Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Cross, Page 4
Thursday, March 1, 2001
On the Lenten journey together
E very year, hundreds of adults in
south Georgia and scores of
thousands around the country do
something extraordinary: they come
into the Catholic Church. Given the
non-Catholic (and occasionally anti-
Catholic) ethos of this nation and
especially of this region, the cou
rage of these catechumens and can
didates for full communion is all the
more striking.
They come from all kinds of
backgrounds and for various rea
sons. Some are engaged or married
to Catholics and come the Church
through the example of their
beloved. Others have long been
searching for the truth that they
find in the Catholic tradition. Still
others have been attracted by the
warmth and spirit of a particular
Catholic community in which they
now feel at home. Their journeys
can be lonely; some have been
opposed by their families and
friends. They have a tremendous
need to be welcomed by those
already Catholic, especially as they
celebrate the Rite of Election and
their reception of the Sacraments
of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.
At the Rite of Election, the bish
op elects the previously unbaptized
catechumens for Baptism, Con
firmation and first Eucharist at the
Easter Vigil Mass, to be celebrated
this year after sundown on April
14. Together with the Rite of
Election, the bishop will celebrate
the Call to Continuing Conversion
for the already-baptized candidates
for full communion with the
Catholic Church. They will not be
rebaptized, but will make a profes
sion of faith and be confirmed and
given first Holy Communion at the
Easter Vigil or soon after.
Bishop J. Kevin Boland will cel
ebrate the Rite of Election and the
Call to Continuing Conversion
twice this year: at Sacred Heart
Parish, Warner Robins, on Satur
day, March 3 at 11:00 a.m. and on
Sunday March 4 at the Cathedral
of Saint John the Baptist, Savan
nah. It is vitally important that the
catechumens and candidates be
affirmed by the presence of their
sponsors and instructors and by
other members of the Catholic
community on these occasions.
It is even more important that the
Catholics of south Georgia take
seriously the Lenten challenge to
accompany the catechumens and
candidates on their Lenten journey
towards Easter.
Lent was originally a 40-day spir
itual retreat, a period of “purifica
tion and enlightenment” for cate
chumens approaching the Easter
sacraments. During this period, they
would fast in order to be purified of
earthly attachments; they would
pray and give alms in order to be
enlightened in the ways of charity,
of love for God and neighbor.
The existing Christian communi
ty soon began to join the catechu
mens in the disciplines of Lent, not
only because the already baptized
were preparing to renew their bap
tismal promises at Easter, but also
as a sign of solidarity with those
preparing for baptism.
May we who are already bap
tized, confirmed and entitled to
receive the Eucharist accompany
our catechumens and candidates by
our fasting, praying and almsgiv
ing during this Lent.
—DKC
^^uestion: What is a cardinal?
—Wondering
A nswer: According to Webster s Dictionary,
a cardinal is “a high official of the Roman
Catholic Church who ranks next below the pope
and is appointed by him to assist him as a mem
ber of the College of Cardinals.” Here is a brief
history and explanation of the duties of cardinals.
For many centuries now, the cardinal bishops
of the Roman province and the cardinal priests
and deacons of the Diocese of Rome have in
fact been selected from among the leading
churchmen of the Latin rite. Recently, some
have even been chosen from among the patri
archs of the Eastern rites. Thus prominent bish
ops and archbishops from around the world and
the heads of major Vatican offices are appointed
as cardinal deacons, priests or bishops. Their
Roman diaconates, parishes or dioceses are only
“titular.” In their capacity—as deacons, priests
and bishops of the Roman province—the cardi
nals elect a Bishop of Rome. For example,
Bernard Cardinal Law is entitled to vote in a
papal election because he is the Cardinal Priest
of the Church of Santa Susanna in Rome, and
not because he is the Archbishop of Boston.
The cardinals function as a “college” or
“body” when summoned by the pope to a con
sistory, in which they listen to papal proposals
and give advice, or when assembled in conclave
to govern the Church during a vacancy of the
Holy See and to elect a successor to the
deceased pope. The College of Cardinals gained
the exclusive right to elect the pontiff in the
middle ages, after election by the Roman popu
lace proved too capable of manipulation by sec
ular powers. The one exception occurred in
1415, when an ecumenical council resolved the
Great Schism and elected a new pope, Martin V.
From Pope Sixtus V in 1586 until Blessed
John XXIII in 1958, the number of cardinals
was set at 70. The College of Cardinals consist-
Questions & Answers
ed of 14 cardinal deacons (mostly officials in
the Roman curia or papal court), 49 cardinal
priests and seven cardinal bishops (the most
senior members of the college). The cardinal
deacons and bishops resided in Rome or nearby,
while the cardinal priests were resident in their
dioceses throughout the world.
Pope John XXIII abolished the upper limit of
70 cardinals in 1958 and also required that all
the cardinals be ordained to the order of bishop.
At that time, the cardinal deacons, though pre
fects of Vatican congregations and thus im
mensely influential, were only in priests’ orders.
Sacramentally, cardinals are bishops (except for
the few cardinal theologians, who are priests); as
Pope John noted, there is no higher sacramental
office in the Church than that of bishop. In 1962,
he also made the cardinal bishops only “titulars,”
that is, no longer actually responsible for the
governance of the dioceses of the Roman
Province. The Dean of the Sacred College of
Cardinals, elected by the college, is always
given the title “Bishop of Ostia.” Bemardin
Cardinal Gantin, of Benin, is dean.
Pope Paul VI kept expanding the college and
internationalizing it, decreeing in the 1970s that
only those cardinals under the age of 80 were
eligible to vote in the conclave. He set the num
ber of electors at 120 and the total membership
of the college at 140. Pope John Paul II has
reaffirmed the decision of Paul VI limiting the
electors to those under 80, but has several times
appointed more than 120 electors and more than
140 cardinals in toto. Whenever he has done
this, he has dispensed from these limits rather
than abolishing them. The consistory of
February 21, 2001, brought the number of elec
tors to 135 and the total number of cardinals to
183; both numbers are record highs.
He has also revived the custom of appointing
noted theologians to the college. The most
recent is Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, the first
American to be so honored. As he is over 80, he
is not eligible to vote and, like most of the ven
erable theologians appointed cardinals (De
Lubac, Von Balthasar), he is expected to be dis
pensed from having to be ordained a bishop.
The pope occasionally creates a cardinal in
pectore (“within the breast”), that is, announc
ing that he has named a cardinal without releas
ing his name, usually because of the danger of
persecution from a hostile regime. Once pro
claimed, that cardinal enjoys precedence
according to the original date of creation.
All cardinals are entitled to wear the striking
red choir dress (cassock, mozzetta, skull cap
and biretta) characteristic of the college and to
wear “pontificals” at Mass (miter, crosier, pec
toral cross and ring), characteristic of the order
of bishops, even if, like Cardinal Dulles, they
are not bishops. Eastern patriarchs made cardi
nal are no longer presented with the red biretta,
in deference to their tradition. The large red
galero or red hat with tassels, still seen on a car
dinal’s coat of arms, is no longer imposed on
the new cardinal. Except at the ceremony of
creating cardinals, it had not been worn for cen
turies. Its only use was to be hung from rafters
of the cardinal’s titular church or his own cathe
dral after his death. Pious legend had it that
when it finally dropped to the ground, the cardi
nal’s soul was released from Purgatory. A spe
cial galero was made for Cardinal Joseph
Bemardin, who had not received one at his cre
ation, and was hung from the rafters of Holy
Name Cathedral in Chicago after his death in
1996. A Cardinal is addressed as “Your Emi
nence” and signs his name, for example, “Avery
Cardinal Dulles.”
—DKC
Editor’s Note: Submit questions by writing to
The Southern Cross, 601E. Liberty St., Sa
vannah, GA 31401 or by e-mailing
DClark5735@aol.com. If your question ap
pears in print, you will receive a souvenir from
the diocesan sesquicentennial. Please include
address.