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Saturday, August 31, 2002
The latest installment of my column, "Spiritual Reflections"
Go to the website of The Shelbyville News to read the latest installment of my weekly column, "Spiritual Reflections." It was, in part, inspired by the feast of St. Monica which we celebrated last week. I'd appreciate your feedback on it.
By the way, please note that I am not responsible for the headline that the newspaper puts on the column. The one this week definetly does not fit the overall meaning of the piece.
Troubling Details, about the plaintiff, in a Boston clerical sexual abuse suit
This article in the New York Times (LRR) details the concerns that a Boston judge has about a plaintiff, Paul Edwards, who has accused two priests of the Archdiocese of Boston, including its judicial vicar, of having sexually abused him.
His lawyer, Eric Parker, filed a motion with the court, which was approved, that allowed him to withdraw as Edwards' lawyer. When The Boston Globe showed that there were "a series of contradictions and inconsistencies surrounding Mr. Edwards' claims", Parker said that he would "re-evaluate the veracity of the accusations in the lawsuit against the church." It didn't take him very much time to file his motion for withdrawl.
Background Links to My Dialogue with Glen Davis
Over the course of the busy-ness of this holiday weekend I intend to give some thought to my next response to Glen Davis' reply to me. But here are some links to give you a full background to this ongoing dialogue:
The inital post that inspired Glen's first comment
The text of Glen's comment and my questions in response to them
Glens' answers to my questions
My response to Glen's answer to the first question that I posed to him, "What is your definition of a 'follower of Jesus'?"
If you look over these texts, you'll get a good background on this dialogue. In the coming days I will respond to Glen's answer to the second question that I posed to him: "Mr. Davis later stated that he does not seek to proselytize those who are 'faithful adherent of another Christian tradition.' How does he define what is a 'faithful adherent'?"
Friday, August 30, 2002
Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily
Twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
I hope that Jeremiah and Paul are the best of friends as they are together with the Lord in heaven. I admit that such a statement seems strange. We believe that everyone in heaven will be united in eternal happiness before God’s throne. But I hope that Jeremiah and Paul are near each other – maybe they are next to each other – because they are kindred spirits who would find comfort in the company of the other.
Our first reading requires little imagination: Jeremiah is in the midst of great turmoil. In order to understand properly the plight of Jeremiah, we must go back five chapters before the reading that we have just heard. In Chapter 15, Jeremiah complained to God that he had done all that God had wanted him to do. He accepted God’s words, he preached these words, and he suffered as a result of preaching these words. Jeremiah accused God of deceiving him by filling him with joy only to have that joy sucked out of him. Jeremiah was tired then – and he showed his weariness within the reading that we have heard today – but he continued to preach. God said to Jeremiah as we can read within Chapter 15 that he would be made a living fortress that would not be overcome. Jeremiah knew in his heart that he, as a fortress, was meant to display God’s power and might. A fortress can serve either as a prison or as a base of attack. Jeremiah knew that God did not give him the gift of prophecy so that he could contain it.
By the time that Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, which is the last of his letters that we have in Scripture, Paul had offered his body many times for the sake of being a living sacrifice to Christ. As glad as he was to bear the word of Christ and as glad as he was to give birth to numerous early Christian communities, he also considered his calling to be a burden. Recall that Paul said to the people of Corinth, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” He told the Corinthians that he had been given his calling against his will. He told them in his second letter to them that he begged the Lord to remove from him a “thorn in the flesh” – a messenger from Satan. We can only guess what that thorn was, but no matter what it was, it caused Paul to carry much suffering, no matter which type of suffering it could have been. Did God take away the thorn? No. God told Paul that the grace that he had given him already and the grace that he would give him in the future would give him the strength to reveal the message that God wanted him to reveal. Paul must have learned to accept this thorn at some point in time between writing to the Corinthians and the Romans. As Jeremiah learned to accept what God wanted him to do, so did Paul. Paul told the Romans that God’s call was something that could not revoked by anyone he created; therefore, Paul told them to be open to the will of God. He told them to accept and embrace God’s calling even when it was difficult both to understand and to accept.
Our personalities might not be the same as those of Jeremiah and Paul. We might not believe that our struggles are the same as their struggles were, but let there be no misunderstanding: we are called as they are called. We must endure some level of suffering as they were called to endure some level of suffering; however, no burden of suffering gets put on our shoulders that God has not already given us the grace to lift. God’s grace will always be more powerful than the sufferings within either this age or any age that will come. God’s grace will free us from feeling duped. God’s grace will always renew and transform us. God’s grace will help us to think as God thinks rather than as humans think.
Perhaps Jeremiah and Paul are next to each other in the chorus. They might very well be feeling ecstatic now. They’ll feel even greater joy if they know that we seek to join them. They lived and preached as they did so that we could delight in their words – and so that in due time, we could delight in being within the body of the Eternal Word.
Exhibition of Buddhist art on display at Cantebury Cathedral
Yes, I know that there some truths in Buddhism and that all truths are from God. But we are Christians, aren't we?
I wonder how the folks at the Cathedral would reconcile this exhibition with the fact that their church was built on top of a ruined pagan temple? Maybe we shouldn't remind them of that. They might want to dig it up and put it on display.
The latest installment of my column, "Faith and Family"
This column appears monthly in The Criterion, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Although I provide you with a link to its website, my column won't be found there. Therefore, I'm providing you with the text here. Be aware, that it is an adaptation of a column that had appeared earlier in The Shelbyville News.
Thomas Merton was an avowed secularist in the 1920s who converted to Catholicism in the 1930s and eventually ended up a monk at the Trappist abbey of Gethsemani, near Bardstown, KY. In his autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, he poetically described the beginning of the school year as a “fine and dangerous season.” “It is a wonderful time to begin anything at all,” he wrote. Such were his reflections on the days when he began his fall semester as a student at Columbia University in 1935.
Maybe I’m a bit naïve, but I tend to think that even the most jaded of students enter into the new year with some small portion of the zeal for the learning that lies ahead that Merton had back in 1935 (ok, all you teachers out there—you can stop laughing now). But perhaps this hope is a bit (if only a little bit at times) more realistic for those students who are Catholic.
Catholic students at all levels should consider the opportunities that lie ahead of them at the beginning of the new school year. Through the smallest of their actions and words Catholic students have the chance to share the Gospel with their classmates.
Now this kind of evangelization can be and, frankly, usually is indirect. This does not mean, however, that it is no less effective. St. Francis of Assisi once told his followers to proclaim the Gospel always and to use words if necessary. Students from elementary school through college can show others the Good News of the Gospel with remarkable clarity if they use the example of Jesus as the guide for their words and their deeds. When they do this, they will, in Pope John Paul’s words, be building a “civilization of love.”
This faith that our students will be sharing in quiet and loving ways has been growing in them from their earliest days. Their parents and other relatives, their religion teachers, and their pastors have all planted and helped to water the seeds of faith in their hearts. The blossoming faith of all students at all levels, however, needs constant nourishment. First and foremost, it happens in our Catholic homes. For many of our elementary, middle, and high school Catholics it also happens in the schools of our Archdiocese. Our parish religious education and youth ministry programs are also fundamental in fostering the life of faith in our young people.
Catholic collegians have many opportunities to continue to strengthen their faith. Attending Mass regularly on campus or at a nearby parish is essential. That practice in itself can also be a great way for Catholic college students to model the life of faith to their friends. They can also visit their campus ministry office or Newman Center to learn of other ministries. Finally, they might also get in touch with FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students, http://www.focusonline.org).
In any case, the more that we help our students nurture their faith through all of the stages of their young life, the more that it will become a conscious and deliberate part of their daily lives. And when their faith influence their words and deeds on a day-to-day basis, then they will become evangelists for their fellow students. Then the start of school will be for them “a fine and dangerous season”, “a wonderful time to begin anything at all.”
A broadening of the dialogue
Glen Davis, the Pentecostal missionary with whom I have been discussing issues regarding evangelization, has his own blog and is now letting his readers know about it. Go and see it for yourselves.
Archbishop Dolan installed in Milwaukee
This article describes the liturgy well as well as provide links to earlier articles.
Trusting in the Wisdom of God:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Friday of the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
1 Cor 1:17-25
Ps 33:1-2, 4-5, 10-11
Mt 25:1-13
The desires of many in society today (including myself) seem to be at odds with each other. On the one hand many sincerely acknowledge the existence of what might be called a higher power and seek to experience the presence of that being in their lives. They might call this being God or Jesus and even acknowledge the existence of them in ways that at least begin to approach the long-held beliefs of the Church.
On the other hand, many seek to avoid pain of any kind. The airwaves are now filled with advertisements praising this new drug or that hospital's latest technology. Such advertisements are evidence of the strong desire for us to avoid any pain, pain which is often the result of our own poor choices or bad habits.
In the eyes of faith these two desires are contradictory. Paul, in today's first reading, shows us how they are incompatible. Whether we like it or not the power and the wisdom of God are revealed in the cross. This does not happen through the fleeing of pain but in its acceptance. And so the second desire that I desribed above seems to thwart the first.
By itself this truth of the cross is an absurd stumbling block to us. But if we accept it as true, if we have faith in it, it can become more intelligible to us if we seek to understand it. This is basic theology, faith seeking understanding.
I believe that God wills our crosses only in so far as they are a punishment for our sins. In this sense, then, he allows them as natural outcomes of sin. It is true, so often, that sin is its own punishment. For example (and this is true, friends), until recently I had the habit of eating snacks between meals. These often consisted of empty-caloried junk foods. What was the result? I gained weight and I began to experience the symptoms of acid reflux. For the latter I visited the doctor's office a few times and had a couple of tests at the hospital, including the dreaded upper g-i (with the every-tasty berium milkshake).
The results of that test showed nothing out of hte ordinary. That was a bit frustrating. If I were to go through that nasty tast I at least wanted to find out that something specifically was wrong. I think that what I found out was something that was rather ordinary: my own sinfulness. For you see, I think that nothing showed as being wrong with my g-i track because I had been feeling those symptoms because of my bad eating habits.
While the cross itself was a test, I think that it showed negative results because I had taken up another cross. I had begun a few weeks earlier to attempt to give up those snacks that I ate between meals. Although I am still struggling with this commitment, I am doing fairly well with it. And the symptoms of acid reflux have disappeared.
According to my own wisdom and the wisdom of the world it is absurd to believe that good things can come out of a willing acceptance of pain. But that is the wisdom of God, not of the world. Before we can understand any part of this wisdom we must first believe that it is true. In a real sense, taking this leap of faith can be the first and most challenging of all the crosses that confront us. We place our trust so much in our own wisdom that we often have little faith left to apply to anything else.
The ironic thing for us about placing our faith in God's wisdom is that this act of faith in him does not eliminate our knowledge and wisdom but only renews, strengthens, and even increase it.
When we place our trust in God we will be like the wise virgins in today's Gospel. The light of our torch will always be the light of faith. But that light will for us, on this side of the grave, be strengthened and brightened through our knowledge and wisdom, renewed by faith. Our torches will thus be shining when the bridegroom arrives.
On the other hand if the light of our torches are only lit by our own wisdom and fueled only by our limited knowledge, they will flicker out and die when we are confronted with the dark questions in the nightimes of our lives.
This need not be so, however. We who believe are offered grace every day to fuel the light of our lamps of faith. It can feel like a cross for us to rely more and more on grace. But if we do so, our torches will shine bright in the night.
Thursday, August 29, 2002
James Akin has a blog
Its title is Defensor Fidei: James Akin's Apologetics Blog. James is the director of apologetics at Catholic Answers and a clear and concise writer to boot. That doesn't mean that he has little to say. He has a lot to say. He just says it concisely. Ok...maybe I need to take lessons from him...
A Reply to Glen Davis, Part 1
Preface
I have studied theology quite a bit. But, as the truism seems to go, the more I study, the more I realize how little I really know. The responses that I post here, while they are written from a Catholic Christian perspective, do not reflect the entirety of the Catholic Church’s position on these matters.
If I am inaccurate on a teaching and a reader notices this, I ask him or her to contact me and let me know of it. If something could have been added to it, again, I ask that I be contacted.
All in all, I see this dialogue in which I have entered as a learning process. In it I hope to learn more not only about the Pentecostal Christian faith of Mr. Davis but also about my own Catholic Christian faith.
Because of its length, it will be divided up into different parts. Each one will address one of the questions that I addressed to Mr. Davis.
What defines a “follower of Jesus”?
Mr. Davis’ Views
In his initial comment, Glen Davis said that, according to his impression, the majority of Catholics in America (as well as adherents of many others of other denominations) were not followers of Jesus. This caused me to ask him what he felt was the definition of a “follower of Jesus.” He responded and defined this term in this way:
“…[A] follower of Jesus [is] someone who has embraced the teachings and example of Jesus as the foundation of their lives and has brought their lives under the influence of the God (become citizens of the Kingdom). The classic word for this action is repent: to turn from a self-directed life to a God-directed life.”
My Response
As a Catholic, I believe that a follower of Jesus is one who is “born of water and Spirit” (Jn 3:5), that is, one who has been baptized. Such a one, as the one presiding at a Catholic baptism proclaims, has been “claimed by Christ.” He or she has been given the ability to be a faithful follower of Jesus through the grace of the sacrament of baptism (being born of water) and through being renewed by the descent of the Spirit (being born of Spirit).
Once a person has been baptized, at any age, this ability is never taken away. Catholics believe that the sacrament of baptism “seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark…of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents Baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph no. 1272).
So, as you can see, Catholics believe that it is a person’s participation in the sacrament of Baptism that makes him or her a follower of Jesus. Later on, he or she are free to choose to cooperate or not cooperate with the grace of the sacrament that helps him or her become a better and better follower of him. But even if a person totally refuses to work with that grace, that person is still a follower of Jesus. And that is a good thing. Because if a person later on experiences a new conversion and repents of their previous turning away from God, then the grace of the sacrament is still there for him or her to get back on the path to righteousness.
This is sometimes what has happened when a person comes up to me (in my capacity as the director of religious education in a parish) and expresses his or her wish to enter the Catholic Church. If the person was validly baptized earlier in life in a different faith tradition, that person, in the eyes of the Church, cannot be ‘re-baptized.’ In fact, in the eyes of the Catholic Church, there is no such thing as re-baptism.
The Catholic Church believes that any valid baptism is a once-for-all event. And the validity of the sacrament, in the eyes of the Church, is defined by a a person being baptized in the name of Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, and being baptized with water either being poured over the person or the person being immersed.
With this Catholic understanding of the nature of being a “follower of Jesus” in mind, one might better understand why I am saddened and frustrated (as I expressed in my post from last Saturday) when I see evangelical and Pentecostal Christians doing missionary work among the Catholic populations of Central and South America and among the Hispanics and Latinos here in the United States.
I, as a Catholic, believe that they are already Christians if they indeed have already been baptized. I am equally if not more saddened by the failure of other Catholics to minister to these, their (and my) brothers and sisters in faith, their (and my) failure to help them to cooperate with the grace of Baptism, their (and my) failure to help them become a better and better follower of Jesus. But, you see, I believe that they are already his followers.
This is where I think that I, as a Catholic, and Mr. Davis and many evangelical and Pentecostal missionaries working among the people I described above would differ. They seem to see Central and South America as real mission territory, places where the Gospel needs to be preached for the first time.
We Catholics also acknowledge many of these places as mission territory as well. However, we would describe the folks living there as needing, in Pope John Paul II’s words, a “new evangelization.” They need to have their relationship with Jesus, which began in the waters of baptism, simply renewed (and not created for the first time) in a way that the grace of that sacrament would produce the fruits of salvation in their day-to-day lives.
Tim Drake Proposes a new 'Blog Protocol' and speaks to my conscience
At his blog, Catholic Pundit, Tim Drake has proposed that those of us in St. Blog's take some time before we fire off one vitriolic post after another.
His motivation in proposing this protocol is, in my opinion, good:
...all of the fighting, even among similarly-like-minded Catholics, doesn't present a good face of the Church. It only demonstrates that we cannot even get along with those whom we claim to share the faith. There are some things worth fighting for (morals and doctrine), and others that are not.
In my own case, I would say that this motivation could be extended so that I could improve the way in which I communicate with or about those who are Christian but do not share my Catholic faith.
Case in point, the post I made earlier about the recent findings of George Barna's research group. I obviously did not take Tim's advice in writing that post but I should have. I have a small knowledge base when it comes to statistical methodologies. Therefore I should have refrained from criticizing his work on those grounds. I should not have done that, it was wrong, and I apologize for it.
More importantly, had I waited as Tim recommends us all to do, I hope that I would not have been as mean-spirited as I admitted I was at the end of the post itself. Even if my points had validity, the intended effect of communicating them can easily be vitiated by the tone in which I communicated them. The mean-spirited tone was wrong, and I apologize for it.
Had I used the proposed "Drake Protocol" (as I propose naming it), I might have dicussed Barna's work from a perspective in which I have a little bit more expertise, i.e., in theology. As I look back over the press release that lays out Barna's results, I notice that he defines evangelicals and non-evangelical born again Christians in positive terms, according to the way in which they understand their relationship with Jesus and the way that they will enter into eternal life.
On the other hand, those that he calls "notional Christians" he defines in negative terms. Such believers according to him lack the traits that the previous two groups had. He does not (at least in the press release) define such Christians according to the positive way in which they understand themselves.
Would his results have been different if he had defined his terms in a different manner? I have no way of knowing. Again, I have little knowledge of statistical methodologies. But it is something that I wonder about. And had I taken a little more time, as Tim Drake suggested, this positive musing may not have been obscured by my earlier vitriolic one.
George Washington U. to cover birth control pills in student health plan
Amy Moses, a 27-year-old law student at GWU, backed by various public interest groups, has convince the university to cover birth control pills in their student health insurance plan.
Moses's case is thought to be the first attempt to apply a 2001 federal court ruling, ordering an employer to cover contraceptives if it covered illness-prevention drugs, to the student health plans offered by many colleges and universities.
Moses, 27, said she was distressed to learn at campus orientation last year that the student health plan covered abortions but not contraceptives. "It didn't make sense," she said.
Although I don't agree with the student health plan covering either abortions or contraceptives, I can see her point. If they're going to cover one, then they ought to cover the other.
I think it is interesting to note, however, the precedent that was used to push her case:
Moses's case is thought to be the first attempt to apply a 2001 federal court ruling, ordering an employer to cover contraceptives if it covered illness-prevention drugs, to the student health plans offered by many colleges and universities.
Since when was pregnancy an "illness"? Oh, I guess since 1973.
Other schools in the D.C. area are concerned about the policy change. Included among them are Georgetown University and Catholic University:
Spokesmen for both schools said that their health plans prohibit contraceptives in accordance with Catholic doctrine and that they have a legal right to follow their religious mission.
"I'm sure we would vigorously dispute any challenge of that nature," said Victor Nakas of Catholic University.
Planned Parenthood attorney Eve Gartner said no such religious exemption exists in the District. "The case law in the D.C. courts strongly indicates that there is no exemption to that law for Catholic educational institutions," she said.
George Barna has done it again
He's scientifically shown that all Americans should be just like him, an evangelical Christian. In a recent survey that his Barna Research Group, Ltd. conducted among various categories of adults based on their belief status, he found the following results (as reported by Baptist Press News):
...Evangelicals were least likely to say they are lonely, in serious debt or stressed out. The poll found 98 percent of them to be concerned about the moral condition of the country, though only 54 percent said they were worried about the future.
According to his results, non-evangelical born again Christians were the next happiest folks in America. Problems start arising, however, when you look at the results for "notional Christians":
Nearly four of every 10 adults surveyed classified themselves as notional Christians, which means they consider themselves to be Christian but either do not have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ or do not believe that they will experience eternal favor with God based solely on his grace and mercy.
Notional Christians were most concerned about the future and the moral state of the nation, but their faith ties seemed to make little difference in relation to stress, debt, addictions, happiness or life satisfaction. They were also tied with atheists and agnostics in being the most lonely.
Meanwhile...
Atheists and agnostics...were the most likely to be stressed out, concerned about the future and lonely. Only 4 percent described themselves as politically conservative, and 71 percent claimed to have traditional or family oriented values.
Well I guess that proves it. Why don't we all become evangelical Christians? We'd all be a whole lot happier.
(Editor's note: Ok, ok, this post was a tad mean-spirited. But I wonder about a group that claims to do scientific research but whose guiding premises seem to be skewed from the start to favor one group over another.)
Then and Now--Dignity in an Unjust Death:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of the Martyrdom of Saint John the Baptist
Please note: The first reading assigned for today's feast according to the USCCB's website differs from that assigned in the edition of the lectionary that I own. Therefore I have provided links to the individual readings below.
Jer 1:17-19
Ps 145:2, 4-5, 6-7
Mk 6:17-29
Sharp words, bitter resentments, and summary executions. They happened 2000 years ago in Palestine with the arrest and execution of John the Baptist. And they happened there just a few days ago when Ikhlas Khouli, a 35-year-old widowed mother of seven was executed by members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade after having been accused of being a collaborator with the Israelis. The accusation had been forced out of one of her sons after he had been tortured.
I look at these two tragedies and I wonder what has changed over the past 2000 years. In some senses, nothing has changed. Humans have now as they did then the free will to choose to sin. Having defiled their own dignity through sin they pay no heed to the dignity of other humans. And so an upright man, a prophet preparing the way of the Lord is suddenly executed in a dark prison cell; a helpless mother is shot three times in the middle of the night in the town square of Tulkarem. That nothing has changed over the past 2000 years is true, not only fro Palestine, but also for the world over.
On the other hand, everything has changed. Before his death, John had announced the coming of the Messiah. And when he came in human flesh, he not only revealed God to man, but he also revealed man to himself, as Pope John Paul proclaimed in his first encyclical, Redemptor Hominis.
In revealing man to himself, Jesus has made our choice of whether to uphold or violate another person's dignity an informed one. Fortified with the presence of the Spirit speaking to us in our consciences, and with the power of God's grace, each of us who believe now have the ability to choose life, to choose to hold up for all to see the shining dignity of every humn person, all created in the image and likeness of God.
Still, Jesus himself died an unjust death at the hands of sinners. It was an execution not unlike that of John the Baptist or Ikhlas Khouli. But his resurrection has showed us that we need not live in fear of sinful man, we need not fear an unjust death or a death of any kind.
John, then, not only prepared the way for Jesus by his life, he also did it by his death. Although we are not told of his reaction when the executioner entered his cell, I suspect he met him with the same fearless dignity which he showed before all people. This was the same dignity that Jesus would reveal in its full splendor in his coming in the flesh, and the same dignity Ikhlas Khouli never lost, even in her death.
Even though John's beheading still seems to part of me something strange to celebrate, my conscience tells me that it is good that we do so. For although his death was an unjust tragedy, it prepared the way for Jesus' fulfillment of the promise that the Lord spoke to Jeremiah and which we heard in today's first reading: "They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord."
May we proclaim the message of this promise, the Good News of human dignity revealed in Christ, a dignity which even death cannot destroy.
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
The National Catholic Register weighs in on criticism of John Paul II
Boy, Rod Dreher didn't know what he started when he wrote his piece for WSJ...
Ralph McInerny in Catholic Dossier on the Legacy of Pope John Paul II
I found this link at Amy Welborn's blog. I'm still working through it but am posting it now because I'll be leaving my office soon. From Amy's appraisal, it would appear that it could inspire the same kind of response that happened after Rod Dreher's op/ed piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
Hispanics and Latinos aren't just becoming evangelicals and Pentecostal Christians...
they're also becoming Moslems, as the website for the organization Latino American Dawah Organization tells us. Thanks to Holy Weblog for the link.
Glen Davis Answers My Questions
Yesterday, on the post entitled "More on Evangelization from Catholic and Evangelical/Pentecostal Perspectives: A Response to Glen Davis", I quoted a comment from Glen Davis, a Pentecostal missionary at Stanford University. He had posted some comments on my earlier musings on the topic seen in the title.
I wanted to respond to his comments, but I needed to have some questions answered first. I posted those questions yesterday on that same post. Well, I have received an e-mail from Mr. Davis with some answers. Below, I will lay out each of the questions and quote from Mr. Davis' answers.
1. Mr. Davis stated that he has a strong impression that many people in most denominations are "followers of Jesus" and that many others in these denominations are not. How does he define what a follower of Jesus is?
What is a follower of Jesus? I should state for the record that I am using this term synonymously with Christian. The authors of the New Testament seem to have been incapable of conceiving of a Christian who was not actively seeking to emulate Jesus. Jesus' call was (and is) to "come, follow me." In fact the very label Christian refers to the concept of 'little Christs.' Having said that, I would define a follower of Jesus as someone who has embraced the teachings and example of Jesus as the foundation of their lives and has brought their lives under the influence of the God (become citizens of the Kingdom). The classic word for this action is repent: to turn from a self-directed life to a God-directed life.
2. Mr. Davis later stated that he does not seek to proselytize those who are "faithful adherent of another Christian tradition." How does he define what is a "faithful adherent"?
Second, defining a faithful adherent is always tricky. I mean both faithful (consistent participant in a local community of Christian faith) and faith-full (conforms to the definition above). Allow me to demonstrate by way of counterexample what I'm getting at:
* Suppose that I'm in conversation with a student and they discover that I'm an ambassador for Christ. They make some sort of comment along the following lines, "Yeah, I was raised in church, but I just don't find it meaningful. I stopped going when I was a teenager." In my mind, they flunk both tests--they need to be introduced to the King and enrolled in a local community of like-minded believers.
* Suppose that I meet a student who says, "Yeah, I love going to church--that's where all the cute girls go!" (and upon investigation I discover that they really are that shallow). They pass the consistency test but fail the follower of Jesus test.
* Suppose that I meet a student who says, "Yeah--I really admire Jesus. But I hate the church--they've really let me down. I'll never set foot in a church again!" Perhaps they pass test #2 (further investigation is needed), but they fail test #1.
I would consider all these people in desperate need of God's grace expressed through human love in the context of a community earnestly following Jesus. Please note that I never mentioned a specific denominational background for any of them--it's irrelevant to these examples.
3. Mr. Davis then stated that when he meets a student who claims to be a Christian he believes them and tries to help them grow in their faith. How would Mr. Davis, as a Pentecostal Christian, help someone who might claim to be a Catholic Christian to grow in his or her faith, as it is defined by that tradition?
Third, how would I as a Pentecostal help a Catholic grow in their faith? That's an excellent question! Basically I do it the same way I help anyone to grow in their faith: love them unconditionally, pray for them consistently, encourage them in righteousness and rebuke them in sin.. Teach them the lessons of Scripture (I should note that my interpretation of Scripture differs from the Catholic understanding at points. I obviously teach what I believe to be true). Give reasonable answers to honest questions. In addition, here are a few other actions I'd take with someone from a churched background:
* I've noticed that many college-aged people engage in liturgy by rote and fail to understand its significance (confirmation notwithstanding). I'd try to help them see it with fresh eyes: as a heartfelt expression of worship and devotion to God. I'd probably also give them a copy of something like Peter Kreeft's One Catholic to Another.
* I've also noticed that many students raised in church (of whatever tradition) have a very juvenile understanding of faith--their religious education stalled at a junior high level and they've never probed their faith at an age-appropriate level. Incidentally, I think that's one of the reasons so many college students bail on the church. They're trying to incorporate irreconcilable worldviews in their minds: one a 7th-grade understanding of the good news and the other a college-level understanding of secular philosophy. Guess which one wins? To that end, I'd try to help students reframe their questions and seek answers in a more sophisticated manner.
* Another high priority on my list is to help students experience the immediate supernatural power of the Holy Spirit (including the charismata). The Bible portrays charismatic Christianity as the normative model for followers of Jesus. We are to exhibit not only the fruit of the Spirit but also the gifts of the Spirit.
4. Mr. Davis stated that if meets someone without a "vibrant faith", he will try to reawaken a faith in him or her that had grown cold or help him or her discover faith for the first time. How does Mr. Davis define a "vibrant faith"?
Fourth, I think I've addressed this question in my response to questions one and two. A vibrant faith is a combination of belief and trust that makes a difference in one's day-to-day opinions, feelings, and behavior.
I'll post my own response to Mr. Davis' answers either later on today or sometime tomorrow (tonight is the first session of my parish's Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, so I have a lot of last minute preparations to make). If you have any thoughts or feelings about what he has had to say, please let me and the other readres know in the comment box.
Planned Parenthood worker denied a Catholic wedding
Here it is. Celina Ling, a Catholic woman who works as an administrator at Planned Parenthood in Medicine Hat, Alberta (you gotta love that name) and has been quoted in a local newspaper there as a representative of that organization has been denied a wedding at St. Patrick Catholic Church in that city by its pastor. Apparently it had been scheduled but was cancelled less than a month before after the newspaper article appeared.
The pastor of a nearby Catholic church made this comment:
"This kind of thing is quite unusual. Of course, if there was an article expressing her work there, I think Church law would look at that as being scandalous. It's directly opposed to church teaching."
A representative of Catholics for a Free Choice had this to say:
"If this priest wants to deny sacraments to Catholics who have anything to do with family planning, then his parish church is going to be empty."
The man has a point, especially when considering the small amount of Catholics in America who follow the Church's teaching on artificial birth control. However, there seems to be a difference here because the woman in question has taken a public stand against a serious moral teaching of the Church.
Still, some feelings of awkwardness arise in light of The Situation in this kind of situation when considering the priest's decision. I recognize that the priest who made this decision is, in all likelihood, not himself an abuser. And any priest has a duty to uphold the teachings of the Church and make sacramental decisions based upon those teachings. However, The Situation sets up the Church as an easy target in this context, as the representative for Catholics for a Free Choice pointed out:
"There are probably more people who have a higher opinion of Planned Parenthood these days than have a high opinion of the Roman Catholic Church, particularly given the enormous sex scandals," the activist said.
"It seems one can continue to be a priest and marry and officiate at weddings if one is an abuser of children, but one cannot be a Catholic woman and provide men and women with contraception and be treated by this Church with respect."
How would you respond to this statement?
More difficulties for the Catholic Church in Russia
Another priest has had his visa revoked and is now barred from re-entering the country and the diocese northeast of Moscow where he had been serving. Earlier this summer another priest and a bishop were also denied new visas.
Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz labelled the moves as "a campaign against the Catholic Church."
Letting Grace Direct Our Passions:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of St. Augustine, bishop and doctor of the Church
Please note: The readings upon which this reflection is based are the optional readings offered for this particular feast. They can be found by taking the links provided below.
1 Jn 4:7-16
Mt 23:8-12
St. Augustine was a man of deep passions. Unchecked they often caused him many troubles. With this in mind, I can see why he might be drawn to the Manichees, a cult whose members were called to forsake the pleasures of the flesh.
Yet his passion was an essential part of who he was. He could not forsake them in the end. They could be channelled toward a good purpose. And they could be focused on God, their ultimate object. But they could not be eliminated.
Augustine finally realized this. As he described in his Confessions, he did a great amount of intellectual study in coming to embrace the Christian faith. Yet he made the final choice to do so only after he felt in his heart that God had touched him with his love.
The grace of baptism helped Augustine turn his passions from being the energy he used in pursuit of his selfish desires and into being the fuel that fed his humble love of God and neighbor. Upon embracing the Christian life, he took to heart, as it were, the core of the meaning of today's readings.
In the first reading, St. John exhorts us to love one another for love is of God. Loving our brothers and sisters is the way that we can come to know the God whom no one has seen. It is the way that we come to acknowledge that Jesus is his Son. Why? Because any love that we have for our neigbor ultimately finds its origin and its end in God. And God's love was best expressed for us in the sending of his Son to us.
Jesus in today's Gospel hints at the way in which this love of neighbor is to be manifested in our daily lives. He tells us that the greatest among us will be the one who serves the rest and that the one who humbles himself will be exalted.
It is this kind of humble, serving love that Augustine embraced when he professed faith in the Father, Son, and Spirit in his baptism. It was the same passionate love that had always filled his heart. But the passions of his heart only found their rest when they found they rested in their true object, God.
Although when the waters were poured over him he became sealed in Christ forever, in a very real sense the essence of who Augustine was did not change the moment he was baptized. His conversion, his metanoia simply did what those words, in their most basic meaning, suggests. It turned him around and set him on a new direction.
We may feel the need for conversion when, like Augustine, we confront or are confronted with some of the darker aspects of our life. But the example of St. Augustine shows us that the grace of conversion and baptism doesn't call us so much to change who are in our essence as it calls us to change what and who we live for.
May our loving Father, through the intercession of St. Augustine, turn the hearts of each of us away from our selfish pursuits and toward the boundless, humble, serving love that he has showered upon us in his Son.
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
St. Blog's Drinking Game (cont.)
To learn of its origin, go see Kathryn Lively's blog. Since then it has bounced around to Victor Lams, Peter Vere, and Amy Welborn.
The last of these cited various bloggers who should cause one to raise the wrist when a particular kind of post is made. I was included in the list and so....
Just to let you know, I did, in fact reward myself yesterday for taking care of Michael for the morning by playing golf in the afternoon. And I was able to take the time to do that because I mowed the lawn on Saturday...
Here's some more contribution to the game.
Throw back a cold one when...
Kathy Shaidle (after she gets back from her vacation) writes that he has yet another thing to add to one of her bulging files.
and when Peter Nixon opines about Ronald Rolheiser.
Its too bad Fr. Shawn O'Neal isn't still blogging. He'd have a kick with this.
And, oh, while we're at it, someone should make up alternate lyrics, appropriate for St. Blog's, that would go with Monty Python's philosopher's drinking song.
Comment boxes are down
It would appear that, for some reason, the comment boxes are down right now. If you want to respond to anything in my blog, please send me an e-mail.
More on Evangelization from Catholic and Evangelical/Pentecostal Perspectives: A Response to Glen Davis
Last Saturday, I continued a series of posts that I've been writing on evangelization. I've been musing about the growth of evangelical and Pentecostal churches in Central and South America and among Hispanics and Latinos in the United States.
If you want to learn more about my thoughts in more detail, I suggest that you scroll back to the posts for last Thursday, August 22 and Saturday, August 24.
In resonse to my Saturday post, Glen Davis, a Pentecostal missionary who works in the community at Stanford University, made a comment. I want to respond to it. And simply to make things easier for everyone, I'll quote his comment here in its entirety:
As a Pentecostal missionary (albeit to Stanford and not Latin America), I'd like to comment.
Some people who attend Catholic churches are followers of Jesus, and some are not. My strong impression is that here in the Americas the majority are not.
By way of disclaimer, I would like to add my belief that the same problem exists in most denominations (including mine): too many people are involved because of momentum and not because of faith. I do think the problem is particularly acute in the RCC.
That being said, I never deliberately seek to proselytize people who are faithful adherents of another Christian tradition. In general, if a student tells me they are a Christian I believe them, and I try to help them grow in their faith. If I am of significant help to them, they often wind up switching their adherence.
However, when I meet someone without a vibrant faith (such as the infamous Easter and Christmas only crowd), I try to help them either reawaken a faith grown cold or discover true faith for the first time. Whenever that happens, they almost always switch their adherence. This is what I believe is happening in South America.
The switch has two roots, I think: one is an emotional intuition that what's working for us might work for them since we were so helpful to them, the other is that we express significantly different doctrinal positions from the RCC that if believed make a switch virtually inevitable.
I would like to be able to respond to this with a positive statement of my own views or my own thoughts and feelings about what Mr. Davis has written. However, I need some questions to be answered before I can do this. I suppose that they are directed directly to Mr. Davis. However, I suppose that they could be directed to Pentecostal missionaries in general (acknowledging, however, that different Pentecostal missionaries might have different views on the questions).
I will ask these questions privately and directly to Mr. Davis via e-mail. However, I also felt that it would be good if I would direct those questions to my readers in general as well. Mr. Davis posted his comments for all to read. And so I will post my resonse for all to read as well.
I do this simply to foster the ecumenical discussion among those of good will of various faith traditions that I wrote about in my Saturday post. I believe that such a conversation might help any Christian participating in it to come to a greater understanding about each other and will make some small contribution, under the inspiration of the Spirit, to the unity among believers for which Jesus prayed at the Last Supper.
At any rate, here they are some questions that were raised in my mind when reading Mr. Davis' comment:
1. Mr. Davis stated that he has a strong impression that many people in most denominations are "followers of Jesus" and that many others in these denominations are not. How does he define what a follower of Jesus is?
2. Mr. Davis later stated that he does not seek to proselytize those who are "faithful adherent of another Christian tradition." How does he define what is a "faithful adherent"?
3. Mr. Davis then stated that when he meets a student who claims to be a Christian he believes them and tries to help them grow in their faith. How would Mr. Davis, as a Pentecostal Christian, help someone who might claim to be a Catholic Christian to grow in his or her faith, as it is defined by that tradition?
In asking this question, I am by no means implying that it is impossible. There are many aspects of the Christian faith that Catholics and Pentecostals hold in common. I am just wondering how Mr. Davis (and any other reader who is interested in responding) would answer this question.
4. Mr. Davis stated that if meets someone without a "vibrant faith", he will try to reawaken a faith in him or her that had grown cold or help him or her discover faith for the first time. How does Mr. Davis define a "vibrant faith"?
I think that I might have more questions for Mr. Davis and for other readers who might want to enter into this conversation, but I think that this is enough for now. If you want to respond, you can either use the comment box or send me an e-mail.
Who do you think should play JPII?
If the filmakers in the previous post get their projects off the ground, and their successful at the box office, then you know other studios will follow with their own Pope movie. Hollywood loves a formula you know.
So, here is the question of the day: "What actor should be tapped to play JPII?"
My first choice, had he been alive and a bit younger, would have been Anthony Quinn. Hey, he played a great eastern European pope back in the 60s in Shoes of the Fisherman.
Let me know what you think and I'll post the possible choices.
Coming to a theater near you: John Paul II--The Movie?
Here's a story from the Boston Globe about a couple of Italian film companies that are wanting to make a movie about the Holy Father. Says Pietro Valsecchi, producer of one of the films: "As far as I'm concerned they should make a hundred films on the pope." But of course, wanting to scoop the rest, he adds, "The first will be ours."
Maybe there's something to 'compassionate conservatism'
Here's another story from the Washington Post, this one about the relatively large group of folks working at the White House who have adopted children, often from foreign countries where the children were in dire straits.
Gospel a go-go
Here's a story from the Washington Post about a former exotic dancer, known in her previous career as "Pleazure", and her husand, a former dealer of porn who was known as "Ice", who got right with God and now run a Gospel go-go club in a Washington suburb for teens.
New Relevance for an Old Saint:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of St. Monica
Please Note: The readings on which this reflection is based are the recommended optional readings for this particular feast day. To view and read them, please take the links provided below.
Sir 26:1-4, 13-16
Lk 7:11-17
Although she lived some 1700 years ago, St. Monica is becoming more and more relevant to us in the 21st century. As we see society developing in such a way that it is becoming more socially acceptable to deliberately reject Christianity, the story of this woman who struggled to pass on the faith to her son has more and more meaning for us.
She might be a good model for those many faithful Catholic mothers whom I've heard say, "Well, at least he is going to Church" when their sons forsake the faith of their youth in order to attend a Protestant church of one sort or another. If Monica were to have felt that way she may have said something similar when her son Augustine became a follower of Manichaeism. However, while we know that she did not approve of his choice to follow this dualistic religion, she still did not nag him out of it.
No, instead, she followed the advice that was given to her by her bishop. She had gone to him to seek his advice and his prayers regarding the unwillingness of her son to accept the Christian faith. It is said that he advised her in this way: "It is time that you speak less to Augustine about God and more to God about Augustine."
Monica took that advice and it eventually played a role, in some mysterious way, in leading him to embrace the faith which she had introduced to him as a child. This advice had meaning, then and now, on different levels. Giving oneself to prayer in this kind of situation is an ackowledgement on the part of the person praying that bringing another back to the faith is an act of God, not an act of the will of the one praying.
But it also can be a sign of great faith. When a person trusts in the power of prayer, he or she is saying that God can have a direct impact upon his or her daily life. Such a person is more likely to allow the faith to shape his or her actions and words. And I think that allowing one's faith to shape one's life can have a significant impact upon those who have walked away from the faith of their youth.
I hope that it does in my life. For Cindy and I strive to live out our faith in a conscious and deliberate way from day to day. In many ways Cindy strengthens me in my efforts. When I read the qualities of a good wife which are described in today's first reading, I know that I experience them in her every day. And surely those same qualities which make her a good wife for me are also making her a good mother for our son Michael.
She has told me that she had always wanted a husband who would be a spiritual leader of their family. If I am this, it is only through the grace that God gives to me through her strong faith.
Both of our lives of faith have been strengthened by God bringing us together as one. Hopefully our examle of prayer and of the life of faith will be a channel of grace to those many individuals--some close relatives, some dear friends--who have consciously chosen to forsake their Catholic faith.
Our life and our prayer will be important. But I believe that, in the end, the most example from us will be another one that will learn from the ever-more-relevant St. Monica. For while her son chose to forsake for period the faith that she had embraced and had tried to pass on to him, she never forsook him. But this isn't just the example of St. Monica. She learned from our heavenly Father, who never abandons us, even when we abandon him.
Monday, August 26, 2002
Peter Nixon, Kathleen Norris, Bl. John XXIII on the language of religion
In a recent post at his blog, Sursum Corda, Peter Nixon encourages his readers to read the text of an interview with the writer Kathleen Norris.
In the interview, Norris says that writers of faith can use the "traditional language of faith" but that it should be used in such a way that it should "reach people", presumably people that aren't as familiar with the language as the writer.
Nixon ends his post with a question and this test:
How do we get people to hear an old word in a new way? It may be one of the central challenges of living as a Christian in the 21st century. Something to think about over the weekend.
In many respects, this was the overarching purpose of the Second Vatican Council. It sought to restate the eternal truths of our faith in ways that modern man could understand. Bl. John XXIII, in his opening address at the Council had this to say about its "primary goal:"
Our task, our primary goal, is not a discussion of any particular articles of the fundamental doctrine of the Church, nor that we repeat at greater length what has been repeatedly taught by the Fathers and by ancient and modern theologians, and which we think to be well known and familiar to all.
For this a Council was not necessary. But at the present time what is needed is that the entire Christian teaching with no part omitted, be accepted by all in our time with fresh zeal, with serene and tranquil minds, as it still shines forth in the Acts of the Council of Trent and First Vatican Council. It is necessary that as all sincere cultivators of the Christian, Catholic, and apostolic reality ardently desire that the same doctrine be more fully and deeply understood that consciences be more deeply imbued and formed by it; it is necessary that such certain and immutable doctrine, to which we owe the obedience of faith, be scrutinized and expounded with the method that our times require. One thing is the deposit of faith and the truths contained in our venerable doctrine, another thing is the way they are announced, with the same meaning and the same content. Much attention will be paid to this manner and much patience, when needed, in elaborating it; those methods of expounding doctrine will be brought forward, which are more in accord with the magisterium which is principally pastoral in its character.
My views on Dreher’s “The Pope Has Let Us Down”
A lot of digital ink has spilled by Catholic bloggers and their readers in response to Rod Dreher’s Wall Street Journal op/ed piece from last week, “The Pope Has Let us Down.” Various bloggers have written their commentaries. Readers have filled comment boxes with dozens of opinions filled with praise, condemnation, and lots of other views in between.
Why haven’t I entered the fray? Well, like many others, I didn’t have access to the piece until yesterday and I didn’t feel that it was appropriate for me to comment on it until I was able to read it. But, more importantly in my view, I was busy being a husband, father, DRE, and aspiring writer (in that order). By saying this I am not condemning the large number of bloggers and readers who have spent a good amount of time thinking and writing about Dreher’s editorial. I think blogging and the discussions that it can nurture can be a good for the Church.
However, I believe that discussion is not an end in itself. It should help us arrive at a better understanding of our faith. And a better understanding of it will hopefully help us all to apply it more effectively in our lives. This is what I hope that I have been doing a lot of in the past few days while many others have been discussing. Hopefully the busy digital conversations that have been going on since Dreher’s piece appeared will have a positive effect on those who have taken part in it.
But right now Michael is taking another nap and so I have a few moments to spill some of my own digital ink about Dreher’s editorial.
In his book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, Pope John Paul described the papacy as a “sign of contradiction.” It is a mysterious office full of paradox. On the one hand he is to be teacher of God’s unchanging truth and justice. On the other hand, he is to be a minister of God’s endless mercy.
In doing this, he is saying that the papacy (and, by extension, all bishops) is a sign of Jesus himself, for it was of him as an eight-day-old baby that Simeon said that he was to be “a sign that will be contradicted” (Lk 2:35). That the pope and other bishops should be a sign of Jesus is a commonplace. They are signs that are contradicted when the expectations of those who look upon them are not met.
Rod Dreher, and many others in the Church (myself included at times), have expected that John Paul might be a sign, not of contradiction, but of consistency. But the same hopes have been felt about all popes before John Paul II. And they were felt by the criminal crucified along with Jesus who asked him: “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” (Lk 23:39). Simeon’s words about that young baby were thus fulfilled.
Now this mystery of the papacy (and it applies to the episcopacy in general as well) should not serve as an excuse for inaction. Instead, it should always remind us that we often place our high ideals and expectations for the Church in the hands of a few men here and there, men who are as fallible in their administrative decisions as we are in every aspect of our lives.
And so I agree with Dreher that the Holy Father has indeed made mistakes in the way that he has administered the life of the Church. Every pope has. In a sense, this is a sign that they are successors of Peter, him who denied Christ three times.
But knowledge of this historical fact does not as a result make John Paul’s words “ring hollow in the heart of this faithful American Catholic” as they seem to now in the heart of Rod Dreher. The truth of the message is not changed by the shortcomings of the messenger just as a sacrament is not dependent upon the holiness of him who presides over its celebration.
So, yes, I agree somewhat with Mr. Dreher’s views. But other views in his editorial seem to be extreme and so therefore I have a difficult time agreeing with them. He claimed that the Holy Father has “done nothing when his orders were ignored or undercut by subordinates in this country.”
Nothing? Maybe Dreher knows mores than I do. But if he does, then he is privy to the day-to-day dealings of the Holy Father and his representatives in the Holy See with the bishops of the world. Although the average faithful American Catholic like Dreher or myself might not be able to see it, I suspect that the Holy Father and those who work with him in Rome have indeed done many things to try to bring about a faithful following of his orders.
And I wouldn’t be surprised if, at times, the Pope might have wished to depose this or that soldier in the “legion of bad bishops.” However, I suspect that he sees that such a move would not necessarily solve the problem of this or that local Church. After all, replacement would be fallible, just like his predecessor.
What surprised me most about Dreher’s editorial was not this disregard for discipline that is behind the scene of the American media, but his focus on the fact that “John Paul must bear partial responsibility for the catastrophe that has befallen us.” I do not deny this. The scandals that swirl around us are, in many respects, social sins. They came about through the sinful actions or inactions of many people. Many of these sins have led others to sin. A few of these may indeed have been committed by our Holy Father.
But it surprises me that someone who identifies himself as an “orthodox Catholic” (as Dreher does at the start of his editorial) would focus on the indirect and relatively small amount of culpability that he assigns to the pope. Should he not have balanced his view with the direct and relatively large amount of culpability that should be allotted to the priests and bishops who individually chose to commit the sin of sexual abuse of minors? Surely it is these sins that brought about the crisis that we have. And in many cases these sins were committed while John Paul was still Archbishop of Krakow.
Even when they were committed under his watch, those that committed them are ultimately responsible for them, not the Holy Father. Yet I will admit that he might have (and, please remember, still can…) responded differently to them. But whether he does or not will not change my view of his leadership.
The papacy and the episcopacy is, in the end, not about the man who holds the office. They are about Christ. These offices are signs of Christ in the world. They are signs of him who is the ultimate “sign of contradiction.”
A proposed January trip by the Pope to the Philippines has been cancelled
according to this AP article. No reasons were given for the cancellation.
Cindy's first day back to work
Today is my wife Cindy's first day back to work. She's only working until noon. And, in the future, she will only be working one day a week. And so I'll be the designated babysitter while she is away. So far so good this morning. I've fed Michael, changed his diaper. And now he's taking a nap. We'll see how long it lasts...
The Power of the Will:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Monday of the Twenty-first Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
2 Thes 1:1-5, 11-12
Ps 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5
Mt 23:13-22
In today's first reading, Paul prayed that God might make the Thessalonians worthy of his call. The call to share in the life of the kingdom, in God's own life, was something so great that only God could make another worthy of it. Yet in almost the same quill stroke, Paul seems to write that the Thessalonians also play an important part in their own salvation. He prays that God would bring to completion "good purpose and every effort of faith" of the faithful in that city so that, through this fulfillment, "the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him."
We must have the power of God's will work in our lives in order for us to be called into the kingdom and be made worthy of it. But the power of our will must also choose to accept that call and must work, with the aid of God's grace, to make ourselves worthy to be welcomed into the kingdom.
As sharers in the covenant, the Pharisees had been called by God to enter into the kingdom. Yet in Jesus' sharp condemnation of them we learn that they thwarted God's will by the power of their own will. Sadly, we also learn in Jesus' words that their will not only had an evil effect upon themselves, but upon others as well: "You lock the Kingdom of heaven before men. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow entrance to those trying to enter."
In short order, then, we have seen in these two readings the power of the human will. We can choose to cooperate with God's work of making us worthy of his kingdom and so give glory to the name of Jesus. Or we can choose to thwart God's will and bring condemnation, not only upon ourselves, but upon others as well. We can lead others to make choices to turn away from the kingdom.
It might seem, then, that we hold our salvation in the balance of our own will. Will it tip one way and go toward God, or will it tip the other way and go away from him? In part this is true. God does make us worthy of his call against our will. We must choose to be transformed by his grace. And we participate in that transformation by our choice and by our "every good purpose and effort of faith."
Yet even if we choose to ignore God's call, to thwart the working of his will, his reaching out to us in this way is never taken away. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans: "the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable" (Rom 11:29). Even if through the power of our own choice we turn away from God, he has chosen, for all eternity, to always stand by our side. He has called each of us into his kingdom. And he has given us gifts to make us worthy of that call. These will never be taken away from us. It is up to us to choose to accept or reject them.
Sunday, August 25, 2002
Here's Rod Dreher's recent WSJ editorial on Pope John Paul
I haven't commented on it yet. But, now that I can sit down and read it, I hope to sometime soon.
Read it (if you haven't already) and let me know what you think of it.
Interesting Comment
I recommend that you read a comment made by reader Glen Davis in response to a post from yesterday where I did some further reflecting on the missionary work of evangelical and pentecostal Christians in Central and South America, and among Hispanics and Latinos living here in the United States.
There is a lot of food though and prayer in what Glen wrote. I don't have time at the moment to respond at length to his comment. However, I will say that his comment on my thoughts is just the kind of dialogue among Christians of various sorts that, I believe, needs to occur regarding this situation.
Please read what I've written (both yesterday and Thursday), what other readers have written in response in the comment boxes, and enter into the discussion yourself.
Accused priests file defamation of character suits
This article in the New York Times (LRR) describes how some priests accused of sexual abuse of a minor have not only claimed that the charges are false but they themselves have filed suits claiming defamation of character. SNAP has characterized these suits as "un-Christian, vengeful-style litigation that may scare others who have been abused and are hurting into remaining silent."
Hopefully this will not be the case. For if the the charges brought against the priests are found to be false, then their characters have indeed been defamed to one degree or another. But if the charges are true, then their suits will be shown to have no merit. Neither of these outcomes should keep other abuse victims from coming forward.
However, I also fully realize that our judicial system is as full of broken, sinful people as the systems in the Church designed to deal with cases of sexual abuse. Neither will work according to the high ideals on which they are founded.
Saturday, August 24, 2002
The latest installment of my column, "Spiritual Reflections"
Take this link to the Shelbyville News to read the latest installment of my weekly column, "Spiritual Reflections." It is an adaptation of the reflection on the Mass readings from about 10 days or so ago. I'd appreciate you reading and commenting on it.
More on the Growth of Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism in Latin America
There have been some interesting comments on a post I made on Thursday on the growth of Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism in Central and South America. Fr. Shawn O'Neal sees it as a new kind of "yankee imperialism." He also says that, were evangelicals and pentecostals to embrace in some way a devotion to the Blessed Mother, the Catholic Church would be in "great trouble" there.
Jim McCrea feels that the 'cultural Catholicism' that is widespread in Central and South America is just a thin veneer and that the faith of the people, in general, is not that deep. For the Catholic Church in those countries to take real hold, its faith needs to be based more on real conversion rather than the building of a 'Catholic culture.' If this does not happen, then evangelical and pentecostal Christian groups will continue to make gains there.
I haven't seen anyone yet address this problem through ecumenism. Is there any possibility of helping folks like the evangelical and pentecostal missionaries come to an understanding that Catholics are, indeed, Christians and that they don't need the Gospel proclaimed to them in an "ad gentes", that is, as an initial proclamation? And, on the other hand, can Catholics, especially the leadership of the Church in these countries, come to understand evangelical and pentecostal churches as nothing more than a "sect?"
I personally feel saddened and a bit frustrated when I learn of the work of evangelicals and pentecostals not only in Central and South America but also in the town where I serve as DRE. I wonder why they don't follow Paul's words from his Letter to the Romans: "I aspire to proclaim the gospel not where Christ has already been named, so that I do not build on another's foundation..." (Rom 15:20). I also wonder why we Catholics, in general, refuse to try to learn from the success of these evangelical and pentecostal missionaries and try to appeal to our Hispanic brothers and sisters through their means in some ways, without, of course, compromising the truth of our teachings.
I am thankful, however, that God has given me the grace to start working and not just sitting around, stewing in my sadness and frustration. I have started to lay the foundation for a ministry to Hispanics living in the town of the parish where I serve as DRE. I look forward to the day, in the not too distant future, when there might be a vibrant faith community in St. Joseph among the Hispanics who have moved into my area.
At any rate, those are some of my thoughts, feelings, and hopes for the future. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on the 'ecumenical' questions that I raised above.
Friday, August 23, 2002
From the "Yes, this IS a religious war" file
This AP article tells reports the Abu Sayaff rebel group in the Philippines, responsible for the kidnapping and death of Christian missionary Martin Burnham, have now beheaded two more missionaries, themselves Philippino natives, members of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
A note found next to the bag that contained the missionaries' heads read: "This is what will happen to those who do not believe in Allah...This is part of our jihad"
The Philippino army struck back against the rebels in response to the killing. Said one army official: "This is a barbaric act by a barbaric group trying to propagate their religion."
And here's another AP article that shows how the Pakistani government broke up a plot to attack on, among other targets, various Christian churches and a Christian hospital. Said Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, "We are convinced that al-Qaida is using members of outlawed groups to kill Western nationals, especially minority Christians, to avenge the damage caused to Taliban and al-Qaida men in Afghanistan."
Another crackdown on Chinese Christians
Yes, the problems in the Church in America are troubling. But at least we don't have to worry about having our homes ransacked in the middle of the night and being pulled off to jail simply for being a Christian.
Seeing in us something of himself:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Friday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Ez 37:1-14
Ps 107:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Mt 22:34-40
Why has the Lord remained so steadfastly faithful to his people over the course of our long history? Time and again we have shown ourselves to be unfaithful. We have done things to hurt ourselves. We have sinned and married ourselves. So why has the Lord lifted us up time and again? Why did he raise up our dry bones and breath new life in them as the prophet Ezekiel described in today's first reading?
The quick and easy answer is that he has always loved us. However, that can beg the question: "If we are so sinful and unfaithful, why does he continue to love us?" Why? Because, in part, he sees in us something of himself. Despite the ways in which we have marred ourselves we are still his greatest creation, made in his own image and likeness.
Even when the people of Israel were in exile, when they felt that their bones were dried up, their hopes lost, and that they were cut off forever, the Lord still loved them and saw in them something of himself. That is why he breathed new life into their dried up bones. He raised them out of the graves of their despair and made them fully alive in the knowledge of him.
When we are fully alive we can more fully know that our God is the Lord. We know the Lord through the Spirit that he has breathed into our hearts. We know the Lord through coming to know our other brothers and sisters who also have been made fully alive in the Spirit. Irenaeus' words ring true: "The glory of God is the human being fully alive."
This is why in today's Gospel Jesus told the Pharisees and tells us as well that the second commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself, is like the first, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. The more that each of us are fully alive, filled with the Spirit, the more that we will know the Lord in ou hearts and in our brothers and sisters, all of us having been created in his image and likeness.
And the more that we come to know the Lord, the more also will we come to love him. The love that he has given to us time and again when he has raised us up and given us new life will be reflected back to him from us when we become more and more alive in body, mind, and soul through his Spirit. In reflecting that love back to him we cannot but love the presence of his glory shining forth in our brothers and sisters, just like it is in ourselves.
Thomas Merton, the late writer-monk from the Trappist Abbey of Gethsemani near Bardstown, KY, once had an enlightening experience of this shining forth of God's glory in every human being. It didn't happen when he was in monastery's church or in his hermitage. No, it happened when he was walking down a sidewalk in downtown Louisville onde day in the 1950s. He described his experience in this way:
In Louisville, on the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I was theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers...I have the immense joy of being human, a member of hte race in which God himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. If only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun!
The flash of insight that Thomas Merton was given, the vision of the dry bones coming to life that Ezekiel was given are both glimpses of the destiny to which Jesus calls us: to love God fully and to love your neighbor as yourself. But this is not just something that will be fulfilled in heaven. Jesus himself made it manifest on earth through his passion, death, and resurrection. And when the Holy Spirit was given to us, his followers, divine grace was poured into our hearts so that we too could be full participants in that Paschal Mystery.
Yes, the vision which I have presented to you is high and full of soaring ideals. But through God's grace we can experience something of it, here and now. There is no reason why it can begin for all of us at this very moment.
More wisdom from Jim Sibley
A couple days ago I linked to an article at Baptist Press News that described the reaction of Jim Sibley, coordinator of Jewish Ministries for the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board, to Reflections on Covenant and Mission, the document issued by the USCCB on evangelization and the Jewish people but which, according the Cardinal Keeler, does not represent a formal position taken the bishops of the United States.
At the time that I linked to that article, I felt that Sibley misunderstood the magisterial nature of the document and was using his comments on it to show his his sharp feelings and beliefs on the Church. His earlier comments lead me to believe that Sibley had felt all along that the Christian nature of the Catholic Church was questionable at best. Well, this article posted today at Agape Press, seems to confirm this view of his, at least regarding the leadership of the Church.
Sibley believes that the issuing of this document confirms for him that the bishops "in all likelihood, have never known the saving grace of our Lord." He even goes on to say that the dialogue between leaders in the USCCB and the Jewish community in America represents "another step toward the coming "world church" prophesied in the Bible."
Well, I'm glad that an unauthoritative document like Reflections on Covenant and Mission could confirm Mr. Sibley's worst fears. Or were they his best hope?
Thursday, August 22, 2002
Clarification
Catholic lawyer Roger Ho, of Between Heaven and Hell, wrote to inform me that, in all likelihood, the two county clerks who were named in the same-sex marriage law suit in Indianapolis will have their legal fees paid for by either their own particular county government or the state government, i.e., the taxpayers of the state of Indiana.
Thanks, Roger.
What I'm thinking about, working on
If you scroll down and look at the "What I'm reading" box, you'll notice some changes. I'm now reading Ralph Martin's The Catholic Church at the End of an Age. A parishioner with whom I collaborate on several projects had just finished it and asked for my perspective on it.
I was happy to do so because it touches upon some topics that are of interest to me at the moment: Catholic evangelization in general, the new evangelization in particular, and the proselytizing (or evangelization--choose your term) of Catholics by evangelicals and Pentecostals in Central and South America, the Philippines, and in here in the United States.
The new evangelization is often identified with both the re-evangelization of traditionally Catholic countries and the need to evangelize entire cultures. Often this has been identified with the countries of the Western Europe and North America. But could it not also be connected to those parts of the countries of Central and South America and the Philippines that have had the Church present in them for centuries?
Although they have cultures that differ greatly from those of the industrialized West, that have not been as deeply secularized as have ours, it would still seem that a re-evangelization is in order. The aspects of the new evangelization that I described above would apply to them as well as to us.
And since the new evangelization deals a great deal with cultures on the grand scale, we might ask the question, "What is it in the cultures of Latin America and the Philippines that makes evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity so appealing?"
Looking at this issue from a different perspective, is the proselyting/evangelizing work of evangelicals and Pentecostals in these countries being done primarily by natives of those places, by Americans, Canadians, and Europeans, or others? And what is their motivation in working in predominately Catholic countries? Do they believe that Catholics (at least the ones there) aren't really Christian and so see these places as (in our terminology) ad gentes territory? Are they going there simply because there has been a stated desire by many in these places to have them there? Or is it as much to the related to the much-needed relief work among the millions of poor in these countries as it is in strict evangelization?
I'd be interested in your thoughts on and answers to these questions.
No homily from Fr. Shawn O'Neal this week
A deacon in his parish will be breaking open the word for the faithful there instead of the good father.
Sad, Disturbing Developments at St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore
This Washington Post article tells of the sad goings on at St. Mary's in previous decades. Six seminarians in the 1970s now being accused of sexually molesting overnight visitors. The seminarians went on to be ordained and at least four of them have been charged or convicted in sexual abuse cases which occurred after their ordination. And apparently this isn't the first case to come out about St. Mary's this year. Earlier a man accused a priest on staff at the seminary of raping him while "two other seminarians guarded the door."
Same-sex marriage law suit filed in Indianapolis
This article published in today's Indianapolis Star gives details on a lawsuit being filed today in Indianapolis which seeks to have the state of Indiana recognize the legal standing of the "civil unions" established between three homosexual couples in the state. All of them had travelled to Vermont to established their civil unions, where it is legally established. The Indiana legislature passed a law in 1997 which prohibited the state from recognizing such unions established in other states.
While I don't approve of same-sex marriages or civil unions or whatever you want to call them, I am not overly worried about this lawsuit. The plaintiffs themselves recognize that they have little chance of winning. But they don't have to worry about spending a lot of money in this seemingly hopeless lawsuit. The Indiana Civil Liberties Union (ICLU) is representing them.
On the other hand, I wonder who is helping the unfortunate Marion and Hendricks county clerks who have been named as defendants in this suit. If they are like the county clerks that I have known, they aren't pulling down a big salary. Maybe the state is helping them. Maybe the plaintiffs could be ordered to pay for their fees if they lose their case. Or maybe they should just send a bill to the Vermont legislature for starting this whole mess to begin with.
Being Reduced to Silence:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Ez 36:23-28
Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
Mt 22:1-14
Here they were, the people of Israel in the land of exile. They probably felt that nothing could get worse for them. Then they heard the word of the Lord being spoken through Ezekiel: "I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, in whose midst you have profaned it."
When they heard these words they could have easily concluded that they were going to receive some worse punishment than they had already received, if such a one could be imagined. The Lord sounded angry that his people had belittled his name among the people that did not know him. Maybe he was going to strike them down again.
But imagine their astonishment when, following those words, they heard Ezekiel say that the Lord was going to take them out of exile and back to their homes. He was going to give them a fresh start, purifying them, and giving them a new heart, filled with his spirit. In the midst of their darkest day a light started to shine.
This would be the way that the Lord would show to the nations the holiness of his great name. It would have been nothing at all to give more punishment to a people already in exile. But taking them out of that land and bringing them back to their homes would have been something extraordinary. It would have indeed proved his holiness.
That was the word of the Lord that Ezekiel spoke to the people. It was up to them to accept it or reject it. As history shows us, it is apparent that they did. But such a word is easy to accept. It would have been just what they would have wanted to hear.
Other messages from the Lord can be more challenging. Sometimes the Lord can seem to us like the powerful king in the parable in today's Gospel. He shows that he has power over us and then invites us to his son's wedding feast. If we don't like his rule then we aren't going to want to come to this feast. It would be a sign that his rule will continue in his son and in his grandsons which are to come.
The king didn't force those whom he invited to come. He let them accept or reject his offer. This is easy for us to understand. Each of us can accept or reject God's call to us. God doesn't force us into his kingdom.
But all of his ways are not so quickly grasped. The people of Israel would have been astonished when they learned that the Lord was going to respond to their idolotry by being merciful and bringing them back to the promised land. Likewise, we are perplexed when we hear Jesus describe the reign of God as a king who drags in an uninvited man to a wedding feast and then throws him out for not being properly dressed.
It is easy for us to accept the word of the Lord when it is consistent with our own thinking. It is more difficult when his word goes beyond the capacity of our minds. But this is the challenge of the life of faith. Were we to only accept what we could understand, our God would be very small and, in all likelihood, very harsh.
We wouldn't have expected God to bring his people back to their homes in response to their idolotry. We wouldn't expect a king to drag in those on the streets into the wedding feast of his son. And if we didn't expect that, there is no way for us to understand why he threw one of them out.
But pause for a moment and consider if you yourself are truly worthy to be called by God to share and participate in his divine life. None of us are. Our minds cannot understand why he invited us. We cannot grasp why he is so merciful to us in the face of our own idolotry. Yet he has invited us. He is merciful to us.
We can cling to our small, feeble minds, reject his word, and create for ourselves some small and stern god. Or we can accept his word and stand before him in awe, reduced to silence like the man being thrown out of the feast for not being properly dressed. in the end, the choice is up to us. That might be the most astonishing thing of all.
Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Archdiocese of Honolulu playing hardball with those claiming to have been abused
In this article from KITV in Honolulu, it would appear that Church leaders there are taking a hard line in clerical sexual abuse accusations made against a priest of the Archdiocese of Honolulu. Alexander Winchester, now 51, claims that he was molested by a priest in an office (I'm presuming it was a parish office) when he was 11.
In response, the archdiocese claimed that "the incident either didn't happen or happened so long ago it can't be proven that the church was responsible." Lawyers for the Church have even seemed to try to shift the blame to Winchester himself, presuming that the incident occurred: "If (Winchester) suffered any damages said injuries or damages were proximately caused by (his) negligence and assumption of risk."
Negligence and assumption of risk? Come on. Now I can understand how the Church there might want to be careful in handling a case that is 40 years old. But if it happened I find it difficult to imagine how an 11-year-old could be neglient. And why should there be any risk to be assumed when anyone visits a parish office?
Old anti-Catholic laws being brought to the forefront in the fight against vouchers
This op/ed piece in today's Washington Post tries to point out how some groups opposed to school vouchers are appealing to various states' "Blaine Amendments." These were state constitutional amendmendments drawn up in the 19th century to oppose state funding of Catholic schools. Many of them had been established in response to the fact that Protestant doctrines were being taught in public schools at the time.
They are named after Sen. James Blaine of Missouri, an anti-Catholic who ran for president on several occasions.
Maybe they like us because they like uniforms and ceremonies
A story in yesterday's Washington Post describes how a group of Baptist, evangelical and Pentecostal chaplains are suing the Navy, claiming discrimation. They believe that they Navy has given preferential treatment to Catholic, Episcopalian, and other "liturgical chaplains."
Equal Time: Cardinal Keeler's View on Reflections
Yesterday I provided a link to the response of a Southern Baptist leader to the recent document, Reflections on Covenant and Mission, issued by the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the USCCB.
Well, in interests of providing "equal time", I thought it right to provide a link to a press release from the USCCB which gives an explanation of the nature of the document by Cardinal Keeler, the bishops' Moderator for Catholic-Jewish relations.
The press release stated that Keeler explained that the document:
"does not represent a formal position taken by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) or the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (BCEIA). The purpose of publicly issuing the considerations which it contains is to encourage serious reflection on these matters by Jews and Catholics in the U.S."
Well, considering the response by many in the Catholic community and beyond, I think that their purpose is being achieved.
Two Readings for Our Days:
A Reflection on Today’s Mass Readings
Memorial of St. Pius X
Ez 34:1-ll
Ps 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
Mt 20:1-16
It is easy to guess the reactions of people who will hear today’s first reading proclaimed at daily Masses celebrated today, not just in our own country, but in nations throughout the world. When we hear the Lord coming down harshly on shepherds who have been “pasturing themselves” instead of pasturing their sheep, it is easy for us to apply these words to The Situation. And such an application is at least somewhat appropriate.
But this reading does more than give some justification to our anger and recriminations. It gives us hope as well. For many analysts, knowing very little about our beliefs regarding the nature of the Church, have said that our current crisis is somehow putting the future of the Church in doubt.
Yet we believe that, even in the midst of some wicked shepherds, the Church, the body of believers, will continue, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We believe the Lord when he says: “I myself will look after and tend my sheep.”
And a cursory knowledge of Church history would give strength to our beliefs. For there have been crises in other ages of the Church that many at the time would have described as putting its future in doubt. Yet in the midst of such doubt, believers in all of those times still believed. The Church still endured through the faithful shepherding of our God.
Still, the hope in this reading only comes in the very last line. Much of the rest of it simply appeals to our anger and resentment. We hear those words and say to ourselves, “Those priests and bishops will have it coming to them.” “God’s gonna get ya.”
But then we hear the Gospel reading. And we hear about that crazy vineyard owner who gives a full day’s wages to those who were hired at the last moment. Could not these laborers be those priests and bishops who abused those under their care and sinned against God but who return to him in sorrow and in penitence? Will they not receive the same full day’s wages that we who see ourselves as having been faithful all along hope to receive, at least when compared to our leaders who have sinned so wickedly?
This reading should truly give pause for consideration in the midst of the feelings aroused by the first reading. For I suspect that it is true that all of us are like those laborers hired at the end of the day in so far as all of us have sinned and taken ourselves out of the Lord’s vineyard.
In many cases our sins may not have been as horrific as priestly sexual abuse, but they separated us from the Lord nonetheless. And when any of us return to the Lord in sorrow and repentance, he will forgive us, no matter what our sins. Yet when welcomes us back, he is hiring us at a later hour in the day to work in his vineyard. This is true for all of us, cleric and lay alike.
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
Slow blogging today
I'm taking my car to be fixed and then doing some work around the house today. So blogging may take a backseat.
A Baptist's Perspective on the recent USCCB document on evangelization & the Jewish people
In this article at Baptist Press News, Jim Sibley, the Southern Baptists' coordinator of Jewish ministries, described the recent document on evangelization and the Jewish people, Reflections On Covenant And Mission, as being an "extreme form of anti-Semitism."
Said Sibley:
"It is never good for the Jews whenever the Roman Catholic Church fails with respect to the gospel. When they used coercion, the Jewish people suffered horribly and were hardened against the good news of their messiah. Now, in singling out the Jewish people for evangelistic exemption, they are withholding the hope of Israel. There can be no more extreme form of anti-Semitism..."
It would seem, though, that Sibley is trying to use this non-definitive document to prove to himself and others that the Catholic Church has "abandoned Biblical authority." He feels that the document shows "unequivocally...that the bishops have abandoned any semblance of biblical authority. Throughout this document, the Bible is used in an almost flippant manner. It is made to say whatever the bishops want it to say. Only the most biblically illiterate would be persuaded by their proof-texting."
Regarding authority in the Church, Sibley had this to say: "gospel proclamation is not under the authority of the church; the church is to be under the authority of the risen Lord..."
Showing his strong feelings about this document and the Church in general, Sibley noted "The goal of the Christian should be the approval of the Lord -- 'Well done, thy good and faithful servant' -- not the approval of the Roman Church."
Well, as many bloggers have shown, there are many Catholics who have difficulties with this document. But we recognize that it is, by no means, a definitive statement. I'd be interested to read your comments on Mr. Sibley's analysis of this recent document.
Expanding the Territory of the Kingdom:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of St. Bernard, abbot and doctor of the Church
Ez 28:1-10
Dt 32:26-27ab, 27cd-28, 30, 35cd-36ab
Mt 19:23-30
Any rule of life that applies to life here in this world seems to be just the opposite in the kingdom of God. In the world, the rule of success is the gaining of riches and the acquiring of knowledge. Such was the case with the prince of Tyre described in the first reading. He had gained so much silver and gold and felt himself to be so wise (as he defined it) that he thought himself to be a god.
But the Lord, speaking through Ezekiel, showed that his rule of success, the final rule, is just the opposite. The prince of Tyre failed through his pride. He did not achieve success. His lofty estimation of himself, his silver and gold, and his wisdom all showed themselves to be nothing when foreigners invaded his kingdom and put him to the sword.
No, the rule of success in the eyes of God, in his kingdom, is, according to Jesus in today's Gospel, not the gathering of riches but the giving of them away. While it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven, the apostles who gave away all to follow Jesus will sit on thrones there.
At the most fundamental level, then, the rule of this world is pride and the rule of heaven is humility. It is God alone that brings death and gives life. This was the brutal truth that the prince of Tyre learned in the end.
But in saying that these two rules are opposite of each other, I am not saying that the world and the kingdom have nothing to do with each other. By no means. For in Jesus' incarnation, the kingdom quietly invaded the world and created a sure foothold. The humility of the kingdom started moving against the pride of the world. We who are Jesus' followers are called to expand the kingdom's territory by living simple lives of humility where we depend on God for our success, not on our own efforts.
It is good, then, that we consider this call to expand the kingdom on the memorial of St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He was an early leader of the Cistercians, an order that sought to reform Benedictine monasticism. Instead of seeking after the best and most productive land on which to foudn their monasteries, the Cistercians took the worst. They took swamp land and dense forests. They sought to live in remote lands, far away from the growing towns and cities.
They sought this because they were dedicated to living a life of the humility of the kingdom. But in the humility, they found great success. They reclaimed their swamps and cleared their forests. They created productive fields and became one of the largest suppliers of wool in Europe. Their small group of monks in a handfull of monasteries at 1100 became thousands of monks in hundreds of monasteries just 100 years later.
While they sought to be the last of the world, they ended up being the first. St. Bernard was a counsellor to popes and kings. And yet he found his energy to be so powerful through the humble passion of his Cisterican community life.
He and his brothers went out into the deserted lands of this world and expanded the territory of the kingdom of God. They were shining examples to a pride-filled world of the awesome power of humility.
The rapid growth and success of the Cistercians must have been confusing to many of the men of power of the day. They knew the rule of success of the world. And yet here were a group of men dedicated to humility who were an unquestionable success. For the powerful of the day this would have been a contradiction, a paradox.
But in the kingdom, all contradictions are reconciled, all paradoxes are made true. There are still many places in the world, however, where the kingdom has not yet expanded its borders. There are still the last who are oppressd by the world's rules of success. And there are still the first who believe that they are gods. May God expand the territory of his kingdom in our time as he did in the time of St. Bernard.
Monday, August 19, 2002
John Walker Blues
As I was getting ready to leave the house this morning, I saw the country/rock singer Steve Earle on the Today Show singing his yet-to-be-released song, "John Walker Blues." It is a song that gives a sympathetic take on John Walker-Lindh, the so-called "American Taliban."
Its lyrics are written in first-person, from the perspective of Walker-Lindh:
"I'm just an American boy, raised on MTV,
And I've seen all the kids in the soda pop bands,
But none of them look like me.
So I started looking round, and I heard the word of God.
And the first thing I heard that made sense was the word
of Allah, Peace be upon him."
They are also intermixed with Arabic Moslem prayers. Near the end of the song, Earle sings of Walkers "idealism" and likens him to Jesus:
"We came to fight the jihad, our hearts were pure and strong.
We filled the air with our prayers and we prayed for our martyrdom.
Allah has some other plans, a secret not revealed.
Now they're dragging me back with my head in the sack to the land of the infidel.
If I should die, I'll rise up to the sky like Jesus."
These excerpts were taken from an article in the Houston Chronicle, which also gives an interesting desciption and analysis of Earle's background.
We may have jumped the gun...
Last week, various bloggers, pointing to some news reports, seemed to quickly announce that the Vatican had rejected the Charter passed by the U. S. bishops at Dallas. Well, wind of these reports blew all the way to Vatican officials travelling with the Pope in Poland. When they heard of them, they denied that any decision had yet been made, according to this Zenit article.
Quarry to become university center
This Zenit article describes how Pope John Paul presided over the blessing of the library of the Pontifical Academy of Theology, to be built near Krackow. Interestingly enough, it is to be built at the site of the now abandoned limeston quarry where the Holy Father worked as a laborer during World War II.
The Academy also has ties to him. He was responsible for its establishment in 1981. It replaced the theology faculty at the Jagellonian University in Krakow which had been eliminated by the communists in 1950.
This mixture of high academics and manual labor might help to explain how Pope John Paul can be so attentive to the needs of those in poverty, those who struggle just to get enough to eat for the day, and at the same time be one of the most erudite pontiffs in recent history.
Save Yourself First?:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Monday of the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Ez 24:15-24
Dt 32:18-19, 20, 21
Mt 19:16-22
When I get on an airliner I, along with all of the other passengers on the plane, have to listen to a series of safety instructions. When the flight attendants explain the air masks, they tell us to secure our own before trying to help anyone else. On the surface this seems kind of selfish. But there is a good reason for it. I can only really help another if I am getting enough oxygen.
Still, this principle of self-preservation first can be taken too far. Think of all of the crew members of the Titanic who got into the lifeboats ahead of the passengers. And it doesn't even have to apply to transportation accidents. Consider the executives of Enron who sold their massive amounts of stock before the company tanked while more average employees had their stocks locked into a 401k plan which later became worthless. We can also see the problem of taking this principle too far in today's Mass readings.
In a way that must have been very painful for Ezekiel, the Lord used the death of the prophet's wife as a sign for the people. He told Ezekiel to refrain performing all of the rituals of mourning. The prophet explained to the people that he was acting like they would when Jerusalem would fall. The people would run away from the city in an attempt to save their lives while their children would be killed. The parents would be so rushed that they could not observe any of the mourning traditions.
That was a case where parents were so selfishly focused on themselves that they did not care what happened even to their own children. In the Gospel, we hear about a man who cares a great deal about possessing things. And he came to Jesus to make the best of his acquisitions. He wanted to possess eternal life. In the NAB translation (different than the one now used in our lectionary), it says that the man specifically asked, "What must I do to possess eternal life?".
He did not ask how to experience it, or how he could find it, or how it could be given to him. No, he asked how he could possess it. In the lectionary's translation, there the sense of selfish still comes through a bit: "...What good must I do to gain eternal life?"
Jesus noticed his selfish motivation and proved to be a hard bargainer. He knew that the buyer in front of him was desparate, so he set before him a high price. The cost of eternal life would be the price of discipleship. And in order to pay this price, he must care for the poor and sell all of his possessions. The young man found that the price was too high for him to pay. He went away sad.
He valued his possessions more than the poor that surely surrounded him, more than Jesus, more than even himself. He had probably felt at one time that his possessing various material things would protect him and lengthen his life. But then he probably came to realize that they would they would not take his life as far as he would like it to go. They would not give him eternal life.
So he tried to make this final, great acquisition, buying eternal life. But we soon discover (even if he was still in his ignorance) that the possessor was actually the possessed. He could not control his material wealth, his "many possessions" in order to possess eternal life because they controlled him.
Jesus showed him the way to eternal life, not to its possession, but to its being experienced, to its possessing of us. He told the young man that in order to save himself he must give away what he believed to have been himself but which really was only a empty facade. The young man must "sell what you have and give to the poor...then come, follow me." He must die to himself, pick up his cross, and follow Jesus.
Jesus, then, wouldn't be a good flight attendant. In telling the young man how to save himself he told him to save others. Instead of focusing on our own supposed good, seeking after one possession after another, we need instead seek after the good of the other.
Sunday, August 18, 2002
Possible slow blogging tomorrow
When I arrived at my office this morning (at 6:50am--today was the first session of our Religious Education Program), I found that the phone line on which I do my e-mail and internet work (including blogging) was dead. I'm going to call first thing tomorrow and have it checked out. But, until it is fixed, I may be slow in my blogging and do it, sparingly, at home.
"Where were you when I came here?": Reflections on my pro-life Saturday
On Saturday morning, Cindy, Michael, and myself got early (5:00 for myself) and left at around 7:00 so that we could go to a pro-life Mass on the west side of Indianapolis at 8:30. I was surprised to see a large group of folks gathered there. Overall, I'd say that there was 50-100 folks there. They were of all age groups. They were mainly lay, although there were a good number of sisters there too.
After the Mass the Blessed Sacrament was exposed for adoration and we prayed the rosary. Then a good portion of those attending the Mass went over to an establishment that calls itself "The Clinic for Women", a place where abortions are performed among, I presume, other services as well. We went there for a prayer vigil, praying another rosary. On that morning, it happened to be closed. According to Sister Diane Carollo (the director of the Archdiocese's Office of Pro-Life Activities), its business has gone down by 50% since it moved from a different part of town to this location.
Sr. Diane also announced to us before we went there that, at a recent prayer vigil at the clinic, there had been a "save." A woman had driven a friend to the clinic. The friend was considering having an abortion but, after arriving in the parking lot, chose to keep her baby. Whether or not the prayer vigil had a direct impact on her is not for us to know. However, the woman that drove her friend there had seemingly had had an abortion herself in the past and had yelled out to the folks praying, "Where were you when I came here?"
The fact that we had a prayer vigil in front of the closed Clinic for Women was, then, a good thing. Some folks coming out of the pawn shop next door saw us and heard us praying. But there was no one coming in or out of the clinic to hear us, no nervous expectant mothers, unsure what to do next, no sincerely committed, but horribly misguided workers in the clinic there to lead them down a very sad path of pain and death. The fact that the clinic was closed was indeed something of a victory.
(A necessary aside: Becaue the clinic was closed, none of us were able to see and pray before, and for, a "nervous expectant mother, unsure what to do next." Such a woman was somewhere else. But she was still nervous. And she might have been feeling quite alone. This expectant mother needs, and in some cases, receives our prayers and our ministry before she ever gets into a car and goes to the clinic and only makes her decision in the parking lot.)
It also made it a lot easier for me. For, you see, this was the first time that I had ever participated in any kind of public act of protest against abortion and for the dignity and preservation of unborn life. So that question that the woman the previous month had yelled out and which the sister had passed on to us, "Where were you when I came here?" has, in some ways, cut me to the quck. Indeed, where was I when she went there?
Was I attending to the most important people in my life, my wife and son? Was I studying? Was I writing? Was I teaching? Was I helping young children and teenager in our parish grow in their faith? All of these are goods in and of themselves and which need attention from a person such as myself. But I could have also been loafing around, watching TV. I could have been playing golf. I could have been surfing the internet.
In any case, I was not there praying when that women arrived in the parking lot. And it sounds like no one else was there praying either.
However, I cannot walk around concluding that the weight of the aborted life of the unborn child of that women is now entirely on my shoulders. In the end it is the Spirit moving in the consciences of expectant mothers that can lead them to choose life. Each and every one of us, every day of our lives, either chose to cooperate with the Spirit or choose to ignore the Spiri or deliberately chooses to work against the Spirit. But the grace which the Spirit pours into our hearts is, nevertheless, often channelled to us through human mediators.
It comes flowing to me most especially in through my wife and my son. It seems to have been at least in part showered upon the expectant mother who "saved" her unborn baby through those who had gathered to pray for her. And those folks themselves had been filled through the prayers of unnamed others with a grace of courage to stand and pray in front of that opened clinic.
Amazing changes can happen in our world when we see that God wants to use us as channels of his grace. I can hear God speaking to me in the cooing of my young son. Meek believers are given the strength to make prophetic protests. The life of an unborn miracle is saved. And there is now one more woman who doesn't have to ask, "Where were you when I came here?"
Saturday, August 17, 2002
This week's installment of my column "Spiritual Reflections"
Go to the website of The Shelbyville News to read this week's installment of my column "Spiritual Reflections." I'd be interested to read your feedback on it.
Busy Weekend
This will be a busy weekend for me, so I may get little blogging done. This morning I will be going with my wife and son to a pro-life Mass in Indianapolis, with a prayer vigil at a clinic afterward. Then we'll be going to a wedding in the afternoon.
Tomorrow is the first day of the Religious Education Program at the parish where I serve as DRE.
Friday, August 16, 2002
Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle A
Is 56:1, 6-7
Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
Rom 11:13-15, 29-32
Mt 15:21-28
Jesus can be loved every day, but on many days his teachings are not easy to accept. Certainly, they are difficult to follow on any given day. But today, we encounter someone who should cause great conflict within us; Jesus might not be easy for anyone to like today as a result of what we have just heard.
Consider that Jesus could very easily appear as though he was ignoring the pleas of the woman from Canaan. At face value, Jesus refused to help either the woman or her daughter because neither of the two is on his list of preferred people to save. Then he said something ugly. He told the woman that she was a member of an inferior group. Just think about how many of us would have responded at that moment if Jesus spoke in that way to us. We might not care that it was the Son of God before us. We might have said something ugly in reply to him.
I believe that the Canaanite woman knew from the beginning of their exchange that Jesus was not acting with ugliness toward her; he tested her faith only so that he could show her good examples of persistence and caring to all the people who stood around them. She made herself look low in the eyes of the world, and in return, the Son of God lifted her high, answered her prayers, and cured her daughter.
Our Church can serve God better if many of us change the way that we understand how to live in obedience to God. It is an understood good to be open to the will of God. It is good to follow the commands of God. It is not good for the sake of God’s Church if his people accept his commands in a passive manner. If believers were meant to behave in this way, then our Gospel reading today would have ended with the Canaanite woman walking away from Jesus with the understanding that Jesus did not come to save anyone other than the Jews. In other words, the Gospel would have ended with the woman keeping her faith to herself rather than demonstrating it to her Lord. God did not give us the gift of faith just for us to keep it close to our hearts.
If simple obedience to the Law is all that any of us are called to obey, then Saint Joseph would have had both the right and the duty to have the Mother of God flogged in public, if not stoned to death, for being pregnant with a child of another man. Joseph was both obedient and compassionate. He trusted Mary’s words that the child came from God. At the least, he could have simply divorced Mary, thereby allowing the community to have the impression that he was the father of the child. Those were his options according to the Law. He obeyed something greater.
God sometimes speaks to his people in odd ways so that his people can speak back to him with great love and concern for their brothers and sisters. Do you recall when God told Abraham that he was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Abraham might have known that those cities deserved to be recipients of divine justice, but God provoked Abraham to respond to the situation in some manner. Abraham could have replied to God, “Go! Kill them all and sort the righteous from the pile of corpses!” Instead of saying this from that start, Abraham pleaded with God so that an attempt could at least be made to find righteous people. In the eyes of many people, Abraham had no reason to speak as he did. Yet he spoke as he did because he wanted to show his love for those who could have even been either total strangers or known enemies. Either way, they were still people made in the image of God. Either way, they deserved his love.
Since our childhood, we have been instructed that we should never talk back to someone who in authority. In most cases, it is best to continue to follow this instruction. But there may come a time when we believe that God wants us to speak out for the sake of the Gospel being brought to life. If we feel so compelled, then we need to use the gifts of prudence and wisdom that God has given in some degree to all of us. When we use these gifts well, both God and God’s people will say to us, “Great is your faith!” When we use these gifts well, we can help others to use well the gifts that God has given them. When we use God’s gifts well, then we truly show obedience to God. He did not give us anything that he did not mean for us either to use or to display.
IF he were alive, this may be what the King would look like...
Or maybe this was a bad picture from one of those mall photo booths...
Mass in Honduras marks the 500th anniversary of the first Mass on the mainland of the Americas
There seems to be some dispute, however. There was a Mass celebrated in Brazil in 2000 claiming the same anniversary.
Writing as a historian, the precise date is not important (Despite the stereotype, I only had the students I've taught memorize a few vital dates). What is important is what this anniversary means to the faithful of Honduras and, really, those throughout the Americas, including ourselves (I apologize to any of you reading on other continents for being 'Americocentric').
"This Mass constitutes a new evangelization in America," proclaimed Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez.
A Survey of 1,200 priests shows that many believe a homosexual subculture exists in their dioceses or orders
An article in the Washington Post describes a survey conducted by Dean Hoge of Catholic U., a respected researcher on Catholic topics. Interestingly enough, the survey was conducted in spring, 2001, long before the current scandals were widely reported.
It would appear, however, that the priests survey were not so much asked if a homosexual subculture existed among their fellow priests as they were asked if it simply existed in their diocese or religious order. A full 55% believed it either clearly or probably did.
However, the question of such subcultures existing in seminaries was also asked. There 45% believed it existed either clearly or probably. However, among younger priests (aged 25-35), 47% believed it did clearly while only 6% of older priests (66 and older).
I suppose that one could make the argument that many of the older priests, trained in the 40s-60s, had so little encouragement to integrate their sexual identity into their whole person that no subculture based on sexuality, homosexual or heterosexual, could develop. And to the degree that such a subculture would encourage or easily lead to acting upon that sexuality, then it should receive little encouragement.
However, I believe that all seminarians should be strongly encouraged to come to an understanding of their own full identity, their sexuality included, so that they can make as free and as informed a choice as is possible when they are called upon to accept the vocation to which God has called them, be it priestly, married, or religious.
On a side note, it would be interesting to know if Michael Rose used any thorough statistical surveys such as the one presented here. I have been unable to read his book and so am unable to speak on this. Were there any available at the time that he wrote his book?
If they were and he didn't, then it would seem that many of those who have critiqued his work as employing a poor methodology are justified. However, if they were not available, then he cannot be blamed for not using them. Still, I know that he has been cited as not having quoted many seminary officials in his book, so it could be that the existence or lack of a statistical study would not make a difference in the end.
A revealing interview with Cardinal Egan
has been published in today's New York Times (LRR). Here's a link to the article on the interview.
Speaking about his actions as Bishop of Bridgeport to reinstate sexually abusive priests on the advice of psychiatrists, the Cardinal stated:
"I think that we did this properly, as it was understood at that time, and I'm happy with what we did."
I wonder if the victims and their families were happy?
However, the Cardinal also noted that his opinion on the advice of psychiatrists has changed:
"Right now, I have less and less confidence in depending upon the medical and psychiatric community," he said. "It's too dangerous, it seems to me, to do anything now but to play always on the side of safety," he said, and suspend priests more promptly.
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus is quoted in the article among those who have been critical of Egan's leadership of the archdiocese:
"In two years, he has not been much of an archbishop for New York, that is, for the life of the city, He's a good, faithful man. I think he's just missed opportunity after opportunity to be what a bishop should be. That is, a teacher."
How has he been a teacher to the faithful in New York over the past few months? The article gives a bit of a description:
Except for two homilies around Easter week, the cardinal has mainly communicated to the archdiocese at large through letters read in churches, statements issued to the press and a column in Catholic New York, the diocesan newspaper. He has spoken to some degree about the scandal during Sunday parish visits. He has rarely spoken to reporters.
However, the article did note that Egan has made some "150 parish visits." Surely some teaching went on then. Am I being naive?
In response to a question regarding whether or not the actions taken in Dallas will restore the trust of the faithful in their leadership, the Cardinal had this to say:
"Time will have to tell. I'm not a prophet. I think what we are doing and have done is correct."
"I'm not a prophet." It would appear that this is sadly true in more ways than one...
A prophet is one whose heart is focused on the present, on his own life and the lives of his brothers and sisters, on the relationship of all of them with the Lord. In the conclusion to the Times' article, it would seem that Cardinal Egan's heart reminisces on the past, on a city far away from New York:
Cardinal Egan was expansive in reminiscing about his days in Rome, where he studied and served as a judge on a Vatican court, the Sacred Roman Rota, for 14 years until 1985, when he was consecrated a bishop. He recalled how, before a piano trio concert at the Santa Cecilia auditorium, he induced the trio to substitute Schubert's Piano Trio in B flat major for the E flat because he loved the B flat's slow movement so much.
No one said it would be easy:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Friday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Ez 16:1-15, 60, 63 or 16:59-63
Is 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6
Mt 19:3-12
Many people who strive to be faithful followers of Christ lament the fact that the divorce rate is so high today. They look to the past and see what appears to have been better times. Then they wonder what has changed. In large part, what has changed is the law. No-fault divorce has made such a dissolution much easier to come by than in the past.
The difficulties and challenges of marriage, however, were just as present in the seemingly rosy past as they are now. Today's Gospel shows that clearly. Through Jesus' conversation with some Pharisees and his disciples about divorce and remarriage, it would appear that this was a fairly common practice among the Jews at that time. When Jesus taught that, in contrast, true marriages were permanent in God's plan, his disciples seemed confounded and asked, "If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." (It is interesting, the earlier parts of today's Gospel are often read at weddings. Somehow this verse never gets into those readings...).
In response, Jesus does not deny that following his teaching is difficult: "Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted." He never said it would be easy to live the married life. But neither is living outside of marriage easy either. He went on to speak about those called to live celibate single lives, either by circumstance or by choice. In any case, he also hinted at its difficulty: "Whoever can accept this ought to accept it." Not everyone can accept its challenges.
Jesus does not whitewash the hardships of these ways of life. They have always been difficult for broken, sinful humans to endure and they always will be. Why? Because marriage and celibacy are vocations of the Kingdom. They are living signs of God's reign, present here in the world. And when we who are in our worldly sinfulness try to live a way of life that shows forth the purity and perfection of the Kingdom, then we are bound to feel the pain of that contradiction.
But still, we want to be rid of those pains. As we have developed technologies to (seemingly) make our lives easier than in the past, we are baffled that our marriages fail so often. We are shocked when our celibate priests fail to live by their promises and abuse others in the process. But the advancement of our knowledge and technology has done nothing to change our brokenness.
Some people seem to have unconsciously recognized this and have rejected marriage altogether. They look at celibacy and see something ludicrous and impossible to be understood.
And maybe these conclusions are natural if one believes that these vocations must be lived successfully through our own power alone. For if were to depend solely on our own efforst, our marriages and our celibate lives will surely fail.
But, thanks be to God, this is not the case. Since marriage and celibacy are vocations of the Kingdom of God, his grace is there to give strength to those that are called to them. I remember when I was in the seminary how a professor (himself a Benedictine monk) spoke very frankly of the challenges of living celibately. But he also spoke strongly of how the grace of the sacrament of holy orders will help those who accept it to endure and even thrive in the midst of the difficulties. The same, I believe, can be said of the grace of the sacrament of marriage.
When the American cardinals went to Rome to speak with various Vatican officials about the sexual abuse scandals here, Pope John Paul lamented that so many priests had betrayed the grace of their sacrament. Sadly, this also happens in many of our sacramental marriages.
The scandals of priestly sexual abuse and of divorce should not lead us, however, to pack it all in and give up. What these sad things and what Jesus' words to us today are instead pointing to is the need for us to live more sacramental lives. In order for us to avoid the pain of failed vocations, in order for us to filled with their joy, we must all lean more heavily on the grace that God offers us to help us be living signs of his Kingdom.
Thursday, August 15, 2002
Question of the Day for the Readers
Ok, maybe I'm lazy. But I'd like you to help me with some research. Look at it from this perspective. I value all of the good and wonderful things that you know and I'd like you to share your wisdom and knowledge with me. (ok, I know, its getting thick...)
Anyway, here's the question: Do any of you know of any Catholic equivalent to the evangelical organization Campus Crusade for Christ?
If you do, let me know!
You know a story is getting stale when...
The media folk covering it start writing about each other. Well that is what's happenning in today's New York Times (LRR) where reporter Frank Bruni writes about how other media organizations have been lining up writers, pre-written obituaries, pundits, and prime roof-top space in Rome when the Holy Father passes away.
These folks seem to have wasted a lot of money has been wasted by over at least the past 10 years. Thats how long ago Fr. Thomas Reese, editor of America started writing the Pope's obituary.
A Feast of Hope and Humility:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Rev 11:19, 12:1-6, 10
Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16
1 Cor 15:20-26
Lk 1:39-56
What a hope-filled and reassuring feast this is! It reminds us that we need not strive after greatness (at least as the world defines it) in order to gain the favor of God and be welcomed into the glories of heaven. The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary reminds us that we need only be humble and trust in God's promise in order to come to the heart of the Kingdom.
When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and delivered his extraordinary message, some choices were laid before her. She could have chosen to react with pride to the news. After all, being the mother of the Savior could make he feel that the she is in a position of power. "All generations will call me blessed" can be spoken in either pride or humility.
But it was the latter of the two attitudes that Mary chose when she learned of God's plan and accepted it. The song she sang to her cousin Elizabeth is filled with it. Her soul proclaimed God's greatness, not her own. She found joy in God, not in some puffed up image of herself. And as to herself, she said that she was a lowly servant. Her blessedness which was to praised by all following generations came only from God. And the rest of the song spoke only of the great deeds, mercy, and fidelity of God, nothing of herself.
Mary recognized her lowliness, but was not ashamed of it. She recognized God's greatness, but saw how he worked intimately in her own life. This is an authentic humility. One whose seeds were planted in her when she was conceived immaculately in her mother's womb. It is a humility that simply recognized reality for what it is. It is not a false humility that often has a secret pride hidden underneath.
It is this sort of humility for which we should pray and for which we should strive. For it is by this lowliness, ultimately given to us by God, that he will raise us to the heights of heaven to join with Mary in her eternal magnificat.
Elvis may have left the building, but where has he gone to?
So asks Elvis fan Gregory Tomlin, a writer for Baptist Press News.
Elvis was all too human, and his life was fraught with drug and alcohol abuse, sexual immorality and wantonness. He died, and if he did not know Christ, really is -- dare I say -- a hunka hunka burnin' love.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis to announce the members of its Review Board
This article published today in The Indianapolis Star lists the names of the six people appointed by Archbishop Daniel Buechlein to its Review Board, the body charged to investigate all past, current, and future cases of sexual abuse in the local Church.
Here is the list of the members:
• Jack Whelan, 58, president and chief operating officer of Golden Rule Insurance and a member of St. Monica parish in Indianapolis, who will chair the board.
• Ann DeLaney, 55, executive director of the Julian Center, a shelter for battered women and children and a former Marion County deputy prosecuting attorney who worked in sex crimes. She's a member of St. Thomas Aquinas parish, Indianapolis.
• The Rev. Paul Etienne, 42, pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help parish in New Albany and former director for vocations in the archdiocese.
• Cathleen Graham, 47, former head of Indiana's child protective services network and a member of St. Monica parish, Indianapolis.
• Richard Grana, 56, a psychologist with 30 years of clinical experience, including work with survivors of childhood sexual abuse. He is a member of St. Luke parish, Indianapolis.
• Michael Zunk, 56, director of security for the Indianapolis Colts. He was chief of the Indianapolis Police Department from 1997 to 2000. He's a member of St. Joan of Arc parish, Indianapolis.
It would seem that all of these folks are well qualified for the task with which they have been charged. The article also points out that many of them are have a long history of work closely with the leadership of the Archdiocese. Will this help or hinder the transparency of the work of the Board and of the Archdiocese's handling of sexual abuse cases? I suppose that none of us will really know until they start doing their important work.
Wednesday, August 14, 2002
More funny stuff from the Resource Publications Bulletin boards
(thanks to Donna Morrissey for giving the head's up on this one)
You gotta hand it to the folks posting on the bulletin boards at Resource Publications. If its not crazy progressive liturgies, its crazy reactionary conspiracy theorists. Here's some excerpts from a post from "Marina Nova" on the liturgical catechesis board:
I am moving on now. It has become apparant that most of those here are unwilling to see what they do not want to see.
Folks here speak and behave more like Protestants than Roman Catholics, and some of your beliefs are on the way to being Protestant.
Just remember this:
John 23rd took the name of an anti-Pope, he also said before he was elected 'pope' that he would work to do the opposite of everything that the current pope stood for and did. This means he *had an agenda* going in.
Masons applaud John 23rd and his modern church.
Saint Francis of Assisi predicted these trials of the church.
John 23rd did not honor the request of the Mother of God and reveal the 3rd secret in 1960 as he was instructed by her at Fatima to do. What kind of a pope does not honor the direct request of the Mother of God???
And she (with a name like 'Marina', I'm presuming the writer is female) goes on...
John 23rd is listed as a saint in the Lutheran church. Martin Luther, John and Charles Wesley, John Calvin, and Jan Hus are also saints in the Lutheran calender....all of these are heretics.
55 non-Catholics representing 17 different religious denominations were at the first session of the 2nd Vatican Council......on the way to a one-world-religion???
She finally cites a source for these outrageous charges:
All of this is a small portion of what can be found in the well-documented and unchallenged book "What Has Happened to the Catholic Church?" by Fathers Francisco and Dominic Radecki.
I did a quick search of Amazon for this book and any book by these authors. Nothing showed up. I searched for the book and the authors in Google. I did not find the book and found some a reference to the two priests having authored an article on the Council of Nicaea in the Winter 2001 edition of the journal, The Reign of Mary.
This journal is published by the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, an order that, on the homepage of the journal's website, describes that it its mission is to "to preserve the teachings and practice of traditional Roman Catholicism and to promote the Message of Fatima."
If you look at the page that describes the history of the order, you'll quickly learn that they subscribe to a remnant theology. It would seem that they are clearly schismatic.
Well, when I woke up this morning, I didn't expect to read about "American Pie" being sung at Mass or about a so-called Catholic order that rejects Vatican II.
Liturgical Chaos
(thanks to Fr. Shawn O'Neal and Donna Morrissey--not the spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Boston--for the link)
A while back Amy Welborn wrote about a 'circus Mass' that was celebrated at a parish in the Washington, D.C. area sometime several years ago. Well, there weren't jugglers in the sanctuary in this parish, but it sure seemed to be like a three-ring circus.
This description was posted on a registration-free bulletin board on liturgical music administered by Resource Publications.
The writer of this particular post, the parish's current music director, begins by writing: "The story I'm about to tell you may sound fake, but it is not... It is sadly true, and it is sadly my life."
He or she then proceeded to list various aspects of the recent liturgical history of the parish:
Former Pastor ignored everything within GIRM and any liturgical mindset he had. He would dress up as John the Baptist for his homily. They had a giant tomb set up beside the altar and whenever Lazarus came back fromt he dead in the gospel, someone came out and played the part of Lazarus. Folk music was encouraged, and the priest was even known to do ballroom dancing with women from the parish during the recessional hymn. The same Processional Hymn ("Lord of the Dance!") was used EVERY weekend. The people would clap along with the rhythm of hymns, but rarely sing due to the difficulty of all pieces other than the Processional Hymn ("LORD OF THE DANCE!!!").
-Their choir director found it fun to do WHATEVER SHE WANTED... WHENEVER SHE WANTED! They had sung "American Pie," by Don McLeon in mass! All music was devotional and picked for the purpose of making people "feel good". She would dress as Santa on Christmas, and a bunny on Easter.
Need there be any detailed comment on this? I think its stupidity speaks for itself. There's lots of other silliness that the music director describes, but I won't burden you with it here. If you want to punish yourself by reading, be my guest and take the link.
The only other comment I'll make is on the way in which the current music director was hired. Here's how he or she described it:
"The priest, knowing me, calls me up and offers me the job. I, not knowing how bad things were, and thinking I was up for a challenge...accepted."
Maybe at the time that the current pastor hired the music director he didn't know all of the history of the parish. But if he did and he didn't let this person know about it, then he needed to have been a little more 'transparent' about it. If I would have known about that situation, I wouldn't have touched that job with a ten foot pole.
Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Homily for tomorrow's holy day of obligation
The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Rv 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
Ps 45:10, 11, 12, 16
1 Cor 15:20-27
Lk 1:39-56
We celebrate “proper order” today, using the words that Saint Paul wrote to the people of Corinth. We celebrate today the belief that our foremost role model in discipleship – the first person to say “yes” to Jesus – entered into Heaven as she deserved. We are going to celebrate her coronation as Queen of Heaven next week.
But Mary would likely trade both her crown and every gift that she has received if it could be done for the sake of her children on earth joining her in heaven. Mary does not want us to know about her as much as she wants us to know about her Savior – our Savior. It is the Lord’s grace that makes her heart immaculate. It is Lord’s grace that fills her. She is thankful that she has received this grace, but she will not be content until all of her children have opened their hearts and their souls so that they may receive that same grace.
The time has come within the proper order of things for all people to turn to God through the Son of God. If we turn to God, then the time will come that we will be taken body and soul into Heaven just as she was. Mary thanks the Lord that her soul proclaims his glory, but she will not be content until our souls proclaim that same glory, too. We will not know when the proper order of things will turn into the end of time, but we know that this is the time when we should properly follow Mary’s order: “Do whatever he tells you.”
What are we going to do now in the checkout line?
Here's an Agape Press story on a "one-woman boycott" that led to some Wal-Mart stores to pull such magazines as Cosmo and Glamour from its checkout lines. Now the real question is, what will happen to all of the Weekly World News editions that tell us that Jesus is about to return?
Psst...Buddy...Wanna buy a ticket to a papal Mass?
Here's a Reuters story about a conman who got $25,000 out of 4,000 Poles after he claimed he would get them to an upcoming papal Mass.
The Sacred and Dangerous Ministry of Reconciliaton:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of St. Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr
Ez 9:1-7, 10:18-22
Ps 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Mt 18:15-20
Ezekiel's vision described in today's first reading must have been like a recurring nightmare for the prophet. He was a priest living in exile in the land of the Chaldeans. And here he was, seeing a vision of the unfaithful of Jerusalem being mercilessly slain. He saw the glory of the Lord departing from the Temple that he, as a priest, would have dearly loved. Having lived through all of these past events, such a vision would have opened up many old wounds.
It would have been a sad reminder of the divisions among his people at the time of the fall of Jerusalem. Some remained loyal to the Lord while others were unfaithful and had turned to idols. When a people are divided and opposed to one another they are easily conquered, as Jerusalem was. And when God's people are divided and turned upon one another, the glory of the Lord leaves their midst.
Jesus' words in today's Gospel seem to acknowledge the reality of such divisions. But he also tries to show the strength of unity. He starts out first telling his disciples how to deal with a brother who has wronged one of them. A whole process handling wrongdoing is laid out. First the one wronged should approach the wrongder privately and then with two or three witnesses, then before the Church. If there is still no reconciliation, then he is to be treated as a Gentile or a tax collector.
Conflicts are bound to happen, even among believers. In describing this process to deal with them, it seems that Jesus is trying to give us a way to contain their negative effects. If one has been wronged, one does not immediately, in the heat of anger, broadcast the news of the wrong to all other believers. If it can be redressed effectively between the two involved or with two or three witnesses, then the threat to the unity of the community is reduced.
An explanation like the one above of this passage could have been a (wrong) justification for the secret way with which sexual abuse was dealt in the past in the Church. But even in the transparency being sought now, there still needs to be a concern for the privacy of the victim and the nurturing and preservation of the unity of the body of believers. This is not an easy set of priorities to keep in balance. Surely we can only do it through the grace of God. However, our cooperation with that grace is required also.
The more that the Church is unified, the more also effective will it be a witness to the presence of Christ in the world. If, as Jesus tells us in today's Gospel, he is present when two or three gather in his name, how much more true are his words when countless millions do so.
This truth can provide us comfort and confidence in our being part of the Church. But it can also be a warning. If Jesus is indeed present in his Church, and if, as a result, the Church can bind and loose both here and in heaven, then all of us who are its members must be vigilant about how the Church as a whole acts. We need to be careful that the acts and decisions made in the Church's name are truly worthy of being bound or loosed in heaven.
If such care is not taken and those brothers and sisters wronged through sexual abuse are treated poorly as has clearly (transparently?) and repeatedly happened in the past, then these sad victims will be doubly plagued, by both the initial abuse and by the disrespect shown them when they reported their stories to the leaders of the Church. Without the ministry reconciliation being unfaithfully carried out in their lives, they will relive the horrors of the past, just as Ezekiel did in the land of exile.
Ultimately, however, the Lord remained faithful to the people of Israel. He brough about reconciliation among them, between him and them, and he led them back their homes. The Lord's work of reconciliation has now been shared with the Church. This is a sacred and dangerous ministry. If carried out unfaithfully it can hurt as much as it can heal if done according to God's will. May God continue to give to us, as individuals and as a body of believers, his grace of unity, healing, and reconciliation.
Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Religious education is starting this Sunday
I haven't been blogging very much today because, as I've noted before, I'm doing a lot of work right now in preparation for the first day of religious education in the parish where I serve as DRE this coming Sunday.
Our 'Religious Education Program' (REP) is for children in 3-year-old Pre-School through the 10th Grade (the ordinary grade of confirmation here). It meets on Sundays from 9:00-10:15. Over the course of the year they'll have about 30 sessions overall.
The Archdiocese of Indianapolis has a religion curriculum of 15 distinct standards (categorized along the lines of the Catechism) that students at each grade level are to be taught each year. I tell the catechists to focus more on the standards than on the textbook they are using. They are to let the standards guide their use of the textbooks.
Now of course I suspect that none of you know the particular context of the parish where I serve. But from my experience, its not too much different from an average parish. There are some very good things that we're doing to pass on the faith to our young people. And there are things that we need to do better.
I'd be interested to read your opinions as to what you think is important to pass on to children and teenagers and how to do it. Lets start something of a conversation on this.
I want to be like Mike (my son Michael Joseph that is...):
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Ez 2:8-3:4
Ps 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131
Mt 18:1-5, 10, 12-14
If you would have visited my home the day before my son Michael was born and now, you would probably conclude that much has changed. Life in the home back then was more quiet and organized. Life in the home now is more noisy and chaotic.
But believe it or not, there is under the surface a very well-ordered relationship between Michael and his parents. When he awakens from sleep by crying, we come. We change his diaper, sometimes change his clothes, and then feed him. When after feeding and he is satisfied he smiles and coos and makes all kinds of other noises. In response we smile back at him and talk with him in his unique language. When during the day he is tired and cranky we hold him or rock him and eventually get him to take a nap (or at least we try...).
Both him and Cindy and I have this relationship worked out well. All of us, even Michael, seem to know instinctively the dynamics of this relationship and we abide by them. When Michael is hungry, that is his one concern and he lets us know about it. When we we know that he is hungry, we feed him, no matter what else we are doing (we've become proficient at multi-tasking). The response of joyous love--Michael for us, us for Michael--when we smile at each other and speak with each other is spontaneous and natural.
Living out and observing this relationship over the past three months has given me a new perspective on Jesus' words about the Kingdom of God that he speaks to us in today's Gospel: "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me."
Michael is humble. He knows his needs and he knows his limits. When he is hungry he doesn't walk to the kitchen and get himself something to eat. No, he cries and lets us know that he is hungry. He knows, in some mysterious way, that he cannot feed himself, that only someone else, that only we can feed him.
Would that all of us adults might be like Michael in our relationship with our heavenly Father. What a wonderful world we would live in if were single hearted for the food that God offers us like Michael is for Cindy's breast milk. We would know, like Michael, that we cannot feed and give life to ourselves. We would know like him, that we must rely wholly on God to provide for us.
Were we to be like Michael then all of us would become good parents, for we would have experienced the perfect model of parenting in the care our heavenly Father gives to us. Jesus would not have to give us the warning that he speaks to us today: "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father."
Unfortunately, however, we need to hear this warning. We aren't always, or even usually, like Michael in our relationship with God. We seek after other food than that which he offers us. We think that we can feed ourselves and believe that we do not need his care. All of us, to one degree or another, become selfish and get annoyed at a crying baby. Some, in the midst of our common human brokenness, suffer from depression and other mental illnesses while caring for infants and so cannot give them the care they need. Some, horribly, have a heart so hardened that have no love or concern for a helpless little one, born or unborn. Too often the effects of our not being like Michael is that other little ones are despised, hurt, battered, and killed.
But in the midst of all of this sadness, God always remains our heavenly Father, offering us all of the care that we need. When we gather together to celebrate the Eucharist, let us pray together the words that Jesus taught us from the perspective of my son Michael, or any of your little sons or daughters. Let us come to our Father in our need and ask him to give us and all the world the loving care that we need. May his grace transform us all, in the midst of our busy, adult lives, into his children, fully aware of our needs and limits.
Monday, August 12, 2002
Scroll down to last weekend's posts
Please scroll to the posts that I wrote on Saturday and Sunday. I'd be interested for you to read and comment on my latest column. I've also got, a la Amy Welborn, my own guestmap. Its down a bit on the left side. Check it out and let me know where you and your PC (or Apple) is at.
Good things Catholics are doing
This is a running headline that Amy Welborn occasionally uses at her blog to point out just what it says. Well I decided to use it here after reading a recent post at Peter Nixon's blog, Sursum Corda. It seems that Peter is involved in a jail ministry run by his local parish and that it is having a good impact upon some folks.
Something to get Shoutin' Bill all riled up
(Thanks to Fr. Shawn O'Neal for the link) The good ole' satirical folks at Landover Baptist are marketing a line of merchandise (backpacks, t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) that all read: "Support Your Local Pedophile: Attend a Catholic Church"
I wonder what Shoutin' Bill Donohue of the Catholic League would say about that?
The cat got out of the bag
Those of you who have read Sunday's posts will have noticed that I had a surprise birthday party for my wife yesterday. I felt confident in announcing it ahead of time on my blog because I knew that Cindy hardly ever read my blog.
Well, hardly ever happened yesterday. She just happened to walk into the computer room while that post was on the screen. And she just happened to catch enough words of it to know that something was up. However, she didn't tell about her knowledge until after the party had begun.
My extroverted fingers can really foul things up at times...
You gotta hand it to minor league baseball teams for promotions like this one:
"Jim Traficant Night" at the ballpark of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers, a single A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians.
Anyone claiming to be the son of a truck driver (as Traficant claims) or to wear a toupe (as Traficant does) will get in free.
'The baseball event also features a Traficant impersonator, Traficant trading cards and a mock election.
"Former Congressman Traficant played a vital role in attracting the franchise to the Mahoning Valley," general manager Andy Milovich said. "We felt a Jim Traficant Night would show our sincere gratitude for his efforts."'
If I were Traficant, I wouldn't think that their efforts were showing any gratitude. But, then again, Traficant usually doesn't think like the rest of us.
Maybe the folks with the ball team could have had fans bribe their way into the game...
They're probably not among the 144,000: Sexual abusers in the Jehovah's Witnesses
Here's a detailed article in the on cases of sexual abuse in the Jehovah's Witnesses and inaction and cover-up by some of their leaders. It also describes in detail the policies and framework set up to deal with accusations.
Some of what is reported here seems to make what is going on in the Church to be pale in comparison: charges of accusers (not abusers) being excommunicated, etc.
Said one accuser who brought her case before a group of elders: '"I was expecting spiritual guidance, I was expecting them to genuinely, sincerely attempt to find justice and protect the rest of the congregation from this same thing happening. And none of that happened." She, like several other alleged victims and their relatives, said in interviews that the elders warned her against reporting the abuse or talking about it with other members.'
Sound familiar?
Visions of Glory in a Time of Sadness and Anxiety:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Monday of the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Ez 1:2-5, 24-28
Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14
Mt 17:22-27
When Ezekiel started seeing his prophetic visions he had been in exile for five years. As a priest, he had probably been quite used to seeing, day in and day out, the glories of the Temple of the Lord. When it was destroyed and he was taken into exile he could have very naturally concluded that only sad and dull days awaited him.
In exile he would have only been trying to survive. He would have been in a constant state of defensiveness against the threats of his enemies in whose land he lived. The glorious days of ministering in the Temple were gone forever.
Yet on the banks of the river Chebar, far away from the Jordan and the holy city, the hand of the hand of the Lord came upon him. His eyes were opened to a "vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord", the splendor of which would have surpassed anything he had probably ever experienced in the Temple or could even have imagined.
And this was no ordinary vision of the Lord's greatness (can there even be an ordinary version of such a vision?). It was one that would have renewed his hope. The throne that he saw (presumably the throne of the Lord, although it is not identified as such) was surrounded by a splendor which was "the bow which appears in the clouds on a rainy day."
This was the same kind of bow that was the sign of the covenant that the Lord had made with Noah. It would have been for Ezekiel a sign of the Lord's steadfast love and fidelity. Even though he had witnessed the destruction of the Temple and of the holy city Jerusalem, even though he was now living in a land of exile, the Lord was still showing himself true to his covenant. Ezekiel and his people would be redeemed.
Like Ezekiel in the land of exile, the Peter felt great sadness. He felt this when Jesus told him and his companions of how he was to be put to death. He also, like Ezekiel, felt defensive. He would have felt this way when the collectors of the Temple tax asked him if Jesus paid the tax. In light of the dire forewarning that Jesus had just made, Peter would have easily seen such men as a threat.
But just as the Lord laid his hand upon Ezekiel while in the land of exile, so Jesus sought to strengthen Peter and the other disciples in the midst of their grief and anxiety. Yes, he had told them that he would be put to death. But he also told them that he would be raised up again. And he knew that Peter had in his defensiveness lied to the tax collectors. So in order to still his heart and make his words true, he had Peter wondrously find a coin for the tax in a fish that he would catch.
Like Ezekiel and Peter, our days can often be filled with anxiety and sadness. These feelings can seem to keep us from seeing the glories of the Lord, from hearing his voice. In the midst of our troubled emotions we might wish for slow, easy days, days where we can seek after the Lord at our leisure, in ways that we know to be true.
God, however, is appearing to us in glorious visions even now, in the midst of our busy anxiety. He is speaking reassuring words to us. He is working his wonders before our eyes. These days can be more glorious than any we've ever experienced. So give us, Lord, the grace that you gave Ezekiel and Peter. Open our eyes to see your glory, our ears to hear your words of hope.
Sunday, August 11, 2002
Call me a copycat, but I think the guest map thing is great!
I saw Amy Welborn's guestmap and just had to have one of my own. And since I was already a bravenet member, it was easy to do. Scroll down and look for the guestmap icon on the left to sign up and show me and everyone else in the world where you live.
That doesn't make sound too good...
Well, do it anyway!
Smile--You're on Cameras for Christ
Here's a ministry using digital cameras to spread the Gospel. Folks go out with the digital cameras to big, public events and take lots pictures of people. The folks who are shot (with the camera that is) are given a business card with a unique password and website address where they can view the picture and forward it at no cost to anyone they like. Oh, and while they're at the website, they can learn how they can make Jesus Christ their personal Lord and Savior.
Catholic & evangelical dads spend more time with kids than mainline Protestant fathers
According to this report from Agape Press, a study performed by University of Virginia sociologist W. Bradford Wilcox shows that Catholic and evangelical dads spend more time with their children than those that identify themselves with mainline denominations.
Interestingly, however, the difference might not have to do so much with the relative dedication to their children that fathers have in the various religious groups. Instead, it might be attributable to the relative age in the respective denominations:
"Both evangelical and Catholic dads exceeded the time spent by fathers in mainline Protestant churches, which other studies have shown often have an aging population and thus fewer youth groups."
Conventional wisdom tells us that having children usually makes a person more conservative. If this is true (and I don't think that it is in all cases), then there might seem to be a correlation between the liberal positions often held by various mainline churches, their relative paucity of children, and their declining membership.
What do you think?
Pssst....Don't tell her...It's a secret
Today I'm throwing a surprise 30th birthday party for my wife Cindy. She'll probably be a little bit mad because her actual birthday isn't until a couple days from now. And for those of you who might be thinking that I'm letting the cat out of the bag by putting on this blog, don't worry, she's not a regular reader...
Saturday, August 10, 2002
The latest installment of my column, "Spiritual Reflections"
Go to the website of The Shelbyville News to read the latest installment of my weekly column, "Spiritual Reflections." For any of you readers with children preparing to return to school, this installment might be especially appropriate.
At any rate, I encouarge all of you to read it. And if you have any comments on it, pass them on my way.
Religious Orders won't be pushed into the Dallas charter
As reported in this AP article, it would appear that the Conference of Major Superiors of Men are more than a bit suspicious of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People, passed in Dallas in June by the American bishops. Such views were apparent in a speech delivered by the Conference's president, Fr. Canice Connors, OFM Conv.
He felt that the zero tolerance was a '"war slogan" that was inappropriate for the Church.' He characterized the presidential address delivered at Dallas by Bishop Wilton Gregory, "shock rhetoric."
And, according to the article, he stated his opinion that since Dallas, the U. S. bishops have "launched an "identify and expel mission" that has been unfair to men who have undergone treatment and recovered..." He also argued that "the bishops in effect could be perceived to have become one with the voices of the media, unreconciled victims and a partially informed Catholic public in scapegoating abusers..."
As might be expected, a representative of SNAP took exception to Fr. Connors' speech. Mark Serrano, a national board member of SNAP, said that Connors' words were 'an insult "to victims, bishops and regular Catholics."
I've searched in various place on the internet and have been unable to find the full text of Fr. Connor's speech. Therefore I will limit my comment on it.
As I look at it through the lens of the AP article, however, it does seem clear that he and, presumably, the Conference as a whole, has some signficant difficulties with the Charter passed in Dallas, especially its stance on 'zero tolerance.' On that note, I tend to agree with various bloggers who have expressed concerns about the absoluteness of its scope.
However, to characterize Bishop Gregory's speech as "shock rhetoric" is, in my opinion, a bit extreme. And to say that the abusers have been "scapegoated" is to presume that someone else is to blame for the crisis in the Church. Upon whom would Connors place that blame?
He might be partially correct in laying it at the feet of some of our bishops. But often the word "scapegoat" is used in connection with a person who has little or no culpability. One simply cannot say that of a large number of the priests who sexually abused minors.
Are many of Connors' remarks motivated by the historic (and justified) independence of religious orders? Maybe. I do think that they are an informed opinion, one that has good intentions. However, in expressing his opinions it would seem that it is he that may have employed "shock rhetoric.' And when such language is used, the validity of opinions can sometimes be obscured by an audience's reaction to the extremity of the words themselves.
Friday, August 09, 2002
Christian students challenged to get on their knees
In a program called 30KD (30 second Kneel Down), Christian students in public schools are being challenged to kneel in prayer in front of their lockers for 30 seconds at the beginning of each day. Tom Sipling, a youth evangelist from Harrisburg, PA, began the movement. He encourages the students to pray "for their classmates, teachers and campuses."
Well, I wouldn't be surprised if they also say a few prayers about the big test thats coming up.
Fr. Shawn O'Neal's Sunday Homily
Nineteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, Cycle A
1 Kgs 19:9a, 11-13a
Ps 85:9, 10, 11-12, 13-14
Rom 9:1-5
Mt 14:22-33
By the time that Paul was writing his letter to the Romans, a generation had passed since Jesus' ascension. In the span of that generation, the Good News had been spread all throughout the known world. It may be a small portion of the global area as we know it now, but many diverse peoples came to believe in the Gospel during a relatively brief span of time. Yet despite both the distances that the Good News had been broadcast and the many peoples who came to acknowledge Jesus as the Savior of the World, Paul preferred to cry rather than gloat upon the success stories of the early Church. He cried because a significant majority of the people to whom Jesus said he came to save first, the people of Israel, continued in their refusal to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Paul cried because many people came to believe in Jesus, but to paraphrase the words of Jesus, the prophet continued to be rejected within his own hometown.
Place the sadness of Paul into a modern context. Many parents cry because their children who have been raised within our Church Tradition do not see any reason to continue to seek Jesus by way of it. Many of these young people do not see the Catholic Church as being alive in the Holy Spirit. Many young people see the Church as an archaic body that both goes through motions and rests upon its reputation. But young people are not the only critics of our Church. Some of our oldest Catholics believe that the reason why young people do not want to worship within our faith is due to poor religious education they received. The criticism does not end merely with the arguments between generations. Our Church has been blessed by many people who have entered it after being
raised either in other Christian denominations or within religions other than the Christian faith. They saw the Church as the bearer of God's truth and his Good News; therefore, they wanted to join in proclaiming the Gospel. But many of these converts have grown frustrated. They see the gifts that God has bestowed upon His Church, but they also see many Catholics who seem only to skim the top of what is in the treasure chest. These converts become sad in a way similar to Paul because they know that they have gained something; they wonder whether people who have been Catholic all their lives know what they even have. As a result, anger can sometimes be unfairly directed at so-called "cradle Catholics" as if they have squandered what they have been given.
Instead of pointing fingers at anyone, I suggest that we imitate Paul - and he always sought to imitate Christ. He called the people of Israel to task, but he did so to prove that God delivered on his promise when he gave us Jesus as the fulfillment of the law and of the prophecies. He might very well call many Catholics to task this day, but he would do so with love and encouragement that would inspire the whole of the Church to see anew that God founded this Church. He founded the Church so that all people could be united with him through it. Paul's constant encouragement could help older Catholics to assist the younger Catholics on their faith journeys rather than criticize them for their every move. He could also call the converts to task. He led them to this Church, but only so they could inspire their brothers and sisters - not embarrass them.
After a prayer vigil held in Toronto during World Youth Day, one pilgrim said that she was glad that Pope John Paul spoke because, as she said, his words matter. But I tell you that his message means something not because of either his office or his popularity, but because he seeks to imitate Jesus, and just as Jesus sought to do, he seeks to speak with authority - the authority given to him by God. This ability is given in some degree to all of us. Any of us can proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ with authority; he has called each of us by name to do just that. We received the same baptism that the Pope has received. We are given gifts of the Spirit just as he has been given gifts. We have received grace as he has received grace. It is time for all of us to speak with God's authority; this is not a job to be left for someone else to do. If we all speak of Jesus, then many people, including the young, the lost, and those in search of him, will want to join us within his Church.
Is the war on terrorism a religious war?
A while back in an essay published in the New York Times Magazine, Andrew Sullivan answered this question in the affirmative. And although I don't agree with everything that he had to say in that essay, a mounting pile of evidence seems to prove his view true in large part.
Take, for example, this AP article which details the series of attacks on Christians that have happened in Pakistan alone since September 11. Despite the arguments of so many of so many faiths that Islam is a religion of peace, it would seem clear that there is a strain of Moslem theology that justifies the violent killing of those of other faiths.
Orders respond to criticism
This AP report describes how representatives of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men have responded to criticism from SNAP and others of their discussion of how to adapt the Charter for the Protection of Children passed by the bishops in Dallas.
It was said by some regarding the Dallas meeting that the Charter will provide little reassurance if it could not be madated for all dioceses and implemented in a uniform manner. If this was a concern with the bishops, it should be an absolute given with the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.
Religious orders are, to varying degrees, quite beholden to their historical independence. I tend to think that it would impossible for the Conference to mandate an adaptation of the Charter for all religious orders in the United States. Such an across-the-board change could only come, in my opinion, from Rome.
I suspect that other bloggers have already made this observation. But it is one that I feel fairly confident about, having experienced life in a Benedictine monastery. Benedictines, above all, are quite independent. Even their own congregations can have little effect from one monastery to the next.
This is not to say that necessary reforms cannot be made, and even made at the local level and not mandated from Rome. However, I suspect that the discussions going on in the Conference will have little direct legislative effect in the orders. It may foster a changes within the orders themselves, but it would seem to me that there is no force of law here.
Good Words from an Obscure Prophet:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Friday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Na 2:1, 3, 3:1-3, 6-7
Dt 32:35cd-36ab, 39abcd, 41
Mt 16:24-28
From our perspective, Nahum seems to be an obscure prophet. All we have of his writings are 47 verses spread out over three short chapters. He lived sometime during the 7th century B.C., probably around the fall of the Assyrian city of Nineveh in 615. He is not a well known prophet like Elijah or Elisha, or Jeremiah or Isaiah. But he speaks the word of the Lord to us nonetheless, albeit only on one day every two years in our cycle of readings.
The example of Nahum can be a lived example of the lesson that Jesus teaches us in today's Gospel. Jesus poses this question to us: "What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" From our lack of evidence we might presume that Nahum was simply a humble, faithful Israelite, one who heard the Lord speaking to him and who proclaimed his word to his countrymen.
We have no evidence that he was of a priestly family like Jeremiah was. There are no words that describe him as a court official like Isaiah probably was. We have no evidence at all that shows him to have been a man who sought to gain the whole world. No, he was simply a prophet, a man of faith who was a mouthpiece for the Lord.
And yet his writings have endured for some 2,600 years. They still speak to us words of truth, the justice and mercy of God, they point in mysterious ways to the coming of Christ. I have begun to have some of my own writings published in columns here and there. However, I have no illusions that people will be reading my words in a couple of millennia. And I certainly do not present myself as being a true prophet, one who has truly heard the word of the Lord.
Yet if any of us through the grace of God in humble silence listen to his word and strive through his grace to live it out and to proclaim it to others, then we, too, will become prophets like Nahum. Such humility, such obedient listening can a cross for us, however. We tend to like our own conclusions and the proud words that we repeat to ourselves.
And so for us to become prophets we must take up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Christ. When we seek to give up our own will and to do the will of God, it will seem that we are losing our very selves in the process. But I believe that God will lead us forward and will reveal to us that what we are giving up is really nothing but a cloak of sinfulness that obscures our true selves. When we lose what think is our own self for the sake of Jesus, for the sake of doing his Father's will, then we will find what is true about our identity, how we have been created in his image and likeness.
Then each of us, in our own humble and quiet ways, will indeed become obscure prophets, just like Nahum.
Thursday, August 08, 2002
Catholic School in Dallas Requires Background Checks on All New Parents
According to this report in the Dallas Morning News, St. Rita Catholic School in that city is requiring all parents registering their children for the first time to submit themselves to an extensive background check and to attend a "3-hour training session on 'what is appropriate behavior with children, what's inappropriate, and how you can be alert to watch for trouble'."
Although not required for parents who already had children in the school, they too are "strongly encouraged" to undergo the same procedures. The principal of the school noted that the policy was drawn up in part in reaction to The Situation.
While I can understand and affirm the principles behind this policy, I'd have to say that I think it goes too far and is rather intrusive. Its seems to be parents in the Church that are especially concerned about The Situation, and rightly so. And so I'd be interested to hear how they'd react to an institution of the Church turning to them and saying, "Well, lets do a background check on you."
Busy Day at the Office
In a little over a week the religious education program that I administer will be starting up. Lots of final preparations to take care of. And since I've been out of the office for the first three days of this week, I'm spending a lot of time taking care of these matters. I'll try to do some blogging in the afternoon though.
Hoping for Good Unemployment Benefits:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of St. Dominic, priest
Jer 31:31-34
Ps 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19
Mt 16:13-23
"No longer will they have need to teach their friends and relatives how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord..."
This was the promise that the Lord made to Jeremiah in today's first reading. Would that this promise would be fulfilled. I would no longer have a ministry as DRE. I would be downsized as it were. But were it to happen, I think that a lot of my colleague in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis would joyfully take our place in line to sign up for unemployment benefits.
But we are not there yet. I still have some job security. In fact, on some days, I feel that the situation is rather bleak and that more should be hired to work in religious education. Yet I firmly believe that with the coming of Jesus, with his passion, death, and resurrection, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, our heavenly Father has begun to fulfill the promise he spoke to Jeremiah. And I believe that his and will be true to this and all of promises.
Powered by his grace, we are moving forward through history into a greater and greater knowledge of the Lord. And it will happen someday that no one will have to teach anyone else how to know him.
Among us, the disciples of his Son, it began with Peter on that day at Caesarea Philippi that is described in today's Gospel. While others among the crowds saw Jesus as a mere human being, Simon Peter did not hesitate to declare him to be the Messiah. In Jesus he had come to know the Lord.
But even with him the full knowledge did not come right away. His mind and his heart were still a confusing mixture of light and darkness. Yes, he had come to know the Lord in Jesus. But he also felt the need to protect Jesus from his suffering at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes. He did not fully know the Lord's greatness and his power to overcome and conquer death.
Although Jesus declared him to be blessed, he also knew that he was still weak. And so later on (as described in Lk 22:31), he prayed that Peter's faith would not fail, despite his weakness. He prayed that he would return and strengthen his brothers: "...I have prayed that your own faith may not fail; and once you have turned back, you must strengthen your brothers."
Peter and those that have come after him have continued to see this prayer of Jesus answered through their ministry. And it has been and will be throughout the ministry of Peter and his successsors that the Lord's promise to Jeremiah will be fulfilled, at least in so far as it will be here on earth.
How faithful is the Lord to us. It has been 2000 years since the first disciple of Jesus came to know the Lord through him. It has been even longer since the Lord promised to Jeremiah that all of his people would come to know him. And yet here we are in 2002, still a people with a strange mixture of light and darkness filling our hearts and our minds. But the Lord remains steadfast in his loyalty to us.
We can take comfort in this faithfulness. Yet let us not grow content and presume it always to be so. The Lord has written his Law upon our hearts. He has given us the grace to knw him through his Son. And we have been blessed with the strengthening ministry of Peter. All of this has been done so that we may come to a more full knowledge of the Lord and of his unfathomable love for us.
We are on the edge of the fulfillment of God's promise to Jeremiah. Go ahead, use the gifts he has given to us for that pledge to be made true. I'll be out of a job, but, oh, what great unemployment benefits await me!
Wednesday, August 07, 2002
Quote of the Day from Yesterday at the Conference
"Working in the Church is lot like sausage. You don't like to see a lot of what goes into it being made. But you sure like the finished product."
Tuesday, August 06, 2002
Video on Child Abuse at the Conference
Yesterday afternoon and evening I attended the first session of the conference that I've described in the previous post. It actually turned out to be fairly interesting.
Instead of taking up a good amount of time explaining various policy and bureacratic changes, much of the meeting was taken up by the presentation of a video produced by the Center for the Prevention of Sexual and Domestic Violence. The video was entitled Hear Their Cries: Religious Responses to Child Abuse.
Obviously the showing of the video and the brief amount of discussion afterward (there would have been more but there had been a lot of discussion earlier about changes in insurance coverage...) was motivated by The Situation.
Part of me is very glad that they chose this video. It discusses the response that religious leaders should take to various forms of child abuse in the home. And if any good can come out The Situation, it might be that religious leaders and other leaders throughout society might be made more aware of the signs of child abuse, in any form, and taking place in any context. Hopefully this video helped the DREs who watched it become more conscious of the impact (for good or ill) that they can have in these cases.
Part of me was a bit confused that the video did not address clerical sexual abuse at all. I just presumed at the time that it was too new of a topic for a video to have been produced on it already. However, a quick glance through the Center's website this morning produced a listing for this video: Not in My Church. The video is described as portraying "the story of one church faced with a betrayal of trust by its minister."
This video does not seem as comprehensive in addressing the responses to abuse as the previous. It also does not seem to be focused on the role of the religious leader but more focused on the response of the congregation as a whole. But there is another video that, in light of The Situation, might have been very appropriate for the DREs to watch: Once You Cross the Line. It is described as "showing how boundaries are sometimes crossed and modeling how boundaries may be maintained in ministerial relationships."
I remember viewing a video similar to this while in the seminary. It might have been the same one. It was part of a well-organized and meaningful day long workshop on boundaries in ministerial relationships. Yes, there are some good things going on in seminaries nowadays.
As I made note above, the video that we watch had a lot of merit. And I hope to share some of the information and perspectives presented in it at another time. But I was still a bit dismayed that there was no discussion in the video or beyond it regarding the response of religious leaders, including DREs, to clerical sexual abuse--either in parishes where it has actually occurred, or simply in our parishes where families will have concerns that need to be addressed.
By the way, there was a brief discussion of the Archdiocese's policy booklet on Child and Sexual Abuse and Ministry to Minors. It is quite comprehensive and has been around for a good 10 years. However it was noted that there would be some changes made to it in light of the Charter for the Protection of Children passed at Dallas.
Monday, August 05, 2002
Limited Blogging
I'll be limited in my time for blogging over the next couple of days as I will be attending a conference of the principals and DREs of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.
Latest installment of my column, "Faith and Family"
You'll find below the text of my monthly column, "Faith and Family", published in The Criterion, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. It appeared in the August 2 edition of the newspaper. I'd appreciate any comments that you have on it.
Making Ordinary Time into Extraordinary Time
The summer is almost over. There are just a few more weeks until school starts back up. Many of you might be planning a last minute getaway with your families to give everyone a restful break before the busyness of fall starts to fill our calendars with all kinds of events.
Those calendars will remain packed with one commitment after another until the end of the spring. Then summer will come once again so that we can all relax and take it easy.
This cycle of busy schedules from the fall through the spring and relaxation in the summer has a parallel in our own parish calendars. They start to get full in the fall when schools and religious education programs start back up. Then comes the busy and beautiful seasons of Advent and Christmas. More hectic and holy days follow in the solemn and joyful seasons of Lent and Easter. It all ends with the great feast of Pentecost Sunday, which usually falls on or around the end of the spring semester of our schools and religious education programs, just in time for a period of much deserved relaxation.
In our secular world this is called summer vacation. On our liturgical calendar it is called Ordinary Time. Some families take a break from their normal workaday routines during the summer. They go on vacations to visit faraway relatives or just to get away, spend some time together, and relax.
But during this time many families also take a vacation from their spiritual life as well. When they arrive at their vacation destinations, going to Mass is sometimes not a part of the itinerary. Finding a parish and their Mass times in faraway places can sometimes seem challenging. But there is an easy solution to this problem. To find a parish and their Mass times for any location in the United States, just go to this web address: http://www.masstimes.org. You can also call 800-MASS-TIMES (800-627-7846) for the same information.
Ordinary Time was not intended by the Church to be like our summer doldrums. In fact, it is a time when are invited to give special attention to how each of us manifests the paschal mystery of Christ in our day-to-day lives.
Over the course of the previous six or seven months we had focused on how Jesus revealed to us that mystery in his own life, passion, death, and resurrection. During the five or six months to come we are invited to see how we can reveal it to each other. We cannot do this simply through our own willpower. It only happens through our cooperation with the grace poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. And it is the gift of that Holy Spirit that we celebrate on Pentecost when we wrap up Easter and kickoff Ordinary Time.
Summertime is actually a perfect time for us to focus on this task. Unlike the fall, winter, and spring, during the summer we can give ourselves and our families a good amount of free time, where we can focus solely on ourselves. During this time our calendars have less and less scribblings of dates and times than during the fall, winter, and spring.
So enjoy this time and make the best of it for your spirit and the life of faith of your family. Give time to prayer and discernment, asking our heavenly Father to help you how best you can proclaim Jesus’ Gospel in the day-to-day events of your life.
How We Respond to Blessings:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Monday of the Eighteenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Jer 28:1-17
Ps 119:29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102
Mt 14:22-36
It is a common practice for people to say that those are blessed who are healthy, have their material nees met, and have few worries. On the other hand, peple often pity and feel sorry for those who are afflicted by diseases, who do not even have their basic needs met, and whose minds are troubled by anxiety.
On the surface there is truth in these conclusions. To be blessed is to have been given gifts by the Lord. And those who have health, have their material needs met have been blessed. And our pitying those who suffer is some small way for usto show solidarity with them.
But God blesses every person, not just those whose blessings are readily apparent. The important thing is not if we have been blessed, but how we respond to the blessings that have been given to us. Are we grateful for them and do we choose to trust in the Lord because of them? Or do we challenge the Lord for mroe, or rely on the gifts instead of the Giver?
In today's Gospel, we can see Peter as a truly blessed man. He is in good health and he is one of the Lord's chosen disciples. Yet when Jesus comes to him across the water and tells him who he is, Peter does not trust him. In fact, he even challenges him. In Old Testament language, he put the Lord to the test. Still, Jesus continued to bless him by giving him the power to walk on the water.
Again, how did Peter respond to this blessing? He paid no attention to the Lord but only to the winds whipping about him and how he himself was powerless against them. And so he started to sink.
At that point all of the other blessings that he had received could do nothing for him. He needed to trust in the Giver and not just in the gifts. His own physical strength could keep him up in the midst of the winds. Peter became keenly aware of his great need and JEsus' great power. He recognized him as the Lord, trusted in him, and called upon him to save him. Whereas Peter failed to respond well to the Lord's blesings, the Lord responded immediately perfectly to Peter's prayer. He pulled him out of the water and saved him.
When the chastened Peter, his companions, and Jesus arrived at the shore of Gennesaret, many sick people were brought to them. LIke Peter, these people had been blessed by the Lord. But with the arrival of their sickness all of those other blessings meant little and could do nothing to take their trials away. But such a desparate situation engendered in them a great faith. They believed so strongly in Jesus that they only had to touch the tassle of his cloak in order to be healed.
The blessings we receive in our lives from God can bring about in us this kind of trust. They have the grace in them to do this if only we respond to them with gratitude. Too often our responses to God's blessings are filled with pride: we challenge the Lord for more, we believe that we deserved the blessings, or we even feel that we brought them about through our own power.
Unfortunately because of that pride we sometimes need to have those blessings taken away from us for a time in order for us to recognize powerfully our total need for God. Peter's fall into the lake and the illnesses of the people of Gennesaret were not willed by God for their eyes to be opened to this basic truth. Still, his grace was able to touch them and lead them to faith in him through these trials.
Maybe, then, the blessings for which we need to pray are gratitude and humility. These will help us see all other blessings for what they are and will nurture our trust in the Lord. They will help us respond well to the blessings which come to us every day from our gracious God.
Sunday, August 04, 2002
Out of the frying pan and into the fire
I survived the overnight Confirmation retreat with the 27 high school juniors. But come Wednesday, I may look back on that as a cakewalk. Starting Monday evening, I'll be attending a conference of the DREs and principals of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. It runs through 12:00noon on Wednesday.
I'm sure that I'll learn some valuable things and I'll get to spend some time with some of my DRE and principal friends that I don't get to see very often. But conferences like this have never been my cup of tea and this one always comes at a very busy time of the year, right when I'm in the final preparation for all of the programs in the parish which I administer.
Saturday, August 03, 2002
Limited blogging, prayers requested
I'll be limited in my blogging over this weekend. I'm leaving soon to go on an overnight retreat with the Confirmation class from the parish where I serve as DRE. The class is made up of 27 high school juniors. Prayers are requested for me...and I guess them also...
The latest installment of my column, "Spiritual Reflections"
Go to the website of The Shelbyville News to read the latest installment of my weekly column, "Spiritual Reflections."
Please note, however, that the blankety-blank editor cut out a quote from the Gospel of Matthew at the start of my column. It is from chapter 13, verse 52: "every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old." This quote would have given a context for much of what I said.
Please note also that this column is an adaptation of my reflection on the daily Mass readings from Thursday, August 1 that appeared on this blog on that day.
If you have any comments on it, please pass it on my way. Thanks!
Friday, August 02, 2002
Catholic print media vs. the internet: an either/or situation?
I certainly hope not, being that I am involved in both. Well the topic is taken up in this months' The Catholic Journalist, the monthly newspaper of the Catholic Press Association. Oh, by the way, as you can tell from the link, they have an online edition.
Overall the article gives a pretty balanced view on the need for a multi-faceted approach to Catholic communications. However, at times the author of the article (Owen McGovern, the Executive director of the CPA), comes across as simply seeing the internet as a threat to the jobs of many in Catholic print media.
Commenting on the Holy Father's recent World Communication Day message, "Internet: A New Forum for Proclaiming the Gospel", McGovern argued that the key word in the title was "A." Really? I thought it would have been "Gospel".
He later leans toward the job defense end of it by making this statement: "The present task of the Catholic Press is to make sure that the word "A" does not get lost as Church communications officials begin to implement the Holy Father’s message."
Ok, maybe I'm being a little cynical here. Hopefully a lot of Catholic journalists really do see the value in encouraging a multi-faceted approach to communications. But I can't help but think that not a few have worried about the future of their jobs with the growth of the internet. However, maybe those fears have subsided a little with the dot.com bust over the past couple of years.
At any rate, with all of the discussion of the internet (and other forms of media) in this article, its interesting that there is no mention of St. Blog's...
John Cavadini on The Situation--Part 2
In his article “Levels of Trust”, published in the most recent edition of Notre Dame Magazine, Prof. John Cavadini, chairman of the theology department and director of the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame, attempts to bring clarity to the discussion of reforms needed in the Church in the wake of The Situation.
In part 1, I described and commented on his views on the “structures of accountability” that many feel need to be established in our local Churches.
In part 2, I’ll describe and comment his views on the second issue regarding reform that he confronts: the priesthood itself.
Prof. Cavadini begins by trying to describe the ways that the discussion on this topic is usually framed. He lays out the position of those groups that call for the abolition of mandatory celibacy and promotes the ordination of women. Then he portrays the opinion of other groups that call for a return to the more disciplined seminary formation that we had in the past.
However, Cavadini believes that neither of these stances will solve the problems that we are currently facing. He shows clearly that celibate men sexually abuse minors in no greater numbers than married or sexually active men. Therefore, abolishing mandatory celibacy is no guarantee that the abuses will end.
In addressing the call for a more disciplined seminary formation, he points out that a large number of the priests who have sexually abused minors themselves were trained in such a strict context.
For Cavadini, the real problem to be addressed is the closed clerical culture that he believes exists throughout the priesthood and episcopate, but “especially [in] its higher reaches where the bishops and their closest priest associates reside..” It is this culture that he believes has “allowed its own abuses of power and trust to go unchecked and mostly unrepented.”
How can such a culture be reformed? By abolishing mandatory celibacy? Although he believes that celibacy, as it has been lived out, has played a role in the creation of this culture, abolishing it is not necessarily the solution according to Cavadini:
“The married, sexually active laity are too distant, too invisible, of too little account to the closed celibate brotherhood of those in power. It is precisely that distance for which repentance and reform are required. Nevertheless, the contribution of celibacy to this distance is not clear, and it is certainly contrary to the stated intention of the celibate charism, which is to make people more, rather than less, available for loving service.”
Likewise, Cavadini points out that opening the priesthood to women won’t necessarily open up the clerical culture either:
“Nor does a celibate clergy necessarily have a monopoly on closed clerical culture: Female clergy in Protestant denominations sometimes report they have found themselves also butting against a closed, clerical culture of men, but in their case, married men.”
Instead, he believes that there should be a “sustained discussion” on mandatory celibacy and on the nature of “spiritual governance.” In particular, he encourages us to look to the Rule of St. Benedict for a different model of this governance. He points out that Benedict, while putting a great deal of centralized power in the hands of the abbot, still requires him to listen attentively to the opinions of the newest member of the monastic community.
Regarding the discussion on celibacy, he emphasized his opinion that “the purposes and accomplishments of the charism of clerical celibacy be as much a part of the discussion as the pathologies and drawbacks of it.”
Regarding the ongoing discussion of homosexuality, the priesthood, and The Situation, Cavadini lays out many of the questions that are being asked regarding this issue that he feels is “is even more vexed for some than the issue of celibacy.” He also describes the basic response of “liberals” and “conservatives.” But, in the end, he offers no substantial solution other than more discussion on issues of sexual morality:
“these debates are older than the current crisis, and it has only exacerbated them rather than rendered them clearer. It can be said with certainty, however, that the moral teaching of the church on sexual matters needs the benefit of more, rather than less, discussion.”
I think that Cavadini makes a good point in claiming that we need to change our understanding of the nature governance in the Church. His appeal to St. Benedict was interesting. I think that many bishops would gain much by studying how Benedict describes the nature and roles of the abbot.
Maybe all of us, not just our bishops, need to take to heart the words of Archbishop Charles Chaput from earlier this spring which he addressed in a speech to a meeting of the IRL (and for you racing fans, that’s the “Institute on Religious Life”, not the “Indy Racing League”):
“Catholics need to stop thinking of the Church as some kind of religious corporation, and start treating the Church as our mother and teacher. The Church is not an it. The Church is a she. We can love our mother; we can’t love an institution. And while the Church has institutional forms, she is always much more than the offices that serve her mission. When we talk about the Church as if she were just another impersonal bureaucracy, what we’re really doing is creating an excuse to ignore her when she teaches.”
Coming to know the Church as "mother" isn't the point that I'm trying to get across here. Doing that won't necessarily solve our problems either. However, I believe Archbishop Chaput makes a strong point in arguing that the teachings of the Church are followed less enthusiastically, if at all, when it is simply seen as a bureaucracy.
The solutions to The Situation will not be new insights. They will be ideas and beliefs that have been with us all along but which we have not known or lived as we could have.
(In the final section of my description and commentary on Cavadini's article, I will describe comment onhis views on the interrelationship of The Situation and anti-Catholicism.)
Computer problems solved...
Having exorcised his computer demons, Gerard Serafin is now back at his regular blogging digs, A Catholic Blog for Lovers.
The relationship of marriage and openness to children for some evangelicals
A recent discussion on the FamilyLife Today radio program, reported on in Baptist Press News, shows some interesting variety of views among some evangelical Christians regarding the relationship of marriage and openness to children.
One of the co-hosts of the program, Bob Lepine, admitted advising a couple to avoid having children because he felt that they would hinder their Christian ministry:
"He told of one Christian couple who had decided not to have children because they believed kids would inhibit their opportunity for ministry."
Mark Povich, another guest on the program, presented a different view on the interrelationship of marriage, openness to children, and ministry:
"I think (that the) the primary ministry that a wife and a husband have together is to raise godly children. And I think other ministries come secondary to that."
This is an interesting opinion coming from someone that I suspect might be an evangelical Christian. There are, of course, many examples of a parent's ministry determining much of the life of the family. This might be no different, however, than a person's career in the business world doing the same.
However, I think that the equation changes when the parents feel called to be missionaries. There are many Protestant (and Catholic?) couples who go away to a faraway country and often leave their children behind in the care of friends or relatives for several months at a time, if not longer. Even if such a choice does not lead to the extreme results of what happened to Martin Burnham, I cannot see how such a separation over a large geographical distance and over a long period of time would be part of God's plan for their marriage.
Another speaker on the program, Dr. William Cutrer, a professor at Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville and a practicing OB/GYN, spoke about his difficulties in presiding at the wedding of a couple consciously opposed to children:
"... I would be very reluctant to marry a couple who had decided up front not to have children."
If he were a priest or a deacon in the Catholic Church he couldn't (in any ordinary circumstance) just be reluctant. He couldn't witness the marriage at all.
What are your opinions on this?
Amy, what's going on up in Fort Wayne?
According to this news brief from Agape Press (after taking the link, scroll to the bottom of the page to find it), a local strip club in Fort Wayne, IN (home to blogger Amy Welborn) wanted to sponsor a little league baseball team. But apparently the quick actions by the American Family Association of Indiana prevented. AFA of Indiana is sponsoring the team instead.
If the strip club had sponsored the team and they ended up winning their league, would the club had had them over for a celebration?
The Delicate Task of Being a Prophet in One's Native Place:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Friday of the Seventeenth Week of Ordinary Time, Year II
Jer 26:1-9
Ps 69:5, 8-10, 14
Mt 13:54-58
"'A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house.'" Jesus spoke these words in today's Gospel. He was referring to the cold reception he received in his hometown when he returned there and started teaching in its synagogue. But these words are just as easily applicable to Jeremiah and what happened to him in today's first reading.
This prophet was born into a priestly family. The Temple would have been very familiar to him. To him it might have felt like "his native place or even like "his own house." Being a prophet in one's native place is very different than being a prophet in a foreign city, as Jonah was. The people that Jeremiah was called upon to speak to were probably already known to him: family friends, other colleagues, even his own kin.
Family and friends are supposed to support each other, not condemn. And yet that is what the Lord asked Jeremiah to do. Still, the condemnation was not the end, but the means to an end. And that purpose was to bring those friends and relatives back to the Lord. Jeremiah's prophecy could be said to have been motivated by his love for his people.
Unfortunately, those who heard him did not hear any love from him or any other good intention. They only heard a harsh condemnation of a way of life with which they felt comfortable. As a result they wanted to kill him. Indeed, Jeremiah the prophet was "without honor in his native place and in his own house."
The people who listened to Jesus and who listened to Jeremiah could not get past each man's own family history. For Jesus' audience they simply saw him as "the carpenter's son." For the crowd that Jeremiah spoke to, he was simply a member of a priestly family. They would not have expect and could not accept from him words of condemnation of their way of life.
The truth of Jeremiah's and Jesus' situation endures in our own day. I serve as DRE in the parish where I was born and raised. And although the parishioners have for many years seen me as one who could take on a leadership role among them, it is still difficult to take on the role of a prophet in their midst. As Jeremiah showed, being a religious leader and being a prophet are not always the same thing.
Being a prophet in my own home can be even more challenging. Cindy and I recently agreed to help each other make changes in our own respective lives. I would help her give up drinking caffeinated drinks while she would help me stop eating between meals and cut back on my sugar intake. I initiated our conversations that led to our resolutions. But I had to be very careful about the words that I used.
There will be times when each of us will be called upon to speak prophetic words to our friends and relatives. There will be other times when we will be challened to listen to them being spoken to us. We will be invited to be prophets or to honor prophets in our native place, in our own house.
This is never easy. If it was difficult for Jeremiah and Jesus, we can expect our own hardships as well. Many may avoid being prophets or will refuse to listen to them, even when they are family and friends. But in order for us to overcome these obstacles, let us remember the purpose of Jeremiah's prophecy: the reconciliation of his loved ones with the Lord. He loved them and wanted their best.
This should remind us all of St. Paul's words in 1 Cor 13:2: "...if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing." Love must be the motivating factor in any prophetic word. And any prophetic word must be received in love. Without love, prophecy is "a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal."
Thursday, August 01, 2002
Gerard Serafin is having computer problems...
...so his Catholic Blog for Lovers has taken up temporary housing at Catholic Blog for Lovers2.
New Blog
Go check out a new Catholic blog, My Daily Crumbs, maintained by Karl Kohlhase. With a good German name like that, you'd think he might live somewhere in southern Indiana.
John Cavadini on The Situation--Part 1
Prof. John Cavadini is the current chairman of the theology department and director of the Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. The current issue of Notre Dame Magazine has published an article written by Prof. Cavadini on various aspects of The Situation. It is adapted from a presentation that he gave on the campus earlier in the spring.
Cavadini stated that his purpose in writing and publishing his article was to:
My purpose is mainly to engender clarity on what the issues [involved in The Situation] are, in the hopes of providing a forum for discussion in the church that will be genuinely helpful in working toward a resolution of the crisis.
He quickly concludes that there is already enough clarity regarding the sinful and criminal actions of the sexually abusive priests involved in the scandals. From his perspective there is more controversey and less clarity regarding, "the way in which those in authority over the offending priests, mainly the bishops of the dioceses in which they served, reacted, reassigning them, in some cases repeatedly, from parish to parish."
Everyone, he concludes, sees a need for reform in order to avoid such scandals in the future. It is the nature of this reform should take that he claims is where most of the debate is going on within the Church. And it is where he focuses the bulk on his article.
The first issue regarding the nature of the needed reform that he discusses is the development of "structures of accountability" which "allow for more transparency in church governance." He shows how the debate over this issue is often framed by those who seek more democracy in the Church and by those who oppose this and instead hold up the ideal that the Church is led, first and foremost by the ordained hierarchy.
Cavadini tries to show a different perspective on this issue by arguing that:
'The essential issue is not democracy vs. autocracy, for democracies can lose credibility too, but rather what structures allow the sort of meaningful input and visibility that engender trust, namely, the feeling "I was heard and it mattered." It may be that such structures might start out as mediated "listening" sessions, which could evolve into more formalized structures. It may be that Catholic universities could have a role in this. After all, the traditional role of the university is to foster and facilitate "clarification of thought," to use Peter Maurin's phrase."
Cavadini defined the purpose of his article quite clearly and in a way that should limit criticism of it. He is not trying to offer comprehensive solutions to the Church's problems. He is not offering solutions at all, at least not in any definitive kind of way. What is trying to do is simply bringing about clarity of thought and encouraging a broader discussion. I think such a discussion has been going on for a while among us bloggers. And this discussion of ours is, I believe, reflective of a more broader dialogue going on among many of the faithful in America.
In trying to reframe the discussion on accountability, I appreciate Cavadini's attempt to understand the issue outside of the perspectives of democracy and autocracy. Those political terms simply do not apply to an ecclesial context. However, when he proposes the establishment of "structures [that] allow the sort of meaningful input and visibility that engender trust...", I wonder how this is significantly different than what we have now (post Dallas) and what most dioceses have already had for years.
To this point, Cavadini points out later in the article that many of the dioceses and seminaries have been addressing since the mid-1980s many of the issues related to the reforms that the Church needs in the wake of these scandals. And he notes also that many of the priests who have sexually abused minors were themselves in the 60s and 70s and were trained and formed for the priesthood several decades ago.
However, the structures of Church governance over just the past decade have been shown to have still reassigned these men. These are the same structures of Church governance that included attempted to allow for "the sort of meaningful input and visibility that engender trust." So again, I wonder, how would his proposal bring about a meaningful reform? How is it different from what we already have had, by and large, for over a decade?
Cavidini goes on to discuss two other issues that are involved in the debate on reform: the priesthood, and the presence and effect of anti-Catholicism in the reporting of the scandals. I'll comment on them in parts 2 and 3.
Blending the Old and the New:
A Reflection on Today's Mass Readings
Memorial of St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop
Jer 18:1-6
Ps146:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6ab
Mt 13:47-53
In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us that the "scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old." This is a metaphor, an image that Jesus offers us but does not elaborate upon. We don't hear from him an explanation of it like we with the parable of the sower or the parable of the wheat and the weeds.
An old seminary professor of mine once told me that metaphors both reveal and conceal. The important truth in this image reveals a divine truth. But its full understanding is concealed from our faulty minds.
One way that we come to a greater understanding of the truth of God is to do what Jeremiah did in the today's first reading. He went and observed something that was quite mundane: a potter working at his wheel. But from such an everyday happening, the Lord helped this prophet grasp more fully his relationship to the house of Israel. For just as the potter can time and again rework a piece of clay if does not turn out well on the wheel, so the Lord can do with the house of Israel: "...like clay in the hand of the potter,
so are you in my hand, house of Israel."
You and I can take the truths that we are offered in today's readings and gain more understanding of them when we apply to the life of our families and to the life of the Church.
To varying degrees every family is a mixture of what is old and what is new. Each husband and wife bring to their new family the traditions of their birth families. All of these things will be new to the other while what they themselves bring will feel old and well known. Blending the traditions and qualities of old families creates a new family. Yet this new creation is inextricably bound to older ones.
This applies not only to the traditions that a family takes part in, the things that they do. It also is true regarding who it is. When people ask me whom my son Michael looks like, his mother or his father, I have a difficult time giving an answer. For when I look at him I see various physical traits that belong to either Cindy or myself. He is a beautiful and harmonious blending of both of us. And I am sure that he will grow up and atake on to himself different personality characteristics that are passed on from his parents in a similar way.
Who families are and what they do is a mixture of the old and the new. Whether they know it or not, families are "learned in the kingdom of heaven." Surely it is only in this kingdom that two wholly unique things, like two distinct, old families, can be blended into one new, unique, and distinct family.
The same is also true of the Church. The rituals carried out yesterday in Mexico City were ancient. On the one hand there were the rituals of word and sacrament which stretch back thousands of years. And on the other, there was the expressive dancing traditions of the native people of Mexico. These two ancient traditions were unified together to celebrate the way in which the eternal and universal truth of Christ's paschal mystery was made manifest in the life of St. Juan Diego.
From generation to generation, God creates new families within his one overarching household. He constantly adds new richness of understanding and diversity of cultures to the ancient and eternal truths and rites lived out in his Church. When each new family is formed, the Lord takes the old clay that was there all along and forms it into something new. When more of the world's people and cultures come to the Gospel and bring to it the richness of their unique identity, the Lord takes the old clay and creates something remarkably new and rich.
The kingdom of heaven is a harmonious blending of what is old and what is new. And this happens from age to age when God, the Master Potter, constantly takes the enduring clay of the Church and reshapes part of it, adding new vibrancy to it, bringing it ever closer to the fullness of that kingdom of heaven that all believers long to see revealed before their eyes.
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