Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2012 witii funding from CARL!: Consortium of Academic and Researcii Libraries in Illinois http://archive.org/details/passionistbulletn2933unse The Passionist B) number 29 1995 The Passionist Robert Joerger, C.P. Michael J. Stengel, C.P. Publishers Jo^Yi J. O'Brien, C.P. Editor ArdisCloutier, O.S.F. MalcolmCornwell, C.P. John T. Render, C.P. Paul Wadell, C.P. EditorialBoard PatriciaDoyle Graphics 1995—number 29 THE PASSIONIST is published by .Holy Cross and St. Paul of the Cross Provinces of the Congregation of the Passion. It is a private publication issued primarily for members of the Congregation of the Passion. Manuscriptsmaybesentto: JohnJ. O'Brien,C.P., 1175Concord MA Turnpike,Arlington, 02174, U.S.A. PRESENTING THIS ISSUE 1995~fifty years since the end of World War II, the liberation ofJewish peoples and others in the death camps, the commencement of the United Nations. 1995~thirty years since the end ofVatican II, the Council which shaped ecclesiology, worship, revelation, and our understanding of the world, missiology, inculturation. 1995'-only five years until the bi-millennium and the beginnings ofChristianity's third millennium. 1995~the final years of a century of new beginnings in technology, space exploration, medical inno- vation; and, on the contrary, two world wars and constant regional wars, geo- and eco-cidal threat, the dropping of nuclear bombs. 1995-a significant year for North American Passionists. In January Barnabas Ahern died after a long and debilitat- ing illness. Although a native of Holy Cross Province, Barnabas shaped the minds and hearts of people on an international scale. He was a jeweler of words, a com- mentator on the Word. He influenced Vatican II and its understanding of revelation. So also Cuthbert O'Gara, a native Canadian and member of Saint Paul of the Cross Province, went to Vatican II as a missionary bishop. A little over sixty years ago he became bishop. In this issue Robert Carbonneau writes on Bishop Cuthbert's missionary career in China and his concerns when he returned to his Province after expulsion from China. Almost seventy-five years ago the Passionists partici- pated in new beginnings in the retreat movement. Gerald Laba reflects on how The Sign magazine presented the lay retreat movement in the 1920s. The emphasis in these early days was not only on personal piety, but also on public extirpation of social injustice. Retreat preachers and retreatants linked the inner and outer worlds. Laba's com- ments offer salient questions for those involved in retreat ministrytoday. How dowe link personal spirituality and the ministries ofjustice and public service? Thirty years ago Vatican II closed. Serious scholars are now plumbing the deeper and far reaching implications of the Council's ecclesiology and agenda for a world church. John Francis Kobler is one such scholar. In this issue he offers not only intellectual ideas, but also the process he experienced so that the Spirit-filled agenda might become a reality for twenty-first century humanity. 1995'-the end of the Lukan gospel readings in this litur- gical year. Malcolm Cornwell reflects on the compassion of Jesus in the Lukan material. His meditative musings round out this issue of The Passionist. John J. O'Brien Editor Contents Bishop Cuthbert O'Gara, Twentieth-Century Missionary in Hunan, China Robert Carbonneau Renewing Person and Society The Lay Retreat Movement as Presented in The Sign: 1921-1930 Gerald Laba 21 The Esthetics ofLumen Gentium and Iconographical Theology John Francis Kobler 31 Jesus' Compassion for Sinners in the Gospel of Luke Malcolm Cornwell 61