The Big Bad Catholic Church UPDATE

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

I didn’t write about it at the time, but the Archdiocese of Minneapolis enraged the pro same sex marriage lobby by daring to, gasp, teach their flock about the Church’s stance on the issue. The Archdiocese, using money donated for the purpose, sent out educational DVD’s to parishioners to help them form their consciences in preparation for the November 2nd election.

Now I have been told that Minneapolis is home to the most radical GLBT contingent outside of San Francisco. But man the accusations of anti gay bigotry hurled at the Church were way over the top.  Just Google Minnesota Catholic Bishops  DVD to get the picture.

Many of the critics did not even bother to watch the DVD.  But many of the critics claimed that the Church is putting their opposition to same-sex marriage above their concern for the poor.

Right. The Catholic Church never talks about social justice and the preferential option for the poor.       Neeeevh!

Give me a break. The Church is one of the biggest Charitable institutions in the world.

Well now we have what Matthew Archbold is calling the The Most Anti-Catholic Political Ad You’ll Ever See

“A Democrat Party supporting independent non profit group has sent out perhaps THE most anti-Catholic political advertisement I’ve ever seen. Sometimes there’s a little subtlety to anti-Catholic political rhetoric but not this time. This is in your face anti-Catholicism. A postcard was sent out to voters with a photo shopped picture of a Catholic priest wearing a campaign button saying: “Ignore the Poor.”

As you can see the pic takes up nearly the entire length of the postcard. It’s anti-Catholicism is not one point of many. It’s the point.”

There are a lot of Catholics in Minnesota.  The scary thing is that the campaign thinks that such an anti Catholic add is going  to be effective.

The courageous Bishops need our prayers as they fight  the good fight.

UPDATE:

Commonweal, a progressive Catholic publication, has this on their web site:

DFL spokesman Donald McFarland has issued the following statement:

The ad is part of a two-piece mailing that highlights and criticizes the policy views of Dan Hall, a preacher who is the Republican candidate for the Minnesota Senate. I enclose both sides of both pieces. I understand that some Republican bloggers have taken one image from the first piece, and claimed that the mail is somehow anti-Catholic. But the text explicitly criticizes Preacher Hall for distancing himself from policy views that have been taken by the Catholic Archdiocese, by the Lutheran Synod, and other leaders in Minnesota’s faith community. Dan Hall is willing to enlist God and religion in his campaign when it helps him — but in fact, his views hurt the poorest and sickest among us, and this mailing holds him accountable for those views.

“You can see the second mailing here. It also refers to Hall as “Preacher Hall” (I can’t find any evidence that Hall refers to himself that way). Why the DFL would use the image of a man in a Roman collar to depict a lay chaplain who is a member of a nondenominational church remains mysterious.”

Commonweal then decides  that the post card is not anti-Catholic. I am much more skeptical. Especially with their second update:

“I’ve never worn a Roman collar,” Dan Hall told me. “No one in my church does.” Asked why he thought the DFL would use such an image, he said, “I have no idea. You’re offending all kinds of church people, whether Catholic, Protestant, or Jewish.” Hall explained that, probably as a result of this dustup, he’s received a great deal of media requests, concluding, “In the end, it’s probably going to help me.”

So at the very least they are painting with a very broad brush.  Sorry. Not. Buying. The propaganda.”  Oh and why hasn’t the clarification been made public? It is only up on Commonweal and other blogs that read the Commonweal post.

Posted in Culture Wars, Homosexual agenda | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

We Were NOT Ordained

Posted on October 23, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

Deacon Larry and "A Deacons wife"

Deacon William T. Ditewig, has an excellent post up at his blog Deacons Today: Dalmatics and Beyond that addresses an issue that has bugged me ever since my husband began Deacon formation (H/T Deacon Greg Kandra) :

“I can still remember how shocked I was.  My wife and I were at a small dinner party with several other deacons and their wives.  We had just moved to the area and we were still getting to know our new colleagues and friends.  While we were chatting and sharing our stories, one of the wives made the comment, “We were ordained in May.”  WE were; not “HE was ordained”; “WE were ordained.”  That took me aback.  I didn’t say anything, of course, but I’ve thought about it ever since.  Of course I knew what she was saying: They had journeyed together throughout the formation process, and both of them had to make firm commitments involving diaconal ministry.  Furthermore, our theology of matrimony, which holds that “two become one flesh” enters into this equation at some point as well.  Still, only the husband had been ordained, albeit with her full participation and support.

As my own experience with the diaconate has grown over the years, including service at the national and international levels, I have heard this kind of comment repeatedly, although not nearly so much as I did in the past.  This expression, “we were ordained” seems to have peaked with those ordained in the late 1970s and early 1980s.  As more than one person has observed, “Even though a couple is married, one spouse may still celebrate a sacrament without that sacrament having effect on the other spouse.”  Consider two unbaptized persons who are married.  Should one of them be baptized, we wouldn’t expect to hear the other spouse say, “WE were baptized.”

Amen Deacon. As he points out the horrifying, to my ears anyway, the “We were ordained” meme  is used for the most part by older Deacons and their wives. They tend to be of the progressive Catholic variety.

The good Deacon also takes apart another expression, which sets my teeth on edge, “Deacon Couples”.

“Another expression that still has traction is that of “deacon couples”; we often hear this, especially in terms of  social or church events: “All deacon couples are invited.”  Again, the intent here is clear enough.  Deacons and their spouses (for those who are married, of course) are invited.  However, the precision of the expression is lacking.  Only one of the two is an ordained deacon, and that does not extend to the couple.  I made a career in the Navy, and retired as a Commander.  We would not be invited to things as a “Commander couple” or even as an “officer couple.”  The same precision applies here.  So, most places have stopped using that expression in favor of something more precise.”

Sigh. We still hear “Deacon Couple” in these parts. Heh. Deacon Detewig and his wife were not a Commander Couple when he  was in the Navy. Exactly.

Where we part company is his suggestion that we shouldn’t use the expression deacons wife. Hey I am “A Deacon’s wife”.

Some wives think that it takes away from their identity. Not me.

Just call me a Deacon’s wife. I know who I am. It does not demean or threaten me in any way. When my husband and I married in 1972 it was fashionable for women to retain their maiden names or to combine last names.

This was in the feminist bra burning day. It was not for me. And this was back in my eating barbed wire for breakfast days.

I have been asked why I call this blog “A Deacon’s wife”. Well it came from when my husband first began his Deacon ministry at Christ the King. Often parishioners could not remember our names. So they would just say “hi Deacon”.  Some of them would also say “good morning deacon’s wife.”

I thought it was cute. No one who has ever spent two minutes with me would dare to think that I am the door mat type.

Besides, I am still trying to figure out what God is asking of me as a deacon’s wife

Posted in Deaconate | Tagged , | 14 Comments

Are You a Groupie or a Disciple

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

A Protestant pastor asks an important question. Are we just fans who think Jesus is awesome, or are we followers who want to become like Him?

Excerpt:

Finally, a thought crossed my mind: “I wonder what Jesus taught whenever he had the big crowds.” What I discovered changed me forever, not just as a preacher but as a follower of Christ. I found that when Jesus had large crowds, he would often preach a message that would be more likely to drive listeners away rather than encourage them to return for next week’s message.

When Easter weekend came, I was so convicted that I stood up and began my sermon with an apology. I said to the congregation, “I’m sorry for sometimes selling Jesus cheap and watering down the gospel in hopes that more of you would fill these seats.” I followed up with a sermon series entitled “Not a Fan.” We went word-for-word though Luke 9:23�Jesus’ invitation to follow him�and honestly asked ourselves, “Am I a fan or a follower of Jesus?” The dictionary defines fans as “enthusiastic admirers.” Jesus was never interested in enthusiastic admirers; he wanted completely committed followers. He wants more from us than a hand raised or a prayer repeated at the end the service. He is looking for more than a prayer before a meal and a Jesus fish on the back of the car. He wants more than fans; he wants followers who take up a cross and die to themselves.

Amen brother in Christ!  Too many Christians just want to be groupies to the nice first century itinerant Rabbi who luved everyone.  The Jesus who met people where they are. Yes but he tried to lift up from the dust and mud of their sinfulness. He invited people to transform themselves with the help of God’s grace.

Jesus still invites us to change. To follow him. To become like Him.

The Gospel is full of the hard sayings of Jesus Christ. He says things that we do not want to hear.

The invitation is not easy to accept. Conversion and transformation hurts. It often means rejection and even persecution. It means gut wrenching change.

And it is a lifetime process. It is a cycle of sinning, turning back to God. It is the life time call to holiness. Of continual conversion. Of continual transformation.


Posted in Holiness, Truth | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Critical Thinking: Catholics and Evolution

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

Monsignor Pope discusses the question,  Can a Catholic Accept Evolutionary  Theory Uncritically?

“Hence, a Catholic ought to be very careful to avoid an uncritical acceptance of the Theory of Evolution.  An old maxim comes to mind: Seldom Affirm, never deny, always distinguish. Not a bad approach when it comes to this great debate about Evolution, the Bible and faith.”

Read the post here and do check out the comments.

The good Monsignor also discussed the problem of polygenesis (the theory that human beings descended from multiple humans) in another post. He concluded his post thus:

“So the problem of polygenism is a significant matter for Catholics who want to uncritically accept evolution or understand it in a simplistic and easy-going way. And herein is the central point of this and previous articles of mine on this subject: Namely, it is essential that we make proper distinctions and exclusions if we choose to embrace some aspects of the Theory of Evolution. The Catholic approach to this whole matter is carefully balanced. We are not fundamentalist and creationists but neither do we uncritically accept the Theory of Evolution. We must make proper distinctions, exclusions and clarifications in order to accept what I might term a theistic evolution as a tenable theory. Even here, Catholics are free to reject aspects of a theistic evolution on the grounds of science. But this last distinction (scientific objections) is beyond the role of the Church. Perhaps again,  the old advice is helpful here: Seldom affirm, never deny, ALWAYS distinguish. We need to be careful and sober when it comes to Evolutionary Theory.

“Perhaps it is good to conclude with the words of Pope Benedict which remind us that we are dealing ultimately with a deep mystery for which we must ultimately have great reverence:”

The clay became man at the moment in which a being for the first time was capable of forming, however dimly, the thought of “God.” The first Thou that – however stammeringly – was said by human lips to God marks the moment in which the spirit arose in the world. Here the Rubicon of anthropogenesis was crossed. For it is not the use of weapons or fire, not new methods of cruelty or of useful activity, that constitute man, but rather his ability to be immediately in relation to God. This holds fast to the doctrine of the special creation of man . . . herein . . . lies the reason why the moment of anthropogenesis cannot possibly be determined by paleontology: anthropogenesis is the rise of the spirit, which cannot be excavated with a shovel. The theory of evolution does not invalidate the faith, nor does it corroborate it. But it does challenge the faith to understand itself more profoundly and thus to help man to understand himself and to become increasingly what he is: the being who is supposed to say Thou to God in eternity. (Creation and Evolution: A Conference With Pope Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo, S.D.S. Stephan Horn (ed), pp. 15-16)

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Faith And a Pint of Guinness

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

A reader has alerted me to an interesting blog, Catholic Drinkie.

The blogger, Sarah, is passionate about her faith, and she loves beer. In moderation of course. Her blog is almost a virtual Theology on Tap.

I think that my Guiness loving Deacon is going to love her recent post on Faith and Guinness:

“I was talking with a friend of mine today (and my roommate for my trip to Greece!) and she told me a super awesome story.

She used to go to Daily Mass at the Cathedral in Houston when she worked downtown. The Psalm for the day was Psalm 27:14 which states: “Wait for the LORD, take courage; be stouthearted, wait for the LORD!”

When the priest who was presiding over Mass delivered his homily, he said when he hears the word “stout,” he thinks of Guinness (this is truly a priest after my own heart!). But more importantly, he went on to say that our faith should be as strong as a pint of Guinness.

What a wonderfully beautiful way to relate two of my very favorite things: my Catholic faith and a good, solid beer. I would hope that my faith is as solid and strong as a well-poured pint of Guinness. I do recognize, however, that there is always so much work for me to do daily to be a faithful servant.

Is your faith as strong as a pint of Guinness?”

Well the Catholic writer and apologist CK Chesterson did say:

“In Catholicism, the pint, the pipe and the Cross can all fit together.”

Posted in Catholic Culture | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Only In the Catholic Church

Posted on October 19, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

The first place that we lived, over thirteen years ago, when we returned to the US  was Guymon Oklahoma. Guymon is a small town in the panhandle of Oklahoma. Catholics make up less than 5% of the population. My husband was the head guy for a manufacturing company in town, so we were known by just about everyone.

Well one evening, my birthday, we were in the only “fancy” restaurant in town.  Two couples from the Chamber of Commerce came by our table to chat. One of the women asked me what I was up to, and I mentioned that I was involved at my Church. Just at that moment the waiter arrived with our adult beverages.

A horrified expression came across her face. Then the light bulb came on. “OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH. That’s right”, she said. “You belong to the CATHOLIC Church!

Well a Catholic Pub has just opened up in Rome. In an historic crypt.

The beer is cheap, the waiters are talkative and the music is 1960s Motown — but the new pub that opened its doors this week in a historic crypt in central Rome is not really like any other.

Start with the landlord being a Catholic priest, the religious sayings on the walls and the large crucifix hanging in one of its vaulted rooms.

Then there’s the name of the new drinking establishment: “Giovanni Paolo II”, or “John Paul II”. Read more.

But not everyone is a fan. Pascal Menged, 27 said:

“It’s okay but I think an Irish pub is nicer than this.”

Heh.

Posted in Catholic Culture | 2 Comments

Faith AND Reason; Science AND Miracle

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

The Wall Street Journal has this headline in today’s paper:

Chile’s Rescue Formula: ‘75% Science, 25% Miracle’

Amen. Catholic that I am, I am very good at asserting “both” instead of either or”.

It seems, however, that I missed a God coincidence. The rescue began on October 13th. The folks at the Summa This Summa That blog caught what I missed:

US media outlets called this rescue operation a miracle in its size and scope.

For those of us Catholics who are Marian-devoted, and who pay attention to things nuanced by the rhythm of the liturgical calendar, we smile in humble recognition of the date.

It is indeed a day for miracles.

On October 13, 1917, the world, (such as it was before you-are-there technologies flickered immediate images to our televisions and laptops) came together to witness another miracle. In Portugal and elsewhere, it was known as “the miracle of the sun” promised by Our Lady of Fatima.  The Catholic Church recognizes Mary’s appearances to three Portuguese children over six months that year as genuinely miraculous.

The miracle of the sun answered the prayer of these faithful little believers, the visionaries. They asked the Lady to do something so others may believe.

And so, October 13, 1917 the sun “danced” in the sky as 70,000 people stood by and watched following a rainstorm, witnessing the sun begin to “move”.  The rest of the world heard about it after the fact.

Many hearts were converted to the power and presence of God in the world both on that day and since.

It’s been said that over the course of their internment – once the miners were “found” – they began to request not only food and essentials for communication but Christian religious objects. And so it will be interesting to hear the post-scripts of their stories…

Here is a clip from an old movie, The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima


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Love, Marriage, Babies: In That Order Please

Posted on October 14, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

Deacon Larry and I are involved in Baptismal Preparation.  And of course Deacon actually Baptizes!  Last  Sunday he Baptized five beautiful babies. But Catholics are not immune to the cultural zeitgeist which does not value marriage or children.

Monsignor Pope delivers the bad news.

These days the decline in marriage is very evident. In some of the smaller parishes there hasn’t been a wedding for several years. Even in the larger ones, as few as four or five a year isn’t uncommon.

Most of my information  on this has been anecdotal until now. However, I was introduced to a great blog by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). The Blog is Here: CARA Blog. There is lots of good data available and plenty of graphs and charts that paint a statistical picture of the Church. Some of the pictures are troubling indeed. Consider this one that depicts the decline in marraige and baptisms over the past 50 years:

You can click on the Chart to get a clearer picture. The chart depicts the number of marriages and baptisms per 1000 Catholics in the USA. As you can see, the number of baptisms has really plummeted  from over 36 in the 1950s to just over 12 in 2009. That’s a drop of 76%! Marriage has shown a similar and steady decline from about 12 in 1950 to just under 3 in 2009. That too is a drop of almost 75%

This depicts a major crisis in marriage and the family and I don’t think I am exaggerating to say that trends like these are civilization killers. Conditions are far worse in Europe it would seem, though I do not have statistics to present here.

But the good Monsignor does believe that we can make a sacramental comeback. He suggests some strategies. He concludes his post thus:

So, here is a worthy task: recovering respect for the gifts of marriage and children. We may not see sudden reversals, but we can chip away at it. Even to get young people used to hearing of the blessings of marriage and children is a start. I have often joshed with my parishioners that one of the pillars of my evangelization plan is have our young people get married (FIRST), have lots of babies and raise them Catholic. They often laugh though they know I am not merely joshing. They’re getting used to hearing of large families again. To some extent that is going to have to be the first step: reintroducing concepts as rational and normal which had been discarded as crazy and out of date. Little by little, this tide can change. Little by little, brick by brick. The first step to making a 1000 mile journey is to put one foot in front of the other and just keep doing it.

 

Posted in Sacraments | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

God in the Mine

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

The fifth miner up was Jimmy Sanchez. Yesterday, he sent up a note reading, “There are actually 34 of us [in the mine], because God has never left us down here.” He is 18 years old.

The story of the trapped Chilean miners and their rescue today is truly remarkable and inspiring.  Go to Inside Catholic for more here.

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Catholic Church in the UK After the Pope’s Visit

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Susan Kehoe

Praise God! It seems that our Holy Fathers visit to the UK last month is beginning to bear fruit (H/T Deacon Greg).

The Holy Father’s visit began with media hostility and ended in tens of thousands of people — not just Catholics — lining the streets for him. Visiting several churches across different cities since his visit, one notes a sense of the foot soldiers in the pews feeling less inhibited about their faith. Hearing a newly-consecrated bishop preach last week on the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Schoenstatt’ movement’s first shrine in the UK, I was struck by the sheer joy on this shepherd’s face as he peppered his homily with references to the words the Holy Father uttered in the UK.

And people seemed so grateful for this.

Some bishops have referred to a “Benedict bounce” with more people coming to church and an increase in inquirers.

Personally I think this is far too robust a term to be associated with the holy, gentle, humbly intellectual genius that is Pope Benedict XVI. It is no coincidence that he chose Newman’s motto Cor Ad Loquitur (heart speaks to heart) as the motto for the UK visit. The awesome, genuinely warm four-day exchange between shepherd and flock will grow a lasting fruit because Pope Benedict spoke to our hearts — and indeed our souls — but the season of growth may be extensive. His kind of witness sometimes takes longer to bear fruit as we try to overcome our concupiscence.

A friend told me an enlightening story last week. She was attending 40 hours devotion at an inner city church, where she heard the priest confess of his lukewarm initial response to the pope’s scheduled evening vigil for youth at London’s Hyde Park. But Fr. X explained that as he encountered the incredible silence of a Pontiff and his outdoor flock of 80,000, praying in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament something moved him, profoundly. In fact, he based the last hour of the 40-hour devotion on the pope’s programme for that night.

Everyone who attended that vigil has spoken of the silence at that event, which seemed to many to recall the half-hour silence mentioned in Revelation 8:1. One man, I know, a fully paid up member of  “the church liberal,” has repeatedly spoken with awe about how that silence, that vigil, affected him.

Of course the Lord’s parable of the sower and the seed is a reality check; some who embraced the pope’s visit may be like the seed that did not bear fruit. However you can’t help thinking that Peter came among us obeying the Lord’s admonition to strengthen the brethren (Luke 22:32), and that his obedience was efficacious.

We feel truly strengthened by those truly amazing four days in September. Read the rest here.

I was really struck by the effect that praying in Holy Silence before the Blessed Sacrament had on people in attendance.  Silence is so important to our relationship with God.  Too often I am a busy Martha instead of a quiet and humble Mary. Mary gave herself completely to Jesus. She put herself in the presence of our Lord.

It is difficult to cultivate silence in our busy noisy world. Mass, too often is no longer a place where we can find silence.  The General Instruction on the Roman Missal explains:

45. Sacred silence also, as part of the celebration, is to be observed at the designated times.54 Its purpose, however, depends on the time it occurs in each part of the celebration. Thus within the Act of Penitence and again after the invitation to pray, all recollect themselves; but at the conclusion of a reading or the homily, all meditate briefly on what they have heard; then after Communion, they praise and pray to God in their hearts.

Even before the celebration itself, it is commendable that silence to be observed in the church, in the sacristy, in the vesting room, and in adjacent areas, so that all may dispose themselves to carry out the sacred action in a devout and fitting manner.

But I have  written on this before.

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