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 MOTHER ANGELICA: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles, by Raymond
Arroyo. Doubleday. 400 pp. $23.95.
(Audiobook [#A7750] of 10 discs read
by the author, St. Anthony Messenger
Press, $36.95.)
Reviewed by COLLEEN WINSTON,
O.S.B., whose communication experience
includes writing, photography and seven
years as communications director of the
Covington, Kentucky, diocese. In that
capacity she met Mother Angelica years
ago.
A SUPERBLY WRITTEN, broadly researched
biography of a fascinating,
audacious, stubborn and
deeply religious woman,
Mother Angelica describes a
woman both challenging
and amazing. In her childhood,
Rita Rizzo learned
the power of prayer; saving
souls became her passion.
Later this passion, combined
with her storytelling
ability, led her into radio
ministry. From this beginning,
a media empire gradually
emerged: a publishing
entity, radio station, Eternal Word Television
Network (EWTN) and a shortwave
network. Mother Angelica’s goal
was to reach as many people as she
could with what she saw as God’s truth
and, as her audience expanded, she
became internationally recognized and
influential.
Because of this, Mother Angelica
deserves to have her story told, and
Raymond Arroyo is a good person to do
it. His dual position as insider and professional
reporter has produced a biography
that will cause many readers to
be both astonished at her accomplishments
and dumbfounded at her
methodology.
Some people may experience tension
during this read. Mother Angelica’s
approach to the institutional Church,
to her life as a contemplative religious
and to normative business practices is
challenging, to say the least.
The driving force in her life is fidelity
to what she sees as God’s mission for
her; she often looks for people who
agree with her and ignores those who
disagree, despite their authority or expertise.
Her interpretation of God’s message
supersedes any other perspective.
For example, she refused to do financial
planning on her multimillion-dollar
projects because she thought it put a
limit on God’s generosity.
This may astonish readers as much as
it did her advisers, but that incredulity
has to coexist with the success
of the ministry empire
that emerged from her
eccentric approach.
Almost every aspect of
Mother Angelica’s life is
filled with the unexpected;
it’s a fascinating story with,
as the author comments,
some things “difficult to
explain.” Arroyo documents
many events, which
makes the astonishing
more believable, and he
writes with a minimum of judgment
about the nature of Mother Angelica’s
decisions.
At her insistence, however, he does
show her human weaknesses during
many struggles and conflicts. Her genuine
gifts of spiritual focus, strength
of will and creativity are shown, as
well as times when they escalate into
narrow-mindedness, stubbornness and
intolerance.
To say Mother Angelica’s Catholicism
is orthodox is almost an understatement,
and this is the source of
many conflicts, including ones where
she judged some bishops and cardinals
were not being true to authentic
Church teaching. Arroyo details some
of these. Because Mother Angelica’s
strong opinions were multiplied exponentially
by the power of the media
outlets she controlled, collisions of
thought with Church leaders were
often out in the open, exacerbating the
situation.
For people who appreciate the programming
on EWTN and Mother
Angelica’s perspective on the Church,
she has become an icon. They see her
life and work as modern miracles, signs
of God’s approval of her ministry. The
power of her media voice has helped to
reenergize some forms of popular devotion.
With Vatican II’s renewed focus
on the official liturgy of the Church,
some religious practices, though not
banned, had fallen into disuse, and a
segment of the Catholic population
keenly felt their absence. Programming
on EWTN has helped fill this void.
Arroyo has given us the story of a
fiery, talented woman whose passion
for what she sees as God’s will has propelled
her to both heights of achievement
and depths of conflict. No matter
what a person’s theology, Mother
Angelica’s story can fascinate, for she
has accomplished remarkable things.
You can order MOTHER ANGELICA: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles from St.
Francis Bookshop.
IN THE HEART OF THE TEMPLE: My Spiritual Vision for Today's World, by Joan Chittister. BlueBridge. 158
pp. $14.95.
Reviewed by MICHAEL J. DALEY, a
teacher and writer at St. Xavier High
School in Cincinnati, Ohio. He recently
edited (with Bill Madges) Vatican II: Forty
Personal Stories (Twenty-Third Publications).
DON’T EQUATE the finger pointing to
the moon with the moon: It’s an easy
enough principle to state but very difficult
to put into practice. This is the
struggle at the heart of the spiritual life
that Joan Chittister, one of the great spiritual writers of our time, invites us
to confront in this book, In the Heart of
the Temple.
Chittister herself has not been
immune from this challenge.
She admits, with
respect to her initial experience
of Benedictine
monasticism, that “it was
the trappings of the temple,
not really the heart of
it, that captivated me. The
candles soothed the soul.
The chant calmed my spirit.
The stained-glass windows
and familiar shrines and
unending rounds of ritual
steadied my sense of spiritual
direction. What more could there
possibly be to the spiritual life than
fidelity to the tradition, regularity in its
forms, orderliness in its practices?”
Having lived this tension herself,
Chittister is able to share the profound
spiritual truth that has resulted from it:
The heart of the temple lies beyond it.
In going into ourselves, we are led out
into the world. There can be no contemplation
without action.
Collecting in one place some of
Chittister’s most engaging writings over
the past few years, In the Heart of the
Temple communicates unsettling truths
centered around 16 themes central to
the spiritual life.
Whatever the issue—work, stewardship,
prophecy, ministry, equality, tradition,
conversion—Chittister is not
afraid to ask questions. The ones guiding
her throughout this work are:
“Where are we now? Where can we
go? What is God’s will in all of this?”
Grounded and shaped by the
Catholic tradition, Chittister is not
afraid to challenge it. As one soon discovers,
she is not a woman of the status
quo, but rather an iconoclast, one
who questions established beliefs and
practices. Taught by the institution,
she is able to see beyond it. This is
done not to spite the tradition but to
remain ever faithful to it. She wants a
Church not of functionaries but disciples.
Chittister refers to it as her “ministry
of irritation.”
This ministry may lead to unexpected
places. According to Chittister, “The Christian life requires a commitment
to the life of the Christ who consorted
with sinners, cured lepers, raised
women from the dead, contested with
the officials, and challenged
the state. It is a life of
prophetic presence and selfless
service in a world
whose soul has gone dry.”
As Benedictine monks
before her sought to bring
order to an empire in ruins,
so too does Chittister seek
to bring vision to a world
on the brink of moral and
societal collapse. In the
Heart of the Temple only
convinces me further that
Joan Chittister is a voice that must be
heard.
You can order IN THE HEART OF THE TEMPLE: My Spiritual Vision for Today's World from St.
Francis Bookshop.
AMAZING CHURCH: A Catholic Theologian Remembers a Half-Century of Change, by Gregory
Baum. Orbis Books. 144 pp. $19.
Reviewed by MARK M. WILKINS, former
member of the Movement for a Better
World, which was a group of priests, religious
brothers and sisters and laypeople
based in Rome who promoted Church
renewal from the 1960s through the 1980s
throughout the United States and other
countries.
GREGORY BAUM’S NAME doesn’t usually
garner much recognition. While the
names Congar, Küng, Murray, Rahner
and Schillebeeckx are usually recognized
by well-read Catholics as periti (experts) at Vatican II, Baum seems to
have flown under the radar screen.
For almost 40 years he has been a
professor of theology and religious
studies in Toronto and Montreal, as
well as a prodigious author and editor.
He is the founding editor of The Ecumenist:
A Journal of Theology, Culture
and Society.
Since the emphasis in the Roman
Catholic Church is on fidelity to its
sacred traditions, Baum suggests that, if we stand back a bit and look at the
evolution of the magisterium’s official
teaching and positions in the last 50
years, we might be amazed at what has
taken place. Thus, the title: Amazing
Church.
The first chapter looks at the change
of attitude of the Church to human
rights and religious liberty. What
prompted this change was the writing
of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights by the United Nations in 1948.
This event affirmed a universal ethical
principle that had not been recognized
before by most religious and philosophical
traditions.
To recognize the equal
dignity of all human beings
was a breakthrough, first for
the world and then for the
Church. Pope John XXIII
regarded this a major “sign
of the times” that entailed a
rereading of Scripture and
tradition in search of the
answers that would affirm
human rights. This is furthered
at the Council and
by the three popes who followed
John. This development is key
for Baum’s whole work.
Next, the author shows that the
Church’s official teaching has come to
recognize God’s redemptive presence
in the whole of human history. Traditionally,
the separation between the
natural and the supernatural orders
was emphasized. Salvation and holiness
belonged to the higher order of
grace, while social questions and other
worldly concerns belonged to the lower
order of nature. The human condition
now involves a living witness to the
divine grace working not only through
the Church but also throughout all of
human history.
Chapter Three summarizes changes
in the perspective on society which led
to making an option for the poor and
connecting social justice with spirituality.
Here Baum highlights how the
preferential option for the poor, the
priority of labor over capital and the
ecology movement have had significant
theological and spiritual implications
for Catholics today.
This has also led to a deeper understanding
of sin and the moral ambiguity
of life in today’s world. Further, it
has brought to light the ideological distortions
of the gospel in the Church’s
preaching during its long history.
The “culture of peace” that fosters
dialogue among civilizations while
embracing the pluralism of cultures
and religions is the topic of Chapter
Four. Dialogue creates a new ethical
horizon that enables us to have a
greater appreciation of what we can
learn from other cultures and traditions
while recognizing that all
cultures are in need of redemption from
the values that are harmful
to others.
Religious pluralism is further
examined in Chapter
Five as we move from an
age where the number of
religions was a historical
defect that had to be overcome
to one in which we
recognize this pluralism as
part of God’s gracious design.
Baum indicates that
soldiers and citizens found
common principles and
ideals during World War II.
He gives the example of a meeting in
Switzerland in 1946 when Protestants
and Catholics were rethinking their
religious attitudes toward Jews after the
Holocaust. The anti-Jewish rhetoric of
Protestant and Catholic Churches was
replaced by a positive reformulation
of the Christian
relationship to the Jewish
community. This also had
an impact on how the
Roman Church talked
about and interacted with
the other religious traditions
of our day.
The final chapter deals
with some of the further
questions raised by this evolution,
as well as mentioning
some other topics that
have not as yet gone through a corresponding
development.
Since the author indicates that the
book focuses on the Church’s capacity
to react in new ways to the challenges
of history, it is a welcome contribution
to the dialogue on the state of the
Church in the 21st century.
The book does not take on major
controversies (like divorce and remarriage,
homosexuality, contraception
and married clergy) which divide North
American Catholics. It does not ignore
them but enables the reader to see how
change has come in other fundamental
areas.
This book should be accessible for
any reader of this magazine. It is best
suited for someone who wants an
overview of the state of the Church in
the last 50-plus years. It should remind
us that we can be faithful and yet
change. It prompted me to think how
creative the tension between the events
of our day and the ministry of Jesus can
be for all of us.
You can order AMAZING CHURCH: A Catholic Theologian Remembers a Half-Century of Change from St. Francis Bookshop.
THE VATICAN'S WOMEN: Female Influence at the Holy See, by Paul
Hofmann. St. Martin’s Griffin. 207
pp. $14.95.
Reviewed by NANCY CELASCHI, O.S.F.,
former staff member of L’Osservatore
Romano’s weekly edition in English.
WHEN ONE of the members of the
19th-century Oxford Movement made
his profession of faith in the “Roman”
Church, someone asked if he had plans
to visit Rome. His terse reply was,
“Absolutely not. When I go on an
ocean voyage, I have no
need to visit the engine
room.”
If the Church is the bark
of Peter, the Vatican is definitely
its engine room, and
those who work there are
the ship’s crew.
The death of Pope John
Paul II and the election of
his successor have once
again drawn the world’s
attention to the Vatican,
but few reports deal with
the crew of the ship that is the Vatican.
In The Vatican’s Women, Paul
Hofmann, former New York Times Rome
bureau chief, provides an interesting
and informative look inside the daily
life of the Vatican workforce.
The women of history whom Hofmann treats at length were very
high-profile: Lucretia Borgia, Matilda of
Canossa, Caroline of Cyprus, Christine
of Sweden and Pius XII’s housekeeper,
Mother Pasqualina (a.k.a. “The Popessa”).
He also devotes a chapter to the legend
of “Pope Joan,” and another to the
story of Professor Margherita Guarducci
and the identification of the tomb of
St. Peter. Throughout the book he
frequently returns to mention these
women in a less-than-favorable light.
Other chapters are dedicated to the
women who shop in the Vatican’s
supermarket or pharmacy, not all of
them Vatican employees or family
members of employees. Most of them
seem like caricatures of Roman fishmongers
and washerwomen.
In a more serious vein, he reports
on conversations with laywomen and
sisters who work within the Vatican.
Since Vatican employees do not usually
speak on the record to outsiders, their
identities are concealed, and the author
does not even give enough hints for an
insider to discover them. Some of these
women express frustration at their lack
of opportunity for advancement, or
their being kept from decision-making
positions in the cleric-dominated world
in which they work.
There are also some innuendos of
relationships and situations that might
be somewhat scandalous to those who
tend to think of the Vatican and everyone
in it as perfect and infallible. That
was never this writer’s experience.
Hofmann gives us an interesting
view of life in the Vatican, and this
alone makes the book a good read. He
has knowledge of the Vatican, its geography
and even its “idiosyncrasies.” Unfortunately, however, his view is still
that of an outsider.
You can order THE VATICAN'S WOMEN: Female Influence at the Holy See from St. Francis Bookshop.
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