Your Voice — Today’s Catholic Blog

Today’s Catholic Blog hasn’t had any new posts in a month or two, and I’m going to change that as quickly as possible. The first step will be filling in some cracks from events from over the summer.

More to come.

The attention of the church has focused to Sydney, Australia and World Youth Day 2008, the latest installment of the massive gathering of young people begun by Pope John Paul II in 1984. As reported by Rocco Palmo in his blog Whispers in the Loggia, this year’s gathering drew a rebuttal from the head of a seminary for a traditionalist schismatic group, the Society of St. Pius X, who claims the event is grossly secular with very little “holy or Catholic content.” 

Read the news report here.

This article brought to mind a few years ago, when I read that World Youth Day had also been criticized by liberal theologians in the Catholic Church (Hans Kung being the only name that comes to mind).

The criticism from liberals is not that the event is secular in nature and not Catholic enough, but that it is triumphalist, that is, it presents a Catholic Church that is singing its own praises and hero worshiping a pope who rules over everyone else.

It isn’t really saying much to say both characterizations strike me as unfair.World Youth Day is an expression of joy and solidarity. It shows young people willing to travel to the other side of the globe because they care enough about the pursuit of a loving relationship with God and each other. It shows an institutional church that is interested not in the old and the established, but with the vibrant and young who will write its future chapters.

The presence of the pope in such a youth and people-centered atmosphere should put to rest complaints that it is somehow “not Catholic enough” or “too Catholic.” 

Sometimes you know you’re doing the right thing by who you’re aggravating. 

Cardinal Telesphore Toppo

The Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend was a host in late June to Cardinal Telesphore Toppo, the Archbishop of Ranchi, India. Just a little background — a cardinal is a bishop or archbishop specially chosen by the pope. They are known for their red garb and hold the special responsibility upon the death of a pope to vote in the conclave to elect a new pope. Cardinal Toppo was one of the 115 men worldwide to participate in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, and it was only one of the topics he discussed during his visit.

One unusual quality about Cardinal Toppo’s June 23-30 visit was its location within the diocese — not the cathedral in Fort Wayne or even prestigious Notre Dame. His base of operations was the small rural parish of St. Patrick’s in Arcola, west of Fort Wayne. This location was actually pivotal for the visit to occur. St. Patrick’s is one of 18 or so parishes in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend to be served by a priest from overseas, in this case, Father Cyril Fernandes of India. Father Cyril’s bishop, who likes to visit from time to time, had been traveling with the cardinal and invited the cardinal to come.

The week before his visit, Cardinal Toppo had been one of several cardinals speaking at the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec. His talk was on how the Catholic Church in India is enriched by the presence of multiple rites and Eastern traditions. He told this reporter that a diverse church is effective in evangelizing to Asia, a continent that is a mosaic of people and cultures.Cardinal Toppo celebrated the June 29 10 a.m. Mass at Arcola and enjoyed a reception afterward in his honor. He told the parishioners of Arcola of how his visit was made more special by it coinciding with the 30th anniversary of his being named a bishop. He also shared stories of his friendship with Mother Teresa of Calcutta and his own path to the Catholic priesthood.

The visit was only Cardinal Toppo’s second visit to the United States and definitely his most extensive. His stay also allowed him to visit some of the other Indian priests serving in the Fort Wayne-South Bend area. 

The Today’s Catholic Book of the Month is C.S. Lewis’ “The Great Divorce.” This is a quick summer read and we would love to hear your thoughts about it. Does your parish have a book club? Comment on this feature of Today’s Catholic news.

To jump right in with a controversy/scandal of sorts, the Catholic Church in the US has been at the forefront of the political debate in the last week or so with the comments made by Father Michael Pfleger May 25 at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. As anyone who has been following the news knows, Father Pfleger mocked Senator Hillary Clinton, saying the candidate’s behavior amounted to crying because a black man had cut in line and denied her the  Democratic nomination for President, to which she was entitled.  

As far as fallout goes, these remarks have prompted Senator Barack Obama to leave his church home of 20 years. They’ve prompted an apology of sorts and other follow-up remarks from Father Pfleger himself. They’ve also prompted the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Francis George, to denounce the priest’s words as a partisan and personal attack. The cardinal has gone on to ask the priest to take a leave of absence of several weeks from his ministry as pastor of St. Sabina Parish in Chicago. Cardinal George also related that Father Pfleger did not share in the opinion that he needed to take leave.  

This incident raises so many interesting points of the “when worlds collide” scenarios that play out when religion and politics encounter each other. First, it’s interesting to note that Father Pfleger was denounced by the cardinal for engaging in a partisan and personal attack. It wasn’t so much the priest’s support of Obama that was offensive. It was the public, to say nothing of unkind, form that it took. The Catholic Church sees very clearly its role in politics as one of advocating on the moral implications of a variety of issues. By doing so, the church hopes to shape the thinking of lawmakers and the consciences of the voters who choose the lawmakers.  

 It is very tempting to listen to the advocacy of the church on some issues and draw a partisan conclusion. For instance, the Catholic Church opposes abortion, gay marriage, embryonic stem cell research and birth control. Hmm … sounds like a Republican church.  On the other hand, it favors immigration rights, workers rights, universal health care, preferential treatment for the poor and environmental stewardship, while opposing the death penalty and the preemptive war. Now it’s sounding more Democratic. 

Ultimately, this paints a picture of a church whose teachings transcend partisan politics, and this is likely a big reason why Cardinal George was quick to condemn Father Pfleger. When the church — or one of its representatives — takes sides in partisan politics, or identifies itself with a particular candidate, the church is cheapened.  

Originally conceived by the staff at Today’s Catholic newspaper as a place where readers could voice feedback on various aspects of the publication, this blog is now going to move in a more blog-ish direction of regular posts from me, the assistant editor of Today’s Catholic, on various topics of interest in the Catholic Church. My hope is to include both straight reporting and commentary as events in the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, or any diocese for that matter, have ties to the church around the country, and even around the world and in Rome. Hopefully, this will prove at least mildly insightful, entertaining, etc. for Catholics and non-Catholics alike. 

“Your Voice,” the Today’s Catholic-administered blog of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend welcomes Today’s Catholic assistant editor Don Clemmer as a regular contributor to the blog. Don will make his best effort to post regularly and provide commentary on life in the Catholic Church, locally, regionally and universally. His comments will be his own. While he will do his best to represent the church, his comments will not be officially endorsed by Today’s Catholic newspaper or the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. Don will also, after this post, stop referring to himself in the third person. 

This month’s featured book is the new one by Matthew Kelly.Let us know what YOU thought about it. 

Why is it called Seven Storey Mountain? This is a fascinating book about the faith journey of one the most well known mystics of our time. Anyone who has plowed through this one deserves to voice an opinion. Let us know what you think.

A Seven Day Retreat. Has anyone used this book in its retreat format. Let us know how that went. This being the Year of St. Paul we thought it appropriate to highlight him in some way. St. Paul is my favorite writer in the Bible. Who is yours?