FACULTY COLUMNCATHOLICISM 101WORLD NEWS

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Go set the world aflame!The TORCH

Notre Dame HHS Mandate

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Cornerstone: Stations of The Cross

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Discerning Love, Hope

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BOSTON COLLEGE’S CATHOLIC NEWSPAPER ESTABLISHED 2013

Inside this Edition

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“‘Plastic surgery is like a burqa made of flesh.’ One woman gave us this harsh and in-cisive description. Having been given free-dom of choice for all, are we not under a new cultural yoke of a singular feminine model?”

This question was raised in “Women’s Cultures: Equality and Difference,” a document written for the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Council for Culture in Rome by a group of women in early Feb-ruary. The document was meant to engage ques-

tions of feminine specificity, in particular, what it means to be a woman in the Catholic Church.

In the late 19th century, women – particularly in Western countries – began to demand equal-ity of the sexes. As the Plenary document put it, women “no longer accepted the role of the deux-ième sexe.” The document argues that equilibrium must be found between equality and difference in order for the true vocation of women to unfold. There are inherent differences between the mas-

culine and feminine, and rather than diminishing these differences, we should use them to enlighten the road for understanding how they can compli-ment each other while remaining on equal footing.

The Plenary document focuses on the fe-

The Truth of the Feminine SelfKATIE RICH

Continued on Page 15

Jesuits Panel Discusses Sexual Assault at Boston College MARGARET ANTONIO

On March 18, four Jesuits sat down before a lecture hall of BC students for a panel reflect-ing on sexual assault at Boston College. The event was co-sponsored by Bystander Interven-tion Education and the Undergraduate Gov-ernment of Boston College (UGBC). Regine Jean-Charles, assistant professor of French, who has taught classes and published works on rape representation, sexual violence, women’s stud-

ies, and gender inequality, moderated the panel. For Haley Sullivan, A&S ’15, a bystander

trainer and co-organizer of the event, engaging Jesuits in the discussion on sexual assault was an effort to broaden the dialogue and break a stereotype. “After having conversations with so many students here, I started to find that there is a common misconception across campus that members of the Jesuit community will not dis-

cuss issues we consider to be controversial.”The all-Jesuit panel surprised many as it adds a

new dimension to the dialogue on sexual assault at Boston College and at universities in general. Jesuit seminarian, Roy Charles, S.J. said he hoped that their presence in the dialogue could help “de-mystify what it means to be Jesuit, how we think as Jesuits, how we think about this issue in particular.”

According to the White House task force on

Volume II, Issue 7

Campus NewsThe TORCH // Volume II, Issue 72

CAMPUS NEWSProfessors Discuss MLK and Faith at Veritas Forum ANDREA BAQUERO-DEGWITZ

Due to recent events at Ferguson and “Black Lives Matter” protests, it is clear that, while the United States has made substantial progress on solving the issue of racial inequality, the problem still plagues American society today.

On Thursday, March 18, students gathered in McGuinn 121 for the fourth annual Veritas Forum to hear Harvard University’s Nancy E. Hill and Boston College’s Alan Wolfe, Ph. D., present diverging perspectives on the question: “Can we have Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream without his faith?” The discus-sion, co-sponsored by BC Alive – InterVarsity Asian Christian Fellowship and the St. Thomas More Society, sought to challenge the attendees’ faiths by “connecting truth to our hardest questions and deepest beliefs.” Daniel Lyons, Associate Professor at the Boston College Law School, moderated the event.

Nancy E. Hill is a professor of education and the Suzanne Young Mur-ray Professor at Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Stud-ies. As a devoted Christian, Professor Hill argued that Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream was intricately linked to his Christian faith and trust in God.

According to Professor Hill, as Martin Luther King Jr. pur-sued his dream of racial equality with nonviolent resistance, the rev-erend followed the example of love and sacrifice set by Jesus Christ, who loved his enemies, prayed for those that persecuted Him, and died for Hi love of not only His friends, but also His enemies.

“For Martin Luther King, nonviolent resistance would ultimately win the day because that’s what the creator of the universe set in place as a model for human flourishing and to create that love that is more powerful than hate,” said Professor Hill. “ If we remove the faith foundations of those beliefs, we can pursue nonviolence resistance and reconciliation but we will do so without the ultimate conviction that love will ultimately triumph over all.”

On the other hand, Dr. Alan Wolfe, a Professor of Political Science and Di-rector of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston Col-lege, maintained that while King might have been influenced by Christianity, the Christian religion was not the only source to inspire King and his quest for racial equality. Thus, in order to understand the complexity of King’s dream, one cannot focus too much one religion and ignore the other influences.

“I don’t think he could ever have become the leader that every Ameri-can of every race sees him to be without that generosity of spirit that came from having so many religious influences,” said Dr. Wolfe. “Let’s not restrict King to one religion; let’s recognize him as being inclusive towards anyone.”

For Dr. Wolfe, Martin Luther King also drew inspiration from the Ancient Greeks, the Enlightenment thinkers, the Jews and the Hebrew Old Testament, and Mahatma Gandhi. These sources are not affiliated with Christianity.

Ultimately, both Professor Hill and Dr. Wolfe agreed that more measures should to be taken in order to eradicate both conscious and unconscious racism. American society needs to alter its social-ization, worldviews, and institutions to truly overcome this issue.

For example, the lack of racial diversity exists as a cru-cial problem at Boston College. While he takes pride in Boston Col-lege’s Catholic identity, Dr. Wolfe believes that because BC is a Cath-olic institution, this affects the university’s white and black racial diversity due to the fact that there are fewer African American Catholics.

“I think Boston College, at least with respects to the black and white issue, just has special problems,” said Dr. Wolfe. “I believe they are doing everything they can to overcome them, but it’s a tough job.”

Word Search Puzzle

ABSOLUTION ADORATION APOSTLE BEATIFICATION CONFIRMATION CRUCIFIX DIOCESE EUCHARIST GLORIA GOSPEL GRACE JESUS LAY LECTIONARY LITURGY

PARISH PASTOR RELIC RETREAT ROSARY SACRAMENT SANCTUARY SEMINARY TABERNACLE

Campus News The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 3

KATHRYN LIEDER

Students Take Pilgrimage to Taizé

A desire to further explore Taizé prayer beyond the monthly services held on cam-pus inspired a group of thirteen Boston Col-lege students and faculty to pursue a pil-grimage to Taizé, France over spring break.

In 1940, Brother Roger Schütz started the ecumenical prayer community in the Burgun-dy region of France. The reformed Protestant originally bought a small house in Taizé, where he provided shelter to World War II refugees.

That small house, just miles south of the oc-cupied zone of France, over time expanded into a much larger monastery to fit Brother Roger’s vision of a community where young people from all over the world can come to-gether, share their faith, and reflect upon their experiences while being immersed in the sim-plicity of a monastic lifestyle. The community is now home to over 100 brothers who have de-voted their lives to living together in solidarity.

In addition to the brothers, Taizé welcomes young people, mainly ages seventeen to thir-ty, from all over the world to stay for how-ever long they wish. Some volunteers choose to stay for multiple months or even a year in order to become more deeply integrated into the community and get a taste of whether or not he or she might be interested in becom-ing a permanent member of the community.

While the group visited Taizé at a rela-tively quiet time of year, during more popu-lar times of the year, such as Holy Week and

the summer months, Taizé often welcomes up-wards of two or three thousand young people.

The brothers’ emphasis on simplistic living in solidarity is present in day-to-day life at Taizé. The start of a typical day at the monastery involves a morning prayer service at 8:15 followed by a light breakfast of a piece of baguette, two gum-sized sticks of chocolate, butter, and hot chocolate or tea. Meals at Taizé are simple. Forks, knives, nap-kins, and cups are not present. The only utensil available is a large metal spoon and small plastic bowls are used instead of cups for water or tea.

The morning, noon, and evening prayer ser-vices involve many multilingual songs, sang in a variety of languages including Latin, French, German, Spanish, and Dutch to reflect the im-mense diversity of the people that flock to Taizé.

During prayer services, a rich chorus of voices fills the church with palpable warmth, a testa-ment to the unity felt in the Taizé community. The prayer services also feature short, simplistic scripture readings read in at least two different languages. Approximately ten to twelve minutes of silence during each prayer service provide im-portant time for individual prayer and reflection.

Monica Oxenreiter, A&S ’16, expressed im-mense gratitude for the experience and shared, “The simplicity of the lifestyle at Taizé was very different from life at BC. With three very simple meals, daily Bible study groups, and mandatory work shifts each day, which ranged from working in the garden to clean-

ing toilets, we all participated in the simple life.”The group was fortunate enough to talk

with Brother Emmanuel, a monk who spent many years studying the intersec-tions between psychology and theology.

He said, “A person’s image of God can be a stumbling block for their spiritual journey,” and, “Once we start to distort God’s image and God’s love, we are no longer Christians.”

He stressed that to grow in our faith, we must possess “the desire to be fully coher-ent with a God that can really love us” because, as he stated, “We are not bad, but wounded.”

The pilgrimage concluded with two days spent in Paris, during which Father Joseph O’Keefe, S.J. led the group on an Ignatian walk around the city following in the Jesuits’ footsteps. The group enjoyed an intimate mass in a church in the Montmartre district where St. Ignatius and his fellow brothers took their Jesuit vows.

On Monday, April 13, the Boston College community will welcome three Taizé brothers to campus, including Brother Emmanuel. The day will involve a Taizé service in St. Ignatius and an enlightening talk with the brothers open to any-one interested in deepening their faith through the boundless wisdom the brothers have to share.

As Brother Emmanuel articulated, “We are looking for a God who can understand our imper-fections….We can consent to these imperfections as long as we remember where we came from.”

Hundreds of students crowded into Hillside Café on Tuesday, March 10 to hear Father Casey Beaumier, S.J. deliver the second Agape Latte talk of the semester. Beaumier’s talk, “30 Bucks and a Purposeful Path,” focused on discernment and making sense of the “crazy paths of life.” The di-rector of the newly formed Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Father Casey also teaches a senior Capstone course, “The Discerning Life on Pil-grimage.” However, he is perhaps best known on campus for his genuine, day-to-day interactions with students outside of the classroom. The cel-ebrant of the Masses at St. Joseph’s Chapel, Father Casey currently lives in Fenwick Hall, where he serves as spiritual director to first-year students.

Father Casey started his talk by sharing the story of how he came to the priesthood. At Mar-quette University, a Jesuit school, he majored in journalism and “found a passion for writing.” However, during his time at Marquette, Beaumier also became an RA for freshmen- a decision that would end up changing his life. In a serendipi-tous twist of fate, the Jesuit chaplain for his dorm at the time was none other than Father William Leahy, S.J., current Boston College president. Through the Father Leahy’s mentorship, Father Casey realized that his true calling after gradua-tion was “not to become a journalist, but a Jesuit.”

During his time at Marquette, Beaumi-er developed deep admiration for the writ-ing of Maya Angelou. “Her words spoke to me,” Beaumier shared with the audience. “I knew I was not alone, because I had Maya Angelou as my friend.” One piece of Angelou’s that was es-pecially meaningful for Beaumier was an entry called “The Power of the Word,” a piece in which Angelou reflects on God’s unconditional love.

After graduating Marquette, Beaumier en-tered the seminary. In order to become part of the order, novices are required to complete a Je-suit pilgrimage. With only thirty dollars and a one-way bus ticket, novices must rely on the kindness of strangers along the way to find food and shelter. Beaumier’s journey led him to Wake Forest University, where he ministered to col-lege students. Maya Angelou, amazingly, was a professor there as well. A large influence on his faith, Beaumier knew that he had to meet her. “I called the English department to try to schedule an appointment with her,” Beaumier explained, “but I was told by a secretary that Dr. Ange-lou was an extremely busy and popular person and didn’t see people who popped by for a chat.”

Despite the discouragement, Beaumier did not give up hope. He stayed determined, and amazingly, was able to finally meet Dr. Angelou

at a conference in New York City. “It was just crazy,” Father Casey reflected. Beaumier used the story to illustrate to students the unpredict-ability of life and the greatness of God’s plan.

Father Casey also offered advice to students on how to live purposeful lives. He introduced the idea of a “desert day:” a Saturday to go into the city alone and “disconnect from the world and walk with God.” He also suggested to students that they spend time recognizing one another on campus through acts of kindness, generosity, and respect. To create a more welcoming campus, stu-dents should “greet one another with a smile” and acknowledge one another throughout the day.

Students in Hillside Café for Father Casey’s Agape Latte talk were very receptive of Father Casey’s story and advice. Abigail Young, A&S ’17, said, “Father Casey, with his incredible ability to reach each and every student with his words, is the reason I go to daily Mass. When he preaches I often wonder whether everyone hears the same homily or if we each hear what we need to depend-ing on what we are going through at the time.”

Readers interested in hearing more of Father Casey’s story can read his latest book, A Purpose-ful Path: How far can you go with $30, a bus tick-et, and a dream?, available through Loyola Press.

Fr. Casey Draws Students to Second Agape Latte EILEEN CORKERY

Campus NewsThe TORCH // Volume II, Issue 74

Jesuits Panel Discusses Sexual Assault at Boston College MARGARET ANTONIO

sexual assault, launched by President Obama in April 2014, an estimated one in every five women on college campuses has been sexu-ally assaulted during her lifetime. Panelist Fr. James Keenan, S.J., Canisius Professor and Di-rector of the Jesuit Institute pointed out that given the prevalence of the issue, it’s surprising how little action and discussion there is on it.

“If all of a sudden we were to find out that one out of five had Ebola, we’d be talking about that in class,” Fr. Keenan said. “If we found out that one in five had HIV/AIDS, we’d be talking about that in class. Why is it that sexual assault cannot come into the classroom?” Fr. Keenan teaches, speaks and writes prolifically on issues of health ethics, the human body, and moral theology.

Panelists emphasized the need to make the dialogue on sexual assault an integral part of uni-versity life by engaging students and professors as well as university leaders and Jesuits. Semi-narian, Christopher Ryan, S.J., pointed out that sexual assault can often be seen as something that shouldn’t be openly addressed. On the con-trary, Ryan suggested, it’s just the opposite. “I see this as a social justice issue, which is close to the heart of Jesuit education. I see this as an area of cura personalis, caring for the whole person. This isn’t just an academic institution. We do care…this is something that should reach the very top.”

One student asked the panel what Jesuits could do to address sexual assault. Fr. Enman suggested

that Jesuits start offering Mass during the month of October (Domestic Violence Month) specifically for victims of sexual assault and to also preach about it to raise awareness and unite spiritually in prayer.

Fr. Keenan added that inviting Jesuits to pan-els is also an excellent way to give Jesuits the op-portunity to participate in dialogues on issues like sexual assault and to help such dialogues extend throughout their Jesuit communities. “All of our communities will be asking us how [the pan-el] went. It’s important to invite Jesuits to these activities more specifically and more directly.”

During the Q&A portion of the panel, students were also interested in what the Catholic Church was doing to better the problem of sexual assault. One student asked if the Church was in fact con-tributing to aggression towards women by its ap-parent opposition towards the “feminization” of the Church. Contrary to popular belief, panelists pointed out that the Church itself has always been referred to as feminine with the title, “Mother Church.” Furthermore, women have always held an important place in the history of the Church, from standing alongside Christ during the cruci-fixion to being the first at the tomb upon his resur-rection. Even in modern times, women have been at the forefront as leaders in establishing Catho-lic hospitals and schools throughout the United States. Yet, as Fr. Keenan pointed out, although women have had prominent roles in the institu-tional life of the Church, there is still work to be

done in bringing women “to the table,” advising and contributing in decisions made by the Pope.

Overall, the event added a revolution-ary dimension to the dialogue on sexual as-sault, encouraging its extension beyond non-academic student life and into classrooms, up to university leaders, and even through-out the Jesuit community at Boston College.

“It was an amazing event and I am excited to think that it will not be the last of its kind,” said Matt Hugo, A&S ’16. “The Jesuits not only were excited to be a part of the panel, but expressed in-terest in continuing these conversations with stu-dents. The event also sets a precedent for better communication in the future between students and Jesuits on hot-button issues on campus.”

One of Bystander Intervention and UGBC’s goals in hosting the event was to increase ac-knowledgement of sexual assault not only as a nation-wide problem, but also as a problem that also affects Boston College as a university and a community. “[The Jesuits’] participation not only legitimizes this cause by recognizing that sexual violence does, in fact, occur on this cam-pus, but it also validates survivors’ experiences,” said Haley Sullivan. “Hopefully, it fosters a more supportive environment where students, fac-ulty, clergy, and administrators can discuss sex-ual assault more comfortably and transparently.”

Cont’d from Page 1

On Wednesday, March 18, Boston College welcomed Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Indus-tries and author of Tattoos on the Heart, for a keynote address in lieu of Campus Ministry’s 2015 Lenten F.A.S.T. week. Boyle urged listen-ers to form a community of solidar-ity, mutuality, and kinship with the marginalized. Father G, as Boyle is commonly known, shared many jokes and memories from his ongo-ing work with Homeboy Industries.

Father Gregory Boyle attended Loyola High School and was or-dained a priest in 1984. As a Jesuit priest, he became the new pastor at Dolores Mission, the poorest parish in Los Angeles at the time. Making a joke about how the previous pas-tor had quit, Father G commented on his reaction to his new position, “I was a pig in poop. I was so joyful.”

Boyle founded Homeboy Indus-

tries in 1988. Since then, Father G has helped develop forty-six pro-grams throughout the country that are similar to Homeboy Industries. He has also aided in the develop-ment of another eleven programs outside of the United States. These programs do not take the name “Homeboy Industries” because, as Boyle explained, Homeboy “doesn’t want to become the McDonald’s of gang member intervention.”

Through the development of Homeboy Industries and other simi-lar programs, Boyle has been able to change the lives of many former gang members. It has grown into Homeboy Bakery, Homeboy Diner, Homeboy Groceries, Homeboy Silk-screen and Embroidery, and Home-boy Café. His programs provide re-sources to all that want them. They provide free tattoo removal, sub-stance abuse support, legal services,

mental health therapy programs, case managers, solar panel train-ing, education, employment, and an environment to promote heal-ing. Father G stressed that the heal-ing process focuses on “dismantling messages of disgrace and shame…We are all in need of healing, all cry-ing to be returned to wholeness.”

Boyle explained that maybe Moth-er Teresa was right when she said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” He reminded the audi-ence of what kinship and commu-nity means. He related a story of two “homies,” Emmanuel and Snoopy, to the concept of kinship. His gang intervention program had given two former enemies the chance to be in kinship with one another. “They used to shoot bullets at each other, now they shoot text messages. We must stop separating the us and the them.”

Boyle praised Boston College’s “wonderful focus on service” that demonstrates “moving to the other shoreline.” This standing with those on the margins is the starting point that leads to kinship. Initially, there is a service recipient and a service provider with distance between each other, but eventually a con-nection is made and the two are able to join in commonality and mutuality. “The world changes if you stand with them. You change if you stand with them,” said Boyle.

Boyle announced, “Boston Col-lege is not the place you go to, but it will always be the place you go from.” When asked what his advice was to the Boston College graduat-ing class of 2015, Father G respond-ed, “Find your passion and follow it.”

“Unconditional love and truth will triumph in the end.”

Fr. Boyle Speaks at BC for F.A.S.T. WeekLILY BESSETTE

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 5World News

Pope and Tunisian Government Condemn Terrorist Attack in Tunis

On March 18, three armed men in military uniforms opened fire on buses gathered outside the Bardo National Museum in the Tunisian capi-tal and proceeded to continue the attack inside the building, killing 23 people, including 19 for-eigners and wounding around 40. ISIS has tak-en responsibility for the attack, and claims it was an effort to oppose de-mocracy in Tunisia, and that it was carried out by “two knights of the caliphate.” The attack was the dead-liest terrorist action since the 2002 truck bombing in Djerba, which killed 21 people, including tourists. The Tunisian government is treat-ing the attack as an act of terrorism.

The gunmen entered the museum while various security guards were on break, and were able to walk in unquestioned. The Tunisian government has apologized for this ir-responsible breach of security, and is working to prevent and fight back against any future attacks. President Beji Caid Essebsi ordered that troops be deployed to the country’s major cities for protection.

In the past year as ISIS gained power across the Middle East, thousands of young Tunisians went to

Libya to train for fighting in Iraq and Syria. Howev-er, some ended up coming home armed and radi-calized by the extremist group. Yet, despite extreme Islamist’s efforts to take over Tunisia, both secular and Islamic political groups alike have been ada-mant that such extremism as demonstrated in the

attack is absolutely not welcome in their country.Politician Rached Ghannouchi acknowledges

the threat that the current situation in Libya pres-ents to Tunisia, admitting that “if the situation in Libya isn’t resolved, Tunisia will remain un-der attack.” However, he is still adamant that the government will do whatever they can to oppose extremist’s actions: “There is no place for Daesh

in Tunisia,” said politician Ghannouchi, using the more derogatory Arabic acronym for ISIS.

Furthermore the head of the moderate Is-lamist party Ennahda commented that “Tuni-sia’s long-established state and our freedoms will prevent extremists from seizing territory

and establishing themselves here.”The Vatican has responded in soli-

darity with the statements of the Tuni-sian government. The Vatican Secre-tary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin sent a telegram on behalf of Pope Fran-cis to the Archbishop of Tunisia the day following the attack. Pope Francis called it “an act against the peace and sacredness of human life.” He said

he unites in prayer, “to the suffering of the families (of the victims) and to

all those affected by this tragedy, as well as to the entire Tunisian people. The Pontiff closed the let-ter by asking the Lord to “welcome the deceased in peace, and comfort those who were injured.”

Though action is being taken to prevent fu-ture attacks, the Islamic State still represents a serious threat to Tunisia, as it becomes increas-ingly active in Libya and the surrounding region.

ANNALISE DEAL

KATIE DANIELS

St. Therese of the Little Flower’s Parents Set for Canonization

Pope Francis will canonize Louis and Ze-lie Martin, the parents of St. Therese of the Little Flower, this upcoming October dur-ing the Synod of Bishops on the family.

“Thanks to God in October two spouses will be canonized: the parents of St. Therese of Li-sieux,” said Cardinal Angelo Amato, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints.

The announcement came during an event titled “Of What Use Are Saints?” organized by the Li-breria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican publishing house. The event discussed the importance of sanctity within the family. Cardinal Amato point-ed to the Martins as an example of daily piety.

“Saints are not only priests and nuns, but also lay people,” he said of the couple. The Martins will be the first married couple can-onized together in the history of the Church.

Zelie, a successful lace maker, met her fu-ture husband in 1858. They were married three months later. Both had previously tried to enter the religious life. Louis was denied because he could not read Latin, while Ze-

lie’s poor health kept her out of the convent. The couple lived in celibacy for a year, be-

fore going on to have nine children. Four died in infancy, while the surviving five daugh-ters all grew up to enter the religious life.

Much of what the world knows of St. Therese of the Little Flower and her fam-ily comes from the 218 letters that her moth-er Zelie wrote between 1863 until her death in 1877. The letters illustrate the quiet holi-ness with which the Martins raised their family.

The family attended Daily Mass at 5:30 a.m. every morning, fasted during Advent and Lent, and prayed the Angelus and Vespers dai-ly. Louis and Zelie also made a point of visit-ing the sick and elderly, as well as inviting the poor to eat with their family. Although Zelie died of breast cancer at age 46 when Therese was only four years old, Therese later wrote that she always remembered her mother as a saint.

Louis moved his family to the French country-side after Zelie’s death. When Therese was still a young girl, two of her older sisters, Pauline and

Marie, entered a cloistered Carmelite community. Inspired by their example and by her discovery of the spiritual guide The Imitation of Christ, Therese convinced Louis to make a pilgrimage to Rome. The 15-year-old Therese sought out an audience with Pope Leo XIII and begged him to grant her permission to enter the Carmelite order. The Pope replied that she would enter if it was God’s will and gave her his blessing. The Swiss guards had to carry Therese out of the room because she would not leave the Pope’s feet. She entered the same Carmelite convent as her older sisters on the Feast of the Annunciation in 1888 and would remain cloistered there until her death in 1897.

Benedict XVI beatified the couple on October 19, 2008, eleven years after John Paul II declared Therese a doctor of the Church. At the time, she was only the third woman to have earned the title.

Bishop Jean-Claude Boulanger, who oversees the diocese of Bayeuz-Lisieux, has also nominat-ed Therese’s older sister Leonia Martin, a member of the Order of the Visitation, for beatification.

“There is no place for Daesh

in Tunisia”

- Rached Ghannouchi

WORLD NEWS

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 World News6

Church in DC Appeals to US Senate over Religious Liberty

Last December, the Human Rights Amend-ment of 2014 and The Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Act of 2014 were passed by the D. C. Council and signed into law in January by Washington D.C.’s mayor, Muriel Bowser (D). The Catholic Church, however, has expressed that they cannot comply with the regulations they entail out of conscience.

The Human Rights Amendment (HRAA) forces religious schools to recognize persons and groups that might conflict with their stated mission and allow them to use their facilities and benefits. A Catholic school, for example, would have to rec-ognize a pro-abortion student group and could not deny them use of their facilities or funds.

The Reproductive Health Non-Discrimi-nation Act (RHNDA) prohibits all employ-ers from discriminating against their employ-ees over “reproductive health decision making.” A pro-life group, for example, could not bring reproductions against one of their members even if they decided to procure an abortion and make this decision public, an action which would run counter to the group’s stated mission.

Congress has 30 days to review and approve the bills, before they officially become law on April 17.

The Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. has joined the opposition of the bills and is call-ing for support of two resolutions introduced by Senators Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and James Lakford (R-Okla.) which oppose “the unprecedented at-tack on religious freedom” in D.C. Joined with the Archdiocese is a number of religious groups and schools, including the USCCB, Catholic Uni-versity of America, the Knights of Columbus, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the South-ern Baptist Convention, the Susan B. Anthony List, March for Life, the Family Research Council.

In a March 18 statement, the Archdiocese said the laws, “subjugate the Church’s moral teaching to the moral views of the government” and “re-sult in discrimination against religious believers.”

HRAA would repeal the ‘Armstrong Amend-ment’, which recognizes the freedom of reli-gious schools not to fund or provide facilities or otherwise endorse or recognize persons or groups promoting stances which run coun-ter to their sincerely-held beliefs. If the Arm-strong Amendment is repealed, HRAA could lead to religiously affiliated schools in D.C. be-ing forced to violate their beliefs—and thus their

conscience—or else be subjected to lawsuits and be forced to spend considerable amounts of money to protect their viewpoint in court.

On December 2, then-Mayor Vincent Gray asked the Council to postpone the final vote on RHNDA following a legal analysis by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) which deemed the bill, “legally insufficient.” Grey stated that, “Ac-cording to the OAG, the bill raises serious con-cerns under the Constitution and under the Reli-gious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA). Religious organizations, religiously-affiliated or-ganizations, religiously-driven for-profit entities, and political organizations may have strong First Amendment and RFRA groups for challenging the law’s applicability to them.” Gray informed the Council that he would not sign the legislation un-less it provided an exemption for religious institu-tions and organizations, views that were not car-ried over when he was replaced by Mayor Bowser.

The passing of the two resolutions of disap-proval by the US Senate before April 17 will effectively bar the two legislations in ques-tion from being officially recognized as law.

On March 25, 2015 at 11 a.m. Pro-Life activist Jill Stanek and the Christian Defense Coalition plan to stage a sit-in on Capitol Hill in protest of the lack of action regarding a ban on late-term abortions.

This late-term abortion ban was supposed to be passed on January 22, the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion. Although Republicans now hold a greater majority in the House than they did in the previous Congress—during which this leg-islation was introduced—it never received a vote.

Stanek has no patience for this procrastination. “The bill never should have been sidelined. They didn’t even take a headcount to see if they had votes,” she said. “They had votes. At the last mo-ment, the chief opponent, Renee Ellmers, said she would vote for the bill, but they just chickened out, and they took advantage of the pro-life movement.”

This bill would ban abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy or later. Stanek explains, “It is known that by 20 weeks, and probably before, children feel pain. When they are aborted by 20 weeks, they are literally drawn and quartered. They’re just ripped apart, limb by limb. So this ban would make it a federal offense [and] ban abortions past 20 weeks.” The plan is to ban all said abortions, with an exception for victims of rape and incest.

Stanek however, does not support this excep-tion: “There should have never been a rape-incest exception to begin with,” she said. “We’re talk-

ing about five months along in pregnancy. Cer-tainly by that time, mothers should know that they’re pregnant. And certainly, babies, even if they’re conceived in rape or incest, are inno-cent victims too and shouldn’t be put to death.”

Stanek said this exception exists in order to avoid public relations problems that have oc-cured in the past regarding candidates strug-gling with the issue of rape and abortion.

Although Speaker Boehner and House Ma-jority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had planned for Republican Women to be the face of this legislation, GOP women, Reps. Renee Ellm-ers, R-N.C. and Jackie Walorski, R-Ind., clear-ly renounced their support because they had qualms about forcing victims of crime to bring a police report with them to get an abortion.

Stanek sees this aspect of the legislation as an integral one. She says, Late-term abortions aren’t good for women to begin with, but tak-ing out this reporting requirement would just give a huge loophole to abortionists to check that box every time a woman came in for a late-term abortion and say she’s been raped.”

She also argues that this feature of the legis-lation helps the victims as well. “Making women report their crime to police protects other women from being victimized by these sexual perpetrators and protects the very women themselves against these perpetrators from violating them again,” she

said. “Some of these women are victims of incest, and girls are victims of incest. If they don’t have to report the crime, then the evidence is covered up, literally killed when the abortion is committed.”

Stanek and her fellow protesters recognize that that the sit-in could have some negative le-gal repercussions, but they are willing to take the risk. For Stanek and other protestors including members of the Christian Defense Coalition and other pro-life activists from around the nation, the risk is worth taking. Stanek makes it clear that they “have been patient, more than mea-sured in [their] response, more than muted.” The March 25 sit-in will occur two months since the bill was supposed to come to a vote in the House. Stanek said, “we’re going to risk arrest, but this form of civil disobedience is nothing compared to what is happening to these children every day.”

“There have been no excuses made,” Stanek said. “They did promise to bring the bill up right away, and they haven’t. That is precise-ly the reason that after two months of wait-ing, we are going to Washington, D.C., and we are going to force them to address this.”

The name of the event is #FreeTheBan, and they plan to do just that: free the ban on abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

IZZY MENDIOLA

Christian Defense Coalition Plans Sit-In to ProtestBoehner’s Betrayal of Pro-Life Bill

GJERGJI EVANGJELI

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 7World News

Supreme Court Sends Notre Dame’s HHS Mandate Case Back

On Monday, March 9, the Supreme Court sent the University of Notre Dame’s HHS contracep-tion mandate case back to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration. In what is being called a landmark decision for religious liberty in the United States, the Supreme Court effectively nullified the Circuit Court’s previous dismissal of Notre Dame’s case against being forced by the HHS to of-fer health insurance to its employees that provides subsidies for contraception and abortion-inducing drugs with no co-pay-ment. In light of the Hobby Lobby deci-sion last June to allow the Christian com-pany to not provide health insurance that violates the owners’ religious convictions, the Supreme Court has asked the Sev-enth Circuit Court of Appeals to recon-sider its dismissal of Notre Dame’s case.

The University of Notre Dame, a Catholic col-lege founded by the Congregation of the Holy Cross in 1842 in South Bend, Indiana, is just one of over one hundred mainly religiously-affiliated non-profit organizations and institutions to sue the federal government over being forced to com-promise their missions and beliefs through the HHS’s Affordable Care Act. Notre Dame’s mission

statement reads, “A Catholic university draws its basic inspiration from Jesus Christ as the source of wisdom and from the conviction that in him all things can be brought to their completion. As a Catholic university, Notre Dame wishes to con-

tribute to this educational mission.” The Universi-ty’s serious commitment to following Jesus Christ in the tradition of Roman Catholicism means that it follows the Church’s stance on contraception and abortion, something that the mandate would virtually eliminate. Paul J. Browne, Notre Dame’s vice president of public affairs and communica-tion, said that mandate “violated our religious

beliefs by requiring Notre Dame’s participation in a regulatory scheme to provide abortion-induc-ing products, contraceptives, and sterilization.”

The Becket Fund, a legal group supporting Notre Dame, filed an amicus brief following

the decision on March 9. Mark Rienzi, Senior Counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said, “This is a major blow to the federal government’s contra-ception mandate. For the past year, the Notre Dame decision has been the center-piece of the government’s effort to force religious ministries to violate their beliefs or pay fines to the IRS” and that the deci-sion is a strong indicator that the Supreme Court “will ultimately reject the govern-ment’s narrow view of religious liberty.”

This Supreme Court decision and the ultimate decision of the Seventh Cir-

cuit Court of Appeals will be important moving forward to set precedence for the many other cases against the HHS by other non-profit or-ganizations who do not want to violate their faith. As the struggle for religious freedom con-tinues, it will be vital to watch how the Circuit Court treats Notre Dame’s case and other cases.

Reforms For New Vatican Financial Offices Go Into Effect

On March 1, reforms regarding three key Vatican oversight bodies went into effect. The move is a part of Pope Francis’ financial reform plan and largely consolidates power in the hands of Australian Cardinal George Pell, who was appointed head of Pope Francis’ financial reform plan. The reforms provide a new legal framework for the three new financial oversight com-mittees instituted by Pope Francis in 2014: The Council for the Economy, the Secretariat for the Economy, and the Office for the General Auditor. The sys-tem’s structure consigns supreme author-ity to the Pope, under who is the head of the Council for the Economy, which in-structs the Secretariat for the Economy.

The statues, which were developed over the period of a year beginning in 2014, de-fine the role, management, structure, and responsibilities of the oversight bodies. The Council consists of 15 members appointed by the Pope with 5-year terms and equal voting rights, of which eight will be cardi-nals or bishops and seven laypersons with knowledge and background with economic, financial, law, and administra-tive matters. In an attempt to “represent the universality of the Church”, the members will be of different nationalities. The Council will be responsible for overseeing the budget reports of all the offices and organizations of the Vati-can and submitting recommendations for them to be approved by the Pope.

The Secretariat for the Economy, which is currently directed by Cardi-nal Pell, will be in responsible for supervising all financial and administra-tive activities and will implement the suggestions made by the Council for

the Economy. It will monitor activities of the dicasteries and other Vatican agencies while funding pre-approved programs. Further, it will be divided into two distinct sections: the first overseeing financial oversight and con-trols and the second will handle the administrative activities in the Vatican.

The third component of the oversight bodies is the Office for the Gen-eral Auditor, an independent and autonomous office that will consist of a

general auditor (director) and two as-sistant auditors. It will be responsible for investigating signs of corruption or ab-normal activity. If these suspicions are substantiated, the Office will submit a report to the Financial Information Au-thority or FIA, the Vatican’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing agency, which was instituted in 2010. No-tably, the statutes provide safeguards for potential whistleblowers, indicating that sincere and reasonable suspicions will “… not produce any kind of culpability for violating professional secrets.” Further, the

statutes state that the Auditor General’s Office may request informa-tion from the Council or the Secretariat and other Vatican offices.

Both the Secretariat for the Economy and the General Auditor’s Office report to the Council for the Economy. These economic re-forms stem from increased efforts for financial transparency that be-gan with Pope Benedict XVI. The statutes were approved ad experimen-tum, i.e. on a trial basis, allowing for further alterations if necessary.

SOFIA INFANTE

LIBBIE STEINER

“For the past year, the Notre Dame decision has been the centerpiece of

the government’s effort to force religious ministries to violate their

beliefs or pay fines to the IRS”

“These economic reforms stem from increased efforts for financial transparency that began with Pope

Benedict XVI”

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 78

Editor-in-ChiefNatalie Yuhas

Editor-in-Chief EmeritusChristopher Canniff

Executive Editor/ Business ManagerStephanie Johnson

Executive EditorEthan Mack

Senior Staff ColumnistsMargo Borders

Katie Rich

Campus News Staff Libbie Steiner, Editor

Margaret AntonioLily Bessette

Eileen CorkeryKathryn Lieder

World News StaffGjergji Evangjeli, Editor

Katie DanielsAnnalise DealSofia Infante

Izzie Mendiola

Website EditorKevin Gleason

Layout EditorAlexandrea Ramnarine

CartoonistAndrew Craig

The Torch is a Catholic student newspaper produced by members of the Boston College community that reports on Catholic news both on campus and in broader society and that probes the vast riches of the Church’s intellectual tradition. Tak-ing seriously the values to which Boston College is committed as a Catholic uni-versity, The Torch desires an active and healthy exchange of ideas. Moreover, its

chief end is to be a tool for the new evangelization, spreading faith in Jesus Christ as a source of conversion and new life.

There are numerous ways for you to get involved: news, photography, web design, layout, editing, etc!

E-mail bctorcheditors@gmail.com for more info.

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The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7Catholicism 101 9

CATHOLICISM 101

KATIE DANIELS

Pro-Life: O’Connor and the Culture of Life

Cornerstone: Stations of the Cross

After class one spring afternoon, my high school religion teacher gave me a gift. “I found this in a used bookstore,” she said and handed me a slim, water stained volume. The words A Memoir of Mary Ann were stamped on the peeling green spine. A woman named Flan-nery O’Connor had written the introduction.

Had she lived past age 39, O’Connor would be celebrating her 90th birthday today. Al-though she suffered from a chronic disease that would eventually kill her, O’Connor wrote some of the most powerful fiction in Ameri-can literature. She grew up an oddity in rural Georgia as a Catholic in the deeply Protestant South. O’Connor used her sly observations of her fellow Southerners’ mannerisms to create her famously grotesque characters and to de-scribe their turbulent encounters with grace.

O’Connor’s illness had already confined her to her mother’s farm when she received a let-ter from Sister Evangelist, the Sister Superior of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Free Cancer Home in Atlanta. Mary Ann Long, a girl who had come to the Home when she was three years old, had just died from a tumor at age twelve. The sisters wanted O’Connor to tell her story.

In her introduction, O’Connor admits her reluctance to take up the task. The sis-

ters had included a photograph of Mary Ann with their letter. O’Connor took another look.

“It showed a little girl in her First Communion dress and veil. Her small face was straight and bright on one side. The other side was protuber-ant, the eye was bandaged, the nose and mouth crowded slightly out of place. The child looked out at her observer with an obvious happiness and composure. I continued to gaze at the picture long after I had thought to be finished with it.”

Mary Ann’s diagnosis was sixth months. In the nine years she wasn’t supposed to live, she touched the lives of all the sisters, patients, and visitors at the Perpetual Help Home. Even in her death, she touched Flannery O’Connor.

When Bishop Hyland preached Mary Ann’s fu-neral service, O’Connor writes that he told the girl’s family and friends that the world would ask why Mary Ann should die. O’Connor is more far seeing.

“He could not have been thinking of that world, much farther removed yet everywhere, which would not ask why Mary Ann should die, but why she should be born in the first place.”

In his 1993 World Youth Day address, John Paul II described the world as “the theater of a never-ending battle being waged for our dignity and identity as free, spiritual beings. Death battles life: A “culture of death” seeks to impose itself on

our desire to live and live to the full.” O’Connor too spoke of our tendency to use suffering to discredit God’s goodness. “Busy cutting down human imperfection, they are making headway also on the raw material of good,” she wrote. Like Mary Ann’s face, O’Connor’s fiction, and our own imperfect lives, there is good to be made out of the grotesque, light to be found in the darkness.

On March 25, the Catholic Church recognizes the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Vir-gin Mary. Exactly nine months before Christmas, we celebrate the archangel Gabriel’s proclamation to Mary that she would be the mother of God. March 25 is also Flannery O’Connor’s birthday.

Coincidence? Maybe. Or perhaps it is a chance to reflect on the sheer courage it took for Mary to say yes to life. It is a chance to wonder over people like Mary Ann, whose life and suffering had a pur-pose she never got to see. It is a chance to look at ourselves and ask if we are living out John Paul II’s call to wage battle for our inherent human dignity, and the dignity of those more vulnerable than us.

Most of all it is a chance to marvel as O’Connor did, at how Mary Ann’s story “illuminate[s] the lines that join the most di-verse lives and that hold us fast in Christ.”

Happy reading.

Throughout these 40 days of Lent, Catho-lics try to mimic Jesus’ sacrificial behavior through prayer, fasting, abstinence, and re-flection. Through a series of religious reflec-tions called The Stations of the Cross, they are able to commemorate His ultimate sacrifice: death on a cross. Fourteen traditional stations allow Catholics to follow Christ’s path from His encounter with Pontius Pilate to His tomb.

The stations include: Pilate condemns Christ to death; Jesus carries the cross; the first fall; Jesus meets His Blessed Mother; Simon of Cyrene helps to carry the cross; Veronica wipes the face of Je-sus; the second fall; Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem; the third fall; Jesus is stripped of His garments; Jesus is nailed to the cross; Jesus dies on the cross; Jesus is taken down from the cross; and Jesus is laid in the tomb. The devotion has evolved over time, and some versions have adopted a fif-teenth station that reflects on Jesus’ resurrection.

The Stations are recognized as a Roman Catholic devotion. Devotions are not part of the official liturgy, but are popular spiritual practices of the Catholic faith. However, this

tradition does not belong to Catholics alone. Anglican and Lutheran parishes also use the Sta-tions of the Cross to reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice.

The devotion began as a religious pilgrim-age that allowed Christians to retrace Christ’s path to Calvary. As the Stations grew in pop-ularity, the Church sought out a way to make it possible to commemorate Christ’s passion without physically traveling to the Holy Land. Artistic representations were incorporated into most churches to accomplish that goal.

Traditionally, the Stations are observable year-round. Paintings or plaques of each sta-tion are displayed at intervals along the side walls of the nave in most churches. During Lent, Christians move around the Stations and recite a series of prayers that supplements them. On Good Friday, many Christian churches feature a live performance of the Stations of the Cross.

Boston College used to own artwork by Rus-sian Prince Alexis Arapoff that depicted six of the Stations of the Cross. The prince was a re-nowned painter of icons and religious art. The Boston Public Library gave the six paintings

to Boston College as a gift. They were hung in various university offices and houses; however, in the 1980s they mysteriously went missing. The paintings’ whereabouts are still unknown.

Boston College’s “Church in the 21st Century” provides students with many Lenten Resources. These resources are intended to guide students through reflection, prayer, and contemplation as they prepare for Easter. Their website features a link to online Stations of the Cross. Students can pray the stations directly from the website or recite the series of reflections while walk-ing through the Stations of the Cross, which are hanging in both St. Ignatius and St. Mary’s.

To access the “Church in the 21st Century” Lenten Resources, visit their website:

www.bc.edu/church21.

STEPHANIE JOHNSON

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 Catholicism 10110

NATALIE YUHAS

Saint of the Issue: Rita of Cascia

Faith in Action: Learn, Live, LoveANDREW CRAIG

St. Rita of Cascia was born on May 22, 1457 and was canonized on May 24, 1900. She is the patron saint of lost and impossible causes, sickness, wounds, marital problems, abuse, and mothers. Due to a reference to St. Rita in The Rookie, she is also unofficially credited as being the patron saint of baseball.

When St. Rita was young, she wanted to enter the convent, but her parents instead arranged a marriage for her. At the age of twelve, St. Rita married the nobleman Paolo Mancini, who was known for his im-moral behavior and had many enemies. She met his abuse and infidelity with prayers and kindness, even though she was miser-able in this marriage. Through her kind-ness, Mancini was turned into a better man, but his life of feuding eventually caught up to him when, after being married to St. Rita for eighteen years, he was stabbed to death by Guido Chiqui. In the years fol-lowing, St. Rita also lost her two sons whom she had with Mancini to natural causes.

St. Rita turned to the monastery of Saint Mary Magdalene in Cascia after the death of her husband and sons but was turned away not only because she was a widow, but also because there was so much scan-dal surrounding the murder of her hus-band. The convent finally accepted her in 1413, where she became well known for

her charity and devotion to prayer. Later in life, St. Rita was meditating in front of a cru-cifix when a wound, similar looking to the thorn wounds from Jesus’ crown, appeared on her head. For fifteen years she contin-ued to bear this stigmatization which is why she is often depicted with a crown of thorns.

Another common depiction of St. Rita is of her holding a rose. When she was bedridden in the convent near the end of her life, St. Rita asked her cousin to bring her a rose. Even though it was January and the weather made it impossible for a rose to grow, her cousin found a single rose growing in the garden to bring back to St. Rita. On her feast day, May 22, churches and shrines of St. Rita bless roses and hand them out to the congregation.

Prayer to St. Rita: Holy Patroness of those in need, Saint Rita, so humble, pure and patient, whose pleadings with thy Divine Spouse are irresistible, obtain for me from thy Crucified Christ my request (mention it here). Be kind to me, for the greater glory of God, and I promise to honor thee and to sing thy praises forever.

Oh glorious St. Rita, who didst miracu-lously participate in the sorrowful Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, obtain for me the grace to suffer with resignation the troubles of this life, and protect me in all my needs. Amen

As I stepped onto the plane, I could not help but hold my excitement. I sat down and started to remember the Holy Family School in Nat-chez, Mississippi: all the kids’ excited faces, the teachers’ strict but caring voices, and the Sisters’ joy and compassion. Step by step we were clos-er to Holy Family. We got off the plane in New Orleans, Louisiana, went to the van rental sta-tion, and began the 2½-hour drive to Natchez.

By the time we pulled in front of Sister Ber-nadette’s house it was about 9 o’clock at night. As soon as we walked into her house, Sister Berna-dette and Sister Cathleen greet us all with hugs and give us pasta they made. Sister Bernadette, or Sister B for short, and Sister Cathleen are two nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Spirit, and they are in charge of the Holy Family School. Sister B helps to raise funds and donations for the school, and many times she has paid from her own pocket to make up for any tuition that the families in the school cannot afford. But as humble as their living is, both Sisters welcome us into their home with open arms and laughter.

After Mass on Sunday and spending a day with the Sisters and with one another, we prepare for the week with the kids. As I get ready for bed and remember last year at the Holy Family School, I

become excited to see the kids and teachers again.The first thing we do everyday is sit with the

kids as they come into the cafeteria to eat break-fast provided by the school. Dean and Benton, two of the two-year-olds, come up to our table, no idea why we are here, but ready to talk and play.

I am sitting here at my desk writing this arti-cle, and I cannot help but laugh as I think about one of the 4 year-old girls, Kaylin. One day, she comes up to me during recess, points to our vans, which are parked close to the school, and says “What are those big cars doing over there?” “Oh, those are our vans. We drove them over here and use them to go shopping for food,” I respond, kneeling so I can talk to her face to face. “Where do you shop,” Kaylin asks. “Do you know Walmart?” I ask her, expecting her to give a nod or a simple “yes.” Kaylin proceeds to put her hand on my shoulder and say, “Oh, I loooove Walmart! My mom and I go there all the time.”

If I were not looking at Kaylin right then and there, I would have thought that I was talk-ing with an adult. She spoke with such ma-turity that I could not help but crack a smile when she said that. The week went on, all 21 of us helped around the school with tasks and re-sources that the teachers and Sisters needed.

There are so many amazing stories about the kids and how well the teachers instruct their stu-dents, or their “babies” as the teachers call them. But, I could never write all of it down within one article. One thing I can say, however, is that the Holy Family School truly is a family, and a blessed one at that. The three words that make up the title of this article are also the focus of Holy Family’s motto, “Learn so we can Live so we can Love.” The kids in that school are given a chance now so that they can get into better schools when they go into 1st grade. This small, Catholic school in Missis-sippi works with these children, most of whom are from lower socio-economic status, and the teachers help them to reach their full potentials.

Whether it was showing us what a rhombus looks like, reading and spelling, or even telling us about the story of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection, these kids taught us what felt like more than we could ever teach them. They taught us the potential that every kid has. They also taught us about the kind of love a child is both willing to give and deserves to receive: an unconditional love. I feel blessed to have been able to work with such amazing chil-dren, teachers, and people down in Natchez, Mis-sissippi, and I cannot wait to see all the kids, and especially talk with Kaylin more about Walmart.

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 11Mass Readings & Schedule

Sunday, March 29, 2015Reading 1: IS 50:4-7

Responsorial Psalm: PS 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24Reading 2: PHIL 2:6-11

Gospel: MK 14:1—15:47

Sunday, April 5, 2015Reading 1: ACTS 10:34A, 37-43

Responsorial Psalm: PS 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23Reading 2: COL 3:1-4

Gospel: JN 20:1-9

Sunday, April 12, 2015Reading 1: ACTS 4:32-35

Responsorial Psalm: PS 118:2-4, 13-15, 22-24Reading 2: 1 JN 5:1-6Gospel: JN 20:19-31

Sunday, April 19, 2015Reading 1: ACTS 3:13-15, 17-19

Responsorial Psalm: PS 4:2, 4, 7-8, 9Reading 2: 1 JN 2:1-5A

Gospel: LK 24:35-48

Sunday, April 26, 2015Reading 1: ACTS 4:8-12

Responsorial Psalm: PS 118:1, 8-9, 21-23, 26, 28, 29Reading 2: 1 JN 3:1-2Gospel: JN 10:11-18

April Mass Readings

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 712 Faculty Columns

Discerning Love, Discerning HopeTIM MULDOON

It is early morning one August, when there are hints that the night’s long dark-ness has buckled and given way to the first hints of a coming sunrise. I am awake, and have been for the past twenty hours. For the past eight, I have been reading.

I am a rising junior at Boston College, and know something about reading books. Yet seldom (if ever) have I been seized by a book as I have been this night. I can-not put it down. I am inhaling deep draughts of this story like a man rising to the surface of the water in which he has nearly drowned. I had begun reading a chapter, then another, watch-ing the time. And before I know it, I am gripped and realize that I cannot allow another day to go by without knowing the rest of the story.

It is Sheldon Vanauken’s A Severe Mercy, given to me by a woman who had graduated from BC in May. Just days before Sue collects her diploma, I am stung by a frightening realization: I am in love with her, and unless I do something I may not see her again. Somehow I find the words to tell her this, and we scramble to figure out how to give this new relationship a try across two continents.

Within a few weeks I am leaving for a year in Oxford, while she heads to Ohio for gradu-ate study. She shares with me Vanauken’s book in part because it is the story of love that takes place in Oxford. But it is also a terrifying story: boy meets girl; they fall in love and later secretly marry; boy loses girl to death and must rec-oncile how to go on without her. In the background are his letters to one C.S. Lewis, an Oxford don who himself will later write about fac-ing the death of a beloved. And there is God, with whom the once-ag-nostic protagonist wrestles after his beloved finds herself drawn to him.

In this early morning my imagination is on fire. I am contemplating being in love, and being a continent away from her. I am anxious about whether our relationship has the stuff that Van and Davy (from the book) have experienced. I wonder what it would be like to lose a beloved.

In the coming weeks I will explore what has unfolded in my conscious-

ness. I will call Sue nearly every day at her home in Connecticut, and we will find time to meet on weekends when our work schedules permit it. We will share many goodbyes before I board the plane for England. Once there, I will write often, sharing what I am seeing and doing and learning.

As the year goes on the memory of the book fades from view, but on some level it stays with me. I am experienc-ing wonderful things: an insider’s view of one of the most historic university cities in the world; choirs in centuries-old chapels; rowing eights on the Isis (the stretch of the Thames that runs through Oxford); biking to Stonehenge; traveling to the continent and seeing history and art and culture. Wonderful things—all clouded in my mind by the fact that Sue is not there to share them with me.

The seed that was planted by the book was a question: when is love really love? The hard answer that emerged, at the pace of a seed pushing through rocky ground, was this: when it finds its meaning not in the satisfaction of my own small desires, but gives rise to greater and deeper ones shared with a beloved. In those experiences I began to discern an ev-er-greater God who is the direction of those shared desires.

Today I teach at Boston College. My course in the Capstone program is called Desire and Discernment, and it aims on some level to recreate that experience of discovery that Sue shared with me all those years ago. What I hope for—both for my students and for everyone—is the discovery of love.

How small that is, with which we wrestle,What wrestles with us, how immense….

Rainer Maria Rilke

I hope to invite imagination and even confrontation with the big questions, to explore how love always moves us in the direction of a grander way of living in the world. In a word, I invite that which is understood in Catholic tradition to be a theological virtue: hope.

Tim Muldoon (A&S ’92) is a theologian and author/editor of nine books, including

Longing to Love: A Memoir of Desire, Relationships, and Spiritual Transformation

(Loyola Press). He and his wife Sue (A&S ’90) have been married for 22 years.

FACULTY COLUMNS

Senior Staff Book RecommendationsChris Canniff // Longing to Love: A Memoirof Desire, Relationships and Spiritual TransformationTim Muldoon

Natalie Yuhas // A Farewell to ArmsErnest Hemingway

Margo Borders // The End of the AffairGraham Greene

Gjergji Evangjeli // OrthodoxyG. K. Chesterton

Katie Rich // A Purposeful PathCasey Beaumier, S.J.

Ethan Mack // Between Heaven & HellPeter Kreeft

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 13Faith Features

FAITH FEATURES

My alarm clock rings. I check my phone; it’s 7am, and I am dazed. Why am I getting up at this hour again? I sit up in bed and peek out my door to see girls quietly shuffling in their pajamas with cups of freshly brewed coffee in their hands down the stairs. I creeped–own the stairs with them, and we settle in on the couch to start our day together with prayer.

This group of girls on the campus of a fellow Jesuit university is part of the laity in the Church who commits to praying the Liturgy of the Hours, or Divine Office, regularly. I stayed with with them for a week and was surprised when we woke up al-most every day of the week at 7am to pray morn-ing prayer. Nowhere else would you find col-lege students more than willing to get up so early to pray together as a way to start their day. Their Catholic community’s tradition of praying togeth-er goes back for years and shows the incredible nature of this often unknown Catholic devotion.

Liturgy of the Hours started as a continuation of the Jewish practice of reciting prayers at differ-ent hours of the day. The early Christians contin-ued this practice, reciting the psalms and read-ings from the Old Testament, as well as readings from the Gospels and other New Testament writ-ings. Priests, as well as certain religious orders, undertake the obligation of reciting the Liturgy of the Hours on a daily basis, and it is an optional devotion for the laity. Although the original Divine Office consisted of eight offices, the mod-ern Liturgy of the Hours consists of five offices, three of them being “ma-jor hours” that are commonly celebrated. Most people will recite morning

prayer, or Lauds, evening prayer, or Vespers, or night prayer, or Compline.For me, the beauty of the Liturgy of the Hours is the way it punctuates

your day with prayer. In 1 Thessalonians, Paul calls us to “Rejoice always. Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will

of God for you in Christ Jesus.” In praying the Psalms and reflecting on scriptural passages, the Divine Office gives us a way to constantly ori-ent our hearts towards Christ in a concrete way.

Praying the Divine Office also gives us a way to participate in the religious life of the Church. In praying the same prayers as the priests, bish-ops, and religious around the world, we come into communion with the universal Church. Many saints of the Church have spoken about the grac-es that the Divine Office bestows. When speaking about the importance of the Psalms in the Litur-gy of the Hours, St. Alphonsus Marie de Liguori said, “there is no doubt that, when recited with faith and fervor, they merit treasures of grace, ac-cording to the infallible promise made by our Lord that he would hear whoever prays to him.”

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacro-sanctum Concilium, says the Liturgy of the Hours is “truly the voice of the bride herself addressed to her bridegroom. It is the very prayer which Christ

Himself together with His Body addresses to the Father.” As Lent draws to a close, Liturgy of the Hours may be a good way to try to punctuate your day with Christ, to pray unceasingly to Him who is unceasingly with you.

To Pray UnceasinglyMARGO BORDERS

Philosophers, poets, and priests are each great sources of wisdom because each one lives out a calling to understand the human person more deeply. They do this in unique ways, but they ultimately reflect on the same enig-ma, one that lies at the core of the mystery of human existence: what is the relationship between our will and our intellect, our heart and our head?

Saint Augustine was a passionate philosopher. Dante Alighieri was a mag-nificent poet. Pope Benedict XVI is a humble and wise priest. Each one gives us something to reflect on.

St. Augustine: “I should love and seek and win and hold and embrace not this or that philo-sophical school but Wisdom it-self, whatever that might be.”

In medieval artwork, Augustine was almost always depicted holding a burning heart in one hand and an open book in the other. In him, we see that great synthesis of the powers of the heart and the head. In this quote of his, we see how he brings the two together. The object of his life is Wisdom. He knows that the first step in coming towards it, though, is not an intellectual exercise but a foundation of love for this object. Then can he seek and win and hold and embrace it.

We also note that his object is something more real and more concrete than a passing ideology. He pursues Wisdom itself. In the end, he concludes that this truth, which he loves and which he has now found by the added means of his intellect, is a person. It is the God of Jesus Christ.

Dante Alighieri: “All sweetness, all humble thought / are born in the heart of him who hears her speak, / and he who first saw her is blessed. / How she looks when she smiles a little, / can not be spoken of or held in mind, / she is so rare a miracle and gentle.”

It is a beautiful thing to have a person in your life whom you love enough that their happiness is yours, that just the thought of their face with a smile on it brings a smile to your face, even if you are not with them. An en-counter with beauty, like Dante’s encounter with Beatrice, strikes the heart in ways that the mind, the head, struggles to comprehend. On the level of the heart, a level deeper than the intellect, one can intuit something about

that mysterious quintessence of the beloved that moves the lover and draws them in.

Dante saw Beatrice as no one else did. He was a poet who had a mystical insight into the reality of who his beloved truly was. He only saw her in this way, but he believed all those wonder-ful things to be true of all people. Love for one person expands our outlook so that we may better love all people.

Pope Benedict XVI: “All people feel the interior im-pulse to love authentically: love and truth never abandon them completely, because these are the vocation planted by God in the heart and mind of every human person.”

This incisive line from Benedict cuts to the

very center of our inquiry. He speaks plainly of the heart, and when he speaks of the mind, he means what we mean by the head. And so, his message about the two is quite clear. They must be united, and the call-ing of each human being is to walk that path toward their union.

The heart seeks love, and the head seeks truth. The drama of life is the struggle to find each. The joy of life is to have found both.

The Heart and the HeadCHRIS CANNIFF

Faith FeaturesThe TORCH // Volume II, Issue 714

A Reflection on John 12:25-26GJERGJI EVANGJELI

The Gospel reading for March 22 (Jn. 12:20-33) is as fascinating as it is puzzling. It starts off with a rather unsurprising event. Jesus is in Jerusalem, and there are some Greeks, likely proselytes, who want to speak with him. The Greeks reach out to Philip, who reaches out to Andrew, and the two together tell Jesus that some Greeks want to talk to Him.

Jesus’ response, however, is anything but ordi-nary. “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves (φιλῶν) his life will lose it, and he who hates (μισῶν) his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor” (Jn. 12:23-26). The discourse con-tinues and, if there was a response to the initial inquiry concerning the Greeks, we are not told.

What the Christ has to say about loving and hating life is a bit puzzling. Is not life, af-ter all, a gift from God? Why then, is it that God is telling us to hate this life? A turn to the Greek complicates matters even further. The word used for ‘love’ signifies friendship, which is a strange choice. Someone who loves his life—that is, this earthly life—in this way, is practically considering it equal to himself, which is an inaccurate way to look at this life. To that effect, Our Lord says elsewhere, “He who wants to save his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake shall find it” (Mt. 16: 25).

We might further wonder what it means to

make one’s earthy life one’s equal. It is an in-herently misplaced relation. Abraham is called ‘friend of God’ in the Bible, and the dedications of both the Gospel of Luke and Acts are to Theophi-los, a name which is likely not a proper designa-tor, but which picks out the reader as ‘friend of God.’ In John 15, Jesus calls His Apostles—and

by extension us—no longer servants, but friends. Indeed, more than friends, for St. Paul tells us that God invites us to kinship with Him and Our Savior guides us to call the Father our Father, but one who cannot enter into a covenant of friend-ship with God cannot enter into one of kinship either. Thus, those who love this life, have made

an idol out of it and placed it on God’s pedestal. Christ has just mentioned that, like the grain

of wheat, He must fall into the earth and die. Now He tells us, “Where I am there will my ser-vant be also.” In John 15 He speaks more explic-itly, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you” (Jn. 15:20). A person who has made his life his friend, then, is not ready to make this com-mitment, as is the case with the rich young man who cannot give up his wealth for the Kingdom.

With this in mind, we can better understand what it means to hate life in this context. Most assuredly, Christ is not saying that the only good Christian is a suicidal Christian; neither is He calling for hatred or abuse of the body. Instead, the relationship of hatred to life should be un-derstood as being in opposition to the previous relationship. Thus, the person who ‘hates’ his life is one who regards it as lower than himself, i.e. the person who knows that there are times when grasping at his life would be more damag-ing than laying it down. This person makes God and the work of the Kingdom first in priority and regards his own hopes and dreams as secondary. The irony, of course, is that this is the only way in which one can have their hopes and dreams re-alized, because, as St. Irenaeus of Lyons reminds us, “The glory of God is a man fully alive.” It is only through complete surrender to the One in Whom, “we live and more and have our being” (Acts 17: 28), that our life is fully actualized, our hopes are fulfilled, and our joy is made complete.

Facing EvilETHAN MACK

I’ll give you a fair warning now, this will not be a pleasant topic. It might even get graphic at some points. I apologize in advance but I don’t think there is any other way I can address this issue.

Last week, The Saint Thomas More Society held a mass honoring the recent Christian mar-tyrs in Libya, Syria and Iraq. During his homily, Fr. Paul McNellis, SJ talked about the beheading of 21 Christians on the coast of Libya on. Father McNellis read aloud some information about each of these men, and told us to take note of how they died: crying out “Jesus, Help Me!” as a blades were pressed against their throats. At the end of the mass, Father McNellis mentioned that he had seen the video of the killing posted by ISIS, and he strongly dissuaded anyone else from watching it.

Unfortunately, I often fail to follow instruc-tions. After hearing about how these men held onto their Christian faith in the face of immi-nent death, I felt like I had to watch it for myself. What resulted was me seeing the most disturb-ing piece of footage I have ever had the displea-sure of viewing. It is truly difficult to describe in words the feeling it left me in. And believe it or not, it wasn’t just because I saw 21 innocent men be brutally butchered before my eyes. Certainly,

that was the most horrific aspect of it, but it was also challenging to see look on the faces of the men as they awaited execution. It was disturb-ing to hear the ISIS leader, who spoke in near perfect English, describe his clear and utter ha-tred for the Church. Even the technical aspects of the video were troubling. I couldn’t believe how well produced, edited, and shot it was. There is something unspeakably horrifying about the idea of someone watching that raw footage over and over so that it could be cut and edited just right.

However, as terrible as this video and oth-ers like it are, there can be a positive effect re-sulting from them. They can shock us out of complacency. They can be a reminder that evil is all too real, and that it can spread like an in-fection. Evil can take root within a society of people and become so powerful that individu-als perform acts of brutal cruelty while think-ing they are saints. So how are we to respond?

When faced with evil, I really can’t say what the correct response is. If someone has an answer, please let me know. However, I have found that there are a few temptations we can fall into that I’d like to list now. The first involves accepting a state blissful ignorance. We can come to pretend

that we know nothing of the events in the Mid-dle East and Northern Africa. We can get play-ful with language and dress up reality so that it seems evil doesn’t really exist. But, of course, this is not only a form of lying (to ourselves), but it is also disrespectful to our Christian brothers and sisters. The other temptation is to feel so dis-gusted by what we see that we come to hate the perpetrators of such violent acts. We can fantasize a scenario in which they are made to suffer the brutality they forced on others. This is also not the correct response, for as Christians we know that we are called to pray for those persecute us. Finally, I think that when faced with evil, there is a temptation to treat our own state with dis-gust. We can become ashamed of the privileged life that we live. We can say to ourselves, “Why am I here studying at Boston College? Why am I doing something so meaningless? I should be persecuted just like my brothers and sisters in Christ.” But, while this may seem noble, it is not what God asks of us. God wants gratitude for the things we have been given, not shame and disgust. Gratitude for the fact that we are not suffering does not imply disrespect for the people who are.

Faith Features The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 7 15

Cont’d from Page 1The Truth of the Feminine SelfKATIE RICH

NATALIE YUHAS

Forgiveness as Love

The importance of forgiveness is something that has been drilled into our heads over and over again for our entire lives, es-pecially as Christians. Normally, I have thought of myself as being a pretty understanding and forgiv-ing person, but something I have struggled with lately is how to handle it when the person or people you love and completely trust really hurt you, espe-cially when you never get the apology you wanted.

Just saying the words “It’s ok” was not enough, because I knew that I didn’t think it was ok and that I was still feeling just as hurt. In my mind, I didn’t have to actually forgive because my feelings were valid; I deserved to feel that way. I deserved to be upset. But holding a grudge for so long slowly turned me into someone I hated. I became angry, jealous, anxious, and insecure, which are things I definitely am not. Even further than that, it scared me how much I could get hurt and didn’t want to feel that way again, so I emotionally closed myself off to avoid getting hurt by anyone else in the fu-ture. But again, being emotionally detached was not me at all, and I found myself even more unhappy.

I realized that I didn’t deserve to feel that way at all. I deserved to be happy and to fully experience all the love I am surrounded with every single day. Not forgiving was robbing me of having the full-est relationships with the amazing people I’m so

fortunate to have in my life. Being emotionally unavailable wasn’t doing me any favors in the long run because it just forced me to feel all the negative feelings I was hanging onto even more strongly.

Once I understood that, I also realized that forgiving someone doesn’t mean that what they did was right. It wasn’t “ok” for them to do whatever it was that hurt you, and it never will be “ok.” Forgiving some-one doesn’t mean you validate their ac-tions. It means you realize that people are not perfect and that it is selfish and hypo-critical to expect them to be. I would never want to live in a world where people hold grudges every single time someone messes up. No one would like each other. We are all going to make mistakes and hurt some-one, either intentionally or not, and it is not fair for anyone involved to hold on to hurt.

Forgiveness is complex. I’m definitely no expert on it, but I can say that I have come a long way from where I was a year, and even a few months, ago. Forgiv-ing has taught me how to love when it isn’t easy and about all the good things that come from choosing love, which is what my faith is to me at the very core.

male body as a means of communicating what femininity is. “The body for women – as also happens for men – is, in a cultural and biological, sym-bolic and natural sense, the place of one’s own identity. It is the subject, means, space of development and expression of the self, the place of rationality, psychology, imagination, natural func-tionality, and ideal tensions converge.” As humans, our en-tire being cannot be solely spiritual but is inherently both physical and spiritual. Our bodies, then, play an important part in understanding and communicating who we are.

The document continues: “If the body is the place of truth of the feminine self, in the indispensable mixture of culture and biology, it is also the place of the ‘betrayal’ of this truth.” By objectifying women, our society betrays the truth of the feminine self. The body, as stated earli-er, is the place of one’s own identity. It is our means of self-expression, the center of our rationality and imagi-nation. Without it, we are not human, much less wom-en, and by this same logic, it deserves ultimate respect.

Our culture, and western culture at large, obsesses over the appearance of women’s bodies without any con-cern for what it is they contain: the rationality and soul of the woman. Constant pressure from media and cultural norms drive women to drastic measures of manipulating their own bodies to appear sexually appealing to men. We mask our natural selves to fit the mold society cuts for us, the “new cultural yoke of a singular feminine model” as stated earlier. This is how plastic sur-gery is like a burqa made of flesh. It masks women in order to please men.

In her essay “Size 6: The Western Women’s Harem,” Fatema Mernis-si relates her distress at being told in an American clothing store that because she did not fit into a size 6, she would have to shop at a special

store with larger sizes. Mernissi, a normally confident woman, was horrified. She relates how men in Moroc-co always praised her for her hips, but here in America, she is treated as a pariah for her ‘unconventional’ beauty.

It is from this experience that Mernissi realizes the metaphor of the Western harem. She explains: “Unlike the Muslim man, who uses space to establish male domination by excluding women from the public arena, the Western man manipulates time and light. He declares that in order to be beautiful, a woman must look fourteen years old… to be beautiful, women have to appear childish and brain-less.” She continues: “This idea gives me the chills because it tattoos the invisible harem directly onto a woman’s skin.”

We cannot progress towards better treatment of wom-en without first respecting the female body as a temple of the Spirit and of our own rationality and expres-sion of self. This understanding must come largely from men. But women, on the other hand, must acknowledge within themselves that their bodies, like their souls, are worthy of respect. If we do not want to be thought of as childish and brainless, then we as women must both

embrace our femininity while working for our equality, in part by dress-ing and treating our bodies as a true reflection of our interior selves.

“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.” CS Lewis

The TORCH // Volume II, Issue 716

Suffering is a call to conversion: it reminds us of our frailty and vulnerability.

Let us allow God to fill our hearts with his goodness and mercy.

May every Church and Christian community be a place of mercy amid so much indifference.

Beware of getting too comfortable! When we are comfortable, it’s easy to forget other people.

During Lent, let us find concrete ways to overcome our indifference.

Lord, grant us the grace to know we are sinners.

Humility saves man: pride makes him lose his way.

Let us build our lives of faith on the rock who is Christ.

There is no sin that God cannot pardon. All we need to do is ask for forgiveness.

True love does not pay attention to the evil it suffers. It rejoices in doing good.

In the roughest moments, remember: God is our Father; God does not abandon his children.

Having faith does not mean having no difficulties, but having the strength to face them, knowing we are not alone.

The heart grows hard when it does not love. Lord, give us a heart that knows how to love.

The heart grows hard when it does not love. Lord, give us a heart that knows how to love.

@pontifex