CAUSE OF CANONIZATION FOR JOSEPH DUTTON APPROVED BY BISHOPS

CAUSE OF CANONIZATION FOR JOSEPH DUTTON APPROVED BY BISHOPS

Three causes for canonization have been presented to the U.S. bishops in their fall 2021 meeting, including the cause for Servant of God Joseph Dutton, a cause initiated by the Diocese of Honolulu and Bishop Larry Silva. When a written request to initiate a (local) cause is received by the bishop, for it to advance he must consult the opinion of the regional conference of bishops, then the national conference and lastly, the Holy See. A voice vote today at the USCCB meeting in Baltimore gave the go-ahead for this cause to proceed. Bishop Silva has now completed the first two of those duties.

Because of the research I have done on Servant of God Joseph Dutton, Michael Heinlein of Our Sunday Visitor asked me to write a story. That appeared today when Michael tweeted: Great piece from my friend @joansrome on the third canonization cause #USCCB21 is consulted on today. Get to know Joseph Dutton!

Take a few minutes to read the story so that you understand the photos I post.

@HeinleinMichael

The incredible life of Joseph Dutton, a servant to the saints and souls of Hawaii – Our Sunday Visitor (osvnews.com)

I took the following photos on several of my trips to Kalaupapa to visit the sites where Sts. Damien and Marianne Cope and Servant of God Joseph Dutton lived and worked among the victims of leprosy.

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In some photos, you will see the area of Kalawao where ships in the 19^th century dropped off those ill with leprosy, leaving them at the shore near the big rock you see. I’ve read a few reports where some exiles had to swim a bit or walk in shallow water to shore when they disembarked.

The terrain you see in other photos is that of Kalaupapa in general and Kalawao specifically as that is where Fr. Damian built the church of St. Philomena, where separate homes were built for men and women and teenaged girls and boys. I also took photos of some of the historic descriptions of and facts about the area and Brother Dutton.

I have other photos of some of the burial grounds around Kalaupapa, including the area adjacent to St. Philomena church where Fr. Damien is buried (only a small relic is here with his remains having been transported (against his final wishes!) in 1936 to his native Belgium in St. Anthony’s Chapel in Leuven.

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When I returned to Hawaii in 2012 and subsequent years, I began to seriously study Joseph Dutton’s intriguing story and amazing life and, in 2015, when Bishop Larry Silva of Honolulu approved the statutes of the Joseph Dutton Guild, whose mission is to spread knowledge of and devotion to Joseph Dutton, as well as address the financial and logistical needs for his cause for sainthood. I was invited to be a member. I try to attend at least one meeting in person every year and have attended others via Zoom.

On the personal side: I believe that what Dutton experienced in his post-war years was equivalent to what today is called PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder. I would love to see him become a patron saint of people in the military, especially veterans!

Those of us who know the Kalaupapa stories of Sts. Damien and Marianne and Servant of God Joseph Dutton, who have spent time on this historic peninsula, who have studied the history of leprosy, who know some of the current residents of Kalaupapa, who have walked among the many tombs of the exiles who were forced to live there, have a big concern: What will happen when the last patient living there dies?

For decades, employees of the Hawaii Department of Health and the Department of Forests and Parks have lived and worked on Kalaupapa. What will happen to them? Would they still be needed?

What will happen to Kalaupapa? Many of us entertain the thought, the hope that one day this historic piece of land could become a shrine, a sanctuary, especially for members of the military, in particular for veterans. A place of God-given pristine natural beauty, of quiet and peace that would be conducive to introspection, to reflection, to healing of mind, body and soul.

FYI: Since posting this, I learned from a member of the Dutton Guild that the the National Park Service has a sort of master plan for Kalaupapa National Historical Park that is called the General Management Plan. It’s apparently quite long so when I read it and have a better idea of things, I’ll pass that on to you.

ALOHA FROM HONOLULU!

October 16^th has always had a special place in my mind and my heart as it was on that day, 39 years ago, that a Polish cardinal was elected to the See of Peter and took the names John Paul II. I was actually in Cairo, Egypt the night he was elected and that in itself is a great story – but for another day.

I followed almost every day of St. John Paul’s magnificent papacy, and our lives intertwined a number of times during the years I worked in the Vatican. When I tell people those stories, they always say “God bless you!”  And I reply, “He really has!”

As a saint, he is now with us, more than ever. Someone to pray to and someone whose life (and death) can be an inspiration!

ALOHA FROM HONOLULU!

Yesterday was a remarkable day, as I posted on Facebook during my travels….travels that encompassed 4 cities (Rome, Frankfurt, San Francisco and Honoulu) and 12 time zones in 24 hours!

I was tired but, oddly enough, not exhausted and attribute some of that to PMA, a Positive Mental Attitude. I try to immediately adjust to where I am, not think about what time it is where I came from, and then just proceed as normal. I went to a local ABC store, got things for breakfast, had a sandwich for dinner and then unpacked.

As you know, I’m here for this weekend’s Saints Damien and Marianne Catholic Conference at the convention center. I’ve already been in touch with my friends here and with conference organizers and things look very promising – lots of enthusiasm about the conference guest speakers (https://www.dmcchawaii.org/speakers).

As I was about to get off the plane in San Francisco, I told the attendant who had been such a jewel on the flight from Frankfurt that I still had a six-hour flight ahead of me to Honolulu. A woman in the seat in front of me remarked how lucky I was to be going there, I agreed and explained I was going to attend a conference and give a talk. She asked the subject and I replied that I’d be speaking on how to become a saint! The woman smiled and said she wished she could attend the conference, and then asked me to tell her how one becomes a saint. I said, “If by chance you’re on the flight to Hawaii, I can explain!”

As I sit at a table in the wonderful condo of a good friend to write this column, I once again marvel at the beauty of this land I love. Windows surround me, and everywhere I look, I see the Pacific Ocean, the white, foamy surf, the surfers on big, crashing waves, the sunbathers on Waikiki beach, the palm trees and my favorite, the plumeria trees. And then there’s Diamond Head, an extinct volcanic crater and surely Hawaii’s most famous landmark. It is directly in front of me as I write these lines.

As the saying goes, “Life’s a beach”

It’s also  –

And Diamond Head –

And St. Augustine Church –

And –

This was the first photo I ever took of Diamond Head –

As I was going through my photos, I found this picture from a previous trip and only now realize the tall building on the right is where I am staying – the penultimate floor (above me is the penthouse)

I found the following on a site about historic Pacific parks: Lē‘ahi is the traditional Hawaiian place name for the crater. It is said that Hi’iaka, sister of the fire goddess Pele, gave Lē‘ahi its name because the summit resembles the forehead of the ‘ahi fish. Another translation is “fire headland” and refers to the navigation fires that were lit at the summit to assist canoes traveling along the shoreline.

It is hard to believe, looking at the overwhelmingly beautiful nature that marks this corner of God’s creation, that so many lives were marked for so many years by exile, pain, loneliness and deprivation in this paradise. Families were separated and, most often, never able to be together again. The years, the decades, well over a century in fact, when people with leprosy were exiled to the Kalaupapa peninsula on Molokai, those were dark years of hopelessness and fear – fear of contagion of a terrible disease for which, at the time, there was no remedy or cure.

There was no beauty on Kalaupapa for those exiles. They lived each day wondering about food, sanitation, a roof over their heads and, of course, medicines and medical care.

There was no hope for a bright future, for a job, for a tomorrow that promised to be even minimally better than today.

Until Fr. Damien arrived in 1873 at this isolated settlement to bring comfort and hope to these outcasts. Sixteen years among the patients of Hansen’s disease, improving their lot, little by little, day by day, trying to restore a lost sense of human dignity. Sixteen years of living heroic virtues until he died of leprosy in 1889.

In November 1888, a year before Fr. Damien died, Mother Marianne Cope arrived with six Sisters of St. Francis. She worked with the exiles for 30 years and died in 1918.

Damien and Marianne are the saints whose lives and virtues we will be looking at this weekend.

As the conference webpage states, its focus is “the respect of human life and dignity, marriage, youth and family life, education, social justice and evangelism.

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A NOTE FOR TRAVELLERS : I flew from San Fran to Honolulu on United and, even though the flight is nearly six hours long, United does not serve a meal – you have to buy food. It is basically just snack food, except for a hamburger, a chicken wrap or a small pizza.   United offered the same terrible choice on my September 9-hour flight from Chicago to Honolulu and that prompted me to write to the president of the airlines and to essentially say that not serving a meal on a 9-hour flight was inhuman.

I wrote the letter while on the plane and told the crew and they were delighted! They said they’d LOVE to serve a meal and were happy I wrote because they feel the powers-to-be listen more to passengers than to the personnel.  I did get a very nice, lengthy letter from president Munoz’s assistant and some compensation for the issues encountered on the flight. She said there was one issue they were not aware of and was happy I wrote.

These lines are just to let you know that, as customers of a service you are paying for, you have rights, including the right to complain when something does not go as promised. Don’t make it angry, just factual.

 

 

 

WE MUST REMOVE OBSTACLES TO BEING “SIGNS AND INSTRUMENTS OF GOD’S MERCY” – POPE FRANCIS’ LITURGICAL CALENDAR: SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER

I think many of you know of my many trips to Hawaii, to the island of Molokai’i and to the peninsula of Kalaupapa – you’ve heard my interviews and seen my photos and videos and read my reports of my wonderful visits with the people there – Fr. Pat Killilea (of the same order as St. Damien, the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary), the Hawaii State workers, the patients of leprosy who still live there and who have been my guides and drivers and friends, many of whom came to Rome for the canonizations of Saint Damien and Marianne Cope.

I learned of the fire at Kalaupapa this morning and am devastated at the news and pray that the facility can be rebuilt ASAP. Thank the Lord no one was hurt. You have no idea how holy the ground is in Kalaupapa – 8,000 victims of Hansen’s disease or leprosy are buried there, For those of us who know it well, Kalaupapa is a shrine.

http://khon2.com/2016/09/06/kalaupapa-settlement-kitchencafeteria-engulfed-by-fire/

WE MUST REMOVE OBSTACLES TO BEING “SIGNS AND INSTRUMENTS OF GOD’S MERCY”

I love this catechesis from today’s general audience in St. Peter’s Square. The recent coverage of Mother Teresa’s canonization has made us doubly aware of what Pope Francis has been talking about since the first Mass and Angelus of his pontificate – God’s loving mercy. St. Teresa of Calcutta was what the Holy Father is asking of us – to be the living face and hands of that mercy.

What Pope Francis asks of us can be seen in the final paragraph of this Englisdh language summary of the catechesis, in particular is call to “renew our commitment to remove every obstacle that prevents us from experiencing the merciful works of our Father, and let us ask him for an ever deeper faith so that we may be signs and instruments of his mercy.”

Dear Brothers and Sisters:  In our Gospel passage this morning, John the Baptist sends his disciples to ask Jesus if he is the Messiah (cf. Mt 11:2-6), since Jesus’ ministry was not what John anticipated; it did not correspond to his expectation of God’s justice. Jesus responds by telling the disciples to report what they see and hear: the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the Gospel is proclaimed to the poor.

Jesus shows himself to be the instrument of God’s mercy; he manifests God’s justice by bringing his consolation and salvation to all. God did not send his Son to punish sinners and crush the wicked. Rather he came to invite them to conversion, so that they too could turn back to God.

Jesus then says to John’s disciples: “Blessed is he who takes no offense at me” (Mt 11:6), who does not see in me any obstacle. This happens when we have a false image of the Messiah, when we construct our own image of God, which prevents us from experiencing his real presence among us. Every time we reduce him to our ideas and whims, use his name to justify our interests, seek him only in times of difficulty, then we also lose sight of the fact that faith calls us beyond ourselves to be his missionaries in the world.  Let us renew our commitment to remove every obstacle that prevents us from experiencing the merciful works of our Father, and let us ask him for an ever deeper faith so that we may be signs and instruments of his mercy.

POPE FRANCIS’ LITURGICAL CALENDAR: SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER

The Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff has published the following calendar of liturgical celebrations at which the Holy Father will preside from September to November:
SEPTEMBER Sunday 25, 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and Jubilee of Catechists. Friday 30 to Sunday 2 October: Apostolic trip to Georgia and Azerbaijan.
OCTOBER Saturday 8: At 5.30 p.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Marian vigil. Sunday 9, 28th Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10.30 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and Marian Jubilee. Sunday 16: 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10.15 in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass and canonisation of Blesseds Salomone Leclercq, José Sanchez del Rio, Manuel González García, Lodovico Pavoni, Alfonso Maria Fusco, José Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, and Elisabeth of the Holy Trinity. Monday 31 to Tuesday 1 November: Apostolic trip to Sweden to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
NOVEMBER Friday 4: At 11.30 in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass for the souls of cardinals and bishops who died during the year. Sunday 6, 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass and Jubilee of Prisoners. Sunday 13, 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time: At 10 a.m. in the Vatican Basilica, Holy Mass and Jubilee of the Homeless. Sunday 20, Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe: At 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Square, Holy Mass for the conclusion of the Jubilee of Mercy.