Denver Catholic

4 I OPINION NOVEMBER 13, 2013 I DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER of the Lord so one can share in the resurrection within the Roman Missal? "Lord, for your faithful people life is ____, not ended." 2. Which of the following statements concerning death is not true? A. restored THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE GEORGE WEIGEL The Rev. George William Rutler, S.T.D., a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, is a man of parts: graduate of Dartmouth, Oxford, and Rome's Angelicum ("the Dominican faculty that flunked Galileo," he informs me); linguist, painter, violinist, and boxer; preacher extraordinaire. One of Catholicism's most successful pastors, he has been a magnet attracting converts and vocations for decades. Father Rutler is also that contemporary clerical rarity, an accomplished man of letters who writes as gracefully as he speaks (or throws a punch, or paints a watercolor, or pours you another glass of champagne). In Cloud of Witnesses: Dead People I Knew When They Were Alive—why can't I come up with subtitles like that?—Father Rutler told amusing, touching, and/or revealing anecdotes about a cast of characters ranging from the late Queen Mother Elizabeth to Mother Teresa: "characters … who have impressed me because God in different ways impressed them … [and who] taught me something about the infinite variety of human grandeur." Now, with Principalities and Powers: Spiritual Combat 1942-1943, Father Rutler does the seemingly impossible—he finds new tales of, and new meaning in, World War II, perhaps the most written-about event in human history. Many of those stories involve the bravery of churchmen in the face of tyrants. Thus when Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens ordered his people to hide persecuted Jews, SS commander Jürgen Stroop threatened to shoot the archbishop. Rutler finishes the tale by recounting a striking example of episcopal sangfroid: "The archbishop replied by recalling the lynching of Patriarch Gregory of Constantinople by the Turks in 1821: 'According to the tradition of the Greek Orthodox Church, our prelates are hanged, not shot. Please respect our tradition.'" The archbishop, happily, lived until 1949; Stroop was hanged after the war for his role in liquidating the Warsaw Ghetto. Then there was Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier, archbishop of Lyons and Primate of the Gauls, who "threatened to excommunicate anyone who bought property unjustly seized from Jewish families and instructed Catholics to hide the children of Jews who were in French concentration camps or who had been deported to Germany." Gerlier was not alone in his bold defiance of the Nazis and their French collaborators. When Bishop Felix Roeder of Beauvais failed to dissuade the local authorities from genocide by argument, he took, as Father Rutler neatly puts it, "another course." The Germans had ordered Beauvais's Jews to register at town hall. "On the strength of his claim to have had a distant Jewish ancestor, the bishop formally processed through the streets to register his own name, wearing full pontifical vestments and preceded by an acolyte carrying the cross." Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures, even in the Church. Thus Rutler reminds us that, given the draconian conditions prevailing in a Poland then harboring a future pope, Pius XII granted "for the duration of the war a plenary indulgence for all living in Polish territories who, at the point of death and being unable to confess or communicate, invoke even mentally the Holy Name of Jesus with sorrow for their sins, and accept their death with resignation." Father Rutler's critical sense is not without humorous edge: "Giovanni Bottai, the Italian minister for education and editor of the review Critica Fascista, wrote in the opaque rotundity that has not ceased being dear to some Italian journalists…." Yet even while having some fun with the gaucheries of the pompous, George Rutler has his eye firmly fixed on what was really at stake in the Second World War: "The Fascists were greatly upset when, in the presence of the pope and 25,000 worshippers, Carlo Cardinal Salotti preached a sermon in which he attacked the logic of the war and desired 'a kingdom of love that will be proof against the errors made in the name of race and nation, a kingdom of liberty which will make tyranny impossible, a kingdom of the spirit which will free men from materialism.'" A splendid book from a marvelous man and a great priest: kudos to St. Augustine Press for capturing Father Rutler's wit and wisdom between covers. C. completed A. Man's nature is mortal. B. In God's design, man was intended to die before entering eternal life. BY PETER WESTHOFF On death A quiz on Catholic things under the patronage of the "Doctor of Prayer," St. Teresa of Avila. For each question there is one right answer, but the answer for one question is "None of the Above." The following quiz covers Catechism of the Catholic Church Nos. 1006-1019. 1. The Catechism of the Catholic Church begins its discussion of death by giving these three aspects: it is natural; it is the wages of sin; it is also this: A. it is a moment of terror and sadness B. it is man reaching his goal and destiny C. it is a participation in the death 6. Which of these petiYEAR tions is found in the OF FAITH Litany of the Saints SCRIPTURE contained in the C. Death is "the "…our hope is that as your Roman Missal? last enemy" of man faith increases, our influence A. St. Joseph, to be conquered. among you will be greatly patron of a happy enlarged…so that you may death, pray for us. preach the Gospel."— 2 B. From a sudden 3. What has transCorinthians 10: and unforeseen death, formed death from a 15-16 deliver us, O Lord. curse into a blessing? A. the obedience of the Son to the Father C. Holy Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. B. the sweat from man's brow C. the realization by one who has been baptized that it brings an end to all suffering 4. For the Christian, what does physical death complete? A. our dying with Christ sacramentally in baptism B. our journey through time and space to the point of no return C. the trials, difficulties and hardships that we must face 5. What word fills in the blank in the following statement found in the Preface of Christian Death 7. Select the work where we find this sage advice: "Every action of yours, every thought, should be those of one who expects to die before the day out." A. "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas a Kempis B. "Introduction to the Devout Life" by Francis de Sales C. "He Leadeth Me" by Walter Ciszek 1. C, 2. B, 3. A, 4. A, 5. None of the Above: changed 6. B, 7. A Georgian delights B. begun Next quiz covers catechism Nos. 1021-1065. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Raising the bar I wanted to compliment you on the beautiful new website design. This is a faithful response to the Church's call for a new evangelization and it's what the Church needs more of in order to demonstrate we're "in the world." Thankfully, through efforts like this, you are raising the bar of expectation for people, both Catholic and otherwise, which sadly has been far too low for many years. Bravo! Jeremy Rivera Senior Director, Marketing and Communications Fellowship of Catholic Univer- CHECK out the new Denver sity Students Catholic Register website at Denver www.DenverCatholicRegister. org. The Denver Archdiocese's Spanish-language monthly, Kudos Congrats on the launch of El Pueblo Católico, also has a the website. Looks sharp! new website, www.ElPueblo Bill Howard Catolico.org. Editor, Colorado Catholic Herald Colorado Springs Católico websites launch, they look really good. Keep up the good work! Good work Jorge Paredes Just a quick note to conOwner, JP Creative Group gratulate you on the Denver Denver Catholic Register and El Pueblo LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters should be no more than 250 words and should include the writer's name, address and telephone number. We rely on our readers to recognize that the opinions expressed in letters to the editor are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Archdiocese of Denver. Letters containing plainly misstated facts, misinformation or libelous statements will not be printed. Unsigned letters will not be printed. Letters may be edited. Send letters to: Editor, Denver Catholic Register, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 or fax to 303-7152045. E-mail us at: editor@archden.org. ARCHBISHOP AQUILA'S SCHEDULE Nov. 11-15: U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops General Meeting, Baltimore Nov. 16-19: Pilgrimage and meeting, organized by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and the Knights of Columbus, Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico

• Cover