Another Road Trip

My wife and I made the 500 mile drive to attend our oldest granddaughter’s First Communion the last weekend of April. She was among 123 second graders in their little suits and white dresses, receiving Our Lord, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity for the first time.  The class was so large, they had to divide them in half with one Mass in the late morning and the other in the early afternoon.  Otherwise, the church could not hold all the parents, friends and relatives who wished to attend.  This is in a church that holds almost a thousand people, and was nearly full for each Mass. 

We had one entire pew reserved for our group which included siblings, aunts and uncles, godparents, their children, us grandparents, and Mom.  Dad was the organist and choir director for both Masses.  Some of the children did the readings and petitions.  They were obviously well-rehearsed as all spoke clearly with sufficient volume to be heard throughout the church. 

The following week, we were back home where our parish traditionally holds First Communion the first Sunday in May.  To prepare the music, I contacted the CCD instructor to see how many would be receiving their First Communion here.  To my chagrin, she said none.  I believe this is the first year in the nearly 140 years of our parish, that we had no one receiving First Holy Communion.  Our numbers have shrunk so drastically that our parish appears to be on life support.  I have addressed the reasons for this in previous posts.  Our town has no industry to keep young people of child-bearing age here.  We have lost parishioners to other nearby parishes where they feel more comfortable.  And families just aren’t having as many children as they did years ago.  Combine this with Catholics who no longer attend Mass for a variety of excuses, and you have many empty pews. 

Our wonderful bishop of the past five years has recently been transferred to another diocese.  With the shortage of priests and the uncertainty of what our next bishop will decide, we may not have a resident priest here much longer.  In fact, I sometimes wonder if we will have a new bishop.  Once upon a time, we were part of a neighboring diocese.  Our diocese was created some 60 years ago when this area had a thriving commerce with railroads, steel mills, and productive farmland.  The farmland remains, but the family farms are gone.  Many railroads have been abandoned, and much of steel is imported.  Times have changed and rural areas have suffered.

Are we doomed?  I hope not.  Oh, the Church will go on, if not in our home parish, somewhere else.  All we can do is look to the Holy Spirit for direction and guidance.  It’s all a part of God’s plan.  Thy will be done.

Growing the Flock

I enjoy listening to a local Protestant preacher on the radio while on my way to Sunday Mass each week.  His sermons are better than my priest’s, and he sounds very Catholic.  In fact, he should be Catholic, but then again, so should everyone!  I prayed a Rosary for his conversion this morning at adoration.  Maybe someday, who knows?

Today, he was lamenting the realization his attempt to expand his congregation to another nearby city had failed.  His Christian community has a number of churches in area towns that are very successful in attracting congregants.  It occurred to me that he was not accustomed to having an evangelization effort fail, while we Catholics are not accustomed to success.  Why are some of these Protestant pastors so much better at attracting new members than we are?

For one thing, these small non-denominational communities do not need to answer to a higher authority.  They can go wherever they want to set up shop.  There is always room for one more church.  Non-denominational Protestants, by their nature, can church hop.  They can go wherever they like the pastor and the message.  For some, selecting a place to worship is much like picking a restaurant.    

For us Catholics, our territory is much more limiting.  Chances are the neighboring community already has a Catholic Church, and if it does not, we can’t just move in and start one.  After all, we need a priest, and they tend to be in short supply.  So, we are pretty much limited to attracting new members from our own community where people already know us or we have a reputation.  Jesus said, "A prophet is not without honor except in his native place and in his own house."  (Matt 13:57)

So, we Catholics may start from a disadvantage in our evangelization efforts.  The negative publicity the Catholic Church often gets in the media, and the fact that we cannot choose our pastors based on likability, makes our efforts more difficult than those of our Protestant brothers and sisters.  Nonetheless, we have the truth, the saints, the Fathers, the Sacraments, the Pope, the Bishops, and two thousand years of history on our side.  A tough sell in these secular times?  Yes, but all we really need to do is live our faith to the fullest and let the Holy Spirit do the rest.

Lenten Musings

Now that we are into the season of Lent, I wonder how many of us Catholics really take it seriously.  Most of us observe the Lenten requirements, no meat on Friday, and fasting Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and many of us give up something, but is that enough?  Are we missing the true meaning and cheating ourselves of the graces we could be obtaining?

I admit I am guilty.  Yes, I do my annual abstinence from chocolate routine.  Chocolate is one of my daily cravings, but I can do without it.  I find substitutes for my cravings so I don’t really miss them.  The tough stuff, the beverage I really like, well I’m not willing to sacrifice.  Okay, I go to Stations of the Cross on Friday evenings, and attend Lenten soup suppers with a guest speaker for some spiritual enhancement, but all of these things seem of little benefit. 

Lots of times, we Catholics can fall into a pattern of just going through the motions.  Even our prayer before meals can be rattled off without giving it much thought.  In fact, our minds are probably on locating the catsup more than asking God to bless our meal.  Repetition can make any task mundane and automatic.  Lent is a good time to slow down and give some thought to what we are doing, or not doing. 

Maybe one little thing could make a big difference in what Lent means to us.  Why not do something nice and unexpected for a friend or acquaintance?  Better yet, do something nice for a complete stranger.  Maybe pay for someone’s meal at a restaurant, or send some money anonymously to a family in need.  Use your imagination to make the world a little better.  It can’t be that difficult in our polarized society to show some kindness.  Even a friendly smile or a compliment can be life-changing for someone who is down.  Let’s give it a try.

Our Real American Horror Story

In his book The First Society: The Sacrament of Matrimony and the Restoration of the Social Order, Scott Hahn said, “All human societies eventually take on the form and structure of the families that comprise them. A disintegrating culture of marriage will lead to a disintegrating society. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Just look around.” 

We do not have to look far. The disintegration of marriage and the culture of death are closely related.  Particularly disturbing was the recent photo op of a smiling New York Governor Cuomo signing a bill that allows third trimester abortions.  The law for the first time allows abortions after the 24-week mark to protect the mother’s health (subject to a wide interpretation).  Previously, abortions after that point were permitted only to preserve a mother’s life.  The legislation also removes abortion from the criminal code and clarifies that a range of medical professionals, not just licensed physicians, can perform the procedure.

If Cuomo and his supporters really want to publicly celebrate signing the bill before the cameras, why not roll out a pregnant mother about to give birth and take turns assisting in an abortion?  Would he be uncomfortable doing that or are public executions against the law?  No legislator should be able to vote for a pro-abortion bill if they would be unwilling to witness in one firsthand. How sad that people can disconnect themselves from the horrors they promote.

I am certainly not a canon lawyer, but I thought the purpose of excommunication was not to punish, but rather to send a strong signal that one’s soul was in jeopardy, and in need of repentance.  I don’t understand why Cuomo, a supposed Catholic, has not been excommunicated as public statement expressing the ramifications of his position.  I wonder what one has to do or not do today to be excommunicated.  To give him a pass is scandalous.

Credit President Trump for speaking against abortion in his State of the Union Speech.  America will never be great again as long as we kill babies in the womb. Being wrong on abortion reveals a moral imperfection that calls into question all other judgments.  For me, it is a valid litmus test for anyone seeking to hold public office.  If a person does not respect human life, how can he be trusted?  Such a person is a flawed product of a broken society where marriage and family have been undermined. 

Road Trip

One of the best things about being Catholic is that you can attend Sunday Mass at any parish in the world and follow along.  The language may be different, but the liturgy is the same, the readings are the same, and the Eucharist is the same.  We are truly united in Christ.  That said, the experience can be different. 

My son, his wife and our four grandchildren live some 460 miles from us.  Several times a year, we make the long drive to visit and attend Mass at their parish where my son is Director of Liturgy and Music.   Same Mass, same liturgy, different experience.  I made a list of comparisons between the two.

Our Local Parish                                   Parish we visited

1910 building                                                Modern building

Capacity 200                                                  Capacity 1233

Prayer to St. Michael before Mass                  Prayer for Vocations before Mass

Tabernacle in center                                       Tabernacle off center to right

Traditional seating                                         Semi-circular configuration

Pipe Organ                                                      Electronic Organ and piano

Pews nearly empty                                          Pews nearly full

Older congregation                                         Average age 29

No school                                                        School (pre to grade 8)

I would consider myself a rather conservative Catholic.  In the past, I have been critical of some of the post Vatican II reforms.  Yet, I find the Mass at my son’s parish to be much more enjoyable, for lack of a better word.  The things I would generally find distracting, the tabernacle off center, facing other parishioners the way pews are configured, seemed insignificant.  Accustomed to worshipping with about sixty people in our mostly empty church, how wonderful to be in the presence of a thousand parishioners where ushers need to assist latecomers to find a seat.

Like it or not, the celebrant has a huge impact on one’s experience at Mass.  The two homilies we heard during our last visit, by two different priests, were nothing spectacular, but they were delivered thoughtfully and to the point.  Homilies at our local parish are often repeated, drawn out unnecessarily, and somewhat condescending at times, probably the main reason our local attendance is so low. 

The point of all this is that the spiritual temperature of a parish is not dependent on the form of the liturgy, the configuration of the church or its size.  The Mass is the Mass regardless of peripherals.  What can make a difference is how the Mass is celebrated.  For me, the experience of being at Mass with a thousand other souls, praying and singing together was refreshing.

I liked the prayer for vocations before Mass, and apparently it is effective.  After Sunday Mass, our family went to a small restaurant for lunch.  As we waited for our food, in walked five young men, at least one of them a priest, and the others possibly seminarians judging by their youthful appearance.  All wore collars and cassocks.  I grew up in a parish where our pastor wore a cassock most of the time.  That was many years ago, and I haven’t seen a priest wear one in our little parish since then.  It is interesting that many of the young men entering the seminaries these days are going back to the more traditional garb.  You can be contemporary and still be conservative.  I think it bodes well for the future of the Church. 

Christmas time again

Now that we are into the Christmas season, several observations cross my mind as another year draws to a close.  Political correctness continues to run amok.  Traditional seasonal carols are the latest targets.  Some radio stations stopped playing Baby, it’s cold outside due to words that could suggest a possible sexual assault taking place.  By that standard, about a million other popular songs should also be removed.  The 1964 movie Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer has been mentioned as a story that could encourage bullying. Some have suggested, perhaps in jest, that White Christmas is racist.  The point is that we are all getting soft.  In a Godless society, the lines between right and wrong get fuzzy, and common sense takes a backseat.

Actor-comedian Kevin Hart just lost a job hosting the Academy Awards because of his comments about homosexuality.  Hart is quoted as saying, “One of my biggest fears is my son growing up and being gay. That’s a fear. Keep in mind, I’m not homophobic, I have nothing against gay people, be happy. Do what you want to do. But me, being a heterosexual male, if I can prevent my son from being gay, I will.”

Do you see the problem with that statement in this political correctness climate?  Hart implies that homosexuality is a defect.  Today, we are required to believe homosexual behavior is perfectly normal, less we be ostracized as haters.  And that leads me to another question.  We are now hearing of genetically modified babies being a possibility.  Suppose a defective genetic cause for homosexuality was discovered and could be corrected in pre-borns.  How would today’s homosexuality advocates view this procedure?  Would they oppose it as an affront to the normality of their orientation?  I wonder.

People who are confident in their personal beliefs are not easily offended by the opinions of others.  Those who demand retribution every time someone makes a disagreeable remark they find offensive may be looking for affirmation to offset their own insecurity.  Sometimes we need to consider the source and move on. 

I don’t want to end the year complaining about the state of our society.  We have much for which to be grateful.  The fact that petty differences are so prevalent in our daily interaction means we are generally free from more serious issues to worry about.  Among us are many individuals bearing heavy burdens every day.  Some are experiencing their first Christmas after suffering the tragic loss of loved ones.  Others know this will likely be their final Christmas.  Many with no outward appearing maladies suffer excruciating mental anguish on a daily basis from severe anxiety and mental illness.  While many of are enjoying the Christmas season, this can be a very difficult time for others. Let us all be on the lookout for those in special need of our friendship and understanding.  May 2019 be a time when we grow in love.