Per Christum

I read a recent article about a priest who called for new strategies to keep young people in Church. I agree that this should be a vital aspect of parish ministry. Vibrant parishes usually have a lot for youth, a lot for older people, a lot for families, but outside of university campuses almost nothing for single or married younger people. As someone who is still barely a young adult, I want to unpack some of the arguments made by Fr. Cusick (who is quoted in the article).

1. Churches need better music, preaching, and hospitality- I don’t know what he means by this, but I would agree as long as I can define what constitutes “better!” If he means putting drums near the altar to play 1970s songs in 1990s style then most young adults would probably pass. Keep the liturgy traditional and dignified and save the hip and contemporary stuff for the coffee and conversation afterward.

2. Create “satellite” sites away from the parish for social activity and discussion- As long as he’s not talking about informal masses in someone’s garage, then I agree. Finding a place to connect, hang out, and build social relationships is important. In many ways, evangelicals understand that young adults typically don’t have families close by and need social contact through their communities. Catholic parishes outside of campuses would do well to understand this too and create opportunities for social connection and fellowship, like Theology on Tap.

3. We need a “new apologetics”- Once again, I agree, as long as he’s not talking about dumbing down. If he wants to teach the Catholic Faith to postmodern people in a clear way without compromising the Truth, then we here at Per Christum are way ahead.

Thoughts?

You cannot pray at home as at church, where there is a great multitude, where exclamations are cried out to God as from one great heart, and where there is something more: the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, the prayers of the priests. ~St. John Chrysostom, De incomprehensibili

The Early Show informed its viewers today that 5% of Catholics polled do not attend church at all. For those of you who may not be familiar with the Catholic Church, we believe Mass attendance is essential to the growth of our faith (please see the quick review at the end of this post).

With this in mind, I ask my question to the 5%: If you do not desire the Mass, the Eucharist, why do you desire to be known as Catholic? Please, do not misunderstand me. I am genuinely curious. During my time away from the Catholic Church, I would have emphatically told anyone in earshot that I was NOT Catholic, and never wanted to be considered Catholic. And I didn’t care what the Church taught on the Sacraments, much to my mother’s dismay, but that’s another story.

Being Catholic is not inherited. There is no DNA sequence that sets us apart from the “rest” of the world. For example, I took genetics classes in college but I would not consider myself to be a geneticist. I would not even consider myself remotely capable to understand what it means to do genetic work on a day to day basis. David has made a similar point previously. This is why I ask. So why classify yourself as a Catholic? Is it traditions in your home that define being Catholic to you? Or maybe it is flakiness that keeps you away from your church?

As a Catholic who goes to Mass and sees the value of it in my everyday life, I would like to extend an invitation to lapsed Catholics to come back to the Eucharistic feast. We would love to have you home again. But if its not for you, we won’t hold it against you. Nonetheless, I am still wondering, why claim to be Catholic when you don’t participate in the rituals that make one Catholic?

Read the rest of this entry »

An evangelical is studying the ancient Church Fathers. She is impressed with the deep theological insight of the Fathers. She begins studying ancient Christian art, and takes a special interest in church architecture. Over time, she begins to personally observe the Church Year, and studies the hallowed prayers and liturgy of the Church. She finally tires of the white walls and “contemporary” music of her mega-church, and decides to attend a Catholic mass. She steps inside, and kneels to pray, but can’t find any kneelers. Soon the procession starts, and rather than being solemn and reverent, dancers parade up the aisle. The architecture is no noticeably different than the evangelical church, and the priest add libs a lot to the liturgy, making it rather chatty. The evangelical leaves, and decides to visit an Orthodox Church.

A progressive Protestant is starting to see increased crime in his neighborhood, which he starts to connect with a general moral breakdown in society. He ponders the root cause of his neighborhood’s decline, and now questions his former assumptions about certain family issues, particularly his belief that divorce is “no problem.” This leads him to explore the Catholic Church, because it, unlike his current mainline church, still considers divorce a sin. Soon, after much independent reading, he begins to see the wisdom of Catholic Teaching on a variety of issues. He decides to meet with a priest to discuss becoming Catholic, and the priest gives him a strange look, and asks him why he wants to become Catholic when he already has a church. The priest counsels the man that since the ecumenical era, the Catholic Church doesn’t steal sheep, but if the man really wants to be Catholic, then the priest won’t stop him. So he is thrown into RCIA, where he is taught things that pretty much line up with the mainline church he came out of. The man leaves RCIA, and starts looking for a new church.

Now, I know these examples are simplistic. Most committed seekers would not abandon joining the Catholic Church simply because they entered one or two distressing situations. Nonetheless, I have often wondered:

How many faithful potential converts have been turned away from the Church, even scandalized, by the watered-down Catholicism they sometimes encounter?

I know that some catechists, priests, and liturgists justify “dumbing down” the faith, or “watering down” the liturgy in order to make Church teaching and worship more attractive. Nonetheless, this seems to me to be a losing situation, in that by dumbing down the faith, they are attracting those who aren’t likely to be committed to the Church. I mean, to whom are they making the Church more attractive? Committed or uncommitted converts? First, in today’s society, with few social and family pressures to be Catholic, I am guessing that few uncommitted people are going to bother joining the Church, watered-down or otherwise, to begin with. Second, it seems to me that those uncommitted to joining the Church on the Church’s terms are not going to suddenly become committed, active Catholics once they do join. So, basically, by being flaky, is the faith being watered down so much that committed seekers are being turned away, leaving only a small handful of semi-committed converts? I think the answer is probably “yes,” and this could explain the decline of many mainlines: nobody is going to join a church or organization whose beliefs are so watered-down or nebulous that they are meaningless.

Now, I have to say that standing up for, and teaching the Truth of Catholic Teaching, does not mean being overbearing. As a teacher (and sponsor for RCIA), I am always reminded that amidst our permissive society, Catholic Teaching is generally going to be difficult to digest, and offensive on its own, so it is important that it be taught in both Truth and charity. I think it is important that we not fall into the opposite extreme of being flaky, which is being hard, impatient, and mean to those struggling to believe. I have honestly seen quite a few nominal Catholics and candidates accept Church Teaching after actually having the teachings explained by a faithful, but patient, person. You wouldn’t think a Catholic in her 40s would not know that the Church is against artificial contraception, or that a Catholic in his 30s would think that we are supposed to give up meat on the Sundays of Lent, but I have known of these cases. In both of these examples, patient and loving teaching worked.

So I am curious, how many of you have been scandalized by flakiness? Has it ever influenced your decisions relating to religion, or choice of parish? I know that many on the Christian blogosphere are pretty devoted and committed, so we notice things like this!

You can read all about it here: http://www.olamshrine.com/Troyes/

Not bad for a girl from Canton, Ohio! Then again, you should NEVER underestimate the resolve of Ohio-bred Catholics. To do so is just plain foolish.

Yes, Americans are now sending back missionaries of a sort to Europe. The sisters in France now, represent the rebuilding of their order, where their order was established.

People need to remember that Mother Angelica founded EWTN, in the heart of the deep South, in a diocese that is located in a place that is 2% Catholic, out of a “studio” built by cement blocks intended to be a garage. Not a very hopeful begining where one would expect success.

They also need to remember that while she built EWTN from that humble begining, at the same time the USCCB was attempting to create a Catholic network beamed by sattelite to places that had a sattelite dish - a very hopeful begining, with their money and clout, where one would expect success.

They utterly and unequivicobly failed - no two ways about it. She has been an unqualified success.

No word just yet as to the future of EWTN en français… but I would expect it to happen sooner rather than later.

I know it strains my charity a bit, but every time dissidents wince at the mention of Mother A’s name, I just curl my toes.

H/T: Catholic Conservation

Over at the Catholic Answers Forum a poster asks about spending time with the Mormon community for Bible studies… Sadly, this Catholic of 10 years has found the Catholic communities in his new city to be not very welcoming. In response to his inquiry, it was written:

Hi melmac,
Welcome to CAF! The technique the Mormons are using on you (all that welcoming, warmth and acceptance) is well known to those who study cults. It’s called “love-bombing”. All cults do it to attract you to their group and to keep your attention away from the weirdness of their doctrines. It is especially effective on shy, lonely or vulnerable people. Mormons are experts at spotting those people.

As soon as these people learn that they have no hope of converting you, they will lose interest, the love-bombing will cease and they will move on to the next conquest.

The Mormon term for it is “friendshipping” and it is a missionary technique they are taught. They even have an instruction manual on how to friendship effectively to get converts.

Only in Mormonism is friendship not a noun, but a verb - something you do to someone to get what you want.

Think about it. No matter how nicely someone treats you, it doesn’t change what’s true and false.

God love you,
Paul (a former Mormon now Catholic)

I respond:

You bring up GREAT points Paul.

It should also be noted that a lot of these missionaires are 19-21 year olds who are away from their home on their “mission” for 24 months which Mormons are more than encouraged to go on. (Not quite forced, but you really DO NOT want to NOT do it…) They are raised with that experience ever before them. There is a hymn commonly taught to children in what would be like “sunday school” where they sing (paraphrase!) “I wanna grow up to be a missionary, when I grow a foot or two! I wanna go on a mission..” Would were it the case Catholics instilled such zeal for mission work!

During the course of these 24 months they are away from home and will not go back (usually) even for a parent or sibling’s funeral. The average missionary will baptize TWO members of which ONE will stay a Mormon. During the course of those 24 months they are living with “mission partners” (who may well be strangers they may not like at all) and having every aspect of their life controlled (some are not allowed to read newspapers, watch TV, or listen to the radio…)

ALSO during the course of these 24 months, away from home, living with strangers, they will suffer some of the nastiest invectives and abuse from people on the street and in going door-to-door. I recently saw a PBS special on Mormonism where a hidden cameral followed two all-American looking young guys who were in a big city… People would not talk to them, except for the jerks that would walk up to them unprovoked and start swearing and making fun of them. These kids never stopped smiling.

Really, sociologically, this program is amazing - you take kids away from homes with active and strong family life (often with a lot of brothers and sisters) and send them apple-cheeked and green out into the non-Mormon world where they are treated TERRIBLY by most people and have doors slammed in their face. At the end of 24 months they return home, more often than not, affirming that THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

So the “Love bombing” - while true - isn’t on the face of it as ominous as some may think it is. These kids who are homesick and treated awfully don’t want to go home from the mission they were raised to be excited about as failures. They also really are genuinely happy someone is actually being receptive to them.

If I were 20, away from home for the first time, living with strangers and everyone told me the Catholic Church was stupid, the first soul who was nice to me and receptive to what I had to say would be my “bestest friend in the whole wide world”! I would love you to death for being nice to me and offering me hope that I would not return to my family a “failure who baptized no one.”

So maybe offer to pray the Our Father with them, and then definately pray for them. But do not read their lit and go to their meetings. It was overwhelming for a Catholic priest - Isaiah Bennett - who for a short time left the priesthood and got married (even after years of seminary formation!) before returning to the Catholic Church. If someone like that - a priest! - can succumb to that environment, I certainly would NOT trust myself.

The first episode of St. Peter’s Chaldean Catholic High School Bible Study’s original production, “Joe Everyman.”

Ban-worthy?

CNA STAFF, Feb 12, 2008 / 09:02 am (CNA).- On Monday morning, American Life League (ALL) was informed by YouTube that one of its exposé videos on Planned Parenthood was evicted from their for its “inappropriate nature.” Strangely enough, the ad that the ALL was criticizing remains on YouTube.

The banned report explains how a Planned Parenthood commercial helps encourage recreational sex, which ALL’s Michael Hichborn told CNA, “helps their bottom line”.

“All we did in our video report was show a couple of clips from Planned Parenthood’s ‘Mile High’ ad and illustrate how it was nothing more than a part of Planned Parenthood’s effort to encourage recreational sex,” said Jim Sedlak, vice president of American Life League. “If there was anything inappropriate in our report, it came from Planned Parenthood’s ad, and yet their ad remains while ours is removed.”

The “Mile High” ad features a homosexual flight attendant named Stephen who cruises the aisles, showering young passengers with contraceptives. The commercial closes with the cabin lights dimming, party music blaring, Stephen sitting on the pilot’s lap and saying, “On behalf of Planned Parenthood airlines you are now free to make sweet, sweet love.”

The e-mail sent to American Life League said, “After being flagged by members of the YouTube community and reviewed by YouTube staff, the video below has been removed due to its inappropriate nature.”

“Our video didn’t contain anything even remotely close to YouTube’s guidelines for inappropriate material,” said Sedlak.

According to YouTube’s Community Guidelines, videos that contain “pornography or sexually explicit content, animal abuse, drug abuse, bomb making, graphic or gratuitous violence, accidents, dead bodies, or speech which attacks or demeans a group based on race or ethnic origin, religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, and sexual orientation/gender identity” are considered inappropriate material.

Mr. Sedlak claims that since their video does not meet any of these requirements, its removal “is a clear-cut case of censorship!”

However, Sedlak does not think that the fault lies with YouTube alone, “Obviously, Planned Parenthood’s attack dogs flagged our video to hide the truth, and YouTube caved to their pressure,” he asserted.

Planned Parenthood has engaged in these types of organized campaigns in the past.

Most recently, the Golden Gate chapter of Planned Parenthood ran an e-mail campaign to have radio spots created by the U.S. Bishops promoting marriage taken off the air. The same radio ads were targeted in San Francisco and Seattle by the abortion provider.

American Life League’s video, “Planned Parenthood Sells Sex” can be viewed at www.allreport.blip.tv/#596865.

The titles of the Planned Parenthood videos that remain on YouTube are “Mile High”, “Safe is Sexy” and “Angel”.

Anyone who thinks that this is more offensive than say THIS animated feature depicted men having anal sex (no, you probably don’t want to watch it) is an idealogue with an agenda. They are NOT concerned about decency.

In fact this censorship was nothing more than Planned Parenthood goons setting out to silence a pro-life message. No two ways about it. Today might be a good day to send YouTube some complaints about the PP ads… PP supporters may otherwise be too occupied with their project to “Send a valentine to Sen. Obama! Thank him for supporting women and healthy families on Valentine’s Day!”

Happy Valentine’s Day, yourselves. Sigh.

UPDATE: The video seems to have been restored to YouTube!

With the recent death and appointment of a new leader to Mormonism, as well as the (now abandoned) candidacy of LDS member Mitt Romney in running for the GOP nomination, there has been some considerable coverage of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints these past few weeks.

I was watching a PBS special on Mormonism in America the other evening that was fairly balanced. Showing some of the cultural and social life of Mormonism, as well as the way large close-knit families are so encouraged, I thought PBS did a fair job of avoiding the sensationalism that Mormonism sometimes invites (or demands). Yes, we all know about the polygamy of the past (practiced by breakway sects only today) and the “Mormon underwear”, the ownership of Marriot and the baptism for the dead.

Most folks don’t know about the:
+ tithing of gross income,
+ monday night family meeting and prayer services held in the home,
+ community life that has included communal farming to support the needy
+ the welfare associations they started to help their own and then help others,
+ fact that they have NO paid ministers,
+ they have an estimated 30B+ in assets,
+ but have suffered NO financial scandals,
+ the emergency relief services (Mormons were on the way to New Orleans before Katrina hit. When the Prez, the Governor, the press and everyone else was flying over New Orleans, they were there. Even before Oprah.)

Frankly, I am enamored by their dedication and homelife. It is easy to understand how very attractive the LDS could be to many folks who see the positive sides of Mormon homelife, lifestyle choices (no drinking, smoking, caffiene!) and dedication to thier church both financially and volunteer wise. Frankly it was humbling to see such dedication.

Most people also don’t know that the youth are raised expecting to go on missionary trips… In one segment they showed young men preparing for “The Mission” - the two year period where they go out, door to door, trying to share their faith. What most people may not know is that most of those kids are doing that when they are 19… After 3-4 months of intesisve preparation at one of 12+ mission preparation centers throughout the world they are sent forth for 24 months to invite people to join thier community.

Camera crews following two young men in New York (or Chicago?) showed the abuse some of these young men recieved. Honestly, I thought it was pretty sad. These affable young kids go out, leaving behind friends and family after having been raised singing childhood hymns about the glory of being missionaries, do mean well. They also largely have little success. The foul language against them is embarassing to me. I can’t help but wonder if one of the benefits of sending youth out to be treated so poorly for 24 months is to confirm them in the thinking that there is no place like home.

So if it happens to be the case that you are out walking and minding your business and a couple of clean cut young men from the LDS approach you, please be polite, let them know you are a Catholic, offer to share a little of your own faith with them, let them know you would like to get their names so you can pray for them, and maybe even offer to buy them a Sprite if it is hot. You might be the first person who has been nice to them since they left home.

You also might get them thinking about the Catholic Church.

PC readers may recall a previous post about Father Nicholas Schofield over at Roman Miscellany and his adventures in the Gulf. See here.

Father is going back to the Gulf for ten days to help the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia with their annual ‘Christian Formation Conference.’ A lot of people don’t know about how needed this work is. In fact the Catholic population on the Arabian Peninsula is growing… More on that here:

Please keep Father’s safe passage and missionary success in your prayers. And keep your eye on his blog for some great photos and stories. He has posted the following previously, I hope he shares more!

Well not the PC bloggers, though I am sure we would all have use for it…

Catholics in Malawi need it. The text below is from the website of Aid to the Church in Need. They need 1,022.20 to put a roof on that church. When I was in better financial shape, I sometimes made that much in a week serving high-priced steak and wine as a waiter at a white table cloth restaurant.

It is so very little when divided between 10 people. 1,022.20 / 10 people / 10 paychecks is $10.23 per pay period.

Could the readers and fellow bloggers here at PC come up with that for these people in Malawi - a country that is very poor, where the GDP per capita is US$ 940?

This is so very little for these people to have a Church. Less than $3.45 a day for one single contributor. I wish I still had that kinda money to just write the check.

MALAWI
A roof for the church of St Patrick

St. Patrick’s Church lies in one of the outstations of the parish of St Michael, in the diocese of Mzuzu in northern Malawi. The parish itself was established in 1949 by the White Fathers. It is situated around 220 miles (346 km) north of the diocesan centre in Mzuzu. Since 2001, for the first time, it has been in the care of a diocesan priest, Father John Benjamin Moyo. With around 16,300 Catholics this is one of the largest parishes in the diocese. And one of the largest outstations in this parish is Chisenga, which is where St Patrick’s church is situated. It has some 1,260 Catholic faithful and is growing rapidly. As a result the people have begun work on a comparatively large church and have already reached the stage where it needs a roof. They have building materials on site, but they now need professional help in order to be able to complete the church. And so Father Moyo has turned to ACN, with the support of Bishop J. M. Zuza of Mzuzu. We have promised him a subsidy of €700.

Will you help?

Donations could be made to
Aid to the Church in Need (US OFFICE)
RE: Code: 135-01-11
725 Leonard Street
PO Box 220384
Brooklyn, NY 11222

800-628-6333
info@acnusa.org

Can you do that for Him?

This may well be an English-language blog exclusive… Or maybe not.

A Russian reader has sent a delightful photograph of Brother Deacon Oleg Yelchaninov taking solemn vows before a bishop in Slovakia. Deacon Oleg is now the third member in vows for the Canons Regular of Jesus the Lord which serves working to rebuild the Catholic parishes in Vladivostock, Russia. At this time he reports they have 3 candidates in formation as well.
* More about the city of Vladivostok.
* Pictures taken by mission travelers to Vladivostok, and pictures of the mission in the US.
* Letters from Fr. Myron with recent news about the mission.

I could come up with a new worthy order or organization to donate money to daily. And many years would pass before I would be finished - more years than I would have if I lived 100 years, I am sure.

But when the Patriarch of Moscow rattles his sabres about the perilous Catholic activity in Russia, he is talking about these men.

• These men who are over there rebuilding a church that had already existed (this year will be the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Mother of God Parish in Vladivostock, and the 70th anniversary of the martyrdom of several of its members!)…
• These men who have set up homeless shelters for people who slept on benches in bus stations…
• These men who have set up programs to help children with AIDS…
• These men who have set up Boy Scouts for poor children…
• These men who have set up orphanges to rescue street children who brave the Russian winters in Vladivostock…
• These men who are doing pro-life work in a nation where women average 5-10 abortions …
• These men working so hard to set up soup kitchens, drug and alcohol abuse counseling, and nursing home visitation…

Their weekly collection is in the $80-100 range. They serve 250+ families… And they DO NOT RECEIVE funding from the Office of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome.

No friends, to appease the Patriarch that rattles his sabres so, Rome has declined to consider and accordingly fund this mission as a mission.

No two ways about it, they survive on the generosity of the faithful here and abroad who support them.

Please consider donating $5 or $10 per paycheck. $10 is the suggested donation for a Mass stipend, if you have loved ones who have passed or wish to have Masses offered for the living, this would be an exceptional way to help support them. Would you consider skipping fastfood or some other small luxury to help support them? Knowing where the money is going and what it is doing, I promise you that grilled cheese will taste better than a Big Mac.

Those interested in sending some financial support to this worthy effort are directed to the American Office of their organization:

A great deal of the new-media writers I like today touch upon, from time to time, issues of faith and class, working class people, those in poverty, and evangelism. I found the story linked below to be provocative and interesting. H/T: A Conservative Blog For Peace

• Have we made our best efforts to be truly open to every soul?
• Have our charitable efforts been accompanied by efforts of true evangelism? We have food pantries. Those that benefit are grateful. They know we give. Do they know why we give?
• What is our outreach to the middle class?
• Have we sought to really understand Christ’s vision of an all encompassing mission to everyone? Rejecting “conservative” class consciousness or “liberal” class obsession? Each soul counting?

I sure hope so.

With the new year just around the corner, I would like to encourage all Catholics to consider becoming better catechists –according to their specific responsibilities as pastors, parents, teachers, etc.– as one of the resolutions for the new year.

For Pope John Paul II’s aspotolic exhortation, click here: http://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/JP2CATEC.HTM

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe

Non-Latino Catholics may not be as well aware that Our Lady of Guadalupe is in fact the Patroness of the Americas. The story of the apparition and the ensuing conversion of Mexico is a fascinating one.

Our Lady of Guadalupe
Chronology of Events
Relation of the Apparitions
Why the name “Guadalupe”?
Saint Juan Diego
The mysterious eyes of the Virgin
Protectress of the Unborn
The Basilica
The Popes and Guadalupe

Take a listen: Our Lady of Guadalupe sermon