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Sainthood for one who suffered in solidarity

18 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days," it is said of the "Suffering Servant" in this Sunday's reading from the Book of Isaiah. Father Damien of Moloka'i, a Belgian-born priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was elevated to sainthood Sunday for his ministry in Hawaii to those with Hansen's disease, otherwise known as leprosy. Saint Damien himself contracted and died from the disease in 1884 at the age of 49. After being sent to Hawaii as a missionary, Damien volunteered to minister to those who, under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine, had been banished to Kalaupapa, a settlement on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i. He worked there for 16 years, sitting by the bedsides of the sickest, hearing their confessions, washing their bodies, and bandaging their wounds. People began calling for his elevation to sainthood shortly after his death. Damien, said Pope Benedict XVI during the ceremony, "not without fear and repugnance," chose to go to Molokai and risked his health to serve the patients "who were there, abandoned by all," and went on to feel "at home with them." For centuries leprosy was one of the most feared diseases, although doctors have since learned it is not easily transmitted and can be cured with antibiotics. Damien's image, vividly showing leprosy lesions on his face, was draped from the basilica's façade during Sunday's celebration. Included as well among those added to the church's roll of saints was French nun Jeanne Jugan, who helped the elderly, including some abandoned by their families. Jugan, also known as Marie de la Croix, was "an authentic Mother Teresa ahead of her time," Vatican Radio said. Her Little Sisters of the Poor order of nuns today runs homes for older people worldwide. She died in 1879. A Polish bishop and two Spaniards were also canonized. Source: Articles by Rose Ybarra for Catholic News Service, Frances D'Emilio for the Associated Press, United Press International, Wikipedia.org, and HonoluluAdvertiser.com

Saints hawaii kalaupapa joseph de veuster hansens disease sainthood molokai father damien leprosy canonization missionaries

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Fallen Catholic chaplain receives highest military honor

14 Apr 2013 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In this Sunday’s psalm, mourning becomes dancing in the certainty of divine rescue. Catholic priest Emil Kapaun served as a military chaplain during the Korean War, caring for and sustaining his fellow soldiers who hoped for rescue during their imprisonment in a harsh POW camp. Kapaun, who died in the camp, was awarded posthumously the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony Thursday. The priest from rural Kansas is also a candidate for sainthood.President Barack Obama awarded the nation’s highest military honor to Kapaun’s next of kin to commemorate the Army chaplain’s acts of personal bravery during the Korean War, both on the battlefield and in a POW camp. For years POWs who survived the camp have pushed for Kapaun’s wartime actions to be recognized. Now it seems they’ve been heard by both church and state.Kapaun, born in 1916, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Wichita at age 24. Four years later he joined the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps. He left for Japan and Korea in 1950 with the 8th Cavalry Regiment of the 1st Cavalry Division. Roy Wenzl, a Wichita Eagle reporter and the coauthor of Kapaun’s biography, said Kapaun worked alongside other soldiers digging latrines and foxholes and risked his life time after time to save the fallen.Kapaun saw several battles during the war, and in each one he would run outside the perimeter to save wounded soldiers despite pleas from his fellow soldiers to remain in safety. But during the Battle of Unsan, Kapaun’s regiment was surrounded by a sea of Chinese soldiers. Kapaun refused to escape and leave the his men and was captured on November 2, 1950.The Americans were forced to march, with little to no food, in sometimes sub-zero temperatures, to what is now North Korea. They ended up in the Pyoktong POW camp. Inside the camp, hunger, disease, and the cold preyed upon hundreds of soldiers. Dysentery ran wild and the inmates’ only option for water was melted snow.Despite the miserable conditions, Kapaun flouted camp rules to aid his fellow prisoners, stealing food and medicine, praying with them, leading them to resist indoctrination, and shaping containers out of roofing tin to boil water. “He led by example. He picked lice off of soldiers when no one else would,” Wenzl said.When he fell ill, camp guards treated Kapaun roughly and isolated him in a ramshackle hut the POWs called “the death house,” where he received no care. “Hey, Mike, don’t worry about me,” Lt. Mike Dowe recalled him saying. “I’m going to where I always wanted to go and I’ll say a prayer for all of you.”As the Chinese guards were taking him, Kapaun blessed them and asked for their forgiveness. Two days later, on May 23, 1951, he passed away, seven months after arriving at the camp. In 1993 the Vatican declared Kapaun “a Servant of God,” which officially opened his sainthood cause.Homily help: It is rare and gratifying when both church and state can recognize an individual, but Chaplain Kapaun exemplified the best traits of a priest and a patriot. Roy Wenzl, the coauthor of Kapaun’s biography, wrote a series about him for the Wichita Eagle that parishioners may find inspiring. Source: Caleb K. Bell for Religion News Service

sainthood emil kapuan military chaplains korean war medal of honor roy wenzl

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Serra's sainthood doesn't signify perfection

27 Sep 2015 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Moses wishes all were prophets, and Pope Francis has taught that all are called to lead saintly lives, even though none are perfect. In that spirit, on Wednesday he elevated to sainthood Junipero Serra, an 18th-century Spanish missionary who brought Catholicism to the American West Coast in a process both blessed and flawed. The canonization was polarizing. Serra is revered by Catholics for his missionary work, and many Latinos in the United States view his canonization as a badly needed acknowledgment of Hispanics' role in the American church. But some Native Americans say Serra enslaved converts and contributed to the spread of disease that wiped out indigenous populations. In July, Francis issued a broad apology for the church's sins against indigenous peoples. Homily hint: All of us are products of our historical era. In hindsight our ancestors shortcomings may appear obvious and glaring, but in the context of the times, Serra and other missionaries negotiated as best they could with the tools they had. What we do know is that Serra was a man of faith who did the best he could. All of us can strive to do the same. Might all of us live saintly lives, as Serra strove to do. For more on Serra’s life, legacy, and canonization, see: Pope canonizes 18th-century missionary; not everyone happy; Sainthood for Missionary Priest Is Disputed by Native Tribes; Hero or horror? Junipero Serra, priest behind Calif. missions, becomes a saint; What is driving Pope Francis’ canonization of Junípero Serra?

canonization sainthood

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Exploring the word

01 Nov 2009 - Solemnity of All Saints, Cycle B

What does it take to be a saint in this world? Two miracles and a lot of good press? Martyrdom for the right cause? Canonization can be achieved on these terms, but it takes a bit more to be actually counted among the blessed. Scripture goes on at length about the holy ones, but their identification always seems to boil down to a curious factor rarely considered: the condition of the human heart. While we might look only to the "outer" criteria for sainthood—the lame casting crutches aside, the cancer patient cured through timely intercession, or the firing squad shouting, "Recant your faith or die!"—the biblical criterion is simpler: Live with a clean heart before God. That opens up a new avenue of discernment. What makes for a clean heart? Many of us grew up with the stain-of-sin metaphor impressed on us. If sin leaves a stain, then a clean heart is one free from sin. Fair enough. This idea, though, can paralyze us, because none of us is free from sin for more than minutes at a time—unless you're a far better person than I. If sainthood means being clean-hearted, and cleanliness equals sinlessness, knowledge of our sinfulness can demoralize us en route to sainthood. We're obliged to take the nearest exit and abandon that destination. In the Bible, however, the clean heart is characterized as pure or focused. That points toward purity of intention more than action: recognizing that the horse needs to be in front of the cart or we're not going to get far. The clean-hearted don't aim at keeping their hands or even their noses clean, primarily. They have bigger fish to fry than managing exterior conditions, because they know exterior conditions inevitably result from interior ones. So the pure of heart focus on orienting themselves toward God: in prayer, in love, in purpose, linking themselves hour by hour with the will of God. The habit of turning in a godly direction becomes their primary goal, not collecting good deeds like gold stars in the cause of righteousness. All too often in the Bible we see what becomes of those who are righteous in deed but loveless in heart. Their offering before God remains inert and their hearts may fall more deeply into shadow, deprived of divine light. But those who move in the direction of God are deepening their relationship to the source of love, light, and life quite naturally. Only those who grow close enough to God to know themselves as God's children will embrace this identity effortlessly. This purity is within reach of us all. Related scripture links Beatitudes: Ps. 1:1; 32:1-2; 41:1; 65:4; 84:4-5; 106:3; 112:1; 128:1; Luke 6:17-26 Children of God: Matt. 18:1-6; Luke 6:35; 18:15-17; John 12:35-36; Rom. 8:14-16; Gal. 3:26; 4:6-7; Heb. 12:4-11; 1 John 5:2, 19 A clean heart: Ps. 51:10 Holiness: Eph. 4:22-24; 1 Thess. 3:13; Heb. 12:14 The saints: Phil. 4:21 Catechism links All Christians called to holiness: CCC 2013-2014 Beatitude: CCC 1716-1724; 1820 Purity of heart: CCC 2156; 2515-2521; 2525 Saints: CCC 686; 688; 828; 946-959; 1717; 2030; 2156; 2683-2684

Authors Alice Camille

Saints sainthood canonization Purity

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Homily stories

01 Nov 2009 - Solemnity of All Saints, Cycle B

When you look in a mirror do you see God? You should. In more than any other way God is revealed through people. With each act of forgiveness, compassion, and justice we bring God’s face in view. Today we honor the saints and most especially the saints who have no special feast day. This is a day to remember and say thank you to the holy men and women you knew. Selfless, kind, courageous, and creative folks; lovers of life who left a great void in yours with their passing—a mother, father, sister, brother, best friend, teacher, neighbor, aunt, or uncle—not perfect people, but good and true people despite their faults. These unsung heroes are the children of God Saint John speaks of who have gone before, just as we are God’s children now—learning, growing, preparing ourselves for a future yet to be revealed. But it is not a future without hope. We believe that our pain and sorrow will be redeemed and our hunger and thirst satisfied. Indeed we are blessed, and we pray to the saints to remind us of those blessings.

Saints sainthood example

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