The Rev Robert F. Houlihan, S.J. Educators Series, 2014, number 3.0

   From Cardinal Priest to Sainthood; the Canonization of the Good Pope John XXIII

   Material was taken from articles that appeared in the April 18, 2014 edition of “The Colorado Catholic          Herald” newspaper of the diocese of Colorado Springs

On April 27, 2014, two former popes were canonized as saints by Pope Francis I. One was Pope John Paul II, and the other was Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Boncalli, Pope John XXIII. While Pope John Paul II papacy was one of the longest, Pope John’s reign was one of the shortest, only 5 years. In addition, Pope John did not have the scholarly intellect or charisma of a Pope John Paul II. Nevertheless, he was an astute observer of the world environment, and attuned to the powerful changes that were taking place around the world. And in response to what he saw unfolding, Pope John had the fortitude and moral courage to call for a second Vatican council. As we examine the historical implications of Vatican II, one could argue that he has become one of the most important and influential papal figures of modern times. As an individual, Pope John XXIII was a person of deep faith based convictions, and was noted as a fun loving jovial man with an incredible sense of humor, who loved anyone of any race, culture and nationality. As pope and pastor, he worried over the decline in the spiritual and apostolic nature of the world and the rise of radical secular thought. From his perspective, it was the world that was broken not the Church, and that a new and revamped Church, therefore, could become the main instrument for bringing hope and guidance to a world that was in desperate need of both. Against opposition and push back, he championed for and got a second Vatican council, no easy feat. One of the keys to its ultimate success was the fact that Vatican II was fomented without any pre-conceived ideas of what it would accomplish. Pope John XXIII opened Vatican II, yet died before it was completed. The task of bringing Vatican II to close was left to his predecessor, Pope Paul VI. Yet like a large rock tossed into a pond, the effects of Vatican II are still rippling out and reverberating through both the Catholic and Religious Communities. In that regard the work of Vatican II is still unfolding and being playing out, and thanks to the visionary acumen one man it will for generations to come.

Lecturer – Ben Stancati

The Rev Robert F. Houlihan, S.J. Educators Series, 2014, number 2.0

Nowa Huta, The Birthplace of a New Evangelization

Taken from a piece written by Krzysztof Mazur, a member of Our Lady of Mercy Council 15128 in Krakow, the article appeared in the April 21014 edition of Columbia magazine

On April 27, 2014, Blessed Pope John Paul II will be declared a saint. As it turns out the date will be significant for a number of coincidental reasons. Yet as his eminence said in 1982, “In the designs of providence there are no mere coincidences.” Fifty-four years ago to the date, the residents of Nowa Huta, a steel mill town in the eastern district of the ancient city of Krakow, came together to defend their right for religious expression, when communist officials decided to build a school instead of a church in the town square. In an act of civil disobedience, the residents of the city stood against the might of atheistic communism and the power of the then Soviet Union. For a young auxiliary bishop by the name of Karol Wojtyla, and the citizens of Nowa Huta, the events of the day, now known as “the defense of the cross,” would come to symbolize the beginning of the “new evangelization.” In 1979, a year after being elected pope, Karol Wojtyla traveled to his native Poland, yet was not allowed to visit Nowa Huta. In his homily given at the nearby village of Mogila, the pope noted that the history of Nowa Huta, the birthplace of a new evangelization, had been written by the way of the Holy Cross. As John Paul II is canonized a saint, we Christians should look to both his life and the people of Nowa Huta for inspiration, as we continue down the long and difficult journey of defending the cross.