Spectacular Ashes
By Philip Kolin
You stand in line and hope
the priest’s hand is not too heavy
impressing those sooty crosses
on your forehead, and that they
will not stay and stain your image
in the workplace, at a store,
or in the long lines at Starbucks.
Everyone ahead of you seems to crouch
over as if the priest pounded them
into Lent, branding them for life,
the walking martyrs of Golgotha,
prisoners for Christ.
Your turn is next.
The priest raises his hand,
asks you to remember you are dust
and that you shall return to dust;
you feel like your ashes have been screwed
into place for the next 40 days.
But as you return to your pew
the congregation looks amazed
as if you had changed your clothes
on the way back from the altar
and are now dressed in a white robe,
glistening with salvation.
“Have a spectacular Lent,”
your guardian angel whispers.
Philip C. Kolin is the University Distinguished Professor in the College of
Arts and Letters at the University of Southern Mississippi and the Editor of The
Southern Quarterly. He is a parishioner of St. Thomas Aquinas Parish, Hatties-
burg.
Like Japanese, almost all Catholic migrants marry non-Christians. In some cases,
the bishops said, migrants who have a spouse and family at home start a second
family in Japan. In both cases, it is rare for these migrants to seek church marriages,
although the parish tries to serve as an oasis for them, “accepting them without judg-
ment and trying to support them to live Christian lives in the midst of everyday chal-
lenging realities.”
“They have a strong Catholic identity even though the church may not approve of
their situation,” the bishops said.
Because Japan’s civil code allows divorce and Christians are a small minority, it
is often difficult for a Catholic member of a divorce to get cooperation from a non-
Christian for an annulment, said the bishops, who called a simplified procedure for
annulment “not only needed” but “essential.”
They also said many people are calling for simplified procedures to make dealing
with divorced and remarried people more pastoral.
“Of course, Rome takes as its starting point the marriage of two Catholics and,
therefore, these procedures make sense,” the bishops said. “However, these proce-
dures and principles are not applicable in the case of a marriage between a Catholic
and a non-Catholic.”
“Simplification of the legal proceedings will be the salvation of those who are
suffering,” the bishops said.
S
ynod
-J
apan
From page 13
Cardinals outline broad approaches
to family ministry, spokesman says
By CindyWooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As some 150 cardinals from around the world gath-
ered with Pope Francis to talk about the family, their two days of discussion focused
particularly on three points: the Christian vision of people and family life; essential
pastoral programs to support families; and ministry to divorced and civilly remarried
Catholics.
Although the discussions during the Feb. 20-21 meeting were closed to the press,
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, gave reporters an overview of
the discussions.
Retired German Cardinal Walter Kasper gave a two-hour opening presentation,
laying out the biblical and theological basis of church teaching on marriage. He also
emphasized the challenge of finding ways to always fulfill two basic obligations: re-
maining faithful to Jesus’ words about the indissolubility of marriage and embodying
the mercy God always shows to those who have sinned or fallen short.
The cardinals held two morning and two afternoon sessions. In the first three ses-
sions, Father Lombardi said, 43 cardinals spoke; many others had signed up to speak
the final afternoon or had decided to make their contributions in writing.
Father Lombardi said many of the cardinals spoke broadly about Christian anthro-
pology -- the biblically based vision of people -- and the challenge of living that out
in the “context of a secularized society that promotes visions of the human person,
the family and sexuality that are very different.”
“The climate wasn’t one of complaining, but of realism,” the spokesman said.
The second focus, he said, was on the kinds of pastoral programs offered to fami-
lies and the forms of support available to them in parishes and dioceses. Several
cardinals insisted on the importance of mandatory marriage preparation programs.
A third group of talks, Father Lombardi said, focused on divorced and civilly
remarried Catholics. Several cardinals spoke about the church’s process for granting
annulments and possible ideas for improving the process or simplifying it.
Other cardinals, he said, spoke about the desire of some divorced and civilly re-
married Catholics to be able to receive Communion even though they have not re-
ceived an annulment.
“The discussion was very interesting, very broad, very serene,” he said. “No deci-
sions were made,” but there was “a clear commitment to finding the best way to keep
together fidelity to Christ’s words and mercy in the life of the church.”
Father Lombardi said the atmosphere in the synod hall, where the pope and car-
dinals were meeting, wasn’t one of “tension or anxiety in talking about these themes,
but very much a climate of discernment, wisdom and of seeking together the best
path for the church to take.”
The cardinals were not expected to make any decisions or vote on proposals dur-
ing their meeting, he said. Rather, they were holding a discussion in preparation for
October’s extraordinary synod on the family and a 2015 world Synod of Bishops on
the same theme.
South African Cardinal Wilfred F. Napier of Durban told Catholic News Service
he expected continental and regional differences to come into sharper focus at the ex-
traordinary synod in October. Questions regarding the reality and pastoral approach
to polygamy and arranged marriages, for example, are likely to be a frequent topic
at the synod.
The cardinals’ meeting Feb. 20-21 was “absolutely wonderful, absolutely help-
ful” because it was more general and theological, he said.
The focus on maintaining church teaching, both about the indissolubility of mar-
riage and about God’s abundant mercy, impacted the conversation, he said, by help-
ing cardinals avoid falling into a position of trying to find solutions by advocating for
“doing away with the law, doing away with the structures.”
While the bishops of Africa and in many parts of Asia are not feeling such pres-
sure today to reach out to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, he said, “what
is a problem in Europe and North America today in two years time will be a major
problem for us, because issues are being exported that quickly.”
Gulf Pine Catholic
•
February 28, 2014
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