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Paul, Apostle of Christ

Director: Andrew Hyatt * Cast: Jim Caviezel, James Faulkner Olivier Martinez, Joanne Whalley John Lynch (2018, 108 minutes)

The movie dramatizes the last days of St Paul the Apostle against the background of the brutal persecution of Christians under the Emperor Nero, who was actually responsible for the burning down of Rome, but blames the Christians. Paul is imprisoned, to be executed as their leader…

Unbroken

Director: Angelina Jolie * Cast: Jack O’Connell         Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund, Miyavi, Finn Wittrock, Jai Courtney, Maddalena Ischiale,           Vincenzo Amato, John Magaro, Luke Treadaway, Louis McIntosh (2014, 137 minutes)

Based on the life story of the American Olympian and World War veteran, Louis Zamperini (Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption), the movie highlights human faith, endurance, courage and forgiveness. Young Louis Zamperini is a rebellious delinquent, bullied by schoolmates and a source of worry for his parents. He becomes a long distance champion and celebrity, who distinguished himself in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, even congratulated by Hitler…

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This magazine reaches all the Catholic bishops of India and every major superior of religious orders, as well as thousands of religious communities and an increasing number of well-educated lay women and men.

The main responsibility of a religious superior—bishop, provincial, local superior, parish priest—is not administration, but animation.

Details of administration—financial matters, property dealings, salaries, bank accounts, …–are better left to experts. One becomes a religious or priest, or is then appointed to a position of leadership, not for one’s expertise in accounts and putting up buildings, or doing marketing and banking.

In church settings, a superior’s main role is animation—dealing with people in a Christ-like manner, helping people on their inner journey, creating loving communities, reaching out the weakest and most forgotten, helping younger members to become humanly and spiritually mature. It would be sad and a terrible let down, if a community superior, provincial or bishop were good at money matters and material constructions, but poor or deficient in helping people reach the goals for which they are members of the Church or of a religious order or priesthood.

This, unfortunately, happens—more frequently than it should. As an experienced priest-psychologist once told me, “If I am putting up a building, and want information on bricks and cement, there are many priests and religious who can advise me on this; but if I have a problem of faith, or some other spiritual struggle, it is hard to find a priest or religious who can help me with this.”

Animation is the heart of the matter—not putting up or maintaining buildings or investing money cleverly.

A key element of animation is what is called “accompaniment.”

This includes what goes by such names as counselling, spiritual direction, confession, manifestation of conscience, chat with the superior, etc.

In simple and direct terms: We choose to be part of the Church, or join religious life or the priesthood, not just to teach maths and English, or be a doctor or nurse or social worker, or maintain accounts and properties. These activities can be done by anyone. They do not require faith in Jesus, or a spiritual life, or, much less, celibate community life.

We belong to the Church, or join special groups within it, to get closer to God, to live as God wants us to, and to share His compassionate love with others. This involves growing into mature human beings—loving, genuine, happy, responsible, creative—and keeping Jesus as our model.

This type of growth and ministry requires accompaniment. We need inspiring people to whom we feel free to open our minds and hearts, share our most beautiful dreams and most shameful or painful secrets—and receive, not condemnation, but compassionate help for healing and growth.

This is, in fact, the main work of what is called formation. Formation is not mere teaching, or filling the minds of the young with good ideas. It involves creating a loving and joyful atmosphere where a young person can grow up into a mature and Christ-like adult, helped by good example, opportunities for growth and, especially, chances for loving and competent accompaniment.

This issue is devoted to this important—and often neglected—aspect of formation and other animation ministries.

When we were born, our parents and other family members “accompanied” us twenty-four hours a day, seeing to our every need. We were totally dependent.

As an adult, I am the one mainly responsible for my growth and happiness. But I need help. I need people to whom I can turn with complete confidence, and share my inner world, and learn to take wise decisions, correct defects, overcome weaknesses, realize my potential.

When hold a position of leadership or authority, my main duty is to accompany those in my care, lovingly, joyfully, patiently, and with a certain degree of competence.

This accompaniment has different levels and forms. Read the cover story and see.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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Shared stories are beacons of hope. The shared stories of people who struggled to get out of porn to grow towards purity help those who find themselves in the same struggle.

A few years back I read the book titled, Delivered: True Stories of Men and Women Who Turned from Porn to Purity. It was authored by Matt Fradd, a married man who struggled with pornography and masturbation. The book tells the stories of men and women who victoriously came out of their addiction to porn or masturbation. If you ever felt that you wavered between loving the prison of lust and longing to be freed from it, then know that you are not alone. All wear battle scars and some of us will admit that we have a long way to go.

The book begins with a metaphoric hint taken from the movie 127 hours, wherein Mr. Aron Ralston, a mountain climber on his hiking adventure gets his hand trapped on a boulder. He takes desperate measures to survive the situation and struggles for 127 hours before he is rescued. Thinking of his wife Jessica and the desire to live, he decides to amputate his arm with a dull pocketknife. Matt Fradd explains two reasons why he began the book with the story of Ralston. First, when it comes to the topic of pornography, countless vocations hang in a balance. Potential marriages have been lost and many lose sight of their religious calling because of the spiritual blindness brought on by pornography. Second, many people feel crushed under the weight of their addiction. Many have tried countless methods to free themselves all alone, only to find that their efforts are never enough.

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Fr Aneesh Chacko SDB

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Well! Here we find ourselves a year and one half into the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.  We have been praying along with all in India and throughout Asia as the infections soared and then started coming back down. We are hopeful that this pandemic, which is reported to have infected over 200 million people worldwide and has resulted in four million deaths, will be brought under control.

As alarming and tragic as this pandemic has been, it actually pales in comparison to another epidemic that has raged unchecked in the world for decades and poses perhaps a greater threat to the future of our world over the long haul than COVID does.  The epidemic and threat that I refer to is that of pornography.

I have been extremely hesitant to raise such a topic in a publication whose primary audience is priests and religious. However, over the last couple of years I have been doing a lot of reading on the health of our Church.   We are currently witnessing continued erosion in family formation, with young people choosing to put off marriage and expressing reluctance to have children.  This is a foreboding prospect for the future of the Church.

It is incumbent upon us to recognize that one of the greatest and still growing threats to the family and family formation is pornography, which continues to fuel moral decline in our world.  We need to learn how to talk about it!  The future of our families depends on it!

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KEVIN SULLIVAN

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Dilip was browsing the web one day when he came across some nude pictures of women. He liked what he saw. And wanted to see more of them. He typed in “nude” on Google, and a whole series of nude pictures appeared. He typed in “sex” and graphic pictures of sexual activity appeared. The next day, when he opened his computer to do some work, sexual imagery began to pop up now and then, with links to porn sites. He began to access them. Gradually sexual imagery and activity began to fill his mind. Not satisfied with what was freely available, he began to spend money to access more and more hard-core stuff online. He was now spending an average 4-6 hours a day accessing porn… All this affected his work and his daily life and relationships. He cut out many other pleasurable activities he was interested in earlier, such as engaging in sports, spending time with friends, visiting places. He began to feel tired and exhausted. The joy and peace he used to experience began to disappear. He felt he needed to stay away from the porn sites, but could not. Accessing them became a compulsion. He began to hate himself for his inability to stay away from porn. He also began sinking into depression.

There is an explosion of Internet use today. A good deal of the Internet usage is driven by online pornographic pursuits. A sizable chunk of information available on the Internet is related to sexually explicit material. Sexually oriented chat rooms draw a large number of Internet users. Seminarians,  priests and religious are also part of the growing number of online pornography addicts. Often these forays into pornographic material begin as attempts to satisfy sexual curiosity, but develop into compulsions.

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FR JOSE PARAPPULLY SDB

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I am not sure if my experience is worth sharing. I do it with the hope that it may help some people who may have gone through the same or similar experiences. Those who have not gone through such tough and shameful passages may not understand their pull or their destructive impact. I shall write it down just as I remember it.

When I joined religious life, I had only one desire—to be a good sister. I enjoyed my novitiate days and I was waiting for the day to commit myself to the Lord in service of his people. I was happy to be a religious.

After my first vows I was assigned to a community far from where I had joined. I did various types of work—volunteering in a hospital nearby and helping our community with routines jobs. I felt happy working with patients, especially children. So, too, it was a joy doing all I could for my community. I was young and full of enthusiasm.

Loneliness Sets In—and then…

One thing I missed was community support. Each one was busy with her work. We did not seem to care for one another. I started feeling lonely. As for the work, it all became dull routine after some time.

That was the time I started watching pornography. At the beginning, I watched just out of curiosity. I had been exposed to this type of pictures and videos when I was in the X standard, but had not picked up this habit. But now I found myself watching porn more and more. In fact, I feel ashamed to say, very soon I was watching porn every day.

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As I said in the Editorial, the push came from Kevin Sullivan’s unexpected article on addiction to pornography. Kevin, a wonderfully loving husband, father and grandfather—as well as a smart and experienced lawyer—is deeply disturbed by the impact of this phenomenon on marriages, youth, the treatment of women, and commitments in general. As I started looking around for people who can contribute relevant material for our readers, I also noticed that Indian press has been looking at this issue.

During walks, I stop at bookshops and newsstands. I check what seems to be the main topics engaging our most widely read magazines. Most of the cover stories about politics and politicians, or about business and money. Among the magazines laid out on the rack, I was surprised to see these two cover stories: Outlook, the Delhi-based news weekly, had “Looking at Porn” as the cover theme of their August 16, 2021 issue. The Week, the popular magazine published by the Malayala Manorama group, had on its September 5, 2021 cover: “Porn During the Pandemic: India becomes the world’s top consumer of adult content. And our children become even more vulnerable.” Indians accessed pornography on a large scale during the lockdown. This happened in other countries, too. But India topped the increase.

Shouldn’t we be at least as concerned about our children, the safety of women, and the stability of marriages, as these secular magazines seem to be?

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

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1. What difference has reading made to your life?

Reading has been a companion in the time of my life struggles and trials. It has helped me to gather myself when I have experienced inner turmoil. At times, just reading a news article has helped me to look beyond myself and learn from the events happening around me. It has widened my horizons and made me less judgmental and subsequently molded me to become more of a listening person. It has helped me to be open to others and respect their individuality, their views and their opinions, thus making me less self-obsessed and more other-oriented. It has helped me expand my mind to perceive various possibilities and perspectives in life’s queries and problems.

2. Any book or author that has had a deep impact on you?

What on Earth Am I Here For? by Rick Warren has changed my outlook, attitude and my perspective of looking at my own life and calling. I read this book years ago, I may not remember its content, but I recall that it answered some questions I had about life, faith, God, purpose of life, etc. One such understanding that I always treasure is the realization of seeing God’s hand even when I can’t feel his presence.

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Fr Linus Dabre

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As someone who is expected to attend church every Sunday, I feel I am fit to talk about positives as well as negatives of the church and the priests, who, more often than not, bring the community together and make it feel like a family.

As part of the youth, I have mixed feelings towards church and its members, most of which come from personal or firsthand experience.

Being part of the church and the Catholic community has brought me closer to Christ, but also away from real world issues and problems. The minimal emphasis placed on so many issues that are taking place right now and only focusing on charity or just the in-group members—that feels like a lost cause. Sometimes, the experience of Christianity also feels stifling, fear-based and risk-averse.

Relaxing? Judgmental?

As for the experience that most people, especially the elder people, get from the church, the church may seem as a place to relax and unwind after a week of work and stress. More so, people may not even come to church because it is not as engaging as the youth would want it to be. Not only is the experience bland and dull, and someone would rather sleep at home and rest, but the church and its members, including the priests, sisters and the parish members, come across as judgmental. I have personally experienced people in the church being judgmental and focusing on what I am wearing than what is being said during the sermon. I was told not to wear ripped jeans. If so, why exactly would I want to come to a place where people are judgmental and have opinions on my body and what I wear, more than focusing on God. I am sure Jesus wouldn’t judge me for wearing ripped jeans and crop tops.

Apart from this, I am not saying that today’s youth want it easy and want the church to be hip for it to attract the youth. what the youth wants is for the church to inspire us to act. I, like many, appreciate challenging teaching in my church, even when it makes me feel uncomfortable and invites me to make changes based on scriptural principles.

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Angela Peter

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A reporter once asked Mother Teresa: “How do you feel about being called a living saint?”  She answered: “You have to be holy in the position you are in, and I have to be holy in the position God has given me.  There is nothing extraordinary about being holy.  It is simply a duty for you and me.”

This article explores some more ways for becoming holy, which is our core duty. Helping the members to reach this goal is one of the key functions of a religious superior, who, after all, is not heading a business or a sports club, but a community of persons vowed to put God in the first place.

Spiritual Direction

In his great book on holiness titled Introduction to the Devout Life, the first means St. Francis de Sales proposes for becoming holy is spiritual direction.  He writes: “If you want to set out earnestly on the path of devotion, find some good person to guide and direct you.  This is the most important advice.”

What is spiritual direction? William A. Barry and William J.  Connolly describe it as the “help given by one Christian to another which enables that person to pay attention to God’s personal communication to him or her, to respond to this personally communicating God, to grow in intimacy with this God, and to live out the consequences of the relationship” (The Practice of Spiritual Direction, p. 8).  A person’s experiences of God, prayer life, vocation, apostolate, vows, relationships, doubts, struggles, lifestyle, etc., are all matters for spiritual direction.

The purpose of spiritual direction is to enable us to grow in our relationship with God.  It is to be used by all those who wish to make progress on their journey to God; by all those who wish to realize the goal of their life.

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Fr Jose Kuttianimattathil SDB

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