The spokesman for the Spanish Bishops’ Conference (CEE), Bishop Francisco César García Magán, stated at a Nov. 24 press conference that “there is no fear” among the bishops regarding the upcoming meeting of all the bishops with Pope Francis to address the state of the seminaries.
The conference spokesman acknowledged that “it is a singular event” for all the bishops of a nation to be called as a group to a meeting in Rome outside of their “ad limina apostolorum” visits.
“It doesn’t happen every day, obviously, that the pope convenes [a meeting] with an episcopate,” he added.
In addition, García said the archbishop of Barcelona and president of the Spanish Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Juan José Omella, “asked around” at the Vatican, and “they have confirmed that it was about the seminaries.”
He also told the media in an appearance at the end of the conference’s 123rd plenary assembly that the Spanish prelates are completely uninformed of the content of the report prepared by the apostolic visitors.
“I can’t say anything about the report either because we haven’t received it,” he confirmed.
Apostolic visitation
On Jan. 13, the bishop of Maldonado-Punta del Este-Minas in Uruguay, Milton Luis Tróccoli, and the bishop of Salto in the same country, Arturo Eduardo Fajardo, began an apostolic visit ordered by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Clergy.
The purpose of the visit was to learn about “the implementation of the formation plan for Spanish seminaries approved by the CEE in 2019 to conform with ‘The Gift of the Priestly Vocation: Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis’ [a document issued by the Congregation for the Clergy in 2016] and the promotion of seminarian formation.”
The Church in Spain has 85 diocesan seminaries, among them 15 Redemptoris Mater seminaries — which have a missionary orientation and are closely linked to the Neocatechumenal Way — one Jesuit seminary and one Opus Dei seminary.
After the close of the extraordinary plenary assembly, the CEE announced Oct. 31 at a press conference the invitation issued by the Dicastery for the Clergy, explaining that the meeting “will address the conclusions of the work carried out by the bishops who made the visit to the seminaries in Spain at the beginning of this year.”
According to the CEE, Spanish seminaries have fewer than 1,000 candidates for the priesthood for the first time since records have been kept.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
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Michael Stucchi poses in front of the restored statue of Jesus with children at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California. / Photo credit: Tom Hoffarth
Woodland Hills, California, Nov 5, 2022 / 08:00 am (CNA).
In the darkness of an early Saturday morning last March 19, Father Steve Davoren and his golden lab, Blue, came out the back exit of the rectory at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California, for a pre-dawn run.
But before he could start, the priest’s heart sank when he saw what the floodlights pointing at the church’s iconic statue cluster of Jesus and three children revealed.
Grainy security footage only captured the arm of a person repeatedly swinging an unidentified weapon at the statues. Pieces fell from what has been a longtime centerpiece of the parish, in a highly visible spot off of busy Ventura Boulevard.
Chunks of the marbled concrete that came off the twisted, exposed rebar were everywhere: in the raised flower bed flanked by white rose bushes, in the parking lot, on the sidewalk next to the parish office.
Davoren immediately called the church’s business manager, Lisa Feliciano, who threw on a hoodie and came right over.
“It was horrific,” Feliciano said. “But now we were putting pieces in a box, crying. I couldn’t believe anyone could have this much hate to do this.”
Feliciano filed a police report along with the surveillance video, which she described as “two minutes of torture.”
“I see it and it still makes me cry,” she said.
Details of the damaged statues of Jesus at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California. Photo credit: Michael Stucchi
It fell to Davoren to explain the attack to parishioners the next day at Sunday Masses, preaching understanding and forgiveness in the place of anger and frustration.
“To me, the irony of this was the person who did this had to be a broken person himself,” said Davoren, pastor at St. Mel’s since 2018. “Through Scripture we know we need to pray for people who feel they have to destroy.”
Michael Stucchi heard Davoren’s message loud and clear that weekend. A systems software engineer by trade, Stucchi has found satisfaction working for the parish to restore four in-church statues in the past as well as Nativity scene statues.
He has been their humble go-to, fix-it man. But this was something bigger.
“When I spoke to Father Steve about it a few days after it happened, I admit, I was angry, mad, indignant because the statues were special to me and my family,” said Stucchi, whose son works in the parish office. “But then I heard his sadness and concern for the mental state of the person who damaged the statues. That’s so much like him. This really altered my paradigm from reactive to proactive — to ask if I could look into ways of repairing them.
“Father Steve’s compassion is what Jesus would want us to have. All the people who work here are in the same mindset of love and forgiveness. We have no idea what terrible things are in that person’s life.”
Stucchi and Feliciano started the reconstruction by collecting and studying photographs of the statues to examine all their features. The depiction of Jesus is about 6 feet tall and weighs about 1,000 pounds; each child on its own concrete base weighs about 300 pounds.
The collection dates to the 1950s, when the parish was first built. It had once been part of a fountain display in front of the school office and later relocated near the church’s west doors in the 1990s when the new parish center was built.
Feliciano had contacted the Los Angeles Archdiocese about filing an insurance claim and was told it might cost as much as $30,000 to repair.
Stucchi said he could take care of it, with no charge to the parish.
That didn’t surprise Feliciano, who calls Stucchi “a true angel.”
“Look at the difference between someone filled with hate and destruction … and then someone like Michael who spends his time showing pure love and joy putting it back together,” Feliciano said. “Both are our neighbors, they live among us. How can there be such a vast difference in someone’s heart and soul?”
Michael Stucchi has pieced together the statues at St. Mel’s Church in Woodland Hills, California, to where they may even be in better condition when finished. Photo credit: Michael Stucchi
Stucchi experimented with different combinations of compounds — crushed marble, white Portland cement, and waterproof exterior grout. Most of the work had to be done on site, with some pieces taken to his home garage.
“I was super cautious about not making anything worse,” said Stucchi, noting the materials often dried too quickly in the summer heat, causing more delays. “The saddest part to me was the damage to Jesus. We know enough about the pain and suffering Jesus went through in his life, but to see an image of him obliterated, that’s too much.”
Slowly and meticulously, Stucchi has pieced together the statues to where they may even be in better condition now because of the ways weather and age already caused cracks and decay before the vandalism.
Seven months later, Stucchi has a few finishing touches — and plenty of gratitude — still left.
“As a priest’s sacrifice and commitment are beyond my comprehension or capabilities, having seen their dedication and that of the other volunteers and staff, I felt it’s the least I can do,” Stucchi said. “Notwithstanding, the Catholic Church was always there for me when I was a child and young adult.”
From a business perspective, Feliciano said the experience has taught her about the need for better security. The statues also were previously vandalized in 2021 when someone painted the faces a green color, but they were easy enough to repaint white.
“As a parishioner, the kindness of Michael reminds me that there is goodness in the world,” said Feliciano, who noted the 100-degree days Stucchi spent with the statue last summer. “I am reminded to pray for the person who was filled with enough hate to do the damage and thank God for blessing us with Michael.”
Father Davoren believes that “to some degree, we’re all broken and damaged, but our faith in the love of God allows people like Michael the tenderness to painstakingly put those pieces of the statue back together.
“It’s about giving people the right amount of grace to rebound in their lives.”
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As it stands during this pontificate we’re left with concern. Will this be to further witness to Apostolic tradition on faith and morals? Or will it be to coerce, however amicably, to transfer focus from proselytism to evangelism, both terms misconstrued in meaning by His Holiness?
Proselytism in its original form means conversion. A term much used by the early Fathers. During time, particularly now with governmental statutes to protect a right to privacy – examples of violation of that right would be found in federal health care facilities by over aggressive ministers seeking to convert patients. As such proselytism acquired a prejudiced interpretation as pressuring persons who resist conversion. The law is a good one. The interpretation is misplaced.
Pope Francis’ interpretation misconstrues proselytism as an abrogation of a right to privacy. As invasive of privacy and an immoral disrespect of conscience. Although the singular feature of evangelization, a word he promotes, and proselytizing – is in fact to convert. Both preach the Gospel for that reason. Inferred from this is His Holiness’ aversion for conversion.
That is the rationale since 2013 to lower the barriers as Francis perceives them of restrictive rules for reception of the sacraments. To make the Church more open to embrace the ‘wounded’ as he perceives his policy. Although it’s been argued endlessly by prominent, credentialed theologians, hierarchy that dismissing ‘rules’ radically changes Christ’s revelation and mission. If the Spanish bishops have no trepidation of this pontifical visit, I do on the grounds as explained.
It takes courage to answer a call. With fearless minds and confidence in their wrists, seminarians need to be prepared to impart mercy and divine blessings to all by bending low to uplift the lowly, the poor, the sick, the weak, the victims of injustice, violation, and exploitation.
As it stands during this pontificate we’re left with concern. Will this be to further witness to Apostolic tradition on faith and morals? Or will it be to coerce, however amicably, to transfer focus from proselytism to evangelism, both terms misconstrued in meaning by His Holiness?
Proselytism in its original form means conversion. A term much used by the early Fathers. During time, particularly now with governmental statutes to protect a right to privacy – examples of violation of that right would be found in federal health care facilities by over aggressive ministers seeking to convert patients. As such proselytism acquired a prejudiced interpretation as pressuring persons who resist conversion. The law is a good one. The interpretation is misplaced.
Pope Francis’ interpretation misconstrues proselytism as an abrogation of a right to privacy. As invasive of privacy and an immoral disrespect of conscience. Although the singular feature of evangelization, a word he promotes, and proselytizing – is in fact to convert. Both preach the Gospel for that reason. Inferred from this is His Holiness’ aversion for conversion.
That is the rationale since 2013 to lower the barriers as Francis perceives them of restrictive rules for reception of the sacraments. To make the Church more open to embrace the ‘wounded’ as he perceives his policy. Although it’s been argued endlessly by prominent, credentialed theologians, hierarchy that dismissing ‘rules’ radically changes Christ’s revelation and mission. If the Spanish bishops have no trepidation of this pontifical visit, I do on the grounds as explained.
It takes courage to answer a call. With fearless minds and confidence in their wrists, seminarians need to be prepared to impart mercy and divine blessings to all by bending low to uplift the lowly, the poor, the sick, the weak, the victims of injustice, violation, and exploitation.