In Brief

Holy Father's Intentions

Pope John Paul II has announced the following general and missionary intentions for September and October 2002:

September

For children and young people in Catholic schools, that in the course of their training they may encounter strong and wise educators who will help them to grow in their religious faith and healthy attitudes to life.

That the Holy Spirit, through the contribution of the Church and ecclesial communities, may help the two states of the Korean peninsula to rediscover the deep reasons for their reconciliation.

October

That catechists may be sustained by the prayers and collaboration of parish communities for the successful advance of the new evangelization.

That missionaries, priests, religious, and the laity may know how to proclaim with courage Jesus Christ's love for the poor.

 

Wounded Church

We recently came across an important address by the Holy Father to some influential bishops on current challenges facing the Church, or what he called the "five wounds of the Church."

The wounds he identified were (1) the sins and heresy of clergy and laity; (2) the threat of militant Islam; (3) the schism of Eastern Orthodoxy; (4) the cruelties and human rights violations taking place in Eastern Europe and Asia; and (5) persecution of the Church by secular authorities.

This address was not given by Pope John Paul II to the American cardinals during their meeting earlier this year. Nor was it given by Pope John XXIII or Paul VI during Vatican II.

Instead, this is taken from an address by Pope Innocent IV in 1245 to the bishops who had assembled for the first ecumenical council of Lyons!

As these same wounds continue to afflict the Church today, we can learn from our own history and derive some consolation from the fact that the Church seemingly in every age has endured similar sufferings.

Lay Witness readers are strongly encouraged to read an article on the "five wounds of the Church" authored by our chairman of the board, Scott Hahn.


Behold, Our Mother

The following is taken from the opening address given by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on September 15, 2001, at the Pastoral Congress for the Diocese of Aversa (Italy). The congress was dedicated to a rereading of the Vatican II documents.

"To understand the ecclesiology of Vatican II, one cannot ignore chapters 4 to 7 of the Constitution Lumen Gentium. These chapters discuss the laity, the universal call to holiness, the religious and the eschatological orientation of the Church. In these chapters the inner goal of the Church, the most essential part of her being, comes once again to the fore: holiness, conformity to God. There must exist in the world space for God, where He can dwell freely so that the world becomes His 'Kingdom.' Holiness is something greater than a moral quality. It is the presence of God with men, of men with God; it is God's 'tent' pitched among men in our midst (cf. Jn. 1:14). It is a new birth—not from flesh and blood but from God (Jn. 1:13).

"As everyone knows, the question of dedicating a specific document to Mary was widely debated. In any event, I believe it was appropriate to insert the Marian element directly into the doctrine on the Church [Lumen Gentium, chapter 8]. . . . The Church is not an apparatus, nor a social institution, nor one social institution among many others. She is a person. She is a woman. She is a Mother. She is alive. A Marian understanding of the Church is totally opposed to the concept of the Church as a bureaucracy or a simple organization. We cannot make the Church; we must be the Church. We are the Church; the Church is in us only to the extent that our faith more than action forges our being. Only by being Marian, can we become the Church."

See the entire text of Cardinal Ratzinger's address, which was originally published in L'Osservatore Romano on January 23, 2002.


Let Us Adore Him

One of the real bright spots in the Church today is the spread of Eucharistic devotion, particularly perpetual Eucharistic adoration and the resurgence of traditional Eucharistic devotions such as benediction. Yet, as individuals and parishes try to take advantage of these opportunities, they find that they could use some guidance, such as how to make a good holy hour, or how to conduct exposition with benediction appropriately.

That's precisely why Helen Hitchcock of Women of Faith and Family (WFF) and Adoremus has been distributing a wonderfully handy booklet on exposition, adoration, and benediction. WFF is a leading Catholic outreach to women who desire to deepen and live their Catholic faith. Adoremus is an organization that seeks the renewal of the sacred liturgy in accordance with the authentic teaching and directive of Vatican II.

CUF is delighted to assist in the commendable effort to distribute widely these booklets on the Eucharist. Call us toll-free at (800) MY-FAITH and we'll send you a free copy of the booklet and other worthwhile materials kindly provided to us by WFF and Adoremus.


Liturgical Fine-tuning

Last March the Holy See issued revised Norms for the Celebration and Reception of Holy Communion Under Both Kinds in the United States. Items of note include:

• An expansion of opportunities when Communion under both kinds may be offered (no. 23)
• An admonition that excessive use of extraordinary ministers might be a reason for limiting Communion under both kinds (no. 24)
• An emphasis on the role of ordinary ministers of Communion (no. 26, 27) and the proper use of extraordinary ministers (no. 28)
• The requirement that the distribution of the consecrated species to additional ciboria and chalices is limited to ordinary ministers (no. 37).
• A provision that extraordinary ministers approach the altar only as the priest receives Communion (no. 38) and the prohibition of lay ministers receiving Communion in the manner of the concelebrating priest or after the distribution of Communion (no. 39)
• A mandate for a minister of the chalice that eliminates self-communication, "even by intinction," and the passing of the chalice among communicants (nos. 44, 50)
• The option of the communicant to receive from the chalice (no. 47)
  The mandate of the consumption of all Precious Blood remaining after Communion; that it "never be poured into the ground or down the sacrarium" (no. 54)

For the full text of the revisions, visit the U.S. Bishops' website. If you have any questions on liturgical matters, call CUF's toll-free Catholic hotline at (800) MY-FAITH.


Weigel Room

George Weigel, author of Witness to Hope, the authoritative biography of Pope John Paul II, made the following comments about Pope John Paul II and Vatican II in an interview with ZENIT earlier this year.

"Unlike other ecumenical councils, Vatican II did not provide 'keys' to its teaching in the form of creeds, canons, or anathemas. It has been left to the pontificate of John Paul II to provide an authoritative interpretation of the council, which the Pope has done in his own Magisterium and in those magisterial documents that reflect the deliberations of the Synod of Bishops.

"Like Blessed John XXIII, John Paul II thinks of the Second Vatican Council as a new Pentecost—a privileged moment in which the Holy Spirit prepared the Church for a springtime of evangelization. Contrary to the conventional readings of the meaning of Vatican II proposed by both Catholic traditionalists and Catholic progressives, John Paul II has insisted that the council was not primarily about the distribution of authority and jurisdiction inside the Church.

"Rather, the council was meant to revivify within the Church a profound sense of herself as the sacrament of the world's salvation: the communio in which we experience, here and now, a foretaste of what God intends for humanity for all eternity. In Karol Wojtyla's experience of the council as one of its most active Fathers, and in his authoritative interpretation of the council as Pope, Vatican II was meant to prepare the Church, theologically and spiritually, to rediscover herself as a great evangelical movement in history, proclaiming to the world the truth about the human person, human community, human origins, and human destiny."

Witness to Hope may be ordered by calling Benedictus Books toll-free at (888) 316-2640. CUF members receive a 10% discount.

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