Canonization of Sts. John XXIII and John Paul II

Seb Koh

 

Written by Dr. Eusebio Koh

Past Grand Knight: Santo Nino Council #12415

May 4, 2014

On April 27, 2014, the Divine Mercy Sunday, two recent but most deserving popes, John XXIII and John Paul II, were canonized by Pope Francis in front of almost a million enthusiastic spectators which included retired Pope Benedict XVI and numerous dignitaries from around the world.  In his homily during mass at St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis praised the new saints as “men of courage and mercy who worked with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the church in keeping the features brought to her over the centuries.”

This was a most astonishing occasion not merely because two popes were canonized in the presence of two other popes but because of the haste and urgency to get the canonization done. Sainthood has often taken decades if not centuries to achieve partly because of the difficulty to confirm the basic requirement of two attributed miracles.

In St. John XXIII’s case, the second miracle was waived in light of his tremendous accomplishment of the Vatican II.  In St John Paul II’s case, the waiting period after a candidate’s demise was waived and the process of canonization was expedited.

Pope Francis praised St. John XXIII for “his openness to the Holy Spirit” and allowing himself to be led as a “pastor, servant-leader” in this task.

Vatican II opened the Church to modern times and also reached back to biblical times by stressing the central role of the Sacred Scripture in our devotion.  Bible study continues to be part of the activities of priest and parishioners.

St. John XXIII, through the Second Vatican Council, has modernized our Church and brought it closer to us.  We feel part and parcel of the Church.  With the priest facing us and speaking our vernacular, we feel we belong to the same family.  Our Church is a church of love and respect and is quite inclusive.  So much so that we do not hesitate to serve in the Eucharist and the liturgy in any way we can.

It is believed that Pope John XXIII saved the world from nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.  With the United States under President John F. Kennedy ready to blockade the Soviet Union from bringing nuclear missiles to Cuba, the pope made an impassioned plea over the Vatican Radio:  “We beg all rulers not to be deaf to the cry of humanity.”  This allowed Nikita Krushchev to back down and call back the Soviet fleet without disgrace. For his efforts and call for world peace, Time magazine named Pope John XXIII as “Man of the Year.”

Pope Francis praised and characterized St. John Paul II as “the pope of the family” and invoked the guidance of the new saints in the upcoming synods of the bishops on the family in October this year and in 2015.

Pope John Paul II had one of the longer and more successful papacy (1978-2005).  He had involved himself in international affairs and had probably travelled the most to other countries.  He went further than Pope John XXIII in bridging the gaps between the church and the other faiths, namely Judaism, the Church of England, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Protestant Churches and even the Dalai Lama.  It is believed that he played a behind-the-scene part in bringing down communism. In 2004, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush for his “principled stand for peace and freedom”.

The choice of holding the canonization on Divine Mercy Sunday was meaningful especially for St John Paul II who instituted the observance in the Catholic universal calendar.  In the year 2000 at the Mass for the canonization of St. Faustina Kowalska, he proclaimed the second Sunday after Easter as the Divine Mercy Sunday.  St. Faustina, coming from a poor Polish family, was a sister of the Congregation of Sisters of our Lady of Mercy.  She claimed to have been visited by Jesus.  By some coincidence, Pope John Paul II passed away in 2005 on the vigil of the Feast of Divine Mercy.  As well, he was beatified in 2011 on Divine Mercy Sunday.

We have two great Church leaders in Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II and they richly deserved to be canonized.

 

 

The Acolyte & Altar Server

THE ACOLYTE AND ALTAR SERVER

(The Pastoral Companion — A Canon Law Handbook of Catholic Ministry, pp86-87) Franciscan Press, 1995: John M. Huels, O.S.M., J.C.D.

The acolyte is instituted by the local ordinary (i.e. bishop) to serve at the altar and to assist the bishop, priest and deacon.  In particular it is for him to prepare the altar and the vessels and, as a special minister of the Eucharist, to give Communion to the faithful (General Instruction Roman Missal, 65).  This norm pertains to the stable ministry of acolyte, not to be confused with the temporary ministry of altar server.  Like the stable ministry of reader,

the ministry of acolyte is conferred only for seminarians preparing for the priesthood and candidates for the permanent diaconate.

NORMS FOR THE CELEBRATION AND RECEPTION OF COMMUNION

Vatican II, THE HOLY AND LIVING SACRIFICE

(The Liturgy Documents—A Parish Resource, p261) Liturgy Training Publications, Third Edition, 1991

29. In every celebration of the Eucharist there should always be a sufficient number of ministers for the distribution of Communion. Priority is always given to ordinary ministers (bishops, priests, deacons) and auxiliary ministers (instituted acolytes). When there are large numbers of the faithful present and there are insufficient ordinary and auxiliary ministers at hand, special or extraordinary ministers properly appointed beforehand should assist in the distribution of Communion.

GENERAL INSTRUCTION OF THE ROMAN MISSAL

Duties and Ministries in The Mass

(Renewed by Decree of Vatican II, Promulgated by Authority of Pope Paul VI and Revised at the direction of Pope John Paul II) Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011

100. In the absence of an instituted acolyte [by the local ordinary], there may be deputed lay ministers to serve at the altar and assist the Priest and the Deacon;

these carry the cross, the candles, the thurible, the bread, the wine, and the water, or who are even deputed to distribute Holy Communion as extraordinary ministers.

110. If at Mass with the people only one minister is present, that minister may exercise several different functions.

111. There should be harmony and diligence among all those involved in the effective preparation of each liturgical celebration in accordance with the Missal and other liturgical books, both as regards the rites and as regards the pastoral and musical aspects. This should take place under the direction of the rector [pastor] of the church and after consultation with the faithful in things that directly pertain to them. However, the Priest who presides at the celebration always retains the right of arranging those things that pertain to him.

 

Non-Integration of Mass Ministries

NON-INTEGRATION OF MASS MINISTRIES

(Sacred Mysteries-Sacramental Principles & Liturgical Practice, p169) Paulist Press, 1995: Dennis C. Smolarski, S.J.

The proper celebration of liturgical rites assumes the presence of several ministers in addition to the one presiding. At the minimum, a typical celebration includes a reader, a cantor and a server. This is in stark contrast to the Tridentine missal and the 1614 A.D. Ritual, which presumed the presence only of a server and which also required the priest to repeat quietly texts sung by the choir or proclaimed by the deacon and sub-deacon.

The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy encourages the distribution of tasks during liturgical services and cautions that ministers “should carry out all and only those parts” that pertain to their ministry.

Such advice is repeated in the liturgical books themselves, for example, when the General Instruction of the Roman Missal states that the presiding priest should not proclaim the gospel if a deacon or another priest is present.

Integration and coordination of ministries presupposes several things. It presupposes the existence of qualified ministers. It presumes that all ministers know what is proper to their own ministry and what is proper to other ministers. It also assumes that the presiding minister actually permits and encourages other ministers to do all that their ministry requires.

It may be difficult to recruit and train enough ministers to fill all the liturgical needs of a community. But such difficulty is no excuse for certain ministers regularly to usurp the roles of others. God has given the members of the assembly various gifts and talents, and they should not be overlooked. Gifted individuals need to be identified and their talents cultivated for the benefit of the community.

We should no more consider certain ministries optional than we should consider vesture or vessels optional. A reader at mass, for example, whether on Sunday or during the week, is not a nice addition when one is present. In most cases, the participation of a reader should be considered a necessity if the celebration is to be considered authentic. Without bread and wine, we cannot celebrate the mystery of the Eucharist. We should also think twice about the advisability of celebrating any liturgical mystery without the assistance of appropriate ministers.

NORMS DRAWN FROM THE NATURE OF THE LITURGY

Vatican II, CONSTITUTION ON THE SACRED LITURGY

(The Liturgy Documents—A Parish Resource, pp15-16) Liturgy Training Publications, Third Edition, 1991

22. §1. Regulation of the liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See and, accordingly as the law determines, on the bishop.

§2. In virtue of power conceded by the law, the regulation of the liturgy within certain defined limits belongs also to various kinds of competent territorial bodies of bishops lawfully established.

§3. Therefore, no other person, not even if he is a priest, may on his own add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy.

28. In liturgical celebrations each one, minister or layperson, who has an office to perform, should do all of, but only, those parts which pertain to that office by the nature of the rite and the principles of liturgy.

32. The liturgy makes distinctions between persons according to their liturgical function and sacred orders and there are liturgical laws providing for due honors to be given to civil authorities. Apart from these instances,

NO SPECIAL HONORS ARE TO BE PAID IN THE LITURGY TO ANY PRIVATE PERSONS OR CLASSES OF PERSONS, WHETHER IN THE CEREMONIES OR BY EXTERNAL DISPLAY.

 

The Role of Laity

THE ROLE OF LAITY

The Second Vatican Council [1962–1965] devoted its decree on the apostolate of the laity Apostolicam actuositatem and chapter IV of its dogmatic constitution Lumen gentium to the laity in a sense narrower than that which is normal in the Catholic Church.

The definition of laity is that given in the Code of Canon Law:

By divine institution, there are among the Christian faithful in the Church sacred ministers who in law are also called clerics; the other members of the Christian faithful are called lay persons.  There are members of the Christian faithful from both these groups who, through the profession of the evangelical counsels by means of vows or other sacred bonds recognized and sanctioned by the Church, are consecrated to God in their own special way and contribute to the salvific mission of the Church; although their state does not belong to the hierarchical structure of the Church, it nevertheless belongs to its life and holiness (Canon 207).

The narrower sense in which the Second Vatican Council gave instruction concerning the laity is as follows:  The term laity is here understood to mean all the faithful except those in holy orders and those in the state of religious life specially approved by the Church.  These faithful are by baptism made one body with Christ and are constituted among the People of God; they are in their own way made sharers in the priestly, prophetical, and kingly functions of Christ; and they carry out for their own part the mission of the whole Christian people in the Church and in the world (Lumen gentium, 31).

In this narrower sense, the Council taught that the laity’s specific character is secularity: they are Christians who live the life of Christ in the world.  Their role is to sanctify the created world by directing it to become more Christian in its structures and systems:

“the laity, by their very vocation, seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to the plan of God (Lumen gentium, 31).”  The laity are full members of the Church, fully share in Church’s purpose of sanctification, of “inner union of men with God (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 775),”

acting with freedom and personal responsibility and not as mere agents of the hierarchy.  Due to their baptism, they are members of God’s family, the Church, and they grow in intimate union with God, “in” and “by means” of the world. It is not a matter of departing from the world as the monks and the nuns do that they sanctify themselves; it is precisely through the material world sanctified by the coming of the God made flesh, i.e. made material, that they reach God.   Doctors, mothers of a family, farmers, bank tellers, drivers, by doing their jobs in the world with a Christian spirit are already extending the Kingdom of God.   According to the repeated statements of Popes and lay Catholic leaders, the laity should say “we are the Church,” in the same way that the saints said that “Christ lives in me.”  Lay involvement takes diverse forms, including participation in the life and Mass ministries  of the parish.

 

Vatican II after 50 Years

Written by Dr. Eusebio Koh

Originally Published in the Filipino Journal:   December 5, 2012, Volume 26, Number 22

 

The year 1962, fifty years ago, was a very memorable year. In April of 1961, the United States with Cuban rebels launched the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba with the intention to rid the North American continent of the presence of communism. The USSR under Nikita Kruschev decided to arm Cuba with nuclear missiles to prevent future invasions. Those missiles could hit Washington D. C. in fifteen minutes if launched. The missiles were discovered by American U2 aircrafts in October, 1962 which led to the thirteen-day Cuban Missile Crisis. The United States under President John F. Kennedy was prepared to confront and block Russian ships from reaching Cuba. Fortunately, diplomacy won out and the tension was defused. That was probably the closest we came to nuclear war.

But the year 1962 was memorable for a most pleasant event – an event that enriches the world, specifically the world of the Catholics which today number over a billion. The Second Vatican Council (informally called Vatican II) is one important happening in the Catholic Church. It opened up the Church to the modern world. The council, a bright idea of Blessed Pope John XXIII, convened on 11 October 1962 and closed under Pope Paul VI on 8 December 1965. Pope John passed away in June, 1963 and Pope Paul reopened the council upon his election to the papacy. The popes who succeeded Pope John, namely Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul I, Pope John Paul II and the present Pope Benedict XVI were participants in the Vatican II.

In talks before the Council actually met, Pope John had said that we needed to open the windows and the doors of the Church to take in some fresh air. He was talking about ecumenism, renewal, reform and getting lay involvement in the liturgy and other aspects of the Church. He invited the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Churches to send observers to the Council and they accepted. There were also lay and women observers during the council meetings. Personally, I think it was Pope John who was the fresh air for through the Vatican II he brought the people closer to the Church and to the Lord Jesus Christ.

There were numerous documents approved by Council. A Synod of Bishops was established to preserve a close cooperation of the bishops with the Pope. There were decrees on religious freedom, decrees on missionary activity, on the life of persons in religious orders, education for the priests, and the role of the laity. One important document stated that the Jews of today are no more responsible for the death of Christ than Christians. A most accommodating document was on the dogmatic constitution on the Church. While claiming to be the “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic” Church of Christ, the document acknowledged that “many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside its visible confines.”

Perhaps the most notable with immediate effects on individual Catholics was the decree to allow the celebration of the Mass in vernacular languages with greater participation of lay persons in the liturgy and the celebrant facing the congregation. Latin of course was not abolished as the liturgical language of the Roman Rite and is still the basis of translations as in the case of the new Roman Missal. Here and elsewhere, traditionalists can still attend Latin Masses.

Vatican II opened the Church to modern times and also reached back to biblical times by stressing the central role of the Sacred Scripture in our devotion. Bible study continues to be part of the activities of priest and parishioners.

For senior citizens like me, Vatican II has made changes in what and how the Church has become to us:

1. The Church is no longer some unapproachable Kingdom of God. We are part and parcel of the Church; we are the Church.

2. The Church has become less absolute in its relationship to non-Catholics and even non-Christians allowing that there are religious truths and aspirations outside the Church.

3. The Church is now understandable in its mission with the priest facing us and speaking our vernacular language.

4. The Church has invited us to be involved in the liturgy and the Eucharist. It has given value to us as thinking participants and listened to our opinions considering the increase of educated Catholics with advanced degrees in the arts (including theology) and sciences.

5. The Church has become a church of love, not of fear and coercion. It has given us freedom to act according to our clear conscience.

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of Vatican II, Pope Benedict XVI had declared the period from October 2012 to the end of November 2013 a “Year of Faith” and told parishes and religious institutions to find ways to celebrate and reaffirm the Creed. Either the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed is a statement of the Christian belief.