The Legacy Of St. John Paul II In Paraguay

During his visit to Paraguay last week, Pope Francis remembered Saint John Paul II’s 1988 trip to the Latin American country.

During this controversial visit to a land ruled by military dictatorship, the sainted pontiff called for a moral cleansing in the country. Using “formal and polite language to be direct,” he said:

Respect for human rights, as is well known, is not a question of political convenience, but rather it derives from the dignity of the person in virtue of his condition as a creature of God called to a transcendent destiny.

Some say that this reminder influenced the downfall of the dictatorship, which happened nine months after St. John Paul II’s visit.

Oh Beloved John Paul II, thank you for your strong witness and example. Please pray for us, that we might also stand for the dignity of the human person in our world today.

Papal Intentions For July

As we prepare for the month of July, let us remember Pope Francis’s intentions in our prayers.

His universal intention is that “political responsibility may be lived at all levels as a high form of charity.”

The Holy Father also asks us to pray that, “amid social inequalities, Latin American Christians may bear witness to love for the poor and contribute to a more fraternal society.”

So let us join Pope Francis in praying for political responsibility and Latin American Christians this month.

Saint John Paul II, Pray for Us!

Papal Intentions for November

The Holy Father’s general intention for the month of November is that “…priests who experience difficulties may find comfort in their suffering, support in their doubts, and confirmation in their fidelity.”

His mission intention is that, “…as fruit of the continental mission, Latin American Churches may send missionaries to other Churches.”

Let us pray with Pope Francis this month, and let us especially be attuned to whether God is asking us to be an answer to this prayer to comfort, support, and affirm our priests.

Things Worth Fighting For

At the eighth annual conference of the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders this past weekend, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia praised the work of the organization and encouraged those gathered to continue their good work in the face of secularism, in order to bring new life to America. He said:

Hispanic culture still has a soul formed by an encounter with Jesus Christ, and the humanity and compassion that flow from it…

These things are worth fighting for and sharing with others. Faith matters because it gives meaning to the word ‘human’ in ‘human beings.’ It matters because it makes us children of a loving God.

Archbishop Chaput lamented the fact that many American Latinos have left the Catholic Church. Our Lady of Guadalupe, please pray for this organization and others, that they may help draw our Latin American brothers and sisters back into the Church.

The Role of the Laity

Last week, the Vatican released a message Pope Benedict XVI sent to the 6^th Assembly of the International Catholic Action Forum. In this message, he reminded the laity that they are “co-responsible” for the Church’s mission, not merely “collaborators” with the clergy.  Lay people are therefore called to work in communion with Church leaders, and they are called to take formation very seriously. He said:

Feel the commitment to work for the Church’s mission to be your own…through prayer, through study, through active participation in ecclesial life, through an attentive and positive gaze at the world, in the continual search for the signs of the times.

Society needs courageous witnesses, he went on to say, so that people in darkness may see the light of the Gospel and find hope.

An example of this courageous witness can be seen in St. Juan Diego, who was canonized by Blessed John Paul II in 2002. Juan Diego was the poor, native of Mexico who reported the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe—an apparition that significantly inspired hope and the spread of Catholicism in Mexico, and one that still inspires people today.

In an address given to the Catholic Association of Latino Leaders (CALL) last week, Supreme Knight of the Knight of Columbus, Carl Anderson, encouraged his listeners to be like Juan Diego:

St. Rose of Lima, Pray for Us

If human beings knew what it is to live in grace, no suffering would frighten them and they would gladly suffer any hardship, for grace is the fruit of patience.

                -St.Rose of Lima

St. Rose, you suffered much during your short life yet you still lived with a mystical holiness. As Patroness of Latin America, please pray for the suffering Church there. Ask Our Lord to bless it with hope and joy so that the faithful may push forward with the New Evangelization. 

And This Joy Endures

Christian joy…springs from this certainty: God is close, he is with me, he is with us, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, as a friend and faithful spouse. And this joy endures, even in trials, in suffering itself. It does not remain only on the surface; it dwells in the depths of the person who entrusts himself to God and trusts in him.

Pope Benedict XVI spoke these words during Advent a few years ago, at a time when the Church was preparing to celebrate the birth of Christ. The reality of the Incarnation brings nothing but joy to a Christian—a blinding and beautiful joy. And the love and mercy which God made Man poured out during his life here on earth and which He pours down from Heaven everyday, makes this joy everlasting.

Why is it, then, that the Mystical Body of Christ is getting smaller in different parts of the world? Take for example, the Church in Latin America. According to a report in July, Catholics made up almost 92 percent of Brazil’s population. Those numbers went down to 74 percent in 2000, and then 64.6 percent in 2010. Countries all over the Latin American continent are seeing a similar decline, and scholars predict that this trend will continue.

Numbers aren’t everything, and they certainly don’t give the Catholic community any reason to lose hope. This decline in the number of faithful Catholics is disconcerting, though. Why is this contagious Christian joy, this joy that endures, losing ground?