U.S. Notes & Quotes

Healing Services Becoming More Popular

In an extended special report, the Columbus Dispatch of March 20 examined a popular new practice in evangelical worship: faith healing.

Catholics might consider the new trappings of the practice familiar: oil, laying on of hands, a belief that the soul's cure must accompany the body's.

Said one bishop of the local Evangelical Lutheran Church, “Our understanding of the healing service is it is to bring wholeness and peace…. It includes the spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and the physical.”

A spokesman of the United Methodist Church in the area described a similarly expansive view of healing services. In a healing service, “you talk about bringing people to health in mind, body, and relationships. It also involves reconciliation, coming to terms with your situation, forgiving people.”

At a Pentecostal Church in the area, the pastor explains that at his Church “We will do laying on of hands, with oil, and pray.”

But, giving credit where credit is due, the article points out that the “oldest healing services come from the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.”

The article quoted Columbus diocesan spokesman Father Larry Hemmelgarn, who pointed out that the sacrament of the anointing of the sick or “last rites” has always included oil and the laying on of hands intended to heal the soul—and, at God's discretion, the body as well.

There may be a new emphasis on healing in other Churches, but having merited a place among the seven sacraments, “Healing has always been important in the Catholic Church,” he said.

ACLU and Evangelical Go Against Catholic Charities

It is hard to imagine the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) taking a born-again Christian's side in a religious freedom dispute. But it happened in Pittsburgh, according to a March 19 report by the Associated Press.

Carlyn Kline was jailed for 26 hours last year because she refused to attend court-ordered marriage counseling. According to Kline, Judge Robert Kunselman sent her to jail when she said she objected to the counseling because it included literature published by Catholic Charities.

Kline told the judge she considers some Catholic teachings counter to the teachings of Jesus. “My God forbids me from contacting the dead,” she is quoted saying, explaining her objection to prayers to the saints. The judge was apparently unconvinced, and sent her to jail for avoiding counseling.

Kline's case, however, was decided on a technicality rather than on the merits of her religious challenge. Her brief jail time ended when a federal judge freed her from the court order—on Good Friday of last year. Pennsylvania state judges like Kunselman don't work that day.

Since the incident occurred, the ACLU has made a settlement that forces Catholic Charities to provide their literature indirectly, by giving it first to the court, so that no one has to pay the organization directly for its services.

Understanding the ‘Fifth Dogma’

A daily secular newspaper may be an unlikely place to find a well-presented discussion of the Blessed Mother's role in salvation history—but Baltimoreans woke Saturday March 21 to find a thorough treatment of the matter on their doorstep.

A Baltimore Sun article, prompted by a Steubenville, Ohio group's attempt to persuade the Vatican to proclaim Mary “Mediatrix,” included the following explanations:

• For those who missed the news last year, “a Vatican commission of 23 Mariologists unanimously advised the Pope not to proclaim the teaching. And the Pope's spokesman, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said last year that neither the Pope nor any Vatican commission is studying the proclamation of any new Marian dogmas,” according to the account.

• The promulgation of the proposed new title is what supporters call the “Fifth Dogma,” or “Fifth Doctrine,” because it follows four other proclamations about the Blessed Mother: (1) the Council of Ephesus declared her the Mother of God in 431; (2) the Council of Constantinople proclaimed her perpetual virginity in 681; (3) Pope Pius IX proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 by ex cathedra decree; and (4) Pope Pius XII similarly proclaimed the Assumption in 1950.

Father Frederick Jelly OP, identified as a prominent Mariologist at Mt. St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md., is quoted in the article explaining the appropriateness—but perhaps the imprudence as regards timing—of the title Mediatrix.

Use of the term “Mediatrix,” he said, raises the question, “What is she mediating that Christ is not?” Though some theologians favor the proposed title, none were quoted in the article.

Further, said Father Jelly, the full title being proposed, “Co-Redemptrix, Mediatrix of All Graces, and Advocate for the People of God,” raises another issue. In modern English, the prefix “co-” puts two people on the same level, he said, citing the example “co-signer of a check.” He is quoted saying, “If it's interpreted that way, you're in trouble … that is not Catholic doctrine.”

In Latin, the problem disappears. In Latin, “co-” has “the connotation of saying that Mary is subordinate to, dependent on” Christ, rather than a sort of easier-going Christ or a surrogate of the Holy Spirit.

Father Jelly agreed that the Holy Father's well-known personal devotion to the Blessed Mother might well embrace the proper use of both these titles, but pointed out that the Holy Father was not likely to make a determination for the Church based on his private devotion.