Faith and Doubt

After more than a year of talks with a young man at our parish, he was baptized, confirmed, and made his first Holy Communion at the Easter Vigil.  We seldom have more than one person inquiring at any one time.  Part of that is due to the fact that we are a very small parish in a very small town, but also may be an indicator that we are not very good evangelizers. 

I have never felt comfortable heading an RCIA program at our parish.  Getting deeper into the Catholic faith is a humbling experience.  The more I learn, the more I realize how much I do not know.  This leads to a feeling of inadequacy.  I should not be the person teaching this class.  Yet, I don’t trust turning it over to anyone else either.  It’s a conundrum.

I try to present the Catholic Faith as accurately as possible.  Apologetics is my strength, if I have a strength.  The woman who assists with the program is stronger spiritually and not so interested in doctrinal matters.  Maybe we complement each other in that sense.  Despite our shortcomings, we have a new Catholic in our parish.  We will continue to support him as we all grow together in our faith. 

Speaking of faith, the gospel on Divine Mercy Sunday was about doubting Thomas who refused to believe in the Resurrection of the Lord without proof. 

Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.  So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.”  But he said to them,  “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them.  Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.”  Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!”  Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me?  Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” - John 20:24-27

Sitting during my holy hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament today, I thought about this passage and how I can relate to Thomas.  I profess my faith during Mass every Sunday, but at times, doubts can still creep into my mind.  I’m sure many others feel the same way.  We are always looking for that proof.  

Thinking about this as I gazed at the monstrance, I wondered what kind of proof it would take to assure me and everyone else that Resurrected Jesus was truly present appearing as a piece of bread.  If the host were to bleed right in front of me as some have reportedly done in other places, would I then be totally convinced?  Or would I look for another explanation?  Would I be able to convince others who had not witnessed what I had witnessed?   Would our nearly empty church become filled with pilgrims from all over country seeking to experience the Holy Eucharist?

It is not likely that such a miracle will take place here in front of our very eyes, nor should we desire it.  True faith means believing without having seen.  Jesus tells us, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”  We are blessed!

Getting a handle on scandal

I came across an article today by Ruth Dudley Edwards titled, Joe Biden must be the world’s worst Catholic.  Referring to Biden, she says, “He is, in fact, an appalling Catholic who publicly flouts the church’s most cherished teachings and is about as authentically Irish as a leprechaun hat in a St Patrick’s Day parade.”  I don’t know whether he is the world’s worst Catholic.  Even some priests and bishops, especially in Europe, may challenge him for that distinction.  I will go out on a limb and agree he is probably the worst Catholic in the United States by virtue of his status as President.

A few days ago, members of our RCIA group were preparing for their first confession experience by going through an examination of conscience based upon the ten commandments.  One of them asked me to explain the sin of scandal.  Many think of scandal as something one reads in the tabloids about a celebrity’s indiscretion.  The sinful scandal we are need to understand is more nuanced.  The Catechism defines scandal as an attitude or behavior that leads another to do evil.  

The sin of scandal often rides on the back of another sin.  As Catholics, we are expected to set an example for others.  That example should be a positive one that inspires others to be virtuous.  When our actions as Catholics are seen in a negative light, we may be inadvertently causing others to follow suit.  In trying to cite an example for the class, I brought up Joe Biden who proclaims to be a Catholic in good standing, and yet publicly professes support for abortion.  Lukewarm Catholics may look to him as the model Catholic he proclaims to be and think they can hold similar views without a problem.  So, Joe Biden is not only guilty of the sin of promoting abortion, he also may be guilty of scandal.  

I made a hypothetical example of myself as a leader in a class studying Catholicism.  If I affirm the teaching of the Church that we must abstain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent, and then proceed to be seen intentionally eating a hamburger in public by the catechumens on a Lenten Friday, I would be guilty of not only violating the obligation to abstain, but also guilty of potential scandal.  If a Catholic sees me sinning and decides it is okay to do it because I am doing it, I have led them to sin.  I have committed scandal.  

Some Catholics may not realize they are committing scandal by attending weddings where a Catholic is getting married outside the Catholic Church without a dispensation.  Doing so is acting as a witness in support of another’s sin.   Attending any wedding ceremony that the Church would consider invalid is problematic.  Sometimes we need to take a stand out of love and concern for our souls and theirs.  This can be difficult when family is involved.  There are no easy answers.

As Catholics, we always need to be aware that the way we conduct ourselves can reflect positively or negatively on the faith of others.  We talk about the need to evangelize but struggle finding ways to do it.  Maybe the best way is to be that faithful Catholic role model others will wish to emulate.  

Grandparents Day

Having my 5 year-old grandson in a Lutheran pre-kindergarten class presents a few challenges for this Catholic.  I am happy he is getting a religious education every day.  Of course, I wish it were in a Catholic school, but we have none available in our area.  Recently he brought home a spiritual exercise for family devotion as part of their National Lutheran Schools week observance.  The exercise is titled Light to My Path and the opening sentence states what they refer to as the main point.  “The Bible is the source of guidance and truth about God, ourselves, and the world we live in; it lights our path for life.  Psalm 119:105.”

Psalm 119:105 says “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path.”  Agreed the passage supports the theme of the exercise, but allow me to nitpick a little.  The Catholic in me takes issue with their opening sentence stating the Bible is THE source (my emphasis added) of guidance and truth.  I want to ask the Lutheran author what 1 Timothy 3:15 says about the source of truth.  Certainly the Bible is a source of guidance and truth, but that source is transmitted by the Church, the pillar of foundation and truth.  The Catholic Church assembled the Bible with the infallible authority given by Jesus Christ under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Sadly, Luther rejected that authority of the Church leaving only the Bible as his guide.  The contents of the Bible cannot be infallible if the authority that compiled it is not.  The position is untenable. 

Last week, my wife and I attended Grandparents’ day with our grandson at the Lutheran school.  The school has an impressive enrollment for a small town in Pre-K to eighth grade.  At the end of the program, they held a chapel service in their beautiful church building.   There were scripture readings, prayers, and singing plus an energetic sermon by their pastor.  During his talk, he posed some rapid-fire questions directed at the students who were sitting with their grandparents.  Dozens of hands went up with children enthusiastically offering answers to each question.  Even my little 5 year old grandson raised his hand at one question and answered correctly when called on.  The impact of their religious education was evident.

Once again, I am reminded what we lost when our Catholic school closed years ago.  These children are getting to know Jesus more every day.  Our weekly CCD program cannot compete with a daily religious education where the pastor is engaged with the students and prayer happens throughout the day.  They have over a hundred students in their program compared to about a dozen in ours.  Yet as Catholics, we know they are not getting the fullness of the faith in the Church Jesus Christ established.  

The question becomes, are we Catholics better off enrolling our children in a Lutheran school than relying on solely on our own CCD program?  I believe they are as long as they eventually come to know the significant advantages we have as Catholics.  Lutheran teaching is about as close to Catholic teaching as you can get without being Catholic.  One of the main points of the talk given by the Lutheran pastor was the importance of Christians becoming disciples and taking every opportunity to share our Christian faith.   For us Catholics, that becomes even more important to teach our own children the beauty of our Catholic faith. 

We cannot effectively share the truth of our Catholic Church if we are spiritually lukewarm.  Spending just a few minutes a day reading or listening to Catholic publications can make a huge difference in our religious zeal.  The enthusiasm we possess in our faith flows and ebbs from time to time.  It is so easy to be distracted by our daily routine to the point where we give little thought to our true purpose except perhaps on Sunday morning.  Even then, random thoughts can creep into our minds at the most inopportune times when we should be focused on our participation in the Mass.  

With Lent approaching this month, this is a good time to plan a spiritual tune-up.  We usually give up something for Lent, maybe certain foods or a thing we enjoy doing.  What about giving up something that you routinely do that normally takes up part of your day, and use that time to read a passage from Scripture or some other Catholic material.  Most of us probably spend way too much time looking at our phones or computer screens.  Giving them up completely might be too much to ask, but I am sure we could all give up some part for forty days.  Maybe stay off of social media, or take a rest from youtube.  Use that time to read one of Scott Hahn’s books or listen to a Catholic podcast.  You still have time to find one you like before Lent.

You will likely find these sacrifices to be enjoyable.  I love to listen to Catholic Answers Live each day.  The guests are always interesting and I learn something new even when the questions are often familiar.  More importantly, the shared love of our faith helps reinforce my desire to learn more and share that knowledge with others.  It is like a religious pep talk.  Get that enthusiasm for the faith flowing again and share it with your family and friends. 

Days are getting shorter!

 

I spent much of the Christmas Octave thinking about end times.  One of St Thomas Aquinas’ proofs of God’s existence talks about how things come into existence and go out of existence.  It was never more apparent to me that much of what I have experienced in my life is in its latter stages of existence.  

The flu bug struck me on the Wednesday before Christmas.  As lousy as I felt for a few days, I always assumed it would pass.  At my age however, returning to good health after a bout of illness comes with diminishing certainty.  Our family Christmas was minus a nephew who we lost several months ago after a compromised immune system from cancer treatment met Covid pneumonia and eventual kidney failure.  

Our church decorating for Christmas was challenged when one of our dear parishioners who owns a flower shop became hospitalized before she could get the poinsettias ready.  Now, we are praying for her recovery from what are very serious health issues.  

The once robust church choir for Midnight Mass was down to two singers this year, again due to various health problems and diminished numbers from some who have passed.  An annual post-Midnight Mass reception was prepared and hosted by two couples, both in their eighties who have their own health issues.  Our seventy-five year old pastor also got sick and barely made it through the five Christmas Masses he celebrated.

Everywhere I looked this Christmas, I saw ends coming.  Not to sound depressing, after all we welcome death as Catholics, but a certain sadness arises when there is no one on the horizon ready to take over.  We know the end is inevitable for what exists now.  What does it mean for those we leave behind?  Will our parish survive much longer?  How many of us will not be here next Christmas?  We will keep praying and leave it in God’s hands.

Another year end review

As we approach the end of another year, it is time to evaluate our parish Synod which may or may not continue into 2023.  The stated purpose of the program was to get former members of the parish who no longer attend Mass to come back.  If one were to measure the results based solely on that goal, we get an F.  However, the meetings were designed to help current members to reach out to separated Catholics in a manner to draw them back, so results are still pending.  Now it is time to go forth and make disciples.  

It remains to be seen how many participants will actually make the effort.  The monthly meetings were fairly well attended, usually around 18 to 20 parishioners.  Presenters did a good job relying on a mixture of instructional videos and personal stories.  Many of them stressed apologetics and how to dialog with people constructively.  Those in attendance should have an advantage when sharing the faith given the opportunity.

One of the Synod committee members wasted no time in her evangelical effort.  She invited a Lutheran friend to come to the Synod presentations.  In fact, she brought that friend to every session, and I believe the woman is giving serious consideration to Catholicism.  Her biggest stumbling block at this time seems to be purgatory, a common obstacle for many to overcome.

On the downside, a few members of the synod organizing committee dropped out after the first couple of sessions.  One of them left the parish altogether over personality conflicts with our pastor and several parishioners.  Such issues can crop up any time a team is assembled.  Drawing people back to a parish can be especially difficult when the pastor is perceived as unlikable, but some conditions are beyond our control.  Let us hope the new year draws us all closer together and closer to Our Lord.  

I was reminded this evening how much we miss our parish school that closed in 1970.  My youngest grandson is enrolled in a pre-kindergarten class at a local Lutheran school since we have no Catholic counterpart in our area.  My wife and I attended the children’s Christmas program which was actually a prayer service held in the Lutheran church.  The 5 and 6 year-old children sang about the Lamb of God and prayed the Lord’s prayer led by the Lutheran pastor.  So evident was the importance of exposing kids to Jesus at a very early age, something we are lacking in our own Catholic parish.  This indoctrination of the young is a pro-active approach to catechesis in contrast to the reactive approach in which we Catholics find ourselves needing Synods to draw the lost sheep back.

What's the difference?

While channel surfing on a Sunday morning several years ago, I came across what I thought was a Catholic Mass.  Living close to Notre Dame, Mass was televised regularly on Sunday mornings, but this did not look like the chapel where the televised Masses usually took place.  The officiant was giving the homily, so I decided to watch and listen. It wasn’t until much later in the broadcast that I realized this was not a Catholic Mass, but rather a Lutheran service, even though the differences were barely distinguishable.  

Martin Luther never intended to start a new church.  The idea of his reformation was to eliminate what he saw as problematic and retain what was good.  As far as the liturgy goes, he found little fault.  Hence the Lutheran service looks much like the Catholic Mass.  The problem is that Luther had no power to change anything.  He was simply a Catholic priest with no magisterial authority. 

Last week, I came across a blog on Patheos.com by Gene Veith titled “5 Tips to keep in mind when visiting a Lutheran church”.  One could substitute the word Catholic for Lutheran, and these 5 tips will still mostly hold true, except for some definitive differences in understanding.

1. The Liturgy consists mostly of words from Scripture.  The author points out a few differences that Lutherans eliminate from the Catholic liturgy, such as invoking the saints or praying for the dead.  Luther rejected those beliefs even though they can be biblically supported.  The last paragraph in this section says the Lutheran sanctuary will demonstrate the Reformation principle of retaining elements that point to Christ.  He goes on to describe things you see in Lutheran sanctuaries, all of which are also present in Catholic sanctuaries.  He also defends the use of crucifixes and representational art.  We Catholics agree.

2. Chanting lets us sing prose, such as texts from Scripture.  Chanting is certainly not foreign to us Catholics.  Perhaps we do not hear it as much as we once did.  He says, “This may be the aspect that seems the most “Catholic” or “Medieval” or just unusual to visitors.  But chanting, with its flexible meter and flowing melodic line, is simply the way that a person can sing prose.”  Sounds Catholic to me.

3. The Pastor will forgive your sins.  The author explains how the pastor can forgive sins because he is an “ordained servant of the Word.”  We Catholics would ask what constitutes a valid ordination?  Martin Luther was a Catholic priest.  A priest cannot ordain another priest.  Only a bishop can conduct a valid ordination.  Christ gave the authority to forgive AND RETAIN sins to His apostles, the first bishops of His Church. That authority has been handed down through a succession of validly ordained  bishops to validly ordained priests.  Not so in the Lutheran church.  Lutherans (and all Protestants) must ask themselves, who truly retains the authority today to forgive and retain sins as Our Lord decreed in John 20:22?  If your pastor rejects the magisterial authority to which that power was granted, are your sins truly forgiven?  We Catholics can rest assured the priest can absolve our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

4. You will hear a law and Gospel Sermon.  Many Lutheran churches use a lectionary based on the Catholic lectionary three-year cycle.  You may hear the same Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel readings in both Catholic and Lutheran churches on any given Sunday.  We Catholics typically refer to the sermon as a homily, but they are really the same thing. 

5. You must be catechized before you go up for Communion.   Also true in the Catholic Church except you must be more than catechized.  You must be a Catholic in a state of grace to receive Holy Communion in a Catholic Church.  A Catholic who is not in a state of grace must confess his sins to a priest and receive absolution before receiving Communion.  A Catholic would never approach the communion rail in a Lutheran church since we do not believe they have a valid Eucharist.  Confecting a valid Eucharist requires a valid priesthood that the Lutherans do not possess.   

So while these 5 tips to keep in mind when visiting a Lutheran church are mostly applicable to Catholic Churches as well, there are significant differences we as Catholics understand.  Those differences may seem somewhat superficial to the casual observer, but appreciating the significance requires some serious theological study and knowledge of Church history.  That is why it is so important for us to be properly catechized in our faith.