Vow day!

Today's our own feast of St. Paul, traditionally the day novices make their first vows (and get a new name). So a big Pauline welcome to three newly professed Daughters of St. Paul! (No pictures yet....)

Father Thompson Center inspires Anti-Catholic Rants

You wouldn't think it, but my advocacy of the Father Thompson Center in the
Burger King donation contest has provoked some rather nasty comments, all on my June 6 post. I have my suspicions that the comments are all from the same person, since they are all (a) anonymous, all (b) along the same lines (that is, "the Catholic Church is rich so vote for City Park"), and all (c) on the same old post which most readers would not find unless they were looking for it. Besides, two of them were posted within eight minutes of each other last night.
While the comment about Church teaching on sexuality only manifests profound prejudice, the old "Catholic Church is rich" saw is a fairly common misperception, and I want to address it (especially since it is being used to dismiss the need for funding for a homeless shelter in the city of New Orleans).
The popular media tend to present the Catholic Church as a monolith: as a corporation with the Pope as CEO. (This is the mindset behind many lawsuits: let's tackle the BIG one! Let's sue "the Church.") This approach imaginatively puts all the assets of every Catholic or Catholic-inspired entity into one fund, and assumes that the Pope can sign all the checks. It fails to consider the world's poor, who are the primary beneficiaries of the action of "the Church" or admit what the poor already know: the Catholic Church, taken as a whole, is the world's largest provider of charitable assistance.
That's taking the Church as a whole.
But institutional structures are not "the Church": they are structures at the service of the Church's mission. They are almost all legally distinct entities. The Pope cannot commandeer the resources of a single diocese but his own: Rome. Much less can it be claimed that a homeless shelter in a battered city is "rich" because it was inspired by Catholic principles and begun in answer to a local need by a Catholic priest. The fact is that while the Church is a body, it is a mystical body. Every baptized person is part of it. There is no "Church" except for these baptized members: the members ARE the Church.
At any rate, given the propensity of "anonymous" to spout ignorant ravings, I am going to temporarily establish a policy disallowing anonymous posts. This should encourage some honesty, accountability and responsibility. At least for a while.
Now, go and vote!

Keep it up!

Click here to cast your daily vote for the Father Harry Thompson Center!
Here's what you are supporting with your vote:

The Harry Tompson Center is committed to providing a calm and caring environment in which to serve the needs of the poor and homeless in the downtown New Orleans area. The Center is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all those who come to us in need, not merely by responding to physical needs, but also by attending to the whole person with respect and compassion, after the example of Jesus.

For more info and lots of details, go to the Harry Thompson Center website.

"Taste" Test

Today the "Taste of Chicago" opened. (Sr. Susan and I hope to go for a test run tomorrow; it's really something I look forward to, despite the unbelievable crowds.) Since today was a feast day, I tried to prepare a little something special for supper. I'll share the recipe with you, since it was a total experiment and turned out delicious:
First I arranged some tilapia fillets in a baking dish, and sprinkled them with the remaining dust and scraps in a container of dried onion. I cut three limes into smallish pieces and ran them through the food processor, adding a couple of cloves of garlic and a bit more than a quarter cup of olive oil. Poured that over the fish, generously scattered kosher salt over the whole thing and put in in the oven at 400. Then I went to night prayers.
After night prayer, I opened a can of diced tomato, poured that into a small frying pan, added garlic and the little bits of sauteed green onion and bell pepper left over from lunch; cooked it down until the liquid was reduced.
Served brown rice, the fish, and used the tomato mixture as a kind of condiment for both the rice and fish.
It was great.
So much for a "taste of Chicago"!

Peter and Paul

We are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the arrival of our sisters in the United States. It was technically yesterday, but since today is the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, it kind of makes sense to celebrate it today. Plus, since it is the "diamond" jubilee, we are celebrating it all year.
I remember a story told by Mother Paula, who was in that first group of three. Raised on a tiny farm in a village in the Italian Alps, she had just arrived in a new country, with a language she didn't know and a culture she couldn't begin to fathom. And when the sisters went to Mass on the very first day they woke up in that new country, she began to cry. In Italy, this is a really big feast day: not just a "holy day of obligation" (it still is, in Vatican City!), years ago, it was a national holiday, as well. (After all, Peter and Paul are the patron saints of Rome.) But in New York, in 1932, it was just another workday. A harsh welcome for those young missionaries.
(The image, by the way, features 9th century mosaics from the tiny chapel in the Church of St. Praxedes--in Rome, of course. One of my favorite places.)

Top Spot for Thompson

That's right! After lingering in fourth place for weeks, behind the Friends of City Park and two high schools, a remarkable New Orleans charity is in first place! Add your vote to keep the Father Harry Thompson Center at the top in Burger King's "donation contest." Tell your friends! Tell your mother! Vote every day--there's barely a week left until the deciding tallies are in. After all the people of New Orleans have been through, this is a simple way to participate in something constructive for the city's most vulnerable citizens.
Here's a link to the Center, but don't go there until you've voted (link at top of post).
And, yes, they still also need help gutting flooded houses.

Evan: Almighty or All-righty?

Cyberspace ate two of my posts for supper, so I'll try again.
Sr. Helena was just saying the other day that critics hate comedies, so she never takes them seriously (the critics, I mean) when they pan a comedy. According to Sr. Helena's screenwriting teachers at UCLA, the only way to tell if a comedy works is to see if the audience laughs. And when Sr. Helena went to a screening of Evan Almighty, Evan passed the comedy test. So even though Sr. Helena got in free, she assures me that it is worth the $10 to see Evan.
Me? I'm saving my ten-spot to see Ratatouille with mom. (Going home to New Orleans in two weeks.)

Karen in the News

Karen's show for AMC is steadily moving up the food chain, so to speak. Here's an article in the National Catholic Register to bring you up to date.

Live from Gotham

I thought I was taking a shortcut from the grocery, on foot, across the river and to our back door. I ended up...in beautiful downtown Gotham City!



They've been filming Batman in our neighborhood for several weeks now. As I crossed the bridge (it was lunch break and extras were sitting in little groups on the pavement), men in black uniforms with GCPD on their backs tipped me off that I was crossing a set. Other uniforms read "Bomb Squad" and there were military-type vehicles lined up along the road. So if you go to see the movie, remember: you saw it first on Nunblog!

Watch your language!

Some of the news reports related to the immigration bill in the Senate reminded me of a book I read maybe ten years ago. I can't remember the title, but it was about the rhetoric historically employed to de-personalize some despized class of human beings in order to legitimize some form of societal injustice. The author backed up his assertions with plenty of historical evidence about the way language was used against American Indians, black Americans, peasants in the Soviet States ("kulaks"), Jews in Nazi Germany, and the unborn. I've been seeing more and more of the same technique being employed in the immigration debates.
Here are the five typical "categories" of depersonalized language (the words can be noun, verbs, adjectives, etc.):
Persons as objects ("blob of tissue")
Persons as animals ("breeding like rabbits")
Persons as insects ("vermin"; "swarming")
Persons as a disease of society ("virus", "plague")
Persons as active agents of harm ("parasites", "scourge" )
Obviously, the examples are not exhaustive!
We can help foster a mentality of respect for human life by correcting similar abuses of language with regard to human beings in the immigration debate when we find instances on blogs and in the press.

Like a beam in the eye

Funny how I didn't notice until the Gospel was proclaimed at Mass that it was "that" Gospel. Jesus pulls no punches. We cannot presume to help our neighbor deal with a splinter while we have a log in our own eye. I told Jesus this was another of his "hard sayings," no matter how right and reasonable it is. He's going to have to take care of my log for me, and give me a new vision!

Sunday Best

I just came back from a noontime Mass at St. Peter's in the Loop. Didn't especially notice how the people around me were dressed, but the question did come to mind as I walked home. Evidently, the curtain is about to go up on a performance of the musical hit "Wicked." A crowd was gathered around the front of the theater, and as I continued home, more and more people were passing by. I could tell they were going to see "Wicked" because they were in what used to be called their "Sunday best." It got me wondering when "Sunday best" quit being Church clothes and became theater clothes.
I'll bet if I had suggested to anyone in the "Wicked" crowd that they were overdressed, they would have given me all sorts of strange looks, while if I suggested to anyone in jeans and a t-shirt that they could dress for Mass the way they would dress for the theater, I may have gotten more than just looks.
Not that Jesus isn't happy to welcome those who wear jeans and a t-shirt to Church, of course. (He died for us, so he's willing to overlook these little things!)

Urgent Prayer Request

Cody, in Minnesota, sends this in:
One of my friend's mothers is going through a very rough time with a form of cancer. I don't know any more than this, which is published on a website for her:

A small seizure led to a CT, MRI and biopsy: GLIOBLASTOMA MULTIFORME, a grade IV of 4 malignant brain tumor in the left frontal lobe. We hod hoped for a surgical option, but that was not to be. 6 weeks of chemo & radiation will start soon. We know we are in for the challenge of our lives, but are confident in the love of Jesus, our families and unbelievable friends.

Gregg, her husband, is a nurse practioner at the local hosptial/clinic. He was a Lutheran Pastor for quite some time as well. Gayle is very involved in the community and their church. One of their kids, Josh, is graduated, I don't know him well. Emily, their oldest daughter, just graduated this past year. She has had some real rough times in her life. SHe is adopted. Abby, their youngest, will be a senior next year.

They have this website set up, with the hospital, for folks to stay connected and post comments to the family. Website: caringbridge.org/visit/gaylewaylander

Could you please pray for Gayle and her family as they go through this rough time.

Just found

Sr. Margaret Joseph and Sr. Mary Domenica prepared a ten-minute video on the new "Theology of the Body" translation. I just happened to find it by clicking around Catholic links!

Frances Kissling (can't keep quiet)

Today's WSJ has a rather unusual letter by Frances Kissling (she of the "for a Free Choice" motto). She was responding to a June 8 article which noted how Catholic bishops who speak up to say that Catholic politicos are obliged in conscience to support laws that are consistent with the moral law are vilified (by certain Catholic politicos) as enemies of free speech, unwelcome censors of liberty, while in the early days of the civil rights movements, when bishops spoke up to say that Catholics (legislators and ordinary parishioners alike) would be excommunicated for refusing orders to desegregate Catholic schools and parishes, it was the conservatives who vilified the bishops and the liberals who cheered.
On the latest brouhaha involving the bishops, Kissling first makes a claim that I can actually agree with: there is a problem with Catholics who stridently support the bishops on life issues, but feel free to disagree with Church teaching on war, economic policy, capital punishment (and I would add immigration issues). As for the bishops, Kissling claims that they know not what they do. Nor, according to Kissling, are they (or the Pope) justified by Canon Law, for "nowhere in the code is there a provision for either self-excommunication or official excommunication based on any public policy position." (As if that were really the point.) Further, she distances herself from those "liberals" fifty years ago who applauded the bishops on integration. (I guess she can't bring herself to applaud them at all.) They "were right on integration and wrong on church law and charity" just as "the few bishops today who want to sanction policy makers who support legal abortion...are out of step with current thinking about both canon law and religious freedom."
I don't know where Kissling got her Canon Law degree, but it seems to me that no one is speaking about canonical excommunication here. It is a matter of subjective conditions for Eucharistic communion being met or not. And it's not only the politicos who need to make an examination of conscience before deciding to receive communion. We are all expected to do that.

Did you vote today?

The Father Thompson Center is still trailing after two high schools and the City Park association in the "voting" for those charitable dollars. Do all your friends vote every day? High school students (except for Chapelle and Mt. Carmel, who are exempt from this call out): can you get the word out to your fellow students? They can do something to help rebuild New Orleans, in one of the areas of greatest need, by just going to this site and voting for the Father Harry Thompson Center every day! It would be galling for the live oaks of City Park to end up with a more substantial showing than the storm-tossed people of a battered city's battered neighborhoods. Thanks.

Chance encounter?

This week I am taking a one-credit course at CTU on Bereavement Ministry. I chose this course for no more noble reason than that it allowed me to finish the 24th of a 24-credit requirement for a certificate in Spiritual Formation. And, conveniently enough, it comes seven months after a major loss in my family.
Turns out it may have also been in God's plan for someone else.
Maybe even more than one someone.
Today being our community day, we had a little free time in the afternoon, and I decided to take my class work out to the park and study in the sunshine. I found a table free and set myself up there, book held open in my left hand, right hand scribbling notes. People came and went, the noise level by the "Bean" rose and fall. A beggar in a wheelchair came by, wondering if I had any spare change. No change at all. I resumed my study of the book on bereavement. Then, within a minute or two, a man came over. I had seen him on a nearby park bench, looking toward the Bean. He approached with a kind of shy air, and in a somewhat Australian accent, he said, "I saw your book. Could I have a look at it?" A camera dangled from a cord around his neck as he reached for it. Then he said, "My wife died."
This man was not 36 years old.
He looked at the book, saying to no one in particular, "I didn't know about things like this. Is there a place I can get this?" I pointed up the block to our center.
Turns out he had been his wife's primary caretaker for the four years she suffered pancreatic cancer, and was with her when she died two and a half years ago. He thought he had been through all the stages of grief, but they seemed to have started all over again.
I nodded. We had covered that in class. "They say it's spiral," I said. "It feels like going back to the very beginning, but it's an upward spiral."
I told him a little about our experience with Dad.
He told me more about his wife and the hospice, and then mentioned that right now he was thousands of miles from home and no one in the world knew where he was.
His name is Jason.
I said I would pray for him in a special way.

Funny things happen when you tell God you are his servant.

Passport Delay

Since March, my passport has been in the safe keeping of the United States of America. Today I got an envelope marked "U.S. Government," and thought that it had finally gotten through the process. Not that I have any international travel on my schedule (hope springs eternal!), but it's good to keep a passport current. (Why, O why, did my passport have to expire the year the U.S. Government decided to add our neighbors to the "passports required" list?) Anyway, the envelope was just too...flexible to contain a passport.
Sure enough.
I have to fill out another form, and this time I have to SIGN the form with BOTH my legal name and my name as a religious. (Sometimes I end up with tickets or other significant documents in my religious name, so I have an "AKA"--"also known as"--on my passport.)
I filled out the form, but with some dread. I mean, you are supposed to submit your original passport with the form, but they kept my passport. Likewise, you are supposed to submit two 2X2 photos (face to be 1" to 1 3/8 inches only), but they kept the photos. With my luck, I'd get another flexible envelope from the "U.S. Government" telling me I could not have a passport because I did not submit my original... or two photos.
So I have spent most of the evening trying to work a hastily taken "alternate" photo into the acceptable format, and then print it out in the proper size at home, and trim it very carefully, so at least ... they will have my pictures (and Walgreens will not have $8 more of my congregation's hard-earned money!).

Grace

Today's first reading is Paul's heartfelt appeal "Do not receive the grace of God in vain!"
That got me thinking: in the light of divine providence, everything is, in a mysterious way, "the grace of God." There is, at least, a "hidden" grace for our good, or God would not be faithful to his own goodness.

Did you vote today?

I can't believe it: New Orlean's high society organization "Friends of City Park" is now tied with the Father Harry Thompson Center for THIRD place in the Burger King contribution contest. Get your friends, relatives, neighbors, grandparents, to go to the "campaign" site and get those votes in for the one charity on the list that is addressing the needs of the most disadvantaged people in New Orleans--those hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina, especially the young people in desperate circumstances: The Father Harry Thompson Center.

Cranes: Birding in Chicago

I have half a mind to actually do this: make a spoof YouTube video, in the style of an old-fashioned documentary about bird-watching, only the "birds" would be the enormous construction cranes all over downtown Chicago. I could even name the species! This came to mind, not only because I pass at least three cranes on my way to Mass, but because an article in the Wall Street Journal mentioned that there is a crane shortage this year. My first thought was that all of the country's cranes were in Chicago. But no, it seems that there is a building boom all over the world, and our American cranes are being rented beyond the borders. There may not be enough cranes to go around! Too bad they don't breed in captivity.

Father Thompson moving up in the world!

I got a flash e-mail from my old high school, which has been in the top three for most of the "Campaign for your Cause" big donation giveaway. Suddenly, Chapelle is number 4, and... the Father Thompson Center is at the top, for the first time ever! I hope it's a hint of things to come... Keep it up, folks! And get your friends and neighbors to do the same. You'll share in the good that is done for the vulnerable of New Orleans!

Evan: Almighty or All-righty?

Move over, critics. Sr. Helena is about to speak. "Critics don't like comedies," she observed. "But the only criteria for a comedy is: Did the audience laugh at it?" According to Sr. Helena (who, it should be noted, has a certificate in screenwriting from UCLA), by that criteria, a ticket to see Evan Almighty is worth the $10 fee.
Me? I'm waiting to see Ratatouille with my mom... (Did I spell that right?)

Still Number 4

When I voted today, I saw that the Father Harry Thompson Center is still in fourth place, but now the Audubon Nature Institute has had a big push up to second. You know what this means. It is your signal to...vote again for the Father Harry Thompson Center and do something that will really help New Orleans!

Get out the votes!

I see that the Father Harry Thompson Center, named after an intrepid New Orleans Jesuit who, like Ignatius, would see needs and pull forces together to address them, has lost ground again to the Audubon Nature Institute and two private high schools. Please vote for the Father Harry Thompson Center in Burger King's campaign, and send this around to your friends with an invitation to do likewise, for the sake of New Orleans' most disadvantaged humans.

Long Lost Friend

"Books are our friends," Mom and Dad always said. And at long last, I have tracked one elusive friend down! The idea came to me when I read an article in this week's Wall Street Journal about Micheal Flaherty of Walden Media (Chronicles of Narnia, Holes, Bridge to Terabithia). Walden Media gets their movie ideas from school librarians. And they look for a certain kind of story, too. Stories of bravery and overcoming impossible odds and the triumph of goodness.
And I thought what a good movie one beloved book from my childhood would make, if only I could remember the title. Alas! All I could remember, besides the plot and my own mental images from it was the generous little offer of the main character when someone would visit her tiny cabin: "Have a pep-mint, do." How are you going to find a book from forty years ago with that kind of information? Ah, thankfully the Internet gave me a way: I kind of remembered that it won a book award. So I googled "Caldecott" and scrolled through all the winners. Nothing looked right. Okay, I googled "Newbery" and began scrolling down.
1990
1980
1970
1960.
1960: Newbery Honor Book. The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall.
There it was. And there were reviews by other grown-ups who had never forgotten the wonderful story of
"Muggles" (decades before Harry Potter!) and little people and bravery, humility and perseverance and graciousness.
Not only that! There was another book by the same author!
And Sr. Helena's MOM knows Micheal Flaherty from church!
Guess who's going to get a letter from Sr. Anne?
And guess who's going to re-read a long lost friend as soon as Amazon can get it to Chicago?

What book from childhood would you gladly revisit if you could find it?

Behind the Scenes

I was planning to go to his funeral, but it turns out that I'll be in a class--about bereavement ministry! (It's not really something I do on a regular basis, given my community's mission, but taking this one-week class will allow me to finish up the credit requirements for a certificate in spiritual formation that I have been working on in bits and starts for almost six years!) The deceased is Tony De Santis, who ran a number of theaters (not cinemas, theaters--as in Broadway style musicals and other dramas) in Chicago. Mr. De Santis was also a big supporter of religious life. His showpiece theater, the Drury Lane, in a Chicago suburb, held Christmas dinner (including tickets to the night's show) to every religious woman in the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Diocese of Joliet. Hundreds of us enjoyed this special treat--the dinner was always outstanding, the performance delightful, and the "fellowship" with so many other consecrated women enriching.
Evidently, a good number of professionals in the entertainment field, both in acting and in directing, got their start through Tony De Santis.
Mr. De Santis died last week, and will be buried from Holy Name on Monday. May he rest in peace.

Prayers are also being requested for another supporter of religious life who is facing serious legal problems. (Please invoke our Lady for this special intention, and for the family members who would be affected by any adverse ruling.)

Blessed Sunday.

Anniversary Day

Today the Daughters of St. Paul celebrate the 92nd anniversary of the historic meeting between Father Alberione and Teresa Merlo in the sacristy of Sts. Cosmas and Damien Church in Alba, Italy. Teresa was just a young seamstress from a village in the hills. She had wanted to be a sister, but no one would take her! They said her health was just too poor; she "didn't have a vocation." But Father Alberione had a new kind of religious life in mind. He had nothing to show her--there was one woman who was working with him, but no group yet, no convent, no mission, even. He told her what the vision was, and she was enthralled by it: a new missionary community, printing books, using the most modern means available to spread the Gospel! Just a few years later, there was a "group" of women with the same ideal, and already people were calling them "daughters of St. Paul."

St. Anthony

My schedule today saw me attending the 12:15 Mass at the local Franciscan Church, St. Peter's. I had a 1:30 appointment, and thought I'd be in plenty of time. I hadn't figured on the saint of the day: St. Anthony.
St. Anthony is a popular saint. St. Anthony is also a Franciscan saint.
St. Anthony was honored today with choir, incense and even the Credo.
I had plenty of time to pray for the people in my life who have a particular thing for St. Anthony: my sister Jane, my fellow-sister-in-community Sr. Susan (more about her later), our Sr. Mary Antoinette in Boston (the ticketmaster of the community) and our Superior General, Sr. Antonieta.
I almost didn't make it to my appointment on time, but St. Anthony (it must have been him!) took care of that, too, though for a while there I was trying to figure out how I would make my way past the elderly woman at the end of my pew (and how would that look to the pious crowd: the nun leaving Mass early?).
One of my chief memories regarding St. Anthony (aside from the visit to his grandiose shrine in actual Padua--which city, by the way, is virtually closed on Mondays), comes from my own novitiate days. Someone mentioned St. Anthony with some admiration, and I spontaneously responded, "St. Anthony?! He's a saint for little old Italian women!" (In my parish Church back home, it seemed to me that that was the demographic I saw frequenting the statue of the popular Portuguese.) Sr. Susan (the very same!) looked stricken. "He's a Doctor of the Church!" she said in protest. (Besides, she had a very particular devotion to him herself--and she was neither old nor Italian!)
Happy Feast Day, Sr. Susan!
For the book lovers among you, the book pictured is pleasant reading in an unusual fiction style. From Pauline (of course).

Up and Coming!

The Father Harry Thompson Center has traded places with Audubon, and is now in third place! That puts all "people services" at the top! Cast your daily vote here!

Blessed Vision

It's the feast of St. Barnabas today, the man who "saw the grace of God."
When you reflect on what the Bible says about Barnabas, it is quite impressive. "He was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith" (and he "saw the grace of God"). All the Bible says about St. Joseph was "he was a just man."
And then think about Barnabas' great contribution to the Church: he was, in a way, the precursor to Paul, the way John the Baptist was the Lord's precursor. Just as John was sent "to prepare the way for one greater," so was Barnabas. In the first community of disciples, Barnabas was a very important fellow! When he gave an opinion, even the Apostles took it to heart. When Barnabas vouched for the new convert, Saul, the former persecutor was welcomed into the Church. It was Barnabas who went to look for Saul to give him a place and a mission in the Church in Antioch. Barnabas was the leader on the first missionary voyage. And then... Saul-become-Paul "grew" to his full apostolic stature, and it was Barnabas who knew: "he must increase and I must decrease."
That's a marvelous kind of heroism.
But it starts with eyes that "see the grace of God."

Up and coming!

The Father Harry Thompson Center now has 14% of the "votes," but is still in 4th place, still trailing the Audubon Nature Institute. So please go to the Burger King Campaign and vote!

17-year buzz

Here in Chicago, the 17-year cicadas are crawling out of the ground and beginning their life's quest: to find a mate and create new life that will...stay in the ground for 17 years and crawl out for their life's quest. Chicago papers have featured recipes for the creepy, red-eyed bugs (no, thanks), and now one local citizen offers you streaming audio of the buzzing call (which can be heard, I am told, from inside a running car with its windows closed and AC going). If you are not in a 17-year cicada zone, you might want to benefit from this gentleman's technical offering. Clicking on the link will bring up a map; you have to click on the third box down the Chicago list to get the streaming audio. Please note: cicadas generally "sing" only between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Central Time; the box will be orange if the stream is running.)

Room and Board

The Gospel for the Feast of Corpus Christi in year C is from Luke: the multiplication of loaves and fish for 5,000. Given the feast day, you'd think I would have focused on the specifically Eucharistic aspect of this story, but something quite different struck me. It was that when the disciples went to Jesus with their proposal about the crowd, they suggested he dismiss them "to find lodging and food" in the villages nearby. It was the word "lodging" that caught my attention. I had never noticed it before.
Is there something Luke is telling us about the Eucharist with that word "lodging"? I think so.
I went to my handy-dandy Greek New Testament to look up the passage. Luke, it turns out, uses a verb form (katalysosin) that sounded very familiar to me. I went from Luke 9 (multiplication of loaves and fish) to Luke 2 (birth of Jesus). There was no room for them in the...katalymati. Same root. And, led by a vague memory, I flipped to the back of the Gospel, to chapter 22, where Jesus is sending his disciples to prepare for the Last Supper and the institution of the Eucharist. He tells them to go to a certain place and ask the owner where the katalyma is for "the Master" to celebrate Passover. In other words, the three passages use the same root word: used in different grammatical forms and translated three different ways for us, but basically the selfsame word.
Is Luke suggesting the very Johannine conviction that "whoever eats my flesh remains in me and I in that person"? Is Luke's use of "katalyma" the equivalent of John's "abide"? So that the Eucharist admits us to our true dwelling?
I think I might be on to something.

Receive the Light of Christ

Jose Guillermo, newly enlightened through Baptism, may you and your brother always keep that light burning brightly before the Lord!

Corpus Christi

Sunday is the Feast of the Body and Blood of the Lord (Corpus Christi), so I posted a Latin (Latin as in chant) music video (!) of last year's Eucharistic Procession from the Cathedral to the Quigley Seminary chapel.

Baptism report

Twelve little Latinos were added to the body of Christ today in a ceremony that lasted an hour and a half. (I'll add pictures later.) The deacon who presided did a great job, catechizing the adults and urging them to be faithful to what Baptism means. He used a certain "call back" form of preaching, expecting the assembly to respond with as much power as he had used, and if the response was weak, he had them repeat the answers two or three times until they could THUNDER it back. As we were exiting the church, a quincenera was about to begin, so teens in matching formals were waiting--girls in the vestibule, boys still awkwardly milling about on the steps outside.
Interesting: before the baptisms, the Church was locked. As I approached, I saw two young women sitting on the railing while a third approached, spoke briefly with them and gave them some literature. I was near enough at that point to say my own "Good Morning," and the third woman quickly left. The literature? Watchtower. On my way home, I passed the Kingdom Hall, with its signage in English, Spanish and Polish.

Of Mice and Men

The other day I wrote about the horrific (horrific!) abuse of mouse fetuses in conjunction with stem cell research. Today it is the other side of the picture. I can't help but notice that in Burger King's donation giveaway, organizations devoted to the care of animals are coming out way ahead of organizations focused on needy people. At least in New Orleans, my high school (that counts as a "people" organization, even though some might wonder about that) is currently ahead of the Audubon Nature Institute (by 1%). But in Baton Rouge that is not the case: the Animal Welfare Society has 1% more votes than the Medical Center, and 12% more than the Muscular Dystrophy Association!
Consider this a reminder to vote for a "needy people" organizationNew Orleans, the Father Harry Thompson Center, providing education and job training for vulnerable young citizens of an extremely vulnerable city.

Claimed for Christ

Tomorrow I will be witnessing the baptism of two little boys, Jose and Anthony (ages 2 and 1). I presume the rite will be in Spanish, so I will have to pay extra attention to hear my favorite line: "In the name of the Christian assembly, I claim you for Christ!" Please pray for the whole extended family of our clerk, Juan, whose nephews will be adopted by God tomorrow.

Tobit, Tobiah and Raphael

This week's first readings for Mass have been from the book of Tobit, a charming "novelette" from the 2nd century BC. In some ways, it is like the book of Job, with one of the central characters being a just man beset by suffering. But mainly it is edifying fiction about how to live an upright life, and it has a good dose of the angelic for good measure. In fact, this is where we get the name of the archangel Raphael ("God heals"). It is Raphael who presents the prayers of Tobit, blinded and miserable, and of Sarah, plagued by a demon, and it is Raphael who is sent to heal them. There's even romance (between Tobit's son Tobiah and Sarah). The liturgical readings give only the barest outline of the story. It is really worth your while to read the whole book, savoring its antiquity.
This is one of those books which came to us in the Greek version, and was, for that reason, excluded from Jewish and Protestant Bibles. Interestingly, Aramaic and Hebrew fragments of the book of Tobit were found among the Dead Sea scrolls.

Did you cast your vote today?

The lastest on Burger King's $100K giveaway to charity sees the Father Harry Thompson Center with an increased percentage of votes, but still right in the middle, while the Audobon Nature Institute now takes second place (after my old Alma Mater, in first with 19% of the votes). I'm shamelessly pulling for the Father Harry Center, in the light of the needs of the city and of its disadvantaged youth, who are probably the most disadvantaged youth in the country right now, given the destruction that is still a fact of life in New Orleans. You can vote every day, so vote early and often! You can also send a text message vote (send the message HARRY to 287437).

Stem Cell progress

The Wall Street Journal and the Tribune had articles on interesting developments in stem cell technology, indicating that "adult" cells can be set back in time, making them just about as "pluripotent" as the much-touted embryonic stem cells. That's the good news. The bad news is that in one study which showed adult cells and embryonic cells were equally successful "in treating mice with a degenerative brain disease," the "adult" stem cells used were "derived...from the nervous systems of aborted human and mouse fetuses."
Excuse me?
Aborted human and mouse fetuses?
Does PETA know that unborn mice are being aborted and used for experimentation?
Oh, and...that human cells were harvested, too, implies that there is a market that provides aborted fetuses to researchers. I wonder if they have health and safety protocols, or if there are financial disclosures involved, or parental consent (what else can you call it?). Remember last year and the scandal of funeral homes excising and selling cadaver bones and fixing the medical records, making a tidy profit on post-mortem surgery? Doesn't this situation sound vaguely similar? Is anybody exercising oversight?

Keep voting!

Well, the Father Harry Thompson Center is not doing nearly as well as the Audubon Nature Institute, which has 25% of the votes so far in Burger King's democratic donation process. In fact, the Center only has 9% of the votes so far, way behind even my old suburban high school. So please click on over to the site and give your daily vote to the Father Harry Thompson Center, where so much good is being done for the neediest kids in New Orleans. And you might encourage your friends and contacts to do the same...

Vote again for Father Thompson Center!

The Father Harry Thompson Center has a chance of being awarded $50k for its wonderful mission in a devastated city. Go daily to the Burger King "Campaign" site to vote for the Center, and give the city's neediest a chance to turn their lives around.
(Father Thompson was one of the New Orleans Jesuit community's finest: may he rest in peace!)

Locavores

No, they're not crazy-hungry: they're people who are focusing their diet on locally produced foods. They even have a book! "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life" by Barbara Kingsolver. The
writeup in today's Tribune (in the food section!) was quite interesting. For example, I hadn't really thought much about how much fossil fuel is burned in our present system of food production and transportation. Or the impact of mega-farms on the spread of disease (as in the recent problems with contaminated lettuce and spinach). Or that farm subsidies for certain crops pre-determine the ratio of produce and products available to us. The idea of "eating locally" sounds great, but for all practical purposes, it is a luxury for people of relatively independent means. I can't imagine any of our low-wage workers here in Chicago being able to move to a small farm and make a go of it. At any rate, the article is interesting; the idea deserves some development.

Attention, Movie Lovers!

“THE MAGIC OF MOVIES AND THE SACRAMENTS . THE HOLY SPIRIT REVEALED IN CHALLENGING , SURPRISING AND DELIGHTFUL WAYS . CREATIVE INTERCHANGE . MUTUAL SUPPORT . IMAGINATIONS ON FIRE ! NOT BAD FOR A RETREAT . WHAT A GREAT EXPERIENCE !”
--REV . BOB BONNOT , DEEPER DIMENSIONS
National Film Retreat - The 8th annual National Film Retreat will take place at the Pauline Center for Media Studies, 3908 Sepulveda Blvd., Culver City, CA, July 6-8, 2007. Cost is $100.00 for meals, breaks, and retreat guide book. Visit www.nationalfilmretreat.org for registration or call Sr. Rose at 310-636-8385. You may also pick up a registration form at the Pauline Book & Media Center, same address, Monday-Saturday, 10am – 6pm. Deadline for registration in June 25th. This retreat is for film lovers, industry professionals, catechists, pastoral ministers, young adults, etc.

Theme: The City: A State of Mind and Sacred Space
“Nowadays when a person lives somewhere, in a neighborhood, the place is not certified for him. More than likely he will live there sadly and the emptiness which is inside him will expand until it evacuates the entire neighborhood. But if he sees a movie which shows his very neighborhood, it becomes possible for him to live, for a time at least, as a person who is Somewhere and not Anywhere.”
--Walker Percy, The MovieGoer, 1960

Film Slate
Batman Begins
Amelie
City Lights
In America
Smoke

Campaign for New Orleans

The Burger King "Campaign for Your Cause" has winnowed down the 100,000 nominations to ten each for New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Among the Çatholic organizations in the top ten for New Orleans are my high school Alma Mater, Archbishop Chapelle High, Mt. Carmel Academy (which suffered heavy losses from Katrina) and the Father Harry Thompson Center (Fr. Thompson, SJ, started a school for at-risk kids along the Nativity School model; it, too, suffered quite a bit of damage from the hurricane).
Whichever organization gets the most "votes" now will be given a $50,000 contribution from Burger King. Votes can be submitted on the website or by cell phone (text message to "burger" or 287437). The runners up will share another $50,000.
Frankly, I think the Father Harry Thompson Center ought to get your vote (text message HARRY or choose it on the website). This is an easy way to cooperate in a great good for children who are the most disadvantaged of all in a city that is still 3/4 destroyed. You can return every day and cast another vote.
Please consider including this information in your blog or e-mail.

Grafitti Busters

We've had quite a grafitti problem here lately, such that our Michigan Avenue facade looked like a taggers' hangout and not a Pauline ministry center. Repeated calls to the city hotline by Sr. Helen didn't seem to do anything, so she asked me to make a call. Which I did, sometime on Saturday. Result? By 3:00 Monday afternoon, the grafitti "blaster" was hard at work. Things should look a little nicer now.
But it sure makes me wonder what I must sound like on the phone.

smiles

Actor Clarence Gilyard with the Nunblogger

Clarence Gilyard (of "Walker, Texas Ranger" fame) came over on Thursday and submitted to an interview, photos and a bowl of gumbo. His play (My Children, My Africa) runs for one more week in Chicago. The interview focused on evangelization and Catholic media professionals, the new media, and the spiritual needs of Catholics in the entertainment industry. Hopefully, I will craft a little YouTube video from the footage!
Join us in congratulating Clarence and his wife on the arrival of baby Peter, born on May 30!

Church, Music and Church Music

This weekend the Chicago Gospel Music Festival is being held right in Millennium Park. (Other years it has been in Grant Park; now it is right across the way!) I managed to get by the youth tent to hear a church group singing their hearts out. There's a real need for music that takes hold of the whole person like that, bringing a message about Jesus that unites the mind and heart to the energy of the body. It seems to me that almost all cultures have that in their religious tradition. (Case in point: Chicago will be hosting the Whirling Dervishes in a week or two!) We don't ordinarily think of the Catholic tradition in those terms. Our traditional Church music is much gentler and more contemplative than Gospel music. Think of last week's chanting of "Veni Sancte Spiritus" for Pentecost. Oh, but I learned a little tidbit at choir practice on Pentecost morning (a tip of the hat to Paul, our Pontifical-Academy-trained maestro). It seems that the familiar music for "Veni Sancte Spiritus" did not develop from Gregorian Chant, but from secular music. It was sung with a more dancing, lilting sound than we usually associate it with. So maybe part of our tradition got lost along the centuries. Maybe Church music isn't always supposed to be so very "churchly" after all!

The Folly of the Cross

This came in my e-mail today:
Sr. Anne, I have a question. What is the reason behind today's entry in the Magnificat:
It reads, "St. Justin was taught by the foolishness of the cross." And later before the Mass readings is
"Father through the folly of the cross'.... Question- why is folly used with the word Cross????

The expression "folly of the cross" comes right from the Good Book--from St. Paul, in fact. "The message of the cross is complete foolishness for those on the way to ruin, but to us who are experiencing salvation it is the power of God."
Paul is telling the Corinthians that we do not find salvation in wisdom or in the Mosaic Law, but in the utterly contradictory mystery of his own Son's death. In other words, God brings about ultimate victory through what would seem to be utter failure. It is similar to the mystery of Christ's birth--not in the palace of the king, but in a stable, in squalor. God's glory is manifested the most where human "glory" is totally absent. That seems like foolishness to us. St. Paul said that "God's folly is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength." That makes the cross a "stumbling block" (in Greek, a scandal). When it comes to wisdom, strength, or glory, we are the ones who have it all wrong!
See 1 Cor. 18-31.