Denver Catholic

4 I OPINION NOVEMBER 20, 2013 I DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER into heaven following a purification, or this possibility: A. immediate and everlasting damnation B. a final offer to the soul to avoid damnation C. annihilation of the soul which we call hell THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE GEORGE WEIGEL On Nov. 22, 1963, the seventh grade at Baltimore's Cathedral School was in gym class when we got word that President Kennedy had been shot. A half-hour later, while we were climbing the stairs back to 7B's classroom, Sister Dolorine's voice came over the p.a., announcing that the president was dead. Walking into 7B, my classmates and I saw something that shocked us as much as the news we'd just heard: our tough-love homeroom teacher, a young School Sister of Notre Dame, was sobbing, her faced buried in her arms on her desk. The days of public mourning that followed—their solemnity shattered only by the assassination of the assassin on live TV— were bound to leave an impression on a 12-year-old. Indeed, so great was the impression, and so effective the subsequent myth-making, that a half-dozen or so years later, as a college student beginning to feel the effects of late-'60s skepticism, I was nonetheless offended when it was first reported that the late president had been a "fearsome girler" (as Ben Bradlee's father put it). Still, the magnetic appeal of the man (or the myth, or both) was such that when I first went to Dallas, I was inexorably drawn to the site of the assassination, the Texas School Book Depository and nearby Dealey Plaza. Standing at the window from which the shots that changed American history were fired, I quickly decided that a trained marksman could have easily done, by himself, what the Warren Commission concluded he had done. I remain grateful to John F Kennedy for inspiring the con. viction that public life ought to accommodate both idealism (without illusions, as JFK described his own approach) and elegance. Fifty years after his death, however, I fear that much of the Kennedy mythos is an obstacle to the flowering of Catholic witness in America—and indeed to a proper understanding of modern American history. The myth of Camelot, for example, misses the truth about the assassination: that John F Kennedy was a casualty of the . Cold War, murdered by a dedicated communist. "Camelot" also demeaned the liberal anti-communist internationalism that Kennedy embodied; that deprecation eventually led Kennedy's party into the wilderness of neo-isolationist irresponsibility from which it has yet to emerge. Then there is the mythology surrounding Kennedy's 1960 speech on church-and-state, delivered to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. No one should doubt that hoary Protestant bigotry was an obstacle the Kennedy campaign had to overcome in 1960. Still, a close reading of the Houston speech suggests that Kennedy neutralized that bigotry, not only by deft rhetorical moves that put bigots on the defensive, but by dramatically privatizing religious conviction and marginalizing its role in orienting a public official's moral compass. Thus Kennedy became, in effect, a precursor of what Richard John Neuhaus later called the "naked public square": an American public space in which not merely clerical authoritarianism, but religiously-informed moral conviction, is deemed out-of-bounds. Finally, there is the phenomenon that might be called the Kennedy Catholic: a public official who wears his or her Catholicism as a kind of ethnic marker, an inherited trait, but whose thinking about public policy is rarely if ever shaped by Catholic social doctrine or settled Catholic moral conviction. The many Kennedy Catholics in our public life are one of the last expressions of urban (or suburban), ethnic, Counter-Reformation Catholicism in America; and as such, they evoke a certain nostalgia. Unfortunately, the shallowness of their Catholic formation and the invisibility of Catholic moral understandings in a lot of their judgments make Kennedy Catholics de facto opponents of the Church's mission in the postmodern world, not protagonists of the culture-reforming Catholicism of the New Evangelization. At daily Mass in downtown Washington, I often receive Communion while standing on the marble slab in St. Matthew's Cathedral that marks the place where the president's casket rested, at the funeral Mass on Nov. 25, 1963. In praying for him there, I also mourn what might have been—and what has been distorted in the half-century since. George Weigel is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Weigel's column is distributed by the Denver Catholic Register, the official newspaper of the Denver Archdiocese. Phone: 303-715-3215. 6. What men will be present at the last judgment? A. Only the just who will appear in 2. What does the Church call their glorified bodies. the contemplation of God in his B. Only the damned who will be heavenly glory? thrust permanently into A. the new heaven YEAR hell B. communion with the OF FAITH C. Only those who Trinity were in purgaC. the beatific vision SCRIPTURE tory in order to "Now to him who can 3. We know that receive their strengthen you … to bring souls in purgafinal judgment of about the obedience of faith, tory: purification. to the only wise God, through A. can be helped Jesus Christ be glory for- 7. From where do by our prayers and ever and ever. Amen." we get the word good works Rom 16:25-27 "amen"? B. can improve their lot A. It is of Greek origin by their own prayers and meaning "I resolve." works B. It is from a Hebrew word meanC. can expedite the entrance into heaven of other souls in purgatory ing "I believe." C. It is borrowed from the Phoe4. What should the reality of hell nicians who used it to conclude a inspire within us? conversation. A. conversion and the good use of our freedom B. skepticism of the mercy of God C. despair of attaining salvation BY PETER WESTHOFF What the Church says about life everlasting 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. 1021-1065. 1. At the moment of death there is the particular judgment with three possibilities to follow: entrance into the blessedness of heaven immediately, entrance 5. In Matthew 22:13 Our Lord says that the one improperly dressed for the wedding banquet will be cast into the outer darkness 1. A, 2. C, 3. A, 4. A, 5. B, 6. None of the above - All men will be present at the last judgment, 7. B JFK after 50 years where men will do these two things: A. hate their own flesh and regret their evil ways B. wail and grind their teeth C. curse God and despise man This concludes the quizzes for the Year of Faith and the first part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Samaritan House needs Well, it's that time of the year, once again, and Samaritan House needs all kinds of clothes to keep the homeless warm: shoes, socks, gloves, hats, clean underwear, coats, etc.—anything you can think of. Every winter we not only want to keep the 300 men, women and children that live here warm, but there are countless strangers who come to our door each day during the winter for gloves, hats, socks, etc. We are located at 2301 Lawrence St., Denver, CO 80205. You can bring your gifts to our donation door or our front door, whichever is convenient. May God bless you and take care of you. Pray for us. You'll be in our prayers. Father Michael Suchnicki, O.F.M. Cap. Chaplain, Samaritan House Denver Editor's note: For more information on Catholic Charities' Samaritan House, visit www. ccdenver.org/SamaritanHouse or call 303-294-0241. 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 303-715-2045. E-mail us at: editor@archden.org. DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER FILE PHOTO BY JAMES BACA A CHILD eats a snack at Catholic Charities' Samaritan House in this Denver Catholic Register file photo form 2007. ARCHBISHOP AQUILA'S SCHEDULE Nov. 23: Mass and institution of acolytes for permanent deacons, Redemptoris Mater Missionary Seminary, JPII Center (10 a.m.) Nov. 24: Year of Faith closing Mass, Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception (10:30 a.m.) DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER CIRCULATION CUSTOMER SERVICE: 303-722-4687 OR CIRCULATION@ARCHDEN.ORG Published by the Archdiocese of Denver, 1300 S. Steele St., Denver, CO 80210 General Manager Karna Swanson Denver Catholic Register (USPS 557-020) is published weekly except the last week of December and the first week of January, and in June, July and August when it goes bi-weekly. The Register is printed by The Denver Post LLC in Denver. Periodical postage paid in Denver, CO. Editor Roxanne King Subscriptions: $35 a year in Colorado; $42 per year out of state. 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