The election of Pope John Paul II

The papal conclave held from October 14-16, 1978, was triggered by the death of Pope John Paul I at age 66 on September 28, 1978, just 33 days after he was elected pope. The conclave to elect John Paul I’s successor ended after eight ballots. The cardinal electors selected Cardinal Karol Jozef Wojtyła, the Archbishop of Krakow, as the new pope. The third pope in 1978, Wojtyła accepted his election and took the name John Paul II. Ten days after the funeral of Pope John Paul I, the doors of the Sistine Chapel were sealed and the conclave commenced. It was divided between two particularly strong candidates for the papacy, Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, the conservative archbishop of Genoa, and Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, the liberal archbishop of Florence, and a close associate of John Paul I. This conclave had the same number of cardinals as the first conclave of 1978, 111. Only Albino Luciani himself (who became Pope John Paul I) was absent from this conclave after having attended the first conclave of 1978, but the presence of Cardinal Wright at this conclave made the numbers the same. Supporters of Benelli were confident that he would be elected. In early ballots, Benelli came within nine votes. But the scale of opposition to him meant that neither Siri or Benelli would receive the two-thirds majority for election. Among the Italian contingent, Cardinal Giovanni Colombo, the Archbishop of Milan, was the only viable compromise candidate, but when he started to receive votes, he announced that if elected he would decline the papacy. Cardinal Franz König, the influential and widely respected archbishop of Vienna, suggested to his fellow electors a compromise candidate, the Polish Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła, whom König knew and by whom he was highly impressed. Thus, some cardinals who were supporters of Siri rallied behind Wojtyła. Wojtyła ultimately defeated Benelli, who was supposedly the candidate Wojtyła himself had voted for. On the eighth ballot on the third day, Wojtyla got 99 votes. He accepted his election. The new pope, in tribute to his immediate predecessor, then took the name of John Paul II. He became the first non-Italian pope since the Dutch Adrian VI, who reigned from 1522 to 1523. Everyone in Chicago, the most Polish town in the USA, and Poland was happy with the new Polish pope. Do you remember the election of a Polish pope?

Grease

The big movie of 1978 was Grease, a musical, an adaptation based on the 1971 stage musical of the same name by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Grease, the play, was on Broadway from 1972-1980. This 1978 film depicted the lives of greaser Danny Zuko (John Travolta) and Australian transfer student Sandy Olsson (Olivia Newton-John), who developed an attraction for each other during a summer romance. The story line was in the summer of 1958, local boy Danny Zuko and vacationing Australian Sandy Olsson meet at the beach and fell in love. When the summer ended, Sandy worried that they may never meet again, but Danny told her that their love was only the beginning. They were both seniors at Rydell High School, which in the original play was based on Taft High School in Chicago. Danny was caught between his feelings and his bad-boy reputation, so that he snubbed Sandy in front of his gang and she became upset. The on and off love story continued with the boy’s gang of the T-Birds and the girl’s gang of the Pink Ladies. The next day, Danny apologized to Sandy for having brushed her off the previous night and successfully won her back. However, their friends crashed their date. After a disastrous beauty class leaves Frenchy with candy-pink hair, she drops out of beauty school and reluctantly returns to Rydell to complete her high-school education. There were typical teenage problems throughout this movie. Since I graduated high school in 1957 and this was based on a Chicago high school of 1958 kids, I really understood some of the plots that were exaggerated. However, the music is what made this movie so successful. We took Joy to see this movie and she was dancing in her seat as the show began. Director Randal Kleiser took numerous liberties with the original source material, most notably moving the setting from an urban Chicago setting to a more suburban locale, reflecting his own teenage years at Radnor High School in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Elvis Presley was considered for the role of The Teen Angel but died before production, so that Frankie Avalon was chosen. Frankie Valli sang the theme song “Grease.” Sid Caesar was cast as the coach since he had been popular in the 1950s, as had Eve Arden, Frankie Avalon, Joan Blondell, Ed Byrnes, Alice Ghostley, and Dody Goodman. The only problem about Oliva Newton John was whether she could act. The opening beach scene was shot in Malibu. The exterior Rydell scenes, were shot at Venice High School in Venice, California. The drive-in movie scenes were shot at the Burbank Pickwick Drive-In, so that most of the scenes were in Los Angeles to cut down on expenses. In its opening weekend, the film grossed almost nine million dollars. After 66 days, it had grossed $100 million to become Paramount’s second-highest-grossing film, behind The Godfather, and ended its initial run with a gross of $132,472,560, the highest-grossing film in 1978. It became the highest-grossing musical ever at the time, eclipsing the 13-year-old record held by The Sound of Music, with a worldwide gross of $341 million. The film was successful both critically and commercially, becoming the highest-grossing musical film at the time. Its soundtrack album ended 1978 as the second-best-selling album of the year in the United States, only behind the soundtrack of the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, which also starred Travolta. The song “Hopelessly Devoted to You” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 51st Academy Awards. The film also received five nominations at the 36th Golden Globe Awards. In 2020, Grease was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. A sequel, Grease 2, was released in 1982, starring Maxwell Caulfield and Michelle Pfeiffer as a newer class of greasers, but was not as successful. Do you remember Grease?

Sports in 1976

Besides the Summer Olympics in Montreal that I attended, the 1976 Winter Olympics were in Innsbruck, Austria. American middleweight boxer Rubin Carter was retried in New Jersey for murder, but that was overturned in 1985. The Hurricane was a 1999 American biographical sports drama film starring Denzel Washington as Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter, based on his autobiography The Sixteenth Round: From Number 1 Contender To 45472. The Toronto Blue Jays became a MLB team. The New York Yankees signed free agent Reggie Jackson to a five-year $3 million contract, setting the precedent for lucrative multi-year contracts for MLB players in years to come. I remember that Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies hit four consecutive home runs in a game against the Chicago Cubs and Cubs outfielder Rick Monday rescued an American flag just as two protesters were about to burn it in the outfield during a game at Dodger Stadium. Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees broke Hoyt Wilhelm’s American League record of 154 career saves. In the World Series, the Cincinnati Reds “Big Red Machine” sweep the New York Yankees, 4 games to 0, to win their second straight championship. Mark Fidrych, the Detroit Tigers pitcher phenome, won the 1976 Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award. Pittsburgh Pirates baseball pitcher Bob Moose was killed in a car crash in Ohio on his 29th birthday. The Montreal Canadiens sweep the Philadelphia Flyers in four games to win the Stanley Cup in ice hockey. Guy Lafleur of the Montreal Canadiens was the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL’s leading scorer during the regular season. Bobby Clarke of the Philadelphia Flyers was the Hart Memorial Trophy Most Valuable Player. Flyers forward Reggie Leach became the only non-goaltender from a losing team to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the playoffs after scoring a record 19 goals in 16 playoff games. The Boston Celtics beat the Phoenix Suns in six games in the NBA finals, as the ABA and the NBA merged. The Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played their first NFL games as new franchises. In Super Bowl X, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Dallas Cowboys 21−17, as Lynn Swann, the wide receiver for Pittsburgh, won the MVP award at the Miami Orange Bowl. At the same Orange Bowl, on January 1, the Oklahoma Sooners beat the Michigan Wolverines 14-6 to win the college football national championship. Tony Dorsett of the University of Pittsburgh won the Heisman Trophy. The following year he won the Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys. In golf, Jack Nicklaus was the big money winner with $266,000, while the grand slam was split four ways, Masters Tournament to Raymond Floyd, U.S. Open to Jerry Pate, British Open to Johnny Miller, and PGA Championship to Dave Stockton. James Hunt won the Formula One World Championship by just 1 point driving a McLaren M23-D as rival Niki Lauda retired from the Japanese Grand Prix due to heavy rain. In the Indianapolis 500 automobile race, Johnny Rutherford won the rain-shortened shortest race in event history to date, at 102 laps or just 254 miles. What is your favorite sport?

The long explanation

When I returned from my meeting with Father Ryska on April 22, 1971, he had asked me to put into writing what we had discussed. Thus, I wrote a long three-page single-spaced letter to him on CTU letterhead. Here are some excerpts.

“This afternoon we had a conversation regarding my request to be removed from the legal and canonical obligations of the solemn vows of the Servite Order. You asked me to detail the movement of my decision to leave the Servite Order. Here then is a basic description. I believe that it is the best that I can do and represents as closely as possible what I told you this afternoon…In April, 1970, I returned to Chicago at CTU where I began teaching and rejoined a Servite community for the first time since 1966…I felt somewhat of a stranger to what was happening as regards discussions and disputes…The Servite chapter in my mind was a time of frustration. With this sense of frustration, I went to Ladysmith, Wisconsin, to teach and lived in the convent there with the Servite sisters and Father Conrad Borntrager whom I had known for 4 years in Louvain…I became gradually aware that one of the sisters was practically there for all these times and that I liked having her with me on these occasions. Then during the last week there, my friend and I met to talk alone several times. She was thinking of leaving the Servite sisters next year. I, however, said that I was content as a Servite priest where I was and saw no reason to leave. I left for Chicago and being here only three or four days, I suddenly realized that I missed her very much…In the middle of August, we decided not to see each other since we were getting too involved. However, I broke this by writing to her and she called me. We discussed the possibility of marriage but decided to wait a year. I went to Germany to defend my doctoral thesis from September to November. During this time, we wrote to each other…I was pleasantly surprised when you asked me to go to Ladysmith at Christmas. At Ladysmith, I spoke to Sister Theresa Schueller, who is studying psychological counseling at Loyola and had been the superior of my friend, whom she confided in. We spent about eight hours talking, trying to discover and understand what was happening. The result was that my friend was going to leave the convent and teach in Chicago next year. I would stay at CTU for another year until June 1972. I returned to CTU with a new zeal for CTU and the Winter Quarter. I let people know that I was interested in another year of teaching and which classes I would like to teach. However, by mid to late January, new doubts arose and I spoke with Sister Theresa again. What did I really want to do? Where was I heading? By mid-February, I wanted to make the decision about myself independent of my friend. After a good four-hour session with Sister Theresa, my mind was relatively clear. I was not going to spend another year at CTU…I sent the letters that I showed you. Then I contacted Mainstream Inc, a consulting firm for clergy and executives…I have given very serious considerations to all the angles of this decision…I have tried to be as objective as possible. I do not consider myself immature or this a rash judgment…I believe that I am no longer capable of living the Servite religious life with this frame of mind and to do so would be false on my part.”

Of course, it was longer and more detailed. I had put on paper what I had talked to him about that afternoon. Have you ever tried to put into words things that you were feeling?

The end of uncertainty

By the end of January, 1971, I had serious doubts about continuing another year as a Servite CTU teacher. It would not be fair to my students. I had to decide about whether to continue as a Servite priest or not. They had invested a lot in me and I felt that I had an obligation to continue. At the same time, I was not really into it like I had been in Germany. Did I really want to continue to live in this mixed state about being a priest or not? I met with Sister Theresa Schueller again. She put it squarely, what did I really want to do? I should not worry about Margaret. She would take care of herself. I had to decide for me, not anyone else. I began to think that I had led a lonely life, since I considered celibacy as not having deep personal relationships with other people. I was beginning to develop a real personal relationship. I saw the real contradiction between what I was professing to live and what I wanted. I had met the most wonderful woman in the world. I remembered the famous story that my mother told me about that took place before I was born. In 1937, King Edward VIII of England gave up his throne to marry the woman that he loved, the divorced Wallis Simpson. He gave up his kingdom for a woman that he loved. At that time, he could not be the King of England and marry a divorced woman. Was I willing to give up my priestly teaching kingdom for the woman I loved? I could live with the most wonderful woman in the world or continue here. Was I willing to take the consequences? I would offend people. I would disappoint my parents and lose some friends. People would make all kinds of ugly comments about me. I would lose the life-long security of religious life. I would by turning my back on my religious vows that I had made to God. I would have to seek a new career with limited resources. In the end, this was a small price to pay for a real intimate personal friendship. I was not doing it for Margaret, but only doing it to be able to be a friend of Margaret. It was my decision, whether she would accept me or not was her decision. This was a decision that I had to make independent of her. By late February, after a four-hour discussion with Sister Theresa, I made my final decision. I was not going to stay at CTU as a Servite priest beyond the end of this school year of June, 1971. The deed was done, Macbeth. I had four months to get ready to leave the Servites and the priesthood in June of 1971. There were all kinds of theoretical and practical difficulties that I had to face over the next couple of months. Have you ever made a big decision?

The great events of 1969

However, I still looked back at the major events in the world during 1969. President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) was inaugurated as the thirty-seventh President of the United States in January, 1969. The country was still there at the end of 1969, despite my misgivings of 1968. In 1969, Americans had landed a man on the moon. All the jokes were over. We could always move to the moon. The world went on without me, whether I noticed it or not. Yasser Arafat was elected the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in February. The Soviets and the Chinese were fighting about their borders. Golda Meir, the lady from Milwaukee, became the first female Prime Minister of Israel. There were several plane crashes and oil spills. Pope Paul VI increased the number of Roman Catholic cardinals by one-third, from 101 to 134. Sirhan Sirhan was found guilty of the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. British troops arrived in Northern Ireland to reinforce the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Charles de Gaulle stepped down as president of France, as Georges Pompidou was elected President of France. Gay intercourse was officially legalized in Canada. The Stonewall riots, a milestone in the modern gay rights movement in the United States, began in New York City. French was made equal to English throughout the Canadian national government. U.S. President Richard Nixon and South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu meet at Midway Island. On July 8, the very first U.S. troop withdrawals from Vietnam were made. US Senator Edward M. Kennedy drove off a bridge into a tidal pond after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing Mary Jo Kopechne. Spanish dictator and head of state Francisco Franco appointed Prince Juan Carlos to be his successor as head of state following his death. U.S. and North Vietnam began secret peace negotiations. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi took over Libya. American Lieutenant William Calley was charged with six counts of premeditated murder for the 1968 My Lai Massacre deaths of 109 Vietnamese civilians. China carried out an underground nuclear bomb test. In the 1969 West German federal election, the Social Democrats, led by Vice Chancellor Willy Brandt, and the Free Democrats, formed a coalition government with Brandt as Chancellor. The “Days of Rage” took place in Chicago. The Illinois National Guard was called in to control demonstrations involving the radical Weathermen, in connection with the “Chicago Eight” trial. The serial Zodiac Killer shot and killed a taxi driver in San Francisco. In October, 1969, hundreds of thousands of people took part in the moratorium to End the War in Vietnam across the United States. Experimental research showed that protons were composed of smaller particles, the first evidence of quarks. The first message was sent over ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet. Negotiators from the Soviet Union and the United States meet in Helsinki, to begin the SALT I negotiations aimed at limiting the number of strategic weapons on both sides. President Richard Nixon agreed to the return of Okinawa to Japanese control in 1972. In December, the first draft lottery in the United States since World War II was held. The Boeing 747 jumbo jet made its first passenger flight. Charles Manson was allowed to defend himself at the Tate-LaBianca murder trial. The oil company Phillips Petroleum made the first oil discovery in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. What do you remember about 1969?

Communion under both species, the priest, and the tabernacle

The sixteenth century Council of Trent taught that only the priest who celebrated Mass was bound by divine law to receive Communion under both species, bread and wine. Christ, whole and entire, is a true sacrament received under either form alone. Therefore, those who received only one species were not deprived of any grace necessary for salvation. Thus, the movement to use the cup as well as the bread was a new innovation that had both biblical and patristic roots. The priest was also now asked to celebrate Mass versus populum (facing the people). A simple wooden table could be used as an altar. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) attributed the influence of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome, for the way that other Catholic churches were built. In its guidelines for the arrangement of churches, the current Roman Missal directs that’s the altar should be built apart from the wall, in such a way that it is possible to walk around it easily. Mass could be celebrated by facing the people, which was desirable wherever possible. The revised Roman Missal stated that it is “more appropriate as a sign that on an altar on which Mass is celebrated there not be a tabernacle in which the Most Holy Eucharist is reserved”. Prior to this time, the tabernacle was at the center of the altar facing the wall. Now it was preferable that the tabernacle be located elsewhere, either in the sanctuary, apart from the altar of celebration, or in an appropriate form and place. It could be some chapel suitable for private adoration and the prayers of the faithful, yet organically connected to the church and readily noticeable for the Christian faithful. The tabernacle should be situated “in a part of the church that is truly noble, prominent, conspicuous, worthily decorated, and suitable for prayer”. Where is the tabernacle in your church?

Some difficulties with Dei Verbum

The draft document about revelation and the bible was prepared for the first council session in 1962. However, it reflected the conservative theology of the Holy Office under Cardinal Ottaviani. Pope John XXIII intervened directly to promote the preparation of a new draft which was assigned to a mixed commission of conservatives and progressives. The final draft was significantly influenced by the work of the French Dominican theologian Yves Congar, who had been appointed a peritus at the council. Nevertheless, Dei Verbum left some questions about the bible and the Catholic Church unanswered. There continues to be a dispute about the interpretation and inspiration of Holy Scripture. What does God’s inspiration mean? This document distinguished between two levels of meaning, the literal sense intended by the biblical writers and the further understanding that may be attained due to its context. There is a role for the traditional understanding of scriptural passages. There was an acceptance or acknowledgment of the human authors of the bible, yet there was some confusion about the meaning of sacred tradition. This document did not take away the problem or tension between the application of critical historical methods in an interpretation of scripture and the Church’s magisterial teaching about such statements. What exactly does it mean to say that the bible is infallible or inerrant? Did the council mean that the Roman Catholic Church taught biblical infallibility or biblical inerrancy? Some have interpreted Dei verbum as teaching the infallibility position. Others note that this conciliar document often quotes previous documents such as Providentissimus Deus (1893) and Divino afflante Spiritu (1943) that clearly teach inerrancy. This document did not take up the question of the development of the canon of the bible, both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Thus, the tensions between biblical scholars and Roman Vatican curial magisterial members continued after the council and this Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation. How do you interpret the bible?

Christmas in Spa, Belgium

For Christmas of 1962, we went to the Servite house in Spa, Belgium. The Belgian Servites had a parish there where the Servite Father Benoit was the pastor. Thus, we got a sense of what parish life was like in this French speaking Walloon town. Spa is a city in Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium, in a valley of the Ardennes mountains, 22 miles southeast of the city of Liège and 28 miles southwest of Aachen, Germany. In 2006, Spa had a population of a little over 10,000 people. Spa is one of Belgium’s most popular tourist destinations, being renowned for its natural mineral springs and mineral water, which is exported worldwide. Many of the famous mineral springs in Spa are located on a hillside south of the town. In total, there are more than 300 cold mineral springs in Spa and its surroundings. In 2021, Spa became part of the transnational UNESCO World Heritage Site under the name “Great Spa Towns of Europe”. Spa is famous for its mineral springs and its architectural testimony to the rise of European bathing culture in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, Spa has been a watering-place since the 14th century. In fact, the name spa derives from this town of Spa, because the natural water source was believed to possess special health properties. The Roman Pliny the Elder in 79 CE was one of the first to note the healing waters at Spa in northern Gaul. In 1654, the exiled pretender to the English throne, Prince Charles, stayed at Spa that further added to its renown. Since the 18th century, casinos have been located in Spa. In 1918, the German Army established its principal headquarters in Spa. In July, 1920, this town hosted the Spa Conference, a meeting of the Supreme Council to discuss war reparations. In World War II, the Germans reoccupied Spa, but this town escaped the Battle of the Bulge in 1945. In the 1950s and 1960s mass tourism gradually developed. That was the time we were there in the mid-1960s, where there was a little bit of tourism. In 1983, Spa marked the 400th anniversary of the export of Spa waters, so that the Belgian King Baudouin visited the new facilities. In 1994, a new French song festival started, the “Francofolies” that attracted 150,000 spectators in 2007. Spa, this water city, hosted the Tour de France on July 5, 2010, when stage two of the race ended in this town. Agatha Christie’s fictional detective Hercules Poirot was born in Spa. We often went to Spa for Christmas and Easter, so that we would celebrate these holy days in a parish setting, rather than at our house in Louvain. Father Benoit was always gracious to us. As far as I can tell, that Servite house is now closed in Spa. Have you ever been to a spa?

The train-stop in France

Daylight came early on this train ride through France. We had to stop for customs, because back then in 1962 there was no European common market. We had to get out our passports and explain where we were going every time we entered a new country. Our religious habits helped with this procedure. That morning, the train stopped at some place and we got off the train to get some food. I don’t remember what, but we were back on the train right away. I thought that I would enjoy the scenery in southeastern France, since it seemed very rural. Somehow, I had in my mind that France was more industrialized. Anyway, the train rolled on until we hit a stop in the afternoon in northern France. I don’t remember the name of the place, but both Guido and Carlo wanted to get off the train. I knew it wasn’t Brussels and I did not want to get off the train. They kept explaining to me that it was a “parenti”. I thought they meant that it was Guido’s parents. I knew he was from Italy, not from France. After a prolonged dispute of about ten minutes, I agreed to get off the train with them. We took our luggage also. I was afraid we would not be able to get back on the train. Someone was there at the train station to take us to this wonderful Italian family living in this French industrial town. I then realized that they were Guido’s uncle and his cousins. They were very happy to see him. Why was I with them? Once they found out that I was Servite with them also, everything went well. I smiled a lot. We had a wonderful meal. I had no idea how long we were going to stay in France. After the meal was over, I said I was tired. They let me sleep in a bedroom. I was pleased to lay down on a bed. They would wake me up when it was time to go. I must have slept for an hour or two, but back we went to the train station and back on another train to Brussels. There was no confusion or problem with our tickets. That’s all I remember about northern France. I met an Italian family that was very generous with their food and they let me take a siesta. I just wanted this trip to end. We would hit Brussels soon. Have you ever visited with an Italian family?