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The Week of Prayer in Rome

January 22, 2011 6:21 pm / Leave a comment

Earlier in the year, a couple fellow classmates and I quipped that ecumenical progress in Rome meant that after centuries of bitter division, competitiveness and even occasional “sheep-stealing”, now the students from the Dominican-run Angelicum are allowed to attend lectures at the Jesuit-staffed Gregorian University, (which is located a short five-minute walk from the Angelicum).

The reality is a little more encouraging, however. The packed schedule of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is just one example that ecumenism, which lay at the heart of the Church’s mission, is really present in the City at the heart of the Catholic Church.

It even goes beyond that, in fact. 17 January, the day before the Week of Prayer begins is devoted, in Italy and other European nations, to a day of Dialogue between Christians and Jews. A celebration in Assisi on that date every year is one of the oldest and best known, and regularly includes Angelicum professor Rabbi Jack Bemporad on the agenda.

It is true that it is difficult, though not impossible, to find non-Catholics in the theology and philosophy departments of the Pontifical Universities. Honestly, it is still hard to find non-clerics or religious in some! But, for all that, the capital of the Church has a lot going on during this 2011 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

(Being as it is Rome, however, nobody coordinates these events into a single calendar. I had to put together five different sources to get these. Most of which arrived after the week had started!):

Sunday, 16 January

+        18.30 In anticipation of the Week of Prayer, Ecumenical Evensong at the Anglican Church of All Saints, organized by Churches Together in Rome.

Monday, 17 January

+        20.00 Lecture, “The Path Ahead for the Ecumenical Movement in the 21st Century” with Rev. Andrea Joos at Santa Maria del Silenzio. Sponsored by the Daughters of the Church.

 Tuesday, 18 January:

+        12.45 Eucharist celebrated at the Anglican Centre in Rome (Palazzo Doria Pamphilj)

+        15.30 Lecture, “Orthodox Ecclesiology and Postmodernity with Grand Archdeacon Maximos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the Pontifical Gregorian University

+        19.00 Worship service at the Italian Methodist Church, sponsored by the Consultation of Evangelical Churches of Rome (Via XX Settembre)

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite (Ukranian Catholic Church) at Santa Maria in Via Lata (Via del Corso 306)

+        20.00 Lecture, “The Fifth Commandment: Honor Your Father and Mother” with Rabbi Jack Bemporad at Santa Maria del Silenzio.

Wednesday, 19 January

+        10.30 General Audience with Pope Benedict XVI “Prayer is the center of the journey to unity”

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Armenian Rite (Armenian Catholic Church) at Sta Maria in Via Lata

Thursday, 20 January

+        16.30 Lecture, “Renewed Mission of the World Council of Churches in the Search for Christian Unity” with Rev. Dr. Olav Fyske Tveit, General Secretary of the WCC. Followed by an Ecumenical Celebration of the Word, presided over by Rev. Trevor Hoggard, Methodist Representative to the Holy See and pastor of Ponte Sant’Angelo Methodist Church, and preaching by Very Rev. Mark Francis, CSV, of the Pontifical Liturgical Institute and the Caravita community. Sponsored by the Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas, the Centro Pro Unione, and the Vincent Pallotti Institute.

+        19.00 Ecumenical Vigil at the parish Gesù Divino Maestro, sponsored by the Diocese of Rome.

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite (Romanian Catholic Church) at Sta Maria in Via Lata

Friday, 21 January

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Antiochene/West Syrian Rite (Maronite Catholic Church) at Sta Maria in Via Lata

Saturday, 22 January

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Chaldean/East Syrian Rite (Syro-Malabar Catholic Church) at Sta Maria in Via Lata

Sunday, 23 January – Christian Unity Sunday

+        11.00 Eucharist at the Caravita Community with ecumenical guest preacher, Rev. Dr. Roger Ferlo, Director of the Institute for Christian Formation and Leadership at Virginia Theological Seminary.

+        17.00 Ecumenical Evensong at the Episcopal Church of St. Paul “Within the Walls”. Bishop Richard Garrard, presiding. Followed by a presentation of Thomas Tallis’ anthem “Spem in Alium” rendered by four choirs from an ecumenical gathering of churches in Rome

+        18.00 Ecumenical prayer and “fraternal encounter” at the Waldensian Church on Piazza Cavour, sponsored by the Segretariato Attività Ecumeniche – an Italian ecumenical lay movement.

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Roman Rite (Roman Catholic Church) at Sta. Maria in Via Lata. Most Rev. Ernesto Mandara, Auxiliary Bishop of Rome for the Central Sector, presiding.

Monday, 24 January

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Byzantine Rite (Greek Catholic Church) at Santa Maria in Via Lata

Tuesday, 25 January

+        12.45 Eucharist celebrated at the Anglican Centre (Palazzo Doria Pamphili). Reception following.

+        17.30 Solemn Vespers concluding the Week of Prayer for Chrisitan Unity at the Basilica of Saint Paul’s Outside the Walls. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will preside and preach. 

+        20.00 Divine Liturgy in the Alexandrian Rite (Ethiopian Catholic Church) at Santa Maria in Via Lata

Pope Benedict XVI: Praying for Christian Unity

January 19, 2011 6:15 pm / 1 Comment on Pope Benedict XVI: Praying for Christian Unity

The Vatican Website only has the audience text in Italian….

VATICAN CITY, JAN. 19, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of the address Benedict XVI gave today during the general audience in Paul VI Hall. In his address, the Pope centered his meditation on the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is being held these days with the theme “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

* * *

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are celebrating the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in which all believers in Christ are invited to join in prayer to witness the profound bond that exists among them and to invoke the gift of full communion. Providential is the fact that prayer is placed at the center of the path to build unity: this reminds us, once again, that unity cannot be a simple product of human action; it is above all a gift of God, which entails growth in communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Vatican Council II states “[t]hese prayers in communion are, without a doubt, a very effective means to implore the grace of unity and constitute a genuine manifestation of the bonds with which Catholics remain united with the separated brethren: ‘For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them’ (Matthew18:20)” (“Decree Unitatis Redintegratio,” No. 8). The path to visible unity among all Christians resides in prayer, because fundamentally we do not “build” unity, but it is “built” by God, it comes from Him, from the Trinitarian Mystery, from the unity of the Father with the Son in the dialogue of love which is the Holy Spirit and our ecumenical effort should be open to divine action, it must be a daily invocation of God’s help. The Church is His and not ours.

The theme chosen this year for the Week of Prayer makes reference to the experience of the early Christian community of Jerusalem, just as it is described in the Acts of the Apostles (we have heard the text): “And they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). We must consider that already at the moment of Pentecost the Holy Spirit descended on persons of different language and culture: this means that the Church embraces from the beginning people of different origins and, yet, precisely from these differences the Spirit creates one body. Pentecost, as the beginning of the Church, marks the enlargement of God’s Covenant with all creatures, with all peoples at all times, so that the whole of creation will walk towards its true objective: to be a place of unity and love.

In the passage quoted from the Acts of the Apostles, four characteristics define the early Christian community of Jerusalem as a place of unity and love, and St. Luke does not wish to describe only an event of the past. He offers it to us as model, as norm for the present Church, because these four characteristics must always constitute the life of the Church. The first characteristic is to be united in listening to the teachings of the Apostles, in fraternal communion, in the breaking of the bread and in prayer. As I already mentioned, these four elements are still today the pillars of the life of every Christian community and constitute just one solid foundation on which to base our search for the visible unity of the Church.

First of all we have listening to the teaching of the Apostles, that is, listening to the testimony that they give of the mission, life, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. It is what Paul calls simply the “Gospel.” The first Christians received the Gospel from the mouth of the Apostles, they were united to hear it and to proclaim it, since the Gospel, as Saint Paul affirms, “is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith” (Romans 1:16). Still today, the community of believers recognizes, in the reference to the teaching of the Apostles, their own norm of faith: every effort made for the building of unity between Christians passes through the deepening of fidelity to the depositum fidei which the Apostles transmit to us. Firmness in the faith is the basis of our communion, it is the basis of Christian unity.

The second element is fraternal communion. In the times of the early Christian community, as also in our days, this is the most tangible expression, above all for the outside world, of the unity among the disciples of the Lord. We read in the Acts of the Apostles — we have heard it — that the first Christians held everything in common and that those who had properties and goods sold them to distribute to the needy (cf. Acts 2:44-45). This communion of their goods has found, in the history of the Church, new forms of expression. One of these, in particular, is that of the fraternal relationship and friendship built between Christians of different confessions. The history of the ecumenical movement is marked by difficulties and uncertainties, but it is also a history of fraternity, of cooperation and of human and spiritual communion, which has changed in a significant way the relations between believers in the Lord Jesus: we are all committed to continue on this path. Hence, the second element is communion which is, first of all, communion with God through faith, but communion with God creates communion among ourselves and is translated necessarily into the concrete communion of which the Acts of the Apostles speak, that is, full communion. No one should be hungry in the Christian community, no one should be poor: it is a fundamental obligation. Communion with God, made flesh in fraternal communion, is translated, concretely, in social effort, in Christian charity, in justice.

Third element. Essential also in the life of the early community of Jerusalem was the moment of the breaking of the bread, in which the Lord himself makes himself present with the only sacrifice of the Cross in his giving himself completely for the life of his friends: “This is my Body given in sacrifice for you … this is the chalice of my Blood … shed for you.” “The Church lives from the Eucharist. This truth does not express only a daily experience of faith, but encloses in synthesis the nucleus of the mystery of the Church” (Encyclical “Ecclesia de Eucharistia,” No. 1). Communion in Christ’s sacrifice is the culmination of our union with God and therefore also represents the plenitude of the unity of the disciples of Christ, full communion. During this Week of Prayer for Unity the lament is particularly alive due to the impossibility of sharing the same Eucharistic table, sign that we are still far from the realization of that unity for which Christ prayed. This painful experience, which confers a penitential dimension to our prayer, must become the motive for a still more generous effort, on the part of all, in order that, eliminating all the obstacles for full communion, the day will come in which it will be possible to gather around the table of the Lord, to break the Eucharistic bread together and all drink from the same chalice.

Finally, prayer, or as St. Luke says, “the prayers,” is the fourth characteristic of the early Church of Jerusalem described in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Prayer has always been the constant attitude of the disciples of Christ, what supports their daily lives in obedience to the will of God, as attested to us also by the words of the Apostle Paul, who writes to the Thessalonians in his first letter “[r]ejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18; Ephesians 6:18). Christian prayer, participation in Jesus’ prayer is par excellence a filial experience, as attested to us in the words of the Our Father, prayer of the family — the “we” of the children of God, of the brothers and sisters — that speaks to a common Father. To be in an attitude of prayer, hence, implies being open to fraternity. Only in the “we” can we say the Our Father. Let us open ourselves to fraternity which stems from being children of the one heavenly Father and hence disposed to forgiveness and reconciliation.

Dear brothers and sisters, as disciples of the Lord we have a common responsibility to the world, we must carry out a common service: as the first Christian community of Jerusalem, beginning from what we already share, we must give a strong witness, founded spiritually and supported by reason, of the only God who has revealed Himself and who speaks to us in Christ, to be bearers of a message that directs and illumines the path of the man of our time, often deprived of clear and valid points of reference. Hence, it is important to grow each day in mutual love, committing ourselves to overcome those barriers that still exist among Christians; to feel that a true interior unity exists among all those who follow the Lord; to collaborate as much as possible, working together on the questions that are still open; and above all, to be conscious that in this itinerary the Lord must assist us, he still has to help us much because, without Him, alone, without “abiding in Him,” we can do nothing (cf. John 15:5).

Dear friends, once again it is in prayer where we find ourselves gathered — particularly during this week — together with all those who confess their faith in Jesus Christ, Son of God: let us persevere in it, let us be people of prayer, imploring from God the gift of unity, so that his plan of salvation and reconciliation will be fulfilled in the whole world. Thank you!

[The Holy Father then greeted pilgrims in several languages. In English, he said:]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, all the Lord’s followers are asked to implore the gift of full communion. This year’s theme — “They devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42) — invites us to reflect on four pillars of unity found in the life of the early Church. The first is fidelity to the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed by the Apostles. The second is fraternal communion, a contemporary expression of which is seen in the growing ecumenical friendship among Christians. The third is the breaking of the bread; although the inability of separated Christians to share the same Eucharistic table is a reminder that we are still far from the unity which Christ wills for his disciples, it is also an incentive to greater efforts to remove every obstacle to that unity. Finally, prayer itself helps us realize that we are children of the one heavenly Father, called to forgiveness and reconciliation. During this Week, let us pray that all Christians will grow in fidelity to the Gospel, in fraternal unity and in missionary zeal, in order to draw all men and women into the saving unity of Christ’s Church.

I offer a warm welcome to the students and staff of the Bossey Graduate School of Ecumenical Studies. I thank the choir from Finland for their praise of God in song. To all the English-speaking pilgrims present at today’s Audience, including those from Australia, Canada and the United States, I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord.

[In Italian, he greeted the youth, sick and newlyweds present:]

I now greet young people, the sick and newlyweds. Dear friends, I invite you to pray for Christian unity. All of you who, with youthful freshness, or with endured self-giving, or with happy spousal love are committed to love the Lord in the daily fulfillment of your duty, contribute to the building of the Church and her evangelizing work. Pray, therefore, so that all Christians will accept the Lord’s call to the unity of the faith in his one Church.

Copyright 2011 — Libreria Editrice Vaticana [Translation by ZENIT]

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2011

January 18, 2011 5:52 pm / Leave a comment

Mother Lurana White, SA

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity has its origins in the Church Unity Octave, started in 1908 by the founders of an Anglican religious order, the Franciscan Society of the Atonement. The dates were chosen to run the week from the Feast of the Chair of Peter (18 January) to the Feast of the Conversion of Paul (25 January).

18 January was in fact one of two Feasts of the Chair of Peter on the Tridentine calendar, the other being 22 February. Some distinguished these as the Chair of Peter in Rome and the Chair of Peter in Antioch, though it is not clear that that was the original intent of the two dates. Since 1960, only the later date has been celebrated in the Roman calendar as the feast of the Chair of Peter, but the dates for the Week of Prayer remain the same.

(As an interesting aside, with the resurgence of interest in the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, since Pope Benedict’s 2007 motu proprio Summorum Pontificum allowing more widespread use of the 1962 missal, some liturgical traditionalists observe the January feast date. However, this appears to be incorrect, as the 1962 missal was produced after the change to the calendar mentioned above.)

Fr. Paul Wattson, SA

The original octave focused on Anglican-Catholic reunion, and the themes as approved by Pope Pius X were a great example of what is now known as the “ecumenism of return” – which was common in the post-Vatican I period at the beginning of the last century (and which some fear is making a resurgence in these days… but more on that in a later post).

In fact, even before the Church Unity Octave was established by Father Paul Watson, SA, and Mother Lurana White, SA, there were calls for a time of prayer for Christian Unity. The Lambeth Conference, the decennial synod of the world’s Anglican bishops, in 1878 called for a period of prayer for unity around the feast of the Ascension. In 1895 Pope Leo XIII agreed, establishing a novena for Christian Unity from Ascension to Pentecost.

Since 1935, the Church Unity Octave began to expand to a more comprehensive Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, including prayer for the unity of all Christians. By 1957, there was quasi-official participation in the planning for the worldwide celebrations by a Catholic organization from Lyons, and in 1966 the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity officially became a joint project of the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches. The materials used throughout the world have been prepared each year by a Joint Working Group of the Faith and Order Commission of the WCC and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

Additionally, a local ecumenical community prepares the theme and symbols for the Week of Prayer, and this year’s local planners were the churches of Jerusalem.   The theme chosen for 2011 is: “One in the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer” (cf. Acts 2:42).

Each day of the Week has a different theme:

  • 18 January: The Church in Jerusalem.
  • 19 January: Many Members in One Body.
  • 20 January: Devotion to the Apostles’ Teaching Unites Us.
  • 21 January: Sharing, an Expression of Our Unity.
  • 22 January: Breaking the Bread in Hope.
  • 23 January: Empowered to Action in Prayer.
  • 24 January: Living in Resurrection Faith.
  • 25 January: Called for the Service of Reconciliation.

Compare that to the themes of the original Church Unity Octave, as approved by Pope Pius X just one century ago, to see “development in continuity” in practice for the Catholic Church’s teaching on the ecumenical movement. Unity is still the goal, in obedience to Christ and for the sake of the Church’s mission, but our understanding of this constant truth has clearly matured!

Note, not only the the marked difference in tone, but also the inclusion of prayer for the Jews both then and today, except that now it is on a day preceding the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Note also the distinction between European Protestants and American Christians.

Church Unity Octave daily themes (c.1911)

  • 18 January: The Union of all Christians in the one true faith and in the Church
  • 19 January: The Return of separated Eastern Christians to communion with the Holy See
  • 20 January: The Reconciliation of Anglicans with the Holy See
  • 21 January: The Reconciliation of European Protestants with the Holy See
  • 22 January: That American Christians become one in union with the Chair of Peter
  • 23 January: The Restoration of lapsed Catholics to the sacramental life of the Church
  • 24 January: That the Jewish people come into their inheritance in Jesus Christ
  • 25 January: The missionary extension of Christ’s kingdom throughout the world

On the way through the forum today…

November 4, 2010 7:01 pm / Leave a comment

How well do you know your history? I suspected something was up yesterday when a single fighter jet kept making passes over the Foro Romano. Today confirmed it, as the Via Fori Imperialli was barricaded this morning as I walked to university for an exam. Just as I was getting to Trajan’s forum, Italian military jets do a low fly-over trailing smoke in the Italian national tricolore.

Still, there was little beyond that, and I moved on to my exam, after which I enjoyed a well earned siesta for the first time in weeks. After napping, I decided to try for a passagata and found my way to the Spanish steps to sit in the rays of the setting sun as I people-watched and pretended to study. Just as the sun dipped beneath the buildings, a military band marched up, cleared the first level of steps, and began a free concert that lasted for an hour.

The occasion? Surely you have guessed it by now. On this day in 1918, Italy defeated the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the battle of Vittorio Veneto, effectively ending World War I – a week later the armistice with Germany was signed. According to some commentators, just as the civil war was the last battle of the American revolution, some saw Vittorio Veneto/WWI as the last battle for Italian Risorgimento which had officially been completed with the 1870 conquest of papal Rome.

Robert DeNiro and Monica Bellucci filming on campus

October 16, 2010 10:39 am / Leave a comment

Monica Bellucci and Robert DeNiro in Rome

So, I ran into Robert DeNiro today. Not literally, mind you, what with the security and stage hands and boom operators and thirty other people that go into shooting a short scene, it would have taken a deliberate effort and probably not have been received well to do so literally. Nevertheless, he and Monica Bellucci were at the Angelicum today shooting for their new movie, Manuale d’amore 3.

Unlike my late spring encounter with the hordes of Italian teens outside Castel Sant’Angelo for the stars of the latest Twighlight movie, I might have actually made an effort to get DeNiro’s signature, if it were not so apparent that he was working and that I was supposed to be getting to class. It would have been, as they say, simply brutto. Ah well. Next time!

Past and Present in Rome – una bella ospita

October 1, 2010 9:56 am / Leave a comment

Simone's first cappuccino

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

Father Dominic of the Mother of God

August 26, 2010 9:32 pm / 1 Comment on 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!

Not to be confused with the Netherworld

June 30, 2010 10:52 pm / Leave a comment

I have said this before, but it is hard to believe it has been an entire year already. One year ago, I was wrapping up at St. Brendan, still trying to work out visa issues and wondering if I would in fact get to Rome at all!

This morning, as I took my leave of the Eternal City for the summer it was already 30°C (85°F) by 10:00am. By all accounts it has been a relatively mild June, but it is already toasty enough for me. Arriving in Amsterdam a couple hours’ flight north of Rome, it was a much more reasonable 22°C (72°F).

The first thing I saw out the airplane window as we approached the airport was a windmill. Not one of the iconic Don Quixote sort, though, but a modern, white, high tech electricity producer. As for wooden clogs, I did not even have to leave the airport before I encountered a few!

Eveline, a good friend and Dutch theology student who had spent the year at the Lay Centre, was there to greet me and show me around Amsterdam before we left for her university town of Tilburg. This much further north, the days are noticeably longer – more like home. I knew to expect it, but you really cannot prepare for how many bicycles there are in this city! Everyone is on two wheels – kids, parents, professionals in suits/dresses, elderly folk out for a stroll. I can understand why fiets is basically the first Dutch word anyone would learn!

Before Amanda asks, yes, I got to the Van Gogh Museum, but it was closed. Saw the palace, the “new church” (from 1410), various canals, the flower market, Rembrant’s square, ate pannekochen (pancakes) for lunch and Irish pub fare for dinner. Also smelled marijuana wafting through the air at several points on our walk, I got hit on by a guy on a bike, and we overheard a tour guide address his group as they emerged from the red light district: “OK, let’s count everybody. I always lose one of the guys by this point…  Hey, where’s Mike? Oh, Hi Mike! Your daughter told me I had to keep an eye on you since she could not come along today!”

Den Haag, Delft, Rotterdam, Maasdam, Tilburg and Den Bosch (with the just-retired Cardinal Kasper) are all on the agenda before heading for home.

Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

June 29, 2010 9:49 pm / Leave a comment

It is appropriate that my last full day in Rome for this year should be the patronal feast of the city.

The idea of tourists coming to Rome to see the Pope is a modern phenomenon. For centuries, pilgrims came to Rome primarily to pray at the tombs of the two great martyr-saints who are honored as the “co-founders” of the Church of Rome, even though Christians were certainly present in the city before either Apostle arrived: Sts. Peter and Paul.

Relics of Sts. Peter and Paul above Papal Altar at San Giovanni Laterano

Throughout the Eternal City, you will see both saints together. On the Piazza in front of St. Peter’s Basilica, you see two giant statues, Peter on the left and Paul on the right. Atop the baldachino over the papal altar in Rome’s Cathedral-Basilica, St. John Lateran, two gold reliquaries house purported relics of each of the saints. The oldest known depiction of either saint is a depiction of both, at the catacombs of St. Thecla.  

If you want to see the famous mosaics of the bishops of Rome, from Peter to Benedict, you go not to the Vatican Basilica, but to St. Paul’s Outside the Walls, which from the 4th to the 16th centuries was the largest church in Rome, until the new St. Peter’s was built. The “Successors of Peter” were honored at the Tomb of Paul. No wonder ecclesiologists point out the pope is better named “Successor of Peter and Paul” – if they are not too busy pointing out that neither Peter nor Paul were bishops of the city in the modern sense, but that is another debate.

Recently discovered images of Paul (left) and Peter (right), oldest known

Since the beginning of the dialogue between Orthodox and Catholic, one of the traditional signs of fraternity is the exchange of delegations on the feast days of the two Apostolic Sees. Rome sends a delegation to Constantinople on the Feast of St. Andrew, November 30, and Constantinople returns the delegation on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima lead the group this year, and was the only person to receive the Sign of Peace from the Pope during the morning’s liturgy. In addressing the delegation, Pope Benedict spoke strongly and favorable of the progress toward unity being made in Catholic-Orthodox dialogue, and praised the Patriarch’s recent encyclical on ecumenism (a short read I strongly recommend to all).   http://www.patriarchate.org/documents/sunday-orthodoxy-2010

Pallium Mass 2008 - Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict, the later wearing an adaptation of the pallium

This celebration also serves as the “Pallium Mass” when the (Catholic) Metropolitan Archbishops appointed within the last year come to Rome to receive the symbol of their office. Made from wool shorn of sheep blessed on the Feast of St. Agnes, the pallium is one of the oldest liturgical vestments, having changed size and function over the centuries but remaining in use throughout. The tradition of metropolitans coming to Rome to receive the pallium is recent, however, dating only from 1984. Prior to this they were vested in their own cathedral at the time of their installation as Metropolitan. However, it serves as a powerful symbol of the communion of the bishop of Rome with the archbishops throughout the world.

Metropolitan Gennaidos of Sassima, 2010 delegate of the Patriarch of Constantinople to Rome on the occassion of the Patronal Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul

The unity of the Church is the clear theme of the day– the pallium celebrating the existing full communion between Rome and the churches represented by the new metropolitan Archbishops, and the kiss of peace and exchange with the Orthodox delegation celebrating the impaired communion with the Orthodox Church in hope for full communion in the near future. Appropriate that the city that sees itself at the centre of this union is guided, not by a solitary figure, but the “dynamic duo” of two very different Apostles. May the church continued to be blessed by their common patronage and the balance that they represent!  

Over the summer months I will be travelling a little, teaching a little, and spending a lot of time with family and friends near Seattle. My blogging will slow (and indeed I am writing some of these rather post-facto) but I will also have some time for more meaty reflection on some of the themes and events raised during this incredible year in Rome.

Roman June

June 19, 2010 8:34 pm / Leave a comment

It is hot, and it is certainly humid. It could be worse, I am told, and there are definitely some redeeming qualities of Roman June. One of which is that it is not Roman August, and I know I will be home for that!

The academic year of the Angelicum was more or less set in the time of St. Thomas Aquinas, though the university’s origins are with the 16th century House of Formation for the Dominican Order. Class begins mid-October and end in May; the entire month of June is set aside for exams. By university statute, they happen in June, the whole of June, and no month but June. Naturally this means that most are scheduled between late May and early June – I was in finals mode for a month, but I have a couple of weeks of freedom to enjoy the City. Two experiences illustrate how to spend these Roman summer days.

Basilica San Clemente

Sunday, June 13  – An American friend and I decided to head to St. Peter’s for mass. Rather than rushing across town for the 10am, however, we opted for leisurly morning starting with cappuccino and cornetto (croissant with Nutella filling) at my favorite local bar, Café San Celemente – literally across the street from the Basilica San Clemente. We ventured over to San Pietro just in time for the Sunday Angelus, a brief prayer and address by the pope. While there we encountered no less than three different people or groups known to one or the other of us, including one from the states just in Rome for the week! We made it inside for an early afternoon liturgy at the St. Joseph chapel.

Tiber Riverwalk

We spent the next couple of hours touring the basilica and piazza, tourist shopping on the Via della Concilizione, eating pizza by the slice, and then a holy hour devotion at the San Lorenzo youth pilgrimage centre nearby. What could have then been a 30 minute bus ride home turned into a four hour walk along the Tiber with generous time spent at a riverside bar set up for the summer, complete with comfortable lounging couches along the riverwalk. 14 hours out and about, with the only plan for the day being the Eucharist!

Cafe della Pace

Saturday, June 19 – A Danish friend and I decided to get together for coffee and some conversation about mid morning. This time we met near the famous and picturesque Café della Pace, which is the quintessential Roman café – cobblestone street, outside seating, low traffic and a church nearby, all within a couple blocks of Piazza Navona. It comes with quintessential pricing too, so we opted for a humbler, and homier, bookstore/coffee house across the street that charges no more to sit down than to take your coffee at the bar. Two hours later we wander to the Pantheon for lunch on the steps, taken from a pizzeria popular with the municipale – the Roman city cops. A meander through the city north takes us to the Piazza del Poplo and up to the edge of the Villa Borghese overlooking the piazza for some excellent people watching and a view of the city. From there we part ways and I wander back along the Viale Gabriele D’Annunzio to Chiesa Treinita dei Monti – famous as the church a the top of the Spanish Steps – and the Via Sistina to Maria Maggiore before heading back home.

Trinita dei Monti and Spanish Steps

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