Past and Present in Rome – una bella ospita
Simone’s first cappuccino
Almost exactly 14 years ago, in my freshman year at Notre Dame, I met a spunky grad student in the medieval institute while serving at the altar of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. In the decade since my graduation, I have not seen Simone until she arrived in Rome on October 1. In fact, there was a period of several years where I had lost complete contact with her (I am sad to say a common situation with some of my best friends from those days). It was no surprise then that one of her first observations was along the lines of, “Well, AJ, you are not 18 anymore!”
Dr. Simone Brosig received her PhD from the medieval institute at Notre Dame and now serves as Director of Liturgy for the Diocese of Calgary, Alberta. As blessed as I was to have almost two weeks to reconnect with a good friend, I think I can safely say she was a blessing to the whole Lay Centre community while she was with us – and certainly our Oasis in the City provided her a welcome refuge from the chaos of Rome.
Via della Pace
Over the next 12 days I made sure we visited all the familiar sites in the historic center: the four major basilicas, the fori imperiali, the pantheon, piazza navona, trevi fountain, the Gregorian and the Angelicum, and others. Given her Byzantine interests, we made a point to spend time in Santa Maria in Domnica, Santa Maria in Trastevere, San Clemente and Santa Praessede. We also managed a decent amount of gelato and genuine Roman pizza dinner on the Via della Pace, a classic Roman outdoor street scene if ever there was one.
Among a few new places for me were a day trip to Ostia Antica, a sizeable town in ruins that was the ancient seaport and military outpost for the Roman Republic and later Empire. We visited the Musei Borghese within the vast Villa Borghese at the north end of Rome – an elaborate estate once home to Scipione Borghese, the cardinal nephew of Pius V who precisely embodies the ecclesiastical nepotism of the period. (The word for nephew in Italian is in fact, nepote).
We also spent a day in Trastevere, discovering parts of the neighborhood I had not before, including Santa Cecelia and the little church home of the Heralds of the Gospel in Rome, San Benedetto in Piscinula, which houses a cell said to have been occupied by St. Benedict of Norcia when he came to Rome.
On a Sunday after introducing Simone to one of the best gellateria in Rome, the Gelateria del Teatro, we sat on the steps of a nearby church to eat the creative indulgence. San Salvatore in Lauro, as it turns out, was just about to celebrate the Eucharist with the auxiliary bishop responsible for the centro storico, Most Rev. Ernesto Mandara, presiding. It was one of the most authentically, local Roman liturgies I have been to, and concluded with the opportunity to be blessed with a second-class relic of Padre Pio (his habit). Not something I would have sought out, but truly Italian!
Also thanks to her visit I discovered that there are guided tours of the Vatican Gardens (which I will have to try), plenty of places to go dress and shoe shopping in Rome (which I will not be trying), and that one of her former professors is given a stately burial in the crypt of San Clemente, under the 4th century basilica.
The highlight of Simone’s visit was herself, of course, but a close second was Divine Liturgy on the 10th with the Melkite Catholics at Santa Maria in Cosmedin. Celebrating the Eucharist in Arabic, Greek, and Italian the small community follows the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom like most of the Byzantine rite churches, but somewhat simplified compared to the Slavic iterations. With the Synod of Bishops for the Middle East, the following week would see the Patriarch and most of the bishops worshiping with the small community – ‘unfortunately’ I was to be at the canonizations at St. Peter’s instead.
Santa Maria in Cosmedin
Dignitatis Humanae and an aside
The final full day of our Russell Berrie Fellowship Orientation program began with a trip to the Centro Pro Unione, the historic library and ecumenical center that sits above the Piazza Navona. Director Fr. James Puglisi, who also serves as director of the ecumenical section at the Angelicum and Minister General of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement, lead a presentation on the academic responsibilities and processes of the section in addition to an introduction to the Centro.
This was followed by a roundtable discussion on Dignitatis Humane with our previous guests Thomas Casey, SJ and Miguel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ and introducing Maltese Dominican Joseph Ellul, who is an expert on Islamic thought and its encounter with eastern Christianity. The rest of the day was spent in administrative issues and a group discussion around the praxis of interreligious dialogue, and a closing celebration of the Eucharist.
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One of the interesting aspects of the week was the number of priests living in the house. Obviously, the Lay Centre only has one or two priests for Eucharist, whoever has been invited to preside. It is always a little strange to have as many concelebrants as other members of the assembly! This provided an interesting side discussion with one of my cohort, a presbyter. If a priest is celebrating the Eucharist, must he do so as presider or concelebrant, or may he do so as a member of the assembly – “in choir” in other words. And if so, does it “count” if the priest feels an obligation to celebrate mass daily?
There is clearly a movement that seems recent which indicates a priest should vest and actively concelebrate every time he is at mass. At the same time, one need look no further than papal liturgies at St. Peters to see that often, most priests and bishops are attending in choir only, not concelebrating. As at home, it seems some are asked to concelebrate for certain occasions, but it should not be assumed – and it certainly does not necessitate a private mass to be celebrated later!
I know it is not about interreligious dialogue, but, thoughts, anyone?
The Great Mosque of Rome and the Little Community of Sant’Egidio
Rome Mosque, interior
American Dominican Robert Christian joined us to begin the day with the Eucharist. One of my professors at the Angelicum, Fr. Christian and I share a ministry in common – for a few months at the beginning of our service to the church, we each served as campus ministers in the Archdiocese of Seattle. He, at the Newman Center at University of Washington for a few months in 1985 and me at the Shalom Center at Western Washington university for a few months in 2003. His specialty is St. Thomas and sacramental theology, and is an excellent preacher.
We spent the morning at the Great Mosque of Rome, lead by former Lay Centre resident Mustafa Cenap Aydin of Turkey, and co-founder of the Istituto Tevere Centre for Dialogue. Unlike the synagogue and the many churches of Rome, the mosque is well outside of the historic centre and difficult to get to without a car. The design incorporates colors of classical Rome, familiar Arabic elements, and modern adaptations, including pillars in five parts to recall the five pillars of the Islamic faith and call to mind palm trees that might be found in Mecca. Various nations contributed parts of the mosque, from the careful mosaic to the suras encircling the worship area. The use of hidden natural light and the local colors mix with the exotic elements to provide a meditative space that can handle 2500 worshipers.
Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere: AJ, Omar, Claudia, Bovas, Peter, Gracey, Michael
Our afternoon brought us back to the centre and across the river to PISAI – the Pontifical Institute for the Study of Arabic and Islam, where president Fr. Miguel Ayuso-Guixot, a Spanish Comboni Missionary of the Heart of Jesus gave an historical and theological overview of the encounter between Christianity and Islam. One of the oft-repeated metaphors of the week was one that Padre Miguel spent a few moments on – we are not looking for a “melting-pot” so much as a “mixed salad” when it comes to interreligious dialogue.
After a meander through the streets of trastevere, we met with Dr. Paolo Mancinelli of the Sant’Egidio community, one of Church’s best known lay movements, whose focus areas are direct work with the poor, peace and justice, dialogue and prayer. Paolo introduced us a little more to the work of the community, including Pope Benedict’s recent lunch with the community at their soup kitchen near Sant’Egidio.
We concluded the evening with evening prayer with the community at the church of Santa Maria in Trastevere, a 12th century church built atop the foundations of its 4th century former self. Around the corner was diner at Trattoria degli Amici, a now-familiar restaurant run by Sant’Egidio community and disabled friends. Good food and good company always make for an excellent discussion!
Santa Maria in Trastevere, interior
Official Catholic Dialogue with Judaism and Islam
Russell Berrie Fellows at Chapel of the Patrons of Europe, Vatican Basilica
The second full day of our orientation began with a celebration of the Eucharist at the Vatican Basilica, in the Chapel of the Patrons of Europe just a few yards from the heart of the basilica, underneath the high altar. It was dedicated by Pope John Paul II in 1981 to the three first-millennium co-patrons of Europe: St. Benedict of Norcia and Sts. Cyril and Methodius of Thessaloniki. (The three second-millennium co-patrons, all women, were named in 1999.) The presider of our liturgy was Father Jess Rodriguez of the Jesuit curia, newly arrived in Rome to serve the English Secretariat of the Church’s largest religious order.
Noted art historian Elizabeth Lev joined us after the liturgy to give us a brief, but informative, insider’s tour of the basilica of St. Peter. Even for those who have been in Rome for years, something new was gleaned from her rich presentation. For me, it was the answer to one of the Eternal City’s eternal questions: “Hey Bernini, what’s with the twisted columns on the baldacchino???”
A short walk down Via della Conciliazione brought us to the offices of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, which for largely historical reasons, also houses the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and a presentation from German Salesian Norbert Hofmann on the “Official Catholic Dialogue with Judaism”.
Bernini's Baldacchino
An afternoon of technical details broke for two more presentations: “Analysis of Nostra Aetate: Doctrine and History” by Thomas Casey, SJ and “The Official Dialogue of the Catholic Church with Islam” with German Jesuit Felix Körner of the Gregorian University’s ISIRC. The final discussion of the evening was a dinner dialogue with U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See, theologian Miguel Diaz, his wife and fellow theologian Marian Diaz, and the Canadian Ambassador to the Holy See, Anne Leahy. Their topic, understandingly, was “Diplomacy and Interreligious Dialogue”. We were joined by Drs. Armando and Adalberta Bernardini, president and vice-president of the International Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Education – and Fellow Paola’s parents.
Commitment of the Catholic Church to Dialogue
Monday brought us to the Angelicum with a welcome from Irish Dominican Michael Carragher, Vice-Rector and Canon Law Professor, and a brief tour from the new dean of the Theology faculty, Maltese Dominican Joseph Aguis. I learned more about the University in these 20 minutes than my time spent in its classrooms the last year. The university itself is the third oldest in rome, after Sapienza and the Gregorian, but its original location was next to the Pantheon in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva. The building that currently houses the university was originally a convent, repurchased from the government sometime after both sites had been taken in 1870. In what had been the chapter room, and serves now as the Sala de Senato, the full-body relic of an unnamed saint rests in the armor of an imperial roman soldier under the altar, unbeknownst to even some of the faculty who had joined us on our tour.
Fr. James Puglisi, SA, who serves as director of the ecumenical section and the Centro Pro Unione lead our first academic discussion on the “Commitment of the Catholic Church to Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue”. Like many of the presentations throughout the week, the content was review, but would certainly be helpful for those arriving without previous background in ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. We lunched at the Gregorian university bar, which is substantially larger than its Angelicum counterpart.
Thomas Casey, SJ pictured with NYU Professor Lawrence Schiffman
Following lunch, we ran into former Lay Centre resident Dimitrios Keramidas in his new role as secretary of the Missiology faculty at the Gregorian. He gave us an impromptu tour of his office and that of the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of Religion and Culture, as well as the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies. We were joined there by Irish Jesuit Father Thomas Casey, director of the Bea centre, who introduced us to the research and work of the center, which includes 6000 volumes on Judaism in the Gregorian university library. This was followed by a 90-moinute introduction to the library there, which is the largest in Rome. At this point I calculated that if all the pontifical universities in Rome combined their libraries into a single collection, or at least a single system to which all pontifical students had access, it would be almost as large as the Hesburgh Memorial Library at Notre Dame.
Gerard O'Connell, Rome Correspondent for UCANews
We returned to the Lay Centre for celebration of the Eucharist with the Theologian of the Papal Household, Polish Dominican Wojciech Giertych. This was followed by a dual-presentation and discussion over dinner with Fr. Giertych and Gerard O’Connell, Rome correspondent for the Union of Catholic Asia News service and author of God’s Invisible Hand, a biography of Cardinal Francis Arinze. The topic of their presentations was, “Issues that Matter to the Holy See: Seeing Interreligious Dialogue in its Broader Context”.
Wojciech Giertych, OP
The views were decidedly different, but not necessarily in opposition. Clearly a journalist and a theologian have different constituencies, frames of reference, and sensitivities when observing the Holy See; both men have had several years of doing so. Fr. Giertych raised a few hackles among some fellows with comments that grace comes through Christ and not through Buddha or Muhammad, but others countered that this is simply classical Christocentricism, inclusivist though it may be and in contrast to a more pluralistic view that is popularly construed as the most popular approach. (Whether it is or not is another discussion). At the least, it is helpful to be reminded that even in the administration of a papacy that is clearly pro-dialogue, there exist different methodologies and approaches to dialogue.
One of the burning questions of the evening revolved around whether Jews and Muslisms, at least, worship the same God as Christians. The Catholic Church has authoritatively taught that they do, and this has been cited from Gregory VII in the eleventh century to Nostra Aetate in the twentieth. Still, the thesis is challenged even within the church, and this fact lead to some pretty interesting conversation the rest of the evening. That, and another debate which started with one of the European fellows noting, “There is nothing new in Nostra Aetate. It is fifty years old, and it shows. We should be much further along than this!”
Back home in Rome
What a week! I returned to Rome on Sunday, 26 September with time enough for lunch and a nap before beginning an intensive orientation week for the Russell Berrie Fellowship. Though I started the program last year, the orientation and several other aspects are new this year, and we welcome the third cohort, as the first has finished their course of study (I am in the second).
The new Fellows include priests from Poland, Ruanda, Nigeria and India and lay scholars from Chile, Ukraine, Gambia, India and the U.S. (including one seminarian, one religious sister, and one Muslim). In addition to the Latin Church (“Roman Catholic”), three of the Catholics are Eastern: the Ukrainian Greek, Syro-Malabar, and Syro-Malankara Catholic Churches are represented. More had studied in Rome previously than with my class, and I was reminded how little my Italian has advanced in the last year.
The Lay Centre served as the ‘base camp’ for our orientation, and there is something about sharing my home in Rome with friends and fellow Fellows that gives a special joy. This truly is a place of hospitality and dialogue, of retreat and study, and it is only a pity that more of the Fellows are not also residents the rest of the year! Insha’Allah…
It was an impressive schedule. Our first evening’s introductory remarks were from Dr. Donna Orsuto (Lay Centre Director, Pontifical University Gregoriana) and Dr. Adam Afterman (Shalom Hartman Institute, Tel Aviv University).
Owing to the schedule, I am back-filling some of my notes, but dating them as though they were real time. I hope it makes sense!
Nice to be back on the terrace
Archbishop-elect adiaphora
While looking for more information on Seattle’s new Metropolitan Archbishop, I came across a couple of interesting asides.
According to his introductory remarks yesterday, Bishop Sartain only got the call from the nuncio just a week before the announcement here and yesterday’s short-notice welcome liturgy. As I said, as late as Tuesday some key (lay) leadership in the diocese were still unaware of the pending announcement, and at least as late as Monday most priests of the diocese were likewise unaware. Pretty remarkable then that so many were able to gather for the welcome liturgy on Thursday, which our Cathedral staff documented nicely here.
The other interesting aside was the official announcement on Vatican Information Service, which seemed to make the archdiocese much larger than i thought it was. I cross-checked the diocesan statistics, and found a couple of discrepancies. Below is the blurb from VIS
VATICAN CITY, 16 SEP 2010 (VIS) – The Holy Father appointed Bishop James Peter Sartain of Joliet in Illinois, U.S.A., as metropolitan archbishop of Seattle (area 64,269, population 5,141,000, Catholics 964,000, priests 313, permanent deacons 104, religious 551), U.S.A. The archbishop-elect was born in Memphis, U.S.A. in 1952, he was ordained a priest in 1978 and consecrated a bishop in 2000. He succeeds Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same archdiocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit
VIS has the total population of the archdiocese at 964,000 – nearly double the archdiocesan statistic of 577,400. Instead of 313 priests, our statistics indicate a total of 290. Though when you add up the constituent numbers indicated by the diocese, you get another number entirely, 322. (131 active diocesan; 63 retired, ‘absent’, or active elsewhere; 96 religious; 32 externs). 100 deacons instead of 104, not so far off. Only 486 religious (men and women), though, instead of 551 – and it is not clear if the priest-religious are counted here as well.
One of my long-standing pet peeves is that you will note neither includes a statistic on lay ecclesial ministers, though a few years ago Archbishop Brunett commissioned a study in the archdiocese that indicated over 800, which does not include Catholic school teachers. Five years after the publication of the USCCB’s guideline document Co-Workers in the Vineyard, and more than fifty years after the first modern lay ecclesial ministers began service in the U.S., it is hard to believe that we are so well hidden that we cannot be counted!
New Archbishop for Seattle
Bishop J. Peter Sartain of Joliet
Since coming home for the summer, the rumors have been flying. Meeting over coffee or a local microbrew with pastors, curial staff, and local ecumenical leadership over the last several weeks, the two consistent questions have, “So, what is it like living in Rome?” and, “Who do you think the new archbishop will be? Have you heard any rumors over there?” A month ago, even the current AB was asking me the same questions, and not in that order.
This morning’s announcement came to me by text while I slept, out of town and disconnected from the internet. To be honest, it was also a bit of a surprise. So far, all I know about J. Peter Sartain is what I have read online (now that I have found a connection) and unsurprisingly the writer with the most to say about it is Rocco Palmo at Whispers in the Loggia.
Even as recently as Tuesday, folk here were still in the dark. Archbishop Brunnett had been out of town for his brother’s funeral, and though we have been anticipating the announcement shortly after Bishop Cupich’s Sept 3 installation in Spokane, Sartain’s name never seemed to be on anyone’s list. The favorites have been bishops like George Thomas, Gerald Kicanas, and, until the incident with the hospital administrator, Thomas Olmstead. Blase Cupich had been among them until tapped for Spokane.
Sartain is a native of Memphis, and has served as bishop of Little Rock, AR, and Joliet, IL. The hope for either a native Washingtonian or at least someone from west of the Rockies is again delayed, but most see the South and the Midwest as a better starting point than the East Coast (which, from here, starts at the Mississippi) considering the vast ecclesial and cultural differences at work.
Though the Hunthausen years started before I was born and ended with the Cold War, the memory of the Visitation and the pain it brought for the most involved Catholics in Seattle at the time is still strong. There are a lot who, not without reason, fear that the perspective remained in Rome that Seattle needs to be “reined in” – from what, though, would be a disputed question. (There is something for a future post!)
We are church in one of the most unchurched regions in the country. The fear of being run through the ringer again is felt even outside the Catholic community. One of the alternative weeklies, The Stranger, ran an article on their Slog yesterday asking, “Will Seattle’s Next Archbishop Be an Anti-Gay Doctrinal Conservative?” That should say something about the challenges our new bishop will face. The question is, as another blogger put it, how to be true to the faith without effectively becoming “Attila the Hun”, real or perceived.
At the same time, between new generations growing up without these memories and significant numbers of immigrants from out of state and out of the country, other concerns weigh as heavily.
For more than a generation, the number of lay ecclesial ministers have outnumbered priests in parishes, and the diaconate is now equal in number to the diocesan presbyterate and growing, while the later relies heavily on help from religious communities and foreign externs. Many are asking what the archbishop-elect’s experience is with creative ecclesial leadership.
More than thirty languages are used in the celebration of the Eucharist on a weekly basis, and nearly half the population of the archdiocese is Spanish-speaking. So is Bishop Sartain, apparently.
Seattle-area Christians have a long and strong history of ecumenical cooperation, though it has been more focused on social justice advocacy than on intentional ecumenism, ie the goal of Christian unity. Being religious in an overwhelmingly non-religious environment, interreligious dialogue is critical. At the same time, and indeed as an integral partner with dialogue, evangelization both “old” and “new” is a high priority.
Like anywhere in the U.S., we have a polarized church, with some groups of priests unwilling to even talk to others, the parishioners falling prey to the hyper-dichotomized political situation and bringing it into the pews. There have been situations where the pastoral staff of a parish, theologically educated and ecumenically involved, comes under fire from the lay leadership which is more likely formed by EWTN and pop apologists (or vice versa).
I once had a parishioner approach me, grateful for my presence as pastoral associate in the parish because, she said, “all the other parish staff in this deanery are pro-choice, and it is nice to have a pro-life person in charge!” Knowing most of my ministry peers, it was difficult to see how anyone could read them that way, but it is indicative of the tensions and mistrust in too many situations. Another time, a school parent and faith formation commission member told me they had a great pastor, but that the staff undermined his prophetic, orthodox teaching – unaware, apparently, that the pastor had hired each one of the staff to be collaborators with him in ministry to the parish, and fully supported their ministry. A third example came at the first meeting of a JustFaith group, when a parishoner introduced herself as “probably not belonging here, since [she] was a Republican” – as if Catholic Social Teaching depends on one’s political views!
It will be an interesting time for our Archbishop-elect, and I look forward to hearing more from and about him. As I learn more, I will share it! Please keep him, me, and all the People of God in Western Washington in your prayers!
Summer in the Great Northwest
Hiking through Lynn Canyon Park in B.C.
School starts today for most of the schools around here, and the rest already have or are about to. During my last round of higher education, back around the turn of the millennium, the academic year ran from the last week of August to the first week of May. Now, in Rome, classes begin October 11 and final exams end June 30 or so. For the first time then, my summer break falls entirely and almost exclusively through summer (June 21-Sept 23). It is the best time of year to be in the Northwest, and to be out of Rome! Of course, the wind and rain of the last 36 hours has been more indicative of October than of August, but still, it is comfortable!
Mount Ranier, the Salish Sea, and a great Blue Heron, taken with my phone
For those who have been on thesis-watch since ’02, the only news I have to report is that with my move to the Angelicum, the M.A. thesis is no longer needed and some of the material will be transferred to the S.T.L. thesis which I will be writing this year. The general topic will remain on the diaconate and ecumenism, but a little more broadly than the previous iteration. This will lead into my eventual doctoral dissertation that will deal with the realities of ecumenical reception in the formation of pastoral ministers and/or and exploration of the non-sacerdotal ministries (ie, deacons, lay ecclesial ministers, et al.) in the ecumenical dialogues.
A path through the dunes, Ocean Shores, WA
Basically, in keeping with my hopeless advocacy for the ecclesial underdog, I want to know why most seminaries and other formation programs have failed to implement the Vatican’s required ecumenical formation – both intentional and integrative -, and to look into the ministries that everyone else seems to ignore – everything but bishop and presbyter/pastor – for their ecumenical opportunities.
Vancouver, British Columbia, seen from Stanley Park (credit Julie Fritsch)
In addition to the Introduction to Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue I taught for the Archdiocese of New Orleans, I have taught a couple of courses on Eucharistic theology and practice for the Archdiocese of Seattle’s Liturgy Ministries Institute, and am consulting with a couple parishes on catechetical programs and parish consultative leadership. Other than that, most of my time has been spent with family and with friends. My two year-old nephew has been especially dangerous for my sense of time – yesterday I stopped by about lunch time, and left after dinner barely noticing those hours spent playing dinosaur, cars, and “shoot the daddy!”
Nancy, while on a ferry through the San Juan Islands
After The Netherlands and New Orleans, my summer travels have been much closer to home, with a few trips to Vancouver, B.C., a trip to the San Juan Islands, and time spent down in the Olympia area and the beaches. (For those who have never been to a Washington beach, you just need to know three colors: sky-gray, sea-gray, and sand-gray. Any other color on the beach is man-made.)
I return to Rome in three weeks, and the normal updates will commence with a little more on the ecclesial and ecumenical developments of the Eternal City than just the travelogue, but plenty of both, most likely. Have a blessed last few weeks of summer, and for those already back in school, buona study!
Father Dominic of the Mother of God
Blessed Dominic of the Mother of God
Much is being made of today’s centenary birthday of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, known in life as Mother Teresa, and rightly so. As the first, and so far only, pastoral associate of the first parish dedicated to her after her beatification, I had already developed something of a devotion to this latest holy Teresa. Living within a stone’s throw of the Missionaries of Charity Roman HQ helps too!
The Lay Centre is of course in a section of the Passionist Retreat of John and Paul, their international general house, where today is already tomorrow and one of their own is honored on the calendar. Blessed Dominic Barberi is likely best known for his missionary work on the British Isles and for being the priest who received Bl. John Henry Newman into full communion with the Catholic Church.
Our director, Dr. Donna Orsuto, is on an around-the-globe lecture tour this summer, and discovered a timely quote from one of Newman’s letters that describes my home in Rome and the case of canonization for the Passionists’ founder, St. Paul of the Cross:
On November 15, 1846 to his friend Dalgairns, Newman writes:
“What do you think of Mr. Spencer having joined the Passionists? I am very glad for Father Dominic’s sake. We went to their House here [Rome] with Cardinal Acton. It is very clean and beautifully situated. We saw the various remains (dress etc) of Venerable Paul—They expect he will be canonized by the end of three years. Suppose we all become Passionists.”
From The Letters and Diary of John Henry Newman, volume XI, p. 274.
The world just keeps getting smaller!
The Ecumenism Blog 