Sainthood causes – Page 8

Rose Hawthorne’s cause for sainthood advances

The process of becoming a saint, if you are not a John Paul II or a Mother Terese can take some time. When I heard the news of the completion of US side of Rose Hawthorne’s cause for canonization was made, the other day from a Dominican priest friend, a “praise God” rang out! The last significant ecclesial judgement made on the sanctity of Rose Hawthorne was in 2003 when she was declared to be a Servant of God.

Servant of God Rose Hawthorne (1851-1926), was founder of the Dominican Sisters of Hawthorne, led unusual life as a wife, mother, and convert. Rose was born in Lenox, MA, and died in Hawthorne, NY. In religion she is known as Mother Mary Alphonsa, OP. Rose worked to comfort the poor dying of cancer. The diocesan phase for cause of canonization was opened by Cardinal Edward Michael Egan. Rose Hawthorne was declared Servant of God on February 4, 2003. Father Gabriel B. O’Donnell, OP, is the postulator. On 9 April, the necessary documentation signed by the archbishop of New York, Timothy Cardinal Dolan. On 20 April 2013 Father O’Donnell will be delivering this phase concerning Rose’ heroic virtue and the writing of the historical report to Rome’s Congregation of Saints. For more info: www.hawthorne-dominicans.org

The Catholic New York reports the story.

Hawthorne is one 10 people with connections in the State of New York who are being considered for sainthood.

Father Edward Flanagan, Servant of God

The events of March we have missed yet another fruit of America’s holiness when the revered founder of Boys Town, Father Edward Flanagan’s cause for canonization was opened in Omaha, NE, and declared a Servant of God.

Servant of God Father Edward Flanagan (1886-1948) was a native of County Roscommon, Ireland, on July 13, 1886 he was born the 8th of 11 children of John and Nora Flanagan. In 1904, he came to the United States. Flanagan first studied for the priesthood at Dunwoodie Seminary with the intention of being a priest of the Archdiocese of New York; illness prevented his further studies and he eventually moved with his family to Omaha. There he was accepted as a seminarian and sent to Rome’s Capranica College, with classes at the Gregorian University but finished his studies in Innsbruck’s Royal Imperial Leopold Francis University. Flanagan’s ordination to the priesthood happened on July 26, 1912 and he offered his first Mass in St. Ignatius Church, Innsbruck, Austria. He was a priest for the Diocese of Omaha. Father Flanagan was assigned Saint Patrick’s Church, O’Neill, NE. In March 1913, he was appointed Assistant Pastor to Saint Patrick Catholic Church in Omaha. His natural qualities of generosity to the poor and marginalized and prayer were made manifest.

With the permission of Bishop Jeremiah Harty, on December 12, 1917, Father Flanagan opened his first Boys’ Home in a run-down Victorian mansion in downtown Omaha. In his lifetime Father Flanagan helped more than 6,000 boys. During a tour of Europe, he fell ill and died of a heart attack in Berlin, Germany, on May 15, 1948. At the request of the Father Flanagan League Society of Devotion (FFLSD), Archbishop George Lucas, of the Archdiocese of Omaha has accepted responsibility for the beatification process. On March 17, 2012, Lucas formally opened the cause of canonization at a service of prayer at Immaculate Conception Church (Boys Town), bestowing the title of “Servant of God” upon Father Flanagan. Dr. Andrei Ambrosi is the Postulator for the cause.

Father Joseph Walijewski’s cause for beatification opened

Father Joseph Walijewski (1924-2006), a missionary to Latin America, is now part of a long list of Americans who are being studied by the Church for possible sainthood.

Father Walijewski’s cause for beatification opened by Bishop William P. Callahan, bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, WI, March 19, 2013. Dr. Andrea Ambrosi will be the postulator. Walijewski was born to poor Polish immigrant parents in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 15, 1924; ordained priest for the Diocese of La Crosse in April 1950; and began missionary work in Bolivia in 1956; he died on April 11, 2006, suffering pneumonia and acute leukemia. Father Joseph also served in Ecuador and Peru. While in Peru, he helped organize breakfast stations that fed 8,000 children per day where he founded in 1987 the Lima orphanage Casa Hogar Juan Pablo II, the House of John Paul II.

Oscar Romero’s 33rd anniversary

The Lord will show his justice to the nations of the world.

Archbishop Oscar Romero, assassinated 33 years ago today, offering Mass in San Salvador.

Archbishop Romero is remembered as a Church leader of hope in a country that was ravaged by poverty, injustice and oppression.

In the face of incredible injustice, the Archbishop knew the Church to be a beacon of faith, hope and charity, recognized his responsibility to be a witness to these virtues and to challenge the oppressors, especially those who claimed to be Catholic. Romero’s cause for canonization is being studied.

Walter Ciszek: Chained, but Free

Father Walter Ciszek (1904-84) is likely to be one the 20th century’s finest American priests –ever. If you don’t believe me read John Levko’s “Chained, but Free: How Walter Ciszek gained spiritual liberation in Lubyanka prison.”

If you still don’t believe my assertion, read Ciszek’s With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me. Still lacking the same conviction that I have proposed, then you are hopeless. Father Walter Ciszek is not great because he survived 23 years of Soviet prison life; he’s the finest American priest’s of the 20th century because he allowed God to use his humanity and the Soviet prison to point to someone greater: Jesus Christ.

The Levko piece is a terrific testament to a life completely in communion with God. The article is too complicated to be digested here so you’ll have to read it for yourself. Enjoy it, but spend some time thinking and praying about what you’ve read.

You can read Father Jim Martin’s piece on Father Ciszek here.

Here’s the Ciszek Prayer League site.

Dorothy Day: former atheist, social advocate & journalist, moves toward sainthood

Rome Reports, a work of a group of laity covering news items concerning the Catholic Church particularly in Rome (the bulk of their reporting) but the reporters also cover other stories of interest to the Christian world.

As you know I am hoping with eagerness for positive news on the studies related to the cause for canonization of the Servant of God Dorothy Day. Rome Reports did a news piece today: “Dorothy Day: former atheist and social advocate journalist, on the way to sainthood.”

Pope Paul on the way to sainthood, others move ahead

English: President John F.Kennedy visits Pope ...

US President John F.Kennedy visits Pope Paul VI.

The Prefect of the Congregation for Saints, Angelo Cardinal Amato, SDB, in the course of an audience with His Holiness today, received permission to promulgate a decree certifying those whose causes have been studied and have reached a particular place in the ongoing work of judging who are candidates as saints. There is a human process in “saint-making” but true be told, ONLY God makes saints.

Notable on the list moving ahead is the Servant of God Pope Paul VI (Giovanni Battista Montini) who died on August 6, 1978.

Montini of Milan was the 261st pontiff taking the name “Paul VI” and followed John XXIII (now a Blessed) and was before John Paul I (who’s cause for sainthood is also being studied). Paul is among with many others on the move.The list presented to Pope Benedict today is here.

Who was Pope Paul VI? Vatican Radio’s Veronica Scarisbrick helps to answer the question.

Pope Paul there are three new saints and many others who now move up the proverbial ladder. The pope is now referred to as the Venerable Servant of God Pope Paul VI.

Dorothy Day’s 32nd anniversary of death

Today is the 32nd anniversary of death of the Servant of God Dorothy Day. The Benedictine Oblate from Brooklyn Heights, NY, who is remembered for her conversion to Christ and His Church and with Peter Maurin founded The Catholic Worker Movement.

In recent days we’ve learned that the bishops of the USA are standing behind Day’s cause for canonization advancing it to the next canonical stage. While the process may be protracted for some, it is a good and substantial process to ascertain the claim of sanctity of the person in question. As an editorial, I tend to think 30 years is a good amount of time between the death of a person and the study process commencing; in my humble opinion I think it was far too short of time for Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II beatifications; both are saints in my opinion, but I think the process can’t be shortchanged because of cosmic popularity.

Day was a Benedictine Oblate of St Procopius Abbey.

The Archdiocese of New York is in charge of the cause of canonization. You can contact the office at 212-371-1000, ext. 2474.

The following letter to the editors by Kenneth Woodward regarding the funeral of Dorothy Day which sheds some light on the New York Archdiocese’s involvement. Many are falsely led to believe the Church was callous because no bishop was present at the funeral Mass. Apparently, truth prevails. Read the letter.

To the Editors:

Your story on Dorothy Day and the bishops ignores a number of facts concerning her funeral, which I attended.

As it happened, Cardinal Terrance Cooke of New York wanted her funeral held in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, where the congregation would certainly have included many bishops, but the Catholic Worker community insisted that the funeral held in the neighborhood where Dorothy had lived so the poor could attend. Few actually did. At the church door each mourner was greeted by Cooke himself, not dressed in a cardinal’s finery but in a simple black cassock. Cooke did not stay for the mass because he did not want his presence to draw attention away from the woman for whose sake we mourners had gathered. Later, he held a memorial mass for Dorothy at the cathedral.

Cooke was a conservative churchman. So was Cardinal John O’Connor who formally initiated the cause on behalf of Dorothy Day’s canonization. Paradoxically, it was Father Daniel Berrigan and other members of the “Catholic Left” who opposed the effort to canonize Dorothy Day. Details can be found in my book, “Making Saints,” first published in 1996. Berrigan feared that in the canonization process the narrative of Day’s life would be stripped of its radical Christian elements. Those fears would indeed be realized if “Saint Dorothy” were to be venerated solely for her remorse for having had an abortion in the years prior to her conversion to Catholicism.

Kenneth L. Woodward

You also be interested to read the Eulogy given by the former Dominican Friar Geoffrey B. Gneuhs on December 2, 1980.

The “man from the Veneto” who was John Paul I

Many of us only know the name Albino Luciani. He was the one who became Pope John Paul I in 1978 and lived only 33 days as the Supreme Pontiff. That was 34 years ago; I was only 9 when the smiling pope appeared and then departed. I often think of what the face of the Church would’ve been like had he lived longer.

Celebrating the 100th birthday of Pope John Paul I (17 October 1912), L’Osservatore Romano and Il Messaggero di sant’Antonio organized a symposium on November 8 learn more about this enigmatic man. An editorial in L’Osservatore Romano gave but a peek of what was learned.

Indeed, it’s interesting to hear that JPI followed three assumptions: “detachment from the world, obedience to superiors, and absolute faithfulness to the institution” in his ministry and that he was a lover of books. Me too. Apparently, JPI liked authors as diverse as Aesop, LaFontaine, Mark Twain (his favorite) to Chesterton and Dickens, among many. He also liked rock music and the comics. For a priest of the mountains he was an educated, curious and humane person. His cause for canonization is being studied.

Luciani spoke of the Second Vatican Council using soccer terms. Good for him. He got the point across to those who likely wouldn’t know where to begin to understand the complexities of a Ecumenical Council.

Read the editorial for yourself.

Dorothy Day not the patron saint of the “left” nor an agenda item of the “right”

Dorothy Day is not a pawn in political camps. She is the darling of a political camp for either the seculars or the ecclesials. To apply political monikers of liberal and conservative, left or right is grossly inaccurate and a rather reductionistic manner to understand a person and her vocation, the vocation defined by love and happiness. True to an authentic follower of Christ, Dorothy Day’s vocation was to be a saint, that is singularly focussed on her Lord and Savior; her vocation was to adore and follow Jesus Christ. Day’s vocation was not to feed the the poor and argue for a change in governmental policy. As a friend said, Day’s life is too easily “framed in political terms by people who anachronistically use words like ‘liberal’ and ‘conservative’ to describe a life that was never about that fight.” Additionally, I fully agree with Martha Hennessy, 57, the granddaughter of Day who said she was uncomfortable about her grandmother’s abortion. Let’s pay attention to Martha Hennessy, “I wish we would focus on the birth of her child more than on her abortion because that’s what really played a role in her conversion.” Indeed. This is the pro-life position of the Church.

I significantly dislike the way Day’s life is used to diminish a true practice of faith, of religion. The NY Times published Sharon Otterman’s article, “In Hero of the Catholic Left, a Conservative Cardinal Sees a Saint,” and it’s typically misguided with tired cliches and wrong information (her facts are often wrong) yet useful in a limited way because Dorothy Day saintliness shines. Obviously Otterman wanted a story and not the truth.