Liturgical Catechesis Should Make Jesus in the Eucharist as attractive as... BACON!

I had a chuckle or two over this funny post this morning about a mythical parish (St. Simon the Sulfite) attracting people to Mass by serving bacon at after-Mass hospitality.  

But then I thought about it. Our goal should be to make people want Jesus in the Eucharist as much as they want bacon. Really.

Many people will go out of their way for bacon. People also testify to their love for bacon all over the internet by sharing pictures, recipes and other signs of bacon-joy.  We don't see much of that kind of passion for Jesus, whom we consume in the Eucharist at every Mass.

The goal of liturgical catechesis should be to change that from a blasé attitude to one of intense longing that echoes the longing of the psalmist:

We've got work to do.

Notes from the 2016 Notre Dame Symposium 3: Popular Culture - What Can We Learn from It?

DORA TOBAR: "Popular Culture and Liturgy in the New Evangelization" 

Popularized cultures in North American church's evangelization scenario:

Secularized Spiritual Culture - more pervasive. Sacred is recognized in society but we in the church fail to recognize it as sacred. We need to make pact with it.

• Spirituality without form - new age - trying to break free from tradition. Defines itself by contrast with established religiosity. People are thirsty for spiritual experience 
• Spiritual spontaneity 
• Search for wholeness and holistic integration with reality
• Search for personal-existential relationship with the sacred
• Feminine aspect of humanity and women's leadership 
• Incarnational-existential relationship with divinity in a new integral cosmology(looking for a new cosmology that makes sense in our reality 
• Creation-friendly religion (Pope Francis is trying to do this
• Wholeness rather than an ideal human perfection
• Integrality without dualism  
• Inner consciences and discernment rather than hierarchical authority
• Spirituality and real, concrete stories (religion as experiences of individual people
• Authenticity before worldly powers
• Sibling model of brotherhood rather than hierarchical difference 
• 
  

New spirituality is not collective, but is a personal experience.  

Hispanic popular piety- characteristics result of centuries of intercultural dialog

• Is magic - sense that is supra-rational and intuitive 
• Is symbolic and rich in images (natural and supernatural) people want to touch God
• Is emotional- exististential
• Festive-theatrical 
• Collective and politic religiosity identifies and unites them
• Is natural cosmic religiosity- follows natural times and moments (bad when their is a new cosmology for new generation)
• Family rooted tradition transmitted at home by mothers and grandmothers -issues arise when families no longer speak a common language between the generations.

Charismatic Hispanic Movement

• Spiritual gifts (charisma) available to contemporary and ordinary Christians
• Preachers -often women- give testimonies, not lectures
• Music and invocations to pray allow everyone to participate
• Rich in emotional and existential connection - many bodily expressions are involved
• Worship is centered on establishing wa personal connection with God
• 
  

Lot of commonality between these three spiritualities. All are outside the temple, all rely on the Holy Spirit...

Charismatic movement engages more in renewed experience of faith than traditional devotions.

For younger Hispanics raised in modern cosmology,  traditional symbols don't make sense.

See EG 123,  EN  48, AAS 68 popular religiosity 

Popular religiosity has much to teach us, has missionary power.  EG 124

Nw evangelization has - Pope Francis (in common with popular religiosity)

• Incarnational-sympathetic commitment with human pain 
• Not message to pass but personal encounter with JC
• Joy and festive Attitude mark the style 
• Discerning and openness is pastoral attitude
• Jesus, with his Holy Spirit is primary agent EG 11.  & 49
• Starts at intimacy with Holy Family

See SC 40!!!! If people cannot understand the liturgy in their culture, adaptations must be made

Question: Should we do more Liturgical catechesis or should we make liturgical language more accessible to today's people's cultural range of comprehension?

Inculturation is not simply adaptation is dialog that allows people to fully and consciously participate in the liturgy. Pastoral suggestions:

• Happy popular beauty connect liturgy with heart and soul of the people 
• Personal-exististential language in preaching is essential
• Listen to the Spirit

NEXT NOTES: 4 - "Liturgy, Sociology and the New Evangelization"

When "Religion" is a Dirty Word

I was interested to read the following comment from an interview with actor John Goodman about his recent weight loss:

(Photo from E! News Twitter feed)

“I think you’re trying to fill a hole that can’t be filled unless it’s filled with goodness, some kind of spirituality, not saying religion,” Goodman explained. “But just a belief in something higher than yourself, a purpose. But instead of filling it with booze or cocaine or food, you just acknowledge that it’s there. You can’t fill it. And you go on and live with it.”

To me, this is really reflective of a common view that "spirituality" in whatever vague form it is imagined is better than "religion."

Religion has gotten a bad rap in today's culture. Some people have negative childhood experiences with particular church situations or leaders, some associate religion with televangelists who try to persuade their followers to send copious amounts of money, many more people have not gotten the point of religion - which in reality is simply a system of beliefs and practices that should support a relationship with the divine.  They may only see the formal structure of the community and its hierarchy of leadership, the often-negative images of a judgmental God, a focus on sin rather than mercy or blessing and conclude that formal religion is both negative and irrelevant.

In Christian terms, Goodman's comment is based on an intuitive understanding of what is popularly known as St. Augustine's "God-shaped hole."    Augustine said, “We were made for You, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

Interestingly, Goodman seems to know that spirituality (however he personally defines it) and goodness are the only things that will fill that void. Also fascinating is that he seems to think that living with the hole is the only alternative, as if he is somehow reluctant to fill it with that spirituality and goodness he mentions. (I rather imagine at this point that running through his head is Peggy Lee singing a chorus of "Is That All There Is?")

"Spirituality and goodness" - what better definition for a life lived in Christ? A connection to the person of Jesus and a commitment to live according to God's commands and focus on sharing goodness with others... this is the life of a disciple. It can be a life of joy and fulfillment for those able to make the full commitment.

For me this whole thing begs the question of how Christians today can rehabilitate the concept of "religion" to make it more attractive... or to take the focus off the system that "religion" represents and put the focus on the person and message of Jesus Christ. The secondary points of religion are the gathered community and its beliefs, celebrations and practices.

We have a lot of work to do to evangelize the culture and attract those who see church as an ingrown, uninviting institution instead of a community of people sharing the joy of God's love and the grace of shared care for one another. Pope Francis' call to us early in his papacy to be people who live and express the "joy of the Gospel" should not be sidelined, but should be the priority of every Christian. We should celebrate the liturgy with joy, share stories of faith and connect them to doctrine with joy and a focus on the love of God.

While we don't need "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper stickers to proclaim our allegiance, we do need to remember that if we love Jesus - and the community of his faithful who gather together to practice faith in liturgy and teaching - that we should tell our faces, so that our faith may be inviting and attractive to others.  If people outside the Church saw us as they did in the days, when Tertullian could report that the Romans would say, “See how they love one another!” our religion and its practice would be a visible source of joy, unity and love.

And so, we should pray with the psalmist: "Give me back the joy of your salvation." (Psalm 51:12) that we may have that joy to share with an unbelieving world.

Pope Francis on Palm Sunday: "A Christian Can Never be Sad"

In his homily for Palm Sunday today, Pope Francis reminded us:

"Do not be men and women of sadness. A Christian can never be sad! Never give way to discouragement! Ours is not a joy that comes from having many possessions, but from having encountered a Person: Jesus."

This is a message much needed in a world where, for many people, happiness is measured by how many possessions they have - or do not have. That message, promoted constantly by the media, has become so much a part of the culture that some people who do not have much struggle to fill their lives with "stuff" instead of what they really need. It is a symptom of the pervasive consumerism that has taken over our culture, telling us that happiness is rooted in how much we have. Pope Francis, who has captured the world with his obvious joy and commitment to the way of the Gospel, while spurning the trappings and material perks of the papacy, is certainly a man who understands that true happiness comes from something deeper - walking with Jesus Christ and imitating his example by being counter-cultural.

His message certainly hits home for many of us - and today, as we accompany Jesus to the Cross, we might do well to reflect on the connection between submitting to God's will and our own priorities, especially if those priorities include the accumulation of  inanimate objects. 

A dear friend of mine used to remind me when I said that I loved something that you should "like" things, not "love" them. Love, he insisted, should be a feeling reserved for other people - and God - but never things. Pope Francis would say that in that lies happiness - in understanding that when we encounter Christ, we are in relationship with the one who suffered and laid down his life at the will of the Father to show us that evil can be overcome. The great evil of the Cross was transformed, at the Resurrection, into the joy of everlasting life.

That is what Pope Francis means when he says "A Christian can never be sad." Today, as you reflect on what Jesus did for us on the Cross, consider trading your sorrows - for the joy of the Lord.

Fred Rogers Redevivus: Positivity and Goodness Go Viral

In the past few days, this beautiful Fred Rogers digital remix video of a segment from his popular children's show called "Garden of Your Mind"  has gone viral - approaching 2 million views in the first 5 days after it was posted.  It has been discussed on national television, shared countless times in the social networks, with some people even reporting it moved them to tears.  Just what is it about this video?

Certainly Mister Rogers had a beautiful way of expressing things - and that counts for a lot of the reaction - but I really think it is the message - and its underlying assumptions - that are so gripping.

This, essentially, is a video about the goodness of being human. It implies a world where people are surrounded by goodness and possibility. For the slightly over three minutes of this video, one can forget that sometimes human endeavor is not enough to overcome circumstances,  almost forget that to be human is to be fallible and flawed - and mortal. The fact that Fred Rogers, an icon of children's television, is reaching out from beyond the grave through the efforts of PBS Digital Studios should not be lost here. It makes this all the more poignant. The freshness of this message, accompanied by Rogers' ever-engaging smile and digitally enhanced voice is reaching adults and taking them back to childhood, when possibility seemed endless.

Where did Fred Rogers get that worldview? Look no further than his biography - he was both a musician and a Christian theologian (and ordained Presbyterian minister) who believed the power of television could be harnessed to reach people with a positive message. That message is very much of a piece with a key outlook of/Christian identity - God is good, the world is good, and human beings are essentially good.  Even though God is never explicitly mentioned, this video, in essence, portrays a sacramental worldview - that everything we do is done through, with and  in  the presence and goodness of God. It is playing out the moment in Genesis, when God created everything, including human beings and declared it was "good."  It is steeped in the theology of St. Paul, who said in Phillipians 4:13"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." 

In a world so darkened by bad news, political conflict, war and general hopelessness, Fred Rogers' timeless message calls us to become like little children again - to imagine hope, possibility and positivity. That, in the end, is what makes this video both timely and memorable.  Thanks, Mister Rogers - I know you are smiling in Heaven.

Austerity or Abundance? When Church Budgets Drive Ministry Decisions

Today, I feel moved to engage in a little hand-wringing... and to pose lots of questions. With the stressed economy and falling contributions, some parish pastors have been cutting back on ministry salaries and hiring recently. I personally know of both catechetical and liturgical positions that have been converted to part-time, people who have been told the parish "can no longer afford to pay" them. It is heartbreaking to watch.

It began a couple years ago, when local pastors started letting full-time degreed lay ministers leave or retire, replacing them with part-timers with minimal formation for ministry. In my own diocese, this unfortunately coincided with the demise of our lay ministry formation program. This spring, I have watched with increasing dismay as excellent veteran ministers are pushed out at the behest of finance councils, or leave the ministry to retire while the pastor intends to get semi-volunteers to replace them.

Are we becoming an austerity Church rather than one of abundance?  We seem to be abandoning a theology of Christian hope and retrenching as if we are businesses instead of mission-driven agencies of the Kingdom of God on earth.  Have we forgotten the blessing to the Church that lay ministry provides?  Have we forgotten that the Holy Spirit is in charge?

At the same time parishes cut back, the cultural challenges to church participation and attendance are greater than ever and call for additional skills and strategies from our catechetical and liturgical leaders. Replacing them with well-intentioned but unformed people who are simply able to organize and operate a  program can only have negative effects.

We have not lost the need for catechetical leaders who can see the big picture - people with the ability to evangelize families and draw people into deeper participation in the life of the church, not just people who can "make the trains run on time."  We need people able to evaluate catechetical materials intelligently, who can deal with the very real issues of non-practicing parents of children in formation, and who have the ability to choose, lead and form catechists to provide more than what is in the textbooks.  We need leaders who can discern and support volunteers, with a vision for the future, who are available to attend local and diocesan formation to develop new strategies and skills, not part-time people who have another day job and/or the responsibility for a young family.

Parishes also need to provide more, not less adult faith formation. The promise of "Our Hearts Were Burning Within Us" that adult formation should become the priority in parishes has not been realized in most places - and without someone giving that area attention, parishes provide either nothing or very little to engage and catechize adults. Small wonder that stewardship of time, talent and treasure for many people is tepid or irrelevant to their Mass attendance (if they attend at all.)

This church needs liturgical ministers who understand the beauty of the liturgy and have the ability to lead volunteers to enculturate the celebration appropriately to make it lively and appropriate for the community, not just people to play keyboards. The most frequent complaint parishioners have is about the quality of liturgy.  When pastors cut back on liturgical staff, they make good liturgical leadership even less possible - and more of the burden goes onto the pastors themselves.

Back in 2005, Paulist Father Robert Rivers proposed that we need to go From Maintenance to Mission - to move forward as a church to accept the challenges of evangelizing in today's culture. Today, it is even bleaker than that, as we seem to backslide into retrenching, rather than maintaining.

So where are we going? Where is the vision? Where is our trust that "God will provide?" Why do we have such a failure of Christian hope? More than that, how does the trend toward retrenching affect our ability to carry out the Church's mandate to provide the "New Evangelization"?  Since pastors seem to be more and more adopting a business model of operation, why are they having so much trouble seeing that the more they invest in good people the more they will get back?

The ROI (return on investment) in good lay ministers who are able to work with a pastor and independently to provide and inspire great parish leadership will naturally be larger in terms of participation, engagement and stewardship of its people.  The experiments by the Gallup organization with "church engagement" strategies have shown how true that is.

The larger question here is why are pastors listening more to the voices of their business managers than to the voice of the Holy Spirit?   There is a term that seems to apply here: "Functional Atheism" - meaning we say there is a God, but we act as if God has no power to affect our situation.  We are going into a Year of Faith. Perhaps it should instead have been a "Year of Hope" instead.

Marriage Catechesis: Winning Hearts & Minds of Catholics

Yesterday, I attended a diocesan day-long gathering on Marriage catechesis, featuring Archbishop Joseph Kurtz, of Louisville, vice-president of the USCCB and vocal opponent of same-sex marriage, and Dr. Helen Alvaré, a noted lawyer and theologian who has long been active in support of family and life issues for the Catholic Church. This kick-off event for a diocesan-wide initiative to bring Catholic teaching on marriage was packed with pastors and parish leaders. It was illuminating - and daunting - and inspiring.

Archbishop Kurtz, who has been characterized as a "smiling conservative," was gracious and pastoral, but firm in his contention that the Church's teachings about marriage need to be heard. The problem with marriage in our culture, he stated, is that "while people admire Jesus for sacrificing, they do not want to make sacrifices themselves." Although our own Bishop Daniel  Conlon admitted we may not win the public battle in our courts and legislature, Kurtz insisted that we need to have the "conviction that our leadership can make a difference" and that "cultural movements can change." The difference, he said, is us. 


Kurtz challenged us, pointing out that it is clear that "God's revealing and our nature go together 'like a horse and carriage' - man and woman fit together as two in one flesh. This is the first time in history we have tampered with that definition of marriage." What is needed in response, he insisted, is "three C's: courage, compassion and commitment" along with a need for communicating that to live within Church teaching requires both "inner discipline and community support." He urged all to read the USCCB document "Love and Life in the Divine Plan."


The archbishop had several practical ways to promote and strengthen marriage in parish life:
1. Find ways to proclaim good examples of married life (find and lift up the stories and examples in the community)
2. Pastors should be involved in marriage preparation so they develop relationships with couples.
3. Be involved and provide marriage enrichment. Couples are not "done" after the wedding.
4. Support those who are on the brink of separation or divorce - reach out and help them.


In the Q & A session after his talk, Kurtz noted that we need to be a part of local decisions on what it taught in public schools about marriage, and that we need to be more "out there" with the truth about marriage - because our own people often form their opinions without the Church.  He encouraged the use of the new "Blessing for a Child in the Womb". And to our youth, we need to communicate that "the friendship between married people is not just about mutual satisfaction, but about chaste and holy living and sacrificial love."


After his talk, we viewed a video which has been provided to all parishes: Made for Life (you can view it online HERE.


After lunch, Dr. Alvaré provided a tour of the developments in court decisions and legislation regarding marriage in the United States.  Some key points from her presentation:

• The 1970's saw the rise of decisions and factors that changed our traditional American view of marriage: no-fault divorce, right of unmarried people to birth control, legal abortions, rise of cohabitation, new reproductive technologies, an increase in non-marital births (she noted that today among Hispanic women, 54% of all births are outside of marriage.)
• In the history of American legislation and court decisions, originally marriage between a man and a woman was seen as supportive to a good society.  The "goods" of marriage meant more than the rights of the individual.
• Up until 1980, courts saw traditional marriage as the vehicle for preparing children for the obligations of society. Indeed, all current federal programs are based on a preference for children to be born within marriage.
• Abortion says fathers have "zero rights to the child." (Arguments in favor were based on assumption of male violence.)
• Reproductive technology breaks family ties and give preference to single parenting.
• Cohabiting and single parenthood as promoted in the culture today are all about the rights of women. (Even though there is 11 times more violence in co-habiting and single parent homes than in traditional families.)
• Procreation is now seen as a matter of choice for the individual, even within marriage.
• The rights of the adults are seen as more important than the rights of children
• Current arguments for same-sex or non-traditional models are based on "sexual expressionism"- sex is a matter of self-expression, not related to children or maintaining a stable home.
• Same-sex marriage advocates call state interest in linking marriage to children "irrational"
• The research is behind us. It shows that the family structure with the best outcome for children is two biological parents who remain married. The economic divide between those who are doing well and those who are poor, is not actually race, but marital status.  Strong marriages = strong economy. (Book recommendation: Charles Murray, Coming Apart.
• Difficulties with the current cultural view in the US:  Totalizing the state: it now gets to define marriage. Dualism: taking the baby out of sex takes the body out of the person and objectifies women. Rule by men, not by law: the courts get to make the decisions. Threats to religious freedom when religion conflicts with sexual expressionism: denial of the role of natural law.
• Religion, she said, has "value added" - it is expert in humanity, based on truths of natural law and covenant values. Our track record is stability in marriage - the Catholic way of marriage is recognized as good for society. Transcending politics with principles is a novel idea today.

As someone who supports the Church's teaching on marriage and is disturbed by many of the cultural trends, I have to say that this day was encouraging. Like Bishop Conlon, I have a gut feeling we will continue to lose the legislative and court battles, for the reasons Dr. Alvaré gave - that the culture regards sexual self-expression as the highest good and the only factor involved in the concept of marriage, and that we have turned over the decision-making to the state. This is certainly not ideal, but we still have a chance to reach our own people with the message that marriage is not only a human institution, but a divine one, created by God himself, within the natural order of things - and that the union of one man and one woman for a lifetime, providing a strong foundation for the children who will form our future is still the highest good. If we can do that, we can send them out to plant seeds of truth in American culture.

"Deliver Us, Lord, From Every Evil and Grant Us Peace in Our Day.."

Sometimes, I am really glad I am Catholic.

About 10 days ago on one of my social networks,  someone related an episode at his home, when visiting friends were horrified that he kept a loaded gun in the house and wanted to carry it whenever walking outdoors.  This had sparked a long discussion among his contacts about gun rights. I openly expressed my own discomfort with guns - and that I found it hard to understand why anyone felt they needed to carry one.  Based on that discussion, my friend opened a new one a few days later asking women to share how they keep themselves safe.  Many of the women - and the men who eventually joined in the commentary - saw a great need to be armed at all times. One man mentioned his wife walked more confidently now that she has a gun and knows how to use it. Another man shared that with the bad economy, he fears that crime will be increasing, so he is getting a gun because he wants to be ready.

I countered that I felt reasonably safe at home and going out, even at night without a gun. Even though I frequently go into a  neighborhood plagued by crime when I participate in activities at my inner-city parish, I feel reasonably safe.  My faith community has always responded to any threat with common sense and preventive strategies. We look out for one another. No one has need of a gun.  I am simply unworried. I mentioned to the others that at  every Mass we Catholics pray to be delivered from anxiety - and that I believe that God will protect me. I think they were polite, but probably could not understand my attitude any more than I could understand theirs.

One of the great gifts of being a believing Catholic is a sense of trust in God's providence. It is truly a case of lex orandi, lex credendi - what we pray is what we believe.  Near the end of the Lord's Prayer at every Mass, we pause as the priest prays the Embolism prayer.The name, which evokes images of a "bubble", comes from a Greek word meaning interpolation - currently this is:

Deliver us Lord, from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

in the new translation, which we will begin using on November 27, 2011, it is rendered:

Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil, graciously grant us peace in our days, that, by the help of your mercy, we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Then, a short time later, we are invited to "offer one another a sign of Christ's peace."

This peace, this delivery from "anxiety" or "distress" is an important part of being Christ's people. As Jesus told his disciples he would soon be leaving them, he said "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid." (John 14:27)

This is one of the gifts that Catholic faith can offer to people living in a troubled world. Inner peace, delivery from anxiety.  True followers of Jesus live in the moment, trusting that God is here now, and will be here in the next moment. Common sense, yes. Living as if you are in a war-zone, beset with constant fear for personal safety, not so much.

End-of-the-Year Reflections on Confirmation Catechesis with Hispanic Kids

It was with mixed feelings of regret and relief that I finished up my final class yesterday with 21 confirmandi from my parish. They have been great kids - and I wish them well.  The next time I see them will be at the celebration of Confrmation in a couple of weeks, when they join 60 other parish teens to receive the anointing that will complete their initiation into the Church.  I live in hope that for at least some of them, I made a difference this year. I like to think I saw some glimmers of understanding and engagement, however.  I also hope they know how much I care about each one of them.

While teaching has normally been a bit "like falling off a log" for me, I have to admit this was a hugely challenging year.  These children of immigrants, who live in the cusp between the Hispanic culture and the mainstream American one, were largely a closed book. They were reluctant to participate in class, though I used story, was often personally revelatory in an effort to model how faith sharing is done,  asked questions that related to their lives, some one-on-one sharing activities, and more. I even used that ice-breaker "beach-ball" with the questions on it that students are supposed to answer when they catch the ball. Sadly, the only time they seemed to be fully engaged all year was during the final two classes - and the engagement was not around the lesson, but was about the pressure they felt as they were being asked to complete the recitation of their required memorized prayers. Not exactly my highest catechetical priority, frankly - but individual accountability apparently hit them where they live.

I have to admit I had some sense of relief a few Saturdays ago when an experienced retreat leader, my friend John Donahue-Grosssman, admitted to me during a break in the Confirmation retreat that he had trashed his plan for the day and was re-tooling his approach - because the kids were not responding to the usual ice-breaker activities. We had arrived at nearly the end of the morning and the kids were still stiffly sitting there giving each other very minimal answers to the faith-sharing questions.  It was not just me, apparently. These kids ARE hard nuts to crack.

I shared with John the wisdom I had received at the beginning of the year from the diocesan leader for Hispanic youth ministry - that the greatest issue for these kids is self-esteem.  I mentioned that the parish catechists, in their mid-year meeting, had expressed a concern that they did not understand these students - and wanted help in learning who they are.  That, for John, affirmed his sense that he needed to do some values-clarification and affirmation exercises with them.  His afternoon with them was more successful, but he admitted this was hard work.

Why were these Hispanic teens (from a recent immigrant population) difficult to catechize?  First, obviously, is that self-esteem issue. Most were reluctant to share personal thoughts or feelings on any topic, even when I worked overtime to help them feel "safe" in our group. It wasn't even peer pressure in the normal sense - since these kids went to a variety of different day schools, and were at several different grade levels and only a few knew each other outside of class.  A few of them were less reluctant to participate, but even their example was not enough to galvanize the rest of them into participation.

They have one foot in each culture - and each child has a different mixture of elements. Some were familiar with traditional Hispanic devotional activities because their families still practice them. Some regularly attended Spanish Mass. For most of the others, however, this was not true. Activities in catechetical texts often assume the students have full familiarity with elements of American culture. That, frankly, was not true for my group.  Also, as a musician, I like to use music in the faith formation classroom - but I never knew which church music to use to illustrate a point with these kids, because they attend Spanish Mass when they do go - and  I only know some of the bilingual music - which was not familiar to them.  Liturgical catechesis - on the symbols of water, oil etc. worked a little better than some other things - but largely throughout the year, the only signs of  understanding were pretty much non-verbal: the widening of the eyes and leaning forward, the sudden abandonment of the typical bored-teen facial expression and body language.

Did I reach them? Did I make a difference?  I hope so. I know I planted a lot of seeds. I hope they know know that God made each of them a unique, valuable person and loves them unconditionally, that Jesus came to save them and to be their friend, support and nourishment, and that their parents had them baptized (and confirmed) because they care.  I hope they understand the importance of the sacramental life and that these initiation sacraments call them to participate in the celebration of the Mass and in active engagement with the Body of Christ - the faith community.  I hope they know that the community of St. John the Baptist - and indeed the Catholic Church - cares about them and can serve as support and a home-base that will be there for them in their deepest hour of need. I hope they know that I care about who they are and who they will become - and about their faith life, present and future.

I will be praying for them between now and Confirmation and beyond.

The Arrogance of Interpreting God's Will According to Our Own Desires

This morning the news media and internet are buzzing with reactions to Osama Bin Laden's death in Pakistan. Images of waving American flags are everywhere, and Irving Berlin's classic "God Bless America" seems to have found its place as the anthem of the moment, as people literally dance in the streets all over the country.  President Obama has raked in his political hay, claiming this is an example of how "Americans can do anything if we put our mind to it."

Why does this feel so jarring?  All I have felt ever since learning of Bin Laden's death has been a pervasive sense of sadness.  A human being died. An act of righteous retribution has been carried out. Is the world a better place? Will terrorism cease? Not necessarily - all that can be assured is that many people feel this act of revenge has been long overdue.

Greg Kandra over at The Deacon's Bench blog has reminded us of Jesus' command to love our enemies - and how hard this is in this situation.  My own son, in the Air Force, has admitted he found it hard not to have mixed feelings as his base exploded into celebration last night.  It is not wrong or unpatriotic to feel conflicted. It is simply Christian.  If we believe that the merciful will receive mercy, that those who live by the sword will die by the sword, that the peacemakers are the children of God, we should feel somber and reflective. 

No doubt there is a sense that justice has been done. Yet Osama was a man who also saw himself as fulfilling the wishes of his God. Jihad, however misinterpreted by extremist Muslims, is holy war - conducted to cleanse the earth of unbelievers. On the flip side is the sentiment that, as one woman told a TV reporter, that Osama is burning in Hell and deserves it.  Both Muslim extremists and Americans, in effect, see themselves as having carried out the will of God.

However, whose will is all this?  Did God want thousands of innocent people to die in the twin towers? Osama and other militant Muslim extremists would say yes.  Did the America carry out the will of God  in killing this human being for what he did in masterminding this event?  Most Americans would say yes.  Both, however, cannot be right.

What we have here is two different views on the will of God.  However, based on the words of his Son, neither is necessarily correct.  An "eye for an eye" is an Old Testament concept.  "Love your enemies" and "turn the other cheek" are Jesus's revision. Which is God's will in this situation? This is one of those questions to ask when we finally see God face-to-face.  No doubt some will hear God say "That wasn't what I had in mind at all." Maybe all of us will hear that.  In our human arrogance, do we dare act as if we know the answer?

Worshiping as a Stranger in a Not-So-Strange Land

This morning, our parish pastoral council members (mostly Anglos) met at the 9:30 Spanish Mass to join our brothers and sisters in their worship - in a show of solidarity - and as a sign that the parish has lay leadership.  We have been trying to face our current reality as a mostly Hispanic parish by inviting increased representation from the Spanish-speaking community -- and this gesture seemed like a great idea.

So, nine of us attended, seated in a pew near, but not in the front. Of course, it was the Mass - and we all know the ritual and structure... it's universal, right? Well, mostly.  I tried to navigate the experience with my muy poco español and more than a little uncertainty.

I was determined to participate, since that is a high value for me... so I valiantly opened the missal, located the Ordinary of the Mass in Spanish, which enabled me at least to attempt the longer people's spoken parts. Of course sometimes they spoke faster than I could read! (muy despacio, por favor!). Many of the sung acclamations were familiar to me from having sung at bi-lingual Masses... although I admit I had to chuckle a bit when they got to the Memorial Acclamation and out came "Christo ha muerto, Christo resucitado... " which was NOT a choice in the missalette. (So, tell me again that in November we English worshipers won't be able to sing "Christ has died, Christ is risen..."?)

I was able to follow about half of what was said in the readings, prayers and the homily - it helped that  I had already heard the readings Saturday night because I had been cantor at the English vigil Mass.  What I think I heard, was pretty much a simple run-through and explanation of the meaning of the readings. No frills, but not bad. The straight dope, more or less.

As to joining in the singing, I learned I really have to get better at my numbers in Spanish - because it was hard for me to find the two selections the 15-member choir announced and led that were from the Spanish hymnal - the only time I had a hope of joining in the songs. I did locate one of them after the second time they sang the refrain, because I could pick out the first few words and find it alphabetically.

Most of the songs, however, including three they did at Communion, were not announced and not in the book - but that didn't stop almost everyone, from the children to the grandmothers, from singing along loudly... all the words by heart - and from the heart.  In the end, for the final song, all we Anglos could do was stand and clap along with the rhythmic clapping, having very little idea what was being sung so enthusiastically, yet somehow feeling a part of it all. Maybe I should do this more often.

"Gripping" New Youth Catechism: Will Youth Read a 300-page BOOK?

This just posted by Catholic News Agency: "Pope promotes 'gripping new Youth Catechism" . This 300-page book is supposedly written in a youth-friendly style and will be translated into 13 languages by April, 2011. It will also be handed out at World Youth Day.

Nice try. Long overdue. Now, when was the last time you met a teen who would actually read a 300-page book?  Someone needs to start creating the searchable YOUCAT i-Phone / iPad app.

Postmodern Self Help: New Opiate for the Masses

Checking out at a discount store yesterday, I had a few minutes while waiting to peruse the magazine covers near the check-out counter. One particular cover caught my eye because of the promises it made: "Shortcuts to Bliss!"  "Happy Healing"  "No More Tiredness" "Melt Away Pounds!"  It occurs to me that these kinds of promises of self-help quick fixes offered by various gurus on fitness, happiness, etc. are the current opiate of the masses rather than religion. (as Karl Marx famously wrote: "Die Religion ... ist das Opium des Volkes"). Times have changed, Herr Marx.

Having just read Father Dwight Longenecker's well-articulated post "The Collapse of Cultural Catholicism" in which he laments the dwindling number of people who take their faith seriously enough to show up for church, largely because they think they are good enough Christians on their own and have no use for the Church, it struck me that there is a relationship.

We are a society that not only thinks it is all about us, but that we can fix anything if we only try this or that system of behavior, or think positively enough. The Prosperity Gospel evangelists promote an attitude that if you are not rich, happy and leading a perfect life, it's your fault because you are not praying hard enough for those good things.  The New Age version of this comes from guru Eckhart Tolle - made famous by Oprah Winfrey's choice of his book. He would say that if you are not happy, it is because of your negative attitude. The "universe" wants good things for you - all you have to do is plug into the positive energy.  Supermarket self-help magazines direct people to the Self-Help aisle in the bookstore - which seems to get larger all the time, to find the latest books about systems for fixing everything about the human condition. Only around the corner are the corresponding New Age spirituality books which promise to fix your soul.

Organized religion is rapidly being rejected by people who have no use for what they do not understand - because it is not all about them. What we have is a failure to evangelize. Because they do not understand what the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ really has to do with their everyday life, they turn away and look for love "in all the wrong places" - depending on their own ability to follow somebody's "system" for happiness and fulfillment. The Church is not doing well at communicating the relationship of Paschal Mystery to everyday life. For that, I have to put some of the blame on the clergy - in my 24 years as a Catholic, I have only heard one homily that even mentioned it.

Jesus Christ has the ultimate system for self-improvement: his teachings and his example of life, submitting his will to that of the Father. Until people who call themselves Christian acknowledge that and stop turning whichever way the popular wind blows, we are really living in an era of "anti-Christs" - people who draw people away from Christ with promises of happiness. We live in a time where people no longer are addicted to religion, as Marx postulated. Instead, they are addicted to self-help, and to the latest system that promises health, wealth and happiness... until something newer and better comes along. No wonder few of them attend church any more.

Questions of Allegiance, Proper Attire, and Good Liturgy

Good post from Joe Paprocki over at Catechist's Journey on an incident at Mass last weekend where the priest, at the dismissal, moved the deacon's chair away from the presider's and announced to a Chicago congregation by yelling "Go Packers"  that he himself was a Packer fan in "Bear country" - tainting the closing rite with partisanship and catching boo's from the people.  Comments are interesting - and the discussion of the wearing of sports jerseys to Mass is interesting. Take a look.

One of my contentions is that we have become a society in which most people are uncomfortable with formal, ritual occasions - and that many people no longer know how to dress for Mass because it is a foreign experience. Maybe one of the things we need catechesis on is respect - and how one's garb and demeanor at Mass indicate that!

What's in an Epiphany?

In these days following the Sunday celebration and before the official calendar celebration of the Epiphany, we remember how marvelous a gift the Incarnation is - that we have a God who came down to earth to live as a human being...and all that means for us that the Light of the World came to dwell in the world as flesh.

However, the word "epiphany" is also often used popularly to indicate what Oprah Winfrey calls an "Aha Moment" - a situation where one has a sudden realization of a truth.  The term was first used in that way by James Joyce,  in Stephen Hero and Ulysses - as Stephen Daedalus (the "young man" from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and a main character in all three works) thinks about collecting his own "epiphanies" - scintillating moments of insight - into a book. You can read a good explanation of this literary use of the term here.

I think I had one this weekend.  At our 11:30 English Mass, during the procession with the gifts, three men (two Hispanic and one Anglo who was "drafted" from the pews) came forward, dressed in colorful home-made satin robes and crowns, carrying gold, frankincense and myrrh.  After Mass, they stood in the back of church and handed out foil-wrapped chocolate coins to everyone. While this has been a long-standing tradition at all the Spanish Masses, this year for the first time they brought it to the entire community. I found myself overwhelmed emotionally as they came up, because I had not expected it.  The Hispanic community was sharing with us their traditional cultural expression of the celebration of Tres reyes.

Also over the weekend my pastor shared with me a document to be discussed tonight which he had me email to our parish council, suggesting that the council become who the parish is now (75-80% Hispanic) - and not remain representative of our past as an inner city white parish (all members save one are from the Anglo community and most of them have been in leadership roles for many years.)  Our representation needs to come from both communities, and our meetings may no longer be all in English.  Of course, this will not happen without some courageous action and some discomfort. It is simply a  long-overdue but necessary change needed for the parish to move into the future and to stop clinging to the past.

In discussing this with a friend and fellow council member, I came to the realization that both "communities" have much to learn from one another. The sharing of the cultural and liturgical celebrations and the living enthusiasm and heart for the faith that the three kings represented this weekend is one gift the Hispanic community brings to enliven the parish.  The gifts of wisdom, of years of experience in lay ministries and an understanding of the American church is what we older Anglos bring to the table. All these are needed for us to become more fully who we are as parish.

To make this possible, we will have to "re-birth" the council - and the parish into its current identity. Those who have desperately clung to memories of a past, when the parish had many ministries, parish retreats, Renew groups, and community activities and was full of life in our familiar Anglo ways need to acknowledge the death of most of that as many former parishioners left and the rest of us aged, became tired and overwhelmed - and the new birth among us of a lively parish that manifests itself in large and joyful celebrations of Tres reyes, Las mananitas, Las posadas, Quincinearas, El dia de los ninos, and El dia de los muertos.

THAT is an epiphany. So, tonight that beast (in the words of Willam Butler Yeats) needs to go "slouching toward Bethlehem" in hopes of a new birth - a new manifestation of what it means to be St. John the Baptist Parish Community. This is the cultural revolution that is happening in Catholic parishes all over America.  Tonight, at our parish, we step up to the plate to see if we are open to the challenge to be reborn - to cooperate with God in re-creating our community's identity.

Catechesis with Hispanic Youth - Some Things ARE Different

Third class tonight, with my room full of Confirmation students. Did some ice-breaker activities to get them talking to each other and to me- talked about being called by name, and gifted by the Spirit (to tie up the discussion on Baptism and connect it to Confirmation.) Found out three of them will be confirmed in Mexico One of these looks Anglo and has an Anglo first and last name - I had thought he was the one non-Hispanic... Oh well... so now I know they all have that background. I am, in effect, the lone Anglo in the room.

I learned two items within the last 24 hours that have helped me see that my instinct that they are NOT the same as teens from a non-Hispanic background. Last night, at parish council, our new parochial vicar, who was in Hispanic ministry in another diocese, said this:  "People who perceive themselves as being powerless come as a group, not at individuals."  Hmm. So the community and family thing IS different. We Anglos are accustomed to treating each person's faith journey as separate... it is a basic of the RCIA process and the backdrop for much our our normal post-Vatican-II discussion about faith that God reaches out to each person as a unique, individual person.  Having this in mind, while I led them to reflect on their uniqueness, I also helped them to bond as a group through the ice-breakers.  I think this will take a while, but it will be a case of  "both - and" - I will have to be conscious that their faith experience is through family and community - at the same time I attempt to connect them with their individual relationship with God.

Point 2 - I had lunch with our diocesan Hispanic youth ministry person - and he described many things that I did suspect -- an increased lack of self-esteem and identity issues that come from being in a culture not their own, etc.  But one thing he told me explained my experience that they were reluctant to acknowledge any experience of the love of God. He said that the Hispanic cultural experience of God is largely focused on the crucified Christ.  That explains their love of acting out the Passion, etc.  For Anglos, the Crucifixion is a moment on the way to the death that leads to the Risen Christ. For Hispanics, it is a stopping point where a suffering, downtrodden, powerless people connects with the God who is most like them at that moment. Aha... I get it, but that complicates things.

Both these issues have to do with a sense of powerlessness, lack of self-esteem, and connects with some other things I had heard and experienced... the focus of the Soy Catequista process on building up the dignity of the catechist, the reluctance of Hispanics to step forward to serve based on an acknowledgement of baptismal call and stewardship of gifts.  It means my head is indeed in a different space than theirs.

Now, I realize that kids living in our American culture are likely to be in a middle-ground in this regard - or maybe confused by it. I hope to be able to enter their world a little this year - to help them see their unique giftedness, to see where their spirituality can enrich mine, as well as where mine can enrich theirs. I look forward to the next 7 months of conversation and sharing.  I am humbled by this opportunity, unlooked for, which seems so perfectly right.  Certainly I could say I am busy enough, but this one came looking for me, not me for it. To those things, I feel moved to say yes, to take a chance, and the reasons for the opportunity to walk with these kids this year are becoming clearer.

Has the Church Lost Its "Muchness"?

Recently I had an opportunity to see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland for the second time - and found the experience of the film just as engaging the second time through. There is one particular scene that has been haunting me - this one:



The Mad Hatter tells Alice "You're not as much as you were before [when she came there as a child]. You've lost your muchness."  The rest of the film consists of Alice trying to prove to the characters of Underland that she IS the real Alice - the one who fell down the rabbit hole as a child and called the place "Wonderland" and had such an effect on the place that they have been waiting for her return.

Why is that line about losing one's "muchness" so compelling? Besides any personal ramifications, I think it is also true of the Church. We, in a sense have lost our "muchness."

As Mass attendance continues to decline, as the Church struggles with the internal and external effects of the sex abuse crisis around the world,  as we continue to "lose market share" (as my office director sometimes puts it) I cannot help but think the Church, like Alice, is undergoing a crisis of identity.  The much-touted recent departure of Anne Rice, while it got more media attention than it deserved, was a reminder that this is happening every day.  Not everyone who leaves does so with such fanfare, obviously, but we are hearing reports that Catholic weddings in the Boston archdiocese have plummeted, that young Hispanics are leaving the Church (wait, weren't statistical forecasts that they would soon be the majority of the Catholic Church?), and in our own diocese, the number of children in religious education continues to decline each year, even though the population of our diocese continues to climb.  The new Roman Missal comes at a time when the Church is already in crisis, with potential to have both positive and negative effects... which it seems to be having already.

Near the end of Alice in Wonderland Alice recovers her "muchness" - in acts of heroism that call her to stretch beyond what she thought she was capable of.  In one scene, she defies the Hatters assessment of her.  "Lost my muchness have I?" she demands. "We'll see about that!"  One cannot help but wonder:  will we, as the Catholic Church, take the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and find ways to do likewise?  We live in hope. Come Holy Spirit.

Online Community - Connecting With People of Faith

Over the past 15 months, since I joined Facebook, I have had a very positive experience of community.  Using it for a combination of ministry and personal connection, I have connected more deeply with people I already know, reconnected to a "long-lost" relative, stayed in touch with people I only see infrequently, maintained connection with a few people from my past, and met some very interesting people I didn't know before. Most are Catholic, some are not. It's been an interesting experiment - and one that has been a good fit for me.

I have had the opportunity to see what interests people, to support and join with others in praying for them in times of challenge, to debate politics and immigration issues, to play a social game (Farmville) with them, and to have a quick, reliable way to reach people through the messaging interface when I don't have an email address handy.  It has, in many ways, "greased the social wheels" of ministry. When I see colleagues in person with whom I have a regular online connection, there is a deeper quality to the relationship - the beginnings a friendship (admittedly a superficial one) - that gives us a more easy basis for working together.

I also have met a few people through social gaming that I have no other connection with. Some have turned out to be Catholics, others represent other faiths, including Buddhism and Islam. Some have no overt religious connections. A few have gone beyond the level of just being fellow gamers to the level of casual acquaintance.  It's been good to get to know them. To play the games, they must also see all my other posts, including the overtly Catholic ones. No one has complained yet.. and it has allowed the ones who are Catholic or sometimes even other Christians, to react and comment.

At the same time, for the past two years I have facilitated online courses for University of Dayton Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation. Although the learning groups are temporary - lasting 5 weeks for a regular course, 3 weeks for a seminar. In this case, normally, I am connecting with strangers. This summer, having an experience of facilitating a seminar composed of catechetical leaders and catechists from within our diocese, I am having the interesting opportunity to connect on a higher level with people I already know.  In observing the sharing on the message boards about deep-level faith questions (in this case, about their understanding of the Eucharist and its call to service) I have new respect and admiration - a window into the faith journey of people with whom I have had varying degrees of connection, from casual to good friendship.

As to other social media, I recently joined  Twitter and have found even more people to connect with, although Twitter provides a much more limited sense of connection. It serves more as a communication tool and source of news and information to direct me to blog posts or to find other people on Facebook.

Reading Catholic blogs has also enabled me to gain insights into other people and share opinions about faith, the Church, and other issues. The blogosphere is an intriguing place - certainly opinions about liturgy, the hierarchy, and other hot issues vary widely.  I read and comment on blogs representing a variety of "theologies" - even those with which I disagree, because I find it helpful to hear what others are saying.

All these experiences underline for me the gift that social media can be for forming community. I know, at any time, I am not alone in what I do. I can go to my computer and find people, share what interests me - links to videos, blog posts and information of all kinds, read the wry comments of some of my wittier friends, see what's up with those who walk daily with illness or whose elderly parents are doing that, catch up on what's what in the Church and the world, and in general, have an engaging window on what is happening in some other lives. As a single person living alone, I find it not just useful, but a kind of lifeline - social media lets me know I am never alone. There are other faith-filled people out there and I am glad to connect and support them and grateful for their support of me.

Is Spanish Mass More Exciting? Perceptions from Inside the Community

Ran into interesting statistics today from the Pew Forum on how Hispanics see the typical Catholic Mass in the US. In a 2007 report, 61% of those who have left the church for evangelical denominations say that they do not find the Mass exciting enough, although only 36%  of that group say that was the primary reason for leaving the Church.  In another survey of the general population of Hispanics from 2006, 56% of all Hispanics, including Catholics and non-Catholics alike say the Mass IS exciting. In that same poll, 31% said it is not exciting.  While these statistics are not totally conclusive, it shows that somewhere around a third of Hispanics perceive Mass in the US as somewhat less than exciting - and apparently, among those who leave, twice as many have that perception.

This is interesting, because frankly, my limited experience of Spanish Masses is that it is normally more exciting than the typical English Mass.  There is frequent hand-clapping during the songs and a sense of hearty and total participation at my parish.  While I sometimes see that level of participation at English Mass, it is definitely more sedate!  What I would really like to see is a poll of those who attend English Mass for comparison. (Anybody know of any such statistics?)

It also explains, if there is a sense of dissatisfaction by that many Hispanics with the Mass, why some parishes also have some kind of Spanish charismatic para-liturgical prayer event. Our Tuesday-Night Prayer Group, featuring inspirational speakers and music, apparently speaks to that gap for some Hispanics. it draws Hispanics from all around the area, beyond our parish.  A few parishes in other areas of our diocese also have such gatherings.

Since there are few parallel substitutions in the English-speaking community, one has to wonder where those who perceive English Mass as not exciting, but keep coming to Mass anyhow, do in order to feel fed.

philosophy: New Age Skincare for the Spiritual, but not Religious

Ever since the first time I saw a bottle of "amazing grace" facial cleanser on the bathroom counter at my mother's house when I visited, I have had an uncomfortable relationship with the products from philosphy, an upscale cosmetics company whose products all seem to promise more than just nice skin. In fact, they seem to promise love, grace, hope, and even miracles, in most cases for a substantial pricetag.  The marketing is brilliantly aimed at those who are "spiritual, but not religious."

Each scented product comes with a "philosphy" - a New Age, vaguely poetic and often spiritual inspiration (always, like the product names, in lower case only) that somehow thoughts associated with using this product will create a larger sense of well-being.  With fragrance names like "eternal grace," "amazing grace," "inner grace," "pure grace", "be somebody", "unconditional love", and their anti-aging line: "hope in a jar," "when hope is not enough" and "miracle worker,"each product comes with a script and an air of promise.  

"inner grace", for example, claims to be "...a still, quiet voice that connects us to places that live inside our hearts and places beyond this galaxy and the next. to live in inner grace is to be embraced by the deepest, sweetest peace you will ever know."  All the texts use spirituality "buzz-words"  such as "stillness", "well-being", ":embrace", "soothe," "transcend," "connect" and more. References to long walks, yoga, and other forms of self-care are interspersed with a persuasive rhetoric promising wonderful things and spiritual fulfillment.

Here is some of the company's own rhetoric about itself:

philosophy's promise is to bring its customers products that inspire them to live a better life by being better to themselves. our products care for your skin and your overall well-being.  what makes philosophy unique:


•we take a mind, body, spirit approach to personal care and believe only when you feel good can you truly look your best.


•our products are formulated with scientifically-proven ingredients and technologies


what is "in" philosophy jars and bottles can give you better skin. what is "on" philosophy jars and bottles can inspire better days. we believe in miracles, and we believe in the beauty in everyone.

So, are you unhappy? these products give you self-help ideas to remedy that.  Done something you don't feel so good about?  How about some "purity made simple" with its invitation to recover innocence?  Think these are not trying to be spiritual?  Take a look at the first half of the text found on "unconditional love": 

"the divine journey the the highest and best parts of who you are and why you are here begins with the experience of being loved unconditionally...."

I have a sense that lonely, unfulfilled women searching for something to fill the "God-shaped hole" in their lives are being targeted and seduced into purchasing expensive products. The marketing is not subtle. The texts are aimed to pull at the heartstrings of those seeking fulfillment.

If you tune into the QVC shopping channel with any regularity, there is an entire culture of seduction built around the Philosophy segments.  These products, when on special,sell quickly as thousands of women, hungry for the promised luxury, peace and well-being offered by these products, snap them up by phone or internet ordering.  Some products are so popular women purchase them in huge containers, and have them automatically replenished several times a year.  Obviously, at $40-$80 per item, money is no object in the search for true inspiration!