An Unforgettable Chaplain of the "Forgotten War": Father Emil Kapaun
The 30th Anniversary of Crossing the Threshold of Hope
Photo by Ajayjoseph Fdo on Unsplash
In addition to Holy Scripture, the Catholic Church has a substantial body of Divinely inspired theological and spiritual writings with which to educate, enlighten and inspire the faithful in their faith journey of this life. Among the more important Catholic works are St. Augustine’s Confessions and City of God, St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, St. Therese’s Story of a Soul, St. Faustina’s Divine Mercy in My Soul, St. Teresa of Avila’s The Way of Perfection, and Thomas a Kempis’s The Imitation of Christ.
Pope St. John Paul II is one of the Church’s most prolific and inspired writers. As such he ought to be recognized as a Doctor of the Church. Even before becoming Pope in 1978, Karol Wojtyla had an extensive body of theological writings. As Pope, he authored some of the most important encyclicals of the modern Church including Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), Dives in Misericordia (The Father of mercies and God of all comfort), and Ecclesia De Eucharistia (On the Eucharist in its Relationship to the Church). He also wrote several important books during his Papacy.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the publishing of Crossing the Threshold of Hope. Written and published in cooperation with Italian journalist Vittorio Messori, Crossing the Threshold of Hope is a world-wide bestseller that has been translated into over fifty languages.
The book began with Messori seeking a television interview with the Supreme Pontiff. As preparation for the interview, Messori sent a series of theological and religious questions to the Pope. For scheduling reasons, the interview never occurred but the Pope responded in writing to Messori’s questions. With the Pope’s authorization, this written material was turned into the book entitled Crossing the Threshold of Hope.
In Crossing the Threshold of Hope, Pope St. John Paul II and Vittorio Messori cover an expansive range of religious topics not just about the Catholic Church but also the Catholic Church’s relationship with other religious denominations, most notably Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam. Many of Messori’s questions posed to the Pope address some of the most important questions of human existence: Does God Really Exist? Is Jesus the Son of God? Why is There So Much Evil in the World? Why Does God Tolerate Suffering?
Pope St. John Paul II responded to Messori’s poignant questions with the full extent of his knowledge, his experience and his faith. So in many respects, Crossing the Threshold of Hope may be viewed as a summary of his theology and his life-story. In answering Messori’s questions, the Pope draws upon Sacred Scripture, Church teachings especially that of Vatican II, the Church Fathers and Doctors, Christian philosophers and secular philosophers.
Rather than attempt to summarize one of the answers to the aforementioned questions, I encourage you the reader to read the Pope’s response in its entirety and experience for yourself his logic and his faith.
The great difficulty for me in writing this article is the abundance of profound statements contained in Crossing the Threshold of Hope. Many of these statements are powerful in and of themselves, but when embedded with other supporting statements, they produce a powerful testimony about faith and reason and the love of the Creator for His Creation. Thus the challenge was to select appropriate statements that capture the essence of the Pope’s faith and themes of his book.
In one chapter. Vittorio Messori poses the question “What is the Use of Believing?” While I encourage you to read Pope St. John Paul II’s response in its totality, this excerpt is especially profound:
“Christ wants to awaken faith in human hearts. He wants them to respond to the word of the Father, but He wants this in full respect of human dignity” (page 193).
There is a lot packed into these two sentences. First, they show the Son promoting the will of the Father for benefit of individual humans. Second, they show the Son doing the will of the Father while respecting human dignity, an essential part of which is human free will. Third, the Pope is saying that each individual was created with the capability of faith and that capability needs to be awakened. Fourth, he shows that the Father and the Son initiate the calling of humans to faith and that it is up to humans to respond to that calling.
There is one statement that especially resonates with me on this day as our world seems to be spinning out of control with wars and disasters and societal upheaval. “The power of Christ’s Cross and Resurrection is greater than any evil which man could or should fear [emphasis in original]” writes Pope St. John Paul II on page 219.
Crossing the Threshold of Hope is one of the most important Catholic books ever written. Personally speaking, Crossing the Threshold of Hope is one of the most important and influential books that I have ever read, and is second only to the Bible and Confessions in its impact upon my spiritual life and my life in general. So this article is not so much a book review but a testimony to its impact upon me.
At the time that Crossing the Threshold of Hope was published, I was a senior in college and re-discovering my Catholic faith. The Director of our campus Newman Center and a close personal friend gave me a copy of Crossing the Threshold of Hope. I was an admirer of the Pope for many years but this was my first major exposure to his theology and spirituality. I was amazed at the expanse of his intellect and the depth of his faith. His words were so uplifting and so hopeful and I was amazed that he could have such immense faith even after having suffered personal tragedies and living under first Nazi oppression and then Communist oppression. Without exaggeration, his words and his life-story completely changed my outlook on life for the better.
Crossing the Threshold of Hope inspired me to cross the threshold of hope and view my faith and our world in a new and powerful way. If you have not done so already, I highly encourage you to read this book, and meditate and pray on the inspired words of Pope St. John Paul II.
About the Author
Bryan J. Dickerson is an author and historian specializing in military and naval history, and Catholicism. He earned his BA in History from Rowan University (NJ), MA in American History from Monmouth University (NJ) and a graduate Certificate in Archival Studies from Louisiana State University. His writings have appeared online and in print in such publications as Columbia (the magazine of the Knights of Columbus) and Celebrate Life (the magazine of the American Life League). He is a 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus and a Past Grand Knight of a council in New Jersey. His book The Liberators of Pilsen: the U.S. 16th Armored Division in World War II Czechoslovakia was published by McFarland Books in 2018 and his book Dive Bomber Down: James A. Nist Naval Aviator in the Pacific War is now available from McFarland Books. He has also self-published sixeen books, including In the Name of COVID: The Assault on Religious Freedom in 2020. A former U.S. Navy Reserve Religious Program Specialist 1st Class (Fleet Marine Force), he mobilized and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom twice. He and his wife Lisa have four children and live in southern New Jersey.
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