From the Pastor July 5-6

Making Saints, the Ins and Outs

One of the most important departments at the Vatican is the Discastery for the Causes of the Saints. It is the department that handles the process for evaluating candidates for canonization. The work of the department is so important the cardinal who supervises it is often on the short list of candidates for the next pope. Over the last fifty years it has been very busy. More saints have been proclaimed by the Church in that period than any time since the early days of the Church. In the ancient church saints were proclaimed worthy of the title by the local church. It wasn’t until the 10th Century that the pope took over responsibility for recognizing saints and a uniform process evolved.

Pope John Paul II greatly increased the number of new saints. He wanted Catholics to have more modern models of holiness they could imitate. Subsequent popes have continued to follow Pope John Paul II’s initiative. Pope Francis in his effort to emphasize the peripheries of the Church canonized saints and groups of saints from many different areas of the Church. Vatican watchers are anxious to see what Pope Leo’s practice will be.

Parishioners who receive our parish newsletter will recall in recent months we have featured an article on the background of an American saint. This month we are beginning a series on Americans awaiting canonization. The process has several steps. It begins with the candidate being named Servant of God, next Venerable, Blessed and finally Saint.

Years ago, it was copywritten in 1990, I read a book by Kenneth L. Woodward, the now retired Religion Correspondent for Newsweek magazine. The title is, Making Saints, How the Catholic Church Determines Who Becomes a Saint, Who Doesn’t, and Why. It was interesting reading. There has been some changes in the process since the book was published, but it is still accurate. 

Woodward explained the advantages some people, i.e., popes and founders of religious orders, have over more ordinary people, although the recent popes has been trying to encourage the causes of more common Catholics. Politics and other considerations often come into play during the process. American, Dorothy Day, Servant of God, the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement has faced a slow process because some have classified her economic views as socialistic. Blessed Pier Georgio Frassati, who is scheduled to be canonized along with Carlo Acutis on September 7, had his process delayed because he was thought to be too handsome. Frassati, who died of polio at age twenty-four in 1925 was not yet married. His cause was delayed because of false claims questioning the possibility he could have been sexually chaste. 

Next year a formation center at St. Partick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, CA will begin offering a six-day Salvatore Cordileone certificate program to teach sainthood enthusiasts instruction on the inner workings of the Canonization process. The program is the idea of San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone and will be the first such program in the United States. It already has 50 students.

The Church’s canonization process can at times seem rather Byzantine, but it has its reasons. Those to be considered examples of faith need to have their lives scrutinized and reviewed. It also points out we can’t expect them to be as pure as new fallen snow. Sometimes even saints have blind spots, faults, and failures but still, through the grace of God end up in heaven. So show you appreciate the saints by venerating them, strive to be a saint yourself, and encourage other’s holiness too. 

Our Lady of Grace Chapel Open

Our summer chapel, Our Lady of Grace, on Meetinghouse Road in S. Chatham, is open for the summer. The Mass Schedule is Saturday Vigil at 4:30 p.m. and Sunday morning at 7:30 & 9:30 a.m. The chapel will be open every weekend until the Labor Day weekend August 30-31. 

Happy Independence Day 

Although the 4th was Friday, I guess this is technically the Independence Day weekend. We hope everyone is having a happy one. Independence Day gives us a good opportunity to recall and celebrate the best attributes of our country. We say we are a nation that emphasizes the qualities of self-determination, based on law and not powerbrokers, and a refuge for those who are deprived of freedom and economic opportunity in their homelands. Today, pray everyone in our country will recommit to these ideals.