St. Mary's Church, Roslyn: Pastor's Page

Pope Benedict

by

My dear people of St. Mary’s:

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was a professor, a world-renowned theologian, and author before he became pope. As a widely read author, to date he has written sixty-eight books, as well as three papal encyclicals and three apostolic exhortations. After his election as pope, he produced a three-volume life of Christ. In the introduction to the first volume, he wrote that the work was “in no way an exercise of the magisterium,” but rather was to be “solely an expression of my personal search ‘for the face of the Lord.’” The magisterium refers to the official teaching authority of the Roman Catholic Church. So, Pope Benedict was saying that the volumes of his life of Christ were his personal meditations on the life and teachings of Jesus, rather than official teachings of the Catholic Church. This makes him unique among the popes for continuing to write, shall we say, as Joseph Ratzinger the theologian, even while he held office as pope.

His encyclical letters are, of course, official papal documents that are part of the magisterium. An encyclical letter is one written by the pope to all the Catholic faithful in the world. All popes write encyclical letters; Blessed John Paul II wrote fourteen encyclicals over his twenty-six years as pope. So, when Joseph Ratzinger was elected, many in the Church wondered and anticipated what the subject of this great theologian’s first encyclical letter would be. The topic surprised many. He chose Love. In 2005, Pope Benedict published his encyclical Deus Caritas Est, Latin for God is Love. This was followed in 2007 by Spe Salvi, or Saved in Hope. Everyone then understood that the Holy Father was intent on writing a series on the three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity (Love). Love and Hope completed, only the one on Faith remained.

And then, last year, Pope Benedict announced that the Catholic Church would celebrate a “Year of Faith,” from October 11, 2012 to November 24, 2013. This was to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and the twentieth anniversary of the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. The idea of the Year of Faith is for all Catholics to spend this time rediscovering the truths and beauty of the Catholic Faith. Although I have come to St. Mary’s in the middle of this Holy Year, in September we will begin to offer special programs for adult Catholics who want to learn more about their faith, as well as for the young people in our religious education program.

It has been reported that the Pope Emeritus’ encyclical was researched and partly written when he abdicated the papacy on February 28, 2013. It would seem that the Church was to be denied the third and last encyclical of this series on the Theological Virtues.

However, Pope Francis, certainly a “Pope of Surprises,” has announced through his spokesman that he will complete Pope Emeritus Benedict’s encyclical on Faith, working from the former pope’s research notes and draft text. The new letter will be published under Pope Francis’ name, and clearly the work will be his own. But what a wonderful collaboration this will be! And also a timely one. With so many people in our world (and even in the Church) in a state of confusion or doubt as to their beliefs, what more important topic could there be than that of Faith. It would certainly be a wonderful way to close out this special Year of Faith. And while Pope Francis sets to work, let us as well, so that we may use this year as a time of grace, and come to better know the Faith, love the Faith, and live the Faith.

—Fr. McCartney

 

1 Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s life of Christ is published as: Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives (2012);   Jesus of Nazareth (2007); and Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week (2011). They are available as hardcover, paperback and e-books through Amazon and other booksellers, as are the encyclicals and his other writings.

Papal Consecration

by

My dear people of St. Mary’s:

On Mother’s Day weekend, I preached to you a homily on the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima. Pope Francis recently asked the bishops of Portugal to consecrate his pontificate to Our Lady under that title. On May 13, 2013, the 96th anniversary of our Blessed Mother’s first apparition, Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo of Lisbon, Portugal, did just that at a solemn Mass celebrated at the Marian shrine in Fatima.

Cardinal Policarpo recited the prayer, which he wrote himself, at the end of a Mass concluding a major international pilgrimage to Fatima:
Thus we consecrate to you, Lady, who are Mother of the Church, the ministry of the new Pope. Fill his heart with the tenderness of God, which you felt like no one else, so that he will be able to embrace all the men and women of this time with the love of your Son Jesus Christ. Contemporary humanity needs to feel that it is loved by God and by the Church. Only by feeling loved will it overcome the temptation to violence, materialism, forgetfulness of God, the loss of its way. And it will be led by you to a new world where love will reign.

Give him the gift of discernment, to be able to identify the paths for the renewal of the Church. Give him the courage not to hesitate in following the paths suggested by the Holy Spirit. Shelter him in the harsh hours of suffering, to overcome in charity the trials that the renewal of the Church will bring. Be always by his side, saying with him those words you know well: “I am the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to Thy word.” The paths of the renewal of the Church lead us to discover the timeliness of the message that you gave the little shepherds: the exigency of conversion to God who has been offended, because He is so forgotten. Conversion is always a return to the love of God. God forgives because He loves us. This is why His love is called mercy. The Church, protected by your maternal solicitude and guided by this shepherd, must assert herself increasingly as the place of conversion and forgiveness, because in her, truth is always expressed in charity.

You indicated prayer as the decisive path of conversion. Teach the Church of which you are a member and model, so that we will be increasingly a people at prayer, in communion with the Holy Father, the first of this people who prays, and also in silent communion with the previous Pope, His Holiness Benedict XVI, who chose the path of the silent man of prayer, taking the Church more profoundly into the paths of prayer.

In your message to the little shepherds, here in Cova de Iria, you highlighted the Pope’s ministry, “the man dressed in white.” Three of the last Popes were pilgrims to your shrine. Only you, Lady, in your maternal love for the whole Church, can put in Pope Francis’ heart the desire to be a pilgrim to this shrine. It is not something we can ask him for other reasons. Only the silent collaboration between you and him will attract him to this pilgrimage, in the certainty that he will be supported by millions of believers, willing to hear your message again.

Here at this altar of the world, he will be able to bless humanity, to make today’s world feel that God loves all men and women of our time, that the Church loves them and that you, Mother of the Redeemer, lead them with tenderness on the paths of salvation.

But Pope Francis was not the only object of a special consecration during the mid-May pilgrimage; at a Mass May 12 at the Fatima shrine, Archbishop Orani Joao Tempesta of Rio de Janeiro entrusted to Mary all the young people who are preparing to attend World Youth Day in Rio with Pope Francis in July.

—Fr. McCartney