A change is gonna come

One year ago, our bishop began preparing us for inevitable changes that would be taking place due to the shortage of Catholic priests.  Committees were formed and meetings held to inform parishioners about the process.  The diocese consists of four counties in Northwest Indiana, currently with fifty-seven parishes.  Our rural county has four of those parishes and a mission. .  By 2030, projections show only thirty diocesan priests will be available for parish assignments.  

On February 28, a letter from our bishop was delivered to area parishes to be affecting by pending changes.  When all transitions are completed in the next couple of years, our county will be left with one parish.  Our present parish which has existed since 1881, will be merged with another parish some fourteen miles away.  It appears we will still exist as a “worship site”, but without a resident pastor.  Prior to this arrangement, our sister parish seven miles to the west, will merge with us.  We already share a pastor with them and their parish will eventually close.  They are the only parish in the county with a parishioner in the seminary.  Closing the parish is a bitter pill to swallow.  

Anticipating how Catholics will be affected by these changes is difficult.  When your parish is merged with one seven miles away, and that parish is then merged with one fourteen miles farther away, some parishioners will find themselves driving over twenty miles one way to attend Mass.  Also to be considered is the financial obligations of merged parishes.  Will those coming from a closed parish be willing to support the parish to which they have been merged?  Will the merged parish be responsible for maintaining the soon to be closed neighboring campus?  What will happen to religious education programs?  How many souls will be lost?  Good Catholics will always find a way to get to Mass, but we all know there are marginal Catholics who can always find an excuse to leave.  

Obviously, the biggest problem is a lack of vocations, but we are losing parishes in our rural location because our numbers are low.  I am impressed by the huge number of converts reportedly coming into the Church all over the world this Easter, especially on college campuses.  There are wonderful apologetic apostolates on social media making the case for Catholicism every day.  Why are we not seeing more converts here in our area?

I am reminded of Alex Jones, the Pentecostal preacher from Detroit who converted to Catholicism and brought some members of his congregation with him.  We have so many active non-denominational communities in our county.  Surely some of their pastors have been exposed to solid Catholic apologetics on YouTube and social media.  Just one of them crossing the Tiber could make a huge difference in the Catholic community locally.  We should all be praying that they come to the realization the Catholic Church is the Church Christ established, and they may find the courage to come home.

They have to know, right?

How many Protestant ministers stand before their congregations preaching every week knowing deep in their hearts the Catholic Church is the one true Church?  How many of them knowingly avoid the truth at all costs hoping to maintain their comfortable position?  How many come to know they are outside the authoritative body established by Jesus Christ but choose to turn a blind eye?  How many fool themselves into thinking they are okay where they are?

With all of the good Catholic apologetic materials available today on youtube and social media, anyone who spends much time on the internet is bound to come in contact.  Those open to spiritual enhancement online are bound to have encountered Scott Hahn, Trent Horn, Tim Staples, Dr. John Bergsma or any one of the dozens of former Protestants who have crossed the Tiber.  Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz are frequent contributors of solid Catholic commentary even on secular outlets.  

Yes, there are many anti-Catholic arguments on social media, but they are all being rebutted with solid Catholic answers.  That is why we see so many people coming into the Church this year, especially on college campuses.  Anyone who reads the Church fathers can see the early Christians were Catholic.  C’mon Protestants!  What are you still protesting?  You know where you need to be.  

I realize there are anti-Catholic preachers who will never acknowledge papal authority no matter what evidence they may be shown.  Others may come to view the Catholic Church as the one true Church established by Jesus Christ, but cannot find the courage to disrupt the lives of their friends, families and congregations by converting.  For them we must continue to pray.  Ask the Holy Spirit to shower our separated brothers and sisters with His seven gifts in order to lead them home. 

Why Protestants think we worship Mary

In working with OCIA classes at our parish, I often have to explain that we Catholics honor Mary, but we do not worship her.  Yes, we pray to her as an intercessor, but worship is reserved for God alone.  It always seemed like a simple distinction to me, but our Protestant friends never seemed to understand.  

A few weeks ago, I came across an explanation that I had not previously considered.  I would love to give credit to the source, but I don’t remember where I saw it.  Protestants believe we worship Mary because we treat her the same way they treat God.  In their services, they preach, sing praise, and give glory to God, much the same way we honor Mary with our prayers, sing songs to her, and ask for her help.  Protestants call that worship.  In Catholic eyes, true worship requires sacrifice, the Sacrifice of the Mass.  

In other words, we “worship” Mary the same way Protestants “worship” God, but that isn’t worship.  The differing understanding of the term makes evangelization challenging.  It is easy to see why Protestants view our veneration of Mary as worship.  And it is difficult to convince them of what true worship really is when they do not have the real presence of Jesus to worship.  They cannot relate.  In their eyes, we are worshipping Mary no matter what we say.  They do not see the distinction.

Recognizing the Real Presence of Jesus on the altar is essential to understanding how Catholics actually worship God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  True adoration is done in God’s actual presence.  The ability to worship God in His incarnate presence is unique to Catholics.  No other Christian community has that opportunity.  They have no reason to genuflect when they enter their spaces.  

We honor Mary as our Blessed Mother who bore Jesus in her womb, but not in a way that defines divine worship.  She is our intercessor, not to be confused with the one mediator, Jesus Christ.  We ask for her help because Jesus listens to her.  When confirmed apparitions occur, it is usually Mary who appears.  

So often, our attempts to evangelize Protestants stall when words are understood in differing ways.  When Catholics say we pray to Mary, Protestants see that prayer as worship.  By strict definition, the word pray means to request.  Catholics are asking Mary and the saints to intercede on our behalf.  In that sense, we are not worshipping, we are asking for help.

And so it was

The end of the year is always a time for reflection especially at my advanced age.  I made the three-quarters of a century mark in September.  By three years, I have outlived my father who was born one-hundred-twenty-two years ago today as I write this.  Christmas has always been my favorite time of year and God only knows whether this will be my last one.  Even with that thought in mind, the excitement of the season is not like it once was.

We all seem to long for the way things used to be.  Movies like A Christmas Story remind me of my childhood.  The Christmas scenes depicted in the movie are just as I remember in this small town where I still live.  We loved going from store to store buying presents for our parents.  Multi-colored lights with real evergreen garland strung across the streets and Christmas music brought smiles to everyone.  It’s just not the same today. 

I still love the big C7 or C9 colored lamps on real Christmas trees.  The all-white lights look nice, but I like color.  What I do not care for are the programmed color-changing LED motion lights that seem to be popular now.  I also have a disdain for the inflatable figures people place in their yards.  Call me old-fashioned because I am.  

So many things seem to be better in the past.  Maybe that is just a product of growing old.  I want some things to stay the way they were, but that is not how life works.  I have been a baseball fan my whole life, but watching MLB games is not as enjoyable as it once was.  Greed is slowly ruining sports.  So much money is involved that the integrity of the game becomes compromised.  Pete Rose was banned for gambling, but sports betting is part of the major league business model now.  Free agency, sabermetrics and rule changes detract from the game we knew years ago.  Team loyalty is a thing of the past.  I could go on.

I grew up listening to music on AM radio.  We collected our favorite records and played them over and over.  Music is different today, as is the way we listen.  Pure talent is overshadowed by auto-tune. I like to hold the media in my hands where I can read the liner notes.  Vinyl, tapes, and CDs became part of my personal collection, much of which I still have.  Streaming makes me feel like I am paying for the privilege to listen, but I don’t own the collection.  I just rent it for a time.  

Some of us Catholics long for the return of the traditional Latin Mass.  I am not necessarily one of them.  I loved it growing up and agree some of the reverence is lost today.  We do need to bring back the beauty and reverence for the Holy Eucharist, but we can do it in the vernacular.  There is however a certain sense of unity when the entire Church speaks in one language. 

In our parish, the long tradition of Christmas Midnight Mass is ending this year.  Old age has caught up with our pastor and many of us.  Instead of 12 AM, our Midnight Mass will begin at 10 PM.  In these winter months, 10 PM does feel like the middle of the night, so I guess we can still call it Midnight Mass!

Despite my longing for the old days, I realize times change.  Things come into existence and go out of existence.  That is how God’s creation works.  Today’s children will have their own nostalgic memories someday.  At least, I hope so.  However, I do wonder if the best times peaked during my lifetime and we are in a gradual decline now.  The traditions that meant so much to my generation may seem mundane to young people today.  Kids who sit isolated in front of the computer for hours every day may lose appreciation for personal relationships and family traditions.  Perversion of ethical principles is just a click away.

Are there reasons for optimism?  I’m encouraged by recent reports of large numbers of college students entering the Catholic Church.  Modern society often portrays the Church as being old-fashioned and out of touch.  Maybe young people are beginning to recognize the need for moral direction and that bodes well for the Catholic Church.  Give some credit to Charlie Kirk.  May he rest in peace. 

John 6:53

I had high hopes for our OCIA class this year.  More inquirers expressed an interest than we have ever had in the past.  Keep in mind we are a small parish so even four is a big number for us.  A young man with a large family approached me a few weeks ago after a weekday Mass.  He had been reading the Church fathers and Scott Hahn’s conversion story.  He told me he was drawn to the Catholic Church.  He seemed so excited.  The only issue was his Protestant wife who stood in the way.  Just before our first meeting, he contacted me and said he had decided not to attend.  I told him that I would love the opportunity to address any theological concerns he may have.  I suspect he did not want to cause conflict in his marriage.  He has not replied, but I hope someday to see him again. 

A young woman who was baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil two years ago has a mother who has expressed interest.  Yet when time came for our class to start, “family issues“ prevented her from coming.  It seems some people know the right thing to do, but can’t find the courage to take the first step.  Another young couple attended their first Mass on a Sunday in July.  They talked to our priest afterwards, but he failed to get their names or contact information.  We never saw them again.  

So, now we have only two attending OCIA.  One of them, an older woman with a Baptist background, had never been in a Catholic Church before.  The other is a man with young children, married to a Catholic that does not attend Mass regularly.  To complicate matters, the woman still goes to her family’s church some sixty-five miles away on Sundays, so she wants to meet on Wednesday evenings.  The man’s wife works on Wednesday evenings, so he wants to come while his children are in CCD on Sunday mornings.  Consequently, we are doing OCIA twice a week with one person in each session.  That’s okay.  I would meet every day of the week if necessary to help someone enter the Catholic Church.  

There are so many faith-filled Protestants in this country.  Why is it so difficult to bring them into the one true Church?  I keep coming back to one particular Bible verse, John 6:53.  53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”  How do you get past this verse without realizing you are missing something important in your relationship with Our Lord?  You can sing beautiful praise songs, hear wonderful sermons, and be slain in the spirit, but without the Eucharist, you have no life in you.  To fully participate in the Lamb sacrificed for our sins, the Lamp must be consumed.  Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.  Happy are those who are called to His supper. 

You said what?

When I was in Catholic school some seventy years ago, our teacher would occasionally have to be out of the room for a while.  We did not have substitutes.  Rather the nuns would send one of the eighth-grade girls down to monitor while they were away.  Their instructions were to write the names of any pupils who misbehaved on the blackboard.  When the sister returned, the troublemaker would face the consequences.  

One afternoon, a girl named Diane was to watch over us first and second graders for an hour or so.  Diane was a nice responsible girl, but she happened to have a rather large nose.  Kids that age can be cruel and I was no exception.  I whispered a comment about Diane’s appearance to one of my friends who giggled out loud.  Now, my observation was not intended to be shared with anyone else.  I certainly would not have made my remark to Diane.

A short time later, the principal stopped in to check on our behavior.  Debbie, our class tattletale, stood up and in front of Diane said, “Richard said she has a nose like a banana.”  In my defense, that is not even close to what I said, not that my actual comment was any more flattering.  The principal made me come up in front of the class where she stared me down.  Through weepy eyes, I denied the accusation.  Sister looked me in the eye for a few seconds without saying a word.  Then she told me to go sit down, and told Debbie she needed to keep her mouth shut.  

I can look back on things I said to others during my early years that were hurtful, and deeply regret those words today.  Discretion comes with maturity, or at least it should.   Maturity means keeping all those immature thoughts to oneself.  They will still happen.  Our minds are constantly forming opinions.  As responsible adults, we should know when to speak up and when to be quiet.  Unfortunately, that is not always the case especially when it comes to social media. 

We base our opinions on facts that we believe to be true, or want to believe are true.  But we seldom have all the facts, and when we don’t, we fill the gaps with assumptions that may or may not be factual.  Keeping that in mind, we must acknowledge that our opinions may need adjustment from time to time, and would be wise to keep most of them to ourselves.  The anonymity of the internet has made voicing opinions a preoccupation for many, especially those lacking the wisdom to be quiet.  

Before the internet and social media, people generally had to take responsibility for their own words.  Anonymous letters were tossed in the waste basket.  Newspapers would not print unsigned letters on the editorial page.  Occasionally names would be withheld, but the publisher still required a signature.  Messages from those hiding their identity were generally disregarded with the possible exception of ransom notes.  

Today, anyone can create a username and say anything they want to the whole world. They call it free speech, but it should come with accountability.  Hiding one’s identity to avoid backlash from unpopular comments is cowardly.  The advent of artificial intelligence further complicates the matter.  Much social media commentary today does not have a human author to take responsibility.  

Seems to me that people should be required to stand behind any comments they make publicly.  Just as editorial boards once required signatures before publishing a letter, people who post on internet public forums should be named.  Any posting generated by artificial intelligence should be labelled as such with the instigator identifiable.  Postings that are monetized should be designated as such.  Say what you want, but show your face.