Catholic Replies
Editor’s Note: Responding to the person who asked where he could send a large collection of Catholic books that he had acquired over the years, G.T.G. of Maine suggested getting in touch with Sr. Stephen Larson, OSB, librarian of Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary, P.O. Box 147, Denton, NE 68339. This seminary was established in 1991 and has been building its collection of Catholic books ever since. Sr. Stephen can also be reached by phone at 402-797-7700, ext. 136. We would suggest that you talk to Sr. Stephen first to see what books she would welcome, rather than automatically ship books to her.
Q. Would you kindly inform us of the history of the “gift of tears”? The why and how of it? — R.B.A., Montana.
A. We’re not sure of the history of the gift of tears, but Pope Francis has referred to it several times in his brief papacy. For example, in April 2013, he said that this was a charism often associated with the saints and that we should ask God for the ability to weep like Mary Magdalene at the tomb of our Lord.
“All of us have felt joy, sadness, and sorrow in our lives,” the Holy Father said, but “have we wept during the darkest moments? Have we had that gift of tears that prepare the eyes to look, to see the Lord? We, too, can ask the Lord for the gift of tears. It is a beautiful grace…to weep praying for everything: for what is good, for our sins, for graces, for joy itself.”
While meeting refugees from Africa as they arrived by boat at the Italian island of Lampedusa in July 2013, Pope Francis asked: “Who has wept for the deaths of these brothers and sisters? Who has wept for the people who were on the boat? For the young mothers carrying their babies? For these men who wanted something to support their families? We are a society that has forgotten the experience of weeping, of ‘suffering with’; the globalization of indifference has taken from us the ability to weep.”
He challenged his listeners to “ask the Lord for the grace to weep over our indifference, to weep over the cruelty in the world, in ourselves, and even in those who anonymously make socioeconomic decisions that open the way to tragedies like this. Who has wept? Who in today’s world has wept?”
In his lenten reflection to the priests of Rome in March of 2014, the Holy Father urged his fellow priests to pray for the grace of mercy and then asked them:
“Tell me, do you weep, or have we lost our tears? I remember in the old missals, those of another time, there is a very beautiful prayer to ask for the gift of mercy. The prayer began like this, ‘Lord, you who gave Moses the order to strike the stone so that water would come out, strike the stone of my heart so that tears….’ The prayer was like this, more or less. It was very beautiful. But how many of us weep in the face of the suffering of a child, of the destruction of a family, of so many people who do not find the way?…
“Do you weep? Or in this presbytery, have we lost our tears? Do you weep for your people? Tell me, do you pray before the tabernacle? Do you struggle with the Lord for your people, as Abraham struggled?. . . Do you argue with the Lord, as Moses did?…These men had guts! And I ask the question: Do you have the guts to struggle with God for our people?”
Q. When we purchased annuities from the Legion of Christ, we did not know about its founder, Fr. Marcial Maciel. Now the organization continues to send us appeals to buy more retirement income. Please advise us whether the Legion of Christ is approved by the Church. – E.F.W., Florida.
A. After a dozen years of turmoil over Fr. Maciel’s record of corruption and sexual abuse, the Legion of Christ elected a new general director at a meeting this past January and issued a series of apologies to the many victims of Maciel’s immoral actions and to those who were silenced when they tried to expose him. In a communiqué, the Legion said that “we are grieved that many victims and other affected persons have waited so long in vain for an apology and an act of reconciliation on the part of Fr. Maciel. Today, we would like to issue that apology as we express our solidarity with those persons.”
The new general director is Mexican priest Fr. Eduardo Robles Gil, 61, whose election was confirmed by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. Fr. Robles Gil, who has been superior of Legionary communities in Brazil and Chile, said that “we can’t erase the past. We have to learn the lessons, mourn what occurred, trust in God’s mercy, and, like St. Paul, run forward in pursuit of the goal of reaching Christ.”
The Holy See also appointed two other men to help lead the Legion — Fr. Juan José Arrieta and Fr. Juan Sabadell.
As far as the handling of funds and the financial situation of the group is concerned, an Economic Affairs Commission, established in 2011 by pontifical delegate Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, concluded its investigation by saying that they “did not find embezzlements of money or other irregularities in the fiscal actions that were reviewed.” The commission did say that steps must be taken immediately to reduce the Legion’s huge debt, which was caused by its rapid expansion and the falloff in donations as the scandal became public.
So in answer to your question, the Legion of Christ is approved by the Church, but we would wait awhile before buying any more retirement income from them.
Q. I have read articles on the doctrine of “no salvation outside the Church,” but I recall reading a commentary some years ago to the effect that no one in the entire world who died without water Baptism could be saved under any personal circumstances. Can you explain this doctrine again? — R.P., New Hampshire.
A. We have also read some commentaries about water Baptism being the only way to Heaven, and have been berated for suggesting that there are other kinds of Baptism, even though that is what the Church teaches. It is correct to say, as the Catechism does (cf. n. 846), that “all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body.” It is also correct to say, as the Catechism does (cf. n. 1257), that “Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament” (cf. Mark 16:16).
However, the Catechism also says (cf. n. 1258) that “the Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism, brings about the fruits of Baptism without being a sacrament.”
The Catechism says further (cf. n. 1259) that “for catechumens who die before their Baptism, their explicit desire to receive it, together with repentance for their sins, and charity, assures them the salvation that they were not able to receive through the sacrament.”
Summing up the Church’s teaching on the necessity of Baptism to get to Heaven, the Catechism says (cf. n. 1260):
“ ‘Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal Mystery’ [GS, n. 22 §5; cf. LG, n. 16; AG, n. 7]. Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.”
This is the clear and binding teaching of the Catholic Church, and those who say that only Baptism by water will get a person to Heaven are wrong. They are not only wrong, but in denying a solemn teaching of the Church, they are putting their own souls in jeopardy. In a 1949 letter about these matters, Archbishop (later Cardinal) Richard Cushing of Boston warned these persons that, “having heard the clear voice of their Mother, they cannot be excused from culpable ignorance, and therefore to them applies without any restriction that principle: submission to the Catholic Church and to the Sovereign Pontiff is required as necessary for salvation.”
