Category Archives: World News

Eclipse a way to appreciate creation, Vatican astronomer tells audience

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By Dennis Sadowski
HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (CNS) – A total solar eclipse is a rare event, something to appreciate and enjoy in the mind of Jesuit Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory.

JACKSON – From left-to-right, Carolyn Callahan, Rebecca Harris, Charlene Bearden, Pam McFarland, Melisa Munoz, and Julia Williams, all members of the chancery staff, gathered on the roof of the chancery to watch the eclipse on Monday, Aug. 21, with the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in the background. (Photo by Maureen Smith)

So as the first eclipse crossed the country from coast to coast in 99 years Aug. 21, Brother Consolmagno wasn’t going to do anything but take it in and think about the beauty and mystery of God’s creation.
The astronomer urged an audience in a packed Sts. Peter and Paul Church during a pre-eclipse program in this southwestern Kentucky town near the point of maximum eclipse to take the time to reflect on what the two minutes and 40 seconds of totality means to them.
“Pray for good weather,” he said to laughs. “But also pray for what God wants you to learn from the experience.”
Tens of thousands of people had descended on Hopkinsville, a city of 33,000 an hour northwest of Nashville, Tennessee, by late Aug. 20. Thousands more were expected the morning of the eclipse. Brother Consolmagno said he was as excited as anyone to view the blackening of the sun.
He also said that as a scientist and a person of faith, he is guided by inquisitiveness to explore the heavens and the desire to better understand how God put the universe together. There is no conflict between science the faith, he said.
“Being a scientist can be a way of worshipping God,” he said.
He repeated a similar message to reporters during a news conference before his presentation.
“We’re here not just to remind my fellow scientists who are used to me by now, but also to show religious people how important is it to be able to praise the Creator by studying creation, studying it honestly, finding out how God really created this place. There’s never going to be a shortage of marvels for us to discover or surprises for us to experience,” he said.
“We can come to know the Creator by seeing the things of his creation.”
He said the by understanding the cycle of solar eclipses – occurring about every 18 months and 11 days – people can see the rhythms of the universe and the continuing nature of creation and have an experience “that fills the soul with joy.”
Brother Consolmagno made the trip to Hopkinsville at the invitation of Father Richard Meredith, pastor of Sts. Peter and Paul Church. Father Meredith told Catholic News Service he contacted the Vatican Observatory soon after he learned a few years ago that the eclipse path would pass over the town.
Parishioners prepared for more than a year, having established a committee to welcome visitors and host Brother Consolmagno.
“Being a parish with a parochial school, we stress the unity of truth,” Father Meredith said. “This (eclipse) is a major opportunity to reflect that, as science and faith work together serving to manifest the Lord.
The eclipse is a wonder and these wonders praise the creator. This could very well be the only planet around the only star whose moon is at the right distance and size to give a total solar eclipse,” the priest said.
He introduced Brother Consolmagno with by reading from Psalm 19: “The heavens proclaim the glory of God; the sky proclaims its builder’s craft.”
“This isn’t only Catholic,” he told CNS. “This is a tradition inherited from God’s revelation in the Old Testament.”
(Editor’s note: Did you safely watch the eclipse? Send us your photos: editor@mississippicatholic.com.)

Expatriados salvadoreños marcan los 100 años del Beato Oscar Romero

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WASHINGTON (CNS) — Berta Quintanilla, residente de Washington, dijo que su niño siempre había preguntado por el hombre mayor con gafas, cuya foto él veía en casa y a veces en eventos de la iglesia. “Quería saber de él, quién era”, dijo Quintanilla. Debido a la manera violenta en que murió en 1980 – muerto a tiros mientras celebraba misa – era difícil explicar toda la historia del beato Oscar Romero al joven Esaú Cruz, ahora 6, pero poco a poco, Quintanilla, comenzó a enseñarle: Él era un poco como Jesús. “Murió por nosotros”, y “no le gustó la injusticia”, le explicó.
Quintanilla, quien nació en El Salvador, llevó a Esaú el 15 de agosto a su parroquia de Washington, el Santuario del Sagrado Corazón, donde los feligreses compartieron pastel en honor del Beato Romero después de la fiesta de la Misa de la Asunción, que cayó sobre lo que habría sido el 100 aniversario del arzobispo salvadoreño. En todo el país, incluso en Dallas y Los Ángeles, las parroquias recordaban al amado arzobispo.
Cien años después de su nacimiento, el beato Óscar Romero sigue inspirándonos por su humildad y valor, por su amor de los pobres y su testimonio de solidaridad y servicio a los demás, hasta el punto de dar su vida”, dijo el arzobispo José H. Gómez de Los Ángeles, en una homilía del 13 de agosto durante una misa celebrando el nacimiento del arzobispo salvadoreño.
Pero la alabanza, e incluso el reconocimiento de la santidad de Romero por parte de los católicos, fue duramente combatida, dijo María de la Paz Amaya de Majano, de 51 años, que asistió a la reunión de Washington con su esposo, hija y nieto con la imagen del arzobispo. En su nativa El Salvador, una vez fue peligroso tener algo con su imagen, dijo, recordando los ataques de otros católicos. Es por eso que siempre ha sido importante decir la verdad sobre el arzobispo Romero, pero también para hablar de él como una familia, dijo.
Desde muy joven, enseñó a su hija Vilma Majano sobre el arzobispo, para contrarrestar lo que pudiera oír sobre él de otros.
Ahora como una familia que vive en los Estados Unidos, a menudo se encienden velas junto con un retrato del beato Romero colocado en su iglesia parroquial de Washington poco después de su beatificación 2015. Dijo que a menudo pide la intercesión del Beato Romero en asuntos relacionados con la juventud del mundo y para que su país natal pueda superar la violencia.
También está enseñando a sus nietos sobre su vida, cómo Romero siguió el ejemplo de Jesús.
“Fue una gran persona que dejó todo atrás, todo, incluso su sangre, para los pobres, para los que no tenían zapatos, para los que tenían hambre”, y para los pobres que eran atacados por las creencias religiosas, como su familia, dijo Amaya.
En familia, contaron historias sobre él después de la Misa mientras recordaban sus sacrificios. “La forma más importante de recordar al Beato Romero es continuar su trabajo por la justicia, pero a veces es el momento de celebrar lo que hicimos hoy en el contexto de María a la que Romero se refirió como el” ideal de la iglesia ” Cinnamon Sarver, uno de los organizadores del evento.
Para el parroquiano Quintanilla, fue otra oportunidad para ayudarla a enseñar a su hijo Esaú sobre otro “gran ejemplo” de humildad y santidad que la iglesia provee. Él era un buen ejemplo de paz, de fe, de amor a los demás, dijo. “Espero que le ayude a ser amable con los demás, ser humilde, ser bueno”, como el beato Romero, agregó.

McComb couple travels to Africa to see fruits of their generosity

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By Maureen Smith
JACKSON – A McComb couple took the trip of a lifetime in February to meet a child they have supported for 14 years, but never met. Andy and Gail Spinnato spent 10 days in Nairobi, Kenya, on a tour with the Christian group, Unbound. They took with them 250 rosaries donated by the Knights of Columbus to distribute to the people they met.
Unbound was founded by four Catholic siblings and a friend as an effort to reach out to the marginalized people of the world. The organization sets up sponsorships for children and supports communities all around the world. The Spinnatos first heard about it from a visiting priest who preached at their parish more than a dozen years ago. “I picked a boy from Kenya. I was a teacher and my students were primarily African-American, so I wanted a child I could tell them stories about,” said Gail.
The Spinnatos sent money monthly and wrote letters to Peter for many years and they received letters and photos in return. This year, Unbound offered them a chance to go to Africa to see the results of all those years of work. “It was absolutely awesome,” said Gail of the meeting.
Peter is now 22 and wants to get a certification in plumbing so he can find work. “It’s interesting that he wants to do that since they have no running water in their home,” she added. When they met Peter and his mother, they did an art project together using hand prints. Gail went with Peter’s mother to the restroom to wash off the paint and realized she did not know how to operate the soap dispenser or automatic faucet because the African woman has never had running water in her home. One of the community projects Unbound is taking on in Peter’s village is a cistern to collect rainwater. Currently, everyone has to walk to a river a mile away to collect all the water they use. Projects like that one fall outside the monthly sponsorships, so the Spinnatos have been collecting for it since they returned.
Before the trip, the Spinnatos spent some time reflecting on their time as sponsors. “I went back through all the letters he has written. I made copies of some of them so he (Peter) could see the progress he made,” Gail explained. “He was very shy when it came to talking. Like many young people from foreign countries, he was hesitant to speak to a native speaker – still you could feel the connection through the love of Christ because he knows that love is how we are connected,” said Gail.
Fourteen other Unbound sponsors came on the trip, so the Spinnatos got to meet those families as well. As they traveled, they distributed rosaries made by fellow St. Alphonsus parishioner, Charles Schovel, who makes rosaries as a hobby. He recently donated more than 250 rosaries to the Knights of Columbus council there. Andy Spinnato is the Grand Knight of the council. When the knights heard about the Spinnatos trip, they decided that was the perfect place to distribute the rosaries.
“We take so much for granted. So to actually visit in homes and see people in such need, but to also see how they have so much dignity and pride and to see what they have been able to accomplish for themselves, it was amazing,” Gail said.
The Spinnatos left Africa with another connection. They were about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They had asked the priest celebrating Mass for a blessing, but he had another idea. “He called us up and we had to pull our wedding rings off our arthritic fingers and we renewed our vows,” she said.
Back in the states, the couple is currently making presentations at clubs or gatherings to invite others to become sponsors or donate to community development projects. They plan to return next February to travel into the country and see where Peter and his family live. The Spinnatos have decided to sponsor his younger sister, so the cycle of education and empowerment can continue.

Pope leads prayers for an end to ‘inhuman violence’ of terrorism

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By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – “Let us beg the Lord, God of mercy and peace, to free the world from this inhuman violence,” Pope Francis prayed after a week of deadly terrorist attacks in Africa and Europe.
Reciting the Angelus prayer at midday, the pope asked an estimated 10,000 people in St. Peter’s Square to pray in silence and then to join him in reciting the Hail Mary for the victims of the attacks the previous week in Burkina Faso, Spain and Finland.
At a restaurant in Ouagadougou Aug. 13, gunmen opened fire on people eating outside. Authorities in Burkina Faso said 18 people died and 20 were injured. The gunmen were believed to be part of a group known as “al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.”
In Spain, 13 people died after a van mowed down pedestrians Aug. 17 on Barcelona’s famous Las Ramblas street and another woman died in a vehicle attack the next day in Cambrils. Five suspects were killed by police and other members of what authorities described as a 12-man terrorist cell were being sought.
In Turku, Finland, Aug. 18, two women were stabbed to death and eight other people were injured in what police described as a terrorist attack.
Among the pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square for the midday prayer were the 50 first-year students of the Pontifical North American College, the seminary in Rome sponsored by the U.S. bishops. Pope Francis gave them a shoutout before wishing everyone in the square a happy Sunday.
In his main Angelus talk, the pope spoke about the day’s Gospel reading from St. Matthew about the Canaanite woman who persistently asks Jesus to heal her daughter.
“This woman’s interior strength, which allows her to overcome every obstacle, can be found in her maternal love and in her trust that Jesus can fulfill her request,” the pope said. “This makes me think of the strength of women. With their strength they are able to obtain great things. We’ve know many women like this.”
In the Gospel story, when the woman first cries out, Jesus seems to ignore her, the pope noted. But she is not discouraged and continues to call out to him.
In the end, Jesus recognizes her great faith and answers her request, the pope said. “Her insistence in invoking Christ’s intervention stimulates us never to be discouraged and not to despair when we are oppressed by the harsh trials of life.”
“The Lord does not turn away from our needs and, if sometimes he seems indifferent to our requests for help, it is to test us and strengthen our faith,” Pope Francis said. “We must continue to cry, like this woman: ‘Lord, help me. Lord, help me.’”

Christians oriented toward light, hope

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By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The ancient practice of orienting church buildings East to West — with the entrance facing West and the altar toward the East — was symbolic of the connection that exists between light and hope, Pope Francis said.
“What does it mean to be a Christian? It means looking toward the light, continuing to make a profession of faith in the light, even when the world is wrapped in the night and darkness,” Pope Francis said Aug. 2 at his weekly general audience.
With temperatures moving toward a forecasted 100 degrees, the pope resumed his audiences indoors after a month’s hiatus. He also resumed his series of audience talks about Christian hope.
He began by explaining how in ancient times the physical setting of a church building held symbolic importance for believers because the sun sets in the West, “where the light dies,” but rises in the East, where “the dawn reminds us of Christ, the sun risen from on high.”
In fact, he said, using the “language of the cosmos,” it was customary to have those about to be baptized proclaim their renunciation of Satan facing West and their profession of faith in God facing East.
Pope Francis did not touch on the debate about whether priests should celebrate Mass facing East, with their backs to the people, but focused on light as a symbol of Christian hope.
“Christians are not exempt from the darkness, either external or even internal,” he said. “They do not live outside the world, but because of the grace of Christ received though baptism, they are men and women who are ‘oriented’: they do not believe in the darkness, but in the light of day; they do not succumb to the night, but hope in the dawn; they are not defeated by death, but long for resurrection; they are not crushed by evil because they always trust in the infinite possibilities of goodness.”
Receiving the light of Christ at baptism, he said, Christians are called to be true “Christophers” or Christ-bearers, “especially to those who are going through situations of mourning, desperation, darkness and hatred.”
Christians who truly bear the light of Christ’s hope, he said, can be identified by the light in their eyes and by their serenity “even on the most complicated days.”

Vatican to bishops: check your hosts, wine

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WASHINGTON (CNS) – The Vatican recently published a circular letter, “On the bread and wine for the Eucharist,” sent to diocesan bishops at the request of Pope Francis. Dated June 15 – the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ – the letter was made public by the Vatican July 8.
Because bread and wine for the Eucharist are no longer supplied just by religious communities, but “are also sold in supermarkets and other stores and even over the internet,” bishops should set up guidelines, an oversight body and/or even a form of certification to help “remove any doubt about the validity of the matter for the Eucharist,” the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments said.
In response to the Vatican statement, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat of Divine Worship has answered some of these frequently asked questions.
Q: Why is the Vatican worried about what makes up a Communion host? Doesn’t it have more important things to focus on?
A: To say that the Eucharist is important to Catholics is an understatement; the bishops at the Second Vatican Council referred to it as the “source of and summit of the Christian life.” On the night before he died, Jesus considered it important enough to spend time with his apostles at the Last Supper, telling them to continue to celebrate the Eucharist, instructing them to “do this in memory of me.” So the Vatican is naturally interested in making sure that this instruction is carried out properly, and this requires not only a priest who says the correct words, but also the use of the correct material. Therefore, the Catholic Church has strict requirements for the bread and wine used at Mass.
Q: Has the validity of the materials used for the Eucharist been a problem in the United States?
A: The circular letter is addressed to the entire church, to bishops all over the world. Circumstances are very different in various places around the globe, so it’s difficult to know whether the Holy See’s letter is a response to particular problems in certain places. It’s important to note that the letter does not introduce any new teachings or regulations – it simply reminds bishops of their important duty to ensure that the correct materials are used in the celebration of the Mass. We’re fortunate in our country, insofar as it’s not difficult to find bread and wine that are clearly suitable for the Mass.
Q: Concerning low-gluten hosts, how much gluten is in them? Are they safe for someone with celiac disease?
A: The gluten content in low-gluten hosts can vary by producer, but they typically contain less than 0.32 percent gluten. Foods with less than 20 parts per million gluten can be marketed as “gluten-free,” and some low-gluten hosts – while containing enough gluten to satisfy the church’s requirements for Mass – would even fall into that category. The amount of gluten present in low-gluten hosts is considered safe for the vast majority of people with gluten-related health difficulties.
Q: For someone who does not want any exposure to gluten, the church says that Communion may be received under the species of wine alone. What happens if a diocese does not offer Communion under both species?
A: Parishes are more than willing to make special arrangements to assist people who need to receive the Precious Blood instead of the host for medical reasons, even if the parish doesn’t normally offer Communion under both kinds. It can take a little advanced planning to organize the procedures, but pastors are happy to do this. If for some reason a person in this situation runs into difficulties at the parish level, he or she should contact the bishop’s office for assistance.
Q: What about someone, especially a priest, who has alcoholism? Is grape juice allowed?
A: Grape juice is not allowed for the Catholic Mass, but the use of “mustum” can be permitted. Mustum is a kind of wine that has an extremely low alcohol content. It’s made by beginning the fermentation process in grape juice, but then suspending the process such that the alcohol content generally remains below 1 percent, far lower than the levels found in most table wines.
Q: Who do I talk with if these issues are a concern of mine? Must my pastor accommodate my needs?
A: Someone who suffers in this way should talk to his or her pastor. Naturally, if someone arrives with this kind of request at the last second before Mass is set to begin, the pastor might not be able to accommodate his or her needs. But if someone reaches out in a reasonable manner, pastors are happy to help. Again, if someone runs into difficulties in this regard, he or she should contact the bishop’s office for assistance. One of the greatest duties and privileges of bishops and priests is making the Eucharist available to the Catholic faithful, and they do their best to make this possible.

Bishops ask for youth input for 2018 Synod

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The theme for the worldwide bishops’ synod in 2018 is youth ministry. Preparations include asking young people for thier input now. The Vatican has posted a survey for young people aged 16-29. Bishop Joseph Kopacz is putting out a call for participation throughout the Diocese of Jackson. The survey is available in English, Spanish, French and Italian on the synod’s official site: youth.synod2018.va/content/synod2018/it.html and is open to any young person, regardless of faith or religious belief.

Catechesis is a vocation of service, not a job

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By Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Catechists are called to live their mission as a service, by preaching the Gospel through concrete actions rather than treating it as just a job, Pope Francis said.
Like St. Francis, who preached through his deeds, the “vocation and task of the catechist” is found when “we visit the poor, helping children and giving food to the poor,” the pope told participants of a conference on catechesis in his native Argentina.
“In fact, to be a catechist is a vocation of service in the church; what has been received as a gift from God must in turn be transmitted,” he said in the message published by the Vatican July 12.
The message was addressed to Archbishop Ramon Dus of Resistencia, Argentina, president of the Argentine bishops’ commission on catechesis and biblical ministry.
The commission sponsored the July 11-14 international symposium on catechesis taking place in the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires.
In his letter, the pope said that for catechists to effectively preach the Gospel, they must “constantly return to that first announcement or ‘kerygma,’ which is the gift that changed their lives.”
“Kerygma” a Greek word that means “preaching of the Gospel,” must “not only resonate again and again in Christian life, but even moreso on those called to announce and teach the faith,” the pope said.
“This announcement must accompany the faith already present in the religiosity of our people,” the pope said. In doing so, the gift of faith can be nourished so that “actions and words reflect the grace of being disciples of Jesus.”
A catechist, he continued, does not “start from his or her own ideas and tastes” but rather “walks from and with Christ.”
“The more we make Jesus the center of our life, the more he makes us come out of ourselves, de-centers us and makes us close to others,” the pope said.
Pope Francis also said that catechists must also be “creative” and look for different ways to proclaim Christ and transmit the faith, like Jesus, who “adapted himself to the people in front of him to make them closer to God’s love.”
Adapting to others, he added, does not change the message “because God does not change; instead, he renews all things in him.”
“In the creative quest to make Jesus known, we should not be afraid because he precedes us in this task. He is already in the people of today, and there he is waiting for us,” the pope said.
(Follow Arocho on Twitter: @arochoju)

Convovation format: part retreat, part pep-rally aimed to inspire leaders

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By Carol Zimmermann
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) – From July 1-4 the main floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Orlando was transformed into a huge parish hall with places for worship, prayer, discussion, and even coffee and doughnuts during the “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America.”

At the convocation 3,500 church leaders – men and women religious, bishops and laypeople – gathered to set a new course for the U.S. Catholic Church.
Following a retreat format, each day started and ended with group prayer. Mass was celebrated each day in the hotel ballroom, and there were plenty of scheduled times for the sacrament of reconciliation and private prayer in a large room turned into an adoration chapel.
Many of the keynote sessions took the form of pep talks encouraging delegates to share their faith boldly with the world at large and within their own families and parishes. The numerous breakout sessions provided the working aspect of the gathering: closely examining what the church is doing and where it can do more.
More than 155 bishops attended the gathering, sitting with their delegations for meals and breakout sessions. Cardinals and bishops who spoke at keynote sessions or in Mass homilies encouraged participants that this was their time, their moment, stressing the urgency to bring God’s message of love to a divided world.
At the final Mass, described as a “Mass of Sending,” Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston said the church is called to achieve great things in the face of the impossible – to unite people together by going to the peripheries of society and sharing the good news of Jesus through action rooted in faith.
“Sisters and brothers, we are in a very, very significant time in our church in this country,” said Cardinal DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and he urged the delegates to receive God’s grace for the work ahead.
None of the homilists or keynote speakers sugarcoated the challenges for the modern church and more than once speakers pointed out that Catholics are leaving the church in greater numbers, particularly young adults, than those joining the church.
But as Auxiliary Bishop Robert E. Barron of Los Angeles pointed out: “The saints always loved a good fight and we should like a good fight too.”
The bishop, who addressed the crowd through a video hookup July 4, told them it was an “exciting time to be an evangelist” but that they also should pick up their game to evangelize effectively.
Throughout the convocation Pope Francis was pointed out as a model for modern Catholics to follow in inviting others, especially those on the peripheries, to Christ. Speakers also were quick to quote his 2013 apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), which lays out a vision of the church dedicated to evangelization – or missionary discipleship – in a positive way, with a focus on society’s poorest and most vulnerable, including the aged, unborn and forgotten.
Two homilies during the convocation specifically quoted the pope’s admonition in “Evangelii Gaudium” that Catholics shouldn’t be “sourpusses” but should reflect joy.
Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl acknowledged that Catholics are not always comfortable with the idea of evangelizing, but said they need to be willing to step out of themselves and talk with people about their faith as part of an encounter the pope speaks about.
Part of this simply involves listening to people, caring for them and leading them to Jesus, said speaker Sister Miriam James Heidland, a sister of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity.
Delegates were repeatedly encouraged to reach out to the peripheries especially to immigrants and the poor, but also to all members of the church’s diverse family – people of all races, women and young people.
Hosffman Ospino, associate professor of theology and religious education at Boston College, said it is time for the church to start building a “language of communion” rather than dividing the church community into different groups and individually responding to those needs.
“It’s the church serving the church,” he said. “We all are the church.”
That message inspired Sister Kathleen Burton, a Sister of St. Joseph who is co-director of the Office of Faith Formation, Family Life and Lay Ministry Formation in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, who said: “The walls need to come down.”
“There’s a renewed sense of evangelization and re-evangelization,” the delegate told Catholic News Service. “We’re being challenged that we don’t wait for people to come to us, but we’ve got to go out to them.”
For many delegates, seeing the church’s diversity – Latinos, African-Americans and Africans, Native Americans, and Asians from across the continent at the convocation – was an inspiring sight, helping them better understand the idea of the church as family.
Vanessa Griffin Campbell, director of the Office of Ministry to African American Catholics in the Diocese of Cleveland, said the key to embracing diversity and going to the peripheries will be teamwork among laypeople, clergy and diocesan staff.
The church should “not just open the doors on Sunday,” she said, “but make sure our doors are open Sunday to Sunday.”
At the end of the closing Mass, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, who attended all four days of the convocation, congratulated attendees for the invigorating discussion.
He called it a “kairos,” or opportune moment, in the life of the U.S. church and said he would tell Pope Francis: “the Spirit is alive in the church in the United States.”
“I will tell him of the commitment of many missionary disciples and their love for the church,” he added.
(See related stories on pages 3 and 6. Contributing to this report was Dennis Sadowski in Orlando.)

Pope envisions Cardinals as grandfathers

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By Cindy Wooden
VATICAN LETTER (CNS) – The Catholic Church is not a “gerontocracy” ruled by old men, 80-year-old Pope Francis said; “we aren’t old men, we are grandfathers.”
“We are grandfathers called to dream and to give our dreams to the young people of today. They need it so that from our dreams, they can draw the strength to prophesy and carry out their task,” the pope told about 50 members of the College of Cardinals.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of his ordination as a bishop June 27, Pope Francis concelebrated Mass in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
Most of the cardinals present were officials of the Roman Curia or retired curial officials living in Rome. Many of them needed assistance up and down the small steps to the altar at Communion time.
The Mass was celebrated the day before Pope Francis was to create five new cardinals: Archbishop Jean Zerbo of Bamako, Mali, 73; Archbishop Juan Jose Omella of Barcelona, Spain, 71; Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm, Sweden, 67; Bishop Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, apostolic vicar of Pakse, Laos, 73; and Auxiliary Bishop Gregorio Rosa Chavez of San Salvador, El Salvador, 74.
With an average age of 71.6 years, the new cardinals would lower by two months the average age of the entire College of Cardinals. However, the new members would increase slightly the average age of the cardinal electors, the group of those under the age of 80 and eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.
On the day of the pope’s anniversary Mass, the average age of the 116 cardinal electors was 71 years, four months and 15 days; the five new members would raise the average by 11 days.
Before the new members were added, the entire College of Cardinals had 220 members and an average age of 78 years, five months and 23 days. The five new members would lower the average to 78 years, three months and one day.
None of the new cardinals, though, are as old as the patriarch Abraham was when God called him to leave his home and set out for a new land.
The Bible says Abraham was 75 years old when he got the call, the pope noted at his anniversary Mass. “He was more or less our age. He was about to retire.”
At 75, “with the weight of old age, that old age that brings aches, illness,” Abraham heard God call him “as if he were a scout,” the pope said. God tells him, “Go. Look. And hope.”
God says the same thing to the pope and the cardinals, he said. “He tells us that now is not the time to shut down our lives or to end our stories.”
Instead, the pope told the cardinals, God continues to call each of them to keep moving forward and continues to give each of them a mission.
And every mission, he said, involves the three imperatives God gave Abraham: “Get up. Look. Hope.”
God tells Abraham, “Get up. Walk. Don’t stay still. You have a task, a mission, and you must carry it out walking. Don’t stay seated,” the pope said.
Abraham’s tent is a key symbol in the story, he said. The only thing Abraham built solidly was an altar “to adore the one who ordered him to get up and to set out.” His tent was his mobile shelter.
“Someone who does not like us would say that we are the gerontocracy of the church,” the pope told the cardinals. “He doesn’t understand what he is saying.”
The cardinals are not just old men, but are grandfathers in the church, the pope said. “If we don’t feel like we are, we must ask for that grace.”
As grandfathers, the cardinals should know that their grandchildren are watching them and looking to them, he continued. They must help young people find meaning in their lives by sharing their experiences.
For that to happen, the pope said, the cardinals cannot be focused on “the melancholy of our story,” but must be dreamers who continue to look to the future with hope, knowing that God continues to act in human history.    
(Follow Wooden on Twitter: @Cindy_Wooden.)