By Angela E. Pometto
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 7/22/04)

"No one can have God as Father who does not have Church as mother," said Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze at Christendom College’s 2004 Summer Institute. The institute focused on Pope John Paul II and his many contributions to the Church during his 25-year pontificate. Throughout the day, a sub-theme emerged that the pope is the vital link between the Church and Christ.

"The divine element can never fall short. The human element sometimes falls short," said Cardinal Arinze, prefect of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments. He described the pope as the "perpetual and visible source of unity of the bishops and all the faithful."

The cardinal brought with him a letter from Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and the authority to bestow an apostolic blessing on the participants of Christendom’s summer institute. Within the letter, the pope extended his greetings to Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde and Dr. Timothy O’Donnell, president of Christendom College.

"From the Eucharist, the Church draws spiritual power needed to carry out Her mission," the letter said referring to the pope’s declaring a year of the Eucharist beginning in October 2004.

"The Church is to continue (Christ’s) mission throughout the end of the world," Cardinal Arinze said in his homily. "He died for all and wanted the work of salvation to reach everyone." Cardinal Arinze said that all people are called to witness to Christ, whether a priest or religious, married, or single.

Cardinal Arinze said, from his experience, other major world religions wish they had a central guide and uniting force like the pope. "God be praised and adored for the gift of Petrine primacy," he said, adding that Christ guaranteed to His Church, clarity on faith and morals that is not subject to opinion polls or the majority vote. When the pope speaks on faith and morals, he is teaching in Christ’s name, Cardinal Arinze said.

"When God speaks, we are not expected to hire six lawyers to debate," Cardinal Arinze said. "We obey and live it out.

"The Church’s faith precedes our individual faith," he said. "This gives life to our own faith."

During his keynote address, Cardinal Arinze described how the Eucharist has played an evident and important role throughout John Paul II’s pontificate.

"The fact that the Church draws Her life from the Eucharist explains why the pope applies this also to the evangelizing and missionary dimension of the activity of the Church," he said. "The liturgy, especially the Eucharistic celebration, is an ecclesial act both in the sense of expressing or manifesting who the Church is, and of giving life to this mystical body of Christ.

"The Holy Father does and then teaches," Cardinal Arinze said. The pope has, until recently, admitted many people to attend daily Mass with him in his private chapel. The pope has celebrated Mass in 317 of the 333 parishes of the Diocese of Rome. On the jubilee day for priests on May 18, 2000, the pope concelebrated Mass with 74 cardinals, 250 archbishops and bishops and 6,000 priests. In all of the pope’s many travels, the world has watched him celebrate and honor the Eucharist.

The pope has also authored many pontifical documents, from apostolic letters to encyclicals, concerning the liturgy and the Eucharist. Cardinal Arinze referred to the pope’s inclusion of the institution of the Eucharist as a mystery of light. "We should go to the school of Mary, ‘Woman of the Eucharist,’ in order to learn more about the mystery, to reverence it, to celebrate it with growing faith and to live it with increasing commitment," he said.

"The quarter-century of the pontificate of Pope John Paul II has brought many blessings to the Church," he said. "Let us pray to the most blessed virgin Mary, mother of Christ, our Savior, whose mysteries we celebrate in the sacred liturgy, to obtain for us the grace to do our part to listen, to believe, to take part in liturgical celebrations and to live in our daily lives what we have celebrated."

During the day’s events, O’Donnell presented Cardinal Arinze with an honorary doctorate of humane letters. O’Donnell spoke earlier in the day about the pope’s Mass of pardon that took place in St. Peter Basilica on March 12, 2000.

Both the secular and Catholic media stylized the event as an apology for errors in the past, but the word apology did not appear once within the context of the Mass or in the writing about it, said O’Donnell, adding that there was also a distinct difference made between the Church, who is holy, and Her children, who are sinners.

For O’Donnell, who attended the Mass, the most moving moment happened after the pope had listed the sins aloud. He walked over to a wooden crucifix and wrapped his arms around its base — hugging the crucified Lord and kissing His wounds.

"We have been so blessed with John Paul II," said O’Donnell. "We are walking with a Father who is walking with us."

Father Anthony Mastroeni, a priest from the Diocese of Patterson, N.J., and adjunct professor of theology at Christendom, spoke about John Paul II and the priesthood.

"What is a priest? He is the heart of Jesus for us," said Father Mastroeni. "Many see him as just a regular guy. What we need to see is Christ."

Although the final end or purpose of the priest is to make the Eucharist available, he also has a duty to proclaim the Gospel, to be a good confessor and to be holy, he said.

Father Mastroeni rebuked the abuse of general absolution. "The doctor does not diagnose a crowd or over the phone," he said. Instead, it should be a painstaking, individual process. "In the confessional, (the priest) quickens souls back to life."

Parishioners want priests to be "beacons, not weather vanes," he said.

Marcus Grodi, host of the weekly EWTN program, "The Journey Home," addressed the topic of John Paul II and conversion. He began by reminding participants that the need for conversion is always present.

Grodi illustrated the point with an image of turning. All Christians begin facing away from God, and the call is to end up, not only facing God, but kneeling before Him.

This process happens in three steps: conversion to Jesus, conversion to the Church and conversion to one another. All three are needed, he said.

Dr. John Cuddeback, associate professor of philosophy at Christendom, spoke on the pope and culture.

"John Paul II speaks urgently of culture," Cuddeback said. "His concern goes beyond the life of the unborn and aged, to the spiritual life."

The culture of death is not only a threat to biological life, but to spiritual life. "The spiritual death is the most true death," Cuddeback said. He used the image of a man looking into a mirror. In the culture of death, without the word of God, this man sees himself in the mirror, and immediately forgets what he looks like. But in a culture of life, where God’s work is heard and followed, the man sees and understands his true self better.

"Love the pope and pray for him," Cardinal Arinze said. "The care of Christ’s flock is not easy. He has much to suffer."