Pillar paid subscribers can listen to Ed read this Pillar Post here: The Pillar TL;DR
Happy Friday friends,
There’s been a lot of rough stuff in the American news cycle this week, and I will talk a little bit about at least one aspect of it all later.
For the moment, I’d like to just take a minute and recall that today is the feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, originally instituted in 1684 and restored to the calendar by St. John Paul II in 2002.
Depending on who and what you read, and what language you go with (Hebrew or Aramaic) the etymology of Miriam or Maryam can contain multitudes, with possible roots in both versions of mr, which variously mean love and bitterness, and also mar (drop), which when coupled with yam would make it “drop of the sea.”
We can, I think, easily recognize the singular love and terrible bitterness which Our Lady knew in her vocation as mother of the saviour. Simeon’s prophecy that a sword would pierce her soul paints the perfect image of the sacrificial sorrow which came from knowing and loving Christ closer and deeper than any of us.
Calling on the name of Mary, our mother, is invoking one who loves with a mother’s love and to invoke the intercession of someone familiar with every grief and fear we can know in our lives.
The relative silence of Mary in the Gospels, surpassed only by that of St. Joseph, is something I think about a lot. Mary is frequently recounted as pondering the awesome weight of the mystery of salvation, and her seemingly impossible place within its plan, in the stillness of her heart.
If you read it a certain way, it almost sounds placid, though I am sure the reality was anything but that for a young, unwed mother seeing angels, or a widow witnessing the torture and death of her only child.
I try to resist inventing my own character of Mary in my mind. I try instead to think of her, our mother, as I have come to know her through periods of prayer and particular pleas I have made for her aid. Such moments are more often anguished than placid, though often silent.
But in that silence I have had — according to the very real limits of my spiritual imagination — fleeting instances in which I have met she who loves me as she loved her son.
With all of the things which have been going on this week, we could all use a deeper appreciation of that mother’s love — our mother’s love — and the silence needed to appreciate it.
Here’s the news.
The News
The murder of conservative figure Charlie Kirk on Wednesday has led to an online outpouring of prayers, including from bishops pledging prayers for Kirk’s soul.
The practice — indeed the obligation — of praying for people who have died sets Catholics apart from many other Christians.
We pray for those who have died in part because of our belief that their souls may be in purgatory, and the prayers and sacrifices of people on earth can help them progress towards heaven.
But what is the history of that practice? We have an explainer for you.
—
A Spanish bishop has threatened to resign if a Vatican-appointed mediator doesn’t rule in his favor in a years-long dispute with Opus Dei over the shrine of Torreciudad.
Bishop Ángel Pérez Pueyo made the threat in an emotional homily this week in which he also insisted the late Pope Francis had told him “do not yield” in the standoff over control of the site.
The dispute has been rumbling for years but a resolution is expected to be announced shortly by the Dean of the Roman Rota, the Vatican’s highest appellate court, who was sent by Rome to broker a settlement.
—
Following the recent instances of on-campus violence, in a feature this week Jack Figge spoke to diocesan and Catholic school administrators and clergy about the concerns, contingencies, and new plans under consideration for keeping people safe.
He also interviewed the head of one of only two diocesan police departments in the country — these are real, actual, sworn law enforcement officers in private police forces, with jurisdiction in Catholic schools, parishes, and any other diocesan institution.
—
Pope Leo XIV has suppressed two dioceses in mainland China, and erected a new diocese with a new bishop, the Vatican announced September 10, a move suggesting a new level of cooperation between China and the Vatican on mainland Church affairs.
The announcement represents the first occasion under Pope Leo in which the territory of mainland Chinese dioceses has been altered to reflect civil jurisdictions.
And the first time such alterations have received papal approval since the 2018 Provisional Agreement between the Vatican and China on the appointment of bishops.
—
The Congregation of St. Basil has appealed a Canadian judge’s August 7 decision to allow a lawsuit to proceed against the congregation and its prominent member Fr. Thomas Rosica.
The suit alleges that Rosica, a former Vatican communications advisor and special delegate at the 2019 global summit on clerical sexual abuse, sexually assaulted a young priest who was helping him with preparation for the 2002 World Youth Day celebrations.
Lawyers for Rosica and the Basilians argue that, since the alleged assault involved two priests, it should be treated as a purely canonical matter and the court has no jurisdiction — which isn’t an argument I’ve heard made since the era of Thomas Beckett.
You can read the whole story here.
—
Pillar columnist and Cubs fan Daniel Lipinski is back from Rome and the International Catholic Legislators Network annual meeting, where he managed to get to meet the new pope.
As Daniel wrote before he left for Rome, it's easy to assume a false familiarity from a distance with a pope who speaks your language, with your accent, even if he is a White Sox fan.
But what happens when you’re suddenly up close? How does Leo come across when he’s right in front of you and you hand him a Cubs hat?
Read Daniel’s whole story right here.
—
Supporters of the extraordinary form of the liturgy welcomed the announcement this week that the traditional Latin Mass will be celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica as part of an annual traditionalist pilgrimage to Rome in October.
It marks a dramatic return to St. Peter’s for the TLM after the 2021 motu proprio Traditionis custodes, heavily restricting the celebration of the old form of the liturgy around the world.
But if the decision to reauthorize the use of the old liturgy in the Church’s highest profile venue signals some kind of new openness to liturgical traditionalists under Pope Leo, how might it play out across the wider Church?
In an analysis this week, I looked at how the answer may hinge on how, exactly, Pope Leo sees the issue of the extraordinary form — is it a question of liturgy, unity, or ecclesiology?
I concluded that, given Leo’s reputation as a diocesan bishop, he could end up taking a very “Vatican II” approach to the extraordinary form and Traditionis — and that could be good news for the TLM movement.
You can read the whole thing here.
—
The re-opened Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris will host the beatification of 50 young Catholics killed by the Nazi regime.
These martyrs came from the St. Paul Mission, an organization set up by the French bishops during the Nazi occupation.
Their mission was to serve in Germany, secretly ministering to the spiritual needs of French Catholics who had been “volunteered” by the Vichy collaborators to work as laborers in the factories and coal mines of the German war machine.
The SS considered them anti-Nazi partisans, and hunted them as such.
Cards on the table, I am a middle aged dad. I read a lot of history, and a lot of World War II history, but I’d never heard of the St. Paul Mission. This is fascinating.
—
Slovakia’s bishops said this week that a proposal to reduce state funding for schools that fail to meet strict new government criteria poses “a serious risk of weakening the character and financial stability of Church schools.”
Under the government’s proposal, private and church schools will only be able to receive full state funding for their students if they abolish tuition fees, join local school districts, and accept at least 70% of pupils from their neighborhoods.
You are called to grow in your Faith and to evangelize. Deepen your understanding of the biblical roots of Catholicism and confidently share your Faith with others by becoming a St. Paul Center Member. Know Christ. Share Christ. Visit https://stpaulcenter.com/pillar to get started for free.
The way things are
Like a lot of people, I was surprised by the news out of Rome this week on the suppression of two Chinese dioceses, and the creation of a third by the pope.
To me, it seemed like a rare “win” for the Vatican in their dealings with Beijing, who have never before seen it as necessary to involve the pope in their efforts to redraw the diocesan map of the mainland, and in the appointment of bishops sometimes don’t trouble themselves with there being a pope at all.
But, from what I could read, many people elsewhere seemed convinced that Tuesday’s announcement was further proof of China running roughshod over the Church since the Vatican-China deal. I confess to being a little confused by those reactions.
It’s true that the new diocese created by Pope Leo pretty much recognizes a state-created jurisdiction which has been vying for legitimacy with the overlapping canonical dioceses for several years. So, from that angle, some people at least seem to have concluded this week’s announcement proves the Church is China’s “lapdog.”
This strikes me as, forgive me, not a terribly serious reading of the situation.