Last Easter, when I was just beginning to explore the possibility that, despite what I had previously believed and been brought up to believe, there might be something to the Catholic faith, I read Letters to a Young Catholic by George Weigel. One passage in particular struck me.
Talking of the New Testament miracles and the meaning of faith, Weigel writes: “In the Catholic view of things, walking on water is an entirely sensible thing to do. It’s staying in the boat, hanging tightly to our own sad little securities, that’s rather mad.”
In the following months, that life outside the boat – the life of faith –would come to make increasing sense to me, until eventually I could no longer justify staying put. Last weekend I was baptised and confirmed into the Catholic Church.
Of course, this wasn’t supposed to happen. Faith is something my generation is meant to be casting aside, not taking up. I was raised without any religion and was eight when 9/11 took place. Religion was irrelevant in my personal life and had provided my formative years with a rolling-news backdrop of violence and extremism. I avidly read Dawkins, Harris and Hitchens, whose ideas were sufficiently similar to mine that
I could push any uncertainties I had to the back of my mind. After all, what alternative was there to atheism?
As a teenager, I realised that I needed to read beyond my staple polemicists, as well as start researching the ideas of the most egregious enemies of reason, such as Catholics, to properly defend my world view. It was here, ironically, that the problems began.
I started by reading Pope Benedict’s Regensburg address, aware that it had generated controversy at the time and was some sort of attempt –futile, of course – to reconcile faith and reason. I also read the shortest book of his I could find, On Conscience. I expected – and wanted – to find bigotry and illogicality that would vindicate my atheism. Instead, I was presented with a God who was the Logos: not a supernatural dictator crushing human reason, but the self-expressing standard of goodness and objective truth towards which our reason is oriented, and in which it is fulfilled, an entity that does not robotically control our morality, but is rather the source of our capacity for moral perception, a perception that requires development and formation through the conscientious exercise of free will.
It was a far more subtle, humane and, yes, credible perception of faith than I had expected. It didn’t lead to any dramatic spiritual epiphany, but did spur me to look further into Catholicism, and to re-examine some of the problems I had with atheism with a more
critical eye.
First, morality. Non-theistic morality, to my mind, tended towards two equally problematic camps: either it was subjective to the point of meaninglessness or, when followed logically, entailed intuitively repulsive outcomes, such as Sam Harris’s stance on torture. But the most appealing theories which could circumvent these problems, like virtue ethics, often did so by presupposing the existence of God. Before, with my caricatured understanding of theism, I’d considered that nonsensical. Now, with the more detailed understanding I was starting to develop, I wasn’t so sure.
Next, metaphysics. I soon realised that relying on the New Atheists for my counter-arguments to the existence of God had been a mistake: Dawkins, for instance, gives a disingenuously cursory treatment of St Thomas Aquinas in The God Delusion, engaging only with the summary of Aquinas’s proofs in the Five Ways – and misunderstanding those summarised proofs to boot. Acquainting myself fully with Thomistic-Aristotelian ideas, I found them to be a valid explanation of the natural world, and one on which atheist philosophers had failed to make a coherent assault.
What I still did not understand was how a theology that operated in harmony with human reason could simultaneously be, in Benedict XVI’s words, “a theology grounded in biblical faith”. I’d always assumed that sola scriptura (“scripture alone”), with its evident shortcomings and fallacies, was how all consistent, believing Christians read the Bible. So I was surprised to discover that this view could be refuted just as robustly from a Catholic standpoint – reading the Bible through the Church and its history, in light of Tradition – as from an atheist one.
I looked for absurdities and inconsistencies in the Catholic faith that would derail my thoughts from the unnerving conclusion I was heading towards, but the infuriating thing about Catholicism is its coherency: once you accept the basic conceptual structure, things fall into place with terrifying speed. “The Christian mysteries are an indivisible whole,” wrote Edith Stein in The Science of the Cross: “If we become immersed in one, we are led to all the others.” The beauty and authenticity of even the most ostensibly difficult parts of Catholicism, such as the sexual ethics, became clear once they were viewed not as a decontextualised list of prohibitions, but as essential components in the intricate body of the Church’s teaching.
There was one remaining problem, however: my lack of familiarity with faith as something lived. To me, the whole practice and vernacular of religion – prayer, hymns, Mass – was something wholly alien, which I was reluctant to step into.
My friendships with practising Catholics finally convinced me that I had to make a decision. Faith, after all, isn’t merely an intellectual exercise, an assent to certain propositions; it’s a radical act of the will, one that engenders a change of the whole person. Books had taken me to Catholicism as a plausible conjecture, but Catholicism as a living truth I came to understand only through observing those already serving the Church within that life of grace.
I grew up in a culture that has largely turned its back on faith. It’s why I was able to drift through life with my ill-conceived atheism going unchallenged, and at least partially explains the sheer extent of the popular support for the New Atheists: for every considerate and well-informed atheist, there will be others with no personal experience of religion and no interest in the arguments who are simply drifting with the cultural tide.
As the popularity of belligerent, all-the-answers atheism wanes, however, thoughtful Christians able to explain and defend their faith will become an increasingly vital presence in the public square. I hope I, in a small way, am an example of the appeal that Catholicism can still hold in an age that at times appears intractably opposed to it.
This article first appeared in the print edition of The Catholic Herald dated 24/5/13
FORT WAYNE —Catholic leaders of northeast Indiana met on Wednesday to complete the formation of the St. Thomas More Society of Fort Wayne, a private association affiliated with the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, serving under the oversight of Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades.
After several months of planning, the society formally adopted its constitution and bylaws and elected its founding governors and officers. Father Mark A. Gurtner has been appointed chaplain by Bishop Rhoades.
“The society is a wonderful opportunity to honor and emulate St. Thomas More, the patron saint of attorneys, statesmen and politicians,” said Father Gurtner. “Indeed, his steadfast conviction in the face of death is a reminder for legal professionals to not forsake their private conscious for their public duties.”
Father Gurtner told Today’s Catholic of his duties to the society: “First not only have I been appointment chaplain, but as a canon lawyer, I enjoy membership in the society in my own right. I am also a founding member.”
“My duties as chaplain though will focus on the spiritual well being of the society,” he said. “I will offer Mass for the group periodically, seek to foster the spiritual life of its members, and be available as spiritual counsel for its members individually and for the group as a whole. I would also anticipate that I would serve to represent the society to the diocesan bishop and to represent the diocesan bishop to the society.”
The St. Thomas More Society is a Catholic professional association that promotes the mutual interaction of faith and culture in the realm of law and public policy. Any lawyer, member of the judiciary, canon lawyer, law professor or student at an ABA accredited law school residing, practicing, serving or studying primarily in the greater Fort Wayne area is eligible to apply for membership.
Magistrate Craig Bobay of the Allen Circuit Court and member of St. Jude Parish, Fort Wayne, said, “We hope to meet several times per year to discuss issues of faith and the legal profession, attend Mass together, pray together and help organize an annual Red Mass.”
“Catholic and non-Catholic lawyers and judges should join the society to explore the place for our Christian faith in the legal profession,” he encouraged.
Michael Barranda, an attorney with Burt-Blee-Dixon-Sutton and Bloom, LLP, and member of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Fort Wayne, encouraged Catholics in the legal profession to consider joining the society.
“Legal professionals are required to take continuing education classes,” Barranda said. “In addition to fellowship, the society offers members educational opportunities that will strengthen both their faith and their practice.”
Father Gurtner added, “I would encourage those in the legal profession to join the society in order to seek even more fully to integrate their Catholic faith into their work. Also, membership in the society will serve to deepen their own faith because it will afford them access to special Masses offered for the society, will join them in the spiritual benefits of mutual prayer for each other in the society, will be a source of encouragement for the members to stay faithful to the tenets of the faith in the face of opposition, and will offer members continuing education in the faith and the legal profession through periodically-offered presentations.”
“Each of the founding governors is more than willing to speak with prospective members of the society,” Barranda noted. “Incidentally, we just happen to represent a great cross-section of the area parishes. Applications for membership are available through the Membership Chair, Chris Nancarrow.”
Attorney Tom Blee of Fort Wayne’s Burt-Blee-Dixon-Sutton and Bloom, LLP, firm, said the “society is being reenergized by Magistrate Craig Bobay and some associates with a new constitution, bylaws and a membership drive.”
Bobay told Today’s Catholic, “Bishop Rhoades has mentioned that a society existed in his previous diocese, and a few of us got together, and prepared a proposed framework for the group. We then presented it to the bishop, who gave us his blessing and encouraged us to identify people to make up an initial board of directors, and then plan to recruit members.”
Blee said in addition to preparing and hosting the annual Red Mass, a Mass for those in the legal profession, the society will arrange programs and activities related to the intellectual and religious growth of the members, as well as honor those professionals that represent the principles and ideals of St. Thomas More.
Blee said, “An essential goal of the group is to create a strong membership of attorneys, which will attract prominent speakers to the St. Thomas More Red Mass celebration, and promote the unity of the family, the dignity of the person and the justice of civil society — all traits exhibited by the life and death of this patron saint of statesmen, politicians and lawyers.”
Blee has been devoted to St. Thomas More since his admission to the law profession at age 45. He wears a St. Thomas More medal, and a painting of Thomas More hangs in his office. The painting is used at the Red Mass in Fort Wayne.
Blee said, “When something is demanded of me because of my faith — something which seems just too hard, or even unfair — I need only to think of St. Thomas More in his prison cell — and it doesn’t seem hard or unfair at all.”
The elected officers are president — Magistrate Judge Craig J. Bobay, Allen Circuit Court; vice president — Liz Brown, civil and domestic mediator; treasurer — Tom Niezer, Barrett McNagny LLP; and Judge Michael J. Kramer, Noble Superior Court.
Founding governors also include: Kathleen Anderson — Barnes Thornburg LLP, Michael Barranda — Burt, Blee, Dixon, Sutton Bloom, LLP; Judge Thomas J. Felts — Judge, Allen Circuit Court; Scott Hall — Hall Gooden, LLP; Judge Kent W. Kiracofe — Wells Circuit Court; Chris Nancarrow — chief deputy, Allen County Clerk of Courts.
Professionals interested in membership opportunities may contact Membership Chair Chris Nancarrow at cnancarr@gmail.com.
Korean Student Finds Catholic Faith, Inspires Others
STEPHEN O’KANE, Staff Writer
Published: May 9, 2013
CUMMING—When Jinny Kim entered Pinecrest Academy, she was in a new school and in a new country, surrounded by people who measured success in a different way.
Kim, whose full name is Jin Sol Kim, was born and raised in a town near Seoul, South Korea. She had lived in the Philippines for a few years before arriving in the United States three years ago to finish her high school education at Pinecrest, an independent Catholic school of the Legionaries of Christ in Cumming.
Growing up in South Korea, she was surprised not everybody in America pursues money and material success and that young people are encouraged to explore their interests.
Jinny Kim (Photo by Michael Alexander)
“The teachers and schools are more interested in giving the students a chance to do what they want to do in their life,” she said of American schools. “In Korea a lot of the students are … all pressed to focus only on study.”
One of three children of Kunhee Choi and Juhwa Kim, Jinny said her mother wanted her and her siblings to have a more diverse education focused not only on academics but also areas such as sports and leadership. She is the first one in her family to study in the United States.
As one can imagine, being in a new place without family, friends or anything familiar can be a stressful transition, and for Kim it was no different. The language barrier caused some initial difficulty for the teen, but over the last three years she has excelled, earning a 4.14 grade point average.
She first lived with a family friend in Georgia until a family situation caused her hosts to move to New York. That left her searching for a new place to live. After requests went out to the school community, Jocelyn Sotomayor, assistant principal, and her family, who are members of St. Brendan the Navigator Church in Cumming, offered to host Kim during her remaining time at Pinecrest.
Sotomayor said, “Jinny has transformed the lives of so many people around her, starting with mine. She is caring, determined and is always looking for ways to learn more, to learn new things. Quickly after she arrived at Pinecrest, she found her place within our school and certainly she found a home in our family.”
“They are my family,” said Kim of the Sotomayors. “We had happy moments, sad moments together, and I learned a lot of things from them. … They are just a part of me.”
Kim said she learned about the sacredness of marriage, the importance of family and also about the Catholic faith.
She became a Christian during her time in the Philippines. At Pinecrest, Kim noticed something different about the Catholic faith and was inspired by the devotion of the school community, so much so that she entered the Catholic Church two years ago.
“The first time I was inspired was at the Mass,” she said, noting that she just felt something different spiritually in a Catholic Church. “I can’t explain what it was … but it was beautiful.”
“All of my friends are really devoted and they practice their faith,” she said. “So I kind of started questioning what I was believing in … and got to know more about the Catholic faith, and then I converted.”
“After that, everything made sense,” she said.
Kim is planning to attend Gainesville State College in the fall. She also has a dream of serving this country through the military and hopes to participate in the Military Accessions Vital to National Interest program, which permits the enlistment of legal aliens with certain vital skills in the U.S. Army. Ultimately she would like to serve as an Army surgeon.
Her accomplishments already and the standards she sets for herself suggest she will reach her goals, a Pinecrest faculty member said.
“Jinny never settles for mediocre and always pushes herself to a higher level of understanding, of excellence,” said Elizabeth Hetzel, her English teacher. “But it’s Jinny’s incredible grace that I find most striking. Despite her many achievements, she remains humble and approachable.”
Jocelyn Christianson, high school campus minister, called her “a girl with a huge heart that she continually puts at the service of God and of others.”
“I always sense a great desire in her to do something to love more, whether it be for her family far away, for her friends and classmates, for the poor and neglected, or for God himself,” she said. “She doesn’t settle for what she has accomplished, but strives for higher. I know that whatever she does, she will excel in, because not only is she a hard worker, but she is moved from within and there is no stopping her once she puts her mind to something.”
Asked what advice she would give someone entering a new environment—whether it be high school or a new country—Kim said, “Define what success is for you and don’t let success define you. … Success is different for everybody.”
“And always try to be humble,” she added.
A Salute To 2013′s Inspiring Grads
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
A Salute To 2013’s Inspiring Grads
Holy Spirit Senior Finds Passion In Metalworking
Pius Teen’s Health Inspires Her To Pursue Medicine
Vietnam Native Impacts School With Unselfish Acts, Work Ethic
‘Charity In Action’ Distinguishes Blessed Trinity Senior
‘Unsung Hero’ At Athens School Hopes To Be Marketer, Marine
Artistic Gift Blossoms For Marist Student Overcoming Dyslexia
Korean Student Finds Catholic Faith, Inspires Others
Lo Que He Visto Y He Oido
What I Have Seen and Heard
Let’s Give The Devil His Due
Collegiate Sports On The Horizon For Seniors
Non-Metro Parishes Talk Through Unique Challenges
St. Pius X High School recognizes excellence in the archdiocese
New students join St. Mary School Junior Beta Club
Celebration at the cathedral for Msgr. McNamee
MAP Brings Medical Aid To Missionaries, Clinics
Looking Back… April – May 1963
Pilgrims To Fatima Include Many Devoted Popes
Sponsors Support Annual Congress
Eucharistic Congress Speakers Set To Engage, Inspire
Since participating in the March conclave that elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington has spoken about the experience to reporters and during Masses at local parishes.
But his recent Theology on Tap talk to a standing-room crowd of between 300 and 400 Catholic young adults marked the first talk he had given about the conclave in a bar, and he smiled and confessed that it was also his first visit to Buffalo Billiards, a busy downtown pub where patrons in an adjoining room played pool and watched baseball games on big screen televisions.
And while some members of his audience held glasses of beer as they listened, the smiling cardinal enthusiastically revisited his Rome experience and a few times held up a copy of his recent book, “Faith that Transforms Us: Reflections on the Creed,” as he encouraged the young adults to deepen their Catholic faith and share it with others.
Afterward, Jonathan Zimmer, a young adult from Holy Trinity Parish in Georgetown, said it was appropriate that Washington’s archbishop brought that message to a bar. “He talks about the new evangelization and going to where people are. This is where young people are, where people of the church are, on a weekday night.”
Lauren Honeycutt, another Holy Trinity parishioner, told the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan newspaper, that for the cardinal “to come and meet us exactly where we are, and speak to us as a pastor, that’s comforting.”
The cardinal opened his talk May 7 by joking about how, on the night before the conclave, he visited — but did not have anything to drink — a tiny bar in Rome that celebrated his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Two months ago in St. Peter’s Square, the whole world was looking at the chimney, waiting for smoke to come out,” the cardinal said. And when white smoke appeared, he said, the square soon filled with more than 100,000 people, many chanting “Viva il papa!” in Italian (“Long live the pope!”) even though they didn’t yet know who the new pope was.
The reason for that excitement, Wuerl said, is that “Peter today, who is called Francis, is the touchstone when we want our assurance to the connectedness to the Gospel.”
He noted that Jesus called the disciples who walked with him to be his witnesses, and bring the Good News to the world, and they shared that story and passed it, just as today’s disciples are called to do. The apostolic succession of the pope and bishops link today’s Catholics to Peter and the apostles and to Christ, the cardinal said.
Wuerl noted that St. Paul in his letters passed on what he had received — faith in Christ and his church. “The faith is something we receive and is this great gift,” the cardinal said. Then he smiled and held up his recent book on the Nicene Creed. The cardinal said he wrote the book to help Catholics deepen their faith in the Year of Faith opened this past fall by Pope Benedict XVI.
The work of Pope Francis, Wuerl said, “is the same as it has been for every pope back to Peter, encouraging you and me to recite the creed, to make it our own and to live it. When you do that, you’re capable of changing the whole world.”
Many reporters asked the cardinal if the new pope would change church teachings on abortion and sexual morality, and Wuerl said that church teaching is not policy that is voted on, rather it reflects revelation that comes from God, and the pope and the Catholic Church are called to bring these unchanging truths to the world. “The task of the church and the pope is to pass it on,” he said.
Church teaching, Wuerl said, reflects God’s wisdom and Jesus’s call to love and serve others “as I have loved you,” and that will always be a countercultural message in a world that stresses personal fulfillment and materialism.
“You and I are invited by Jesus into a way of life, to follow his Gospel, his message and walk with him through life,” the cardinal said.
Reflecting on the new pope, Wuerl said that from Pope Francis’ first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, “he clearly captured the imagination of people around the world. … I think what people are saying is, this Holy Father is what we need today, a pope whose heart is the heart of a pastor, and who comes out of the experience of a diocese where he has been shepherd” in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Since participating in the March conclave that elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington has spoken about the experience to reporters and during Masses at local parishes.
But his recent Theology on Tap talk to a standing-room crowd of between 300 and 400 Catholic young adults marked the first talk he had given about the conclave in a bar, and he smiled and confessed that it was also his first visit to Buffalo Billiards, a busy downtown pub where patrons in an adjoining room played pool and watched baseball games on big screen televisions.
And while some members of his audience held glasses of beer as they listened, the smiling cardinal enthusiastically revisited his Rome experience and a few times held up a copy of his recent book, “Faith that Transforms Us: Reflections on the Creed,” as he encouraged the young adults to deepen their Catholic faith and share it with others.
Afterward, Jonathan Zimmer, a young adult from Holy Trinity Parish in Georgetown, said it was appropriate that Washington’s archbishop brought that message to a bar. “He talks about the new evangelization and going to where people are. This is where young people are, where people of the church are, on a weekday night.”
Lauren Honeycutt, another Holy Trinity parishioner, told the Catholic Standard, Washington’s archdiocesan newspaper, that for the cardinal “to come and meet us exactly where we are, and speak to us as a pastor, that’s comforting.”
The cardinal opened his talk May 7 by joking about how, on the night before the conclave, he visited — but did not have anything to drink — a tiny bar in Rome that celebrated his hometown team, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“Two months ago in St. Peter’s Square, the whole world was looking at the chimney, waiting for smoke to come out,” the cardinal said. And when white smoke appeared, he said, the square soon filled with more than 100,000 people, many chanting “Viva il papa!” in Italian (“Long live the pope!”) even though they didn’t yet know who the new pope was.
The reason for that excitement, Wuerl said, is that “Peter today, who is called Francis, is the touchstone when we want our assurance to the connectedness to the Gospel.”
He noted that Jesus called the disciples who walked with him to be his witnesses, and bring the Good News to the world, and they shared that story and passed it, just as today’s disciples are called to do. The apostolic succession of the pope and bishops link today’s Catholics to Peter and the apostles and to Christ, the cardinal said.
Wuerl noted that St. Paul in his letters passed on what he had received — faith in Christ and his church. “The faith is something we receive and is this great gift,” the cardinal said. Then he smiled and held up his recent book on the Nicene Creed. The cardinal said he wrote the book to help Catholics deepen their faith in the Year of Faith opened this past fall by Pope Benedict XVI.
The work of Pope Francis, Wuerl said, “is the same as it has been for every pope back to Peter, encouraging you and me to recite the creed, to make it our own and to live it. When you do that, you’re capable of changing the whole world.”
Many reporters asked the cardinal if the new pope would change church teachings on abortion and sexual morality, and Wuerl said that church teaching is not policy that is voted on, rather it reflects revelation that comes from God, and the pope and the Catholic Church are called to bring these unchanging truths to the world. “The task of the church and the pope is to pass it on,” he said.
Church teaching, Wuerl said, reflects God’s wisdom and Jesus’s call to love and serve others “as I have loved you,” and that will always be a countercultural message in a world that stresses personal fulfillment and materialism.
“You and I are invited by Jesus into a way of life, to follow his Gospel, his message and walk with him through life,” the cardinal said.
Reflecting on the new pope, Wuerl said that from Pope Francis’ first appearance on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, “he clearly captured the imagination of people around the world. … I think what people are saying is, this Holy Father is what we need today, a pope whose heart is the heart of a pastor, and who comes out of the experience of a diocese where he has been shepherd” in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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For Billie Mandle, Catholic confessionals are not just dimly lit boxes where people go to confess their sins. They’re archives that collect and preserve deeply personal moments left behind by parishioners.
When you’re inside “you’re surrounded by the traces of past confessions,” Mandle says.
To try and capture these residues and explore what it means to ask for forgiveness, Mandle started shooting American confessionals for a project she calls Reconciliation.
“The priests and parish secretaries have been welcoming and extremely patient,” she says.
Traditionally, Catholic confession is a solemn exchange between an individual and priest. A camera is not part of the often guilt-ridden equation. But Mandle, who was raised Catholic and shares the faith with 1.2 billion other people on the planet, wants to challenge that history and thinks confessionals “are very photographic spaces.”
Sometimes all she captures is a piece of light and a slice of the screen that hides the priest so it’s up to the viewer to picture the exchange. Other times the signs of confessions-past are more obvious, like the worn benches where people sat or knelt.
For Mandle, it feels as if the walls of the structure literally “absorb the voices of each person who confesses.”
As you might imagine, it’s not easy to make photos inside these cramped and poorly lit spaces so she’s had to be patient.
“My exposures are long, sometimes up to 20 minutes when the confessionals are especially dark,” she says.
Today, the use of confessional boxes is not as common as in the past. Many have been replaced by less oppressive reconciliation rooms, which allow face-to-face conversation with a priest.
The move away from hearing confessions in dark seclusion began in 1962 following the Second Vatican Council, when the Catholic authorities addressed the Church’s changing relationship with the modern world. By demoting Latin-spoken masses, instructing priests to face congregations and removing altar screens, the Catholic hierarchy dragged Church practices into the 20th century.
In the majority of the world the Catholic church is thriving, particularly in Africa and Latin America, but in Europe and North America the church battles with individualism, neo-liberalism and indeed its own sins. Horrific sex-abuse scandals and archdiocesan-level cover-ups have alienated many of the faithful. Conservative stances on contraception, same-sex relationships and abortion are often too dogmatic even for those who grew up in the Catholic faith.
Mandle’s ominous photos seem to reflect these changing times. Once considered central to Catholics’ practice of faith, the confessional’s relevance and use is on the wane; they are vestiges of the church’s older approach.
Still, in the churches Mandle has visited (which are mostly in the northeast section of the United States), the choice between the new reconciliation rooms and old-school confessionals remains on offer.
“Many churches have both the traditional confessional and a reconciliation room,” she says. “I have heard from priests that parishioners are requesting it again.”
Whatever the future holds for the Catholic church and for its followers, awareness of sin and the nature of forgiveness is something Mandle says she can only speculate on. Her photographs are an exploration, not the answer.
“I sometimes wonder if absolution through confession is almost easier than trying to forgive yourself. It can be reassuring to give that responsibility to a higher power,” she says. “Trying to forgive yourself feels very difficult.”
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) – Today, the Easter season reaches its culmination with the Solemnity of Pentecost.
Pentecost was a feast day for the Jewish people. On this day, many Jews were known to have made a special pilgrimage to the temple in Jerusalem. At first, the feast was celebrated as a day of thanksgiving for the harvest and subsequently it also became a commemoration of the Ten Commandments that were given by God to Moses. Pentecost was celebrated fifty days after the Passover.
Jesus’ return to his Father makes it possible for God to come to us in a way more active and more powerful than before. Only the second person of the Blessed Trinity became incarnate. Thus everyone was able to see Jesus.
The Holy Spirit can only be experienced by those who are believers.
Jesus now lives and rules through the Catholic Church, which the Holy Spirit brings to life. From the Church, through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christ brings every believer to a new existence, to deeper intimacy and directs our deeds and our journey to eternal life.
“And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them” (Acts 2: 2-3).
Too often when we speak about the Holy Spirit, many people assume that some rather deeply emotional and visible experience needs to take place. Too many people think that they have not experienced the power of the Holy Spirit unless they have been made to fall on the ground or to begin speaking a strange language.
For many, the Holy Spirit is unknown and misunderstood.
Although it is true that the Holy Spirit can make his presence known through external signs and special gifts for the sake of unbelievers (1 Corinthians 12: 4-11), our personal Pentecost begins with the Sacrament of Baptism and is made deeper through the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Too much emphasis on special and private experiences can cloud, confuse and distort the way the Holy Spirit lives in us through the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation.
Through the Sacrament of Baptism, Original Sin is washed away and we become temples of the Holy Spirit, children of God and living members of the Church.
Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, baptismal grace comes to completion. It is through this sacrament that we are bound more perfectly to the Church and endowed with a special strength of the Holy Spirit to fulfill those promises made at Baptism.
Through these sacraments, the Holy Spirit enlightens us with ten special gifts.
The three gifts that we receive at our Baptism are faith, hope and charity.
The seven gifts we receive at our Confirmation are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord.
We need to remember that through these sacraments we have received an amazing treasure of gifts. It is through our daily spiritual life that these gifts allow us to persevere on our journey to eternity and allow us to be effective and courageous witnesses of the Gospel.
The gift of faith allows us to see the invisible in the visible world. Hope gives us the ability to trust in God who is our Father. Charity provides us with the grace that we need to love God above all things and to love our neighbor just as Jesus loves us.
Wisdom detaches us from the things of this world and causes us to desire only the things of Heaven. The gift of understanding helps us to penetrate the truths of our Catholic Faith. Counsel enables us to see and choose correctly those actions that will help us give glory to God and ensure our own eternal salvation.
Fortitude gives us the strength to overcome those obstacles and difficulties that present themselves during our sojourn on earth.
The gift of knowledge shows us the path to follow and alerts us to the dangers that we must avoid in order to attain eternal life in Heaven.
Piety enlightens us with a tender and filial confidence in God and allows us to joyfully embrace all that pertains to our discipleship with Christ.
Finally, the gift of fear of the Lord fills us with a deep respect for God and makes us dread anything that may offend him.
On this Pentecost Sunday we need to open our hearts to the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Many times the gifts that we have already received through Baptism and Confirmation have not become fully effective in our lives because our sins, inclinations and attachments are blocking the action of grace in our souls.
Sin, inclinations and attachments are like bad cholesterol.
Whatever may be holding us back from an intimate …
former Maitland high school teacher and now editor of Auroramagazine for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle Tracey Edstein
Last week the Maitland Mercury began publishing the reflections of Hunter members of the Catholic Church following allegations of child sex abuse within the church. Through their own words these church members have endeavoured to answer the highly complex question: How do you keep the faith?
In the second installment of Keeping The Faith, former Maitland high school teacher and now editor of Aurora magazine for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle Tracey Edstein explains how, against a backdrop of clergy criminal behaviours, she remains a person of faith.
Many years ago, when I was teaching at All Saints College, I led retreats for senior students.
One of the invitations offered to students was to draw a symbol of his/her relationship with God. The idea was to give students a “hook” on which they could hang a conversation with a small group.
Of course the leader needed to model what was being asked, and the symbol I often drew was a well.
A well is a source of nourishment and refreshment, and for me, this works equally as a symbol of my relationship with the Church. The water in the well can run dry, or become contaminated, but in time, new rains will fall and the well will again be life-giving. In Australia, we know that we sometimes have to wait a long time for those rains?
Challenges are not a bad thing where faith is concerned, but no one could have anticipated the challenges to Catholic faith occurring in our diocese. Against a backdrop of criminal behaviours by some clergy, and other church personnel, how do individuals maintain and even nourish faith? How do I remain a person of faith?
For me, faith has its origins in family, supported and developed by parish, schooling, various groups and relationships. The bedrock of it all is the invitation to a relationship with the Jesus who is the essence of the gospel. I would not have received that invitation without the Catholic Church. While I see in the Church all the weaknesses and frailties others see, and journalists report, I also see goodness, nobility, vision, leadership and hope.
There is always room for more of these graces and in some areas, vision and leadership struggle to flourish, but for me, they are present every day.
In spite of all this, the “mission statement” Jesus proclaims in Luke’s Gospel (chapter 4, verses 18-19), echoing the prophet Isaiah, continues to be fulfilled – imperfectly, yes – by people who do their best to live lives of prayer, of faith, of hope and of love. I have not encountered a better blueprint for life than the Church has presented to me.
The balance of contemplation and action, the heroes and “sheroes”, the rather satisfying rise and fall of the liturgical seasons, and the myriad good works carried out in the name of faith, are all sources of encouragement, in spite of all.
Certainly, it’s possible to pray, to worship and to live virtuously as an individual, but I believe that the ideal of community is integral to “the good life”, and the community I have encountered in the Church has sustained me through the example of many, many people of faith.
The betrayal of the Church by those ordained to serve and to be role models – and one betrayal is one too many – has led some to walk away. I get that, and I believe it’s healthy for anyone to ask “Why do I stay?”
Carlo Carretto (1910-1988) wrote more beautifully than I can: “How baffling you are, oh Church, and yet how I love you! How you have made me suffer, and yet how much I owe you! I would like to see you destroyed, and yet I need your presence. You have given me so much scandal and yet you have made me understand what sanctity is. I have seen nothing in the world more devoted to obscurity, more compromised, more false, and yet I have touched nothing more pure, more generous, more beautiful.”
There is no value in blind faith that doesn’t acknowledge openly, and wrestle with, the challenges. But I choose to put my faith in those who continue to take up the daily cross and follow the one who came not to be served, but to serve. There is no greater example, no greater challenge and no greater source of encouragement. And the company’s not bad either!
■ Heal For Life support line – 1300 760 580 ■ Clergy Abused Network (CAN) – 1300 722689
The Catholic Communication Campaign (CCC) supports projects throughout the world that encourage use of new media as a tool for the New Evangelization. The Collection for CCC plays a role in evangelization by providing grants for social media sites, podcasts, print media, radio and television projects that spread the Good News.
The Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) prepared an immersion program in the Middle East for Catholic journalists from the United States and Canada. Firsthand experience of the cares and concerns among the Middle East’s Christian community enables Catholic media professionals to stimulate the growth of quality news coverage of the Middle East from a Catholic perspective. Instead of sitting down for a presentation on the flight of Christians out of Palestine, the group experienced the harsh reality lived by the refugees at a Palestinian refugee camp near Beirut. With support from CCC, the immersion program helps improve the writing of Catholic journalists while at the same time strengthening the roots of their personal Catholic faith.
CCC makes it possible for each of us to take the messages we receive from the web and use them to deepen our own faith by supporting podcasts of the daily readings, Catholic television and radio broadcasts, and Catholic use of the ever-expanding social media realm.
The Collection for the Catholic Communication Campaign is how the Good News gets around . . . to you and me. Please support this important work in the upcoming Collection, which will be the weekend of May 18-19 in our diocese. Your support is needed to make the Collection successful. Remember, half of the proceeds from this Collection stay here to support our local communication efforts. With every good wish and assurance of my prayers, I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Charles C. Thompson
Most Reverend Charles C. Thompson, D.D., JCL
Bishop of Evansville
For more information on the Catholic Communication Campaign and the projects funded by the Collection, please visit www.usccb.org (search “Catholic Communication Campaign”).
