Blessed Dominic Barberi: promoter of ecumenism?

Was Blessed Dominic Barberi, the Passionist priest who received Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman into the Catholic Church, a promoter of ecumenism?  It depends on how you define that all-too-elastic term.  In his letter to the Passionist Congregation anticipating the beatification of Cardinal Newman later this year, Fr. Ottaviano D’Egidio, Superior General of the Passionists, envisions Bl. Dominic as a precursor of the ‘new” ecumenism of “dialogue”:

Dominic, who was probably the first to use the expression “separated brethren” to refer to non-Catholic Christians, shared with Newman a great respect toward the other churches, which in turn inspired them to avoid disrespect, animosity, and the defamation which unfortunately was prevalent among the various Christian denominations until the Vatican Council II. In this sense, they are both precursors of the Ecumenical Movement and promoters of ecumenism that was based on harmony, listening and mutual respect. “Cor ad cor loquitur” (Heart speaks to heart), was the Episcopal motto of Newman, and Dominic was filled with love toward the separated brothers and sisters.

With all due respect to the Superior General, he presents a misleading picture of these two leading figures of the “Second Spring” of English Catholicism.  While there is no doubt that Newman and Barberi evangelized in a spirit of charity and sensitivity among English protestants, it is far-fetched at best to suppose that they “respected” the schismatic and heretical sects that stood (and continue to stand) outside of and in opposition to the One Sheepfold of Jesus Christ.

Indeed, how can anyone who reads the “Lamentation of England” possibly imagine that Bl. Dominic would ever have endorsed a false ecumenism that favors “dialogue” over conversion?  Dominic’s “Lamentation” is a source of light for anyone who wishes to understand the meaning of true ecumenism, which can only be an ecumenism of return to the Catholic Church.

As for Bl. Dominic’s alleged “respect” for the blasphemous rites and false doctrines of those “other churches” that had spurned the Bride of Jesus Christ, let the following passage from the “Lamentation” suffice to dispel any misconception:

Behold, O Lord, how our inheritance is passed into the hands of strangers; our Sacraments, which thou didst leave to us, are in the hands of heretical ministers, who abuse this sacred inheritance, which of right belongs to us, being merited and purchased for us by the shedding of thy divine blood. Our temples, those venerable churches which were built by our ancestors and dedicated to thy divine majesty which, in the happy days of old England when we were thy elect people, we used to assemble before thee, have been seized and polluted by strangers, by the followers of Calvin and Cranmer, and innumerable other heretics, who impiously blaspheme thee in their infamous conventicles. … Alas ! alas ! for now is thy house become the den of wild beasts, where thy holy name and thy awful majesty is blasphemed and trodden under foot: yea in her own temple thy spouse the Church is detested, anathematised, slandered as an adulteress and unfaithful. Behold it, O Lord, behold it I beseech thee. (“Lamentation” 1)

It is good that Passionists throughout the world recall the deep ties linking the Passionist Congregation to the “Second Spring” of Catholicism in 19th century England, as well as the role of Blessed Dominic Barberi, C.P., in the conversion of Venerable John Henry Newman.  In so recalling, let us also call to mind the meaning of true ecumenism as exemplified by Bl. Dominic Barberi.

Bl. Dominic, pray for us!  Pray for the conversion of England and America!

A soul laid bare: letters of St. Gemma to Fr. Germanus

It is difficult to express the emotions that I feel when reading the letters of St. Gemma Galgani to her confessor and spiritual director, Fr. Germanus Ruoppolo, C.P.  Her ardent love for Jesus (“My dear Dad, is Jesus pleased with my soul? I stay always united with him. Beloved Jesus! my all in this miserable world!”), her profound humility (“Dear Dad, Jesus continues, even increases, his sweetnesses toward this vile creature”), her bold simplicity (“Hold me tightly. My dear Father, if you feel me stray, hold on to me.”) — all of this leaves an indescribable impression of a virginal and ravished soul.

If you could be near, how many things I should like to tell you . . . There remains only Jesus, Father, Jesus alone! … How good is His mysterious love that never tires! And in me finds nothing but weakness, misery, sins, yet loves me, loves me so much! He does not cease to let me hear His voice in my heart, to let me live in His dear Presence; indeed, so great is the happiness that I expe­rience, that at times I feel myself leaving the world; and more and more I want to leave earth and betake myself to Heaven. Oh Paradise! … Where there is only one thing to do; to love. (Source: Glenn Dallaire)

The more that I get to know “Poor Gemma” (as she called herself), the further recede the controversies and obsessions that once consumed me.  As Our Blessed Lord has said: there is only one thing necessary.

A rare translation of the letters of St. Gemma to Fr. Germanus is available for download here.

Mission Society of Mandeville: a refuge of Passionist joy in the Caribbean

I’ve commented in these pages — in connection with the Passionist Nuns of Whitesville, KY — on a delightful paradox of the Passionist charism, namely, how a religious congregation so singularly focused on the Sorrowful Passion of Our Lord produces priests and religious who are so full of joy.

An abundance of Passionist joy can be found in the mission territory of Jamaica, where Msgr. Michael Palud and the Mission Society of Mandeville “spread … the Gospel and service of the Church firstly in the Caribbean and in other Mission Territories of the Catholic Church.”

Although not technically members of the Passionist Congregation, the priests and brothers of the Society live according to the rule of St. Paul of the Cross and keep the Passion of Jesus Christ alive in their missionary hearts. As such, they are truly members of the Passionist family.

The raison d’etre of the Mission Society of Mandeville is eloquently summarized by the Society’s founder, The Most Reverend Paul M. Boyle, C.P. (+2008):

October 14, 2005

How strange it would be for a person who has just won a multi-million dollar lottery to worry about a telephone bill of a few dollars. Such a person clearly fails to realize the immense wealth that has just come to him or her. Something similar happens in the spiritual life when a person meditates on the Passion of Jesus and is filled with sorrow. The sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus are a source of immeasurable blessings to us. By his Paschal mystery Jesus has redeemed us, he given us eternal life.

Most people who are millionaires have earned their wealth by their hard work, their creativity and intelligence. But the riches we receive from Jesus are pure gift. We do not receive them as reward for our actions, as payment for our good works. We have been gifted by the free and boundless love of our God.

Meditation on the Passion of Jesus helps drive home this staggering truth. We develop a continually growing realization of the depths and strength of God’s love for us. As we thrill to this awareness, we are moved to share this joy with others.

This powerful and life-giving remembrance of the Passion of Jesus is the source of the evangelizing zeal of the members of the Mission Society of Mandeville. They seek to share with others the joy of knowing the gift of God.

+Most Rev. Paul M. Boyle, C.P.
Bishop Emeritus of Mandeville
Founder of the Mission Society of Mandeville

If you or a loved one feel the call to serve Jesus Crucified in the mission lands of Jamaica and beyond, consider the Vocation Discernment Retreat that is offered by the Society.  More information about the Mission Society of Mandeville is available on their website and Msgr. Michael’s blog.

The School of Jesus Crucified: Jesus Condemned to the Death of the Cross

… The Jews are not satisfied with the scourging of Jesus, nor yet with His crowning with thorns, nor with His having been overwhelmed with disgrace and ignominy; they require nothing less than his death, and urge Pilate to have Him crucified. You also have desired His death as often as you have sinned, and the voice of your perfidious, malicious will has uttered the cry, Crucifige, against your tender Father, Saviour and God, as loudly as ever the Jews did! Oh, what ingratitude and cruelty! … The sight of Jesus reminded the Jews of His miracles and beneficence, and was a reproach to them for their atrocious injustice and fearful ingratitude in desiring His death. On this account they would not look at Him whose appearance aroused remorse in their hearts. You commit sin, offend God, and persecute Jesus even unto death, because you never will pause and consider how much Jesus has loved you, nor how much He has suffered for your sake. You live in forgetfulness of God, with scarcely any knowledge of Him, immersed in vanity and idle curiosity, and absolutely unmindful of your loving Benefactor and Sovereign Good; hence it follows that you feel no horror of crying out, by your hateful sins, that He must be crucified, that He must die. And what has Jesus done to deserve such treatment at your hands?

~The School of Jesus Crucified, pgs 133-134

The Passionist Habit

It is wonderful to wear a religious habit!  It liberates you from the tyranny of modern fads, and keeps you aware that you belong to Christ.  There is so much interior freedom in not having to think about what to wear for this or that occasion.  The habit is truly what it says: your habitual attire.

~Passionist Nuns of Whitesville, KY

On a certain weekday in the Capuchin church in Castellazzo, I received Holy Communion with a deep sense of my unworthiness. I remember that I was deeply recollected, and then I left to go home. Walking along the street, I was as recollected as if I were at prayer. When I came to a street corner to turn toward home, I was raised up in God in the deepest interior peace. At that moment I saw myself clothed in a long black garment with a white cross on my breast, and below the cross the Holy Name of Jesus was written in white letters. At that instant I heard these words spoken to me: ‘This signifies how pure and spotless that heart should be which must bear the Holy Name of Jesus graven upon it.’ On seeing and hearing this I began to weep, and then it stopped. Shortly afterward I saw in spirit the tunic presented to me with the Holy Name of Jesus and the cross all in white, but the tunic was black. I pressed it joyfully to my heart.

~St. Paul of the Cross

Is it impertinent of me to ask why so many Passionist priests and religious today go about in public without the habit? I accept that these Passionists wear the Passion of Jesus in their hearts and are no doubt better representatives of Christ Crucified than I, a sinful layman.  Nevertheless, it really, really bothers me to see a dozen or more Passionist priests posed for a group photo in civilian clothes.  I’m not trying to judge.  Please help me to understand.

At the Cross with Mary

At the Cross With Mary is a beautiful work on the life and message of Saint Gabriel of the Sorrowful Virgin written by devotee John Joseph Schweska. A series of prayers, reflections and lessons drawn from the exemplary yet short life of Saint Gabriel, give this book a unique appeal.

- St. Benedict Center

Mary, lead us to Jesus! St. Gabriel, pray for us!

St. Gemma and the miraculous Crucifix

As she set the dinner table each day in the home of her adoptive family, the Gianninis, St. Gemma Galgani would gaze up with ardent longing at the large Crucifix that hung from the kitchen wall. One day, overcome with the intense desire to be united with Jesus on the Cross, St. Gemma cried out:

“O Jesus, let me come to You, I thirst for You!”

At that moment, the carved wooden Corpus came to life and Jesus, detaching his right arm from the Cross, beckoned Gemma with a loving glance. As if on wings, Gemma flew to her Divine Lover’s side and, miraculously held aloft by Our Lord’s mighty arm, she pressed her lips to the flow of blood that issued from the lance-wound, drawing from the Sacred Heart of Jesus deep draughts of His Precious Blood:

This miracle, which occurred in September 1901, reminds us of the similar experience of St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Congregation of the Passionists, which St. Gemma so longed to join:

St Paul also told [Rosa Calabresi] of another beautiful experience he had of Jesus crucified. While meditating on the Passion of Jesus, he remained in prayer at the foot of a large Crucifix. He said to the Lord, ‘Lord, hide me in Your wounds, because I cannot stand without showing the sorrow.’ Then [on] the most holy Crucifix before which I was praying, [Jesus] detached His arm from the cross and embraced me closely, very closely, and put me in His most holy Side where He held me for three hours, and it seemed to me that I was in paradise.’

For his Canonization, a large picture of this miracle was painted, showing Paul raised in mid-air before Jesus on the Cross, with Jesus embracing him and holding him with one arm, and drawing him to the wound in His sacred side. Also in the picture, the holy Angels are all around, holding the instruments of the Passion.

(Source: Glenn Dallaire)

St. Gemma, pray for us!

St. Paul of the Cross, pray for us!

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be always in our hearts!

Stored in a basement and forgotten

Dearly beloved, you must know that the main object in wearing black (according to the special inspiration that God gave me) is to be clothed in mourning for the Passion and Death of Jesus. For this purpose let us never forget to have always with us a constant and sorrowful remembrance of Him. And so let each of the Poor of Jesus take care to instill in others meditation on the suffering of our Jesus.

-St Paul of the Cross

In the Shadow of His Wings

The Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph Monastery have become quite an inspiration to me.  Devotees that they are to the sorrowful Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the sheer joy of these contemplative nuns is infectious.  It is that joy that is helping to lead me out of the fever swamps of radical traditionalism.  I invite all who visit my blog to make haste to a little corner of paradise in Whitesville, Kentucky, USA (if not by plane, train, or automobile, at least by a click of the mouse) and see where the charism of St. Paul of the Cross is lived to the fullest.  God bless you, dear Sisters!

That which we have seen and have heard, we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice, and your joy may be full. (1 Jn 1:3-4)

O Crux ave, spes unica!