Catholicism, holiness and spirituality

Bodies - the Exhibition

Well, Bodies... The Exhibition has come to Cincinnati. This is that exhibition of all those 'plasticized' bodies, showing all the interior workings and organs and such. There is controversy over the exhibition, mainly due to the fact that bodies come from China, and given that country's human rights record some question that anyone gave consent to have this done to their bodies.

Now our Archbishop has weighed in on this issue, saying the local Catholic schools should not take field trips to the exhibit, but Catholic parents may take their kids there on their own. He says the exhibition 'fails to respect the persons involved.' As head of the diocese he certainly has the right to issue such guidance, but there are two things about all this that have my interest.

First, as I read the feedback on the story in the local paper, there are more than a few people who point out that Archbishop Pilarczyk has no credibility on this issue (and in their eyes, most any other issue) due to how he mishandled the priest sexual abuse problem in Cincinnati. The typical line goes something like this: Who is this guy, who we couldn't trust to protect our children, who sheltered abusers, and pleaded guilty in court to it, to tell me what I should or shouldn't do? Well, here's evidence that once you lose a person's trust and respect it is really difficult to regain it. And, in my opinion, the Archbishop may not ever regain the respect of many people in the diocese. The priest abuse saga has been very damaging to Catholicism, and will continue to be damaging for a generation.

Second, how does this lack of respect for the people whose bodies are in the exhibition square with the church's long-time fascination with relics? Did the saints tell anyone it was OK to chop them up and distribute the pieces all over the world? Or to keep their bodies on display somewhere? I can see how someone would see conflicts between the church saying Bodies the Exhibition disrespects people, but that relics are just fine.

Learning Latin

A few months ago Nicholas, my older son, said he was seriously considering taking Latin as his foreign language in high school. He said that if you know Latin you'll understand a lot of things better because it's the foundation for so much.

So now that it's time to elect his foreign language for next year, I think he's going to choose Latin. St Xavier teaches Latin, and has a Latin Club that competes in six contests with other schools during the year. Yes, the Jesuit high school teaches Latin (they also practice, as a school, the daily examen once a week).

While I am not enthusiastic about using Latin in the church's liturgy, learning Latin sounds like a good choice for broadening one's education. I might just take some courses to accompany Nicholas along the way; I've heard there are some decent online resources for learning Latin.

Parceled Out

Today's reading from Corinthians 1:10-17 had me nodding my head in agreement. It's not too long of a reading, so here it is:

I appeal to you, brothers, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, to make up the differences between you, and instead of disagreeing among yourselves, to be united again in your belief and practice. From what Chloe’s people have been telling me, my dear brothers, it is clear that there are serious differences among you. What I mean are all these slogans that you have, like: ‘I am for Paul’, ‘I am for Apollos’, ‘I am for Cephas’, ‘I am for Christ’. Has Christ been parcelled out? Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Were you baptised in the name of Paul? For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the Good News, and not to preach that in the terms of philosophy in which the crucifixion of Christ cannot be expressed.

What struck me was just how much we tend to parcel-out Christ still to this day, even given Paul's warning and all the teachings through the years of the one-ness of Christ. In Catholicism it seems people can tend to over-focus on their affinity with the pope, the Jesuits, Opus Dei, orthodoxy, reform, or whatever movement of the year is going on. But the pope wasn't crucified for us and we're not baptized in the name of St Ignatius. Orthodoxy won't save us, neither will reform.

I do understand, though, that Christ's expression in this world takes different forms, and there are forms that appeal to one person that may not appeal to another. That's why we have the various religious orders, the Latin Mass and Novus Ordo, grand cathedrals and simple country churches, adoration and social justice. The danger is in over-identifying with one or another of these things to the point we start to believe that it is a superior expression of Christ in the world, that it is a superior way of salvation. We have to be careful, in my opinion, about crossing the line from favoring something to defining it as superior.

And just as we need to refrain from parceling out Christ, we need to refrain from parceling out ourselves to Christ. In over-identifying with one or another movement in the church, are we taking attention away from some other aspect of ourselves that may not be so pleasant to show Christ? People do it all the time – putting attention on their strengths to hide their weakness. It can be intimidating, can't it - to accept Christ in all his diversity, and to give ourselves, wholly and completely, in return?

A new St X Man

I think I mentioned a while ago - here or somewhere else maybe, that our older son Nicholas (known as Nick to everyone except me) was applying to the local Jesuit high school, St Xavier. Well, he did apply, he studied for months and took the entrance test, and yesterday we found out he was accepted!

Nicholas was his typical low-key self, much like me. He called me at work to let me know; as a young man of few words he didn't say much but I could hear his smile through the phone. I wasn't there when my wife found out, but I'm sure she jumped up and down, shouted a bit, and then cried.

As for me, I am very, very proud of Nicholas. He did work for and pray about this, and while we provided support and guidance it was pretty much all up to him. And I am very happy he's going to a Jesuit high school - one of the finest schools around. We spent a good deal of time looking into the school and talking with friends who have boys there (it's an all-boys school), and we were very impressed.

So here's to Nicholas - a new St X Man!

Stooge or hypocrite?

I was reading a recent issue of America Magazine (a must-read magazine for Catholics, in my opinion) about Tony Blair's conversion to Catholicism. As many people and writers do, it was probing the questions of the timing of the conversion and what it means to be a Catholic politician. Tony Blair led a country and espoused policies that promoted things that don't nicely line up with Catholic morality, so what does that mean about his conversion, or about being a Catholic politician? Good questions, all; but it was a different line that caught my attention - a common perception about Catholic politicians:

Vote with the Vatican and you are a Roman stooge; vote against and you are a hypocrite.

Well, that seems to me to be a true statement, as far as perceptions go. John Kennedy had to confront it; John Kerry was called a hypocrite by a lot of people. I understand that a politician represents the people, and in the best case works for the common good of his or her constituency. And someone has to govern, after all. I suppose being a politician is a sort of vocation, or calling. If God blessed me with the gifts to be a good consultant, then I'm sure he blesses others to be good politicians.

I'm fortunate in that my line of work doesn't really have the possibility of coming into conflict with Catholic moral teachings, but Catholic politicians are not as fortunate in their calling.

And then there is the calling we all have to not only live in the world but to transform it - to work for peace, justice, salvation and so on. We are all called to do that, regardless of what we do to pay the bills. And this is where politicians face a tough dilemma - their constituency is pushing them into conflict with church teaching in a number of areas - abortion, capital punishment, war, solidarity and so on.

So I think there needs to be some middle-ground, some nuance between stooge and hypocrite. We Catholics will consider a fellow Catholic politician's positions and past decisions that conflict with the church's moral teachings. That's just natural. Hopefully we will put every candidate in that same light. What we need to do, for the good of the political process as well as to make progress on peace, justice and salvation, is to explore that middle ground between stooge and hypocrite. In my opinion, we will be better off as a result of that exploration, that conversation, than when we close off dialog with the stooges and hypocrites.

General Congregation 35

The Jesuits are getting together for their 35th General Congregation in Rome. Actually, not all the Jesuits but 200-some representatives from all over the world get together in Rome now and then to do some important work for the society. It seems to me to be sort of like a big board meeting.

The US Jesuits have a web site that will carry news and information on G.C. 35, and it also has a nice background paper that provides a lot of good information. Creighton University has put together a very useful site for G.C. 35; useful and functional like all their web work. Maybe some day I can mention useful, functional, and appealing all at the same time for their web site(!). I'm grateful that Creighton puts all the content out there that they do; it would be nice to dress it up a bit. But anyway...

On the agenda this time is the election of a new Superior General. Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach will be stepping down, so a new one has to be elected. The process for this election is interesting - there is a period of murmuratio (i.e. murmuring) where the delegates basically ask each other about other Jesuits who may be fit for the job. No one can lobby for themselves or anyone else - just a period of asking questions about others in an effort to find the right candidate. Then votes are taken, and the first Jesuit to get a majority is the new Superior General.

There are plenty of other agenda items to address:

• Jesuit identity
• Jesuit mission
• Obedience within the society
• Obedience to the pope
• Community life
• Vocations
• Cooperation with laity
• Governance

That's quite a load of work to undertake, but that's what General Congregations are for.

Happy New Year

Just a quick post to wish everyone a happy new year 2008!

Every new year's day I look back on the previous year and think 'wow, what a year!'. And then I wonder, what will this next one bring me? Surely, amid the predictable it will bring things I don't expect.