The Church Universal

A feeling of "I've seen it all before" is one of the hazards of acquiring over a decade's worth of experience in church fund raising. This sense is not one of boredom, or apathy or cynicism; far from it! I still love this mission of ours to help parishes secure the financial resources to grasp the future with confidence. If anything, I'm even more enthusiastic about my job - I just love it even more when we fly in the face of economic headwinds and popular convention and succeed!

No, I'm talking about feeling that you've seen virtually every surprise there is to see and that you cannot be shocked by anything people say to you. Well, as the well-worn adage informs us, "you learn something new every day!"

Recently I attended my first Vietnamese language Mass in inner city Cleveland. This was a venerable parish of German roots that had withstood the disruptions of urban decay and suburban flight and had endured the crushing loss of thousands of industrial jobs to stand proudly ready to secure for itself a bright future. The parish was roughly evenly split between the Vietnamese Apostolate of Cleveland, which took this parish for its home and the folks who had long-term roots in the neighborhood and stayed either in the city neighborhood or commuted in from the suburbs to maintain their membership in their historic parish.

There was a visiting priest presiding at this Mass and he focused much of his homily on the PSR (CCD for those of you unfamiliar with this term) children. (Since I understand not one word of Vietnamese, I base this observation on watching him look at the kids assembled in the first few pews.) He spoke animatedly for about ten minutes, whereupon he wheeled around, took a few steps toward me and said in English, "perhaps our visiting friend can enlighten us - can you please tell us what is the last sentence in the Gospel of Matthew?"

Now, as someone who prides himself on his poise, I didn't immediately scream and jump out of the pew. I did however, swallow hard, try to smile and think, and then after a few very dramatic seconds of silence, finally blurt out a line ("That the Father and I are one.") that he happily told me was part of the Gospel of John, not the last line of Matthew! He then turned back to the congregation and told them in Vietnamese and in English what the last line was. (just in case my loyal readers are in a forgetful moment, the last line in Matthew is, "Teach them to observe all the things I have commanded you; and behold, know that I am with you, even to the end of time." )

After the Mass, my public humiliation complete, I spoke with the priest, joking about how I enjoyed his sermon! He was pleased that I was not really angry but in our discussion he revealed to me why he, as a young priest, had virtually memorized the New Testament.

He mentioned his grandfather, who was a Catholic during the worst years of the Vietnam War; he mentioned how they were persecuted -first in the South by fellow countrymen, and then later truly oppressed by the Communists once the North took over the country. Often the people in his family were not able to worship in public and they were usually without printed materials which were both scarce and dangerous to possess. His family, like all those families in the pews with me that day, came to America to escape the Communists. This young priest told me that he spent much of the homily reminding the young people that their faith would always need to be guarded and passed on, just as their parents had passed it on to them. Further,he implored them to treasure the chance to not only learn the faith, but to study it, share it and preserve it. There will be challenges to their faith in this country also - not like the governmental oppression like Vietnam, but from the secular culture. In many ways this challenge can be even more deadly, because it is subtle. I told him that while my linguistic skills did not include Vietnamese, I could tell by watching the faces of the young people that his energetic homily has captured their attention.

We had a very successful campaign meeting that day, so I felt that sense of accomplishment, but I was also touched by how eagerly folks from a culture so different from my own had embraced the faith and the challenge of the future. As I gazed around the church I was struck by the images - a beautiful pipe organ and several finely-crafted statues -all from Germany. There was a lovely image, too, of Our Lady of Guadeloupe along with an icon of the Blessed Mother and Child (Theotokos) and of course a plethora of bulletin board notices/announcements, evenly split between English and Vietnamese. In short, a visual image of a Church universal, Eastern and Western Europe, North and South America and Asia.

As I drove home I marveled at the these physical gifts in this church representing a hundred years of faith and every corner of the world. I also noted with awe the emotional and spiritual gifts of faith so strongly present among those worshiping alongside me - and how I had absorbed my own lesson from the priest right along with the grade schoolers who were there to watch it all unfold before them.

Moving Movie for a Blizzard Weekend

People who know me well often tease me about my complete ignorance of pop culture, particularly concerning modern movies. "Hey Harry, they make movies in color now!" is a phrase I'll encounter on occasion, too, given my preference for old classics.

Given these proclivities I'm not one to recommend movies very often, but I'm making an exception here - I strongly urge you to consider buying or renting the DVD, "Katyn." For those not historically inclined, Katyn is the location in Poland where the Soviets massacred 20,000 Polish officers in World War II and then blamed the Germans. This ruse worked for far too long, but eventually facts overcame the propaganda and in the post-Soviet era the Russian government admitted the culpability and expressed remorse.

This film version is not a documentary but instead a deftly-done movie that weaves personal romance into the factually accurate story. It's very poignant and is certainly a story that needs told more widely. I mention it here not only because it is quite important historically and masterfully done, but it also is profoundly Christian. Duty, honor, family, faith are all integral components of this film.

A couple of cautions about this film; this is not the type of movie one sits through munching snacks and quaffing your favorite beverage - it is somber and explicit. It's not gorey or sickening, but it is, after all, a story of mass murder. Also, it's in Polish with subtitles in English. I enjoy foreign films in original languages with subtitles, but I know some people find them difficult to watch. Those who choose to give this film a shot, however, will find the experience informative and enlightening.

Fond of Beer in Swarthy Nooks, but Happiest Among his Books!

Many of you have probably read Alexander Solzhenitsyn's award-winning book, "The First Circle," which was smuggled out of Soviet Russia decades ago. You may not be aware that this version of the great novel was not the one Solzhenitsyn himself wanted to have published. He had actually was not finished editing that book when a "samizdat" or underground copy emerged and was published first in Europe.

It has taken all these years, but recently Solzhenitsyn's true version was released and now after his death has finally been translated into English with the proper title, "In the First Circle." . This novel is a breath-taking glimpse into the dark world of the atheistic Hell that was the Soviet Union. (Hence the title's use of Dante's circles of Hell).

While the Gulag Archipelego is rightly considered the indispensible description of penal life under Communism, it is after all, not a novel, and thus lacks the narrative flow and suspense of the novelist's genius. Solzhenitsyn is a profoundly Christian writer whose ability to see evil and describe it from the perspective of faith in Christ is unparalleled.

Punxsatawney Phil just forecast six more weeks of winter this morning; filling some of these cold evenings curled up with one of the 20th century's greatest writers would be time well spent.

A Course with No Name... or Some Musings on Catholic Parishes Today

Thinking about the future of parish life can be a most challenging proposition! In much of the USA, demographic patterns have presented serious dilemmas to bishops and pastors and lay leadership alike. In many cities of the industrial heartland, we have beautiful church edifices occupying land where once large numbers of immigrant Catholic families lived; yet these folks have largely dispersed -to the suburbs in some cases, but to distant towns in even more cases.

Then we have surging Catholic populations in areas of the Sun Belt that once harbored few if any Catholics and who have quickly outgrown existing an even recently built facilities. Often the larger distances between clusters of folks make parish life more complicated. The tightly-grouped, large ethnic parishes have dwindled to a precious few. No longer is the parish the fulcrum of life for families who once worshipped, but also played, socialized and studied among fellow parishioners.

Another issue confronting all of us who work with and care deeply about our parishes is the "age factor." Because older Catholics give more regularly that younger generations on the whole, even parishes with growing populations do not see a concomitant increase in their collections because new arrivals are less likely to use envelopes as consistently as those who have departed the "Church Militant." I have a couple of priest friends with whom I share the slightly irreverent term, "burying an envelope," when describing the death of older, long-time parishioners with a history of committed stewardship -stewardship that will likely not be replaced.

I've painted a rather sobering portrait it seems. However, to quote a famous general who once was surrounded by enemy forces, "Great! We've got then just where we want them!"

No, I haven't taken leave of my senses, but I do believe that great dilemmas promise great opportunities. Perhaps the example of Saint Francis of Assisi, one of the handful of the most popular saints, is most instructive. We do well to recall the circumstances he faced when Our Lord said to him, "rebuild my Church." This came at a time when wars were rampant, the plague was wreaking havoc with the population and when corruption and worldly concerns infected much of the clerical leadership. His era was at least as complicated as our own. Yet he placed his faith in God above his fears and doubts and founded the Franciscan Order, one of the mendicant orders that transformed the Church -and that renewed Church transformed the world. (Read the works of Thomas Woods and George Crocker about the indispensability of the Church to what we call Western Civilization.)

We have Christ's assurance that the Church will prevail against the gates of Hell. That does not mean, of course, that the Church in America will always be here! We need to collectively take up the challenges we face in our time, just as Francis did in his. We each need to think about how we can take concrete steps to help the Church in America last for the ages. Just as with Saint Francis, the first step is transformation of self. Just as in volunteering, others will follow where a leader will go. We must accept that the future is also in our hands, not just the bishop's or our pastor's. In the movie "Thirteen Days," which told the story of the Cuban missile crisis, there is a scene in which General Curtis LeMay outlines the strategic situation for the president, then says smugly, 'Mr. President, you're in quite a fix." President Kennedy turns to him and says, "In case you haven't noticed General Lemay, you're in it with me!" That's how I feel when I hear fellow Catholics mention how this bishop or that pastor needs to do something!

Yes, some of the ways and methods we built parish families with in the "glory days" of post-war America are lost to us. But we've got other and potentially powerful mechanisms to rebuild our foundations. We can utilize, for instance, the emerging technology of the past decade and a half to communicate more fully and more often to our people the life-changing, ever- ancient, ever-new faith of our fathers. Francis was not a clergyman. Nor did he wait for a clergyman to act. Instead he chose to act in simple ways and to believe that with God all things are possible. I won't claim for an instant that I've got all the solutions, but I would urge us all to follow in the footsteps of the this simple man who saw opportunity and clasped it tightly to his faith. We have been given much. Now is our chance to hand on something as our legacy. In subsequent posts I'll be sharing some thoughts on some specific issues alluded to here, but in the meantime I welcome your comments and thoughts!

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting, it has been found difficult, and left untried."
G.K. Chesterton