Would you be willing to die for your faith? It’s something I’ve thought about more recently as I’ve heard about modern-day martyrs.
We usually think of martyrs as people from long ago. But there have been — and continue to be — modern-day martyrs who have died for their beliefs.
Would you be willing to die for your faith? It’s something I’ve thought about more recently as I’ve heard about modern-day martyrs.
We usually think of martyrs as people from long ago. But there have been — and continue to be — modern-day martyrs who have died for their beliefs.
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Spoiler Alert: This is the second part of Bishop Barron’s reflections on Martin Scorcese’s new film, Silence. The first part, which we published last week, is a summary of the plot in which Father Rodrigues, a Jesuit missionary in 17th-century Japan, apostatizes under severe psychological torture. What follows is Bishop Barron’s thoughts about the end of the movie.
In the wake of his apostasy, [Father Rodrigues] follows in the footsteps of Ferreira, becoming a ward of the state, a well-fed, well-provided for philosopher, regularly called upon to step on a Christian image and formally renounce his Christian faith.
He takes a Japanese name and a Japanese wife and lives out many long years in Japan before his death at the age of 64 and his burial in a Buddhist ceremony.
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Spoiler Alert: The following is the first half of Bishop Barron’s reflections on Martin Scorcese’s new film, Silence, in which he outlines the plot. In the second half, which we will publish next week, he discusses the ending of the film and adds his “dissenting” thoughts about it to the conversation among critics.
I have long been an ardent fan of Martin Scorsese’s films. Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Aviator, Gangs of New York, The Last Waltz, Casino, etc. are among the defining movies of the last 40 years. And The Departed, Scorsese’s 2007 crime drama, was the subject matter of the first YouTube commentary that I ever did.
To the editor:
In response to last week’s disturbing column by Stephen Kent and the need to change the Second Amendment, it should be pointed out that all of America’s problems — slavery, the relocation of Native Americans, prohibition, concentration camps for Japanese-Americans, undeclared wars, and Roe v. Wade — occurred when we ignored or “improved” the Constitution.
Even more curious is the Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement that guns are too easily accessible. Were it not for the Second Amendment, there would be no Catholic Herald, a Conference of Catholic Bishops, or even Catholics, for that matter, since we would long ago have been hunted down like rats, just like in the mother country of Merrie Olde England.
To the editor:
As Thanksgiving Day passes into history, I was reminded this morning at Mass to give thanks to the Catholic martyrs who have died because of their resistance to anti-religious freedom laws. In particular this day, we remember Blessed Miguel Pro, a Jesuit priest in Mexico during the violent anti-Catholic persecutions in the 1920’s. On this day in 1927, he was taken to a police firing range and shot to death. His crime against the Mexican government was simply to minister to the Catholic people in their worship of Jesus Christ.
Mexico’s President Calles personally ordered Father Pro’s execution. Before the execution, Father Pro prayed, and then held out his arms in the form of a cross. As the police took aim with their rifles, he spoke the words, “Viva Cristo Rey!” (“Long live Christ the King!”).
Father Pro was not alone in his opposition to religious persecution. According to some sources, more than 200,000 Mexican people from every socio-economic background were killed or martyred by 1930. In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II canonized 25 Catholic martyrs in Mexico, among them being Blessed Miguel Pro.
At the end of the liturgical year, the Mass readings tell dramatic stories from the Books of Maccabees of simple folks standing courageously for their faith in the face of torture and death. Their exemplary witness can strengthen us as we defend our conscience rights and religious liberty which are under attack today.
In second century B.C., a conquering king was intent on suppressing Judaism in Palestine. He issued a decree that his whole kingdom should all be one people, each abandoning his particular customs and religious laws and observances. Whoever refused to comply would be killed.
Though large numbers did comply, we’re told that many in Israel “preferred to die rather than be defiled with unclean food or to profane the holy covenant; and they did die. Terrible affliction was upon Israel” (Maccabees 1:63).
What a great feast day we celebrated on Sunday, a feast that calls us to focus on one of the phrases in the Creed over which we might grow accustomed to pass too quickly. We say at the end of the creed, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints…”
