Carl E. Olson's Blog, page 74

When the Communists Murdered a Priest

When the Communists Murdered a Priest | Paul Kengor | CWR blog

[Editor’s note: This article first appeared at The American Spectator.]

It was October 19, 1984—30 years ago this week. A gentle, courageous, and genuinely holy priest, Jerzy Popieluszko, age 37, found himself in a ghastly spot that, though it must have horrified him, surely did not surprise him. An unholy trinity of three thugs from communist Poland’s secret police had seized and pummeled him. He was bound and gagged and stuffed into the trunk of their cream-colored Fiat 125 automobile as they roamed the countryside trying to decide where to dispatch him. This kindly priest was no less than the chaplain to the Solidarity movement, the freedom fighters who would ultimately prove fatal to Soviet communism—and not without Popieluszko’s stoic inspiration.

The ringleader this October day was Captain Grzegorz Piotrowski, an agent of Poland’s SB. Unlike Jerzy, who grew up devoutly religious, Piotrowski was raised in an atheist household, which, like the communist despots who governed Poland, was an aberration in this pious Roman Catholic country. The disregard for God and morality made Piotrowski an ideal man for the grisly task ahead, which he assumed with a special, channeled viciousness.

Piotrowski’s first beating of the priest that evening was so severe that it should have killed him. Jerzy was a small man afflicted with Addison’s disease. He previously had been hospitalized for other infirmities, including (understandably) stress and anxiety. But somehow, the priest was managing to survive as he fought for his life in the cold, dark trunk of the Fiat. In fact, somehow he unloosened the ropes that knotted him and extricated himself from the car. He began to run, shouting to anyone who could hear, “Help! Save my life!”

He was run down by Piotrowski, a dedicated disciple of what a Polish admirer of Jerzy, Pope John Paul II, would dub the Culture of Death. “I caught up with him and hit him on the head several times with the stick,” Piotrowski later confessed. “I hit him near or on the head. He fell limp again. I think he must have been unconscious. And then I became—never mind, it doesn’t matter.”

It did matter. It certainly mattered to the helpless priest. What Piotrowski became was something altogether worse. He seemed overtaken by another force. As recorded by authors Roger Boyes and John Moody in their superb book, Messenger of the Truth, which is now a gripping documentary, Piotrowski’s accomplices thought their comrade had gone mad, “so wild were the blows.” It was like a public flogging. Jerzy’s pounding was so relentless that it wouldn’t be misplaced to think of Christ’s scourging at the pillar. This young man in persona Christi, not much older than Jesus Christ at his death agony, was being brutally tortured. It was a kind of crucifixion; the kind at which communists uniquely excelled.

One is tempted to say that Piotrowski beat the hell out of Father Jerzy, but such would be inappropriate and inaccurate for such a man of faith. Really, the hell was coming out of the beater, in all its demonic force and fury.

After another round of thrashing, Piotrowski and his two fellow tormentors ramped up the treatment. They grabbed a roll of thick adhesive tape and ran it around the priest’s mouth, nose, and head, tossing him once again in the vehicle, like a hunk of garbage on its way to the heap.

Continue reading at www.CatholicWorldReport.com.

"Jesus in the Gospel of Luke" by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn

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Jesus in the Gospel of Luke | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn | Introduction to Jesus, The Divine Physician: Encountering Christ in the Gospel of Luke

A few years ago, within the framework of an ecumenical celebration and dedication, I was able to visit the new operational center of the Workers' Samaritan Association in Vienna.

The Workers' Samaritan Association (no connection with the British Samaritans) is a kind of local Red Cross with a clear commitment to social democracy. For a long time, Austrian Socialists were reputed to be-and many of them were-critical of the Church, or even opposed to her. That was part of the sad heritage of the [image error] division in our country [Austria] that led in 1934 to a brief but violent civil war. The tragic division of the country into "blacks" and "reds" played no small part in the illegal rise of the "browns", the National Socialists [Nazis], which ended with the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria [to Germany]. The picture of the crucifixion that hung in the archbishop's palace in Vienna (shown on the cover of this book) and that was vandalized by fanatical Hitler Youth members is a symbol of the way that only the common suffering under the Nazi persecution brought "reds" and "blacks" together again. Against this background, the dedication to which I just referred was moving and symbolic.

Why am I mentioning this in the introduction to the Gospel readings of the "year of Luke"? On account of the name Workers' Samaritan Association! The image of the good Samaritan comes from the Gospel. It is among the best known of Jesus' parables. It has become the standard example of loving one's neighbor, far beyond the circles of Church "insiders"—so much so, that a completely "red" organization sees its work in helping the victims of accidents, needy people, and the sick as "Samaritan work", without its having any connection with the Church. It is simply a matter of helping one's neighbor who is in need, irrespective of his race, religion, or political views.

The parable of the good Samaritan, however, is found only in Luke's Gospel. It is about Luke and his Gospel that we are now talking, and, in the following pages, that Gospel will be our guide through all the Sundays of the Church's year (Lectionary year C).

Each of the four Gospel writers has his own style, his own sources, his own emphases, and things that only he tells us about. Only all four together produce the whole and unmistakable picture of Jesus. Each of the Gospels adds its own particular note, so that we are quite right in talking about the picture of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew or the picture of Christ in the Gospel of John-and certainly also the picture of Christ in the Gospel of Luke.

It is only in the four canonical Gospels that the Church has recognized the canonical picture of Christ, the true and original picture. It is certainly not by chance that these are also the four oldest accounts of Jesus that we have. The many other gospels, which without exception are clearly later, were not recognized by the Church as being genuine, even if there may be one or another original saying of Jesus in them. Almost every year, one of these numerous so-called apocryphal gospels is brought forward as a new sensation, as happened just recently with the gospel of Judas. Usually it is not mentioned that people have known about them for a long time and that the works have been studied by specialists. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, for instance, talks about the gospel of Judas at the end of the second century and demonstrates that it is a late forgery.

But what argues far more strongly in favor of the genuineness of the four oldest Gospels is their incomparable spiritual power. Jesus himself is speaking in them. His spirit, his heart, and his transforming power can be felt at work in them. They are not just human discourse and human wisdom. They are also that; but, shot through with the fire of the Holy Spirit, they are truly God's word.

What picture would we have of Jesus without the parable of the good Samaritan? How much, altogether, would be missing from our picture of Jesus if we had no Gospel of Luke! I myself was almost horrified when I discovered, with the help of a synopsis (that is, a parallel edition of the four Gospels), how much of what is quite essential in our picture of Jesus is owed to Luke's alertness in bringing it all together.

Only he tells us the three parables about the way that God's love patiently seeks for us men: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost penny, and above all—perhaps Jesus' best-known parable—the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15). What a marvelous picture of God Jesus offers us in this parable!

Only Luke has passed on to us the disturbing parable of the gluttonous rich man and Lazarus (Lk 16:19-31). And the parable of the Pharisee who praises himself before God and the tax collector who is sorrowfully aware of his sins (Lk 18:9-4)—how it speaks to us! That, too, is found only in Luke.

Thanks to Luke, we know a great deal about the life and the suffering of Jesus, such as is presented in the precious and impressive story about the wealthy little man Zacchaeus, who was not ashamed to climb a tree in order to be able to see Jesus, even though Zacchaeus was a despised "bloodsucker" (Lk 19:1-10).

Thanks to Luke, we know some important things about Jesus' Passion. Only Luke tells us about Jesus sweating blood during his sorrow unto death, about his agony, and about the angel sent to strengthen him (Lk 22:43-44). Only Luke has preserved the deeply disturbing little scene in which Jesus, after Peter's betrayal, turns around and looks at him. "And {he] wept bitterly", it says about Peter. That is how it is for everyone who meets that gaze in his heart-that gaze, free of all accusation, which brings tears of repentance for the betrayal of love (Lk 22:61-62).

Only Luke refers to the way that Jesus forgives not only Peter, his disciple who betrayed him, but also those who crucified him: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Lk 23:34).

Only Luke is able to tell us of the marvelous transformation brought about in the righteous thief by Jesus' loving forgiveness: "Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingly power"—"Today you will be with me in Paradise" (Lk 23:42-43).

All these examples from the material peculiar to Luke show that the author has emphasized in a particular way Jesus' turning toward sinners, as well as his love for the poor, the sick, and those who have lost their way. Luke did not invent all that; he discovered it. This is because Luke, who was a doctor by profession and whom Paul calls "beloved" (Col 4:14), undertook thorough researches for his Gospel and thereby obviously uncovered many sources (oral and perhaps also written) concerning Jesus. We can understand how for Luke, the doctor, Jesus' concern for every kind of suffering was especially important. It may also be connected with his calling as a doctor that Luke is such an accurate and reliable historian who went into everything carefully, so as to be able to talk about Jesus and his activity as reliably as possible.

Only Luke prefaced his Gospel with a foreword: "Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have been accomplished among us, just as they were delivered to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the truth concerning the things of which you have been informed" (Lk 1:1-4).

Starting from the basics, from the first beginnings, Luke intends to look at all that has happened. What would we know about the beginnings without the Gospel of Luke? It is to him that we owe the first two chapters, about the conception and birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus himself, which lay the foundations for the story. The Gospel for Christmas is found in Luke, and only there, just as it is only through him that we know about the Presentation of Jesus in the temple, forty days after his birth, and about his visit to the temple at the age of twelve.

Where did Luke get his information about the beginning of Jesus' life on earth? An old tradition saw Luke as being very close to Mary, the Mother of our Lord. Who else but Mary could, in the end, be the source for reports about the Annunciation by the angel and about Jesus' being conceived by the Holy Spirit? Although in their literary form these accounts may well have been strongly influenced by examples from the Old Testament, nonetheless, the "infancy Gospel" of Saint Luke is essentially an account about real and miraculous events: things that really happened in history, "in the days of Herod" (Lk 1: 5), in the days of Caesar Augustus (see Lk 2:1), just as Luke sets John's public ministry (see Lk 3:1-3) and that of Jesus himself within the framework of world history; and miraculous, since this account embodies God's sovereign activity in the world. Not in all-powerful Rome, whence the Emperor Augustus rules over all peoples, but in the manger in Bethlehem, there is born the one called "Son of the Most High" [Lk 1:3 2], and that indeed is who he is. The poet Virgil had sung of Rome, "imperium sine fine dedi" (I have given you a rule without end). Yet only of that child in Bethlehem is it indeed true, that "of his kingdom there will be no end" (Lk 1:33).




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Thus it is only logical that Luke brings his second book, the "Gospel of Church history", the Acts of the Apostles, to an end in Rome, where Paul, as a prisoner, is spreading the teaching about Jesus "quite openly and unhindered" (Acts 28:3 i) in the power of the Spirit of Jesus. For the Apostles' task was to bear witness "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8), to what was at the beginning of the Good News: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11).

Christ the Savior! That, quite simply, is the message of Saint Luke the doctor.

Let us return to the blessing of the Workers' Samaritan Association operational center that we mentioned at the beginning. At the close of the celebration, the manager of the center invited me into his office. He had an icon there, he said, and would I please bless that, too? He had had it painted specially. It represents the good Samaritan-an appropriate subject for this place. Yet the manager pointed out to me something particularly interesting about this icon. He explained to me that in the tradition of the Eastern Church, Christ himself is portrayed as the good Samaritan. The badly wounded man lying beside the highway is mankind, all of us. Christ did not pass us by in our hour of need. He bound up our wounds and brought us home to the Father's inn. This marvelous parable is talking about Christ himself. Anyone who takes the good Samaritan for his example is imitating Christ.

These few brief remarks, about this and that, certainly mention only a small part of what could be said about Luke. One really ought to make a special point of the central role played in his Gospel by the prayers of Jesus and those close to him. Every day, the Church throughout the world prays the three great prayers from the "infancy narratives": the Benedictus of Zechariah in the morning (Lk 1:68-79), Mary's Magnficat in the evening (Lk 1:46-55), and Simeon's Nunc Dimittis at night (Lk 2:29-32).

It is also important to mention the particular role of women in the Gospel of Luke, beginning with Mary, then Elizabeth and Anna, and then the women who accompany Jesus and give him financial support (Lk 8:1-3), right up to Mary and Martha, in whose home he found friends (Lk 10:38-42).

Many things barely mentioned here will have their say when it comes to the individual Gospel readings, however brief and concise. There is a lot else that deserves thinking about in every Gospel read on a Sunday.

Thus, there is one thing I dearly hope: may it be, for all those who read these commentaries on the Gospel readings, a little bit as it was for the disciples at Emmaus. That, too, is a story that only Luke tells. How thankful we should be that he has given it to us!

As they are walking, Jesus explains Holy Scripture to the two stunned disciples (who have not yet recognized him)—above all, he explains what has been written about him, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. They invite their unrecognized fellow traveler to be their guest, and when he comes in with them and they find how he prays and breaks the bread, then they recognize him, and they return with hearts afire to the others in Jerusalem (Lk 24:13-3 5).

My greatest reward will be if the brief expositions in this book, of parts of the Gospel of Luke, do a little to help as many people as possible to have the same experience as the disciples at Emmaus. I must again thank the Kroner Zeitung for this third volume, which completes a trilogy of commentaries on the Sunday Gospel readings from all three years of the liturgical lectionary; and also thank its legendary editor Hans Dichand. He has made it possible for me to publish most of the material here in his newspaper, Sunday by Sunday, in the year 2003-2004. My thanks to the team from the Krone Bunt, who patiently dealt with the layout of my text for the German edition. Thanks also to our team in publishing, who always copy out my handwritten texts (I can still not make up my mind to use a computer for this), illustrate them, and, where necessary, abbreviate them. Finally, I thank all those who have helped to make this book out of the articles. My thanks to them all for their excellent teamwork.

And now, lastly, the most important thing of all: Luke's words are God's word in human speech. It is worthwhile, and essential, first of all to read the words of his Gospel carefully, and to meditate on them. My explanations and my reflections on them are simply meant to help. The power of God is there in the Gospel. May it work powerfully!

Vienna, The Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ
August 6, 2006

Jesus, The Divine Physician: Encountering Christ in the Gospel of Luke

by Christoph Cardinal Schönborn

Who is Jesus Christ? How can we really know him? People have been asking that important question for 2,000 years. The best answers are found in the four Gospels, but how are they to be understood, and applied to our modern lives and faith?

[image error] Cardinal Schönborn, a renowned spiritual writer and teacher, presents this third book in his series of meditations on the Gospels, in which he seeks to help readers have a deep personal encounter with Jesus Christ as seen in the Sacred Scriptures. His first two books focused on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, and this book covers Luke. Sunday after Sunday, he uses the Church's Year C, mainly readings from Luke to explain the beauty of the Gospel in clear and understandable words.

The Cardinal shows how many of the most famous and important events in Christ's life, and some of his greatest parables, are only related in the Gospel of Luke. The powerful parables of the Prodigal Son, of the Good Samaritan, and of the Lost Sheep are told only in Luke's Gospel. Also told only in Luke is the famous story of the tax collector, Zaccheus, so short he climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus, as well as the moving story of the disciples' encounter with Christ on the road to Emmaus after the Resurrection. It is in Luke's Gospel that important roles of women are given particular mention. Finally, it is thanks to Luke especially that we know some of the important details about the Passion of the Savior.

"This book is not merely an aid to the Gospel of Luke, it is an inspiration. It reveals the practical eye of a pastor and the penetrating insights of a great scholar." - James V. Schall, S.J. Author, The Order of Things

"Cardinal Schönborn convincingly brings home the truth and power of the Gospel image of Jesus. If you have lost touch with Christ, you will find him again. Those who want to be disciples of Christ will discover new strength, conviction, and joy in this fresh expression of the reality of your Jesus and mine." - Fr. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., Author, Arise from Darkness

Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles and Excerpts:

• A Shepherd Like No Other | Excerpt from Behold, God's Son! Encountering Christ in the Gospel of Mark | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
• Encountering Christ in the Gospel | Excerpt from My Jesus | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
• The Church Is the Goal of All Things | Excerpt from Loving The Church | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
• Excerpts from Chance or Purpose? | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
• Reincarnation: The Answer of Faith | Excerpt from From Death to Life: The Christian Journey | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
• The Truth of the Resurrection | Excerpts from Introduction to Christianity | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• Seeing Jesus in the Gospel of John | Excerpts from On The Way to Jesus Christ | Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger
• A Jesus Worth Dying For | A Review of On The Way to Jesus Christ | Justin Nickelsen
• The Divinity of Christ | Peter Kreeft
• Jesus Is Catholic | Hans Urs von Balthasar
• The Religion of Jesus | Blessed Columba Marmion | From Christ, The Ideal of the Priest

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn is the Archbishop of Vienna, Austria. He was the general editor of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, co-author (with Cardinal Ratzinger) of Introduction to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the author of God's Human Face and Living the Catechism of the Catholic Church: The Creed (Vol. 1), The Sacraments (Vol. 2), Life in Christ (Vol. 3), and Paths of Prayer (Vol. 4). He is also the author of last year's Chance or Purpose? Creation, Evolution, and a Rational Faith.

Taxes, Tricks, and the Roman Coin

"Render Unto Caesar" by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, October 19, 2014 | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Isa 45:1, 4-6
• Psa 96:1, 3, 4-5, 7-8, 9-10
• 1 Thess 1:1-5b
• Matt 22:15-21

Jesus was asked many questions during his public ministry. Some were asked in curiosity, some out of an honest desire for truth; some were expressed with hope, and some were touched with fear or anger. But few, if any, were asked with such careful cunning and devious planning as the one heard in today’s Gospel: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?”

It is evident that the question was the result of attentive scheming because of the unlikely alliance of those who asked it. The Pharisees were nationalistic and strongly opposed to Roman rule; the Herodians were supporters of the Roman-backed Herod and sought the reestablishment of his power in Judea. What they shared was a common dislike and fear of a mysterious, itinerant preacher whose popularity among the people had gone from annoying to troublesome.

The question was a rather brilliant attempt to trap Jesus, for it set up a seemingly airtight conundrum. If Jesus had said Caesar’s tax was unlawful—that is, opposed to the Torah and Jewish beliefs—he would have been immediately charged with political insurrection against Roman rule. If he said the tax was lawful, he would have alienated and angered many of his followers and effectively destroyed his growing influence. “On the political level occupied by the questioners,” wrote Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar of this confrontation, “he can find no third possibility, no back door exit. But Jesus does not permit himself to enter this level.”

Put another way, Jesus did not believe that liberation from political oppression was Israel’s greatest problem, nor did he believe it was best dealt with through violence and political agitation. Revolts against Roman taxes and rule were not uncommon in first-century Palestine. When Jesus was a young boy, around A.D. 6, Judas the Galilean led one such revolt, and was summarily destroyed by the Romans, an event mentioned by the Evangelist Luke (Acts 5:37).

Recognizing the intention of his interlocutors, Jesus requested to see “the Roman coin”, a silver denarius, worth about one day’s wages. It was marked with the image of Tiberius Caesar (A.D. 14-37), identified on one side as “son of the divine Augustus” and on the other as the “high priest.” That the questioners had the coin in their possession meant they operated willingly within Rome’s economic system, thus exposing the hollowness of their feigned interest in Jesus’ opinion.

Jesus’ response was both direct and enigmatic: “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” Caesar had legitimate power to tax and carry on the proper work of a government, but was subordinate to the all-encompassing power of the all-mighty Creator. Some things belong to Caesar, but all things belong to God, notes von Balthasar, “because man is created according to God’s image, not Caesar’s, and because God is Ruler over all earthly kings. Kings think they are sacral powers and claim divine attributes; Jesus demystifies this sacrality.”

The Greek word used by Jesus for “image” (“eikon”) was the same Greek word found in the Septuagint translation of Genesis 1:26-27: “And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness…” Caesar could make rightful claim to coins bearing his image, but only God can make claim to each man, woman, and child; only God can rightfully ask for worship and adoration. All governments, whether they acknowledge or not, are ultimately answerable to God, “for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been established by God (Rom 13:6-7; cf. 1 Pet 2:13-15; Catechism, par 2242).

Jesus’ answer to the trick question could itself be rendered as a question, but without any trickery involved: “Who made us and what are we made for?” Made in the image of God, man is meant for eternal communion with God. Our faith in him must guide us in every area of our earthly lives, including the realm of politics and temporal power.

(This "Opening the Word' column originally appeared in the October 16, 2011, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

St. Ignatius of Antioch and the Early Church

St. Ignatius of Antioch and the Early Church | Kenneth D. Whitehead | From One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic: The Early Church Was The Catholic Church

Sometime around the year 107 A.D., a short, sharp persecution of the Church of Christ resulted in the arrest of the bishop of Antioch in Syria. His name was Ignatius. According to one of the harsh penal practices of the Roman Empire of the day, the good bishop was condemned to be delivered up to wild beasts in the arena in the capital city. The insatiable public appetite for bloody spectacles meant a chronically short supply of victims; prisoners were thus sent off to Rome to help fill the need.

So the second bishop of Antioch was sent to Rome as a condemned prisoner. According to Church historian Eusebius (ca. 260-ca. 340), Ignatius had been bishop in Antioch for nearly forty years at the time of his arrest. This means that he had been bishop there while some of the original apostles were almost certainly still alive and preaching.

St. Ignatius of Antioch was conducted first by land from Syria across Asia Minor (modern Turkey). He was escorted by a detachment of Roman soldiers. In a letter he sent ahead to the Church of Christ in Rome, this bishop described his ardent wish to imitate the passion of Christ through his own coming martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum. He warned the Christians in Rome not to try to save him. He also spoke of his conflicts with his military escort and of their casual cruelties, describing his guards as "ten leopards". The discipline of the march cannot have been unrelieved, however, since Ignatius was permitted to receive delegations of visitors from local Churches in the cities of Asia Minor through which the escorts and Ignatius passed along the way (To the Romans, 5:1).

In Smyrna (modern Izmir), St. Ignatius met, not only with the bishop of that city, St. Polycarp, but also with delegations from the neighboring cities of Ephesus, Magnesia, and Tralles. Each delegation was headed by a local bishop. Ignatius wrote thank-you letters to the Christians in each of these cities who had visited the notable but shackled bishop-prisoner. Chiefly through these letters, St. Ignatius of Antioch is known to us today.

Establishing these letters, written in Greek, as authentic and genuinely from the first decade of the second century was one of the triumphs of nineteenth-century British scholarship. Without them, this bishop of Antioch might have remained no more than a name, as obscure as many another early Christian bishop.

Escorted on to the Greek city of Troas on the Aegean Sea, Ignatius wrote yet another letter to the Church at Smyrna, through which he had passed. He also wrote personally to Bishop Polycarp of that city. Finally, from Troas he wrote still another letter to the Philadelphians; the local Church of Philadelphia had despatched two deacons who overtook his party at Troas.

Shortly after writing these seven letters to Churches in Asia Minor, St. Ignatius of Antioch was taken aboard ship. The remainder of his journey to Italy was by sea. Tradition holds that he won his longed-for martyrdom in the Roman amphitheater during the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117).

But the letters he left behind afford us a precious and remarkable picture of what that Church was like not even two full generations after issuing from the side of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

The adult life of St. Ignatius of Antioch as a second-generation Church leader almost exactly spanned the period of transition between the end of the first Christian generation and the beginning of the third. Thus, his witness about the nature of the Church of his day is of the most profound and fundamental importance.

What was the Church like around the year 107 A.D.? The Church had already spread far and wide since the days of the apostles. St. Ignatius was conducted over a good part of what, today, is Turkey, encountering local Churches in most major towns. At the head of each of these Churches was a principal leader, a bishop. The geographical spread of individual local Churches, each headed by a bishop, is obvious from the fact that Ignatius was met by delegations headed by bishops from each sizeable town along the route.

That St. Ignatius was met by these "official" delegations indicates that local Churches were in close touch with one another. They did not see themselves as independent, self-selected, self-governing congregations of like-minded people; they saw themselves as linked together in the one body of Christ according to an already firmly established, well-understood system, even though they happened to be geographically separated.

The solidarity with which they all turned out to honor a prisoner being led to martyrdom, who also happened to be the bishop of Antioch, tells us something about their respect for the incumbent of that office. Antioch was to become one of the great patriarchal bishoprics of the Church of antiquity, along with Alexandria and Rome--and, later, Constantinople.





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The letters of St. Ignatius are even more pointed concerning the role that a bishop ("overseer") held in the early Church. The modern reader may be startled at the degree to which these letters exalt the role of the bishop. "It is essential to act in no way without the bishop", Ignatius wrote to the Trallians. "... Obey the bishop as if he were Jesus Christ" (2:2,1). "Do nothing apart from the bishop", he wrote to the Philadelphians (7:2). To the Smyrnaeans, he gave the same advice: "You should all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father .... Nobody must do anything that has to do with the Church without the bishop's approval" (8:1).

The New Testament shows the apostles appointing others besides themselves to offices in the Church. Peter and the other apostles at Jerusalem very quickly decided to appoint deacons to assist them (cf. Acts 6: 1-6). Paul similarly placed someone in authority in the Churches he founded (cf. Acts 14:23; 2 Tim 1:6). These ecclesiastical appointments were carried out by means of a religious rite: the laying on of hands, either by those who already had authority conferred on them by Christ (the apostles) or those on whom they had conferred authority by the laying on of hands. These rites were sacramental ordinations.

For a period of time in the early Church there seems to have been no entirely clear terminology designating these ordained Church officers or ministers. St. Paul spoke of bishops and deacons (Phil 1:1), though he also mentions other offices, such as apostles, prophets, and teachers (1 Cor 12:29). St. James spoke of elders (5:14). In the Acts of the Apostles (e.g., 11: 30), we hear many times of elders or presbyters. Sometimes the designations bishop and elder seem to have been used interchangeably.

In the course of the second half of the first century, however, a consistent terminology for these Church offices was becoming fixed. The letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch make clear that leadership in the Christian community, in all the Churches, is exercised by an order of "bishops, presbyters, and deacons" (To the Trallians 3:2; To Polycarp 6:1). Of these designations, bishop comes from the Greek episkopos, meaning "overseer"; presbyter from the Greek presbyteros, "elder"; and deacon from the Greek diakonos, "servant" or "minister".

Thus, from that time on, these were the offices in what was already an institutional, hierarchical Church (this is not to imply that the Church was ever anything but institutional and hierarchical, only that the evidence for these characteristics had become unmistakably clear by this time).

By the way, the term priest (Greek: hierus) does not seem to have been used at first for the Christian presbyter; the nonuse of this particular term in the earliest years of the Church was due to the need to distinguish the Christian priesthood of the new dispensation from the Jewish Temple priests, who were still functioning up to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Romans in the year 70 A.D. After that time, the use of the word priest for those ordained in Christ began to be more and more common.

St. Ignatius of Antioch did not know of any such thing as a "Church" that was merely an assemblage of like-minded people who believed themselves to have been moved by the Spirit. The early Christians were moved by the Spirit to join the Church, the established visible, institutional, sacerdotal, and hierarchical Church-the only kind St. Ignatius of Antioch would ever have recognized as the Church.

And it was for this visible, institutional, sacerdotal, and hierarchical Church--an entity purveying both the word and sacraments of Jesus--that this early bishop was willing to give himself up to be torn apart by wild beasts in the arena. He wrote to St. Polycarp words that were also meant for the latter's flock in Smyrna: "Pay attention to the bishop so that God will pay attention to you. I give my life as a sacrifice (poor as it is) for those who are obedient to the bishop, the presbyters, and the deacons" (6:1). To the Trallians he wrote: "You cannot have a Church without these" (3:2).

St. Ignatius certainly did not fail to recognize that, in one of today's popular but imprecise formulations, "the people are the Church." His letters were intended to teach, admonish, exhort, and encourage none other than "the people". But he also understood that each one of "the people" entered the Church through a sacred rite of baptism, and thereafter belonged to a group in which the bishop, in certain respects and for certain purposes, resembled, on the one hand, the father of a family and, on the other, a monarch--more than some democratically elected leaders.

Related IgnatiusInsight.com Articles, Book Excerpts, and Interviews:

• Selections from Jesus, The Apostles, and the Early Church | Pope Benedict XVI
• A Short Guide to Ancient Heresies | Kenneth D. Whitehead
• Studying The Early Christians: The Introduction to We Look For the Kingdom | Carl J. Sommer
• The Everyday Lives of the Early Christians | An interview with Carl J. Sommer
• Church and State in Early Christianity | Hugo Rahner, S.J.
• His Story and the History of the Church | An Interview with Dr. Glenn W. Olsen
• Are We at The End or The Beginning? | Dr. Glenn Olson
• Who Is A Priest? | Fr. Benedict Ashley, O.P.
• The Church Is the Goal of All Things | Christoph Cardinal Schönborn
• St. Peter and the Primacy of Rome | Stephen K. Ray
• Church Authority and the Petrine Element | Hans Urs von Balthasar

Kenneth D. Whitehead is a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Education. He has authored or coauthored several books, as well as many articles for leading Catholic periodicals, and is the translator of some twenty published books.

“I Hate Divorce” | A reflection by Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ

Left: Icon of the martyrdom of Saint Ignatius of Antioch; right: "The Prophet Malachi", painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna, c. 1310 (Wikipedia)

“I Hate Divorce” | Fr. Joseph Fessio, SJ

The prayers and readings of the Divine Office offer some clear messages appropriate to issues being discussed at the Synod

During the extraordinary synod on the family—that was  the theme, wasn’t it?—as I have been praying the Divine Office I have reflected on the fact that the synod fathers were praying the same prayers and reading the same readings as I. Often I have been struck by what seemed to me a clear message in Scripture directed especially at them, a spiritual “daily  bread” to nourish and fortify them for this particular moment.
 
Today, Friday October 17th, the feast of the great early Martyr Ignatius of Antioch, the message in the Office of Readings seemed clearer than ever.
 
The Psalm for the Office is Psalm 55, which is a lament (“My heart is stricken within me”) for a betrayal (“If this had been done by an enemy I could bear his taunts….But it is you my own companion, my  friend. How close was the friendship between us. We walked together in harmony in the house of God”.) is a fitting prelude to the Scriptural reading from the prophet Malachi (emphasis not orthographically in the original):
 
“And here is something else you do; you cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and wailing, because he now refuses to consider the offering or to accept it from your hands. And you ask,’Why?’ It is because the Lord stands as witness between you and the wife of your youth, the wife with whom you have broken faith, even though she was your partner and your wife by covenant. Did he not create a single being that has flesh and the breath of life? And what is this single being destined for? God-given offspring. Be careful for your own life, therefore, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord the God of Israel, and I hate people to parade their sins on their cloaks, says the Lord Sabaoth. Respect your own life, therefore, and do not break faith like this” (Mal 2:13-16).
 
Perhaps this might be included in the final report of the synod?
 
Postsript: The passage from Malachi in the Office ends where my excerpt ends. And I see no need to comment. However, in checking the exact reference in my Bible, I came across the verse immediately following, verse 17, which also needs no comment, although I will say that it has a double message for all to hear:
                                                                                                                                                                                          
“You have wearied the Lord with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ By saying, ‘Every one who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delights in them.’ Or by asking, ‘Where is the God of justice?’

I pray that the synod will be truly prophetic—in the footsteps of the inspired Malachi.

“A powerful, intense little package of dynamite”

A gripping new novel has just been released by Ignatius Press: Iota by T.M. Doran, which the author calls his most ambitious and demanding novel yet. A taut and tense 165 pages long, Iota centers on a journalist, Jan Skala, who has been arrested and imprisoned by the Russian liberators of Prague

During the Nazi occupation of the city, the journalist stayed above ground and continued to work for his father’s newspaper, which had been commandeered by the Gestapo. What must the Russians think of Jan? But more importantly, what is Jan’s take on his wartime role?

Iota is a drama about what men believe and whether their actions are consistent with what they profess. The story, which takes place during a two-month period immediately following World War II, in a temporary Soviet detention facility—a former abattoir—near a devastated Berlin, is an exploration of what it means to be human and whether it is possible to retain one’s humanity in the face of radical evil. 

Eerily mirroring the present day European crisis is the 1945 Soviet Union’s desire to gobble up as much of Europe as it can.


The intriguing characters sharing his detention facility all have a backstory, but Jan cannot be sure if any of them is telling the truth. Although the business of daily survival begins to trump every other concern, the men nevertheless struggle to understand their fate. Ruling the facility is the menacing Russian major, who is as opaque as any of the prisoners.


Author T.M. Doran says, “History by William L. Shirer, Martin Gilbert, and Igor Lukes; essays, poems, and memoirs by Liu Xiaobo, T.S. Eliot, and Walter Ciszek; literature by Pasternak, Dumas, and Orwell influenced Iota, a story about radical forgiveness, though we have to dig deep into the grit and brutality to find it.”


Michael D. O’Brien, author of Fr. Elijah: An Apocalypse, says, “Iota is a plunge into the darkest waters of human motivation and character. Set in a political prison at the end of World War II, the story of the ‘cage’ is also a metaphor for the imprisonment of minds and souls….”


Iota is “a gripping read. The atmosphere of tension, squalor and fear is brilliantly sustained and the plot has thrilling twists right to the end,” claims Lucy Beckett author of A Postcard from the Volcano.


“This compelling story reads like an eyewitness account. At times moving, harrowing and genuinely terrifying, Doran’s Iota asks unsettling questions about the nature of innocence, guilt, courage and complicity. I simply could not put it down,” says Fiorella De Maria author of Do No Harm.

James V. Schall, S. J., author of Reasonable Pleasures, says, “The urge to track down and bring to justice is a powerful one. We see it at work here in Iota. In the end, we learn what we ought to do by not doing what we set out to do.”

About the Author:

T. M. Doran is an environmental engineer and an adjunct professor at Lawrence Technological University in Michigan. He is the author of two other novels, Terrapin (Ignatius Press, 2012) and Toward the Gleam (Ignatius Press, 2011), and a guest contributor to the Detroit Free Press and the Catholic World Report blog.

Author T.M. Doran is available for interviews about this book. To request a review copy or an interview with T.M. Doran, please contact: Rose Trabbic, Publicist, Ignatius Press at (239)867-4180 or rose@ignatius.com

Product Facts:

Title: IOTA: A Novel
Author: T.M. Doran
Release Date: October 2014
Length: 165 pages
Price: $17.95
ISBN: 978-1-58617-854-3 • Hardcover

Order: 1-800-651-1531 • www.ignatius.com

Cardinal Pell: "We're not giving in to the secular agenda; we're not collapsing in a heap.""

Cardinal George Pell of Australia, who is the current Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, was interviewed by Francis X. Rocca of Catholic News Service, and issued some strong remarks about the Synod and where it will—and will not—go:

Cardinal George Pell said working-group reports from the Synod of Bishops on the family finally give a true picture of the assembly's views, counteracting what he characterized as a misleading midterm report.

"We wanted the Catholic people around the world to know actually what was going on in talking about marriage and the family and, by and large, I think people will be immensely reassured," Cardinal Pell, prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, told Catholic News Service Oct. 16, the day the reports were published.

"We're not giving in to the secular agenda; we're not collapsing in a heap. We've got no intention of following those radical elements in all the Christian churches, according to the Catholic churches in one or two countries, and going out of business," he said. ...

The midterm report was "tendentious, skewed; it didn't represent accurately the feelings of the synod fathers," said Cardinal Pell. "In the immediate reaction to it, when there was an hour, an hour-and-a-half of discussion, three-quarters of those who spoke had some problems with the document."

"A major absence was Scriptural teaching," he said. "A major absence was a treatment of the church tradition," including teaching on the family by Pope Paul VI, St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Pell also states that just 3 of the 10 small groups were in support of Cardinal Walter Kasper's proposal to allow for some divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion, calling that proposal a "stalking horse". He indicated that Kasper's proposal was just the "tip of the iceburg," an attempt to open the door to even more radical measures: "They want wider changes, recognition of civil unions, recognition of homosexual unions. The church cannot go in that direction. It would be a capitulation from the beauties and strengths of the Catholic tradition, where people sacrificed themselves for hundreds, for thousands of years to do this."

The texts of the ten groups are available on the Vatican website. While only three of the ten are available in English, the substance and approach are notably different than what was in the text of the Relatio. For example, from the text from the group (Circulus Anglicus "A") moderated by Cardinal Raymond Burke:

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Card. Kasper denies he gave interview. Journalist posts recording of interview.

Left: German Cardinal Walter Kasper arrives for the morning session of the extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family at the Vatican Oct. 8. (CNS photo/Paul Haring). Right: Undated photo of journalist Edward Pentin, left, with Pope Francis. (edwardpentin.co.uk)

by Carl E. Olson | CWR blog

The German prelate insists, "I never said such a thing about Africans..." But the evidence says otherwise.

For those who thought the Synod and the many reports and controversies swirling around it couldn't be any more surprising, surreal, confusing, and conflicted, tighten your seat belts. The past 36 hours or so have provided another drama within The Drama, and while some might dismiss it as just another example of the push, pull, and politics of such ecclesial events, it could prove, in hindsight, to be a turning point.

First, the background. As CWR's managing editor, Catherine Harmon, explained, Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany was interviewed yesterday by veteran Vatican journalist Edward Pentin, who writes frequently for ZENIT and National Catholic Register, as well as other outlets, including CWR. In the interview, Catherine summarized, "the German cardinal said he believes 'a growing majority' of the synod participants are in favor of his controversial proposals about Communion for the divorced and remarried. Cardinal Kasper also emphasized the differences between the challenges faced by the Church in the West and the Church elsewhere, stating that the problems of the African Church, in particular, are 'impossible' for the synod to solve. Likewise, he said, the African bishops “should not tell us too much what we have to do.” There was then this surprising exchange:

[Kasper:] Africa is totally different from the West. Also Asian and Muslim countries, they’re very different, especially about gays. You can’t speak about this with Africans and people of Muslim countries. It’s not possible. It’s a taboo. For us, we say we ought not to discriminate, we don’t want to discriminate in certain respects.

But are African participants listened to in this regard?

[Kasper:] No, the majority of them [who hold these views won’t speak about them].

They’re not listened to?

[Kasper:] In Africa of course [their views are listened to], where it’s a taboo.

What has changed for you, regarding the methodology of this synod?

[Kasper:] I think in the end there must be a general line in the Church, general criteria, but then the questions of Africa we cannot solve. There must be space also for the local bishops’ conferences to solve their problems but I’d say with Africa it’s impossible [for us to solve]. But they should not tell us too much what we have to do.

Needless to say, those remarks caused a furor. Then, this morning, Cardinal Kasper issued a denial, telling kath.net [an Austrian Catholic news website], “I am shocked.  I never said such a thing about Africans and would never say such a thing either. I declare: no one from Zenit contacted me in recent days and weeks.”:

Continue reading on the CWR blog.

Ignatius Press CEO Mark Brumley interviewed by "America" magazine...

... about apologetics and American culture. An excerpt:

People consider you to be a Catholic apologist. What do apologetics mean to you in the context of American culture today?

America is both religious and secularized. As a result, people often mistakenly think they know what Christians or Catholics believe. Apologetics today must first clarify for Americans what Catholicism is and then show how faith fulfills the deep
aspirations of the human soul, even in 21st century America! Concretely, apologetics must address such things as the “I’m-spiritual-but-not-religious” outlook, the idea that faith means believing things you know aren’t true, why this “Jesus guy” is so important, why the Catholic Church, and what makes life about more than pleasure and building your 401k. 

You’ve worked many years for Catholic Answers and Ignatius Press. How have Catholic apologetics changed or evolved in the course of your work?

I would note three changes: broader subject matter, more resources, and more sophisticated, evangelical apologists. When I started at Catholic Answers, in the late 1980s, we focused on Protestant Fundamentalism. Nowadays, social and cultural issues are important, too: human sexuality (including marriage as a civil institution), the human person, pro-life concerns, religion’s place in the public square, etc. And of course basic questions such as the existence of God, the historicity of Jesus, and the claims of the Catholic Church remain essential. Meanwhile, the resources are plentiful—books, videos, audio CDs, websites, phone apps, Catholic radio and TV, etc.  What’s more, many apologists—Jimmy Akin and Trent Horn of Catholic Answers come to mind among others—are first-rate thinkers and don’t simply present other people’s arguments. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that!) Finally, people increasingly see apologetics as evangelization’s "flipside."  The goal can’t be simply to win an argument, as I say in my book, to dispose people to the work of the Holy Spirit. The New Evangelization is “highway and byway” evangelization—taking Christ to people instead of waiting for them to knock at the rectory. The new evangelists see apologetics’ value and apologists see they must be new evangelists. That’s a significant change.

The media has given a lot of attention to how the collapse of families is altering the cultural landscape in America. What challenge does this reality pose for Catholic apologetics?

In some ways, we’ve been here before. The church dealt with collapsing families in pagan Rome. But, as Chesterton and Lewis noted, a post-Christian paganism differs from pre-Christian paganism, as a bitter divorcee differs from an unmarried virgin. The full impact of familial collapse we have yet to experience. The redefinition of marriage and family will have further disastrous consequences. In the meantime, we speak with hurting people who think they know all about Christianity. They know not everything is relative but they often talk and act otherwise. They’re subjects of the dictatorship of moral relativism, at least when it comes to certain areas of their lives. We talk with people who think science has disproved Christianity or that multiculturalism has discredited it. We’re surrounded by children of the sexual revolution, with whom we must speak a language they can understand. Theology of the body helps here. In all of this, we must “walk the walk” as well as “talk the talk” (make arguments). Yes, we’ll fall short. Experiencing mercy can help. Paul VI’s statement about people listening to witnesses more than to teachers is key. If we witness to mercy because we have experienced it, we’ll get “street cred.” People will be more apt to listen. People need mercy—love’s response to suffering. Pope Francis has underscored this in his unique way. But then we have to be prepared to say something worth hearing, too.  We’ll need to be ready to make our case.

Read the entire interview at AmericaMagazine.org.

New from Ignatius Press: "Mary of Nazareth" (DVD)

Now available:

Mary of Nazareth is an epic motion picture on the life of Mary, mother of Christ, from her childhood through the Resurrection of Jesus. Shot in High Definition, it was filmed in Europe with outstanding cinematography, a strong cast, and a majestic music score. Actress Alissa Jung gives a beautiful, compelling and inspired portrayal of Mary.

The film vividly captures the essence of Mary’s profound faith and trust in God amidst the great mysteries that she lived with as the Mother of the Messiah, as well as her compassionate humanity and concern for others, and the deep love that she and Jesus shared for one another. The movie underscores her special role in God’s plan for our redemption, her unique relationship with Christ, and the tremendous suffering that she endured in union with his passion and death, as well as her serene joy at his Resurrection.

It was directed by acclaimed European film director Giacomo Campiotti (Bakhita, Doctor Zhivago, St. Giuseppe Moscati), and written by Francesco Arlanch (Restless Heart, Pius XII, Pope John Paul II). In addition to the luminous performance by Jung, the film also has inspiring portrayals by Andreas Pietschmann as Jesus, Luca Marinelli as Joseph, Paz Vega as Mary Magdalene and Antonia Liskova as Herodias. The original music score by Guy Farley is enthralling and majestic.

After viewing this movie, Pope Benedict XVI said: “ Mary of Nazareth is the woman of a full and total ‘Here I am’ to the Divine Will. In her ‘yes’, even when faced with the loss of her Son, we find complete and profound beatitude.”

Two-Disc Collector’s Edition. Includes many Special Features – Interview with Alissa Jung; “Backstage” film segment; Film Photos Slide Show; Interview with Fr. Don Calloway; Music Video with song “Pieta”; 24 page Collector’s Booklet & Study Guide; and more.

In English with Spanish and English subtitles. 

Praise for Mary of Nazareth:

"The most stunning portrayal of the Virgin Mary on film. A masterpiece!"
- Fr. Donald Calloway, MIC

"Mary of Nazareth captivated me from the first scene to the last."
- Johnnette Benkovic, Women of Grace

"A profound story of faith, love, suffering and hope. See this film."
- Archbishop Samuel Aquila, Denver, CO.

"A very anointed work, a powerful medium of grace."
- Michael O'Brien, Author, Father Elijah

"A gripping story, with authentic background, faithfully orthodox very beautiful cinematography."
- Steve Ray, Host, The Footprints of God

"Powerful, captivating, and mesmerizing- Mary of Nazareth will transport you to another place and time and you'll grow immensely closer to the Mother of God."
- Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle, EWTN TV Host

WARNING: DVDs are licensed for home use only. It is illegal to show this movie in a public setting such as a church, school or organization's hall without a Site License. That applies even if you are not charging admission. For more information and to obtain a Mary of Nazareth Site License, please go to www.MaryFilm.com or email or call Diane direct at 734-455-1973 or toll free at 1-866-431-1531 x 5.