Angelus News | December 27, 2024

ANGELUS

READY TO

MARCH

Meet the

LA Catholic taking

the reins of the

Rose Parade

December 27, 2024 Vol. 9 No. 26

December 27, 2024

Vol. 9 • No. 26

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Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241

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ON THE COVER

VICTOR ALEMÁN

Apart from his duties as a husband, father, and lawyer, Ed Morales

has devoted much of his life to service and volunteering opportunities.

His reward? A call to serve as the new president of the

Tournament of Roses. On Page 10, Steve Lowery introduces us to the

Pasadena Catholic charged with making sure one of the world’s most

iconic parades goes off without a hitch.

THIS PAGE

CNS/VATICAN MEDIA

Firefighters carry a statue of Mary

toward Pope Francis as he rides in

the popemobile along the streets of

Ajaccio, France, during his one-day visit

to the island of Corsica Dec. 15.

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Always Forward - newsletter.angelusnews.com

CONTENTS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

14

16

18

22

24

26

28

32

Middle-schooler makes LA cathedral history at Mañanitas vigil

Supporters of LA-based ESNE tell of their day with Pope Francis

The winners of Angelus’ ‘Christmas Memories’ contest

John Allen: What the fall of Syria’s Assad means for the pope’s diplomacy

Five years later, Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral rises from the rubble

Robert Brennan thanks the Germans for SoCal Christmas

The incoherent pessimism of Tom Hanks’ latest movie

Heather King’s top picks for Christmas reading this year

December 27, 2024 • ANGELUS • 1

POPE WATCH

The 10-minute rule

The following is adapted from the Holy

Father’s catechesis during his weekly

Wednesday audience given in St. Peter’s

Square Dec. 4.

The First Letter of Peter defines

the apostles as “those who

preached the good news to you

[through] the holy Spirit” (cf. 1:12).

Here we find the two constitutive

elements of Christian preaching: its

content, which is the Gospel, and its

means, which is the Holy Spirit.

In the New Testament, the word

“Gospel” has two principal meanings. It

can indicate any one of the four canonical

Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke,

and John) and refers to the good news

proclaimed by Jesus during his earthly

life. After the Pasch, the word “Gospel”

assumes its new meaning of good news

about Jesus, that is, the paschal mystery

of the death and resurrection of the

Lord.

The preaching of Jesus and, subsequently,

that of the apostles, also

contains all the moral duties that

stem from the Gospel, starting from

the Ten Commandments up to the

“new” commandment of love. But

if we do not want to relapse into the

error denounced by the Apostle Paul of

putting the law before grace and deeds

before faith, it is necessary always to

start anew from the proclamation of

what Christ has done for us. Therefore,

the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii

Gaudium insists a lot on the first of

these two things, namely the kerygma or

“proclamation,” on which every moral

application depends.

But we must also bear in mind the

means by which it must be proclaimed:

through the Holy Spirit. Preaching with

the anointing of the Holy Spirit means

transmitting, together with the ideas

and the doctrine, the life and conviction

of our faith. It means doing so “not

with persuasive [words of] wisdom, but

with a demonstration of spirit and power”

(1 Cor. 2:4), as St. Paul wrote.

It is easy to say, one might object, but

how can it be put into practice if it does

not depend on us, but on the coming

of the Holy Spirit? In reality, there are

two things that do depend on us. The

first is prayer. The Holy Spirit comes to

those who pray, because the heavenly

Father — it is written — “give[s] the

Holy Spirit to those who ask Him”

(Lk. 11:13). Woe to those who preach

without praying!

The second is not wanting to preach

ourselves, but Jesus the Lord (cf. 2 Cor.

4:5). This relates to preaching. At times

there are long sermons, 20 minutes,

30 minutes. … But, please, preachers

must preach an idea, a feeling and a

call to action. Beyond eight minutes

the preaching starts to fade, it is not

understood. And I say this to preachers

[applause] — I can see that you like to

hear this! At times we see men who,

when the sermon starts, go outside to

smoke a cigarette and then come back

in. Please, the sermon must be an idea,

a feeling, and a call to action. And it

must never exceed 10 minutes.

The second thing is not to want to

preach ourselves, but the Lord. That

also implies not always giving priority to

pastoral initiatives promoted by us and

linked to our own name, but willingly

collaborating, if requested, in community

initiatives, or entrusted to us by

obedience.

Papal Prayer Intention for December: Let us pray that

Christians living in areas of war or conflict, especially in

the Middle East, might be seeds of peace, reconciliation,

and hope.

2 • ANGELUS • December 27, 2024

NEW WORLD OF FAITH

ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ

A year of hope

On Christmas Eve, Pope Francis

is set to open the Holy Doors at

St. Peter’s Basilica to inaugurate

the Jubilee Year of 2025, which

Catholics throughout the world will

celebrate and which will be dedicated

to the theme of hope.

Here in Los Angeles, we will begin

our local observance of this year of

hope with the ritual opening of the

Holy Doors at the Cathedral of Our

Lady of the Angels on Dec. 29, the

feast of the Holy Family.

In the year ahead we are planning

several special celebrations, including

a “24 Hours for the Lord” day when

churches throughout the archdiocese

will be open all day and night for

Eucharistic adoration and confession.

We are also planning a six-mile

procession through the streets of Los

Angeles to bear witness to our hope

in Jesus. There are more details about

this holy year at our website: hope.

lacatholics.org.

It is an ancient tradition for the popes

to proclaim a jubilee every 25 years,

and I am excited.

This jubilee will be an occasion for

many graces for all of us to go deeper

in our friendship with Jesus and renew

our commitment to live our faith with

joy and confidence.

Jesus is our hope, as we remember in

this holy season of Christmas.

God is with us! This is the beautiful

truth that we celebrate in this season.

In God’s plan of love, he entered into

our history, he came to share in our

human experience. As we hear in our

Christmas liturgies, at a certain time

in history and in a certain place, the living

God came to dwell among us, the

Son of God became the Son of Mary

so that we might be made the sons and

daughters of God.

This is why for Catholics, hope is not

just a feeling of optimism or some kind

of wishful thinking. Our hope is true.

We hope in the promises of Jesus,

who was born for us and died for us,

and having risen from the dead now

walks with us as our friend and our

leader.

“For this we toil and struggle,” St.

Paul wrote, “because we have set our

hope on the living God, who is the

Savior of all, especially of those who

believe.”

Hope is hard sometimes.

As Francis observes in his decree for

the jubilee, we are easily tempted to be

“discouraged, pessimistic, and cynical

about the future.”

We can look around at the world and

see plenty of signs that things aren’t the

way God intends them to be. There

is injustice and inequality. There is

war and poverty, the displacement and

migration of millions of peoples, the

violence and crime, the neglect of our

natural environment.

The saints teach us that the suffering

of others is a call to our conscience,

and a call to solidarity and action. We

are children of our Father in heaven,

all of us brothers and sisters, and we

have a duty by our common humanity

to take care of one another.

So, this jubilee year calls us to renew

the hope that is in our own hearts. But

we are also called to proclaim the hope

that we have in Jesus and to share that

hope with our neighbors, and especially

with those who are without hope.

God loves us with a love beyond

telling, and the apostles taught us

that there is nothing in the world, no

hardship or distress, not even persecution,

that can separate us from the love

of God.

Francis writes: “Thus, we will be able

to say even now: I am loved, therefore I

exist; and I will live forever in the love

that does not disappoint, the love from

which nothing can ever separate me.”

For Catholics, hope is not just a feeling of optimism

or some kind of wishful thinking. We hope

in the promises of Jesus, who having risen from

the dead now walks with us as our friend and

our leader.

This is our hope! And this is the hope

that we are called to bring to our world.

This jubilee coincides with the final

year of the Eucharistic renewal in our

country.

The Eucharistic renewal has opened

our hearts and strengthened our awareness

that Jesus is with us always, and

that we are always in his presence.

We are never more aware of this than

when we are at Mass. As we lift up our

hearts, we know that we are praying in

the company of the angels and saints,

we know that heaven and earth meet

on that altar and that the One who

loves us and gives us hope comes into

our midst.

Pray for me and I will pray for you.

And let us ask Mary, the Mother of

Hope, to help us to grow in our hope

in the promises of her Son, and help us

to share his hope with everyone.


WORLD

■ Church warns against reversing

El Salvador’s gold mining ban

El Salvador’s top bishop is warning against rising political

support for expanding gold mining in the country.

“They take everything,” said Archbishop José Luis Escobar

Alas of San Salvador of multinational mining companies in

the region. “What they have left to these countries is 1% of

what they declare. How is that possible? It’s plunder.”

The warnings came as President Nayib Bukele called on

lawmakers to expand mining.

“Exploiting this wealth could transform El Salvador … and

all this with modern and sustainable mining, taking care of

our environment,” Bukele said Nov. 27 on X, referring to his

claims that El Salvador holds $3 trillion in gold reserves.

But Escobar challenged those claims in a Dec. 1 news conference,

saying the mining would “cause grave, irrevocable

damage to people’s lives and health and that doesn’t have a

price.”

Mining and

other extractive

activities

have been

banned in El

Salvador since

2017, when

the Catholic

Church

helped

advocate for a

ban in order to

protect against

contaminating

water resources.

An artisanal miner known as “Guiriseros” tries to separate gold

from other minerals at El Salvador’s San Sebastian mine in

2017. | OSV NEWS/JOSE CABEZAS

■ Sudanese bishop escapes execution

thanks to ‘prayers of the Church’

A Sudanese bishop narrowly escaped execution after being

stopped in an army checkpoint.

Bishop Yunan Tombe Trille Kuku Andali of El Obeid was

returning from a Eucharistic congress in Juba, the capital of

neighboring South Sudan, when he was searched at an army

checkpoint and was told the U.S. dollars he was carrying

were forbidden currency. From there he was captured by the

paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, which is at war with the

Sudan Armed Forces.

“Guns [were] given to the lads and [they were] instructed to

carry out their usual business,” the bishop wrote in a Dec. 2

letter to his fellow bishops. But before he was shot for execution,

a leader of RSF appeared and ordered the gunmen to

free the captives.

The war has forced many clergy from Sudan, but in a June

2023 interview with OSV News, Bishop Andali said he would

remain in the country until it was impossible to do so.

■ Switzerland: AI Jesus

in the confessional?

Hundreds of people participated in a two-month experimental

AI installation inside a confessional at Switzerland’s

oldest church.

Called “Deus in machina,” the installation at St. Peter’s

Chapel in Lucerne allowed users to interact with a digital

Jesus avatar which responded to questions in more than

100 languages.

“We wanted to see and understand how people react to an

AI Jesus,” said curator Marco Schmid. “What would they

talk with him about? Would there be interest in talking to

him? We’re probably pioneers in this.”

Nearly two-thirds of users surveyed, mostly German,

responded positively to the experiment. However, many

criticized the organizers for placing the installation inside

the confessional.

“This is not a confession; our aim is not to replicate a

traditional confession,” Schmid said. Reporting from the

experiment found that visitors asked about topics ranging

from love to war and suffering to the existence of God.

Praying with their knees — Pilgrims arrive at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

in Mexico City Dec. 11 to participate in her Dec. 12 feast day celebrations. |

OSV NEWS/QUETZALLI NICTE-HA, REUTERS


NATION

■ A scriptural year?

Booksellers see a Bible boom

Bible sales have boomed in 2024, according

to book tracker Circana BookScan.

Comparing sales numbers through

October 2024 to the same period last year,

the study found that Bible sales have risen

22% across all translations and printings,

significantly outpacing overall print sales,

which have increased just 1%.

Publishers speaking to the Wall Street

Journal attribute the jump in sales to

social factors, including rising anxiety, as

well as improved marketing and designs

by Bible sellers. Catholic publishers also

cite an increased interest among American

Catholics in Bible study.

“I’m not surprised that Bible sales are up.

We’re at a point in the Catholic Church, I

think, where we’re seeing almost a revolution

in Catholics reading the Bible,” Mark

Brumley, president of Ignatius Press, told

Catholic News Agency.

The Angelic Doctor’s visit — People pray before the major relics of St. Thomas Aquinas, including his

skull, in St. Dominic Chapel at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island, on Dec. 4. The event was

one of several opportunities to venerate the relics during a monthlong tour of the Eastern U.S. | OSV NEWS/

PAUL HARING

■ Is Fulton Sheen’s beatification ‘inevitable’?

The beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is “inevitable,”

claims a major proponent of the legendary bishop’s sainthood cause.

“The desire to see Sheen beatified is increasing, and there is a

growing devotion to him,” Msgr. Jason Gray, executive director of the

Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation, told OSV News.

Sheen was slated to be beatified in December 2019 following the

miraculous healing of a stillborn baby, but postponed by the Diocese

of Rochester amid claims that he had overlooked clerical sexual abuse

while he was bishop of the diocese.

“Sheen is clean. … Not

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. |

CNS FILE PHOTO

one accusation has been

raised that impugned

Sheen,” Gray told OSV

News, adding that the

foundation had examined

all the pleadings against the

diocese.

Known for his role pioneering

Catholic radio and

television through his “Life

is Worth Living” program,

Sheen was appointed bishop

of Rochester, New York, in

1966 and died in 1979. The

diocese has been in bankruptcy

proceedings tied to

clerical abuse settlements

since 2019.

■ Suspected CEO killer came

from prominent Catholic family

The suspected killer of UnitedHealthcare

CEO Brian Thompson is a Maryland native

from a prominent Catholic family that has

been recognized for its support of Jesuit education.

Luigi Mangione, 26, was charged Dec. 9 for

Thompson’s killing, which was captured on

video camera and led to a five-day manhunt

before the suspect was arrested in Altoona,

Pennsylvania. According to media reports,

police found a manifesto in which Mangione

appears to have admitted to the murder, as well

as a gun that appears to match the one used in

the killing.

His grandparents, Mary and Nicholas Mangione,

were celebrated philanthropists and

benefactors of Loyola University Maryland.

The school awarded Mary its presidential

medal in 2010 and offered a tribute following

her 2023 death.

The suspect’s cousin, Nino Mangione, is a

Republican representative in the state’s House

of Delegates.

“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian

Thompson and we ask people to pray for all

involved,” read a statement from the family.

“We are devastated by this news.”


LOCAL

Christian unity — Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez poses with Archbishop Hovnan Derderian,

primate of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America, after Archbishop Gomez

was honored at the 14th annual Ecumenical Prayer Service held at St. Leon Ghevondiants Armenian

Cathedral in Burbank on Dec. 10. Derderian presented the archbishop with an Armenian cross and an

icon of the Annunciation. | WESTERN DIOCESE OF THE ARMENIAN CHURCH

■ California bishops

address immigration fears on

Guadalupe feast day

As President-elect Donald Trump threatens

to enact “the largest deportation” in U.S.

history, California’s Catholic bishops issued

a letter of support for migrants, invoking the

protection of Our Lady of Guadalupe on her

Dec. 12 feast day.

“We, the Catholic bishops of California, as

shepherds of the flock of Christ, have seen

and heard the growing distress among you,

our migrant brothers and sisters,” the bishops’

letter said. “We want to assure you that we,

and our mother, the Church, stand with you

in these days of anxiety. You are not alone.”

The conference’s website includes a list

of immigration resources that, the bishops

said, “will continue to be developed as more

information becomes available.”

The bishops urged Catholic communities

“to follow the example of the Good Samaritan,”

referencing Jesus’ parable from Luke

10:25–37, and to “show compassion for our

neighbors, especially the most vulnerable

among us.”

Read the full letter at cacatholic.org/immigration.

■ Volunteers deliver gifts to needy

families for Adopt-a-Family

More than 400 needy families received toys, clothes, gift cards, and more on

Dec. 14 during the 34th annual Adopt-a-Family program sponsored by the

Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

The program annually provides Christmas support to low-income families in

the areas around the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown LA.

Since the program began, more than 13,000 families have been helped.

On delivery day, hundreds of volunteers clad in Adopt-a-Family T-shirts gathered

at the cathedral for a prayer service, followed by hot chocolate, coffee,

and donuts before embarking on delivering the holiday gifts.

Msgr. Terrance Fleming, who launched the Adopt-a-Family program in

1990, was on hand to help deliver gifts, along with Archbishop José H.

Gomez, Cardinal

Roger

Mahony,

and Bishop

Matthew

Elshoff,

OFM Cap.,

who oversees

the Our

Lady of the

Angels Pastoral

Region.

Learn more

at adoptafamilyla.org.

■ More than 1,800

unclaimed bodies laid

to rest in Los Angeles

Several interfaith leaders, including Father

Chris Ponnet, pastor at St. Camillus Center

for Spiritual Care, were among those presiding

over the annual service burying the dead

whose bodies were never claimed.

This year, 1,865 cremated bodies were

buried in a special communal grave at LA

County Cemetery marked with the year they

died. Those who were buried died in 2021,

but county officials waited three years to see

if family or loved ones claimed the bodies.

Many of the deceased died from COVID-19

since county officials noted that 2021 was

during the height of the pandemic. During

last year’s service, 1,937 bodies were buried,

also a higher number due to the COVID-19

pandemic.

“They may be complete strangers to us,

but we know they are no less worthy of our

recognition,” LA County Supervisor Janice

Hahn said during the ceremony.

Archbishop José H. Gomez delivers Christmas gifts on

Adopt-a-Family delivery day Dec. 14. | VICTOR ALEMÁN

Y


V

IN OTHER WORDS...

Letters to the Editor

Try harder next time, Netflix

Regarding Amy Welborn’s tremendous critique of Netflix’s new “Mary”

movie in the Dec. 13 issue: more of this, please.

Not only did her use of “girlboss” have me laughing on my couch, but it made a

serious point: If you want to make a movie claiming to tell the real “story” about the

Son of God’s origin, you better not insult the audience’s knowledge of Scripture.

In this sense, the show “The Chosen” — while far from perfect — understands

how to achieve this while still taking creative liberties appropriately.

— Antonella Durant, Santa Monica

A Ratzinger prophecy fulfilled

I applaud Dr. Grazie Christie’s bravery in the Dec. 13 issue, in which she dared

to praise the unusual pro-life messaging of Volvo’s latest video advertisement. Taken

together with a few other recent examples of a popular turn away from woke antics,

I want to believe it will mark some kind of turning point in culture (although I

suspect it won’t).

She did well to contrast it with the disturbing visuals of Jaguar’s very different

ad, which reminded me of a 2004 essay by the future Pope Benedict XVI about a

curious feature of Western culture:

“The West suffers from a strange self-hatred that one can only describe as pathological;

although the West tends to be laudably open to other values, it no longer

tolerates its own.”

— Peter Nalosa, San Jose

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.

Standing guard

“The Mass was seeping into

my flesh and bones.”

~ LA Catholic and Pepperdine philosophy professor

Jason Blakely, in a Dec. 9 America magazine

commentary on his journey from atheism to a

return to the Catholic Church.

“We have a special title in

the Church, but we must

remember who we are:

human beings, dependent

on God.”

~ Newly designated Cardinal Mykola Bychok,

CSSR, to Vatican News following the consistory

creating 21 new cardinals on Dec. 7.

“In the Upper Basin, it’s the

Hunger Games. We are

hungry all the time. There is

never enough.”

~ Becky Mitchell, Colorado’s top negotiator of

water managers, in a Dec. 5 Aspen Journalism article

on negotiations for how Colorado River water will

be shared.

“What would I do? Sit at

home and end up getting

blisters on my rear end?”

~ David Frank, the oldest Home Depot employee at

100, when asked if he had any plans to retire.

The Knights of Columbus pose in front of the pilgrim images of Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego at the Las

Mañanitas event celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in the late-night hours

of Dec. 11. Read more on Page 14. | VICTOR ALEMÁN

“Then we prescribe a

poem.”

~ Deborah Alma, owner of the Poetry Pharmacy, in

a Dec. 9 “If Lost, Start Here” blog on an alternative

form of mental health care by way of poetry

“capsules.”

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

From saints to celebrities: an evolution

When I was a young boy

growing up in a Catholic

community, the catechesis

of the time tried to inspire the hearts

of the young with stories of martyrs,

saints, and other people who lived

out high ideals in terms of virtue and

faith. I remember one story in particular

which inspired me, the story of

a third-century Christian martyr, St.

Tarcisius.

As legend (or truth) has it, Tarcisius

was a 12-year-old acolyte during the

time of the early Christian persecutions.

At that time, Christians in Rome

were celebrating the Eucharist in

secret in the catacombs. After those

secret Masses a deacon or an acolyte

would carry the Eucharistic species,

the Blessed Sacrament, to the sick

and to prisoners. One day, after one of

those secret Masses, young Tarcisius

was carrying the Blessed Sacrament

enroute to a prison when he was

accosted by a mob. He refused to hand

over the Blessed Sacrament, protected

it with his own body, and was beaten to

death as a result.

As a 12-year-old boy, that story

inflamed my romantic imagination.

I yearned for that kind of ideal in my

life. In my young imagination, Tarcisius

was the kind of hero that I wanted

to be.

We’ve come a long way since then,

both in our culture and in our churches.

We are no longer moved much

romantically by either the saints of

old or the saints of today. Yes, we still

make an official place for them in our

churches and in our abstract ideals,

but we are now, in effect, moved

much more by the lives of the rich, the

famous, the beautiful, our pop stars,

our professional athletes, the physically

gifted, and the intellectually gifted.

They now inflame our imaginations,

draw our admiration, and it’s them we

want to be like.

In the early 19th century, Alban

Butler, an English convert, collected

stories of the lives of the saints and

eventually set them together in 12-volume

set, famously known as “Butler’s

Lives of the Saints.” For nearly 200

years, these books inspired Christians,

young and old. No longer.

Today, “Butler’s Lives of the Saints”

has effectively been replaced by

multiple magazines, podcasts, and

websites which chronicle the lives of

the rich and famous and stare out at

us from our phones, our laptops, and

from every newsstand and grocery store

checkout line.

In effect, we have moved: from

St. Tarcisius to Justin Bieber; from

Thérèse of Lisieux to Taylor Swift;

from Thomas Aquinas to Tom Brady;

from St. Monica to Meryl Streep; from

St. Augustine to Mark Zuckerberg;

from Julian of Norwich to Oprah; and

from the first African American saint,

St. Martin de Porres, to Lebron James.

It’s these people who now inflame our

romantic imagination and whom we

would most want to be like.

Don’t get me wrong; it’s not that these

people are bad or that there’s anything

wrong with admiring them. Indeed, we

owe them some admiration because

all beauty and talent take their origin

in God who is the author of all good

things. From a saint’s virtue to a movie

star’s physical beauty, to an athlete’s

grace, there’s only one author at the

origin of it all, God.

Thomas Aquinas once rightly pointed

out that to withhold a compliment

from someone who deserves it is a sin

because we are withholding food that

someone else needs to live on. Beauty,

talent, and grace need to be recognized

and acknowledged. Admiration

is not the issue. Rather, the issue is that

while we need to admire and acknowledge

talent, grace, and beauty, these

do not in themselves radiate virtue and

saintliness. We shouldn’t automatically

identify human grace with moral virtue,

though that’s the temptation today.

As well, a weakness in our churches

today is that while we have vastly

refined and upgraded our intellectual

imagination and now have better and

healthier theological and biblical

studies, we struggle to touch hearts.

While we have more power to satisfy

the intellect, we struggle to touch the

heart, that is, we struggle to get people

to fall in love with their faith and especially

with their churches. We struggle

to inflame their romantic imagination,

as we once did by invoking the lives of

the saints.

Where might we go with all of this?

Can we find saints again who inflame

our ideals? Can the fine work on

hagiography (on the lives of the saints

and other moral giants) being done

today by Robert Ellsberg become the

new “Butler’s Lives of the Saints”? Can

secular biographies of some moral

giants in our own age draw our imitation?

Can the life of a Dag Hammarskjold

become for us a moral and faith

inspiration? Is there a new Thérèse of

Lisieux out there?

Today, more than ever, we need inspiring

stories about women and men,

young and old, who have lived out heroic

virtue. We need moral exemplars,

moral mentors. Otherwise, we cheat

ourselves by simplistically identifying

human grace with moral virtue.


Ed Morales is a parishioner at

St. Phillip the Apostle Church

in Pasadena and has devoted

much of his life to volunteering

and service organizations. |

SUBMITTED PHOTO

COMING

UP ROSES

For Ed Morales, a

lifetime Catholic and a

lawyer, heading up the

Tournament of Roses

has been his highestprofile

calling yet.

BY STEVE LOWERY

Like many people, Ed Morales

will be busy this holiday season

merging his duties as husband,

father, and partner at his law firm with

the volunteering he does every year

around Christmas.

Unlike many people, Morales’

volunteering will be taken up running

a little hometown operation called

The Tournament of Roses, the one responsible

for the iconic parade viewed

by more than 700,000 in person and

watched by another 50 million Americans

on television and broadcast to

more than 170 countries.

A parishioner at St. Phillip the

Apostle Church in Pasadena, Morales

is president and chairman of the board

for the 2025 Pasadena Tournament of

Roses, which includes the Rose Parade

and Rose Bowl Game, meaning his

2024 has been taken up with myriad

tasks, travel, meetings, and obligations

that come with the position since, as

he points out, “this is not a figurehead

position. You’re working side by side

with all of the staff, board members,

and volunteers.”

Of course, if any of this is wearing on

him, it certainly doesn’t come across

during an interview. Though the

season is entering its stretch run, the

“sprint” portion, as Morales calls it,

he’s as cheery, as centered, as — dare

it be said — relaxed as anyone responsible

for putting on an iconic global

event could possibly be.

Ask him how he can be so cool and

he’ll tell you of the immense trust,

respect, and admiration he has for

the volunteers who are the backbone

of the organization — of course, he’s

been one for decades. Others will tell

you that it’s just Ed being Ed.

“Ed’s busy, but never too busy,” said

Eric Winschel, a friend and colleague

who served on the Pasadena Jaycees

with Morales. “He’ll always find time

to talk. I can’t tell you how much fun

and silly things we’ve done during

our time volunteering. I guess that’s

because, at his essence, Ed is a really

good man. And he’s very good at getting

things done.”

Born in East LA, his family belonged

to the San Gabriel Mission Church,

where he attended school. The

mission, he said, formed “the center

of our lives” and it was there that he

learned, mostly by watching his mother,

Anna, who was part of a woman’s

group that made lunches for kids as


A marching band from Costa Rica performs during

the 135th Rose Parade on Jan. 1, 2024. The theme

was “Celebrating a World of Music: The Universal

Language.” | SHUTTERSTOCK

well as ran the parish bingo game,

that giving back was not something

you do for your community but rather

something that went with being part of

a community.

As an adult, he applied that to organizations

that provided community

and family services, serving on the

foundation board of the California

School of the Arts and at St. Phillip

the Apostle, where he also served as

board president. He was a member of

the Pasadena Optimist Club and the

Pasadena Jaycees, an organization he

eventually served as president.

“I can’t really say where this all started

since I always have had a passion

for volunteering,” he said. “I really do

believe it is in giving that you receive.

I mean, when you talk about the

friendships that have been created, the

goodwill, I’ve gotten so much more

than I’ve given.”

It’s hard to argue the point given that

Morales met his wife, Lisa, while both

were volunteering with the Jaycees.

Lisa also has a long list of organizations

she’s worked with — something

instilled in her by her family as well

— and the pair function as a team in

this regard.

When it came to one of the most

important duties handled by each

year’s president — the selection of a

theme — Morales immediately turned

to Lisa. She admitted the task was a bit

“daunting” given that each parade’s

theme determines everything from

float design to the music played by the

many marching bands.

Eventually, the pair came up with

their choice, and at a ceremony held

on Jan. 18 — fittingly, his mother’s

birthday, who died in 2020 — Morales

announced the theme: Best Day Ever.

These were “those unexpected times

that bring a smile, warm our hearts,

and fill us with joy. From a once-ina-lifetime

experience to the simplest

pleasures, each is indelibly etched into

our memory.”

“We have so many amazing memories

with our kids [Lainey and Jessie],”

Lisa said. “When they were young,

Ed Morales poses with his wife, Lisa, who was

instrumental in helping him come up with the Rose

Parade theme, “Best Day Ever.” | VICTOR ALEMÁN


we’d be doing something and they’d

be so in the moment they’d just yell

out ‘This is the best day ever!’ And I’d

think, ‘I want to be you!’ That’s the

feeling we’re referring to, amazing

moments like that.”

Morales has been able to participate

in a year’s worth of amazing moments

since one of the perks of being Rose

Tournament president is that you get

to travel around the world and tell

marching bands that they’ve been accepted

to participate in what amounts

to the Super Bowl of marching band

life.

“It truly is one of the honors of being

president,” Morales said. “I’ve been

to Japan, Mexico, Denmark, Panama,

and you see the joy in their faces when

you tell them. You see the love they

have for the parade and it reminds you

that in a world that can seem so divided,

something like the Rose Parade, so

universally loved by so many people,

can bring us back together.”

One of the bands performing this

year will be the joining of three local

Catholic high schools — Don Bosco

Tech, of which Ed is an alum, Salesian,

and St. John Bosco high schools

— whose bands on their own were not

big enough to participate.

Don Bosco President Guillermo

“Memo” Gutierrez said the creation

of the band has not only energized

the student band members, who get

together every Saturday to practice as

one, but the entire school. And not

just the kids.

“I have to be honest, I think the

parents may be even more excited,”

Gutierrez said. “It’s been amazing, I

had no idea we’d be able to pull this

off and not too many people would

take that kind of risk. But that’s who

Ed is, that’s part of his gifts. He’s just

got such a calm and steady demeanor,

he’s such a supportive man, such a

good man of faith. It’s inspiring to be

around him.”

Of course, Morales will tell you just

the inverse. That it’s he who is blessed

and inspired by those he volunteers

with and serves. He’ll tell you about an

early morning before a Rose Parade,

coming upon a woman at the Tournament

House and discovering it

was Shirley Temple Black, that year’s

The 2025 Rose Parade will feature a combined

marching band of three local Catholic high

schools — Don Bosco Tech, Salesian, and St.

John Bosco. | SUBMITTED PHOTO

grand marshal for the third time, who

he then chatted with about the parade.

He’ll tell you about the countless people

who have approached him during

or after a parade to say thank you.

“It’s those little moments, from my

very first year of volunteering, that really

make it worthwhile,” he said. “You

want to tell them there are a lot more

people involved in putting this on than

you, but I think they know that. They

just want to thank someone for keeping

this tradition that means so much,

shows all of us how much better we

are when we are together than divided.

It’s really wonderful. I’m just so lucky

to be a part of it.”

Steve Lowery began his journalism

career at the Los Angeles Times, and he

has since written for The National, the

Los Angeles Daily News, the Press-Telegram,

New Times LA, the District, and

the OC Weekly.



A MAÑANITAS MISSION

Thanks to his family’s strong Guadalupe devotion,

leading the rosary at the cathedral event this year came

naturally to 12-year-old Sebastian Gonzalez.

BY THERESA CISNEROS / PHOTOGRAPHY BY VICTOR ALEMÁN

Rosa Gonzalez, left, smiles

with her grandson, Sebastian,

12, after he upheld

the family tradition of

reciting the rosary at the Las

Mañanitas vigil celebrating

Our Lady of Guadalupe.

For nearly as long as he can

remember, Sebastian Gonzalez,

12, has watched his grandmother

help lead the rosary during the

annual Las Mañanitas vigil at the

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Each year, Gonzalez and his family

settle into the pews for a long night

of prayer and song, a tradition that’s

endured from one generation to the

next.

“I’ve always seen her go up and read

the rosary, and I’ve always thought to

myself how amazing it would be to be

able to do that,” said Gonzalez, a student

at St. Bernardine of Siena School

in Woodland Hills.

Gonzalez finally got the chance to

follow in his paternal grandmother’s

footsteps when he led a decade of the

rosary in Spanish during this year’s

Las Mañanitas event, becoming the

youngest person ever to do so.

“I admire her and when I see her

practice, I’m just inspired by how

faithful she is,” he said of his grandmother,

Rosa Gonzalez. “And I want

to also lead a life of faith.”

The Gonzalezes were among thousands

of faithful who turned out for

the cathedral’s festivities this year. As

in so many churches that celebrate

Las Mañanitas, the vigil runs from

the evening of Dec. 11 into the early

hours of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

on Dec. 12, which commemorates

the Virgin Mary’s apparitions

to St. Juan Diego in Mexico City in

December 1531.

In addition to the rosary, the event

also included indigenous dances, a musical

serenade to Our Lady, a rendition

of “Las Mañanitas” — a traditional

Mexican birthday song to honor the

Virgin Mary on her feast day — and

more.

This year’s serenade featured multiple

performers, including Mexican

ranchera singer-songwriter Ángeles

Ochoa, mariachi singer Julián Torres,

Latin-Grammy nominated singer

Carmen Jara, and others, backed by

Mariachi Ángeles de Pepe Martínez Jr.

The vigil culminated with midnight

Mass celebrated by Archbishop José H.

Gomez, who in his homily reminded


Several entertainers perform a musical serenade

to Our Lady of Guadalupe during the Las

Mañanitas event at the Cathedral of Our Lady

of the Angels in the late-night hours of Dec. 11.

attendees that Our Lady is there to love

and console them, and to support them

in continuing her mission to bring

salvation to all.

“She still wants to make a place in

this world and in our lives for her child

Jesus,” he said. “So she tells us tonight:

Go with haste to bring Jesus into your

home, into the lives of the people in

your families.”

“You are the precious sons and daughters

of the Queen of Heaven, and she

is calling each of you tonight to help

her to build the kingdom of her son on

earth.”

For Rosa, participating in the Mañanitas

rosary for the past decade has been

a way for her to evangelize to those

around her.

By assisting with the rosary, she aims

to teach people how to pray and to

share the power of that prayer with

her family in the pews, and with her

spiritual brothers and sisters who are

following along.

Rosa — who said she experienced a

Eucharistic miracle 21 years ago — has

had a strong love for the Church and

Our Lady of Guadalupe since she was

a child in Mexico.

She said she is proud that Sebastian

wanted to participate in this year’s rosary

because it shows that the Catholic

faith that was passed down to her is

also taking root in her grandson’s heart,

even at his young age.

Over the last three years, Rosa said

she’s seen many signs of spiritual

growth in Sebastian and that they’ve

had many conversations about the importance

of reading the Bible, learning

about Church teachings, and cultivating

a personal relationship with God.

“I was very happy and excited to see

him up there,” said Rosa, who attends

St. Ferdinand Church in San Fernando.

“To see that the same seeds of

faith that my father and mother sowed

in us as a family I can now sow in my

children and grandchildren.”

For Sebastian, participating in this

year’s rosary was an opportunity to

further grow his relationship with —

and his devotion to — Our Lady of

Guadalupe.

Gonzalez said he was “in awe” and

moved to tears when he saw the tilma

in person during a visit to the Guadalupe

shrine in Mexico City this summer

with several relatives, including

his grandmother.

While at the basilica, he also prayed

for his maternal grandmother to be

healed from lung cancer, and bought

a rosary that he used during this week’s

Mañanitas vigil.

Sebastian’s mother, Elizabeth Gonzalez,

said she was glad to see her son

carry on the family tradition, as it can

help strengthen his faith and inspire

others.

“I’m just proud of him,” she said.

“And I’m really glad that his faith has

driven him to want to do something

that he gets to share with the religious

community, and further increases his

belief in God and the Virgin Mary.”

Theresa Cisneros is a freelance

journalist with more than 20 years of

experience in the news industry. She is a

fourth-generation Southern California

resident and lives in Orange County

with her husband and four children.

Attendees venerate in front of the pilgrim images of

Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego.


SOWING

THE SEEDS

The story behind LA-based media

apostolate ESNE’s 40th anniversary

celebration with Pope Francis.

BY THERESA CISNEROS

Pope Francis shakes Noel Díaz’s hand while Father Mario Torres,

right, pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Los Angeles,

and Msgr. Jarlath “Jay” Cunnane, far right, pastor at St. Cornelius

Church in Long Beach, look on. | VATICAN MEDIA

In March 1984, Noel Díaz was

participating in Mass at St. Thomas

the Apostle Church in Los Angeles

when he felt a deep calling from God

to start serving his community through

evangelization.

Soon after, he started a small Bible

study group at his parish that has

evolved into El Sembrador-Nueva

Evangelización (ESNE), a U.S.-based,

Spanish-language Catholic media

network owned by El Sembrador Ministries

(“The Sower”).

This Thanksgiving, Díaz’s efforts

came full circle as he and more than

200 ministry members from the United

States and Mexico — including priests,

deacons, and laypeople — attended a

private audience with Pope Francis at

the Vatican Apostolic Palace to commemorate

the group’s 40th anniversary.

In his remarks to the crowd, which he

delivered in Spanish, Francis thanked

ESNE for heeding St. Pope John Paul

II’s call for a new evangelization by

using its communications platforms

to help Catholics in the U.S. and in

Spanish-speaking countries deepen

their faith.

He also lauded the network for

reaching out to immigrants from Latin

American countries who “need points

of reference” and “messages of consolation

in their mother tongue.”

“Do not stop doing this,” he said.

“I encourage you to keep going,

without ever ceasing to look to heaven

and to your brothers and sisters who

are most in need: look to Jesus, look to

those most in need, and do so generously

and creatively, always anchored

to the rock of Peter, always docile to the

directions of the Church.”

After the pontiff gave his address, participants

had the chance to meet him

in small groups, present him with gifts,

and sing “Happy Birthday” to him in

anticipation of his upcoming birthday

on Dec. 17.

“It was beautiful to see all our members

very motivated and very blessed

to have the opportunity to be with the

pope,” Díaz said. “To have the opportunity

to greet him, to shake his hand,

and to get his blessing to all the ministry

was a tremendous, great experience.”

Díaz first caught Francis’ attention in

2016 when he shined the pope’s shoes

during a papal flight, after explaining

how he shined shoes in Tijuana, Mexico,

as a child to buy the dress clothes he

needed to make his first Communion.

Díaz said that although he’s stayed

in touch with the pope since then,

this was the first time that the pontiff

received the apostolate at the Vatican.

He said he was happy that many of the

ministry’s long-time supporters attended,

and that for many, this was their

first time in Rome and their first time

meeting the pope.

Some participants were moved to tears

by the experience, he said, while others

were as giddy as “kids in Disneyland.”

“They were so happy, and to me, that


brought a lot of joy,” he said.

The contingent included St. Thomas

parishioners, Sister M. Anncarla Costello,

SND, chancellor for the Archdiocese

of Los Angeles, representing

Archbishop José H. Gomez, and several

archdiocesan priests.

For Father Ramon Reyes, an associate

pastor at Incarnation Church in Glendale,

meeting Francis on his home turf

was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Reyes, who was ordained in 2022,

grew up attending St. Thomas and has

been involved with ESNE since he was

12.

He said he spoke to Francis for about

15 seconds and presented him with

notes and letters from parish students

and staff, photos of ministries and

events happening in the Archdiocese of

Los Angeles, and a yearbook from his

parish school.

“I felt like my knees were shaking. I

felt like my hands were shaking,” he

said.

“I felt like I did on the day that I got

ordained. So it was a moment of joy

and happiness,” he added.

Msgr. Jarlath “Jay” Cunnane, pastor at

St. Cornelius Church in Long Beach,

was also among those who attended.

Cunnane said he’d previously visited

the Vatican and met John Paul ll at the

time, but this was his first time meeting

Francis, who he found to be “warm,”

“gracious,” and “humorous.”

Cunnane — who previously served

as pastor at St. Thomas and remains

involved with the ministry today — said

many of the members who traveled to

the Vatican came from rural hometowns

and humble beginnings and


were thankful to be invited. Most treated

the trek to Rome more as a spiritual

journey, or a pilgrimage, rather than a

tourist trip, he said.

“The word blessing was used a lot,”

he said. “Blessed to be there, blessed to

be part of the ministry, blessed to have

the chance to meet the Holy Father. I

think many were happily surprised to

find themselves having the opportunity

to be there.”

While the pope’s message to the group

mostly focused on its growth and current

work in the faith community, Díaz

said it also touched on its future by

mentioning its new project “Yo soy el

73” (“I am the 73rd”), a 33-day preparation

for consecration to Jesus Christ.

Moving forward, Díaz said he hopes

to expand the project to reach multiple

countries in multiple languages.

Reflecting on the ministry’s trajectory,

Díaz said he never imagined it

would grow to this magnitude. But he’s

The Xicol family, members of El

Sembrador Ministries, meet Pope

Francis during a private audience at

the Vatican to celebrate ESNE’s 40th

anniversary. | CNS/VATICAN MEDIA

Pope Francis meets with a delegation from the Los

Angeles-based El Sembrador Nueva Evangelización

(ESNE) ministry and media network at the Vatican

Nov. 28. | CNS/VATICAN MEDIA

grateful that it has and for the support

that it’s received over the years from

clergy and laypeople alike — especially

during its formative years.

“When I had my conversion, I felt like

the Lord told me, ‘Talk to your millions

of brothers and sisters, share with them

the Word, tell them the value of the

Word of God.’ And that’s how I started

the ministry,” he said. “I never thought

it was going to be at this level, and I feel

gratitude to all those that supported us.”

Theresa Cisneros is a freelance journalist

with more than 20 years of experience

in the news industry. She is a fourth-generation

Southern California resident

and lives in Orange County with her

husband and four children.

TREASURED MEMORIES

FROM CHRISTMASES PAST

Readers of Angelus reminisce about their most

memorable moments of the holy holiday season.

Precious memories of Christmas never fade. Following are

the essay winners’ fond recollections, selected by the magazine

editors.

A rosary epiphany

I was only 15 years old during Christmas in 1956. My

older sister left two years earlier to marry, and my other

sister died that March at age 17. A truly sad holiday time.

My parents were struggling financially with hospital bills,

so there wouldn’t be many gifts under

the tree.

One day I saw a most beautiful rosary

in a bookstore, but knew it was too

expensive to even ask for it. But to

my heart’s surprise, it was mine that

Christmas!

At the time, I was attending the allgirls

Our Lady of Loretto High School

(now Bishop Conaty-Our Lady of Loretto

High School), which took three

buses and an hour each way as tuition

was only $50 a month.

School was a mixture of girls of

different races, cultures, and backgrounds,

and we were taught by

religious women from seven communities.

Though I was thinking of

becoming a model for local department

stores, I was attracted to these

holy women.

One February afternoon during a

silent day of prayer for us students, I

heard clearly the Lord saying to me,

“Come, follow me,” and knew then

that God wanted me to enter the religious

life. It was like an epiphany, so

praying my rosary daily certainly had

an influence.

Having been moved by reading the

story of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, one

of the sisters gave me a medal of the

saint, which I attached to my rosary.

SHUTTERSTOCK

Over time, for each decade of the

rosary I added the Miraculous Medal,

St. Joseph Medal, Holy Spirit Medal,

and finally one of Catherine McAuley,

founder of the Sisters of Mercy, which I later joined.

Sadly, however, a few years ago I left it in a pew in the

church, which was gone when I went back for it. Heartbroken,

I felt God was challenging me to “let go” and not be

attached to anything but him alone. So I hold the memory

of that Christmas rosary in my heart now forever instead.

When my older sister found out about my loss, she gave

me her beautiful rosary, which I cherish.

— Sister Yvette Perrault, RSM, Studio City, California


SHUTTERSTOCK

Miraculously, we did have a wonderful Christmas because

of the good people at our church. Not only did “Santa”

bring us presents, but we received a tree and a Christmas

meal. Strangers made sure we knew that we were loved,

remembered, and valued.

Fast-forward 15 years later when I became the Christian

Care Coordinator at the high school where I worked. I was

in charge of the canned food and toy drive. We collected

many items to be given to needy families at Christmas. As

I gathered together with my students to assemble the care

packages I couldn’t help but cry. It felt like a full-circle

moment to be able to give hope to people as it had been

given to me.

Before we gave out the packages, our group held hands

and joined together in prayer. The children on the street

began peering through the gate on the patio to see what

we were doing. As I stood there it occurred to me that we

should be praying with the people and not for the people.

I led the students out onto the sidewalk and we held our

hands up in blessing over the families who had gathered.

It was so beautiful to see these humbled people bow their

heads and receive our words of hope for them. I hoped

these children would feel the love of Christ on this day like

I did so many years ago.

— Krissy Smith, La Cañada Flintridge, California

Etched in Advent

Each year at Christmastime I experience a vision. Memory

is too weak of a word to describe the image manifest

in my mind, a perfect clarity no photograph could ever

convey.

Let me explain:

I was 11 years old. The 1950s were ending. Snow was falling

on our Eastern Pennsylvania home. A large oval glass

pane was enclosed in our front door. My mother handed

me poster paints and suggested I provide a decoration

there.

I suspected she thought that I would render a Christmas

tree or Santa Claus.

I produced a simple Nativity scene: a stable, the manger,

Mary in blue, Joseph in brown, and a white star with a long

tale above the scene. A lamp was set behind the work for

illumination, and we went outside to observe.

I saw it then as a child. I see it now as an old man.

My mother was pleased that I chose our Savior over

Santa. Decades later I know this was the best Christmas

present I ever gave her.

— William P. Noctor, Encino, California

Together in prayer

It was more than 40 years ago, but I still recall it every

Christmas. My father left and there were five of us children

who would not be getting presents that year. My single

mother was a housewife with no college degree, no job

experience, and no money. I was OK with not receiving anything

from Santa, but how would we explain it to my little

brothers and sisters? They had been good and expected

Santa to come.

Volunteers at St. Hedwig Catholic Church in Detroit deliver U.S. Department of Agriculture

food boxes and Christmas packages to families in need amid the coronavirus

pandemic in 2020 | CNS/JIM WEST

No regrets

We are proud to say that 20 years ago our only son volunteered

to the Marine Corps after graduating from Gonzaga

University, and was thereafter deployed to Iraq in 2004.

With his strong faith in Our Lord he was experiencing

every aspect of the military in a positive, holy attitude with

every opportunity to spread his love of God by example

to the villagers or Iraqi translators. We did not have any

contact or correspondence from him the entire months of


British, U.S., Australian, and Japanese army officers decorate a Christmas tree at a military base in the

southern Iraqi city of Basra in this Dec. 21, 2004 file photo. | CNS/REUTERS

November and December due to government security.

We later found out that on Christmas Eve he attended

Mass. Prior to Mass, he confessed to the chaplain that he

could not receive Communion due to missing Mass while

in battle. The chaplain explained that he did have permission

to receive Communion due to the circumstances of

serving his country.

After Mass the entire platoon had Christmas dinner with

the chaplain just as “O Holy Night” played and brought

them to tears, while in California we were also crying tears

of worry. Later, Navy chaplain Father Ron Camarda wrote

in his novel “Tear In The Desert” about the example of

discipline our son had of his abiding to the Church regulations

of receiving Communion in sin.

In May, while we were attending Mass, our son left a

message that his platoon was selected to attend fleet week

in New York City. He was selected by the chaplain to be

the cross-bearer at the military Mass on Memorial Day to

represent the Marine Corps at St Patrick’s Cathedral. We

were blessed to attend the Mass and be with our son.

Dominic never regretted fighting in the battle of Fallujah

as a proud Marine. With God’s grace he is happily married

with a successful career.

— Grace Rosa, Hacienda Heights, California

A godfather’s legacy

I remember distinctly the red, thick envelope that my

godfather, Uncle Tim, handed to me on Christmas Eve.

I was 8 years old and had just been baptized and received

my first holy Communion the year before.

My Catholic faith was brand new to me, as my parents

had returned to Catholicism while grappling with my

godfather’s diagnosis of a terminal disease.

Although Uncle Tim was suffering from various ailments

due to his disease, still his smile radiated joy as he

“Glædelig Jul” (“Merry Christmas”) prayer card, circa 1912. |

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

watched me open the envelope. Inside was a Christmas

card holding about a dozen holy cards. “I picked these out

for you when I visited the California missions recently,” he

explained.

I thanked my godfather for the special gift as I looked

with wonder at the various cards with saints and devotional

prayers. The beautiful artwork and poetic prayers fascinated

me and spoke to my soul.

Less than a year later, my godfather’s body succumbed

to the disease and his soul was taken to Our Lord. His

example of suffering with resignation to God’s will and his

reliance on Christ still inspire me today as an adult.

Additionally, that Christmas gift contained in the red

envelope started my collection of holy cards. As my collection

grew over the years, I began to give holy cards away to

others; my children especially enjoy looking through my

holy cards and using them in their own prayer life.

The role of a godparent is to help the godchild grow in

faith and live a Christian life. My godfather did not know

how special his gift would be to me and how his example

and the prayers on those cards would deepen my faith.

Even though my godfather died when I was young, I can

say confidently that he did his job.

— Jamie Pilloni Graebner, Atlanta, Georgia

A heart opened

At the midnight Christmas Mass, walking into the church

I noticed a box of books with a sign that read “FREE.” No,

I won’t read it, so I went to sit down. I was not a very active

Catholic at the time.

Upon leaving I had this strange feeling come over me; I

felt I had to get that book. So I picked the book up, which

was titled “Rediscover Catholicism.” For some reason I


started reading it right away, and my heart just opened up.

While reading the book I remembered that I knew a

deacon, and I contacted him after New Year’s. I asked him

how to go about receiving confession, since it had been

more than 30 years of me not going to confession. The deacon

invited me to meet him after the next Sunday Mass.

So, as I was leaving Mass, I noticed the church bulletin,

and thought should I get it? No, but then for some reason

I did. The deacon told me I should talk to the priest about

hearing my confession.

As God would have it, literally seconds after the deacon

mentioned it, the priest approached. The deacon introduced

me to him, and I asked the priest about meeting to

hear my confession. He noticed the bulletin in my hand,

said his number was in there, and told me to call him the

next day. I did, and was surprised he said to come in that

same day for confession.

After that confession, I went from being a barely present

Catholic to a very active and stronger Catholic. Opening

my heart to God made life wonderful.

—Manuel Ruiz, Rancho Cascades, California

Strength in numbers

Christmas had always been my dad’s favorite holiday, but

it had never been the same since he died. My mom had

to work long hours to keep us fed and housed, and she

seldom did anything for herself. So, this year, we wanted to

make something special for her.

That morning, I got my siblings into the act: Brenda, Tawnia,

and Jorge. Me and Tawnia were in charge of decorating

the living room while Brenda and Jorge worked in the

kitchen preparing tamales.

By lunchtime, the house began to change. The aroma of

tamales was coming from the oven along with the sweet

smell of cooling arroz con leche on the counter. Brenda

had strung the soft lights around the tree, illuminating glass

ornaments we unpacked from dusty boxes. Jorge and Tawnia

were excited to uncover the school-made ornaments

they made for our parents.

By evening, the table was set with five plates, each reflecting

the family that remained. A small framed photo of my

dad was placed by the tree reminding us that love, though

absent, was never gone.

As mom walked in from work, the fatigue in her eyes

melted away. The warmth of the home enveloped the soft

glow of the lights, the aroma of the food, and the sight of

her children working together to create something beautiful.

Not one word was spoken, but the happiness in her eyes

told it all.

I knew my dad was proud that we had brought warmth

back to our house again. Christmas was about rediscovering

love, the resilience of the spirit that family gives, and

the strength it has when working together. We were more

than four siblings trying to fill a void; we were a team discovering

what it meant to hold one another up.

— Jasholine Flores, Los Angeles, California

A monstrance containing the Blessed Sacrament is displayed on the altar during Advent,

marking the 31st annual National Night of Prayer for Life at Sts. Philip and James

Church in St. James, New York, Dec. 8, 2020. | CNS/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ

To live in, through, and for him

Rejoicing in the Spirit, I am delighted to share that recently

I walked into the sanctuary of Our Lord and took my

private vow as a consecrated virgin. It was the best moment

and most beautiful birthday of my life! The best Christmas

gift to our Savior! I experienced God’s peace, which exceeds

all understanding. And all the more I am secured of

God’s mission for me; truly, immense joy, and no one can

ever take that joy away from me.

His peace guards my heart and mind as I continue to live

in him, through him, and for him. In God’s divine plan for

me, nothing happens by chance — everything comes from

love of God at the right time. Everything in our lives is

ordained for salvation.

— Marney Austria Villanueva, Granada Hills, Los Angeles,

California

A woman touches a figure of baby Jesus after Christmas Mass at the Franciscan Monastery

in Washington, D.C., in this 2013 file photo. | CNS/JAMES LAWLER DUGGAN


Syrians living in Turkey

celebrate after Syrian rebels

announced that they had

ousted President Bashar

Assad from Syria on Dec.

8. | OSV NEWS/DILARA

SENKAYA, REUTERS

READY FOR

THE NEXT ACT

After the fall of

Assad, Pope Francis

may be ideally

positioned to help

mediate a new

future for Syria’s

Christians.

BY JOHN L. ALLEN JR.

ROME — To say the Holy See

was caught unawares by the

sudden implosion of the Assad

regime in Syria the weekend of Dec.

7-8 is true, but uninformative — the

whole world was surprised, so why

should the Vatican be any different?

It’s a development that many in the

Vatican, in tandem with Syria’s small

but symbolically significant Christian

minority, will view with a degree of ambivalence.

Assad was a thug, sure, but

at least he was our thug, they might say,

arguing that he was a firebreak against

ISIS and jihadism.

Despite that reaction, Pope Francis

and his Vatican team nonetheless may

have some surprising leverage to help

shape the next act in the Syrian drama.

For the last 20 years, ever since the

U.S. invaded Iraq over the objections

of St. Pope John Paul II in 2003, the

Vatican has feared that a similar scenario

could play out in Syria — i.e., that

external military intervention might

dislodge a dictator but leave chaos in its

wake, in which the country’s Christians

would be especially hard-hit.

Such concerns were part of the reason

why, soon after his election in 2013,

Francis joined President Vladimir Putin

of Russia in opposing a Western assault

on Syria, at a time when President

Barack Obama of the U.S. and Prime

Minister David Cameron of the U.K.

were both considering getting involved

after Assad had deployed chemical

weapons against his opposition.

The Vatican also has long opposed

international sanctions against Assad,

arguing that isolating Syria from the

international community “benefits no


one,” in the words of Cardinal Claudio

Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for

Eastern Churches, in 2023.

Now that Assad has fallen, but to a

domestic insurrection rather than an

external intervention, the Vatican and

local Christian leaders seem cautiously

optimistic.

Although a major component of the

rebel alliance, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham

movement (HTS) has a history of

links with both al-Qaeda and ISIS, the

pope’s envoy to Damascus, Cardinal

Mario Zenari, nevertheless struck reassuring

notes in a Dec. 8 interview with

Vatican News.

“The rebels met the bishops in

Aleppo right away, in the early days,

assuring them that they’ll respect

the various religious confessions and

respect the Christians,” Zenari said.

“Let’s hope they keep that promise and

move toward reconciliation.”

Bishop Hanna Jallouf, a member of

the Franciscan Custody of the Holy

Land and the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo,

was similarly sanguine, pointing out

that the day Syrians woke up to a new

world was also the feast of the Immaculate

Conception of Mary.

“May the new Syria be reborn under

the merciful mantle of Mary,” he said.

At the moment, the consensus among

most international observers is that

Turkey is the big winner from the

regime change in Damascus. (Many

also believe Israel has gained, but it’s

unlikely to have much leverage with

other regional players or the Syrians

themselves in terms of what happens

next.)

Turkey has significant motives for

promoting stability and development in

Syria, both to encourage the 3 million

Syrian refugees inside Turkey to go

home, thereby relieving the burden to

provide for them, and also to keep its

moral enemy, the Kurdistan Workers’

Party (PKK), from slicing off part of

Syria to create an enclave on Turkey’s

border.

As it happens, Francis and Turkey’s

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, if

not quite best friends, at least share a

budding rapport that might position the

Vatican to partner with Ankara in terms

of helping to chart a post-Assad course

for Syria.

Francis obviously takes Turkey seriously.

He’s proposed Turkey as a possible

mediator for the war in Ukraine,

in part because Francis and Erdogan

broadly see eye to eye — both maintain

open lines of communication with

Moscow, both are personally on good

terms with Putin, and both believe the

West doesn’t have entirely clean hands

in the situation either.

Francis and Erdogan also have spoken

over the phone often regarding the

conflict in Gaza. Erdogan repeatedly

has termed the Israeli offensive a

“genocide,” and in a new book devoted

to the Catholic Church’s jubilee year

in 2025, Francis called for research to

establish whether a “genocide” under

international law is indeed underway.

So robust is Francis’ regard for

Erdogan that the Turkish leader even

succeeded last August where a broad

swath of the pontiff’s own bishops had

failed, which was to persuade Francis

to wade into the controversy over an

apparent parody of the Last Supper

at the opening ceremony of the Paris

Olympics.

Scores of Catholic bishops around the

world objected immediately, but the

Vatican maintained radio silence for a

full week until Erdogan called Francis

to say that since even Muslim leaders

are speaking out, it’s time for you to

join the party.

Given that background, it’s plausible

to believe that Francis and Erdogan

will speak about Syria too, among other

things affording the pope the chance to

raise the fate of the country’s beleaguered

Christian minority, which is believed

to have plummeted to 300,000

from roughly 1.5 million when the civil

war broke out in 2011.

An early objective for an Ankara/Holy

See partnership is likely to be persuading

the international community to

drop sanctions against Syria. Zenari

suggested as much in his recent interview,

terming the sanctions “a burden

that falls especially upon the poor,” and

calling on the international community

to abolish them.

And should Russia, where Assad has

taken refuge, attempt to reassert some

of its traditional influence in Syria,

Francis can draw upon his entrée with

the Russian leader to engage that development

too.

It would be impressive to think that

Francis has cultivated his ties with

figures such as Erdogan and Putin

knowingly, anticipating they would

come in handy in just such situations

as the Syrian revolution.

But whether it’s cunning, luck, providence,

or some combination of the

three, Francis has positioned himself to

have a seat at the table … and for the

head of the world’s smallest state, that’s

already no mean feat.

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

Cardinal Mario Zenari, right, apostolic nuncio

to Syria, said that rebels who toppled the Assad

regime met with bishops and assured them they

would respect Christian religious traditions. |

OSV NEWS/GREGORY A. SHEMITZ


FRANCE’S ‘INVINCIBLE HOPE’

Nearly five years after

a fire ravaged Notre

Dame Cathedral,

Parisians celebrated a

sign that ‘the Lord does

not abandon his own.’

BY CAROLINE DE SURY/OSV NEWS

PARIS — Chilling rain, lockeddown

streets, and scores of

high-profile guests did not stop

Parisians from celebrating the opening

of Notre Dame Cathedral for the first

time since it was nearly destroyed by a

fire in 2019.

After a spectacular evening reopening

ceremony on Dec. 7 that drew dignitaries

including President-elect Donald

Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelenskyy, and New York Cardinal

Timothy Dolan, the beloved Paris

icon opened its doors to the public for

the first time with a second Mass that

Sunday for Parisians and tourists.

The first solemn Mass witnessed the

consecration of the cathedral’s new

bronze altar by Archbishop Laurent

Ulrich of Paris, with France’s president

and his wife watching in the first row.

Outside, on the quayside behind the

Seine River, hundreds of worshippers

gathered near the picturesque second

hand bookshops, closed at the time, to

follow the Mass on a big screen, despite

the rain.

“Whether you are in this building

or in front of a screen, or outside in

the rain, you are recipients of God’s

benevolence,” Ulrich said at the

beginning of Mass. He also paid tribute

to those “who face the rigors of war,”

and prayed for France, “which scans

its future with concern,” referring to

the political crisis in France: Just days

earlier, the country’s government was

officially forced to resign Dec. 5, after

parliament ousted the prime minister

in a no-confidence vote over his fiscal

plans.

Given the large presence of political

representatives, the archbishop of Paris

addressed everyone in his homily,

believers and nonbelievers alike.

“Whether you are believers or not,

you are welcome to participate in the

joy of the believers here who give glory

Father Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, Notre Dame

cathedral’s rector-archpriest, surrounded by clergy

members, elevates the host at the consecration

of the Eucharist during the first Mass open to the

public at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Dec. 8,

five-and-a-half years after a fire ravaged the Gothic

masterpiece. | OSV NEWS/CHRISTIAN HARTMANN,

REUTERS

to God for having found their mother

church,” he said.

“Do not only remain dazzled by the

beauty of the stones found, but let

yourselves be led to the greatest joys, to

the most beautiful gift that God gives

you and gives us of his loving presence,

of his closeness to the poorest, of his

transforming power in the sacraments.”

“This morning, the pain of April 15,

2019, is erased,” he said of the fire,

which caused the cathedral’s spire to

collapse, leaving Parisians in tears on

the streets, praying for firefighters who

went to battle the flames. The firefighters

were applauded by a standing


crowd for five minutes straight as they

walked through Notre Dame between

dozens of heads of state.

What happened with Notre Dame

— a speedy five-year resurrection from

the ashes — is not the only example

of God’s grace through the centuries,

Ulrich stressed.

“Generation after generation — believers

experience it — the Lord does

not abandon his own,” he said. Even

if “distress and violence do not cease

throughout the history of men,” it is

God and his disciples “who feed on his

strength to show the way to the victory

of life.”

The consecration of the new main

altar was a central part of the inaugural

Mass. The bronze modern structure

designed by French artist Guillaume

Bardet stunned anyone entering the

renewed cathedral as an example of

contemporary architecture gently completing

the centuries-old design.

First, the archbishop placed the relics

of five holy men and women inside

the altar, three women and two men,

whose history is linked to the church in

Paris, including those of St. Marie Eugénie

Milleret, St. Madeleine Sophie

Barat, St. Charles de Foucauld, and

Blessed Vladimir Ghika. Among the

relics were also those of St. Catherine

Labouré, who was especially connected

People attend a Mass

open to the public at

Notre Dame Cathedral in

Paris on Dec. 8, five-anda-half

years after a fire

ravaged the Gothic masterpiece.

| OSV NEWS/

CHRISTIAN HARTMANN,

REUTERS

French President Emmanuel Macron, U.S.

President-elect Donald Trump, and French first lady

Brigitte Macron applaud firefighters, rescuers, and

builders involved in the restoration of Notre Dame

Cathedral during a ceremony Dec. 7 in Paris to mark

its reopening following the 2019 fire. | OSV NEWS/

LUDOVIC MARIN, POOL VIA REUTERS

to the day of the altar’s consecration.

In a message sent to the archbishop

of Paris on Dec. 7, the night of the

reopening ceremony, Pope Francis said

that soon Notre Dame will “be visited

and admired once again” by huge

crowds of people from all walks of life.

“I know, Your Excellency, that your

doors will be wide open to them, and

that you will be committed to welcoming

them generously and freely, as

brothers and sisters,” he wrote, making

waves of comments in France that

the pope himself spoke up against the

cathedral’s entrance fee proposed by

France’s Ministry of Culture.

“May they, lifting their eyes to these

vaults that have regained their light,

share his invincible hope,” the pope

said of the 15 million people expected

to visit Notre Dame every year.

Notre Dame’s inaugural Sunday

wrapped in Paris with a second cathedral

Mass, a ticketed event open to the

public and celebrated by Notre Dame’s

rector-archpriest, Father Olivier

Ribadeau Dumas.

Caroline de Sury writes for OSV News

from Paris.


AD REM

ROBERT BRENNAN

What’s a German Christmas?

People attend the opening

ceremony of a Christmas market in

Cologne, Germany, Nov. 22, 2021. |

CNS/THILO SCHMUELGEN, REUTERS

It is the season of season’s greetings and celebrations across

the spectrum of our society. There will be those offended

by “Merry Christmas” and those offended by “Happy

Holidays.” Call me a peacemaker, but I have long ago solved

that dilemma. In the interest of compromise and inclusivity, I

wish everyone a “Happy Christmas.”

Being someone who has to constantly remind myself not to

fixate on the superficial nature of being upset by what anyone

may call this time of year, there does seem to be a plethora

of holiday happenings in and around Southern California,

where the “Happy Holidays” sentiment reigns supreme

and neither merry nor happy Christmas is rarely part of the

equation.

Griffith Park is having its annual LA Zoo Lights, a kind of

drive-through secular holiday extravaganza with an animal

theme, but not a donkey or sheepdog to be found. Descanso

Gardens in La Crescenta has its perennial Enchanted Forest

of Light, with trees and bushes lit up in colors that the druids

would have used if they had access to the Department of

Water and Power. Marina Del Rey will have its Holiday Boat

Parade, where boat owners will cruise around the harbor with

boats both large and small transformed into floating “floats,”

I guess.

It would be enough to make someone grumpy, but only if

one forgot the true meaning of Advent.

Our parish school seems to be doing a good job of scheduling

Christmas events where Christmas is the theme. First, it

is hosting a Christmas faire. Kids will be caroling, there will

be food, games, and maybe even a visitor from the North

Pole.

Later in Advent, the school presents its Christmas program

of songs and stories of that first Noel. Parents and grandparents

will all have their phones out, getting the best angle on

shepherds, angels, maybe even a camel or donkey.

Our grandson has been practicing his songs for that program

every night in the shower. He is still young enough to sing


Robert Brennan writes from Los Angeles, where

he has worked in the entertainment industry,

Catholic journalism, and the nonprofit sector.

like nobody else is listening, and belts out “Go Tell It on the

Mountain” like he is auditioning for “American Idol.”

As I Googled along in my quest for Christmas fare beyond

my own parish, I came upon not a midnight clear, but a German

Christmas at St. Francis De Sales Church in Sherman

Oaks. (No, I am not being paid by St. Francis De Sales for

this promotion, but if they want to send me an honorarium,

Father Wakefield knows how to find me.)

I must confess I was quite ignorant about what German

Christmas meant, other than including one of Germany’s

great exports, Johannes Sebastian Bach. Back to Google, I

learned how German immigrants helped shape and form

how we celebrate Christmas in Southern California and

throughout the country.

It is important to know that Christmas in America did not

get off to a roaring start. Our early Puritan founders did not

celebrate Christmas at all. It was considered nothing more

than a bacchanal of “popish” and pagan origin. They backed

this sentiment up with the power of the State when, in 1659,

“the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony made it

a criminal offense to publicly celebrate the holiday.”

But like so many things in America, immigrants brought

their traditions with them and over time became American

ones as well. There are more Americans with German

ancestry than any other group, except for the British. Germans

came in great waves to these shores, and Christmas in

America came with them.

Everything from taking a perfectly healthy tree, cutting it

down, and dragging it into our living rooms, gift-giving, and

Advent calendars and Advent wreaths all came from German

Christmas traditions. They also brought something called

Fire Tong Punch, which consists of mulled wine, high alcohol

content, and open flames — which sounds more like it

belongs to the third act of a Wagnerian opera rather than on

someone’s Christmas dinner table.

Even if you do not want to listen to a 6-year-old belt out

“Go Tell It on the Mountain,” or attend any of these events,

thanks to some of those great traditions brought to us by

German immigrants, keeping Christmas Christmas is just an

Advent wreath away.


NOW PLAYING HERE

FROM DINOSAURS TO DEMENTIA

Tom Hanks’ and director Robert Zemeckis’ latest work is

far from the heartwarming movie we were promised.

Tom Hanks and Robin

Wright in a scene from the

film “Here.” | IMDB

BY ROBERT INCHAUSTI, PH.D.

It is not uncommon for movie trailers

to be better than the movies they

advertise. But in the case of the film

“Here,” directed by Robert Zemeckis,

the discrepancies between what is

promised and what is delivered are so

vast that I’m surprised viewers haven’t

demanded their money back.

Robert Zemeckis is a renowned

director who has given us some of

the most iconic films in the history of

cinema, including “Back to the Future”

and “Forrest Gump.” Given that

his new movie stars Tom Hanks and

Robin Wright (who played the leads in

“Forrest Gump”) and that the trailers

tease a movie with humor, heart,

and technical prowess, it’s natural to

assume the film would be perfect for

the holidays.

Unfortunately, those tender moments

from the trailers actually set up scenes

of loss, regret, and disappointment.

What appears to be a film about love

and compassion is really a contemporary

tale about how the things we once

thought were meaningful lose their

magic and value over time.

This is not a message of hope or faith,

but a dark articulation of the nihilism

of our times.

When I left the theater, I overheard a

woman walking ahead of me say to her

husband, “That was the saddest movie

I have ever seen in my life.” I felt the

same way.

But it wasn’t a cleansing or happy

sadness common in tragedies, but

rather a sadness of self-pity and despair

— a clinging misery that I was at first

unable to identify until I finally recognized

its source.

“Here” is based on a graphic novel of

the same name — a genre known for

dark tales and radical cynicism. This is

where Zemeckis found the thematic

material for movies about everything

from the death of the dinosaurs to the

rise of dementia.

As a result, this film is not a satire, nor

a comedy, nor a tragedy, but a cinematic

jeremiad (a prophetic sermon)

intended to bring us face-to-face with

all the things that plague our interior

lives and hold us back from living in

unfettered economic and political

freedom: teenage pregnancies and

shotgun weddings; loveless marriages;

lost jobs; squandered fortunes; dreams

deferred; lost aspirations; moral compromises;

and failed second choices.

By showing us so many personal tragedies,

Zemeckis may be trying to urge

us to live our lives in such a way so

as not to regret their passing. But this

can’t really be done if destiny is the

pitiless monster this movie makes it

out to be. If the universe really is little

more than a doomsday machine, then


perhaps our only option really is to live

in the here and now.

This is about as deep as Zemeckis’

reflection on the prevailing cultural

zeitgeist gets. But to the film’s credit,

there are a few scenes with hints of

what “Here” might have been like had

it not taken its fatalism so seriously

— or tied itself to the graphic novel’s

preoccupation with victimization and

irreparable loss.

Aesthetically, the entire film is

framed by a living room window overlooking

the home of Benjamin Franklin’s

disgraced son who was the British

Loyalist governor of New Jersey. This

framing window mimics the frames

in the graphic novel. Four different

families move in and out of the house,

live their lives, and pass away. We

watch frame by frame as hundreds of

years roll by.

Most of the inhabitants are upper-middle-class

white people. The

one Black family, however, plays a lesser

role in the film’s “epic” unfolding

but demonstrates, perhaps more than

any other family depicted, a willingness

to fight back against complacency,

sentimentality, and self-pity.

The most powerful scene takes place

when the father tries to explain to his

teenage son what to do if ever pulled

over by a white police officer. The

life-and-death significance of what

his father is telling him is not lost on

the teenage son, who senses the love,

compassion, and importance of the

conversation.

Given that there are no other references

to the Civil Rights Movement,

this dramatic and intimate scene gets

swallowed up by the morality tale emphasizing

the all-important economic

and personal status concerns at the

center of all the other characters’ lives.

In another scene, Margaret (the wife

of Hanks’ character) brings home her

“Life Coach” to explain to her husband

why he must “put in the work” to

save their marriage.

Here is another place where the

sincerity of the actor’s performance

suggests a different movie than the

one Zemeckis actually made. In a

scene lampooning psychotherapy, this

life coach is played as an intelligent

man clearly serious about his work. If

Zemeckis had taken him seriously too,

the scene could have been poignant

rather than dismissive, depressing, and

cynical.

By the end of the film, Margaret suffers

from dementia and can’t remember

things like her lifelong frustration

with her own identity, or the unhappy

marriage and the unexpected pregnancy

that forced her into it. As she

is brought into the living room where

she’s lived almost all of her life, the

camera swings around for the first time

in the film, and we see what Margaret

sees: the bland wall on the far side of

the window. The point of view shifts

from extrinsic to intrinsic as she speaks

the final lines of the film, “I have

always loved this place.”

One could read into these lines many

things, but it’s clearly not an affirmation

of anything. Margaret didn’t always

love this place; she has forgotten

that. And so the film ends with another

lost, unlived life in a world where life’s

events unfold in a material historical

continuum seeded by doubt, skepticism,

false memories, and cynicism.

The soulless world of a graphic novel

writ large and gaudy — taken more seriously

than it ought to be — somehow

commands our attention through the

advertising, film trailers, and star power.

Even great directors like Zemeckis

make bad films from time to time. His

next film will probably be much better.

But you can skip this one. I wish I had.

Robert Inchausti is professor emeritus,

Department of English at Cal Poly

San Luis Obispo. He holds a Ph.D in

English from the University of Chicago,

and is the author of several books, including

“The Way of Thomas Merton:

A prayer journey through Lent” (SPCK

Publishing, $13.99).

Robert Zemeckis, Tom Hanks, and Robin Wright on

the set of the film “Here.” | ©SONY VIA IMDB


DESIRE LINES

HEATHER KING

Doors to a new dimension

SHUTTERSTOCK

People often ask for reading suggestions

this time of year. One

book I always recommend as we

approach Christmas is “The Prison

Meditations of Father Delp” (Herder

& Herder, $22.98).

A Jesuit priest, Father Alfred Delp

(1907-1945) wrote with his wrists

manacled, largely during Advent,

while awaiting execution by the Nazis.

A sampling:

“Life means waiting, not Faustlike

grasping, but waiting and being

ready. … Anyone who remains stuck,

waiting in fearful expectation just to

see whether or not he will survive, has

not yet laid bare the innermost strata.

For the fearful expectation was sent to

us in order to remove our false sense

of security and behind it is this other

metaphysical waiting that is part of

existence.

“One thinks of all the meaningless

attitudes and gestures — in the name

of God? No, in the name of habit, of

tradition, custom, convenience, safety

and even — let us be honest — in

the name of middle-class respectability

which is perhaps the very least

suitable vehicle for the coming of the

Holy Spirit.”

After suffering brutal imprisonment

and torture, Delp was hanged on Feb.

2, 1945, and cremated. In accordance

with Nazi regulations, his ashes were

scattered over a sewer field.

All of which put him in deep

solidarity with the Son of Man who

took on human form and entered


Heather King is an award-winning

author, speaker, and workshop leader.

the world as a vulnerable baby. “My

chains are now without any meaning,”

Delp could write after all, “because

God found me worthy of the ‘Vincula

amoris’ (chains of love).”

G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936), the

British author and Christian apologist,

is always worth a re-read, and

you can dip into his works just about

anywhere.

In “The Everlasting Man,” he has

this to say about the birth of Jesus:

“The truth is that there is a quite

peculiar and individual character

about the hold of [the Christmas] story

on human nature. … It is rather as if

a man had found an inner room in

the very heart of his own house which

he had never suspected; and seen a

light from within. It is as if he found

something at the back of his own

heart that betrayed him into good. It

is not made of what the world would

call strong materials. … It is all that

is in us but a brief tenderness … that

is in some strange fashion become a

strengthening and a repose; it is the

broken speech and the lost word that

are made positive and suspended unbroken;

as the strange kings fade into a

far country and the mountains resound

no more with the feet of the shepherds;

and only the night and the cavern lie

in fold upon fold over something more

human than humanity.”

Perhaps, what with all the preparations,

party-going, and cooking, you’re

a bit behind in the sleep department.

Here, you could turn to “The Habit

of Being: The Letters of Flannery

O’Connor” (Ferrar, Straus and

Giroux, $20.56). The well-known

Catholic novelist and short story writer

(1925-1964) suffered from lupus

and died at only 39.

From a letter to her friend “A,” dated

October 20, 1955:

“The business of the broken sleep is

interesting, but the business of sleep

generally is interesting. I once did

without it almost all the time for several

weeks. I had high fever and was

taking cortisone in big doses, which

prevents your sleeping. I was starving

to go to sleep. Since then I have come

to think of sleep as metaphorically

connected with the mother of God.

“[Contemplative poet Gerard Manley]

Hopkins said she was the air we

breathe, but I have come to realize

her most in the gift of going to sleep.

Life without her would be equivalent

to me to life without sleep, and as

she contained Christ for a time, she

seems to contain our life in sleep for

a time so that we are able to wake up

in peace.”

Finally, I can’t resist sharing the below

email I received several years ago

from a young man in New Orleans

and that still strikes me as the best

Christmas present ever: “Heather

you have blown open the doors to an

entirely new dimension of Christian

living that I never knew existed. You

have made real for me the fact that

life is Christ. That Christ is in all:

the good, the bad, the badder; the

sunrise, the sunset, the overcast; the

priest, the professor, the prostitute; the

consolation, the desolation, the confusion;

the chapel, the workplace, the

bathroom. We have a God who got his

hands dirty, and I have always been

too scandalized by that mystery to

truly accept it, along with all its ramifications

in my life. Because accepting

it meant that I couldn’t quarantine

Christ anymore to the fragmented

parts of my heart, to the minutes in

the chapel, or to the beads on my

rosary. No, He truly wants ALL of

me, ALL of my humanity. And this is

WILD! and THIS fact had BLOWN

UP my entire worldview and my every

minute of living in this world! So,

thanks for your life and your presence

in this world, it certainly makes my

life much brighter and my view much

broader, which is a pure gift. And

thanks to Him who made it all, who

paid it all, and who bade it all good.

Peace be yours today my friend!”

Blessed Christmas to all. And as we

look forward to the New Year, let’s

blow open the doors to a new dimension!


LETTER AND SPIRIT

SCOTT HAHN

Scott Hahn is founder of the

St. Paul Center for Biblical

Theology; stpaulcenter.com.

A new year, a new (old) voice

There are theologians who blaze onto the scene,

enlightening their age. They illumine the speculation

of their contemporaries. They stir up the younger

generation.

And then, inexplicably, they almost vanish.

I want to recommend one for your reading in the New

Year. He’s Father Matthias Joseph Scheeben (1835-1888),

a German theologian who rose to prominence in the years

around the First Vatican Council.

He had a genius for synthesis, for finding complementary

relationships where others missed them. He explored the

profound unity of nature and grace; the divine and the

human; faith and reason. He

saw no opposition between

the early Church Fathers

and the medievals; scholasticism

and personalism; dogmatic

theology and mystical

experience; romance and

system.

The ordering principle in

his work was “nuptial unity.”

The bond between spouses

— husband and wife — was

his dominant metaphor,

applied poetically to all

the sacred, saving truths of

the faith. In an age when

dry, dull manuals were in

style, he theologized in the

framework of St. Thomas

Aquinas, but always giving

primacy to the mysteries. He

was as much a mystic as a

scholastic.

He exercised a profound

influence on 20th-century

theologians such as Karol

Wojtyla (St. Pope John Paul

II) and Joseph Ratzinger

(Pope Benedict XVI).

He was a theologian’s

theologian, and yet he had a

passion to teach everyone in

the Church. Again, against

the currents of his time, he taught theology to laypeople, in

what Cardinal Hans Urs von Balthasar would one day call a

“lay style.”

In his most popular work, “The Glories of Divine Grace,”

he said that his goal was “to make the Christian feel happy

about his faith. Because the beauty and eminence of our

faith consist in this: that through the mysteries of grace it

raises our nature to an immeasurably high plane and presents

to us an inexpressibly intimate union with God.”

Why am I taking so much of your time to tell you the story

of a theologian of the 19th century?

Because I’m hoping you’ll read him. I’m pleased to be

part of the movement,

Father Matthias Joseph Scheeben. |

STPAULCENTER.COM

spearheaded by Emmaus

Road Publishing, to bring

his works back into print.

We have so far succeeded in

bringing out translations of

his multivolume “Handbook

of Catholic Dogmatics,” his

“Mysteries of Christianity,”

his “Nature and Grace,”

and his “Glories of Divine

Grace.” I recommend that

you begin with this last title.

M.J. Scheeben is dear to

me. In the 19th century, he

cultivated biblical literacy for

all Catholics — and biblical

fluency for teachers and

clergy. He dared to speak the

deepest mysteries to laypeople.

He wanted people to

love their faith and be happy

about it. He insisted that

theological “systems” didn’t

have to be boring.

I believe he has much to

teach us today. Our preachers

and pastors especially can

learn much from Scheeben

about the passionate communication

of the inexpressible.

I hope you’ll consider him

for your reading in 2025.


■ THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21

Homeless Persons’ Interreligious Memorial Mass. Cathedral

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

Angeles, 6:30 p.m. Visit lacatholics.org/events.

Winter Solstice Labyrinth Walk. Holy Spirit Retreat

Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 7 p.m. Visit hsrcenter.com

or call 818-815-4480.

■ WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 25

Free Christmas Day Dinner. St. Agatha Church, 2646 S.

Mansfield Ave., Los Angeles, 1-3 p.m. Sponsored by the

S.H.A.R.E. Ministry. Contact parish office at 323-935-

8127.

■ SUNDAY, DECEMBER 29

Solemn Opening Mass of the Jubilee Year. Cathedral of

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

10 a.m. In union with bishops throughout the world, Archbishop

José H. Gomez will open the local observance of the

Jubilee Year 2025. Liturgy will include a special procession

and proclamation of the jubilee. All are welcome.

■ MONDAY, DECEMBER 30

New Year’s Retreat: Clay Touched by God. Holy Spirit

Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 2 p.m.-Wednesday,

12 p.m. With Chris Machado, SSS, and Michael O’Palko.

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

■ SUNDAY, JANUARY 5

Catholic Singles Network New Year Dinner Party. Marie

Callender Restaurant, 1560 Albatross Rd., Industry, 4-7

p.m. Mingling will be maximized at the dinner by having

attendees rotate to different tables. Call Celeste at 661-

916-2727 or visit CatholicSinglesNetwork.com.

■ MONDAY, JANUARY 6

Catholic Singles Network Meet and Greet Dinner for

Singles Ages 23–45. Tom’s Restaurant, 42741 30th St.

West, Lancaster, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Call Celeste at 661-916-

2727 or visit CatholicSinglesNetwork.com.

■ THURSDAY, JANUARY 9

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

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

call 562-537-4526.

■ SATURDAY, JANUARY 11

New Year 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.

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.

“Rebel Hearts” film screening. Our Mother of Good

Counsel Church, 2060 N Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, 2

p.m. Movie will be shown in the Augustine Center Jan. 11

and 12 as part of the parish’s ongoing centennial celebration

and acknowledgement of IHMs’ contributions to

education and the parish school. Call OMGC centennial

office at 323-664-2111 or visit omgcla.org.


Diaconate Virtual Information Day. Zoom, 2-4 p.m. Open

to anyone interested in becoming a deacon. Register or request

more information by sending your name, parish, and

pastor’s name to Deacon Melecio Zamora at dmz2011@

la-archdiocese.org.


Catholic Singles Network Meet and Greet Dinner for Singles

Ages 31-54. Tom’s Restaurant, 42741 30th St. West,

Lancaster, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Call Celeste at 661-916-2727 or

visit CatholicSinglesNetwork.com.

Understanding the Process of Declaration of Marriage

Nullity. Zoom, 7-8:30 p.m. Hosted by the Office of

Marriage Tribunal, Office of Marriage and Family Life, and

Separated and Divorced Ministry. Free presentation on the

annulment process. Presenters: Father Reynaldo Matunog,

JCL, Judicial Vicar, Father Paul Velazquez, JCL, and Sister

Angelica Orozco, E.F.M.S. Register at https://familylife.

lacatholics.org/separated-divorced. Contact Julie Auzenne

at jmonell@la-archdiocese.org or 213-637-7249.

■ TUESDAY, JANUARY 14

Memorial Mass. San Fernando Mission, 15151 San Fernando

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

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

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

CM.org or Facebook.com/lacatholics.


OneLife LA. La Placita, Olvera St., Los Angeles, 12 p.m.

Theme for the 11th annual OneLife is “Let Us Stand Up

Together.” Visit onelifela.org.

Faith and Healing Bereavement Retreat. Holy Spirit Retreat

Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Led by

Cathy Narvaez. Call 818-784-4515.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. Holy Spirit Retreat

Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. With

Bryanna Benedetti-Coomber. Visit hsrcenter.com or call

818-815-4480.

Requiem Mass for the Unborn. Cathedral of Our Lady

of the Angels, 555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 5 p.m.

Presider: Archbishop José H. Gomez. Special Mass concludes

OneLife LA 2025. Livestream available through LA

Catholics Facebook, OneLife LA webpage, and OneLife LA

Facebook.


Feast of Santo Niño. Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels,

555 W. Temple St., Los Angeles, 2 p.m. dance performances,

3 p.m. procession, 3:30 p.m. Mass. Celebrant: Auxiliary

Bishop Matthew Elshoff. A dance performance of various

Sinulog groups will kick off the celebration at the Cathedral

Plaza. Contact Romy and Tess Esturas at 213-219-0590.


Catholic Singles Network Meet and Greet Dinner for

Singles Ages 55+. Tom’s Restaurant, 42741 30th St. West,

Lancaster, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Call Celeste at 661-916-2727 or

visit CatholicSinglesNetwork.com.


Centering Prayer Introductory Workshop. Holy Spirit

Retreat Center, 4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

With Marilyn Nobori and the contemplative outreach

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

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 27, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 26

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Angelus News | December 27, 2024 | Vol. 9 No. 26

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