Tag: Christianity

The creators of world-famous MGM Studios obviously thought having a live, roaring lion opening every one of their movies did not pack enough punch. They added a motto — and in Latin, nonetheless — to add gravitas: Ars Gratis Artis (“Art for Art’s Sake”). That may sound altruistic, but the reality of the motion picture industry will always be its commitment to the “industry” part of the “art,” and the profit and loss column. 

MGM celebrates its centennial this year and there are now more production companies than there are stars in the heavens. With exponential growth in filmmaking technology, one no longer requires a giant bankroll to make films or fund an ongoing production company. You still need to raise money, but many small production houses have made an art out of that alchemy. Along with this tide have risen many “faith-based” media entities. The results have been mixed — some bad and some good.

The bad: The production of some religious films with dubious theology or clunky filmmaking. The good: Men and women with a strong commitment to the faith, and with substantial amounts of talent, have an opportunity to express that faith in an artful and infectious way to a large swath of the movie-going public.

Enter 4PM Media/10th Hour Productions, a faith-based media company founded by Jack and Jaimie McAleer. After a successful corporate life and a conversion to the Catholic faith, the McAleers felt called to use their time and talents toward something bigger than a profit/loss spreadsheet. They wanted to help spread the message of the faith through storytelling and high-quality production.

Their son-in-law Dan Johnson, with a lifelong love of film, felt especially called to be part of the company and is its creative driving force.

When I saw the documentary “My Father’s Father,” which Dan directed and co-produced along with the program’s host Father Dave Pivonka, I knew I wanted to know more about him and his company. Unlike MGM, where if I wanted to interview the guy at the security gate, I’d have to find an inside connection, Dan was just an email introduction away.

My first impression of Dan during the Zoom meeting that followed was that if you saw him on the red carpet at the Academy Awards, you would surmise he was the second assistant electrician in charge of changing light bulbs. That is a compliment, by the way.

Currently, the productions — streamed for free on Wild Goose TV — are aimed at a Catholic audience. This is not “preaching to the choir.” With polls showing so many self-identified Catholics with little or no understanding of the Real Presence, marketing the content of 4PM Media/10th Hour Productions to parishes across the nation makes sense.

Other films — like a documentary on Venerable Jerome Lejeune, the scientist who identified the chromosome responsible for Down syndrome and then spent the rest of his life defending life — will find a voice. Dan’s plan for the company is to create more documentary-style content and segue into narrative storytelling.

The better news is there are Dan Johnsons all over the country — men and women in film schools, studying media in places like John Paul the Great Catholic University in Escondido, where future filmmakers will come and make their mark.

The challenge is daunting, and the overwhelming power and wealth of the vast majority of movie-making machinery worldwide is not friendly to faith-based values. The odds are long, but the faith is mighty.

Dan Johnson has something going for himself and his fledgling film company that all the executives who ever sat in the MGM boardroom likely never had. Those men only had the bottom line and their ability to manipulate and control all the forces of the industry at their disposal. Dan Johnson has the Holy Spirit to guide him. 4PM Media has no majestic carnivore for their company mascot, but they do have a motto. In Latin it sounds profound: Occursus Exsuscito Inspirare. It’s not so bad in English either: “Encounter Awaken Inspire.”

In Haiti, where gangs have essentially seized power, something terrible is happening: People can’t go outside, and they don’t have jobs or the money to buy the basics. But there is a mission of the Russian Church there, which has seven parishes and about 3,000 members. In my opinion, its clergy and parishioners are heroes—they not only live in such conditions but also stoke the fire of the Orthodox faith.

Matushka Rose Legouté, widow of the priest Grégoire Legouté, is formally the administrator of the mission. But after talking with her, feeling her unshakable faith, I realized that she is a mother who worries about all her parishioners as if they were her own children. In order to visit her daughter in Florida, she had to take with her only a bag with the most necessary things, because a large suitcase could attract undue attention. And even despite all this, Matushka Rose counts the days to return home and serve the mission, the people, and serve God there.

    

—Matushka, I have heard that you were supposed to visit your daughter in Florida only for a week but have remained here for more than a month already. What has happened?

—Yes, I left Haiti about a month ago, and I wanted to spend a week with my daughter in Florida. I was already ready to go back to Haiti, but the airport is currently closed because of the situation.

—I heard that the gangs attack our churches. What can you tell about the life of our parishioners in this situation?

—It is very difficult. Roads are not functioning correctly, gangs are fighting amongst each other. Some of the priests can not go to their churches or see parishioners. Our priest in Leogane has no chance of going back to the church because it is very difficult with road closures and kidnappings.   

Even if a priest lives just minutes away from the church, it is very difficult to go there. So, many times, they have to serve liturgies in chapels at home.

    

Some of the parishioners have had to flee their homes because of the gang violence. The gangs are now controlling their villages and their homes. The situation is very difficult.

Fights between gangs are also terrifying because bullets are going over the house. People are afraid. You are scared everywhere. You are sacred in the church, you are scared in your home, and you are scared of going outside.

Now, since the country is in trouble, it is very difficult for people to find a job, and they face a lack of food. There is no commerce, people are struggling for food, they are like “open” stores to take away food.

Besides that, the situation is very difficult for priests, who are the focus of gangs because of their status as priests. So, it is very difficult for them to serve the community.

—I cannot even imagine how it is possible to live in such a situation.

—People try to find ways, but it is difficult. For example, a bullet went through the window in one of the priests’ home, and now he has to live under the floor because it is very scary.

—Have you or other members of the mission received threats from the gangs?

—One of our priests came back from the bank, and someone was following him and robbed him.

The neighborhood where I live is controlled by gangs now, so there are always people coming to ask for money. They do not use violence, but they come and ask for money with pressure.

Sometimes people come and ask for food, but it is always very scary because we do not know who those people are. You are also afraid not to give it to them because they can become violent.

—You said you can not return to Haiti because the airport is closed. Are you going to go back once it is open?

—Yes, of course. I am going back because I have my activities over there, I have my community, the church, I have people there that I am serving. So, one month away is already too much. I have to go back.

    

When it is calm children come to school, and the parishioners need me. If I come to them, they will come to me. So, yes, I have to go back.

Everybody supports each other, especially in a difficult situation. I always think, what about the mission, what about the school, what about the people?

—In my eyes, you are a hero. And all of your mission members are heroes. I cannot even imagine how it is possible to live and still keep our Orthodox faith in this situation.

    

—Our Orthodox faith is strong because of what is going on now in Haiti—everyone is talking about it—but it has been for years. And people can go to church and keep their faith.

—How are you able to continue Divine services and prayers in this situation? How are you serving in the church or at home when you cannot even go to church?

—It depends on the situation in the country. When everything is calm, we keep our schedule, with all of the prayers, with the Liturgies and Vespers. When it is not, we have to go on, depending on how the country is doing. If we can do it in the morning, we do it in the morning. If we can, we do it at night, but that is sometimes not possible. The schedule has become irregular, but we still function.   

When there is calm, everyone shows up. When there are problems, only just a few people can and go across the gangs’ fighting.

—Once again, I can not imagine how it is possible to serve. It is like a war. You are living in a war, and you still keep your faith. What are you praying about now?

—We pray a lot for the mission, for the country, for peace, for reconciliation, for forgiveness, so that God forgives us, so we can continue to go on with strength, even when we are afraid. We are praying for the situation to resolve itself. That other people who are in Haiti understand that this is temporary, that they understand that this will eventually be over.

We believe that God will reestablish His authority in Haiti. We have confidence that we will survive. We are praying for support from our friends so we can face this situation with their help.

—How can we help the mission? What does the mission need?

—Our mission is still alive despite the situation in the country, and it’s still doing what it’s supposed to be doing.

You can help by providing funds for the parishioners who left their homes. Everything is very expensive in Haiti, and they need money to get food and medicine. People are getting sick with all the epidemics that are happening.

Our clergy need health insurance. Our schools need help, because we accept children who can’t go to public and private schools, because it’s very expensive. We are taking in children who can’t pay for education.

Right now, people can’t volunteer because of the situation. So having some money will help with jobs, and the functioning of the schools. By helping schools, you’re helping parishioners and the clergy. Even with all that’s happening, the priests are the ones supporting the parishioners.

***

Mathushka Rose, as almost all in our mission in Haiti, speaks only in French, so her daughter Anastasia helped us with translation. In the end, I asked Anastasia if she wanted to stop her mother and say, “Please do not go where it is so dangerous, please, stay with me!”?

“Everything in me is asking for her to stay, but I know that it’s very difficult, I know she’s very attached to the country. I am as well,” Anastasia said. “Even though I’m here, I know that the fight in Haiti is also my fight. Of course, I don’t want her to go back. I would love for her and my sister to come here. I haven’t seen my sister in three years. But I grew up with the same mindset—of serving the community. It’s very painful for me that she wants to go back. But I trust God that she will be alright.”

St. Bernadette Soubirous was born in Lourdes, France, in 1844, and was baptized Mary Bernard. Her family was very poor, but strong in their faith.

On Feb. 11, 1858, a 14-year-old Bernadette received a vision of Our Lady at the banks of the Gave River, near Lourdes. Mary appeared in a cave to Bernadette for several weeks. Two weeks after her first visit, a spring emerged from the cave, and the waters miraculously healed the sick and the lame.

A month later, on March 25, Mary told Bernadette that she was “the Immaculate Conception,” and instructed her to have a chapel built at the site where she appeared.

Bernadette remained faithful to the words of Our Lady, despite opposition from the community and the authorities, who tried to shut down the construction of the chapel and cut off access to the spring. Bernadette found an ally in the Empress Eugenie of France, who intervened after her child was cured from the spring’s water, and the church was built.

In 1866, Bernadette entered the Sisters of Notre Dame in Nevers. She died a few years later, at the age of 35, after suffering from a painful, incurable illness. Pope Pius XI canonized her in 1933.

Photo: puteshestvyi.ru     

Religion in modern Mongolia

The majority of Mongolians are, deep in their hearts, very religious—although they try in every possible way to distance themselves from religion both at the official level and at home, “confessing” secularism, which is fashionable today. Surprisingly, in secular Mongolia it is the intriguing exoticism of St. Nicholas of Japan on BuddhismOf the tens of thousands of Japanese converted to Orthodoxy thanks to his labors, a significant portion were former Buddhists, and amongst his assistants were former Buddhist monks (Bhikkhu), for example, Paul Savabe. The saint studied Buddhism during the first eight years of his time in Japan, when, in his words, he “strove with all diligence to study Japanese history, religion, and the spirit of the Japanese people.”

“>Buddhism and shamanism that attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists coming here from all over the world. And if religion attracts outside observers, it must play a certain role in the lives of the Mongolians. But what role?

Indeed, according to the 1992 Constitution, Mongolia is a secular country that guarantees its citizens the freedom of religion (Article 16, paragraph 15) and does not interfere in the activities of religious organizations established by the existing legislation. Religious institutions, in turn, must not interfere in the work of the State (Article 9). Religious discrimination is prohibited by Article 14, paragraph 2 of the Constitution.¹

The freedom to practice religion, which appeared with the transition from the ideology of State atheism to building a democratic, liberal society, led to the following statistics: If in the mid-1980s, 80.4 percent of respondents identified themselves as atheists, in 1994 71.1 percent called themselves believers.² In 2003, almost seventy-five percent of all Mongolians believed in God.³

By 2010, 61.4 percent of the country’s population over the age of fifteen were believers. Of them 86.5 percent were Buddhists—that is, fifty-three percent of the population in this age group. The remaining 38.6 percent identified themselves as “non-believers.”⁴

According to the last census conducted in the country in 2020, only 59.4 percent of Mongolians over the age of fifteen identified as religious believers, of them 87.1 percent identified as Buddhists.⁵

The Mongolian Law on the Relationship Between the State and Religious Institutions, adopted in 1993, regulates State control over the “predominant position of Buddhism”, which nevertheless is not recognized as a State religion. According to Article 4 of this Law, Mongolia “respects the dominant position of Buddhism in order to maintain the unity of the people and historical, cultural and civilizational traditions.”⁶ Interestingly, according to the results of ethnosociological surveys from different years, of and personal observations, a significant number of Mongolians (between forty percent and seventy-five percent) support this position of the State.⁷

Today it is almost impossible to say that Mongolia is a country of Buddhists, as it is often portrayed in the press and in the media. Striving for dialogue based on equality and parity with all countries and cultures of the world, the country’s Government, after moving away from the socialist model of development, is opening the doors to a variety of religious teachings. And in terms of religious policies the Mongolian leaders are willingly (or maybe willy-nilly) reaching the level of the Mongolian Empire of the thirteenth century, the images and symbols of which are actively used in national practices and rhetoric. The unique diversity of beliefs in the country, their peaceful coexistence with each other and with traditional religions (Buddhism, shamanism and Islam), coupled with unique local cults (for example, the veneration of sacred mountain peaks⁸), which continue to play an important role in the life of society, are a distinctive feature of modern Mongolia—something not every country can boast.

There is no doubt that a soul sincerely striving for the Truth and at the same time wandering through the “labyrinths” of various religions and beliefs is sure to find a path to the Light. This accounts for the slow yet steady awakening of interest and love in Mongolia for Orthodoxy, the history of which officially began in Mongolia 160 years ago, although its roots go deep into the imperial past of the “land of the eternally blue sky”.

A trip into the past

Tsarevich Peter hunting in the vicinity of Rostov. Scene from the icon, “St. Peter, Tsarevich of the Horde” The first Orthodox Mongolians appeared in the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan and the first Genghisid rulers, the great Khan’s successors. It is widely known that the Mongol khans provided special protection to the Orthodox Church in Russia. It led to the establishment in 1261 in the capital of the Golden Horde by Metropolitan Cyril II of Kiev and All Russia (+1280) of the Diocese of Sarai to pastor the Orthodox faithful living in the Horde. Initially, the heads of the diocese performed two functions: liturgical and diplomatic (“representing the political interests of the Byzantine Empire at the court of the Horde Khans.”⁹

Among the medieval accounts related to Orthodoxy in Mongolia the conversion to Orthodoxy of Tsarevich Dair Kaidagul of the Horde, nephew of Khan Berke (who ruled the Golden Horde from 1257 to 1266) and great-grandson of Genghis Khan, stands out. Tsarevich Dair became interested in Orthodoxy during a visit to Sarai by St. Cyril, Bishop of Rostov and Yaroslavl (+1262), who preached in the Horde’s capital in 1253. Dair persuaded St. Cyril, who returned to the Horde a few years later, to take him to Rostov. Here he was baptized with the name St. Peter, Tsarevich of the Horde (1290)One day, after the holy hierarch Kirill had reposed, Peter fell asleep on the shore of the lake after a hunt. He had an amazing dream: two men shining with an unearthly light woke him and said, “Peter, your prayer has been heard, and your almsgiving has risen to God.”

“>Peter, and according to his Life, after an appearance of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul he built a monastery on Lake Nero in their honor. After his wife’s death, he took monastic vows and died in 1290 at the monastery he had founded. He was canonized as the Venerable Peter in 1547 under the Holy Hierarch Macarius (c. 1482–1563), Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia.

Despite the skeptical opinion in historiography that St. Peter of the Horde allegedly had to be baptized after fleeing to Russia in order not to be murdered during dynastic strife, his conversion to Orthodoxy stands apart in a series of conversions to Orthodoxy by the Horde nobility, which took place in the second half of the thirteenth and the early fourteenth centuries. Secular historians agree with this, noting that only St. Peter was baptized solely as a result of preaching (in this case, St. Cyril’s preaching) and was not guided by political, dynastic or other secular circumstances.¹⁰

Other major historical figures of medieval Russia partly associated with Mongolia were the holy St. Alexander Nevsky: The Victory of Christ or a “Balance of Power”The peace that faith brings into our lives is impossible to understand for someone who does not seek Christ. This peace is very far from any idea of an outwardly tranquil course of life and the comfort of a fickle reality that people far from the faith usually imagine when they think of peace.

“>Right-Believing Prince Alexander Nevsky (1221–1263), whose active interaction with the Horde is widely known, and the St. Alexis the Metropolitan of Moscow and Wonderworker of All RussiaThe Lord revealed to the future saint his lofty destiny from early childhood. At twelve years of age Eleutherius went to a field and set nets to ensnare birds. He dozed off and suddenly he heard a voice: “Alexis! Why do you toil in vain? You are to be a catcher of people.””>Holy Hierarch Alexei (c. 1292/1305–1378), Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia, who cured Taydula, the wife of Khan Uzbek of the Horde, of an eye disease.

Metropolitan Alexei heals Taydula Khatun, the wife of the Khan of the Golden Horde     

The substantive appearance of Orthodoxy in Mongolia dates back to the nineteenth century, when it was the State religion in the Russian Empire and had certain ideological functions. For this reason Orthodox clergymen often followed diplomats to the countries (new and hitherto unknown territories) with which diplomatic ties were being established. This happened in the Qing Empire, which included what is now Mongolia’s vast expanses. The signing of the Treaties of Tianjin (1858) and, to a greater extent, of Beijing (1860) not only lifted restrictions on Russo-Mongolian trade, but also became the prologue¹¹ to the opening in 1861 of the first Russian consulate in Urga (now Ulaanbaatar) on the territory of Mongolia, and after it to the construction of the first Orthodox Church in honor of the Holy Trinity. According to A.A. Sizova, a specialist in the history of Russia’s consular service in Mongolia, it was “one of the consulate’s first cultural initiatives.”¹² Funds for the church were collected beginning from 1863. The initiator of the fundraising campaign and the idea of building the church was Consul Ya.P. Shishmarev (1833–1915), who served in Mongolia from 1864 for almost half a century. The Orthodox church was built between 1872 and 1875 and consecrated on August 30, 1894.

Prior to the construction of the Orthodox church, services had been celebrated in the consulate building, where the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated on March 22/April 3, 1864.¹³ The service was performed by Priest (from 1876 archpriest) John Nikolsky (1831–1893)—at that time the head of the Verkhneudinsk Deanery, cleric of the Cathedral in honor of the Hodegetria Icon in the city of Verkhneudinsk (now the city of Ulan-Ude—the administrative center of the Buryat Republic, Russia). Having celebrated several services, including the Paschal Liturgy, Fr. John left Urga on April 26/May 8, 1864. Later, from 1866 to 1892, he was the rector of the Holy Resurrection Church in the city of Kyakhta (in the Buryat Republic close to the Mongolian border).

After Fr. John Nikolsky, at the request of the Beijing Ecclesiastical Mission (hereinafter: the BEM) to the Most Holy Governing Synod Hieromonk Sergei (Artamonov) was sent in 1865 to Urga on a one-year mission. Even before the end of his mission term Fr. Sergei reported to the head of the BEM in Beijing about his desire to serve in Urga for the rest of his life. But after a while, for personal reasons, he was transferred to the Holy Transfiguration Monastery at the embassy and joined its brotherhood.¹⁴

The next priest who was sent on a mission was Hieromonk Gerontius (Levitsky), a member of the BEM, who served in Urga from 1866 to 1868. For a short time (from October 1872 until his death on December 27 of the same year), Hieromonk Cornelius (Palikin), a BEM member, served in Urga. He was buried at the Russian cemetery in Urga.¹⁵

Holy Trinity Church in Ulaanbaatar     

A permanent priest in Urga was appointed by decree of the bishop of Irkutsk in May 1893. The first rector of the Holy Trinity Church in Urga was Priest Nikolai Shastin (1862–?), a missionary from Tsakir stanitsa (village) of the Transbaikal Ecclesiastical Mission (today the territory of the Zakamensk district of the Buryat Republic). He served in Urga until 1895. It was he who consecrated the consulate church. The newly appointed rector arrived in Mongolia together with Reader Joseph Kornakov, who graduated from the Irkutsk Theological Seminary. In November 1895, Fr. Nikolai, who was very fluent in Chinese, was appointed BEM member and assigned to St. Alexander Nevsky Church in Hankou (now part of Wuhan, Hubei Province, China), from where about a year later he was sent to Beijing, after which he served for several years in Qiqihar. Later he resigned from the priesthood and returned to Hankou with a new family after the Revolution of 1917 “as an émigré and a refugee.”¹⁶ Thus, despite some allegations,¹⁷ information about Fr. Nikolai’s life can be traced after 1897 right until the dissolution of the Russian Empire; his further destiny is unknown.

The physician Pavel Nikolaevich Shastin It should be said that in literature in connection with the biography of the Russian and Soviet doctor Pavel Nikolaevich Shastin (1872–1953), who is famous in Mongolia, two different priests are often mixed up: namely Fr. Nikolai Pavlovich Shastin, rector of the Urga church, and Nikolai Iakinfovich Shastin (1851–1909), who served in Irkutsk churches. The latter was the father of P.N. Shastin, the father of modern medicine in Mongolia, and accordingly, the grandfather of the famous Mongolist Nina Pavlovna Shastina (1898–1980).¹⁸

In the spring of 1895, Priest Alexei Ushmarsky (?), a missionary of Ust-Kiran stanitsa (village), which is now in the Kyakhta district of the Buryat Republic, celebrated the services according to the Typikon of Holy Week, Pascha and Bright Week in Urga.¹⁹ Between 1897 and 1899 Priest Vsevolod Ivanov, an alumnus of St. Petersburg Theological Academy, was rector of the Holy Trinity Church.

From 1901 to 1913 the rector of the Orthodox church in Urga was Archpriest Mily Chefranov (1855-no earlier than 1913). During his relatively long ministry in Urga, Fr. Mily studied the history of Orthodoxy in Mongolia and showed great zeal in the mission, leaving a vivid description of his activities.²⁰

New Hieromartyr Amphilochius (Skvortsov) From 1912 to 1914 Hieromonk Amphilochius (Skvortsov), a private associate professor at the Kazan Theological Academy, stayed on a mission in Mongolia to study the Tibetan language, Tibetan literature and Buddhism.²¹ Between 1925 and 1926 he served as Bishop of Krasnoyarsk and Yeniseisk; from 1928—Bishop of of Melekess, Vicar of the Samara Diocese; he was executed by a firing squad in 1937; in 2000 he was canonized and ranked among the holy New Martyrs and confessors of Russia for churchwide veneration.

The last rector of the consulate church (1914-1921) in Urga was Priest Fyodor Parnyakov (1870–1921), a cleric of the Irkutsk Diocese, sent to Mongolia at his own request.²² By that time, Fr. Fyodor had proved himself an active organizer of parish schools, and since 1913 he had been a member of the East Siberian Branch of the Russian Geographical Society. Curiously enough, he married Maria Reshikova, the daughter of Priest M. Reshikov (Reshchikov?) from the village of Kudara (now in the Kabansk district of the Buryat Republic) on September 20, 1891, near Mongolia–at the Church of the Tikhvin Icon of the village of Ust-Kyakhta.²³

In addition to celebrating services and pastoring Orthodox people in Mongolia, Fr. Fyodor took an energetic part in extra-liturgical work, setting up a parish trust under the auspices of Consul General A.J. Miller. In addition to specific parish affairs, the area of responsibility of the trust included the organization of schools and a commercial college (opened in 1916), libraries, educational lectures, concerts (a string orchestra of twenty to twenty-two instruments was organized), and the decision to construct a new church. Fr. Fyodor was also an editor of a Mongolian newspaper called The Urga Consumer Society,²⁴ and between 1914 and 1917 he made several trips around the country, becoming the first Orthodox priests to visit remote Russian colonies from Urga up to Uliastay, Hovd and Ulaangom.

In addition to the church in Urga, thanks to the zeal of Russian diplomats, chapels were built in the frontier town of Maimachen (now Altanbulag of the Selenga aimag/district) and in Uliastai. The construction of a church was planned in Uliastai, and fundraising began in 1916 (the Revolution prevented the implementation of this project). A prayer room was also equipped in a Russian population center in the center of Urga two and a half miles west of the consulate church. According to some information, the missionary camp was set up on Lake Khövsgöl, most likely in the north, since the camp had connections with the Nilova Pustyn health resort, located in the Tunka Valley (today the village of Nilovka in the Tunka district of the Buryat Republic—famous for its hydrotherapy—which bears the name of a monastery that once existed here).²⁵

Archpriest John Vostorgov, a Synodal missionary In July 1916,²⁶ in order to examine the prospects for missionary work and to promote sobriety, the Synodal missionary Archpriest John Vostorgov and the head of the Transbaikal Ecclesiastical Mission Archimandrite Ephraim (Kuznetsov; from November 1916—Bishop of Selenga, Vicar of the Transbaikal Diocese) visited Mongolia. There is evidence that the two clergymen had first met in Mongolia during their first trip in the summer of 1913, when the conditions for the “hoped for opening of an Orthodox mission” were being considered.²⁷ The plans were not destined to be fulfilled because of the catastrophic changes in the country. On September 5, 1918, Bishop Ephraim and Archpriest John were executed by a firing squad in Moscow, and in 2000 both were canonized as holy New Martyrs of Russia.

Fr. Fyodor Parnyakov, too, suffered a martyr’s death. After being imprisoned and tortured, he was hacked to death with a saber in February 1921. The body of the murdered priest was thrown onto the bank of the Tuul Gol River.

The last recorded priest who served in Urga was Nikolai Fedotov (1879–?), who graduated from the Orenburg Theological Seminary. During the Civil War in the summer of 1918 he left his homeland and by the autumn of 1920, through the Kazakh steppes, he had reached the large Russian trading post of Tzain-Shabi (now Tsetserleg of the Arhangay aimag/district). There was a branch of the Mongolian National Bank, a post office, and a telegraph office in Zain-Shabi. Most likely, after the destruction of the trading post by the troops of Baron Roman von Ungern In early 1921,²⁸ Fr. Nikolai together with Ungern’s army moved to Urga, where he began to serve at the consulate church until May 1923, when the church and all church property were expropriated by the State, after which he served in a private house. N.M. Fedotov wrote that he had been “sent to Urga to serve as a parish priest.”²⁹ Given the difficult situation during the bloody Civil War in Mongolia and the atmosphere that prevailed around Baron Ungern, it is hard to believe the words that he had been “sent” there.

Judging by his reports in 1924 to the Renovationist structures of the “Living Churches” in Buryatia, including on the celebration of the Church feasts according to the new calendar, it can be concluded that Nikolai Fedotov was not a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church but was in a schismatic organization, or presumably, had no opportunity to contact the official Church during the hard times. Most likely, Baron Ungern (under whom Fr. Fyodor Parnyakov was executed and relative patronage was given to Nikolai Fedotov) did not get to the root of the Renovationist schism.³⁰

There are two main opinions as to how and when organized Orthodox Church life stopped in Mongolia. According to the first version, it was after the martyrdom of Archpriest Fyodor Parnyakov in 1921.

Priest Nikolai Kornienko, a modern expert on the history of Orthodoxy in Mongolia, puts forward another point of view, according to which “at least until 1928 there was an Orthodox priest in Urga.”³¹ His version is based on one of the last Baptisms in Ulaanbaatar performed over Nikolai Alexandrovich Brilyov, who was born in the year specified. Although, according to Fr. Nikolai, “there is no information about the assignment of other clergy to serve in Mongolia in subsequent times”³²—that is, based on the context of the events described, after 1924.

In any case, the end of the revolutionary bloodshed in the Mongolian steppes and the proclamation of the Mongolian People’s Republic on November 26, 1924, sidelined Orthodoxy and other religions from public life into the sphere of family rituals of the country’s populace.

So, after some episodes of the Mongolians’ acquaintance with Orthodoxy (mainly the Thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries), the reemergence and spread of Orthodoxy in Mongolia began in 1864, when the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated in the consulate church of the Holy Trinity. Subsequently, services were celebrated by priests from the BEM who were temporarily sent on a mission there. The first permanent rector in Urga appeared in 1893—it was Priest Nikolai Shastin, who served in Mongolia for two years.

After the last rector of the church in Urga, Fr. Fyodor Parnyakov, was martyred and Priest Nikolai Fedotov, who was probably not in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, gradually gave up liturgical activity, Orthodox life in Mongolia died out until the 1990s.

To be continued…

What shall I render unto Thee, O Lord,
for that Thou hast poured such great mercy on my soul?

Grant, I beg Thee, that I may see my iniquities, and ever weep before Thee,

for Thou art filled with love for humble souls, and dost give them the grace of the Holy Spirit.

St. Silouan the Athonite

Photo: molitvaslovo.ru     

It’s one of those radiant spring days on the The Prophetic Role of Mount Athos in the Contemporary WorldMount Athos has long been a fascinating place, which attracts the attention not only of Orthodox, but people belonging to other religions and even of non-believers.

“>Holy Mountain, when the silky sun rays play with you like little kittens, spreading the innocent joy of being embraced by a heavenly touch.

My heart is leaping, and I am walking fast, trying to keep up with Father S., who despite his long cassock and light leather slippers is soaring full speed up the very steep hill.

Luscious green surrounds our climb, and the serene bubbling of a mountain stream reminds me of heavenly tabernacles. I am very excited, because we’re on our way to see the chapel of St. Silouan the Athonite himself! This famous Russian spiritual giant paved the way to the Kingdom of Heaven with his utmost humility, copious tears, and prayers of repentance. His amazing love for the whole world and his tearful lamentations for those yet unable to recognize God’s love pierce through my soul like lightning.

His passionate plea for repentance, forgiveness and love for our enemies makes me stop and think about my life choices. If you haven’t yet heard of St. Silouan the Athonite: Holy Russian Hero“I read St. Symeon the New Theologian and my soul grieves over how far I am from a real Christian life. When I read Elder Silouan, then my soul is comforted in the Lord and rejoices in Him Who loves me, a sinner.”

“>St. Silouan, you absolutely must read the book about him written by St. Sophrony: Spiritual ExcerptsMay God give you all the spirit of repentance. Weep over your faults; weep, that your heart may not dry up.”>Archimandrite Sophrony. When I read it the first time many years ago, I had no idea that one day I would be visiting his very chapel! And now I am going to visit the place of his numerous spiritual battles. Oh, how merciful is our Most Holy Virgin and Theotokos!

So who is this St. Silouan? Born Simeon Antonov, this simple Russian Orthodox son of a pious peasant family was born in a small village in the Tambov Region of Tsarist Russia. At the age of twenty-seven, he came to Mt. Athos and became a monk who dedicated his entire life to the Jesus prayer and repentance. According to records kept by the St. Russian Panteleimon Monastery, he came to the monastery in 1892, was tonsured in 1896, and finally took the vows of the schema in 1911. He worked diligently at the monastery mill and later stayed at the Kalamarey Metoch, the Old Nagorny Rusik and the Oeconomia before passing away in the Lord in 1938. Yet, as Simeon Antonov became the Elder Silouan, he transformed his own life and the lives of many people who encountered this tearful man who loved to weep for the whole world, praying for everyone’s salvation and having an all-forgiving love for his enemies.

Early in his years at the monastery, St. Silouan received the gift of ceaseless Jesus prayer, granted to him by the Most Holy Theotokos when he was praying in front of Her Icon. That beautiful prayer dwelled in his heart day and night, and his only wish was to never lose sight of the amazing light of God’s love inside his soul. As he wrote:

O merciful God, forgive me.

Thou seest how my soul is drawn to Thee, her Creator. Thou hast wounded my soul with Thy love, and she thirsts for Thee, and wearies without end, and day and night, insatiable, reaches toward Thee, and has no wish to look upon this world, though I do love it, but above all I love Thee, my Creator, and my soul longs after Thee.

But one day, he did lose the feeling of God’s presence due to a lack of spiritual vigilance, as vain thoughts bombarded him, tearing his heart to pieces. Even though he fought the full battle, with almost no sleep, just 15–20 minutes a day on his stool, working a full day in the mill and dedicating much time to prayer, yet still he was unable to fight this demonic invasion! The fear of death and cold despair overwhelmed him, and hopelessness crippled his soul.

The miracle-working icon of Christ the Savior associated with the miracle of the apparition of our Lord to to St. Silouan After many weeks and months, when he was at rock bottom, he thought, “It is impossible to reach God through prayer.” On that very day, as he was praying during the vespers and as he looked at the icon of Jesus Christ the Savior in the church of the Holy Prophet Elias, he saw the Living Christ.

As he shared in his book later, “The Lord mysteriously revealed himself to the young novice,” and St. Silouan’s entire being was filled with the amazing grace of the Holy Spirit, his body ignited by the same flames of the Lord witnessed by the Holy Apostles!

This glorious vision of God’s Light lifted his soul to the heavenly gardens, where he saw the unseen and heard the unspoken. Christ’s humble gaze, His all-forgiving and all-loving eyes were imprinted in his soul, and he could never forget this vision…

“Well, come on in,” said Father S. “This is this very same chapel where St. Silouan was praying every day, and this is the icon from where our Lord Jesus Christ appeared to the Saint,” he explained, pointing toward the church Iconostasis.

“Let’s read the Akathist.”

We started reading, and as I was pronouncing the words, my soul was filled with the joy of being inside this prayer-rich chapel, the very place where the Lord Jesus showed such wonderful grace to a humble monk from Russia!

We both left with our eyes filled with tears. St. Silouan the Athonite, please teach me your prayers and pray to God for my sinful soul!

***

The Night Before Communion: At the Prayer Room.

  

There is nothing coincidental in this life, one of the many experienced monks on Mount Athos shared with me. Especially here. Pay attention to what is happening to you. Each moment of our lives is the moment when God teaches us something very important.

It happened toward the end of my trip. I was preparing for Holy Communion, and as I was anticipating the night service. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t oversleep and set my alarm for 1:30 am. I thought that 30 minutes would be enough to get ready. I did not know exactly why I needed these extra thirty minutes, but soon I found out.

If you ever find yourself in the Archondarik (guest house) of the Russian St. Panteleimon Monastery, you will experience its absolute serenity during the period of rest, when the pilgrims, novices and monks are resting from the long day. Dimly lit hallways hide the struggling and elated souls, fighting and soaring hearts. Who is behind each door? It is a mystery. The quiet rules of this monastic hotel are very strict—you can’t disturb your brothers during these pre-prayer hours!

As I silently opened the door and walked out, I was planning to just go out and wait for the monks to open the massive entrance gates of the monastery at 2 am. But something stopped me, and I glanced at a small reception area with two small glass tables and a few Russian-language church newspapers laying open in the darkness. A small balcony door was slightly ajar, and the sea wind fluttered the curtains. Complete silence enveloped me. Suddenly I noticed another wooden door which was usually locked—now wide open.

I went inside and was stunned by the sharp feeling that this room must have heard many repentant cries and honest prayers. The atmosphere was almost electric! There were a couple of prayer books, an open hardbound Gospel, and a Psalter in Church Slavonic. In front of me was an icon of Jesus Christ with the crown of thorns. The icon depicted Jesus’ pain so realistically that it was hard to look at it for a long time. I opened a prayer book and read my morning prayers. After I finished, I decided to look at the other icons on the wall. A Virgin Mary, Abbess of Mount Athos, St. Nicholas, and… Then I noticed another icon of Jesus with His thorny crown. Jesus’ eyes were filled with deep sadness and an invisible question which digs down into the depths of my soul… as if He were asking me, why are you still sinning? Look what I endured for you…   

Then I discovered this framed text which read:

THE SUFFERINGS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST

Christ appeared to a certain Holy Elder, who was always meditating on the sufferings of Christ on the Cross and weeping bitterly, and told him in detail how He had endured His sufferings and how much blood He had shed for the salvation of the human race, beginning from Thursday evening until the burial:

– I uttered 109 heartfelt sighs.

– Blood flowed from My Body—225,000 drops.

– There were 118 armed soldiers.

– 230 people tormented Me alongside the soldiers.

– There were 348 people involved in total.

– 3 soldiers led Me to the crucifixion.

– They tormented and dragged Me by the hair and beard, 77 times.

– I stumbled and fell to the ground (starting from the garden to the Chief Priest’s house), 7 times.

– I endured blows on the mouth and cheeks, 105 blows.

– They slapped Me on the face, 20 times.

– I was dragged by the crowd from the beginning to the end of My suffering, 707 times.

– I was hit hard, 1,199 times.

– They beat Me with canes and clubs, 40 times.

– When they put a crown of thorns on Me, 5 points pierced My skull down to the marrow, 3 of them broke and remained in My head, and were buried with Me.

– Blood flowed from the piercing of the crown of thorns, 3,000 drops.

– And the wounds on My head from the piercing of the crown numbered 1,000.

– A crown of thorns was laid on My head and fell from it, 8 times.

– Carrying the Cross on the way to Golgotha, I fell to the ground, 5 times.

– I suffered 21 mortal blows.

– They lifted Me from the ground by my hair and mustache, 23 times.

– They spit in My face, 73 times.

– I received 25 blows to the neck.

– They slapped Me on the face and mouth, 5 times.

– Much blood flowed from My mouth and nostrils, and 2 teeth were knocked out of Me.

– They tormented Me by the nose, 20 times.

– They beat me on the bridge of my nose, three times.

– They dragged Me by the ears, 30 times.

– There were 72 great wounds.

– I received the strongest blows to the chest and head, 38 times.

And in His suffering He had 3 great afflictions:

1. “In My affliction I have not seen a single penitent, and it is as if My blood were shed in vain.”

2. “My Mother stood at the Cross and wept bitterly.”

3. “When my hands and feet were nailed to the Cross.”

Thus the words of the Prophet came true: “… All My bones are gone.”

[Excerpt from the book, The Great Mirror, Chapter 525, (1911).]

***

Tears filled my eyes, it was impossible to hold them back… Why do we still torment Christ? Why do I add my sins to Him every single day? How could He endure all this suffering?

With Christ’s look of sadness imprinted on my heart, I slowly opened the door.

A canopy of galaxies covered the Garden of the Most Holy Theotokos.

“Lord Jesus Christ, save me, a sinner!”

Last month, California voters narrowly approved Proposition 1, a measure that expands the state’s mental health and substance abuse treatment infrastructure by authorizing $6.4 billion in bond money toward building treatment facilities and housing for the homeless. 

While supporters have hailed the measure as an important step in addressing California’s homelessness crisis, not everyone is convinced. 

Meghan Schrader is an instructor and mentor at the E4Texas (Texas Center for Disability Studies) program at the University of Texas at Austin and is on the board of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition USA. Her experience growing up with a learning disorder inspired her to serve on the governing board of the Boston Autistic Self Advocacy Network in 2015 and to volunteer as an education advocate for disabled students in foster care. 

In an interview with Angelus, Schrader shared her concerns about Proposition 1’s potential effects on the mentally disabled and her thoughts on how Catholics can help advocate for their protection. 

There is a lot going on in California at the moment, much of which is concerning to disabled populations. What are your thoughts, in particular, about Proposition 1? 

Proposition 1 was sold to the public as a way to increase housing and treatment for people with severe mental illnesses. In reality, California has been given an inappropriately high level of latitude to institutionalize people against their will. 

Involuntary treatment was already legal for hard cases, but now the process of placing people in institutions has been streamlined and ramped up. This will subject people with psychiatric disabilities to various forms of abuse, both systemically and interpersonally, and will intersect with other forms of oppression, such as racism and poverty. 

The motivation behind this program is not necessarily humane, even if it’s sold as such. We certainly need better community options for homeless people experiencing mental illness, but Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed this law to make homeless people disappear from sight. 

He’s not alone in his support for what disability advocates call “Modern Ugly Laws;” New York politician Andrew Yang suggested that homeless New Yorkers with psychiatric disorders should be institutionalized so they do not harm tourism or property values. President Trump suggested institutionalizing mentally ill people to stop gun violence. These sorts of policies stigmatize and undermine civic equality for people with psychiatric disorders. 

How do you think this would have unfolded differently if they had listened to the voices of the disabled? What are better ways of addressing the very real problems here?

Institutionalization has a strong historical link to the eugenics movement, which still influences contemporary public policy. Proposition 1 fits into our country’s deep history of killing, sterilizing, and confining persons with disabilities, and I think that if people listened to the disabled community’s knowledge about this history, efforts like Proposition 1 would be less popular. 

Complicating the issue is that deinstitutionalization efforts have sometimes been abused as a way to save money instead of a way to redirect or improve community treatment. Andrew Cuomo closed a lot of New York’s mental institutions but never properly funded or oversaw the community alternatives.

When President Kennedy signed the Community Mental Health Act in 1963, he promised federal funding for the alternatives that were never effectively provided or overseen. There’s a pattern of the powers that be spending the money they save with deinstitutionalization on things other than community support, so that no matter what system is being used, people with severe mental illnesses are ignored and abused.

Unfortunately, this pattern of setting disabled people’s interests aside is not unique to mental health care; it affects all systems that serve people with disabilities. 

Even people interested in social justice for the able-bodied members of other disenfranchised groups have been resistant to redressing these dynamics. That’s what “systemic ableism” is: a group of systems intersecting in a way that favors able-bodied people’s preferences with grave consequences for people with disabilities. If disability justice were more culturally visible, things like Proposition 1 would be less likely. 

I can personally speak to the issue of inadequate mental health support. I have experienced episodes of severe psychiatric disability since my teens. High-quality treatment facilities can be critically important places of respite and care, while other psychiatric facilities can be microcosms of hell; other facilities being a mixture of both.

The risk of hospitalization is one of the reasons why community treatment is so necessary, but the process of accessing community support is so dysfunctional that people who need it never participate. Between 2019 and 2021, I tried to qualify for Austin, Texas’ assertive community treatment program, which provides robust, structured support for people with severe mental illnesses who are living on their own. I called 10 different people who were listed as being associated with the program. None of them even knew what the program was, so I eventually gave up. 

I have also tried to qualify for services for people with my neurological disabilities, which would significantly reduce the environmental stressors that exacerbate symptoms of my bipolar disorder. At the end of a complicated process, I was disqualified because my IQ was above the state cutoff for those services. 

These wasteful, bureaucratic dynamics exist no matter what state disabled people live in. We need to fix the dysfunction that exists for accessing voluntary treatment and support. 

Some in California are trying to expand physician-assisted killing to include those who are not dying. Disabled populations are mentioned in particular as eligible under the new law. That law is bad enough on its own, but what would it mean to have these two laws together?

Forced institutionalization will amplify the ugly impact of assisted suicide on the lives of people with disabilities. Making suicide a “treatment” for people with disabilities is abusive enough. But, some people with “grievous and irremediable” medical conditions who also have severe mental illnesses will absolutely choose to kill themselves rather than be placed in an institution. 

Disabled people living in institutions will choose to kill themselves just to get out of there, and staff will encourage them to do it. This is already in play in Canada, which legalized forced transfers of disabled patients to institutions far away from their families at the same time that it legalized MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) for disabled people. So, California is setting the stage to follow in Canada’s violent, ableist footsteps. 

Increasing forced institutionalization while expanding assisted suicide to people with disabilities furthers able-bodied supremacy. This combination of laws allows disabled people to have the unfettered “choice” of suicide, but not community support. Disabled people will be eliminated, reflecting our societal indifference to — and often hatred of — disabled people. 

What are some ways that individual Catholics and Catholic institutions can resist the cultural forces pushing in these terrible directions?

Catholics must recognize that Proposition 1 and laws facilitating assisted suicide are the final blow after a lifetime of abuse and oppression. Early Christians and Jews took the lead in opposing the pagan practice of infanticide for disabled babies. Today’s Catholics must nurture the longstanding overlap between Christian ethics and disability justice, and they should collaborate closely with the disability justice movement’s broader goals. Catholics must not help the disabled community fight assisted suicide and then vote for things like Proposition 1 — they should defeat both. 

They must keep James 2:3 in mind and welcome people with severe mental illnesses into their communities, even if that process feels uncomfortable. And they should consider Christ’s statement in John 10:9-11 that he came to give people “life more abundantly.” Providing robust support for disabled people is a way of making that a reality. 

Lastly, they should think about fighting institutionalization, assisted suicide, and ableist bias in terms of Isaiah 61:1: “He has chosen me and sent me to bring good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to announce release to captives and freedom to those in prison.”

Chelyabinsk, Chelyabinsk Province, Russia, April 15, 2024

Photo: mitropolia74.ru     

The pregnancy consultation service located at the Hodigitria Convent in the Urals city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, helps women choose to keep their babies and helps families in need.

The Anti-abortion Social Consulting Service recently released a summation of its work for the first quarter of 2024, noting that as a result of 107 consultations, seven women chose to continue their pregnancies and keep their babies, reports the Chelyabinsk Metropolis.

The service is part of the All-Russian charity program Save a Life, which began in 2015. Today, the program is operational in 76 cities, helping women in crisis pregnancies choose to keep their babies by providing them with information about the abortion procedure and consequences, and providing the woman with psychological and social assistance.

“One of the main factors pushing women to have an abortion is the lack of support from men and those around them. Sometimes a woman feels pressure from her parents. Therefore, we help Chelyabinsk girls to make an informed choice, give expectant mothers the most necessary things for a newborn,” said. Anna Kozhevnikova, coordinator of the anti–abortion service.

“Additionally, we can babysit while a mom runs off about her business,” the coordinator said.

In the first three months of the year, consultants helped 60 families with food, clothing, and medicine, and also gave out four strollers, a car seat, a baby walker, and paid for medical treatments.

Pre-revolutionary abbess’ pectoral cross returned to Russian monasteryThe cross bears the inscription: “To the venerable Mother Abbess Anastasia from the grateful nuns and sisters of the Hodigitria Monastery. 1916.”

“>In February of this year, the pectoral cross of the monastery’s pre-revolutionary abbess Anastasia (Schapova) was returned to the holy habitation.

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St. Hunna lived in the 7th century, and was a member of a noble family. Known as the “holy washerwoman,” she bathed and cared for the poor in Strasbourg France. Pope Leo X canonized St. Hunna in 1520, and she is the patron saint of laundry workers.

St. Peter Gonzalez was born in Castille, Spain, in 1190. He was a member of a noble family, and became a priest as a step to a high office. 

One Christmas, during a grand entrance into the city, Peter was thrown from his horse into a pile of dung. He was humiliated in front of all the townspeople, and he believed they knew he was a fake. Peter withdrew from the world, taking time to pray and meditate. 

During his time away, Peter had a conversion. He spent the rest of his life making up for the mistakes of his past, joining the Dominicans, and shunning those who tried to get him to return to his old life, saying, “If you love me, follow me! If you cannot follow me, forget me!” 

Peter served as confessor and court chaplain for St. Ferdinand III, king of Castile. He reformed the court life, worked for the crusade against the Moors, and fought for humane treatment of Moorish prisoners.

Eventually, Peter came to fear that the court life would lead him to return to his previous ways, so he left the court and went to evangelize shepherds and sailors. 

St. Peter died in 1246, and was canonized in 1741.

ROME — Perhaps it’s a measure of the almost surreal media narrative that’s grown up around Pope Francis for the last 11 years that the Vatican could issue a document April 8 opposing abortion, euthanasia, surrogate motherhood, gender theory, and sex-change procedures, and it would somehow be considered news.

From a media point of view, Dignitas Infinita (“Infinite Dignity”), the latest declaration from the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, should have been a “dog bites man” exercise. Only in the Francis era, when we’ve been conditioned to expect doctrinal revolutions at every turn by previous documents such as Amoris Laetitia (“The Joy of Love”) in 2016 and Fiducia Supplicans (“Supplicating Trust”) last December, could “Pope upholds Catholic teaching” actually become a headline.

Unfortunately, the clamor over the content of Dignitas Infinita, and what precisely to make of its various formulae, risks missing the real point. Unlike its predecessors mentioned above, Dignitas Infinita was not conceived as a statement about Catholic teaching, even if it was issued by the doctrinal office.

Instead, Dignitas Infinita amounts to a direct frontal challenge to Catholic sociology, in particular the marked tendency for pro-life and peace-and-justice Catholics to inhabit different worlds and, quite often, to end up working at cross-purposes.

This point was driven home in an article for Vatican News written by Andrea Tornielli, the veteran Italian journalist who now serves as the pope’s editorial director, and arguably his most important official interpreter. To put an exclamation point on things, Tornielli’s editorial was distributed by the Vatican Press Office to the media at the same time as advance copies of the document itself, as if to lend his analysis official standing.

“The principal novelty of the document, which is the fruit of five years’ work, is the inclusion of certain important themes of the recent papal magisterium alongside bioethical matters,” Tornielli wrote.

“In the non-exhaustive list that’s offered of violations of human dignity, abortion, euthanasia, and surrogate motherhood are accompanied by war, the drama of poverty and of migrants, and human trafficking,” he said.

Then, Tornielli arrives at the bottom line.

“The new text thus contributes to overcoming the existing dichotomy between those who concentrate in an exclusive way on the defense of unborn life, or the dying, forgetting many other offenses against human dignity, and vice-versa, those who concentrate only on the defense of the poor and of migrants, forgetting that life must be defended from conception to its natural end,” he wrote.

Anyone familiar with the sociology of the Catholic Church, perhaps especially in the United States but also in many other parts of the world, and who’s being honest about it, would have to acknowledge that Tornielli isn’t just spitting in the wind.

Of course, there are plenty of exceptions, but as a general rule, self-described pro-life Catholics and peace-and-justice Catholics simply do not work and play well together. What’s worse, much of the time they don’t even know one another, except by reputation and social media profiles (which, in the 21st century, usually amount to the same thing.)

Pro-life Catholics follow their own heroes, read their own media outlets, attend their own conferences and meetings, and organize their own activities, often moving in their own self-contained and hermetically sealed universe.

Much the same can be said, pari passu (at an equal pace), of their counterparts in the peace-and-justice galaxy of Catholicism.

Church activists engaged in the fight against the death penalty, for example, or for immigration reform, or for poverty relief overseas, or anti-racism campaigns, or any number of other good causes fully endorsed by Catholic social teaching, likewise consume their own media sources, have their own revered points of reference, attend their own rallies and summits, and often have little to do with Catholics of other persuasions.

To put the point differently, and again with allowances for notable exceptions, the overlap in Catholic attendance at, say, the March for Life and the various George Floyd protests, is likely fairly small.

I’ve been using American examples, but the same observation could be made about Catholicism elsewhere, most particularly across the Western world where the battle lines between left and right have become hardened.

Here in Italy, for instance, there’s relatively little cross-over between Catholics involved in, say, the Community of Sant’Egidio, a center-left movement especially engaged in ecumenical and interfaith dialogue, conflict resolution, and poverty relief, and the Family Day Association, a group founded by Massimo Gandolfini, a neurosurgeon and member of the Neocatechumenal Way, which is devoted to opposition to gender theory, abortion, and other measures considered anti-family.

Against that backdrop, Dignitas Infinita isn’t about revising Catholic social teaching. It’s about challenging the way that teaching is often sliced and diced in the way it’s applied on the basis of personal preference, ideological affinity, and the raw fact of who somebody’s friends may be.

The message of the new document is that Catholic social teaching is a full-course meal, not a do-it-yourself buffet.

A former papal ambassador to the United States, Italian Archbishop Pietro Sambi, used to roll out a one-liner anytime the issue of abortion came up in conversation with American Catholics, which, as you might imagine, it did a lot during his tenure from 2005 to 2011.

“To be Catholic, you must be pro-life,” Sambi would always say. “But to be Catholic, it’s not enough to be pro-life,” using the term in its American sense of “anti-abortion.”

Sambi could have been the godfather of Digntias Infinita, because that’s its message too. Now, the question becomes how well that message will be received and applied, a point arguably of special interest in America ahead of the 2024 elections.