Rome

Close Encounters with Pope John Paul II

/ esteban

Here are a few photos from visits to Rome that I made with students from the St. Philip Neri Newman Center at the University of Tulsa.

In 2000, we were lucky to attend a special Mass for the 80th birthday of JPII.    In 2004, we attended both a papal audience and the Canonization Mass for six saints, including a favorite of mine, St. Gianna Beretta Molla. Continue reading →

Feast of Saint Stephen – My Name Day

/ esteban / 4 Comments

Carracci,_Annibale_-_The_Stoning_of_St_Stephen_-_1603-04

When I was younger, I never really liked my first name – Steven.  It seemed ordinary to me.  No pizzazz, not a name that anyone would think was cool.

I didn’t really have any other name in mind, but for awhile I thought I could go by my middle name – Craig.  I didn’t know any other Craigs so, it seemed like an option, but I knew I probably couldn’t make it stick.  My older sister was Christine.  Growing up everyone called her Tina, but in high school she managed to make the switch to Cris, with the intriguing missing ‘h’.    It only half worked though.  All the family older than her still called her Tina, but her siblings and friends all called her Cris, so she was even more intriguing by being one of those dual-named people.

According to my dad, I was supposed to be called Sean. That’s what my mother wanted, but somehow my dad, who didn’t like the name, pulled a switcheroo and had Steven written on my birth certificate. So let it be written, so let it be done!

Today is December 26th, the Feast of Saint Stephen, and so I’m celebrating my Name Day.  Almost like another birthday, those lucky enough to be named for a saint can celebrate their namesake’s feast day and revere him or her as a patron saint and an example for their life.   It’s a very cool tradition so I love it when parents pick traditional saint names for their kids.

I’ve known for quite awhile that the day after Christmas (also called Boxing Day) is Saint Stephen’s Day, but I really never gave much thought to why he was important or why his feast day would be placed where it is.   Now that I’ve learned more about our faith, I can really appreciate Saint Stephen and the very important role he had to play in the early Church.

Here (Acts 6:1) you can read how Stephen was chosen as one of the first deacons of the early Church, to assist the Apostles in their work within the community of disciples. You can also read here (Acts 6:8) how Stephen was debated by some of the people in the outer community, falsely accused and eventually brought before the Sanhedrin (the local Jewish court responsible for religious matters), accused of blasphemy.

Before the people and the court, Stephen gave a brave discourse on the history and stubbornness of  the Jewish people to see and accept the presence of the Holy Spirit among them.   They became so infuriated with him, that Stephen was cast out of the city and stoned to death, becoming the protomartyr, or first martyr of the Church.

During his homily today, Msgr. Gregory Gier, rector of Tulsa’s Holy Family Cathedral, made some very interesting points about why Saint Stephen, besides the fact of his martyrdom, is important to the history of the Church.

Saint Stephen, much like Christ, as he was dying, turned his soul over to the mercy of God, and prayed that his persecutors would be forgiven (Acts 7:60):

“Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”; and when he said this, he fell asleep.”

We know from Scripture, that one of persecutors of Saint Stephen was Saul, who would later be known as Saint Paul.  We also know that he was present at Stephen’s stoning; and,  was thus one of those whom he prayed for.    Saul, was not an evil person.  He was a very well educated and learned Jew.  He had dedicated himself to serving God, and because of that was a zealot against anything that went against current Jewish teaching.   He thought he was doing the will of God by persecuting the followers of Jesus.  It took a direct intervention by God to convert him and to convince him that Jesus was the Messiah.  You can read about the conversion of Saint Paul in Acts Chapter 9.

According to Msgr. Gier, it’s not wrong to attribute some of the grace from Saint Stephen’s death as a martyr, and his final prayer, to the conversion of St. Paul.  The answered prayer of the Church’s first martyr is the forgiveness and conversion of Saul and the creation of the Church’s apostle to the Gentiles, St. Paul.

There’s so much to take from the story of Saint Stephen:

  • The power of the Holy Spirit passed from the Apostles to Stephen by the laying on of hands when he was made a deacon.
  • The example of Stephen as he served the community of disciples.
  • The example of Stephen as he confronts his accusers in the Sanhedrin.
  • The power of the Holy Spirit as Stephen dies, asking for his persecutors to be forgiven.
  • And how that prayer is answered in the conversion of Saint Paul.
  • The Church wouldn’t have had Saint Paul without the martyrdom of Saint Stephen.

What else can I say but I think it’s pretty cool to be named for Saint Stephen and I wouldn’t change it now that I understand what an honor it is.

If you get a chance to visit Rome, I urge you to visit the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls.  It’s the main shrine to Saint Paul and is said to be the site of his tomb.  As you stand before the altar, to the left you will see a side chapel dedicated to Saint Stephen.

St. Paul Outside the Walls is one of my favorite places to visit because, with that side chapel of Saint Stephen, you are constantly reminded of the role that he played in Saint Paul’s life and how any life can be redeemed and converted by the Holy Spirit.  I’ve been to that basilica three or four times and have been in all the other chapels and even the sacristy, but I’ve never been inside the chapel to Saint Stephen.  Someday, I’ll go there and find it open.

I also encourage you to visit the Basilica of Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, in Rome.  There you can visit the tombs of the deacons and martyrs St. Stephen and St. Lawrence, as well as the tombs of St. Pope Hilarius and Blessed Pope Pius IX.  What I love about this basilica is that they allow you to descend into the crypt where you can actually lay hands on the tombs of these great saints.  It’s such a blessing!

 

StStephenIconForWebThanks for reading all this!  I hope you take some inspiration from the story of Saint Stephen.

Saint Stephen, pray for us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yumi Gat Papa! (Habemus Papem)

/ esteban / 7 Comments

Early Thursday morning, about 4am PNG time, I hear Br. Jim’s quick steps along the friary veranda.

“White smoke!  We got white smoke!”, he calls out.pope-1

I knew that he had planned to get up at 3am to check the results of the evening votes of the conclave (Wednesday Rome time), so it wasn’t unexpected to hear some sort of report from him.

So, I jumped out of bed and made my way over to our TV room, soon joined by Nate, our other CapCorps volunteer, and Fr. Peter Meis, the Capuchin Vice Provincial who happened to be visiting St. Fidelis for a few days.

Much like the rest of the world, we watched the white smoke pouring from the Sistine Chapel and the crowd gathering in St. Peter’s Square, anxious to know who the cardinals had elected as the new pope.

When the announcement was made from the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, we didn’t quite hear it clearly, except for the name “Francis.”  We had to wait for some more minutes until the new pope came forward.

It was thrilling to learn that a cardinal from the Americas had been chosen and someone who has had such connection to the poor of his country.  The Capuchin Franciscans here were pleased and excited to know that he had chosen “Francis.”

Not more than 45 minutes after Pope Francis was introduced to Rome and the world, we joined the seminarians for their 6am Morning Prayer and Mass, and were able to inform them of the election of their new pope.

Although we didn’t have much information at that point, the students were understandably excited and  cornered us after Mass, full of questions:

  • Where is he from?
  • What is he like?
  • Is he white or black?
  • Why doesn’t PNG have a cardinal?
  • Wasn’t this a quick election?
  • Will he visit PNG?

Later that day, I had the opportunity to show the Propaedeutic students the first episode of Fr. Robert Barron’s “Catholicism” series.  If you’re familiar with that episode, “Amazed and Afraid”, there’s a scene near the end from the election of Pope Benedict XVI.   It was very fortunate to be able to share that particular episode with the students and to explain that that was very similar to what had just happened in Rome with our new Pope Francis.

So like the rest of the Catholic world, we’re all learning and sharing everything we can of our new pontiff.

Just as I have very vivid memories of the last days of Blessed John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict, I’ll always remember waiting for and watching the election of Pope Francis from our little outpost on the north coast of Papua New Guinea.

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We Are Many Parts

/ esteban

I am not quite sure what it is that I’m trying to convey with this particular post.  I suppose it’s more for my own memory than anything else.

Those of us who have been blessed with opportunities to travel the world, as I have been, sooner or later have one of those “a-ha!” moments when we personally experience what we call the “universality” of the Catholic Church.

These moments occur when we understand that the Church we belong to, and the faith we profess, is much bigger and richer than what we experience in our home parish.    We see and hear this all the time, but actually experiencing it is the real eye-opener.

My first such experience occurred on my first trip to Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala with students from the Newman Center.   I attended a Sunday Mass celebrated in a mixture of Spanish and T’zutujil Maya with a crowd of 2000 people that filled the church and spread into the plaza outside.   Although I couldn’t really understand what was being said, I still “knew” the Mass and could participate in it fully.  It’s a real rush to know that you really and truly belong to something much bigger than yourself.  Such experiences give you a new and broader perspective on being Catholic and in some sense your own place in the world.

I had another, yet different, sort of experience during my recent trip to Rome.   Several times during the week I spent there, I found myself immersed with pilgrims from different countries.  Totally unexpected and unplanned.

As I wrote earlier, my trip from the US to Rome was in the company of a group of Polish pilgrims from Chicago.  It was great to see not only their excitement to be going to Rome for the Beatification Mass, but also their devotion to Pope John Paul II as one of their countrymen.

Once I arrived in Rome, I spent the next several days with Fr. Roderick and the Dutch radio personnel and other pilgrims that were in and around the Friezen Church.   We all know that the state of the Church in The Netherlands and other parts of Europe is dire, but seeing and talking to these people, I still sensed a spark of faith in them.

The photo above is a group of French bloggers and journalists that Fr. Roderick and I had lunch with on the Monday following the beatification Mass.  We met them quite by accident when one of them recognized Fr. Roderick and invited us to tour Vatican Radio with them.  We had already been there, but that didn’t stop us from going again, or joining them for lunch at Pope Benedict’s favorite German restaurant!  They were very nice to speak English when they could, realizing that I don’t speak French.  It was very much appreciated!

At other times during the week, I spent time with my American colleagues and friends, conversed with nuns from a variety of orders and places, was introduced to a South African seminarian just days before his ordination as a transitional deacon, and met a New Zealander (or was he Australian?) working in young adult ministry in New York.

These random encounters with different nationalities continued even as I was leaving Italy to return home.  On the “Leonardo Express” train which took me from Rome’s Termini Station to Fiumicino Airport, I found a seat in a compartment of Spanish pilgrims.    As I spent my last minutes in Italy, I overheard them discuss the Beatification Mass, what it meant to them, and their desire to share their inspiration with the youth at home.   They were under no illusions about the enormity of their task, but yet they were willing to try.

And, how could I forget the Chinese-American women seated across the aisle from me?  During our flight home, she prayed a couple of rosaries and reflected on a set of prayer cards that she had with her.

I suppose one of the things that I’m trying to convey here is encouragement.  Going to Rome always inspires me.  Seeing people from around the world is encouraging and reminds me that in spite of all the problems that we face, both in the Church and in the world, there is reason to have hope.

If you’ve never been on a pilgrimage outside your own country, my encouragement to you is to go and open your mind to a new understanding of the universality of the Church.

Afterall, the word “catholic” means “universal” and we should embrace that!

Beatus!

/ esteban / 1 Comment

 

Last Sunday, I had the great privilege of attending the beatification Mass of Pope John Paul II, in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.

From my previous posts, you may know that Fr. Roderick and I were in Rome a few days prior to this and saw the influx of pilgrims and the preparations on-going throughout the city.

On Sunday morning, after many people spent the night outside the Vatican and in the Via della Conciliazione, St. Peter’s Square was finally reopened and pilgrims were allowed in for the Beatification Mass.

I was very impressed with the way the security forces managed the crowd, and despite the long night and tiredness of the crowd, I did not witness any problems. Groups of a few thousand people at a time were let in and allowed to go through the security scanners in order to enter the square. It took more than 3 hours, but by 10 am the Square and the Via were completely filled, all the way from St. Peter’s to the Tiber River.

Fr. Roderick and I avoided the crowds and left the Friezen Church just as the square was getting filled. Somehow, we ended up in a “no man’s land” between the end of St. Peter’s Square and the beginning of the Via della Conciliazione. I think we were actually in a security lane, but so were a lot of other people who didn’t look like they necessarily belonged there.

Nonetheless, our vantage point was near the big video screen I’ve mentioned before, and at the very edge of St. Peter’s Square, technically standing in the middle of the street. We tried to keep a low profile so that security wouldn’t kick us out.

Mass began with the entrance of Pope Benedict in the pope-mobile. We were a long distance from his entrance route, but we did actually see him. The photos below were taken from the video screen, but you can get the gist. The crowd was quite excited to see him and you could tell that he was enjoying himself.

The Beatification itself was a fairly simple affair, occurring after the Entrance and Penitential Rites and before the Liturgy of the Word. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Vicar General of the Diocese of Rome, presented a humble petition to Pope Benedict, asking that Servant of God, Pope John Paul II be inscribed among the list of those Beatified. (This according to my attempts to translate the Italian).

Pope Benedict replied, according to the current formula, as follows (also according to my limited ability to translate Italian):

“Acceding to the request of our Brother Agostino Cardinal Vallini, our Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, of many other of our Brothers in the episcopate, and many of the faithful, after consultation with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, by our apostolic authority we declare that the Venerable Servant of God John Paul II, pope, shall henceforth be invoked as Blessed and that his feast shall be celebrated every year on the 22nd of October, in the places and according to the norms established by Church law.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

After this, the Mass pretty much proceeded as any other Mass would.  I would point your attention to a terrific homily given by Pope Benedict about Bl. Pope John Paul II.    If you haven’t read it, you can find the text here.  The Holy Father’s personal note at the end of the homily is particularly moving.

Estimates I’ve seen put the attendance at between 1 and 1.5 million people.  Clearly this was the biggest gathering I’ve ever been a part of.  It was a highlight of my life to be both a witness and participant in this occasion, one I will never forget.

Here is a montage of photos from my vantage point at the end of St. Peter’s Square.  You don’t really get a sense of the size of the crowd, you can find those photos elsewhere.

I have no doubts about the saintliness of Bl. Pope John Paul.  As the proclamation of his beatitude was made and his portrait on the façade of St. Peter’s Basilica was unveiled, you could feel the electricity and joy in the air and hear the gathering chant of “Juan Pablo” as it rolled up through the crowd beginning at the Tiber River and ending at St. Peter’s Basilica.   It would be hard to experience that and leave with doubts.

 

 

Waiting for the Beatification Mass

/ esteban


 

Fr. Roderick and I had quite a time the night before last Sunday’s Beatification Mass for Bl. Pope John Paul II.

The above video shows a bit of the atmosphere outside the Dutch Friezen Church, just 20 or so yards outside of St. Peter’s Square, where we decided to camp out for the night.  I’m very thankful that we had this opportunity to make this church our base of operations as it gave us a great vantage point from which to watch the preparations being made in the square and the hundreds of thousands of people who were waiting outside in the streets overnight.

At some point in the evening, around 7pm if I recall, the police closed the streets surrounding the Vatican so that security arrangements could be put into place.  Ostensibly, no one was to be allowed into the area until the next morning, though like all things in Rome, I’m not sure how stringent these regulations where adhered to.

This made our decision to remain at the church much easier for us and the area that you see in the video above is not as crowded as it could have been.  Those present are pretty much just those that were still in the area when the streets were closed.

Later in the evening, the cordoned off areas along the Via de Conciliazione – the long street leading directly from St. Peter’s Square, opened to allow pilgrims to get closer to the square.    Because of the various barricades in place, we didn’t really have a good way to photograph the huge crowd waiting, but reports seem to place the number between 1 million and 1.5 million people.

As it was getting close to sunrise, the organizers started to let people through the barricades, a few thousand at a time, to go through security and to find a spot in St. Peter’s Square.  I was very impressed with both the way they handled the crowds and how the crowds themselves behaved.  Given the long night, chilly conditions, cramped quarters, and the earnest desire for the night to end, most people behaved themselves pretty well.

Here are some additional photos of that night.   Hopefully they give you some sense of that evening as everyone waited for the celebration the next morning.

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A Silent Vigil

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Friday evening, after dinner with my friend Msgr. Mueggenborg, who works at the Pontifical North American College here in Rome, I had some time to kill before meeting up with Fr. Roderick.

I made my way back over to St. Peter’s Square and enjoyed some quiet time strolling on the piazza.  A large video screen at the entrance to the square has been displaying commemorative videos about Pope John Paul II’s pontificate and they were still showing although it was now almost 10 pm.

It’s a mesmerizing video, projected without sound, which recounts JPII’s important history of traveling the world.  Although I had seen parts of the video earlier, this night it drew me in and I was captivated by the memories that it brought back.

Slowly, as the video played, more and more people in the piazza were also drawn in and a crowd gathered in complete silence, a vigil of remembrance for Pope John Paul II.

As each year of his pontificate passed in turn, we saw the joy of the people he visited and remembered the messages that he delivered in all parts of the world.  In a short time, we also saw him age and the heartbreaking advance of his illness and infirmities.

The video ends with his death and funeral.  With a few tears and a collective sigh from our little group gathered in vigil, a quiet applause came as the crowd dispersed, deep in thought.

This was one of those unplanned moments, a shared experience among strangers.  But also one that those present will not soon forget.

Rome & Radio

/ esteban / 3 Comments

The theme for our Friday in Rome quickly centered around international Catholic radio.  During the morning hours, we settled into an upper room at the Dutch Friezen Church, just off of St. Peter’s Square.

I listened to Fr. Roderick and his radio crew record a radio program in Dutch for over 2 hours.  I never imagined that I would be in Rome but yet privy to the work of the Church from the Netherlands.

Later in the day, we had truly one of the best experiences I could have hoped for.  We had the privilege of visiting the offices and studios of Vatican Radio and were introduced to Fr. Roderick’s former professor Mr. Sean Patrick Lovett.  He is the director of the Italian and English language channels for Vatican Radio and a wonderful person to talk to about Catholic media, its past and future.  Vatican Radio is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year and it a worldwide organization, broadcasting in 34 languages.  It was a great experience!

Mr. Lovett also gave us a tour of one of the radio studios where live broadcasts were in progress informing pilgrims in Rome about the upcoming Beatification, security, and traffic arrangements.    Mr. Lovett also expressed his interest in the work of SQPN and in some of the ways that our experience can benefit them.

 

Fr. Roderick and Mr. Sean Patrick Lovett at Vatican Radio

Vatican Radio Broadcast Studio

Vatican Radio Control Room

 

 

Trading Days

/ esteban

Yesterday, Fr. Roderick and I were walking in one of the districts just outside of the Vatican when I saw this graffiti on an alley wall.

It immediately struck me as profoundly full of despair.  Would I ever want to trade all my tomorrows for one yesterday?  I hope I never feel that way.  I know that there will be bad days in the future, but I certainly have hope for wondrous days to come as well.  The Beatification of Pope John Paul II is hopefully one of those wondrous days.

The Catholic sentiment is absolutely the antithesis of this graffiti.  Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation you can trade all your yesterdays for the best of all tomorrows.

I hope the soul, who expressed the sad plea above, finds a better path.

Walkabout

/ esteban

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Our first full day in Rome, Fr. Roderick and I took some time to check out the preparations for the beatification in St. Peter’s Square and get our bearings on a few places that we’ll be visiting over the next few days.  We weren’t there too long, so I didn’t take too many photos.  No doubt there will be more as the excitement builds.

It seems to me that there are already quite few people in Rome for the beatification.  Strangely, I haven’t noticed any other Polish pilgrims but I have no doubt that there are loads of them here, somewhere.

Some SQPN fans from Indiana introduced themselves to us along one of the streets and we even had a brief encounter with Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley, who kindly hosted last year’s CNMC.

Here’s a little video of St. Peter’s that I shot as well.

The Journey to Rome

/ esteban

I made it safely to Rome yesterday and met up with Fr. Roderick Vonhogen, CEO of SQPN. Not too much to report other than a well deserved nap, some good pasta at a nearby restaurant, and a nightcap of some excellent tiramisu.

Usually, the journey to Europe is extremely tedious and something to be endured as part of the price to be paid to visit a wonderful city such as Rome.

This trip was not like that and I couldn’t have been more pleased.

The flight from Washington, DC to Rome included about 25 Polish Catholics from Chicago, traveling like me to the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.  They were a joyous group and fun to watch.

I sat next to a Polish couple, now living in Denver, who are just old enough to remember the Communist years in Kracow, but still young enough to appreciate the spirit of renewal that JPII brought to his country.

The young woman in the couple told me that she had never taken advantage of the opportunities she had to see or meet Karol Woytila, when he was Archbishop of Kracow.  Her journey to Rome for the beatification is in a sense to correct that and to honor his memory.

I was so glad, and lucky, to have the chance to sit and talk with them as we whiled away the time over the Atlantic.  Polish Catholics have always impressed me with their devotion to the Church.  I know that their society is increasingly under the pressure of secularization, so I take hope when seeing groups like these.

We are just beginning our time in Rome, so hopefully we will have more opportunities to share the experiences of other pilgrims here for this wonderful event.

There’s a forecast for rain this weekend, but I would be surprised if it dampens any of the spirit of those coming.

Pilgrimage to Rome

/ esteban

I am enormously privileged to be going to Rome this week and witnessing the Beatification of Pope John Paul II.

I’ve been to Rome several times before and saw Pope John Paul II on three occasions.

I took this photo standing alongside his popemobile route through St. Peter’s Square on May 18, 2000.   This was a special Mass commemorating his 80th birthday.   What a joyous occasion and we couldn’t  believe how close we were allowed to get.  I could have touched him (with a little help, perhaps).

I was there with about 25 students from the St. Philip Neri Newman Center at the University of Tulsa on the first of our yearly pilgrimages to Europe.

We returned to Rome four years later (May 2004) with another group of students and were even more blessed with chances to see JPII.

Somehow, I’m still not sure how this worked out, but we had the awesome privilege of attending the Mass for the canonization of six new saints  Luigi Orione, Hannibal Mary Di Francia, José Manyanet y Vives, Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, Gianna Beretta Molla.

You can get a sense of the joyful atmosphere and see the portraits of the new saints on the fascade of St. Peter’s Basilica. It was a bit like attending a football game with groups chanting and singing and sharing information about their favorite saint.  I had never heard of St. Gianna Beretta Molla before this day but was very moved to see her husband and daughter present the saint’s relics to the Holy Father.  Can you imagine what it must have been like for your wife or mother to be canonized as a saint!?  She has since become a favorite of mine and a true testament to the sanctity of life.

Even more astounding, a few days later we attended the pope’s weekly audience and had tickets to sit on the platform next to the altar.  Our bishop, Most Reverend Edward Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, was in Rome for his ad limina visit and secured these seats for our group.  What an honor and privilege to be so close to the Holy Father while he spoke.   It was difficult to get good photos from there and not cause a disruption, but here’s one that suffices.

It was a very sad day when he died, about a year after this trip.  What a tremendous library of writings and speeches he left us; and such a testimony and Christian witness during his final months.  Who doesn’t remember where they were during Holy Week of 2005 and the following weeks of his final decline, death, and funeral, followed by the Conclave of cardinals and the election of Pope Benedict?

It is enormously significant to me to be able to witness Pope John Paul II’s Mass of Beatification and to see Pope Benedict in person.  I can hardly believe that I’ll be there in a few days.

I will do my best to share my experiences as much as I can while in Rome.  I hope you’ll join me.