Pope Francis: The passion for evangelisation; the apostolic zeal of the believer

 Week by week, the Successor of St Peter meets with the faithful, either in St Peter's Square (summer time) or the Paul VI Audience Hall (winter time), for the General Audience. Whilst the immediate listeners of the Holy Father's catecheses on these occasions are the pilgrims gathered in person with the Pope, the catecheses are also more often than not also intended for a wider audience in the universal Church. 

Two special examples of this are the series of catecheses from St John Paul II that are now known under the title "The Theology of the Body"; and a series of catecheses begun by St John Paul II and concluded by Pope Benedict XVI on the psalms and canticles of Morning and Evening Prayer (I have them in a collection published by the Catholic Truth Society). These exemplify how the General Audience catechesis can have both its specific audience on a particular day in a particular place, and a permanent value for the wider life of the Church.

Pope Francis is currently part way through a series of catecheses on "The passion for evangelisation - the apostolic zeal of the believer". The texts are being posted each week at the website of the Holy See, in the section devoted to Audiences: Audiences 2023. At the time of posting, Pope Francis has reached the ninth catechesis in the series. I have dipped into each of them, and found in each of them something of worth: from the careful distinguishing of evangelisation from proselytism and the account of three steps (seeing, followed by movement and then towards a destination) in the calling of St Matthew in the catechesis of 11th January; through the insistence on 15th February that in evangelising there is "no staying without going and no going without staying"; to the account of witness as essential to evangelisation, drawn from St Paul VI's Evangelii Nuntiandi, in the audience of 22nd March.

Every one of us is called to respond to three fundamental questions, posed in this way by Paul VI: “Do you believe what you are proclaiming? Do you live what you believe? Do you preach what you live?” 

Like the catecheses of St John Paul II and of Pope Benedict XVI, I think these too will have a permanent value for the life of the Church. 

Pope Francis to Families: "..you get married because you want to build your marriage on the love of Christ"

 On Wednesday, Pope Francis joined with families attending the Tenth World Meeting of Families in Rome for the "Festival of Families". This festival takes the form of a celebration with testimonies from different couples and their families; it is the part of the World Meeting that can be most readily described as a celebration of the family.

In his address Pope Francis responded to the testimonies that he had just heard, indicating some "steps forward" that need to be taken together and using the testimonies as stepping off points for his reflections. A brief summary of the testimonies can be found in the report here: Pope to the Families: Let us live with our eyes fixed on heaven.

Speaking of a "step forward towards marriage, in response to a testimony from a couple who had cohabited for many years, the Holy Father said:

We can say that whenever a man and a woman fall in love, God offers them a gift; that gift is marriage. It is a marvellous gift, which contains the power of God’s own love: strong, enduring, faithful, ready to start over after every failure or moment of weakness. Marriage is not a formality you go through. You don’t get married in order to be “card-carrying” Catholics, to obey a rule, or because the Church tells you to, or to have a party… No, you get married because you want to build your marriage on the love of Christ, which is solid as rock. In marriage, Christ gives himself to you, so that you can find the strength to give yourselves to one another. So take heart: family life is not “mission impossible”! By the grace of the sacrament, God makes it a wonderful journey, to be undertaken together with him and never alone. The family is not a lofty ideal that is unattainable in reality. God solemnly promises his presence in your marriage and family, not only on the day of your wedding, but for the rest of your lives. And he keeps supporting you, every day of your journey.

The other "steps forward" that Pope Francis proposed were towards embracing the cross, towards forgiveness, towards welcome and towards fraternity. The full text of the Pope's address can found on the Vatican website here.

Innkeeper of Cuerden (d.1761)

Joseph Holland, innkeeper of Cuerden.

Buried 4/4/1761 at Leyland Parish Church.

Deed of 1756 describes him as Innkeeper of Cuerden, late of Preston. This deed also mentions a deed of 1742 when he bought land in Cuerden.

Deed of 1748: Thomas Woodcock Gentleman of Woodcock Hall, Cuerden, buys a cottage in Cuerden on the west side of the King's Highway from Wigan to Preston in trust for Joseph Holland, Innkeeper of Cuerden. The Inn was situated on the east side of the King's Highway from Wigan to Preston.

Will dated 31/3/1761 and proved 29/1/1766. Leaves everything to Elizabeth his wife during her natural life so long as she continue in her chaste widowhood. After her death or on her marriage to be divided equally among his children share and share alike after all just debts and funeral expenses be paid.

Elizabeth (Holland)

Born c. 1707.

Buried 22/10/1787 at Leyland Parish Church.

Papist List 1767 describes her as widow aged 60 who has resided in Leyland parish for 20 years (Cuerden).

Deed dated 20/11/1787 describes her as deceased late in the possession of a cottage on the west side of the King's highway leading from Wigan to Preston and half a rood of land situated in Cuerden.

Historical Note

Papists (ie Roman Catholics) were penalised at this time in not being able to convey land and property. This seems to have been overcome by employing trustees who were willing to have the conveyances in their name in trust for the heirs and assigns of the papists concerned. Some deeds were enrolled invoking double land taxes.

Cuerden was located just to the south of Preston. It is now apparent in one or two road names (Cuerden Way) on the southern edge of Preston.

All Joseph's children could write. Elisabeth, his wife, used her mark "X" to sign all deeds.

Papist lists recorded the names of Roman Catholics who, at one time, would have paid fines rather than attend Church of England services. As in the case of Joseph Holland, other penalties applied, too.

My mother's maiden name was Holland, and, on her side of our family, we trace back to Joseph Holland. Catholic all the way. It gives the Feast of the English Martyrs that we celebrated yesterday a quite personal resonance. I enjoy, from time to time, confusing people by describing myself as a "papist" in recognition of my family history.

Year for Priests: Pope Benedict's homily for 11th June 2010

The text of the homily preached by Pope Benedict XVI at the Mass he concelebrated to mark the closing of the Year for Priests can be found here on the Vatican website. As I post, I have not studied it in its entirety, but have been struck by the following two points.

The first is the way in which Pope Benedict refers to the priesthood as a demonstration of the "audacity of God":

The priesthood, then, is not simply “office” but sacrament: God makes use of us poor men in order to be, through us, present to all men and women, and to act on their behalf. This audacity of God who entrusts himself to human beings – who, conscious of our weaknesses, nonetheless considers men capable of acting and being present in his stead – this audacity of God is the true grandeur concealed in the word “priesthood”. That God thinks that we are capable of this; that in this way he calls men to his service and thus from within binds himself to them: this is what we wanted to reflect upon and appreciate anew over the course of the past year. 

The second is the way in which Pope Benedict comments on the scandals of abuses by priests that emerged during and, in a certain sense, have been a feature of, the Year for Priests:

It was to be expected that this new radiance of the priesthood would not be pleasing to the “enemy”; he would have rather preferred to see it disappear, so that God would ultimately be driven out of the world. And so it happened that, in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light – particularly the abuse of the little ones, in which the priesthood, whose task is to manifest God’s concern for our good, turns into its very opposite. We too insistently beg forgiveness from God and from the persons involved, while promising to do everything possible to ensure that such abuse will never occur again; and that in admitting men to priestly ministry and in their formation we will do everything we can to weigh the authenticity of their vocation and make every effort to accompany priests along their journey, so that the Lord will protect them and watch over them in troubled situations and amid life’s dangers. Had the Year for Priests been a glorification of our individual human performance, it would have been ruined by these events. But for us what happened was precisely the opposite: we grew in gratitude for God’s gift, a gift concealed in “earthen vessels” which ever anew, even amid human weakness, makes his love concretely present in this world. So let us look upon all that happened as a summons to purification, as a task which we bring to the future and which makes us acknowledge and love all the more the great gift we have received from God. In this way, his gift becomes a commitment to respond to God’s courage and humility by our own courage and our own humility. The word of God, which we have sung in the Entrance Antiphon of the liturgy, can speak to us, at this hour, of what it means to become and to be priests: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mt 11:29).

Pope Benedict's homily then goes on to reflect on the texts of the Liturgy for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, particularly Psalm 23.

Year for Priests: Vigil of Prayer in St Peter's Square

On the eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, some 15 000 priests gathered in St Peter's Square for a vigil of prayer with Pope Benedict XVI. The Vatican Information Service report is here.

During the first part of the vigil, live television linkups enabled those present in St. Peter's Square to share the witness and experiences of a German family with six children, a deacon, an Argentinean priest who works in a poor neighbourhood, a pastor from Hollywood, U.S.A., and a cloistered nun.


The second part of the vigil began with the Pope's arrival in St. Peter's Square by popemobile. Cardinal Claudio Hummes O.F.M., prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, greeted the Holy Father noting how this Year for Priests has served "to promote commitment to interior renewal among all clergy, for an evangelical witness that is more powerful and incisive in the modern world".

Year for Priests: more testimonies

ZENIT have posted a report of a meeting for priests which took place on 10th June: Clergy share testimonies on stage. The report includes accounts of three of the testimonies given and, if you are familiar with the charisms of the new movements, you will recognise in them the spirituality of unity of the Focolare movement.

Three African priests from Burundi took the stage first: Father Ildephonse Niyongabo, Father Pasteur Manirambona and Father Marc Bigirindavyi.


The first told how he entered the seminary in 1992, shortly before a civil war broke out in his country. Troops invaded the minor seminary in Buta where he was engaged in his formation.

"I remember that on April 29, 1997, the adversaries entered our seminary," Father Niyongabo recalled. "We wondered, how we should behave?"

He continued: "We thought of staying united. They began to shoot at random. We remained united and that day I lost my brother along with others."

"They wounded me and I got under the bed," the priest said. "All of a sudden there was a great explosion -- a grenade had been thrown next to us."

He said: "They continued to shoot. In the midst of this hell my companions were dying, saying: 'God, forgive them for they know not what they do.'

"The rest began to treat the wounds of the others, risking death."

Father Niyongabo admitted that after this incident he experienced an interior battle, and began to wonder if it was necessary to be a priest to be a good Christian.

Then the rector of the seminary asked him to teach there, where he felt called again. "I entered the major seminary and became a priest in 2004," the presbyter concluded.

Two witnesses

I expect that some will be none to pleased at my putting these two testimonies side-by-side in the same post. But, in both of the events to which these testimonies refer (the awarding of an honorary degree to Barack Obama by Notre Dame university and Senator Kennedy's funeral Mass) I think the appropriate category for evaluation is that of witness. In these situations, what was the witness given to Catholic faith and teaching?

Chronologically, the first witness I am linking to is that of Bishop John D'Arcy in an article in America magazine: The Church and the University. In this article, the Bishop in whose diocese the University of Notre Dame is located gives an account of his own engagement with the controversy surrounding President Obama's visit and articulates his concerns about the failure of those responsible for the governance of the university to fulfil properly its vocation to witness to Catholic faith.

The second witness is that of Cardinal Sean O'Malley, the Archbishop of Boston, explaining in a very careful way his decisions with regard to Senator Kennedy's funeral. After reading this post, it is not possible for anyone to say that, in his attendance at and participation in this funeral, Archbishop O'Malley was in any way condoning or supporting the views and political intentions of Senator Kennedy and President Obama on abortion - indeed, it appears that at the time of the funeral itself, Archbishop O'Malley gave a very clear signal of that to President Obama himself. If they do say that, it is a misrepresentation. I think it is also fair for him to have pointed out that those who did pay respects to Senator Kennedy by watching at the roadside as the hearse passed or visiting during the lying in state did have positive elements of his life to which they could give recognition.

Pope Benedict's response to Senator Kennedy's letter was caring and considerate. I think it indicates the pastoral principle according to which Archbishop O'Malley participated in the funeral Mass. The Apostolic Blessing can appear a kind of routine courtesy of the Holy See - but, in appropriate conditions at the point of death, it is an act to which the Church attaches a plenary indulgence. I was particularly struck by its implications on this occasion.

As some of the comments to Archbshop O'Malley's post suggest, I do think there are still some questions to be answered about the funeral liturgy itself. What exactly was the witness that the liturgy itself gave?

A reflection on Senator Ted Kennedy's funeral

In my search for reflective comment on the funeral of Senator Kennedy, I came across the folowing post: Reflections on the Kennedy Funeral . I link to it as the most thoughtful reflection that I have been able to find. The thoughtfulness extends to those comments that I have been able to read - though I have not read all of them, and so there may well be some with which I would disagree.

I have not seen much of the media coverage, though I am interested to read about the extent of live television coverage of the funeral Mass (I believe this extended to the BBC, though I haven't checked this out fully).

The question that I am trying to answer in my search through the comment and coverage is this. Any Liturgical celebration has an element of public witness to the truths of Catholic faith, though in most situations this witness takes place on a small scale. A celebration like Senator Kennedy's funeral places this element of witness onto a national and international stage. So what is the witness that the funeral Mass gave to the world at large?

I am still trying to find a text of the homily - I have found the text of Barack Obama's eulogy - and when I have that I hope to be able to post a full comment of my own.

A Small (Maybe Quaint) Step Toward Boldness

I commented on this post at Catholic Analysis a day or two ago. The post itself is quite powerful; now a third comment contains a lovely testimony, too.

"I am a Christian"

I take this from Independent Catholic News.

The National Secular Society has encouraged 100,000 people to sign a certificate to "debaptise" themselves as part of a campaign to allow people to revoke their baptisms.

Premier Radio (London's Christian Radio station) are asking Christians to publicly affirm their faith by signing a declaration for Christianity. The plan is to find 100,000 people who are prepared to publicly stand up and declare that they are Christians to show the British public that Christianity is still relevant and alive.

Please sign the declaration at: www.IamaChristian.co.uk and pass this on to friends and family.

The sign up format includes a drop-down menu that allows you to declare your Christian denomination. It would be very good to see Roman Catholics well represented in signing up to this declaration. The option to declare your Roman Catholic denomination is helpful, as I would otherwise have been hesitant to sign an essentially evangelical statement of faith that lacks the ecclesial dimension essential to Catholicism.

Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho RIP

The BBC's radio news bulletins this evening have reported the finding of the body of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Archbishop of Mosul in Iraq. A full report from the Associated Press agency can be found at the International Herald Tribune website: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/13/africa/ME-GEN-Iraq-Slain-Bishop.php

Archbishop Rahho was kidnapped as he left his cathedral, having celebrated the Stations of the Cross. This adds some poignancy to his killing. His death is marked by the Cross, to whose power he was giving witness in the moments just before he was kidnapped. It is likely that his death can be attributed to a hostility towards the Christian faith on the part of his kidnappers, allowing Archbishop Rahho to be considered a martyr - that is, one who witnessed to the Catholic faith to the point of giving his life for it.

I take the following from a post on Fr Tim's Hermeneutic of Continuity on 20th June 2007:

"On November 21st, 2004 while Layla, a mother of two orphans, was heading home at Al-Dawara in Baghdad, a fanatic Islamist thug stopped her and ordered her to take off her Cross so she could become clean again!Layla refused to remove her Cross using strict and polite words. The extremist Moslem reached to her Cross, snapped it off, threw it on the ground, then grabbed his gun and shot her in the head."

Fr Ragheed Ganni and three deacons were also murdered in Mosul - as they left Church after a celebration of Mass.

This Good Friday, it might be good to remember these contemporary martyrs as we celebrate the Liturgy of the Passion, with its veneration of the Cross. We can pray that the power and glory of the Cross will shine a little brighter in our lives because of their testimony.

Word of Life: "Whoever practises and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven"

Three of us have just met, as we do each month, to reflect on the "Word of Life" . The "Word of Life" is a Scripture passage chosen each month; a commentary on the passage (usually written by the President of the Focolare, Chiara Lubich) suggests ways of putting this passage into practice in daily life. A "Word of Life" group will meet each month to consider the chosen Scripture passage for that month, and to share how they might live out that passage in the coming month.

Here are our favourite passages from the "Word of Life" for February 2008:

"He will open the way for us"

"Jesus invites us to proclaim his Gospel. But before 'teaching' his words, he asks us to 'practise' them. To be credible, we ought to be 'experts' in the Gospel, a 'living Gospel'. Only then will we be able to witness to it with our lives and teach it with our words."

"We cannot keep the gift we have received to ourselves. We are called to repeat with Paul 'Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel' .... May the Gospel shine out again, through us personally, in our homes, in our cities, in our nations...The risen Lord will blaze forth with greater beauty, and he will consider us 'great in his kingdom'"