In All Things

Here's the story from the London Times online.

A Vatican scholar claims to have deciphered the "death certificate" imprinted on the Shroud of Turin, or Holy Shroud, a linen cloth revered by Christians and held by many to bear the image of the crucified Jesus.

Dr Barbara Frale, a researcher in the Vatican secret archives, said "I think I have managed to read the burial certificate of Jesus the Nazarene, or Jesus of Nazareth." She said that she had reconstructed it from fragments of Greek, Hebrew and Latin writing imprinted on the cloth together with the image of the crucified man.

...

Like the image of the man himself the letters are in reverse and only make sense in negative photographs. Dr Frale told La Repubblica that under Jewish burial practices current at the time of Christ in a Roman colony such as Palestine, a body buried after a death sentence could only be returned to the family after a year in a common grave.

A death certificate was therefore glued to the burial shroud to identify it for later retrieval, and was usually stuck to the cloth around the face. This had apparently been done in the case of Jesus even though he was buried not in a common grave but in the tomb offered by Joseph of Arimathea.

Dr Frale said that many of the letters were missing, with Jesus for example referred to as "(I)esou(s) Nnazarennos" and only the "iber" of "Tiberiou" surviving. Her reconstruction, however, suggested that the certificate read: "In the year 16 of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius Jesus the Nazarene, taken down in the early evening after having been condemned to death by a Roman judge because he was found guilty by a Hebrew authority, is hereby sent for burial with the obligation of being consigned to his family only after one full year". It ends "signed by" but the signature has not survived.

Dr Frale said that the use of three languages was consistent with the polyglot nature of a community of Greek-speaking Jews in a Roman colony. Best known for her studies of the Knights Templar, who she claims at one stage preserved the shroud, she said what she had deciphered was "the death sentence on a man called Jesus the Nazarene. If that man was also Christ the Son of God it is beyond my job to establish. I did not set out to demonstrate the truth of faith. I am a Catholic, but all my teachers have been atheists or agnostics, and the only believer among them was a Jew. I forced myself to work on this as I would have done on any other archaeological find."

The Catholic Church has never either endorsed the Turin Shroud or rejected it as inauthentic

Read the rest here.

James Martin, SJ

Frank Clooney's post below got me thinking about who else should be a saint.  Given that I'm not the pope, I don't have much say in the matter, but here's my Top Five list.   (I'm leaving out those who are already on the fast track like Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, John Henry Newman, etc.)  Of course it all depends on whether these men and women get going and intercede for some miracles.  But here are some whose causes seem obvious choices.

1.) John XXIII.  Come on.  He's about the holiest guy I can imagine.  Read his incredible book The Journal of a Soul, a series of diary entries from the time he was a young seminarian to the end of his life, to see how humility can co-exist with great learning and wisdom.  And how humor can co-exist with holiness.  "Your Holiness, how many people work in the Vatican?" a journalist asked.  "About half of them."  How many popes could have a book like this written about them?  Holy, prayerful, humble, funny, warm, loving, hardworking.  Saint?   A slam dunk.

2.) Dorothy Day.  For all the reasons Fr. Clooney says.  Her quote, "Don't make me a saint; I don't want to be dismissed that easily," is often used against those who support her canonization.  But she had a great devotion to the saints, wrote a book about St. Therese of Lisieux, and understood their essential place in our faith.  Her recently published journals, The Duty of Delight, edited by Robert Ellsberg, show new aspects of her holiness (for example, caring for the dying wife of her former husband, Forster).  Amazing.

3.) Oscar Romero.  Another obvious saint.  And martyr, for God's sake.  Literally.  Killed for his defense of the poor, while he was celebrating Mass.  The holdup is unbelievable.  Almost unconscionable. 

4.) Peter Favre.  Never heard of him?  Often called the "Second Jesuit."  (That's him up top, in the cassock and biretta.)  Close friend of St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xavier, and the man who Ignatius said could best direct people through the Spiritual Exercises.  (And you figure Ignatius was a fairly good judge of this.)  During the time of the Reformation, when everyone else was condemning Protestants, Peter (Pierre) was praying for them and reminding his brother Jesuits (and other Christians) to love them both in word and in deed.  "Take care, take care," he wrote, "never to shut your heart to anyone."  (That comment should make him the patron of bloggers.)  His lovely (but long) Memoriale is a wonderful window into a sometimes-overlooked spiritual master.  The pious legend is that he is still Blessed, and won't intercede for a miracle to cement his canonization, because he doesn't want to take the attention away from his friends Ignatius and Francis.  But they're plenty famous now, Peter.  Time for your final miracle.

5.) Dorothy Stang.  Another martyr, though in a different context than we are used to.  When her killers came for her, she read passages to them from her Bible.  At a time when the Vatican is investigating the "quality of life" of American women religious, they might take a look at the quality of her life. 

Santi subito!

Other suggestions welcome.

James Martin, SJ

I'm happy to report that Masswepray (see post below) the strange video game, is a hoax, or at least their website today leads you to a weird place.  On the other hand, the Talking Rosary is not.

James Martin, SJ

Responding to the confusion over his absence at the announcement of Anglicanum coetibus, Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Council for Christian Unity, explains what happened in an interview with L'Osservatore Romano.  Sandro Magister, veteran Vatican-watcher relates the story in Chiesa Online...

The phone call in the middle of the night from the archbishop of Canterbury. The distrust of the Eastern Churches. The head of Catholic ecumenism takes us behind the scenes of "Anglicanorum cœtibus"

by Sandro Magister  ROME, November 18, 2009 – Cardinal Walter Kasper has admitted it: "There has been a bit of confusion." He himself contributed to some of the confusion, involuntarily.

When on October 20 Cardinal William J. Levada, prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, announced the imminent publication of an apostolic constitution that would regulate the admission of groups from the Anglican Communion into the Catholic Church, he, Kasper, president of the pontifical council for Christian unity and therefore absolutely entitled to be involved, was not in Rome, but in Cyprus, busy with completely unrelated matters.

From this, some deduced that Kasper had wanted to distance himself from a decision that was not his own and with which, perhaps, he did not entirely agree.

Cardinal Kasper was in Cyprus because the island was hosting, from October 16-23, the second round (after the first in Ravenna in 2007) of theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox on how to understand papal primacy. An ecumenical dialogue of capital importance, in which Kasper led the delegation from Rome.

There was, therefore, a perfect justification for his absence from Rome at the moment of the announcement of "Anglicanorum Cœtibus," finally signed by the pope on November 4 and made public on the 9th. But the silence that Kasper maintained on the question even after his return from Cyprus continued to prompt speculation about his reservations.

Cardinal Kasper broke this silence with an interview published in "L'Osservatore Romano" on November 15.

The interview is full of clarifying new information. And it gives a little glimpse behind the scenes.

***

"Let's stick to the facts," Cardinal Kasper says in the interview. "A group of Anglicans has asked freely and legitimately to enter the Catholic Church. This is not our initiative. They first approached our council [for Christian unity], and, as president, I replied that the competency belonged to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. [...] The council has always been kept informed by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, and it is not true that it was pushed aside. We did not participate directly in the conversations, but we were kept updated, as is proper. The text of the [apostolic] constitution was prepared by the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. We saw the draft and presented our proposals."

In any case, the gestation of "Anglicanorum Cœtibus" was kept secret until the last moment, even from the highest authorities of the Anglican Church. When the archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams (in the photo with Benedict XVI), was told that it was about to be published, Kasper was already in Cyprus. And he says that Williams called him in the middle of the night, to ask him for an explanation. Kasper says in the interview:

"We we talked about the significance of the new apostolic constitution, and I reassured him about the continuation of our direct talks, as indicated to us by Vatican Council II and as the pope desires. He replied to me that for him, this confirmation is a very important message."

A couple of days later, on October 20, Williams made the announcement from London about the upcoming release of the apostolic Constitution, together with the Catholic archbishop of Westminster, Vincent G. Nichols, at precisely the same time as Cardinal Levada was making the same announcement in Rome. For this reason as well, Kasper says that he appreciates "the balanced attitude" of the archbishop of Canterbury. "Our personal relationship is cordial and transparent. He is a man of spirituality, a theologian. In reality, the obstacles to ecumenical dialogue today can come only from tensions within the Anglican world."

This last statement must be stressed. In Kasper's view, both the desire of some Anglican groups to change to Catholicism and the obstacles to a more general reconciliation between Rome and Canterbury arise not from the desire of the Catholic Church to "expand its empire" ("a ridiculous comment," the cardinal snaps), but from causes entirely internal to the Anglican Communion.

The cardinal describes these causes in the interview...

Read the rest in Chiesa Online.  The original text of the interview with Cardinal Kasper published in "L'Osservatore Romano" on November 15, 2009:  > Una possibilità concreta non contraria all'ecumenismo

James Martin, SJ

Good news from CNA about the soon-to-be-Venerable, soon-to-be Blessed, soon-to-be Saint John Paul II.

Vatican analyst Andrea Tornielli reported this week that the first step toward the beatification of John Paul II has already been completed.  He explained that officials at the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints have given the green light for the proclamation of the late Pope's heroic virtue. Tornielli added that only the signature of Pope Benedict XVI is needed for the proclamation to become official, noting that it “could come during Christmas, when the prefect for the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, Archbishop Angelo Amato, will include it in cardinals’ agenda.” Once the decree is signed, he said, Pope Wojtyla will be given the title of “venerable.”  “Once the decree is officially promulgated,” Tornielli continued, a miracle will then need to be attributed to the intercession of John Paul II.  One case, the curing of a French nun from Parkinson's Disease, could be the miracle recognized by the Congregation.

And to that end, a fascinating and extensive website on the canonization procedure of John Paul here.  As I've said before, if John Paul and Mother Teresa aren't canonized then no one should be! 

James Martin, SJ

From Nicholas Lash, the distinguished theologian, author and former professor of divinity at Cambridge, in this week's Tablet.  He is dilating on Anglicanorum coetibus, the apostolic constitution, as well as the complementary norms, relating to the Vatican's welcoming of Anglicans.  And he's not sanguine.  (By the way, that drawing from the mag to the right?  Neither fish nor fowl.)  Here's Professor Lash:

More than a century ago, Newman prophetically foresaw that another council would be needed to correct the exaggerated ultramontanism which was the mood of the majority at the First Vatican Council. During the twentieth century, that ultramontanism generated an historically unprecedented centralisation of power in Rome. In due time, however, another council was convened and it was generally agreed that its main doctrinal achievement was the spelling out, in Lumen Gentium, of the doctrine of episcopal collegiality – the theoretical component of the long overdue decentralisation of ecclesial power.

We have the theory, but await the practice. The failure of “Rome” to inform the Archbishop of Canterbury until the last minute; the bypassing of the bishops’ conferences most affected by the proposal – this is of a piece with the issuing, in 2007, of the apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, encouraging general use of the unreformed Missal of 1962, in the teeth of a great deal of episcopal objection.

Why the announcement was made before the constitution was complete, I do not know. But, on the whole, it is not what is being done, but the manner in which it is being done, that is objectionable. A major structural innovation in Roman Catholicism is being introduced without consulting the bishops of the Catholic Church. According to the constitution, “Personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church are erected by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith within the confines of the territorial boundaries of a particular Conference of Bishops in consultation with that same conference” (my stress). Too late, as Judi Dench (playing Elizabeth I) said to Sir Walter Raleigh when she stepped into the puddle.

I very much hope that Catholics in this country and elsewhere will warmly welcome into our communion the members of the new ordinariates. Nevertheless, in terms of the relations between Rome and the bishops’ conferences affected, the way in which these ordinariates have been invented is disgraceful.

In that same issue is a smart piece by Robert Mickens on the evolution of the CDF, and their role in the Anglican outreach; as well as another smart piece by Michael Walsh on the possible fallout in parishes and among priests and bishops.  (Both of those require registration, but it's worth it.)  Read the rest of Lash's piece here, which is free online.

James Martin, SJ

This is either the funniest thing I've ever seen or the scariest.  Or a pretty good hoax.  On the other hand, they have a website that looks pretty legit.

A family shouldn’t have to wait until Sunday to worship the Lord. Now you can go to church every day without leaving your home. Participate in more than 24 unique and exhilarating Ceremonies. Be sure to try them all. The more you play, the more Grace points you collect. Then trade in your Grace points to unlock the Holy Mysteries.

"Featuring Ash Wednesday!"  Love it.  No word if it will incorporate the new Mass translations.

James Martin, SJ

David Gibson at Politics Daily has the story of what the US Bishops Conference heard yesterday at their national meeting from a "sweeping study" conducted by John Jay College.

[Preliminary] results from a sweeping study of sexual abuse in the priesthood show that the Catholic Church has been much like the rest of society in terms of the incidence of abuse and the response by its institutional leaders.

The data, which was presented to the U.S. hierarchy on the second day of their annual meeting here, also appears to contradict the widely held view that homosexuals in the priesthood were largely responsible for the abuse.

"What we are suggesting is that the idea of sexual identity be separated from the problem of sexual abuse," said Margaret Smith, a researcher from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, which is conducting an independent study of sexual abuse in the priesthood from 1950 up to 2002. "At this point, we do not find a connection between homosexual identity and an increased likelihood of sexual abuse."

....

When asked by a bishop at Tuesday's meeting whether homosexuality should be a factor in excluding men from the seminary, Smith responded, "If that exclusion were based on the fact that that person would be more probable than any other candidate to abuse, we do not find that at this time."

The John Jay study was commissioned by a blue-ribbon board of Catholic lay people in November 2005 with the goal of exploring and explaining exactly why the abuse occurred. An earlier study commissioned by the board, with the cooperation of the bishops, found that more than 6,700 victims were molested by nearly 4,400 priests over the five decades surveyed; that represents about 4 percent of all the priests who served in the United States over that time. The "causes and context" study, as it is known, is scheduled to be completed by next fall.  --Gibson

Read the rest of the piece here

Let's hope that this study helps the bishops to continue their work in combating sexual abuse in the priesthood, and also begins to bring to a close the false conflation of homosexuality and pedophilia, and the vilification of celibate gay priests.

James Martin, SJ

This from the National Jesuit News: U.S. Representative Anh "Joseph" Cao (R-La.) spoke with National Jesuit News about the process of discernment that he uses in reaching decisions as a U.S. congressman, how those decisions are grounded in his background in Ignatian spirituality and why he didn’t chose the party line in voting for health care reform. A Vietnamese-born lawyer, the first Vietnamese-American to be elected to Congress, and a former Jesuit seminarian, Cao is the current U.S. Representative from Louisiana's 2nd congressional district and was the lone Republican congressman to vote for landmark health care reform on November 7, 2009.

"Please find a spot for my little machine-y."  If all you know about Mother Cabrini is that prayer for a parking spot, check this out, posted by the Brooklyn diocese's NET channel for her feast day, on Nov. 13.  There is a wonderful interview included with a sister from her order who offers her remembrances of the saint.

James Martin, SJ

Robert Taft, S.J., the great liturgical scholar, has forgotten more about the liturgy than most of us will ever know.  Fr. (and Archimandrite) Taft, one of the world's leading experts on Byzantine liturgy, and former vice-rector of the Pontifical Oriental Institute Rome, was also professor of Oriental liturgy at the "Orientalum" in Rome from 1970 to 2000.  Here he is in a terrifically unbuttoned interview in U.S. Catholic.

Let me put my cards right on the table: I'm a Vatican II loyalist without apologies to anyone. The Second Vatican Council was a general council of the Catholic Church, and the popes since the council have made it clear that there's no going back. The mandate for liturgical reform was passed by the council with an overwhelming majority, so it is the tradition of the Catholic Church, like it or lump it.

Unfortunately, partly as a result of the schism of the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre and his followers, there has been an attempt on the part of a group of what I call "neo-cons" to portray the reforms of Vatican II as something that was foisted upon the church by a small minority of professionals contrary to the will of many people in the church. This is what we know in the vernacular as slander.

The reforms of the council were carried out under Pope Paul VI in a spirit of complete collegiality. Every suggested adaptation, change, or modification was sent out to every Catholic bishop in the world, and the responses that came in were treated with the utmost respect. When changes were severely questioned or opposed by a large number of bishops, they were revised according to the will of the bishops and then sent back again.

So the notion that the liturgical reform was somehow forced on an unknowing church by some group of "liturgists," as if that were a dirty word, is a lie, and that needs to be said.

James Martin, SJ