Why Catholic Underground?
Many people have asked us over the past 3 years -"why Catholic Underground "? "why do you call it that"?
Some people say " the name sounds suspicious" or "I won't go because I don't like the name" Well, there are many good reasons why the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal named our special evenings together "Catholic Underground" many of which can be found on their wonderful website, www.franciscanfriars.com - But, since you are here now, we will try to explain!
The Friars, who originated Catholic Underground in NY, have always been very devoted to and have a special admiration for the late Pope John Paul II. As a young seminarian in Poland, he had to study often in hiding from the Nazis- in a sense, he had to "go underground" As a young Priest, he often had to celebrate mass in hiding, in secret, first again, from the occupying Nazis and later the communists, again, taking his church and parishioners "underground" to avoid certain persecution by the communists who now ran Poland. He celebrated mass in secret places in the forests- the communists kept discovering the makeshift churches and destroyed them, every week, the young Priest and his congregation would start over and over again, they were so persistant that eventually the communists left them alone.
In essence, the name "Catholic Underground" celebrates the life and the heroic efforts of the young Priest, Karol Wojtyla, who would become Pope John Paul II, who had to take his church and flock "underground" to save it from destruction from overwhelming forces of evil and later was so instumental in elevating our beloved church to new heights! So even though we are not physically "underground" or in hiding, (we are so blessed to live in a country where we can worship freely and openly as we please) during a CU evening, when you join us in prayer and celebration, remember the humble young Priest who was the primary inspiration for Catholic Underground and who will someday soon be elevated to sainthood. We are also reponding to his call when he urged us to always see to it that the Gospel is in dialog with culture.
"The Gospel lives in conversation with culture, and if the Church holds back from the culture, the Gospel itself falls silent. Therefore, we must be fearless in crossing the threshold of the communication and information revolution now taking place"
- Pope John Paul II
Our Lady of Guadalupe (above right)- From Dec 9 to 12, 1531 in Mexico, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to Juan Diego and left on his tilma (cloak) her image as shown above- a miraculous image that converted 8 milion Aztecs. The image of Our Lady shows a brooch around her neck that shows a Franciscan Cross. The image shows Our Lady standing on a burned-out moon, surrounded by the sun and clothed with the stars of heaven. The Aztecs worshipped a stone serpent that was identified in picture writing as a crescent moon-when they saw this image, they knew she was greater than the serpent. In this image, Mary is standing on the serpent (devil) who is identified by the crescent moon. (Genesis 3:14-15 "she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel") The stars on her mantle shows she is more powerful than the stars of heaven. The turquoise and gold colors of her mantle were reserved for Aztec royalty-thus she was seen as a Queen. On her garment, you can see a black belting.The Aztecs knew she was with child, as their women wore the belting the same way when with child. In 1962, it was discovered by photographing the eyes of Our Lady, there exists images showing 3 people- identified as Juan Diego, the Bishop and his assistant, taken at the moment that the image was first discovered on Juan Diego's tilma. The image is approx 5 ft high. Viewed from a distance, it appears life size, from near, smaller. From up close, you can only see the large weave of the tilma. At the near position, Mary's eyes appear alive and as a normal persons. The picture of Our Lady near the stage at Catholic Underground NJ is from a photograph of the actual tilma in Mexico City. During his visit to Mexico in 1999, Pope John Paul II requested that all the Americas pray to and honor Mary under the title "Our Lady of Guadalupe"
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