BEATIFICATION OF ARCHBISHOP ROMERO,
MAY 23, 2015
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When Pope
Francis cited Dorothy Day in his address last week before the U.S. Congress—only
one of two American Catholics named by the pontiff (alongside the non-Catholic
giants Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.)—it naturally triggered
speculation that Day’s beatification cause might soon pick up steam. Sources familiar with the cause expect that
the papal acknowledgement will accelerate Day’s beatification, though it may not occur earlier than the next two years. In
short, Francis’ shout-out may serve a similar function for Day’s cause as his “unblocking”
Oscar Romero’s cause in April 2013 did for the Salvadoran martyr (Archbishop
Romero who, like Day, died in 1980, was beatified last May).
Papal support is
one of the decisive factors that sets apart fast-moving sainthood causes. It was one of the five factors identified in a
2011 piece by Vaticanista John Allen that has informed my analysis in the
Romero case. Consider the fact that when
Pope Francis discussed Romero in August 2014, his
remarks were cited in the opening lines of the introduction to the «Positio
Super Martyrio»—the final argument submitted to the Congregation for
the Causes of Saints to call for Romero’s beatification. In the case of Dorothy Day, her postulators
will be able to cite two popes—in addition to Pope Francis, Pope Benedict also
cited her in his second to last General Audience before leaving the papacy in
February 2013.
Despite being
kindred spirits in the trenches of Catholic social justice issues, Dorothy Day
never met or talked to Oscar Romero.
Robert Ellsberg, an adherent of the Catholic Worker movement who worked
with Day in the 1970s and is now publisher of Orbis Books, told Super Martyrio: “Dorothy never had any direct interaction with Romero, though a number
of Catholic Workers attended the Puebla Conference and heard Romero preach in
San Salvador. So she was certainly aware
of him.”
Day’s notes from
the period confirm Ellsberg’s account. She
recorded: “Marj Humphrey and Jane Sammon
sent me this card from Puebla Mexico: ‘Dearest Dorothy, CELAM [the Latin
American Bishops’ Conference] is drawing
to a close ... Archbishop Romero from El Salvador spoke last night – what a
beautiful man, so committed to the poor. A reporter, who said he was an
atheist, went up and hugged Archbishop Romero and thanked him for what he has
done for the poor and oppressed in El Salvador’.”
Imagine you are
writing the introduction to the «Positio super
Virtutibus» (the final brief for a candidate like Day who is not a
martyr). First, you cite Benedict XVI,
who said
that Day experienced a conversion that recalled “important conversions such as that of St Paul on the road to Damascus,
or of St Augustine.” By putting
aside her youthful attraction to Marxism to follow Christ, Day demonstrated “the ability to oppose the ideological
enticements of her time in order to choose the search for truth and to open
herself to the discovery of faith,” said Benedict. He concluded: “God guided her to a conscious adherence to the Church, in a life
dedicated to the underprivileged.”
Then you cite Francis:
“Her social activism, her passion for
justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her
faith, and the example of the saints.”
In short, you can let the popes make your argument.
The cause for
Dorothy Day began the decade after her death, when the late Cardinal John O’Connor
began to promote her sainthood. He
enlisted Monsignor Gregory A. Mustaciuolo as the Postulator. On March 10, 2000, the Archdiocese of New
York received the «nihil obstat», a
decree clearing the way for the cause to go ahead. Unfortunately, Cardinal O’Connor became ill
and died, causing the first significant delay in the cause. On, June 7, 2005, the Dorothy Day Guild was
formed under O’Connor’s successor, Cardinal Edward Egan, as a way to promote
the figure and the cause. In a way, this
was the first acknowledgment that there was resistance or misunderstandings around
Day. By November 2012, O’Connor’s and Egan’s
successor, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, was able to obtain an endorsement from the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for the cause. By the following February, Benedict cited her
in his General Audience as noted above.
In October of last year, the New York Archdiocese hired Jeff Korgen as
coordinator of the diocesan investigation—a solid indication that the cause was
deemed prime for substantive action.
The diocesan
process in Dorothy Day’s cause is set to begin interviewing witnesses this Fall,
after which the cause and a «Summarium» of arguments and evidence will be transferred to Rome for processing, and the «Positio» may be submitted to the
congregation for saints in about two years.
The promoters of Day’s cause may want to heed the advice that
Francis had for Romero’s team in his August 2014 remarks: “right now the postulators have to move forward because there are no
obstacles.”
I would be very
surprised if we did not have Blessed Dorothy Day within five years.
Commentary on other causes and saints:
Ven. Abp. Fulton Sheen
Fr. Rutilio Grande
Bl. Abp. Clemens August von Galen
The Cristero Martyrs
Commentary on other causes and saints:
Ven. Abp. Fulton Sheen
Fr. Rutilio Grande
Bl. Abp. Clemens August von Galen
The Cristero Martyrs
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