Sibyls, Magi, Athenians -- On Assisi, part 2

The Cumaean Sibyl

The Assisi initiative, as well as the Vatican II document that inspired it, rises out of an age old Catholic respect for the religiosity of man, however astray it may go, the heart is restless and seeks God. Respecting his learning and judgment, I queried my colleague Dr. Robert Fastiggi, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, about the Assisi initiative. He pulled together some texts on the fundamental respect for the human search for God.


The Church on Non-Christian Philosophy and Religion as a Preparation for the Gospel  (outline by R. Fastiggi)

In Vatican II’s Lumen gentium, 16, we are told that, ”whatever good or truth is found among [non-Christians] is looked upon by the Church as a preparation for the Gospel.”

The following is a rough chronology of some views of the Catholic Church on this topic.

 Mt 2:1 The Magi from the East [they might have been Persian Zoroastrian priests].

 Acts 17:22-32 Paul at the Areopagus recognizes that the Athenians are “very respectful of the gods” (deisidaimonesterous) [trans. as “very religious” in RSV and NAB].

 St. Justin Martyr (c.100- 165 affirms that the “seed of the Logos (sperma logou) is “implanted in every race of men” [Second Apology, chap. 8]. He also believes that the Non-Christian philosophies contain the “seminal Word” (logos spermatikos) [Second Apology, chap. 13]. Vatican II’s Decree on the Missionary Activity of the Church (Ad gentes), no. 11 [1965], extends St. Justin’s metaphor to non-Christian religions, which contain “seeds of the Word” (semina Verbi). Pope Paul VI, in his 1975 Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii nuntiandi, 53, likewise states that non-Christian religions “are all impregnated with innumerable seeds of the Word (semina Verbi).

Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215) speaks of pagan philosophy as a “schoolmaster” to bring Greeks to Christ (Stromata I, 5).

Augustine (354-430); “The Truth, wherever it is found, is His [the Lord’s]” De doctrina Christina, book 2, 18, 28.

Pope Gregory VII, 1076, writes to the King of Morocco (Letters, book 3, n. 21 PL 148, 151: “We believe in and confess one God, though in a different manner, who, as Creator of the ages and Governor of the world, we praise and honor every day” (“unum Deum, licet diverso modo, credimus et confitemur, qui cum Creatorem saeculorum et gubernatorem huius mundi quotidie laudamus et veneramur..”) [cited in a footnote to Vatican II’s Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non Christian Religions, Nostra aetate, 2 [1965]

Lateran IV (1215): “The Holy Spirit gave…the doctrine of salvation to the human race, first through Moses and the holy prophets and through his other servants” (Denz-H. 800).

Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) is called the theologian of the concordantia religionum because of his work, De pace fidei, seeking peaceful terms with all faiths. In Cribratio Alcorani I, 6: (the Sifting of the Qur’an), Nicholas writes: “If anything beautiful, true and clear is found in the Qur’an, by necessity, it is a ray of the most luminous Gospel.”

Marsilio Ficino (1433-1466)—believed that Platonism was, at least in part, divinely inspired because of its affirmation of the immortality of the soul.

The Sistine Chapel:  Pope Sixtus IV (r.1471-1484), completed under Julius II (1503-13) shows sibyls pointing to Christ.

Matteo Ricci, S.J. (c. 1552- 1611), missionary to China, shows respect for Confucius and Chinese culture.

Roberto de Nobili, S.J.(1577-1656) – dressed as a Hindu ascetic and put on his forehead the sandalwood paste used by the Brahmins. His methods were defended by Pope Gregory XV (1621-23). Cf. Fr. John Laux, Church History (1945, reprinted 1989 by Tan Books), p. 469.

Yves de Paris, OFMCap. (1588-1678): “And even if some people are so criminal as to be carried to sacrilegious adorations, it must be admitted that they all have in their hearts this same impression of nature to adore God; and if the ways in themselves are profane, the first motive and initial impulse are holy” (La théologie naturelle. [TN] book 1, p. 3).

 “God does not hold so much rigor against the infidel peoples; His goodness exceeds their demerits; and all the doctors remain in agreement that if the barbarians observe well the natural law, if they cooperate with the graces which the divine mercy offers them, then they will receive the particular instructions of the faith necessary to their salvation”  (TN, book 4 p. 2)

Francois Noel, S.J. (1651-1729) –Missionary to China, writes a book on the fundamental harmony of Chinese and Christian philosophy.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890): “The Moral Governor of the world has scattered the seeds of truth far and wide…” (Essays Critical and Historical, sec. 9, p. 431).

 Pope John Paul II (1920-2005; pope from 1978-2005) recognizes that “the fundamental questions which pervade human life” are found in the sacred writings of even non-Christian religions (cf. encyclical, Fides et ratio, 1 [1998]).

Addendum on 1 Cor 10:14-22: In this passage, Paul urges the Corinthians “to shun the worship of idols” (v. 14) because “what the pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God” (v. 20). Some have used this passage to argue that all non-Christian worship (with the exception of Judaism) is directed towards the Devil or demons and not towards the true God. This passage, though, is concerned with “the worship of idols” connected to certain polytheistic, sacrificial religions in Corinth at that time. It is not proper to go from a particular condemnation to a universal application. While it might be true that demons are involved in some polytheistic cults of today, it is important to do an objective study of a non-Christian religion’s concept of God before applying Paul’s warning about idolatry found in 1 Cor 10:14-22. Moreover, it is important to balance 1 Cor 14:22 with other scriptural passages such as Rom 1:19-21 and Acts 17:22-28 where Paul states that the Gentiles have knowledge of the one true God.

Pope Benedict XVI at Assisi: Pilgrims of Truth, Pigrims of Peace

Blessed John Paul II at Assisi 1986

Twenty five years ago Pope John Paul II gathered a group in Assisi to affirm the vital importance of the human quest for God. Pope Benedict XVI today confirms the fundamental thrust of Blessed John Paul II's initiative as he meets again with religious leaders from around the globe. The speech may be found here.

He opens with this passage:

Twenty-five years have passed since Blessed Pope John Paul II first invited representatives of the world’s religions to Assisi to pray for peace. What has happened in the meantime? What is the state of play with regard to peace today? At that time the great threat to world peace came from the division of the earth into two mutually opposed blocs. A conspicuous symbol of this division was the Berlin Wall which traced the border between two worlds right through the heart of the city. In 1989, three years after Assisi, the wall came down, without bloodshed. Suddenly the vast arsenals that stood behind the wall were no longer significant. They had lost their terror. The peoples’ will to freedom was stronger than the arsenals of violence. The question as to the causes of this dramatic change is complex and cannot be answered with simple formulae. But in addition to economic and political factors, the deepest reason for the event is a spiritual one: behind material might there were no longer any spiritual convictions. 

John Paul II, in Centesimus annus, spoke of the folly of realism and the exaltation of force over reason and law. The downfall of the Soviet Union, he said, "was a struggle born of prayer, and it would have been unthinkable without immense trust in God, the Lord of history, who carries the human heart in his hands. It is by uniting his own sufferings for the sake of truth and freedom to the sufferings of Christ on the Cross that man is able to accomplish the miracle of peace and is in a position to discern the often narrow path between the cowardice which gives in to evil and the violence which, under the illusion of fighting evil, only makes it worse."

Pope Benedict, today, speaks of the absence of God as a cause of violence. "The absence of God leads to the decline of man and of humanity. But where is God? Do we know him, and can we show him anew to humanity, in order to build true peace? Let us first briefly summarize our considerations thus far. I said that there is a way of understanding and using religion so that it becomes a source of violence, while the rightly lived relationship of man to God is a force for peace. In this context I referred to the need for dialogue and I spoke of the constant need for purification of lived religion. On the other hand I said that the denial of God corrupts man, robs him of his criteria and leads him to violence."

The gathering of representatives of world religions does not point to a syncretic religion or a claim of world unity, but rather indicates the vital need for human beings to seek continual purification and to follow the light of conscience. 

Even the agnostic can be a sign of the quest for God: "They suffer from his absence and yet are inwardly making their way towards him, inasmuch as they seek truth and goodness. They are 'pilgrims of truth, pilgrims of peace.' They ask questions of both sides. They take away from militant atheists the false certainty by which these claim to know that there is no God and they invite them to leave polemics aside and to become seekers who do not give up hope in the existence of truth and in the possibility and necessity of living by it. But they also challenge the followers of religions not to consider God as their own property, as if he belonged to them, in such a way that they feel vindicated in using force against others. "

Cardinal Newman said  that "the moral governor of the world has scattered seeds of truth far and wide." In reverence, may every man follow the light of truth so firmly beckoning. 

First Official Memorial in Honor of Blessed John Paul II, Houston Tx

 

Oct 22, 2011 --  First official Memorial Mass for Blessed John Paul II

Rev Francois Pouliot, OP offers the sacrifice of the mass in honor of Blessed John Paul II on Saturday morning, 11:30 am, October 22, 2011 at the Dominican Priory in Houston; the memorial was observed across Poland, in Rome, and Washington, D.C.; the John Paul II Forum obtained the readings and prayers from Rev. Witold Kania (Poland), a regular visitor to Houston and St Vincent de Paul Parish. This was the first celebration of the official memorial inscribed in the Church calendar in honor of Blessed John Paul II. The U.S. Bishops will consider making this memorial a regular part of the US liturgical calendar. Due to the leap year in 2012, Blessed John Paul's memorial, October 22, will fall on Monday. We hope that parishes in Houston will celebrate the memorial next year as we anticipate his canonization.

Father Francois mentioned some aspects of the life of Blessed John Paul II. He was a man who was willing to take risks to spread the good news.

How beautiful upon the mountains

are the feet of the one bringing good news,

Announcing peace, bearing good news,

announcing salvation, saying to Zion,

“Your God is King!”

He traveled the world; he reached out in love to Jews, Protestants, Moslems and secularists. He sought to show the human face of love and the Christian value of friendship.He continued to
explore the mountains, the country side and his love of beauty.

He lived his life in the love of Christ.

"When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”

The life of Blessed John Paul II enacted and reflected the gospel in many ways.

First homily as Pope, October 22, 1978

Installation as Pope, Oct 22, 1978

In the opening homily of his Pontificate, we can trace the themes that would characterize his preaching and writing. The dignity of the person due to spiritual capacity or powers of intellect and will; respect for conscience; appreciation for the depth or abyss of the person, against the reductionism of technology and tyranny; the search for meaning in a world of senseless violence and cold indifference; the illuminating power of the Word; the apostolate to culture and the modern world; the love of Jesus Christ; the relentless courage ("Be not afraid!"). Here are a few lines from the homily; they continue to inspire; they encourage us to prayerful study of his life and work:

The absolute and yet sweet and gentle power of the Lord responds to the whole depths of the human person, to his loftiest aspirations of intellect, will and heart. It does not speak the language of force but expresses itself in charity and truth.  .  .  .  

Brothers and sisters, do not be afraid to welcome Christ and accept his power. Help the Pope and all those who wish to serve Christ and with Christ's power to serve the human person and the whole of mankind. Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of States, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows "what is in man". He alone knows it.

So often today man does not know what is within him, in the depths of his mind and heart. So often he is uncertain about the meaning of his life on this earth. He is assailed by doubt, a doubt which turns into despair. We ask you therefore, we beg you with humility and trust, let Christ speak to man. He alone has words of life, yes, of eternal life. 

From Homily on October 22, 1978 (from Vatican website) 

Memorial of Blessed John Paul II

Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist

October 22 is the first time for the faithful to commemorate the memory of Blessed John Paul II. This is the day he was installed as the supreme pontiff in 1978 and assumed full official duties. On the liturgical calender this is the day for his memorial. April 2, the day of his death and birth into eternal life (dies natalis), would fall in Lent or on important Easter events and so that date is not really suitable for the memorial. He was elected to the papacy on October 16th 1978. The elected candidate becomes pope as soon as he accepts the office. October 16th is the memorial of St. Hedwig (1174-1243) of Silesia/Andachs, so that day is not the best. (Note: In 1997 John Paul II canonized St Hedwig, Queen of Poland, d. 1399; she was the patron of the School of Theology in Krakow). Thus, this day, October 22, the day of John Paul II's installation, we are given to commemorate the memorial of Blessed John Paul II.

Members of the John Paul II Forum will participate in a morning Mass in his honor at the Dominican Priory in Houston Texas. We will pray for the Church and all for all readers of this blog, supporters of the Forum and all the faithful who continue to learn from him and seek his assistance.

We should meditate on the readings for the day and offer thanks for the life and ministry of Blessed John Paul II. Here are the readings for Mass:


First reading: Is 52: 7-10


Psalm 96 (95)


Second reading: Ep 4:1-7, 11-13


Alleluia Jn 10:14


Gospel: John 21:15-17

Opening Prayer:

O God, who are rich in mercy and who willed that the Blessed John Paul II should preside as Pope over your universal Church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching, we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole Redeemer of mankind. Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Taborski on the role of the Jeweler

The Jeweler seems to stand for Divine Providence, for the power of moral judgment. The wedding rings, which he does not so much sell as dispense and which he refuses to buy back, symbolize the obligations of marriage. That he does not appear on stage is consistent with Wojtyla's practice: as a rule, neither his plays nor his poetry call God by name or invoke Him directly; His presence is felt but not imposed. True, Andrew and Anna quote the Jeweler's words and describe his shop and his behavior, but for all we know he could be just an eccentric shopkeeper. In a realistic play this would certainly be the case, but not in this poetic mystery. 

As with Adam, we cannot pinpoint this mysterious character with absolute (one is tempted to say physical) certainty. We do not see him-only the characters in the drama sometimes do. Thus another interpretation is possible. If Adam can be called a confessor, the Jeweler can be called the voice of conscience. A conscience is both innately human (all men should have one) and God-given. So the Jeweler's divine and human attributes do not contradict each other. One could say that Andrew and Teresa in Act I exchange their rings themselves and that Anna's struggle in Act 2 to get rid of her unwanted ring takes place within her. Bnt the characters act always in the sight of God. 

The Polish title of the play, Przed sklepem jubilera, literally means "In front of the jeweler's shop." The jeweler sees our thoughts and actions through the shop window, which is also the window of our conscience. Through the Jeweler, as the other characters describe him and feel his presence, the play's theme is explained. After all, what God knows our consciences ought to know. 

The Jeweler's monologue, quoted by Andrew, defines directly and precisely the contradiction between aspirations and weakness that makes man fall short of his full potential: 

Ah, the proper weight of man! 

This rift, this tangle, this ultimate depth --

this clinging when it is so hard 

to unstick heart and thought. 

And in all -- freedom, 

a freedom and sometimes frenzy, 

the frenzy of freedom trapped in this tangle. 

And in all this-love, 

which springs from freedom as water springs from an oblique rift in the earth. 

This is man! He is not transparent, 

not monumental, 

not simple; in fact he is poor. 

This is one man-and what about two people, 

four, a hundred, a million? 

Multiply all this 

(multiply the greatness by the weakness), 

and you will have the product of humanity, 

the product of human life. 

Those contradictions are most clearly discernible in love, the most intense sphere of interhuman relations.

Krzysztof Dybciak on the Jeweler's Shop (1980)

Polish thinkers always have been willing to express themselves in literary forms of communication. Our greatest thinkers are writers: poets, novelists, essayists, authors of political works. . . the Polish philosophical style is literary: it is non-systematic; it is oriented toward the life experience of the individual; it is willing to use metaphors, symbols, fictional examples and artistic tales. Maybe this is above all a personalistic style, i.e., it focuses on the problems of a real, unique person, and its investigations are made in an individual, personal way.

.  .  .  The poetic drama "In Front of the Jeweler's Shop " is the longest of the literary works which Karol Wojtyla has published to date. The linked destinies of three loving couples - the time is either the present or the immediate past - follow contrapuntal lines established by their declarations or by the declarations of others who are involved in the drama and who relate their actions. The reflections made by the characters mainly concern love. Is the subject of love a being who seems unable to grow from nature to the dimension of his calling by love? Andrzej's monologue dramatically shows the situation and the potentialities of man.

Here is man! He is not transparent
he is not monumental,
nor is he simple;
he is rather poor.
This is one man - two
four, a hundred, a million-
Multiply all of them
(and multiply this magnitude by weakness),
you obtain a number of people,
a number of human life (FJS, 1574)

The full meaning of the drama may be understood as a polemic between the basic conceptions of love that dominate our world: hedonistic and individualistic. Love, in Jawien’s conception, is an encounter of persons, a mutual gift of oneself to the other, a perfect unification. In this perspective, it must be the gift of man as a whole, in his biological, axiological and temporal dimensions. Love most certainly reveals itself in the form of the total and ultimate unification of two human beings. This direction of Wojtyla's thinking, while giving action its dynamics, agrees with the philosophical standpoint expressed in his "Appraisal of the Possibility of Building a Christian Ethics on the Philosophy of Max Scheler."

In the previous twenty years Karol Wojtyla took upon himself the task of establishing a philosophical position that would synthesize phenomenology and personalism. Starting with Scheler, he went in the direction of St. Thomas's personal-ism, while enriching his methodology with Husserl's phenomenology and with contemporary anthropo-sciences. The foundations of his new philosophy could not be, as with Scheler, emotion and experience, but ethical action. Man is considered in his totality as a subject capable of actions that bring empirically verifiable results. This constitutes an extremely important step in helping overcome the objective-subjective division which characterizes the philosophy of the last hundred years.

[Author's Note: In his essay "The Personalism of St. Thomas" Wojtyla writes about this process of contemporary thought: "We gradually observe in this philosophy a process which I would call the hypostasis of consciousness: consciousness becomes an independent subject of action and, indirectly, of existence; the latter emerges, so to speak, alongside the body, alongside its material structure submitted to the laws of nature. . . . This solution is radically different from that of St. Thomas. According to him, consciousness and self-consciousness are a derived product, something like the fruit of a thinking nature that would exist in man."]

In his literary endeavors Wojtyla constructed a worldview  which we shall call active personalism, sometimes doing so even earlier than in his philosophical works.

Warsaw Translated from the Polish By Alice-Catherine Carls
Krzysztof Dybciak and Alice-Catherine Carls, “The Poetic Phenomenology of a Religious Man: About the Literary Creativity of Karol Wojtyła,” in World Literature Today, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Spring, 1980), pp. 223-229

Grol-Prokopczyk's Review of the Jeweler's Shop (1981)

Besides satisfying the general curiosity about Pope John Paul II's (Karol Wojtyla's) play writing, "The Jewelers Shop," subtitled "A Meditation on the Sacrament of Matrimony, Passing on Occasion into a Drama," will be of great interest to scholars interested in Polish literature and twentieth- century theatre. The noted critic Boleslaw Taborski, selected by a special papal commission to do the translation of the play, has acquitted himself of the task splendidly. His informative introduction presents the Pope as a committed thespian and playwright and offers a solid analysis of the work. Taborski compares Wojtyla to such contemporary dramatists as T. S. Eliot and Pinter and establishes the roots of his play in medieval mysteries, baroque allegories and the conventions of the Rhapsodic Theatre (an underground theatre of which Wojtyla was a co-founder in 1941). Following the conventions, which minimize the visual aspects of performances in favor of the spoken word and the meaning it implies, The Jeweler s Shop is essentially a static play. Yet it is dramatically effective and astonishingly modern in its technique. Composed of loose scenes and monologues that only tangentially converge to create the impression of a dialogue, the play is unified in a twofold way: thematically, in that all three acts deal with various phases of marital love; and on a more superficial level, in terms of the locale through repeated reminiscences of or references to the jeweler's shop. 

Originally published in the Catholic journal Znak (Cracow, December 1960) under the pseudonym Andrej Jawieri (see WLT 54:2, pp. 223-29 and 240-43), the play can be seen as a phenomenological exploration of love. Act one presents a couple at the proposal and wedding stage; act two shows another couple and their growing estrangement; in act three children of the couples in the preceding acts are overcoming their anxieties on the threshold of marriage. Wojtyla writes as someone who has experienced the onus of human existence. He is extremely sensitive to the joys and the miseries of relationships, including those between parents and children. Overall, the play is rather low-keyed in its impact. Love is never presented as a passionate outburst, nor are the messages overly didactic or moralizing. The play has metaphysical and even mythical dimensions. The first couple's attraction is manifested in terms of mysterious "signals." The Jeweler is presented as a sage, at times a magician, with insights into the future. Likewise Adam, the mysterious stranger in act two, prophesies, sees more deeply than others and ultimately - as the author's mouthpiece, no doubt - declares that love must be found "in the dimensions of God." 

Wojtyla advocates a yearning for "the absolute Existence and Love," yet mediated by other people. As one of the numerous philosophizing lines informs us, "Love is a constant challenge, thrown to us by God." The religious premises and overtones of the play are hardly surprising. What astonishes and inspires one is Wojtyia's most profound understanding of human nature reflected in the play. The free-flowing blank verse of the original has been very capably rendered into English. 

Regina Grol-Prokopczyk, Empire State College

World Literature Today, Vol. 55, No. 2, Spring 1981 p. 345 

Karol Wojtyla. The Jewelers Shop. Boleslaw Taborski, tr. New York. Random House. 1980. xix + 75 pages. $7.95. 

Czerwinski's Review of The Jeweler's Shop (1988)

 Kotlarczyk's Rhapsodic Theater was the crucible where the future pope's beliefs were tested. Wojtyla championed the cause of the "theater of the Word," whose chief concern, as Boleslaw Taborski points out in his introduction, is "not so much with external events as with exploring man's soul; it is there that the 'action' often unfolds." It is also the reason for the static nature of Wojtyla's dramas, especially "Our God's Brother" and "Radiation of Fatherhood."

The message in each is in keeping with Christian thought: "Let yourself be molded by love" and "Go on searching." According to the young Wojtyla (1945-50), a revolution may come, but the life devoted to Christ is the greater reward and a "greater freedom." 

The message is the same in The Jeweler's Shop, but it is more accessible to the reader-viewer. The theme of love is developed in a way that is fresh and original. It is a modern mystery play with all the ingredients of a psychological thriller: suspense, romance, interesting situations and characters, and imaginative plot twists. The voice of the seer is dominant, however: "The future depends on love." It is this statement that is repeated throughout the five plays. "Love, which springs from freedom" is a two-edged sword, for "you too, like me, must be liberated from freedom / through love." This thought is the key element in all the plays: "Love denies freedom of will to him who loves." It also happens to form the basis of Christian thought. 

If there is an award that can be given to a translator and editor, Boleslaw Taborski should be its recipient. His English renditions are magnificent, and the introductions to the plays are perceptive and definitive. (On Wojtyla's plays, see also WLT 54:2, pp. 240-43.) 

E. J. Czerwinski SUNY, Stony Brook in World Literature Today, Vol. 62, No. 3, (Summer,1988), pp. 477-478

John Paul II on Newman

Newman's statue at the London Oratory

Today is the feast day of Blessed John Henry Newman. 

Newman had a profound influence on Blessed John Paul II, whose approach to faith and reason is derived from Aquinas and Newman. On various occasions John Paul II offered his comments on Newman and we have much to glean from them. I would like to pull out a few comments for reflection.

In commemorating the centenary of Newman's death in 1990 Blessed John Paul II took two occasions for reflection on his great witness.

In a letter to the Archbishop of Birmingham, John Paul II linked Newman's work to the crisis of our times and the response of Vatican II:

He urges [us] to keep asking the deeper, more basic questions about the meaning of life and of all human history; not to be content with a partial response to the great mystery that is man himself; to have the intellectual honesty and moral courage to accept the light of truth, no matter what personal sacrifice it may involve. Above all, Newman is a magnificent guide for all those who perceive that the key, the focal point and the goal of all human history is to be found in Christ (Gaudium et Spes, 10) and in union with him in that community of faith, hope and charity, which is his holy Church, through which he communicates truth and grace to all (Lumen Gentium, 8).

The contemporary approaches to the human person and society tend to be reductionistic, reducing the human to the material and the external, denying freedom, and lowering the goal of human striving. We must preserve the mystery and depth of human existence, and in Newman's work we find a deep reverence for the human person.  Indeed, the "prospects for genuine freedom" and the discovery of a solid foundation for the dignity of the person find a resonance in Newman.

Newman had a sharp eye for academic hypocrisy and sham. He was grieved by the flippant and arrogant approach the typical academic would take to the mystery of God and man; these academics and associated opinion makers would often opine about divine matters as if commenting upon cricket match or a plate of stew. Newman teaches us that a proper disposition must be cultivated to even approach the majesty of truth. Thus, John Paul II addressed a scholarly group dedicated to Newman (see address here) and spoke of the inspiration we receive from Newman as a "Pilgrim of Truth":

I would underline the inspiration that scholars and thoughtful readers of Newman continue to receive today from this pilgrim for truth. Your Symposium and other such celebrations during this centenary year offer the occasion for a deeper appreciation of Newman’s charism. Not least among his merits, he reminds us of the need for an interior disposition of loving obedience to God if contemporary society is to be successful in its quest for the full liberating truth which it urgently needs, and indeed knows itself to need.

Finally, John Paul II was drawn to Newman's personal holiness, so rooted in his loving abandonment to God. Newman suffered much disappointment, contradiction and pain and yet he never lost hope or  a lively charity. On the occasion of the second centenary of Newman's birth, John Paul II wrote a letter and noted:

Newman’s search was shot through with pain. Once he had come to that unshakeable sense of the mission entrusted to him by God, he declared: "Therefore, I will trust Him... If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may serve Him... He does nothing in vain... He may take away my friends. He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide the future from me. Still, He knows what He is about" (Meditations and Devotions). All these trials he knew in his life; but rather than diminish or destroy him they paradoxically strengthened his faith in the God who had called him, and confirmed him in the conviction that God "does nothing in vain". In the end, therefore, what shines forth in Newman is the mystery of the Lord’s Cross: this was the heart of his mission, the absolute truth which he contemplated, the "kindly light" which led him on.

Act of Entrustment to Mary, Oct 8 2000

On Sunday, October 8, 2000, at the conclusion of the Jubilee of the Bishops, Blessed Pope John Paul II and the bishops entrusted themselves and the Church in the new millennium to Mary. John Paul II's prayer of entrustment follows:
1. "Woman, behold your Son!" (Jn 19:26).
As we near the end of this Jubilee Year,
when you, O Mother, have offered us Jesus anew,
the blessed fruit of your womb most pure,
the Word made flesh, the world’s Redeemer,
we hear more clearly the sweet echo of his words
entrusting us to you, making you our Mother:
"Woman, behold your Son!"
When he entrusted to you the Apostle John,
and with him the children of the Church and all people,
Christ did not diminish but affirmed anew
the role which is his alone as the Saviour of the world.
You are the splendour which in no way dims the light of Christ,
for you exist in him and through him.
Everything in you is fiat: you are the Immaculate One,
through you there shines the fullness of grace.
Here, then, are your children, gathered before you
at the dawn of the new millennium.
The Church today, through the voice of the Successor of Peter,
in union with so many Pastors assembled here
from every corner of the world,
seeks refuge in your motherly protection
and trustingly begs your intercession
as she faces the challenges which lie hidden in the future.

2. In this year of grace, countless people have known
the overflowing joy of the mercy
which the Father has given us in Christ.
In the particular Churches throughout the world,
and still more in this centre of Christianity,
the widest array of people have accepted this gift.
Here the enthusiasm of the young rang out,
here the sick have lifted up their prayer.
Here have gathered priests and religious,
artists and journalists,
workers and people of learning,
children and adults,
and all have acknowledged in your beloved Son
the Word of God made flesh in your womb.
O Mother, intercede for us,
that the fruits of this Year will not be lost
and that the seeds of grace will grow
to the full measure of the holiness
to which we are all called.

3. Today we wish to entrust to you the future that awaits us,
and we ask you to be with us on our way.
We are the men and women of an extraordinary time,
exhilarating yet full of contradictions.
Humanity now has instruments of unprecedented power:
we can turn this world into a garden,
or reduce it to a pile of rubble.
We have devised the astounding capacity
to intervene in the very well-springs of life:
man can use this power for good, within the bounds of the moral law,
or he can succumb to the short-sighted pride
of a science which accepts no limits,
but tramples on the respect due to every human being.
Today as never before in the past,
humanity stands at a crossroads.
And once again, O Virgin Most Holy,
salvation lies fully and uniquely in Jesus, your Son.

4. Therefore, O Mother, like the Apostle John,
we wish to take you into our home (cf. Jn 19:27),
that we may learn from you to become like your Son.
"Woman, behold your son!"
Here we stand before you
to entrust to your maternal care
ourselves, the Church, the entire world.
Plead for us with your beloved Son
that he may give us in abundance the Holy Spirit,
the Spirit of truth which is the fountain of life.
Receive the Spirit for us and with us,
as happened in the first community gathered round you
in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost (cf. Acts 1:14).
May the Spirit open our hearts to justice and love,
and guide people and nations to mutual understanding
and a firm desire for peace.
We entrust to you all people, beginning with the weakest:
the babies yet unborn,
and those born into poverty and suffering,
the young in search of meaning,
the unemployed,
and those suffering hunger and disease.
We entrust to you all troubled families,
the elderly with no one to help them,
and all who are alone and without hope.

5. O Mother, you know the sufferings
and hopes of the Church and the world:
come to the aid of your children in the daily trials
which life brings to each one,
and grant that, thanks to the efforts of all,
the darkness will not prevail over the light.
To you, Dawn of Salvation, we commit
our journey through the new Millennium,
so that with you as guide
all people may know Christ,
the light of the world and its only Saviour,
who reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit
for ever and ever. Amen.

The First Visit to White House by a Roman Pontiff, Oct 6 1979

On October 6, 1979 Blessed John Paul II became the first Pope to step foot in the White House. Jimmy Carter extended the invitation to him.

At the White House John Paul II spoke of his Polish heritage and the importance of respect for the dignity of the person.

He said:

Divine Providence in its own designs has called me from my native Poland to be the Successor of Peter in the See of Rome and the leader of the Catholic Church. It gives me great joy to be the first Pope in history to come to the Capital of this nation, and I thank Almighty God for this blessing. In accepting your courteous invitation, Mr. President, I have also hoped that our meeting today would serve the cause of world peace, international understanding and the promotion of full respect for human rights everywhere. . . .

I come from a nation with a long tradition of deep Christian faith and with a national history marked by many upheavals; for more than a hundred years Poland was even erased from the political map of those values without which no society can prosper: love of freedom, cultural creativity, and the conviction that common endeavors for the good of society must be guided by a true moral sense. My own spiritual and religious mission impels me to be the messenger of peace and brotherhood, and to witness to the true greatness of every human person. This greatness derives from the love of God, who created us in his own likeness and gave us an eternal destiny. It is in this dignity of the human person that I see the meaning of history, and that I find the principle that gives sense to the role which every human being has to assume for his or her own advancement and for the well-being of the society to which he or she belongs. 

Paprocki on Wojtyla as a model of courage in defending religious freedom

Bishop Thomas John Paprocki

The Most Rev. Thomas John Paprocki, Bishop of Springfield, Il.  delivered the homily for the Red Mass in Houston Texas. He warns us of the aggressive form of secular ideology that is permeating our society, animating many politicians and cultural leaders to make every effort to reduce the Church's presence in the public sphere. He draws inspiration from the courage of Cardinals Wyszyński and Wojtyla. I reproduce that portion of his homily below. (Find the full homily here)

Perhaps the best antidote to profane secularism can be learned from the example of those who withstood and defeated godless communism. One of the staunchest defenders of the Church in communist Poland was the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. In May 1953, the communist regime ordered the implementation of a law by which it, not the Catholic Church, would appoint and remove pastors, vicars and bishops. The Church would become, de facto, a subsidiary of the state. In a powerful sermon at Warsaw’s St. John’s Cathedral, Cardinal Wyszyński drew the line, saying, “We teach that it is proper to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s. But when Caesar sits himself on the altar, we respond curtly: he may not.”

Shortly afterwards Cardinal Wyszyński was arrested and began three years of internment. “By the end of the year, eight bishops and 900 priests were in prison for their faith. The numbers would increase to 2,000 over the next two years, while theological faculties were closed, parents threatened, religious education stopped in the schools, and onerous taxes [were] laid on the Church.” When unrest took hold of Poland in the form of workers’ demonstrations during a general strike in June 1956 that was crushed by tanks of the Red Army, the new communist leader realized that “only one man could calm the situation – Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński – and so he had him released from his interment, but only after Cardinal Wyszyński demanded and received other concessions from the communist authorities.

A young Bishop by the name of Karol Wojtyła would follow in the footsteps of Cardinal Wyszyński in defending religious freedom. Following World War II, the Polish government established a town called Nowa Huta in the industrial outskirts of Kraków. They intended it to be a model communist city without God, comprised of steel workers and other laborers, but in which there was to be no church building. The Polish Catholics of Nowa Huta and the local Auxiliary Bishop thought otherwise. On December 24, 1959, Bishop Wojtyła began celebrating Christmas Midnight Mass in a freezing open field in Nowa Huta during the years in which the communist regime refused a building permit. On October 13, 1967, the communist authorities finally gave permission to build a church, and the very next day, Wojtyła, who by then had become the Cardinal Archbishop of Kraków, “drove to Nowa Huta and turned the symbolic first spade of earth, preparing the ground for the cornerstone, which was donated by [Pope] Paul VI and taken from a fragment of Constantine’s ancient basilica of St. Peter in Rome.” The triumph of Cardinal Wojtyła was celebrated with his dedication of the new church in Nowa Huta on May 15, 1977.

Poland was blessed with some strong bishops during the years of communist persecution, especially Cardinal Wyszyński and Cardinal Wojtyła, but we should note that their eventual success was bolstered by a fervent and determined laity. Without the protests of the laity, Cardinal Wyszyński would not have been released from his confinement and Cardinal Wojtyła would never have dedicated a new church in Nowa Huta. People need to keep that in mind when they demand strong leadership from their bishops. Yes, the successors of the apostles must be willing to lay down their lives for the faith as did the first apostles, but bishops should also be able to count on the dedicated and zealous support of the lay Christian faithful.

Workshop 8: Vatican II and enrichment of faith

In session 8 of the summer workshop, Waldstein spoke about Wojtyla's account of Vatican II in his book Sources of Renewal.  Find Waldstein's chapter here.

"The implementation of the council consists first and foremost in enriching the faith." Wojtyla said enrichment does not mean adding explicit formulations  of truths but receiving and realizing faith more richly in lived experience. As we noted previously, to lack receptivity: "What a world of power unreported," Rilke wrote.

Vatican II calls for the enrichment, or deepening, of the faith. Cardinal Wojtyla explained that the faithful must be formed in consciousness, that is, in awareness of faith, and in attitude, that is, the "Existential or moral aspect of a mature faith."

Waldstein explains that "as a supernatural gift to the human person, faith has its origin in God." The response to God is an act of self-abandonment. Thus "the notion of 'self-gift' is not far away." Yes we accept the truth of propositions of faith, but also one becomes "aware of one's vocation and meaning of ones existence."

Waldstein argues against the idea put forward by Rocco Buttiglione, in hs fine book, on Wojtyla, that the key to the council is religious freedom,or freedom of conscience. Waldstein agrees that Wojtyla speaks about the importance of subjectivity; but first, as the capacity for appropriation of faith. Here the influence of St John of the Cross is clear. "In his turn towards the subject, Wojtyla draws on a carmelite source that sprang up authentically from within the normative Catholic tradition. He reads Vatican II in light of this authentically Catholic attention to the lived experience of personal interiority and subjectivity unfolded by John of the Cross."

For example, here is a reference to consciousness in Redemptor hominis:

through the Church's consciousness, which the Council considerably developed, through all levels of this self-awareness, and through all the fields of activity in which the Church expresses, finds and confirms herself, we must constantly aim at him "who is the head", "through whom are all things and through whom we exist", who is both "the way, and the truth" §7

Obviously, consciousness is paired with response to faith and the truth of Christ, not freedom of conscience or religious freedom as such. There is no ambiguity about the truth of faith:

Our response must be: Our spirit is set in one direction, the only direction for our intellect, will and heart is-towards Christ our Redeemer, towards Christ, the Redeemer of man. We wish to look towards him -- because there is salvation in no one else but him, the Son of God.

As he learned from St. John of the Cross, Blessed John Paul II teaches us that "faith is to be personal, free and convinced, embraced with ones entire being, an ecclesial faith, confessed and celebrated in communion with the Church, a praying and adoring faith, matured through the experience of communion with God." (Letter of John of the Cross, 1990, §7)

Thus Blessed John Paul II says that John of the Cross shows us the way to the "adult faith which the Second Vatican Council asks of us." How mistaken it would be to think that an "adult faith" means the reduction of mystery so as to live more according to the standard of western consumerism and the facile reductionism of the intelligentsia. John of the Cross speaks of the dark night of intellect, affection and will, not of the endorsement of secular rationality, therapeutic satisfaction, or assertion of personal rights.