Angelus News | February 14, 2020 | Vol. 5 No. 6

ANGELUS
RAPHAEL
Why he fascinates
five centuries later
February 14, 2020 Vol. 5 No. 6

W
Join the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Official
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
11 Days: October 26 to November 5, 2020
Under the Spiritual
Leadership of
Archbishop José H. Gomez
along with:
Pilgrimage to the Holy Land
including Bethlehem, Sea of Galilee,
Nazareth, Jerusalem, and much more!
$4,299 from Los Angeles (LAX)
plus $195 in tips
Bishop
David
O’Connell
Msgr.
Antonio
Cacciapuoti
Space is limited – sign up today!
Fr.
James
Anguiano
Fr.
Parker
Sandoval
Download a brochure and registration form today at
GoCatholicTravel.com/20033
Contact: Mrs. Judy Brooks, Director
Archbishop’s Office for Special Services
(213) 637-7551 or pilgrimage@la-archdiocese.org
CST#: 2018667–40

Contents
Archbishop Gomez 3
World, Nation, and Local News 4-6
LA Catholic Events 7
Scott Hahn on Scripture 8
Father Rolheiser 9
The Catholic ministry bringing homicide survivors to forgive 14
‘Kobe Generation’ priests beat seminarians at Vocations game 18
How the pope pokes at the West’s euthanasia hypocrisy 22
Grazie Christie’s gratitude for #GirlDad 24
How clear-eyed is Clarence Thomas in his own words? 26
Heather King: Singles Awareness Day and the saints 28
t
3
ON THE COVER
“The Miraculous Draught of Fishes” (1515), one of the seven remaining
“Raphael Cartoons” for tapestries for the Sistine Chapel (Victoria and
Albert Museum). This year marks the 500th anniversary of the great Italian
Renaissance artist Raphael Sanzio’s untimely death at 37. On Page 10,
Elizabeth Lev explains why the quiet solemnity of the Christian painter’s art
has seduced centuries of viewers, and how the world — including the Vatican
— is still finding new ways to celebrate his genius.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
IMAGE: A woman receives the sacrament of the anointing of the
sick from Auxiliary Bishop Marc V. Trudeau at a special
Feb. 8 Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in
observance of the 2020 World Day of the Sick and the feast
of Our Lady of Lourdes. Faithful also received blessed water
from the spring at the Grotto of Lourdes, France, where the
Virgin Mary appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858.
VICTOR ALEMÁN
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 1

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February 14, 2020
Vol. 5 • No. 6
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POPE WATCH
‘He was a great’
St. Pope John Paul II taught the
world that truly great faith and
holiness dwell in “the normality of a
person who lives in profound communion
with Christ,” Pope Francis
said in a new book.
Precisely because he allowed people
to see he was a human being, whether
skiing or praying, hiking or suffering,
“every gesture of his, every word, every
choice he made always had a much
deeper value and left a mark,” Pope
Francis told Father Luigi Maria Epicoco,
author of the Italian book “San
Giovanni Paolo Magno” (“St. John
Paul the Great”).
The book, published Feb. 11, was
written to mark the 100th anniversary
of St. John Paul’s birth May 18, 1920.
Much of the book is biographical
information about the late pope, but
each chapter includes Pope Francis’
response to questions from Father
Epicoco about his relationship with
the late pope and observations about
St. John Paul’s spirituality, personality,
events in his life, and his teaching.
The priest said he spoke to Pope
Francis about St. John Paul several
times between June 2019 and January
2020.
Speaking of his relationship with St.
John Paul, Pope Francis said he was
in the car in Argentina when he heard
that then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had
been elected pope in 1978. “I heard
the name Wojtyla and thought, ‘an
African pope.’ Then they told me he
was Polish.”
He said he liked the new pope right
away, especially because of his reputation
for spending time with university
students, being a sports enthusiast,
his devotion to Mary and, especially,
because of his reputation as one who
prayed often and deeply.
“In 2001, when I was made a cardinal,
I felt a strong desire when I knelt
to receive the cardinal’s biretta not
only to exchange the sign of peace
with him, but to kiss his hand,” Pope
Francis said. “Some people criticized
me for this gesture, but it was spontaneous.”
“We cannot forget the suffering of
this great pope,” he said. “His refined
and acute sensitivity to mercy certainly
was influenced by the spirituality of St.
Faustina Kowalska, who died during
his adolescence, but also — perhaps,
especially — because of his having
witnessed the Communist and Nazi
persecutions. He suffered so much!”
Pope Francis’ homilies and pastoral
letters as a bishop in Argentina in the
1990s were full of quotations from
St. John Paul, Father Epicoco noted.
“Yes,” Pope Francis said, “I was
perceived by many as a conservative.
Some saw me that way, but I simply
always felt great harmony with what
the pope was saying.
“Somewhere I read an article by
a man analyzing the Church today
and, speaking about me, he said, and
I quote, ‘I don’t know how this man
emerged,’ ” Pope Francis said. “I wanted
to respond, ‘I don’t either,’ because
the Holy Spirit always intervenes
in certain choices. I think it’s right
that the Holy Spirit can continue to
surprise us.”
Reporting courtesy of Catholic News
Service Rome bureau chief Cindy
Wooden.
Papal Prayer Intention for February: We pray that the cries of our migrant
brothers and sisters, victims of criminal trafficking, may be heard and considered.
2 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

NEW WORLD
OF FAITH
BY ARCHBISHOP JOSÉ H. GOMEZ
Making disciples
When I met with Pope Francis
recently, I shared with him that evangelization
is our highest priority in the
American Church. I also expressed
to him that we share his vision of
making all our parishes and institutions
“completely mission-oriented,” as
he put it in Evangelli Gaudium (“The
Joy of the Gospel”).
As I have been saying over the years,
it is essential that all of us rediscover
our deepest identity as Catholics, as
followers of Jesus, in the mission of
evangelization. In my first pastoral
letter, I set the whole mission of the
Church here, all our pastoral priorities,
in the context of the new evangelization.
I wrote this: “We need to ask ourselves:
Is our work leading men and women
to Jesus Christ and his Church?
Is the Christian faith spreading and
is knowledge of the faith deepening
through our programs and ministries?
Everything we do must be measured
by what it contributes to proclaiming
Jesus Christ to the men and women of
our day!”
These are still important questions
that we need to ask ourselves.
Jesus calls his Church to go out and
make disciples of all nations. There is
not one of us in the Church who can
avoid this responsibility. We are all
children of God and we are all called
to be disciples and to make disciples.
To be a disciple is to follow Jesus as
our Master, to take him as the model
for how we live and the standard for
our values. More than that, to be his
disciple is to serve him, to make our
whole life available to be used by him
for his purposes, his plan of love.
This is what Pope Francis means
when he talks about being “missionary
disciples.” To be a disciple means
we share in the mission of the One
we follow, the mission of bringing
all men and women to this beautiful
encounter with the love of God.
We make disciples, not so much by
trying to persuade people with our
words, but more by bearing witness
in our lives to how we love Jesus and
how he loves us.
The saints tell us that the love of
God is not something that can be
taught. In the same way, I think it is
hard for us to “learn” how to evangelize.
In my mind, it flows from our
personal following of Jesus, through
our daily living out of our faith.
Evangelizing should
never be something we
see as a chore or a burden;
it should be a joy.
Everyone can evangelize; we can
do it in our homes, in our neighborhoods,
in our work. With every person
you meet in the course of the day you
have the chance to share Jesus and
the difference that his love makes in
our lives.
Each in our own way can tell people
about Jesus: who he is, what he has
done for us by his dying and rising
from the dead, and what he has
promised to us if we believe in him
and follow his path for our lives. And
again, we do this more by our witness
than by our words.
We cannot excuse ourselves from
this responsibility by saying we are
not holy enough, or we don’t know
our faith well enough, or we are not
far enough along in our journey with
Jesus. All of us are following Jesus,
each of us going with him with our
different gifts and limitations. What
he asks is that we share what we know
of his love, that we help those around
us to find him.
This mission that Jesus gives us
should never be something we see as a
chore or a burden; it should be a joy,
and we will find that our faith grows as
we share it. The deeper we love Jesus,
the deeper we identify our lives with
his, the more fruitful our lives and our
ministries will be.
Nowadays, we see a growing “ecological”
awareness, a rising sense of our
responsibilities to one another and to
the created world. This is a beautiful
development, as we realize more and
more that our actions and decisions
have consequences for the lives of others
and for the earth and our natural
environment.
I would love to see the growing of a
new “evangelical” awareness, a new
appreciation of our obligations for the
souls of our brothers and sisters, and
a new commitment to spreading the
spirit of God in our world.
The truth is that God is still at work
in his creation, still bringing his
kingdom. What is exciting is that he
is asking us to share in this work of
telling the world the good news about
him.
Pray for me this week and I will pray
for you.
And let us ask our Blessed Mother
Mary to keep leading us to love Jesus
and to share our faith in him with
others.
To read more columns by Archbishop José H. Gomez or to subscribe, visit www.angelusnews.com.
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 3

WORLD
VATICAN MEDIA
A papal forgive and forget
It has been revealed that Pope
Francis later met the woman who
had infamously pulled his arm on
New Year’s Eve in St. Peter’s Square.
The video of the incident, which
immediately went viral, shows the
woman grabbing the Holy Father
by the hand as he turns to leave.
Visibly frustrated, he slaps her hand
and angrily walks away.
The pope apologized for his reaction
the following day during his
Jan. 1 Angelus address. “Many times
we lose our patience; me too,” he
said. “I apologize for yesterday’s bad
example.”
One week later, in a meet-andgreet
after a papal audience Jan. 8,
he made amends with the woman
in person. Photos show the two
smiling at each other and shaking
hands, while a nearby priest acts as
interpreter.
During his address that day, the
pope cited St. Paul’s description
of God’s love. “God can act in any
circumstance,” he said, “even in the
midst of apparent failures.”
Coronavirus and
Communion
Catholic leaders are urging precaution
and aid as the deadly coronavirus
threatens millions in Asia and beyond.
~
In Vietnam, Bishop Phêrô Nguyên
~
Van ˘ Kham of My Tho urged Catholics
throughout the country to stay
home from church if they had flu-like
symptoms and to receive the Eucharist
only on their hands, while praying that
“God can heal those who have been
infected and ensure that others do not
become victims of the epidemic.”
The Diocese of Hong Kong advised
faithful who had visited areas affected
by the virus in China to avoid Mass
and instead read the bible, say the
rosary, meditate upon the readings
of the Mass or even follow a Mass on
TV, according to AsiaNews.
In China, the Catholic relief organization
Jinde Charities appealed to
the universal Church to help provide
medical supplies.
“So many people are desperately
looking for supplies abroad,” wrote
Father Zhang Shijiang in a Feb. 2
message. “Our Catholic Church is a
church preaching love.”
At the time of writing, there are more
than 42,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus
in China and several dozen
more in other countries, including the
U.S. At least 1,000 people have died.
Pope Francis greets the woman from the New Year’s Eve slapping incident Jan. 8.
Nigerian seminarian killed by kidnappers
A Nigerian seminarian was killed by
his abductors after weeks in captivity.
Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of
Sokoto, Nigeria, confirmed the death
of Michael Nnadi, 18, in a Feb. 1
statement. Nnadi had been taken
with three other seminarians from
Good Shepherd Seminary around
10:30 p.m. on Jan. 8. One of them was
found injured along the side of the
road 10 days later, and the other two
were released around Jan. 31.
Schoolgirls and staff from a boarding
school in the same area as the seminary
were kidnapped in October, and
were later released.
“The Lord knows best,” Bishop
Kukah wrote in a statement. “Let’s
remain strong and pray for the repose
of his soul.”
People wearing masks walk near the Ruins of
St. Paul’s Catholic complex in Macau Feb. 5,
during the coronavirus outbreak.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/TYRONE SIU, REUTERS
4 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

NATION
Video voting guidance for Catholics
As primary season for the country’s two major parties
gets underway, the U.S. bishops have released a video
series aimed at helping Catholics better understand
Church teaching when making voting decisions in the
upcoming 2020 national election.
“We are not aligned with any party,” said Archbishop
José H. Gomez, president of the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in the first video.
“But we shine the light of our faith to influence parties
to which we may belong.”
The set of five brief videos, entitled “Faithful Citizenship,”
are meant to “help Catholics apply the Church’s
teaching as handed down by Pope Francis” when considering
how to vote.
The videos are available on the USCCB’s YouTube
page and at FaithfulCitizenship.org in English, Spanish,
Tagalog, and Vietnamese.
The USCCB’s YouTube page.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/MANUEL RUEDA
American tapped to lead Legionaries
The Legionaries of Christ elected an
American as its new superior general
at its general chapter meeting in
Rome largely devoted to the order’s
sexual abuse crisis.
Father John Conner, who has
overseen the order’s North American
province since 2014, will serve in the
head position for six years.
The order’s meeting has focused especially
on the clerical abuse scandals
that have landed the Legion back in
the headlines recently. Its founder,
Father Marcial Maciel Degollado,
was found to have abused at least 60
minors and fathered at least three
children.
Since its founding in 1941, 33 other
priests in the order have been found
guilty of sexually abusing minors,
including ones who were in ministry
up until very recently.
“We in the Legionaries of Christ
must not only live with but wade
through the sins of our past,” Father
Conner wrote Feb. 2 to the order’s
members in the U.S. “We have a
responsibility to those who have been
hurt by the Legion, to all of you and
to the greater Church that we serve.”
CLOSE TO THE CROSS — A child
touches the crucifix of Auxiliary
Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn,
New York, as he visits children at the
Nina Maria day care center in Cucuta,
Colombia, near the Venezuelan border,
Jan 30. The nursery takes care of
Venezuelan migrant kids for free,
while their parents, many of them
undocumented, work in the city’s
streets. A small delegation from the
U.S. Conference of Catholics Bishops
recently visited the center and several
other projects in the area to assess
how to help Catholic charities working
with migrants and refugees.
Chicago Catholic
schools get a lifeline
The Archdiocese of Chicago
announced it is partnering with an independent
foundation to help sustain
Catholic education in the city.
The $47.5 million dollar arrangement
between the archdiocese and
Big Shoulders Fund, a private foundation
dedicated to promoting the
work of Catholic education, means
that the foundation will take over the
operational control of 30 of the city’s
200 Catholic schools while continuing
to support another 75 schools in
the archdiocese, Crux’s Christopher
White reported Feb. 4.
Chicago Archbishop Cardinal Blase
Cupich said the agreement will
“strengthen our efforts to provide the
lifelong benefits of a Catholic education
to Chicago-area children and
society at large.”
Under the new partnership, the
foundation will pursue new programming
for the schools, but the archdiocese
will retain control over personnel.
The announcement came weeks
after the archdiocese announced it is
closing five elementary schools this
year following years of parish consolidations
and closures.
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 5

LOCAL
Pro-life group lawsuit prompts
change on campus
VICTOR ALEMÁN
A TESTAMENT TO LOVE — Couples exchange the sign of peace at
the Spanish World Marriage Day Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady
of the Angels Feb 9. In what is an annual tradition, nearly 50 married
couples celebrating 72, 50, or 25 years of marriage renewed
their wedding vows at the two Sunday Masses (one in English, the
other in Spanish) and received a commemorative certificate.
California State University (CSU)-San Marcos has agreed
to pay a hefty fine and revise its policies after a federal
court found that it had discriminated against a campus
pro-life group.
In 2017, legal group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)
filed a lawsuit on behalf of the pro-life student group Students
for Life of America, after the university denied the
group access to funding paid for by mandatory student fees
that should have been available to all student groups.
In 2019, a California court ruled against the school,
directing it to work with the pro-life group to amend its
policies regarding student group funding. The changes announced
this month will be applied to all 23 of the state’s
CSU schools, Catholic News Agency reported.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, praised
the student leaders at CSU-San Marcos for taking a stand.
“Pro-life students should have every opportunity available
to them that pro-abortion students have,” she said in a
statement, “and anything less is a failure on the part of the
university to abide by the First Amendment.”
LA victims advocate to head
National Review Board
The former victims
assistance coordinator
for the Archdiocese of
Los Angeles has been
appointed the new
chair of the National
Review Board (NRB)
by Archbishop José H.
Gomez.
The U.S. Conference
of Catholic
Bishops announced
Jan. 30 that retired
marriage and family
therapist Suzanne
Suzanne Healy (left), former victims assistance
coordinator, with Heather Banis,
who succeeded her in the role in 2016, at
an event in 2018.
Healy would take over as head of the lay committee for
Francesco Cesareo, whose term expires in June 2020.
The board was created in 2002 to monitor the implementation
of the Charter for the Protection of Children and
Young People, and advises the bishops on child protection
policies.
Healy served in her role in Los Angeles from 2007 to
2016. Previously, she worked as a high school counselor,
and before becoming a therapist she served in strategic
planning experience for AT&T Pacific Bell.
ALEXANDRA COOPER
ENTRUSTED TO GOD’S MERCY — Loved ones grieved the death
of 19-year-old Jeremy Bru, the French exchange student killed in
the Barrington Plaza tower fire Jan. 29, at a memorial service at
St. Sebastian Church in West LA Feb. 3. The service was presided
over by pastor Father Germán Sánchez, who is also the chaplain
for the French-speaking Catholic community in Los Angeles.
PETER LOBATO
6 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

LA Catholic Events
Items for LA Catholic Events are due two weeks prior to the date of the event. They may be mailed to Angelus News (Attn: LA Catholic Events), 3424 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010-2241; emailed to
calendar@angelusnews.com; or faxed to 213-637-6360. All items must include the name, date, time, and address of the event, plus a phone number for additional information.
Fri., Feb. 14
Mass and Healing Service. Incarnation Church,
1001 N. Brand Blvd., Glendale, 7 p.m. Celebrant: Father
Parker Sandoval. For information, call 818-421-
1354 or email hojprayergroup@gmail.com.
Sat., Feb. 15
Spirituality Series: Enthronement of the Sacred
Heart in Your Home. Avila Gardens, 1171 Encanto
Pkwy., Duarte, 1-3 p.m. Learn about the simple ceremony
to enthrone our Lord as King and center of your
family life. Hearing-aid center available for free hearing
screenings. RSVP required. Email admissions@
avilagardens.com or call 626-599-2214. Tours of
Avila Gardens are also available.
Screening and Panel Discussion of “The Chosen.”
Church of the Good Shepherd, 504 N. Roxbury Dr.,
Beverly Hills, 6:30 p.m. Evening includes a panel
discussion and meet and greet with director Dallas
Jenkins, technical adviser Father David Guffey, and
cast member Jonathan Roumie. Cost: $20/person in
advance, $25/person at door, $5/person for children
under 18. Visit gsbh.org or the parish office for advance
purchase. For more information, email Donald
Carpenter at dfcarpenterjr@gmail.com.
Mon., Feb. 17
St. Padre Pio Healing Mass. St. Anne Church, 340
10th St., Seal Beach, 1 p.m. Celebrant: Father Al
Scott. Call 562-537-4526.
Tue., Feb. 18
Healing Together Through Storytelling. San Gabriel
Mission, 428 S. Mission Dr., San Gabriel, 6-9 p.m.
Directed by Julia Bogany, Gabrieleno Tongva San Gabriel
Band of Mission Indians. Special guest: Bishop
David O’Connell. Free event, snacks, and drinks provided
by ADLA Office of Native American Concerns. To
RSVP call Sylvia Mendivil Salazar at 626-755-9175 or
email sylvia2018@verizon.net.
Wed., Feb. 19
A Resilient Life: Emotional, Physical, and Spiritual
Balance. The Center at Cathedral Plaza, 555 W. Temple
St., Los Angeles, 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Conference
for those involved in diocesan and parish ministry, focused
on helping people become resilient in addressing
issues and challenges in their daily lives. For more
information, visit www.southdown.on.ca.
Requiem Mass for the Aborted Unborn. St. Rose
of Lima Church, 1305 Royal Ave., Simi Valley, 5:30
p.m. Celebrant: Father Luis Estrada. Commencement
Mass for 40 Days for Life Thousand Oaks Spring
2020 Campaign, which begins Feb. 26 and ends April
5. Call 805-527-4444 or visit 40daysforlife.com/
ThousandOaks.
Clearing Outstanding Tickets and Warrants: Free
Legal Clinic for Veterans. Bob Hope Patriotic Hall,
1816 S. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, 5:30-6:30 p.m.
Self-help workshop, 6:30-7:45 p.m. Volunteer attorneys
will be available to provide one-on-one assistance
and consultation. RSVP required. Call 213-896-
6537 or visit lacba.org/veterans.
Fri., Feb. 21
Religious Education Congress. Anaheim Convention
Center, 800 W. Katella Ave., Anaheim. Two-hundred
speakers will present more than 300 workshops,
entertainment, concerts, and liturgies Feb.
21-23. Register at www.RECongress.org.
Sat., Feb. 22
From Spiritual Warfare to Spiritual Blessings. St.
Didacus Church parish hall, 14325 Astoria St., Sylmar,
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Presentations include “The power
of his name,” and “From spiritual attack to spiritual
freedom.” Mass included. Cost: $20/person by Feb.
18 and includes catered chicken lunch. Registration
available at the door. Call SCRC at 818-771-1361 or
email spirit@scrc.org. Online registration at www.
scrc.org.
Foster Care and Adoption Information Meeting.
Children’s Bureau’s Magnolia Place, 1910 Magnolia
Ave., Los Angeles, or Children’s Bureau, 27200 Tourney
Rd., Ste. 175, Valencia, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Discover
if you have the willingness, ability, and resources to
take on the challenge of helping a child in need. RSVP
or learn more by calling 213-342-0162, toll free at
800-730-3933, or by emailing RFrecruitment@all-
4kids.org.
Mon., Feb. 24
Healing Mass. St. Cornelius Church, 5500 E. Wardlow
Rd., Long Beach, 7:30 p.m. Celebrant: Father
Joseph K. Santiago.
Tue., Feb. 25
St. John Fisher Church Women’s Council Shrove
Tuesday Luncheon. Barrett Hall, 5448 Crest Rd.,
Rancho Palos Verdes, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Speaker: Father
Peter O’Reilly. Topic: Getting the most out of Lent.
Cost: $25/person and includes lunch. Reservations
can be made at the parish office until Feb. 21. Call
Bernie Maynard at 310-541-1826.
Fri., Feb. 28
St. Clare Church Lenten Fish Fry. 19606 Calla Way,
Santa Clarita, 4:30-8 p.m. Dinner: Beer-battered
cod, coleslaw, choice of French Fries, rice pilaf, and
beans. Fish tacos with rice and beans also available.
Cost: $11/person for two-piece dinner, $12/person
for three-piece dinner. Dine in or take out. Call 661-
252-3353 or visit st-clare.org.
Sun., March 1
Blessed by the Cross Lenten Conference for Women.
Santa Teresita Hospital, St. Joseph’s Chapel, 819
Buena Vista St., Duarte, 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Speakers:
Bishop David O’Connell, Yolanda Rodriguez, and
musical guest artist Connie Salazar. Cost: $25/person
before Feb. 22, $35/person after. For more information,
visit wondercoach.org or call 626-615-5773.
Fri., March 6
Alan Ames Presentations. Our Lady of the Rosary
Church, 14815 Paramount Blvd., Paramount, 7 p.m.
Mass, 8 p.m. talk followed by exposition, adoration,
and healing service. March 7 at Divine Saviour
Church, 2911 Idell St., Los Angeles, 5 p.m. Mass, 6
p.m. presentation. March 8 at St. Louis de Montfort
Church, 1190 E. Clark Ave., Santa Maria, 6 p.m.
Mass, 7 p.m. presentation.
St. Clare Church Lenten Fish Fry. 19606 Calla Way,
Santa Clarita, 4:30-8 p.m. Dinner: Beer-battered
cod, coleslaw, choice of French Fries, rice pilaf, and
beans. Fish tacos with rice and beans also available.
Cost: $11/person for two-piece dinner, $12/person
for three-piece dinner. Dine in or take out. Call 661-
252-3353 or visit st-clare.org.
Sat., March 7
Drawing Closer to Jesus Retreat. St. Margaret
Mary Alacoque Church, 25511 Eshelman Ave., Lomita,
1-4 p.m. Led by Sister Kathryn Hermes, FSP, this
free retreat guides you on a journey to trust more in
God’s love and his plan for you. Call 310-397-8676 or
email culvercity@paulinemedia.com.
Lenten Silent Saturday. Holy Spirit Retreat Center,
4316 Lanai Rd., Encino, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Quiet morning
of centering prayer and silence, with time for
communal prayer, contemplative walk, private journaling,
and reflection. All are welcome. Register at
HSRCenter.com or call Amanda Berg at 818-815-
4480. Freewill offerings accepted.
Sun., March 8
Drawing Closer to Jesus Retreat. Holy Trinity
Church, 1292 W. Santa Cruz St., San Pedro, 1-5
p.m. Led by Sister Kathryn Hermes, FSP, this retreat
guides you on a journey to trust more in God’s love
and his plan for you. Donation: $15/person. Call 310-
397-8676 or email culvercity@paulinemedia.com.
Visit AngelusNews.com for these stories
and more. Your source for complete,
up-to-the-minute coverage of local news,
sports and events in Catholic L.A.
This Week at AngelusNews.com
• What does an Irish cop show teach us about the Faith’s tenacity?
• Bishop Robert E. Barron’s prayer at the tomb of St. Paul.
• Letters to the editor: A hard look at the reasons women choose abortion.
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 7

SUNDAY
READINGS
BY SCOTT HAHN
Sir. 15:15–20 / Ps. 119:1–2, 4–5, 17–18, 33–34 / 1 Cor. 2:6–10 / Mt. 5:17–37
Jesus tells us in the
Gospel this week that
he has come not
to abolish but
to “fulfill” the
law of Moses
and the
teachings
of the
prophets.
His Gospel
reveals
the deeper
meaning
and purpose
of the Ten
Commandments
and the
moral law of the Old
Testament.
But his Gospel also transcends
the law. He demands a morality
far greater than that accomplished
by the most pious of Jews, the scribes,
and Pharisees. Outward observance of
the law is not enough. It is not enough
that we do not murder, commit adultery,
divorce, or lie.
The law of the New Covenant is a
law that God writes on the heart (see
Jeremiah 31:31–34). The heart is the
seat of our motivations, the place from
which our words and actions proceed
(see Matthew 6:21; 15:18–20). Jesus
this week calls us to train our hearts,
to master our passions and emotions.
And Jesus demands the full obedience
of our hearts (see Romans 6:17).
He calls us to love God with all our
hearts, and to do his will from the
heart (see Matthew 22:37; Ephesians
6:6) God never asks more of us than
we are capable. That is the message
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
“God the Father,” by Pierre Mignard, 1612-
1695, French.
of this week’s First Reading. It is up to
us to choose life over death, to choose
the waters of eternal life over the fires
of ungodliness and sin.
By his life, death, and resurrection,
Jesus has shown us that it is possible to
keep his commandments. In baptism,
he has given us his Spirit that his law
might be fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4).
The wisdom of the Gospel surpasses
all the wisdom of this age that is
passing away, St. Paul tells us in the
Epistle.
The revelation of this wisdom fulfills
God’s plan from before all ages. Let
us trust in this wisdom, and live by his
kingdom law. As we do in this week’s
Psalm, let us pray that we grow in being
better able to live his Gospel, and
to seek the Father with all our heart.
Scott Hahn is founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, stpaulcenter.com.
Scott Hahn is founder of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, stpaulcenter.com.
8 • ANGELUS • February August 16-23-30, 14, 20202019

IN EXILE
BY FATHER RONALD ROLHEISER, OMI
The challenge of magnanimity
What does it mean to be bighearted,
magnanimous?
Once during a baseball game in high
school an umpire made a very unfair
call against our team. Our whole team
was indignant and all of us began to
shout angrily at the umpire, swearing
at him, calling him names, loudly
venting our anger. But one of our
teammates didn’t follow suit.
Instead of shouting at the umpire he
kept trying to stop the rest of us from
doing so. “Let it go!” he kept telling
us, “Let it go – we’re bigger than this!”
Bigger than what? He wasn’t referring
to the umpire’s immaturity, but to our
own. And we weren’t “bigger than
this,” at least not then. Certainly I
wasn’t. I couldn’t swallow an injustice.
I wasn’t big enough.
But something stayed with me from
that incident, the challenge to “be bigger”
inside the things that slight us. I
don’t always succeed, but I’m a better
person when I do, more bighearted,
just as I am more petty and smaller of
heart when I don’t.
But just as our teammate challenged
us all those years ago, we remain
challenged to “be bigger” than the
pettiness within a moment. That invitation
lies at the very heart of Jesus’
moral challenge in the Sermon on the
Mount. There he invites us to have
“a virtue that’s deeper than that of the
scribes and the Pharisees.”
And there’s more hidden in that
statement than first meets the eye
because the scribes and Pharisees
were very virtuous people. They strove
hard always to be faithful to all the
precepts of their faith and were people
who believed in and practiced strict
justice. They didn’t make unfair calls
as umpires!
But inside of all of that goodness
they still lacked something that the
Sermon on the Mount invites us to:
a certain magnanimity, to have big
enough hearts and minds that can rise
above being slighted so as to be bigger
than a given moment.
Let me offer this example of what
that can mean. John Paul II was the
first pope in history to speak out unequivocally
against capital punishment.
It’s important to note that he didn’t say
that capital punishment was wrong.
Biblically we do have the right to
practice it. John Paul conceded that.
However, and this is the lesson: He
went on to say that, while we may in
justice practice capital punishment,
we shouldn’t do it because Jesus calls
us to something higher, namely, to
forgive sinners and not execute them.
That’s magnanimity, that’s being
bigger than the moment we’re caught
up within.
St. Thomas Aquinas, in his moral astuteness,
makes a distinction that one
doesn’t often hear either in Church
teachings or in common sense. St.
Thomas says that a certain thing can
be sin for one person and yet not for
another. In essence, something can be
a sin for someone who is bighearted,
even as it is not a sin for someone who
is petty and small of heart.
Here’s an example: In a wonderfully
challenging comment, St. Thomas
once wrote that “it is a sin to withhold
a compliment from someone
who genuinely deserves it because in
doing so we are withholding from that
person some of the food upon which
he or she needs to live.”
But in teaching this, St. Aquinas is
clear that this is a sin only for someone
who is bighearted, magnanimous,
and at a certain level of maturity.
Someone who is immature, self-centered,
and petty of heart is not held to
the same moral and spiritual standard.
How is this possible? Isn’t a sin a
sin, irrespective of the person? Not
always. Whether or not something is a
sin or not and the seriousness of a sin
depends upon the depth and maturity
within a relationship.
Imagine this: A man and his wife
have such a deep, sensitive, caring,
respectful, and intimate relationship
so that the tiniest expressions of affection
or neglect speak loudly to each
other. For example, as they part to
go their separate ways each morning
they always exchange an expression of
affection as a parting ritual.
Now, should either of them neglect
that expression of affection on an
ordinary morning where there’s no
special circumstance, it would be no
small, incidental matter. Something
large would be being said.
Conversely, consider another couple
whose relationship is not close, where
there is little care, little affection, little
respect, and no habit of expressing
affection upon parting. Such neglect
would mean nothing. No slight, no
intent, no harm, no sin, just lack of
care as usual. Yes, some things can
be a sin for one person and not for
another.
We’re invited both by Jesus and by
what’s best inside us to become big
enough of heart and mind to know
that it’s a sin not to give a compliment,
to know that even though biblically
we may do capital punishment,
we still shouldn’t do it, and to know
that we’re better women and men
when we are bigger than any slight we
experience within a given moment.
Father Ron Rolheiser is a theologian, teacher, award-winning author, and president of the Oblate School of Theology
in San Antonio, Texas. Find him online at www.ronrolheiser.com and www.facebook.com/ronrolheiser.
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 9

Reveling in Raphael
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
500 years after his death, the
Renaissance master’s art is still finding
ways to call viewers to contemplation.
BY ELIZABETH LEV / ANGELUS
10 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

Once, the mere mention of Raphael Sanzio’s name
elicited swoons from prelates to princes, who ruthlessly
vied over his artworks. Even the researchers and
revolutionaries of the Enlightenment could be subdued by
his gentle Madonnas and peaceful saints.
The great artistic renewals of the 17th, 18th, and 19th
centuries looked to Raphael as an aesthetic North Star, but
today, in our impoverished 21st century, the devout associate
his name with an archangel, and the rest with a Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtle.
The year 2020 is a wonderful opportunity for the world to
rediscover the artist who seduced three centuries of viewers,
and to revive his qualities of harmony, balance, and gentleness.
This, the 500th anniversary of the painter’s untimely
death at age 37, will see exhibitions, academic conferences,
and new restorations to celebrate the brief but impactful life
of Raphael.
Whether visiting some of his works at national museums
in Baltimore, Pasadena, Raleigh, Boston, New York, and the
stunning collection in Washington, D.C.’s National Gallery,
or a destination pilgrimage to see the major exhibit featuring
more than 200 paintings that will open in Rome at the Scuderie
del Quirinale March 5, this is a chance to be led into
the new decade with a fresh look at art, faith, and life.
Raphael was a child prodigy, a disciplined worker, a delightful
companion, and a generous employer. Men and women,
popes and nobles, and even his own competitors treasured
him. Born in 1483 in the small but sophisticated town of
Urbino, Raphael’s father, painter Giovanni Sanzio, ensured
that his son not only knew the tricks of the trade at an early
age, but also was exposed to the vast variety of artistic styles
that flourished in the cosmopolitan Montefeltro court.
He grew up amid oil and fresco, miniaturists and muralists,
and would evince a fearlessness toward new techniques and
ideas for all of his short life.
His skills were furthered and fostered by great women of his
age. Giovanna da Montefeltro, duchess of Urbino, known as
La Prefetessa, arranged his introduction to the exalted circles
“The Liberation of St. Peter” in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, by Raphael.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 11

of Florence, and Atlanta Baglioni, of the ruling family of
Perugia, commissioned the “Entombment” painting, which
ultimately got Raphael his Rome audition for Pope Julius II.
By age 26, Raphael was decorating the throne room of
Pope Julius II, one of the most powerful men of the era, with
images of philosophy, theology, art, and law. This task would
draw him into competition with Michelangelo, who was
painting the Sistine Chapel a few feet away at the same time,
and ignite a celebrity rivalry that would produce some of the
greatest works in the history of art.
Therein lies the first lesson that this Renaissance painter
can afford our times: Never fear competition.
Raphael didn’t balk at comparisons to Leonardo da Vinci,
but welcomed them as he tried to master the elder painter’s
facility with the technique of “sfumato,” the gentle softening
of contours on a figure. Leonardo used the technique to
create enigmatic effects, and Raphael adapted it to infuse his
art with grace.
Michelangelo formed massive figures, isolated giants like
the David or the Jonah of the Sistine Chapel; Raphael
responded by creating drama with light and dark in “The
Liberation of St. Peter.” When put unexpectedly in competition
with a Venetian painter, Sebastiano del Piombo,
Raphael, instead of rejecting the softer, color-forward style,
learned from his rival.
Commissioned to produce drawings for tapestries that
would hang under Michelangelo’s monumental Sistine
ceiling, Raphael mastered this unfamiliar medium and produced
arguably the greatest tapestry sequence in the world.
Snark, envy, or setbacks never brought him down; rather they
spurred him to greater heights.
Raphael’s lifting up of those around him offers a second
lesson for our age. By age 30 Raphael was running the
equivalent of a Fortune 500 company. Yet despite his success,
he found time to mentor his numerous assistants, many of
whom would grow into brilliant artists in their own right.
Under Raphael’s tutelage, Giovanni da Udine rediscovered
the secret of making stucco like the ancient Romans, Giulio
Romano developed new types of perspective, and Perin del
Vaga innovated the use of color. The recently restored Room
of Constantine in the Vatican Museums, to be unveiled this
spring, will reveal the daring creativity fostered by Raphael’s
generosity.
In the present age of name-calling and hot takes, of stridency
and vulgarity, Raphael’s greatest legacy might be his
gracefulness. In his art and in his life, he never tried to shock
“The Room of Constantine” in the Vatican Museums.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
12 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

“Sistine Madonna,” by Raphael, 1513-1514.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
or upset, he brought out the beautiful in everything around
him. His biographer, Giorgio Vasari, wrote, “At the sight of
Raphael all bad humor died away, and every base and unworthy
thought left.”
His enchanted imagination allowed him to see snippets of
loveliness amid flawed creation, and he wove them deftly
into his charming canvases. Art was no place to vaunt his
own personal failings (Vasari suggests he had libertine tendencies);
Raphael focused on the best in the world surrounding
him.
He presented nature in an ordered fashion and then gently
lifted the viewer’s gaze to the supernatural plane. His “Sistine
Madonna,” who hovers effortlessly above St. Sixtus, St.
Barbara, and two adorable angels, or his “Santa Cecelia,”
disregarding the pleasures of this world while yearning for the
joys of the next, reflect a peaceful spirituality, not a tormented
wrestling match with faith.
This art calls for a quality that would behoove us all to cultivate
in the coming year: contemplation. Raphael’s art is best
absorbed in silence, much as its characters seem to move in
quiet solemnity. A world that learned to look more carefully,
that took time to appreciate nuance and that found joy in
serenity, might start to more resemble Raphael’s “School of
Athens” rather than Picasso’s “Guernica,” and would that be
such a bad thing?
Elizabeth Lev is an American-born art historian who lives
and works in Rome.
Raphael tapestries return
to Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel in an image taken from video during a special exhibition of Raphael’s tapestries
at the Vatican in 2010.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
For the first time since 1983, all 10
of Raphael’s tapestries depicting
the lives of Sts. Peter and Paul
will be exhibited together in the Sistine
Chapel, hanging at eye level beneath
Michaelangelo’s frescoed ceiling, as
was the original intention.
On display Feb. 17-23, the exhibition
honors the Renaissance master on the
500th anniversary of his death. Raphael
never saw all 10 pieces together. He
painted the “cartoons” used to create
the tapestries, and they were woven
over a four-year period in Brussels.
The first seven were exhibited in the
Sistine Chapel Dec. 26, 1519, hanging
until Pope Leo’s death in 1521, when
they were pawned to pay for his funeral.
American theologian Jill Alexy told
Crux that the tapestries recount the
life of the two apostles, “united their
human efforts as minister of the word
to the transcendent activity of the Holy
Spirit. It is a breathlessly beautiful way
to illustrate biblical theology.”
— Inés San Martín/Crux
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 13

Families who
Started by a veteran LA priest
six years ago, Healing Hearts
Restoring Hope offers the loved
ones of homicide victims a place
to overcome trauma
BY R.W. DELLINGER / ANGELUS
Tomas and Juanita Bonilla with Healing Hearts Restoring Hope executive director Consuelo Valdez (center). The Bonillas’ daughter and granddaughter
were murdered in 2010.
R.W. DELLINGER
On an early Saturday afternoon in December 2019,
Tomas and Juanita Bonilla were sitting at a table
outside the cafeteria of Dolores Mission School in
Boyle Heights to talk about a group that no one wants to be
a part of.
Started in 2014, Healing Hearts Restoring Hope (HHRH)
is for individuals whose lives have been forever changed
by the homicide of a loved one, but who have focused on
forgiving and healing.
For the Bonillas, that change came on Halloween 2010.
Still angry about their recent breakup, the ex-boyfriend of
their 19-year-old daughter, Zurisaday, drove his vehicle into
the Bonilla’s home.
The car smashed through the bedroom where the family
was, killing Zurisaday and 18-day-old baby Naomi. For the
parents of four children, getting past such an unspeakable
tragedy came down to the choice to forgive.
“I didn’t have time to think about him,” Tomas said of the
man who murdered his daughter and granddaughter. “I was
thinking about my wife, our other children. I talked to my
wife, and she said she did not feel anything for him.”
The couple, who spoke to Angelus News while the group
held its annual Christmas party, recalled feeling concern
not only for their family but for that of the perpetrator, too.
“We focused on restoring and healing our other children
first, and to make sure that our children were going to be
OK,” recalled Juanita. “And we also knew the other family,
who had recently lost their grandfather as well. So the pain
14 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

that we were feeling, the other family must have felt as well.
We understood that and focused on healing. We didn’t
have time for hate.”
It was HHRH that helped the couple for what came next.
“When we chose to forgive, we were harshly judged by
people who didn’t understand how we could forgive him,”
said Juanita. “Coming to this group, we were not judged,
which we appreciated. We felt that we could be who we
were.”
Consuelo Valdez, HHRH executive director, who translated
for the couple during the interview, called the Bonillas
“walking examples of what it is to be compassionate.”
“They’re just a forgiving family — the way they have forgiven,
the way they carry themselves and wanted to reconnect
with the offender’s family,” she said. “It’s just God in
their lives.”
FAMILIES WHO FORGIVE
Since starting in her current role a year ago, Valdez has
talked to many forgiving families like the Bonillas.
“I am amazed at all the families that I meet like them,” she
said. “But I know it’s their faith, too. A lot of it is the faith
that they have that carries them and supports them, and the
fact that there’s a group that exists that understands.
“Every time I go to a group meeting, people say, ‘I feel safe
here. I can say what I need to say. I can say what my feelings
are. Because if I say it out there, people tell me I shouldn’t
feel this way: Get over it! It’s been years.’ But you never get
over somebody violently taking the life of your child. But
this is a place where they can come. It’s what they need
right now.”
Inside at the Christmas party, children were the first to
come up to the cafeteria counter for a plate of spaghetti
and meatballs, two chicken legs, and a big roll. Parents
followed, helping themselves to mole sauce to go with their
lunch. The steady hum of laughter and conversation coming
from the two rows of tables was the sound of a family
reunion, not a grief session.
Looking around the room, Valdez talked about plans to expand
HHRH to focus specifically on helping children. She
recalled a young girl whose sister was killed in a drive-by
gang shooting years ago. Later, when she saw her, the girl
couldn’t stop sobbing. She felt a guilt that had never gone
away: She should have been outside to protect her 10-yearold
sibling, she said.
“A lot of these kids never dealt with the homicide that
suddenly came into their young lives,” she said. “And that’s
why you see them having trouble concentrating and learning
in school. A lot of times they’re nervous. They can’t sit
still. So they get into trouble. They’re diagnosed with ADD
[Attention Deficit Disorder].
“And a lot of it has to do with the trauma they’re carrying
from seeing a close relative killed. So if we could work with
children to be able to move beyond that and have a safe
place for them, I think that would help them heal, and their
parents as well. And parents could be aware of what happens
to their children who experienced such a huge loss. So
there’s education on all levels.”
After laying more of the groundwork, Valdez hopes to start
the child-centered healing program this year.
A Healing Hearts Restoring Hope Day of Healing was provided for homicide survivors April 27, 2019, giving individuals a space to heal through
songwriting and crafts.
IMAGE VIA FACEBOOK @HHRHLA
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 15

04022
‘VICARIOUS TRAUMA’
Father George Horan, former head of
the Archdiocese of Los Angeles’ Office
of Restorative Justice, founded Healing
Hearts Restoring Hope six years ago.
After some three decades working in
prison ministry, he saw a need that
wasn’t really being met.
“I thought that the one aspect that
was really missing was healing from
the trauma of violence that a child
experiences,” he said. “We would do
all kinds of good programs inside of
prisons and outside with victims. But
we weren’t getting down to what really
happens to children that brought them
to the point where they could commit
a violent crime like murder.
“What do they need to heal from their
traumatic childhoods? What do people need to heal from
the trauma that’s related to homicides?”
And that was
one of the reasons
why Valdez was
hired: to design
and implement a
program geared
for kids. But
HHRH eventually
went beyond
those directly
touched by violence
to include
others affected
by homicide,
including first
responders, court
personnel and
Father George Horan
jurors, as well
as members of
the community
where the killing
happened.
“We started to see the ripple effect of violence,” reported
Father Horan. “There was an EMT [emergency medical
technician] guy who picked up a 7-year-old boy who was
shot in the head and took him to a hospital. And then quit.
So he was a victim of that crime. What healing does he need
now to deal with that?”
And then there were prosecutors, defense attorneys, public
defenders, and judges who just do murder trials. They see
the gruesome photos, hear the gory details all the time in
their jobs, taking on what the priest called “vicarious trauma.”
The same applies to social workers at Los Angeles County
Hospital+USC Medical Center and other hospitals with
trauma care centers, who have to deal with the families of
loved ones who die violent deaths.
R.W. DELLINGER
Healing Hearts Restoring Hope’s annual Christmas party at Dolores Mission School in 2019.
HHRH has worked with these groups and others.
Looking around the decorated cafeteria at Dolores Mission,
Father Horan mused about the stories the smiling families
carried with them.
“Most of all these children and adults had a family member
who was killed. But some have just seen people killed in
their neighborhood. They witnessed it. And the vast majority
of them never got any kind of help,” he said.
“Adults talk about it, and they can get the help they need.
But a lot of times kids just don’t deal with it. They don’t
have the language to talk about it. And according to studies,
almost everyone in prison for murder, by the age of 10 had
witnessed at least five acts of extreme violence, one of them
being the murder of someone they loved.
“So what do they need to do to try to deal with all this trauma?”
asked the priest. “That’s what Healing Hearts Restoring
Hope is all about: helping all those affected by murder to
heal from their trauma.”
A WORK WORTH CARRYING ON
There were 253 homicides in the city of Los Angeles alone
in 2019, meaning a ministry like HHRH will have its work
cut out for it for years to come.
For the Bonillas, forgetting what happened has never been
the goal. What the group has helped them to do, they say, is
to heal with the help of a community.
“These other people in our group know, understand what
we feel,” said Juanita, who now helps other families touched
by homicides. “That is very important for healing. And on
our journey to healing, it has helped my other children to be
OK, too.”
“It’s given me the only hope of ever seeing my daughter
again,” said Tomas. “I’ve promised God that I will be a good
person with that hope. My faith has given me hope.”
For more information on Healing Hearts Restoring Hope,
visit hhrh-la.org.
R.W. Dellinger is the features editor of Angelus.
R.W. DELLINGER
16 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

Chief Financial Officer
Department of Financial Affairs, Pastoral Center
The Diocese of San Bernardino is a vibrant and diverse community of Roman Catholic Believers committed to bringing the Good News
of Jesus Christ to all we encounter. Observing the provisions of canon and civil law the CFO is to ensure that the ownership of ecclesiastical
goods is safeguarded and expended according to the wishes of the bishop, profitably invest surplus funds, insure that accurate records of
income and expenditures are kept, prepare annual budgets, present annual financial statements to the faithful concerning the goods they have
given to the Church and, to fulfill all duties in the name of the Church. To that end, the Office of Financial Affairs collaborates with the offices of
Accounting, Parish Assistance, Payroll, Catholic Mutual and Construction and Real Estate.
RESPONSIBILITIES INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:
• Reports directly to the Bishop and serves as a member of the Curia.
• Supervises the directors of: Accounting Services, Parish Assistance, Payroll Services, and Office of Construction and Real Estate (OCRE).
• Oversees the development and preparation of financial plans, budgets, forecasts, and analyses to assist Diocesan management in making
financial decisions that affect the overall mission of the Diocese and provides related background information. Assists Diocesan Pastoral
Center Offices in development of annual budget.
• Oversees the management of diocesan and parish investments, bequests, trusts and endowments.
• Directs, supervises, and/or reviews the Diocese’s policies, procedures, and internal accounting control systems. Oversees and directs the
recording and safeguarding of the assets of the Diocese and gives reasonable assurance that all are appropriately recorded in the financial
records. Acts as signatory for disbursements.
• Oversees and directs the preparation of annual and periodic financial statements and, in accordance with Canon 494 §4, renders a year-end
account of receipts and disbursements to the Finance Council.
• Serves as an ex-officio member of the Diocesan Finance Council and all its committees and attends the meetings of those entities.
• Serves as an ex-officio member of other Diocesan Corporations, and as a member of committees, task forces, etc., as necessary to enhance
the functioning of the financial affairs of the Diocese.
• Collaborates with Diocesan attorney and OCRE in the review of contracts and acts as signatory.
• Trains and develops staff as required. Conducts annual performance evaluations.
• Performs other tasks as directed by the Bishop or as requested by the Diocesan Finance Council.
• In accordance with Canon 1276 §1, assists the Bishop with the administration of the temporal goods of other public juridical entities subject
to his authority.
QUALIFICATION GUIDELINES:
• Has a college degree in Accounting, Finance, or a related financial management field and, preferably, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)
and/or has an MBA degree.
• Has excellent business, financial, and management skills, with a minimum of ten years leadership experience in financial management,
preferably in the non-profit environment.
• Is proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and financial software systems and is willing to learn other software products.
• Must be a Roman Catholic, in communion with the Church according to the provisions of Canon 149, paragraph one of the Code of Canon
Law, as revised in 1983, possessing a high level of integrity and honesty and with a strong commitment to the mission of the Church.
• Maintains complete confidentiality regarding Diocesan business affairs and finances.
• Must have strong analytical skills, excellent written and oral presentation skills, and strong team building skills.
• Maintains and is willing to enhance professional and technical knowledge necessary for the position.
• Must be able to build and maintain strong relationships with the Bishop and other key pastoral/lay leaders.
• Must be sensitive to a multicultural Southern California environment. Capable of motivating and leading a diverse staff.
• Local and overnight travel as required, and usually involves occasional trips to meet with parishes, offices and agencies.
• Membership in Diocesan Fiscal Management Conference, and attendance at annual meetings requires travel outside of the Diocese.
• Excellent communication skills.
• Must have ability to interact professionally with all employees and people coming into the office.
• Must have ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Includes but not limited to considerable use of arms and legs, whole body movement, walking, lifting, and stooping, standing, sitting, lifting
and carrying up to 20lbs., pushing, pulling, kneeling, crouching, crawling, hearing, speaking, seeing, reaching, repetitive forward bending,
repetitive arm/hand motions, prolonged gripping of an item, repetitive hand/finger movements, sense of touch/feel, temperature extremes.
Interested candidates, please forward your resume and salary requirements to:
Diocese of San Bernardino
Attn. Sinia Bustamante
1201 E. Highland Avenue
San Bernardino, CA 92404
Email: employment@sbdiocese.org
Fax: 909-475-5189
Applicant Deadline is: March 15, 2020. The Diocese of San Bernardino is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 17
04022020_DiocSanBernardino_Job Posting_Angelus_fp.indd 1
2/7/20 1:53 PM

HOLY
PAYBACK
Team Priest turned
the tables on Team
Seminarian in this year’s
Vocations basketball
game — with some help
from a pair of newly
ordained ballers
BY TOM HOFFARTH / ANGELUS
PHOTOS BY JOHNMICHAEL FILIPPONE
Seminarian Michael Masteller takes a shot past Father Fidelis Omeaku.
Each wearing his prized black Kobe Bryant Lakers
jersey with the No. 24 emblazoned on both sides,
Father Andrew Chung of St. Pancratius Church in
Panorama City and Father Fidelis Omeaku of St. Mary
Magdalen Church in Camarillo stood in front of a tribute
shrine set up on the stage behind the south basket at the
Chaminade College Prep gym in Chatsworth last Friday
night.
First they faced a friend snapping their photo, but they
then turned around to show the “BRYANT” name across
their backs, matching both a gold and white Lakers jersey
that hung among photos and memorabilia honoring the
NBA star killed with his daughter Gianna and seven others
in a helicopter crash a few weeks earlier.
After Father Chung scored a game-high 14 points in the
Team Priest’s 58-45 victory over Team Seminarian in the
Feb. 7 charity event sponsored by the Archdiocese of Los
Angeles’ Office of Vocations, he reflected back on that
moment during warmups.
“It was powerful. Kobe was who I grew up with watching
basketball, and to have such a tragic event involving him
and eight others who passed away really took over LA and
ripped the hearts out of people,” said Father Chung, who
went home with the game MVP trophy. “He’s someone
who united LA in one sense, and tonight we were gathered
all in the name of God.”
Father Omeaku, who claimed No. 24 on his priests’ team
jersey during the game and scored a key fourth-quarter
basket to help preserve the win, said Bryant was the reason
why he started playing basketball as a youth of the international
‘Kobe Generation’ of basketball fans in Nigeria.
“What stood out about him was, even when he encountered
difficult times, his perseverance was important,” said
Father Omeaku. “That became a spiritual perseverance for
him to live out, not just in sports but everyday life. That’s
something that has actually helped me with challenges I’ve
encountered. That’s what I appreciate so much about him.
“I have a poster in my room with him, Jerry West, and Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar, and it has the losing team record each
of them had in their first season. And on the bottom it says,
‘They who endure, conquer.’ I look at that all the time.”
Both teams lined up along the 3-point line and joined the
hundreds in the gym for a 24-second moment of silence
for all the victims of the crash that took place just 15 miles
away in Calabasas Jan. 26. Team Seminarian guard Jihoo
“Kevin” Kim, wearing No. 24, then embraced Father
Omeaku at the free-throw line.
Hearing about Bryant’s Catholic faith and his ties to
Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Newport Beach
hit home for Father Omeaku. His old friend from their
18 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

seminary days, Father Anthony Vu,
performed the baptism recently for
Bryant’s youngest daughter, 7-monthold
Capri Kobe.
“His demise is still one of the most
difficult things we’ve had to deal
with,” said Father Omeaku. “To date,
I still don’t believe it and may not
until I see a funeral. Let them all rest
in peace.”
Father Sam Ward, director of vocations
and the play-by-play broadcaster
for the game, said the Bryant news hit
home for him as a Southern California
native.
“He was a faithful Catholic man and
our heart breaks for those families,”
said Father Ward, who grew up in
nearby Agoura Hills. “If we can give
some joy to his family, maybe if they
hear about how we honored him
as the whole world has, then it’s all
worth it, too.”
A night otherwise dedicated to
celebrating the comraderie of current
priests with those studying to become
priests came with a sacramental
twist: Having been ordained to the
priesthood just eight months ago, two
players who were part of last year’s
Team Seminarian 15-point win found
themselves playing for the opposite
side this year.
Father Brian Humphrey, at St. Mary
Magdalen Church in Camarillo,
Fathers Darrin Merlino (29), Tom Baker (13), and Fidelis Omeaku (24) during the 24 seconds of
silence held in memory of the victims of the helicopter accident that killed Kobe and Gianna Bryant.
and Father Louis Sung, at St. Peter
Claver Church in Simi Valley, were
co-coaches of Team Seminarian in
2019. With Team Priest leading by
four points with 3:30 to play, Father
Humphrey converted a 3-point play
with a free throw after he was fouled
scoring on a layup. Father Sung followed
with a 3-point shot beyond the
arch to expand the advantage to 10 in
less than a minute’s time.
“I’ve only been a priest eight months
— it’s been a beautiful journey, not
without some challenges — but there
are many priests I hadn’t even met
until today,” said Father Sung. “Promoting
and building fellowship is one
thing, but showing it to the public is
another with an event like this.”
Father Humphrey pointed out that
three deacons on Team Seminarian
— Jonathan Nestico, Justin Oh and
Filiberto Cortez — are primed to join
Team Priest next year. Not a moment
Father Andrew Chung celebrates his MVP award as Father Sam Ward,
director of vocations, looks on.
SCORING SUMMARY
#TeamSeminarian (45)
#TeamPriest (58)
* Michael Masteller: 11
Michael Croghan: 9
* Jihoon “Kevin” Kim: 5
Deacon Justin Oh: 4
John Coronel: 4
Anthony Huynh: 3
* Deacon Jonathan Nestico: 2
* Donald Melgarejo: 2
Juan Cesar Carrasco: 2
Ramon Reyes: 2
* Deacon Filiberto Cortez: 0
Weifeng Tong: 0
Daniel Gonzalez: 0
Sergio Hidalgo: 0
Thomas An Luu: 0
Jose Moreno: 0
John Paul Simon: 0
Alex Salcedo: 0
Joseph Morrell: 0
Quoc Vo: 0
*— Starting player
* Father Andrew Chung: 14
* Father Matthias
Lambrecht, OCD: 13
* Father Louis Sung: 12
* Father Darrin Merlino, CMF: 5
Father Daniel Martinez: 6
Father Brian Humphrey: 5
Father Fidelis Omeaku: 2
* Father Ed Benioff: 1
Father Tom Baker: 0
Father Joseph Choi: 0
Father John O’Brien: 0
*— Starting player
Quarter 1 2 3 4 Final
#TeamSeminarians 11 11 12 11 — 45
#TeamPriest 13 12 14 19 — 58
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 19

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Father Fidelis Omeaku shoots a free throw.
too soon: The Team Priest roster had
11 players compared to the 20 on the
Team Seminarian side, yet they never
trailed in the contest despite being far
outnumbered.
“It’s so good to see everyone develop
these bonds with Christ,” said Father
Humphrey. “The communion of love
in Christ we share at Mass or in prayer
groups happens here in a different
form, through sport. The Holy Spirit
is working.”
Father Mike Perucho, associate
vocations director, is working as well.
He said that among those discerning
the priesthood who attended the 2019
event, Donald Melgarejo from Commerce
was one of them. Not only has
he since joined the seminary, but he
was also in the seminarians’ starting
lineup Friday.
“We had eight-to-10 discerners here
tonight,” Perucho added, “so God
willing, they’ll join Team Seminarian
next year.”
Among the new faces on the priests’
roster was Father Darrin Merlino,
CMF, from San Gabriel Mission
Church.
“I really enjoy being a priest, and
playing with these priests shows it’s
like a fraternity that’s no other,” he
said. “We do all we can to support
the seminarians. I just thought the 48
minutes we were playing basketball
together, it was that taste of joy that
we’ll all have in heaven.”
Tom Hoffarth is an award-winning
journalist based in Los Angeles.
E
m
R
In
In
o
ANGELUS
Target those who share
your faith and values to
build a loyal customer base.
Contact Jim Garcia at
213.637.7590 or
jagarcia@angelusnews.com
Players from both 11-man #TeamPriest (in black) and 20-man #TeamSeminarian (in white) gather
for a group shot after the game.

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Legalized danger
Traditionally Catholic
countries are
moving to expand
assisted suicide and
euthanasia. Can
someone like Pope
Francis reframe the
debate?
BY CHARLES COLLINS /
ANGELUS
Pope Francis meets Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a private audience in 2017 at the Vatican.
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE/L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS
Canada could be set to become
the first country outside of Europe
to allow physician-assisted
suicide and euthanasia for mental
conditions.
This move has happened lightning
fast. Just five months ago, the Quebec
Superior Court struck down a requirement
that those seeking medically
assisted suicide, legal in Canada since
2016, have a terminal condition.
The Canadian government held
a two-week online consultation on
the subject of expanding the use of
Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID);
yes, the official government acronym
is a person you pay to clean up a mess.
Justice Minister David Lametti told
the CBC, “Canadians are largely in
agreement that we ought to expand
the possibility for medical assistance in
dying beyond the end-of-life scenario.”
When asked about the possibility of
psychiatric patients, those suffering
from depression, for example, Lametti
said that “certainly is a possibility that’s
raised by this expansion.”
The Canadian bishops were quick to
react.
Archbishop Richard Gagnon of
Winnipeg, Manitoba, president of the
Canadian Conference of Catholic
Bishops, wrote to Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, calling the
developments “deeply troubling.”
“Further attempts to make it available
to mature minors, the mentally ill, and
the cognitively impaired are evidence
that the current safeguards are inadequate
and can be legally challenged
and overturned,” Archbishop Gagnon
wrote.
“The dangers we see now in Canada,
and those that can be foreseen
by experiences elsewhere (including
euthanasia for depression, child euthanasia,
and elder abuse) are shocking
and disturbing, and have no place in
any society.”
Catholics are the largest religious
group in Canada, making up nearly
39% of the population, almost twice
the percentage in the United States.
In Quebec, Catholics make up nearly
75% of the population.
Yet the voice of the bishops seems to
be carrying very little weight with the
Canadian government.
Part of the reason is because
Trudeau’s Liberal Party generally
comes on the other side of life issues
than the Church; his government
didn’t appeal the court’s euthanasia
decision, even though it technically
lost the case.
However, there is another factor at
play: namely, that Canada’s strong
Catholic heritage can ironically work
against efforts to promote life issues as
the country embraces secularization.
This can be seen especially in
ground-zero of the euthanasia revolution:
Belgium.
Speaking to Crux in 2018, Dr. Mark
Komrad, a clinical psychiatrist and an
ethicist who is on the teaching faculty
of the Department of Psychiatry at
Johns Hopkins, said that in Belgium
22 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

secularism began defining itself as
“specifically a rejection of its long historical
Catholic character and roots.”
Komrad, who isn’t Catholic, said as
far as the secularists are concerned,
“it is the same tired arguments that do
not stand up to the modernist, liberal
apotheosis of autonomy and self-determination,
which elevates those values
so that they trump all other values,
especially the dignity and preciousness
of life.”
Komrad said any attempt to defend
the preciousness of life in Belgium
“apparently gets one accused of being a
Catholic, a crypto-Catholic, or unduly
influenced by the residuum of the
Catholic legacy.
“Objectors are not getting with the
program of this ‘moral pioneering’ that
the secularists feel they are accomplishing
in Belgium to promote people’s
autonomy and self-determination: a
showcase of those values to the world,”
he said.
The same attitudes seem to be at
play in Canada, and the other countries
where euthanasia — where the
doctor is involved in the direct killing
of patients — is legal: Netherlands,
Belgium, Colombia, and Luxembourg.
All but the Netherlands are majority
Catholic, but the Dutch Church has
always played a significant role in the
life of the country.
(Assisted suicide, where the patient
administers the lethal dosage under
medical supervision, is legal in Switzerland
and Germany, as well as the
U.S. states of Washington, Oregon,
Colorado, Hawaii, Vermont, Montana,
New Jersey, California, Maine, and the
District of Columbia.)
In other words, in “post-Catholic”
countries, modern medical ethics is
almost defined as trying to be the opposite
of what the Church teaches.
One solution is to try and reframe the
debate in a terminology with which
secularists are comfortable, which is a
path often taken by Pope Francis.
The Holy Father often speaks out
strongly against any form of medically
assisted dying, especially when speaking
to medical personnel.
Although the pontiff is quick to point
to the theological reasons the Church
is opposed to such practices, he also
uses language meant to prick the conscience
of the secularist mind.
Pope Francis frequently speaks of a
“throwaway culture” using “false compassion”
to “discard” those who are ill
or otherwise infirm.
“The practice of euthanasia, which
is already legal in several states, only
seemingly aims to encourage personal
freedom; in reality it is based on a
utilitarian view of the person, who
becomes useless or is regarded as an
expense if, from the medical point of
view, he or she has no hope of improvement
or can no longer escape
pain,” the pope said Sept. 2, 2019.
“On the contrary, the commitment
to accompany patients and their loved
ones throughout all stages of the journey,
seeking to alleviate their suffering
through palliative care or by offering a
family environment in hospices, which
are increasingly numerous, contributes
to creating a culture and practice more
attentive to the value of each person.”
Hopefully, it’s the kind of language
21st-century politicians will be able to
appreciate.
Charles Collins is an American
journalist currently living in the United
Kingdom, and is Crux’s managing
editor.
Archbishop Richard Gagnon of Winnipeg, Manitoba,
president of the Canadian Conference
of Catholic Bishops, at the Vatican in 2018.
The CCCB reiterated the Church’s opposition
to government-sanctioned suicide in a Jan.
27 letter to Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau.
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 23
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2/4/20 5:43 PM

WITH GRACE
BY DR. GRAZIE POZO CHRISTIE
In praise of
#GirlDad
Last month’s
tragedy in
Calabasas has led
to an unexpected
social media
phenomenon
SHUTTERSTOCK
In the wake of the appalling deaths
of Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old
daughter Gianna, the television and
internet were filled with heart-wrenching
images of the pair taken throughout
their time together in this world.
The images portray the kind of bond
that every human longs for but that
modern culture seems to have seriously
underappreciated. They have stirred
something in our consciences.
And so the hashtag #GirlDad was
born: an outpouring of posts paying
tribute to fathers with daughters
accompanied with moving photos and
anecdotes that make the case for the
inestimable value of a father’s love for
his daughter.
In these tributes, we see a good man
and his daughter connected by a bond
that, in its purity, awakens in fathers
noble and sublime things. The joyful
pictures, in turn, remind us that girls,
impressionable and vulnerable as they
are, see their true worth reflected back
to them in the shining tenderness of
their fathers’ eyes.
My own daughter is getting married
later this year, and every day finds me
working on one detail or another of
the event. When I think of the nuptial
Mass, the image that clutches at
my heart is that of her father walking
proudly joyful by her side, down the
long aisle toward the altar.
My husband cries watching sad
commercials, so I’m sure he will be
overcome with emotion, like I will, at
the symbolism of the act. The little one
who has evoked in him the strongest
feelings of protectiveness, devotion,
and solicitude in his life will be taking
her last steps in his special care. And
another good man will be claiming the
honor of cherishing her as she has been
I
Matt
Ob
10
He
Stra
Ob
LAX
24 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

accustomed to being cherished.
Our daughter is young, only 23, but
she is quite mature and navigates a
complicated professional life with
womanly panache. That’s on the outside.
As her parents, we see what’s on
the inside, and we know that she is still
very much a girl.
She has all the softness and delicacy
of girls who have grown up in steady,
affectionate families, and haven’t yet
had to grow calluses over the inevitable
wounds of adult life.
She has, God be thanked, chosen
well. Her father and I have complete
confidence that her betrothed will be
everything a husband ought to be.
He will shelter her from the storms
of life and be steadfast in tenderness
when a woman most needs it. He will
be faithful and constant in an uncertain,
treacherous world. And he will
welcome their children into existence
with the confidence of one who knows
how to be perseveringly industrious,
and is prepared, if need be, to be heroic
in meeting the needs of his family.
Although we are grateful, we can’t say
we’re surprised by her choice. She has
had a father who has taught her what
she is worth. A good father sees the
infinite value of the person he has been
blessed to parent with perfect clarity.
Her appearance, her abilities, her
material success or lack thereof, even
her errors of judgment — none of
these things matter next to her shining
perfect self. A good father communicates
that value judgment back to
A makeshift memorial for Kobe and Gianna
Bryant in the L.A. Live plaza across from
Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles.
TOM HOFFARTH
her, through a love that forgets itself
in care for the beloved. The daughter
learns her worth and knowing it, looks,
instinctively but surely, for a husband
who also knows it.
In the images of Kobe and his daughter,
and in the images posted under
#GirlDad, the bond between fathers
and daughters is vividly evident. We’re
seeing fathers elevated in their affection
for their daughters, their protectiveness
and sheltering strength brought forth
to grace not just the girls but everyone
around them. And their daughters are
taught to know themselves as they truly
are — aristocratic purities — and not
the base metal the world proposes as
their worth.
Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie grew up in
Guadalajara, Mexico, coming to the
U.S. at the age of 11. She has written
for USA TODAY, National Review, The
Washington Post, and The New York
Times, and has appeared on CNN,
Telemundo, Fox News, and EWTN. She
practices radiology in the Miami area,
where she lives with her husband and
five children.
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February 7, 2020 • ANGELUS • 25

Clarence
Thomas
unfiltered
Clarence Thomas in “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.”
A new documentary lets
controversial Supreme
Court justice tell his story
BY SOPHIA MARTINSON / ANGELUS
© MANIFOLD PRODUCTIONS
what will you die?”
These are the words that
“For
passed through Clarence
Thomas’ head after the death of his
grandparents, who had raised him. His
life’s answer forms the basis for the recently
released documentary, “Created
Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own
Words.”
Released Jan. 31, in time for February’s
Black History Month, the
Manifold Productions documentary,
written and directed by Michael Pack,
offers an in-depth view into the African
American Supreme Court justice’s life
and career.
In response to the string of headlines,
political cartoons, and offhand comments
that over the years have fueled
strong opinions but vague understandings
of Thomas’ life and character, the
film is marketing itself as a straightforward
account of “the story you didn’t
know.”
To live up to its title, its narrative
structure relies primarily on direct
interviews with the justice and his wife,
Virginia, as well as passages from his
memoir. In just under two hours, view-
ers get a thorough presentation of his
multifaceted and intriguing life, which
includes his experiences of rural and
urban poverty, faith, radical ideology,
conversion, and discrimination.
The film opens as a simple, almost
casual conversation. The justice sits at
a table, a generic pattern of blues and
grays draped behind him, and chats
with the off-screen interviewer about
whether he should remove his glasses
for the interview. (“Well, except for
the cover of my book, I normally wear
them,” he chuckles.)
Instantly, Pack sets the tone that this
documentary aims to give us: Thomas
unfiltered which, we quickly learn,
seems to be a rarity.
Throughout his career, Thomas’
unique position as a black conservative
has made him a controversial figure.
In the film, Thomas explains that as
his career drew him into the public
eye, he was frequently seen as “not
really black” because he held views
that clashed with predominantly liberal
black organizations and writers.
“How is that different from segregation?”
he reflects. “How is that different
from being told, ‘You can’t walk across
that park’? [Their reaction to me was],
‘Oh, you can’t think those thoughts!’
… [But] you can’t live freely without
having your own thoughts.”
By letting Thomas describe his
childhood, schooling, and career,
“Created Equal” highlights the context
surrounding his moral, political, and
legal opinions, and demonstrates what
led him to adopt them. As a result, the
film lends credence to the justice’s
intellectual development, regardless
of whether the viewer agrees with his
viewpoints.
Specifically, the film refutes the
notion that from an early age Thomas
had been indoctrinated into a “segregationist”
mindset that drove him into
blindly working for the “racist” Reagan
administration, as some of his opponents
at the time contended.
In intricate detail, Thomas relays his
journey from Catholicism to the radical
Black Power movement and back
again, as well as his path toward an
understanding of America’s founding
as grounded in natural law. Each step
of the way, Thomas describes what
C
C
26 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

© MANIFOLD PRODUCTIONS
prompted his discoveries and decisions.
The goal here is clear: to assert himself
as a man in earnest and a man of
principle.
Still, this documentary can seem a little
too bare-bones and quiet, especially
when compared to the fast pace and
action of other blockbusters and docudramas.
Nonetheless, “Created Equal”
is a documentary and doesn’t try to be
anything else.
But the film’s simplicity actually helps
achieve its intended effect: to enlighten
and move the viewer by allowing
Thomas’ story to speak for itself. In the
unadorned interview setting, we see
Thomas’ convictions and emotions up
close and personal.
He laughs when reminiscing about
his grandfather, lights up when talking
about his work studying the Founding
Fathers, and cringes when he recalls
his strenuous confirmation process to
the Supreme Court, which seized the
nation’s attention when Anita Hill’s
allegations of sexual assault burst onto
the scene.
When it comes to this last topic, the
film inserts the viewer directly in the
tempest. Weaving together archival
footage of the grueling Senate hearings
with Thomas and Virginia’s recollections
of those days, “Created Equal”
brings to life the acrimony and emotional
strain that embroiled the entire
course of events.
In today’s notoriously polarized
political climate, reliving these vitriolic
moments is an eerie reminder that the
problems of today are anything but
new.
Whatever one’s opinions of Clarence
Thomas’ political inclinations, moral
convictions, and legal theories, “Created
Equal” deserves credit for its cleareyed
look at one man’s journey from
poverty to fame, and at the toll that
20th-century American society took on
countless black people pursuing freedom,
equality, and justice in the U.S.
For that, it is an excellent film choice
for Black History Month and worthwhile
food for thought and discussion.
“Created Equal” is now showing in
theaters across the country and will be
broadcast on PBS this May.
Sophia Martinson is a writer living in
New York City.
The movie poster for “Created Equal: Clarence
Thomas in His Own Words.”
© MANIFOLD PRODUCTIONS
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Call Judy or Mary Kay Delsohn at (213) 637-7520
Pilgrimage Call Travel Judy planned or Mary by our Kay friends Delsohn at Catholic (213) Travel 637-7520 Centre, Burbank
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THE CRUX
BY HEATHER KING
In defense
of Singles
Awareness
Day
SHUTTERSTOCK
Let me say up front that I am not one of these people
who feels oppressed, discriminated against, and marginalized
by the mere fact and station of another’s
existence.
That you’re a man and I’m a woman doesn’t mean I feel
called to mope about the world feeling victimized. That
you like blue doesn’t make me jump to the conclusion that
you hate me because I like green.
Because we have a day celebrating romantic love doesn’t
make me feel I need a corresponding day to call attention
to the value of my own station in life, which happens to
be an unmarried, childless, “contemplative laywoman”
as Magnificat magazine (for whom I also write) sort of
thrillingly puts it.
I especially don’t need such a day with the acronym SAD:
Singles Awareness Day.
Who in God’s name came up with such a notion? And
gave it such an unfortunate name!
In this culture God forbid anyone should feel a moment
of existential exile, depression, sadness, loneliness, feeling
apart from, different than, left behind, or left out. In other
words, God forbid anyone should feel a moment of the
admittedly shocking reality of the human condition.
I’ve felt all those things as a single person, but I felt them
as well, maybe more so, during the 14 years I was married.
I’m not saying 20 years of being single, and following the
teachings of the Church, have been a picnic.
But what is? Certainly not marriage. St. Paul himself
advised that if you’re unmarried, stay that way. You won’t be
torn between family obligations and will be able to devote
yourself single-mindedly and single-heartedly to God.
I’ve found that to be true. If I’m not any holier now than
28 • ANGELUS • February 14, 2020

when I was married, I’m definitely
less torn.
But back to Singles Awareness Day.
According to the National Retail Federation,
spending on Valentine’s Day
this year is poised to top $27.4 billion,
up 32% from last year’s record $20.7
billion. The basic thrust behind SAD,
as far as I can see, is that it’s a marketing
opportunity. Hey, cheer yourself
up! Buy yourself some chocolates.
Treat yourself to a day at the spa!
Anyone who’s made his or her way
through the world solo for any length
of time is on the one hand made of
sterner stuff than that. And on the other
hand, that person has learned to be
kind to himself or herself all the time,
not just on Feb. 14.
The cross is the one place those two
seeming opposites meet.
To live my life centered on the
Eucharist allows me to rejoice at and
to support the human family in all its
iterations. (Valentine’s Day itself, by
the way, is based on the martyrdom of
one or possibly two saints by Emperor
Claudius II in third-century Rome).
Fellow celibates and their quiet
fidelity to the teachings of the Church
— which is to say, to Christ — are
some of my most precious spiritual
companions. That’s whether or not I
ever meet them.
Married couples, with or without
children, support and console me in
my station, and I support and I hope
console them in theirs. Is anything
calculated to make the human heart
soar higher than a married couple at Mass with their
newborn baby? Their joy doesn’t diminish mine, but rather
enhances it.
“I choose all!” said St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and the human
dilemma precisely is to want it all. I want to sit utterly still,
and I’m also driven to be constantly on the move. I want
to be hidden and anonymous, and I want to be famous.
I want to be close to my family, and I want to leave my family
behind.
We want to give everything to God! As St. Thérèse and all
the saints remind us, whatever our station there is one Way
only. And narrow is the gate.
I’m reminded of consecrated virgin Christina of Markyate,
born circa 1095-1100 in East Anglia to wealthy
merchant parents. As a child, she visited the Benedictine
Abbey of St. Albans and became attracted by the monastic
way of life.
Having taken a vow of virginity, she spurned the advances
of Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham. With the collusion
of her parents, the bishop forced her into an arranged
St. Alban’s Psalter with artwork of the woman thought to be Christina of Markyate.
marriage with a man named Beorhtred, a union Christina
steadfastly refused to consummate.
Instead, she fled close to St. Albans and lived for three
years as a female recluse. Next she went to Markyate and,
under the protection of an elderly monk named Roger,
lived in a tiny cell, suffering hunger, thirst, and cold.
Over the course of her lifetime she had many spiritual
friendships with men. But the lengths to which she went
to preserve her virginity against physical and emotional
threats, family exile, and pressure from the Church were
extraordinary.
Beorhtred eventually released Christina from her vows.
She returned to Markyate and made her formal profession
as a consecrated nun around 1130. A community grew up
around her, which in 1145 was declared a priory.
Her parents had wanted to marry her off to a rich husband,
and for years accused her of holding out for someone
even wealthier than Beorhtred.
“A more wealthy one certainly,” Christina replied. “For
who is richer than Christ?”
Heather King is a blogger, speaker, and the author of several books.
February 14, 2020 • ANGELUS • 29
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