Pupilla oculi

Archbishop Burke of St. Louis has written a beautiful letter about the importance of the seminary.

His words are reminiscent of what Pope John Paul II said in extemporaneous remarks made in an address to the clergy of Rome in 2002.

The words stay with me: "the apple of his eye" (pupilla oculi). The "apple" of the bishop's eye is the seminary, because through the seminary, he sees the Church's future. I am prompted to say this by the experience I have had of being bishop for so many years, first in Krakow and then in Rome: in Krakow for 20 years, in Rome already for 24. This is very true, this is the "apple of his eye".

One would be hard pressed to make the claim that the "apple" of Cardinal Mahony's eye is the seminary. After all, the future he sees for the Church in L.A. is one with fewer and fewer priests, which Mahony considers, as dippy as it sounds, "a sign of God's deep love for the Church."

Undoubtedly, the "apple" of Mahony's eye is NOT the seminary. But if I had to guess what in fact it is, I'd put my pesos on this ...



How do you like them apples?