Denver Catholic

19 DENVER CATHOLIC | NOVEMBER 14-27, 2015 conversion, founded in preacher the Augustine, I connected with a sainthood not it at cooperating with sinfulness so holiness. model to his gives me me. er me "There is no Two Houses Fit for The King A fter the Million Mask March on November 5 of last year, ten masked protesters spray-painted vulgar gra' ti all over the granite façade of Colorado's impressive State Capitol. Coloradans rightly felt a sense of out- rage, as if the attack on the Capitol was an attack on the people for which it stands. Catholics should feel an even greater reverence for their churches. The Church is more than a building, of course, but her churches, like the Temple of old, represent the dwelling place of God among us. We believe that Jesus is truly present in the tabernacle, and present in the hearts of the faithful. For this reason, the Feast of the dedi- cation of a church ranks among the most important celebrations of the Liturgical Year. On October 27 and November 9 respectively, the Church of Northern Col- orado celebrates the dedications of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Father Joseph Machebeuf celebrated the fi rst Mass in Denver's fi rst Catholic church on Christmas eve of 1860. Father Machebeuf would later become Denver's fi rst bishop, and St. Mary's Parish would become the cathedral. Construction began on the present cathedral in 1902, but the project soon stalled. By 1906, however, the new assistant, Father Hugh McMenamin, succeeded in raising the funds needed to complete construction. Many of the craftsman and materials came from Colorado. Just 82 days before the cathedral was to be dedicated, the 210-foot western spire was struck by lightning, knock- ing ož the top twenty-fi ve feet. Father McMenamin, then rector, remained undeterred and made the repairs in time for the scheduled dedication on October 27, 1912. It was in this cathedral in the 1920s that Monsignor Matthew Smith distributed the fi rst issues of The Denver Catholic Register, the fi rst Cath- olic newspaper in the United States. The paper became an ež ective weapon in combatting anti-Catholic sentiment and discrimination against migrant workers fomented by the Klu Klux Klan. Denver became an Archdiocese in 1941, and the cathedral was elevated to a minor basil- ica in 1979. On August 13 and 14, 1993, Pope St. John Paul II celebrated Mass there in conjunction with World Youth Day. In 1997, the eastern spire was struck by lightning. In the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception throughout the years, countless prayers have been said, and countless souls have been baptized, confi rmed, absolved, married, buried, ordained, and fed with the Word of God and the Eucharist. The Church's very fi rst cathedral, the cathedral of the Diocese of Rome, is not St. Peter's, but the Basilica of St. John Lateran. The Basilica, which was eventu- ally dedicated to St. John the Baptist and later to St. John the Evangelist, gets its name from the Laterani family, the orig- inal owners of the property on which it is built. The property was donated to Pope Melchiades in 312 by the new Emperor Constantine. The fi rst church built on the site was dedicated on November 9, 324. The popes would reside on the Laterani property for the next 1000 years. In the course of its history, the Lateran Basilica suž ered just about as many disas- ters and revivals as the papacy it hosted. Sacked by Alaric in 408 and Genseric in 455, it was rebuilt by Pope Leo the Great (440-461), and centuries later by Pope Hadrian I (772-795). Almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 896, the basilica was again restored by Pope Ser- gius III (904-911). Later, the church was heavily damaged by fi res in 1308 and 1360, after it had been abandoned by the popes who lived in Avignon, France. When Pope Gregory XI returned from Avignon for good in 1377, he found the basilica and palace in such disrepair that he decided to move to the Vatican. Attacks on the Lat- eran have happened as recently as 1992, when an explosion devastated the façade. Most assume that the explosion was a warning to Pope John Paul II to curb his frequent criticisms of the Italian mafi a. These two basilicas, houses fi t for Christ the King, still stand. They remind us of heaven, our true home. They remind us that the Church, though visibly com- posed of sinners, is spiritual and holy. They remind us that persecutions will never destroy us. They remind us that God dwells among his People. Neither vandals, nor protesters, nor fi res, nor earthquakes, nor lightning, nor sins of the popes, nor questionable decisions by pastors could destroy them. At the same time, generations upon generations have repaired them, restored them, and enhanced their splendor. As Jesus cleansed the Temple, he quoted the words of the prophet Isaiah, "My house shall be called a house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13). May we never lose reverence and gratitude for our churches. May we always have hearts that are houses of prayer. Father Daniel Barron is an Oblate of the Virgin Mary and director of spiritual formation at St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. Guest Column FATHER DANIEL BARRON Ross douthat and the catholic academy M any years ago, a local Chicago sportscaster named Howard Sudberry recounted a curious controversy surrounding a major league baseball game. Late in the contest, the team that would eventually win was up by ten runs. A player for that squad hit a single and then stole second base. The catcher of the trailing team whined after the game that this base-stealer was rubbing it in, essentially being unsports- manlike. Well,‹Sudberry‹was having none of it. He looked into the camera and spoke, as it were, to the catcher himself: "Then throw him out!" He was implying that the base-stealer had done absolutely nothing opposed to the rules of baseball and that, if the catcher didn't like it, he should try to beat him fair and square within the context of those same rules.‹ This incident came to mind when I read, just recently, about a similarly curious controversy, this one within the groves of academe. The‹New York Times‹col- umnist‹Ross Douthat‹has been opining quite a bit about the Synod on the Family in Rome, suggesting, among other things, that clear factions among the bishops have emerged, that Pope Francis favors a more liberal resolution of the key ques- tions, and that heretical viewpoints are afoot in Rome. In response to Douthat's ruminations,‹a letter, signed by some of the leading lights of the Catholic acad- emy, was sent to the editors of the‹Times. The professors and pundits complained that Douthat was proposing‹a politicized reading of Church až airs and that he was, at the end of the day, unqualifi ed to speak on such com- plex matters, presumably because he doesn't have a graduate degree in theology. Their prim closing remark—"This is not what we expect of the‹New York Times"—was an unmistakable insinuation that views such as Douthat's simply should not be allowed into the arena of public conversation. Are all of Ross Douthat's opinions on the Synod debatable? Of course. Do I subscribe to everything he has said in this regard? No. But is he playing outside the rules of legitimate public discourse in such an egregious way that he ought to be censored? Absolutely not! Anyone even casually familiar with Douthat knows that he is exceptionally smart, articulate, careful in his expression, and a committed Catholic. So he has argued that divisions at least analogous to polit- ical factions have emerged at the Synod. From the Council of Jerusalem in the fi rst century through Vatican II in the twen- tieth, the Church has been marked by confl ict, rivalry, and faction. If you doubt me in regard to the fi rst, take a good look at chapters eleven through fi fteen of the Acts of the Apostles; and if you're skeptical in regard to the second, peruse any two pages of Yves Congar's‹massive diary of the Second Vatican Council. And while you're at it, read John Henry New- man's history of the Council of Nicea in the‹ fourth century, or any treatment of the sixteenth century Council of Trent. When has the life of the Church‹not‹been susceptible to a political reading?‹ And the suggestion that, because he doesn't have a credential from the acad- emy, Douthat isn't qualifi ed to enter into the discussion? Please. If a doctorate in theology were a bottom-line prerequisite, we would declare the following people unqualifi ed to express an opinion on matters religious: Thomas Merton, Flan- nery O'Connor, Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh, C.S. Lewis, William F. Buckley, W.H. Auden, or to bring things more up to date, Fr. James Martin, George Weigel, and E.J. Dionne. In point of fact, it is often the case that those outside of the o' cial academy often have the freshest and most insightful perspectives, pre- cisely because they aren't sequestered in the echo-chamber of politically correct faculty lounge discourse. The letter to the‹Times‹is indicative indeed of a much wider problem in our intellectual culture, namely, the tendency to avoid real argument and to censor what makes us, for whatever reason, uncomfort- able. On many of our university campuses this incarnates itself as a demand for "safe spaces," where students won't feel threat- ened by certain forms of speech or writing. For the fi rst time in my life, I agreed with Richard Dawkins who‹recently declared on Twitter, "A university is not a 'safe space'. If you need a safe space, leave, go home, [and] hug your teddy...until [you are] ready for university." So in the spirit of Howard‹Sudberry, I would say to those who signed the letter against Ross Douthat, "Make an argument against him; prove him wrong; marshal your evidence; have a debate with him; take him on. But don't attempt to censor him." I understand that the signatories disagree with him, but he's playing by the rules. Bishop Robert Barron is the founder of the global ministry, Word on Fire, and Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles. He is the creator of the award winning documentary series "Catholicism." Guest Column BISHOP ROBERT BARRON

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