Catholic College Identity

I finally got around to reading my October 2009 issue of Scan the alumnae magazine for St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. The magazine is sent to all alumnae and I am one.

For an alum magazine, it's done very well. I'm sure the intent is threefold; keep us informed of what's going on with the campus and the school, keep us informed of our classmates and inspire us to donate money or time to the school.

I appreciate the school for the self-confidence it gave me and several of the academic programs are solid. However, regarding the defense of, admiration of and propagation of the Roman Catholic faith, the university falls flat on its face most of the time.

I'm in a different place now than I was back in the late 1980s-early 1990s when I was an undergrad at St. Catherine University. My Catholic Faith, I like to think, has evolved and deepened. In many ways, despite the best efforts of the university. My definition of authentic Catholicism is probably different from most of the faculty of the university. Even when I attended the university (it was a college back then), I was down right conservative compared to most. I attended Mass in the Our Lady of Victory Chapel almost daily. I was waffling on abortion. Most of my classmates were pro-choice. I wasn't sure that I was. While not fully pro-life, I can already see that I was 'getting there'.

Most of my profs were Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet. The Sisters are still around but most of the faculty are not religious (have fun with that!) of the Order-or any Order for that matter. In fact,I doubt most of the faculty are Catholic. I don't think all faculty at a Catholic school MUST be Catholic. However, I believe strongly that they should at the very least respect the Faith that sponsors their institution and, arguably, pays their salary.

But, I digress.

Getting back to Our Lady of Victory Chapel.

St. Catherine University has one of the most beautiful campuses that you will find anywhere. The Chapel is a beautiful building. Unlike many instititutions, it is very much a freestanding and full-sized church. I've been in other colleges where the Chapel is only a room in a campus building. Not so at St. Kate's.

In this issue of Scan there is an article about the origins of the Chapel. I heard much of this back when I was a student, but I read it with interest because I love the Chapel.

I remember a lot of bad liturgy in that Chapel. In fact, I have a photo of a "mass" that if I posted it would cause huge howls but I'm holding off. Not sure why. That was then. This is now. Maybe.

But, the buiding is lovely.

However, I found this quote by Kathy Daniels, art director of Catherine G. Murphy Galleries in the Art Building on campus, interesting.

"The Chapel doesn't have Catholic paintings, a prominent Catholic-style crucifix or ranks of statues. It's a place where our Protestant students and our Jewish, Muslim and Hindu students don't feel excluded. And its simplicity helps create a mood of peacefulness that's very conducive to its mission as a chapel, a place for meditation as well as celebration. I love ornate churches, but sometimes they can be distracting when I am trying to pray"

Did the non-Catholic students neglect to read the part of the University's Mission statement where it talks about "education in the CATHOLIC tradition"? I wonder at what point, ecumenisists will quite believing that ecumenism means denying and watering down your own faith so as not to "offend" anyone? At what point, does anyone care if God is offended?

Does the Chapel on a CATHOLIC campus HAVE to define "welcoming" and "inclusivity" as pretending it's not Catholic? If I go into a Yoga meditation center am I allowed to be upset that there is no statue of the Virgin inside? Of course not. It's not part of that faith practice.

In fairness, there are some Catholic clues around the building but I found her comment interesting. Also, I know Methodist, Lutheran and Jewish schools have had some of their faith identity removed over time as well.

What really bothers me is her comment about the architecture. ARCHITECTURE can be distracting to pray? Especially ornate architecture? I don't know about you but what I find most distracting during prayer are the presence of other people rustling around, talking, walking by, laughing, in church while I'm trying to pray.

Isn't Church architecture, when done well, supposed to lead us to prayer and devotion? If the architecture does "distract" you, how can you be distracted by prayer? If you are gazing upon a mural of the Ascension behind the altar, isn't that gaze a form of prayer? How can it NOT be? Even a blank wall can lead one to prayer. A blind person can pray. Real prayer is interior anyway. However, I found her comments interesting.

/end ramble

Give Thanks!

Today, in the United States, is Thanksgiving Day! Give thanks every day.

Oh, God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work, help me
to remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home,
help me to remember the homeless;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer;
And remembering, help me
to destroy my complacency
and bestir my compassion.
Make me concerned enough
to help, by word and deed,
those who cry out
for what we take for granted.--Samuel F Pugh (a prayer of the Salesian Missions)

Happy Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria!

Glorious St. Catherine, virgin and martyr, help me to imitate your love of purity. Give me strength and courage in fighting off the temptations of the world and evil desires. Help me to love God with my whole heart and serve Him faithfully.

O St. Catherine, through your glorious martyrdom for the love of Christ, help me to be loyal to my faith and my God as long as I live.

Amen.

Quantitative Metathesis Sighting Part II!

Quantitative Metathesis makes another appearance on the Passionists' blog! A priestly friend of hers from Rome, Fr. Paul Fasano, makes a visit. QM is in the white blouse in the last photo-looking radiant as always. Seriously, does QM ever NOT smile? Does anyone have a photo of her NOT smiling? I doubt it.

Please continue to pray for QM during her period of Aspirancy. Also, pray and support the Passionist Nuns of St. Joseph's Monastery in Kentucky-a solid order.

Deep curtsy to Argent of the Eagle Eye!

Abortion and Men

Warning: This post has some strong sexual content!

Time and again I hear people in favor abortion remove the man from the equation along with the unborn child. You’d think women impregnate themselves to listen to them.

Radical feminists want men and women to be equal but that equality apparently only goes one way. When men ‘get in the way’ of what women want, they must be removed. If women want to join a men’s club, the men better let them in. If men want to join a women’s club, the men better step off.

If men speak up against abortion, an attempt will be made to silence them by claiming pregnancy is solely the woman’s “problem”. The woman will handle it as she sees fit and the guy can just open his wallet and remain silent.

True, women carry and birth the child. Often, they end up with sole custody of the child-if that’s the situation. However, male sperm is still needed for a pregnancy.
Is that all a man is; a sperm donor? Is ejaculation what makes a man a man?
We have emasculated our men and reduced their role in the family to a paycheck and a fertilizer provider.

Of course, abortion effects men. It’s ludicrious to claim otherwise. All the men who will not be fathers; not to mention all the babies who will not be fathered. Fathered in the fullest sense of the word.

Abortion has three victims.

Holiday Entertainment

A new post of mine is up on "Our Word and Welcome to It!". The topic: Holiday Entertainment! Read it here

Tonight I'm Gonna Party Like It's 1969!

A couple people sent me links to my former parish's annual party. You can read it here Don't eat first.

This is not news to me or anyone else in this town. I should stay away from it all but it's like coming upon a car wreck-you can't look away. I used to buy tickets to this show every year back in the day. It is entertaining-if you can get past the inevitable anti-Catholic digs and the venue (more on that towards the end).

Ray said they must have dug deep in their closets for those clothes. "No, they wear that stuff all the time!" I wasn't kidding.

Father Zuhlsdorf has a phrase that he uses: "aging hippie baggage". Never has that phrase seemed truer than the images from that production. Isn't baggage something you are supposed to temporarily carry, but later unpack and put away?

Yet, there are some folks who just can't put it away. They are still carrying it. They think they have evolved and grown and we haven't. When, really, it's the other way around. They are stuck 30 years ago and the Church has, quite frankly, moved on without them.

The word, maturity, comes to mind. Most of us mature in our Faith. Our Faith deepens as we grow older-at least, it SHOULD. For some; I don't know that they have matured in their faith. They will argue that they have the "grown-up" Catholicism and I don't. I'm still confused as to how the definition of "grown-up" means petulantly thumbing ones nose at the Holy Father. Is it different because they aren't sticking their tongues out?

Oddly, "Time Warp" from Rocky Horror Picture Show was not performed. Maybe because it's not from 1969 or maybe some finally draw a line against doing a "pelvic thrust" on the same stage that is used as an altar on Sunday.

Stewardship

I've been working on my parish's stewardship campaign lately. I realize now that I was meant to help with this. If I were employed, there is no way I would've had the time necessary to get it going.

There is a financial piece to the campaign, but the parish has a more critical need to get more parishioners involved in the life of the parish. We are financially stable. We are a small parish but we are not in debt. We are blessed to have several really wealthy members.

I think, sometimes, it's easier to ask Catholics for more money than for their time. I know, Catholics can be notoriously tight-fisted. But, our parish relies, heavily, upon only a few who seem to do all the parish activities.

We have critical needs for: a Sacristan, Funeral lunch volunteers, a Parish Festival Chair and a Holiday Bake and Craft Sale Coordinator.

As I was calling around the "regulars" were saying "This is the last year I'm leading this!" or "I'm getting too old and crippled to do it. Let the young people step up!" or "I'm tired of doing it."

Some of these folks have been doing these ministries, leading these minitries, for years-even decades.

God bless them for their efforts.

The stewardship process emphasized to me the importance of our retired parishioners to parish life. Also, the parents who are home during the day are critical as well. Without them, our parish has nothing to offer outside of the Sacraments.

Don't get me wrong. The Sacraments are the primary reason for Church. Sacraments are critical. However, I think the parish used to be the social life or the community as well. Maybe as more of us moved away from the parish of our registration we quit relying upon the parish family to be our family.

I don't hear the younger folks in my parish expressing great enthusiasm for being at the Church outside of the Mass. I think it's great that more of the young people are engaged and excited about the Sacraments. They go to Mass, but, that's it. People have more demands for their attention these days.

Someone said; "Well, maybe we just will not have funeral luncheons. We'll just recommend some nearby restaurants." I don't know about you. But, I'm in no shape to drive immediately after attending a loved one's funeral.

I pray that maybe it takes the absence of things people take for granted to bring people around. Since the Sacristan put his foot down, there are times the Sanctuary Lamp is dark and the Church is locked.

If we don't have a Parish Festival this year (which happens to be our biggest fundraising event), then people are going to have to dig deeper into their wallets. If we don't have a Holiday Bake and Craft Sale, people that don't bake will not have those homemade goods to serve at Thanksgiving or the homemade item to give at Christmas.

I have some hope that the Stewardship campaign will work. Even though our parish numbers are small, most of our parish live in the neighborhood. It's alot easier to persuade someone to give of their time, when they don't have to drive over 1/2 hour to get to Church. A great deal of the parishioners live within walking distance.

What I worry about is that without the active parish life it can be harder to attact new people. Yes, many are drawn to a Mass appropriately celebrated, but in this neighborhood (Thanks Be To God) almost all the parishes nearby are solid. So, we are competing against other solid parishes. Without the activity draw, what do we have?

We have a lovely building, but the interior was wreckovated in the 70's. It's nice, but not what people expect from the exterior.

We need something to differentiate ourselves in order to stay viable. I'm not sure, yet, what that is.

In the meantime, we need volunteers!

The parish does not run itself. Father, certainly, can not and should not be doing all the work. If you are not involved in your parish, outside of showing up for Mass (great!), please consider it. If the Church is your life, then, make it so.

Misers

What a perfect time of year to talk about misers! "A Christmas Carol" is being staged featuring everyone's favorite miser: Scrooge.

Today's Gospel reading is the story of the Widow's Mite from Luke 21:1-4

He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury;
and He saw a poor widow put in two copper coins.
And He said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them;
for they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all the living that she had."

How many of us are miserly with our offerings to the Lord? I'm not only talking about money. How many of us only go to Mass on Sunday if we don't happen to already have other plans or there is not a game on? How many of us rarely give time each day to prayer? Do we only pray when we happen to have a few spare minutes? Do we ever willfully designate time to spend with Him? Do we ever refuse to socialize with our friends because we already had time scheduled for the Lord?

Advent is approaching and it's a great time of year to renew your relationship with Him. Who doesn't love a baby? I know. Some of us love the Tiny Infant Baby Jesus (Hi Ricky Bobby!) more than Cross Jesus. It shouldn't be that way but you need to start somewhere. Why not start now?

Who May Speak

Archbishop Nienstedt recently issued an instruction to parishes and parish administrators (there’s a special ection regarding the seminary) regarding who is appropriate to speak before or after Holy Eucharist-this means, the Mass (NOT solely the time before or after Communion).You can read the document here

There is one local parish, in particular, that should pay close attention to this document. If they follow their usual path, they will ignore it altogether or study the document and assign a loophole to it. If a loophole is not readily apparent, they’ll create one.

I find it interesting that dissidents will ignore the letter of the law, in favor of an amorphous spirit, when it suits them. Similarly, there are instances where they will ignore the spirit of a document and find a law.

Some people make their own laws, yet, claim to be part of a community. Community means: people who share a viewpoint or a belief in common. Sometimes, I’m hard-pressed to understand how people persist in being in a community but reject most of its beliefs.

I have to wonder why would anyone ask someone, who is in non-conformity, to speak in an institution of the Faith on a topic regarding the Faith? What is the motive? Surely, it can't be to build-up the temple of God? Yes, these folks will probably fall back on their old canard of "dialogue" being necessary for the betterment of the Faith. Is listening to someone talk at you "dialogue"? Do we expect "dialogue" and "arguments" at Holy Eucharist? I don't know about you, but I crave peace and the security of Ritual when I go to Mass. Also, let us not forget my craving for the Real Presence of Christ.

Even outside of Holy Eucharist, anyone who claims to speak for the Faith and in support of the Faith, but who does little to nothing to indicate they actually believe in or share the tenets of the Faith, must be regarded with, at the very least, suspicion.

Sure, this is a free country and anyone can say anything but that doesn't mean anyone capable of speech and with a miles worth of credentials should be immediately regarded as wise and truthful.It definitely does not mean that our freedom as a nation necessarily extends to freedom at the pulpit. If our pulpits become, solely, platforms for people with "issues" with the Church to share their poison with the rest of us, than we are in real trouble. If we spend more time hearing dissent, at what point, do we hear Truth and the authentic Love of Christ expressed thru His Church? If you can't hear Truth during the Holy Eucharist, when, O Lord, when?

Jesus, I Trust In You!

Jesus, I Trust In You!

The ‘slogan’ of Divine Mercy. The phrase I clung to this summer as I was, willfully, unemployed and underemployed. I cast out into the deep without guarantee of a line to pull me back into the boat.

I trusted in the Lord to provide and He did. I had uncertainty but, surprisingly, little fear. I knew that I would have a roof over my head. I knew that family or friends would assist where and when they could if I needed them. It turns out that I only had to rely on prayer from others.

Prayer is the best gift a stranger can give you. Offers of prayer mean much to me. Prayers kept me afloat. Knowing others prayed for me gave me a lot of strength. Prayer kept my attitude positive and kept me working hard at looking for a job.

I’m so happy to be where I am now. Employed-yes. But, even more so, I’m happy that I’m at the point in my life where I Trust. A few years ago, I would never have trusted the Lord as much as I do now.

Trust in the Lord always!