Huffington Post: Pope Appeals To China Over Naming Of Bishops

Our own Fr. Larry Lewis is returning from Rome and a meeting with Pope Benedict even as we blog. Ten days ago he called me up in a panic (Larry, not the pope) having heard from my classmate in Rome (Fr. Clyde Phillips, not the pope) that in the new dispensation, a suit and clerical collar are not sartorially sufficient to come into the papal presence.

"Joe, do you have a cassock I can borrow?"

"Actually I have three. Take your pick!"

He chose the one custom made for me some years ago by the mother of our late Br. Mike Greyerbiehl with the faux buttons hiding a full-length zipper (the cassock, not Mike) and a Maryknoll cincture complete with Chi Rho.

The purpose of Larry's call to Rome was a high-level discussion of Maryknoll's China Formation Project which has helped bring Chinese priests, seminarians and Sisters from the mainland to the U.S. so they could receive solid education in religious matters.

Four (or five?) alums of the program went on to become bishops in China with Vatican and PRC official approval. Larry went to give his assessment of the program.

Now, I'm not saying there's a quid pro quo, but my cassock may have just been the tipping point to the following press release from the Vatican. Just sayin'.

		Pope Appeals To China Over Naming Of Bishops
	By Francis X. Rocca Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Thursday (April 14) lamented China's interference with the Roman Catholic Church, and...

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Afternoon session

Larry's afternoon talk seemed to underscore what Fr.Richard Rohr stated in his article the link to which I posted here a few days ago.

Namely, we are called to be spiritual seekers, not settlers. This underlies Jesus saying in Matthew's gospel, "Blessed are the poor in spirit."

We are never to feel spiritually full and content, as if we have attained all truth and all happiness. It is this longing, this hunger that urges us to "seek first the kingdom of heaven." Notice we don't necessarily find the kingdom. Jesus tells the young scholar, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." He gives no indication where to look or go next, for Jesus does not want to short-circuit the process, for the value is in the seeking more than the finding.

Larry related a time when Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez visited the Knoll in the 1980s and spoke of his poverty: getting his teeth fixed for free so he could respect the gift God gave him to speak on behalf of his people. Gustavo knew he could not truly be poor, nor could Maryknollers be poor. "Do not use the poor to make yourselves feel good," he said to Maryknollers with his hand out, not in accusation but in solidarity.

Our mission vocation is built on a lack. We lack family and stability and "roots" so we can feel the lack most people experience. Yet over the years we tended to fill our lack with achievements, how many churches we built or have many baptisms we performed.

The radical call of the missioner is to rediscover his total dependence on God.

The message of our current American society is one of instant gratification, which is anethema and detrimental to authentic spirituality.

The Sisters at Monrovia, Larry said, are in that in-between space being too old to remain overseas, yet not sick enough to go to their nursing facility. Larry found among them an appreciation for the situation they are in, although if they had their preferences, they'd be elsewhere. It is this acceptance of the limitations that gives them freedom.

Premature Resurrection?

Fr. Larry Lewis gave our community a Lenten day of reflection based on the "Empty Tomb." This theme took on particular meaning for Larry back in the 1990s when a priest preached on his experience of peering into his growing anxieties and saw nothing. The emptiness of our hearts and lives may be frightening and present us the temptation to fill them with something, anything.

On this feast of the Annunciation we contemplate God emptying himself to become human.

We are not comfortable with peering into our own emptiness. Many people turn to various addictions to take away the pain of our emptiness.

When personal tragedies strike, us or our loved ones, we often can find no appropriate words yet the silence taunts us.

Lent invites us to gaze into the empty tomb, representing all we once held as meaningful, good and holy. We must sit with our uneasiness.

Larry once asked the Chinese whom he was teaching what they thought of when they saw an image of the crucified Christ. One man replied, "A loss of face." Face is a very important concept among Asian peoples. What does it mean that the Son ofGod willingly suffered this terrible loss of face for us?

Larry recounted meeting women who were trying to get away from situations of abuse and prostitution. One woman had a terrible history of abuse. She andLarry became friends. They lost contact but after 20 years she contacted with him again. On his 25th anniversary she was among the guests. Larry's mother asked him, "After 25 years of being a priest, are you happy?" Maria, the woman, indicated the circle of friends who remained after the meal and said, "This, this talking together with friends, this is happiness."

The stark emptiness and darkness of the church on Good Friday and Holy Saturday symbolizes our existential emptiness.

There is a certain freedom in accepting our emptiness. It may not feel as good as the dopamine squirt we get from alcohol or various addictions, but it is longer lasting.

Moments of failure, disappointments, confusion, fear and sorrow are all part of the human experience and we do ourselves an injustice by avoiding or disguising our darker moments. These can be very fruitful moments precisely because they are painful.

Back with more news

I was away on retreat the first week of August and then was up to my sister's place in the Adirondacks to soften the transition back to life here at Mother Knoll. As you might expect, things continue to happen. In no particular order:

+ One man mentioned that, going on two years into this "new" Council, we have yet to get a copy of the revised and amended Constitutions or directory or any particular conclusions or directions. There are rumblings from various quarters about a "return to an old style of leadership." I find this odd, given the oldest man on the team is only 63. But as Fr. John Meehan, of blessed memory, once observed when he said Korea had no young members (this was back in the 1980s and I rattled off several names), "I'm not talking age."

+ Twenty five Chinese priests and Sisters from the mainland, who are studying here in the States as part of in the Chinese Seminary Teachers & Formators Project organized by Fr. Larry Lewis, are trickling into the Knoll for their yearly retreat and workshop. This will lower the average age in the building to about 35 and will give us a good, lively spirit here in the house for the next two weeks. Larry, IMHO, is an example of the Maryknoller of the future: one man in a critical position playing a crucial role to help develop a local church, in this case, China. To that end, the fifth alumnus from the program has just been consecrated bishop with the full blessing of the Vatican as well as the approval of the Chinese government. Bishop John Baptist Yang Xiao Ting, 46, was ordained coadjutor of the Yulin diocese (Shaanxi Province) last July 15. From 1999-2002 Yang studied sociology at Catholic University in Washington. Yang was ordained to the priesthood in 1991, the first Chinese to be ordained after the seminaries were re-opened in the 1980s.

+ You all remember the notorious ambo whose price would cover a down payment on a house? Well, it's due to make a reappearance after more than 15 years in storage exile. Granted it is WAY too large to be placed anywhere near the main altar, still I agree with those who contend that sound stewardship at this point demands we at least try to use it since we apparently tried and failed to give it away. My suggestion is to put it towards the far end of the main chapel and rearrange the chairs between the altar and the ambo to choral style with the pews in back still facing forward. This would visually balance the ambo and altar and give prominence to the Liturgy of the Word. I expect major kvetching on this in the coming weeks. The ordination of women and suspended funding of the School of America's Watch are out there somewhere, but by golly, nobody rearranges furniture in the chapel and gets away with it.

+ Speaking of down payments on a house, I want to publicly thank Fr. Jerry Hammond of Korea for generously pitching in to help me and another Maryknoller pay for a hand-painted icon of Our Lady of Maryknoll by Fr. William Hart McNichols for our 100th anniversary next year. His offering will be in memory of the Hammond and Barr families, mine will be for the Veneroso and Kindar families (long story!)