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Sonny,

Thank you for that interesting information on the Church of England's Church Social Union. You might also be interested in the following on the Catholic-Labor network (www.catholiclabor.org [catholiclabor.org]). A conference is scheduled in Washington, DC February 23 - 24th.

Kurt

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The Catholic-Labor Network hopes to be a place for those Catholics, lay, religious and clergy, who are active in their churches and in unions to learn about their Church's teachings as regards to labor issues, pray for those who are working for economic justice and share information about events and struggles that may be taking place in their area.

For over one hundred years, the Catholic Church has been a voice of support for workers, and a conscience to the body politic when it pondered issues dealing with the distribution of wealth and the condition of workers.

As far back as 1891, Pope Leo XIII proclaimed a radical new message to the people of Europe, and to a lesser extent North America. Pope Leo's encyclical, Rerum Novarum, spoke out clearly for those who participated in God's creative power by the work of their hands and minds. He pointed out the errors intrinsic to the new Socialist philosophies that were spreading among intellectuals and workers. Though these philosophies attempted to give relief to the working class they often did so by introducing a new state of war, the Class Struggle, and a new social structures that was threatening to the family and the traditions of society. However, Pope Leo's concerns were not reserved only for those who would be considered on the left. He strongly called to task the new bourgeois class who used their new wealth as a means of controlling and oppressing the industrial worker.

The pope reminded the owners of production that they could not ignore the inherent, divine dignity of every worker, and that the welfare of workers and their families could not be left to the invisible hand of the market place. Finally, he reminded all concerned that workers have an inherent right to organize themselves into associations so that they could collectively work for their common good and prosperity.

This first encyclical had a dramatic effect on European and North American thought and public policy. It established Catholic social teaching, defined the fundamental principles for which subsequent Catholic teaching would emerge, and placed the Church firmly on the side workers when they sought justice and dignity in their workplace and in society.

The spirit of Rerum Novarum grabbed the hearts of many clergy, religious and Catholic laity. In our country, many of the Catholic labor leaders and clergy took up the challenges of Rerum Novarum, and worked diligently to bring Pope Leo's vision to bear in the work place and in society.

Great Catholic figures like Msgr. John Ryan, Dorothy Day, John Cort, Msgr. George Higgins and others dedicated their lives to make the fundamental principles of economic justice which was found in Rerum Novarum and subsequent papal encyclicals part of the very fabric of society.
In 1995, a small group of religious , laity and clergy gathered in Decatur, Illinois, a town that was being rocked by two major strikes and one lockout. Their goal was to hear from those who had been active in Catholic-labor issues, pray with one another, and to begin to re-establish a network of support.

Dear Kurt and Sonny,

Well, I see the two of you have found each other.

God bless,

Alex

I hate to be the 'papa-san'/'mama-san' on this issue from the Greek perspective, but I think that traditionally, the 'sanctification' of an individual comes from the 'ekklesia' or 'community'. Who better than the 'sanctified's community' to determine who is worthy of veneration or not. To abdicate this responsibility to a bureaucratic entity is just a cop out.

From the 'grace perspective', it is clear that the people of God are ultimately responsible for the status of the community, inculding the saints and blesseds. So: it's the parish or (better) the diocese that should make the determination as to who is worthy of veneration as a blessed or a saint. If the 'cult' is worthy of wider veneration, it will happen. If not, it will remain local or die out.

So, send Mother Teresa's documents (or Fr. Walter Ciszeks' documents) to Rome. But in the interim, let the community do what is necessary -- with or without the approbation of the 'authorities'. Thank God for the existence of diocesan realities where the people and the bishops work in harmony.

If one is convinced of the sanctity of an individual, then ACT that way and DON'T wait for 'official' papers. You'll be long dead when the papers come in!!!

Jurisdictional approbation? Yeah, sure.

Blessings!

Dear Dr. John,

Your words have a special ring to them after my experiences yesterday!

I came across an historic marker in a community five minutes' drive from my home.

It marked the life of an Irish cleaning woman, Ann Preston, who lived until she was 96 years old and reposed in the Lord in 1906.

She retired to her "prayer shed" where she prayed for many hours. Miracles of healing were attributed to her during her lifetime and she was called, sometimes derisively, "Holy Ann."

The name stuck and the municipality has officially called her "Holy Ann Preston," as do all the local people.

There is a well next to her prayer shed that people have come to to draw water to drink in her honour, and miracles of healing have been recorded.

The area is a park "Annswell Park" and her prayer shed and capped well are still there. Pilgrims and tourists still go there and I will join them this Saturday.

This would definitely be a classic example of a local saint, made so by popular acclamation.

The preservation of Holy Ann's prayer shed (what a great way to get away from everyone to be alone with God!), her holy well (for which the Celts were famous) and the cottage in which she worked are truly a kind of local "canonization" and one in which all the residents, Catholic or not, join in declaring.

And in Greece, as you would especially know, Sir, there are many such local saints considered so in the view of his or her village and perhaps the next.

The bishop establishes a feast, an icon is written, a paraclesis is served - another saint is born!

God bless,

Alex

Thanks Alex for the wonder-full information on this good woman. There's lots of folks out there who just "do it" in terms of leading holy, prayerful lives. Some get recognition, like Mother Teresa; others, like Ann Preston, get some local reputation; others still are lost in the recesses of time, forgotten.

Is there some information on the web about this wonderful lady? Perhaps the local township has a website with a section devoted to her?

I know in Somerville (Mass.) where I grew up, the area where I lived was called the 'nunnery grounds' in the East end of town. There was in the very early 1800s an Ursuline convent there that on one evening was attacked by a "know nothing" mob. The good sisters removed the tabernacle from the chapel and sequestered it among the vegetable plants in the garden. Unfortunately, it was found by the mob and the Sacrament was desecrated. A number of the sisters and their girl pupils were injured. There is still veneration of the good sisters in the parish area today.

(A side note: when the Irish -- and French -- Catholics learned of the burning of the convent, a mob left downtown Boston heading for the Charles River Bridge, crossing into Cambridge. Their intent was to burn Harvard College, the 'Prot school'. The bishop, I believe it was Benedict Joseph Flaget, mounted a horse and rode like crazy to get to the bridge to stop the crowd. He succeeded in convincing them that to burn Harvard in retribution for "our school" was not the right way. The mob dispersed. And Harvard was saved.

But the good sisters (and their pupils) are still remembered in the prayers of the Catholic community of Charlestown, Somerville and Cambridge.

Blessings!

Dr. John,

I tremble to try to improve on the good doctor, but can I take you a step further? You write:


May I say is freeing ourself from unneeded bureaucracy, even the eparchy might not be the best locale. In some particular cases, a person's holiness might not be best know in say, a far-flung diocese like Passaic, but in an internet community (as certainly will be Alex's route to veneration after many more years with us), or among some other non-geoprahical community. Maybe a saint of the Melkite Emmaus House community will be known throughout Harlem but not throughout the Newton Eparchy. Religious communities have spread veneration throughout the world, and mass communications can allow for a cult to leap frog large bodies of land. Am I right?

K.

P.S. Here is another example, which may cause some more accusations that I am hopelessly latinized, but what the heck.

Among an element of our people, and myself included, we developed a devotion to St. Thomas More. (less in icons, more in prayers and spiritual reading). He was not a man of our ritual tradition or patrimomy. However, during the period when our people were so oppressed by a totalitarian state he was an example of conscience and willingness to give up his life for the corporate unity of the Catholic Church. Clearly, (to me anyway) from 1946-90, this was a saint with great meaning to a people of which he had no connection to while on this earth.

Yet we have no idea how much good was done by his prayers for us and our catacomb church.

K.

[ 01-30-2002: Message edited by: Kurt ]

Dear Dr. John,

And thank you for sharing your hagiographical story - may those holy nuns pray unto God for us!

Here is the site for the walking tour on which Holy Ann Preston's house and park are mentioned and indicated. Again, this is five minutes from where I live:

http://www.thornhillhistoric.org/walktour.htm

A case in point as to how widely she is venerated among even non-Catholics, I met a lady yesterday, the owner of the house that we are currently interested in, and she was to have a hernia operation today. I mentioned that she should invoke the help of Holy Ann. She quickly replied, "Oh, I have, I have - and I do always!"

This house was built by a master builder, one John Edey, and it too is on the map I enclose.

John Edey, as it turns out, also built the Church which the Ukrainians bought and is now St Vladimir's Ukrainian Catholic Church!

I suggested to the President of the Church Committee to have an annual Liturgy with pannakhida for this Irish Catholic and his family and put out an invitation to the entire surrounding community to attend.

They'll do it!

Alex

Dear Kurt,

Thank you for your kind comments, er, I think . . .

You are always in my prayers!

St Thomas More - now there's a fascinating hagiographical subject!

His "Utopia" definitely does make him attractive to Christians emphasizing the social conscience and activism (I strongly suspect you are right in there?).

More prayed three hours daily, wore a hairshirt and slept only five hours each night. He attended Mass daily, took Fridays off to fast and meditate on Christ's Passion, and no matter what secular rank he held, always sang in choir. He helped the poor and often travelled the alleys of London asking if there was anyone who needed help. Upon learning of a woman with child, he prayed for her until delivery . . .

40 years after his martyrdom, the Pope approved a local saint's cult for Thomas More in Rome that existed until his beatification in the nineteenth century and canonization in 1935 with John Fisher.

Although he has been called the "Martyr for the Papacy," we know from history that nothing could be further from the actual truth.

His views on the papacy were, in fact, quite close to what one might consider to be an "Orthodox" collegial perspective.

He did not hold to one view on the Papacy, but to several and said so in the recorded minutes of his trial and questionings.

He said that he accepts that a Pope may define doctrine as part of an Ecumenical Council, to define what the Church always held to be the truth etc.

In fact, Thomas Cranmer was himself in agreement, believe it or not, with a number of the views on the role of the Petrine Ministry that Thomas More held. It is a fact that Cranmer tried frantically to save More's life, but the royal divorce issue could not be overlooked.

Although "Man for all Seasons" by Robert Bolt (himself a former communist)portrayed the "good guys" versus the "bad guys" in good Hollywood style, Thomas Cromwell, the main protagonist in the play, was never seen as an enemy of Thomas More by either More himself or his family.

After his death, More's daughter asked Cromwell to be a Godfather for her child, something he happily consented to being.

The angry words that Bolt has coming from the mouth of Cromwell, actually came from that of More's friend, the Duke of Norfolk.

In addition, another Eastern connection here is More's struggle to keep the secular world from dominating the Church - shades of Imperial Byzantium etc.

As one commentator wrote, "When it came to defining religious doctrine in the spiritual world of Thomas More, the Pope was first and the King was . . . nowhere!"

More was also a fluent speaker of classical Greek and read widely in the Eastern Church fathers, whose works he copiously quoted in his many theological writings, including those against Martin Luther and William Tyndale.

My favourite quote from him, noted in the play (I played Thomas More in an excellent high school production . . .), "You keep your life in your own hands, Thomas, as you always have!"

"Is that so, my lord? Then I will keep a good grip on it . . ."

Alex

[ 01-30-2002: Message edited by: Orthodox Catholic ]

Yes, Alex. Of course the Dukes of Norfolk (the Howard family) later became the leading Catholic family of England.

My favorite lines from the play are in More's lecture to his son in law on the important of the law.

K.

Dear Kurt,

I visited Arundel where the Norfolks now reside and visited the Tomb of St Philip Howard who was sentenced to die and then spent 17 years in the Tower not knowing when he would die. He died a natural death and his relics are in St Philip's Cathedral in Arundel.

He was converted by his Catholic wife, Anne D'Acre, who, when dying, told the then wayward Philip, "Death is a terrible, terrible thing."

Philip's grandson followed his grandfather as a martyr for the Catholic faith and is today Blessed William Howard.

In the basement of the Howard Castle, I saw the great sword of the Howards with which King James IV of Scotland was killed in battle and that allowed the Howards to bear the Royal Arms of Scotland in their heraldry for all time.

God bless,

Alex