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Preliminary Rankings of the Century's Top 50 Catholics to date

      Today we reveal the rankings for the Top 50 Catholics to date and list 110 others on the ballot, providing you still time to vote for the person or persons you feel were the most influential Catholics in this century. We have had over 10,000 votes cast to date and are most encouraged by this turnout. There are no specific rules. You may vote as often as you wish and we will keep you abreast periodically of the standings as we draw nearer to featuring the countdown. For the list of nominated candidates and standings to date, click on TOP 100 CATHOLICS OF THE CENTURY

TOP 50 in ranking as of May 22
(over 10,000 votes cast to date)

1. Pope John Paul II - 1,679
2. Mother Teresa - 1,192
3. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen - 1,043
4. Blessed Padre Pio - 971
5. Mother Angelica - 658
6. Saint Maximilian Kolbe - 504
7. Blessed Sister Faustina Kowalksa - 495
8. Pope Pius XII - 469
9 Pope Saint Pius X - 408
10. Pope Paul VI - 380

11. Blessed Josemaria Escriva - 369
12. Fr. Joseph Fessio,SJ - 354
13. Scott Hahn - 302
14. Pope John XXIII - 293
15. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger - 281
16. St. Edith Stein - 248
17. Cardinal John J. O'Connor - 213
18. Karl Keating - 204
19. Dorothy Day - 182
20. Archbishop Charles Chaput, OFM Cap. -179


21. Fr. Michael Scanlon - 174
22. Fr. Jozo Zovko, OFM - 172
23. Pope Leo XIII - 169
24. Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz - 163
25. Sr. Lucia Santos (Fatima) - 159
26. Ralph Martin - 158
27. Fr. Joseph Fession, S.J. - 156
28. Wayne Weibel - 151
29. Cyndi Cain - the Hidden Flower - 144
30. Pope Benedict XV - 141

31. Cardinal Francis George, OMI - 139
32. Visionaries of Medjugorje - 138
33. Bud MacFarlane, Jr. - 135
34. Saint Maria Goretti - 134
35. Cardinal Francis Arinze - 123
36. Fr. Benedict Groeschel - 114
37. Cardinal James Francis Stafford - 106
38. Malachi Martin - 98
39. Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua - 75

40. Joey Lomangino - 68
41. Fr. Patrick Peyton - Rosary Priest - 54
42. Tom Monaghan - 51
43. John Leary - 49
44. Ida Perdemann - 42
45. Pope Pius XI - 37
46. Josyp Terelya -36
47. Dorothy Day - 25
48. Blessed Andre Bessette - 24
49. Fr. Rene Laurentin - 22
50. G.K. Chesterton - 21

Those receiving at least more than two votes, but not in top 50 yet:

• Cardinal Jamie Sin
  
• Archbishop Franc Peric of Belgrade
  
• Sister Nirmala
  
• Cardinal Basil Hume
  
• Fr. Nicholas Gruener
  
• Mari Loli/Conchita Gonzalez of Garabandal
  
• Catherine Doherty
  
• Fr. Damian of Molokai
  
• Fr. John Laux
  
• Fr. Ken Roberts
  
• Fr. Barbaric Slavko, OFM
  
• Fr. Daniel Rops
  
• Nancy Fowler
  
• Cardinal Lustiger
  
• Blessed Fr. Iwene Michael Tansi
  
• Fr. Svetozar Kraljevic, OFM
  
• Archbishop John Ireland
  
• Bing Crosby
  
• John F. Kennedy
  
• Cardinal Ocampo
  
• Maria Esperanza of Betania
  
• William F. Buckley
  
• Bishop Camara
  
• Dolores Hope
  
• Cardinal Joseph Bernardin
  
• Fr. Corapi
  
• Cardinal Leger
  
• Father Stephen Barham
  
• Cardinal Peter Cushing
  
• Saint Mother Frances Cabrini
  
• Lech Walesa
  
• Bishop Juan Gerardi
  
• Graham Greene
  
• John Leary
  
• Cardinal Mindzenty
  
• Malcolm Muggeridge
  
• Bishop Carlos Belo - East Timor
  
• Fr. Werenfried van Straaten
  
• Blessed Mary Mackillop
  
• Chiara Lubich
  
• Xavier Dor
  
• Estella Ruiz
  
• Fr. Jack Spaulding
  
• Cardinal Franjo Kuharic
  
• Cardinal Angelo Sodano
  
• Cardinal Bernard Law
  
• Bishop John Myers
  
• Phyllis McGinley
  
• Dr. Tom Dooley
  
• Karl Rahner
  
• Saint Mother Catherine Drexel
  
• Cesar Chavez
  
• Fr. Daniel Lord, SJ
  
• Cardinal Suenens
  
• Archbishop Oscar Rivera
  
• Thomas Merton
  
• J.R.R. Tolkien
  
• Theodore Hesburgh
  
• Fr. Miguel Pro
  
• Fr. Frank Pavone
  
• Bob and Penny Lord
  
• Fr. Paul Marx
  
• William Donohue
  
• Mary Kay Clark
  
• Judie Brown
  
• Georges Vanier
  
• Henry Hyde
  
• George Meany
  
• Ivan Illich
  
• Cardinal Agustin Bea
  
• Daniel Berrigan, SJ
• Clarence Thomas
  
• Anthony Scalia
  
• Dr. John Noonan
  
• Dr. Bernard Nathanson
  
• Georges Pire
  
• Eamon DeValera
  
• Claire Booth Luce
  
• Francois Mauriac
  
• Frank Duff
  
• Maria Montessori
  
• Salvador Dali
  
• Antonio Gaudi
  
• Hillaire Belloc
  
• Cardinal Pio Laghi
  
• Cardinal Roger Mahony
  
• Saint Leopold Mandic
  
• Hans Kung
  
• Cardinal Timothy Manning
  
• Cardinal Francis Spellman
  
• Cardinal George Mundelein
  
• Cardinal James A. Hickey
  
• Bishop Marcel Lefebvre
  
• Cardinal Terence J. Cooke
  
• Cardinal Bernardin Gantin
  
• Cardinal Samuel Stritch
  
• Bernard Casserly
  
• Bishop John Daily
  
• Bishop Donald Weurhl
  
• Sr. Mary Lucy Astuto
  
• Al Smith
  
• Joe McCarthy
  
• Fr. Joe Carroll
  
• Fr. Pablo Straub
  
• Bishop John Myers
  
• Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati
  

Message to the Americas:
The Path to Communion is the road to unity if led by loyal priests

      Following up a year after the Bishops of North, Central and South America, along with the Caribbean contingent, met for the month-long Synod of the Americas in Rome at the end of 1997, Pope John Paul II officially closed the Synod with his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America at Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine in Mexico City in January 1999. Because of its significance for all Americans, we bring you this important document in several installments over the next few months. For those wanting to read the entire encyclical or check footnotes, go to Ecclesia in America For the twelfth installment on Chapter Four: The Path to Communion - The priesthood as a sign of unity, click on THE VICAR OF CHRIST SPEAKS.

Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America

From Pope John Paul II to the Bishops, Priests and Deacons, Men and Women Religious, and all the Lay Faithful on the encounter with the Living Jesus Christ: The Way to Conversion, Communion and Solidarity in America

The priesthood as a sign of unity

39. “As a member of a particular Church, each priest must be a sign of communion with the Bishop, since he is his immediate collaborator, in union with his brothers in the priesthood. With pastoral charity, he exercises his ministry, chiefly in the community entrusted to him, and he leads his community to encounter Christ the Good Shepherd. His vocation requires him to be a sign of unity. Therefore, he must avoid any involvement in party politics, since this would divide the community”. (126) The Synod Fathers call for “a pastoral plan for diocesan clergy, to strengthen their spirituality and their sense of mission and identity, centered on following Christ, the eternal High Priest, always striving to obey the Father's will. Christ is the model of generous dedication, of austerity of life and of service even unto death. The priest should be conscious of the fact that, by virtue of the Sacrament of Orders, he is the bearer of grace, which he communicates to his brothers and sisters in the sacraments. He himself is sanctified in the exercise of his ministry”. (127)

      The field in which priests work is vast. Therefore they should concentrate on what is essential to their ministry: “letting themselves be configured to Christ the Head and Shepherd, the source of all pastoral charity, offering themselves each day with Christ in the Eucharist, in order to help the faithful both personally and communally to experience the living Jesus Christ”. (128) As witnesses and disciples of the merciful Christ, they are called to be instruments of forgiveness and reconciliation, putting themselves generously at the service of the faithful in the spirit of the Gospel.

      As pastors of the People of God in America, priests must also be alert to the challenges of the world today and sensitive to the problems and hopes of their people, sharing their experiences and growing, above all, in solidarity towards the poor. They should be careful to discern the charisms and strengths of the faithful who might be leaders in the community, listening to them and through dialogue encouraging their participation and co-responsibility. This will lead to a better distribution of tasks, enabling priests “to dedicate themselves to what is most closely tied to the encounter with and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, and thus to represent better within the community the presence of Jesus who draws his people together”. (129)

      The task of discerning charisms also includes knowing how best to use those priests who show an aptitude for special ministries. Moreover, every priest is expected to offer his fraternal help to other priests and to turn trustingly to them in time of need.

      Given the outstanding number of priests in America who, by God's grace, strive to meet the challenges of a truly remarkable workload, I join the Synod Fathers in acknowledging and praising their “untiring commitment as pastors, preachers of the Gospel and agents of ecclesial communion, in thanking them and in encouraging them to continue to offer their lives in service of the Gospel”. (130)

Promoting vocations

40. The indispensable role of the priest within the community must lead all the members of the Church in America to recognize the importance of promoting vocations. The American continent has many young people, who represent an immense spiritual resource. Therefore, it is necessary to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life where they first develop, and Christian families must be invited to support their children if they feel called to follow this path. (131) Vocations “are a gift of God” and “they are born in communities of faith, above all in the family, the parish, Catholic schools and other Church organizations. Bishops and priests are particularly responsible for encouraging vocations by personally presenting the call, and above all by their witness of a life of fidelity, joy, enthusiasm and holiness. The entire People of God is responsible for promoting vocations, and does so chiefly by persistent and humble prayer for vocations”. (132)

      As places which accept and train those called to the priesthood, seminaries must prepare the future ministers of the Church to live “a solid spirituality of communion with Christ the Shepherd and of openness to the workings of the Spirit, that will make them specially able to discern the needs of God's People and their various charisms, and to work together”. (133) Therefore, in seminaries “there should be special insistence upon specifically spiritual formation, so that through constant conversion, the spirit of prayer, the practice of the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance, the candidates may learn to be close to the Lord and learn to commit themselves generously to pastoral work”. (134) Those responsible for formation should carefully supervise and guide the seminarians towards emotional maturity so that they may be fit to embrace priestly celibacy and be prepared to live in communion with their brother priests. They should also foster in seminarians the capacity for critical observation so that they can discern true and false values, since this is an essential requirement for establishing a constructive dialogue with the world of today.

      Special attention needs to be given to vocations among indigenous peoples: they need a formation which takes account of their culture. While receiving a proper theological and pastoral formation for their future ministry, these candidates for the priesthood should not be uprooted from their own culture. (135)

      The Synod Fathers wished to thank and bless all those who devote their lives to the formation of future priests in seminaries. They also invited the Bishops to assign the most suitable priests to this work, after preparing them with specific training for this delicate mission. (136)

NEXT MONDAY: Installment fourteen - Chapter Four: Promoting vocations

A lifetime diplomat and curia member, Cardinal Antonio Innocenti is now retired after a half century of service to his Church

      Our fifty-seventh red hat we feature, in alphabetical order is the 84 year-old year-old Italian-born Cardinal Antonio Innocenti former head of various Pontifical Congregations and Commissions. He was elevated to the cardinalate on May 25, 1985 during the third Consistory held by Pope John Paul II and was transfered to cardinal priest on January 29, 1996. For more on Cardinal Innocenti, click on COLLEGE OF CARDINALS COLLECTION

57.   Cardinal Antonio Innocenti

      A mainstay in the the diplomatic corps and curia for well over half a century, Cardinal Antonio Innocenti is now retired residing at Piazza della Citta Leonina 9, 00193 in Rome in the shadow of the Vatican. He was born on August 23, 1915 in Poppi, Italy and ordained a priest at the age of twenty-three. After varied pastoral work during the war, he was called to Rome by Pope Pius XII and thus began a long, illustrous career in the diplomatic corps and the Curia. On December 15, 1967 Pope Paul VI named him titular bishop of Eclano with the personal title of Archbishop that he took over February 18, 1968. From 1967 until 1973 he served as Papal Nuncio to Paraguay before being assigned the position of Secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints for two years.

      In 1975 the Holy Father transfered him to the same post for the Congregation for Sacraments and Divine Worship which he held until 1980 when Pope John Paul II appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Spain for the next five years capped by him being named in the Consistory of May 25, 1985. He received the titular church of St. Marie in Aquiro as a cardinal deacon and the next year he was promoted to Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy from 1986 to 1991. In 1988 the Pope gave him an additional responsibility, assigning him President of the Pontifical Commission for Preservation of Artistic Patrimony of the Church until 1991. That year he was appointed President of the new Pontifical Commission "Ecclesia Dei", the document on the Latin Mass and the reconciliation process of those who had followed Bishop Marcel Lefebvre. He remained in this post until his mandatory retirement at 80 years old in 1995 at which time he was replaced by Cardinal Angelo Felici.

      Because of the proximity of Pentecost Sunday, we present a special prayer to the Holy Spirit from the Treasury of Novenas:

Grant, we beg of You, Almighty God, that we may so please Your Holy Spirit by our earnest prayers, that we may, by His grace, be freed from all temptations and merit to receive the forgiveness of sins. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

SIMPLY SHEEN: Maybe the good ol' days weren't

      They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".

"Although a great deal of nonsense has been written about the interior life of men in our day, it is still true that the twentieth century is closer to God than the nineteenth century was. We are living on the eve of one of the great spiritual revivlas of human history."

"Your remembrance of Me is no longer a commitment of all your being, but lukewarm words are swords which pierce and tear at My most tender Sacred and Merciful Heart, the very Font of Divine Mercy."

      Those powerful words from Our Lord were imparted to the Hidden Flower of the Immaculate Heart on the feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguouri on August 1, 1994 in which He pulls no punches as to the malaise of the world and why the Father's Justice is inevitable. But there is still time if we return to Him as repentant prodigal sons and daughters and heed all His Blessed Mother has imparted for it is Christ Who sent her to help us. It the previous Message #524 Our Lady addresses this and urges all to return to the Sacraments of Reconciliation and the Holy Eucharist and to be obedient to her Divine Son's Vicar on earth - her beloved Pope John Paul II who has dedicated his pontificate to Mary. For Messages #523 and #524 from the Blessed Virgin and her Divine Son, click on "I SOLEMNLY TELL YOU..."

Message Five-Hundred-twenty-three, July 28, 1994

      Beloved Hidden Flower of my Immaculate Heart, I love and bless you.

      Please deliver my message to all of the world. Say: This is my message. Go to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass frequently, daily if at all possible. Receive the Sacrament of Penance once a week so that you may always remain in the state of sanctifying grace. Read Sacred Scripture every day, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten and guide your understanding. Be always humble, obedient children to my beloved Pope John Paul II. He truly is the Vicar of Christ, the visible Head of the Church on Earth. He is guided by the Holy Spirit.

      Do not listen to those who speak against him, nor the ones who act contrary to his teachings and authority. I repeat: Be humble, little obedient children and you shall quickly restore reverence to my Divine Son in the Blessed Sacrament. I ask you this for if reverence is returned to the True Presence of my Divine Son in the Blessed Sacrament, the Heavenly Father will permit my Immaculate Heart to triumph. You must pray much, but always pray from the heart for then your prayer is pleasing to God and you are close to Him. I tell you all of this because the time is now very critical.

      I love and bless all of my children. Thank you for responding to my Call!

Message Five-Hundred-twenty-four, August 1, 1994

      Beloved Hidden Flower of My Mother's Immaculate Heart, I love and bless you and all your family.

      I say to all of My children: See the strife which is all around you. On every side it hems you in. Strife reigns in your homes, your communities, your parishes. And you do not ask why? Or if you do ask you do not wish to hear the answer, spoken in your heart by My Spirit.

      It is because you have forgotten Me, your God. Your remembrance of Me is no longer a commitment of all your being, but lukewarm words are swords which pierce and tear at My most tender Sacred and Merciful Heart, the very Font of Divine Mercy.

      I solemnly tell all the world: Unless you return to Me with fullness of heart and true repentance upon your lips My Father shall unleash a chastisement such as mankind has never endured. You are a people who are worse than in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah. You are a world of ego, pride, justification of every evil of which your human mind is capable and through which you permit My adversary to incite you to ever-greater evil.

      I am daily weeping for you as is My Mother. Throughout all the world I have sent Her to call you back to Me, your only Refuge. But so few listen. So few respond.

      Better that all the world should put on sackcloth and cover themselves with ashes as in the days of old, than to invoke by your sinfulness the full weight of God's perfect Justice.

      Dear children, I am Jesus Christ, God and Savior. Come to Me. Fear nothing, for I am God. Put off the world. Be deaf and blind to its calling, its false glitterings. For I solemnly tell you the time of deep sorrow already upon you shall continue and increase, until you shall recognize the futility of your ways and surrender to Me.

      Be merciful and I shall clothe you in Mercy! Be charity towards all; I shall behold you only with eyes of Perfect Love. Remain steadfast in your true faith and obedient little children who hunger for the words of my holy Vicar Pope John Paul II.

      I am coming. I am coming soon, but not as many believe or imagine. Seek the wisdom and counsel of the Holy Spirit to enlighten you and be ever before Me in the Sacrament of My Love - the Holy Eucharist. Then shall you understand and be prepared for all that is yet to be fulfilled.

      I, Jesus Christ, love you. I bless you. I give to you My Peace. But to receive My gifts your heart must be open and humble. Imitate Me, Who am meek and humble of Heart and you shall persevere!

    Dear children! Also today I call you to prayer. Little children, be joyful carriers of peace and love in this peaceless world. By fasting and prayer, witness that you are mine and that you live my messages. Pray and seek! I am praying and interceding for you before God that you convert; that your life and behavior always be Christian. Thank you for having responded to my call.
For more on Medjugorje, click on MEDJUGORJE AND MORE

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THE DAILY WORD

"One thing is lacking to thee; go, sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven: and come, follow Me."

Mark 10: 17-27

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May 24, 1999 volume 10, no. 100   DAILY CATHOLIC