Fr. Donald Haggerty, spiritual writer and author of The Hour of Testing, joins the Catholic Morning Show to unpack Cardinal Robert Sarah's new book 2050: Prospects for the Church. He explains why Cardinal Sarah believes the Church must be purified and sanctified rather than reconstructed, and why holiness, reverent liturgy, prayer, and faithful tradition hold the key to the Church's future. Fr. Haggerty also shares the realistic hope at the heart of the book, including Cardinal Sarah's optimism about Pope Leo XIV.
Fr. Donald Haggerty, a priest of the Archdiocese of New York, spiritual director, and author of books on prayer and the contemplative life, joins Deacon Mark Campbell to discuss Cardinal Robert Sarah's newest book, 2050: Prospects for the Church (Ignatius Press). Fr. Haggerty places it alongside Cardinal Sarah's landmark works God or Nothing, The Power of Silence, and The Day Is Now Far Spent, and explains why he considers the cardinal a brother in spirit to Pope Benedict XVI, both optimistic and realistic about the state of the Church. The title isn't a prediction, he notes, but a nod to the next Jubilee Year.
Fr. Haggerty walks through the book's central claim that the Church does not need to be reconstructed but purified and sanctified. Real reform, he says, happens in the soul rather than in committee meetings: a return to the sacredness of the Mass, a sacrificial priesthood, a life rooted in prayer, and the faithful handing on of authentic tradition. He also discusses Cardinal Sarah's emphasis on the Eucharist and the liturgy as the measure of the Church's health, drawing on the cardinal's years as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.
Despite serious concerns about fragmentation and disunity, 2050 is not a book of despair. Fr. Haggerty highlights its closing chapter on Pope Leo XIV, the enduring witness of contemplative life, and why the work of holiness begins with each of us. On the Memorial of Saint Carlo Acutis, he also connects the young saint's witness to his own book The Hour of Testing, on living faithfully and drawing others to Christ in a darker culture.
Get 2050: Prospects for the Church from Ignatius Press and Fr. Haggerty's The Hour of Testing from Ignatius Press, or find both on Amazon or at your local Catholic bookstore.
Heard on the Catholic Morning Show, weekdays at 7 a.m. Central on Iowa Catholic Radio. More at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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