Big honors for scholar who revitalized Christian philosophy

Chicago, Ill., Apr 2, 2019 / 11:48 am (CNA).- Alexa Hyman navigated her white Kia Optima, peering through sheets of rain as she made her way to a Southern California Rite Aid. She already the answer, but she had to see it in flashing black and white. S… […]

Tulsa, Okla., Oct 4, 2018 / 03:01 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Whether you dress up as a ghoul, a hero, or a saint, Halloween has a Christian origin that should inspire us to remember our mortality and our redemption in Christ, Bishop David Konderla of Tulsa has said.

“In contrast to popular culture’s observance of Halloween, even the customary appeal to the ‘frightful’ has a devotional meaning in the Catholic tradition. Props such as skulls and scythes have historically recalled our mortality, reminding us to be holy because we are destined for judgment,” the bishop said, citing Hebrews 9:27 and Revelation 14:15. “Visible symbols of death thus represent a reminder of the last things – death, judgment, Heaven, and hell.”

Bishop Konderla discussed the upcoming holiday, which falls before the Nov. 1 feast of All Saints, in a Sept. 28 memorandum on the celebration of Halloween in the Diocese of Tulsa.

Halloween has origins in the Catholic liturgical calendar, he said, but the customs surrounding it have “drifted from the feast’s intended meaning and purpose.” The name itself derives from the archaic English phrase “All Hallows’ Evening,” referring to the Eve of All Saints. Since All Saints can begin with evening prayer the night before, Halloween is the feast’s “earliest possible celebration.”

“While the ‘Gothic’ aspect of Halloween reminds us of Christian teaching about the resurrection of the dead, our culture often represents this in a distorted manner, for when the dead are raised they will in truth be ‘clothed with incorruptibility’,” said Bishop Konderla.

When separated from Catholic teaching, the holiday’s grim, ghoulish, or “Gothic” costumes can be mistaken as “celebration or veneration of evil or of death itself, contradicting the full and authentic meaning of Halloween.”

“For the Christian, Christ has conquered death, as has been prophesied and fulfilled,” he said.  “Christ has conquered death by his Passion, Death, and Resurrection, the Paschal Mystery whose graces are evident in the glory of all saints.”

The bishop also discussed the custom of dressing up as Christian saints.

“The custom of dressing up for Halloween is devotional in spirit,” he said. “By dressing up as the saints whom we most admire, we imagine ourselves following their example of Christian discipleship. This practice allows the lay faithful in festive celebration to become ‘living icons’ of the saints, who are themselves ‘icons’ or ‘windows’ offering real-life examples of the imitation of Christ.”

“In dressing up as saints we make Christian discipleship our own in a special way, following the exhortation of St. Paul: ‘Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ’,” he said, citing Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians.

Bishop Konderla invoked the imagery of the saints used in the Book of Revelation.

“Proper veneration of the saints naturally leads to adoration of the Lamb who was slain, whom the saints adore and follow wherever he goes,” he said. “True devotion to the saints, through our prayers and imitation of their witness, leads us sinners back to Christ.”

The bishop also voiced a few warnings. He said it is important to avoid Halloween popularizations of things that are contrary to the Catholic faith. These include the glamorization or celebration of “anything involving superstition, witches, witchcraft, sorcery, divinations, magic, and the occult.”

“We want to be good models of Christian virtue for those we serve and make clear distinctions between that which is good and that which is evil,” he added.

“Let us urge one another this Halloween to express in every detail of our observance the beauty and depth of the Feast of All Saints,” Bishop Konderla concluded.

“Let us make this year’s celebration an act of true devotion to God, whose saints give us hope that we too may one day enter into the Kingdom prepared for God’s holy ones from the beginning of time.”

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Washington D.C., Apr 20, 2020 / 03:10 pm (CNA).- Catholics around the world marked Divine Mercy Sunday at home, as public liturgies remain cancelled in many dioceses due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But one parish in Washington, D.C., found a way to bring the Lord to people even amidst the citywide stay-at-home order. 

Msgr. Charles Pope, pastor of Holy Comforter-St. Cyprian Catholic Church on Capitol Hill, has been organizing a daily Rosary walk during the quarantine, together with six religious sisters of the Servants of the Lord the Virgin of Matará (Servidoras) who live nearby, and the three seminarians who live at the parish.  

For Divine Mercy Sunday, they switched up their routine: instead of departing at their usual 12:30 p.m., they met up in the church, prayed the Divine Mercy Chaplet and, at 3 p.m., the hour of mercy, they turned their daily walk into a procession with Msgr. Pope carrying the Eucharist in a monstrance. 

There was a “lot of beautiful response” to seeing the Eucharistic procession, Pope told CNA on Monday, April 20. He said people came out of their homes to adore the Eucharist, made the sign of the cross, and some even pulled over in their cars for a brief moment of prayer.

“For whatever reason we hit a good time when there were a lot of Catholics out in Lincoln Park,” he said with a laugh.

After the procession returned to the parish, Pope displayed the Eucharist on a table outside of the building, and the group prayed for “an end to the plague.” 

As the Servidoras wear full habits with veils and Pope wears a cassock, he said they form “a pretty visible group” as they walk through the neighborhood. Despite their visibility, Pope said he has had zero negative interactions with the police, and very minimal negative interaction with passers-by. 

“They’re used to us,” he explained. Washington regulations limit gatherings to fewer than 10 people, the size of the Rosary group. 

Pope told CNA that he has been careful to follow whatever norms and laws are in place regarding social distancing, even though the sisters are technically exempt, as they all live in the same household. 

“We don’t want people to misunderstand,” he said. “We do follow the six feet rule.” 

The Rosary walk was the brainchild of the Servidoras, shortly after the suspension of public liturgies. 

“We just thought we still needed to be out in the neighborhood,” said Pope. 

The suspension of public liturgies and the inability to minister in person to his parish has been “utterly emotionally crushing” for Pope, but he told CNA that he has made adjustments to continue serving those in need.

The quarantine “has opened up these other opportunities, like walking in the neighborhood more,” he said, and he has been hosting Bible studies and meetings on Zoom. His parish has been offering unannounced, informal Eucharistic adoration each day, and, he noted, the Archdiocese of Washington has not issued any decree regarding the availability of confession so penitents can still receive the sacrament. 

Pope told CNA that he thinks that some of these changes may continue on even after the quarantine has lifted.

“I’m hoping a lot of the stuff that we’ve done, we can continue doing,” he said. 

“Maybe this is one of the ways the Lord kind of gave us a kick in the pants. ‘I need you to be out in the neighborhood more, I need you to be online more, I want you to find more creative ways to reach people.'”

Still, Pope said that being unable to distribute communion to the faithful has been one of the biggest challenges of the quarantine. 

“The prohibition of giving communion out at all is problematic,” he said, wondering why he would be prohibited from celebrating Mass with just nine other people. He told CNA that he was willing to wear gloves, a mask, or shift liturgical practices to ensure that people can safely receive the sacraments. 

“I would [take whatever precautions were necessary],” he said. “Because I care about God’s people. It may feel a little humiliating, but I’m willing to humiliate myself to give them Holy Communion. I want to feed them, I want them to have communion.”

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