Category Archives: Catholic Church

Pope Francis’ invitation on the flight from Dublin

28 Tuesday Aug 2018

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Pope_Francis_in_flight_press_conference_3_Jan_18_2015_Vatican_Catholic_News_Credit_Alan_Holdren_CNA_CNA.jpegWhen questioned about the accusations in the letter written by Archbishop Carlo Viganó on the return flight to Rome after the World Meeting of Families in Ireland, Pope Francis did something quite revolutionary I think. He did not just say, “I will not say a single word on this” as many people have been focusing on. He went on to do something else, he opened a door and he made an invitation.

Although specifically addressing the crowd of journalists on the plane, he invited anyone who is interested to read the letter for him or herself and to come to their own conclusions but then he went further and made a specific invitation to the journalists (both on the plane and world-wide I think), “And you have the journalistic capacity to draw your own conclusions. It’s an act of faith. When some time passes and you have drawn your conclusions, I may speak. But I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you…”

If the pope had countered the archbishop’s claims right then, the press would have been left reporting from the sidelines about the latest scandal in the Church and the latest skirmish between opposing Church factions. The image that comes to me is that of a tennis match – people passively watching from the stands and giving commentary as the two players on the court battle it out. By making his invitation, Pope Francis is welcoming the journalists (and through them the laity) onto the court itself and, in essence, is saying “You, also, have a role to play both in this game and for the good of the Church!” This is quite revolutionary.

“But I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you…”

It was a group of reporters (trained to investigate and uncover) who doggedly pursued and exposed the abuse scandal in Boston. It has been reporters who have helped to uncover abuses of power that have occurred in Ireland of which the pope just saw and heard firsthand prior to boarding that flight to Rome. Reporters are trained investigators. Inviting them onto the court and into the game carries ramifications.

It is not wise I think to try to judge the intentions of another person. Only God can see into the soul of a person and usually when we try to judge another’s intentions the only thing we do is hold up a mirror reflecting ourselves. But actions and words can be evaluated, judged and weighed. An invitation (especially at this level of power and authority) is an action. Inviting trained journalists into the game and onto the court does not strike me as the action of someone who is trying to hide something. Just my own thought.

Priests, bishops, cardinals and even popes might be wonderful Christians with amazing gifts and possibly even saints but that does not mean that they are skilled in the work of investigation and neither are Catholic bloggers and pundits despite their love for the faith and the Church. I do not know what has occurred in regards to these allegations nor who knew what at whatever level and (if true) when and as I watch all these things unfold I am extremely grateful that I am a priest in a parish. One thing I do believe though is that what appears to be needed at this time is a specific skillset. The skill to be tenacious in pursuing truth and uncovering abuse. This is the skill of the investigative journalist.

I must admit that I do not know all the details of what goes into an Apostolic Visitation (an action that is currently being requested of Rome by the U.S. Bishops). I do not know if it is set in stone that such a visitation be comprised of certain members of the church hierarchy alone but maybe an option in Rome’s response to this request would be to send a visitation team of which some members are faith-filled lay men and women who love the Church and who bring with them the skills of investigation – perhaps even some investigative reporters.

“But I would like your professional maturity to do the work for you. It will be good for you…”

… and it will be good for the Church.

“Pastor”

22 Saturday Jul 2017

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Artist Unknown.  Snapped a picture of this print when I was staying as a guest at St. William Catholic Church in Gardiner, Montana. 

 

Of all the titles that can be weighed upon a priest or bishop, I think “pastor” is the one closest to the heart of our Lord. And the one to which every priest and bishop must give the fullest account of when he stands before the Good Shepherd.

Church Clutter

20 Thursday Jul 2017

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safe_imageIt is interesting how some things stay with us and even become operating principles in our lives.

During my junior and senior years in high school and into college I worked in the maintenance department of Appco (Appalachian Oil Company) which owned a number of convenience stores scattered throughout the Tri-Cities and beyond. What I and my fellow workers heard over and over again from our supervisor was that every store had to be clean and well maintained both within and without.  In that job I spent countless hours at these stores pulling weeds, planting shrubs, mowing lawns, painting doors and helping with some mechanical and plumbing repairs.  I must say that the Appco stores were always well maintained and clean and to this day I cringe whenever I walk into a dirty convenience store and, if it is too dirty and unkempt, I will not return.

Likewise, part of me grieves within whenever I encounter an unkempt and cluttered church both within and without. Old bulletins and papers stacked on the table beside the presider’s chair along with a plethora of missals drives me nuts as do parish hallways strung with outdated posters and fliers.  Scattered and poorly maintained landscaping does little to bring a sense of beauty and prayer to a house of worship I believe.

De-cluttering does not have to cost a lot nor take a lot of time. “Start small and do what you can when you can,” is a good motto I believe.  Our diocese is in the midst of building a new cathedral and it is neat seeing the artwork that is currently going within that sacred space but it is not just cathedrals that should witness to the beauty of God and our faith.  Every church, chapel and mission is “God’s house” and can have a simple and noble beauty that helps to set the soul at rest.

Here are a few thoughts to reflect upon. Most regard the outside landscape of a church (maybe because that was the area I worked in mostly at Appco.  I still cannot walk past a weed without feeling the need to pull it up!) but the principle of de-cluttering certainly applies within churches and chapels also.

Know the geography and terrain. The parish I am currently at has a very thin top layer of soil.  As soon as it does not rain for a day or two in summer, plants and grass begin to dry up and turn brown.  We recently received a bequest which allowed us to redo the landscaping in the parking lot and in front of the church and parish office.  It would have been foolish (and poor stewardship I believe) to put in plants that would require heavy amounts of water and care.  Rather, we made use of river rock and specifically chose plants that were hardy, drought resistant and low maintenance.  The end result looks quite good and fits the terrain.

What is manageable to your community? What does the Gospel ask of us?  I am all for parish landscape crews if it fits your community but it does not fit every community and it also seems that life is getting busier and busier for most people and families.  Parishioners should take pride in their church but at the end of the day what is more important – that the lawn was perfectly mowed every Sunday or that parishioners and their families grow in their discipleship and strive to live that discipleship out in the world?  I do not pretend to know the answer but it is a balance worth reflecting upon.

IMG_5745What is best for the environment? This is a question I find myself continually returning to after reading Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si” as well as my own growing interest in protecting and safe-guarding creation.  Do the plants and shrubs we favor around churches help benefit the environment or do they just look nice from our human perspective?  Can our parish grounds themselves become places that benefit and support creation?  A couple of years ago now I planted two butterfly bushes in front of our Parish Life Center because they fit and enhance the space, they are low maintenance and hardy and, in regards to this question, they are a benefit to bees and butterflies.  A simple choice in a planting can have ripples of effect.

Time can become cluttered also. Last fall, our parish went through the process of changing our Mass schedule – no small feat.  In the old schedule there was only thirty minutes between each of our four Sunday Masses.  There were a variety of factors necessitating the change but one that I saw as pastor was the limiting effect of such a small window of time between Masses.  People came in for their Mass and then they hurried out in order to let the next group in.  The opportunity for community and fellowship was stunted.  Now that we have more time between Masses (as well as making space by clearing out clutter from our vestibule) people are actually spending more time talking and enjoying each other’s company after Mass.  Sometimes schedules in the life of a church community can get cluttered also.  It is worthwhile to step back and evaluate our schedules every now and then.

A church, chapel or mission should strive as much as it can to be an oasis for the soul in a busy and distracted world. Often times in the church world we focus on the “big architecture and art work” to facilitate this and we overlook the more simple, daily and nuanced realities.  Clutter “clutters” and it distracts.  Seeking to move aside the clutter that can accumulate both within and without the church should be seen as an act of hospitality.  It is the discipline of keeping God’s house open and clean as a place of welcome, a home where the soul can find rest and respite.

Being the Body of Christ: Remembering Who We Are

20 Saturday Aug 2016

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Jesus - way, truth, lifeIn the parish in which I currently serve there is a husband and wife who work in therapeutic massage and they share how the healing arts influence their view of theology and how faith, in turn, influences their work.  I have had some interesting discussions with them and a recent conversation has had me thinking in a new way about parish and even the Body of Christ.

After an injury, the couple notes, part of the healing process is helping the injured person to remember and reconnect with his or her body.  On the surface this sounds strange because one would think that if there is a part of the body in pain that it would be a primary focus.  Initially it is but if the pain persists then the person begins to compensate and “work around” the injured part.  A disconnect then occurs, sets in and can even become deeply ingrained.  If the healing process is to be effective, this disconnect must be addressed and overcome.  The injured person must be helped, encouraged and even challenged sometimes to reconnect and remember his or her body.  Once this occurs, then healing and full functioning can advance in earnest.

There are injuries and pains which occur through life which can lead a person to “forget” or disconnect in differing ways from his or her body.  Pains and injuries also occur within the Christian community (sometimes minor and annoying, sometimes large and scandalous).  Can these injuries lead us to disconnect maybe even subconsciously (even as we sincerely profess our love of Christ and his Church) and forget what it truly means to be the Body of Christ?  Is part of the healing process needed in our day to be found in assisting the Church community to remember and re-connect with what it really means to be the Body of Christ?

Before a parish being a series of activities, projects or meetings, before it being a collection of groups and guilds, before it being good and charitable work done in our world, before it being a collection of Masses and prayer offered in this or that liturgical style – a parish is part of the Body of Christ and a manifestation of that Body.  A parish may have a lot of things going on but does that necessarily mean it is fully connected to and remembering its core and essential reality – which is being part of the Body of Christ?

Pope Francis has spoken famously of wanting a Church that is a field hospital.  The world can certainly bang up a person.  The world can also certainly bang up the Church.  Can part of the healing offered through the field hospital be healing needed by the Church herself, assisting her in remembering and re-connecting with her own body which is, in fact, the Body of Christ?

Below are some questions (not exhaustive) that I think might help a community reflect on where it is in its own remembering of being part of the Body of Christ.  (I approach this reflection in terms of the parish because that is the context in which I am currently ministering and in which the majority of Catholics exercise their faith.  At first blush, I do think these thoughts could be applied to other forms of church community.)

Does the parish have room to breathe?  In the United States we live in an activity driven society.  There is always someplace to be and something that needs to get done!  These may be good and honest realities that need to be addressed but can a different rhythm to life be found and maintained?  Can a parish witness to this different rhythm to life or is it so chock-full of activities that a person’s breath is taken away by just looking at a calendar of events!  Activities and schedules are certainly good but a body needs room and space to breathe.  Can a parish be allowed this room and can parishioners be allowed, first and foremost, to just be and know one another as fellow disciples and friends in Christ before anything else?

Does the church have the ability to welcome?  If a person is in pain and disconnected from his or her body it is more difficult for that person to welcome and focus on the needs of another person.  Energy cannot be spared even if desired.  Welcoming the other person runs deep within our faith tradition (think of Abraham welcoming the three strangers) and welcoming another person in faith is a means to new life and new awareness but if energy cannot be spared then this wellspring is cut off.

Can a church maintain a sense of wonder and be able to abide in mystery?  We so often want black and white answers and we want everything figured out and settled but often life is not this way.  At least this side of heaven, we will never have the full picture nor full understanding.  Church ought to be the place that welcomes wonder and mystery over pat phrases and tidy answers but, once again, when there is pain energy and focus can be lacking and it is all the easier to sidestep mystery in favor of what is seen as tried, true and comfortable.

Physically, the pains and traumas of life can lead us to disconnect from our bodies and even “forget” our bodies even as we live within our own skin.  In this scenario, we might be able to get by but this is far from the full experience and joy of life.  When pain and trauma lead us to forget who we are and disconnect from the reality of being the Body of Christ, we – as Church – might also be able to “get by” in the world but this also is far from the fullness of life that God intends for his people and through his people (his Body) in witness for the world.

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.  For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – Jew or Greeks, slaves or free – and all were made to drink of the one Spirit … Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.  (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 27)

A tremendous joy is to be found in re-connecting and simply remembering our body.  Yes, we are the Body of Christ!

Thoughts on the Sunday readings: Pentecost

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in Catholic Church, Church, Holy Spirit, homily, Pentecost

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PentecostHave you ever held an acorn in your hand?  In that seed all the potentiality of a towering oak tree is present.  Have you ever held a newborn infant?  In that newly born child is all the potentiality of an adult human being whose very life will affect countless other people and maybe even the course of human history itself.  It has been said that growth is the only sure indicator of life but growth has to begin somewhere, from some kernel of life.

In today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) we hear that the disciples and some women were gathered together when the Holy Spirit came upon them in the sound of a strong driving wind and in the appearance of tongues of fire – this smallest of groups.  They began to speak in different languages so that the people outside heard them speaking in their own language.

An unknown African writer of the sixth century offers these thoughts in regards to this miraculous event:

The disciples spoke in the language of every nation. At Pentecost God chose this means to indicate the presence of the Holy Spirit: whoever had received the Spirit spoke in every kind of tongue. We must realize, dear brothers, that this is the same Holy Spirit by whom love is poured out in our hearts. It was love that was to bring the Church of God together all over the world. And as individual men who received the Holy Spirit in those days could speak in all kinds of tongues, so today the Church, united by the Holy Spirit, speaks in the language of every people.

On that first Pentecost we find all the potentiality present of what the Church was and still is to become. We find the kernel of the beginning of the Church Universal – a Church present in every land, every culture, every class and ministering in every human condition.

The author knows that it is the love “poured out” out into hearts that allows for and sustains this life and growth. This love is nothing other than the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is not the “love” so often touted in our world today – a love that is often really just a reflection of our own ego. The love that is the Holy Spirit does not originate from us and our concerns rather it is “poured out” upon us. It is the love of the Father and Son which is given on Pentecost and which continues to enliven the Church throughout history.

Paul reminds us that no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit. It is only the Spirit who enables us to turn those mere words into a true profession of faith, rooted in lives which are continually being transformed and transfigured by the light of Christ.

In some sense looking back is also worth noting. For the most part, I do not today look anything like I did when I was first born. I’ve gotten taller, I weigh more, I grew hair and I have begun to lose hair, I have learned much more but, even though I may look very different from that newborn infant born forty-seven years ago, I am still the same person just more fully so. The Catholic Church today may not look exactly like that first gathering of disciples on Pentecost – there is two thousand years of history, institutions and roles have developed and continue to do so – but it is the same church just more fully so. The Holy Spirit enables this growth in truth.

Our Lord told us that the Spirit will guide us into all truth. We know this. We have been living it now for two thousand years as Church and continue to do so even today. The love which enables all this to happen does not originate from us. It is poured out upon us. It is the love of the Father and the Son, the very Holy Spirit of God.

Holy Spirit, continue to come upon us, continue to guide us into all truth, into who we are meant to be as your Church!

The Possibility of Holiness

18 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by in Catholic Church, Christian living, Church, discipleship, faith, following Jesus, God, gospel, holiness, Jesus, joy

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I am not holy.  My sins, failures and weaknesses are before me every day, but I believe in the possibility of holiness and it is this belief that keeps me in the Church. 

I am not naïve to the sins and failures of the institution of the Church nor its representatives – past and present, universal and local – but neither am I naïve to the sins and failures of those outside the Church and those who deride “church”.  I have also witnessed their sins and their hidden despair and I want none of it.  The louder and more forced the laugh; the deeper the despair, I believe.  
I do not want nor need a “Church” made in my image.  I know my sins.  Holiness is challenge – lived daily and without fanfare.  I am a creature and I need my Creator to heal what is broken within me.  To pretend that there is no brokenness is, in fact, to deny my Creator. 
Holiness is simple.  I am tired of a presentation of faith that needs to be hyper-stimulated.  I feel sorry for our young people who are growing up in such a world.  I am sorry for the times the Church buys into this.  Holiness cannot be manufactured.  Holiness grows simply and quietly.  What is manufactured quickly fades and leaves a void.  Maybe holiness can begin to grow in this void maybe it cannot.  I know that God can work as God so chooses and I have to trust in this.  
Holiness is not argument and it is not philosophy.  Debate does not lead to conversion, the witness of holiness does.  Philosophy and its structure is a good tool but it is not salvific faith.  The wise steward, we are told, is the one who can go to the storeroom and pull out both the old and the new as needed.  Maybe there are other tools available?
Holiness does not isolate.  Christ, the All Holy One, came into our very midst.  He called us brothers and sisters and taught us to love one another.  Holiness is found in my encounter with the other although it may not be immediately apparent.  The holiness uniquely found in community forces me out of myself and I need this.  If anything, the direction of holiness is from the mountain back down into the valley of the everyday. 
Holiness is not on a mountaintop somewhere but in the Gospel, the sacraments and community.  I need these every day.
Many people like to point to the sins of the Church.  It is nice to have an excuse isn’t it?  Pointing out the perceived sins of others does not grow holiness in my own life; it just gives me a way out.  I need to stand before my Creator on my own and not in contrast to what I perceive as the sins of others. 
Holiness is beautiful and I need beauty – a child playing peek-a-boo, friends laughing, feet being washed.  
I feel sorrow for those who have left the Church.  Christ loves the Church … how can you love Christ and not love what he loves?  Maybe Christ’s love should be bigger than my own resentments and excuses?
Holiness is living in friendship with God.            

The danger of narrowcasting in the Church

13 Thursday Nov 2014

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studio-broadcasting-camps-2There has been a trend developing in our national news media and you have probably noticed it.  It is the move from “broad-casting” to “narrow-casting”.  Charles Seife, in his book, Virtual Unreality: Just Because the Internet Told You So, How Do You Know It’s True?, lays it out quite clearly.
Back when the Big Three ruled the airwaves, the nightly news had to perform a delicate balancing act.  A news program had to try to appeal to the entire television audience – it had to be, quite literally, a broad cast – if it was to compete with the other two networks that were taking the same strategy.  This meant that the networks couldn’t become too partisan or take an extreme position on anything, for fear of alienating its potential audience…
Then cable and the internet increased our choices.  The Big Three kept trying to capture as big a slice of America as possible by staying centrist, but a couple of upstarts – particularly Fox News and MSNBC – realized that there was another possible strategy.  Instead of trying to go after the entire American population with a broadly targeted program that appealed to everyone, you could go with a narrowly targeted program that appealed to only a subgroup of the population.  Throw in your lot with, say, die-hard Republicans and give them coverage that makes them happy; you alienate Democrats and won’t get them as viewers, but you can more than make up for that loss by gaining a devoted Republican fan base …  MSNBC did exactly the reverse … 
“So, what’s the big deal?” one might wonder.  Let the conservatives have their Fox News and the liberals their MSNBC then everyone gets what they want.  As Charles Seife argues in his book though we need challenges to our assumptions in order for our ideas and understanding to grow and evolve.  True information can only be gained through this sometimes difficult but essential process.  If all we get when we switch on the news is a presentation that is catered to our particular slant on the world then we get stuck in our own assumptions and we even become more radicalized.  We do not get true information.
With news and data that is tailored to our prejudices, we deprive ourselves of true information.  We wind up wallowing in our own false ideas, reflected back to us by the media.  The news is ceasing to be a window unto the world; it is becoming a mirror that allows us to gaze only upon our own beliefs. 
Couple this dynamic with the microsociety-building power of the hyper-interconnected internet and you’ve got two major forces that are radicalizing us.  Not only does the media fail to challenge our preconceptions – instead reinforcing them as media outlets try to cater to smaller audiences – but we all are able to find small groups of people who share and fortify the beliefs we have, no matter how quirky or outright wrong they might be.  Ironically, all this interconnection is isolating us… 
Lack of true information, radicalization and isolation – this is a disturbing and dangerous mix that, I would argue, we are witnessing the affects of throughout our world today.  That is a larger discussion but my purpose for this reflection is to wonder how much this trend of “narrow-casting” has moved into the life of the Church.  I would point to the wide-ranging reactions to the recent preparatory meeting of the upcoming Synod on the Family in Rome as a prime example.  The way I read them, reactions posted in journals, on the internet and the blogosphere were often extreme and catered to a particular slant.  There was a lot (and continues to be a lot) of noise regarding the preparatory meeting in these pieces but not much true information … at least from my reading.
Call me crazy but I have a hunch that Pope Francis knows what he is doing and that the Holy Spirit is in the midst of the Church.  Maybe our United States “American” (I say this because this is the only cultural context I can speak to) tendency to interpret an event (i.e. the Synod on the Family) only by catering to a particular viewpoint is more of a reflection of a deficiency in our culture than a reflection of what actually transpired in Rome?  Maybe we have become more conditioned by narrow-casting than we realize?
Pope Francis is not a product of United States “American” culture.  I do not think that he has been conditioned by narrow-casting.  I think he asked the participants at the meeting in Rome to speak boldly from their hearts because he knows what Charles Seife knows.  True information is only gained through the difficult process of having assumptions challenged – if the assumptions are true then they will only grow stronger through this process, if not then they will fall by the wayside.  Pope Francis values true discussion because he values true information.  Isn’t true information what we want any leader (particular the Pope) to have?
Catholic means “universal”.  I do not believe that there is space for narrow-casting in the Church.  In fact, I wonder if it might even be a sin against the unity of the Church.  Seife lays out the fruits of narrow-casting: lack of true information, radicalization and isolation.  All of these harm the Body of Christ.
Come, Holy Spirit and enkindle within us the fire of your love and strengthen your Church that she might be a humble and authentic witness of the gospel!

Homosexuality and the Church: to resolutely approach Christian perfection

01 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by in Catholic Church, Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality, Chastity, Fr. Lou Cameli, Homosexuality

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In his newly released book, Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality: New Paths to Understanding, Fr. Lou Cameli holds a creative tension between the full teaching of the Catholic Church on human sexuality and a pressing pastoral need of our time.  He is able to do this because he situates the Church’s teaching on homosexuality within the larger positive teaching on chastity and he takes seriously the possibility of Christian perfection in the life of the homosexual person as laid out by the Catechism of the Catholic Church when it teaches:

2359 Homosexual persons are called to chastity. By the virtues of self-mastery that teach them inner freedom, at times by the support of disinterested friendship, by prayer and sacramental grace, they can and should gradually and resolutely approach Christian perfection.  (Emphasis mine.)

Fr. Cameli writes his book both as an accomplished theologian and as a pastor.  He demonstrates that there has been a large gap in the Church’s approach to the homosexual person: the Church often seen as condemning the physical/genital act of homosexual sex (and often the person) while neglecting to provide the support and encouragement the homosexual man and woman needs in their desire to grow in Christian perfection. 
Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality begins a discussion on how the homosexual person might work to foster intimacy, friendship and generativity within his or her life and how the Church by being “church” can and should offer support and encouragement.
Fr. Cameli boldly takes on a pressing pastoral need in our Church and society that, frankly, many others would not touch with a ten-foot pole.  His fidelity to the full teaching of the Catholic Church and his pastoral desire to care for souls remains at the heart of his book.  His thoughts and insights will enlighten the reader’s understanding of a very complex and often painful topic. 
In the end the author does what theologians aspire to; he advances the discussion in a pastorally and theologically consistent manner.
The book is published by Ave Maria Press.  Click the below book title for the link:

“Catholic Teaching on Homosexuality” 

(In the interest of full disclosure, Fr. Cameli was my spiritual director in seminary and remains a good friend.) 

P.S. I would encourage all who are interested to take the time to read and reflect upon the entire section on chastity as found within the Catechism of the Catholic Church in order to see how the Church’s teaching on homosexuality as well as all sexual expression falls within a larger framework.  The section on chastity is found under the reflection on the sixth commandment, Thou shalt not commit adultery (CC # 2331-2391).