The names of Mary and Lazarus will be added to the July 29 feast on the General Roman Calendar, the universal schedule of holy days and feast days for the Latin rite of the Catholic Church.

On February 2, the Vatican published the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments’ decree ordering the change in calendars.

Signed by Cardinal Robert Sarah, the congregation’s prefect, the decree said Pope Francis approved the memorial for Martha, Mary and Lazarus after “considering the important evangelical witness they offered in welcoming the Lord Jesus into their home, in listening to him attentively, (and) in believing that he is the resurrection and the life”.

“In the household of Bethany, the Lord Jesus experienced the family spirit and friendship of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, and for this reason the Gospel of John states that he loved them,” it said. “Martha generously offered him hospitality, Mary listened attentively to his words, and Lazarus promptly emerged from the tomb at the command of the one who humiliated death.”

The decree explained that the “traditional uncertainty of the Latin church” regarding the identity of three women named Mary in the Gospels – Mary Magdalene, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and Mary “the sinner whose sins the Lord had forgiven” – was resolved “in recent studies and times”, thus paving the way for celebrating the siblings in one memorial.

A separate congregation decree, also published on February 2, said the pope also approved the optional memorial of three doctors of the church: Sts Gregory of Narek, a 10th-century Armenian monk; John of Avila, the famed 16th-century preacher, confessor and spiritual writer; and 12th-century German abbess Hildegard of Bingen.

The saints, who hail from both the Eastern and Western church traditions, were declared doctors of the Church for their important contributions to theology and spirituality.

In its decree, the congregation explained that those given the title of “doctor of the Church” exemplify the “link between holiness and understanding things divine and also human”.

“Indeed, the wisdom that characterises these men and women is not solely theirs, since by becoming disciples of divine wisdom, they have themselves become teachers of wisdom for the entire ecclesial community,” it said. “It is in this light that the holy ‘doctors’ are inscribed in the General Roman Calendar.”

The optional memorial for St. Gregory of Narek will be celebrated on February 27, while those for Sts John of Avila and Hildegard of Bingen will be celebrated on May 10 and September 17, respectively.

There are currently 36 doctors of the Church, including Sts John Chrysostom, Augustine, Catherine of Siena and Therese of Lisieux.

Photo: Lazarus is depicted in stained-glass at the Cathedral Basilica of St James in Brooklyn, New York (CNS Photo)

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The bishops’ National Liturgy Office has begun advertising for an artist who will create a work incorporating Mary for a special commemoration next August 15, the Feast Day of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven.

It is a Holy Day of Obligation on which the faithful are expected to attend Mass, even if not a Sunday. National Liturgy Office administrator Catherine Gibbs said August 15 next year is also a Sunday, making the 2021 Assumption a particularly special day for Catholics.

“The bishops want to commission a work of art for that day, to commemorate Bishop Pompallier dedicating the country to Mary when he celebrated the first Catholic Mass here in 1838, in the Hokianga,” Ms Gibbs said.

“We are advertising for artists to submit expressions of interest for an appropriate artwork. It could be a sculpture, a painting, a carving; any suitable kind of work. The intention is that it will be taken on a hikoi around the country next year to commemorate the dedication to Mary.”

Bishop Pompallier – who was associated with the Society of Mary – was the first Catholic bishop of Aotearoa New Zealand, serving in this country from 1838 to 1868, when he returned to his native France. He was present for the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, and published some of the first printed Maori prayer books.

In a pastoral letter about the 1838 dedication of the country to Mary,  the New Zealand bishops wrote: “Bishop Pompallier placed our country under the protection of Mary as she is now – alive, body and soul, rejoicing in the happiness of God’s kingdom.”

Ms Gibbs said the bishops want an artist who will create a work with for the theme Mary Mother of God and Patroness of Aotearoa New Zealand. “We are looking for an image that is new and speaks to the reality of life in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 21st Century. It will be respectful of scripture, theology and Catholic tradition.”

Prospective artists need to register their interest by October 15. The chosen artist will need to have the work finished by May. An appropriate fee will be negotiated with the artist.

More information can be found at nlo.org.nz

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There is no reason Catholics in New Zealand cannot have the same impact as the early Church, because the Lord is with us, New Zealand theologian Fr Neil Vaney, SM, told the Auckland Eucharistic Convention.

But the renewal needed won’t happen if people just show up for Mass on Sundays and don’t do anything else, Fr Vaney said.

“Many Catholics are still under the impression that you go to Mass on Sunday because it is the law of the Church and if I didn’t go I would go to hell. I’ve always been doing this and it’s good for my kids and all that,” the Marist said.

“But the big thing we know now is that that’s not enough. The Eucharist . . . is not primarily a thing. It is embodied in the species in the tabernacle. But it is mainly the creation of all of us praising God through Jesus in our midst. Now we can’t do that as a people if we aren’t a people. If people just walk in and out of church on a Sunday and hardly know each other — that’s not going to create a transforming community. It is going to create perhaps some people who are finding spiritual nourishment for themselves, but it is not transforming them, it is not transforming the places they live in. It is not transforming their work.”

Fr Vaney cited studies by Sir Alister Hardy and Paul Hawker showing that many people in wider society do, in fact, have an experience of God, but, for a variety of reasons, don’t go any further.

A critical factor in this is that they lack a community that acknowledges the reality that they experienced.

“This is why Church and Eucharist and being together is so important for us. Unless you have somebody you can
talk to and reflect (with) and you can hear their experiences, you can’t grow it, you can’t let it come to life.”

After Jesus ascended to heaven, the Christian community gathered and devoted themselves to prayer, Fr Vaney said.

“All of us need to be in a nest of prayer. We live in a world that is very individualistic . . . But the reality is that we live in worlds in which the interactions, the
relationships, the values we have, are sustained by the people that we love. And if we are alone, that won’t happen.”

“We can’t allow ourselves to be taken over by the dominant economic myths of our reality,” Fr Vaney added.

“We have to be counter-cultural. It doesn’t have to mean we have to live like tramps or whatever. But it means that we have to know that the cost of the society we live in, the myths we live in, is loneliness, depression, loss of spiritual vision.”

Many people in New Zealand live by a materialistic ideal, but at the same time are spiritually impoverished, he said. Loneliness and isolation are increasing. There is inequality in New Zealand and many social problems, with many Government policies aimed at addressing
them.

“Social policies can set parameters, and point out things, but only love of people can transform and make others love people,” Fr Vaney said.

Mary

Drawing on the thought of the founder of the Society of Mary, Fr Jean-Claude Colin, Fr Vaney pointed to the example of Mary.

“We look at the model of Mary and what she was in the infant Church. And she was not powerful, she was not a person who called all the shots. She was a person of deep, deep prayer and vision. She was a person who saw what needed to be done and she called Jesus to do it. And she knew that that entailed death, but new life came from it.”

It only takes a few people with vision and energy to rejuvenate a parish, Fr Vaney said, citing an example he had seen in Chicago. These people encouraged others, found out what the local needs were and encouraged people to meet them.

Fr Vaney challenged his audience to ask themselves questions about their own prayer lives and the prayer life of their parishes, whether there are prayer groups and spiritual direction available or not.

“What are we doing about our parishes? Are you talking to any young people and inviting them? Are you saying to people, let’s make a prayer group, let’s meet at people’s houses and talk about some of the eventualities.”

Fr Vaney said in an earlier talk that the Church is in a very difficult time, but it has been in worse times in its history.

He cited the papacies in the ninth and tenth centuries and the French Revolution as examples. But out of these times came great renewals in the Church, in different ways.

Most great movements in the Church, for example the Marists and the Jesuits, started from three or four committed, dedicated people together.

“That is so important for us to realise,” he said.

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