Latina Catholics Becoming Muslims

From a Muslim site, this extended post on Latina Catholics becoming Muslim:

What I find interesting is that none of the converts talks about their actual relationship with God. One major
topic seems to be wearing the hijab and how it affects how they feel about themselves and how others treat them.


When Beatriz Kehdy was growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she felt uncomfortable with the standards of beauty that she says were a part of the culture in which she was raised.

An emphasis on external beauty and the body, she says, became increasingly foreign to her own personal values.

Kehdy moved to New York City almost 10 years ago and eventually discovered a sense of place in Islam and in the hijab, or headscarf worn by women in the faith.

“When I wear the hijab, I feel more respected, people talk to me with respect,” she said.
The now 27-year-old architect converted from Catholicism to Islam four years ago, but didn’t tell her family until a few years later, in a letter.

“When I started wearing the hijab, there was a problem,” she said.

“My father didn’t want me to wear it in public in Brazil.”

Kehdy is one of many Latin American women in the US who have embraced the Islamic faith.
The American Muslim Council, based in Chicago, estimates that there are more than 200,000 Latino Muslims in the United States.

Women make up 60 percent of conversions to Islam, according to experts.

Mosques around the country have begun to offer special classes where women converts can learn about Islam.

The North Hudson Islamic Educational Center, in Union City, N.J., offers both English and Spanish Language classes.

Mariam Abassi, vice president of the Da’wah (outreach) program at the center, said about 500 members of the center are Latino converts.

There are between 4,000 and 5,000 members in total.

Many Latinas choose to accept Islam because they marry Muslims.

Others convert when they’re single, often because they feel unfulfilled by the religion in which they were raised.

For a large number of Latinas, that faith is Catholicism.

“Some of them really have doubt about the Trinity,” a central belief in Catholicism that says God exists in three beings, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; said Chernor Sa’ad Jallah, assistant Imam at the Islamic Cultural Center, in East Harlem, the largest mosque in New York City.

“They find it really confusing,” In his community of about 1,500 people, between 10 and 15 percent are Latinos.

Some said they were uncomfortable making confessions to a priest and feeling as though they had no direct relationship with God.

“I was raised as a Catholic but I didn’t like it.

I felt this emptiness,” said Mayeline Turbides, a 21-year-old Dominican student who lives in West New York, N.J.” I was never convinced.” She took the name Leila after she became a Muslim.

Before discovering Islam, Turbides had explored evangelical Christianity and Mormonism, which failed to draw her in.

About two years ago, her Muslim boss started talking to her about Islam.

“I used to go out, to drink.

I got drunk 500 times,” Turbides said in Spanish.

“But nothing made sense.

I wanted rules.”

When it comes to assimilating to a new faith, Islam appeals to Catholic Latinas for several reasons.

“There are many similarities between Catholicism and Islam,” said Ibrahim Hooper, Communications Director and spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington, D.C.

“Both have principles that need to be followed, regarding how you conduct yourself as person, how you operate in a community.”

Others find a new religion to be an escape from the confines of machismo, or chauvinism.

“I feel more protected,” Turbides said.

“Men used to shout things at me when I was walking down the street.

They would honk their horns.

When I wear the hijab, nobody says anything.”

For New Yorker Yuri Lara, the 23-year-old daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants, understanding the role of women in Islam, and dispelling what she considers to be stereotypes, was one of her biggest concerns when she was studying the religion.

“We have rights, we have a voice, it’s all in the Quran,” said Lara, who studied psychology at SUNY Albany.

But for many Latina converts to Islam, conversion brings with it the challenge of gaining acceptance from their own families and other non-Muslims, a process that takes time.

“At first my family was unhappy,” said Demaris Tapanes, 32, who was born and raised in Union City, N.J., to a Puerto Rican mother and a Cuban father.

“'Why do you have to cover?'" she said of her family’s objection to the hijab.

“One of my brothers told me he didn’t want me to cover because after 9/11, people resented Muslims,” she said “He was concerned for my security.”

Wearing the hijab presents other challenges, as Turbides found out when she wore the head covering to the grocery store where she works.

“People would ignore me,” Turbides said.

“My boss is a Muslim, but they’re nice to him because he is an Arab.

Since I am Latina, they tell me that I’m pulling away from my religion.

I felt very bad that day.”

Despite the obstacles they face to practice their adopted faith, many women converts say Islam changed their lives.

“I’m a better version of myself now,” said Lara.

“I’m closer to my family than I ever was.

I think more about others, as opposed to me, me, me.

I think about what I’m going to eat before I take the last bite left.”

Estela Ramon, who attends the class at the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center, in Union City, became interested in Islam after her husband, Delfino, who was born in Mexico, converted to Islam four years ago.

“At first I asked him if he was crazy,” said Ramon, who is also from Mexico and was raised a Catholic.

Ramon, 34, says that her husband changed for the better when he turned to Islam.

“He used to drink and get angry,” she said.

“Now he is more confident in himself, he is more responsible.

And he doesn’t drink anymore.”
Ramon is reading a Spanish translation of the Quran and is thinking of converting too.

Although she says she is drawn to the lifestyle that Islam proscribes, Ramon says she is not ready to accept the faith.

“My time to say yes has not come," she said.

“When God wants me to, I will accept it.”


You have heard it here before: If we don't evangelize our own, someone else will do it for us. And they may be Muslim.

Comments?

Is Canadian Catholicism Becoming "Evangelical?"

Is the Canadian Catholic Church becoming "evangelical"?

John Allen's piece today raises that question with Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto.

NCR: One word that seems to come up in describing the new crop of Canadian bishops, yourself included, is 'evangelical.'

Archbishop Collins: I hope so. One of things I'm talking about in this retreat with priests is St. Paul, preaching the gospel, reaching out. … We've got to be moving out into the secular world. As much as I admire Catholic journals and the Catholic media, I'm reminded that G.K. Chesterton wrote in the Illustrated London News. Later he wrote for a Catholic weekly, but most of his life was out in the secular world. We've got to do what we can in-house, we have to look at the gathered, but we've got to look at the scattered as well.

NCR: Part of what people mean by calling you 'evangelical' is a willingness to challenge the prevailing secular consensus.

Archbishop Collins: Oh, absolutely. … This is a very secular society, definitely not the United States. In Canada, there's a strong push among the ruling elite to address the issue of a multicultural and multi-religious society by saying, "Let us drain the public forum of all religion." The secular society would thus not really be the society of this age, which is what it should be, but a society drained of anything. It's iconic that after 9/11, in the country where it actually happened, everybody went to a cathedral where the president and religious leaders prayed. In the country to the north, which also lost people, the event was held on Parliament Hill, with nary a reference to God. I wasn't there, but somebody told me that the only hymn was "Imagine," an atheist hymn. We're all conscious of the Swiss Air tragedy. [In 1998, a Swiss Air flight crashed off the coast of Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people on board.] After that tragedy, there was a "God-free" public service. That's one alternative [for a multicultural society], and I think it's absolutely wrong-headed.

NCR: So the new Canadian bishops are determined to push back?

Archbishop Collins: I think so. We've had enough. We're here, and we're part of this society. As I often point out, if someone's vulnerable and on the street in Toronto, it's someone motivated by religion who's going to help them. We're there on the street, we walk the talk. Therefore, we have a place at the table. We've earned it, quite apart from the fact that all but 16 percent of the Canadian population claims some sort of religious affiliation, at least when approached by the census. I think the idea that the solution to a multiethnic, multi-religious, multicultural society is to deny the profound reality in the lives of the vast majority of the population, which is religion, is just bizarre. Why should we sit here and let that happen? I'm not talking about replacing this model with a theocracy. Obviously we've had that in history. The church is always healthiest when it's not in power, so I'm not recommending that. We should not be in power, but we're here, and we have a right to speak.

NCR: To what extent is this evangelical spirit present at the grass roots?

Archbishop Collins: I feel extraordinary hope. I had this hilarious experience last year, after I had just ordained six guys to the priesthood. We were outside going around taking photographs in a little courtyard beside the church. This reporter came up to me, looking soulfully into my eyes, and asked me to talk about the failure of people to respond to vocations to the priesthood and the disaster looming over the church. I said, "Well, I just ordained six of them. Talk to them, they're over there." He said, "But what about the failure and the falling apart of the church, people drifting away?" That's just not my reality. Sure, those things are real, but it's not the whole story.

NCR: It sounds like you're trying to project a robust Catholic identity, but one that's outward-looking rather than moving into a ghetto.

Archbishop Collins: Definitely not a ghetto. We're part of the society. We're good friends with all our neighbors of many faiths, and with the secularists too. …I think we should engage in hearty discussions with all kinds of people.

More Bishops like this, please. Love the fact that Archbishop Collins clearly understands the term "evangelical" in its Biblical sense and gladly claims it as Catholic without the slightest hesitancy.

A Theologian in Town Hall

Intriguing article, "A Theologian in Town Hall", in the new issue of America. It is written by a tenured professor of theology, Georgia Masters Keightley, who quit her job and become major of her small Nebraska home town.

Keightley's interest is very much in the theology and mission of the laity:

Throughout my career, I had regularly taught courses in Catholic social ethics and was gratified to find students altruistic and enthusiastic about the idea that society could be transformed by their decisions and actions. Yet the more I taught these courses, the more I wanted to know how to translate this body of teaching into practical, everyday decisions and actions. What could educated Catholic professionals do to make the social, economic and political networks of their communities more fair and just, more supportive of the common good? How does one live out a preferential option for the poor in one’s professional life? How does the principle of solidarity apply to one’s daily use of money?

While I could remind students of the Gospel charge to do hands-on charity and service, such actions do not really address the structural causes of injustice, which, as Paul VI taught, must be a primary focus of the Catholic witness in our time. The pope described the need for Catholics to bring to conversion “the activities in which they engage, and the lives and concrete milieu which are theirs.” The question was how.

Snip.

First, I learned that service as an elected official or as an appointee to a board or committee is a rich opportunity for Christian witness. Here one can directly affect the way taxes are raised and spent and create opportunities for employment, education and job training; one can work to ensure that affordable housing is provided and that building codes, safety and health standards are enforced. Above all I came to see such service as a vital way the baptized can heed the call of the Second Vatican Council to seek “the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and directing them according to God’s will.” In this way, too, U.S. Catholics can practice what our bishops have come to call “faithful citizenship.”

But my time as mayor also gave me insight into some of the individual things that must be attended to if our collective institutions are to be humanized. And while most of what I learned was hardly revolutionary, my experience proved that St. Thérèse, the Little Flower, had it absolutely right: it is in the practice of love in the small details that we really begin to redirect the world to God’s purposes.

Snip.

To be honest, I was relieved when my mayoral duties came to an end. To do such work takes vast amounts of time, humility, patience, a thick skin and a good sense of humor. Despite the challenges, I came away with a clearer grasp of what lay Catholics can do to renew society and its institutions. But the dearth of attention parishes give to promoting and then preparing laypeople for such indispensable work has been a continuing disappointment. How often does one hear homilies treating the great themes of Catholic social ethics: the dignity of work, the obligation to care for creation, the rights and duties associated with life in community? When and where are laypeople educated in the practical ways of using their learning, professional expertise and gifts of the Spirit to root out the conditions that give rise to hunger, homelessness and discrimination? (Sherry's emphasis)

Great observations.

It has been my experience across the board that one area where Catholic formation almost always is weakest is in helping people learn how to apply the principles of the Church's teaching in specific, concrete real live situations. Every time we've managed to come up with a theologically solid and practical process that addresses one specific area of lay formation, the demand for it is huge. Because the need to bridge the gap between the universal and its application in Colorado Springs or Dodge City or Houston in 2008 in this unique set of circumstances is never ending.

This really is the terrain, the jurisdiction, the responsibility and expertise of the laity.

Lots Going On

Lots to blog. First of all, starting tomorrow evening at 7pm.

First Fr. Mike takes off early tomorrow for LA where he will help teach a Called & Gifted workshop at St, John Eudes in Chatsworth, CA.

while our one of our Chicago land teaching teams will be putting on a Called & Gifted workshop at St. Isidore's in Bloomington, IL

If you are in the LA or Chicago areas, feel free to join the fun.

Secondly, interesting stuff going on over at Inside Catholic's blog:

Mark Shea's piece on Getting Past Clericalism is their cover story - and talks about the work of the institute.

They are also showing this fascinating video of an underground evangelical preacher in China. It all seems extremely
evangelical until half way through when - without any warning, one of his little congregations begins to pray the Rosary!
(Honest - I listened to it twice to be sure. ) There was no commentary about this in the video. In many parts of the global south, the sort of divisions that are so important to us seem meaningless but I have to admit I never thought to see Chinese underground evangelicals praying the Rosary. They may not know its Catholic and apparently have no knee-jerk Protestant fears about it.

Thirdly, Gashwin Gomes has blogged a interesting 5 part interview with an Indian Jesuit who is a missionary in Gujarat.

Addendum: I've read the whole interview that Gashwin has written: Fascinating.

I was particularly struck by part 5 on evangelism and discipleship: Nominalism, culture, "followers of Jesus" vs. "disciples", relations with evangelicals in India - fascinating.

And very encouraging to hear from a Jesuit who believes strongly in proclaiming Christ. Thanks Gashwin for this glimpse of a very different world and to Fr. Jose for sharing his story and answering his call.

Catholics Come Home

I haven't had time to look around this website, but the three videos at the bottom of the homepage are worth watching. I had tears running down my face. It looks like a very well-conceived website and a great evangelization tool; very welcoming.

Working the Numbers

The new numbers for global Catholicism are out. The Vatican's Statistical Yearbook shows for the 7 year period from 2000 2006.

The overall Catholic percentage of the world's population remains steady at 17.3% (World population as of May, 2008 is estimated to be just over 6.7 billion. ) That would make the world's Catholic population nearly 1.16 billion.

To put that in perspective: The Center for Global Christianity estimates that in 2008 there are 79,000 new Christians every 24 hours. of which 29,000 are Independents, 28,000 are Catholic, 16,000 are Protestant, 5,000 are Orthodox, and 3,000 are Anglican. It also estimates that there are 69,000 new Muslims every day. Catholic per annum growth is 0.89%. Independent per annum growth is 2.55%.

Overall, the number of Catholic priests increased just over 2,000 to a world wide total of 407,000. While the number of diocesan priests is increasing, religious priests continue to decline and currently make up 1/3 of all priests in the world.

A final bright spot that the statistical yearbook noted was an upswing in the number of seminarians in diocesan and religious seminaries. Globally, their numbers increased from 110.583 in 2000 to more than 115.000 in 2006, a growth of 4.43 percent.

By area:

Europe: The decline continues. 25% of all Catholics live in Europe but the Catholic population only increased there by 1% over the first 7 years of the new millennium. Numbers of European priests dropped 5.75%. Europe saw a decline in the number of religious priests and a steep decline in the number of non-ordained religious (down 12%). The number of seminarians also dropped by 16%.

Oceania: site of this year's World Youth Day: The Catholic population grew 7.6% but their number of priests dropped
4.37% and non-ordained religious dropped nearly 17% over the same 7 years.

America (which includes north, central and south America) While the Catholic population of American grew 8.4% over the 7 year period, the number of priests and religious are essentially unchanged.

and now the "dynamic continents" as the report calls them:

Asia: The Catholic population has remained essentially unchanged but the number of priests has risen 17.7% and there was a 30.6% increase in non-ordained religious. The number of female religious is up by 12.78 percent).

Africa: The number of Catholics rose nearly 22% between 2000 and 2006. Priestly vocations rose even faster ( 24.24%) and non ordained religious rose by 8%. Female religious have risen by 15.45%.

Marian Chapel, St. James Cathedral, Seattle

The exquisite Marian chapel at St. James Cathedral in Seattle is the most beautiful Marian chapel I've ever visited. The walls on three sides are covered with slender tapers.



What these pictures don't show:

The ceiling of the chapel is an inky dark blue covered with golden stars of various sizes. The more candles are lit below, the more stars become visible above.

Our Sorrowful Mother's Ministry

My name is Joe Waters and I am the summer intern here at the Catherine of Siena Institute. I am a Masters of Divinity student at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina and my work with the Institute this summer is in partial fulfillment of the pastoral field education requirement for my degree. One thing I hope to do this summer is profile a number of exciting lay initiatives that we have discovered through our work across the country. 

The first such initiative that I wish to profile is Our Sorrowful Mother’s Ministry in Vandalia, Illinois. OSMM was founded in the late nineties by two laywomen, Debbie Pryor and Vanessa Keck, who decided to host a conference in their small town of 6,000 people after a rather disappointing trip to a Catholic conference in Chicago. The conference was initiated for the evangelization of their parish, but with little support from their parish or the wider community they successfully relied on registration fees from participants to fund the conference. And it worked! Since that first conference (1997) they have put on ten large conferences with nationally and internationally known speakers. Though they have shifted the focus of their ministry to healing and reconciliation they continue to have a large conference every year in the late fall and now have monthly healing retreats as well. These retreats are always led by at least two priests and feature daily Mass, Eucharistic adoration, the sacrament of penance, time for private prayer, spiritual direction with certified spiritual directors, and healing prayer. The retreats cover fascinating topics such as “Deep Healing in the Ocean of God’s Mercy,” “Inner Healing through Our Lady of Reconciliation,” and “Healing the Heart’s Wounds.” They now have two houses, one of which is used by priests and religious, and by the initiative of the Bishop of Springfield the Blessed Sacrament in reserved in OSMM’s chapel. 

Having spoken on the phone recently with both Debbie and Vanessa their commitment to the Lord and the Church deeply impressed me. Both of them are intentional disciples who went through tremendous conversion experiences that set them on this path of reaching out to the suffering and wounded. Our world is in great need of healing and reconciliation, and it is beautiful to find lay apostles dedicated to bringing the Gospel’s message of healing, reconciliation, and mercy to the world. 

A Catholic Global Village

Fascinating.

I just checked and only 60% of our readership over the past 12 hours came from the US. 6% from the UK, 3% from India. And readers from 25 other countries.

We've always had a pretty high international readership compared to other US Catholic blogs - probably due to the high number of posts on international topics.

But 40% non-American visitors is high even for us. In communion with the global Church - through Baptism, the Eucharist, and the hierarchy - but also through the internet. How cheering.

The Martyrs of Korea

The history of the Korean church is unique in the Church. Founded by lay scholars and sustained mostly by lay people in the fact of incredible persecution for generations. Korea has the 4th largest number of martyrs in the world.

A good day to read this poignant description of that persecution and the relics left behind. From Pause for Prayer.


"Who wore those tiny shoes? Did they belong to a child, perhaps only four or five years old? Was the same small individual the owner of both the slippers and the ivory satin tunic with its mandarin collar? Did they belong to St. Peter Yu Tae-chol, strangled in prison at the age of thirteen on October 31st, 1839?

What about the ‘much-loved’ rosary, tired and grey, heaped in one corner? At what stage was it separated from its owner?

…and the two ropes, carefully wound into a tidy knot. They look as though they were new…perhaps only used on one occasion? The dark brown shackles say nothing. Were they witness to more than we can ever imagine? What of the ring made of thick rope, the hole in its centre little more than the width of my clenched fist? Its greasy appearance is ominous, but in what way was it used?

These few mementoes, treasured in the chapel upstairs as I write, are tangible contacts with some of the Korean martyrs. The Catholic community suffered major persecutions in the years 1839, 1846 and 1866, producing at least 8,000 known martyrs. Among them were the fervent Korean priest Andrew Kim Taegŏn and the Korean lay catechist Paul Chŏng Hasang. The vast majority of the martyrs were simple lay people, including men and women, married and single, old and young. 79 martyrs of Korea were beatified in 1925 and 24 more were beatified in 1968 and the combined 103 martyrs have been canonized as saints, in 1984, with feast day September 20. Many of them experienced horrific torture before their equally agonising executions. Currently, Korea has the 4th largest number of saints in the Catholic world.

St. Andrew Kim Taegŏn wrote his last letter to his parish as he awaited martyrdom with a group of twenty persons:

“My dear brothers and sisters, know this: Our Lord Jesus Christ upon descending into the world took innumerable pains upon and constituted the holy Church through his own passion and increases it through the passion of its faithful….

Now, however, some fifty or sixty years since holy Church entered into our Korea, the faithful suffer persecutions again. Even today persecution rages, so that many of our friends of the same faith, among whom am I myself, have been thrown into prison, just as you also remain in the midst of persecution. Since we have formed one body, how can we not be saddened in our innermost hearts? How can we not experience the pain of separation in our human faculties?

However, as Scripture says, God cares for the least hair of our heads, and indeed he cares with his omniscience; therefore, how can persecution be considered as anything other than the command of God, or his prize, or precisely his punishment?…
We are twenty here, and thanks be to God all are still well. If anyone is killed, I beg you not to forget his family. I have many more things to say, but how can I express them with pen and paper? I make an end to this letter. Since we are now close to the struggle, I pray you to walk in faith, so that when you have finally entered into Heaven, we may greet one another. I leave you my kiss of love.”

…but some of them left behind tangible links in the form of clothing, ropes, shackles, a rosary…"

In the Beginning

My mental fog is beginning to lift a little - although it is foggy here. What we call round here "a Seattle day" - a day when you can't see the mountains. Very rare around here and a good morning for strong, hot, Yorkshire Gold tea, I think. Let's see if I can manage a bit of blogging before turning to the day's work.

Fr. Michael Sweeney, (the original Fr. MIchael who founded the Institute with me) and I have just been asked to offer a graduate course in the theology of the laity at a major seminary. (Since the dates have not been finalized, I won't identify the seminary yet). Fr. Michael already teaches a similar course at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology where he now serves as President.

Thinking about it brings back a lot of memories of the early years of our collaboration - and a good place to begin talking about the theology and history of the lay apostolate.

In the mid 90's, Fr. Michael and I were just getting to know each other (which was rather like watching two dogs meet, circle and sniff each other in a park. Foe or friend???? Hmmmm.)

He was my pastor at Blessed Sacrament in Seattle, I had just finished grad school and had worked my way through by working 12 hour weekend shifts at a local hospital, so got a dispensation to attend Mass on weekdays. The result was, I had little sense of Fr. Michael except through my friends, like Mark & Jan Shea and Dave & Sherry Curp, who raved about him.

Fr. Michael has always had a gift for relating to young adults and our gang of friends was simply entranced. Here was a priest who was brilliant, took the Church's teaching very seriously, channeled John Paul II, and simultaneously was not intimidated by the culture (and remember we were in Seattle - none land".) Nor was he angry or embattled. His cheerful, playful confidence in the Holy Spirit's work in and through the Church - including the Second Vatican Council - had a stunning effort on us. In our brief lives as Catholics, we had not met anyone like him.

I made an appointment with him to introduce myself and brought my cherished Master's thesis on the discernment of vocation for him to look at it. He skimmed it and returned it to me with a distinctly unenthusiastic "that's nice." I could take a hint - and didn't speak to him for the next two years. (Fr. Michael always insists he didn't know I wasn't speaking to him. Hmph!) But our friends kept urging us to try again because we were always talking about the same things.

By the time, he asked me to speak at the first gathering of pastors of the province in the fall of 95, we had gotten past those false steps and had begun collaborating informally. Which was how I, nearly fainting with terror at the prospect of facing 35 priests in white (I'd never seen that many priests together before. Fr. Michael, of course, found it all most amusing.) came to give this 30 min talk: The Strategic Role of Lay Catholics in the Dominican Mission

When I spoke these words

When you entered the Order, you spent years being educated and formed for your vocation. But I, too, am a preacher of the gospel in my own right - and where is my house of formation? Your parish is my St. Albert's, the only house of formation I may ever have to prepare me for my vocation as an evangelizing change agent in the world.

I can still remember the intense silence in the room and the wide eyes of a number of the OPs present.

Seven months later, Fr. Michael gave a related speech, Collaboration With the Laity, to the Assembly of the whole Province:

I am struck by the remarkable similarities which seem to pertain between the age of St. Dominic and our own age. St. Dominic faced a Church which appeared to be institutionally moribund in the face of the Albigensian heresy, much as our institutions, whether of diocese, parish, or Newman Center, seem inadequate in the face of the growing atheism and even paganism of modern culture. Dominic witnessed the remarkable success of the Poverello movements of the Middle Ages which, though separated from the communion of the Church, nevertheless were inspired by a genuine evangelical zeal and a desire to follow Christ, much as we are witnessing the growth of evangelical Protestantism. In the Albigensian heresy Dominic perceived, not just a false doctrine which was to be exposed, but a whole movement, as much cultural as it was religious, which threatened the whole fabric of medieval society, much as we are witnessing the defection of our own culture from its Christian roots.

Dominic's response was, if we can be both playful and honest, theft on a grand scale. Dominic stole from the Albigensians their zeal and their poverty, to reclaim it for Christ and his Church. He stole from the Poverello movements their evangelical zeal and their literal application of the evangelical counsels, in order that they might be placed, once again, at the disposal of the Church. He stole from Augustine his rule to accommodate his new Order, and stole from the cathedral canons their education and its place in their lives. Most significantly of all, he stole from Christ his sending of the disciples by twos, to proclaim the advent of the kingdom. The result of his thefts was the Order of Preachers.

I would like to suggest some thievery of our own. The one thread which is common to New Age, Protestant Evangelism and similar contemporary movements, is that they have mobilized their membership. They form intentional communities, with conscious and specific agenda; and no matter how little we may appreciate their ends, we should nonetheless be impressed by their means. In truth, we were there ahead of them: the single-minded zeal of the Evangelicals bears a great resemblance to the early Order. The only theft which it is really necessary for us to engage in is from the riches of our own tradition. We can mobilize our Catholic laity, and thereby play a significant role in the renewal of our Church, simply by applying our own tradition.


Both are still worth reading, I think, - especially Fr. Michael's. They set the stage for the work of the Institute - and for the series of posts I am going to try and begin this week on the history of the lay apostolate.

St. Thomas More's Descendents

I received this note from reader Martin Wood, who is a descendant of St. Thomas More:

I have seen your blogs about St. Thomas More and thought you might be interested in my book "The Family and Descendants of St Thomas More" just published in the UK by Gracewing. It can be seen under 'New Titles' on the Gracewing website at www.gracewing.co.uk.

It is also under 'books' on www.amazon.co.uk

I attach a 'Flyer' which gives further details.
Best wishes,
Martin Wood

From the flyer:
The Family and Descendants of St Thomas More
Martin Wood


This book, weaving together the history and genealogy of the More family and of the other families to which they allied themselves by marriage, provides an illuminating sequel to the various lives that have been written of St Thomas More. It tells the story of what happened to his family in the wake of his heroic witness against the tyranny of Henry VIII and how his descendants, inspired by his faith, were affected by their refusal to conform to the Church of England as, under successive monarchs, England was forcibly transformed from a Catholic to a Protestant country.

The story begins with St Thomas More’s parents and through his sister Elizabeth traces a line of literary figures that includes John Rastell the printer, playwright, dramatist and designer of pageants, John Heywood the Court musician, dramatist and playwright, and John Donne, the poet.

After Thomas More’s execution all the members of his immediate and extended family felt the force of Henry’s fury. His stepmother and his widow, Dame Alice More, were both thrown out of their homes. His son, John, and son-in-law, William Daunce, both narrowly escaped the scaffold, but Giles Heron, another son-in-law, was executed at Tyburn on a trumped-up charge of treason. Others were called in for questioning and they, and their families, were carefully watched throughout their lives. Some sought refuge in Catholic Europe.

The book follows each generation down to the time when the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 finally brought relief from persecution. This is the story of a line of laymen and women, and of priests and nuns, all of whom had a deep faith.

Sounds fascinating. I'd love to get a copy myself. Fellow More-aphiles take heed!

PS. The blog posts about St. Thomas More that Martin Wood refers to was the result of a Thomas More frenzy I went through last June. Start here and scroll down.

Myanmar: The Aftermath

The New York Time lead article on the situation in Myanmar is . . .heartbreaking, enraging, stunning. The accompanying picture of hundreds of desperate famers lining the road waiting in the hope that a car of Burmese civilians trying to aid their countrymen will pass by. It is their only source of hope because the military regime won't let aid in.

Read it all. I was struck by a comment made by 40 year old Ko Htay Oo.

“I am no beggar, so I didn’t eat anything in the past two days,” he said, leaning against a roadside palm tree. “Besides, you shouldn’t compete with kids for begged food.”

The combination of pride and discipline is telling. It tells me a) he is used to not eating regularly although he is not a begger. (I have a hard time imagining an American who hadn't eaten in two days talking like that.)

Elective Surgeries Cancelled During WYD?

I've got a Google alert going for World Youth Day" and it has been illuminating to read a number of Aussie articles grumbling about the inconveniences and even possible dire consequences of holding such an event. It's hard to tell how much of this is because it a Catholic event or just a gigantic event. Did the residents of Sydney also complain so vociferously about the Olympic games?

Here is one consequence of having 225,000 visitors drop in for a week::

The New South Wales Health Department is truly to dispel a rumor that elective surgery will be suspended during World Youth Day in July.

Dr O'Connell has told ABC 702 Sydney local radio that smaller procedures will be listed so theatres will not be tied up with long, complicated surgeries.

"Instead of doing, for example, large cases which take many hours and the patients need to stay in hospital for a number of days post-operatively, they'll ramp up their activities on smaller cases that can be turned over quickly, so the theatre can be rapidly released if there is some major event," he said.

He says the changes are a normal part of disaster planning in case there is an emergency during that week.

WYD: According to the Outspoken Anglican Dean of Sydney

The Dean of Sydney's Anglican cathedral airs his criticism of the catholic Church while welcoming pilgrimages to World Youth Day.

But his criticisms are not what we are used to hearing from Anglican deans. It seems that Philip Jensen, in fact, the whole Anglican Archdiocese of Sydney represents that rarest of rare birds these days - old fashioned Reformed or Puritan Anglicanism.

Jensen writes in the Sydney Morning Herald:

Protestantism is a protest. Our protest is against the enormity of the claims of the Roman Catholic Church.

Some people are born as Protestants. They are anti-Roman Catholic because of their own tribal roots. They have no belief other than that Roman Catholics are wrong. But Protestantism is not tribalism. It is the belief in the sole authority of the Bible. The Bible explains to us that salvation is only by the generosity of God. This salvation comes through Christ alone, and is received by faith without any works on our part. All is to the glory of God alone.

So we protest against Roman Catholic claims to authority. We object to the Pope claiming to be the Vicar of Christ. We reject all claims to authority that imply the insufficiency of scripture. We reject any implication that Jesus's work on the cross was insufficient or is received by more than faith or requires some other mediator.

This protest against Roman Catholicism is no small complaint. It goes to the very heart of God's central message to mankind - the way of salvation. The 39 articles of the Anglican Church state "the Church of Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith".

That sentence was written in the 16th century. Since then the Roman Catholic Church has added to its errors - the Immaculate Conception (1854), the Infallibility of the Pope (1870), and the bodily Assumption of Mary (1950). There is nothing in modern Roman Catholicism that reduces our need to protest.

And yet Jensen goes to say:

It is also to the credit of our city that we are willing to be hospitable not only to people with whom we agree but also to those with whom we disagree.

Of course our hospitality is expensive. That is the nature of hospitality. Compared to the amount of tax our Roman Catholic neighbours contribute it is as nothing.

Naturally our hospitality is inconvenient. We are regularly inconvenienced by parades and demonstrations, by sporting events and parties. That is the nature of living in a world city.

Snip.

I will not be welcoming the Pope, going out to see him or waving a flag. Given what I have said, the Pope wouldn't expect me to. But I am certainly not going to pray for rain on his parade. Remember, our Lord said that our Father in heaven sends sun and rain on all - as the Bible puts it the "just and unjust" alike. This is God giving secular support. We should want our Government to do the same.

Celebrating Corpus Christi in North Georgia

An encouraging tale of a Corpus Christi procession in north Georgia - the first ever. Pastor Randy Mattox writes:

"This year we did our first Eucharistic procession. Since our church is just a block off the town square, I have been wanting to do one through the downtown area. This year our seminarian wanted to organize it, so he did and it was beautiful!

There is a great joy and thrill in honoring our Lord publicly in this way. I felt myself overwhelmed with emotion during communion time, with everyone receiving Jesus, uniting ourselves to Him and to one another, and then knowing that this most intimate moment would culminate in processing out of the church to proclaim to the town and the whole world that our Lord is with us, feeding us, loving us, strengthening us even now as we journey on toward Heaven! It was truly an overwhelming experience!"

During the actual procession, we prayed the litany of the Eucharist and made our trip around the block through the downtown area. It was a short trip this time, I am thinking next year will be longer!!! Nevertheless cars drove by, watching us, probably thinking, "what in the world are they doing?" I felt sorry for them that they didn't yet know what blessing was passing their way. Hopefully with more catechesis and evangelization they will one day. Hopefully they too will join us one day in proudly, humbly, thankfully, walking with Jesus through the streets of Ellijay on the feast of Corpus Christi."


Corpus Christi in fundie land. I know the seminarian who "organized it". He happens to be a blogger and a convert but since he hasn't written about it directly, I won't blow his cover. But I can only imagine what a joyful experience it was for him!

A Goal Worth Shooting For: Your 80th Wedding Anniversary

Lovely. Britain's longest married couple celebrated their 80th (!!!!) anniversary today. After their wedding, they went out to see a Charlie Chaplin film!

Frank Milford, 100, and Anita Milford, 99, will celebrate by spending a quiet weekend together - like most of their days.

“At our age that’s all you need,” said Mr Milford. “Just us together, no big fuss.

Their observations:

. . .the secret to a successful marriage? Share a little kiss and cuddle every night before bed.

“It’s our golden rule,” Mrs Milford said. “Couples these days don’t last long because they often don’t take enough time for each other. There just isn’t enough respect - love is about give and take. Our advice to young couples would be to make time for a little romance every day.”

Mr Milford added: “To win over your sweetheart you need a dose of old fashioned chivalry and don’t let your standards slip. We do everything together even after nearly 80 years.”


And I thought my grandparents were remarkable for their 67 years together. Any one else know a couple who has been married 60 years or more?

Nepal's First Native Priest in Tucson Diocese

Nepal's first native priest is visiting the US. I've blogged on him before but found this article in the Sierra Vista Herald to be really interesting.

In a nation of more than 27 million people, about 7,000 are Catholics. (Sherry's note: Nepal has a total of 768,000 native Christians today although there were almost no Nepalese Christians in 1960. Almost all are Independent Christians. I've written about the extraordinary explosion of Christianity in Nepal here.) The 43-year-old priest is the first native Nepalese to be ordained into the priesthood, after attending seminary in India.

And, what led him to become a Catholic has a twist. The former Hindu was converted to Christianity by a Protestant missionary, who used John 3:16 — “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” — for changing his faith." (Sherry's note: Not surprising considering the history of Christianity in Nepal. What is interesting is that he became Catholic.)

Snip.

“I was converted when I was 19,” Father Silas said.

He got the call, a spiritual awakening to enter the clergy when he was 26.

For his Hindu parents, the decision to leave the faith of his birth “was devastating, although they have now accepted it,” Father Silas said.

As the eldest son, he was expected to marry, father children and carry on the family’s line, which now becomes the responsibility of his brother, he said.

Snip.

Currently there are 15 Nepalese men who are in seminaries in India, and they need funds for their education, he said.

So far, though his talks at churches in Sierra Vista, Green Valley and Tucson, he has been able to find sponsors who will support three of them to the tune of $1,200 a year, Father Silas said.
Nepal is a landlocked nation about the size of Arkansas that is going through some political turmoil as the kingdom transitions toward what he hopes will become a constitutional republic.

The last of the absolute monarchs has been forced out of office, and on Wednesday the new government that is forming will meet to determine the direction Nepal will take, he said.

What may surprise some people is that Nepal’s prime minister has asked the former Maoist insurgents to form a government. The Maoists, formally known as the Communist Party of Nepal, led a bloody revolution against the king, leading the people to eventually call for the elimination of the monarchy by a vote.

“The Maoists have promised freedom of religion,” Father Silas said.

The promise of a secular government with the right for people to practice whatever religion they want is the right direction for Nepal to take, he said.

“It will give us the opportunity to evangelize,” the priest said.

Individuals who would like to donate money to assist with Catholic work in Nepal can do so by donating funds through St. Andrew the Apostle Catholic Church at 800 Taylor Drive, Sierra Vista AZ 85635.

The funds will be transmitted directly to Nepal through Caritas, the Catholic international social services organization, the Rev. Greg Adolf said.

Memorial Day Garden

Between the dizzying demands of Institute work and the spring gardening season, blogging has almost been nil. This weekend has been given over almost entirely to gardening: a truckload of topsoil, 12 yards of mulch put down, 4 extra large garbage can bags of debris raked up. All in preparation for planting.



Last summer, we built the skeleton. This summer, we are fleshing it out. Trees, shrubs, grasses, wildflowers, perennials. No time or money for annuals this year. (The big bed above is already planted with wildflower seeds that are just germinating and too small to be seen. Pikes Peak would be visible in the distance just left of center if our volunteer poplar wasn't obscuring the view.)



(Russian Hawthorne trees planted last June in full bloom today.)

That's because, as one family member put it memorably: "you aren't landscaping a yard, you are building a park!"

And its beginning to feel that way. Who knew that 1/3 of an acre was so big?



(Xeric perennials and bulbs planted last summer are back in good form.)

When we're done, there will be 17 trees and 27 large (as in 6 - 12 feet high) shrubs in the back yard. And that's just the big stuff. There are 57 trees/shrubs/roses/lilacs/vines to be planted along the back fence alone!



Someday, I know there will come a Memorial Day weekend when I will simply sit on the patio and revel. But it is not this day.

But I did get a glimpse of things to come this morning and thought I'd share a few pictures with you.

For Sherry

Seems appropriate for a weekend

Gotta love Aussie humor! Perhaps they'll perform for Pope Benedict XVI...

Reflection on Corpus Christi

This is a big weekend – with a big story to unfold.
It's one that has really captured the imagination of lots of people.
It features a rugged – and unlikely – hero, with a ragtag bunch of misfit hangers-on, involved in one adventure after another.
He deals with supernatural forces, and faces opposition by human enemies who often look good on the outside, but are corrupt inside.
He even goes after them sometimes armed only with a whip.
The whole saga starts with a story featuring the Ark of the covenant, goes on to include bloody human sacrifice, and let's not forget the Holy grail and its promise of everlasting life.
And always lurking as a side story is our hero's attitude regarding snakes.

I suppose it's this marvelous sense of adventure that keeps us coming back to Mass week after week to hear more of the story of Jesus.
Who did you think I was talking about?
I mean, after all, Indian Jones is a make-believe character, and his adventures aren't real.
Mary is the living Ark of the covenant, the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees the one Jesus calls "whitewashed tombs."
Jesus offers himself in sacrifice on our behalf.
He's the new Adam who is wounded by the serpent, but crushes the head of our ancient enemy as foretold in Genesis 3.

We gather each week not only to hear about Jesus and his adventures, but to enter into his story ourselves.
Because at each Mass we take up the holy Grail and the bread of angels, and eat and drink that which Jesus promises will give us eternal life: his body and blood.
And we do this, as often as we do it, in remembrance of him – as he commanded us.

If you think I'm being overdramatic in saying we enter into Jesus' life and death at Mass, it's because we don't understand what it means to celebrate the Eucharist as a memorial in the Jewish sense in which Jesus understood it.
This is Memorial Day weekend, a celebration of the beginning of summer and the summer blockbuster movie season, to be sure.
But it's also a time to remember those who have died in the service of their country.
We decorate their graves, give speeches recalling their valor, and look backwards in time to events of the past, while remaining in the present.
We don't think of ourselves as being present on a bloody Civil War battlefield, a shelled Normandy beach, a bunker in a Vietnamese rice paddy, or a bombed-out section of Baghdad.
Ancient Jews – and modern, ones, too – remember differently.
When they celebrate the Passover meal, which anticipates the Eucharistic sacrifice and meal, the Book of Exodus commands the Jewish father to explain the meaning of the feast this way: “On this day you shall explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt’” (13:8).
In other words, the Jew celebrates Passover as though they'd been alive at the time of the Exodus.
The ritual action of the Passover meal is not just an act of mental recall, it is a participation in the event itself.
This is why St. Paul asks the Corinthians, "The cup of blessing that we bless,
is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? 
The bread that we break,
is it not a participation in the body of Christ?"
When we gather around the altar-table, no new sacrifice is offered, but the one sacrifice of Christ's cross.
The same body and blood of Christ offered to his eleven friends is offered to us.
Time and space are transcended; history is made present, and future glory is promised.
The Passover proclaims God’s continuing liberation of His people in the present day and looks forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises for complete salvation when the Messiah comes.
So, too, each Mass proclaims the ongoing freedom we are offered in the Holy Spirit Jesus gives us, and points us towards his future return in glory.

We first, however, have to prepare ourselves to drink from the cup. The cup, the holy grail, will contain the blood of the Lord that seals an everlasting covenant between the Father and us, his adopted children.
It is the fulfillment of the covenants made with Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David.
When James and John ask Jesus, as he goes up to Jerusalem, if they can sit at his right and his left when he enters his kingdom, he asks them if they can drink from the cup he is to drink.
They don't know what they are asking, as he points out.
For the cup from which he will drink is the cup he asks His Father to allow to pass by him.
It is the cup of suffering; the cup of his own life poured out for others – for sinners, no less – who will themselves put him to death.

We are already in the midst of an adventure – a real one involving supernatural forces that seek our ruin.
Not Nazi archeologists or heart-ripping pagan priests, but the demons who convince us to live for ourselves – to seek power, security, the satisfaction of our own desires.
In short – to live for ourselves - which is spiritual death, just as it was for Adam and Eve.
Dare we drink from this true holy grail?
Are we willing to accept what it means?
It means to enter into the life and death of Jesus; to live as he lived:
serving others, and not asking if they're worthy of our service;
binding their wounds, whether physical or spiritual - and not demanding an explanation of how they were wounded;
teaching them in truth and with utter patience when they aren't receptive;
expelling their demons with prayer, our presence, and with the power of Jesus – not our own;
forgiving them even if they should attempt to kill us.

This is the adventure we are to embrace – and many have.
They're adventurers in the image of Christ, and we often call them saints.
People like Catherine of Siena, who traveled to Avignon, France, when most people stayed in their walled villages where it was safe, and told the Pope to get his holy hide back to Rome. She died at age 33 – perhaps the age of her Master – having spent herself entirely for Him.
Or Fr. Damien de Vuester, who traveled from Belgium to Hawai'i to preach the Gospel, and then traveled to Molokai'i to minister to lepers until he died as one of them.
Or Franz Jagerstatter, a 36 year-old Austrian father of three who traveled from his farm to the heart of Nazi Germany where he was executed for refusing to join the Nazi army.
Or Dorothy Day who traveled from atheism and communism to faith and communing with the poor from the dark days of the Great Depression until she died.

You and I are called to our own unique adventure in grace.
Living as Jesus lived is possible only if we drink from this cup and eat from the one loaf.
We cannot live as Christ unless we live in Christ – if we remain in him.
But to live in him paradoxically means we have to die.
We have to die to our own will.
In Gethsemane Jesus prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done." Lk22:42
The drinking of the cup demands that we do the will of the Father, which is revealed to us by the Son, and summed up in "love one another as I have loved you."
Only by seeing one another - whether pope, leper, Nazi or hobo - as another self, do we, though many, become one body.

St. Paul says, "Because the loaf of bread is one,
we, though many, are one body,
for we all partake of the one loaf."
The body is now not only bread become Jesus, but also “we,” the community that participates in Christ’s sacramental body.
Later in this same letter to the Corinthians, Paul addresses their lack of love for one another, demonstrated by their lack of sharing at the communal meal that preceded the Eucharistic feast.
He says to them, "anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself." 1Cor 11:29
Do we discern the body? Are we willing to live the adventure that follows upon any decision to love someone for Christ's sake?

If we hold any grudges against someone who's wronged us; if we hold prejudice in our heart against gays, blacks, whites, immigrants, Democrats, Republicans, pacifists or hawks; if we resent the poor or are jealous of the rich; if we withhold anything good from someone because we've judged they don't deserve it – then we drink judgment upon ourselves when we drink from the one cup. We "choose poorly."
Unlike the bad guy in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, we won't age 100 years in a moment and become "dust in the wind."
But we will have no life within us, because, truly, we do not yet remain in Christ. His will is not yet our own.

In order to eat and drink without condemnation, our lives must be transformed.
We must adopt Jesus' attitude of selfless love and utter commitment to the Father's will.
Only then will we properly "do this in remembrance" of Jesus – truly enter into his life by embracing his death.
Only then will we, though many, become one – united by one will, that of the Blessed Trinity.
Only then will the real adventure begin – and continue into eternity.

Counting Sheep - Colorado Style

Just because it's fun:

It's May and lambing time for Big Horn Sheep who live in the canyons and mountains around Colorado Springs. The local herd numbers about 100.

A local reporter went up and did a video of the team who are tracking the health and welfare of these lambs who are born and spend their first month with their mothers on inaccessible rocky shelves to protect them from predators.

Big horn sheep are so impressive - they wander the ground of Glen Eyrie, the fabulous estate of the city's founder - General Palmer - and for the past 50 years, the headquarters of the Navigators.



As in this great winter photo above (click on the photo and it will expand to full size) and this summer photo of the "castle" below:



Glen Eyrie is one of the places I often take visitors to see. On one such visit, a huge ram simply stood blocking the road in front of us with magnificent indifference to the fact that we were the ones in a car.

Benedict: Ever Wonder Y?

Cardinal Pell has opened a new website totally dedicated to pre-event news for the 50 days leading up to World Youth Day for International Pilgrims News will be posted daily in English and Spanish.

It's got a interesting title:

Benedict: Ever Wonder Y?

Saturday (It's already early Sunday morning in Australia as I write) 300 young Aussies spread out over Sydney promoting WYD in 52 malls around the area. This followed by a party with Cardinal Pell featuring a Latin American band.

At the party, they will be making a 30 WYD video featuring featuring young adults welcoming pilgrims in different languages.

What a huge undertaking even the smallest WYD is! God bless all who are laboring for the sake of Catholic youth and young adults all over the world.

Bridging the Gap Between Generations of Priests

Fascinating article in Commonweal by a young priest about bridging the generation gap between priests. It is definitely worth reading so do read the whole thing. A few things that stood out for me:

Fr. Damian J. Ference writes:

On entering seminary out of high school:

I decided to enter a college seminary in late July of 1994. I had earned my high-school diploma a few months earlier and chose to abandon my previous plans in order to follow what seemed to be God’s plan. My parents were shocked but supportive. My older brother asked me if I was gay. An old friend made a remark about little boys.


On the experience gap between generations of priests:

"My pastor recalled memorizing the Baltimore Catechism in grade school. I told him that I made collages about my feelings in religious-ed class. When he complained that his seminary formation had been too militaristic, I told him of my frustrations with a seminary formation that seemed too lax. When he spoke of the years he spent studying Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, I expressed embarrassment at not knowing how to chant the Pater Noster as I concelebrated Mass with Benedict XVI at World Youth Day a few years ago in Cologne. When my pastor expressed gratitude that the clerical dress code had been relaxed over the years, I said I thought it was important that the priest be a visible sign of the church, to remind the world that God is not dead. But when it came to the abuse scandals, we were on the same page-or at least in the same book. The scandals hit us both hard, though in different ways.

The generation before mine remembers a time of general stability and respectability within the priesthood. When my pastor’s generation entered the seminary, family members did not ask him or his classmates if they were gay or attracted to little boys (though I am told there have always been people who thought there was something sexually suspect about priests). Priests of my pastor’s generation didn’t have protesters at their ordinations. Their suffering was different. They battled with pastors over implementing the teaching of Vatican II, watched classmates leave the ministry in droves, and struggled to find a balance between the ordained priesthood and baptismal priesthood."

"When my generation entered the seminary, the reputation of the priesthood had already been tarnished. Sure, there was still support in parish communities and youth groups for a vocation to the priesthood, but it was nothing like what the previous generation had experienced. As seminarians, we knew that the days of full rectories were a distant memory and that we might be made pastors right after our first assignment-even pastors of more than one parish. We understood that the communal meals of the seminary were a kind of luxury, that we would likely be eating most of our meals alone once we were ordained. We also knew that the days of “Father knows best” were gone, and that the laity had a vital role in the health and growth of the parish. (Most of us knew this firsthand because we came from families that were key players in the life of our home parishes.) We knew that the stakes were high. We also knew that we were maybe not the most qualified. But then neither were the apostles, and we took comfort in that: God qualifies those he calls."

Father makes a fascinating observation about the generation in seminary right now:

"What makes this phenomenon so fascinating is that these young men are actually drawn to the challenge and the sacrifice of the priesthood-to the fact that they may be persecuted, or at least despised, because of their vocation. They are eager to give themselves away, to lay down their lives in service of God and his church. I am afraid that this aspect of the priesthood has sometimes been obscured or soft-peddled, but no longer. Vocation directors have stopped talking about the priesthood as a duty or as a way up in the world and have instead begun talking about it mainly as sacrifice and adventure. The church has always depended on the idealism of young people to stand strong in the face of danger, persecution, and despair, and the faith of this new generation has been a great blessing that is only beginning to be recognized."

On priestly identity and the culture wars:

"Over the past few years, Commonweal has published a number of articles, editorials, and letters to the editor that comment on the new generation of priests and seminarians. Unfortunately, most of the comments have not been very encouraging. My generation has been described as intellectually second-rate, theologically deficient, arrogant, blindly loyal to Rome, authoritarian, and out of touch with the laity. If these descriptions are accurate, the future of the priesthood looks bleak indeed. On the other side of the ideological fence, conservative journals and blogs praise the same generation of priests and seminarians for their orthodoxy, courage, fidelity, zeal, and pastoral charity. These observers joyfully predict that the new generation of priests and seminarians will restore what has been lost since the Second Vatican Council and reinvigorate the church through strong and determined leadership."

So which is it? Are we part of the problem or part of the solution? That all depends on what one expects us to be.

And on the "We can't wait for the boomers who destroyed everything to die" syndrome:

"It seems to me that priests my age have attempted, knowingly or not, to distance themselves from the generation that came just before them. Paradoxically, for a generation often accused of being too traditional, we seem to want to move ahead without really knowing where the church has just been. And although most of us have a few older priests we look up to, we often assume that we have everything figured out, dismissing our elders as out-of-touch has-beens. This frustrates older priests who long to play the role of mentor and guide. Then again, when we do go to older priests for direction and guidance, we sometimes discover that they take little interest in our concerns and priorities. For many of them, we seem to be no more than a source of annoyance.

It doesn’t have to be this way, and it shouldn’t. The different generations of priests need each other for support, wisdom, experience, enthusiasm, inspiration, accountability, and fraternity. Priests cannot expect to be bridge-builders in the church if they are divided among themselves. There is an urgent need for reconciliation, and it starts with us. My generation needs to hear the stories of priests from our parents’ and grandparents’ generations. We need to learn from the men who grew up during the Depression, fought in the Second World War, and were ordained before Vatican II-and we need to realize that there isn’t much time left to hear their stories. We need to listen to our baby-boomer predecessors tell their stories about seminary life and priesthood at a moment when the church was in major transition. Their generation has its own hopes and joys, triumphs and sufferings, and we need to hear about them. Too often we fail to appreciate their perseverance and faith through a very turbulent period of church history."

Thank God for young priests like Fr. Ference. May his tribe ever increase!

The Brooklyn Bridge Turns 125.

The Brooklyn Bridge turns 125 today and New York celebrated with fireworks last night.

Here's the Everything You Wanted to Know About the Brooklyn Bridge But Never Thought to Ask website


Including this famous poem about the view from the Bridge:

The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
with conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
a mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame,
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
with silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

And for a beautiful and poignant reminder of what