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1998 NEWS STORIES
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ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 1998
by Jim Holman.
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NEWS
FEBRUARY 1998
UNLIKELY RECIPIENTS? Perhaps, but according to January 3 and 12 Los Angeles Times stories, His Eminence, Roger Cardinal Mahony nominated comedian Bob Hope, news magnate Rupert Murdoch, and Roy Disney, head of Walt Disney Company's animation division, for papal knighthood. On January 11, Roger Cardinal Mahony inducted Murdoch, along with more than 6 other prominent Los Angeles area Catholics, into the Order of St. Gregory, a pontifical honorary order founded by Pope Gregory XVI in 1831 in honor of Pope St. Gregory the Great. Neither Hope nor Disney were present at the ceremonies, where His Eminence told Murdoch and the others, "you are examples of good peer pressure, positive influences on society and culture."
The Times quotes archdioceesan spokesman, Father Gregory Coiro, who said that the Order of St. Gregory is bestowed on people of good character who have "promoted the interests of society, the [Catholic] Church and the Holy See." Though Hope, Murdoch and Disney are not Catholic, they have donated significant amounts of money to Catholic institutions. Bob Hope and his wife Dolores have, says the Times, contributed to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.; Roy Disney and his wife, Patricia, have supported the cardinal's new cathedral project; and the owner of Fox Television and Twentieth Century Fox Studios, Rupert Murdoch and his wife, Anne, have supported the Archdiocesan Education Foundation, among other Catholic causes.
Cardinal Mahony, who petitioned the pope to admit women to the order, also nominated the wives of Hope, Murdoch and Disney, all of whom are Catholic, as Dames of St. Gregory. Other Catholics honored include Deacon Aloysius Caffrey, 77, active in donating food to AIDS hospices and needy organizations; Geraldine Frawley, formerly publisher of the National Catholic Register and the Twin Circle; actor Ricardo Montalban, of television program Fantasy Island fame; and Los Angeles City Councilman John Ferraro.
Not everyone, it appears, applauds Cardinal Mahony's choice of Rupert Murdoch for papal honors, as is indicated by two letters that appeared in the January 9, 1998 Los Angeles Times. One Frank McPike of Torrance writes, "[w]hile I don't know who St. Gregory the Great was, I still have a feeling that if he were given a look at most of Murdoch's newspapers, he might ask for a recount." Mr. McPike continues that "Murdoch's sex-oriented British dailies, and even his blue-collar, lowbrow sensationalist U.S. holdings, make him an unlikely ally of the pope.... Perhaps the most telling factor is that Murdoch and his wife 'have supported the Archdiocesan Education Foundation and other Catholic causes. Apparently, Murdoch bought more than the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1997."
Along the same lines writes George T. Bentley of La Puente, a Catholic. Imagining the January 12 induction ceremony, Mr. Bentley says, "I can see it now. Murdoch's Fox network will tape the ceremony, juice it up with the usual blood and babes, and air it during the February sweeps. I have the perfect title: 'When Church Officials Lose Their Minds!'"
KATHY LINDELL, associate director of the Los Angeles Archdiocese's Office of Worship has resigned her position to join the Junior Chamber of Commerce, a non-profit organization that organizes programs for at-risk youth. Lindell, who worked for many years in the Office of Worship will join her former boss, Douglas Ferraro. Ferraro was Father Albarano's predecessor at the Office of Worship before leaving the priesthood. Lindell served as Ferraro's secretary before moving up to the post of associate director of the Office of Worship.
RECOGNIZING "THE GROWING INTEREST in the Christian men's movements nationally (Promise Keepers; St. Joseph Covenant Keepers)" the bishops of the Los Angeles Province have "decided to support the development of a regional Catholic men's ministry in Southern California." So runs a memorandum sent by His Grace Michael P. Driscoll, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange, to "all priests and deacons." This regional ministry, called "Men of Promise: Catholic Men's Fellowship" will hold, on February 28, an "interdiocesan day of prayer and fellowship," called "Super Saturday Men's Conference TEAM UP '98," which, says Bishop Driscoll, "is expected to draw over 3,000 men and may be the largest gathering of Catholic men in these western United States." The conference will include such "oustanding speakers" as Bowie Kuhn, former Commissioner of Baseball, Bishop Joseph Sartoris of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, and His Grace, Bishop Driscoll, himself. But, perhaps, the most outstanding speaker of all is enneagram expert Father Richard Rohr, OFM, famous for his "wildman" retreats for men at his "Ghost Ranch" in New Mexico. In the memorandum, His Grace describes Rohr as a "well known author, speaker and important leader in the Christian men's movement."
Bishop Driscoll invites the participation of all the priests and deacons in the Diocese of Orange "in promoting this important event for your parish as well as all the parishes of our diocese." His Grace continues: "I also invite your personal participation in this day along with the men of your parish. Our hope is that these men will become the nuclei of your own parish-based men's ministry, meeting to share faith and spiritually develop their potentials for leadership in church, home and community."
FATHER RICHARD ALBARANO, director of the Office of Worship for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, gave a presentation on the implementation of Cardinal Mahony's Pastoral Letter Gather Faithfully Together: A Guide for Sunday Mass, Saturday, January 10, at Our Lady of Sorrows parish in Santa Barbara.
Father Albarano devoted the first half of the two-hour session to an exposition of the pastoral's fundamental points. He then opened the floor to questions. A number of those in attendance voiced confusion or criticism of the ambiguous language employed by the pastoral, and the changes legislated by the letter.
Father Albarano claimed that the pastoral didn't break any new ground: "All it did was to underline the directives that were given to us... with Vatican II... When many people are saying to us, 'You have gone too far with liturgy... it is no longer the liturgy of our ancestors,' the cardinal has said, 'Continue the renewal'... To continue the renewal means to be faithful to the Church, especially to be faithful to the Vatican, as the Vatican gives us direction for liturgical renewal..."
Father Albarano disclosed how he had finally been enlightened concerning the true purpose of the Mass: "For a long, long time in our lives--a long, long time in my own life--I thought that liturgy was where I went to get filled up with holiness. It was not until I began truly praying the Mass and praying the Eucharist, listening to Vatican II and being reminded of it through the Sunday Mass, that I began to realize that liturgy is where I go to--with my brothers and sisters--make holy so that we together can be made holy."
Through the Eucharistic prayer, not only are bread and wine changed into the Body and Blood of the Lord, explained Father Albarano, "...we are changed, we are changed right there in... the Eucharistic Prayer. Just as you change this bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus, so too you change us.... We receive Eucharist... so that we can become who we are, the body and blood of the Lord." At this point in his talk, Father Albarano reasserted, "No, there's nothing new here."
"I often say that if my grandmother... walked into St. Raymond's Church... she would look up at me standing at the altar and say, 'My God, Richard, what happened? You're not a Catholic anymore.' And I could understand that... because what she experienced when she went to church on Sunday, and said her prayers and her novenas and all the wonderful devotions... was what she needed in her age. What we experience today is developing into what we need for a new age. But I underline the fact that it is developing; it is not here yet. That is why we must continue the renewal. That is why our cardinal and our pope have called us to prepare for the new millennium by implementing Vatican II...."
Father Albarano fielded most of the questions with equanimity, but lost his composure towards the end of the session. One participant prefaced his question by quoting from the papal encyclical Inestimabile Donum and commenting that the cardinal's pastoral has generated a great deal of criticism throughout the United States. The questioner pointed to an 11-page critique of the pastoral by Adoremus, the Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy. At this, Father Albarano interrupted him, telling him to "sit down" and refused to let him continue with his question.
TRYING TO SINK THE SHIP? "It's worse than wrong, it's stupid," the January 16 edition of The Tidings quoted Father Michael J. Himes as saying of the recent Vatican document on the role of the laity. The Vatican document, entitled, Instruction on Certain Questions Regarding the Collaboration of the Lay Faithful in the Sacred Ministry of the Priest, is intended to curb "abuses and transgressions" in which lay people are performing liturgical tasks properly reserved for the clergy. The document cites abuses such as lay people delivering homilies and the habitual, unnecessary use of extraordinary ministers.
"Father Himes is no stranger to Los Angeles Catholics," said the Tidings article. He gave the keynote address at the archdiocesan Priests' Assembly in October, and was the keynote speaker at the 1997 Los Angeles Archdiocese's Religious Education Congress. Currently a teacher at Boston College, he made his comments in an address to the Parish Services Symposium, an event for diocesan officials responsible for coordinating parish services. Father Himes said the document "went against every syllable I've heard" at the New York symposium, which included discussions on the increased role of the laity in parish administration. He characterized it as another example of the current tension between Rome and local churches.
Father Himes stated that the document would damage the relationship between Rome and the local churches, and that he did not expect the document to change what was happening. In a misplaced but inadvertently apt analogy, he said "Once the Titanic is on the iceberg, you can say 'Full speed ahead,' but you still won't make New York."
A BIT OF OVERKILL? That's what Helen Hitchcock of Adoremus, Society for the Renewal of the Sacred Liturgy, called National Catholic Reporter's December 26, 1998 coverage of the Adoremus critique of Roger Cardinal Mahony's liturgical pastoral, Gather Faithfully Together. Not only did NCR devote an article to Adoremus's critique, it also published an editorial which characterized Adoremus's efforts as a "smear campaign." Such a smear campaign, says NCR, may induce dioceses and parishes "to play down liturgical change or put it on the back burner" to avoid confrontation with such "liturgical police" as Adoremus and Mother Angelica whose "legalistic criticism" bears the fruit of "divisiveness."
"I wrote a letter to NCR concerning the Adoremus stories," notes Hitchcock. "The letter basically observes that there are basically two sets of rules the NCR applies--if you criticize the pope or a 'conservative' bishop (or anyone else), you're good, courageous, prophetic; if you criticize a 'liberal,' you're wicked, meanspirited, etc. The 'civility' that is frequently asked for in some circles seems a one-way street, doesn't it?"
THE NCR EDITORIAL NOTES that Father Gregory Coiro, Cardinal Mahony's media relations representative, "points out the hypocrisy of such legalistic criticism from followers of Mother Angelica," among whom he, presumably, numbers Adoremus. In the article, "Liturgy watchdog group blasts Mahony," NCR editor John L. Allen quotes Coiro's response to Adoremus' criticism that Mahony's pastoral reflects a "strikingly truncated theology of the Eucharist." Says Coiro: "There's no need for the cardinal to rewrite the catechism or the Council of Trent... This letter is a pastoral implementation of the liturgical vision of Vatican II, and thus it's necessary to talk about the assembly, what we do and how we prepare ourselves. But everything in the letter reflects acceptance of the liturgical norms of the Holy See."
Calling for "respectful, civil dialogue" about liturgical matters, Coiro charged that Mahony's critics "fuel the fires of polarization rather than bringing Catholics together in unity on who we are and what we are about." He then, says NCR, "turned the tables on Mahony's critics," saying, "if people want to crticize us for not following the norms, then maybe they should look at the televised Mass on EWTN. I don't see anything in the GIRM (General Instruction on the Roman Missal) about people throwing themselves on the floor during the Eucharistic prayers. If you're going to be strictly legalistic, you ought to be sure that the people in your camp are following the letter of the law."
What of Coiro's criticism? Is it inconsistent not to criticize EWTN's supposed liturgical abuses? Fr. Joseph Fessio, S.J., who sits on Adoremus' executive committee thinks, whatever the value of Coiro's criticism, "it doesn't apply to Adoremus." However, said Fessio to the Mission, "the criticism may have some merit. In one sense it's as much a rubrical violation to prostrate at the consecration as it is to stand. However: prostration increases, rather than decreases, reverence; it doesn't involve the entire congregation; it's happening in a cloistered contemplative monastery--which often have legitimate customs of this kind; it is a response to uncorrected abuses; those who do it are only a small, designated group of religious; Mother Angelica is not recommending this to other congregations, nor trying to impose it on others. I would say it's a desperate measure for desperate times. But I would neither do it nor recommend it myself. That would also be the official policy of Adoremus, if we were to make one."
Such a response might have added a note interest to the NCR articles. Did NCR contact Adoremus for the article? No, says NCR staff writer John Allen whom the Mission contacted. "The Adoremus document," said Allen, "was quoted extensively in our article. Coiro was contacted to provide a response to its contents."