Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 17, 1923, one of 11 children. He was ordained a priest in 1949 at St. James Cathedral, Brooklyn.
Years of priesthood and more schooling followed. He earned a doctorate in canon law, a master’s degree in political science, and a degree in civil law. (Cardinal Bevilacqua is entitled to practice civil law in the state courts of New York and Pennsylvania and before the U.S. Supreme Court.) In 1976 he was named chancellor of the Brooklyn diocese. Four years later he ordained a bishop and served as Brooklyn’s auxiliary bishop. He was made bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1983, and in 1988 he became the Archbishop of Philadelphia. Three years later, in May 1991, Pope John Paul II announced Archbishop Bevilacqua’s elevation to the College of Cardinals.
In Philadelphia, Cardinal Bevilacqua has made spiritual renewal of the faithful a priority. He regularly visits parishes and schools throughout the archdiocese as well as people of all faiths through his visits to state hospitals, prisons, Christian churches, and synagogues. He is the first (and only) cardinal in the world to host a live weekly radio call-in program, “Live with Cardinal Bevilacqua,” which aired from 1995–2000. He continues to make regular appearances on national and local television and radio programs, including “Catholic Answers Live.”
Last September Cardinal Bevilacqua initiated a spiritual exercise for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia titled A Journey Toward Holiness. This novena of months is set around the nine First Fridays from October 2002 to June 2003. Each month has a theme, and every parish and faith community is encouraged to pray, fast, and offer acts of devotion on these First Fridays for the intention of the month.
Cardinal Bevilacqua recently discussed our call to holiness with This Rock editor Tim Ryland.
This Rock: The path to holiness is generally regarded as a personal one—in other words, each one of us develops our relationship with God interiorly or, at most, with a spiritual director. In what sense is holiness a corporate journey?
Cardinal Bevilacqua: It is true that the path to holiness is a personal journey, but no one becomes holy by himself. If the journey to holiness does not involve traveling with others, no one will ever achieve sanctity. Holiness is achieved only through the Church—that is, through God’s grace given to us in the communion of the Church. This church community begins first in our relationship with God and with others. Jesus told us, in fact, that the first and basic commandment is that you should love God with your whole heart, your whole mind, your whole strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Love is the essence of holiness, so it always must involve other people.
TR: I think that there is some sense from Catholics that if you go to Mass every Sunday, you receive Communion, and you stay out of a state of mortal sin, then you are doing okay, you are on your way to heaven. It seems this sense of a journey together needs to be reawakened.
CB: Jesus says this is how people know you are my disciples: if you have love for one another. Almost every liturgical prayer in the Mass is always a we. The Our Father is our, not just my Father. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Michelangelo’s painting in the Sistine Chapel, “The Last Judgment.” If you look at that painting, the top half of those people are going to heaven. I keep looking at it, and I can never find anyone going to heaven alone. They are always in the hand of at least one other person—sometimes two and three others, symbolizing that this is how we get to heaven. Those falling into hell are all falling individually, which symbolizes their selfishness. Going to heaven always signifies love of others. It is impossible to get to heaven just saying, “I’m going to do these things for myself, and I will be holy.” Such a person could never be holy.
TR: Something that you wrote that I was reading recently struck me, and I wonder if you would comment on it. You wrote that we are never static in our journey to heaven; if we are not advancing in our holiness, we are falling back.
CB: It’s like climbing a hill, especially if there is a lot of snow on it: You don’t move unless you are going upward all the time. Unless you keep advancing, you will fall backward. It means daily prayer. It means daily movement in the journey toward holiness.
TR: What practical steps should a parish priest take to awaken in his flock, especially those not well formed in their faith, an appreciation or a desire for the types of devotions that are contained in the Journey Toward Holiness program?
CB: Well, I’d have to say that if Catholics are not well formed in their faith, it would be difficult if not impossible for them to appreciate or desire the devotions of the Journey Toward Holiness. Holiness is falling in love with God and loving him above everyone else. If the Catholics are not well informed, then it is important for the pastor to take certain steps to keep them well informed.
Obviously, this should be done through his homilies. But he can also do it through Sunday bulletins having some kind of information about the faith. He can do it through establishing, as so many parishes do, Bible classes or other types of gatherings for instruction in the faith, especially through the study of the Catechism. He should also make available pamphlets or other types of material our faith—literature, attractive magazines—and encourage them to read their own diocesan paper.
We have to remember that only about one third of our Catholics come to church regularly. So the pastor has to communicate with people who are not coming to Church, and the best resource for getting people back to church are the people who are coming to church. They must be witnesses, and the pastor should encourage them to do anything possible to attract people to come back to church. I think also that visits by the priests themselves to every home in the parish are crucial. The pastor should also organize lay people to visit homes and invite people back to church.
I think the pastor should also inform parishioners what the diocese is doing so he doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. The archdiocese of Philadelphia, for example, does so much in the way of providing information. We have an office for renewal and evangelization that provides a great deal of literature to help inform people about the faith. We also have a tremendous amount of material on a web site, www.blessme.org, and a chat room on the Catholic faith. There are all available under diocesan auspices.
TR: In speaking to my own pastor, he said the people who come every Sunday and are well formed are always responsive to programs like Journey Toward Holiness. His concern is the people who either do not come every Sunday or come every Sunday and leave after Communion without even waiting for the dismissal. He feels, “Gosh, this is your responsibility as Catholics to reach out to these people. You see them more than I do. I’m shorthanded, I can’t get to them.” He really feels that it is the lay person’s commission to evangelize these people.
CB: That’s right. Just as there’s a universal call to holiness for everyone, there’s a universal call for everyone to evangelize.
TR: We’re all charged by the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19–20) to evangelize. In what way could participation in the Journey Toward Holiness program be considered evangelization?
CB: When we speak of evangelization, we tend to define it as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to every dimension of society in order to change that society. But it would be erroneous to see evangelization as slowly, slowly spreading knowledge of the faith, though that is obviously extremely important. You cannot separate evangelization from growth in holiness, so the aim of evangelization is holiness. That is why we are baptized, that is why we are Catholics: to achieve holiness.
But if holiness is the love of God, we must have knowledge of the Gospels, and that will lead to the love of Jesus Christ and therefore to holiness. Holiness is one of the best means of evangelizing. When you are a witness by the way you live, you attract people. I can’t help thinking of that famous story of Francis of Assisi where one of the brothers asked him, “What is the most important thing that we must do as Christians?” Francis answered, “The most important thing we must do is to preach the gospel. If necessary, use words.” It is our life that is the best form of evangelization for Jesus Christ.
TR: Catholic Answers is an apologetics apostolate, and so in the back of my mind is the question which comes first, apologetics—defenses and explanations of the faith—or evangelization. Obviously, the two should work in concert, but I feel that you can’t reach people’s minds until you’ve reached their hearts.
CB: That is certainly the best way, but eventually you have to reach the mind to in order to let them be touched in their hearts to love Jesus. You cannot love what you don’t know. You reach the heart by the way you live and by answering objections and all of that. Apologetics can’t be separated from evangelization nor from the journey to holiness. They all lead eventually to holiness of ourselves or holiness of others.
Today you can’t just preach Jesus. We used to, but today people are attracted by asking questions. You can’t simply say, well, Jesus said this. People always want to know why. Why must we go to Mass? Why is abortion wrong? It’s not enough that the Church says it or that Christ—or even God—commanded it. There’s where apologetics must come in: to show there’s a rational basis for everything that is commanded and everything that is taught.