Insight Scoop | The Ignatius Press Blog

New: "Report from Calabria: A Season with the Carthusian Monks"

Now available from Ignatius Press:

Report from Calabria: A Season with the Carthusian Monks

by A Priest

Devoted to silence, prayer, and austere simplicity, the Carthusian monks guard their solitude jealously and rarely allow visitors to live with them. The author of this book, however, was privileged to spend four months with the Carthusian community in Calabria, Italy, the resting place of the founder of their order, Saint Bruno. The American priest followed the daily regimen of the monks and wrote to family and friends in order to share his experiences and insights. His engaging and informative letters are presented in this book along with professional four-color photographs provided by the monastery.

Report from Calabria describes and illustrates the distinctive features of the Carthusian way of life as they were encountered by the author. Historical background and excerpts from the writings of Saint Bruno round out the priest's experiences. The contemplative vocation—bracing and yet deeply human—comes alive in this vivid account of very little happening yet a lot going on.

About the author: The American priest who lived with the Carthusian monks in Calabria, Italy, for four months and wrote this book about his experiences and insights wishes to remain anonymous.

"I am very moved to be able to read about the Carthusian monks in Calabria. It is heartening to share even a day with those holy men. They make me so grateful for the vocation I was given, but their lives are even more meaningful for those living in the midst of modern pain. To see them in the pages of this book eating, working, and praying in silence and solitude is just amazing. They are basically attempting to find God within the human conditions most human. Through them we see so clearly that we find God by accepting our lives  as gifts from him and by appreciating our being born, in flesh and blood, in profound likeness to God himself, as fully revealed by the Second Person of the Trinity, who became man. The Report from Calabria could very well be a report from God himself telling us what we cry and anguish to know."
— Mother Dolores Hart, O.S.B, Author of The Ear of the Heart

"Report from Calabria is a beautiful book.  The author's short sketches capture the silent rhythms of worship and contemplation at the heart of Carthusian life and the humanity of hidden lives in the cloister. The photographs show a world that few people get to see.  Most importantly, this book points to the profundity of daring to enter a dialogue of silence with the heart of the Lord.  Each one of us invited to know the Lord in silence.  Report from Calabria is a guidebook to a beautiful place, and to the beauty of interior and silent communion with the Lord."   
— Most Rev. James D. Conley, S.T.L., Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska

"This book is a gem.  The Carthusians have long captivated the imagination of the Catholic world: by their austerity, their silence, their seclusion, and their mysteriousness. Although they will never say so themselves, they've lived up to their motto: 'Never reformed because never deformed.' This book is an honest and stunningly beautiful view of the inside life of a Charterhouse. Through these pages you can feel the cold of the cell, smell the pasta in the midday meal, and sense the profound reverence of the Carthusian liturgy. This book will make you want to pray."
— Most Rev. Michael C. Barber, S.J., Bishop of Oakland

"The Carthusian life, typically so unknown and hidden, has found another privileged account. The anonymous priest-author enjoyed four months of full participation in Carthusian life in Calabria. The letters written during his monastic stay and collected here display an observant eye and sensitive insights for both external detail and for the rich depth of dedicated silence, solitude, and prayer that marks the Carthusian life. Anyone moved some years back by the extraordinary film Into the Great Silence will find in this book another fascinating appreciation for the daily self-giving of these hidden monks who live all for God."
— Fr. Donald Haggerty, Author, Contemplative Provocationsand The Contemplative Hunger

New: "The Wise Man from the West: Matteo Ricci and His Mission to China"

Now available from Ignatius Press:

The Wise Man from the West: Matteo Ricci and His Mission to China

by Vincent Cronin

This is the amazing story of the famous Jesuit missionary priest to China, Fr. Matteo Ricci, revered as a "Wise Man" by the Chinese. He arrived in China in 1582 and died there twenty-eight years later, having developing a deep knowledge of and love for the country, the culture and the people.

Before Ricci's heroic mission, China was an unexplored land bordering on the vague, mysterious Cathay, and the West was no more than a rumor to the learned Mandarins, a distant unknown region lying beyond the bounds of geography. In the person of Father Ricci these two worlds met, and Vincent Cronin dramatically recreates the romance, the crossed purposes, the potential tragedy of that meeting. He shows us ancient China, the timeless state, with a civilization older than that wherein Christianity first found expression.

Because Ricci loved this civilization and honored it, he was able to teach his strange new Christian doctrine with tact and sympathy. He carried much of the technological and philosophical wisdom of the late Renaissance Europe, and thus found favor among the Mandarins, the men of learning who enjoyed high status at the Imperial Court. He learned Chinese to discuss with them the problems in science and technology, and also questions of religion and the hereafter. He lived as a great scholar among great scholars and left behind him a memory worthy of the Christian faith he served.

Well researched and written with an enchanting style, Cronin relied almost entirely on contemporary material only recently assembled, including Father Ricci's own letters and reports, and his account of China written in Peking before his death. The seed of Faith was sown and the crop, even after a century of atheistic communism, continues to grow in present-day China.

Vincent Cronin (1924-2011), was a British historical, cultural, and biographical writer, well-known for his many historical biographies and for his two-volume history of the Renaissance. Acclaimed for his scholarly and  elegantly written works, he was as one of the finest popular historians of his generation, best known for his biographies of of Louis XIV, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, Catherine the Great, and Napoleon.

"Matteo Ricci was, by any standards, an extraordinary man. One concludes from reading this riveting book just how pertinent Ricci remains to both modern China and to the Church, ever ancient and ever new."
— James V. Schall, S.J., From the Foreword

"A book which does for once deserve the all too lightly used adjective 'outstanding.' "
— Honor Tracy, New Statesman

"A delightfully told story of a truly remarkable man."
— Rodney Gilbert, New York Herald Tribune

The Joys and Challenges of Filming the Story of Salvation History

The Joys and Challenges of Filming the Story of Salvation History | CWR Staff

Steve Ray, who has been working for 16 years on the ambitious "Footprints of God" series, discusses his vision, describes the difficulties, and asks for assistance as the project nears the finish line.

Author and apologist Stephen Ray (CatholicConvert.com) along with his wife Janet, entered the Catholic Church in 1994, a journey from the Baptist tradition to Catholicism described in Ray's first book, Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church. Since then he has kept busy with giving numerous talks, leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Rome, and other locations, and writing more books, including Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church, and St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary. 

Steve and Janet have also kept busy working on writing, filming, editing, and producing the award-winning video series for Ignatius Press titled ”The Footprints of God”. The Rays and their crew have completed eight of the ten films and are busy making preparations for the final two films, including raising money to help with the costs of filming on location in countries including Israel, Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. 

Catholic World Report recently caught up with Steve shortly before he and Janet left the country to lead a pilgrimage in Rome and Assisi. 

CWR: You’ve been working on the “Footprints of God” film project for 16 years. Where did the idea come from and how did you get started on such an ambitious project?

Steve Ray: It started in the middle of the night around 2 a.m. Without any forethought I woke up with a start. I sat up in the pitch dark and grabbed my wife and began to shake her, "Janet, Janet! Wake up, we have to make a ten-part video series on the history of salvation from a Catholic perspective!" I had woken her up so abruptly she she was shaking from fright. When she finally realized what I was saying she responded, “What? Are you crazy? I thought the house was on fire or you were having a heart attack. You woke me up in the middle of the night and scared me half to death to tell us we have to make movie? We can't even take good pictures—how does God expect us to make movies? You're crazy, go back to sleep."

She rolled over and went back to sleep but I was wide awake—and I was on fire. For the rest of the night I was at my computer with fingers flying, getting it all down out of my head before it disappeared. The ideas flowed like a waterfall and by the time the sun came up I had the whole outline of the series figured out, along with the title. It was going to be called The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation from Abraham to Augustine. It would consist of ten parts and each one would explain how God has come to his people to offer redemption and salvation—to the point that he even got his own feet dirty doing it!

CWR: How did Ignatius Press get involved in the project?

Steve Ray: We called Ignatius Press to tell them our idea. They invited my wife and I out to San Francisco for lunch and a meeting. I presented my idea. By the end of the lunch we had their approval and the funding for the first movie Peter, Keeper of the Keys. Within six weeks we were flying over the land of the Bible in helicopters getting the aerial footage, and six weeks later we were filming Peter in Israel and Rome. We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts for the unflagging support and funding from Fr. Joseph Fessio, Mark Brumley, and Tony Ryan of Ignatius Press.

These movies couldn’t be like anything else out there. We wanted them to be unique and one of kind—and they are! 

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Back to the Land, Back to the Lord

Back to the Land, Back to the Lord | Catholic World Report

Property, prosperity, prestige, success, power, popularity—none of this lasts, emphasizes Marcus Grodi, author of Life from Our Land. In fact, they can all be distractions from attaining that which is most important

Marcus Grodi is familiar to many as the host of The Journey Home television series on EWTN and as founder of the Coming Home Network International. A native of Ohio, he studied polymer science at Case Western Reserve University and worked as an engineer before receiving his Master of Divinity degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. After more than fifteen years of youth, young adult, and pastoral ministry, he entered the Catholic Church in 1992, along with his wife Marilyn and their two sons, JonMarc and Peter (a third son, Richard, entered through baptism).

The author of several books, including two novels, Grodi's most recent book is Life From Our Land: The Search for a Simpler Life in a Complex World (Ignatius Press). He corresponded recently with Carl E. Olson, editor of Catholic World Report, about his new book and several of the topics addressed in it, including nature, agrarianism, spirituality, stewardship, technology, and life in 21st-century America.

CWR: This is a rather unique book in that it's not easily placed into a settled genre. It has some autobiographical qualities and it discusses various philosophical and practical issues relating to "living off the land", but it is not—as you emphatically state—about how to farm. How would describe the book in a few sentences? What were your main goals in writing it?

Marcus Grodi: Your opening statement says it well, because even when I go into a bookstore, I’m not sure where to look for it! There are elements of Nature, outdoor living, autobiography, economics, agrarianism, Distributism, a little bit of “preaching” and apologetics, but mostly I wanted to discuss rediscovering the most important priorities of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There have been many times in history when Christians were claiming that the warnings of 2 Timothy 3:1-5 were surely coming true in their lives! But with one ear to St. Paul’s warning and the other to the evening news, it’s hard to believe there has ever been a time closer to fulfilling these details. All around us are people who seem oblivious to Eternity—and I don’t just mean our neighbors who don’t go to Church. I mean Catholics and non-Catholic Christians who have slowly over time become acclimated to a truncated version of the Gospel.

The ease, availability, and speed of technology, as well as a culture defined by the pursuit and accumulation of wealth, has carried so many of us along on a rollercoaster of supposed progress—and the only time many of us notice how completely our lives have been altered by technology is when we try to do anything “the old fashioned way.” We quickly give up and return rejoicing to the newer, easier, quicker, cheaper way, because the muscles we need to do things “the old fashioned way”, as well as the patience, have all atrophied. And the point of this is that this is also true of our faith—the disciplines, devotions, and service that once were normal have been supplanted by the easier, quicker, and more readily available. And of course, I’m not pointing fingers—this is true of me, too, which is what the book is about.

In this book, I've tried to describe how I came to discover this; how I rediscovered the core of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by tending sheep, cattle, and other livestock; by failing at gardening; by trying to understand what is going on with our culture and economy; by getting a grip on preparing for the future of my family when the day comes that I no longer have an income to pay the bills; by understanding what is happening to my friends and family as they fail to see the need of Christ and his Church — and for some this has meant not coming to see this before passing on to their reward; and to ask myself, with all the opinions out there, how can I know which opinion is true? My goal in writing this book was hopefully to help at least a few more to find their way through the narrow gate.

CWR: Early in the book you write, "I’m a believer! But I’m also a forgetter, and I have come to realize that nature is a great reminder." What are some of the things you are reminded of when in nature? How does our distance from the nitty-gritty of nature—as a culture and nation—affect the way we see, think, and understand reality?

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Journeying with Abraham, the Father of Faith

Steve and Janet Ray on location, working on the filming of the 10-part video series "The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation From Abraham to Augustine"

Journeying with Abraham, the Father of Faith | CWR Staff | Catholic World Report

Author and filmmaker Stephen Ray discusses his ambitious video series, traveling in Iraq, filming in the Holy Land, and delving into the incredible life of Abraham

Stephen K. Ray was raised in a devout Baptist family and was very involved in the Baptist denomination as a teacher of Biblical studies. Steve and his wife Janet entered the Catholic Church in 1994. Since that time, Steve has been active as an author, speaker, blogger, apologist, and film producer. He is the author of Crossing the Tiber: Evangelical Protestants Discover the Historical Church, Upon This Rock: St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome in Scripture and the Early Church, and St. John's Gospel: A Bible Study and Commentary, all published by Ignatius Press.

Steve and Janet are currently writing and producing a 10-video series for Ignatius Press called The Footprints of God: The Story of Salvation From Abraham to Augustine, filmed on location in the Holy Land and other parts of the Middle East. His website is www.catholic-convert.com. The most recent film, titled Abraham: Father of Faith and Works, is now available from Ignatius Press. He corresponded recently with Catholic World Report, shortly before departing for another trip to the Holy Land.

CWR: This movie about Abraham is the eighth of 10 videos in this long and challenging project. When did you start filming this series and what sort of time, energy, and effort has gone into the project?

Ray: Long and challenging, indeed! It all began in 1995, the year after we converted to the Catholic Church from Evangelical Protestants. We took our family to Israel to see land of Our Lord and Lady, the land of the Bible and Catholic history. When I stepped off the plane in Tel Aviv I fell to the tarmac and kissed the ground with tears welling up in my eyes. This adventure with our family had a profound impact on all of us. It made me want to share the land and its story with everyone.

The next step came in the year 2000 when I woke up in the middle of the night. I am not certain to this day whether it was a dream, a revelation, an angel, or simply indigestion. But it was all in my head and I knew exactly what I had to do.

As soon as I woke up I grabbed my wife Janet and shook her and said, "We have to do a video documentary on the whole story of salvation for my Catholic perspective!” Shaking and scared since I woke her up so quickly, she said, “You woke me up in the middle of the night, scaring me to death, to tell me that! We can’t even take good pictures — how does God expect us to make movies? Go back to sleep!"

But I couldn’t sleep. I was inspired and trembling. I jumped out of bed and ran to my computer. By the time the sun came up that morning I had put together the outline for the documentary series. I knew the titles, the biblical people we would feature, the places we would film, and the whole drama I wanted to present. My target audience would be the Catholic family. It could not be a boring “talking head” documentary but had to be a rollicking adventure. We wanted to bring the lands of the Bible and the Catholic Church into the homes of every Catholic family.

CWR: Speaking of adventures, what was it like filming in Iraq, Turkey, and Israel?

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Saying Farewell: The Funeral of John Paul II

Saying Farewell: The Funeral of John Paul II | K. V. Turley | CWR blog

Sitting on a plane bound for Rome as the funeral fast approached, and with only sketchy plans of what to do next, I knew one thing—I had to be there.

Pope John Paul II had been ill throughout 2005 and though his death was anticipated when it did come on April 2, it was still a jolt. And it was the whole world, not just the Catholic world, which appeared jolted by it. Surprisingly, British media outlets, normally no friends of the Catholic Church, were awash with praise for the late pontiff, the front cover of one left-leaning daily simply proclaiming: John Paul the Great. Perhaps, in hindsight, it shouldn’t have been so surprising; after all, greatness is greatness.

On arrival I headed to St. Peter’s, where the lying-in-state was taking place, and joined the long, snaking queue that encircled the famous church. By now, it was 6 pm local time. The queue was long and moved slowly, very slowly; it was going to be a long wait.

When you spend hours standing in a line, you become curious about the others who are doing so. In front were some young people, a school or youth group—perhaps understandably, at that age, interested only in each other. A couple stood next to me; we got talking. They too had heard the news and knew they had to come, all the way from Venezuela. My flight had taken a couple of hours from London. Their flights had taken much longer—almost a day’s journeying. Their desire to be there was moving, with the privations of the long wait seemingly of no account. Looking at them, I could only feel shame at my inward moaning about having to wait so long.

Behind us there was another distinct group.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Join Renowned Biblical Teacher Steve Ray for a New Adventure in 2015!

A New Adventure with Steve Ray, the Catholic Indiana Jones! presents ABRAHAM Father of Faith and Works NEW YEAR – NEW FILM – NEW ADVENTURE WITH STEVE RAY! And ready for the “BIG SCREEN” in Your Parish in 2015! Have you been following the Footprints of God from Ignatius Press and Steve Ray? If you have, you already know there is nothing else like these fast-paced, entertaining, educational documentaries on our salvation history. If you haven’t, you’re in for a real treat! These eight films combine the elements of a biography, travel documentary, Bible study and apologetics course all rolled into a remarkable, family friendly adventure! Each one is a 90-minute, stand-alone masterpiece taking the viewer to another time and place. With ABRAHAM you will travel with Steve back 4,000 years to Iraq, Turkey, Palestinian Territories and Israel. Have you ever seen a ziggurat? You will! And now this much anticipated foundational film in the series, ABRAHAM: Father of Faith and Works, has been released as an exclusive parish screening program. Parishes, schools and organizations will be able to purchase a package that will include DVDs to have for sale or to gift, a free DVD for showing, promotional materials, and a 12-month site license to show the movie unlimited times in your facility or in a theater! License holders will have 6 weeks of exclusive sales of the ABRAHAM DVD before general sales will start on March 17th. FOOTPRINTS of GOD Parish Screening Program   And for those who would like to show all 8 Footprints of God DVDs now available: JESUS, MARY, PETER, PAUL, APOSTOLIC FATHERS, MOSES, DAVID/SOLOMON and ABRAHAM, we have packages that include a 12-month site license to show all 8 DVDs as well as a free copy of each DVD to use for showing, copies of all the DVDs to sell or gift, and promotional materials.   Both of these parish screening programs make great evangelization tools and can be used as a fundraiser as well.   Click here to see an overview of the Footprints of God films.   For more information on packages and prices available as well as the forms to order your packages, please go to www.IPMovieNights.com and click on SPECIAL SCREENING PROGRAMS.   Questions?   Contact Diane toll free: 866-431-1531 ext. 5;direct: 734-455-1973; or e-mail: [email protected] .   These programs are available only in the U.S. and Canada. Facebook Twitter Website Instagram Pinterest YouTube Copyright © 2015 Ignatius Press, All rights reserved. Share Tweet Forward

“Do Not Grow Bored with Christ:" A Week with the Dominicans in Poland

Dominican community at evening vespers (Krakow, Poland) [Photo: Dr. Anthony E. Clark]

“Do Not Grow Bored with Christ:" A Week with the Dominicans in Poland | Anthony E. Clark, Ph.D. | CWR

On a bitterly cold Sunday morning in mid-December I approached the basilica church attached to the Dominican Priory in Krakow’s Old Quarter. The church and priory are named after the Most Holy Trinity, and upon entering I saw a dense crowd of faithful flooding through the three main doors below the remarkable church façade. Fr. Ireneusz Wysokiński, OP, warned me that Masses throughout the day would all be crowded, but I was not prepared for what I encountered—extra chairs had to be set out to accommodate the overflow.

Sunday Masses in the Dominican church run all day, with a brief pause from 3-5:00 pm; the rest of the day is animated with Mass attendees. Even as I walked by other nearby churches I could see large crowds entering and leaving for Mass. The reports I had heard that Poland is a vibrantly Catholic country are true, and the ninety Dominican friars who serve in the Krakow priory are part of the central heartbeat of the city’s Catholic culture. Earlier that morning, Bro. Grzegorz Kuraś, OP, took me into the elegant church sacristy to show me historic vestments with beautiful needlework, painstakingly made by sisters as a gift to God for use in Holy Mass. The liturgy celebrated in Poland is a sumptuous feast for the senses that elevates the soul; a choir of friars intones chants throughout the Mass, and an assembly of Dominican habits surrounds the altar during the words of Consecration in a cloud of incense. No wonder their church is full—they know how to transport one’s heart and mind to God, which is what, as St. Augustine tells us, we were created for.

The long history of the Dominican priests and brothers who live in Krakow is punctuated with some of the world’s most turbulent events: two World Wars, Nazi occupation, and the harsh, anti-Christian Communist invasion of Catholic Poland. Illuminating the dark shadow of these eras is the memory of Poland’s spiritual hero, Karol Józef Wojtyła, or Pope St. John Paul II, whose image is seen in almost every part of Krakow. This holy son of Poland once said, “I kiss the soil as if I placed a kiss on the hands of a mother, for the homeland is our earthly mother,” and this love of his native country is returned to him by the thousands of young Poles I joined for Mass in Krakow’s Dominican church. On my final day in Krakow I reflected on the many countries I have visited; none has left a stronger impression of Catholic devotion and spiritual maturity as Poland, and the flourishing vocations and filled liturgies of the Dominican community there remain, at least in my mind, the best example of the “hermeneutic of continuity” discussed by Pope Benedict XVI.

For an entire week I was enfolded in the Dominican community, joining them for meals, Masses, daily prayers, and even an evening with the brothers at a local pub, where we discussed their observations of Catholic life in America. Comparing Poland, with its history of Nazi and Communist horrors, to America, with its history of economic triumph and materialism, Bro. Grzegorz Kuraś, OP, said that his largest concern for the US is that it is “growing bored with Christ.” “To all Americans,” he remarked, “I would simply say, do not grow bored with Christ.” Perhaps we Americans can learn something from the Dominican’s of Krakow, who are anything but bored with Christ, and their love of God is contagious. I cannot remember a single Mass in their huge basilica that was not filled with faithful, a very different scene than I am accustomed to in my native city.

Fr. Reginald Wiśniowski, OP

In preparation for this report I was introduced to the oldest Dominican priest in Poland, Fr. Reginald Wiśniowski, OP, who is now ninety-four years old, and has lived through Nazi and Communist occupations, and has worn the Dominican habit since 1939.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

China’s Modern Martyrs: From Mao to Now (Part 4)

Mass at St. Ignatius cathedral in Shanghai – photo taken during the Requiem Mass of Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian. Source: Author’s private collection.

China’s Modern Martyrs: From Mao to Now (Part 4) | Anthony E. Clark, PhD | Catholic World Report

The blood of martyrs has proven to be the seed of the Church in China, as vibrant communities thrive despite government interference and restrictions.

Part 4, Resurrection

“We should be glad and rejoice. As the Shanghai Catholic youths said: ‘We are greatly honored to have been born and lived at this important time.’” — Cardinal Kung Pin-mei, Sermon for Catholics in China (Rome, June 30, 1991)

 

When I published my book, China’s Saints, in 2011, I thought that only a few interested scholars would read it. I wrote it, after all, as an academic study, a work for curmudgeonly professors like myself more inclined to read objective history than pious hagiography. So I was surprised when a Jesuit priest mentioned to a large crowd of academics and ecclesiastics recently gathered in Chicago that he had been reading my book “for his daily devotions.”

Results seldom match expectations, and that is the theme of my final entry in this four-part series on China’s Catholic martyrs from Mao to now. In truth, even the most objective historian—secular or religious—must admit that decades of suppression, persecution, and suffering have resulted in a vibrant Catholic community. I shall here outline the “ongoing growth of these communities,” as Father Jeremy Clarke puts it, “even in spite of attempts to make them disappear.”[1]

In the first three installments of this series I focused on a very dark era in the history of Chinese Catholicism: the attack against Yangjiaping Trappist Abbey and the massacre of many holy monks, Chairman Mao’s malicious media campaign against the Church, the wave of arrests that followed, and the atrocious martyrdoms of such priests as Father Beda Chang and Father Wang Shiwei. I have also recounted the Maoist destruction of Catholic churches during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and more recent efforts to suppress popular Catholic devotions in China, such as the annual pilgrimage to honor Our Lady of China at Donglü. No one can deny the genuine suffering that Christians have encountered in China in recent decades, but as St. Augustine famously asserted, “God had a son on earth who was without sin, but he never had one without suffering.” 

Still, China’s Christians have an optimistic view of their experiences. Elderly Catholics use the word chiku (吃苦) to describe their lives during the Maoist period (1949-1976), which literally means “having tasted bitterness.” One priest noted, “When we were bombarded with anti-Christian propaganda, we had tasted bitterness. We did not swallow it. We survived.”[2] China’s Catholics have done more than survive; they have flourished. Over the years I have travelled in China by mule, train, plane, boat, taxi, bicycle, and long distances on foot to visit important places in the history of Christianity in China, and each year I am astonished by the unprecedented progress of the Church there.

Bishops, priests, sisters, and common faithful have told me their stories—and so have atheists, agnostics, and party members. In fact, party members have informed me that there are many persons in positions of influence who view religion as a “healthy human expression.” 

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

Francis and South Korea

A woman prays during Mass at a church in Seoul, Korea, Feb. 12, 2013. (CNS photo/Kim Hong-Ji, Reuters)

 

Francis and South Korea | John Paul Shimek | CWR

 

In his first international visits, the Pope looks to “the ends of the Earth” and to the young.

It’s official. The volo papale, or papal airplane, will take off from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport in mid-August. This time it will be headed for the heart of Asia. Pope Francis will visit Daejeon, South Korea from August 14 to 18. Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican Press Office, made the announcement in a statement issued March 10. The official comunicato reads:

Welcoming the invitation from the President of the Republic and the Korean bishops, His Holiness Francis will make an Apostolic Trip to the Republic of Korea from 14 to 18 August 2014, on the occasion of the Sixth Asian Youth Day, to be held in the diocese of Daejeon.

The trip will mark the first papal visit to the Korean peninsula in more than two decades. Pope John Paul II visited there on two separate occasions: in the spring of 1984 and again in the autumn of 1989. For his part, Pope Benedict XVI did not elect to visit South Korea during almost a decade as pope.

Both of Pope John Paul II’s visits attracted record numbers of pilgrims. Traveling to Seoul in 1989 for the International Eucharistic Congress, he led one of the largest outdoor gatherings on the Asian continent: some one million Catholics attended the congress’ closing liturgical celebration on October 8, 1989. However, that record was broken in 1995 when he visited Manila, Philippines on the occasion of the Tenth International World Youth Day. More than five million individuals attended that event—the largest outdoor gathering in human history.

A vibrant Church

Like Pope John Paul II, Pope Francis could attract record-setting numbers of pilgrims. After all, the Catholic Church is alive and well in South Korea. In fact, over the last decade, Catholicism has witnessed an incredible growth spurt there. Church enrollment has swelled some 70 percent. Now, more than five million South Koreans—about 11 percent of the population—are members of the Roman Catholic Church. That number continues to increase.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

"On Learning From Not Having Learned" by Fr. James V. Schall, SJ

(Photo: © stokkete - Fotolia.com)

On Learning From Not Having Learned | Fr. James V. Schall, SJ | Catholic World Report

What I call “another sort of learning” is the finding and reading those seminal books that take us to the truth and order of things

Editor's note: The following was originally given as an address at the Bosque School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 8, 2014.

“It (disappointment) occurs when the boy who has been enchanted by Stories from the Odyssey buckles down to really learning Greek. It comes when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.”
— C. S. Lewis, from the second Screwtape Letter, The Screwtape Letters (New York: Macmilllan, 1962), 11.

“No man had a more ardent love of literature, or a higher respect for it than Johnson. His apartment in Pembroke College…was over the Gateway. The enthusiasts for learning will ever contemplate it with veneration. One day, while he was sitting in it quite alone, Dr. Panting, then head of the College…overheard him uttering this soliloquy, in his strong emphatick voice: ‘Well, I have a mind to see what is done in other places of learning. I’ll go and visit universities abroad. I’ll go to France and Italy. I’ll go to Padua—and I’ll mind my business. For an Athenian blockhead is the worst of all blockheads.’”
— From James Boswell’s Life of Johnson, 1730 (London: Oxford, 1931), I, 49-50.

I.

“Bosque” is evidently the Spanish word for a forest. Here in the southwest it refers especially to woods along river bottoms. In this school, the river is the famous Rio Grande. One can speak of being educated in a forest or even, I suppose, of being educated by a forest. Tolkien, who had a special love of trees, used to speak of what the forest taught. Our Scriptural heritage speaks of a “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil” with a Garden as the original place of the First Parents. The relation of gardens to parks and forests is an interesting one. I believe that the City of St. Lewis has a large “Forest Park,” as does Everett, Washington.

In one sense today, we must almost say that all of our national forests spread throughout the country are cared for as large scale gardens and parks. In the middle of Munich Germany, is a lovely park called “the English Garden.” We probably have no “forests primeval” left. Even the jungles in Brazil come under governmental control. We go out of our way to prevent development of certain woods and lands. In a way, nature becomes more nature when it comes under the scope of human understanding. Nature was not meant simply to be nature. It was also meant to be understood as nature. The things of nature have their own intelligibility.

A school in a forest setting is designed, in the first place, to be a school, not a forest. This particular school was founded in 1994, so it is a mere twenty years old. Its first graduates are still not nearly into what Cicero called “old age.” The state in which this school is located is not in “Old” but in “New” Mexico. New Mexico entered the Union on January 6, 1912. My father was born in Iowa in 1904. In the beginning, I cited a passage from James Boswell writing in 1730. This was forty-six years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence and one hundred and twenty-seven years after the founding of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. I taught in a university in Rome founded in 1551. The usual date given for the founding of the City of Rome is 753 B. C. Thus, in terms of Roman dating, this year, 2014 A.D., is listed as Ab Urbe Condita 2767. That is, from the founding of the City of Rome, two thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven years.

I used to insist that students knew, among others, the dates of the deaths of Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, and Aquinas. From the time of Abraham to the time of Socrates was approximately eight hundred years. From the time of Socrates (d. 399 B.C.) to the death of Augustine (d. 430 A.D). was another eight hundred years; from Augustine to Aquinas was eight hundred years (1274 A.D.). From Aquinas to our days is likewise about eight hundred years. These are time sequences and dates that anyone can remember from early youth if he but learns them. They serve to give some time proportion and structure to our history. We also know of ancient Chinese, Hindu, and Inca calendars. The age of the universe itself is said to be around 13.7 billion years. We like to know what went on, where, and involving whom.

Some education in time and space statistics, in history and geography, is appropriate to the young whose memories are still alert. It is good to know the where’s and when’s of things. If we do not take the trouble to know what happened in time and space, we will not be able to place things in relation to each other. Everything will come together as if time and space were collapsed into one blurry time and one fuzzy place. Knowledge of times and places is not the most profound kind of learning. But it provides the context and arena for what are the highest things. Again, I mention this point here as such things are best learned when we are young. We do not waste our time when we know more than our own time and place.

But can we not just look up times and places on our cell phone? No one needs to remember anything. The machine will do it for us. Yet, machines do not know relationships, how the Battle of Hastings in 1066 is related to the Plantagenet House of English monarchs. No machine knows that it knows. Yet, there is too much to remember, no doubt of it. Why not let the machine do it? The machine is a helpful tool to memory, no doubt of it. But if nothing is actually in our heads, we will not see how this relates to that. That is what we have a mind for, to see the connections, the order of things.

And how do we know what we should remember?

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

On the Eve of Francis and Bartholomew’s Embrace

Pope Francis embraces Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, at the Vatican March 2013. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

On the Eve of Francis and Bartholomew’s Embrace | Christopher B. Warner | CWR blog

Seven cataphatic, or positive, points about the meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch

Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew will meet in Bethlehem, Sunday evening, and then pray together in an ecumenical prayer service at the Holy Sepulcher. The events of the weekend can be followed through the official website, Pope Francis in the Holy Land 2014. Let us pray together with Francis, Bartholomew, and the many Christian leaders meeting with them in the Holy Land for authentic unity in Christ.

I hope you had a chance to read Dr. Adam A.J. DeVille’s analysis of current ecumenism. The following seven cataphatic (positive) points are offered here as a compliment to his article. They summarize some of my own thoughts on this momentous occasion:

1. The Embrace: Let us not underestimate the sign of fraternal charity between Francis and Bartholomew on this very significant historical occasion. Fifty years ago, Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras likewise embraced in Jerusalem, lifted the century old anathemas, and began modern Orthodox-Catholic dialogue as we now know it.

2. Progress in Dialogue: A lot of ground has been covered in the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue. The titles of joint documentsproduced by the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation demonstrates how many dividing issues have been wrestled with and how much work has been done. The embrace of Paul VI and Athanagoras was far more than just a nice gesture in a geo-political game. Let us pray that the next fifty years will mark significantly more cooperation and integration between Orthodox and Catholic Christians.

As Dr. DeVille suggests, Eucharistic inter-communion between Orthodox and Catholic churches someday may again be possible and should be ardently prayed for. But Eucharistic communion presupposes theological and canonical harmony. We are getting closer to that goal, but we are still a long way away.

3. Uniatism is a Blessing, not Curse: 

Read the entire post on the CWR blog.

The Pope, The Patriarch, and True Ecumenism

Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras attend a prayer service in Jerusalem in January 1964. Pope Francis will meet Patriarch Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew May 25 during his three-day visit to the Holy Land. The ecumenical session will mark the 50th anniversary of a 1964 meeting between Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. (CNS photo/Giancarlo Giuliani, Catholic Press Photo)

The Pope, The Patriarch, and True Ecumenism | Dr. Adam A. J. DeVille | Catholic World Report

Seven things that true ecumenism, which is rooted in the prayer and desire of Jesus Christ, is not

With the pope of Rome and the patriarch of Constantinople going to Jerusalem this weekend, there is naturally a great deal of conversation and consideration of where Orthodox and Catholic Christians have been and where we might be going. I have discussed some of this elsewhere. Here, however, I want to do something different, following a theological method beloved of many in the Christian East, as well as many Western mystics (St. John of the Cross comes to mind), namely the apophatic or “negative” way. I wish, in other words, to explain what true ecumenism is not.

Let us thus proceed by ruling out seven false forms, or understandings, of Christian unity.

1) Ecumenism is not a Pan-Heresy: Some ignorant and hostile Orthodox bloggers are endlessly recycling the fact-free fantasy of “ecumenism as a pan-heresy.” This ludicrous notion—for which nobody anywhere has ever provided the slightest shred of logical and credible evidence—is used to stir up fear that if Catholics and Orthodox draw closer to one another, it can only mean that one side has destroyed all its truth-claims and given in to the other side. Ecumenism is presented as a zero-sum game; in the words of certain economists: you win, I lose.

If this were, indeed, what the ecumenical task involved, then we could have accomplished it generations, even many centuries, ago: I set a list of demands, and you simply give in to every one completely while, perhaps, scrupling in the mildest possible way about one or two of the least significant—just as the (largely Orthodox) Serbs did before the (largely Catholic) Habsburgs in July 1914.

But the fact that we are still divided should give the lie to this notion: no Catholic or Orthodox hierarch (or theologian) wants to see the other surrendered and lying prostrate before its own side, which is precisely why the search for unity takes so long and is so utterly painstaking. We do not seek the capitulation of the other and the diminution of the truth (the way of the world) but the conversion of ourselves to Christ (the kenotic way), and in so doing we shall discover the unity he demands (about which see #7 below).

2) Ecumenism is not the Pope and Patriarch alone:

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

America’s First Mass

St. Brendan (Naomh Breandán) and the whale by Honorius Philoponus from "Novi Orbis Indiae Occidentalis" (1621)

America’s First Mass | John Buescher | Catholic World Report

When was it, where was it, and who said it?

When and where was the first Mass offered in America? No one living today knows the answer to this intriguing question. But we can summarize what we do know about the first Masses in various parts of the New World.

Some legendary accounts of the life of St. Brendan, who was a priest, say he set off in a small boat on a journey to the Isle of the Blessed, sometime around A.D. 512, along with 14 monks and priests. After they landed on Saint Brendan’s Island—wherever that was—he celebrated Mass. There are people who say that elements of the legends of the journey demonstrate that the Irish did have some knowledge of the northeast Atlantic coast of America, so if St. Brendan or some other Irish seafaring priest did arrive there, he would certainly have offered Mass, as he is said to have done in nearly every other place he visited (including, as the legend goes, on the top of a whale in mid-ocean).

Remains of a Norse settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows, on the island of Newfoundland, were discovered and excavated in the 1960s. The settlement dates from around A.D. 1000. It was probably not the only settlement the Norse set up in the region, and it was likely that it served as a sort of permanent outpost for shipping lumber and furs to Greenland and perhaps further east. The size and number of buildings suggest that as many as 150 people lived there.

Icelandic bishop Eric Gnupsson, who had been based in Greenland since 1112, “went to seek Vinland” in 1121—presumably to minister to some of his far-flung Catholic flock—but nothing more was reported of him. If he succeeded, he surely offered the first Mass in the New World, perhaps at L’Anse aux Meadows or at another Norse settlement. With the approval of the Norwegian king, a bishop for Greenland was set up and the see was established in the settlement of Garðar. The first bishop, Arnaldur (Gnupsson’s immediate successor in Greenland), arrived there in 1126 and began construction of a cathedral, devoted to St. Nicholas, the same year. The last bishop served until 1378. Archaeologists have excavated the ruins of the cathedral, a cross-shaped church built of sandstone.

The first American Mass for which a record exists took place during the second voyage of Columbus, on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1494, at a temporary shelter that would serve as a church at La Isabela, 30 miles west of what is now Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. Five priests accompanied the expedition: Benedictine Father Buil, Jeronymite Father Ramone Pane, and three Franciscan missionary priests. Fr. Buil celebrated the Mass. The settlers built a church on the site, the foundation of which has been excavated (another church building is now at La Isabela). The original settlement was abandoned by 1498 and its settlers moved to the newly established Santo Domingo on the south side of the island.

There is some solid but as yet inconclusive evidence that in that same year of 1498 the first Mass may have been celebrated on the North American continent (apart from the Norse settlements).

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

John XXIII, John Paul II, and the Quest for Peace in Africa

Pope John Paul II is assisted by South African President Nelson Mandela at the Johannesburg International Airport in 1995 at the start of the pope's first official visit to the country. (CNS photo/Patrick De Noirmont, Reuters)

John XXIII, John Paul II, and the Quest for Peace in Africa | Allen Ottaro | CWR blog

The two newest Saints have a deep history with Africa, and their teachings offer guidance today and for years to come

These past weeks leading up to the canonization of Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II, have provided a wonderful opportunity to revisit and reflect on their contribution to the Church and the world. This week , at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome, the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) organized a two-day event with the theme, “The Church in Africa: From the Second Vatican Council to the Third Millennium”. The conference was a chance to celebrate the contribution of the two Popes to the Church in the continent of Africa.

The two newest Saints have a deep history with Africa. While Pope Paul VI was the first pontiff in history to set foot on the continent when he visited Uganda in 1969, it was Pope John XIII who created the first African Cardinal, Laurean Rugambwa (1912-1997), in 1960. Pope John Paul II made numerous trips to Africa, including three visits to my own country, Kenya, within a span of fifteen years.

However, what has caught my attention, especially in light of recent and ongoing events on the African continent, is what I and my fellow African citizens can learn from these two great Saints as we seek to advance justice and peace.

During the month of April, Africa and the world have been commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. The tragic events in Rwanda are still very fresh for many in the Central African country. The words “Never again” have been used repeatedly, in expressing the commitment that humanity will no longer remain as spectators in the face of the evil of war.

Regrettably, violence which has been described by various international agencies as “genocidal”, erupted late last year in the Central African Republic and South Sudan. And just this week, the world has witnessed what is being described as the “Massacre of Bentiu”, in which hundreds of civilians were killed in a church, a mosque and a hospital in the South Sudanese town of Bentiu.

The current conflict in South Sudan, pitting rebel forces under the command of former Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, against government troops and President Salva Kiir, began in mid-December and was precipitated by internal power struggles within the ruling party, the Sudanese People Liberation Movement (SPLM). An agreement on the cessation of hostilities signed by the two parties and brokered by the Inter Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) on the January 23rd, failed to hold, even after weeks of mediation talks in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. Watching a country—whose birth I was old enough to witness—disintegrate so soon, along with the human suffering, death and destruction being experienced, is a sad experience.

I recently turned to Pacem in Terris, the encyclical of Pope John XXIII on “Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty”, given on April 11, 1963. Now, the 1960s is significant in various ways in the history of the African continent, besides the many events in the life of the Church. More than thirty African countries gained independence during that period (1960-1969). A few weeks after Pacem in Terris was given, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the predecessor to the African Union (AU) was formed, to promote unity and solidarity of African states in order to achieve a better life for its people.

The first thing that stood out for me in Pacem in Terris is that Pope John XXIII laid out the rights but also duties, beginning with the right to life:

Continue reading on the Catholic World Report blog.

Michael O’Brien’s Literary Icons

Michael O’Brien’s Literary Icons | Eric Thomason | CWR

Voyage to Alpha Centauri explores familiar and timely themes, but in a very different setting.

Michael O’Brien is a superior storyteller and an increasingly bright light in the Catholic literary firmament.  The Canadian native's fiction is reminiscent of Tolkien’s: epic in scope, universal in theme, and filled with ordinary characters facing extraordinary obstacles.  An iconographer by trade, O'Brien's novels are literary icons, attracting readers with vibrant imagery in order to invite them into a deeper contemplation of eternal truths.  O’Brien’s latest work, Voyage to Alpha Centauri, fits this mold.

Alpha Centauri takes place approximately 100 years in the future, at which time a unified world government is preparing to send several hundred elite scientists, scholars, and government officials to explore a potentially habitable planet in the next solar system.  The central character is lapsed Catholic Neil de Hoyos, an aging Nobel laureate whose theoretical work made the journey of exploration possible and whose journal entries make up nearly the entirety of the book.  The journey to the planet takes nine years, during which time de Hoyos makes unsettling discoveries about governmental intrusion into the private lives of the voyagers.  De Hoyos’ journal entries in this phase of the book explore the nature of government, the basis for authentic human community, and the hubris of utopian efforts to perfect man without reference to the transcendent good of the human person.  Recounting a mid-journey subversive speech he delivered on governmental social engineering, de Hoyos writes:

We can harness the atom, but we cannot attempt to absolutely control men’s wills, nor their capacity for rational thought, nor their hunger for freedom, without grave risk to man himself.  To condition him, to determine him according to arbitrary theories of his nature—his perpetually elusive and mysterious nature—is to deform him. (p. 135)

The government officials on board are swift to respond to such rhetoric.  As in several of O’Brien’s other novels, these officials are the immediate face of evil in Alpha Centauri.  They are omnipresent, politically correct, unfailingly polite, and utterly ruthless; one colorful character, a hard-drinking Scottish astronomer, delightfully refers to them as “protocol zombies” (p. 50).  Presiding over these bland but powerful bureaucrats and leading the response to de Hoyos’ speech is a particularly loathsome character, Dr. Elif Larsson.  In a dramatic but private debate with de Hoyos, he offers his defense of increasing governmental control:

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

New: "Revolution in Rio: The Best of WYD 2013"

Now available from Ignatius Press:

Revolution in Rio: The Best of WYD 2013

• DVD | 55 minutes

This DVD can only be sold in the US and Canada.  

Revolution in Rio is a pulsating 55-minute documentary that will help you experience all the highlights of WYD in Rio de Janeiro in August 2013.

More than three million young people around the world responded enthusiastically to the invitation of Pope Francis, and you can experience that incredible enthusiasm of youth for the challenges presented by the charismatic Pope. Six unforgettable days synthesized in 55 intense minutes that mix humor, fervor, cry and love in joyful symphony. With several wonderful bonus extras.

The film includes many "thriller" moments of celebration, art, and drama, with a dynamic soundtrack and interspersed with brief interviews of young people at WYD. It ends with the prophetic witness of Pope: "Christ is preparing a new springtime in the world".

The DVD also contains 50 minutes of Extras, including the top songs of World Youth Day, the Pope's special speech to young Argentines, a photo gallery, and an extract of the biography of Pope Francisco.

Plus, the first 2,000 copies of this DVD will include a free copy of the CTS Booklet, Pope Francis!

This DVD contains the following language options: English or Spanish  

Trailer:

A Convert's Roman Pilgrimage

by Christopher White | CWR blog

On five days in Rome with 2,000 years of living history and 500 pages of learned guidance

Last week I enjoyed a wonderful five days in Rome. While I'd previously spent a fair amount of time in the city, this was my first return following my conversion to Catholicism in 2010.

I remember a visit in 2007 where I attended a general audience with Pope Benedict XVI and being profoundly moved, even as a Protestant, at the sheer power and draw of the papacy. Since that time, my understanding of the role of the successor to Saint Peter has been considerably enriched and it was with deep appreciation that I attended an audience with Pope Francis last

Wednesday. As the Holy Father made his way through St. Peter’s Square—and the nearly 50,000 in attendance snapped photographs, cheered, and passed their babies to be blessed by him—I couldn’t help but to reflect on the rich symbolism at play. There we were, joyfully witnessing the current successor to St. Peter while only a few hundred feet away from the tomb of St. Peter, as well as many of the other popes throughout the ages. This unbroken chain of succession is something that no other institution on this earth can boast of—giving further witness to the fact that the Catholic Church is more than merely a human institution. Our roots and our origin are to be found in the eternal and the divine. All of this—the churches and cathedrals, the papacy, etc.—are earthly ministries meant to point us toward our heavenly home.

Yet nonetheless, our heritage is essential. Our churches, our stories, and our history shape us and can and should play important roles in enhancing our spiritual lives. That’s why I brought along George Weigel’s newly released Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches (Basic Books, 2013) to accompany me on this past trip. As Weigel explains in his recent CWR interview with Carrie Gress, Roman Pilgrimage documents an important tradition that up until recent years had been neglected. He explains:

The "station churches" of Rome take the pilgrim back to the very first centuries of Christian life in the city, as virtually all of them are associated with early Christian martyrs. To make the pilgrimage to the prescribed "station church" for each day of Lent is to relive the experience of the pope and the people of Rome in the first millennium, when popes led a daily procession through the city to the "station" of the day, where Mass was celebrated and the day's fast broken by a post-Mass communal meal. In addition to being a marvelous way to deepen one's experience of Lent (and Easter Week, for the pilgrimage extends through the Octave of Easter), the station church pilgrimage is also a splendid way to "learn Rome" and to explore some of its hidden artistic treasures.

The book is a real treasure and is a perfect Christmas gift for any Catholic family. As Weigel notes in the introduction, it’s primarily designed to be used at home during the Lenten season, but of course, it’s also a helpful addition to any pilgrim exploring the eternal city. Here are just a few examples:

While at St. Peter’s in Chains, the church that holds the chains believed to have held Peter while imprisoned, Weigel invites the reader to consider more than just the historical significance of relics. Relics are meant to challenge our present living. St. Peter and his relics speak to us today, observes Weigel, by making us ask ourselves the question: “Am I becoming a saint?” Indeed, the path to sainthood is the only thing that can deliver us from slavery and the chains that bind us in this present life.

Consider, too, the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls built on the site where Paul is believed to have been buried. Paul, who converted to the faith after being a great persecutor of Christians. Here, Weigel provides a reflection on the true nature of freedom, a freedom that allows us doing the right thing at the right time. This freedom—a “freedom for excellence”—as St. Paul came to understand, provides the courage to endure all that is necessary for the sake of the gospel.

Back at St. Peter’s Basilica, we encounter Peter, a fisherman who has become a radical disciple of Christ, eventually charged to lead his Church as the first pope. In following Christ, he offered his own life—a life the Church now remembers and celebrates in the Church built above his burial site. “Peter is here because Peter met the Risen Lord,” Weigel reminds us. The resurrection and the hope of Easter is a narrative of life, not death, and the ministry of Peter, and his successors, is one that proclaims that message to the world.

Clocking in at almost five hundred pages, the book takes the reader through every day of the Lenten season and the Octave of Easter. Enhanced by beautiful photographs from Stephen Weigel (George’s son) and commentary from art historian, Elizabeth Lev, the book is part devotional, part history guide. And even though I have returned home from my own trip to Rome, thanks to this wonderful new work, this pilgrim’s journey is really just now beginning.

A Pilgrimage in Rome—At Home: An interview with George & Stephen Weigel

A Pilgrimage in Rome—At Home | Carrie Gress | Catholic World Report

George Weigel and his photographer son, Stephen Weigel, talk about their book, Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches

One of the best-kept secrets of lived Catholicism in Rome, the station churches pilgrimage, which dates back to the earliest centuries of Christianity, can now be experienced by the faithful worldwide in George Weigel's latest book, Roman Pilgrimage: The Station Churches (Basic Books, 2013), co-authored with art historian Elizabeth Lev, and featuring the photography of his son, Stephen.

George and and Stephen Weigel spoke recently with Catholic World Report about the new book.

CWR:Roman Pilgrimage is a day-by-day journey to forty historic churches in Rome. What is significant about these holy sites and this "pilgrimage" around the city? 

George Weigel: The "station churches" of Rome take the pilgrim back to the very first centuries of Christian life in the city, as virtually all of them are associated with early Christian martyrs. To make the pilgrimage to the prescribed "station church" for each day of Lent is to relive the experience of the pope and the people of Rome in the first millennium, when popes led a daily procession through the city to the "station" of the day, where Mass was celebrated and the day's fast broken by a post-Mass communal meal. In addition to being a marvelous way to deepen one's experience of Lent (and Easter Week, for the pilgrimage extends through the Octave of Easter), the station church pilgrimage is also a splendid way to "learn Rome" and to explore some of its hidden artistic treasures.

CWR: Who do you envision reading this book? Is it just for those who are actually in Rome for Lent? 

George Weigel: Roman Pilgrimage is a good way to "do Rome at home"—that is, to make the Lenten station church pilgrimage from your living room or study, a day at a time, reflecting on each day's liturgical texts and getting to know each day's stational church. So the book really is for everyone. Those planning on taking it to Rome as a companion to do at least a part of the pilgrimage might want to order the eBook, which is gorgeous (all photos are in color) and a lot easier to carry around. 

CWR: The book is an insider's look at one of the best-kept secrets of those who live in Rome, although it is certainly not new. What do you think makes this book "work" to bring the experience to those who may have never even stepped foot in the Eternal City?

George Weigel: In addition to being a guide book to more than three dozen venerable churches and their unique architectural and artistic histories, Roman Pilgrimage is a spiritual companion to Lent and a means of discovering the baptismal character of the Lenten season, which is for all Christians, not just the Church's enrolled catechumens. In a sense, Lent invites every Catholic to re-enter a kind of catechumenate each year, examining conscience and pondering the ways in which we have and haven't practiced the imitation of Christ during the previous twelve months. The splendid cycle of Lenten biblical and patristic readings at Holy Mass and in the Liturgy of the Hours offers an unparalleled richness of material for reflection, amplified by the experience of beauty as a "rumor of angels" that everyone takes from the experience of the station churches. Thus after making the "Forty Days" through the station church pilgrimage, we can renew the promises of our own baptism with real conviction, and fully appreciate being blessed with baptismal water at the Easter Vigil or on Easter Sunday.

CWR: Art historian Elizabeth Lev also worked on this project with you. What was her unique contribution to the book?

Continue reading on the CWR site.

Steve Ray blog and video: On Ferry from Italy to Patras Greece

From Steve Ray's website, Catholic-Convert.com, posted yesterday:

We started out the day with a wonderful Mass at Lanciano where a Eucharistic miracle happened in the 700s. We toured the museum with all the scientific evidence people enjoyed the gift shop.

Then we were off to the port. It wasn’t a long drive but it was beautiful through the gorgeous landscape of Italy.

We had conversion stories told on the buses along the way. I told mine on both buses and Mark Brumley shared his as well as Fr. Mark Mary who told his vocation story.

We arrived at the dock at Ancona Italy and boarded our beautiful ferry. Everyone was surprised how nice the ferry was.

All is beautiful going along Italian coastline and into Greek Islands. We had an hour meeting to explain procedures and also a mini “seminar at sea”. We talked about the Battle of Lepanto between the Christians and the Muslims because will be landing in Patras Greece tomorrow where the battle took place.

By the way, Patras has the bones of the Apostle St. Andrew, brother of St. Peter. And it was here that the Catholic armies won the Battle of Lepanto against the Muslims by the power of the Rosary. If they had lost, you would all be speaking Arabic today!

Visit Steve's site to watch a ten minute video.