Saint of the Day: Monica

Today is the Feast of St. Monica! You can learn more about this wonderful saint from the Patron Saints Index! The following are the words of St. Augustine about his mother:

The day was now approaching when my mother Monica would depart from this life; you know that day, Lord, though we did not. She and I happened to be standing by ourselves at a window that overlooked the garden in the courtyard of the house. At the time we were in Ostia on the Tiber. And so the two of us, all alone, were enjoying a very pleasant conversation, "forgetting the past and pushing on to what is ahead.." We were asking one another in the presence of the Truth - for you are the Truth - what it would be like to share the eternal life enjoyed by the saints, which "eye has not seen, nor ear heard, which has not even entered into the heart of man." We desired with all our hearts to drink from the streams of your heavenly fountain, the fountain of life.

That was the substance of our talk, though not the exact words. But you know, O Lord, that in the course of our conversation that day, the world and its pleasures lost all their attraction for us. My mother said, "Son, as far as I am concerned, nothing in this life now gives me any pleasure. I do not know why I am still here, since I have no further hopes in this world. I did have one reason for wanting to live a little longer: to see you become a Catholic Christian before I died. God has lavished his gifts on me in that respect, for I know that you have even renounced earthly happiness to be his servant. So what am I doing here?"

I do not really remember how I answered her. Shortly, within five days or thereabouts, she fell sick with a fever. Then one day during the course of her illness she became unconscious and for a while she was unaware of her surroundings. My brother and I rushed to her side, but she regained consciousness quickly. She looked at us as we stood there and asked in a puzzled voice: "Where was I?"

We were overwhelmed with grief, but she held her gave steadily upon us, and spoke further: "Here you shall bury your mother." I remained silent as I held back my tears. However, my brother haltingly expressed his hope that she might not die in a strange country but in her own land, since her end would be happier there. When she heard this, her face was filled with anxiety, and she reproached him with a glance because he had entertained such earthly thoughts. Then she looked at me and spoke: "Look what he is saying." Thereupon she said to both of us, "Bury my body wherever you will; let not care of it cause you any concern. One thing only I ask you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord wherever you may be." Once our mother had expressed this desire as best she could, she fell silent as the pain of her illness increased.

- from the Confessions of Saint Augustine of Hippo

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Word on Fire: The Necessity of Youth Ministry

The following comes from Word on Fire:

Recently, "Bad Catholic" blogger Marc Barnes wrote a thoughtful piece on the "problem" with youth ministry within the mission and life of the Church. Today, WOF Blog contributor Fr. Damian Ference responds to Marc's critique of youth ministry and offers his own priestly perspective on this aspect of the Church's evangelical outreach. 

Last week one of my priest colleagues here at the seminary emailed me about a new essay on youth ministry. The piece was entitled, “The Problem With Youth Ministry,” written by the young, brilliant, prolific, and envy-inducing, Marc Barnes over at Bad Catholic. Barnes is almost half my age, yet I look up to him. He knows his faith, he gets the culture, he writes very well, and he’s funny. 

 

Barnes’ essay on the problem with youth ministry is provocative, which is evidenced by the many comments, likes, and re-posts of this particular work. His thesis is that, unlike the family and the apostolic priesthood, which maintain a natural authority to proclaim the Gospel to young people, youth ministers have no natural authority to do so. Barnes argues, “Youth ministry as a primary catechetical and evangelical tool only exists as a necessity if the family has failed.” Youth ministers, according to Barnes, are spiritual band-aids that are doing important work, but in a perfect Catholic world, there would be no need for youth ministers or for youth ministry as we know it.

 

Barnes is right that the home is the fundamental and original source of catechesis and evangelization – he cites the Catechism twice to ground his argument. Let me bolster the argument even more by referencing the Rites for Marriage and Baptism.

First, before a couple professes their vows at the altar in the sacrament of marriage, the priest or deacon asks them three questions. Here’s the third: “Will you accept children lovingly from God and bring them up according to the law of Christ and His Church?” The minister needs a public confirmation from the couple that they understand that their duty as a husband and wife is to be open to bringing children into the world, and to educate those children in the Catholic faith. As Barnes notes in his essay, parents have a natural authority over their children and it is fundamentally their duty as Christian parents to hand on the Faith to their sons and daughters. 

Second, in the Rite of The Baptism of a Child, just before the Renunciation of Sin and the Profession of Faith, the priest or deacon speaks to the parents and godparents: “On your part, you must make it your constant care to bring him (her) up in the practice of the faith. See that the divine life which God gives him (her) is kept safe from the poison of sin to grow always stronger in his (her) heart.” I have always liked the tone of these words – they are pointed and serious. They make demands. Sometimes parents and godparents gulp when I deliver them. And that’s a good thing. It means that they understand their responsibilities.
Following the actual baptism, the anointing, the clothing in the white garment, and the presentation of the candle, the minister offers prayers over the mother, the father, and then the entire assembly. Here’s an important excerpt from the prayer over the father: “He and his wife will be the first teachers of their child in the ways of faith. May they also be the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith by what they say and do.” This prayer supports Barnes’ argument as well. To quote Barnes, “The family consists in a natural authority, and as such, is a fundamental space in which to proclaim the Gospel.” Amen.
Barnes and I agree that the fundamental and original source of catechesis is in the home, and it comes specifically from mothers and fathers who have a natural authority over their children. Parents have a privileged role in passing on the Faith to their sons and daughters, not just in what they say, but more importantly, in what they do. Moms and dads are called by the Church to be disciples of Jesus in order to show their children how to be disciples.
So what of youth ministry? Is Barnes right that if Catholic parents simply did what they were supposed to do (as the natural communicators of the Gospel to their children) that the American model of youth ministry would have no need to exist? I don’t think so, and I’d like to suggest a few reasons why youth ministry is necessary, good, and dare I say, supernatural.
First, in this Year of Faith – a time when we’ve been asked by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to study not only the Catechism of the Catholic Church, but also the documents of the Second Vatican Council – let’s see what, if anything, the Church has to say about lay ministry, in particular, youth ministry. Lumen Gentium states that “the laity can be called in different ways to more immediate cooperation in the apostolate of the hierarchy. . . . (t)hey may, moreover, be appointed by the hierarchy to certain ecclesiastical offices which have a spiritual aim.” (LG §33) Barnes argues that only the family and the apostolic priesthood enjoy a natural authority in the proclamation of the Gospel, but Lumen Gentium seems to indicate that some lay people are indeed called to direct cooperation in the apostolate of the hierarchy. In other words, the Church extends some of its natural (or supernatural) hierarchical authority to the laity.

A shorter document from the council, The Decree on the Apostolate of Lay People (Apostolicam Actuositatem) states that “different fields of apostolic action are open to the laity” and it mentions ministry to “the young” in particular. (AA §9) Barnes is right that the apostolic priesthood contains a natural authority, but the Church insists that the laity are able to participate in that very authority through their baptismal priesthood. The Council reminds us that, “Their activity within the church communities is so necessary that without it the apostolate of the pastors will frequently be unable to offer its full effect.” (AA §10)   Youth ministers may not be clergy, but the clergy need them to help carry out their mission. 

What particular actions does the Church envision from such lay persons? Here’s a nice list: “(T)hey engage zealously in apostolic works; they attract people towards the church who had perhaps been far away from it; they ardently cooperate in the spread of the word of God, particularly by catechetical instruction; by their expert assistance they increase the efficacy of the care of souls.” (AA §10) The best youth ministers I know embody this list in their parish or campus apostolate. 

Youth ministry, when it is being what it is called be, is not out to replace the family or the apostolic priesthood – it offers humble and zealous cooperation in the Church’s saving mission which begins in the family and continues in the ecclesial community. 

Second, we must not forget that youth ministry has been around for a long time –we just didn’t call it “youth ministry.” Men and women in religious communities played the role of “youth minister” for centuries, and they were good at it. Think of all the Catholic grade schools and high schools that were once staffed almost entirely by consecrated religious. Parents wanted other faithful people to play an important role in the religious formation of their children, and they knew that religious communities could offer such help and cooperation. In other words, they looked to other faithful people to assist them in raising and forming their children. 

Do men and women religious who are not ordained to the apostolic priesthood have a “natural” authority over children? Maybe not, but surely they have some authority – it’s the authority that comes from their baptism. It may not be natural, but perhaps “super-natural” is more than sufficient. And maybe that’s what Jesus was getting at when he told the crowd, “Who are my mother and my brothers? . . . Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” 

Third, recall Pope Francis’ words from World Youth Day 2013: “What is the best tool to catechize a young person? Another young person.” It’s true that parents are called to be the first and best teachers to their children in the ways of faith, but they can’t do it alone. Even good Catholic parents are constantly longing for other credible models who can affirm all that has be learned in the home and expand upon it. They know that they need the help of the church community to raise their children well. Children eventually come to a point in their lives where they ask, “Is everything I learned at home true?” Having credible witnesses close at hand is necessary to confirming all the good work that began in the home. Teens need to see people other than their parents living a rich life of faith to assure them that what they’ve been told is actually true. (Trust me, I’ve worked with many parents who did a fine job communicating the Gospel to their children in the home, but whose children are now very far from Christ and his Church.) 

Fourth, “LifeTeen” and “Edge” are not meant to replace the role of the family in religious education and formation. Both the middle school and the high school programs exist in order to bring teens closer to Christ and his Church, regardless of family background. My first parish assignment was a “LifeTeen” parish, and I will admit that I too approached the program with suspicion. But when I noticed that teens from very solid Catholic families were participating to grow deeper in their lives of faith, and then would reach out to minister to their peers whose faith and whose families weren’t so strong, I changed my tune. Moreover, when I witnessed a youth minister and his core staff modeling good Christian living as they often played the role of father, mother, sister, and brother to teens who needed to know that they were loved, I was reminded of the way that many religious communities took care of young people as their own throughout the history of the Church. And when teens who came from non-practicing families experienced profound conversions through their participation in youth ministry, and then were eventually able to catechize their own parents and bring them back to Jesus and his Church, I was sold. (It’s also worth noting that that same parish has eight young men studying for the apostolic priesthood in our diocesan seminarians, and not all of them come from “ideal” Catholic families.)

Finally, it’s important to remember that our world is fallen. Yes, Jesus has saved us, and yes, original sin is washed way in baptism, but the effects of original sin remain with us, even after baptism. Augustine called this reality concupiscence, and its power should not be taken lightly.   People are weak and they do stupid things, and a lot of the time they don’t even know why they do them. Often, they don’t even want to do them, but they do them anyway. I’ve never met an engaged couple that planned on getting divorced after marriage or a seminarian who hoped to leave priestly ministry after ordination, but unfortunately it happens. We ought to do everything we can to prevent it from happening, but it happens. And every time it happens, it’s sad. 

So what do you do with children who come from divorced families, or families of unwed parents, or families who don’t practice their faith, or families who get to church on Sunday but lack even the most basic understanding of Catholicism? Who is going to evangelize their children? Who is going to help parents in their Christian formation of their children? Should we leave them in the dark? Of course not. 

 

Parents are supposed to be the fundamental, original source of catechesis and evangelization to their children, but many parents fail in this responsibility. Marc Barnes is right to say that parents need to be better at parenting, to do the work that they promised to do at the altar and at the baptismal font. But as we’ve seen, even the best of parents need help from the Church in raising their children in the life of faith, and that help comes not only from those in the apostolic priesthood, but also from youth ministers, whose authority comes to them through baptism and who have been entrusted “with tasks more closely connected with the duties of pastors.” (AA §24)
The world is fallen, but ecclesia supplet.
Rev. Damian J. Ference is a priest of the diocese of Cleveland.  He is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and a member of the formation faculty at Borromeo Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio.

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Cardinal George Praised for His Outspoken Vigor

(CNA/EWTN News)  Cardinal Francis George of Chicago’s “intellectual vigor” and “forceful defense of the Church” may be why Pope Francis has yet to allow the 76-year-old cardinal to retire, one religion news observer has suggested.

“Cardinal George’s newspaper column often reads now like a battle plan against government overreach,” Nicholas G. Hahn III, the editor of RealClearReligion.org, said in the Wall Street Journal Aug. 23. “The cardinal takes a particularly grim view of what this intrusion by government could mean for church and state relations.”

The cardinal has famously said, “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.”

As required by canon law, the cardinal submitted his resignation to Pope Benedict XVI last year upon turning 75, but neither Pope Benedict nor Pope Francis have accepted his resignation.

The cardinal is now recovering from his second fight with cancer.

Hahn noted that Cardinal George, a former president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, continues to play a prominent role in Chicago and in American public life.

The cardinal was active in the recent controversy over the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights, a church-funded group which endorsed “gay marriage” in May.

He warned that the endorsement could end Catholic Church financial support for the group. This drew opposition from several prominent state lawmakers who contended that Cardinal George was using immigrants and their allies as “pawns in a political battle.”

The cardinal, in a strong response in the Catholic New World newspaper, rebuked his critics.

“It is intellectually and morally dishonest to use the witness of the church’s concern for the poor as an excuse to attack the church’s teaching on the nature of marriage,” he said, reminding the politicians that they would have to account for their own actions.

“Jesus is merciful. But he is not stupid,” he said.

Hahn said Cardinal George’s decision on funding the immigrant group “had nothing to do with politics.”

“The Church doles out money to organizations on the assumption that they will not violate church teachings,” Hahn said. “If a church-funded environmental group announced its support for abortion, for instance, it could lose funding.”

Hahn said the immigrant group’s decision had “clearly broke an orthodoxy compact with the church.”

Cardinal George has also been an outspoken opponent of the HHS mandate requiring most Catholic organizations and employers to pay for or provide access to no-copay insurance coverage for employees that includes sterilization procedures and contraception, including early abortion drugs.

The cardinal said the Obama administration has acted as if there is a “right to free contraception” that trumps “the genuinely constitutional right of freedom of religion.” He said that the Catholic Church “will simply not cooperate” with the law.

Hahn also cited Cardinal George’s analysis of the root cause of the threat to religious freedom. The cardinal has said that the government’s tendency to claim authority over all areas of human life draws from “the secularization of our culture.”

“If God cannot be part of public life, then the state itself plays God,” Cardinal George said.

The cardinal’s public life has also included support for comprehensive immigration reform legislation, an issue on which he has stressed the bishops’ teaching authority.

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Our Lady of Częstochowa

The following comes from the Sacred Destinations site:

 According to tradition, the icon of Jasna Góra was painted by Luke the Evangeliston a tabletop built by Jesus himself, and the icon was discovered by St. Helen, mother of Emperor Constantine and collector of Christian relics in the Holy Land. The icon was then enshrined in the imperial city of Constantinople, according to the legend, where it remained for the next 500 years.

In 803, the painting is said to have been given as a wedding gift from the Byzantine emperor to a Greek princess, who married a Ruthenian nobleman. The image was then placed in the royal palace at Belz, where it remained for nearly 600 years.

History first combines with tradition upon the icon's arrival in Poland in 1382 with a Polish army fleeing the Tartars, who had struck it with an arrow.

Legend has it that during the looting of Belz, a mysterious cloud enveloped the chapel containing the image. A monastery was founded in Częstochowa to enshrine the icon in 1386, and soon King Jagiello built a cathedral around the chapel containing the icon.

However, the image soon came under attack once again. In 1430, Hussites (pre-Reformation reformers) attacked the monastery, slashed the Virgin's face with a sword, and left it desecrated in a puddle of blood and mud.

It is said that when the monks pulled the icon from the mud, a miraculous fountain appeared, which they used to clean the painting. The icon was repainted in Krakow, but both the arrow mark and the gashes from the sword were left and remain clearly visible today.

The miracle for which the Black Madonna of Częstochowa is most famous occurred in 1655, when Swedish troops were about to invade Częstochowa. A group of Polish soldiers prayed fervently before the icon for deliverance, and the enemy retreated. In 1656, King John Casimir declared Our Lady of Częstochowa "Queen of Poland" and made the city the spiritual capital of the nation.

The Virgin again came to the aid of her people in 1920, when the Soviet Russian Red Army gathered on the banks of the Vistula River, preparing to attack Warsaw. The citizens and soldiers fervently prayed to Our Lady of Częstochowa, and on September 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, she appeared in the clouds above Warsaw. The Russians were defeated in a series of battles later dubbed the "Miracle at the Vistula."

During Nazi occupation, Hilter prohibited pilgrimages to Jasna Góra, but many still secretly made the journey. In 1945, after Poland was liberated, half a million pilgrims journeyed to Częstochowa to express their gratitude. On September 8, 1946, 1.5 million people gathered at the shrine to rededicate the entire nation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. During the Cold War, Jasna Góra was a center of anti-Communist resistance.

Pope John Paul II, a native of Poland, was a fervent devotee of the Virgin Mary and of her icon at Częstochowa. As pope, he made pilgrimages to pray before the Black Madonna in 1979, 1983, 1991, and 1997. In 1991, he held his Sixth World Youth Day at Czetochowa, which was attended by 350,000 young people from across Europe.

Other popes have honored the "Queen of Poland" as well. Pope Clement XI officially recognized the miraculous nature of the image in 1717 and in 1925 Pope Pius XI designated May 3 a feast day in her honor. Pope Benedict XVI visited the shrine on May 26, 2006.

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