Denver Catholic

14 MAY 9-15, 2015 | DENVER CATHOLIC Perspectives I n the years preceding the Great Jubilee of 2000, John Paul II held a series of continental synods to help the Church in di¤ erent locales refl ect on its distinctive situation at the end of the second millen- nium, and to plan for a future of evangelical vigor in the third. These Special Assemblies were easily named in the case of the Synods for Africa, Asia, and Europe. But when it came to the Synod for the western hemisphere, John Paul threw a linguistic curveball that made an important point. It was expected to be called the Synod for the Americas. But at John Paul II's insistence, it became the Special Assem- bly of the Synod of Bishops for America. As in America, singular. Why? Several reasons. The pope believed that the western hemisphere had experienced a single, great "fi rst evangelization," when the Europeans crossed the Atlantic and planted the Cross from Quebec to Tierra del Fuego. Moreover, he thought that this fi rst evangelization had a par- ticularly powerful symbol and patroness in Our Lady of Guadalupe, whom John Paul often cited as the example of a "perfect inculturation" of the Gospel. And then there was the future: John Paul hoped that, were the Church in the two halves of the Americas to think of itself as one, single "subject" of that fi rst evangelization, it might be better prepared, spiritually and imaginatively, to undertake the new evangelization as a common enterprise. All of this, and more, is beautifully captured in a new documentary from the Knights of Columbus—"John Paul II in America: Uniting a Continent." Those under 30, whose living memo- ries of John Paul are of an old, enfeebled man, should watch this moving fi lm to be reminded what an extraordinarily handsome, dynamic and compelling fi gure the Polish pope was in the fi rst two decades of his pontifi cate, before the Parkinson's began to erode his immense physical strength. Here is John Paul kissing and dandling babies, whooping it up with young people in Madison Square Garden, reaching out and embracing the halt, the lame, and the elderly—all of which helped make possible the new papal model that Pope Francis has lived to such e¤ ect. And then there is John Paul II speaking truth to power: to visibly nervous representatives of communist governments at the United Nations in 1979; to Pinochet, Stroessner, the Argentinian junta, and other authoritar- ian abusers of human rights in Latin America; to the adolescent Sandinistas in Nicara- gua when they tried to drown out his sermon in Managua with idiotic chants. The younger John Paul II was an exceptionally char- ismatic man. But unlike so many other leaders of his era, he never played the demagogue; the style was always in service to the substance he preached, which was Jesus Christ. And then there is John Paul II, the mystic, celebrating Mass before crowds in the hundreds of thousands, even millions, yet withdrawing at moments inside himself, into that special place where he conducted his ongoing and intense dialogue with the Lord—only to re-emerge, magnetic as ever, to summon all of us to be the missionary disciples and saints we were baptized to be. The World Youth Days John Paul cel- ebrated in "America"—including his last one, in Toronto in 2002—get well-de- served attention in the fi lm, for here was the pope demonstrating to the world (and to skeptical bishops) that young people want to be challenged to lead lives of heroic virtue, just as they want to know that the Church will be with them, o¤ ering reconciliation and mercy, when they fail to reach the mark—as we all do. The e¤ ects of those electric days are still being felt, decades later, among the liveliest parts of the Church in this hemisphere. "John Paul II in America: Uniting a Continent" has already been shown on several local television stations. It would be well worth contacting your local programming director and asking him or her to consider airing this visu- ally compelling, thought-provoking fi lm, in preparation for Pope Francis's visit to the U.S. in September. John Paul II and 'America' I n developing the spiritual plan for our life, I believe three bones can serve as guideposts in the events of our life, as they come to us and as we live them out. THE FIRST BONE WE NEED IS A BACK BONE. We need strength to do the diŸ cult things God asks us to do. Every year TIME magazine honors a Person of the Year and features that person on the cover of the January issue. In 2002, their Persons of the Year were three women: Sheeron Watkins, Coleen Rowley and Cynthia Cooper. Sheeron Watkins was Enron's vice president. She wrote a letter to Chair- man Kenneth Lay in the summer of 2001, warning him that the company's methods of accounting were improper. The following January a congressional subcommittee investigating Enron's collapse, released her letter. Coleen Rowley was the FBI sta¤ attorney who wrote a memo in May 2001 to FBI director Robert Mueller about how the bureau ignored requests from the Minneapolis fi eld oŸ ce that Zacarias Moussaoui posed a secu- rity risk to the U.S. Moussaoui is now indicted as a co-conspirator in the Sep- tember 11th terrorist attacks. Cynthia Cooper worked for World- Com and informed its board that the company covered up $3.8 billion in losses through phony bookkeeping. These were not women looking for notoriety. All of them initially kept their criticisms within the organization. They became public fi gures because their memos were made public. They were people who did the right thing by conscientiously doing their jobs with the courage we all hope we have. They believed that where they worked was a place that serves the wider world in an important way. When their corpo- rations did not live up to their stated mission, they took it seriously. All three women grew up in small towns in the middle of the country, within families that at times that lived paycheck to paycheck. For every one of them, the decision to confront their cor- porate oŸ cers meant jeopardizing an income their families depended upon. THE SECOND BONE WE NEED IS A FUNNY BONE. In the Old Testament there are 57 ref- erences to laughter and 27 recognized forms of humor. In the New Testament there are 287 references to such terms as "joy, delight, gladness, laughter and rejoicing." The Scriptures do not say that Jesus had a sense of humor or that he told jokes. But they do say that little children came to him. Young children are intui- tive. They know adults who will receive them with warmth and kindness and who will not hurt them. Father Jim Dunning enjoyed telling the story about the time he was in St. Louis and an elderly woman, upset with the changes in the Church after Vati- can II, said, "If Jesus would see what is going on in the Church today, he would roll over in his grave." One of the tenets of Alcoholics Anon- ymous is, "If you are laughing, you are healing." THE THIRD BONE WE NEED IS A WISH BONE. Robert Browning, the English poet and playwright wrote, "Unless our reach exceeds our grasp, what is heaven for?" He described the di¤ erence between what we long for and what we actually achieve. Perhaps there are ideals we can only partly attain, but that should never dis- courage us from growing and learning. Grace resides in our struggles to bring out the very best that is inside of our- selves as we serve others. The 3 bones we all need George Weigel is a distinguished senior fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. The Catholic Di– erence GEORGE WEIGEL Father Allan Weinert, C.Ss.R., served as editor of "Liguorian" magazine from 1989 to 2002. He is currently treasurer of the Redemptorists/Denver Province. Guest Column FATHER ALLAN WEINERT JOHN PAUL II IN AMERICA www.kofc.org/un/en/about/history/ johnpaulii/john-paulii-fi lm.html The younger John Paul II was an exceptionally charismatic man. But unlike so many other leaders of his era, he never played the demagogue; the style was always in service to the substance he preached, which was Jesus Christ." GEORGE WEIGEL " Support schools This is ing: public a school school board to represent Isn't that the people and pay he allowed think every and non-Catholic should tunity to That life ception, gender of nature, God, and one nation So, what

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