The monks, the news, and ‘pardon us’
The Tuesday Pillar Post
Pillar subscribers can listen to JD read this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR
Hey everybody,
Today is the feast of St. Meinrad, and you’re reading The Tuesday Pillar Post.
Meinrad himself was a German monk who lived like a hermit, drew pilgrims who came to seek his wisdom, and was killed by two robbers who believed mistakenly that the monk had a chest of wealth left behind by pilgrims who visited him.
Actually, Meinrad didn’t have very much, because near everything he was given, he gave to the poor pretty quickly. But on January 21, 861, when the robbers came, he invited them in for what he did have — a shared meal and something to drink.
The men beat the saint to death, then fled in fear.
After his death, the monk was venerated as a saint by his brother Benedictines, and his cell became a shrine. His relics were venerated, and chapels were built in his name. He was remembered in monastery liturgies. And eventually, near the muddy banks of the Anderson River in southern Indiana, a monastery was built in his name.
That’s what I want to tell you something about.
Pillar readers probably realize already that you can’t understand much about American Catholicism, especially in the midwest, without understanding the influence of the Benedictines.
As Germans turned America’s frontier in farmland in the 1800s, they found themselves further and further from the Church’s parishes and structures back east. They staked claims, cleared fields, cut sod, built houses, and raised families. But they were often far from the sacraments.
So in1846, the Bavarian Fr. Boniface Wimmer came to America with a bunch of young would-be monks, hoping to serve those immigrants.
Wimmer soon found himself serving more than the Germans — in fact, his monks became the pastors and evangelists of people from all backgrounds working the midwest and the Great Plains. They baptized, and preached, and taught, and opened schools, and made converts.
First, with a good deal of difficulty, Wimmer established St. Vincent monastery in western Pennsylvania in 1846. That monastery, which became an abbey, founded new Benedictine houses in Kansas, New Jersey, Minnesota, North Carolina, Illinois, and eventually Alabama.
After Wimmer died, more houses were founded, in too many places to list.
The monks of those monasteries became pastors and bishops even, across the plains and prairies of the American West.
Soon after the German monks came the Swiss.
In Indiana, St. Meinrad’s Abbey, built in 1854, was one of several American monasteries founded by Swiss monks, who came from their European monasteries to serve the country’s German-speaking rural population.
You’ve got to remember that in the 1800s — all the way until World War I actually, German was spoken near everywhere in America. It was the Spanish of its day, really — a functionally used language in broad swaths of this country, with so many speakers that several states required that laws and state forms and documents be available in German.
It is a myth that German “almost became the official language of the United States.” The United States doesn’t have an official language. But that myth is rooted in a reality — German was a major American language until the First World War bolstered an English-first nationalism, and speaking English was taken as a sign of being American.
But in the mid-to-late 1800s there were enough German speakers, in need of the Gospel, that there was plenty of need for Swiss monks. That’s how Meinrad’s got started, and then Conception Abbey in Missouri, and how those places spun off new Benedictine houses in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oregon.
They also launched monastic communities of women, some of them becoming quite large.
I’m telling you guys — the history of American Catholicism is a good deal about German-speaking religious. You can see it in the parish architecture of farm communities from Ohio to Texas.
(In fact, some time we should talk about Bl. Solanus Casey, and the Providence of his German-speaking deficiencies.)
For their part, though, the Swiss didn’t just come because they were good guys.
Many were good guys, probably. But they also poured money and manpower into building American monasteries as a kind of escape hatch. In Switzerland, which fought a religiously based civil war in 1847, anti-clericalism, and anti-monasticism specifically, were huge threats in the second half of the 19th century.
Swiss abbots legitimately feared that their monasteries would be dissolved — and some monasteries were dissolved.
With that threat, the abbots of Switzerland hoped their monks would be safest — and their way of life best preserved — among the immigrant communities of the United States. They put their trust in God and in that hope.
For our sake, thank God they did.
The news
The Pillar broke the news early Saturday morning that the Vatican was expected to suppress a controversial religious community, the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, which has been the subject of reform efforts for several years, largely due to the influence of the community’s founder, who was found to have committed serious acts of abuse within the community.
The Sodalitium acknowledged on Monday that its members have been informed by a Vatican delegate of the community’s suppression. It’s not clear what the next steps are, especially for the 30-some priests incardinated in the community. And there are rumors, as yet unconfirmed, that some members might be permitted to refound a new institute, under the authority of a Spanish priest, Fr. Jordi Bertomeu, who is reportedly appointed to wind down the Sodalitium structures and assets.
The process of the Vatican assessing the community has been controversial, with members saying they were not always given clear information about processes, expectations, or even allegations.
But at this point, the wind-down itself — the process of dissolving an entire religious community — is worth watching, carefully, because Francis is engaged in the investigation of other communities with abusive founders and a history of internal abuse allegations. Some of them might also be dissolved, which means this process, for better or worse, could become a template.
Here’s what we reported Saturday.
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The Pillar reported last week on new data which shows a significant decline in credible allegations of child abuse by Catholic clergy members over the past two decades.
On its face, that’s probably a sign that the safe environment policies implemented by the Church in 2002 are having a positive effect — even if the USCCB’s documents on the subject are in need of considerable reform, especially to standardize terms, roles, and processes, to protect whistleblowers and victims facing retaliation for allegations, and to (much) better enumerate the due process rights of accused clerics.
In short, as the Essential Norms document undergoes revision, there is need to better ensure the kind of process by which parties on all sides have adequate protections, for sake of a just outcome.
As to the data, experts told us that while there are positive signs in the numbers, it’s also true that allegations of abuse can sometimes take decades before they are reported, meaning we can’t see the full picture of today just yet. Further, the data does not detail abuse of adults, an area in which it’s well-known that serious reform and accountability remains necessary.
So if you want to see what we know — and what we don’t know — give this reporting a read.
That announcement has prompted a fair number of questions about how exactly a religious order gets started in the first place.
So when you’ve got questions, we’ve got an explainer.
Here’s The Pillar’s how-do-you-start-an-order explainer, just for you.
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On Monday, the announcement was made, signifying the end of the DiNardo era in the American Church. And really, don’t underestimate how influential this understated cardinal has been for an entire generation of bishops — a patristics scholar, a Churchman, and the man tasked with leading the USCCB amid the McCarrick scandal, and the shocking Vatican intervention in the bishops’ reform plans.
With DiNardo retired, there are now seven U.S. archdioceses whose archbishops are serving past age 75. There will be five more this year. We’re in an era of change for American metropolitan sees.
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The priest’s diocese is backing him, but the country’s ruling party has the issue in its sights, saying they expect to see it resolved inside a courtroom.
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And speaking of secularism in Europe, Poland’s bishops are in a full-on fight with their country over a measure that would halve the time allotted to religion classes in public schools. The bishops say the proposal violates Polish law — but the politicians pushing for it don’t seem especially concerned.
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Meanwhile, the president of the French bishops’ conference announced Friday that he has asked prosecutors to investigate whether alleged abuse by immensely popular French priest Abbe Pierre was covered up.
The priest, regularly voted France’s most popular personality before his death in 2007, is accused of sexually abusing 57 boys between 1950 and 2000, sending shockwaves across France, even among non-practicing Catholics who revered him.
So did the priest, who was regarded as a humble friend of the poor, get a pass from ecclesiastical authorities who knew about his abuse? That remains to be seen — but the French bishops say they’ll cooperate with investigations to that effect.
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And if you didn’t read it, don’t miss a story from our new Filipino correspondent, about the Santo Niño de Cebu celebrations around the world this weekend. Revered by Filipinos, and their large diaspora community, Santo Niño de Cebu is the occasion of some of the country’s biggest feasts.
Read it in English or Tagalog.
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We have a new U.S. president, and for the second time in American history, he’s a new president we’ve had as president already — a situation the grandson of Grover Cleveland called “kind of weird” this week.
Actually, the parallels are uncanny — Like Donald Trump, Cleveland was a big guy. But while Trump is a teetotaler, Cleveland liked drinking and smoking. Cleveland was accused of at least one sexual impropriety, and Trump… well, you know the story there.
Further, during his second term, Cleveland was criticized for policies that fractured his party. And Trump, again, has pretty well split, fractured, and then reshaped the Republican coalitions of yesteryear.
Cleveland was a mixed bag on immigration. On one hand, he worked to restrict immigration from China, and to prevent Chinese immigrants who left the U.S. from returning — in part because of perceptions that Chinese immigration involved a good deal of fraud, and in part because Cleveland believed Chinese immigrants did not integrate into the U.S. On the other hand, Cleveland vetoed a bill that would have required a literacy test for immigrants to the United States.
Trump is regarded, to say the least, as less of a mixed bag on immigration; a hard-line approach to the issue was a hallmark of his campaigns and first administration. That approach has frequently put him at odds with the U.S. bishops.
This week, Trump’s approach to immigration and deportation has put him at odds with Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, who called his plans for expanded deportations “profoundly disturbing,” and “an affront to the dignity of all people and communities … deny[ing] the legacy of what it means to be an American.”
Cupich’s remarks were precipitated by reports that Trump will begin his targeted immigration raids in the Chicago area, where would-be migrants have been shipped in recent years from other parts of the country. And the cardinal’s substantial criticism is likely shared by many American bishops.
Why? Two reasons: The administration is not likely to work with him or hear him out on the issue, and the plurality of U.S. bishops tend not to follow his lead on public or moral issues. In short, if Cupich becomes the ecclesiastical frontman on immigration, it might lead to an ineffective campaign on the issue.
Here’s my analysis on that subject — complete with a Leeroy Jenkins metaphor I hope you enjoy.
Varia
Real quick a couple of things:
First, if you’re not listening to Sunday School, The Pillar’s weekly readings podcast, you’re really missing out.
Every week, Dr. Scott Powell breaks down the Sunday readings with me and producer Kate Olivera.
I got a note from a priest the other day who said the podcast has dramatically changed his preaching, and that his people are grateful he’s breaking open Scripture for them. That’s exactly why we started the show. If you’re a cleric, the aim is for a faithful Scripture scholar to give you stuff each week to think about, pray about, and maybe preach about. If you’re not a cleric, the aim is to give you a deeper connection to the liturgy of the Word each Sunday.
It’s a great show, and you can get it wherever podcasts can be found or right here.
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Second, I’ll be the emcee this summer at the National Catholic Partnership on Disability’s conference in Salt Lake City. The aim is to bring together people in pastoral ministry with intellectuals thinking from the heart of the Church, to provide the best pastoral care possible to people with disabilities.
There’s a call for papers, and the NPCD asked me to share it. If you’re a theologian, a teacher, a pastor, or a school teacher, and you’ve learned some things, come share them. And we can hang out together in Salt Lake City, the most difficult-to-navigate city in North America.
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Third: My family is planning a pilgrimage to Rome for the Vatican’s Jubilee for People with Disabilities in late April. There are still spots open. If you have a disability, or you love people with disabilities, or you like hanging out with thousands of pilgrims with disabilities, this trip is designed for you. We’re going because we want to participate. We’ve tried to keep the cost as low as humanly possible — nobody’s making any money off this trip. If you can come, we’d love to have you.
Read about it here. Or sign up for an information session here.
Pardon us
Finally, and most important. (I’m stepping out of my news reporting and analysis hat here, to give you my straight, unvarnished opinion. Just so we’re clear.)
Americans have learned a lot about presidential pardons this week: Both the preemptive ones given to people who say they’ve committed no crimes, and the nearly 1,500 pardons given yesterday to people convicted of “Jan. 6 offenses.”
The president can pardon who he wants. Those are the rules we’ve got.
If we’re honest, I suspect every father in America at least understands — if not condones — the act of pardoning your son for his myriad federal crimes, because no one wants to see his son in federal prison.
And no one is especially surprised by the January 6 pardons either, given Trump’s repeated view that they were politically motivated prosecutions, even for those convicted of violent crimes, found guilty of attacking police with clubs or tasers or pepper spray.
Agree or disagree with those pardons, pro-lifers are waiting now to see if Donald Trump will pardon 21 pro-life advocates in federal prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act.
Among them is a priest, Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, and pro-life Catholic activist Lauren Handy, who told The Pillar in 2022 that she is “compelled by my deeply held beliefs to put my body between the oppressed and oppressor.”
Handy was in May sentenced to almost five years in prison, because she and other activists engaged in a non-violent protest, chaining themselves to doors and in a waiting room of an abortion clinic. As they did so, they gave women roses, and told them how beautiful their babies were. They offered them support, and resources, and friendship.
Their goal was to stop abortions. To save lives.
Opponents of the group would argue that pardoning them will see an increase in similar efforts to stop abortion clinics from killing children. Supporters, actually, might say the same thing.
The rule of law is important. It matters. But non-violent protest against killing — direct, non-violent intervention to save people’s lives — that’s got a long, storied, celebrated, and heroic history for Catholics. And that kind of action is returning to the pro-life movement, because people like Lauren Handy haven’t been afraid to go to prison.
Those pro-life protestors don’t need to spend years in prison for the rule of law to make its stand. Especially because science tell us that unborn babies are humans, and the law written on our hearts tell us that killing them is wrong.
In truth, I’m not sure this issue is even on Trump’s radar. Trump’s mostly distanced himself from the convictions of pro-lifers this election, viewing them a political liability.
But he’s a term-limited one-term president with two houses of Congress. He’s got some chips, if he wants ‘em. Which means that Trump and his administration have to decide whether he’ll stand with the pro-life movement or not.
The pro-life prisoners have the support of prominent advocates, a few lawmakers, and a lot of grassroots Catholic supporters.
I’m curious to see whether any bishops will urge the president publicly to free Lauren Handy, Fr. Fidelis, and their collaborators. I hope they will. I’m also curious whether the pro-life Catholic vice-president will chime in.
In the meantime, I’ll add my own voice to those calling for their freedom.
#FreeLaurenHandy
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Please be assured of our prayers. And please pray for us, we need it.
Yours in Christ,
JD Flynn
Editor-in-chief
The Pillar
editor’s note:
This Pillar Post initially reported that Grover Cleveland won the presidency while losing the popular vote, just like President Trump did in 2016. In fact, Cleveland won the popular vote while losing the presidential election in 1888, just like Secretary Hillary Clinton did in 2016. The Pillar apologizes profusely for the error.
Also, it turns out the Annapolis glee club is awesome. Listen to ‘em.
Back in 2017 when I was a lapsed Protestant working my way toward the Catholic Church, I was too scared to visit my parish church, so I booked a three-day weekend at the St. Meinrad guesthouse. It's where I learned to love the rhythms of the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.
Life was never the same after that, thanks be to God.
"They also launched monastic communities of women, some of them becoming quite large."
That's no way to talk about religious women!! LOL!!