Spy Wednesday and Why We Need Judas

Each day of Holy Week, the Gospel has presented us with the unappealing figure of Judas, "one of the Twelve, who would betray Jesus." Over the past two decades or so, there has been a kind of informal movement to  rehabilitate the Iscariot, to tell a backstory that makes him more sympathetic, to make  his ultimate repentance more soothingly likely. Why is that? Do people need to downplay the evil Judas committed because they are afraid of facing their own failures?
Reworking the story may go well as far as the individual disciple Judas goes, but it doesn't help us much. Just so happens that those same years of earnest, non-judgmental and warm-hearted rehabilitation of the betrayer's figure coincide with the worst cases of child sex abuse by members of the clergy, and the most egregious cover-ups by bishops (and probably by fellow priests) who most likely did not want to be harsh and judgmental.  Turns out a little therapeutic straight-shooting would have been just the thing.
I've had to do a lot of thinking (and a little writing) about the ongoing abuse saga, so much in the news. (And so much of it really just calumnious accusations*, but deeply influential all the same.) But these sad stories convince me of the need to tell the story of Judas as bluntly as the Gospels do. People very close to Jesus, people Jesus has chosen for something "more," even to represent him and act "in persona Christi capitis," are capable of heinous acts of betrayal. And it may not turn out all nice, nice.
Maybe we need to keep that awful power in mind.




*Just yesterday, a Canadian outlet thought it headline worthy to announce an "accusation" and to lay the blame, in the headline, at the Pope's door. And that's not even mentioning NBC's "accident" (Freudian though it may have been) attributing one abuser's confession to the Pope himself.

Pere Febbie

It has to be a sign of the times when you learn about the death of a friend through Facebook. But if not for this immense social network, it is quite likely that I would not have found out until ... when?
My last e-mail conversation with Fr. Fred was prompted when I got what looked like spam from him. "Fr Fred, I think your e-mail got hacked..." And we agreed to meet for lunch next time he was downtown. Before Easter. Never got around to actually saying when.
Fr. Fred Sahuc and I don't go way back, as friends go. We met at CTU when we took a course under Richard Fragomeni, "Preaching Parish Retreats and Missions." Fred (he was just finishing his M. Div.) and I were on the same "mission band," along with a Divine Word seminarian. We realized that we were both from New Orleans and (New Orleans being New Orleans) that we had connections to many of the same people. (Today I learned of yet another one of those connections.) So that was it. Despite the age and generational cohort differences between us (Fr. Fred had ten years on me), we hit it off like only fellow ex-pats of a remarkable city can. Especially when one of those ex-pats wears a broad smile most of the time.
I battled the rush-hour traffic on I-55 to get to his Perpetual Profession Mass at the Dominican University chapel. I was late, but so was the Mass. I couldn't make it to his ordination, but when he celebrated his first Mass of Thanksgiving in New Orleans in 2007, my Mom was there in my stead. In fact, when Mom and my sister came here in November to see me (and my sister's in-laws), we all drove out to Oak Park to chat with Fr. Fred. Over ice cream. When Mom found little New Orleans specialties, she would put them in a care package for Fr. Fred. Just yesterday I put a note on his Facebook profile asking what he wanted me to bring back from home (I'll be visiting Mom next week).
And today I learned, via Facebook, that I can't quite bring him anything from home.
He was on his way home already.
Rest in peace, my friend! To quote a memorial message you left a fellow New Orleanian not long ago: "You were a delight to be with, and a caring person." While you're celebrating Easter, ask Jesus to send your community a dozen or so vocations to take your place!

Incomplete!

Did you ever get a paper (or, worse yet, a semester report) with a big fat Incomplete on it? It's pretty unsettling--especially if you (as was my experience) really did fulfill all the requirements and make all your deadlines. What was the instructor missing?

How fitting that as the Church enters Holy Week, it is under the weight of a particularly galling cross, one crafted by some of its own most trusted members, humiliating enough at that, but made more so by the klieg lights of sensationalistic journalism that has taken little trouble to get at the whole story. (That would be too much work. And so much less juicy.) Incomplete.
National Catholic Reporter Vatican correspondent John Allen names the most serious shortcoming in the typical presentations of the story of Pope Benedict's alleged complicity (as Cardinal Ratzinger) in delaying action against accused abusers: stories claim that Cardinal Ratzinger, as head of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was the "point man" for all such cases, worldwide, from 1981 (when he was first appointed) up to his election. As Allen notes, until 2001, abuse cases (except for those involving the further sacrilege of exploiting access through the sacrament of Penance) were the responsibility of the local bishop. (That's been the heart of the issue all along.) Only in 2001, with revelations of widespread mismanagement in the US, did Pope John Paul direct that these cases be handled in Rome.
So any story or letter you see that pulls this fast one--"after all, Ratzinger sat on those cases from 1981-2005..."--can be discredited right off the bat. Allen seems convinced, as Archbishop Dolan sure is, that (in Dolan's words), "No one has been more vigorous in cleansing the Church of the effects of this sickening sin than the man we now call Pope Benedict XVI."
Please refer to the Allen article (the top of my list below) any time you find yourself freaking out over some aspect of media coverage of the issue. "Only 20% of the cases in Rome were brought to a church trial!" Does that sound like negligence? Sure it would--if they don't tell you that in 60% of the cases the abuser was dismissed from ministry immediately on the basis of the documentation.
There's more where that came from.
This is not to say that all scrutiny or coverage is unfair or useless. Far from it. As Archbishop Dolan remarked yesterday after Mass:

 ...Does the Church and her Pastor, Pope Benedict XVI, need intense scrutiny and just criticism for tragic horrors long past? Yes! He himself has asked for it, encouraging complete honesty, at the same time expressing contrition, and urging a thorough cleansing. All we ask is that it be fair, and that the Catholic Church not be singled-out for a horror that has cursed every culture, religion, organization, institution, school, agency, and family in the world.

John Allen sets the record straight
Cardinal George speaks of the shame of betrayal
Archbishop Dolan off-the-cuff
Details from the Milwaukee case

More pertinent info, most especially the first on the New York Times' sloppy journalism (say it ain't so!).
Milwaukee case: Journalists failed to investigate this source
George Weigel: the bigger picture
The Anchoress: "The Quest for the Petrine Scalp"

Praised be

Time was, in Catholic cultures, people didn't greet one another with "Hello" or "See ya!", but with "Praised be Jesus Christ!" If you were Italian, it was "Sia lodato Gesu Cristo", something I learned when I entered my Italian-founded community. Early on, I learned from my co-novice (family name: Jablonski) how to say the same thing in Polish.
It's not something we can use across the board in a culture as diverse as ours. To some, it could be the "Christian" equivalent of a declaration about Allah and Mohammad: a statement about "somebody else's faith" that could even seem like an imposition.
But in adapting to a multi-religious climate, we've lost some important things: frequent, relatively unobtrusive opportunities to reclaim our faith and at the same time let our everyday life and choices be readjusted, continually tweaked into greater conformity with the truth we say is foundational.

"Praised be Jesus Christ!" can seem like just a pious wish. Holy Week invites us to make it a commitment.

Liturgy day

I attended a two-part seminar on Vatican II's important (and first) document, "Sacrosanctum concilium" last night and this morning. With the new translation of the Mass prayers coming up, the Liturgy document of the Council was a big magnet. The audience was filled with priests, many of whom were old enough to have remembered the whole journey of the Church from the modest (but significant) changes in the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours under Pope Pius XII all the way through to the present.
Of course, there have been changes in the Liturgy that nobody now alive can remember. One of them was the subject of an off-the-cuff type remark by a speaker. Looking ahead to this weekend's Palm Sunday, he said that the procession with branches and the singing of "All Glory, Laud and Honor" had been ignored by Rome for a thousand years, but heartily enjoyed in France all the while. ("All Glory, Laud and Honor" was written by Theodulph of Orleans--not the new "Orleans" either.) Thus, concluded the speaker, "All the fun stuff in the Liturgy comes out of France."
More fun stuff from the seminar as time goes on; it was quite interesting!

I always wondered how to do that...

Maybe this will  be the year I manage to weave my palm frond into something special:
Thanks for the link, Faith & Family

Life Issues Conference this Weekend

Caritas in Veritate

Conference on Bioethics and Life Issues

Join us for this major conference on bioethics and life issues. Speakers include:

• Rita Marker, Executive Director, International Task Force on Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide
• David Bereit, Founder of 40 Days for Life
• Francis Cardinal George, OMI, giving reflections on Cartias in Veritate (Pope Benedict XVI's most recent encyclical) 

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Time:	7:30am - 3:30pm
Location:	St. Lambert Parish
Street:	8148 Karlov Ave.
City/Town:	Skokie, IL

YOU MUST REGISTER BY PHONE

Please call the Respect Life Office at 312.534.5355 ASAP, or end of day Thursday (March 25). We look forward to seeing you there!

Ste Genevieve memories

My final Lenten talk was at the Servite parish near here, Assumption. I picked up the bulletin to catch up on things, and really enjoyed the pastor's column from last Sunday (March 21). He recounted his days in St. Louis, and the conversations he had with a native of Ste Genevieve, MO, the unlikely French town in the middle of Missouri. Father Joe highlighted the distinctive culture of that Missouri town where folks were still speaking French in the 1940's and keeping Holy Week the way their ancestors had before the French Revolution. 
I have my own Ste Genevieve memories, dating back to my very early years as a sister. I was stationed in St. Louis a year and a half after first vows, and stayed there until it was time to prepare for final vows. During my time in the Gateway City, we made many mission trips across the central US, but it was our visit to Ste Genevieve that struck me the most, because it surprised me with what it revealed about the strength of our cultural roots. When we drove our trusty book van up the road that led to the heart of the town, a town centered on a European-style plaza facing a dainty Gothic Church, I felt catapulted back to New Orleans. Suddenly I realized that I had been living in a foreign culture in my Italian-founded community with its US headquarters in New England. I had been suffering culture shock without even knowing it! 
Have you ever found yourself unexpectedly immersed, and apparently conformed to, a culture that in the end really wasn't your own? Do you occasionally find yourself being brought back "home" by places, events, holidays? How do you put yourself "in sync"?

Angelus Day

I'm a big promoter of the praying of the Angelus, and what day could be more perfect for encouraging people to take up the thrice-daily remembrance of the Incarnation than today's feast? But every year I get the same sinking feeling: as ideal as the day is, it just isn't timed right. This year, the solemnity falls at the end of Lent, meaning that in just over a week, the Angelus gives way to the Regina Coeli (for the whole Easter Season!). And if the Solemnity of the Annunication of the Lord falls in Easter, well, there you have it.
It would be a great thing to raise awareness among Catholics who have not grown up with this tradition that we, too, have a daily "call to prayer" in which we honor the greatest truth (and greatest grace) of our faith.
So what day in Ordinary Time might be more suited to actually promoting the Angelus?

Social Justice has a sense of humor!

As I prepare to give my final Lenten talk (this one's at Assumption Church downtown), I'm sort of multi-tasking. My talk tonight is on Eucharistic Adoration, but with the Health Care bill being signed and what that means in terms of Catholic teaching, I'm trying to do some research for a post for the Tribune's "Seeker" feature.
How timely, then, that I should view this edition of the Colbert Report! (Some viewer discretion advised!)

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Glenn Beck Attacks Social Justice - James Martin
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

In the Fiery Furnace

Today's first reading is from the book of Daniel. Not the lion's den, but the fiery furnace where (as the old Latin translation put it) the three "children" (now our translation reads "young men") were thrown after refusing to adore Nebuchadnezzar's golden statue. The Responsorial Psalm isn't a Psalm at all, but the "song of the children" as they called all creation and every rank of person to praise God. This canticle became one of the mainstays of the early Liturgy of the Hours (it's still got a prominent place on Sundays and on all solemnities, including tomorrow's Annunication of the Lord).
So what's that got to do with Lent, which is now in its last days? (A week from today is the final day of Lent.)
Maybe there's a hint in the Gospel, where Jesus tells us "the truth will make you free." Free like those young people in Babylon who clung to the truth about God, and sang his praises "unfettered and unhurt" in the flames.
"For freedom Christ has set us free," St. Paul wrote.
What is the truth that is the key to the freedom you most need this year?

Don't bite!

Every once in a while at St. Peter's something happens that provokes the priest into giving a little scolding before the final blessing. Well, maybe not quite a scolding...
Today it was the earnest request that those who desire to receive Holy Communion on the tongue open their mouth and hold the tongue out long enough to let the minister place the Host on it without getting bitten!
I know what he was talking about. I served as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion for quite some time. You really have to be on your toes, ready to respond to people's unstated preference without breaking the prayerfulness of the moment. But it's really hard to manage when you have to slip the Eucharist between their teeth and the only thing that comes to mind is putting quarters in a Coke machine.
Back in the day when Communion on the tongue was the only option, we were taught to tilt our head back slightly (we would also be kneeling at the Communion rail), open wide and hold our tongue out to make it easy for the priest (only the priest in those days) to place the Host reverently. I suspect that many people today did not receive that kind of instruction.  (Did you?)

Leadership in the Church

My post about the Pope's letter to the Catholics of Ireland stirred up some interesting comments. One, I think, really cuts to the chase: Nancy Christine raises the question of the human leadership of the Church.  Why should we accept the role of bishops and a hierarchically ordered Church in the first place?
Bottom line is, why on earth did Jesus leave human beings "in charge" of his Church on earth? Wasn't that God's worst idea ever? (If He didn't think so at the start, surely the accumulated evidence must have led Him by now to admit it...) Why doesn't God just guide us himself, directly, and without human intermediaries?
The Gospels make it pretty clear that, good idea or not, this is what the Lord did. The very early history of the Church shows how, from the start, the Church operated hierarchically. (Pope Clement's letter to the Corinthians, for example, makes that pretty clear--why else would a bishop of Rome write to another apostolic Church--when a living Apostle, St. John, was way closer, in Ephesus, and presumably able to deal with the issue of those recalcitrant Corinthians?) And 2,000 years of history show that it hasn't been all bad. But there's been enough bad for the question to stay in the back of most people's minds, to pop up when things get really hairy.

Interestingly, just last night I read a relevant suggestion, from my favorite theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar. Von Balthasar proposed that since the Garden of Eden, mankind has rejected the direct, immediate Lordship of God. The book paraphrases von B: "Man, who was unwilling to obey his Creator, because he himself wanted to be like God, must now obey a man, if he wants to have--by grace--a share in the divine nature." It's a paradoxical way of repairing the ultimate breach, and not one any of us would automatically come to. But it also comes with a promise, likewise paradoxical, given the serious offenses we are looking at right now. Somehow, "the gates of hell will not hold out against" the Kingdom, whose keys are in Peter's hands.

The book I am reading is Light and Shadows: Church History amid Faith, Fact and Legend (Book review) by Walter Brandmuller.

Pope's Letter about abuse

Pope Benedict signed and released a pastoral letter to the Catholics of Ireland on the sorry and sordid story of sex abuse in the Isle of the Saints. Already, though,  the media are saying that the Pope is coming "under fire" and that victims' groups are dissatisfied. (The letter was dated yesterday.)

The first part of the letter situates it in the context of the Church of Ireland; its history, its make-up, and then the recent revelations of widespread abuse of children which led to the writing of the letter:

For my part, considering the gravity of these offenses, and the often inadequate response to them on the part of the ecclesiastical authorities in your country, I have decided to write this Pastoral Letter to express my closeness to you and to propose a path of healing, renewal and reparation....the Church in Ireland must first acknowledge before the Lord and before others the serious sins committed against defenseless children...

He addresses various groups, starting with the abuse victims themselves, first acknowledging that nothing can be said or done that will ever suffice to make up for the suffering they have been through:

You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. Many of you found that, when you were courageous enough to speak of what happened to you, no one would listen. Those of you who were abused in residential institutions must have felt that there was no escape from your sufferings. It is understandable that you find it hard to forgive or be reconciled with the Church. In her name, I openly express the shame and remorse that we all feel. At the same time, I ask you not to lose hope. It is in the communion of the Church that we encounter the person of Jesus Christ, who was himself a victim of injustice and sin. Like you, he still bears the wounds of his own unjust suffering. He understands the depths of your pain and its enduring effect upon your lives and your relationships, including your relationship with the Church. I know some of you find it difficult even to enter the doors of a church after all that has occurred. Yet Christ’s own wounds, transformed by his redemptive sufferings, are the very means by which the power of evil is broken and we are reborn to life and hope. I believe deeply in the healing power of his self-sacrificing love – even in the darkest and most hopeless situations – to bring liberation and the promise of a new beginning.

He nails the perpetrators: "you must answer for it before Almighty God and before properly constituted tribunals" (no "protection" by the Church).
He tells the bishops, frankly, that they failed to obey canon law with regard to "long-established norms [regarding] the crime of child abuse" and he calls them to "self-examination, inner purification and spiritual renewal."
He also addresses a neglected group: the faithful priests and religious who are treated "as if somehow responsible for the misdeeds of others" and who are "tainted by association," and so "disappointed, bewildered and angered" at the failures of their superiors.

Toward the end of the letter, the Pope calls for (among other things):

• a year of penance (offering what is supposed to be our usual Friday penances of "fasting,  prayer,  reading of Scripture and works of mercy" for the grace of healing and renewal)
• frequent confession
• a nationwide "mission" (retreat) for all bishops, priests and members of religious orders
• an official visitation of seminaries, religious congregations and dioceses

He also provided the text of a prayer to be offered in families, parishes and communities--this is not to be dismissed casually. An "official" prayer to be said in so many contexts means that the issue will be kept before people's consciousness and not allowed to fade away.


Maybe it's not enough for those who suffered the worst possible betrayal of trust. But it's an honest and very straightforward start, and just about the most undiplomatic, uncompromising text ever seen in official Papal documents.

Catholic FAQs

The Diocese of Rockford is following up the "Catholics Come Home" campaign with a series of YouTube videos answering the most common questions about the Catholic Church and what it teaches. Since we are rolling toward the finish line of Lent, confession is a good idea--so here is the treatment of that sacrament:

A big shout-out to Eric Groth at Big Grin Studios for the fine work on this series, and hearty congratulations to your family on the arrival of the newest member!

Health Care issues

As someone who knows what it's like to be without insurance, I'd love to see a good health care bill passed. But there's more than a little controversy about how good is good enough.
If I had more political/economic savvy, I could probably read the 2,000 pages of proposed legislation fruitfully, but as it is, I am way out of my depth in any political/economic context. What I am seeing, though, is that across the US, our Catholic bishops (who have been promoting the idea of universal health care for decades) cannot bring themselves to accept the bill as it currently stands. It includes direct federal funding of elective abortions, invalidating in one move all the legislation that has been passed since 1973 in that regard. More ominously, neither the Senate bill nor the "reconciliation bill" provide the conscience protections that respect the rights of individual health care workers.
This can't be good.
How likely is it that, once the bill is passed, its most serious flaws will be corrected? Shouldn't they be addressed at the starting gate?
Here are some thoughtful responses by several groups of US bishops that are well worth considering.

St Cyril the Unappreciated

That's not his real title. But poor St. Cyril! Sandwiched between St. Patrick and St. Joseph, he hardly gets the respect he deserves from your average Catholic. Almost no one realizes that we owe this bishop of Jerusalem much of our Holy Week experience...
He was bishop in the Holy City at a time when the ancient Christians, following St. Helena's example, were all agog for holy archaeology. The Empress Helena started building projects at the various spots associated with our Lord's suffering, death and resurrection, and Cyril (who became bishop some 20 years after Helena's death) used to lead prayer services in each location.  We even have an account of these by a Spanish woman named Egeria who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land at that time. She describes her journey step by step in a lengthy travelogue, a good part of which has come down to us.
Even then, pilgrims would arrive at a holy location and read a Bible passage related to the place (they didn't have St Jerome's Vulgate translation yet, but used an "Old Latin" translation). Following the reading, pilgrims would pray a Psalm together. Egeria stayed in Jerusalem for quite some time. We have her accounts of the celebration of Epiphany, ordinary time and above all, Holy Week and the already-venerable Palm Sunday procession, begun after hearing the Gospel. Holy Thursday was spent at Gethsemane, Good Friday at Golgotha with an hours-long Vigil spent listening to the Gospel.
Thanks to Egeria, we know that St. Cyril spent three hours every day of Lent teaching the Creed especially for those preparing for baptism and for their sponsors. (His talks are still available, too, and are very, very rich indeed!)
So today you can get to know the saint of the day by reading from his contemporary, the very articulate Egeria. As you read her account of the Holy Week services, every time she mentions "the bishop," she is presenting us with the unforgettable St. Cyril!

The Founder would approve: media strategist points to two nuns and two priests as models of social networking and wonders why corporations don't take a page from their book. Both nuns are Daughters of St. Paul! Sr Helena and Sr Margaret, no less!

Car Wash

It was a day of errands for me (no visible progress yet on tomorrow's talk, but the empty refrigerator has been reproaching me since Friday). While I was running from one place to the next, I detoured for a car wash. At $4.95 it was a Chicago bargain, and our mini-van was so dirty that when I had to park it in a public lot a few weeks ago, the attendant noted "color:gray" on the ticket. (The actual paint color is pale gold.)
The weather today was splendid: a real harbinger of spring, with bright sun, clear skies, and (for us, anyway) lots of Fahrenheit. But when I drove out of the car wash, what struck me was how much I could now see the beauty of the day, and above all how impressive the city skyline was. I wasn't just managing to make out the shapes beyond that grayscale effect on the windshield: the grime had been washed away, and the day and the city were revealed in unexpected beauty. I knew they were both quite lovely as I drove around, but once the car was clean and the windows sparkling, I found out that it was even a nicer day, and Chicago an even lovelier city, than I had realized.
A real Lenten experience!!

Mission Video Contest

The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers are sponsoring a unique video contest: Create a 3 minute video featuring you, the service or ministry you are involved in and why you would be qualified for (and interested in) the grand prize: a two-week mission trip to Tanzania, working alongside the Maryknoll missioners and the rural/urban poor of the Lake Victoria region. Entrants must be ages 18-35.
I only found out about this now, so if you're interested and only hearing about it now, you may have to act fast... Deadline for upload is April 9!
For more info:
MyMission@Maryknoll.org
www.ExploreMyMission.org

Hummingbird Cam!
Just a little something charming to uplift you.
Today's Gospel gave me a lift, too. I have to confess, I played with it a little. It's from John, and (as one of my theology teachers used to say), "Well, you know John!" We hear a very similar story from the other three evangelists: a man from the social elite comes to Jesus seeking the miraculous cure of someone at death's door. Trusting in Jesus' words that the sick one will get better, the petitioner leaves and en route, gets news of the amazing recovery.
The synoptics tell us of a Centurion and his servant (or slave), highlighting the sense that the Good News is meant for the Gentiles. But John puts it in a different light. Here, it is a "royal official" who is pleading for his son's life.
Note that this happens "in Cana of Galilee." In case we don't get the connection, John reminds us that this is "where Jesus had made water into wine." At a wedding. Now he's back, and there's a child. Not that there's any sense that it's the same family, of course, but love, marriage and baby carriages went together in the 1st century mind, and John is all about marriage.
What I noticed was that it was a "royal official" whose son was cured. A royal official in Galilee, whose "whole household" came to believe. This is where I played with the text in a way that would furrow the brow of a Scripture scholar.
I moved into Luke's Gospel. Chapter 8 mentions the women who followed Jesus and who basically financed his ministry. Among them was a woman named Joanna, who later shows up among the "myrrh-bearing women" on Easter morning. Joanna is identified as "the wife of Herod's steward, Chuza."
That would be Herod, Tetrarch of Galilee.
King Herod.
Which would make Chuza a "royal steward" from Galilee.
Isn't it delightful to imagine that it was his son whom Jesus cured at a distance, inspiring the boy's mother with a grateful faith that brought her all the way to the Cross and beyond?
I like to think so.

Chi-Town Jazz Festival

There was a terrific article in Sunday's Chicago Tribune (by the paper's Arts Critic) highlighting a new jazz event (this week). The "divine inspiration" came to a leading jazz musician in town. One who also happens to be a priest. I love that the article quoted an e-mail from Cardinal George about how Fr. John Moulder's priestly vocation "means sharing who he is [so] the gift of his priesthood is also shared in his performances."
Looking to help Catholic Charities and several other food pantry services in the area, Father used his contacts among club owners and musicians to create a roster of events. Clubs and artists work pro bono, and the entrance fees go to the good banks.
For the (heart-warming) article and the festival schedule, go to the Tribune site.

Laetare!

There are some good parallels between today's Saturday Gospel and the Gospel for this 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time, which, if your parish is not using the "A" cycle readings (for those preparing for Baptism), will be the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
Today's Parable was that of the Pharisee and the Publican. Remember them? "Two men went up to the Temple to pray." Jesus (who would be in a position to know) said that the Pharisee prayed "to himself": "I thank you, O God, that I am not like the rest of men..." and he delivered a short list of particularly spectacular sins of which he was not guilty, unlike "this publican here."
Said publican, meanwhile, was just repeating "Have mercy on me, O God, a sinner."
How like the two brothers in Sunday's story. The elder brother, consumed with envy, narrates his own virtues and sums up his long-lost (but now found) brother's escapades without leaving much to anyone's imagination. The returnee, though,  had made no real claims on the family. He was basically throwing himself at their mercy, to be "treated like one of the hired hands."
The younger brother and the publican had nothing to hide: their spiritual ruin was right out there. All it took to experience mercy was the simple acknowledgment of the situation.
The same would be for the elder brother and the Pharisee, if only they could see.
And, on this Laetare Sunday weekend, that is cause for rejoicing!

Vocation talk tonight online; TOB tomorrow

Sr  Helena will be the presenter for the "Love and Responsibility" online study tonight. Her theme is Vocation. Please join us online at 8:00 Central Time: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/theology-of-the-body
Then tomorrow, we have our regular Theology of the Body study with guest presenter Pat Reidy. He will continue speaking on how to present the Theology of the Body to teens, something he does every day as a teacher in a boys' high school. Pat is a phenomenal presenter; you don't need to be a youth minister or parent to learn a lot. He'll be with us tomorrow morning at 10:30 Central Time; use the same link as above.

Follow-up (How Great Thou Art)

So, with fear and trepidation I took my notes (in 14-point type) for last night's talk. Sure enough, in the front row (right smack in front of the ambo!) was an older gentleman with a furrowed brow, staring up at me. What a distraction! Nobody took me up on my offer to entertain questions when the talk was finished, so I drove home, reflecting on the experience.
In a way, there was a mysterious, twofold, even threefold grace for me.
One was that this tiny stressor was, in its own way, an occasion for me to make reparation for the times I have responded inappropriately or disproportionately to people, taking their remarks or input out of context. How gracious of God to allow me to endure something that I have in my own way inflicted on others!
There was also the beautiful timing. (Not that I received the lengthy critique just hours before giving another talk in the same venue!) I  mean that in the same mail delivery, I received a warm, hand-written note (they still do that?) from one of our Pauline brothers, affirming my work (and my talks!). Another sign of graciousness that the blowhard's many pages should be balanced by something so unexpected.
And finally, another Pauline sort of grace: the recognition that in this experience of having my every word parsed by someone who seemed actually eager for me to slip up was something that Jesus himself experienced in his public ministry. I know that in a mystical way all of life's experience can be a participation in the mysteries of Jesus' earthly life, but it's not often that you get such a spot-on match. Again, an amazing grace for me.
On the whole, I am hard put to praise God enough for this!

St. Paul to the rescue

Sometimes St. Paul has just the thing, and usually, when he does, it's because he himself has already been through whatever "the thing" I'm facing is.
Today I got a 20-page critique of one offhand comment from a talk I gave two weeks ago. I had remarked that the Opening Prayer at Mass was "worth a thousand rosaries," and the writer took that as a criticism of the rosary, rather than as an exhortation to pay attention to even the "smallest" parts of the Mass. So I was treated to an exhaustive presentation not just of the rosary in the teachings of the Popes and saints, but a catalog of the Marian images in the parish church itself! (Talk about overkill!)
I'm going back to that same Church this evening, but now with the feeling that there are sharks in the water. Weak sharks, but with gnawing teeth. The presentation I hope will offer inspiration and hope is going to be subjected to parsing by someone intent on finding some unorthodox shading. (A first for me, I have to admit!)
What, you might ask, does St. Paul have to say about that?
Well, in Romans 14, he wrote about bearing with those whose faith is weak. As in Paul's day, those "weak" ones can be very strong in expressing themselves (something Paul faced repeatedly). But they are weak--hence, the overkill. It's a sad situation, and (sadder still) not uncommon. Maybe I can "offer it up" "for the sake of Christ's body, the Church," which needs to be united in essentials and charitable in all things.

The Cardinal's Points

The Chicago Tribune published my guest post about Cardinal George's Salt Lake talk. If you haven't read the Cardinal's talk, it's quite powerful.

Thank-You Cam

Who knew? After sweeping the Oscars, The Hurt Locker gives a call-out to "the Catholic Church, Sr Rose and the nuns" on the Oscar Thank-You Cam! The call-out is at 1:45 into the thank-you's by the film editor. A gracious deed! The Catholics in Media Associates Awards for 2010 went to The Hurt Locker and Glee; Sr Rose got the organization's "Board of Directors Award."

Joining Forces

I've just learned that two local pro-life services in the Chicago area are merging: Aid for Women (their offices are just a few blocks away) and WomanCare Services together represent 37 years of concrete support for women at a most vulnerable time in their lives. By joining forces, the new Aid for Women will be able to consolidate administrative expenses, and focus more resources on continuing to make sure that women do not face unexpected pregnancy unaided. God bless them!

Far, far away?

I've always liked the story of Naaman the Syrian from the Elisha cycle in 2 Kings, and today's liturgy brings it to us not once, but twice: in the first reading and in the Gospel. The point today isn't about healing, though: it's about God's far-reaching generosity, and how easily we can miss that forest for the trees, because we expect something different.
Naaman was ready to reject the prophet's message that he would find healing in the Jordan River. That was just too ordinary! Naaman had a very clear image of just how a miraculous healing should take place. It involved the holy man and loud invocations and wild gestures. It did not involve a bare-bones message sent through a third party, much less a mere bath in a river that, to Naaman's mind, wasn't all that impressive a body of water.
And so Naaman almost missed out on his miracle.
The people of Nazareth missed out completely on theirs.
And how many Catholics are at risk of missing out on what the Church tradition has to offer, whether in its mystical tradition or in its heritage of service or the mysticism of the liturgy itself, because it is so very familiar that they can't recognize it for what it is? The foreign automatically carries an air of mystery: we know we don't know all about it, and so we invest it with a great deal of credibility. But the familiar? It doesn't always command as much respect. (We know it! Or we think we do...)
Was there something you thought you knew about Catholicism that ended up really surprising you--and making a difference in your life?
How did you really come to "know" it?
What difference has that made?

How is Lent (so far)?

We're not quite to the halfway mark yet, but how has your Lent been?
My Lent has been marked by the effort to keep up with the Lenten talks I am giving. I did my research starting in January, but the actual talks are coming down the pike one at a time. I suppose the real "Lenten" part is the spiritual effort not to be overwhelmed! I keep repeating with Paul that no matter how things turn out (so far, so good, actually), "this will all work out for the spread of the Gospel."
I spoke today with one man who gave up smoking for Lent. (My Dad used to do that every year.) The intense withdrawal symptoms really made an impression. Far from giving up his Lenten practice, he is determined not to poison his body with another cigarette. With the grace of God, he'll celebrate more than one kind of resurrection at Easter!
What about you?

Free download!`

It's the month of St. Joseph
(his feast day is only two weeks away!),
and for this month only,
you can download (free!)
my favorite track from the album
"In Paradisum":
Te Joseph!

Saints: the App is Up!

Our first iPhone app... I understand it can be purchased as an add-on feature to the iMissal, but not having access to an app-wielding device, all I can do is report that.. the App is up!

Speaking of Saints, I read Cardinal George's address to the students at Brigham Young University. (Latter Day Saints!) The Cardinal commented on issues of religious freedom affecting Catholics and Mormons alike when they move "outside the sacristy." I was surprised at the bluntness coming from the Archbishop of Chicago and head of the US Catholic Bishops' Conference, but such are the times that he felt he needed to speak clearly about the "one-two punch" we can expect from "hostile governments" (he's talking about the US here, not some Soviet-style dictatorship); "attempts to compel traditional religious organizations" and "punishments" for those religious organizations that persist in resisting those moves.  "When, in public life, what is wanted politically is not given, as happened with Proposition 8 in California, and the response is thuggery, then the common good of our whole society is in great jeopardy."  Three times in a page and a half of text, he refers to "threats to religious freedom in America."
The Chicago Tribune published my guest post on the DC situation, which the Cardinal specifically referred to. What was ugliest about that was that those who crafted the laws clearly intended to force the Church over a barrel. For the present, but only for the present, the barrel has been side-stepped.
I do think that Catholic institutions will need to recreate themselves in some way in preparation for further examples of the hostility, compulsion, punishments and thuggery that the Cardinal mentioned. How would you see the Church's mission--its primary mission of evangelization and its self-expression through service to the poor--reshaped in order to thrive in a hostile environment?

Lazarus and Dives

During Lent, the lectionary goes out of its way to give us matched sets of Mass readings. The first reading Jeremiah's take on Psalm 1 about the difference between the person (blessed) who trusts in the Lord and the person (cursed) who trusts in "flesh." The Gospel restates the same theme in very concrete terms in Jesus' parable about the beggar and the rich man. An odd thing, something that heightens the whole sense of blessing and curse, is that while the beggar has a name (Lazarus), the rich man doesn't. It is as if his whole character, his whole personality, his whole human essence was reduced, or maybe limited, to his luxurious life. Outside of that, he didn't even have a life. So when he dies, he is just "buried", whereas when Lazarus (the beggar) dies, "he was carried by angels to the bosom of Abraham."
Here in Chicago we don't yet have a beggar outside of every door, but we do have one outside of just about every Walgreens, 7-11 and Starbucks downtown. In community, we were discussing our personal responses to this situation, when on our way to Mass, we easily hear anywhere from seven to ten different requests for spare change. All we usually have to give is a greeting and an acknowledgment of the person's human dignity. And, in many cases, their name.
Are there "regulars" shaking a paper cup in your neighborhood? Do you know any of their names?

What we're up to

Our Very Special Project (Sr Helena is the screenwriter!)

Under fire in the District

Back in November, I wrote about the dilemma the Archdiocese of Washington was facing, with the District of Columbia attempting to strong-arm the Church into accepting the redefinition of marriage (and the spousal benefits that would go along with it). The District's policy applies to any entity with any sort of contractual relationship with the local government. The religious exemption provided in the DC law is so limited as to not even apply.
Today the Supreme Court upheld the DC law, which was not submitted to voters, but enacted by the City Council.
There were basically two avenues that appeared to be open, each one leaving the local Church open to accusations of injustice or duplicity:

• Reduce the social services the Archdiocese carries out with government contracts (even the suggestion was enough to provoke righteously indignant reproaches that the Church was abandoning the needy over a trifling matter of doctrine--or, to put it even more despicably, "dogma") (
• Redefine spousal benefits so that they could be assigned to a person of the employee's choosing (pretending that in the case of same-sex unions, that wouldn't be a spousal benefit)

Well, the Archdiocese found a tertium quid. Having already (this week) pulled out of foster care services, the Archdiocese is coming under fire for closing off the possibility of spousal benefits to any new employees, across the board. This approach neatly avoids cutting back on services (needed now more than ever), and it doesn't play word games that wink about same-sex households. What it does, unfortunately (but not unjustly) is reduce the possibilities of insurance and other important benefits for families according to the social teachings of the Church.
As I wrote in November, "The Archdiocese of Washington is not a social service organization; it is a Church that expresses its identity in a vibrant way through its many social ministries. But that identity is a complete package: the 'Catholic' in 'Catholic Charities' means something!"
Critics of the Archdiocese claim that this means that the Church's opposition to gay marriage is stronger than its concern for the needy. It seems to me the other way around: the District of Columbia's intransigence (disallowing appropriate religious exemptions) reveals what DC politicians think about the District's weakest citizens.

Calling someone "Father"

Today's Gospel gets pulled out a lot in arguments against Catholicism. Jesus clearly says, "Call no one on earth your Father," and here we Catholics have been flagrantly ignoring this divine injunction for centuries! And not just Roman Catholics, but even the old hermits in the deserts of Egypt with their "Abba Poemen" and "Abba Dorotheus" and so on.
Sad to say, some people have actually had their faith shaken over this.
But even Paul claimed (for himself!) the title "Father" when writing to the Corinthians. And why? Because "I begot you in Christ Jesus through the Gospel."
So whether it is Paul or Father so-and-so at the local parish, the "fatherhood" in question is itself evangelical. The Gospel shows that this fathering can't just be a matter of empty words: that would put the focus on the speaker and not on the new life being called forth. That's the problem Jesus had with the Pharisees of his day (and ours?).
Good thing it's Lent!

Update from Chile

We were finally able to get some news from our sisters in Chile, where we have communities up and down the coast, and up and down the mountains. Miraculously, even though our building in Concepcion was not considered up to par, it shows no damage. The sisters in Concepcion and Santiago are safe, though communications is impeded by the lack of electricity and the continuing aftershocks (over 100 yesterday, and expected to go on for two months). There are still worries for two sisters who were visiting their families, and for the families of the sisters from the most affected zones.
Our sisters in Chile have been heroic in bringing our apostolate forward; please pray that their apostolic creativity will flourish in this difficult situation, so they can be a real light to their people.