeing a spiritual

hunger and desire for the knowledge

that only the Scriptures can offer us.

The Wall Street Journal reported

recently that Bible sales in this country

are “booming,” having jumped by

more than 22% this year. Much of the

increased demand is said to be coming

from “first-time Bible buyers.”

Just a couple of years ago, Father Mike

Schmitz’s “The Bible in a Year” was the

best-selling podcast in the country in all

categories. Today, it’s still ranked first

among all religion and spirituality podcasts

and remains high in the charts for

all podcasts, with hundreds of millions

of downloads.

These trends suggest that in a culture

where we are overwhelmed with instant

messages and passing images, people

are longing for a word that will last, a

word that will be life-giving.

Jesus is that Word.

As the Book of Revelation tells us, “the

name by which he is called is the Word

of God.”

The Word became flesh and dwelt

among us, because the Father wanted

to speak personally to his children,

because he wanted to reveal his love to

us through his only Son, and to call us

to share in his divine life.

Now this Word remains with us in the

Bible. St. Thomas Aquinas said that

Jesus opens his heart to us in the pages

of sacred Scripture.

That is why it is so essential for us to

make time to study and pray with the

Bible, especially the Gospels.

We don’t study the Bible for information,

we study the Bible to meet the

divine Person who is the living Word of

God.

On the first Easter, when Jesus opened

the Scriptures to the disciples on the

road to Emmaus, he made their hearts

burn within them.

The first believers compared the Word

of God to a sharp, two-edged sword capable

of cutting through our hearts and

souls, capable of opening our whole

beings to the love of God.

These days we are seeing a spiritual hunger and

desire for the knowledge that only the Scriptures

can offer us.

And we can have that same intimate

experience of God’s love.

When we read the Bible with prayer

and faith, the written text becomes a

living Word that brings us to a deep and

personal encounter with Jesus.

As the Word became flesh in the

womb of the Virgin Mary, and as the

Word sacramentally becomes flesh in

the Eucharist, in the Scriptures Jesus

also comes to be with us, to speak to us

and to give himself to us.

And like our encounter with Jesus in

the Eucharist, our encounter with him

in the Scriptures is meant to transform

us, forming our characters and shaping

our souls in his divine image.

As Scott Hahn writes in the introduction

to this new Bible, everything

depends on how we approach the

Bible. We need to read with reverence

and humility, with hearts open to the

beautiful mystery of his love for us.

As Hahn writes, “You are approaching

the Word of God. But for thousands of

years, since before he knit you in your

mother’s womb, the Word of God has

been approaching you.”

Pray for me and I will pray for you.

And as we continue our Advent

journey, let us ask the Blessed Virgin

Mary, in whom the Word became

flesh, to help us to grow in our love for

the Word, and through our study and

prayer become more and more like the

Word we read.


WORLD

■ Vatican allows indigenous liturgical

changes, but no ‘Mayan rite’

The Vatican approved a set of liturgical adaptations

for indigenous communities in one southern Mexican

diocese, but what does that mean?

The Diocese of San Cristóbal de Las Casas is home

to the Mayan Tzotzil, Ch’ol, and Tojolab’al peoples, as

well as the Zoque people. The new permissions allow for

Mass-goers to be led by a man or woman elected by the

community to “guide the people, at the invitation of the

priest presiding at the celebration, in moments of communal

prayer.”

Additional use of incense at Masses and a rhythmic

movement for thanksgiving after Communion were also

outlined.

Cardinal Arthur Roche, head of the Vatican’s liturgy

department, said his office was still studying a request

from Mexico’s bishops to allow the adaptations for use

nationwide “with some variations.”

Responding to concerns that the changes consisted of a

new rite of the Mass, the Mexican Bishops’ Conference

said that “no ‘Mayan rite,’ “Mayan altar,” “prayers to

cardinal points,” or “transfer of the liturgical presidency to

laypersons” had been approved.

Lives freely given — A young Salvadoran woman participates in the traditional

procession of lights Nov. 16 at the Central American University in San Salvador,

during the commemoration of the 35th anniversary of the Jesuit martyrs. In 1989 six

Jesuits, their housekeeper, and her daughter were murdered on the Central American

University campus. | OSV NEWS/JOSE CABEZAS, REUTERS

■ ‘A dark day’:

United Kingdom

approves

euthanasia bill

Catholic bishops

warned “things will not

be the same again” in

the United Kingdom

after the House of

Commons approved a

bill legalizing physician-assisted

suicide.

“It is a dark day for

Protesters outside the U.K. Parliament in London during the Nov. 29 vote to

legalize euthanasia. | OSV NEWS/MINA KIM, REUTERS

our country when the Christian witness to genuine compassion and the value

of human life is more needed than ever,” said Bishop Mark Davies of Shrewsbury

after the Nov. 29 vote.

The new law would allow assisted suicide for terminally ill adults who are

deemed to have just six months to live, with approval from two doctors and a

judge.

Leaders from various faith groups had joined the U.K. bishops in warning

that the bill, which removed certain conscience protections for doctors and

senior homes, opened up “the possibility of life-threatening abuse and coercion”

against patients.

Since the bill must still go through a “committee stage” and a final vote by

the House of Lords, the bishops asked British Catholics to “pray that Members

of Parliament will have the wisdom to reject this bill at a later stage in its

progress.”

■ Pope gets tough on

Vatican’s pension crisis

Pope Francis is warning the Vatican’s

pension system could face financial

insolvency.

“The current system is not able to

guarantee in the medium term the

fulfilment of the pension obligation for

future generations,” the pope wrote in a

Nov. 21 letter announcing the appointment

of 77-year-old Cardinal Kevin

Farrell as the pension system’s new

manager.

“We are now all fully aware that we

need urgent structural measures, which

can no longer be postponed, to achieve

sustainability of the Pension Fund.”

A union of Vatican employees responded

with transparency concerns about

potential cuts to the pension system.

“The employees, exhausted by cuts and

above all by the lack of responses to their

legitimate request to be heard … believe

that they have already contributed, to

the best of their ability, to making up the

deficit and are vigilantly awaiting any

future provisions,” read a statement from

the Association of Vatican Law Workers.


NATION

■ Former Planned

Parenthood head given

highest civilian honor

Pro-life advocates decried President

Biden’s decision to privately bestow the

Presidential Medal of Freedom to former

Planned Parenthood president Cecile

Richards.

A White House statement praised the “inspiring

legacy” built by Richards in defending

and advancing “women’s reproductive

rights and equality” and voting rights.

During Richards’ tenure leading Planned

Parenthood from 2006 to 2018, the number

of abortions performed rose by nearly

15% annually. Richards resigned in 2018

as the group faced mounting allegations of

Medicaid fraud, child abuse cover-ups, and

selling of fetal organs.

“Cecile Richards presided over the

abortions of 3.9 million babies,” wrote Lila

Rose of the pro-life advocacy site “Live

Action” on X. “She belongs in jail, not in

the White House receiving the Presidential

Medal of Freedom.”

■ St. Jude relic tour

halted in Illinois

An Illinois police investigation into a popular

priest led to a U.S. tour of St. Jude’s

relics being halted.

Father Carlos Martins, best known as the

host of the “Exorcist Files” podcast, was

leading a touring exhibit of the relics for

his religious order, the Companions of the

Cross. On Nov. 21, two tour dates were

abruptly canceled by Bishop Ronald Hicks

of Joliet, Illinois, citing “an incident with

the priest and some students was reported

to have happened in our church.”

According to reports, the priest touched

a girl’s hair while making a joke about his

own baldness in front of a group of 200

students.

The diocese eventually told Catholic

news site The Pillar that “according to our

policies, these were boundary issues, not

sexual misconduct,” but that the police investigation

“may indicate something more

but that remains to be seen.”

While Martins’ order suspended him

from ministry pending the investigation, no

charges were filed against him.

■ Trump pick

spikes interest in

pilgrim icon

An ancient Christian

symbol is at the center of

a controversy involving

President-elect Donald

Trump’s pick for secretary

of defense.

Online critics of the

nominee, Peter Hegseth,

pointed to a 2021 report

which raised concerns

over Hegseth’s tattoos,

which include the words

Deus Volt (“God wills

it”) and a cross with four

smaller crosses in each

of its corners.

Some alleged that the

tattoos suggest ties to

Members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem

wear the Jerusalem Cross at a Mass in Shevlin, Minnesota, last May. | OSV

NEWS/COURTNEY MEYER

white supremacist groups. But the cross — known as the Jerusalem Cross —

has long symbolized Christian support for the Holy Land.

“For centuries, Christian pilgrims from around the world have had the Jerusalem

Cross inked on their skin as an indelible reminder of their pilgrimage to

the Holy City and of their faith in Christ,” read a statement from the Eastern

Lieutenancy of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which uses the cross as its

official emblem.

Such use dates to at least the 11th century, though a 10th-century Georgian

flag with a similar design suggests the image has even older roots.

Scorsese takes on the saints — Actress Liah O’Prey portrays St. Joan of Arc in “Martin Scorsese Presents:

The Saints,” a new eight-episode docuseries that dedicates an episode each to the life of a different saint,

including St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Moses the Black, and St. Mary Magdalene. The series is being released

on the streaming service Fox Nation in two parts: the first four episodes began airing weekly on Nov. 17,

while the last four will become available in spring 2025. | COURTESY FOX NATION


LOCAL

■ Santa Maria:

Anonymous donor saves

Catholic Charities

location

Catholic Charities’ Santa Maria

location will remain open after an

anonymous donor stepped in to keep

its services running.

Catholic Charities had scheduled

the Santa Maria Community Services

Center location to close due to a rent

increase and lack of funding. Now,

not only is the location not closing,

but Catholic Charities is planning to

expand to a second site, said Yolanda

Vasquez, regional director for Santa

Barbara and Ventura counties.

The Santa Maria site provides food

pantry services, financial assistance,

case management, holiday programs,

and more.

“I’d just like to give a thank you to

everybody in the community that has

helped us keep our doors open since

the site opened ... hopefully we’ll

be open for another hundred years,”

Vasquez told the Santa Maria Times.

Packed house — Several members of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Office of Life, Justice and Peace volunteered

on Nov. 13 to help build eight new affordable homes on 63rd Street and Holmes Avenue in Los Angeles

scheduled to be completed in the spring. The day was part of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles’

Habitat LA Catholic Coalition, which brings together Catholic groups from around the archdiocese to support

this mission. | JUSTIN PAGUIRIGAN

Y

■ Bible spared as

bleachers burn at

Serra High School

An early morning fire at

St. Junípero Serra High

School’s football field in

Gardena caused damage,

but school officials were

amazed by what wasn’t

burned in the blaze.

The fire broke out

around the field’s press

box and a section of the

bleachers just before 6

a.m. on Nov. 20, well

before classes were scheduled

to begin.

A Nov. 20 photo shows the Catholic Youth Bible apparently untouched by

the flames inside the Serra High press box. | ANGELUS NEWS

After firefighters put out the flames, school officials inspecting the press box

were surprised to find the only object inside that appeared to be almost untouched

by the fire: a paperback Catholic Youth Bible.

“We’re seeing it as a miracle,” Serra president John Moran, Ed.D, told Angelus.

Asked why there was a Catholic Youth Bible in the press box, Moran answered

simply: “We have Bibles all over the school, we’re a Catholic school.”

No one was injured in the fire, and its cause is under investigation.

■ Escondido Catholic

college receives namesake

saint’s relic

John Paul the Great Catholic University

announced it had installed a

first-class relic belonging to its namesake

at its Our Lady of the Sacred

Heart Chapel on campus.

The relic, a fragment of the pope’s

bloody garment he was wearing

during an assassination attempt in

1981, was donated to the university

from the St. Clare Church in the

Diocese of Sacramento. It will be

displayed, along with a second-class

relic of St. Pope John Paul II and a

signed copy of the former pope’s book,

“Crossing the Threshold of Hope,” in

the university’s chapel.

The college, based in Escondido in

San Diego County, is mostly geared

toward students pursuing visual

arts and careers in film, music, and

theater.


V

IN OTHER WORDS...

Letters to the Editor

A Blessed Solanus-related memory unlocked

My gratitude to Angelus for featuring the beautiful photo essay on

Blessed Solanus Casey in the Nov. 29 issue, as well as Bishop Matthew

Elshoff’s moving reflection about his fellow Capuchin.

I still remember the day in the mid-1990s when I and a fellow lay missionary

passing through Detroit, Michigan, without a penny in our pockets, showed up

at the door of a Capuchin friary asking for hospitality. Neither of us knew anything

about Casey. The friars opened the door and welcomed us with almost no

questions asked. It was there that we learned who Casey was, since he had once

lived there.

All of that came back to me as I read about Solanus’ vocation as a porter from

Bishop Elshoff, and it all made sense: the Blessed’s spirit was well alive (years after

his death) when those Franciscans literally opened their doors to us.

— Basil Moretti, New Jersey

Y

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

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

may be edited for style, brevity, and clarity.

A new look

“How would a van full of

nuns know me?”

~ Eddie Cotter, founder of the Ohio-based Dead

Theologians Society, in a Nov. 30 OSV News article

on the organization inspiring youth ministry.

“It really feels like an

episode of ‘Gilmore Girls’ or

something.”

~ Daniel Thetford, in a Nov. 30 Catholic News

Agency article on a cafe in Virginia inspired by St.

Pope John Paul II.

“They kill, we save.”

~ Ann Bryant, co-founder of BEAR League, in a Nov.

25 New Yorker article on efforts to protect both

bears and people in Lake Tahoe.

“Even if I had been in

110-degree heat all day,

every time I left Salvation

Mountain, I felt totally

refreshed.”

~ Daniel Paul, an architectural historian, in a

Nov. 26 LA Times article on the work to save the

Salvation Mountain historical landmark.

Newly ordained deacon Jorge Moncada offers first blessings after he was among LA’s seven new transitional deacons

ordained during a Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels on Nov. 23. The men are set to be ordained priests

next June. | VICTOR ALEMÁN

“I’m in Compton, but I’m

not in Compton. I’m on an

island full of greenery and

vegetables and high vibes.”

~ Visitor Patrice Offord, in a Nov. 23 New York

Times article on urban farming spot and brunch

destination Alma Backyard Farms, next door to St.

Gregory the Great Church in Compton.

View more photos

from this gallery at

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.


IN EXILE

FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI

Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father

Ronald Rolheiser is a spiritual

writer; ronrolheiser.com

Heaven isn’t the same for everyone

Father Daniel Berrigan once

said, “Before you get serious

about Jesus, think carefully

about how good you are going to look

on wood!”

That’s a needed caution because

Jesus warned us that if we follow him,

pain will flow into our lives and we

will join him on the cross.

What exactly does that mean? Is pain

laid on a disciple as some kind of test?

Does Jesus need his followers to feel

the pains he experienced? Does God

want the followers of Jesus to undergo

pain to help pay the price of sin? Why

does accepting to carry the cross with

Jesus bring pain into our lives?

It’s interesting to note that the great

mystic St. John of the Cross uses

this, the inflow of pain into our lives,

as a major criterion for discerning

whether or not we are authentically

following Jesus. For John, you know

you are following Jesus when pain

begins to flow into your life. Why?

Does God lay special pain on those

who take Christ seriously?

No. God doesn’t apportion special

pain on those who take Christ

seriously. The pain that flows into

our lives if we take Christ seriously

doesn’t come from God. It flows into

us because of a deeper openness, a

deeper sensitivity, and a new depth

on our part. The algebra works

this way: By authentically opening

ourselves up to Christ we cease being

overly self-protective, become more

vulnerable and more sensitive, so that

life, all of it, can flow into us more

freely and more deeply.

And part of what now flows into us

is pain: the pain of others, the pain

of mother earth, the pain of our own

inadequacy and lack of altruism, and

the pain caused by the effect of sin

everywhere. This pain will now enter

us more deeply and we will feel it in

a way we never did before because

previously we protected ourselves

against it through insensitivity and

self-focus.

Happily, this has a flip side: Just

as pain will now flow into our lives

more freely and more deeply, so too

will meaning and happiness. Once

we stop protecting ourselves through

self-absorption, both pain and happiness

can now flow more freely and

more deeply into our hearts, and we

can begin to breathe out of a deeper

part of ourselves.

Freud once commented that sometimes

things can be best understood

by examining their opposites. That’s

partially the case here. The opposite

of someone who opens herself to

pain, who opens herself to the pain

of the cross, is a person who is callous

and insensitive (in slang, someone

“who is thick as a plank!”). Such a

person won’t feel a lot of pain — but

won’t feel much of anything else

either.

A number of implications flow from

this.

First, God doesn’t lay pain on us

when we become followers of Jesus

and immerse ourselves more deeply

in the mystery of Christ and the cross.

The pain that ensues is intrinsic to

the cross and is felt simply because

we have now ceased protecting

ourselves and are letting life, all of

it, flow into us more freely and more

deeply. Happily, the pain is more

than offset by the new meaning and

happiness that are now also felt.

Second, experiencing the pain that

flows intrinsically from discipleship

and the cross is, as John wisely puts

it, one of the major criteria that

separates the real Gospel from the

Prosperity Gospel. When the pain

of the cross flows into our lives, we

know that we are not feather-bedding

our own self-interest in the name of

the Gospel.

Third, it’s worth it to be sensitive!

Freud once said that neurosis (unhealthy

anxiety) is the disease of the

normal person. What he didn’t say,

but might have, is that the antithesis

of anxiety (healthy and unhealthy)

is brute insensitivity, to be thick as a

plank and thus protected from pain —

but also protected from deeper meaning,

love, intimacy, and community.

If you are a sensitive person (perhaps

even an over-sensitive one,

prone to depression and anxiety of all

sorts), take consolation in that your

very struggle indicates that you are

not a calloused insensitive person,

not a moral boor.

Finally, one of the implications

of this is that heaven isn’t the same

for everyone. Just as pain can be

shallow or deep, so too can meaning

and happiness. To the degree that

we open our hearts to depth, to that

same degree deep meaning and

happiness can flow into us. A closed

heart makes for shallow meaning. A

heart partially open makes for some

deep meaning, but not full meaning.

Whereas the heart that is fully open

makes for the deepest meaning.

There are different depths to meaning

and happiness here on earth and,

I suspect, that will be true too in the

next life. So, the invitation from Jesus

is to accept the pain that comes from

the wood of the cross rather than

being thick as a plank!


The seven men being ordained as transitional

deacons: Paul Collins, Michael Croghan,

Joseph Cruz, Johndy Gonzales, Jorge Moncada,

Christian Morquecho, and Quoc Vo.

ONE STEP CLOSER

The new LA deacons ordained Nov. 23 now begin a shorter, more

intense transition period to the priesthood than past classes.

STORY BY MIKE CISNEROS / PHOTOGRAPHY BY VICTOR ALEMÁN

we celebrate today is a

love story.”

“What

That’s how Los Angeles

Auxiliary Bishop Brian Nunes described

the journeys of the seven men

ordained as transitional deacons Nov.

23 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the

Angels, the final step before becoming

priests.

“This is the next logical step in

these lives where much love has been

received,” said Nunes, who presided

over the 9 a.m. ordination Mass. “Now

much love will be shared. What this

love will look like in action only God

knows. It will differ from person to person

and from moment to moment.”

Johndy Gonzales kneels in front

of Bishop Brian Nunes to deliver a

promise of obedience during the transitional

diaconate ordination Mass.


The soon-to-be deacons began their

ordination Mass by answering “I do” to

Promise of the Elect questions.

For Paul Collins, Michael Croghan,

Joseph Cruz, Johndy Gonzales, Jorge

Moncada, Christian Morquecho,

Quoc Vo, the moment itself looked a

little different compared to diaconate

ordinations of past years.

Until this year, transitional deacons

for the LA Archdiocese were traditionally

ordained in May or June, a full

year before ordination to the priesthood.

As deacons, they would split that

year helping at a parish and wrapping

up formation and studies at St. John’s

Seminary.

But thanks to new guidelines issued

by the U.S. bishops and approved by

the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy,

this year’s class followed a whole new

program.

Having already finished their studies,

they will now move into a parish to

serve full time as deacons, preparing

them to do the same as priests at that

same parish after being ordained

priests in June 2025.

The class also includes Allan Car-

odan, who will be ordained a deacon

in the Philippines but will return to the

archdiocese and be ordained a priest

in LA.

New deacon Michael Croghan said

he likes the switched-up timetable

because it will give him more hands-on

experience administering the sacraments

and preaching before becoming

a priest.

“It’s going to feel like you’re in this

new role, more so than when you’re a

seminarian because you’re still going to

classes. I like it.”

Following the ordination, Croghan

was surrounded by parents, siblings,

cousins, and more, even holding a

newborn baby family member at one

point.

His mother, who was born in Mexico,

helped convert his father to the Catholic

faith and everything fell into place

from there, said Croghan’s father, also

named Michael.

“We’re so happy for him,” the elder

Croghan said. “We’ve been looking forward

to this for a long time. He’s going

to be a great deacon and next year a

great priest.”

Many of the newly ordained deacons

said they were grateful to be joined by

their families, even from the get-go.

The seven men prostrate

themselves at the altar during

their ordination Mass.


The bishops in attendance offer hugs

after the newly ordained deacons

receive their stole and dalmatic.

Newly ordained Deacon Paul Collins

poses with well-wishers in line for first

blessings after his ordination Mass.

To start the ordination Mass, the deacons-to-be

processed down the center

aisle of the cathedral, finally stopping

at the front pews to sit with their families

and loved ones.

When it was time for the Rite of Ordination

to begin, the men walked up to

Nunes and answered in unison “I do”

to the Promise of the Elect questions.

They then knelt one-by-one in front

of the bishop to answer a promise of

obedience before laying prostrate, face

down around the altar while the Litany

of the Saints was sung.

When the seven stood, some wiping

a few tears from their eyes, they knelt

again before Nunes for the laying on of

hands, a special blessing that invokes

the Holy Spirit upon them.

After that, it was all smiles.

A crew of priests brought each of the

newly ordained deacons their stole and

dalmatic and helped slip them over

their heads, punctuated by a hug.

The bishops and deacons in attendance

went up one by one to give the

kiss of peace to each newly ordained

deacon.

“We have seven new deacons for the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles,” Nunes

announced, and the audience stood

and applauded.

As hundreds lined up outside in the

cathedral’s plaza for first blessings, the

Newly ordained Deacon Quoc Vo poses for

photos following his ordination Mass.


deacons walked out to applause, their

faces awash with a mixture of gratitude,

happiness, and relief.

“I’m feeling a lot of things, most

of all feeling grateful,” said Deacon

Morquecho. “It’s really cool to be with

all my family and friends, getting a

chance to celebrate with them, pray

with them. It’s awesome to see the LA

Archdiocese so alive.”

Mia Del Rosario, a parishioner at

Holy Trinity Church in Atwater Village,

was in line to support Deacon Vo,

who she had gotten to know while he

was at the parish during his internship.

“He’s very approachable,” Del Rosario

said. “The parishioners were drawn

to him. He has an effortless ease

when he’s talking to people. He’s very

genuine.

“He’s a refreshing addition to the

archdiocese. We feel like his family.

We couldn’t be more proud.”

For Deacon Collins, he was incredulous

— “dreams come true” — knowing

how many miles away he was from

where he first thought about becoming

a priest: Peru.

He went to South America to become

a missionary, then continued to discern

before it brought him back to the Archdiocese

of Los Angeles.

Now he plans to be in the archdiocese

for a few years before going off to serve

as a Navy chaplain, who he said has

the biggest need out of all the military

branches. Even Timothy Broglio, archbishop

of the Military Services, USA

and president of the USCCB, was in

attendance at the ordination Mass.

“What I see in the missionary life

is going to people where they’re at,

especially bringing the peace of Christ

to people in difficult circumstances,”

Collins said.

No matter where the next leg of their

journey takes them, with Jesus by their

side and love in their hearts, the newly

ordained deacons are ready for the next

step.

“It takes the pressure off,” Croghan

said. “That’s what I felt most strongly

is the pressure lifting because it’s not

about me. God is good. As long as I

stay on that path and stay connected,

things will turn out OK.”

Mike Cisneros is the associate editor of

Angelus.


TO MAKE

NEW AGAIN

Grants from the LA

Archdiocese’s Called

to Renew campaign

are giving creative

parish-based projects

a needed boost.

BY MIKE CISNEROS

When the Called to Renew

campaign was first launched

in 2018, many took it simply

as a way to raise funds for capital

projects across the Archdiocese of Los

Angeles.

Six years later, several such projects

have come to completion: new

wheelchair ramps at St. Thomas More

Church in Alhambra, a modern PA

system at St. Anastasia Church in Westchester,

waterproofing against flooding

at Holy Angels Church in Arcadia —

among others.

Lesser known, however, is the other

side of the capital campaign: grants

meant to directly help ministries reach

hearts and souls inside — and outside

— those buildings.

“We didn’t want it just to be about the

buildings, because we are Church,”

said Sister M. Anncarla Costello, SND,

the archdiocese’s chancellor who

has spearheaded project funding for

Called to Renew. “The Church is not

buildings. Churches are the people.

And so that’s why we needed to have

that ministry aspect, serving others in

whatever capacity it can be done.”

As 2024 winds to a close, several parishes

across the archdiocese are seeing

the impact of the Called to Renew

campaign, first launched with a goal

to raise $500 million as a response to

long overdue infrastructure needs and

St. Francis Xavier Chapel-Japanese Catholic Center in Little Tokyo used Called to Renew funds to

expand its senior programs, including health and exercise activities. | SFXCJCC

the need to create or bolster programs

designed to serve needy populations.

The donated money is earmarked

for several “pillars” that archdiocesan

leaders decided needed funding:

“Strengthening Our Parish,” “Serving

the Vulnerable,” “Supporting Priestly

Vocations,” and “Investing in the Faith

of Future Generations.”

Since many parishes are more than

60 years old, the bulk of the funding

would go to restoring these “spiritual

homes.” The list of needs was long

with undertakings that could not

simply be paid for from the Sunday

collection.

Roof repairs. No functioning air

conditioning or heating; earthquake

retrofitting.

“You had a lot of parishes that did not

have any renovation done, any updating

done, and they just sort of motored

through life,” said Judy Brooks, executive

director of the Called to Renew

campaign and the Archbishop’s Office

of Special Services.

Now, thanks to Brooks, for the development

and construction departments,

and many others, more than 100 projects

have been completed, with more

on the way.

“I am so absolutely awestruck by the

work that so many did to bring this to

this happy conclusion,” Brooks said.

Lesser known but just as highly

regarded are the projects that aren’t

infrastructure-related, but are geared

toward serving those in need: youth

ministry, vocations, the homeless, the

hungry, those in prison.


A portion of Called to Renew funds were used to feed

the hungry, including Church of the Good Shepherd in

Beverly Hills’ Feed My Poor food truck. | JOHN RUEDA

In the funding requests that began to

arrive, reaching young people was a

high priority for many parishes — “the

young people we have lost these past

years from the Church,” Costello said.

Some projects were simple in their

requests: Bible study materials, retreats,

scholarships to send young people to

the National Catholic Youth Conference.

Other parishes got creative in recognizing

and responding to particular

needs.

St. Mary Magdalen Church in Mid-

City LA proposed installing a hearing

loop at its parish that would help those

with hearing aids connect directly into

the sound system, making speech and

music clearer.

St. Matthew Korean Catholic Center

in Tujunga saw a need to help couples

receive faith formation, and proposed

building a new playground for their

young children to play in during those

formation sessions.

More than 20 parishes got together for

the “Anointed for Mission” program in

applying for funding used to arrange

a three-year confirmation program

focused not just on the youth being

confirmed, but also their families.

Feeding the hungry has gotten a boost

with both Church of the Good Shepherd

in Beverly Hills’ Feed My Poor

nonprofit, and St. John of God Church

in Norwalk seeking funds to use food

trucks to deliver meals.

Although the campaign is done

seeking donations, funding pledges

will continue to roll in for the next few

years, Brooks said.

In the meantime, everyone involved

in the campaign continues to look

forward to the amazing ways in which

God has provided.

“The money is going way beyond just

the present,” Costello said. “It’s really

all for the future generations.”


Angelus.


BUILDING A TRUE HOME

Retired Auxiliary Bishop Joseph N. Perry

of Chicago celebrated the Nov. 23 closing

Mass of the Regional Black Catholic

Congress at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in

Wilmington. | MIKE GOULDING

In Wilmington,

participants at the

West Coast’s first

congress for Black

Catholics looked

to encourage a

new generation of

leaders.

BY BRITNEY ZINT

When 10 Black bishops decided

to issue a pastoral letter

on the state of Black Catholicism

in the U.S. in 1984, they identified

a few basic priorities: overcoming

racism, creating opportunities to experience

the Church as a community, and

passing the faith to future generations.

Forty years later, more than 100 Black

Catholics marked the anniversary of

the release of “What We Have Seen

And Heard,” by gathering for a two-day

congress in the Wilmington area of Los

Angeles. The agenda: to look at how

far Black Catholicism in the U.S. has

come, and where it may be headed.

“It’s just another opportunity for us to

gather the community and say, ‘Look at

what the Lord has done in 40 years and

what is ahead of us in the future,’ ” said

Michael Donaldson, senior director of

the archdiocese’s Office of Life, Justice

and Peace and one of the Regional

Black Catholic Congress’ main organizers.

Held at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in

Wilmington, the event featured workshops,

keynote speakers, a youth track,

music, liturgies, and even time for the

sacrament of confession.

Sponsored by Donaldson’s office,

this is the first such congress held on

the West Coast. According to Cynthia

Jones-Campbell, the LA Archdiocese’s

associate director for race relations, the

congress is about providing “a platform

for Black Catholics of all ages to discuss

and learn how to evangelize more


Lori Stanley of LMU’s Loyola Institute

for Spirituality gave a keynote

talk on “evangelizing with open

eyes, open ears and open hearts” at

the congress. | MIKE GOULDING

effectively and connect locally.”

The idea for the event started with

Father Claude Williams — a Norbertine

priest who was pastor of Sts. Peter

and Paul until this summer — after

he returned from the National Black

Catholic Congress last year in Maryland.

Leaders there saw a need for

senior members to facilitate passing the

torch to the up-and-coming generation

of Black leaders. In Wilmington, participants

talked about what that should

look like.

“I think the biggest priorities I would

hope for would be elevating the voices

of young people — not just their voices,

but for them to take up space, take on

leadership roles, and become more

active in our Church,” said keynote

speaker Lauren Warner, an Inglewood

native and Ph.D. candidate at Boston

College’s Clough School of Theology

and Ministry.

Empowering the younger generation

is especially important, said Williams,

since traditionally Black religious

spaces around the country — namely

parishes and schools, where Black ministry

has traditionally taken place — are

disappearing.

“The blessing is that the power of the

Gospel in our lives as baptized individuals

is still very much at work and

alive,” said the priest, who was assigned

to a leadership position in Rome by his

religious order a few months ago.

“So as certain structures seem to be

dismantled or [are] dismantling, God

himself is building up in the hearts

of believers who trust him, the same

ability to communicate faith in him to

others.”

Another challenge raised in the 1984

Father Claude Williams,

former pastor of Sts.

Peter and Paul, first came

up with the idea for the

congress, the first of its

kind on the West Coast. |

MIKE GOULDING

letter was how to preserve distinctively

Black Catholic styles of worship. From

Gospel music to movement and other

forms of joyful expression, the pastoral

letter outlines how these are Black gifts

that enrich the Church.

Resistance to the way Blacks worship,

along with racism and trying to find

solidarity within the broader Catholic


Church and Catholic experience, are

the biggest obstacles from Warner’s

perspective.

“I think that’s a big challenge we have

fought for a very long time and continue

to,” Warner said.

The issue is more than such “outward

expressions,” said speaker Chika Anyanwu,

a Catholic author, evangelist, and

former youth and young adult minister.

Although it’s a part of the problem,

Anyanwu said Black Catholics often experience

a sense of being watched and

questioned uncomfortably in Catholic

spaces.

“I don’t think that it is a paranoia,”

Anyanwu said. “So just the welcome really

needs to be a welcome. We belong

just as much as the next person, just

as much as any Catholic, and some of

the ways that can be expressed are just

like with other cultures: the beauty of

the Vietnamese traditions, the Mexican

traditions.”

Being open, welcoming, and celebratory

of one another’s gifts is key, said

Donia Brooks, a Redlands resident

who works with the Office of Ministry

to Catholics of African Descent in the

Diocese of San

Bernardino. Citing

the assertions

made in “What

We Have Seen

and Heard,”

Brooks said the

Catholic Church

is universal — but

that doesn’t mean

being uniform.

“There is still

that resistance

to allowing the

community to be

as God made us

in his image and

likeness,” Brooks

added. “We are

a people that he

made of movement

and worship

and music in our being. It’s who we

are.”

At Mass on the congress’ first day,

Archbishop José H. Gomez noted that

the conference was happening during

Black Catholic History Month, while

recalling the “presence of such a great

A member of the Knights of Peter

Claver Ladies Auxiliary prays during

Mass at the congress. | JOHN RUEDA

cloud of witnesses, the holy men and

women who make up our Black Catholic

communion of saints,” including

Servant of God Thea Bowman.

A convert to Catholicism at the age of

9, Bowman eventually entered religious

life and helped found the National

Jordan Diandy of St. Anthony

Church in Long Beach speaks

about entrepreneurship in the Black

community during a youth session at

the congress. | JOHN RUEDA


Black Sisters’ Conference. Bowman’s

emphasis on the day-to-day lived witnesses

of Catholics, Archbishop Gomez

recalled, was a “rich and beautiful

expression of the meaning of evangelization,

which always begins in love, in

the desire to share with others the love

that we have found in Jesus.

“This is …the kind of love that can

change people’s lives, the kind of love

that opens their hearts to the love of

Jesus.”

In some ways, the congress can trace

its roots back to Archbishop Gomez’s

decision to form an anti-racism task

force in the LA Archdiocese in the

wake of nationwide unrest following

the death of George Floyd at the hands

of police in Minnesota. Made up of

14 men and women of various backgrounds

and focusing initially on Black

issues, its work has resulted in the formation

of similar task forces in parishes

around Southern California.

Greg Hogan serves on such a task

force at his parish, St. Edward the

Confessor in Orange. He said the

congress provided a rare opportunity

to meet and connect with other Black

Catholics.

While the Catholic Church has done

a good job of “analyzing racism, its

sources, and different forms of racism”

and in providing direction to the broader

Church on how to face it, Hogan

believes it should create “action steps

that we can take to make sure that every

person of color in our Church feels that

our Church is home to him or her.

“The Church has to have our back

when we face racial issues,” said Hogan.

“We still face them.”

Donaldson agreed, calling racism

“a sin that we have to confront” as a

Church.

“We are definitely working on that

portion of it, but we also know that we

need to go back to the basic roots, foundation,

and the biblical point of view

on what we’re doing here,” said Donaldson.

“God created one holy nation,

and we’re called to unite and celebrate

that diversity among the community.”

Britney Zint is a freelance writer and

educator whose experience includes

covering education, public safety, and

government for the Los Angeles Times

Community News group.


GET IN THE ‘WAY’

Several attendees of the National

Catholic Youth Conference wore hats

or items specific to their region. Many

young people from the Archdiocese

of Los Angeles wore wire lit-up halo

headbands. | VICTOR ALEMÁN

Young people at the National Catholic Youth Conference in

Long Beach found guidance in charting their faith journey.

BY MIKE CISNEROS

With the final blessing of the

final Mass now completed,

thousands of young people

took one last chance to rush the stage

and rock out to a few songs to conclude

the 2024 National Catholic Youth

Conference in Long Beach.

Music pulsating and lights flashing,

the young dancers jumped up and

down, threw their hands in the air,

batted around a few beach balls, and

shout-sang the remaining lyrics loud

enough for God to hear them.

The night capped three busy days

of youthful energy filled with music,

interactive exhibits, and guest speakers

balanced by more reflective moments

such as adoration, Stations of the Cross,

and prayer sessions.

Such is the unique mix that is the

National Catholic Youth Conference

(NCYC), this year held on the West

Coast at the Long Beach Convention

Center. More than 3,000 young people

attended the annual event — part rock

concert, part liturgy, part classroom,

part silly fun, but all about putting God

at the center of it all.

This was only the second time NCYC

has been held in Long Beach, the first

being in 2022.

“I thought this was a good way to bring

a bunch of kids together that wouldn’t

want to go to a Catholic convention,

and to enjoy it in a fun way where we

could interact with other people as

well,” said Sofia Peralta, a student at

Santa Clara High School in Oxnard.

“It’s nice to see so many young Catholics

come together for this kind of thing,

who are willing to express their love for

God.”

“This is our second year,” said Carmen

Peralta, Sofia’s mother. “The first

time we came out, we got to see so

many different people from so many

different places expressing their faith

and participating. It was invigorating

and we wanted to be part of that again.”

For this year’s theme, “El Camino/

The Way,” speakers emphasized the


ways young Catholics can share in

Jesus’ walk — in his baptism, in his

temptation, on the cross — and how

God is present in our own journeys,

both in enjoyable and turbulent times.

“Remember: Jesus is always by your

side,” said Archbishop José H. Gomez

in his homily at the closing Mass Nov.

16. “Always, in every hour and every

moment. That’s not just a nice thought,

it’s the truth. He promised: ‘I am with

you always, to the close of the age.’

“So you can turn to him any time and

many times during the day. Just tell

him what’s on your heart. Ask him what

he wants you to do.”

On the event’s first day, Archbishop

Nelson Perez of Philadelphia spoke to

the young people about what God’s

words at the moment of Jesus’ baptism

mean for them.

“The word spoken to Jesus by his

Father, ‘You are my beloved,’ ” Perez

said. “What a wonderful word, to be

someone’s beloved. And that’s what he

Archbishop Nelson Perez of Philadelphia

spoke of attendees being God’s

“beloved” during his talk at the 2024

National Catholic Youth Conference’s

first night. | COURTESY NCYC

Archbishop José H. Gomez

presided over the closing Mass

for the 2024 National Catholic

Youth Conference at the Long

Beach Convention Center. |

VICTOR ALEMÁN

said of Christ, but that’s also what he

said of you and me. The day we were

baptized, we became his beloved, in

whom he is well pleased.”

Perez then had the audience repeat

the phrase, “I am beloved,” in response

to negative treatment.

“When people treat me badly, what

am I going to say?” ‘I am beloved.’

“When people reject me and hurt

me, what am I going to say?” ‘I am

beloved.’

“When people say that I’m not worth

anything, what am I going to say?” ‘I

am beloved.’

“When I find myself sad, depressed,

and in those dark moments that come

to all of us, what am I going to say?” ‘I

am beloved.’

“That is the father’s voice coming to

you,” Perez said. “And never, ever let

anyone tell you otherwise.”

For the youth, the event offered plenty

of opportunities to find camaraderie

and express their faith. Emcees Rhyan

Ramirez and Maggie Craig kept

things lively throughout the three days

while the house band led by Thomas

Muglia and Belen Rodriguez kept

things rocking.

Guest speakers included Ansel

Augustine, D.Min, assistant director


More than 3,000 young people attended

the 2024 National Catholic Youth Conference

— the second time the event has

been in Long Beach. | VICTOR ALEMÁN

for African American Affairs with the

USCCB, Catholic author and leader

Aires Patulot, and Cynthia Psencik of

the GIVEN Institute.

One of the personalities familiar from

the 2022 event was Auxiliary Bishop

Joseph Espaillat of New York, who led

prayer sessions and could be found

walking the halls of the convention

center in his black cassock and Yankees

cap.

The event’s breakout informational

sessions included topics titled “I Believe

It, But Don’t Feel It,” “Raising Your

Voice to Make an Impact,” and “Learning

to Pray Heart to Heart.”

It was in that “Heart to Heart” session

that spoke to Brady Lindoerfer, 18, who

was at NCYC for the first time and

traveled with a

small group from

Colorado.

“It’s just a beautiful

reflection on

prayer,” Lindoerfer

said. “I’ve been

noticing in the

small interactions

how they make

such a difference. Just bringing that out

to my everyday life.”

Others were simply influenced by the

event’s theme, trying to determine “the

way” God was calling them to.

Brenna Manzo, 17, a parishioner at

“That is the father’s voice coming to you, and never,

ever let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Participants at the 2024

National Catholic Youth

Conference experienced

both moments of reflection

and prayer mixed

with exuberant activities

to express their faith. |

VICTOR ALEMÁN

St. Angela Merici Church in Brea, is

a senior in high school and is leaning

on God to help her make a college

decision.

“God is the one that sets the path,

the Holy Spirit guides you and Jesus

walks alongside with you,” Manzo said.

“That’s the way I think about it. Whether

I want to stay local or go far away,

this message means a lot to me thinking

that no matter where I go, God’s

going to be the one to guide me and

everything’s going to fall into place.”

For Andrew Villa, 15, a parishioner

at Holy Trinity Church in Atwater


Village, his “way” meant discerning the

priesthood.

“This entire thing has been a good

way to focus our direction and our

relationships,” Villa said. “It’s my desire

to serve, to serve God’s people, to serve

the flock.”

While the chanting has subsided — “I

love Jesus Christ!” “NC-YC!” — all

eyes turn to next year’s 2025 conference,

which will be in Indianapolis on

Nov. 20-22. The theme is “I Am/Yo

Soy.”

Following a new schedule meant to alternate

between both sides of the U.S.,

NCYC will be back in Long Beach in

2026.

“It’s always an amazing experience

that I love to relive every single year,”

said Lindsay Gaurano, 16, a parishioner

at St. Joseph, Husband of Mary Church

in Las Vegas who was at NCYC for the

third time. “Every year is different, not

just because of the theme but because

of the people, the energy. The truth of

Jesus keeps getting stronger and stronger

no matter how long it’s been.

“I’ll be back.”


Angelus.

Auxiliary Bishop Joseph

Espaillat of the Archdiocese of

New York was often spotted

at NCYC in his Yankees hat. |

COURTESY NCYC


Synodality:

What now?

Some small changes approved at this

year’s synod could have big-picture

consequences down the line.

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

Pope Francis and members of the Synod

of Bishops on Synodality pose for a photo

after the synod’s final working session

Oct. 26 in the Paul VI Audience Hall at

the Vatican. | CNS/VATICAN MEDIA

ROME — In 1946, a 13-year-old

boy growing up in the small town

of Trinity, Texas, discovered that

a neighbor named Charles Hazard had

ground up glass, mixed it with food,

and fed it to his dog, thereby killing

him, because Hazard was upset the dog

had a habit of crossing into his yard.

Seeking revenge, the boy remembered

that Hazard was a member of the City

Council and had an election coming

up. The boy got a learner’s permit and

used the family car to drive scores of

black residents to the polls, informing

all that Hazard had killed his dog.

Hazard lost by 16 votes, and the boy,

named Charlie Wilson, fell in love with

politics.

Years later, Congressman Charles

Wilson would lead the House Appropriations

Subcommittee on Defense

to pump $5 billion between 1980

and 1989 into covertly arming the

Mujaheddin in Afghanistan in their

resistance against Soviet occupation.

The Soviets withdrew in disgrace in

February 1989, and the Berlin Wall

came down nine months later.

One could say, therefore, that Charles

Hazard set the end of the Cold War in

motion by being mean to a neighbor’s

dog.

Moral of the story: Big things often

result from small beginnings.

It seems an apt note upon which to

begin a reflection upon the recently

concluded Synod of Bishops on

Synodality, which ended without any of

the mammoth changes which, at one

point or another, had been anticipated:

no women deacons, no expansion of a

married priesthood, no new theology of

“LGBTQ+” relations. While there was

a great deal of rhetoric about dialogue,

participation, and consultation, in the

end many observers were tempted to

ask if it was really all sound and fury

signifying nothing.

In reality, there were several concrete

recommendations in the synod’s final

document, most basically noncontroversial,

which it’s reasonable to expect

to see implemented over the next

couple of years.

Parish Councils: Canon 536 of the

Code of Canon states that pastoral

councils in parishes are to be estab-


lished only if the bishop “considers

it opportune.” While parish councils

are more or less standard practice in

the U.S., this isn’t true of much of the

rest of the Catholic world. The synod

strongly hinted that these councils

should be made mandatory for the

universal Church.

Finance Councils: Canon law does

require each parish to have a finance

council, but experience seems to vary

in terms of how active these bodies are,

how often they meet, which sorts of

transactions they oversee, and so on. It’s

likely that in the near future, new directives

will spell out matters such as who

should belong to these councils, how

they should be chosen, which transactions

should require the approval of the

finance council, and so on.

Scaling Up: The same points made

above regarding councils in the parishes

also apply to the diocesan level.

Moreover, the document also anticipates

networking among the councils

of various parishes in a diocese, and

among the diocesan councils of a given

region or nation.

Synods: The document also calls for

the regular practice of diocesan, provincial,

and regional synods, all based on

the model of bringing bishops into conversation

with various constituencies

in the Church. There’s every reason to

expect that canon law may be amended

in fairly short order to require that such

bodies meet on a regular basis. It’s also

likely to be recommended that special

emphasis be given to opening such

gatherings to women and youth, to

Catholics traditionally alienated from

church life, and, where appropriate,

to ecumenical, interfaith, and secular

partners.

“Intermediate” Spaces: The concluding

document encouraged the development

of intermediate bodies between

the universal Church and the local

church. In the proximate future, it’s

likely that such forums will be encouraged,

with the idea of including not just

hierarchs and apparatchiks but ordinary

believers as well.

Cynics might roll their eyes and moan

that the most likely outcome of all the

above will be countless additional hours

consumed in committee meetings.

Frankly, there’s probably some truth to

such forecasts.

But ponder this: Suppose this new

thrust toward participation and consultation

prompts just 1% of Catholics to

move from inert to engaged. Globally,

even that tiny percentage shift would

translate into a vast pool of 1.3 million

people suddenly taking a keener interest

in Church affairs, putting in their

two cents and expecting to be heard.

What might that mean?

As with Charles Hazard and that dog,

we simply don’t know. Perhaps all these

newly energized Catholics will rise up

and demand the changes the synod

failed to deliver. Or, perhaps the kind

of people most likely to elect to become

involved actually will be those most

attached to traditional teaching and

practice, and end up leading a sort of

restorationist push.

Perhaps they’ll tire of politics, tire of

consultations and “conversation in the

Spirit,” and decide to go out and actually

do something instead. Maybe they’ll

launch movements, convert souls,

swim seas, move mountains, reach the

unreachable star and fight for the right

without question or pause. All at this

stage are equally possible outcomes,

and none can be excluded a priori.

To put the point differently, by

emphasizing the creation of myriad

new mechanisms for getting people

involved, the Synod of Bishops on

By emphasizing the creation of myriad new mechanisms

for getting people involved, the Synod on

Synodality has in effect opted for unpredictability.

Synodality has in effect opted for unpredictability.

That’s the thing about encouraging

people to get involved: You can’t

control what they’ll do once they are.

Therein lies the drama … not so much

of today, perhaps, but quite possibly of

tomorrow.

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


WITH GRACE

DR. GRAZIE POZO CHRISTIE

A tale of two commercials

SCREENSHOT VIA YOUTUBE/VOLVO

When corporations spend big

money on advertising, they

target that empty spot in

men’s and women’s hearts that might

just be filled perfectly with the product

or experience on offer.

Of course, in a consumerist society like

ours, the most effective ads don’t simply

aim to fill an empty space — but to

create the space itself.

You didn’t know, for example, that

your middle-aged hair could look silky

and shiny again, as it did in your youth,

if you could just get your hands on that

hair dryer that emits negative ions and

reduces frizz. More importantly, the

TV ad suggested the possibility of a

better life, one in which you are filled

with the self-confidence of a woman

with gorgeous hair, at ease in any social

situation: a new space to be filled.

In short, ads are aspirational, and only

work if they are touching some deep

and universal chord in the human psyche.

A woman’s desire to be beautiful,

for example, is universal, and there are

very few, if any, women who have lost

the attractive physical characteristics of

youth without regret. Ergo the expensive

hairdryer in my bathroom cabinet

(which is ionic but doesn’t seem to

have any magical qualities that reduce

frizz).

Some ads work entirely on mood and

atmosphere, saying almost nothing

about the product but simply allying it

to the vision of a noble, shared ideal.

In 1971, Coca-Cola released one of

the world’s most famous commercials:

“I’d Like to Buy the World A Coke,” in

which young people of assorted races

and national origins stand on a hilltop,

each holding a Coke and singing in

harmony.

The ad was a phenomenal success. It

spoke directly to a culture enraptured

by the idea of peace as an urgent possibility,

one that depended on idealistic

youth wresting control from the elders

who had dragged the world through

two world wars and now fighting painfully

but halfheartedly against communism

in the Far East. The effervescent

sweetness of Coca-Cola was offered,

like peace, as something that every

corner of the world was thirsting for

and could enjoy.

Recently the car companies Jaguar

and Volvo have regaled us with two

very different commercials, which

similarly seek to strike an attitude or

paint a vision of the good life, and

wrap them around their brand. For

Jaguar this has been described as a

“Bud Light” moment, referring to the

episode in which Budweiser used a

man who dresses as a woman, Dylan

Mulvaney, to promote its beer. The ad,

all vivid pinks and shocking hair-dos,

no cars, is all about transgression, or the

demolition of boundaries around sex

and personal appearance. It reminds

me of nothing so much as a Cirque du

Soleil set, with its colorful dystopic feel

(although Jaguar’s man in an orange


Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie is a mother of five

who practices radiology in the Miami area.

tutu would be a bridge too far even for

that circus company).

The vision they offer consumers is one

with a dead end, when you consider

that the thriving of future generations

depends on men and women doing

the old-fashioned, natural, lovely thing:

marrying and having children. That

might be why the ad has been roundly

denounced online as unabashedly

woke (and why Jaguar’s stock has since

dropped).

Volvo’s long Instagram ad, meanwhile,

has garnered rave reviews and assurances

of affection for the brand itself.

Released around the same time as

Jaguar’s, it begins with a man telling his

mother about his girlfriend’s pregnancy.

He talks about his dreams and

hopes, his feelings of trepidation at the

thought of raising a daughter. Interwoven

scenes pull at the viewer’s heart, of

the mother in labor, and a little girl in

spectacles brushing her teeth.

“I just want to do the right thing,”

he says, and “I think she might be the

reason we tie the knot,” and “One day

I’m going to have to let her go.”

At the critical moment, a Volvo

automatically brakes when about to

hit the newly pregnant mother as

she crosses the street. All the glorious

benedictions of family, fatherhood, of

love that forgets itself entirely, saved by

a car company that declares in large

lettering, that it is “For Life.”

The Volvo ad succeeds like the old

Coca Cola one because it aims for

spaces in our hearts which do, in

fact, exist, and that we are universally

longing to fill. One is the space for

peace, without which the world is a

tragic mess and our existence is bleak.

Another is the space for hope in a life

of deep meaning and the irreplaceable

bonds of family love. No, fizzy drinks

and cars can’t deliver what we need,

but they are smart companies that present

to us our prettiest aspirations, and

tell us that their brand also embraces

what we long for.


NOW PLAYING MARY

HIGHLY SELECTIVE,

POORLY CHOSEN

Imagination is necessary for Bible-based art. But

the inventions of Netflix’s new ‘Mary’ are a whacky

departure from the ‘story’ it claims to tell.

Promotional image

for Netflix’s “Mary.” |

NETFLIX

BY AMY WELBORN

More than a decade ago,

megachurch celebrity pastor

Joel Osteen was determined

to make a movie: “Mary, Mother of the

Christ.”

Years passed, writers wrote, casts were

announced and walked back, publicists

publicized, but by 2015, it was clear

nothing would happen and eventually

the film’s IMDB page went full 404.

Good news: It’s 2024, and Osteen has

finally got his movie: “Mary,” being

streamed by Netflix beginning on Dec.

6, directed by D.J. Caruso, written by

Timothy Michael Hayes, and executive

produced by, yes, Joel Osteen.

Starring, controversially to some, Israeli

actress Noa Cohen as Mary, Ido Tako

as Joseph, and a bearded, staggering,

menacing Anthony Hopkins as Herod,

the film’s marketing materials tell us:

“…Mary is shunned following a

miraculous conception and forced into

hiding. When King Herod orders a

murderous hunt for her newborn baby,

Mary and Joseph go on the run —

bound by faith and driven by courage

— to save his life at all costs.”

Or, as another of the film’s producers

describes it: “a survival thriller.”

Imaginative retellings of Scripture are

nothing new, from “Dear and Glorious

Physician” to “Jesus of Nazareth” to

“The Chosen.” Indeed, every painting

of a Nativity or crucifixion involves the

use of the imagination.

The discerning reader or viewer will

bring two related questions to these

works: What is the intent of the imaginative

aspects and what is the relationship

of these aspects to the acknowledged

source material?

With “Mary,” the team’s stated intentions,

both in interviews and through

the script itself, are to “tell the story” of

Mary. As her voiceover in the opening

scene says: “...you may think you know

my story … trust me … you don’t.”

Well, apparently not, especially

if Mary’s story is a highly selective

mashup of the Gospels, the noncanonical

“Protoevangelium of James,”

that survival thriller, and a Joel Osteen

sermon.

So, for example, while many were

offended by the novel and by the 1988

Martin Scorsese film “The Last Temp-


tation of Christ,” one cannot judge

them on the basis of “inaccuracy,” since

fidelity to the Gospel record was not the

point. On the other hand, perhaps the

most moving moment in “The Passion

of the Christ,” a film intent on faithfulness

in both letter and spirit, was the

fruit of imagination: Mary’s memory

of her toddler son’s fall as she watched

him stumble under the weight of the

cross.

The noncanonical “Protoevangelium

of James,” valued in the Early Church

and a source for various beliefs about

Mary, but declared apocryphal in the

sixth century, is used, but selectively.

“James” provides the story of Mary’s

miraculous origins as the daughter of

Joachim and Anna — perhaps the most

moving element of the film — and her

time in the Temple.

That’s it for “James,” though, as less attractive

elements of that text are shifted

and dropped, like the part where Temple

authorities decide, because of the

onset of the defilement of menarche,

it’s time to find Mary a husband.

In the text, that’s an older widower

named Joseph. In “Mary,” it’s a hunky

young builder who is instantly smitten

when he spies Mary doing laundry in

a river, is encouraged by the Angel in

Blue, aka Gabriel, to head to her father’s

house — the journey from Jerusalem

to Nazareth takes just a hot minute,

it seems — to request her hand.

What else? Oh, a few things: The Annunciation

takes place in the Temple,

not in Nazareth. Joachim is murdered

by Herod’s forces. In Bethlehem,

Joseph is told by an innkeeper that

Bethlehem is crowded because “A

child will be born in Bethlehem … the

Messiah.”

That child is born. Herod hears the

news right away from a shepherd, then

immediately orders the massacre of all

of Bethlehem’s infants — even though

we then see a scene of a couple of hundred

folks gathered around the family,

complete with Magi presenting gifts.

Not exactly hard to find, you’d think.

All of this is interesting and yes, completely

out of whack with the biblical

chronology. But it’s this last part of the

film that is, as we say today, definitely a

choice.

The family heads to Egypt. They stop

at a house. Herod’s minions attack.

Mary tosses Jesus in a basket down to

Joseph then jumps down, robes rippling

in the air. She leaps on a horse with the

baby. Joseph, defending them, tosses

the net and leaves the man burning.

Pause, reverse, rewatch: Joseph kills a

guy.

Survival thriller, indeed!

The family moves on — not to Egypt,

but Jerusalem. OK, but why? Herod is

still on the hunt brandishing a sword

and seething about the Messiah in a

great hall, surrounded by baskets of

babies. Mary and Joseph approach Jerusalem’s

gates. Super dangerous for sure,

but Mary is determined and confident.

“We are blessed,” she asserts, and in

they march to the Temple, where the

prophetess Anna awaits. Love will save

the world.

Well, sure it will, but wait, what?

Setting aside Avenger Joseph, this is

all wrong. The Gospels tell us that the

Presentation of Jesus occurred 40 days

after his birth, coinciding with Mary’s

ritual purification. And yes, Mary and

Joseph did make it to Egypt, but that

journey, along with Herod’s massacre

and even the visit of the Magi, occurred

when he was a toddler.

Does it really matter?

Yes it does, especially when, no matter

how well intentioned, you are presenting

your work as the “story” that the rest

of us never knew before.

Not only does all of this — especially

the last part — do violence to the sources

we have and the creators say they

used, it also creates a picture of Mary

that is inconsistent, to say the least, with

her actual role in the Christian story.

In focusing on Mary’s personal courage

and tenacity, as well as centering

the story on the arc of Herod’s terror

and rage, the film removes Mary from

the deeper, more foundational story

of God’s people and indeed, salvation

history. We know a lot about Herod’s

megalomania but hear little about

Israel’s suffering. Love will save the

world, but from what? The brokenness

of sin that has shattered all of creation

or mean people?

No, Mary does not exactly girlboss

her way through this survival thriller

because she does, indeed, rely on

God. But the nature of her reliance is

succinctly expressed in her response to

Gabriel’s news.

“Let it be me.”

What a difference one word makes.

Not a fiat, a let it be rooted in her historic

faith’s actual spirituality and practice,

but a me centered on a vague trust

in a vague self-empowering promise,

a spiritually selective, self-referential

framework that just might, circling back

to the beginning of this piece and this

project, sound familiar.

Amy Welborn is a freelance writer living

in Birmingham, Alabama, and the

author of more than 20 books. Her blog

can be found at AmyWelborn.wordpress.


NOW PLAYING GLADIATOR II

SIZING UP THE SPECTACLE

Silly revolts, Colosseum tailgates, and Christians braver than

gladiators: A Roman historian weighs in on ‘Gladiator II.’

Paul Mescal and Pedro

Pascal in “Gladiator II.”

| IMDB

BY STEFANO REBEGGIANI

If you haven’t heard by now,

Hollywood is at it again, offering

viewers another serving of one of

the staples of ancient Roman society:

gladiators.

As Russell Crowe famously asked the

crowds in the Colosseum: Are you not

entertained?

“Gladiator II” certainly tries, with

director Ridley Scott trying to recreate

the magic of his award-winning box

office hit from 2000. Irish actor Paul

Mescal plays Lucius Verus, a young

man seeking to continue the legacy of

Crowe’s character, Maximus Decimus

Meridius.

Although not as entertaining as its

predecessor, “Gladiator II” offers a

window into one of the most puzzling

and outrageous vices of ancient

Rome, begging the question: Were the

Romans as obsessed with gladiators as

Hollywood makes them to be?

The short answer is yes. Gladiators

were celebrities, their pictures and

names adorning everything from

baby’s nursing bottles to dining room

mosaics. Most gladiators were slaves,

but free people (including women)

would enlist, too, attracted by the

lure of popularity and the chance of

support from powerful patrons.

A slave gladiator could earn his freedom

fighting, yet we know of several

gladiators who preferred to remain

enslaved to keep fighting in the arena.

(Like today’s elite athletes, gladiators

found it hard to retire after many years

in the spotlight.)

Despite their popularity, their status

in Rome was controversial. The Christian

writer Tertullian writes: “The art

they glorify, the artist they debase.”

A gladiator used his body to entertain

others. The Roman mentality

considered this slave-like and demeaning,

but it did not stop the emperor

Commodus, the villain of the first

“Gladiator,” from fighting more than

700 times in gladiatorial contests!

“Gladiator II” takes the spectacle

of the arena to the next level, with a

gladiator riding a rhino and a naval

battle in the flooded Colosseum

featuring famished sharks roaming the

waters — scenes that are not that far

removed from historical reality. While

we don’t know of anybody riding a

rhino, their presence in the games is

well attested. And yes, the Colosseum

was flooded to stage naval battles,

sometimes featuring marine animals

(but not sharks).

The more serious inaccuracies have

to do with the distinctions between

the different combat shows. A typical

day at the games began in the morning

with hunts (venationes), during

which trained specialists (bestiarii)


fought wild animals. Then came the

midday show, mostly featuring the

punishment of convicts: criminals

(sometimes including Christians)

or prisoners of war, who were often

executed by being fed to wild animals

or forced to fight one another to death

in staged battles.

But all of this was the ancient equivalent

of tailgating: the real show was

the afternoon gladiator fights, fought

only one-on-one and with special

rules. Despite their lower status,

Romans admired gladiators for their

ability to face death fearlessly. A defeated

gladiator would kneel, grab his

opponent’s leg, and stretch his neck to

receive the final blow.

The great Roman orator Cicero

writes: “What even mediocre gladiator

ever groans, ever alters the expression

on his face? And which of them, even

when he does succumb, ever contracts

his neck when ordered to receive the

blow?” Gladiators didn’t flinch.

The public execution and humiliation

of convicts was meant to

inspire terror in those who opposed

the emperor’s power. The spectacle

of Christians accepting death for

their faith, often displaying the same

bravery as gladiators, deeply impressed

the Romans. The “Passion of Perpetua

and Felicity” from the third century

recounts how Perpetua, after being

wounded, requested to be taken back

to the arena to receive the final blow

like a proper gladiator. This might be

one of the reasons the persecution

of Christians spectacularly failed to

dissuade new conversions.

In its soppy Hollywood ending,

Lucius waxes about “a home worth

fighting for.” As in the first “Gladiator,”

the sequel casts its conflict as

being between good guys and bad

guys, republic vs. empire, tyranny vs.

democracy. When it comes to the

period of history in which the movies

are set (third century), nothing could

be further from the truth.

Love for freedom was a key value

for Romans (quite the paradox for a

slave-owning society), and one they

have bequeathed the Western world.

But the Roman republic, with its

system of elected magistrates, was

eminently unsuited to administer an

empire the size of Rome.

After about 60 years of almost uninterrupted

civil war, Augustus turned

Rome into a monarchy. There was an

attempt to return to the republican

system after the death of Caligula

(A.D. 41), but by the time of “Gladiator”-era

emperors like Marcus

Aurelius and Caracalla, no one would

have believed a return to the Republic

to be feasible.

Bad emperors like Caracalla and

Nero were loathed by the senators,

but very popular with the plebeians,

or common people. Thanks to their

games and donations, the plebeians

regarded them as the champions

of the oppressed. Challenges to

the emperors tended to come from

high-ranking generals and members of

the senatorial elite, not the plebs.

One thing that sets “Gladiator II”

apart from the original is its citations

of ancient literature. In Virgil’s famous

poem “The Aeneid,” the titular

hero begs the sibyl, a prophetess of the

god Apollo, to let him descend to the

underworld. She replies: “The gates of

hell are open night and day; | Smooth

the descent, and easy is the way: | But

to return, and view the cheerful skies,

| In this the task and mighty labor lies.’

Probably the meaning is that, in the

world of gladiators, dying is easy, and

staying outside of the underworld is

the real task. Or maybe the idea is

that Lucius Verus is in some way a

reincarnation of his father Maximus,

returned from the dead to get revenge

on a corrupt emperor.

Stefano Rebeggiani is an associate

professor of classics at the University of

Southern California.



DESIRE LINES

HEATHER KING

The mystery of Matryona

A station on the

Trans-Siberian Railway. |

PETAR MILOSEVIC/WIKI-

MEDIA COMMONS

In February 1945, Soviet dissident

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was sentenced

to eight years in the Russian

prison camps. Passages in letters to

a friend had been found by military

censors to be insufficiently respectful

of Stalin.

After his “rehabilitation,” in 1959 he

wrote perhaps his best-known and most

well-loved story: “Matryona’s House.”

It begins like this:

“For at least six months after the incident

took place every train used to slow

down almost to a standstill at exactly

a hundred and eighty-four kilometres

from Moscow. The passengers would

crowd to the windows and go out

onto the open gangway at the end of

the carriages to find out whether the

track was under repair or if the train

was ahead of schedule. But these were

not the reasons for the delay. Once it

had passed the level crossing, the train

would pick up speed again and the

passengers would go back to their seats.

Only the drivers knew why they had to

slow down.”

“And I knew too.”

Matryona is an older, semi-destitute

woman who lives by herself and

willingly agrees to share her house

with the narrator of the story, a teacher

named Ignatich. Like Solzhenitsyn

himself, Ignatich is an ex-prisoner

who, after serving a prison term in

the Gulag, has been released from

“perpetual exile” and has been allowed

to reintegrate into a village.

She has growing indoors a jungle of

fig plants she loves so much that when

she once wakes to find the cottage full

of smoke, instead of trying to save the

building she throws the fig plants to the

floor so they won’t suffocate. Her other

possessions consist of a loom on which

she occasionally practices the old craft

of weaving; a neat, spare bed; a dim

mirror; and a couple of ikons.

Matryona is one of those people upon

whom falls so much suffering that

you begin to wonder whether she is

inviting it. All six of her children died

soon after being born, so that she never

had more than one alive at the same


Heather King is an award-winning

author, speaker, and workshop leader.

time. Then her husband, who had

rejected and emotionally abandoned

her all along, went off to war and never

returned.

Work is her salvation. She tends the

milch goat. She toils for others without

pay. She never complains, never shirks,

never whines, never draws attention to

herself. Her cheerfulness and good humor,

her refusal to take offense, make

her an outsider in the village.

She likes the old songs, arias composed

by Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857).

Greedy relatives dismantle her beloved

outhouse for the lumber, her three

sisters berate her for her softness, her

lame cat wanders into the road and is

killed.

In her quiet way, Matryona seems

fearless. She walks her own path and

stands her own ground in spite of being

ridiculed, marginalized, and made a

laughingstock by the people she serves.

Her days are ordered; her time, though

given away seemingly haphazardly, is

disciplined. She insists on helping out

the men in grueling physical labor.

But she is afraid of three things: fire,

lightning, and the trains that, belching

smoke, thunder down the tracks from

faraway cities to shatter the village calm

and its old, settled ways of farming,

wood-chopping, and goat-raising.

In the end, she is killed by a train,

virtually dismembered while helping

the men who have dismantled her outhouse

move a tractor-pulling sledge.

“At dawn the women brought home

all that remained of Matryona, drawn

on a sledge and covered with a dirty

piece of sacking. They removed the

sack to wash the corpse.

It was hideously mangled — no legs,

half the torso missing, and no left arm.

One of the women said: ‘The Lord left

her right arm so she can pray to Him

in heaven.’ ” Many see “Matryona’s

House” as a demonstration of the

impossibility of resisting the modern

world, or as a study of the simple Slavic

soul.

I’d go a step further and posit that

Matryona — the first syllable of her

name is the Russian word for “mother”

— is a Christ figure. She emblemizes

the inefficiency, borderline foolishness,

and almost completely hidden heart of

those who live by the Gospels.

Her decrepit house is a sanctuary of

love that, like her body, by the end of

the story, is torn apart (“Destroy this

temple and in three days I will raise it

up…”).

So in this season when we’re encouraged

to strive for picture-perfect

dinners and Instagrammable family

gatherings, we might do well to remember

Matryona’s house:

“She was a poor housekeeper. In other

words, she refused to strain herself to

buy gadgets and possessions and then

to guard them and care for them more

than for her own life.

“She never cared for smart clothes,

the garments that embellish the ugly

and disguise the wicked.

“Misunderstood and rejected by

her husband, a stranger to her own

family despite her happy, amiable

temperament, comical, so foolish that

she worked for others for no reward,

this woman, who had buried all her

six children, had stored up no earthly

goods. Nothing but a dirty white goat, a

lame cat, and a row of fig plants.”

“None of us who lived close to

her perceived that she was that one

righteous person without whom, as the

saying goes, no city can stand.

“Neither can the whole world.”


LETTER AND SPIRIT

SCOTT HAHN

Scott Hahn is founder of the

St. Paul Center for Biblical

Theology; stpaulcenter.com.

Powerful magnification

In my evangelical days, I often complained that Catholics

exaggerated the role of the Blessed Virgin.

But it is history itself — salvation history — that has

given her an outsized role. It is the Lord of history who cast

her for such a part in the drama.

Her lines in St. Luke’s Gospel add up to far more than a

cameo appearance. The story of redemption turns on her

brief dialogue with the angel. Heaven awaits her response.

The Church has ever since echoed her prayer, the Magnificat,

especially in Advent.

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden.

For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed;

for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name. …”

Go and read the whole thing right now (Luke 1:46–55).

Mary of Nazareth gave us the model prayer of praise and

thanksgiving. It is a model prayer for our coming Christmas.

She taught the world the proper response to God

who has made his dwelling among humankind — who has

come to dwell in her flesh and in ours.

St. Luke presents the Virgin Mary as an icon of human

freedom and dignity. There is nothing obsequious about

her. She is “troubled” by the angel’s presence, but she still

dares to inquire. Hers is an active and intelligent obedience.

Tradition honors Mary as the “Virgin of Tenderness,” and

she is tender. Yet the lines of the Magnificat also show us a

fierceness of fidelity. It is a quality God cultivated in Israel,

a quality that enabled a faithful remnant to keep faith in

spite of exile and oppression.

All of Mary’s qualities are graces from God. In her we see

grace in an extraordinary degree because of the way God

prepared her for her unique vocation.

But Catholic theology insists that grace builds upon

nature. The God who created us is the same God who

redeemed us and calls us. And so it is not at all fanciful for

us to see Mary’s Magnificat as a window into her upbringing.

Her ancestor King David was a shepherd of sheep

before he became a shepherd of Israel. Mary’s fidelity, her

knowledge of the history of Israel, her faithfulness to the

Law of Moses, her reverence for the Temple, her habits of

“The Annunciation,” by Luca Giordano, -1705, Italian. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

prayer, praise, and gratitude — all of these are a tribute to

her family of origin and a childhood spent in the courts of

the Lord.

Though her speaking role diminishes after Jesus’ childhood,

she still looms large in the Gospel. She remains

with him, and that seems perfectly in character. The

young woman who would dare to question an angel would

become the sort of older woman who could spend years

following a son who had “nowhere to lay his head” (Matthew

8:20).

That is the tenderness and the tenacity God created, saw,

and loved in Israel, his bride and daughter and firstborn.

Those are characteristics that God gives as a grace and

loves in his earthly family, beginning with his mother.


■ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6

Su Kristumi: National Congress for Lithuanian Catholics.

St. Casimir Church, 2718 St. George St., Los Angeles.

Congress runs Dec. 6-7. Theme: “Journeys of Persecution

and Religious Freedom.” For details and registration, call

323-664-4660 or visit stcasimirchurchla.org.

A Catholic Arts Festival: Advent Market Edition. St.

Vitus Church, 9710 White Oak Ave., Northridge. The

festival showcases creativity and faith, bringing together

artists and enthusiasts for a truly inspiring experience.

Runs Dec. 6-7. Visit catholicmaker.com or email info@

catholicmaker.com.

“Virgen de Guadalupe, Dios Inantzin” Play. Cathedral of

Our Lady of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles,

7 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 7, 6 p.m. Featuring more than 10

actors, singers, and indigenous Aztec dancers, “La Virgen”

is LA’s largest theatrical holiday production. Free admission,

first come, first serve. Doors open one hour before

showtime. Visit latinotheaterco.org/lavirgen.

St. Bede Music Ministry Presents: Mozart’s “Coronation

Mass.” St. Bede the Venerable Church, 215 Foothill Blvd.,

La Cañada, 7 p.m. Featuring St. Bede Choir and East Los

Angeles Chamber Chorale and Orchestra. Online ticket

sales open Nov. 15. $25/adults presale, $30/adults at door.

$10/children under 12 presale, $15/children at door. Visit

bede.org.

■ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7

Advent Day of Recollection: Welcoming a Time of Hope.

Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9:30

a.m.-3:30 p.m. With Father Austin Dornan. Visit hsrcenter.

com or call 818-815-4480.

The Art and Soul of Journaling: Reflecting on a Year Well

Spent. Holy Spirit Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino,

10 a.m.-3 p.m. With Chantel Zimmerman. Visit hsrcenter.

com or call 818-815-4480.

Cancer Support Ministry Meeting. St. Euphrasia Church,

11779 Shoshone Ave., Granada Hills, 10 a.m. Group gathers

to honor the gift of life and encourage cancer patients,

survivors, and caregivers, in honor of late pastor Msgr.

James Gehl. For more information, email Lisa Barona at

lbaloha@gmail.com.

Baby Jesus Birthday Party. Pauline Books & Media, 3908

Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, 1:30-3:30 p.m. Bring your

children to enjoy an exciting celebration with games,

storytelling, photo opportunities with St. Nicholas, and

cake. Free event. Call 310-397-8676 or email culvercity@

paulinemedia.com.

Getting Through the Holidays. St. Cornelius Church,

5500 Wardlow Rd., Long Beach, 9-11 a.m. Call Cathy

Narvaez at 562-631-8844.

■ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8

Advent Reading: “The Night That Changed the World: A

Story of Christmas.” St. Ambrose Church, 2181 N. Fairfax

Ave., West Hollywood, 11:15 a.m.-12 p.m. Joe Praml readers,

carol sing-a-long, refreshments. Donations appreciated.

Call 323-656-4433 or visit stambroseweho.org.

Marian Celebration honoring Immaculate Conception,

Our Lady of Loretto, and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Our

Lady of Loretto Church, 250 N. Union Ave., Los Angeles,

11:30 a.m. procession, 12:45 p.m. trilingual Mass (English,

Spanish, and Vietnamese). Presider: Auxiliary Bishop

Matthew Elshoff. Call 213-483-3013.

■ MONDAY, DECEMBER 9

Advent Parish Mission. St. Vitus Church, 9710 White

Oak Ave., Northridge, 6 p.m. Father John Perricone is holding

a three-day parish mission, themed “The End of the

World.” Each evening will feature a traditional Latin Mass

at 6 p.m., followed by a talk from Father Perricone. Mass

on Dec. 9 will be a Sung Mass for the feast of the Immaculate

Conception. Visit fssp.la/.

■ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10

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 CatholicCM.org or Facebook.com/lacatholics.

■ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11

Advent Penance Service. St. Barnabas Church, 3955

Orange Ave., Long Beach, 5:45 p.m. rosary, 6 p.m. Our

Lady of Perpetual Help novena, 6:30 p.m. Mass, 7-9 p.m.

penance service and adoration. Several priests available.

Visit StBarnabasLB.org.

“Las Mañanitas” Celebration. Cathedral of Our Lady

of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 6 p.m.

Features indigenous dancers, free seasonal treats, and veneration

of the relic of St. Juan Diego’s tilma on the Cathedral

Plaza. Celebration continues inside the cathedral at 10

p.m. with a rosary, musical tribute, and midnight Mass with

Archbishop José H. Gomez.

■ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 12

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

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

call 562-537-4526.

■ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13

Rosary Crusade. Morgan Park, 4100 Baldwin Park Blvd.,

Baldwin Park, 6:30 p.m. Monthly meeting to pray the

rosary.

■ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 14

Advent Silent Saturday Centering Prayer. Holy Spirit Retreat

Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. With

Marilyn Nobori and the contemplative outreach team.

Visit hsrcenter.com or call 818-815-4480.

Christian Scripture: New Testament Advanced Ministry

Studies. Zoom, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Course will help scholars

articulate the core content and interrelationship of the

Gospels. Presenter: Dr. Matthew Ramage. Breaks and

lunch time included. Register at lacatholics.org/events.

Advent Retreat: Take Heart. Father Kolbe Missionaries

Center, 531 E. Merced Ave., West Covina, 9:30 a.m.-2 p.m.

Optional 8:30 a.m. Mass at St. Christopher Church. Suggested

donation: $20. RSVP to Jillian at 626-917-0040.

Our Lady of Guadalupe Celebration. Pauline Books &

Media, 3908 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, 1:30-3:30 p.m.

Free event for the entire family, includes prayers, songs,

crafts, and refreshments. Call 310-397-8676 or email

culvercity@paulinemedia.com.

Christmas Concert. San Gabriel Mission, 429 S. Junipero

Serra Dr., San Gabriel, 7 p.m. Credo Catholic Choir will

perform music by Handel, Palestrina, Warlock, Biebl, and

familiar carols.

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 | December 13, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 25

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Angelus News | December 13, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 25

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