My Charismatic Heroes, Flawed and Fallen (2 ): Fathers Bertolucci, McNutt, Manning, Scanlon

Remembering the flaming, exhilarating heyday of Catholic Charismatic Renewal (1970s), we honor, but soberly, a remarkable litany of extraordinarily gifted priests-leaders whose lives also involved serious sin and scandal. An earlier essay here identified superb charismatic Catholics who continue today to serve Church and society, generally with the explicitly Pentecostal dimension modest and somewhat recessive: Ralph Martin, Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, Fr. John Gordon, Dr. Mary Healy, and Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Another essay honored, again soberly, the sublime ministry of Fr. Jim Ferry who was, we now know, secretly troubled by a romantic relationship.  The four considered today have all passed; as is my dear friend Fr. Mark Wegg  to be considered in an essay to follow. Each one recalls the dramatic King David, magnificent in mission/ministry and at the same time overcome by sin, in need of God's Mercy!

Father John Bertolucci

Wildly popular in the 1970s, he was arguably the most dynamic, energetic, charismatic (in both specific and general sense) Catholic preacher in memory. Compared to him, erudite-brilliant-holy bishops like Sheen and Barron appear lethargic. He would electrify a crowd, always proclaiming the mercy and majesty of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. He was accused of violating a boy of 12 years old in 1976-9, at the very peak of his very public ministry. Later he would be again accused. He admitted wrong doing and was removed from ministry in 2002. He was not laicized but apparently lived a hidden life of prayer and repentance from 2003 until his death in 2011. A redeeming aspect is that public record shows that he acknowledged wrongdoing and expressed rather intense contrition. In this  he was personally coherent with the message of repentance he so passionately announced. 

Father Francis McNutt

Harvard grad, Dominican priest, tall, handsome, dynamic, he was probably the most gifted of an impressive array of leaders, and one of the most influential, within and beyond the Catholic Church. Along with his dizzying natural talents, he had a supernatural gift for miraculous healing. The reports of unnatural healings at his conferences were so abundant that they must be believed. His classic Healing dealt thoroughly with prayer healing and deliverance from evil spirits. I recall his clear elucidation of the various, interrelated dimensions of human healing: physical, social, emotional, moral, intellectual and spiritual. It is a masterpiece! In 1980 (just as the Renewal went into decline in the USA) he left the priesthood and married. He continued a high profile ministry of preaching and healing in non-Catholic circles with his wife as they had two children. In 1993 he returned to the Church, obtained laicization and had his marriage approved sacramentally. He continued his ministry, within Catholic and other circles, and died as a Catholic in 2020 at the age of 94. A man of enormous gifts, his life trajectory was...shall we say...circuitous?

Brennan Manning

Here we find a story more bizarre, amazing and crazy than any fiction. Fighting in the Korean War, his life was saved by a friend named Brennan who threw his body on a hand grenade. Later he had a personal, mystical, intimate encounter with Jesus Christ. He became a Franciscan priest and took the name Brennan of his friend. In the late 1960s he joined the Little Brothers of Jesus of St. Charles de Foucauld, as non-cloistered, contemplative in extreme poverty and service to the suffering. He voluntarily spent time, as another convict, in a Swiss prison, to identify with those there. He spent 6 months alone in a remote cave in the Zaragoza desert. In the 1970s he returned home, dealt with his alcohol problem, and became influential as speaker/writer in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. In 1982 he left the priesthood to marry. He continued always to drink and give retreats and talks. He divorced in 2002. To the end of his life he would give a three-day retreat maybe on the west coast, go on a 4-day bender, then fly to the east coast for another retreat, then another bender. He persisted in his addiction, as he persevered in his mission to proclaim the love of Christ, precisely for sinners caught in such patterns. He died in 2013 of a rare neurological disorder aggravated by the alcohol. I understand that he was buried as a Catholic in St. Rose, Belmar, near where I life. He told his high school reunion:  "I have been promiscuous, a liar, envious of the gifts of others, insufferably arrogant, a people-pleaser and a braggart...but by sheer undeserved grace I've been able to abandon myself in unshaken trust to the compassion and mercy of Jesus Christ." He never overcame his addiction. He never ceased to proclaim, as he claimed, that very mercy and compassion of Christ: "God loves you as you are; not as you should be; none of us are as we should be!" A deep sadness pervades his remarkable life. He particularly railed against religious people who are judgmental, moralistic, superior in favor of a gospel of grace and unconditional mercy. But he did so himself in a tone of indignant resentment and (self)righteous judgment. He knew...intimately, mystically the love of Christ; he flowed with compassion for those, like himself, trapped in addiction. But he remained tragically a lonely figure, resistant to the healing graces of the sacraments and 12 step programs.

Father Michael Scanlon

In regard to talent, natural and spiritual both, energy and influence, Fr. Scanlon was at the top of the A-team, in the league of Ralph Martin and Fathers Bertolucci/McNutt/Manning. Another Harvard grad, lawyer, Franciscan, he wrote and spoke gloriously. He also displayed gifts for miraculous healing and deliverance from evil spirits. He led the covenant community in Steubenville where he was directed by the bishop to detach himself and the group from the controversial umbrella Sword of the Spirit. Above all, he rejuvenated the Franciscan University of Steubenville, possibly  the most prominent, abiding institution of the Renewal. He took the reins there in 1974 as it was failing and as the critical mass of  Catholic, especially prestigious, higher education in the USA was turning secular, progressive, non-Catholic if not anti-Catholic. He brought this modest college in the opposite direction: profoundly, urgently, passionately Catholic. The charismatic dimension was prominent; but it became a magnet for other forms of countercultural, anti-progressive Catholicism: homeschoolers, pro-life activism, orthodox theology (Scott Hahn), revival conferences (youth, men, priests, etc.) and such. It is surely the most explosively Catholic university in the nation. The small chapel of Eucharistic adoration is open 24 hours a day. I have gone there at strange, random hours (say 3 AM) and found a handful of students on their knees. Daily mass attracts hundreds. I have been there perhaps a dozen times; ritualistically I would bring each of my children there to consider for college. None obliged! But (happy me!) my granddaughter is now thriving there, playing tennis, enjoying friendships, and imbibing the sound theology and spirituality.

Apparently there is a single sexual accusation, lingering legally here in NJ, against Scanlon from years ago. Given the singularity, we do well to presume innocence in light of a quite spectacular reputation. 

More troubling: his personal friend, fellow Franciscan, and long-time-much-esteemed chaplain, Fr. Michael Tiesi, was accused of abuse by a number of women over several years. Allegedly, the abuse was reported to Fr. Scanlon. It appears he was defensive of his friend. One can imagine that Fr. Scanlon was certain of the innocence of his friend and therefore protective. God may see here a invincible (and non culpable) ignorance?  An innocent mistake, subjectively? But gravely scandalous in its consequences: upon the women themselves obviously, and beyond that to all of us. According to public record, Fr. Tiesi was assigned out of state when the allegations were received by the bishop but there he offered mass for high school students. He was accepted later, when he was dying of cancer, back to Franciscan with active faculties as a priest. Both Tiesi and Scanlon were deceased when the allegations became fully public. But apparently authorities in the school and diocese were well aware of them when they dedicated the famous little Portiuncula Chapel to the memory of Tiesi with his picture and plaque. That plaque and picture were eventually removed. 

Perhaps we do not know the full story here. Both priests have met their maker and received judgment and mercy. Presumption of innocence is the first default; but evidence to the contrary here seems decisive. The accusations of the alleged victims also demand a presumption of sincerity.  Fr. Tiesi also, by the way, apparently was much loved and esteemed for his presence and work at the school. The actions alleged were far more than "sins of passion;" given his position of trusted priest they were sacrilegious desecrations. As bad, objectively, even if not intended as such, is the denial and coverup which plunges the dagger of betrayal deeper into the heart.  It is impossible to grasp how men who do such good can do such bad. And so, with Tiesi but also Scanlon, a brilliantly splendid, holy life here is clouded at the end by a dark cloud of incomprehensible evil.

Conclusion

These men are not mere heroes, they are superheroes...naturally and supernaturally...in regard to their gifts/charisms, zeal, accomplishments, influence and role in God's Providence. And yet, the stench of sin is all the more vile given the grace at work in them. McNutt wandered from the Church but then returned so his itinerary, to a Catholic, is disappointing but finally satisfactory. Bertolucci and Manning both were deeply trapped in compulsivity and sin but were contrite. Scanlon is in a way more troubling: his life was perhaps the most consequential and edifying so his participation in this coverup remains deeply troubling. 

Again, they call to mind King David: tremendous service of the Lord! Catastrophic sin! That evil can cause such harm and chaos where God's grace is so evidently at work is frightening. We know that where sin abides there all the more does grace. But the inverse seems true: God's grace, powerfully at work evokes powerful reaction from the Dark Side, the world-flesh-devil. To some degree, the diminishment of charismatic renewal in the 1980s may be due to diabolic intervention.

These four are not on the road to canonization. We do well to pray for their souls. As we remain grateful for the work of grace in their lives and ministries.

Lord, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  Amen. 

Let's All Do Reparative (A.K.A. Paglian) Therapy!

Disclaimer: Fleckinstein comes to this topic, as always, happily free of expertise and certification, entirely lay and non-professional, blessed only with Catholic catechesis and common sense, as well as affection, over the years,  for so many "gay" and non-"gay" friends with homosexual attractions.

I need reparative therapy. I think we all do. Well, obvi, not Jesus and our Blessed Mother. Perhaps not John the Baptist. But St. Joseph and all the saints, even the virgin-martyrs, need it! Almost 30 years ago I was introduced to Joseph Nicolosi Sr. and Elizabeth Moberly by a friend seeking an awakening of heterosexual desire to have marriage and family. This was perhaps the most personally moving piece of psychological theory I have ever read. I resolved to seek repair of my own wound-based compulsions and disorders in regard to women.

It is NOT, NOT, NOT conversion therapy, the attempt to con-re-invert "sexual orientation" from "gay" to "str8." To call reparative therapy a version of conversion therapy is a slander, a false witness (8th commandment), a rash judgment:  Shame on You!  (JK of course! Fleck does not play the shame/blame game!😇)

The two therapies...conversion/reparative...are different formally, substantially, interiorly. They have distinct aims and assumptions, in accord with their names. Confusion is understandable. Most who enter reparative therapy are probably seeking stronger heterosexual attractions and a chance at marriage/family. And so they are seeking a kind of conversion. Many who practice it no doubt do so poorly, tending into an intention to convert or invert. However, the two are distinct. Reparative is soundly based in a Freudian approach and is Catholic friendly in pursuing sexual wholesomeness, sobriety, maturity and chastity.

It is repair of wounds, in our sexuality, suffered in childhood and youth. Some kind of trauma or harm, especially regarding Mom/Dad, peers, and/or body image harms the developing gender-identity and results in disorder and compulsiveness  in sexual attraction. This assumes that much (but not necessarily all) sexual attraction is effected by the 12 or more years of life prior to human puberty. Some years ago, a thorough review of research, led by a prominent gay activist, controversially found that about 70% of homosexual attraction comes from nurture, 30% from nature.

My own resolution, upon learning about this therapy, was to further deepen and strengthen wholesome, sexually sober, intimate, prayerful friendships...primarily with men...but also with women...to relieve   or at least lessen  the underlying emotional/psychological issues fueling disorders in sexual desire. I continue this program to this day and intend to pursue it till I die.

At the same time, my Catholic sensibility reminds me that the wounds of concupiscence are treatable, but often not curable. They remain as foundational, constitutional to my psyche, probably for the remainder of my life. A priest once told me in confession that these flaming passions and compulsions would remain with me until my body is 4 days cold in the grave. So, whatever your personal proclivities you are ontologically vulnerable to romantic/sexual compulsivity and need a rigorous program involving the sacramental economy, reparative therapy or their equivalents.

In this light, I have been recently following with delight the writings of my young friend Stephen Adubato. As a leader of the CLUE (college students associated with the Communion and Liberation Movement) group in NYC, he is a something of a mentor  to my oldest granddaughter as she navigates a Catholic life in the prestigious but perilous currents of that city (Columbia University, internship with America Magazine, aspirations for career in law.) He is a friend of my daughter Margaret Rose and, like her, a member of Memories Domini, who live professional lives in secular society as they dedicate themselves to Christ in lifelong promises of poverty, chastity and obedience within households of prayer and charity.  He is rock solid in Catholic theology and spirituality, rooted (like myself) in urban, ethnic parochialism (positively understood) and fascinated with lay renewal movements. At the same time, he is NY hip, avant-garde, ironic, artistic, comedic, transgressive, and playful. He is classic Catholic Bohemian, countercultural and anti-bourgeois. He writes for an extraordinary range of Catholic journals: America, First Things, Plough, Compact and both NCRs (Who does that?) At the same time, he recklessly, with malicious delectation (possibly a venial sin; check with your confessor or spiritual director!), disparages equally the ideological presumptions of the cultural right and left. His mentors: Luigi Giussani, Dorothy Day, and in lesser degree Camille Paglia.  With Luigi he assumes a classic, Roman Renaissance-like cultural confidence, even cockiness! With Dorothy he shares identification with the poor and an anti-bourgeois, iconoclastic radicalism. From Camille he draws ancient, pagan, nature intuitions on sex and gender which he receives in Christian mode. 

In this contentious, delicate arena of sex and gender, Stephen says things I have thought for many years but have not read or heard anywhere...certainly not with such finesse, humor, and playfulness. He cavalierly dismisses orthodoxies on both sides, declaring there is no such thing as " sexual orientation," "born-that-way," or  "conversion therapy."  Glory to God! My favorite Stephen quote:

"If someone tells me they are gay and ask what to do about it, I will say: 'You can become straight; become an artist; become a monk; or become a total deviant. Just don't talk so much about it!'"

He brings an unusual lightness to the entire discussion as he dances gracefully, even handedly appreciating and critiquing perspectives from both sides of the culture war. He detaches from the moralism of the right and the decadence of the left in a confidence that is serene and celebrative. He is so deeply traditional that he critiques The Latin Mass as a form of modernity. 

He is a blessing for me...and not just as he assists my granddaughter to preserve her faith, assuming from contemporary culture what is good and rejecting what is not. More personally, he is reviving in me the liberal-radical inclinations of my youth. In early adulthood, the late 60s, I was counterculture in a deep-Catholic fashion: hippy-esque, anti-bureaucracy/materialism/consumerism/status/meritocracy/technocracy/racism/imperialism. I read Goodman, Fromm, Illich, Holt, Freire, Day, Maritan, Doherty and others. These dimensions of my Catholicism became recessive as I moved into adulthood: supporting a family, waging culture war from the right, engaging in charismatic renewal and "Communio" theology. Stephen is rejuvenating me as he brings me into some contact with younger generations, recalling happy memories of youth.

His substack, "Cracks in Postmodernity" succinctly identifies his position. He engages postmodernity free of fear and appreciative of what is good. Who else does this? More academically, Monsignor Tom Guarino at Seton Hall. But no one else that I know in my small world. He is at home in the Nietzchean cosmos of fluidity, isolation, moral chaos, creativity and the absence of structure, foundations, and permanence. He lives in that world sensitive to the suffering; charitably; appreciative of the "cracks" that open to the Transcendent.

Finally, my question for Stephen: Why so negative about reparative therapy? He recognizes its strengths but still strongly identifies it with conversion therapy. He is clear on the theoretical or formal distinction between the two. Interestingly, he takes a direction which reconciles his iconoclastic with his deep-Catholic propensities. He looks to Camille Paglia who recognizes a degree of fluidity in sexuality and encourages therapeutic movement to interior freedom, balance, maturity, and virtue...but no inversion of so-called orientation.

This is a refreshing, appealing approach. It recognizes fluidity and the possibility of change even as it sees that some psychic structures are durable, resistant to human effort and therapy. Some cravings and compulsions are virtually invulnerable. Treatable but not curable. Crosses that must be born, patiently and perseveringly. Life patterns of support/accountability/correction must be established to channel and restrain such irrepressible forces. 

Stephen's case seems to be not so much against reparative therapy in theory, but in practice. Unlike this writer, he knows the literature (including the internet) on the issues and many who practice or seek it. He seems to be convinced that a critical mass are actually seeking "conversion." They intend to effect a change that allows for marriage and family. He may well be accurate about this. 

However, it seems clear that, in theory, the two paths which he contrasts are in fact identical. They differ in name only. Neither aspires to a change in orientation. Both seek healing of inner memories involving bondage to anxiety, shame, compulsion. Both seek liberation into spontaneity, self-confidence, serenity, generosity, generativity, and joy.

Whatever you call it...reparative or Paglian...Let's all practice it! 

Let's get to confession...maybe once a month, as my Grandfather suggested: don't think about it, just go every month, like Sunday mass or morning brushing of teeth. 

Let's pray for purity...sexually, romantically and every which way!  

My Charismatic Heroes, With All Their Flaws (1): Father Jim Ferry

Father Jim Ferry was THE FATHER OF CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL in North NJ in the 1970s. I can think of no comparable Catholic leader in terms of depth and breath of influence on the Church in NJ in my lifetime. He was capital-Z zealous: flamingly, fiercely, explosively, recklessly, passionately in love with Christ and the Gospel. Straight-up, high-octane, uber-Charismatic-Catholicism. He was Michael Jordan in the last minutes of a tight playoff game. I loved this man. I am one of tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands of his proteges.

My first encounter with him was at our charismatic prayer meeting, 1973 in Christ the King Church in Jersey City. He stepped forward to deliver a talk and immediately fell to his knees, arms stretched out in "orans" position, and asked for our prayers, that Jesus anoint him with the Holy Spirit in his talk. I was stunned! I had never seen such a humble gesture by a priest! I knew I was in a good place!

He was a type A male, a man's man. High testosterone. A priest told me that early in his priesthood Ferry had a bad reputation for his temper as a CYO basketball coach: he would come close to a fist fight with referees. By the time I knew him this energy was channeled into evangelization.

A group of us Jersey City charismatics were in the house of Ferry's sister Helen in Bayonne in 1973 talking about the film Last Tango in Paris which was infamous for its graphic sex scenes. The talk was very negative against the film. I was quiet, taking it all in; basically I was in agreement. But I had read a positive review in America about the artistic quality of the film. So I was of two minds about it, but kept silent. Fr. Ferry walked in and was asked his opinion. I was delighted: What would he say? If he condemned it he might be a moralizing prude; if he approved it a relativizing libertine. He paused thoughtfully. "I haven't seen it; and do not plan to." Another intriguing pause. "But...." Another pause. "All I know...is that...what I really want is Jesus. I doubt this film will draw me to Jesus." Great answer! 

His most infamous incident was that he prayed publicly over a corpse, for resurrection from the dead, at a wake. He became something of a laughing stock in the Newark clergy. The incident endeared him to me all the more. In the Renewal we were encouraged to step out and take risk; to be unintimidated by social expectations; to respond to inspirations of the Holy Spirit, even at the price of making a mistake or losing face. For me, then and (not quite so much) now, the event was an inspiration.

He was a priest's priest, with many close, strong friendships among the Newark clergy. He was a man of the Church: passionate in his loyalty and love. He was pulling the Renewal deeper into the Church and the opening the Church to the Holy Spirit. His was not the movement away from the sacraments and institutional Church into a literalist, countercultural Pentecostalism. 

I recall hearing Cardinal Suenens, one of the four presiders at the Vatican Council, speak at the People of Hope center in Convent Station. This influential man was baptized in the Holy Spirit within that community (as I understand it) and later designated by Pope Paul VI to guide the movement within the Church.

I attended his standing-room-only funeral at St. Antoninus in Newark and was deeply moved. I had questions at the time. Why, approaching death, did he invite many to visit him and ask their forgiveness. This seemed a gesture of humility and contrition. But, he had done so much good! Was this really necessary? Also: why did he hand leadership of the People of Hope over to lay people and detach himself, becoming pastor in Newark. What followed was that the lay leadership, with little real Church experience, followed the guidance of the Sword of the Spirit association and got into big trouble with  Archbishop Gerity. That would never have happened had Ferry remained in charge.

In November 2024, these questions were largely answered by an 8-part podcast, The Shadow of Hope, by investigative journalist Molly Crowe. The documentary is a criticism of the community as overly controlling. It showcases interviews, mostly but not all highly negative, as well as meticulous research in the archives of Seton Hall University. 

A consistent theme throughout the interviews was the contrast between Ferry and what the community became. Ferry was a free spirit, spontaneous, optimistic, welcoming, warm, effervescent. Under the guidance of the Sword of the Spirit, the People of Hope became controlling, suspicious of the world, defiant of ecclesial authority, extreme in gender-roles and authority structures. 

I found the podcast to be professional and credible, if one-sided in its negativity. It confirmed my own impression of Ferry and the trajectory of his community as he retired. The last, 8th episode, answered my questions. It happens that Father Jim was having a romantic affair with an adult woman participant in the movement for some time in his ministry. It was a discrete affair, not widely known beyond the inner circles. It took some delicate investigation to unveil this. According to the narration, the lay leadership of the People of Hope were stern and unforgiving. Interestingly, some of his friends at the national level wanted to show more mercy. 

In any case, it was now clear why he asked so sincerely for forgiveness and why he detached from his own baby.

I was not surprised. He never presented himself as a saint. His humanity and virility were blatant; and there was a humility about him, a genuine contrition. I was not scandalized. Granting that violation of his vow of chastity is significant, it was refreshing that it involved an adult woman and seemed to be a relationship of mutual reverence and affection. 

I was endeared all the more to him; and all the more inspired by him. He was sorry for his sin. He was humiliated and disciplined. This all the more exemplified the Gospel he so fervently preached: God loves you! Repent from sin. I am so grateful that even as he was apparently caught in the compulsion of desire, he did not despair or retreat from his mission. He threw himself all the more into it. Knowing all the time he was first on line to confession!

The LBGTQ Jubilee with Pope Leo; and the Actual Pastoral Practice of the Church on Sexuality

THESIS: In 1968, with the sexual revolution exploding, St. Pope Paul VI stated...clearly, heroically, prophetically...the perennial Catholic ethos of sexuality in all its splendor, rigor and elegance. That teaching was further enriched by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict. Notwithstanding confusion and ambiguity, the teaching was not contradicted or changed by Pope Francis. However, the implementation, the actual pastoral practice of the Church,  has in fact been, for over 50 years,  consistently gentle, tolerant, merciful. There is wisdom in the severe teaching and the gentle approach. 

Pope Leo's official welcoming next week (Sept. 5-6) of the LGBTQ organizations to the Holy Year Jubilee in Rome sends two messages, one is good and the other not so much. The first: we love, esteem and cherish all of you, whatever your sexual proclivities, practices and ideologies. The second: your  militant rejection of our Catholic view of sexuality is not a big deal.

We serious, observant Catholics applaud the first, as we regret the second. But to maintain our serenity, our Church unity, and our trust/affection/loyalty for the Pope we do well to put this in perspective.

1. This was already planned in the Francis papacy. For our new pope to disinvite would be received as an insult and cause commotion. We see that Leo does not like commotion. He is a man of peace, aspiring to steer the bark of Peter steadily on a tranquil sea. So we can cut him some slack on this.

2. As with the gestures of his predecessor, his intention is to express the love of Christ and the Church. Objectively, this gesture is deficient in truth and wisdom. But the intention and goal are important and to be granted proper worth.

3. We do well to recall a lesson we learned in the previous pontificate: the Pope is not the head of the Church. Jesus Christ is the head. The papacy is an important, specific office. The pope is not our savior and lord. That office is one aspect of an immense, dense, magnificent economy of tasks, missions, charisms. We need to live with the human deficiencies of each pope. A happy consequence of the Francis regime has been freedom from papalodolatry and ultramontanism. 

4. Happily, we are blessed with the settled teaching of the millennia as  refreshingly presented by the recent dual papacy as well as many gifted teachers across the globe. If the current pope fails on this, we can serenely look elsewhere for guidance and inspiration.

More importantly: a reasonable hope for this papacy is that it will preserve the clarity of our ethos even as it reaches out pastorally to communicate to all our esteem and tender care. The Church reaches out with two hands: truth and love; the stick and the carrot; the bad and the good cop. Catholic teaching on sex is widely (but erroneously) known and despised across the West. But for over 50 years the presentation of it by the Church has been meek and gentle:

- Even under Cardinal Ratzinger, very few dissenters were disciplined.

- John Paul and Benedict spoke clearly on it; but did not obsess. They spoke a lot about tons of other things. 

- How often do you hear from the pulpit or classroom topics like pornography/masturbation, fornication, homosexuality, contraception/cohabitation? Almost never. 

- Even Fleckinstein, tested Cultural Warrior that he is, has a life in the real world, beyond the blogosphere, where he engages with family, friends, catechetics, jail, hospital and residence work...and he NEVER NEVER NEVER talks about these things. 

Why this shyness about sex?

One reason is that many, including priests and theologians, are ambivalent or uncertain. How many priests could and would give a clear, decisive sermon for or against the male-only priesthood? Perhaps 10% on one side and 10% on the other. The vast majority do not want to touch the topic. 

More significant than that uncertainty, however, is a traditional Catholic reverence for the delicacy, privacy and sacredness of sexuality. No...not that it is dirty, disgusting, shameful or bad! Rather, it is inexpressibly delicate, precious, and worthy of being protected and sheltered. The topic of sex is like walking into a Catholic Church with the Eucharistic presence in the tabernacle: silence, reverence, bless yourself with holy water, genuflect on the right knee, find a pew and enter into prayer and worship. 

This reverent reticence is largely why the Church lost the Culture War without real combat. Abortion, sexual license, deconstruction of gender, and dismissal of the family immediately swept elite circles in our culture. Few were the voices raised in resistance. The voice of John Paul and his collaborators was calm and confident but meek. 

Leo seems to embody this very reverence, reticence, and shyness about this issue. 

Our problem: our adversaries, sexual libertarians, are not so meek and shy. The militant, organizational circles are hysterical, hostile, and aggressive in their demand for our approval and their disgust for our way of life. 

It will be interesting to observe the encounter between our Pope and the LGBTQ caucus! Will they be abrasive, histrionic, performative? Or reverent and receptive?

Will he be able to welcome them warmly (love) and speak a word of wisdom on the sanctity of sexuality (truth)?  

Let us pray for that! Next week in Rome. And in all the decisions, words and acts to come in this papacy!

God bless Pope Leo! God bless our brothers and sisters in all their sexual complexities!  

Fleckinstein Recipe for a Catholicism That Is Clear, Certain, Solid, Radical, Zealous, and Quietly Ecstatic

 1. Communion, through family/parish (in my case urban, ethnic, working class, post WWII American), with the traditional, historic, sacramental, populist, hierarchical Church as well as the souls in purgatory and saints/angels in heaven.

2. A fresh restoration of our faith in the ever-new Encounter with Jesus Christ, returning to the sources  along with creative engagement with contemporary culture, in the light of Vatican II, the papacies of John Pau/Benedict, and the "Communio" school of theology (DeLubac, Balthasar, Danielou, Congar.) Philosophically, this entails the marriage of St. Thomas (Maritain, Gilson, Pieper), the fathers and doctors (resourcement theology), and contemporary personalism (Stein, Marcel, Buber, Hildebrandt). 

3. Surrender to the Holy Spirit in all its miraculous serendipity in the Charismatic Renewal and lay movements (Cursillo, Marriage Encounter, Communion and Liberation, the Neocatechumenal Way.) Participation in small communities around the Lordship of Jesus, worship, the Word of God, charity, service and evangelization.

4. Closeness to the poor, deprived and suffering along with detachment from disenchanted bourgeois modernity in it monotonous cult of security, status, affluence, credentialed meritocracy, achievement, and control. 

5. Subsidiarity as attention to the local and immediate, (family/parish/community) in an agency that is humble, confident and joyous along with a critique of overgrown institutions, technology, bureaucracy. 

6. Pragmatic politics, detached from ideology and party, working flexibly with different partners for the common good, care of the poor and vulnerable, international peace, and the moral order.

7. Primacy of family, fidelity (to spouse or state of life), and chastity along with fierce combat against cultural liberalism.

8. Intimate communion, in Christ/Word/Holy Spirit, with Evangelicals and Pentecostals. Esteem for Judaism in its history and contemporary realities (from secular to observant.) Appreciation of world religions where God's grace is at work along with realistic evaluation of the evil present.

9. Regular confession of sin to the priest along with 12-step programs in areas of compulsion.

10. Fervent surrender to the riches of Catholic worship as time allows: daily mass, rosary, prayer of the Church, visits to the Eucharist, retreats, conferences, pilgrimages, indulgences, Divine Mercy devotion, countless aspirations, support groups, Scripture sharing, immersion in lives and writing of the saints and so much more.

This  program, under God's grace, will ensure triumph over the axis evil... the world, the flesh and the devil.

Crisis of Masculinity in the American Presidency

The resistance of the electorate to electing a woman president is not simply misogyny and residual toxic patriarchy. More positively, it is an valid intuition, although one that dare not be spoken, that the president is symbolically a father figure. We need to distinguish the functional and symbolic dimensions of any authority. 

Women can, of course, perform all the functions of leadership. Some aspects of femininity even enhance leadership: better team work, sharper emotional intelligence, empathy, reconciling and nourishing instincts. Today young women outperform men in academia and many arenas.  Hilary Clinton was arguably the most experienced, knowledgeable, and competent candidate in the history of our country. I personally would vote for a Nicky Halley or a Condelezza Rice in a second over the alternatives. 

Nevertheless, authority usually entails a symbolic element as the person represents something greater than oneself. The prime authority is the father in the family. Metaphysically, the father represents the fatherhood of God. Other offices resemble this analogically: the king/president the good of the nation; the teacher truth; the fireman rescue from danger; and so forth.

Masculinity is appropriate for authority not due to superiority, but due to inferiority. The woman is endowed naturally with deeper integrity, generosity, empathy, connectedness. The woman, as bride and mother is an identity unto itself; the highest creature; without reference beyond herself. The male is inferior: fragile in identity and ego structure; low capacity for relationship and empathy; more fragmented biologically due to hormones, morphology and neurology. Because of a significant disability, masculinity is appropriate in representing something other than himself. It is the hollowness, the fragmentation, the chaos of masculinity that makes it appropriate to represent Something Else.

This is ludicrous to modernity, but intuitively obvious to the Catholic imagination in the contrast of St. Peter with our Blessed Mother. The later is the perfection of creation, singularly splendid in truth, beauty and goodness. She does not represent her Son. Rather, like Eve with Adam, she is uniquely partner and spouse and so our mother. Peter is a train wreck: volatile, unreliable, angry one minute and cowardly the next. Yet it is Peter, with all of his flaws and because of his flaws, that is designated Rock, Vicar of Christ, icon and sacramental of the Fatherhood of the Father. 

The daughters of Eve, even in their fallen state, retain a heavenly splendor...in face and form, in grace of movement, in magnanimity of heart, in docility of Spirit. Not so, men. (This is admittedly a male perspective. It cannot be helped: every thought, every whim, every breath breathed by me is masculine. It is the way I was created. My agony and my ecstasy. Every human perspective is feminine or masculine; there is no androgynous transcendence; no 3rd, 4th or 5th option.)

Even as our young women increasingly outperform men in many arenas, there remain domains which are predominantly feminine or masculine. Absolutely, a woman cannot be a biological father, a Catholic priest, or a father figure. In the order of creation, the natural/moral order, masculinity (physical, spiritual, intellectual, moral, social) is intrinsic to these; just as femininity is essential to maternity. Other areas allow for exceptions. Masculine tasks include garbage men, construction workers, plumbers, presidents, coaches of men's sports, combat soldiers, sports journalists in male locker rooms, firemen, and policemen. A good exception is police women: in our boarding home for women, we are happy that our frequent visits from the police include a woman who brings an important sensitivity to the difficult situations. Feminine occupations, again allowing for exceptions, include early child care, nursing, midwife, gynecology/obstetrics and social work. 

Returning to the American presidency, it is widely noted that the average height of our presidents is almost 5 inches greater than that of the average male. This suggests that stature and strength are implicitly valued in the president. This is particularly obvious with Donald Trump who uses it to his advantage. 

Primary Virtues and Vices of Masculinity as Representational

To appropriately represent that which is greater than self (God, Christ, justice, truth, the constitution, etc.), masculinity requires above all:

1. Humility as devotion to that which is greater than Self and realistic awareness of one's weakness and inadequacy.

2. Fortitude as courage, decisiveness, and strength that is gentle, protective and reassuring.

3. Purity as fidelity to spouse/family/community, including sexual chastity.

4. Sobriety and Serenity as interior freedom from disordered compulsions/passions, clarity and wisdom in judgement. 

5. Prudence and Justice as freedom from obsession with Self and connection with Reality and Truth.

6. Charism as the indescribable appeal intrinsic to goodness/truth that attracts and inspires as it unifies across social divides.

It follows, obviously, that the fundamental contradictions of fatherhood and representation are: pride and narcissism, cowardice and weakness, infidelity and impurity, interior disorder, disconnect from reality, the repulsiveness and monotony of vice. The most despicably unfatherly thing would be killing of the innocent and powerless, including the unborn, as well as abuse of the weak.

Ranking and Rating Our Recent 15 Presidents 

Considering, in non-partisan manner, presidents of recent memory is largely, but not entirely, an edifying exercise. Recall: an authority need not be a saint or hero or free of flaws. Rather, he must adequately represent the greater good he services. Some "sins" for a president are especially mortal: advocacy of the killing of the unborn, blatant marital infidelity, flagrant narcissism, inordinate polarization, bullying and craven weakness. 

Strong Father Figures: FDR, Eisenhower, LBJ, Ronald Reagan.

Adequate Father Figures: Truman, JFK, Ford, H. Bush, and W. Bush. 

Failed Father Figures: Nixon, Carter, Clinton, Obama. 

Anti-Fathers:  Trump, Biden.

We see that nine of our last fifteen presidents were decent or strong father figures. Not too bad! Our most recent three are not on the good list.

Joe Biden

Especially from a Catholic perspective, Biden is the most depraved president in our history: militant advocacy of abortion, betrayal of core Catholic principles, systemic weakness, abandonment of Afghanistan, neglect of his own granddaughter, indulgence of son Hunter, denial of his senility and incompetence in a profound if camouflaged narcissism. He is The Anti-Father (and non-grandfather!)

Donald Trump

Trump is a dizzyingly complex, convoluted father figure.

He is strong in many ways: fist-pumping when shot, protective of the unborn, defensive of religious freedoms, fiercely defiant of decadent cultural liberalism, effective in closing the border, decisive in much diplomacy. He is at the same time pathologically narcissistic:  indifferent to truth, disconnected from reality, oblivious of the objective good including rule of law, shameless in unchastity, petty and vicious in his polarizing resentments. Currently he is indecisive and cowardly in regard to Putin's invasion and  starvation in Gaza; even as he mercilessly terrorizes decent, hardworking undocumented immigrants. He bullies the weak as he cowers before the tyrants. Like Peter on Holy Thursday night, he is a braggart, then a raging maniac, and finally a coward. He is more shamelessly and blatantly the Non-Man and the Anti-Father than Biden. But he does have impressive countervailing positives which Biden lacks.

My own reaction to Trump is passionate: I intensely love the good things and deeply despise the bad. This tension and ambivalence is extreme. I can think of no public figure who is so contradictory. My problem: I am largely alone in this position, with the exception of my own immediate family (children,) Progressives, afflicted with Trump Derangement Syndrome, cannot admit the good he has done. Compulsively, they push God from his judgment seat to condemn his heart as evil.  Conversely, my conservative friends idolize him as our warrior-hero, and minimize grave evils as minor flaws. We have here a Trump Infatuation Syndrome (TIS). One denies the good, the other the bad. Neither manifest the sobriety to recognize that which is so evil and that which is so good.

Conclusion

It is small wonder that our youth are alienated from politics. We see in Biden and Trump contrasting studies in unmanliness, toxic masculinity, anti-paternity, narcissism/vanity, cowardice, weakness, infidelity, unchastity, disconnect from truth/reality/moral order.

Personal moral character is not a private thing, irrelevant to a public order as disenchanted, functional, scientific/technical, bureaucratic. By analogy we see that as the family depends upon vigorous paternity/maternity, flowing from mutuality in spousal tenderness/fidelity/reverence, so the public order depends upon authority as surrender and fidelity to the true/good/beautiful!

The entire Democratic Party, champion of sexual liberation and abortion, is entirely void of virtuous masculinity. Indeed, it is the antithesis of such. In the Harris candidacy we were given the evil stepmother/witch straight out of Hansel and Gretel: hysterical rage against the innocent packaged in glaring incompetence and incoherence, with a nervous, silly giggle.

In the Republican Party, we have the otherwise wholesome virility of Vance and Rubio contaminated by subordination to The Great MAGA Narcissist. We wait to see if either or both will emerge from that dark shadow into the radiance of their own masculine identities.

More hopefully, we have in our new Pope Leo a refreshing image of virility: quiet, modest, clear, sober, judicious, selfless, rooted in tradition, loyal to institutions, unifying, reassuring, theologically solid. We hope and pray that he will reverse the feminizing/liberalizing/queering of the hierarchy/clergy in exercise of a virile authority that is clear, decisive, serene, modest, and magnanimous. 

We do well to emulate the Benedict Option and our alienated youth in a modulated "disconnect with love" from the dysfunctional, pathological political order. Channeling our energies zealously to our immediate families, churches, and intermediate organizations, we will ourselves exercise genuine authority to the degree that we surrender...gratefully, trustingly, obediently...to the True, the Good, the Beautiful, the Just and to God the Father in Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

The Gift of Praying in Tongues

What is the Gift of Tongues?

It is the expression of praise to God by oral formation of non-intelligible sounds. It is a language of love that springs from the heart and bypasses the intellect. It resembles baby talk as non-cognitive expression; or humming a tune; or crying out incoherently in great suffering. It expresses love non-verbally like a contemplative glance, a hug, a touch, a kiss.

It is a gift of the Holy Spirit as it is a mediation between us and God. It is a movement of love within the soul that manifests orally.

An Ordinary, Volitional, Human Act

The agent is the self. It resembles blessing yourself with holy water on entering a Church; or genuflecting to the tabernacle; or praying the rosary; or singing a hymn. The motivation is spiritual or supernatural, a movement to God, but it is human and ordinary.

Bypassing of the Intellect

So it is especially liberational for the intellectual and educated, who exercise control through cognition and verbalization. It is  surrender of the intellect and of control into a humble form of ecstatic love. The will temporarily ignores the intellect, granting it a rest, and surrenders to a song of trust, love, adoration.

Liberational, Anti-Bourgeois

Socially perceived as infantile, aberrant, and transgressive, it is also a liberation from social expectations and pressures into a new liminal zone of freedom to engage lovingly with God and a worshipping Church. It is a release from bourgeois normality and mimetic monotony. And it is enriching of  forms of Catholicism, Irish and northern European, diminished in their emotional repression by influences from  American Calvinism and earlier Jansenism. 

Childlike and Mature

It is a deliberate, mature, wholesome exercise in evangelical childlikeness: trust in God, union with the worshipping community, expressive love and adoration.

Praise

It can be communal or private prayer. It is always simply praise. This is what makes it so special. Praise is the most difficult kind of prayer. Petition, intercession, thanksgiving and contrition are all easy and obvious even to a 4-year old. Meditation requires some training and practice. But praise is impossible without a clear encounter with the holiness of God. One cannot enter praise/worship/adoration through mere instruction, imitation, or an act of the will. Praise, as in tongues, flows our of engagement with God. Outside of that it is ridiculous and incoherent. Other responses of worship can be: silence, prostration, tears, contrition, resting in the Spirit, song, dance, and other.

Mimetic and Solitary

It is largely a memetic phenomenon, learned in community by imitation. However there are often reports of those who erupt, out of the ecstasy of prayer in solitude, into tongues spontaneously, organically, almost without deliberation and free of mimetic influence. This suggests that it is more than a learned, social behavior, but a movement of the Holy Spirit.

Receptivity to Revelation

In privacy and community, tongues prepares an atmosphere of serenity and receptivity to a prophetic Word from God.

Counsel in Chaos and Stress

In solitude, I find tongues marvelously helpful in stressful situations wherein a decision is required, the right course is not evident, and the options available all arouse anxiety. What I do is mentally detach, focus my intellect on the powerful, providential presence of God in the Holy Spirit, and quietly (with lips closed) form the sounds of praise. My attention is now in praise of God and the physical movement of my tongue apparatus keeps me in that posture, even as it is not manifest to those around. Psychologically my anxiety diminishes as I rest in praise. My heart/emotions return to serenity and safety, allowing my cognitive functions to reach clarity and full agency. Within a very short time, a positive and promising path ahead presents itself, without effort or stress. It is a natural, normal psychological/emotional/intellectual process, but under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Glossolalia

"Glossolalia" can refer to the phenomenon in which listeners hear and understand the sounds voiced in their own language. This is, of course, reported at Pentecost itself when visitors from many nations understood the proclamations of the apostles. It is also reported sporadically and randomly. Historical evidence for this is very slight. If real it is rare. It cannot be ruled out but is an exceptional thing.

Is Tongues Normal or Necessary for Spirit-filled, Pentecostal Living?

It has historically been so rare that we could hardly consider it normal or necessary for Catholic life.

A better question would be: Is it a genuine gift from God? If so, we do well to seek it, encourage it, nourish it, and pray for it.

Yes, it clearly is a gift from God. How could a expression of praise not be? It's prevalence in the early Church, in the lives of many saints (however randomly), and across the globe over the last 125 years make this evident. 

It clearly is not extrinsic, accidental, or irrelevant to Catholic life. 

Let's make an analogy to the human body. We cannot live without heart, lungs, brain, skeleton and such. Within the body of Christ we have Eucharist, Baptism and the sacraments; Word of God; the hierarchy; our Mother Mary and the communion of saints; and such. However the full, thriving human body has legs, feet, toes, hands, fingers, ear lobes, nose, tongue, and such. Any of these could be removed and the body could survive, but with diminished capacities. 

And so, the Body of Christ, the Church, lives robustly in a multitude of activities, organs, practices, beliefs and traditions which flow out of and into the primary organs: devotions, litanies, pilgrimages, retreats, rosaries, stations of the cross, lives/teachings of saints,  renewal movements, religious orders, theologies, and so many others. And so, we might just add to this list the charismatic gifts: healing prayer, deliverance from demons, prophesy, discernment of spirits, inspired reading of scriptures, and (last and arguably the least) tongues. We might compare it to the smallest toe: it has a key role, however modest.

No single person or even concrete community can practice all these things. But the overall Body of Christ would be diminished without tongues, hermits, stigmatists, levitation and everything else.

Conclusion

We are, all of us, small, finite, limited, flawed creatures. No one of us can receive all the gifts God gives his Church. But we do not want to prematurely limit ourselves. We want to dilate our hearts, intellects, wills, emotions to receive all the specific gifts God has for us. 

With the Holy Spirit, there is always MORE!

Let us expand our expectations, joyfully!

Come Holy Spirit! 

 

What Happened to the Catholic Charismatic Renewal?

 As a young married couple, we participated wholeheartedly in this Renewal through the 1970s. At the end of that decade our prayer group (of People of Hope in Christ the King Parish, Jersey City) disbanded and we returned to normal parish life. Coincidentally, at the exact same time, this movement which had spread like wildfire across our nation in that decade, suddenly diminished greatly around 1980. Large conferences shrank in size; most prayer meetings disappeared. What happened?

My Itinerary

In 1980 I brought and for 45 years have maintained an underlying Pentecostal zeal to a now-normal-quiet Catholic life, as the charismatic dimension became subdued, anonymous, covert. Rarely did I join in public charismatic praise, in tongues, with others. But I retained that prayer gift for occasional gushes of private praise. More practically, I found it immensely helpful to surrender to quiet tongues when faced with a difficult, stressful decision. I found that in conflict and chaos, I could quietly detach, move my tongue undetected in praise, focus on God, and wait peacefully for help from above. What happened was that as I prayed my anxiety diminished; the problem receded from prominence in focus; I relaxed in trust; and my thinking became clear, calm, sober and attentive, unclouded by anxiety. The next step forward became obvious. This, I firmly believe, in the Holy Spirit. In other words, I retained a calm, confident sense of the ever-present guiding presence of the Holy Spirit, without the unusual manifestations. 

It appears to me that my path is typical across the Church, at least in my world. The charismatic dimension remained but in modest, quiet, anonymous mode. 

The Catholic Charismatic Renewal is a miraculous, dense, global, profound and mysterious reality. It is like a good movie or TV series with seven or eight plots interwoven: the romantic, heroic, comedic, tragic, but always dramatic. Several developments are clear.

1. Act of God.  This is a powerful act of God, drawing us to Himself. If we include Pentecostal denominationalism (first wave: 1900-60), Charismatic Renewal across the various Churches (second wave 1960-80), and the Neo-Charismatic emergence of free Churches (third wave: 1980-present) than this is a monumental event. It is estimated that as many as 500 million internationally self-identify as Charismatic. Recall that this movement is intense and passionate. The breath of it dwarfs, for example, Catholic missionary efforts over the last 125 years. 

2. Global South.  It is far more powerful and widespread outside of the West, especially in Africa. There especially it is a fierce protagonist against militant, violent Islamism. We see here the battle of the "strong gods." It is a source of mission activity for the Church here in the USA and Europe. It is a countervailing force against the progressivism unleased by Pope Francis, notably in the "synodality" of the Germans. It is strong in Brazil, Guatemala and the Philippines. In the USA, at least in the NJ area, it seems stronger among Hispanics and Filipinos.

3. The Split: in the 1980s of Catholic Charismatics and Charismatic Catholics. Already in the heyday of the 1970s it was clear that this movement was energized by two sharply contrasting, but not absolutely contradictory dynamics: to embrace a literal, evangelical Pentecostalism in reaction to modernity viewed as Godless and to dive more deeply into classic Catholicism, renewed by Vatican II but in continuity with tradition. In the early 1980s, the two decisive leaders took different directions. Ralph Martin was in Europe with Cardinal Suenens, coordinating the global effort to incorporate the renewal into the Church. In Pope John Paul II Ralph found a kindred spirit. He aligned himself with the New Evangelism. At home in Ann Arbor, Steve Clark and the Word of God covenant community came to lead a coalition of dozens of similar groups under the umbrella  Sword of the Spirit. The focus here was not primarily on Catholicism but on spiritual combat with a godless, sinful social order through a novel charismatic gestalt of elements from biblically literalist, evangelical, Pentecostal traditions. This included: primary focus on Scripture, not on sacraments; pronounced gender roles; strong, intimate relations of authority/obedience at every level; dystopian view of society; diminished trust in an institutional Church largely compromised by progressivism; and a detailed lay "rule of life" defiant of Cultural Liberalism. 

We might say that Ralph became more of a Charismatic Catholic, with "Catholic" the substantive, and the "charismatic" diminished in focus. Steve, as Catholic Charismatic, retained his Catholic faith and participation in the sacramental life, but focused on an intensely evangelical life in spiritual/cultural combat with The World.

By the time Ralph returned to the USA in the mid-1980s, the Sword of the Spirit was developed, detailed, controlling, and rigorous. It contrasted sharply, not only with the secular world, but also with mainstream Catholicism. This became more than a contrast, but a contradiction in more liberal dioceses. In Steubenville Ohio the community was forced to detach from the Sword of the Spirit. In Newark, under the moderately liberal but firm handed Archbishop Peter Gerity, the People of Hope was discredited and priests forbidden for over a decade from participating in community life.

The extraordinary Martin/Clark partnership that had guided the renewal for almost two decades with extraordinary wisdom, theological vision, and zealous energy was broken in a painful divorce. They went their distinct ways, in charity and suffering. To their credit, they reconciled personally and renewed their friendship later. They represent, clearly, two directions: more Catholic or more Pentecostal.

Locally here in NJ, the People of Hope reconciled with the Archdiocese of Newark and flourishes in its good graces. It is a strong, wholesome presence. Some of my own grandchildren just spent a week at Camp Hope, an evangelical, Catholic summer experience which our family treasures greatly. I am not knowledgeable about the other communities under the Sword of the Spirit but since there is little news I assume they have found a way of living in communion with their local bishops.

 4. Influence on the Broader Church. As the specifically charismatic movement diminished in the 1980s, it was clear that it had immensely influenced broader Catholicism in a myriad of ways. Praise and worship music became commonplace in parishes. Praying over each other for healing and blessings became widespread. The Evangelical/Catholic alliance in the Culture War was energized. The fiercely evangelical and more quietly charismatic pontificates of John Paul and Benedict were fervently embraced. A number of fervent, evangelical crusades came out of the renewal but downplayed the specific miraculous gifts for the sake of broader appeal. Focus and NET are two important ones. 

Sociologically, the purpose of "movements" is normally temporary: to strongly assert a set of values and penetrate institutions with these, and then disappear. So, for example the liturgical and ecumenical movements flourished in the post-war period and penetrated the Church by way of the Council, after which they diminished in visibility. In that sense, one might consider that this renewal, like Cursillo and others, brought fresh Pentecostal and evangelical energies to the Church and so can properly diminish. While there is truth to this, my own view is that our world and Church remain in desperate need of the powerful if humble action of the Holy Spirit.

5. Icons of Humble Charismatic Catholicism.  The primary path of the renewal within the Church after the 1980s is that of Ralph Martin: he retained the charismatic but subordinated it in relation to overall Catholic life in all its dimensions: sacramental, life of charity,  fidelity to state of life {family, priesthood and religious life,) and so forth. The Pentecostal energies were directed in a modest, unpretentious manner into service and prayer. Let's consider five exemplars:

Ralph Martin himself detached from the covenant community movement and launched Renewal Ministries, a powerful evangelical ministry. He allied with EWTN. Discipled himself to John Paul. Threw himself into deep study of the classic Catholic mystics (Theresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena an many more) and developed a doctoral program in the New Evangelization at Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit. (He was just fired from this last, abruptly, without cause, after 20 years of service, by the new progressive Archbishop.) Late in life he did a doctorate in theology at the Angelicum in Rome and wrote an important book (one of many from him) on "Who Will Be Saved" in which he challenged the widespread presumption that a merciful God cannot allow anyone to go to hell. His has been a powerful, distinctive voice in contemporary Catholicism: flawlessly orthodox with a ferocity and clarity in evangelical focus.

Father Raniero Cantalamesa is a gifted Franciscan friar who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit in NJ in the 1970s and went on to become papal preacher to three popes: John Paul, Benedict and Francis. This is startling. The papal preacher is the only priest designated to preach to the pope. He was retained by each of these quite distinctive pontiffs. At the same time he has been writing and preaching all over the world. He only recently retired. He was quite open about his Pentecostal anointing, but not in the lest exhibitionist about the gifts. He has labored quietly, fruitfully, zealously. A model for all of us.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett is highly esteemed as a jurist in a position of immense importance. In the polarized, vicious context of American politics she is a singular voice and influence. Known as a conservative, she is widely praised (in the NY Times and elsewhere) as singularly capable of transcending the ideological chasm to think freely from a multiple of lenses, with openness of mind and legal rigor. Mother of seven, including two adopted from Haiti and a Down Syndrome child, she is a fervent charismatic Catholic, member of the People of Praise covenant community in South Bend. She is open and joyous in her faith as she pursues a secular career with impeccable expertise and professionalism. She embodies Pentecostal energy pursued in quiet, lay service and expertise.

Doctor Mary Healy works closely with Ralph Martin as an accomplished theologian, held in respect even in the Vatican under Pope Francis. She is perhaps the most overtly charismatic in her zeal in healing prayer. Her unrestrained passion and fervor manifest in a most feminine, virginal, gracious, modest radiance that is at the same time appealing, inspiring and instructive.

Father John Gordon is our local exemplar: protege of the the esteemed Fr. Jim Ferry of happy memory, a flamingly charismatic Catholic, he has been laboring in the Newark chancery for many years in the office of evangelization. He assists the Archbishop in all areas of evangelization and service. He continues to minister in charismatic circles, but clearly most of his life is given to the broader ministries of the institutional Church. 

Conclusion

Classically in Catholic spirituality the soul is seen to progress through three stages: illuminative, purgative and unitive. The illuminative is typically the first and is a time of joy in God's love. This is followed by the purgative, a period of trial, suffering, purification, humbling. Eventually, the goal is union with God in a deeper Joy that swallows up all forms of death, sorrow and sin. These are not absolutely sequential as they can interweave each other simultaneously in mysterious manners. 

Seen through this lens, the Renewal of 1967-82 was one of pure illumination: joy, zeal, manifestations, ecstasy, an explosive energy. Since then, we have enjoyed the glorious double pontificate of John Paul/Benedict but also purgation at many levels. The movement diminished and fragmented in different ways, including the split in the Martin/Clark friendship. We have faced scandal after scandal involving sexual misconduct, abuse of authority, greed, and more. Most of us have felt called to apply ourselves to the inglorious, mundane, monotonous and humbling service where we are assigned. 

It is our task to receive the joys, trials, failures and triumphs in humble trust, joy and praise. I for one long for the joys of illumination, not only for myself but for so many afflicted souls. But our focus is not on these joys nor on the transient sufferings, but on our destiny: union eternally with the Triune God.

Let us thank God for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal; for the various Pentecostal waves around the globe; for the permanence and stability of the Catholic Church; for the inspiring witness of Martin, Cantalamesa, Godon, Healy, Barrett and so many others.

Let us invoke:  

Come Holy Spirit! 

Come with all your gifts. Strengthen us in our sufferings and struggles. 

Bring us to Jesus and our heavenly Father, now and forever!

Feminine Influence: Assumption August 15, 2025

Thesis: The mission of Mary and every woman is to receive and mediate life, love and holiness in humility, purity, tenderness and beauty. 

The masculine task is distinct, complementary, and equivalent in dignity: to represent the Fatherhood of God in Truth, Authority and Strength by was of humility, purity, and gentle tenderness. The man is most fully himself when he is representing what is greater than himself: God, the Church, justice, the nation, truth. The woman is herself as herself. She carries within herself her own indescribable dignity, integrity, and loveliness without reference beyond herself, except to the Divine.

She is quintessentially a creature, and therefore primordially receptive: of life, of the love of God, of the person as spouse, friend, son and daughter. 

She is mediator: a conduit by which each of us is touched by God with life, love, truth, peace, protection, joy.

She is, for each of us, source and nourisher of life.

She is, for each of us, the primal encounter with love.

She is, for each of us, our connection with the holiness of God: as son/daughter, brother/sister, spouse, mother. As our Blessed Mother Mary. As holy Mother the Church.

She is this in humility: without thought of herself, generous without bounds.

She is this in purity, reflective without corruption of the True, the Good and the Beautiful.

She is this in tenderness: gentle, peaceful, nurturing.

She is this in beauty: the attraction and radiance of interior truth and goodness. 

Blessed are we among women. Blessed are we who are under the influence of women of loveliness, holiness, and love!

Mary our Blessed Mother, we place ourselves under the mantle of your holiness, your purity, your tenderness, your beauty and your love.

Is the Pentecostal Anointing Normative for Catholic Life? What is it?

 It is what happened on Pentecost to the apostles: a radical change from cowering behind locked doors to fierce, fearless zeal in proclaiming the Gospel. It is Fire. Ferocity. Fortitude. Interior Peace. Urgency. Mystical Intimacy. Power from on high. 

After Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit was normative for biblical Christianity. In Acts, the Holy Spirit came upon Cornelius and the Gentiles and Peter realized he must baptize them. The Samaritans had not yet received the Holy Spirit and so they prayed for it. Previously, John the Baptist, preaching the baptism of repentance, promised that Jesus would baptize in the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit. So the Pentecostal Anointing is usually called "baptism in the Holy Spirit" because of this solid scriptural foundation. But to the Catholic ear it is troubling in relation to our sacrament of baptism: is this an alternative baptism? A secondary one? An actualization of the sacrament?

From the Catholic perspective, a better expression is "release of the Holy Spirit" as that suggests a release or manifestation of the Holy Spirit that had been previously given sacramentally in baptism/confirmation.

I prefer the expression Pentecostal Anointing as that identifies it clearly with the original Pentecost without confusion regarding the sacraments.

Charismatic Catholic theologians Killian McDonald and George Montague have documented in detail that this very specific, identifiable event was foundational for entrance into the Church for the first three centuries. Subsequent to that, with the normalization of Christianity after Constantine, the event seemed to have disappeared from our rituals of incorporation into the Church. However, something equivalent is obvious in the lives of all saints and holy ones.

What is the Pentecostal Anointing?

Evident in Scripture, the early Church and the Pentecostal/Charismatic movements it is: Reception, in expectant faith, of the Pentecostal presence and power of the Holy Spirit. It is what happened on Pentecost. It includes or assumes understanding of God's love, repentance from sin, acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior. It most often happens in a communal, ecclesial context with the prayer support and encouragement of others; but it also happens to some in solitude as the Spirit moves freely, unrestrained by human protocols. It is an experience...conscious, intellectual, volitional, social, psychological, behavioral...of God's overwhelming love for yourself, and also others. It often brings a startling liberation from fear, anxiety and negative restrains. It is intimacy with God who dwells in ones own heart. It is an urgency and a power to mission, to share this love with others. It is communion, in prayer, with others, even ecumenically across institutional borders. It deepens one's own Catholic faith. It is normally a faith of expectancy, based on prior catechesis, that God desires to empower oneself with the Pentecostal Holy Spirit. It is a "once only" encounter, similar to sacraments baptism, confirmation and ordination.

It is at once personal and communal. For most of us it is highly mimetic as we imitate, for example in praying in tongues, the behavior of others. But there are many reports of prayer of solitude breaking into tongues or other manifestations (tears, etc.) free of mimetic influence. But even here there is usually a communal connection. Ralph Martin describes that at the end of his Cursillo, previous to the outbreak of the Renewal, he was overwhelmed by the love of God and those around him. As he prayed in solitude he started to voice strange sounds. He quickly discontinued this "aberrant" behavior. Not long after that he learned of the Pentecostal outbreak at Duquesne University. Note: the behavior occurred originally in private but was preceded and succeeded by immersion in communal love and worship.  

It is at once a personal intimacy with God and also an explosion of zeal to share this love in mission. At the end of his Cursillo, Ralph Martin simply said: "I want to spend the rest of my life serving and loving God and helping others to do the same."

This Pentecostal event is not primarily emotional. For many it is entirely sober and calm. The heart of it is not volatile emotionality or enthusiasm, but a profound interior transformation: freedom from fear, reticence, loneliness and isolation. It is fundamentally mystical or spiritual. But it does get expressed in signs and behavior. As it includes a liberation from social pressures and norms, it often expresses in behavior that is socially transgressive, like King David dancing ecstatically before the Ark of the Covenant to the horror of his wife. So, we commonly see tongues, tears, holy laughter, resting in the spirit, and unusual exuberance. Of its nature it is contra-bourgeois. Ralph Martin recalls an early prayer meeting when a huge, powerful football player fell on the floor, moving all over the room screaming about the love of Jesus. Ralph was delighted by the sight; others were horrified,  jumped out the window (it was on the first floor), ran to the head of ministry and got Ralph fired from his job. This exemplifies a common reaction  to the phenomenon by classic Catholicism in a restrain, inhibition, and control that derives from Northern European Jansenism and bourgeois normalcy. 

The many extraordinary signs, displays, and manifestations of Pentecostalism are important but none essential. These include tongues, demonstrative praise, distinctive worship music, tears, laughter, healings, dancing, collapsing, deliverance from demons, prophesies, direct guidance from the Holy Spirit, and other. None of these are essential or indispensable. What is essential? Intimacy with the Risen Christ; ongoing repentance from sin; freedom from fear and anxiety; zeal to share the love of Christ. Zeal to share the love of Christ. Zeal to share the love of Christ.

In this Pentecostalism resembles Catholicism. The essence of our faith: engagement with the Risen Christ in ecclesial life around Eucharist, reception of the Word, sacramental life, and charity. Out of this flaming core there explode many universes of practices: devotions, pilgrimages, retreats, relics, litanies, and other. Both are like plants that overflow with flowers and fruit. Interiorly, however, they belong to each other: institutional and pneumatic, Catholic and charismatic, the second and third persons of the Trinity.

 Is this Anointing Normative for Catholicism?

It is certainly not normal, statistically, for contemporary Catholicism. But sociology is irreverent here: Catholics abort, divorce, contracept, cohabitate, refrain from Sunday Eucharist and deny the Real Eucharistic Presence in very heavy majorities in the USA today. One study estimated that 16% of Catholics globally self-identify as charismatic. This may mean different things to different people. It is improbable that that many are living the vigorous apostolic life that should flow from the anointing.

Clearly, in Scripture and the early centuries of the Church this event was normative. We have to say that for the mission of the Church, sharing the love of Christ with the world, this anointing or its equivalent is necessary and normative. It is only with the zeal, fortitude, determination, and interior peace received in the Anointing that the Church's work can be accomplished. 

As we consider the apostles/disciples before and after Pentecost, we might ask: Am I personally pre- or post-Pentecost? Are we as a Church...parish...family...community...pre- or post- ?  Since we live after Pentecost, in the time of the Church, awaiting the Return of Christ, the norm is to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. 

If we are basically living pre-Pentecost, bound by weakness and fear, weak on zeal, courage, ferocity, we clearly want to pray for, prepare for and seek the Anointing.

Does this Anointing Make a Person Good and Holy?

Not exactly. Of its nature it should: it draws one into the love of Christ and thrusts one out to share this love. But the drama is more complicated than that. Just as one can receive all the sacraments and still live an evil life; just as one can be "born again" and return to a life of sin; so the Pentecostal anointing does not guarantee holiness. Inversely, many holy ones grow into sanctity organically without this specific anointing. 

We know that where sin is, grace abides the stronger. The inverse is also true: where grace is at work, the Enemy (world, flesh, devil) is aroused to counterattack. One who has received this anointing is hardly immune to temptations and attacks of evil! On the contrary, one becomes the focus of Satan, as well as one's own weakness and the pressures of the world.

And so, we have the puzzling and troubling specter of prominent, gifted, anointed Christian leaders succumbing to sexual sin, power plays, abuse of authority, greed, and pride. Jim Baker was among the most popular speakers at the Charismatic conferences of the 1970s. I recall him as a charming, powerful, inspirational preacher. He and wife Tammy became, of course, notorious for scandals occurring even as he moved us so deeply. My personal impression is that often extraordinary giftedness in ministry is accompanied closely by proclivities to sin. 

And so, the anointing can become diverted into arrogance and pride, sexual indulgence, greed for power and money. Alternately, received and lived humbly in a community of accountability and support, it is a huge boost toward charity, holiness and fruitfulness in mission.

Consequences of the Pentecostal Anointing

Personal intimacy with Jesus Christ; continuous guidance, correction, comfort, strengthening by the Holy Spirit; fluency and fervor in praise...in song, tongues, private and public; delight in the intuitive reading and reception of Scripture; urgency to share God's love; fellowship with others in prayer, friendship and mission; ecumenical communion with all Christians; intensification and enlightenment in one's Catholic faith and practice; desire to repent, confess and be reconciled with God and others. 

Additional signs include: tongues, tears, holy laughter, prophesy, healing, deliverance from evil spirits, gifts of knowledge, wisdom and knowledge in teaching,

This anointing is not a magic bullet. The graces received need to be inflamed, directed, corrected, humbled, purified and strengthened by participation in a strong Church. 

Comparison with Ordinary Catholic Life

In normal Catholic life nothing like this happens. It would be viewed, suspiciously, as strange if not aberrant behavior. We expect such from mystics and saints but not from ordinary folk. Abstractly, we understand that confirmation bestows this Pentecostal power for witness, but no one reports this as an experienced reality. Confirmation is widely seen as the final step, "graduation" of the catechetical journey; as an end, rather than a beginning. 

Vatican II did emphasize the Holy Spirit as well as the call to holiness for all of us, lay/priest/religious alike. Therefore, the Renewal was almost immediately welcomed officially into the Church, by all the popes (Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XIII, Francis) under the guidance of Cardinal Suenens, one of the presidents of the Council itself. So this is an authentic renewal of Catholicism, reflecting the teaching of the Council, echoing the biblical and early Church, and inflaming the graces given sacramentally.

Charismatic Renewal makes a startling, an unbelievable, a breathtaking Annunciation: that God the Father and Jesus our Lord want to anoint each of us Catholics...every single one of us...with the Pentecostal Anointing in mystical intimacy and mission power. Regardless of our sin, our weakness, our unworthiness. He wants to do this NOW. Not by the end of our life. Not after decades of prayer, effort and good works. He wants to give this as an entirely free, gratuitous, magnanimous gift. Out of sheer love.

Comparison with Other Renewal Movements

Other renewal movements do not announce anything quite like this Pentecostal Anointing. All the movements, along with ordinary Catholic life, involve unbounded works of the Holy Spirit: graces, vocations, charisms, missions, inspirations, revelations, and intercessions. But none retrieve anything like this specific, primordial event.

Neocatechumenal Way is a more intense, profound itinerary of formation in the faith. It is, like Pentecostalism, fiercely evangelical, communal, Scripture-centered, missionary. It is more countercultural. The process takes 20 to 30 years for a community. Weekly routines of scripture sharing, Eucharist, and sharing are punctuated by regular convivences including rigorous spiritual exercises. In the process there is no specific (to my knowledge) invoking of the Pentecostal Anointing. At the conclusion of this elaborate catechetical journey, there is a final step, the Election. It is not clear to me what this is but it would seem to involve some completion and therefore readiness for mission. 

But even early in the process teams are prepared to catechize other communities. So the impetus to mission is not delayed to the conclusion. 

Communion and Liberation may be considered as an itinerary, under Christ within the Church, in the charism of friendship and openness to  the Holy Spirit and all the goodness God sends. Again, there is nothing like this specific anointing.

Opus Dei, Regnum Christi and other groups generally do not manifest a distinctive charism but are classic gestalts of the basics of Catholicism since Trent: holiness through the sacraments, communal prayer, devotions and such. Again, there is no announcement of this anointing.

Conclusion

The claim here is that at the heart of the Charismatic Renewal is the Holy Spirit offering the original Pentecostal Anointing to all of us, Now. As a free gift, not a reward at the end of work and effort. 

May we all as one, invoke, with expectancy and confidence:

Come, Holy Spirit!

Loneliness of a Charismatic Catholic

 I am certainly not lonely as a Catholic, surrounded on all sides by Catholics of varying stripes and the entire Communion of Saints. But I am lonely as a charismatic Catholic. If I relate to 200 or 300 people a month (family, work, friends, etc.) the vast majority are Catholic; only two are charismatic, my niece's husband Mark, a zealous, talented musician and Florence, my Kenyan co-worker now paralyzed by a stroke.  Early in our marriage (1973-8 when the renewal was flourishing ) we participated fervently in a charismatic prayer group; this had a profound effect on my faith.

I would describe my own Catholic faith in five essential dimensions:

1. Conservative of the faith I received: ethnic (Irish), urban, working class, late Tridentine in the thriving golden era of postwar America.

2. Evangelical-Vatican II with that Council understood, following John Paul and Benedict, as continuous with tradition and centered in the person/event of Jesus Christ. My own life-changing encounter with Jesus occurred in a Cursillo, in 1973, at the age of 26.

3. Social Teaching of the Church is very important: solidarity with the poor and suffering, natural law, common good, subsidiarity, primacy of the family, value of all  human life.

4. Cultural Warrior, for my entire adult life, from the 1970s, defensive of powerless human life, the sacred spousal (unitive/procreative) meaning of sexuality and of femininity/masculinity, against the Cultural Liberalism that has prevailed across elite culture over the last 50 years.

5. Charismatic/Pentecostal: participant in the 1970s in this lay renewal movement within and beyond Catholicism.

Our singular JOY as a married couple is that our children and their families all practice our Catholic faith, with significant vigor and insight and in different styles. The heritage I received is being received now by a new generation. However, I have not been able to share in its fullness and clarity the Pentecostal/Charismatic dimension we received in the 1970s.

The reason for this failure is simple: going into the 1980s we no longer participated in communal charismatic prayer. Like all religion/spirituality, Pentecostalism is in large part mimetic/communal/contagious. Therefore, since we do not publicly pray in charismatic fashion (tongues, prophesies, deliverance, physical gestures, etc.) Our children have received what we ourselves practiced. 

In raising our family, we did associate with charismatic and similar evangelical groups and events: World Youth Days, NET retreats, pilgrimages, men's conferences, Franciscan University of Steubenville events, etc. Therefore, they did interiorize  a lively, Evangelical form of Catholicism, in line with Vatican II, Popes John Paul and Benedict, and the lay renewal movements.

One son with his family is passionately engaged with the Neocatechumenal Way, which is even more intense and demanding than the Charismatic Renewal. A daughter is living the evangelical/consecrated life within the Communion and Liberation Movement as a "Memores Dominini" (similar to a secular institute as a "lay" life, in the world, but vowed to poverty, chastity and obedience within a community of prayer and charity.) CL is another lay, evangelical, renewal movement out of Italy which reflects a classical, "renaissance" positivity and confidence in Catholic life. Our oldest granddaughter is working this year as an intern for the Jesuit journal America and obviously energized by a different, vital but more progressive flavor of Catholicism. The others live a normal, wholesome, enthusiastic Catholic life within parish, Catholic schools and related organizations. In the broadest sense, they are receptive of the Pentecostal graces of baptism/confirmation. 

We participated in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal as it was peaking in 1973-9. Interestingly, in 1980 our local prayer group disbanded and we joined our local parish and enrolled our oldest in the Catholic school. Our formal engagement with the Renewal ended. By strange coincidence, the movement across the country went into pronounced decline at the exact same time. Almost over night, most prayer meetings stopped; the huge conferences shrank in size; there was disunity within the leadership and troubles with the Church hierarchy. In middleclass, white America the movement seemed to disappear as quickly as it appeared.

I look back on those years with sublime joy and gratitude, as well as some nostalgia and grief at loss. My life was very much one of steady euphoria, despite the usual insecurities and difficulties of family life and work. We were swept up by communal praise, song, enthusiasm, evangelical zeal, optimism, closeness to Jesus in the Holy Spirit, fervent conferences, love of Scripture, lots of reading, sound theology, contrasting impulses towards ecumenism and a deepening of our Catholicism. We seemed to move from glory to glory. God, through the movements of the Holy Spirit, seemed always close, powerful, and surprising.

Then the six year honeymoon ended. We returned to more normal Catholic life. BUT, the fire within still burned, even if it was not so inflamed communally. What happened to Charismatic Renewal? What is the "baptism of the Holy Spirit?" What is the relationship of that event and corresponding movement  to broader Catholic life?

These questions will be addressed in the following blog essays.

the broader Catholic life? 

These are complex, profound questions which will be addressed in the next two blogs.   

Aspirations

"Aspiration" from the Latin "ad spirare" ("breathe to") generally refers to deep, passionate desire or ambition. Medically it refers to a suction of liquids. In Catholic spirituality it means a short (few words) prayer.

Over half of my prayer is done in very small portions: aspirations. As I age (now completing my 78th year) I like everything small: work, food, exercise, reading, writing and prayer. My understanding of the itinerary into senility is to grow small, to strengthen and intensify evangelical childhood. These are short, sweet, standard prayers. They engage heart, will and intellect in a simple movement (in the Holy Spirit) towards God. The effort involved is minimal. My favorite twelve:

- I come to You as a poor man, in need of your mercy, in need of your love.

- Jesus, I trust in You.

- Let your mercy be upon us as we place our trust in you.

- My mother, I place myself under the mantle of your holiness, your purity, your tenderness, your beauty and your love.

- One thing I ask of the Lord, this alone I seek: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

- We adore You O Christ and we bless You, because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

- Jesus, come into my heart; posses me; bring me...by the strength and gentleness, the fire and sweetness of your Holy Spirit...to our heavenly Father.

- Lord, I surrender myself to you. Take care of everything. Infuse in myself, yourself; infuse in yourself, myself.

- Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Living God, have mercy upon me a sinner.

- Draw me to yourself, O Lord; fill me with your love.

- Let my weakness, my longing, my sadness...draw me to You...and draw You to me. 

- Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we shall be created and You shall renew the face of the earth.

These are simple, easy, precise, sweet, peaceful, comforting, uplifting, strengthening. And you can make up your own or use the standard ones. It doesn't get any better than that!

Lord, I Need You

 What follows (a further elaboration of a prayer shared in Dec. 2024) is inspired by Matt Mahr's marvelous song of the same title.

Lord, I need You...Desperately.

I want you...above all things and persons...and all persons and things only from You, in You, with You, to You and through You.

I choose You...and renounce all that is not of You.

I desire You...with urgent and passionate cravings.

I seek You...and find You...in every gift you send and every trial You allow.

I invite and welcome You...As I am already invited and welcomed by You.

I beg You...as I am already begged by You.

I receive You.

I thank You.

I rest in You.

I delight in You.

I abide and bear fruit in You.

I move in You.

I breathe, sleep, wake, feel, think, decide, act, relate, wage war, make love...in You.

I trust You.

I hope in You.

I love You.

I adore You.

I serve You.

Great Feminine Thinkers of our Time

 Restraining my masculine proclivity for numerical ratings and hierarchical rankings, I will nevertheless mention first women who have most influenced our time (and myself) by the quality of their life (holiness, heroism) and thought (depth, freshness, fidelity to the Gospel.) Here are 40 who come to mind.

St. Theresa of Lisieux

St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta

St. Faustina

St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein)

Mother Angelica

Adrienne von Speyr

St. Mother Katherine Drexell, St. Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini, Rose Hawthorne, Mother Margaret Cusak, St. Mother Mary Anne Cope, St. Mother Jeanne Jadot

Dorothy Day, Catherine de Hueck Dougherty, Madalene Delbrel

Chiara Lubich

St. Elizabeth of the Trinity

Caryll Houselander

Elizabeth Lisieux

Carmen Hernandez

Simone Weil. Hannah Arendt

Elizabeth Anscombe

Mary Healy

Heather King

Flannery O'Connor, Sigrid Undset

Mary Anne Glendon, Patricia Snow, Mary Eberstadt

Blessed Maria Teresa Demjonovich

Etty Helison and Anne Frank

Ruth Carter Stapleton, Katherine Kulhman

Raissa Maritain and Alice von Hildebrandt

Rhonda Chervin

Since God's greatest creations are: holiness of life, women and brilliance in thought, this list here is clearly Fleckinstein's singular greatest list. It will not, cannot be surpassed.

It goes without saying that our Blessed Mother Mary is the decisive feminine influence on our time, but she transcends any list of any kind as God's  singularly great creation.

We finish this exercise by commending ourselves to her influence and that of the women above who mirror her so luminously.

Fascination of the Hourglass Female Shape

 Across all cultures, regardless of body type (big/small, lean/large, tall/short) or ethnicity, the hourglass female shape is found  to be universally most attractive. A waist/hip ratio under .7 is ideal. Traditionally we think of 36/24/36 (with a ration of .67)as the perfect womanly shape. Why is this? The evolutionary reductionist, with the dreary calculus of "survival of the fittest" will creatively devise some scheme to prove the curvy female ensures continuance of the species. So mechanical/technical/boring/tiring! So lacking in loveliness, drama, insight, fascination! We offer here a more metaphysical and then a very physical cause for this fascination.

Consider the shapes of all our numbers from 0-9: all are combinations of straight lines, ovals and circles. The simplest are 0 and 1. But by far the most excellent in regards to visual pleasure, harmony, integrity, complexity/simplicity, and the suggestion of abundance is 8. The hourglass female shape reflects the figure 8 in its interior, substantial integrity, harmony, simplicity, abundance. The 8 is two shapes, two 0s, which retain their own integrity as they touch each other, creating a new, more complex and fascinating shape. Neither of the 0s is compromised, devoured, violated, compromised or dominant. Each is perfectly itself. This makes it, of course, a perfect symbol of  marriage in which each spouse retains, without compromise or corruption, his/her identity and gender, even as an entirely new, in some ways superior, entity is created, the marriage/family. We are suggesting here that in the multiple-layered Miraculous Analogy of Creation, the number 8 and the female shape both express a Divine Intuition about Being as beautiful, simple/complex, fruitful, harmonious and spousal.

Now we turn to two very physical, biological masculine drives which contrast with each other, in less than absolute contradiction, but together create enormous tension: the paternal and the infantile.

The better one, by far, is the paternal: the physical urge within masculine strength to provide, protect, shelter, nurture, and give life. In this the male is drawn to the female as small, precious, cute, needy, vulnerable, and appealing. Hormone-wise we are dealing with large doses of oxytocin, testosterone and serotonin. The female in her maternity experiences similar surges of energy before a cute and especially a suffering baby. This urge is of its nature generous, not needy, but responsive of masculine strength to what is smaller, vulnerable and precious. Thus, the slim waste and smaller proportions of the female evoke this powerful paternal, husbandly urge.

On the other hand we have the infantile regression within male sexuality. Freud spoke of the "death wish." We see here the urge to return to the protection and pleasure of the womb and breast. The union of the fetus and baby with the mother is in large part one of inchoate, paradisal union and  pleasure. With weaning and development this happy condition is lost permanently. The male retains a residual grief, a longing to return to pure happiness. Pathological inclinations to addictions, including chemical but also sexual/romantic, draw from this yearning to escape the pain of life and return to the pleasure of the womb and the breast. The wholesome man will experience this in modest proportion and  countervail by more generous, healthy energies. But attractive female abundance, below and above the waist, clearly awaken this longing. And so we find in pornography concentration especially on these two aspects of the female form, which contrast with the slim waist.

Consider two distinct types of female allure, appealing to the paternal and the infantile: the voluptuous, curvaceous figures of Marilyn Monroe or Pamela Anderson clearly appeal to the infantile craving. On the other hand, the slim, petite figures of Audrey Hepburn or Kiera Knightly arouse the more generous virile drives (think Gregory Peck protecting the princess in Roman Holiday). These two are not contradictory of or incompatible with each other. Ordinarily, women combine the two: think Grace Kelly, Ingrid Bergman, Halley Berry, Gweneth Paltrow. 

To summarize: the male gaze upon the hourglass feminine form evokes a powerful fascination and intoxication as it includes: an aesthetic perception of a geometric form that is inherently expressive of abundance, harmony, integrity; a regressive compulsion toward a memory of pleasurable union without pain; and the generous urge to care for the precious, the little, the vulnerable. We are dealing here with a "perfect storm" of infatuation and obsession.

All of this occurs independent of the male perception of the more sublime perfection of the female face: the symmetry, welcoming lips, bright smile and, above all, the eyes, which are themselves window into the womanly heart and soul. This perception of the womanly heart through the eyes and facial expressions awakens the most significant masculine response to woman: reverence. More than anything else, the male is called to a posture of wonder, respect and awe before the tender, generous, welcoming feminine soul. 

This is what Adam voiced when he first saw Eve: "This at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh!" He recognized his equal, his partner, his spouse. But he recognized her as different from himself, as wo-man. 

In his subconscious memory of his mother, the man recalls, even more than the grief of separation, the primal union, the safety, the pleasure. And so, he carries always a foundational gratitude to mother. This joyous debt, founded on a sense of wellbeing and communion with the benevolent womb/breast/face/arms, is transferred to every woman. The protection, pleasure, and care he received for the months and years within the maternal embrace abide in the memory; and surge in a gesture of reciprocation to any and every woman he encounters, especially those who are vulnerable, suffering, or noble.

The lifelong task of every man...the "itinerary of virility"...is to inflame this tenderness and reverence, and restrain/minimize the residual infantile compulsions. Obviously, modesty in dress on the part of women, especially those who are more voluptuous, is helpful for us men. Unfortunately, fashion encourages maximum exposure, rather than modest camouflage of the hourglass figure. 

For the man "custody of the eyes" is essential.  This requires, first of all, honest and realistic awareness of one's own weakness (of concupiscence) before the female shape. It means refraining from the lustful, pornographic glance of the infantile impulse. But even more important is  positive attention to the preciousness and nobility of the woman, manifest primarily in the face, which evokes tenderness and reverence. 

Especially helpful, for the man drawn into the inebriation of lust and covetousness, is prayer: acknowledgement of poverty and need; praise for the beauty of the woman in every dimension including this hourglass shape; and prayer for her in her neediness and splendor.