Remembering A Legacy

Earlier this spring, Our Sunday Visitor posted an article about the legacy of Saint John Paul II.  While the author admits that she only covers a fraction of his legacy, she does a wonderful job of capturing the impact the late Holy Father made on the Church and the world.

This is something we set out to do in our permanent exhibit, A Gift of Love: The Life of Saint John Paul II, and today we decided to lay out how we preserve the pieces of our beloved John Paul’s legacy that the author mentions.

Theology of the Body

John Paul II’s anthropology gave the Church a new language with which to address the fallout of the sexual revolution and help Christians recover a sacramental understanding of the world.

World Youth Days

With each successive World Youth Day, Pope John Paul II helped the Church see that it didn’t need to change in order to inspire young people; rather, it needed to challenge young people to change — to be bolder, more faithful and more heroic.

Luminous Mysteries

Outlined in his apostolic letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae (“Rosary of the Virgin Mary”), the Luminous Mysteries completed the story arc of Christ’s life on earth, featuring highlights from his ministry and illuminating his mission in salvation history as the Son of God and Son of David, the new Adam and the new Moses.

Catechetical Renewal

To help get the Church back on track, the pope appointed a commission to draft the first universal Catechism of the Catholic Church in more than 400 years. He promulgated the comprehensive compendium of Catholic doctrine in 1992, setting the stage for the renewal of catechesis within the Church at every level.

The Fall of Communism

When the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and the Soviet Union broke apart shortly thereafter, historians credited part of that victory to John Paul II, both for his example of prayerful resistance and the hope he gave to millions behind the Iron Curtain.

A Cloud of Witnesses

Through both the number and kinds of saints Pope John Paul II raised to the altar, he demonstrated that holiness wasn’t for a precious few and that the priesthood and religious life weren’t the only paths to sanctity.

A New Feminism

Through his encyclical, Mulieris Dignitatem (“The Feminine Vocation”), as well as his “Letter to Women,” “Letter to Families,” and Evangelium Vitae (“The Gospel of Life”), he defended women against those who reduced them to sexual objects, denied their unique orientation toward bearing and nurturing life, or denied their equal dignity to men.

New Evangelization

Pope St. John Paul II set out to change that, calling for a New Evangelization that reached out to the baptized and unbaptized alike. He also demonstrated what he meant by a “New Evangelization” — traveling the world to preach Christ, using the media to reach people outside the Church, and showing the relevance of the Faith to every aspect of life, from sports and entertainment to friendships and music.

For more on Saint John Paul II's legacy, see the original article here. To see this legacy come to life, prayerfully consider a pilgrimage to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.

Saint John Paul II, pray for us!