Haiti (3 of 3)

 Dignity

The strongest takeaway from Haiti is the dignity of the people. Scarcity, overpopulation, congestion, unemployment, omnipresence of garbage...yet, the people carry themselves in regal dignity. Emblematic: the erect, stately women who effortlessly carry large objects on their heads. That image is suggestive of the Haitian spirit: poverty is not heavy enough to crush the spirit.

Particularly striking: the manner of dress. In Church (which is always filled with people) everyone is pretty,  proper, refined. Unfailingly clean, modest, attractive with a touch of elegance.

Schooling

Everywhere there are school children: groomed, clean and proper in their school uniforms. For a Catholic, it feels like you have fallen into a Parochial School Universe. Education is super-venerated. Before sunrise, adolescents gather under overhead lights to repeat and memorize. Success in school is viewed as the only path out of poverty. This hope is unrealistic as hardly 1% will finish school and find employment. 

This cult of schooling would be critiqued by radicals like Paolo Freire or Ivan Illich as illusory, supportive of the status quo, and repressive of initiatives for change. In this the learner is devalued, inhibited in agency, and attains status only by replicating the "knowledge bank" and values structure of an oppressive, alienating culture. But one must ask: In the actual circumstances of Haiti, would such a pedagogy of liberation bring peace and prosperity? Or might it arouse discontent, frustration, mimetic jealousy and resentment?

Trust and Serenity

At the heart of Haitian culture one detects a childlike, pious resignation. The operative virtue: Patience. There is a serenity that flows from "accepting what we cannot change."

Such passivity is offensive to us "blancs"..."whites" which is to say American, Europeans. Whether one is an entrepreneurial, perhaps prosperity-gospel, capitalist or a leftwing social activist, the assumption is that our affluence, material well being and destiny is under our own control. This illusion is ridiculous in the face of the stark poverty here. Broadly, the ability to "change the things we can" is severely limited. But not absolutely. So there is a deep wisdom in a serene resignation, realism, religious gratitude for the very gift of life, and hope in the afterlife. Yes, Mr. Marx, opium of the people.

  Heaven

Heaven feels very close in Haiti. Worldly pleasures and distractions are scarce. Everywhere there is hunger, frustration, suffering. And people, people, people. Beautiful, serene, dignified people. BTW, the suicide rate in  Haiti was reported as virtually zero. For most, there is no hope for improvement and achievement. 

But there is always heaven! This is the Primal Catholic Fact:  every anemic infant and suffering patient (again that word patience) is created by God out of his infinite love for an Eternity of Joy! This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ: "Blessed are the poor." It is the source of the serenity of millions of impoverished people on a bare, dry island. It is, for us complacent, comfortable "blancs," the source of joy if we open our heart to God's Kingdom in our midst.

Haiti (2 of 3)

 The Missionaries of Charity Haven in Hinche defies description. Four sisters and many assistants attend to 150 sick, malnourished, orphaned children and adults. The stark human deprivation is offset by an overall atmosphere of peace and dignity. Every room has a large picture of Mother Teresa (whose presence is pronounced) along with classic Catholic icons of the Sacred Heart, Madonna with Child, Pope, Holy Family and Jesus of Mercy. Stark and simple, the place is immaculate and free of odor, surprisingly so given the incontinence of perhaps half of the residents, including infants. 

The children and infants clamor to be held. Six or seven gather around you, gazing with wonder, touching hair and glasses. Infants screaming in their cribs become quiet and serene when they are lifted and held. You are able to hold two at a time as they are light and give each 5 to 10 minutes but you wish you could hold them all, all day. Haitian women circle around quietly, cleaning, changing diapers, feeding the little ones. The sister in charge, a Brazilian who speaks good English, radiates a supernatural peace and confidence. 

In the women's section we join a group sitting quietly in a corridor. They are frail and sick. They do respond, however, to our rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," raising their hands to sing the chorus of "Glory, Glory Hallelujah!"

In the men's dorm I find men laying in beds, neat and clean, some without limbs or crippled in various ways. Overcoming my shyness, I extend a hand and say "God bless you." Some call me "Pere" (father) and point to their area of sickness or pain. I find myself laying hands, praying for healing, and signing their foreheads with the cross. Some respond with buoyant smiles and laughter; some with a sober but appreciative nod of the head. 

Finally, we pray in the chapel before the Blessed Sacrament. It too is simple, bare, stark: a large picture of Mary to the right, a relic of Mother Teresa on a table to the left. The aroma of Christ...serenity, faith, hope...pervades an atmosphere that would otherwise be startlingly, horrendously deprived. 

Haiti (1 of 3)

On Feb. 27, 2010 I arrived in Haiti, after the catastrophic earthquake there, accompanying my nephew David who was bringing help to an orphanage where he had worked. Yesterday I found a journal I had kept and here share excerpts.

The initial encounter with Haiti is a shock to the senses. Even before the plane lands, one is struck by the terrain: barren, treeless, dusty, rocky, dotted with small shacks of rusting tin. Baggage claim entails pushing through a crowd to a small window in chaos and inefficiency. Material scarcity all around; but most of all the people!

Ah, the people! The beautiful people! Especially the children! This is an uplift for the spirit and a consolation to the distressed senses. How can there be so many beautiful faces? Jet black, smooth skin; bright, shining teeth; deep-set eyes that gaze with attention, interest, curiosity, a serenity suggestive of innocence, resignation and a readiness for affection. We are surrounded by perhaps 50 children watching us intently, as if a spacecraft had landed in an elementary school playground. Each face is striking: one as beautiful as the next. Where am I? In a desert of scarcity? Or a paradise of loveliness? This is not the world, the earth I know! It is a hell of human want and suffering...and a heaven of childlike innocence and faith.

Saturday morning mass in the cathedral is enlivened by sweet, harmonious song. More than a taste of heaven. I find myself thinking constantly of heaven: so sparse here are earthly hopes and possibilities that the soul looks fervently beyond, to the afterlife, that is not so far away. 

The mass in Haiti is essentially the same mass anywhere: Word announced, songs, petitions, the Eucharistic sacrifice and communion. The priest is impressive: handsome, confident, joyful. The 200 children, most under 10 years of age, are composed and attentive. Very few receive communion; it seems most have not yet been prepared for first communion. A tone of reverence and peace predominates. The language is French but the music has an African beat. Haitians love to sing, especially in Church. They do so with joy, buoyancy, and rhythm. Extreme scarcity, lack of jobs and opportunity, meagre chances for improvement...and what do they do? They sing!

At the orphanage, the remarkable founder, Jean Louis, shows us around with a warm and respectful hospitality. It is very humbling. Around 200 children play around the dusty, rocky compound; but the overall peacefulness and quiet is striking. The chaplain, Xaverian Brother Michael McCarthy describes the place as a haven for otherwise destitute children. He worries that there is no follow-up or path forward for older children as they leave this still-young orphanage: no jobs, no economy, no opportunities. But there is still heaven, I keep thinking.

Students of all ages are passionately motivated to study and learn. At 4 AM one hears sounds of rote memorization by a group of students gathered under a solitary street lamp. Their belief is that education is the one path to a better life. But the truth is that 1 % of them will graduate college; and for this select group there are no jobs. Again, I think, at least there is heaven!

As guest instructor in morning English class of 35 students, I am stunned by their focus, attentiveness and respect. It is with all their strength and all their soul and all their heart that they desire to learn English. We read the Gospel in English and their questions are profoundly spiritual and theological: What does it mean to "see the speck in the other's eye?" How do we give pearls to swine? Do the righteous get to heaven? Does God forgive all sins, even sexual sins by one who knows what the Bible teaches? What is the Resurrection like? I find myself teaching basic Catechism truths with certainty and joy. 

A student states that God's forgiveness of sin requires our firm purpose of amendment. I heartily agree and say that in our weakness we need to call upon God's mercy to truly repent. Then I fall on my knees dramatically, squint my face, and fervently, slowly plead "Help me O God. I want to be good. But I need your help." They laugh with delight. 

More memories from Haiti to follow in subsequent blog posts.

Devotional Catholicism, Eucharistic and Marian, the Seventh, Best, Defining Catholic Culture

 Driving yesterday with my wife I wondered quietly to myself which of the six Catholic paradigms (described in previous blog essay as Notre Dame Americanism, Charismatic Catholic, Neocatechumenal Way, Neoconservative, Ignatian Progressivism, Communion and Liberation) she fit. I realized she fit none, but clearly, passionately exemplified a seventh, more significant model: classic, late-Tridentine devotional Catholicism, centered in the Eucharist, Mary, the sacraments, devotions, prayer, and the saints.

This is the ethnic, working class faith of our mothers and fathers which surged powerfully in the Depression, War and postwar period 1945-65: Fulton Sheen, family rosary of Fr. Patrick Peyton, Bing Crosby priest movies, Holy Name parade, Rosary Altar society, reverence for priests and religious. 

1. It finds its focus in the Eucharist understood as: a solemn, sacred, temple-like sacrifice of Calvary; the literal, corporal, abiding presence of Christ in the host; revered by silence, Latin, chant, incense, processions, holy hours, and more. 

2. Second in significance is devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary, especially in the rosary and interest in her apparitions at Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalupe and other. 

3. Sacramental life: Sunday mass is an absolute; regular confession is normal.

4. Devotions: stations of cross, Sacred Heart, miraculous medal, novenas, parish missions, fascination with the saints and the supernatural.

5.  Strict sexual ethos reserving such to marriage and esteem for religious and priests in their virginity/celibacy.

This hegemonic model suffered an immediate, severe decline immediately starting in 1965 with the problematic implementation the Council reforms and the cultural explosions of sexual liberation, civil rights, antiwar movement and related developments. Devotional Catholicism became unfashionable among Catholic intellectual elites as they gravitated to social justice, contraceptive  sex, secularism, individualism and the therapeutic. 

It did not disappear. It remained quietly as populist piety, largely in the laity: mothers teaching the rosary, faithful fathers, humble priests serving quietly. John Paul and Benedict maintained it in vigorous form as they renewed it in the genuine spirit of Vatican II. 

It has been revived and is entirely compatible with renewal models such as Notre Dame, charismatic renewal, neoconservatism, and Communion and Liberation. (Not to mention TLM, homeschooling, the prolife movement, classical schools and the new and orthodox mostly small Catholic colleges.)

Contradictory of Progressive or Ignatian Model

It is contradictory of hard form sexual liberation in its cult of chastity and spousal fidelity. In the last half century since the Council, it has responded to cultural progressivism, which has been in part embraced by the "Ignatian" model, with clarity, depth and ferocity in the spousal mysticism and theology of the body of John Paul, Benedict, Balthasar and company. 

In a diluted form, however, it continues to "sleep with" a softer form of progressivism. So we find Catholic devotion merged with a confused compassion for LGBTQ  "victim identities" that leads to affirmation of unchastity in pride masses and gay blessings.

Dissonance with Neocatechumenal Way

A more nuanced dissonance operates between this traditional devotion and the Neocatechumenal Way. Both are impeccably orthodox in morals and faith; both rooted in the sacramental life; but they present quite distinctive Eucharistic spiritualities. Traditional Eucharistic devotion (more intensely in TLM) accentuates adoration, solemnity, silence, sacrifice of Calvary, and temple-like worship. The "matter" of the sacrament, the host, contrasts in its humility with the majesty of God. The Neocatechumenal Eucharist is a strong contrast: in tune with the liturgical renewal leading up to the Council, it moves away from a "temple model" to recover the Passover meal dimension. 

Carmen Hernandez, cofounder with Kiko Arguello, at the beginnings (early 1960s), was studying theology and shaped this liturgy in accord with the fashion of the time. It has been approved and practiced for half a century and so is not heretical. Catechesis of the rite has tended to obscure if not deny the "sacrifice" dimension which so drastically separates the Catholic mass from Protestant versions. Properly understood, the two rites are not incompatible, but definitely in tension. 

For example, traditional devotion emphasizes the enduring Divine presence in the host. Great effort is extended to protect and revere the Sacred Host. And so, there is a visceral horror to see the "loaf of bread" matter broken and shared and the cup of wine passed from hand to hand as at a banquet. My own sense  (as a devotional Catholic) has been that this liturgy is a loss in liturgical depth. It contrasts with the broader catechetical program which is an awesome, passionate deepening of Catholicism. I may be wrong, but I credit Kiko with the positive and Carmen with the negative.

The distance between these forms is stronger than that between TLM and the Novus Ordo; but it is not unbridgeable. With so many young priests now coming from this Way, the hope is that clergy who are faithful to the broader Church and this model will reconcile them. 

My own view is that the Novus Ordo...valid, authentic, ordinary form of Catholic worship...is itself a weak form: overly verbal, mundane, lacking in solemnity, silence, elegance, passion, aesthetics, and energy. It needs to be enriched by a broad, rich liturgical smorgasbord: TLM, Neocatechumenal, charismatic, solemn high masses, adoration, holy hours, processions, pilgrimages and other. In this manner, this "Way" will become an enrichment of the broader Church, not an alternative form.

Eucharistic Devotion: Small-c Catholic as Inclusive, Welcoming, Diverse

Such devotional Catholicism is porous, fluid and open to the True, the Good and the Beautiful where it is found in a wide variety of lifestyles. It can present as far right or left, but the underlying foundation brings the two together at the altar of worship and communion. So the average parish is embracive of a wide range of viewpoints in a pastoral prudence of moderation.

In the Catholic Worker of Day/Maurin we find such devotion wed with closeness to the poor, agrarianism, communitarianism, anarchism, pacifism, localism, and ideological rejection of the techno-bureaucracy. Eucharistic devotion brings  no particular ideology, but it does draw us to love of the poor. So, most of our greatest saints and exemplars manifest both: Mother Teresa, Catherine Doherty, Madaleine DelBrell, Friars of the Renewal, Sisters of Life and other.

Such devotion flourishes even more on the other side of the spectrum where faith, family, nation, and traditions of freedom are synthesized: Opus Dei, EWTN, Regnum Christi, American Neoconservatism, homeschooling,  and TLM.

The Eucharist is for the rich and the poor, the left and the right, and for everyone in between. In Eucharist (word means "thanksgiving") the Church holds all that is good, purifies and strengthens it.

Six Catholic Cultures of a 2026 N.J. Catholic Family

Our family is not just Catholic; we are (what Mexicans call) "muy Catholico." Very Catholic. Even Uber-Catholic. But we are not monotonous or uniform; we are diverse and multi-flavored. So, within my own family we entertain six contrasting cultures. Richard Niebuhr (Christ and Culture) famously contrasted five paradigms in which faith interacts with culture: Christ against/within/above/of/in paradox/transformer. Here are six specific cultures which demonstrate all five models:

1. Notre Dame University: wholesome, successful, self confident, politically moderate and balanced, high-achieving, good looking, bourgeois, football-loving, proudly (often Irish) American.

2. Franciscan University of Steubenville: charismatic, countercultural, enthusiastic, evangelical-allied.

3. Neocatechumenal Way: militantly counter-cultural, fervently communitarian, evangelical, radical, Christ Against Culture.

4. Conservative Catholic: First Things, rightwing-Republican-MAGA-tolerating politics, culture warriors, classically Catholic in liturgy, morals and belief.

5. "Ignatian Catholic": Jesuit schools, urbane and sophisticated, America, leftwing politics, progressive theology, Fr. Jim Martin S.J. and the "gay crusade." 

6. Communion and Liberation: Italian, educated, sophisticated, confident, positive, congenial, solidly Catholic movement flowing from friendship in Christ.

1. Notre Dame Catholicism

My granddaughter is ecstatically happy as she approaches sophomore year; my daughter was valedictorian just over 20 years ago; my sports-obsessing son, with his football tickets, is as happy as his daughter. This is the highest possible synthesis of America-at-its-best and Catholicism. Consider football weekend: partying, fun, masses before and after the game and throughout the weekend, celebration, confidence. The university represents every dimension of American Catholicism: conservative and progressive, devotion and social justice advocacy, scholarship, networking, science, business...you name it!  Its weakness is its strength: it attracts ambitious,  confident, attractive people who for the most part accept  as they triumph in the mainstream, meritocratic, careerist, materialist, bourgeois, suburban, American society. 

2. Franciscan University Charismatic Catholicism

As a red-blooded charismatic Catholic myself, I am thrilled beyond words that one of my own, my granddaughter, as well as some great-nephews, is studying there. In their senior year, I brought most of my seven children there with high hopes but none were interested. I have already told the Lord:  "Now I can go in peace!"

In the 1970s, as the mainline Catholic academy went progressive, charismatic (in both senses of "gifted" and "Pentecostal") Fr. Michael Scanlon (Franciscan) led the transformation of the then-failing school into the most fierce, reckless, pure expression of Catholicism in the country. It is Pentecostal but also Marian, TLM friendly, homeschool-welcoming, Theology-of-the-Body-believing, militantly pro-life, and vocation-encouraging. It now shelters political think thanks that are Catholic-friendly as conservative morally but economically liberal (care for poor, pro-unions, New-Deal-friendly).  Next week my granddaughter will attend a wedding of a college friend; she reports that a common expectation is to be engaged by graduation. This is Catholic Counter-Culture on steroids!

3. Neocatechumenal Way

Born in the gypsy slums near Madrid over 60 years ago, this is an extraordinarily intense, militant, novel-yet-orthodox Catholic development. My second son with his wife and 9 children are passionately involved. It centers itself in faith, in family and small community, in simplicity/humility/praise, in a rigorous rule of scripture reading, prayer and sharing. It views modernity as a dystopia of Godlessness and is implicitly critical of the post-Constantine Church as inadequate to the apocalyptic reality before us. It is amazingly fruitful as it forms new communities, large families and many priestly/religious vocations. It is controversial but widely influential and this will only increase going forward.

4. Neo-Conservative Catholic

With my own two brothers, I belong here (but  not exclusively). We read First Things, vote Republican because of the Culture War as well as a passionate positivity about American democracy/capitalism/legacy, and practice classic Catholicism around the sacraments and Church teaching. This view is highly compatible with the Notre Dame synthesis but more sharply ideological and so clearly opposed to the Ignatian option. It is compatible with Communion and Liberation but uncomfortable with the "far out" Neocatechumenal and Charismatic styles.

5. Ignatian Catholic

The Catholic Academy and prestigious, notably Jesuit,  institutions in critical mass, after the Council now 60 years ago, have embraced leftist politics, cultural progressivism and theological liberalism. My oldest granddaughter is now an editor at America after graduating from Columbia University, her brother is a senior at Fordham, her sister is at U Penn, and little brother at Xavier Jesuit HS in Manhattan where her father is in leadership. Most of my six sisters and their families would be most comfortable in this camp: urban, Democrat, liberal. As an ardently charismatic-culture-war grandfather, I am delighted that my grandchildren...in this NYC, Jesuit, progressive, urban space...have largely gravitated to the most Catholic friendly dimensions of that world: Catholic Worker home, farm worker unions, care for the poor, gun control, homelessness, environment, respect for women and minorities. That they are also influenced by Communion and Liberation has helped with this.

6. Communion and Liberation

Strong in Italy but small in the USA, this is a significant, sophisticated expression of classic, Italian, highbrow Catholicism. It has about it a striking spontaneity, freedom, confidence, positivity and organic fluidity as it nourishes friendship in Christ and wholesome, passionate, intellectual conversation on personal experience and our shared cultural/political world. It is completely at home in the Church and regards modernity with a Vatican II-type welcome, confidence, and acceptance although not without prophetic criticism. It tends to an open-to-but-critical-of engagement with the other five models here. 

Conclusion

Of the six, the Neocatechumenate is an outlier as radically, intensively, militantly, counterculturally Catholic. I have spent time with them and am immensely admiring. The charismatic (my preference) is second as pronouncedly Catholic and countercultural. Communion and Liberation is culture-critical, but in a manner that is congenial, non-combative, generous, non-defensive, welcoming, nuanced and sophisticated. The other three are each embracive of a distinctive Americanism: the Ignatian of progressivism, the neo-conservative of free-enterprise capitalism, and  Notre Dame of the moderate middle. There is serious dissonance between the Ignatian on the left and the three on the right, while Notre Dame and CL are open towards both ends of the spectrum.

Happily, notwithstanding a significant political/theological rupture, our family has enjoyed for several decades harmony that is especially remarkable considering how strong we are in our religion and politics. This is for several reasons:

1. We continue from our parents and family an immense affection and respect for each other, even across differences of viewpoint.

2. We are primarily Catholic in our communion with Christ and his Church in its essential objectivity of worship/morals//belief and so we do not exaggerate our differences.

3. We are for the most part serene, safe, intelligent and generous enough to appreciate the other side of most debates and so not polarize and demonize each other.

4. Almost 20 years ago as a family, with friends, we opened a residence for low income women. This shared work of charity has united us more deeply than certain beliefs divide us.

5. Feminine influence: my own immediate and extended family are both more matriarchal. It is not just the numbers: we brothers are outnumbered 6-3 by sisters; my son 5-2 by daughters. It is also that these 11 women, along with our wives, are strong, influential women who set the tone for the family. Additionally, both groups are very close and collegial. As a group they are disinclined to dispute, competition and conflict. And so a pleasant, wholesome harmony abides. 

Most of the family, to be sure, does not live in these six specific, strong cultures, but a more middle class, parish-and-school-based normality.  Of the six models above, the moderate Notre Dame is probably the ideal most strive towards in contrast to the stronger accentuations of the other five. 

Additionally we are influenced by many other Catholic cultures. We ourselves are friends with the Latin Mass community in Jersey City;  the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal in the NY area, Maryknoll priests,  Felician sisters of Lodi, Caldwell Dominicans, Convent Station Charities, the Lasalle Christian brothers; the Cursillo movement and the Communio school of theology in Washington DC. We are admiring of the Catholic Worker movement. I have been personally impacted by a number of Jesuits, although mostly of the moderate or even "old school" type.

The Church...in America, in NJ...is a sublime symphony, a banquet of delights! It is a big table!

The Primacy of the Jew; the Dramatic Persistence of Hatred of the Jew

 How odd of God to Choose the Jews!

God chose the Jews. Not because of their superiority or because they are the greatest nation ever. On the contrary. They were and are small; often poor, powerless, persecuted. There is no rational, calculative logic to this choice. It is spontaneous, gratuitous, random. They are "elect" as chosen to do his work, which includes suffering disproportionate suffering and hatred. The Jews are his special people.

The rest of us...gentiles, goyim...have a choice: love them or hate them. You cannot be neutral or indifferent, in the Drama of Salvation, about the Jews. They are to good/evil and sin/salvation what Duke is to college basketball, what Notre Dame is to college football, what the Yankees are to MLB: you love them or you hate them.

Recall that Joseph, 11th of Jacob's sons, was specially loved by his father and so despised by his brothers. They conspired together to kill him. But Ruben, the oldest, intervened first to prevent his outright murder and instead throw him into a ditch. Then Judah suggested that he be sold into slavery instead of murdered. So, albeit imperfectly, two of the brothers did decide in favor of his life. Later, happily, he becomes the savior of his family and the entire Middle East in time of famine. 

We Christians have been adopted into the chosen people. We gentiles have been "grafted onto" the vine that is Israel. Spiritually we are Semites. We love the Jew: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the apostles, the patriarchs, prophets, kings and all Jew through the ages. This includes secular "Woody Allen" Jews, leftwing Jews, observant Jews.

God's love for the Jews over three millennia has left its mark. Every Jew I encounter, even the entirely non-religious, even the militantly secular as Marxist or Freudian, radiates a delectable charm that is invisible, mysterious, emotive and spiritual. 

We Catholics who consume the body and blood of the Jew Jesus ourselves share in this charism.

The surge of antisemitism on the political right and left both goes far deeper than disapproval of Netanyahu, the suffering in Gaza, leftist anti-colonialism or fascist chauvinism. It's spiritual root is Envy, the sin of Lucifer. It is diabolic. Lucifer in his envy of Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, is constituted by two primal hatreds: of woman and of Jew. Antisemitism is resentment of God's elect and of God himself. 

Of course criticism of Israel or its policies, of Zionism or even of Judaism is not antisemitism. Policies, programs and politics are prudential issues that can be debated. But love of the Jew is at the very heart of our Catholic faith. 

It is troubling that antisemitism is surging at both extremes of our political spectrum. As a strong moral conservative, firmly on the Right, I am more troubled by that on the right. From the left criticism of Israel is in part understandable humanitarian concern for Palestinian suffering. It is deeper than that as an expression of ideological rejection of colonialism, another example of the dominant oppressor/oppressed paradigm. I do not sense as  much a resentment of the Jew as such. For example, I am not aware of holocaust denial from the Left. 

From the right we do have ideological isolationism, rejection of American interventionism and "forever wars." Those arguable concerns are not antisemitic as such. But accompanying these prudential concerns there is the vile odor of hatred of the Jew: holocaust denial, conspiracy theories, and broad disgust for the Jew as greedy, powerful, and manipulating.

As a conservative Catholic, I disagree but tolerate ideological anti-Israelism from the left. That from the right is a deeper and darker reality. When conjoined with misogyny its diabolic nature, its hatred of Christ himself is manifest.

Wonderful Catholic Women of our Time

Today, feast of St. Mary Magdalene...who was delivered of 7 devils, who was there at Calvary with Mary who first delivered our Savior to us, and who first announced the Gospel to the apostles themselves...we consider the great women of our time.   

In Catholic life there is ever the quiet, humble primacy of woman. Masculinity...in all its glory (think St. Joseph) as gentle strength, serenity, humility, chastity, loving authority, filial loyalty, reverence, prudence, detachment, decisiveness, intellectual clarity, stability, ferocity, boldness, tenderness, generosity...is always at the service of the Madonna and child. 

Most Significant Catholic (-Friendly) Women Thinkers of the 20th Century

1. Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross): classical synthesis of wisdom and holiness.

2. Adrienne von Speyr: extraordinary mystic who collaborated with Balthasar.

3. Simone Weil: eccentric, dizzyingly intuitive and creative mystic.

4. Hannah Arendt: secular, Jewish, moral genius.

5. Elizabeth Anscombe: stalwart, brilliant Catholic disciple of Wittgenstein. 

6. Caryll Houselander: another tormented, sensitive, eccentric, intuitive, spiritual genius.

7. Dorothy Day: radical politically and Catholicly. 

8. Catherine Dougherty: wise, holy servant of the poor.

9. Flannery O'Connor: surprising, serendipitous, ironic  Catholic fictional genius.

10. Sigrid Undset: profound historical novelist.

11. Ida Gorres: little known German theologian esteemed by Joseph Ratzinger.

12. Raissa Maritain, spouse of Jacques.

13. Alice von Hildebrandt, spouse of Dietrich.

14. Maisie Ward, spouse of Frank Sheed.

15. Carmen Hernandez (partner of Kiko in Neocatechumenal Way)

16. Ruth Carter Stapleton, charismatic healer of memories.

17. Katherine Kuhlman, charismatic preacher/healer.

18. Anne Morrow Lindberg, Gift of the Sea.

19. Rachel Carson.

Notice: many of the above were engaged in some way as protagonists against Nazism. 

Many worked closely with male partners. Some as spouses: Dougherty, Ward, Maritain and Hildebrand). Day partnered with Maurin; Speyr with Balthasar.  Stein, Arendt, and Anscombe were the best students of arguably the greatest philosophers of the century: Husserl, Heidegger and Wittgenstein; and yet they developed entirely distinctive philosophies of their own as feminine, Catholic, intuitive-moral-wise in contrast to the spiritual superficiality of their mentors.

Most Significant Catholic Women Mystics of the 20th Century

Prime criterion here is not personal sanctity or intensity of mystical phenomena but rather providential impact of revelations and manifestations on the Catholic Church.

1. St. Faustina for revelation of the Divine Mercy

2. Fatima Seers: Saints Jacinta and Francisco and Venerable Lucia.

3. St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta for her 40 year dark night.

4. Adrienne von Speyr for her mystical experiences and theological collaboration with Balthasar.

5. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross: mystic, theologian, virgin, martyr.

6. St. Gemma Galgani, extraordinary mystic/stigmatist.

7. Conchita Cabrerra, Mexican mother.

8. Robin Marthe, French paralytic stimatist.

9. Therese Neuman, German stigmatist. 

7. Seers of Medjugorje, controversial apparitions of Mary

8. Maria Esperanza Biancini, Venezuela stigmatist.

9. St. Elizabeth of the Trinity.

10. Blessed Miriam Teresa Demjanovich, of Bayonne NJ.

Greatest 20th Century Women Catholic Servants of the Poor

1. St. Mother Theresa of Calcutta

2. St. Maianne Cope

3. St. Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini

4. St. Mother Katherine Drexel

5. Dorothy Day

6. Catherine Doherty

7. Madaleine Delbrel

8. Rose Hawthorne

9. Mother Mary Joseph (Maryknoll Sisters)

10.  First nine Sisters of Life (NYC 1991)

11. Mother Elvira Petrozzi (Comunita Cenacolo of Italy)

12. Chiara Lubich of Focolare

20th Century Virgin Martyrs

Clarification: the classic Roman virgin-martyrs died in defense of their virginity, like St. Maria Gioretti. However a virgin who dies in witnessing to Christ is also a virgin-martyr, like St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross. All these are highly venerable.

1. St. Maria Gioretti

2. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross

3. Sisters and others martyred in the Spanish Civil War.

4. Sisters and others martyred under Communism.

5. Sisters and others martyred under Nazism. 

6. Sisters and other martyred by Jihadism across Africa and Asia.

7. Missionary sisters and laywomen (4) killed in El Salvador (1980) who worked for poor and similar.

8. Innocent women who have suffered violation due to the sexual revolution. 

9. Countless innocent women who,  often silently,  suffer violence against their bodies.

10. Blessed Karolina Kozka (1914, Polish), Blessed Anna Kolesarova (Slovak 1944), Blessed Albertina Berkenbrock (Brazilian 1931), Blessed Antonia Mesina (Sardinia 1935), Blessed Benigna Cadoso da Silva (1941 Brazilian)...all died defended chastity.

Women on more than one of these four lists: St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (3), St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta (2), Adrienne von Speyr (2), Dorothy Day (2), Catherine Doherty (2). That is your all-star team!

Significant Catholic (-Friendly) Women Thinkers Alive Today 2026

In random order.

Tracey Rowlands

Angela Franks

Eve Tuschnet

Heather King

Mary Healy

Janet Smith

Mary Ann Glendon

Mary Eberstadt

Patricia Snow

Mary Harrington

Camille Paglia

Amy Coney Barrett

Abigail Favale

Maureen Dowd

Peggy Noonan

Alyssa Finlay 

Margaret McCarthy

Helen Alvare

Inez Murzacu

Diane Traflet

Elizabeth Moberly

Stacey Stasoncos

Anne Widdecombe (recently murdered in England)

Helen Andrews

Leah Lebresco Sargent

Louise Perry

That is over 50 women of the last century and 26 writing and thinking today.

Aren't we blessed?