Rosary Novena for American Pentecost

I was on the radio this morning with Gus Lloyd, where he challenged listeners to pray a novena of Rosaries for the new Pentecost for America that Pope Benedict XVI called for in his visit to the United States.

I've been trying to get Gus to say the Rosary for a while, telling him the Register Guide to the Rosary makes it easier (it's cheapest to buy several at a time, at 1-800-356-9916).

Today is a good day to start:

• Feast of St. Joseph, who is the Patron of the Universal Church.
• May, month of Mary, Patroness of America.
• Ascension Thursday, the beginning of the novena (nine days of prayer) Mary and the apostles spent before the original Pentecost.

At Washington Nationals Park, Pope Benedict XVI gave us a preview of Pentecost by celebrating a Mass identical (only the second reading was changed) to the one we'll celebrate on Pentecost Sunday. He used striking, formal language in the homily:

"In the excercise of my ministry as the Sucessor of Peter, I have come to America to confirm you, my brothers and sisters ... and to implore from the Lord a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in this country."

Peter's Successor invoking his authority to "implore from the Lord" a new Pentecost for America.

That's huge.

I reminded Gus of what else the Holy Father said (at the National Shrine):

"Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press upon us from every side. ... Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ."

So Gus took up my challenge: To pray a novena of Rosaries joining Benedict's prayer for a new Pentecost in America. He challenged listeners to join him, and many, many called in.

How about you? Will you join the novena?

-- Tom Hoopes

The Pope Speaks Mozart

And so does China.

A happy coincidence, that. Providential? Perhaps.

At the very least, China Philharmonic's debut at the Vatican, part of a three-city European tour that begins May 4, would carry significant symbolism for the millions of Roman Catholics in China, who are split between official and underground churches. Chinese Catholics are only allowed to worship at state-backed churches, and many worshipping at clandestine sites and professing loyalty to the pope have been persecuted.

Money graf:

It wasn't clear how much the concert would help the Vatican and Beijing move toward reconciliation. But Pope Benedict has made the improvement of relations with Beijing a priority of his papacy, hoping to secure greater freedom for Chinese Catholics.

Rock 'em, Amadeus!

-- David Pearson

The Papacy, Reconsidered

More movement in evangelical circles toward a softer stance on the Pope: Pastor John Hagee has expressed his admiration of, and appreciation for, Benedict XVI and his mission.

As an evangelical Protestant I happen to disagree with Pope Benedict on many issues of Christian doctrine and ritual. But when it comes to his moral vision for America and the world I have one thing to say in response to the Pope's visit: Amen.

This is a remarkable development. Rev. Hagee isn't just an evangelical Protestant. As the Catholic League has pointed out, he's a fundamentalist Christian who, in the past, has done what many fundamentalist Christians have been doing for decades: point to the 17th and 18th chapters of Revelation to suggest that the Catholic Church is not only not Christian but also a deadly cult -- "the Great Whore of Babylon." Evidently he's also claimed that Adolf Hitler was in league with the "Roman church." Et cetera.

That was then. This is now.   

[A]ll of our hearts cheered when Pope Benedict stood before the United Nations and stated so forcefully that when states fail to protect the basic human rights of their citizens, "the international community must intervene."

[snip]

We were all inspired by Pope Benedict's visit. It is my prayer that we will now follow his example and look beyond our differences to see that when it comes to the great challenges of our times, people of faith have much in common.

Twenty years ago Christian unity with certain sectors of evangelicalism sounded like a pipe dream. Today it's not exactly a done deal -- don't look for "Bible-only" Christians to report for RCIA by the tentful any time soon -- but there's the strong sense that, through the Pope's U.S. visit, the Holy Spirit is doing something new. Something we haven't seen before. Even if, for now, it's only to fill our hearts with hope and remind us that, for human beings, some things are impossible -- but "for God, all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26).

-- David Pearson

The Catholic Moment + 2 Decades

I was at Father Neuhaus' St. Mary's talk last night (see below) with Peter Wolfgang of the Family Institute of Connecticut (and of its blog).

Wolfgang asked the night's best question: He noted that it was 20 years since the publication of The Catholic Moment. He noted that 10 years after the book's publication, Father Neuhaus had written an article for Crisis magazine for the occasion, though I can't find it online. He wanted to know, 20 years later, how Father Neuhaus would reassess the state of the Church in America.

Father Neuhaus' answer nicely distinguished optimism ("a matter of optics, of seeing what you want to see and not seeing what you don't want to see") from the Christian virtue of hope and pointed to some signs of life in the Church. It would be interesting to hear more from him on the question, once he has had time to reflect on it.

The mood in the Church is very different from what it was in 1998, even among the "JPII Generation" of Catholics. The abuse scandals took the wind out of many sails. When will it kick up again?

-- Tom Hoopes

God-Intoxicated

Father Richard John Neuhaus of First Things spoke last night on Benedict’s visit at St. Mary’s Church in New Haven. Actually, the Communion and Liberation group at St. Mary's originally arranged from him to talk about “The Mind of Benedict.”   

Father Neuhaus  made the point that Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI is misunderstood. He didn’t have a “liberal period” followed by a “conservative period” followed by a “reactionary period” followed by a “warm-fuzzy papal period.” Rather, he has all along been radically Christ-centered.

“The radically Christological mind of Joseph Ratzinger is manifest in his every word, his every gesture.”

Neuhaus sees the future Pope Benedict XVI meeting the crowds in America in the newly ordained Father Joseph Ratzinger. Father Joseph Ratzinger’s and his brother, Georg’s, ordinations were celebrated by days of Bavarian to-do in Traunstein. Amid the parades, the “oom pa pa” bands, and the festivities, Neuhaus notes (from Ratzinger’s autobiography) the new priest kept saying:

“This is not for you, Joseph.”

“We don’t have as many accounts as we should” of Joseph’s theological work, said Neuhaus, but one idea recurs throughout. It’s the Christology captured in Ratzinger’s oft-repeated description of Christ:

“the human face of God.”

Some choice Neuhaus quotes from the talk:

On Benedict’s speaking style: “He isn’t one to pander to an inattentive audience.”

On Ratzinger's relationship with John Paul II: “The intensity of their collaboration … could hardly have been more intense, more mutually influential.”

Quoting a theologian friend on Benedict’s willingness to do whatever God asked him: “He’s God-intoxicated. … When did you last see a shy person on television?”

-- Tom Hoopes

FLASHBACK, 1979 CUA

Why Do People Love the Pope?

Why do people love the pope?

It isn't obvious that they should.

He's old.
He's a German who lives in Italy.
His writing is dense.
He's not good at sound-bites.
His public speaking isn't colored by great passion.
His personal tastes are for things that most Americans don't care much for.
His style of dress is archaic.
To follow his message would mean to change your life, including giving up things you might like.

But then again:

He tells the truth, not a message that is part what we want to hear and part set-up for something he wants to foist on us.
His measure of the universe is larger than his personal interest.
He doesn't consider himself the protagonist in his own life, let alone in ours, too. God is the protagonist in both.
He prayed not to get his job, and wanted to do something else.  Unlike a politician, who has to use us to further his own goals, he's allowing himself to be used for our goals.
His favorite subjects are love and hope.
And beauty.
He is the Mozart of Catholic theology not just because he writes beautiful and intricate works, but because he can practically compose them whole and simply write them down.

... and then there's that intangible something: He's Peter. His office makes us love him. I wonder if John Paul didn't fool us into forgetting that people have always loved the Pope. They loved the jolly John XXIII. They loved the phlegmatic Pius XII. Even Popes love Popes, as when Benedict expressed his love for Paul VI by quoting John Paul II ...

Certainly, people haven't always loved their president. And certainly, lapsed Americans -- people who have left America -- haven't thrilled at the site of a new president in the way that even lapsed Catholics thrill to see the Pope.

So why do people love the Pope? It would explain everything if the teachings of the Catholic Church on the matter were true ...

-- Tom Hoopes

Ecumenical Envoy

Two decades ago papal doings, even big ones, earned no more than news-brief attention in evangelical-Protestant publications. After all, Catholics were not saved. They hadn't been born again. They were non-Christians. A fair number of subscribers to Christianity Today, Christian Herald and the like would have cancelled their subscriptions, or done worse damage, over long and complimentary features on a pope.

Times have changed. Here's World magazine, an influential evangelical publication:

More intriguing was his warning, at a session with non-Catholic Christians that included evangelicals, against relegating religion entirely to subjective personal experience, minimizing the faith's objective truth and doctrinal content.

Till now Benedict has been barely known to non-Catholic Americans, while Catholics have seen him as John Paul's doctrinal "Rottweiler" who disciplined Catholic liberals and denounced secularism.

The Benedict that Americans observed is no rock star in the mold of his predecessor. But this first modern pontiff to be fluent in English (albeit with a heavy German accent) has a theological mind for all Christians to reckon with.

I have a lot of respect for a lot of evangelical Protestants. I have more in common with some of them, spiritually speaking, than with some of the people in the pews of my own parish. (Remember that Southern New England, where the Register is located, is one of the most densely Catholic areas in the country -- and one of the least friendly to life, marriage and the family.)

Altar Call: If you've got an evangelical friend who asked anything at all about the Pope during the visit, invite him or her to Mass this weekend. The Tiber is riper for the crossing than it's been since a Calvinist college student asked Protestant Professor Scott Hahn, famously: "Where is Sola Scriptura in Scripture?"

-- David Pearson

Everybody Loves Tim Drake

Overheard in the Vatican:

Vatican Cardinal 1: "Were you at any of the events Tim Drake was at?"

Vatican Cardinal 2: "Yeah, I saw him at the Vespers, but they had the press guys upstairs."

Vatican Cardinal 1: "But you walked by him?"

Vatican Cardinal 2: "I did. It was amazing. Even just passing Tim you got a sense of peace."

Vatican Cardinal 1: "I know what you mean. When you see him, it's like there's nobody in the room except you and Tim."

Okay, that probably didn't happen, but I did notice a remarkable phenomenon: Everybody loves Tim Drake. They love him. In the media center, when he walks by, voices go up and hands wave and cheery  hellos are shouted from eager faces.

In the office happy hour after the issue went out he was, in his quiet, smiling, way, the center of attention.

At home, my children warmed to him immediately. Even the shy-three and the bashful-five year old.  This dialog really did happen:

John Paul: "You know what Mr. Strake?"

Tim: "What, John Paul?"

John Paul: "I really like you."

Tim: "Thanks, John Paul!"

John Paul (thinking back on the 99.99 percent of his life that was spent without "Mr. Strake" in it): "You were away for sooo long!"

I've made a lot of mistakes as executive editor in the Register, and I've been proud of a lot of things we've done. But man, oh man. Hiring Tim Drake was one of the best.

-- Tom Hoopes'

Papal Visit 101

This article from Journal News is kind of a Papal Visit 101.  The writer, Gary Stern, sums up the Pope's agenda thus:

A. Introduce Benedict to America as warm, friendly and gracious - without going overboard or trying to make him into something he's not.

B. Celebrate the success of Catholicism in America and of America itself, but warn of the dangers to faith that are presented by relativism, secularism and materialism.

C. Face the fallout from the clerical sex-abuse crisis directly and on his own terms.

Through three days in Washington and three in New York, Benedict repeatedly hammered home points B and C and, through it all, appeared to accomplish point A with little trouble.

He also says Benedict satisfied various audiences: Americans who only tune in and are aware of his visit (they saw warmth and candor) and insider Catholics (they'll be quoting the texts for years).

He might also have mentioned: the Jewish community (even the cyncical ones appreciated his gestures), U.N. watchers (the staffs were delighted, which will mean a lot going forward),  Joe Pew Guy (many of us got recommitted to the faith), the media (still deciding what definition of the man they'll run with).

The article lacks the evangelical joy of Catholics who are saying the same thing and attributing the Holy Spirit. Which for some will mean it might actually make the point stronger.

-- Tom Hoopes