The exhibition “Tolkien: Man, Teacher, Author” runs through Feb. 11, 2024, at the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. / Credit: Almudena Martínez-Bordiú/ACI Prensa
ACI Prensa Staff, Jan 23, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).
One of the most emblematic museums in the city of Rome, the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art, is currently hosting an exhibition on the life of the writer J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of “The Lord of the Rings” who played a decisive role in the conversion to Christianity of his great friend C.S Lewis.
The exhibition, titled “Tolkien: Man, Professor, Author,” which will remain open until Feb. 11, goes through the different stages of the life of the English writer John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, whose literary works are imbued with Catholic elements.
As noted in the exhibition, the creative activity of Tolkien, who wrote that “the only cure for sagging or fainting faith is Communion,” could not have developed without his involvement with the so-called “Inklings,” an informal group of writers and academics with ties to Oxford University who met during the 1930s and 1940s.
This group included some important intellectuals of the time such as Owen Barfield and Charles Williams, but the person with whom Tolkien developed a close friendship was C. S. Lewis, the author of “The Chronicles of Narnia” who held a deep-seated rejection of Christianity during his youth.
Tolkien and Lewis often met in a pub to discuss profound aspects of their professional and artistic concerns. They also often met in Lewis’ study at Magdalen College, where they spent long hours talking about literature and faith.
It was in fact during one of these times together on the grounds of Magdalen College that after a heated argument with his friend and contemporary that Lewis converted to Christianity.
The topic of discussion was the nature and function of the stories for which they both felt great passion. On the one hand, Lewis argued that myths “were nothing more than beautiful lies,” while Tolkien asserted that they were “a form, imperfect but noble and beautiful, with which men explain a universal truth.”
These were central questions for Tolkien, the basis of his literary work and of his conviction that human creativity was a great gift from God, in which his same creative power is reflected and propagated throughout history.
During his youth, the author of “The Chronicles of Narnia” considered himself intellectually atheist, and it was in 1929 that he recognized the existence of God.
Two years later, thanks to the influence of his contemporary, he converted to Christianity, becoming Anglican, not Catholic, which his great friend Tolkien would have preferred.
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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Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia (left), speaking during a Catholic conference in Warsaw in May 2022 on the natural law legacy of John Paul II (right.) / Photos by Lisa Johnston and L’Osservatore Romano
Warsaw, Poland, Jun 9, 2022 / 09:17 am (CNA).
Constant cooperation and dialogue among Catholic, Lutherans, Orthodox, and other Christian denominations have been crucial to protect life and family in the Baltic nation of Latvia, Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia, said during a recent Catholic conference in Warsaw.
In his speech, Stankevičs shared his personal ecumenical experience in Latvia as an example of how the concept of natural law proposed by St. John Paul II can serve as the basis for ecumenical cooperation in defending human values.
The metropolitan archbishop, based in Latvia’s capital, is no stranger to ecumenical work and thought. In 2001, he became the first bishop consecrated in a Lutheran church since the split from Protestantism in the 1500s. The unusual move, which occurred in the church of Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral in Riga, formerly the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, signaled the beginning of Stankevičs’ cooperation with the Lutheran church in Latvia, a cooperation that would ultimately become a partnership in the cause of life and the family. Since 2012, the archbishop has served on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
“I would like to present this ecumenical cooperation in three experiences in my country: the abortion debate, the civil unions discussion, and the so-called Istanbul convention,” Stankevičs began.
Entering the abortion debate
Ordained as a priest in 1996, Stankevičs struggled to find proper consultation for Catholic couples on natural family planning. It was then that he decided to create a small center that provided natural family planning under the motto “let us protect the miracle [of fertility].”
This involvement in the world of natural family planning would lead him into the heart of the abortion debate in Latvian society, and, ultimately, to the conclusion that moral discussions in the public square benefit from a basis in natural law, something emphasized in the teachings of John Paul II.
“I knew that theological arguments would not work for a secular audience, so I wanted to show that Catholic arguments are not opposed to legal, scientific, and universal arguments, but rather are in harmony with them,” Stankevičs said.
“[A] few years later our parliament introduced the discussion to legalize abortion. No one was doing anything so I decided to do something. I consulted some experts and presented a proposal that was published in the most important secular newspaper in Latvia,” the archbishop said.
Stankevičs’ article, “Why I was Lucky,” used both biological and theological arguments to defend human life. He noted that his own mother, when pregnant with him, was under pressure to get an abortion; “but she was a believer, a Catholic, so she refused the pressure.”
After the Latvian parliament legalized abortion in 2002, the different Christian confessions decided to start working together to protect the right to life and the family.
In Latvia, Catholics comprise 25% of the population, Lutherans 34.2%, and Russian Orthodox 17%, with other smaller, mostly Christian denominations making up the remainder.
“We started to work together by the initiative of a businessman in Riga, a non-believer who wanted to promote awareness about the humanity of the unborn,” the archbishop recalled.
“Bringing all Christians together in a truly ecumenical effort ended up bearing good fruits because we worked together in promoting a culture of life: From more than 7,000 abortions per year in 2002, we were able to bring it down to 2,000 by 2020,” he said.
Map of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Shutterstock
Ecumenical defense of marriage, family
Regarding the legislation on civil unions, another area where Stankevičs has rallied ecumenical groups around natural law defense of marriage, the archbishop said that he has seen the tension surrounding LGBT issues mount in Latvian society as increased pressure is brought to bear to legalize same-sex unions.
Invited to a debate on a popular Latvian television show called “One vs. One” after Pope Francis’ remark “who am I to judge?” was widely interpreted in Latvian society as approving homosexual unions, Stankevičs “had the opportunity to explain the teachings of the Catholic Church and what was the real meaning of the Holy Father’s words.”
After that episode, in dialogue with other Christian leaders, Stankevičs proposed a law aimed at reducing political tensions in the country without jeopardizing the traditional concept of the family.
The legislation proposed by the ecumenical group of Christians would have created binding regulations aimed at protecting any kind of common household; “for example, two old persons living together to help one another, or one old and one young person who decide to live together.”
“The law would benefit any household, including homosexual couples, but would not affect the concept of [the] natural family,” Stankevičs explained. “Unfortunately the media manipulated my proposal, and the Agency France Presse presented me internationally as if I was in favor of gay marriage.”
In 2020, the Constitutional Court in Latvia decided a case in favor of legalizing homosexual couples and ordered the parliament to pass legislation according to this decision.
In response, the Latvian Men’s Association started a campaign to introduce an amendment to the Latvian constitution, to clarify the concept of family. The Latvian constitution in 2005 proclaimed that marriage is only between a man and a woman, but left a legal void regarding the definition of family, which the court wanted to interpret to include homosexual unions.
The Latvian bishops’ conference supported the amendment presented by the Men’s Association, “but most importantly,” Stankevičs explained, “we put together an ecumenical statement signed by the leaders of 10 different Christian denominations supporting the idea that the family should be based on the marriage between a man and a woman. The president of the Latvian Jewish community, a good friend, also joined the statement.”
The Freedom Monument in Riga, Latvia, honors soldiers who died during the Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920). Shutterstock
According to Stankevičs, something strange happened next. “The Minister of Justice created a committee to discuss the demand of the constitutional court, and it included several Christian representatives, including three from the Catholic Church, which worked for a year.” But ignoring all the discussions and proposals, the Minister of Justice ended up sending a proposal to parliament that was a full recognition of homosexual couples as marriage.
The response was also ecumenical: Christian leaders sent a letter encouraging the parliament to ignore the government’s proposal.
According to Stankevičs, the proposal has already passed one round of votes “and it is very likely that it will be approved in a second round of votes, with the support of the New Conservative party. But we Christians continue to work together.”
Preventing gender ideology
The third field of ecumenical cooperation mentioned by Stankevičs concerned the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty which the Latvian government signed but ultimately did not ratify.
The treaty was introduced as an international legal instrument that recognizes violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women.
The convention claims to cover various forms of gender-based violence against women, but Christian communities in Latvia have criticized the heavy use of gender ideology in both the framing and the language of the document.
The word “gender,” for instance, is defined as “the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men,” a definition that allows gender to be defined independent of biological sex and therefore opens the document to the question of whether it really is aimed at the protection of women.
Christian communities also question the biased nature of the committee designated to enforce the convention.
The governments of Slovakia and Bulgaria refused to ratify the convention, while Poland, Lithuania, and Croatia expressed reservations about the convention though it was ultimately ratified in those countries, a move the government of Poland is attempting to reverse.
“When we found out that the Latvian parliament was going to ratify it, I went to the parliament and presented the common Christian position,” Stankevičs explained. As a consequence of that visit, the Latvian parliament decided not to ratify the convention, Stankevičs said, crediting the appeal to the unity provided by the common Christian position argued via natural law.
“In conclusion,” the archbishop said, “I can say that in Latvia we continue to defend the true nature of life and family. But if we Catholics would act alone, we would not have the impact that we have as one Christian majority. That unity is the reason why the government takes us seriously.”
ACI Prensa Staff, Nov 2, 2023 / 10:15 am For the first time since its inception, the “One Million Children Praying the Rosary” campaign this year surpassed the emblematic figure of 1 million children praying […]
Father Ivan Levystky (left) and Father Bohdan Geleta (right) were held for more than a year after being captured by the Russians in Berdyansk and released on June 28, 2024. / Credit: Donetsk Bishop’s Exarchy
ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 29, 2024 / 17:20 pm (CNA).
More than two and a half years after the Russian invasion, the Church in Ukraine has lost more than half of the parishes in the occupied regions, said Maksym Ryabukha, the new Greek Catholic bishop of the Donetsk exarchate.
Speaking to the Italian daily Avvenire, the 44-year-old prelate said “the situation is increasingly worrying” since the war began in February 2022.
“We have already lost more than half of the parishes. And with the advancing Russian army, dozens of other churches have been evacuated,” added Ryabukha, whose diocese is partly under Moscow’s control, divided by over 300 miles of trenches.
According to the Italian media, in the churches of Pokrovsk, Mirnohrad, and Kostiantynivka — areas taken by Russian forces — there are no more remaining liturgical furnishings, pews, or adornments.
The new bishop of the Donetsk exarchate said the priests “stay close to the population and visit the refugees who have left their homes.” In his case, he said he is now “a bishop in a time of pain, drama, injustice, and helplessness” as he sees his Church suffering.
Ryabukha said that in the Russian-occupied areas, “those who openly call themselves Catholics disappear: Some are shot, others are imprisoned. There is no right to freely profess the faith. Our faithful keep saying: ‘We’re holding up, but it’s like being locked up in a prison.’”
Among the painful experiences, the prelate recalled the imprisonment of his priests Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levitskyi, who were held for more than a year after being captured by the Russians in Berdyansk.
Both were released in June, and Ryabukha said their stories “show how the power of prayer is a vital support in the midst of atrocities.”
“Our two priests felt the closeness of the Church that allowed them to hold up under the evil, the torture, the inhumanity they experienced in Russian cells. And it’s with prayer that I also can be close to the communities that they prevent me from visiting. Every day I ask the Lord to protect them,” he said.
The bishop, who regularly visits Ukrainian soldiers, said that many of them, before the war, “were simple fathers or even former Salesian students. They put aside their plans to defend the country.”
“We know that the war will end. But we all want this to happen as soon as possible and with peace in the name of justice,” he added.
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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