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May
21, 2007 
VOL.
45, NO. 10Oakland,
CA
Don’t
be a ‘spectator Catholic’
says former Boston mayor
 |
Ray Flynn |
Ray Flynn,
the former Boston mayor and one-time U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, has
declared an end to the era of the spectator Catholic. “We are soldiers
in the army of Jesus Christ. Not spectators…go to your ‘Baltimore
Catechism.’ It doesn’t say ‘spectators,’”
he said during a recent forum at St. Margaret Mary Church in Oakland.
The event was hosted by Catholics for the Common Good, an organization
that seeks social change in line with Catholic teaching. Flynn is an advisor
to CCG.
Flynn said he wants to encourage people in the Bay Area to respond to
Pope John Paul II’s call to “faithful Catholic citizenship.
We owe that to our family, to our country, and to our Church. We’re
a better nation when we’re involved.”
Using a political analogy, Flynn said Catholics need three things to meet
this call: a good message, a good messenger and good organization. “We
have the best message,” he said, and the best messenger, Jesus Christ.
However, Flynn said, “the good organization we have to work on.”
Flynn urges Catholics to create or participate in organizations like CCG
to get out the message of the Gospel. Depending on church leadership,
Flynn said, parishioners might need to take the initiative to organize
within their parishes. In other parishes, priests may already be involved,
he said.
CCG chairman and founder Bill May said his organization creates networks
within parishes to make such efforts as contacting legislators, calling
in to media programs and gathering signatures for causes consistent with
Catholic teaching.
Flynn stressed that in addition to building networks of Catholic activists,
individuals can make an impact. “One vote, one telephone call, one
person can make a major difference,” he said.
Flynn pointed to his work as a commentator for the NBC and MSNBC networks
during coverage of Pope John Paul II’s funeral and the election
and installation of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
Flynn said viewers from across the world contacted television stations
saying his daily commentaries were respectful and informed. As a result,
he said, the networks gave him more airtime.
“TV programming is driven by ratings and viewers. Catholics need
to let the media know how they feel about commentators and statements
made on TV that are often anti-Catholic.
"My ratings were great; Catholics found them insightful and informative,
so why don’t they call on me more often? Lay Catholics should ask
media directors and sponsors that question,” he said.
Prayer is another important way to effect change, Flynn said, relating
a story about his 2006 visit to the shrine at Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
As many faithful do, Flynn crawled on his knees up the mountain there
to pray.
Flynn said he has bad knees from many years as an athlete and was concerned
about getting back down. So to stall, he prayed—for anyone he could
think of.
Out of nowhere, Flynn said, Buddy Cianci, the former mayor of Providence,
R.I. who is in prison for corruption, popped into his head. Flynn prayed
for Cianci and when he made it down the mountain he wrote Cianci a five-page
letter about the experience, telling Cianci “he was the last person
I’d have thought about going up the mountain.”
Weeks later, Cianci responded that he had read Flynn’s letter five
or six times a day, and as a result, had begun praying to the Virgin Mary.
Cianci wrote that he was struggling, but praying was making him feel better.
“The Holy Spirit told me to send that letter…We can all do
that,” Flynn told the audience.
Flynn will not accept excuses for “sitting on the sidelines.”
He recalled visiting Mogadishu, Somalia, as ambassador in the early 1990s,
during the ongoing civil war.
Flynn said the only people helping the victims were eight or 10 Catholic
nuns from Ireland, who were “risking their lives to help people
they don’t know.”
Flynn said, “If those Irish nuns can be out there putting themselves
in jeopardy, we can attend meetings, ring doorbells, send letters to the
editor….”
The pro-life Democrat was appointed ambassador to the Vatican by President
Bill Clinton in 1993 and served until 1997. He was the mayor of Boston
from 1984-1993.
Flynn said he first met then-Cardinal Karol Józef Wojty?a in September
1969, long before both men ended up at the Vatican. Flynn said he and
the pope formed a close relationship over the years.
He has authored two books: “The Accidental Pope” and “John
Paul II, A Personal Portrait of the Pope and the Man.” He is working
on two new books and writing two screenplays, one of which is based on
“The Accidental Pope.”
