• About The Alternate Path

The Alternate Path

~ Thoughts on Walking the Path of Christian Discipleship

The Alternate Path

Tag Archives: Roman Catholic

“Pastor”

22 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by mcummins2172 in Catholic Church, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Catholic Church, Catholic faith, Catholic priesthood, Christianity, faith, Pastor, Roman Catholic

 

20228882_10154733343208483_529299139648763944_n

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.

Christmas, 2016

25 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by mcummins2172 in homily, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Christian faith, Christian life, Christianity, Christmas, faith, humility, Roman Catholic

birth-of-jesusCaesar demanded a census and the whole world was in motion and turmoil.  People and families around the empire travelling to their own town.  The emperor had spoken and therefore it had to be! 

Joseph and Mary – humble, poor, obedient to authority – travel to Bethlehem, even with Mary near child-birth.  They register for the census but the gospel does not specify one thing; did they register before the birth of Christ or after?  Did their census notation say, “one Jewish couple expecting a child” or “one Jewish couple with newborn male”?  I tend to believe that Joseph and Mary registered with the census before the birth of Jesus because it would be consistent with God’s way of working throughout scripture.

Let the powers of the world flex their muscle and show all their strength.  Peoples need to travel, life needs to be interrupted, Caesar Augustus wants a census!  God laughs.  God comes silently and humbly amidst all the turmoil of the time.  God even uses the great emperor’s project to accomplish His plan.  Who today remembers the census that Caesar ordered?  Yet all time and history celebrates the birth of the son of Mary.  Christ coming after the census is fulfilled demonstrates who is really the Lord of history.

Caesar in the exercise of his power and might through the census was trying to grasp and claim the entire empire.  “These … all these lands and peoples … are mine!” is what Caesar was saying through his census.  Christ being born after the census shows that he does not belong to the power of Caesar nor to any worldly-power yesterday or today.  Jesus will not go down in history as a small notation in a Roman emperor’s census, rather he will be revealed as the very one who ushers in God’s Kingdom to which all the kingdoms and powers of the world must submit. 

The Word of God enters the world unexpectedly.  Information is power.  A census – a measurement of peoples – gives information and therefore it gives the emperor great power and control.  Yet right beyond the boundary of Caesar’s knowledge occurs the greatest event in all of human history and Caesar misses it.  Caesar has no knowledge of it.  The first ones who do come to know of it?  Not Caesar but rather the lowly shepherds – the poor and the insignificant ones in the eyes of the world.  It is to them that the angel appears and tells of this new thing that God has done!  “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all people … a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord.”  (Lk. 2:10-11)  It is not abstract and isolated ideologies and theologies cut off from everyday reality that grasp the ever-new work of God, rather it is simple people of faith – the poor and the humble.

The lessons of Christmas are so profound and so necessary.  Despite the turmoil of any age and the raw exercising of power, God is at work accomplishing his plan.  This babe born in Bethlehem is the one to whom all knees must bend and all hearts must bow and when we can do that, then peace and joy will be found!  In Christ, knowledge comes humbly – knowledge for the pains of our world and the pains of our hearts.  Abstract and isolated ideologies quickly become cold, hard and dictatorial.  This is not God’s way.  God reveals himself to the poor and the humble and God chooses to abide with them. 

Lord Jesus, we welcome you.  Heal our world.  Soften our hearts.  Help us to know the newness of your peace.  You are Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever and Prince of Peace.  Lord Jesus, you choose to be born in your time and in your way.  May we be humble and poor enough to recognize you when you come to us.

Thank you Jesus for loving us.           

Why Young Adults need the Catholic Church

30 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by mcummins2172 in Uncategorized, young people

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Catholic Church, Catholic faith, Christian life, Christianity, discipleship, faith, Roman Catholic, Young Adult Ministry, younger generation and faith

young adult praying in churchWhy do some young adults wander away from the Church?  There are no easy answers to this.  At least, I have not found one in my own experience of ministry.  I have seen some young people fully immersed in the Church in high school and college who then just stop coming one day.  I have seen other young people who had wandered off come back with a great fervor almost bordering on zealotry.  A good number of young people I have known wander in and out with some choosing to stay loosely connected on the periphery of the Church.

Certainly each person’s journey of faith is unique.  There are movements in the heart that only God can see and everything occurs in God’s time.  We all know that there are scandals within the Church that wound hearts and discredit the gospel and the community.  There are voices against the Church and Christianity in our world and caricatures of religion too easily tossed about in society.  There is a diffused mistrust of all institutions.  There are also people not willing to change their view of the Church just as they, themselves, insist the Church must change (usually to their liking).  Finally, there are some people who are just lazy spiritually.

With all this in mind, I am firmly convinced that young adults need the Church.  No one may be able to adequately answer the big concerns noted above.  Still, I want to offer a few thoughts about why young adults need the Church.  Here are the thoughts in the form of a letter.

Dear young adults,

Do you know that you need more than just your peers?  I never really became a fan of the TV show “Friends”.  I do remember watching it and being entertained although I didn’t always agree with the moral choices portrayed in the show.  I remember that the whole universe portrayed in that show was that of a group of peers.  Every now and then a person from another generation (younger or older) would pop in and out of the show but they seemed to be just a distraction.  Everything centered on that particular group of peers and their enclosed world.  I have seen this same theme continue in newer generations of shows.  I am sorry, but that is not life.  Sadly, though, I think society and, surprisingly, the Church have followed suit.  There are retreat programs and youth ministry initiatives intentionally and exclusively structured around peer-given talks and peer-led discussions.  There are youth only liturgies.  I would wager that the same trend can be seen in education, athletics and all forms of engagement with our youth.  Is there a certain value and place for this?  Yes, but there are unintended consequences.  Dear young adults, I apologize.  You have been done a disservice.  Although no one intended it, you have been taught to only value peer input and peer relationship.  The voices of other generations – the insight, knowledge and wisdom of older generations that can help guide in life and help navigate its struggles as well as the hopes and dreams of younger generations – have been blocked from your awareness.  With this block there can also be a forgetfulness of how God has been faithful and active in all generations and how God continues to be faithful and active.

In my ministry with young adults I often felt frustrated by this block.  Over time, I learned to not get upset or frustrated by this.  They were just doing what they had been taught.  I was not a peer and therefore my voice and consideration would sometimes just bounce off their perspective somewhere into the ether.  But as I shared above, a world comprised only of peers with a particular generational perspective is not real life.  One of the things truly wonderful about Sunday worship is seeing generations coming together in Church – young and old and even in-between.  Young adults, I have to say that you are noticeably absent from these gatherings.   You are missing out.  You need more than your peers and the Christian community needs you.

Another thought for you.  You need a deeper narrative than just the secular one.  There are narratives that people set their lives by but not all narratives are equal nor are all equally true.  I learned an important lesson in my seminary training.  The gospel narrative is the rule by which all other narratives should be measured and judged.  Some might see this as Christian condescension, but I am not convinced that is true.  Think about it.  Catholicism has a proven track record.  Empires, movements, theories of thought have come and gone.  Christianity has remained and has grown consistently and organically even through persecution and even despite the sinful actions of some of its adherents.  Secularization, at its best, has real value.  It has fostered religious freedom, protection from oppression, and respect due the dignity of persons.  But the secular world has its own narrative with a down side.  A closed-end secularity pushes the sacred to the periphery.  And that truly diminishes life.  Here, I would caution that certain forms of “generic Christianity” will not suffice because they are neither able to see beyond nor challenge the limits of the secular narrative.  Certain popular forms of contemporary Christian expression found often in non-denominational, evangelical and mega-church communities are, in fact, closely linked to the secular narrative and a step away from the Christian sense of the sacred.  For example, I would point to the emphasis by some on material concern and comfort as found canonized by the gospel of prosperity preached in many places.

There is a deeper and fuller reality to life, existence and creation itself than just the measure of the secular.  There is a transcendent, spiritual and sacramental dimension to life.  We can embrace the benefits of secularity, while not letting ourselves be bound by the limits of its narrative.  The Catholic Church with its tradition, theology and worship provides for this broader perspective on reality.

Dear young adults, here’s something that you won’t hear about very often, if ever.  You need an awareness of redemptive suffering.  The Catholic Church is at home with the crucifix not because we believe that the resurrection should be downplayed and that Christ is still on the cross.  No, we are convinced that by his suffering on the cross our Lord has brought a redemptive dimension to all suffering.  He has brought life out of death.  On the cross and in the tomb, God entered into the furthest edges of human suffering and death.  The crucifix reminds us of the cost of salvation that has been won through the love and obedience of Christ.  This is a great mystery.  There is suffering in life and sooner or later for all of us.  We see suffering throughout our world.  The crucifix and its bold display of redemptive suffering protects us against the temptations of choosing to ignore suffering in our world, getting lost ourselves in the darkness of suffering and giving in to victimhood in the face of suffering.  Suffering, in Christ, can be redemptive.

Let me say a word about something that many people are skittish about – commitment.  You need commitment and not just new experiences.  When I was in campus and vocation ministry my schedule and responsibilities allowed and even required of me quite a bit of travel.  Now that I am in a parish my travelling has been greatly reduced due to the commitment of being a pastor.  This is not a bad thing.  There are seasons to life and there are seasons to ministry.  My faith life and my life in general is now being nourished more by the commitment of being a pastor than by a string of new experiences offered through travel and life situation.  Commitments in life offer nourishment too!  Our world does not emphasize this but it is true.  Young adults do not get lost in the siren call of chasing new experience after new experience through life!  Sooner or later, you will wear yourself out and, frankly, not have much depth.  Commitments in life are what lead to the depth of personhood, awareness and insight.  Do not be afraid to commit in faith and in love to Christ, his Church and another person if you are so called.  Be willing to go deep!

You also need a real community that will not fit neatly into your box, one that is not perfect, that disagrees and that argues.  I have known young people to leave the Church either because it is not “perfect” or because it does not fit into their own framework.  Frankly, I think that this is not a sign of good, adult judgment.  On college campuses, people are talking about “trigger notices” and “safe zones” around discussions that students might find threatening or challenging.  Social media and our current structure of news outlets may allow us to exist and interact in a universe occupied solely by like-minded people (this is one of the dangers of our contemporary information age) but the real world does not.  It is okay to argue and it is okay to debate and it is wonderful to be in a Church that has this and the Catholic Church has it in spades!  Many social commentators have noted that argument and disagreement are turn offs to young adults who like to avoid such things at all costs (again this is an unintended consequence of how the generation was raised) but life and insight is gained through respectful disagreement, discussion and debate.  We believe that the Holy Spirit leads the Church and this is testified especially through moments of disagreement, discussion, prayer and debate.

You need holiness that sanctifies.  One of my favorite professors in seminary likened the Catholic understanding of grace to a house that is being renovated from the inside out.  Grace, in our Catholic understanding, does not just cover over our sinfulness but rather goes to the heart of who we are in order to heal the wound of sin from within on out.  We are fully healed and fully restored through a lifetime of the working of grace and our cooperation with it.  The ones who witness this most fully are the saints.  Young adults, life can be different!  We can know a holiness that heals, restores and is authentic!  We are not meant to be defined by our sins, our stumblings and our weaknesses.  We are all called to be saints!  It is not just a nice thought but an eschatological truth.  We are called to sanctification through and through and we should not settle for anything less.

Hopefully, these thoughts will prove to be helpful.  Every generation has its blessings and every generation has its struggles.

Dear young adults, you need the Church … and the Church needs you.  From a priest who has truly been blessed by his interaction with so many young adults and who cares deeply about you, may God bless you and may God guide you.

 

The Priest as Friend

02 Saturday Apr 2016

Posted by mcummins2172 in priesthood, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Catholic priesthood, Christian faith, Christian life, Christianity, discipleship, Roman Catholic

friendship in christThere are many images of ordained priesthood that operate in our Church today – the priest as sacramental minister, the priest as co-worker with the bishop, the priest as pastor, the priest as leader of the worshipping community. These are some of the more “official” images of priesthood but there are others, I have come to realize, that can often operate in the hearts and minds of both priests and laity alike.  The priest as administrator and builder operating the parish with efficient ease!  The priest as superhero stomping out evil with his superpowers.  (I have seen many a vocation poster/image along this line and I have to admit I find it rather silly to say the least.)  The priest as shaman battling dark forces behind the scenes by the use of ancient languages and rituals.  The priest as philosopher or wisdom figure enlightening the masses with his erudite thought.  Are there times when a priest does have to head a building project and administrate a parish?  Yes, certainly.  There are also times when a priest has to wade through the darkness of sin and evil in life and I hope that at least every now and then the priest does offer something worthwhile for people to consider.  All this is to say that there are many images surrounding the priest – some official and some not-so-official yet held in different hearts.

One image that I would like to explore is priest as friend but a friendship that has a specific root and foundation which is from and in Christ. I do not presume that others cannot also share in this friendship, in fact I think it is a commonality among all disciples, but for my purposes here I want to relate this vocation of friendship specifically to the ordained priesthood.

In the fifteenth chapter of John we find our Lord uttering these rather amazing words, “This is my commandment: love one another, as I have loved you. No one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends, if you do what I command you.  I shall no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know the master’s business; I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from my Father.  You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last; so that the Father will give you anything you ask him in my name.  My command to you is to love one another.”  (Jn. 15:12-17)

I once read where a renowned theologian, much more knowledgeable than I, wrote that we need to, in essence, avoid the danger of presuming friendship with Christ. Friendship implies peer to peer and we must remember that Christ is “God made flesh” and we are creature.  I certainly agree with this and recognize the important point being made … but Jesus did say, “I call you friends…” I do not think this should be dismissed so readily.

It is a mercy to say the least that God, in Christ, now calls us friends but it is, in fact, a mercy given. You did not choose me, no, I chose you… It is interesting to note that it is within the gospel with the highest Christology that this assertion from our Lord is found.  It is a mystery of a friendship given that is truly intimate yet also does not deny the transcendence of our Lord.  It is also a unique mark of Christianity in relation to all other world religions that God so greatly desires to bestow upon his followers the grace of friendship.

Christ calls us friends because he has made known to us all that he has learned from the Father and that we are to do as he has commanded. We must put what we have learned into action to fully know and live this reality of friendship.  This comes after the washing of the feet where Christ teaches that we must do as he has done, which is to pour oneself out in love and service for others – especially the poor and forgotten.  This, I believe, is where the door to seeing priest as friend of Christ and friend of humanity has its foundation and root.

The priest is called to serve but to serve in a unique way. Many people, many good people who do not even have to have a faith, serve continuously throughout life.  Think of parents serving their children, police or EMTs serving the public, firefighters daily putting their lives at risk, people generously donating their time and effort for some cause.  These are all worthwhile forms of service which might or might not be attached to some form of belief but the priest serves explicitly for the Kingdom of God. I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last… 

The service of the priest is connected to the Kingdom of God and therefore the friendship with Christ which the priest has been given is known and enlivened through this service to the Kingdom. I recently shared a confession with my parish.  My confession was that I do not always want to serve.  I do not always want to make the nursing home visit, I do not always want to sit in the confessional (especially on a beautiful spring day), I do not always want to make an administrative decision at yet another meeting, I do not always want to serve the poor but when I do, I meet Christ and his friendship enlivens and blesses me and my priesthood.

Yes, the priest can be seen through the lens of all the images shared at the beginning of this reflection but another worthwhile and truly important image is the priest as friend – friend of Christ and friend of humanity. I also believe that this image of priesthood truly explored and lived can also help provide a healing balm needed in our world today.  A balm that Christ can use to help heal the wound of isolation.

We find ourselves in a time where people are truly isolated one from another and this is causing intense pain, suffering and even death. The elderly are forgotten, the poor are ignored, the “other” is demonized and our hearts are continually being more and more hardened and turned inward.  We must not shrink before this gaping wound of our world’s isolation but rather hold even faster to the words our Lord speaks in John 15.  Christ calls us friends!  Christ calls us to love one another!  Christ calls us to bear fruit that will last!  In Christ, the priest must live friendship with all humanity and he does this precisely because Christ calls him friend.

Christ calls us friends! We need to believe this and truly let the awareness of this grace given sink into our lives and our hearts.  We have a friend in Jesus.  It is much more than just a cliché.  It is a reality and a mercy shared.

I call you friends… It is a mercy given from our Lord for all his disciples but also in this Jubilee Year of Mercy it a worthwhile grace for the priest to reflect upon and truly explore. The priest as friend.

Follow The Alternate Path on WordPress.com

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Previous Posts

  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • April 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007

Popular Posts

  • mcummins2172.files.wordpr…
  • mcummins2172.files.wordpr…

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Alternate Path
    • Join 145 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Alternate Path
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...