Why We Need to Start Talking More About Baptism

The Summer, 2013 CARA report shows a disturbing trend:  baptisms are declining. Not surprising, actually, given the culture and the continuing decline in marriage.  Do today's young people, who are less likely to believe in sin and Hell, take seriously the need for baptism? Obviously not.

Certainly, as a church we need much better marketing and press to get our message out there - that the sacraments have an important role in the lives of real people - and that baptism is the gateway to salvation in Jesus Christ.  More importantly, this situation points to weaknesses in sacramental catechesis and in catechesis of the young people and adults who are already in our parishes and programs.

When was the last time you heard baptism mentioned in a homily or presentation?  Original sin?  I can't say that I remember. When was the last time you had an adult conversation about the "baptismal call" of the laity?

And then there are the children and youth.  Take a look in the average religious education text series. Baptism is taught early on, in the primary grades, as a precursor to First Communion. After that, it gets a chapter here and there, or is included in a chapter on the seven sacraments. Good, certainly, but, are our catechists up to this? How prepared are they to help kids understand that baptism helps make us who we are as Christians? Can they talk about this sacrament as the foundation of the Church? As the gateway to the Eucharist? As the very reason we celebrate Confirmation?

In the face of this, it is important to bring sacraments - and baptism in particular - back into the Catholic conversation and as a key component in any evangelization initiative. We need to stop taking for granted that people understand the relationship between baptism and Eucharist, between baptism and Christian life. We need to stop assuming that they pass this on to their children.  Obviously they are not doing a very good job at that.

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.

Opening the Door for God’s Grace through the Sacrament of Penance

Sometimes, if you open a door, God will walk into your life and change it. I had that experience 14 years ago: I went to confession and a huge blockage in my life was resolved. Actually, the confession itself was nothing special, but what happened immediately afterward was. In fact, it changed the course of my life and was a clear sign for me that God is alive and active – and that all you have to do is open the door and let God in.

As a convert, I came to the Church initially because I felt my two sons needed me to help them understand the faith they would be learning about. My experience of the RCIA and of the parish rapidly became for me much more than that. I was soon an active volunteer in music, liturgy, catechesis and an active part of a very vital community.

Several years later, I was divorced. I had been out of the workforce for several years raising my children and the only job I could find was working as a secretary in a diocesan office, even though I had an M.A. in English and two additional years of graduate school. After a few years, with the support of the priest I worked for, I began studies for a Masters in Pastoral Studies, emphasis in liturgy. After graduation, it should have been easy, but jobs for liturgists who don’t play the organ are few. In addition, an unfortunate change of supervisors drove me to apply for any job that looked reasonable, secular or church. Although I had several interviews, nothing worked out. I was underemployed, disliked my job situation and was experiencing severe financial stress. Frankly, I became depressed.

Then I began to hear a voice in my head: “Bloom where you’re planted,” it said – at random times. Now, as a former English major, I abhor clichés – and never use them willingly. I knew instinctively that voice was not mine. I was frankly annoyed, but the voice was rather insistent.

About that time, I had an unsettling experience. Unexpectedly, I was asked to provide music for an Ignatian retreat for diocesan deacons, but when participating in one of the guided reflections, I saw the faces of three people who had recently died, and for whom I had a lot of unresolved grief. That upset me greatly and prevented me from going forward with the meditation. God, the retreat master explained, was apparently trying to tell me something through these people. I needed to journal, pray and listen, he advised. A month later, I made my Cursillo, out of a strong sense that I really needed to be there, despite the fact that I was having some major health issues

It was during the weekend that it happened. We had a communal celebration of the Sacrament of Penance. I made my confession to an elderly retired priest whom I knew very well, who occasionally assisted with Masses at my parish. Father Richter was a fine priest of the old school, kindly, but not particularly creative with the sacrament. My brief confession was pretty much pro forma – I remember vaguely expressing regret for my bad attitude and asking for God’s help. He assigned me three “Our Fathers and a Hail Mary” for my penance.

After absolution, I started to walk across the chapel back to my seat. Halfway there, that annoying voice again in my head: “Bloom where you’re planted.” For the first time, I confronted the voice: “I can’t bloom where I’m planted, God! I hate where I’m planted!” I thought. “THEN PLANT YOURSELF WHERE YOU CAN BLOOM!!” I was stunned. It was so obvious – yet I had never even considered looking for work outside of the city where I had lived for the past 19 years, where all my friends – and my sons – lived.

What followed was an intensive job search. Eventually, a job opened up – a parish that was seeking a liturgy director unexpectedly also needed a director of religious education and it turned out I was actually qualified for both, so a joint position was created. I had found my way and I knew that it had not been on my own.

Would it have happened without that moment when the grace of the Sacrament allowed me to open up the door to God? Probably. God will always find a way. However, now I know better than to dismiss the notion that sacraments do what they say they do. By removing what was blocking my vision and forward progress in that moment, God had provided me with a way through that allowed me to follow His plan for me.

I used this story in parent meetings for First Reconciliation when I worked in the parish. It is my witness to the gift that sacrament can be in our lives. I know that God will sometimes use the openness and vulnerability that we can experience through Penance to open us to His will.

That day as I celebrated the sacrament, I had unlocked a door in my heart and left it open, just for a moment. God took that opportunity and walked in – not to fix the problem (I still had a lot of searching, discerning and waiting to do) but to allow me to hear God’s will for my life: “Leave your country and your people and go to the land I will show you.” (Genesis 12:1) I may not have found the promised land, but I found my vocation, through the grace and guidance of God.

This is a Catholic Blog Day post. Please visit this page to see links to other posts for today on the topic of Penance.

What We Need is Better Catechesis on Marriage

Lots of cyber-ink has been expended in discussing the passing of the same-sex "marriage" law in New York and discussions, especially among Catholics, has been heated. The issue, it seems to me, is that there is confusion between the American cultural understanding of marriage and the Church's. The difference is that for most, marriage is only about human love, not a divine institution that is an integral part of God's plan for human beings.

The American cultural understanding is that marriage is primarily about ratifying the love of two persons.  The Church's view, in contrast, is that while that is certainly true, marriage, as a sacrament, has a larger purpose.  Therein lies the the difference. The understanding that many people who support gay "marriage" are working from is simply reductive.

Elements of the larger sacramental purpose include the formation of a family unit which will be fruitful and open to creating and nurturing new life (children), which forms the basic building block of society and images the love of God.  Sacramental marriage is the natural result of the complementarity of male and female, who find their fulfillment in each other, and is the result of Natural Law and God's intention. It is not only the way we create loving environments for raising children, it is simply and most naturally the best way we provide those children with a model that validates and balances their own gender identity so that they can grow up to take their own natural roles in their own families.  Along the way, sacramental marriage is a school for love and gratitude and a mutual journey of human and spiritual growth.  The giving of oneself in sexual union is not only human, physical gratification, but a spiritual experience that mirrors divine love.  You can read more about Catholic teaching on marriage here.

Of course, we have not always lived up to this ideal. In a world where marriages frequently fail because one or both partners is unable to live up to the "job description" we have not really been our own best advertisement for this vision.  However, it remains the vision in spite of our limited ability to live it out because God's plan for man and woman is rooted in both biology and psychology. Humans were created as male and female for a reason. We are different. Necessarily so. Our difference is the original, unchanging biological mechanism for procreation and continuation of the human race. The psychological balance of male and female is one of the building blocks of family and society. We frankly offer different and complementary gifts. While in our modern society gender roles may be less strictly defined, the partnership of male and female remains the most common expression of human family around the globe.

This is not to say that a committed same-sex couple cannot engage in at least some of the elements of a good marriage. This is not to say that their love is not real, and certainly not to say that they should not have the same rights in the civil realm. This is not even to say that they cannot raise children in a loving home (although in my experience, those children can sometimes be confused or troubled.)  However, what those who deny the validity of Catholic teaching fail to see is that the purpose of a same-sex union is imperfect because it is primarily about validating love, and that the other elements are not present. The difference, of course, is mostly on two counts - the complementarity provided by two genders is absent, and the fruitfulness is, of course, missing.  What is less obvious (and frankly a lower priority for those who see marriage as a purely human union) is that such unions are not the result and expression of Natural Law and God's plan.

The issue, as I and some other commentators see it, is that since many young men and women today are not choosing sacramental marriage in the Church, and since so many Catholics see same-sex unions as logical and necessary from a human standpoint, we have failed to pass on a sense that the Church's view of marriage is either valid or important.  It is a fact that a significant number of marriages fail, mostly because the commitment is to nothing larger than love and sexual gratification.  It is a fact that fewer Catholic young people are seeking sacramental (or for that matter even civil) marriage. That being acknowledged,  it is important that we revisit the purpose of a lifelong union between man and woman.

This is, quite simply, a call for better catechesis of our own people about the meaning and purpose of the Sacrament of Marriage. We certainly cannot and should not tell non-Catholics what to believe, or how to conduct their lives in the civil sphere. What we can and must do is help our own people understand the special differences between a union that merely images human love, and one that images the fulfillment of divine love. Quite simply, the same-sex union of two people, though it may be loving and positive, is not the same as marriage.

A sacramental concept of marriage has something greater and more sacred to offer, and we need to preserve that treasure and pass it on to our younger generation. This is quite simply a call to textbook publishers, catechetical leaders, preachers, parents and others who help form young people to do better. If we don't, Catholic marriage will increasingly be seen as no different than anyone else's civil union.

Looking for Great Resources on Eucharist, Reconciliation?

Just got Bishop Sartain's seal of approval for the Diocese of Joliet official list of recommended parish catechetical resources for our Year of the Eucharist. Thanks to the Catechetical Formation Committee for their assistance.  This list includes a variety of great websites, group reflection resources for adults, general adult resources, supplementary resources for children and youth, and lots more - on the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  We deliberately chose these from across a wide spectrum of methodologies, so there is something for every parish "style." Even if you are not from our diocese, take a look.  The list is posted at http://www.dioceseofjoliet.org/ye/catechesis.asp.

The Work of the Holy Spirit

This morning, our parish celebrated the Confirmation of 88 young people, along with the First Communion of another 20 children. All but 3 of the confirmandi were Hispanic, as were all but one of the first communicants.  As our pastor mentioned in his homily at Mass tonight, our parish (founded as St. John's German Catholic Church) is changing. The Mass was bilingual, as are all our major liturgies.

It was a gloriously messy morning --mildly controlled chaos-- when I came in, 45 minutes before, to set up and plug in my guitar and prepare to be cantor with the bilingual choir, the place was noisily full of families, some taking photos, others checking on various things. Professional photographers and a videographer were set up. First the first communicants lined up for a group photo, then the confirmandi. Finally, at about the time the Mass was scheduled, they were finished enough to go outside and line up for the procession. The procession started about 5 minutes after the hour, and was, understandably, quite long.

There was pretty good participation in the sung parts of the Mass, and the celebration, much of it alternated in English or Spanish as usual at my parish, was a nice balance of dignity and joy. For two hours, we sustained an atmosphere that indicated clearly how seriously everyone took this, at the same time, we conveyed a sense of liveliness and celebration, at the same time, there was the constant undercurrent of noise - the tumbling water of the font, the hum of the air conditioner, and the murmuring of the babes in arms and toddlers.

The kids came forward to be confirmed as today's kids today can - some girls were in sparkly satin and sequins, some in discreet white lace. Some dresses were short and trendy, off the shoulder, and many of the girls sported clear plastic bra straps.  Others were more modest. Hair was done with care, some with masses of curls, some twisted into elaborate patterns. Boys wore suits, or nice shirt and pants, although one guy made his fashion statement in an obviously freshly ironed plaid shirt and very clean "pants on the ground". All were dressed to show that this day was important, each in their own way, sporting a homemade red felt stole with their saint's name. All were simply being themselves in one way or another, according to their individual preferences.  They came forward with their sponsors to meet the Bishop and to receive the sacrament.

The interaction between Bishop and each one to be confirmed was wonderful to watch - he greeted each young person, and asked them something, engaging with them momentarily before the anointing, blessing and handshake. This was hearty and genuine for each person.  This is what made the morning. It was clear that Bishop was at his pastoral best, showing each youth welcome, kindness and a sense that he cared about them. Their smiles as they turned to walk back to their seat told all.  Clearly the Holy Spirit was in the room... and this day will leave a mark of some kind on all these young people who reaffirmed the promise of their baptism.