Communio – Page 584 – …bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Reviving Christianity’s Artistic Tradition

Vatican Proposing Presence at Venice Biennial

By Paolo Centofanti

ROME, SEPT. 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Art just might be the key to reintroducing the great
figures and images of Christianity to modern culture, according to the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture.”

Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, who also heads the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church, said this in an interview with ZENIT this week regarding his proposal to promote the presence of sacred art at the 2009 Venice Biennial.

He said his idea is to launch a “presence — not direct, but parallel” — at the contemporary art exhibition that takes place every other year in Venice, Italy.

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in July, he revealed that the Vatican is weighing various proposals concerning the placement of its pavilion, such as at the University of Venice or in a series of Churches. He also spoke of plans for an art prize at the exhibit.

“This presence of the Holy See,” the archbishop told ZENIT, “which I would like to realize, has precisely the objective to foster a new art that also takes into account the great religious motifs, including but not only the Marian motif.”

Archbishop Ravasi lamented that great architects are building modern Churches around the world, but the structures “are either naked [inside], as they have only the architecture of light, or images in poor taste, or only the presence of handicrafts and not, as in the past, great works of art.”

“Suffice it to think of the great churches of the 16th century,” he said, “of Baroque art, which had in themselves the wonder of architecture, but also the presence of artists such as Bernini, for example, or Titian, or Veronese. Let us think of the great Venetian churches, what lofty presences they have from the point of view of art history.”

The archbishop said he would like, through his proposal, to encourage “great contemporary artists […] to represent the great religious images, and also to reawaken in […] ecclesial authorities the need to propose again great works within their churches.”

“Perhaps art,” he added, “might be the way to reintroduce the figure of Mary, but also the figures of the great images and great personalities — beginning with Christ, of course — of the Christian tradition.”

Foundation to Promote Thought of Benedict XVI

A foundation devoted to the study of the thought of Pope Benedict XVI will be unveiled in Munich on November 12th. The foundation is devoted to “the promotion of theology in the spirit of Joseph Ratzinger.” The press release announcing the foundation said: “The board of trustees whose members include former students from Germany, Portugal, Ireland, Benin, and the United States, reflects the international character of the Schülerkreis and the international scope of the foundation’s outreach.”

For 30 years there has been a meeting of the Schülerkreis since it was set up after then Professor Joseph Ratzinger was named archbishop of Munich in 1977.

UPDATE 17 September: Rome Reports gives us perspective here.

May the Lord bring success to the work of their hands and minds.

Trappist General Chapter begins

Today, September 2, 2008, will mark the opening of the General Chapter of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (the Trappists) in Assisi and will remain in session until September 23rd.

What a great place to meet!

For the Abbots and Abbesses in General Chapter this is an important moment for the Order and the Church, but this Chapter’s importance lies in the fact that they will be saying good bye to the current Abbot General, Dom Bernardo Olivera, after 18 years in office. He will submit his resignation and return to his home monastery. It is presumed that the Chapter will accept Dom Bernardo’s request to resign; an election of his successor will follow.

You can follow the progress of the Mixed General Meeting (MGM) by visiting the blog or visit the Order’s website.

Let’s pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in the deliberations of the Trappist abbots and abbesses. And after the election of Dom Bernardo’s successor we’ll raise a pint of beer to honor both.

All Cistercian saints and blesseds, pray for the Chapter.

The Pope’s Prayer Intentions for September 2008

What is prayer? It is a complete surrender to God; it is an attitude and way of life that is

known as a complete abandonment to God’s greatness who is beyond all our understanding and need because out of love He creates and redeems us.

The general intention

That those, who because of war and totalitarian regimes have been obliged to leave their homes and country, be supported by Christians in the defense and protection of their rights.

The mission intention

That all Christian families, faithful to the sacrament of matrimony, will cultivate the values of love and community, so that they will be a small evangelizing community, open and sensitive to the material and spiritual needs of their brothers and sisters.

It’s back to class for Pope Benedict and his students

The Pope held his annual Schülerkreis (Circle of Students) according to the Catholic press. It’s refreshing to me to know that the duties of being Supreme Pontiff don’t sidetrack the Pope from doing some important theological thinking.

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 31, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is meeting with his former students to discuss the historical Christ and the Gospel account of the Passion, reports L’Osservatore Romano.

The Vatican newspaper reported that the meeting is taking place through Monday at Castel Gandolfo, where the Pope is spending the summer.

The meeting is an annual one that the Holy Father has had with 38 former students and doctoral candidates for more than 25 years. The group is called “Ratzinger Schülerkreis” (Ratzinger’s Circle of Students).

The colloquium is treating the figure of Jesus both in light of “Jesus of Nazareth,” published by Benedict XVI in 2007, and in view of the second volume that the Pope is currently writing.

Two Protestant biblical scholars were invited to this year’s colloquium: Martin Hengel and Peter Stuhlmacher. The two presented papers, and then a discussion was held.

Martin Hengel’s paper dealt with the historicity of the figure of Jesus, and Peter Stuhlmacher reflected of the passion and death of Jesus.

The two exegetes — both professors at the University of Tübingen, where Ratzinger taught in the 1960s — offered suggestive themes for discussion, but will not enter into an exploration of the Pontiff’s work.

Hengel, an historian and exegete, is not new to this gathering. In the 1990s he participated in a meeting and spoke on the figure of Peter in the Gospel of Mark.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the archbishop of Vienna, and Auxiliary Bishop Hans-Jochen Jaschke of Hamburg, are also participating in the meeting.

Father Stephan Horn, 72, a German priest of the Society of the Divine Savior, heads the “Schülerkreis” and organized the meeting.

Professor of Eastern Liturgy dies: Father Miguel Arranz, S.J.

On July 16, 2008 Jesuit Father Miguel Arranz, the well-known professor of Liturgy who

taught at the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome, in Moscow and in St Petersburg, died.

Father Arranz was born on July 9, 1930 in Guadalajara, Spain. Between 1941 and 1949, he studied at the Seminary of Toledo and in 1949 he began studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute where he trained under Jesuit Father Juan Mateos. He was ordained a deacon in 1952 and two years later he was ordained a priest. After spending a period of time studying in Belgium, Father Arranz returned to Rome in 1967 and began his study of the Typicon of the Monastery of the Holy Savior (Messina, Italy). In 1969, he defended a work titled “How did the ancient Byzantines pray?” at the Saint Petersburg Orthodox Spiritual Academy. Between 1969 and 1975, he taught Liturgy at the same Academy where in 1975 Patriarch Pimen appointed him a full professor and later he taught in Moscow and in St Petersburg. Father Arranz is the author of many scholarly articles and books on liturgical theology and history.

Serving the Body of Christ–updated

I updated my survey of religious communities who are getting vocations today. The survey, “Serving the Body of Christ” gives a sketch of the vitality of religious life today. If there are communities not listed, and you know of communities of men and women who are faithful to the Church, then please send me an email and I’ll update the list.

A new congregation of Maronite sisters: Radiating Christ to the world

Recently, Bishop Gregory Mansour and Sister Marla Marie took up Pope Benedict’s idea
of spiritual motherhood with an application to the Maronite Eparchy of Saint Maron. The Maronite Servants of Christ the Light will be working in the parishes of the eparchies by assisting the laity and clergy with programs oriented toward religious education, family life, youth and the elderly. Pretty all-encompassing!

The sisters in the new order will live the communal life of the convent, through contemplative prayer, meals, fellowship, silence and solitude, and exercise and rest, even as they do pastoral work in parishes. Daily prayer will involve communal recitation of the Divine Office, daily Divine Liturgy (Mass), Eucharistic adoration, spiritual reading, and recitation of the Rosary. A prayer life centered on the Eucharist and devoted to Mary will be “our whole-hearted response to God and the source to nourish us to live in community and serve in the apostolate of parish life.”

Bishop Gregory said of the new group:

“The contribution made by consecrated women in the Church is beyond measure. The Maronite Church is no exception. The time has come for the Eparchy of Saint Maron to foster and sponsor a community to assist the priests in the pastoral care of the Eparchy. Sister Marla Marie Lucas has approval to do just that. She and the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light will begin officially (ad experimentum) this June 2008. Please find below an article on this new beginning. Pray for her and please support this effort so that women who feel called to make a complete gift of self in consecrated service to Christ and His Church may find a home in the Maronite Servants of Christ the Light.”

More info is found here and here, and the blog.

From Resentment to Gratitude

Bishop Gregory J. Mansour recently wrote this piece on resentment for the Maronite Voice, the monthly magazine for the two Maronite eparchies in the United States. I think this brief article on resentment is helpful and will open new doors as to how we know ourselves and relate to others. For me it is clear, if we get our “house in order” then living as are made for becomes easier.

Thirty years ago, in his ground-breaking book on spirituality, the late Father Henri
Nouwen described the spiritual life as a series of interior movements in which we go beyond our own self-centered plans in order to reach a deeper communion and authentic love for God and others. The book is appropriately entitled Reaching Out.

A movement “from resentment to gratitude” is described in the book. Father Nouwen says we ought to move from resenting the fact that we were not chosen, not honored, not loved or treated well, to a newfound gratitude for what we have been given, even a gratitude for the valuable lessons we learned from ill treatment. This can only happen when we are honest with ourselves and have the courage to feel once again our hurts and admit that God’s grace brought us through. In this way we maintain balance and can love others with a clean heart and peace of mind.

This “re-sentiment” (which literally means “feeling again”) allows us to bring all our hurts and disappointments to God, Healer and Lover of Mankind, and to turn from a bitter resentment to an inner peace and gratitude.

The destructive power of resentment abounds in society and even in the Church but so,
too, can gratitude. A deep spiritual conversion can take place with God’s grace, even in those who have been harshly treated. We see this in the lives of those who forgave their tormentors in war and imprisonment. Likewise, we see it in the lives of those whose sons, daughters, parents, spouses or friends have been innocently harmed or even killed. There are many examples of awe inspiring forgiveness from those who have been hurt, deprived, or disappointed and yet have found the power to forgive and to live the presence of God in peace and gratitude. It is true also of the like of the saints, from St. Stephen to the martyrs of today.

The seeds of new life and peace are present in every difficulty but we cannot see them without the belief in the power of love and a loving God. We must believe God’s grace can transform resentment into a life-giving gratitude. This is the meaning of the Cross. Resentment kills, but if we have the courage to face our resentments honestly and to reach out in love, then in the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, a sense of gratitude can bring new life, and as Jesus said, ” I came to give life, life in abundance” (John 10:10).

This article was first published in the Maronite Voice in August 2008.

About the Author The Most Reverend Gregory John Mansour is the third eparch of the Eparchy of
Saint Maron, Brooklyn. A native of Flint, Michigan, Mansour was educated at Western Michigan University, Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Seminary, the Catholic University of America, and finally at the Pontifical Gregorian University. He is a teacher of Spiritual Theology. Pope John Paul II named Bishop Gregory to the Brooklyn eparchy in 2004.

What Providence disposed: Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton

The September 1st issue of America Magazine, the Jesuit weekly, there is a good article

to read on America’s first canonized saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton. Sister of Charity Regina Bechtle’s article “An American Daughter: Elizabeth Ann Seton and the birth of the U.S. Church” is a good read for those generally interested in matters pertaining to Catholicism in America. Who wouldn’t be thrilled to know that Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton is the first American born canonized a saint by Pope Paul VI in 1975?

What’s the point of this “stuff” about Seton in late August when her feast day is in January? Well, for one, August 28th marked her 234th birthday and mid-September marks 33 years since Seton was canonized. Too, this year is the 200th anniversary of Pope Pius VII named Baltimore an “archdiocese” along with 4 other Catholic dioceses.

We might also consider the possibility of making a pilgrimage to one of the shrines dedicated to Seton. In a real sense it is less important that we end up at a holy spot just for doing it than it is to take stock of our spiritual lives with God’s grace and with assistance of a particularly singular saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, who made a deliberate choice to follow Christ through His sacrament, the Catholic Church. (BTW, she was a believing Christian but she did not possess the fullness of Truth as we know it in Catholicism.) A pilgrimage, therefore, may open for us an opportunity to acknowledge the exceptional Presence before us like we’ve never understood before now. So, what happens to us on the way to a holy shrine is very important indeed. Hence, we follow Christ!

In case you want to visit the shrines of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton on the east coast there

are two:

1. The National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Emmitsburg, Maryland

2. The Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, New York City

Lord God, you blessed Elizabeth Ann Seton with gifts of grace as wife and mother, educator and foundress, so that she might spend her life in service to your people. Through her example and prayers, may we, whose Faith Community is dedicated in her honor, learn to express our love for you in our love for all your children. We ask this through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.