The sacramental riches of the Easter season – The Jersey Journal

Eight-year-old Julianna Griesbauer is all excited about making her First Communion this Saturday at Ss. Peter Paul Church, Hoboken. The second grader at Hoboken Catholic Academy told me she tried on “a lot of different dresses” and though she picked out one and said, “I like it,” she decided to eliminate the piece that fluffs it up.

“It makes her look like a princess,” is what she told her mother, Carmela, and the athletically inclined girl wants the dress to look normal.

On weekends during the month of May, hundreds of second and third graders all over the county look anything but normal as they wear what some describe as miniature white wedding dresses, the normal attire for girls to wear when they take Communion for the first time.

And the boys wear blue or white suits in a ritual that is probably one of the signature sights and symbols for Catholicism in the U.S. for over a century.

“Coming to the table of the Eucharist, we eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man so that we may have eternal life and show forth the unity of God’s people,” is the explanation noted in “The Church Speaks about Sacraments with Children.”

Julianna said it just as well, “When you eat the bread, you become closer to God.” And this sacramental ritual known as First Communion is done at an early age so that children can participate fully in the Sunday Mass with their families.

During the Easter season, which lasts 50 days and ends this year on the Feast of Pentecost, May 27th, there is an explosion of sacramental celebrations besides First Communions.

Baptisms are normally not celebrated in the season of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday, so come Easter there are many, many Baptisms. Some churches schedule them on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, but more churches are including them as part of the Sunday Mass or Eucharist, which is very fitting since it brings the entire community of faith to welcome the baby. And this sacrament is kind of the beginning of our spiritual journey according to Sr. Briege McKenna’s, “The Power of the Sacraments.” She goes on, “Baptism brings us into that place where we receive this supernatural life.”

I don’t know about other areas of Hudson County but Hoboken is having a baby explosion and lots of baptisms. It is not uncommon for churches to have carriage gridlock at Sunday Mass. Msgr. Robert Meyer, pastor of Ss. Peter Paul, said their church is tight to begin with so there is little room for carriages. And I know a church that has plenty of space for carriages and hordes of people a few blocks away. But what a wonderful challenge to have!

Another faith challenge is keeping teenagers in the fold. So Confirmation preparation tries very hard to prepare young teens to stay with the faith even though some call Confirmation the Sacrament of Exodus. Once they’re confirmed, many teens stop going to church. But a lot depends on the parental support and encouragement.

Erin Leong celebrated Confirmation this past Monday and still plans to attend Mass. “Children leave their parents behind as we confirm our place as adults in the Catholic community,” said the Elysian Charter School eighth-grader.

A strong component of the Confirmation preparation program is doing community service. Leong noted that she completed 15 hours watching her neighbors’ children and donating time at community events.

Capuchin Father Vincent Fortunato, pastor of St. Ann’s, Hoboken, brought some of his candidates to the Union City Shelter, known as PERC. Finally, the candidates select a sponsor and Leong chose her grandmother, Patricia Thompson, because “she will walk alongside God, keep me safe and guide me in my faith and spirituality.” With so many sacramental celebrations during the Easter season, it’s a joy to sing, “Alleluia!”

Santora is the pastor of Church of Our Lady of Grace St. Joseph, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, 07030, (201)659-0369, fax (201)659-5833, e-mail: padrealex@yahoo.com

Portlaoise PP’s expresses fears over sacraments

Published on Thursday 17 May 2012 00:00

PORTLAOISE’S Parish Priest Msgr John Byrne has said the church has to live with the reality that regular practice of Catholicism is not part of everyday life.

The popular priest gave an extensive interview to the Irish Times last week in which he acknowledged that families with children making their first Holy Communion may not be regular church goers. He also admitted that half of those who made confirmation last year had not been in church since.

“More than 300 children will receive their first communion in our parish this year. What worries me is, when will they receive their second?”, Msgr Byrne told the Irish Times.

He said 247 received their confirmation last year, but many had not returned.

“I wouldn’t wonder how many have been with us since. I’d be thinking not even 50 per cent. These are children who went through a preparation programme and a cermony that said they are now full members of the church. So you have to cope with the question yourself: how much are you co-operating with hypocrisy and the lack of authenticity, or a lack of integrity? Are you exacerbating the problem by co-operating with that?” he told the Irish Times.

Expanding on his remarks to the Leinster Express, Msgr Byrne said that he prefers looking at the glass half full, than half empty. He said that overall, Portlaoise Parish is in a strong place.

“We are very fortunate here in Portlaoise that we have a strong congreation in the parish. The children have a good experience during preparation for first holy communion and I hope that experience stays with them,” he said.

Msgr Byrne said that there were no statistics to know exactly what the drop off rate is after children receive the sacraments.

“We have never completed a scientific survey on it, but I would presume that the numbers are not that far out of kilter with the average attendance figures, which have been in decline,” he said.

Msgr Byrne was quick to emphasise the positive effects of the process for both the children involved and their families.

“It is a great family occasion and many families are associated with and attached to the parish. However if you’re not at Mass as regularly, it doesn’t mean you are not detached. First holy communion is a joyful time for families,” he said.

Msgr Byrne went on to say that he views first Holy Communion not as a problem, but as an opportunity for children to become more involved with their faith. In the parish of Portlaoise preparation for communion is completed outside of school hours in the parish.

“The school is still a vital cog in the whole preparation programme, but we have just stepped up as a parish for the ceremony. But the school programme is vital,” he said.

Portlaoise parish has been working with this system for a number of years.

“We have been doing this for a while and making the point for a long time now. We haven’t just stood back and let the school be responsible. These are not school ceremonies, and they need preparation in the home and in the parish,” he said.

Msgr Byrne said that most parents are understanding of the parish stance.

“I suppose it would be a lot handier if we left it alone, but most parents appreciate what we’re trying to do. It is a big ceremony and there has to be some level of work involved with it,” he said.

Msgr Byrne told the Leinster Express that he is anxious and concerned about whether people will attend Mass after the ceremonies have finished, but is keeping a positive outlook.

“This is a time for families to take stock and I hope that for many that regular attendance will be a part of their lives. That is what we’re creating all the fuss about,” he said.

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Human Rights Begin in the Pew

Religious-based bigotry eviscerates women’s human rights the world over, and God doesn’t like it one damned bit.

Today at the grocery store, I overheard a mom telling her little girl, “Of course you can be President of the United States!” It seems a boy at school said girls were not good enough to be president because they weren’t boys. Even though I had heard such things before (I am the youngest of six with five older brothers), this particular conversation stopped me dead in my religious tracks.

Catholicism decided I wasn’t good enough to be a leader in the Church about 2,000 years before I was born. I couldn’t be its president (aka “pope”) or a priest or bishop or cardinal because I happened to be female. Not knowing any better, I accepted my Catholic less-than-ness as a fact of life, like when the Little League in Wheaton, Ill., said I couldn’t play because I was a girl. I didn’t organize sit ins on the pitcher’s mound or walk outs from the pew. Like other girls, I simply accepted the adult-dictated view of things.

The Catholic Church believes the Bible (a document written, translated and almost entirely interpreted by men) establishes that men are, quite literally, born leaders. The Church claims that women can’t be priests because Jesus wanted it that way. Really? A man didn’t play any role whatsoever in Jesus’ conception (from all accounts, it was sperm-free). Christ came out of a woman’s uterus, which seems to be a pretty important part of the birth story. Jesus’ most trusted disciple was arguably Mary Magdalene. The risen Jesus didn’t show Himself to the fellas at the local mens-only oasis. He first appeared to Mary. Experts believe it was Mary at Jesus’ right in DaVinci’s Last Supper. She wasn’t doing dishes in the back or filling the wine glasses for the boys, she was right next to Mr. Equality Himself.

The wildly dangerous and incredibly pathetic part of religiously based gender bigotry is the critical role it plays in legitimizing the horrific treatment of women in societies throughout the world. Women aren’t equal in the eyes of God, Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, etc., therefore: Cover your face and body or be whipped. You’re forbidden to drive or vote or hold a paying job. Don’t speak, as you are not worthy to be heard. You deserve to be treated like objects or property or animals. It is justified by God that you be beaten or stoned to death simply for being the victim of your own femininity. Face the cold, brutally hard fact that all of your human rights are dependent on what men, not God, feel they should be.

In the Catholic “faith,” women are told to accept that our own religion utilizes every political and legal channel known to man (aided by the money we put in the Sunday collection basket) to prevent us from controlling what happens in our bedrooms or to our bodies. Using God to control women is what we in marketing might call a “Top Down” strategy. Find an expert and leverage his/her position to convince consumers of a “truth.” Unfortunately, God isn’t around to verify the man-made claims in support of gender inequity, or to expose it as the load of crap it most certainly is. I believe God made us equal. We may be different physically, but God sees us as His children. Not as His sons and those other ones, but as His children. Precious. Made in His image.

By attending Catholic mass, I’m tacitly endorsing women’s inequality within the Church. Through my silence, I am agreeing with its calculated discrimination against females. I am supporting a Church that fights to control women’s reproductive choices and is hell bent on ruining the lives of my God-loving gay brothers and sisters. And at the end of the day, I’m going to have to explain to Jesus why I would patronize any organization that doesn’t treat His children equally.

I believe in exacting change from the inside out by trying to make things better rather than abandoning them. However, unless I can find a way to express my opposition to all forms of bigotry within the confines of my Church (wearing a sandwich board, neon sign or set of very large buttons to Mass being viable, short term solutions), I’m going to have to stick by the teachings of my God and sit that pew out.

Sarah O’Leary is a writer, marketing expert and licensed minister. She encourages you to share this and all of her Huffington Posts. Sarah answers all comments made herein, and may be reached via email: sarahathuffpo@gmail.com.

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Cardinal Dolan Comes Home

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - For the first time since his elevation, the Archbishop of New York returned to his hometown of St. Louis over the weekend.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan had a baptism and first communion in his family, as well as a Mass of Thanksgiving with the St. Louis Archdiocese.

“There’s something in St. Louis, a cohesion, a loyalty, a joy in Catholic identity. I tell you, I haven’t seen anything like it elsewhere,” he said.

During a Sunday morning news conference, Cardinal Dolan reflected back on his days growing up in a Ballwin neighborhood, where his family’s parish was more than just a place to worship and attend school, “It was sort of the center of our lives socially and culturally. The neighborhood jelled together and almost made Catholicism part of the air I breathe.”

Archbishop Robert Carlson made a surprise announcement at the close of Sunday’s Mass. The St. Louis Archdiocese is creating a Chair of Church History in Dolan’s name at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.

Kathleen Turner On New Movie "The Perfect Family," Catholic Faith And Family …

Kathleen Turner is getting rave reviews for her staring role in the new comedy “The Perfect Family.” The film tells the tale of a Catholic housewife nominated for her parish’s coveted Catholic Woman of the Year award, yet to clinch the prize she must show off her ‘perfect family,’ which includes a lesbian daughter and a son whose marriage is falling apart.

While the film follows her trying to resolve this conflicting love of her church and her family, the film’s Catholic setting has drawn the predictable outrage from The Catholic League’s Bill Donahue who says it ‘smacks Catholicism.’

HuffPost Senior Religion Editor Paul Brandeis Raushenbush spoke with Turner on the phone about the film and the Catholic character she plays.

Tell me about your character Eileen in “The Perfect Family.” Was this Catholic woman someone whom you liked?

When I first got this script I asked myself, like I always do, why do I want to do this movie? And when I looked at the character Eileen I could see that this is a good woman, not judgmental, not intolerant, trying to live by this code of rules. But she has this conflict in her faith and her family.

We learn in the film that she got pregnant in high school. She explains to her daughter, “I didn’t even know how to drive a car.” And then shortly after that, she had another child. And then her husband was drinking heavily and was unfaithful to her. During this time the church gave her comfort and affirmation that she was doing the right thing, that whatever happened, God was on her side.

The church was the only refuge she found before her husband got sober and her life found balance again. Then her daughter comes out at a lesbian and decides marrying her long-time partner and have a child. All of this is incomprehensible and what you see in the film is Eileen’s bewilderment. She is trying to make sense of how this person who is flesh of her flesh and blood of her blood is so different.

Isn’t that the story of a lot of people who are trying to come to grips with the changing world and changing expectations?

Of course it is. The title, ‘The Perfect Family,’ is meant to make people say, “What, there is such a thing?” Of course there’s not, but, oh, people try.

I have a rock bottom belief about the people of this country that given a situation, we will do the right thing. At the heart, we know that there is a right and wrong. We are good people, dammit. I don’t care what divisions are imposed or accepted, there is right and wrong. And at heart, we know this.

There is a sympathetic Catholic priest as well, isn’t there?

There is a Priest, Father Joe, who performs the wedding ceremony for the lesbian daughter.

So maybe it isn’t so much that it is anti-Catholic, but it is actually showing there are many different people and opinions in the faith.

It’s sort of like we know that 93 percent of all Catholic women practice contraception and yet the Catholic Church says that is not allowed. We know that in real world there is tolerance and acceptance at every level.

Not to mention the high support of Catholics for gay marriage.

Oh, I didn’t know that.

There is a lot of good charity work that happens in Catholic churches. Your character is also involved in that.

Oh, absolutely. She completely immerses herself in it. That is her daily schedule, it is the food she delivers, visiting the sick, filling in for people who need help, that’s what she does all day long. All through the organization of the church. And that’s terrific.

When you hear people saying the film is bashing Catholics what is your response?

Well, my first response is: go see it. Which inherently means, judge for yourself.

The Perfect Family is in select theaters and On Demand.

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Will The Independent please apologise for publishing slander against the …

The mainstream media seems determined to misrepresent the Catholic faith

On Tuesday morning, the Independent’s blogs section posted a comment piece that slandered the Catholic Church. Not that you’d know it, because a few hours later the offending remarks were quietly edited out.

The post is by journalist Ruth Whippman, who is all-whipped up about the fact that the Catholic Education Service has “sent a letter to all of the schools in their network urging them to encourage their pupils to sign a petition against gay marriage.” That’s right, Catholics don’t just send their kids to Catholic schools but they also insist that those Catholic schools teach Catholicism, too. The rotten nerve.

In fact, Whippman is upset about nothing. To use her own words, the Catholic Education Service is only “urging” teachers to “encourage” their pupils to sign a petition. Compliance is clearly left up to the school’s staff, and you can make a safe bet that very few of them will follow through. It’s a classic liberal misunderstanding about the Catholic Church that all its “employees” bother to promote natural law, or that any of its worshippers listen to them. They probably ought to, but this isn’t the 13th century and Catholics are perfectly capable of obeying or ignoring doctrine at will.

But what should really offend about Whippman’s piece is its claim that the Church lacks the moral authority to preach about homosexuality because it somehow tolerates child abuse. In the original version, she made two absurd statements. First, she implied that the Church only recently decided there was anything wrong with raping a child. I don’t have a copy of the pre-edited text, but here’s a screengrab for the quote: “Paedophilia was a latecomer to the mortal sin party, only having been formally added to the list by Pope John Paul II in 2001.” The content of her second argument I’ll have to cull from a Tweet, but the wording matches my memory of the statement: “In the official hierarchy of sin issued by Catholic Church, homosexual acts are at the top, with murder, rape and terrorism.” You read that correctly – Catholics think Graham Norton and Osama bin Laden are morally equivalent.

All of this is a gross distortion of Catholic theology. The Church has always regarded the sexual abuse of children as a “grave matter.” Aside from the fact that it’s obviously wicked, it also constitutes rape as outlined in the Ten Commandments and condemned by Catholics for centuries. The implication that the Church only came to regard paedophilia as a sin in the 21st century – and that it only condemned it as a public relations exercise – is an obscene slur. Moreover, Catholics certainly do not think that homosexual acts are a sin of equal weight with terrorism. Taking the Lord’s name or “eating all the pies” are sins, too – but they don’t rank alongside 9-11.

Given that Whippman has elsewhere written that religion and politics don’t mix and that UK abortion laws need to be liberalised, we can presume that her mistakes are involuntary acts of prejudice. But what is shocking is that The Independent published her piece as written in its original form. If I wrote a post saying that Islam has an “easy-come-easy-go” attitude towards child rape, I’d hope that my editor would point out that this is offensive nonsense and sack me on the spot. If he didn’t and it was published and my mistake was pointed out to me, I trust I’d have the decency to publish a correction rather than just edit out the offending sentences at the earliest opportunity.

But I wouldn’t write something as stupid as that because a) I have the wit to know it’s not true and b) I have a profound respect for faith in all its forms. Here’s why I take great personal offence at Whippman’s original post. I am a Catholic and I have only ever found the Church to be tolerant, compassionate and overwhelmingly concerned with relieving human suffering. And yet, I have also seen the spirits of ordinary priests crushed by the persistent slur of either paedophilia or homophobic bigotry. Both exist within the hearts of individual clerics, of course. But for the vast majority attempting to minister to the poor, the sick, the despised and, yes, to victims of child abuse or homophobic bullying, life is only made tougher by the constant stream of anti-Catholic bias coming from the liberal press.

Recognizing all the beauty and splendour of The Faith – and all that it has done for me – I have an obligation to defend it in the public sphere. Just like I’m sure Ruth Whippman would do for her own family. So, I’m calling on The Independent to ‘fess up to the original errors in its article and print a proper apology. After all, it doesn’t want another Johann Hari on its hands.

Can You Be Good Without God?

Church Interior Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.com 

Time and again the middle-aged Catholic mother will ask me, “I can’t get my kids to go to Mass. Why don’t they go to Mass anymore?”

My answer shocks them: “Your kids don’t go to Mass because they don’t believe the Catholic faith.”

I go on to ask, “They probably think they can be good without going to Mass, right?” Nine times out of ten, they nod knowingly.

Believing you can be good without going to Mass isn’t Catholic. That’s what atheists think. Of course the “good Catholic” kids don’t think of themselves as atheists. They think they’re okay and still self-identify as Catholics.

So where did they get the idea that they could be good without going to church? They got it from church. They picked it up from the priest, the parish sister, and the religious education teacher. They were not taught it explicitly. Instead, there was a shift in the Catholic Church. The faithful were taught that Catholicism was all about doing good.

Mass became a fellowship time where all the good Catholics got together and sang self-affirming songs and heard sermons about how they should be out in the world doing good. Mass became a blend of group therapy and a pep rally for a team of do-gooders who wanted to make the world a better place: “We can make a difference, yes we can!”

The heart of the problem is that the Catholic faith is not really about gathering together as the people of God to reach out and encourage one another to change the world.

Catholicism is far more radical than that. The heart of the Catholic faith is about the supernatural forgiveness of human sin through the stupendous power of God unleashed in the world by the death and resurrection of Christ the Lord. Going to Mass is about participation in a sacrificial transaction as old and as young as mankind itself. It is about integrating oneself into the everlasting love of God—the force which, as Dante famously put it, “moves the sun and the other stars.”

A few decades ago, this ancient, supernatural religion seemed rather too irrelevant for modern America, so it was quietly downgraded into a religion of doing good and being nice. It doesn’t take long for the kids to think things through and realize that they could do good deeds and be nice people without the trouble of getting up early on a Sunday morning for Father’s pep talk.

So the Catholics have drifted away to their volunteer hours at the soup kitchen, their involvement in their tax-exempt charities, their happy good works and sincere political activism—never having really understood what the Catholic faith was about in the first place. They think of themselves as Catholics and rarely even trouble themselves to call themselves “lapsed Catholics.” 

This is where it gets interesting because these well-meaning Catholics (and of course this applies to a multitude of well-meaning Protestant Christians as well) who think they can “be good without going to church” are really in the same position as the polite atheists who also say they can “be good without God.” 

By this, they mean they can start a charity, raise money for helpless people, run a soup kitchen and special Olympics, campaign for poor workers and ecological causes without starting their meetings with a prayer. True enough. All those things are possible.

They may go further in their definition of what it means to be good and suggest that this also means “reaching one’s full human potential” or “being self actualized” or “being fully mature and caring and loving.” This too is possible with a certain amount of determination, hard work, good manners, working out at the gym and reading the right self-help books.

Is Awareness of Abuse Now an Essential "Stake" in Catholic Identity?

Since June 2002 in the printed pages of America magazine and here on its blog (such as, more recently, here and here), I have tried to make occasional theological sense of the unfolding sexual/managerial abuse crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church. As someone who works in the area of practical theology, the lived experience of faith, critically and appreciatively understood, is an important consideration for me in trying to do any theological work. 

Reading today’s newspaper made me wonder anew at what Catholicism is facing (or not facing). Like some other commentators, I believe that this scandal is as much about the fundamental terms of the church and theology as it is about problematic “accretions” to an otherwise unproblematic ecclesial-theological substructure.

In today’s New York Times, I read about the response of Bishop Michael J. Bransfield to allegations made in the current trial in Philadelphia exploring sexual abuse and coverup at allegedly high levels of the Catholic Church there. According to news coverge, Bishop Bransfield was refuting claims that he himself was guilty of sexual abuse and that he also knew of abuse by another priest. 

Of course, I don’t know what the truth is in this particular case, and as much as anyone, I hope for a fair trial and a just verdict in every aspect and for everyone affected.

But my point concerns the highly visible, public proliferation of these disputes, reports, and trials regarding abuse in the Catholic Church over the past decade in the United States, and what they might mean for the ongoing and unfolding experience of Catholic identity in this country. Again and again for ten years running, the press has been filled with testimonies, accusations, and sometimes denials, concerning abuse of young men, teenagers, or children by priests. A great many of these testimonies and accusations have proven true. This is so much the case that, as I argued in a recent book, the sexual abuse of minors is the awful lodestar for all future Catholic theology in the United States. It is a call to a major theological rethinking of the church in practice. Moreover, these crucial matters are so frequently on the radar for so many baptized Catholics that I wonder whether, ten years into the latest ecclesial convulsion, Catholic identity in the United States is being marked anew by the crisis — in a way that will and should change the sorts of questions that students of theology ask about what it means to be Catholic. 

Here is more of what I mean: about fifteen years ago, theologian Kathryn Tanner (now at Yale) wrote a deeply reflective book called Theories of Culture: A New Agenda for Theology (Augsburg Fortress, 1997). While not itself a work of Catholic theology, Tanner argued that developments in cultural studies, including theories of ordinary life and everyday experience, could help theology understand that religious communities are rarely joined by consensus on normative beliefs or practices.

Rather, she suggested, theologians should study religious identity as a matter of proximity to some “common stake” about which members disagree and about which they care. In other words (and Tanner is not the only one to argue something like this), religious identity is usually more a matter of where one stands with regard to matters on which people take sides than with regard to some presumed essential, ahistorical essence like the way “principles” or “values” are often portrayed.

What holds people together in a “shared” religious identity is not that they have basic agreements, but that they have “common stakes” on which they take up varying tensive perspectives. For many Catholics, I think, a rough and ready sketch of those common stakes would probably include: teaching authority, mass, priesthood, Eucharist, the body, women, divorce, sexuality, and more. Many Catholics disagree on what these “matters” (symbolic while always tied to real persons/experiences) mean in Catholic life, yet the felt significance of these stakes helps make up the core of Catholic identity. I am here applying Tanner to Catholic identity; Tanner herself does not do this. Moreover, her argument is more subtle than I can render in a brief blog post. If you are interested, I suggest you read it for yourself. 

With apologies for lack of nuance, what I am wondering here is whether sexual abuse has now become, or is in the process of becoming, one of those “common stakes” for Catholic identity in the USA.

That is, whether a felt response to clerical sexual abuse (and various items related to it) is now what is “called up” in people’s minds and hearts when they picture what has to be accounted for when talking about Catholicism. This is not to suggest that baptized Catholics (whether they identify as practicing, non-practicing, post-practicing, or something else) all agree on the causes, course, and consequences of the sexual/managerial abuse scandal, but that sexual abuse is inching its way upward into the lived palette of colors available for public discussion of Catholicism. 

We will have to await future studies to see if this is indeed the case, but how Catholic identity is interpreted today will set up the very frameworks for the studies that will be undertaken tomorrow.

Tom Beaudoin

Mayfield Heights native writes book on his journey with religion

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS – A resident’s journey from devout Catholic to agnostic prompted him to write the book, “Music Made by Bears.”

Daniel Donatelli, 30, is a 2000 Mayfield High School graduate who at one time was a devout Catholic. Everything he did was influenced by Catholicism, even his time as a young baseball player.

As he grew older, he often heard man was created in God’s image. Being someone who constantly questions things, he wondered if it was possible for God to have been created in man’s image.

Though he considers himself agnostic now, he still prays.

“My sense of prayer is psychological,” Donatelli said. “If I center my most important thoughts on the best version of who I can be, there could be a psychological benefit.”

In college, he started looking for answers. He had a revelation after reading a book his godfather gave to him, “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand.

“That was so different for me because all my life I read ‘you are not as important as what you can offer to God.’ She said things that were so different and it was surprising, because she doesn’t talk about any specific religion,” Donatelli said. “Anytime you reference her, people think you’re an idiot. My understanding of Catholicism may have been incorrect and I found something to help me be a more solid person.”

“Music Made by Bears” is an allegory. Donatelli made up a religion because he wanted to talk about the topic without pinpointing a specific faith.

The story covers a small town that sought seclusion, situated next door to another community that was non-religious and had a cultural and economic boom. The non-religious town decided to build a bridge as the city grew, resulting in the religious community taking action against the development.

The main character heads into a forest with the leader of the religious community and they come in contact with a bear. The leader and the bear observe each other, have a moment and let each other go on their way.

“At the end, the main character tries to say that religions are bears in a forest of human experience. They devour everything good and bad to show the purpose. This is the music they are capable of making,” Donatelli said. “Human individuals can make music, but the bears — the consuming organizations that can claim the good and the bad serves their purpose — consume thanklessly and don’t worry about it.”

If the books stirs up controversy, he is fine with that because he doesn’t think people need religion. But, though his generation my be more comfortable with the book as it is, older generations may still like it because of its flowery, poetic style of writing.

Donatelli can only speak in regard to the Catholic faith. He believes Catholicism, the way it was taught to him — with everything said being fact even if it didn’t make sense — cannot have a good result for a person trying to understand the world.

“Be skeptical with devoting your life to an organized religion,” he said. “In the book, there are characters that are cautionary tales. There are people out there in your life who are not your friend and just want to be around you to get something they would want or need, which is usually wealth or influence. There are also people out there who are ‘playing’ you.”

“Music Made by Bears” is available on amazon.com, createspace.com, and through the publisher H.H.B. Publishing LLC at hhbpublishing.com. The paperback version is $12.99 and the e-book sells for 99 cents.

See more Mayfield Heights news at cleveland.com/hillcrest.

Contact Boone at (216) 986-5472.

Twitter: @FaithLBoone

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Catholic Anger! (Web Version)

Can you say anything about the Catholic faith without other Catholics taking offense? No matter how benign, no comment on the web about Catholicism goes unchallenged. Moreover, the idea of trying to understand a person by reading carefully what they’re actually saying, or giving them the benefit of the doubt, is fading quickly from Catholic discourse. No matter what you write, there are Catholics ready to take immediate offense, to explode in righteous anger, to threaten to report you to the proper authorities or, most of all, to correct. The most common responses are: 1.) Your soul is in danger. 2.) You’re uneducated and need to be schooled. 3.) I hate the church and so I hate you. 4.) You’re an unthinking tool of the Vatican. 5.) You’re disobedient and must be reported.

Here is a not-so-farfetched exchange, based on some very, very real experiences.

Me: I love Jesus.

Father Martin, with all due respect, I don’t mean to be critical, but I am compelled to point out that in your most recent post, you didn’t say “Jesus Christ.” As you know, Christ, from the Greek word Christos, meaning the Anointed One, is the nomenclature that Holy Mother Church uses to signify Our Lord’s divinity. Father, do you somehow not believe in the divinity of Our Blessed Lord? I am terrified to conclude that you are also denying the Resurrection here. Father, I will fervently pray that you are not dwelling in error. I pray every evening for gravely misled people like you, Father, and I must say this: my conscience obliges me to correct your errors. Do you fear for your soul?

Me: You’re misunderstanding me. Of course I believe in the divinity of Christ. And the Resurrection.

Father, forgive me for pointing this out, but I couldn’t help noticing in your last comment that you said you believed in the divinity of Christ. What about his humanity? As you surely know that several ecumenical councils spoke definitively about his humanity (The Council of Ephesus, in 431 A.D. for example). I trust that you understand what that means, Father. This means that Jesus was a flesh-and-blood human being (Catechism of the Catholic Church No. 464). Do you believe him to be divine but not human? That is a heresy, as you know, Father, and I greatly fear for the church if priests are permitted spread such serious theological errors. It is the heresy of Docetism, (Catechism No. 465) where Jesus was not seen as a human being, but God simply “playacting at being human. Surely you’re not suggesting that, are you? Please send me your email address and I will forward you all the references to the councils so that you may read them. I will do you the favor of awaiting an answer before I begin any formal canonical action against you.

Me: Look, I believe in both the divinity and humanity of Christ. I was only saying that I love Jesus. Can we perhaps move on?

I haven’t followed this thread and I don’t know what you posted about, but did you REALLY say that in your last comment? Move on??? Do you realize what it MEANS for a priest to tell a layperson like me to “move on”? Do you know how sick and TIRED we are of priests like you telling me what to do? I’ll move on when I want to move on. It’s this kind of clerical ARROGANCE that gave rise to the sexual abuse scandal. Is that what you want, Martin, a return to sexual abuse? And what’s with the “Look,” at the beginning of your snotty comeback? What’s THAT supposed to mean? Frankly I find that incredibly insulting. I don’t think you can ever fathom the anger that people like me have for priests like you. LOOK–as you might say to me–I studied theology too, am a lifelong Catholic and don’t need to be told to “look” at anything. By ANY priest!!! I see what the church is up to. Read the papers!!! It’s all about squashing the laity. Have you ever even HEARD of Vatican II???? For those of you as angry as I am, and SICK of being treated like dirt by the clergy, write to Martin’s superiors. Friend me on Facebook and I’ll give you all the addresses, which I got online at www.ImDisgustedwiththeChurch.com.

Me: I’m sorry I said “Look.” To clarify: I believe that Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine. I simply wanted to avoid debating something about my personal spiritual life.

Just got a Google alert about “debating” and “Catholic” and came to this site. I didn’t read your original post but I couldn’t believe your last comment. I had to read it twice. You’re kidding, right, James? You want to ‘avoid debate”? I guess that’s just what the Vatican wants priests to do…stifle any legitimate discussion of anything remotely controversial…stop people from thinking! That’s the kind of narrow-minded, anti-intellectual, soul-destroying attitude that I had thought (falsely) died with the Inquisition. (Which I just read about in an eye-opening book called The Church is Your Enemy, which you’re probably not allowed to read.) Jesuits take your marching orders from the pope anyway, don’t you? I’ve read all about your secret fourth vow, your “vow of blind obedience” to the pope, and how you’re not allowed to think on your own…what rot. It goes without saying that you parrot anything, no matter how offensive or ridiculous or oppressive, that the Vatican or your superiors tell you. Part of that is, as I can see from your comment…no debate. No wonder people are forced to leave the church…you don’t let them think! I bet you hate women, too.

Me: I don’t mean to stifle debate. By the way, our fourth vow is obedience to the pope “with regard to the missions.” It has to do more with Jesuits being available to places the pope wants to send us.

I saw a link to this comment on www.WeAloneAreTheTrueChurch.com. Are you saying that you’re not obedient to the Holy Father? How can you still be considered a priest in good standing? I’ll wager you that the Prefect of the Congregation for Religious would like to know about your inane idea of “obedience.” Am I correct in stating that you believe that Jesuits pick and choose those doctrines to which you are obedient? Give me a good, old-fashioned Jesuit, the real Jesuits, of the kind that did not quail to speak the Truth, the kind that taught real Roman Catholicism, not the hippy-dippy liberal, wishy-washy, Cafeteria Catholics which your last comment reveals that you are. Are you not deeply ashamed of yourself? Why don’t you hang up your Roman collar? I’ve been reading about your order on wwwww.IReallyHateLiberalJesuits.com. And I read somewhere that your vocations are plummeting. I cannot say that I’m in the least bit surprised. It is thanks to “priests” like you who have forgotten what it means to be fully obedient to the Magisterium. For my part, I devoutly thank God on my knees every night that there are still a few real religious orders left which are obedient to the Roman Catholic Church. Rest assured that the Congregation will be receiving a letter quoting your last appalling comment.

Me: I’m not sure how a simple comment degenerated into argument. Can we give one another the benefit of the doubt?

Father I just saw your last comment when I stumbled upon this page. I didn’t read your original post since I’m too busy, but I just want to say this: That’s what people say when they are afraid of the facts. “Give people the benefit of the doubt.” That’s the kind of squishy, feel-good, namby-pamby drivel that people say when they’re frightened of being proven wrong. So what are you afraid of?

Me: I’m not afraid of anything.

Then why aren’t you ready to attack and judge and condemn your fellow human beings?

Me: I love Jesus.

This essay is adapted from a longer post that originally ran on In All Things.

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