Pope St. Paul VI taught at the Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria in Cagliare, Italy on April 24, 1970, “if we want to be Christian, we must be Marian; in a word, we have to acknowledge the essential, vital and providential relationship uniting Our Lady to Jesus, a relationship that opens before us the way leading to him.” The Holy Father spoke of a reality in the Church founded on our relationship with God Himself. This reality is that we come to know the truth of who God is by His revelation of Himself to us which thus establishes a relationship with us. This began by God’s creating us as male and female in His image and likeness. He also revealed Himself to us in establishing a relationship with His chosen people, Israel. Finally, in the Incarnation, God became one with us by taking on our human flesh. In Jesus Christ, God became one of us. He did this by His conception in the womb of His Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary. As He died on the Cross, He brought forth from His pierced side the Church, His Mystical Body on earth. Jesus remains present with us on earth by means of His Church, and pre-eminently in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, the Most Holy Eucharist.
We can say that the Church as a divine institution is a series of relationships beginning with God’s relationship with His People, who belong to Him by virtue of the Sacrament of Baptism. The Church also has different dimensions based on the relationships existing in her. Theologians and popes have spoken of three primary dimensions of the Church based on three pivotal chosen persons: Our Lady, St. Peter, and St. John. This engenders three dimensions in the Church: the Marian dimension, the Petrine dimension, and the Johannine dimension.
Recently, I had the great privilege of experiencing a wonderful look at these three dimensions. I had this experience at the very heart of the Church in Rome. Let me explain.
I journeyed to Rome to attend an annual dinner at the Pontifical North American College, the seminary for men from the United States, and often from other countries, studying for the priesthood. I am very proud of the formation afforded to men at “the NAC,” as it is affectionately called, and I am especially grateful to be an alumnus myself. At the annual Rector’s Dinner there are typically two people honored, one a bishop or priest, and the other, a member of the laity. This year, His Eminence, Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., was the first. The second was Mrs. Lory Mondaini, who served as secretary of the rector of the NAC for 39 years.
My return to Rome and the Pontifical North American College provided some rich experiences that manifested the Marian, Petrine and Johannine dimensions of the Church.
First, the Petrine dimension. Our seminary in Rome is a short 8-minute walk from St. Peter’s Basilica. One of the first things I did on the day of my arrival was to go to this basilica built on the Vatican Hill over the grave of St. Peter, whom Our Lord Himself called “Rock.” I went down into the crypt just below the high altar and prayed at the tomb of Peter. His grave is the reason why that magnificent basilica exists and why the Successor of Peter continues to live in Rome. The presence of Peter in Rome speaks of the rock-solid stability of the teaching of Christ that comes to us through His Body the Church. As I walked through St. Peter’s Square, person after person approached me and asked me to pray with them, to remember their intentions, to bless them, or simply to be with them. So many people come to St. Peter’s Basilica, to the tomb of Peter, and to bishops and priests, in particular, to ask for help from heaven. They look for the “Rock” so that they may rest secure on the foundation of Peter and the Apostles present on Vatican Hill in a special way. I experienced that once again and, although completely unworthy, I became part of this Petrine dimension of the Church.
Second, the Marian dimension. The day after my arrival in Rome, I walked to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, one of the four patriarchal basilicas in Rome (the other three are St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, and St. Paul Outside the Walls). St. Mary Major is the oldest church in the West dedicated to Our Lady, having been built in 422-432 AD. To go to this venerable church is to go to the heart of the Marian dimension of the Church. Under the main altar of St. Mary Major there is a beautiful sliver reliquary containing wood from the manger in which Our Lady laid the Infant Jesus in Bethlehem. It speaks of the pivotal and essential role of the Blessed Virgin in bringing Christ into the world, and His Body, the Church, into existence. Our Lady stood by her Son every day of His life from the first moment of his conception in her womb. She also stood at the foot of the Cross where, from His pierced side, the Church and her sacramental life came forth. We call Our Lady the Mother of the Church, because just as she is the Mother of Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, she is also the Mother of his Body, the Church. During my visit to Rome, I spent time with the administrative assistants in our seminary, all women, religious sisters, and the women lay workers, as well as many of my friends who, because of their love for Christ and his Church, have exercised their beautiful and important vocations as women in the Church. This brought to mind for me all of the women I knew as a seminarian and as a priest in Rome, and the way they impacted my life. I saw the men who are currently studying for the priesthood, and the way they esteem and respect the women with whom they work and spend time. This was a manifestation of the Marian dimension of the Church, and the complementarity of vocations of men and women in the Church.
Finally, the Johannine dimension. Although this dimension must be expressed in every person and in every vocation in the Church, I saw it clearly lived out in the lives of the seminarians at the Pontifical North American College. In my conversations with these young men from fifty-two different dioceses in the United States and from one Australian diocese, I experienced a passion and zeal for serving Christ, His people, and the Church. They spoke with humility and humanity of how they desired to give themselves entirely to living the great sacrificial ideal expressed by Jesus Himself, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). The seminarians told me about their apostolic works of serving the poor of Rome, of caring for the sick, of teaching others, especially the young, about the Gospel, of outreach to the homeless, and of working with people in parishes. The Johannine dimension takes its name from St. John, the Beloved Disciple. Every single baptized person in the Church is called to the Johannine dimension, a call to radical love, just as St. John received love from the Lord Jesus and gave his own love in return. It is imperative that men in formation for the priesthood embrace this radical love. They receive love from Jesus every day as they receive Him really present in the Holy Eucharist and unite themselves with His sacrifice in the Mass, and then they offer their love to Him in prayer and in the way they love their brothers and sisters, laying down their lives in service.
I can say with great enthusiasm that I experienced the three dimensions of the Church, the Petrine, the Marian, and the Johannine, during my recent visit to the Eternal City, and most especially at the Pontifical North American College. I thank God for all my experiences there both in the past, and now, just a week ago. I have been blessed by what I received there and by what I can now give to all I have the joy to serve.
Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh