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Book review: ‘How the Saints Shaped History’

Posted on by Kay Winchester

“How the Saints Shaped History.” By Randall Petrides. Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2023. 376 pages. Paperback: $27.95; Kindle: $20.99; E-book: $20.99.

Perhaps the most important idea to take away from lawyer-turned-Catholic-writer Randall Petrides’ book, “How the Saints Shaped History,” is this assertion: “These are troubled times,” he begins after outlining the many and grave challenges the 21st century Catholic Church faces.  “Today’s Catholic has good reason to feel deep concern.”

That, however, is not the end of the story, which this book emphasizes. “With these challenges in mind,” he continues, “we can turn to the Church’s history – where we will find that we have every reason for hope.”

The Church, as the reader will see, has, in Petrides’ words, “been in trouble more than she has not, and the present crises are not necessarily her worst.” In every age, God has raised up men and women – the saints — who point the way home and who, by cooperating with God’s grace, help us to travel that way as well. “Thus, in the midst of today’s challenges,” Petrides says, “we can rest assured that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church.”

Because this book is based in history, Petrides’ presentation of the saints is a bit different from other “lives of the saints.” Often, he points out, such books are arranged either alphabetically, or by feast day or patronage. Because they are not presented within the flow of history, we can often miss the circumstances which shaped these men and women as they responded to the grace of God to their times. Consequently, what the reader will find in the initial pages of this book is a particularly well done timeline of secular and sacred history, within which the various saints’ lives occur.

I want to point to the layout and graphics of these pages in particular, as they are inviting and easy to read – something that can be referred time and time again.

Because we meet more than 180 saints in roughly 340 pages of text, none of them is explored in exhaustive detail. For that, Petrides has included a recommended reading list at the end of the book that allows readers to dive more deeply into the lives of individuals if they wish.  However, the reader is nonetheless treated to a comprehensive look at not only the history of humankind since the birth of Jesus, but also at the intervention of God in that history by way of those we call saints.

Such an undertaking could be overwhelming, but another positive feature of Petrides’ work is the length of his chapters. Each is about five to five and a half pages, just enough to cover the material at hand without being too much to take in at once. His background as an attorney is evident in the clarity of his prose; while certainly not “legalese,” it is exact and to the point.  When giving his opinions – particularly concerning the situations facing the modern Church – he gives reasons for what he states. Whether or not one agrees with his assessments, they are well argued.

Another interesting feature is that he includes questions for reflection and discussion at the end of the book. This is definitely intended to be a work that is not merely read and put on the shelf, but one that will engender meaningful conversations between both Catholics and those who observe the Catholic Church.

At the end of the book, Petrides emphasizes that the story of the saints does not end with those who have been formally canonized; it is a state to which we too are called. “We all share in the making of history,” he concludes. “No soul, no event is too small for the kingdom of God – even if our lives remain unknown to posterity. God gives us our own place, our own role, in salvation history. Like all the saints, we are called to holiness.”

Author bio:

Randall Petrides is a Catholic writer and a retired attorney. He spent 38 years as a trial lawyer and administrator in the Genesee County Prosecutor’s Office. Upon retirement in 2017, He transitioned into Catholic theology and writing with an emphasis on Church history and saints.  His first book is “How the Saints Shaped History.” He and his wife have been married for 43 years and are members of Holy Family Catholic Church in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

 

The man of God is a man for others, says bishop in new pastoral letter

Posted on by Our Sunday Visitor

Men are called to “make a difference in the world” through submission to Christ, selfless giving and courageous leadership, says a Brooklyn-based bishop.

“If a man truly grasped and believed he was created in the image and likeness of God and beloved to his Heavenly Father, he would far more naturally assume the role of a faithful son, a caring father, a protector, and a guide to his family,” said Maronite Bishop Gregory Mansour of the Eparchy of St. Maron in Brooklyn, New York, in his sixth pastoral letter, “The Man of God is a Man for Others: Some Themes in Men’s Spirituality.”

The letter, which Bishop Mansour told OSV News was some three to four years in the making, was issued Oct. 12 and posted on the eparchy’s website — and it’s already been tested in the field, said the bishop.

“The other day I had a retreat for young men and women and I took the 11th- and 12th-grade boys (apart) and said, ‘I want to talk to you man to man,'” said Bishop Mansour. “And so I talked a little bit about the pastoral letter and gave it to them. And it was very fruitful. These guys really appreciated it.”

In the letter, Bishop Mansour states that “men who live as ‘chips off the old (divine) block’ are the greatest need today; women and children long for this — many men also long for this.”

That need is even greater due to what Bishop Mansour calls “some worrisome trends in our culture to undermine masculinity under the guise of remedying past chauvinism or over-reliance on patriarchal structures, not to mention the absence of dads in far too many homes in our country and the need for inspiring male role models.”

As a result, “many young men are growing up without effective guidance about how to live out their male identity,” he wrote.

At the same time, while “in recent years there has been a great deal of profound reflection on the spirituality of women,” there has been “less on the vocation and mission of men,” he wrote.

The pastoral letter draws in particular on several Scripture passages to explore the nature of men and God’s intention for them.

The creation accounts in Genesis (Gen 1:1-31, 2:4-25) show that both men and women have been fashioned in the image of God, and their genders are complementary by design, said the bishop in his letter.

“It was God who noticed what was lacking in man, well before man himself did!” he wrote. “God always notices our great need before we do and seeks to provide for us in that need.”

Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet (Jn 13:1-20) “teaches all of us, but especially men, a form of servant leadership,” wrote Bishop Mansour.

Citing St. Paul VI, who articulated “a clear masculine spirituality,” he said that “a man needs to learn the value of sacrifice to be able to place others first and to adapt himself to the needs of women and children.”

St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which exhorts husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church (Eph 5:25-27), points to a “love (that) draws a man to sacrificial self-giving and invites his spouse to make a similar gift herself,” wrote the bishop.

Pointing to St. John Paul II’s theology of the body, Bishop Mansour said the complementarity of man and woman enables them to view themselves as gifts, and to “also make gifts of themselves to one another in love,” which “gives sexual intimacy its meaning and purpose.”

“This natural God-given identity is part of what Pope Francis, and before him, Pope Benedict, referred to as human ecology,” Bishop Mansour wrote. “Our natures, different and complementary, are not merely social constructs open to alteration or redefinition but constitute a profound spiritual and physical reality.”

In fact, wrote Bishop Mansour, “to view our gender as anything less diminishes the meaning and beauty of our nature as created in the very image and likeness of God.”

The divine gift of procreation imparts “an amazing ability to make the world new again by bringing children” into it, he wrote.

Bishop Mansour also wrote that couples experiencing infertility, which “often causes great suffering,” model an “unselfish love” that enables them to serve others in “creative ways,” and “encourages us both in the family and the Church to greater love and respect.”

Chastity, which is “essential for holiness,” represents “a gift of love that places limits on our freedom” and “makes us truly free,” wrote the bishop.

“No matter what has happened in one’s past, the Gospel calls each of us to self-mastery and sacrifice,” he wrote. “Although this is counter-cultural and may seem impossible today, by the grace of God, such virtue is not only possible but happily achievable.”

Prayer, without which holiness is unattainable, can represent a particular challenge for men, since it requires a willingness to set aside pride and adopt “a constant and consistent openness to grace,” Bishop Mansour noted.

“To be vulnerable as a man is no small request, for by his nature as protector, provider, and cultivator it would seem almost contradictory to be at the same time vulnerable,” wrote Bishop Mansour. “For this reason, it may be difficult for men to enter more deeply into prayer, for it is difficult enough for a man to admit that he needs help and cannot do something on his own, but to also enter into a prayerful state requires a man to now go a step even further, and to stand vulnerable before another man, that is before the God-man, Jesus Christ, and ask him for help.”

Some men may “avoid going deep into prayer because they are afraid of what they might hear,” he added. “The stillness of God’s voice, which is often a long-desired peace and an answer to prayer, requires a vulnerable and docile heart.”

St. Joseph serves as “the greatest witness to a truly masculine spirituality,” wrote Bishop Mansour, since he “became the man he was because of the grace of God and the help of the Virgin Mary.”

Regardless of their state in life, all men are called to aspire to the same, said Bishop Mansour.

“Whether a man is called to be a father, husband, generous single man, celibate priest, monk, or consecrated religious, if he is truly a man of God, prayer, and integrity, he will necessarily be a man for others,” he wrote.

—Gina Christian, OSV News

Obituary: Father Paul Couture

Posted on by Submitted Article

Edmundite Father Paul Couture died Oct. 28 after a long illness.

He was born in Barre on March 2, 1929, the son of Flavien Couture and Laura Beaudoin Couture. He attended St. Edmund’s Juniorate in Swanton and graduated from St. Michael’s College in Colchester in 1952. Graduate studies followed at the Gregorian University, the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and the Gregorian University all in Rome. He professed first vows in the Society of St. Edmund in Putney on Aug. 22, 1950, and was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1956, in La Storta, Italy.

In addition to serving in internal ministries in the Society of St. Edmund, Father Couture pursued a long career in education, teaching at St. Edmund’s Seminary in Burlington and at St. Michael’s College. He served as director of the St. Michael’s College Graduate Theology and Pastoral Ministry Program from 1971 to 1992. After retiring from that position, he continued to teach at the undergraduate level and brought the love of Sacred Scripture to many people in the Diocese of Burlington and beyond.

Father Couture is survived by his nieces and nephews Liane Couture, Mark Couture, Daniel Couture, Matthew Couture, Laura Couture, and Lisa Couture McNamara. He also leaves behind many cousins, relatives, and friends.

Visiting hours will take place in the Chapel of St. Michael the Archangel at St. Michael’s College, on Nov. 2, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. with a Mass of Christian Burial celebrated at 3 p.m. Burial will follow in the Merrill Cemetery, across from the campus.

Like Thérèse, ‘be radical in love’ in the face of violence, says bishop of Lisieux

Posted on by Our Sunday Visitor

In these times of violence and hatred around the world, following St. Thérèse’s of Lisieux confidence is crucial to the world regaining balance, said the bishop of Lisieux as the month of October, the busiest one in the French northern Normandy town of the saint known as the “Little Flower,” comes to a close.

Two weeks after the release of Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “C’est la confiance” (“It’s confidence”), published by Oct. 15 for the 150th anniversary of the birth of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and in times of great turbulence for the world, especially in the Middle East and Ukraine, Bishop Jacques Habert of Bayeux-Lisieux emphasized that “Thérèse spoke of trust in God’s merciful love.”

“She has gone through many difficult and painful events throughout her life. But she concretely experienced God’s infinite love and mercy,” he told OSV News.

For Bishop Habert, the pope with his exhortation wanted to draw attention, through St. Thérèse of Lisieux, “on the one hand, to perseverance in prayer, even when tempted by discouragement and despair, and on the other hand, to love of neighbor, even when one can only do very ordinary things, as when Thérèse cared for a sick and somewhat irascible Carmelite nun” in her order, he said.

“This very ordinary love of neighbor is a path open to everyone, including non-Christians, in every circumstance,” Bishop Habert added. “It is a universal path of encounter with God,” he said.

In his letter, the pope insists that “the center of Christian morality is charity, as our response to the unconditional love of the Trinity.” Consequently, the Holy Father said, “works of love directed towards one’s neighbor are the most perfect manifestation of the interior grace of the Spirit.”

“In the end, only love counts,” Pope Francis wrote. “That is where Thérèse directed her eyes and her heart.”

“It is not a question of lowering the church’s moral requirements,” Bishop Habert pointed out. “When Jesus said that the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of us, he was not advocating prostitution.”

“There are things that offend us, that shock us, that hurt us because they are ambiguous and wrong,” he said. “But before judging and condemning, we must remember the ‘synthesis’ offered by Thérèse, as Pope Francis said: the center of Christian morality is the merciful love of God.”

“We are faced with terrifying violence these days,” Bishop Habert continued. “In this context, what can Thérèse tell us? The condemned man (Henri) Pranzini, for whom she prayed, was also an appalling murderer. What she says is: In the face of this violence that crushes us, let us be radical in love. When everything is spiraling out of control, let us seek to perform the small acts of kindness that we can. There lies the source of the joy that breaks the spiral of fear and builds confidence.”

The bishop spoke as the number of casualties in Gaza surpassed 8,000 in attacks by Israel in response to the Hamas terrorist attacks on Oct. 7 that killed 1,400 in southern Israel. Tensions have since risen in France with an Oct. 13 brutal attack on a teacher, Dominique Bernard, who was stabbed to death by a young radicalized Chechen Islamist in Arras, with Versailles Palace and the Louvre Museum evacuated after threats as France was put on high alert following the incident. Seven thousand soldiers were deployed across the country, and surveillance was stepped up around schools.

For Bishop Habert, there also is a lot of judging and condemning in regard to the synod that just wrapped in Rome.

“This is not a synod on questions of priesthood, marriage or sexual and family morality. Its purpose is not to make decisions of that kind,” he said. “Its aim is to foster a state of mutual listening and sharing, rooted in prayer and in the conviction that God is merciful. This will enable us to tackle the situations that the church faces today. Here too, we need to be trusting and caring.”

“These are tough, arid times,” Bishop Habert noted. “In France, the number of priests has fallen drastically. My diocese has 15 parishes nowadays, instead of 150 in 1990, and we have only one seminarian. … But like Thérèse, we try to move forward with confidence.”

— Caroline de Sury, OSV News

Synod synthesis shows agreement, divergences, including on ‘synodality’

Posted on by Catholic News Service

A report summarizing discussions at the assembly of the Synod of Bishops said the church may need more welcoming pastoral approaches, especially to people who feel excluded, but also acknowledged fears of betraying traditional church teachings and practices.

Among the topics addressed in the report were clerical sexual abuse, women’s roles in the church, outreach to poor and the concept of “synodality” itself.

The assembly, with 364 voting members — 365 counting Pope Francis — met in working sessions six days a week Oct. 4-28 after a three-day retreat outside of Rome. They were scheduled to join the pope Oct. 29 for the assembly’s closing Mass.

After the voting on the synthesis concluded, the pope said he wanted to remind everyone that “the protagonist of the synod is the Holy Spirit.” He briefly thanked the synod officers and joined members of the assembly in giving thanks to God.

The assembly’s discussions set the stage for a year-long period of reflection that will culminate in the second and final synod assembly in late 2024 on the same topic.

The 41-page synthesis report, voted on paragraph-by-paragraph Oct. 28, described its purpose as presenting “convergences, matters for consideration and proposals that emerged from the dialogue” on issues discussed under the headings of synodality, communion, mission and participation.

Every item in the report was approved by at least two-thirds of the members present and voting, synod officials said. They published the results of each vote.

Within the synod topics, members looked at the role of women in the church, including in decision making, and at the possibility of ordaining women deacons. The report asked for more “theological and pastoral research on the access of women to the diaconate,” including a review of the conclusions of commissions Pope Francis set up in 2016 and 2020.

The paragraph was approved 279-67, which was more than the needed two-thirds support but still garnered among the highest negative votes.

Among members of the assembly, the report said, some thought the idea of women deacons would be a break with tradition, while others insisted it would “restore the practice of the Early Church,” including at the time of the New Testament, which mentions women deacons.

“Others still, discern it as an appropriate and necessary response to the signs of the times, faithful to the Tradition, and one that would find an echo in the hearts of many who seek new energy and vitality in the Church,” it said. But, the report added, some members thought that would “marry the Church to the spirit of the age.”

Although the paragraph had more than two-thirds approval, it received more negative votes than any other item, passing 277 to 69.

Assembly members also discussed pastoral approaches to welcoming and including in the life of parishes people who have felt excluded, including the poor, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ Catholics and Catholics whose marriages are not recognized by the church.

The synthesis report did not use the term “LGBTQ+” or even “homosexuality” and spoke only generally of issues related to “matters of identity and sexuality.”

“To develop authentic ecclesial discernment in these and other areas, it is necessary to approach these questions in the light of the Word of God and Church teaching, properly informed and reflected upon,” the report said. “In order to avoid repeating vacuous formulas, we need to provide an opportunity for a dialogue involving the human and social sciences, as well as philosophical and theological reflection.”

The divergences in the assembly, it said, reflected opposing concerns: that “if we use doctrine harshly and with a judgmental attitude, we betray the Gospel; if we practice mercy ‘on the cheap,’ we do not convey God’s love.”

Still, it said, “in different ways, people who feel marginalized or excluded from the Church because of their marriage status, identity or sexuality, also ask to be heard and accompanied. There was a deep sense of love, mercy and compassion felt in the Assembly for those who are or feel hurt or neglected by the Church, who want a place to call ‘home’ where they can feel safe, be heard and respected, without fear of feeling judged.”

The report emphasized the “listening” that took place on the local, national and continental levels before the assembly and the “conversations in the Spirit” that took place during it, which involved each person speaking in his or her small group, other participants at first commenting only on what struck them, silent reflection and then discussion.

In several places throughout the report, assembly members insisted that greater efforts must be made to listen to the survivors of clerical sexual abuse and those who have endured spiritual or psychological abuse.

“Openness to listening and accompanying all, including those who have suffered abuse and hurt in the Church, has made visible many who have long felt invisible,” it said. “The long journey toward reconciliation and justice, including addressing the structural conditions that abetted such abuse, remains before us, and requires concrete gestures of penitence.”

Members of the assembly said the process helped them experience the church as “God’s home and family, a Church that is closer to the lives of her people, less bureaucratic and more relational.”

However, it said, the terms “synodal” and “synodality,” which “have been associated with this experience and desire,” need further clarification, including theological clarification and, perhaps, in canon law.

Some participants, it said, questioned how an assembly where about 21 percent of participants were lay women, lay men, religious and priests could be termed a Synod of Bishops.

The report also acknowledged fears, including that “the teaching of the Church will be changed, causing us to depart from the Apostolic faith of our forebears and, in doing so, betraying the expectations of those who hunger and thirst for God today.”

In response, though, assembly members said, “We are confident that synodality is an expression of the dynamic and living Tradition.”

“It is clear that some people are afraid that they will be forced to change; others fear that nothing at all will change or that there will be too little courage to move at the pace of the living Tradition,” the report said.

“Also,” it added, “perplexity and opposition can sometimes conceal a fear of losing power and the privileges that derive from it.”

Members of the assembly described the synodal process as being “rooted in the Tradition of the Church” and taking place in light of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, particularly its emphasis on “the Church as Mystery and People of God, called to holiness.”

Synodality, they said, “values the contribution all the baptized make, according to their respective vocations,” and thus “constitutes a true act of further reception of the Council.”

The report also insisted the purpose of synodality is mission.

“As disciples of Jesus, we cannot shirk the responsibility of demonstrating and transmitting the love and tenderness of God to a wounded humanity,” the report said.

Throughout the synod process, the report said, “many women expressed deep gratitude for the work of priests and bishops. They also spoke of a Church that wounds. Clericalism, a chauvinist mentality and inappropriate expressions of authority continue to scar the face of the Church and damage its communion.”

“A profound spiritual conversion is needed as the foundation for any effective structural change,” it said. “Sexual abuse and the abuse of power and authority continue to cry out for justice, healing and reconciliation.”

—Cindy Wooden, CNS

The renewal of reverence

Posted on by Submitted Article

God takes reverence seriously: “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Ex 3:5). Muslims take off their shoes in the mosque. Jewish men don a yarmulke at synagogue. We, Catholics, have the privilege of being in the very presence of the Son of God, Jesus himself in the tabernacle. Do we acknowledge God’s true presence when we enter the church?

Proximity has bred familiarity: “This people … honors me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far from me, … fear of me has become mere precept of human teaching” (Mt 15:8-9 and Mk 7:6-7 quoting Is 29:13).

“Fear of the Lord” meant both reverence and awe at the omnipotence of our God. In the Old Testament, at Sinai, the people “bowed down with their faces to the ground … and worshiped” (2 Chron 7:3). When Elijah called down the Lord’s fire, “all the people fell prostrate” (1 Kgs 18:38-39). When the Book of the Law was read, “all the people … knelt down and bowed (Neh 8: 5-6,3).

In the New Testament, at the manger Magi prostrate themselves (Mt 2:11); Peter falls down, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8); the Centurion protests: “Lord, I am not worthy to have you enter under my roof” (Mt 8:8); the cured woman approaches in fear and trembling (Mk 5:25- 33); the man born blind worshiped him” (Jn 9:38); Thomas exclaims: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).

If we met the pope, we would be on our best behavior. How much more for Jesus, present in the tabernacle, our savior, and our Lord?

We must bow down in humility before the God who is in our midst. The Mass is not just another pious devotion. The Divine Liturgy is our High Priest’s Last Supper, our New Covenant, our Communion, the “source and summit of our Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, no. 11).

When we attend Eucharist, we are participants in the heavenly banquet. There “the Angels praise your majesty, Dominions adore and Powers tremble before you. Heaven and the Virtues of heaven and the blessed Seraphim worship together with exultation.” We bow and pray: “may our voices, we pray, join with theirs in humble praise” (Preface for Lent IV).

Instilling renewed reverence requires work: encountering Christ personally; proclaiming His love to others; and bringing them to the Eucharist.

First, we need to accept the popes’ calls to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ (Pope Francis, Joy of the Gospel], to the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction (Pope Benedict XVI, God is Love, 1).

Secondly, we must let that encounter motivate us “to be actively engaged in evangelization; every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus (Joy of the Gospel, 120).

Finally, we need to bring others to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist. The goal of all mission: “to bring Christ to others … the gift of His very person. Anyone who has not shared the truth of love with his brothers and sisters has not yet given enough” (Pope Benedict XVI, The Eucharist as The Source And Summit Of The Church’s Life And Mission, 86).

We must learn again to “worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our maker (Ps 95:6) and … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12).

— Paul D. Turnley, Christ Our Savior Parish, Manchester Center

—Originally published in the Oct. 28-Nov. 3, 2023, edition of The Inland See.