The stupidest sentence I saw today was in an article on ABC News.
Next week, the Pope will visit the tomb of Mary MacKillop, the founder of Australia’s Josephite nuns.
Mary MacKillop is just one step away from becoming a saint after being beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1995. But to be canonised as Australia’s first saint, the Josephite sisters must first find proof of a miracle.
While miracles are still popular in some parts of the world, there are some within the Catholic Church who say they have no place in the modern Church, but then, it all depends on who you talk to.
Now, in what parts of the world are miracles unpopular? Which geographical group would be up in arms to witness a miracle?
Well, the intrepid reporter found someone who is actually anti-miracle. And guess what -he’s a former priest.
Paul Collins is a former priest, but still a devout Catholic, however he is critical of Pope John Paul II’s saint-making record.
“Now, I have to say that whenever the media calls me and asks me to comment on miracles, I tend to get a bit restless and I tend to squirm a little in the seat,” he said.
“I really felt that in the second part of his papacy, all types of – I have to say in some cases, quite odd or unusual people were made saints and I’m not really certain that that achieved very much for the Church generally.”
Mr Collins says while belief in miracles is strong in South America, Africa and parts of Asia, there is a growing number of Catholic faithful in developed countries who quietly cringe at the miracle business.
“I think in a sceptical, questioning world like ours, a world where science in many ways is, if you like, the dominant paradigm, I think that within that context, miracles don’t quite make so much sense,” he said.
Yes. God doesn’t make so much sense in this modern day world. I mean isn’t this guy essentially saying that among savages it’s ok to believe in miracles but us big-brains in developed countries don’t believe in that kind of stuff.
But this former priest intrigued me a little. I found online his resignation letter after 33 years of serving as a priest. Here’s one of his main reasons for leaving according to him:
The fact that we are retreating from the Vatican II vision of Catholicism may not be everyone’s view of what is actually taking place in the church. I accept that, and I also accept that the tension between a broad, open vision of Catholicism rooted in living experience, and a narrower, static hierarchical view of faith, runs right through church history.
Ah…I see.
He also says the church is guilty of “muzzling” people on the important issues of the day like female ordination.
I think the funniest thing about this article is that this reporter was told to do a story on an Australian nun who may become a saint and who does he search through his Rolodex for but a former priest who is guaranteed to have something snarky and cynical to say against the Church.
July 12, 2008 at 5:08 am
Pope John Paul did canonize a number of questionable saints – over 400 in total. That’s more saints than the past several popes combined!
I’m a bit skeptical myself I have to admit.
July 12, 2008 at 5:14 am
mfranks:
Given the “miracle” of modern communication, it is easier to learn the news about lives of “heroic virtue” as would be required of a saint’s cause. Given the millions who were persecuted in World War II, there may have been a lot of heroism and virtue to go around. Of course, I dunno, I wasn’t there. Then again, JPII was.
What I do know, is that this story which was supposed to be about Australia’s first canonized saint, ended up being about something else entirely.
I’m definitely in the wrong line of work.
July 12, 2008 at 7:04 am
“Paul Collins is a former priest, but still a devout Catholic”…or Paul Collins is a former Catholic but still a devout priest.
Whichever fits best at the moment of greatest need. My hunch is that the latter contains the greater truth if not the entire one.
July 12, 2008 at 9:13 am
David,
I was born skeptical and was schooled as a scientist – a biologist who also struggles with Evolution vs. Creation Science – but that’s a different discussion altogether.
Before reverting two years ago, I was an agnostic and for a good 25 years or more I wondered in the desert away from the Church. Only through God’s infinite grace do I finally have a faith I never would have dreamed possible. It took 44 years for God to reveal himself in my life in such a way whereas I could no longer ignore Him nor further doubt his existence.
However, my nature nonetheless remains skeptical in many matters, I’m afraid.
Returning back to the point of discussion, it appears to me that more than modern communications were at work here with respect to the large number of Saints canonized under Pope John Paul II. Quite a number of these JP2 Saints appear to be politically motivated and agenda driven. Furthermore, it also appears that the bar for canonical sainthood has been lowered as well, if I have my facts straight. Didn’t the number of miracles required get lowered from 3 to 2 and wasn’t the number of years after death of a candidate for sainthood shortened considerably as well?
Of course, true Martyrs are excluded from my skepticism.
Perhaps my parents should have named me Thomas instead of my brother.
In Christo et ex anima.
July 12, 2008 at 12:40 pm
For such persons, the Church is little more than a human organisation. For, if the supernatural element is done away with, you can explain away miracles, advocate for equality of the sexes in ordination, etc.
July 12, 2008 at 1:06 pm
mfranks,
Couple points:
1. There were more martyrs last century than in the previous 19. That may have had something to do with things — always easier to canonize a martyr (like St. Kolbe, say).
2. Yes, many were politically motivated. By this I mean JPII was actively looking for people from particular classes, rather than simply letting popular accord do its work. Why? To show the importance of the lay-witness, for one. Proportionately too many clergy in the index of Saints was giving people the idea that holiness was for people in orders. JPII wanted to counteract that with a view that he sometimes termed the “universal call to holiness”. Also, take St. Gianna Beretta Molla – a woman who refused abortion. I think the Holy Father was trying to say something there as well, and something particularly relevant to our times.
Political motivations for canonization doesn’t mean the folks were not really Saints or were somehow less holy – it simply means the JPII was, as I said, actively looking for people who lived lives of particular heroic virtue.
In case you’re interested, a partial list of the Saints canonized by JPII (with bios) can be found here You might also notice a few mass canonizations – like the 103 Korean Martyrs and the 105 Vietnamese Martyrs. Such groups rather inflate his tallies.
As for the reforms of the process, there’s some good info here and here (start about 1/3 of the way down with the para. starting “The cultus”).
God Bless,
Ryan
July 12, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Some background on Paul Collins.
Fr Collins was a priest (a MSC – an order that has totally lost its way in Australia) for 33 years, but always seemed more interested in developing a career as an “author and broadcaster” than in praying or saving souls.
Since leaving the priesthood, he’s become the go-to guy for any secularist media outlet (and the ABC in particular) when they want someone to slag off the Pope.
But he’s been writing bad books for years:
1. Mixed Blessings, 1986 – What he argued in that book was that Rome was obstructing progress towards a more democratic, less institutional church.
2. No Set Agenda, 1991 – The Church in Australia is in crisis [no shit – but for reasons the very opposite of those suggested by Collins].
3. God’s Earth followed in 1995. This time Collins took the church to task for neglecting the environment – not least over its ban on artificial birth control. Paulie says “Paganism! Unrestrained bonking! Yay!”.
4. Finally, two years later, Papal Power appeared – “a study of the centralisation of power in the papacy” and of what Collins maintains are the distortions of theology and tradition used to justify it. Quote “Just as the model of the absolute monarch or dictator places the ruler not only above the state and its laws but above society itself, so the papalist interpretations of primacy and infallibility (make) the Pope into some type of solo guru and intermediary between God and the church.”
So I don’t know how this man can claim to be a “devout Catholic” as he did on the ABC last night.
Someone shopped him to the CDF over “Papal Power”, and he left the priesthood soon after.
But if you want a “devout Catholic” and “former Priest” to endorse something condemned by scripture, tradition, and the magesterium, Paul’s your guy.
In 2006, Collins (and others) complained to the CDF that Card Pell “is teaching inaccurate and misleading doctrine” with respect to the doctrine of conscience. Cardinal Pell’s response was typically direct: “This is a real hoot – such well-known defenders of orthodoxy as Paul Collins, Veronica Brady and Max Charlesworth appealing to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.” Indeed his name has become an episcopal by-word for heterodoxy!
July 12, 2008 at 4:05 pm
“Quite a number of these JP2 Saints appear to be politically motivated and agenda driven…. and wasn’t the number of years after death of a candidate for sainthood shortened considerably as well?”
In the case of certain requirements, yes. But I think Benedict has tightened them up again. And the “number of years” requirement is still the same, I think, though there have been some very well publicized exceptions. Those are the ones you hear about.
I wouldn’t know about saints who were “agenda-driven.” That seems a pretty sweeping accusation to me. But I’d have to agree, your parents should have named you Thomas.
July 12, 2008 at 4:24 pm
mfranks,
As it turns out, the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints has already addressed many of your concerns directly. Might as well go for the horse’s mouth, so to speak.
God Bless,
Ryan
July 14, 2008 at 12:08 am
Paul Collins is *NOT* a devout Catholic. He left the church (and his order and the priesthood) after being summoned to Rome to discuss some possible errors in his writings.
He is currently still causing trouble for his order and is the current poster child for women’s ordination. He argues against the pope, the magisterium and the cardinal. I think that disqualifies one from being a *devout* Catholic.
July 14, 2008 at 4:01 am
The process towards sainthood is still a daunting path, as it entails a life of holiness.
The process of being declared a saint by the Church is no slack process either. It’s a very tedious affair which usually borders on the side of doubt, until the evidence is completely gathered, contemplated and sifted through, complete with documented miracles.
I think a reason John Paul canonized so many is that no one had really been canonizing in awhile, and he was after all on the Chair of Peter for quite a length of days.
But no, the standards were not lowered. To be declared a saint the Church must believe you are in heaven. That’s … easy?