Against The Grain

Monday, December 05, 2005

Saint Austin Review Nov/Dec 2005: BenedictXVI on "Universality and Catholicity"

The November/December 2005 issue of St. Austin Review is dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI, featuring an exclusive article by the Holy Father on "Universality and Catholicity"; "Benedict and Bioethics" by Cristopher Kaczor; Redeeming Culture: Pope Benedict on the Liturgy, by John Haass, and an interview with one of Benedict's most famous students, Fr. Joseph Fessio: Pope Benedict XVI: The Mind of the Man (with Sandy Lender):

[Fr. Fessio]:“I think anybody who reads his works will have a sense of the depth of the intellect which nourishes his spiritual life. He sees the divine in the concrete. Just as Jesus would tell parables, the Holy Father sees the significance of individual objects and events. In his installation homily, he spoke of the pallium and how it is made out of a type of wool. It is the burden of the flock, which he’s carrying. While it is a privilege, it is also his burden.
“During his installation homily, he also talked about the fisherman’s ring which he was given, and explained how it symbolizes his succession to the fisherman Peter. He’s very sensitive to the symbolic meaning of reality, which is, of course, a very patristic characteristic that is also expressed in icons.
“Icons aren’t just pictures. They’re seen as a window to the heavens, an access to the eternal world beyond. That’s the way he sees things and he embodies that. When you’re with him at Mass, you feel like you’re in Heaven in the liturgy. . . .

The Saint Austin Review (StAR) is published in America by Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University, in partnership with the International Institute for Culture, and in the UK by the Saint Austin Press. Each issue gathers the work of Catholic scholars, writers and poets (Aidan Nichols OP, James Schall SJ, Joseph Pearce, Thomas Howard, Stratford Caldecott -- need I go on?). You can review the work of past contributors here.