Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Can he still call himself a football player?

Fr. George Koeune has written the following for his parish bulletin to encourage parents to examine their attitudes toward Sunday Mass attendance. I doubt it will make any notable impact, but perhaps some will think about it. I do enjoy the manner in which he makes his point across and his willingness to bring up the Sunday obligation when so many priests and deacons are hesitant to challenge their parishioners.

A Football Player

A football player decided not to review any of the plays in the play book the coach had given him. The football player decided it was not worth his time to learn any more details involving the intricacies of the game. The football player then decided that he did not need to practice. After all, the practices were very repetitive, somewhat boring, and he wanted more entertainment and less structure.

The football player stopped exercising. A little while later he stopped going to the weekly games. Eventually, he went to the football stadium only for the yearly homecoming games. Before long, the football player stopped going even on those days. Weeks turned into months, months turned into years, and the football player never went to the stadium to see any games. The football player spent a lot of his free time criticizing the coaches and the rules of the game.

The football player was often heard saying: “I don’t need to be on a team. I don’t care for organized sports.” The football player never exercised. He never practiced. He never tried to learn anything new about the game. Yet, he still considered himself to be a football player. He also believed that he would do just fine if he were to step onto the playing field tomorrow.

After reading all of this, do you think he would really be a good football player? Do you think it is accurate to even call him a football player? He does not practice, he does not continue to learn, he does not exercise. He may consider himself a player, but what kind of a player will he be when he takes the field?

Yours in Christ, Fr. George

We have got to do better!!

I have spent more that a few hours over the past several weeks in conversations with pastors, priests, deacons, catechists, religious education instructors and parents about the lamentable state of catechetics among American Catholics today. It appears that our evaluation of the level of religious ignorance is not overstated according to a survey released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
It was particularly disturbing to hear that forty percent of Catholics have no understanding of the real presence and that atheists and agnostics are more knowledgeable about religion in general.
The only bright side that I see to this study lies in its potential to serve as a wake up call forcing those of us who are called to teach the faith to re-examine our efforts. What we have been doing is not working. We have too many "cultural Catholics" who think they have rejected the faith when they have no idea of what the faith really is.
Can we tear it all down and start over?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Evil??? ...I find that comforting

Noted atheist Christopher Hitchens engaged in a debate with self-described secular Jewish agnostic David Berlinski in Birmingham, Alabama on September 7. Hosted by the Fixed Point Foundation, the debate premise was "Atheism Poisons Everything," a spin off of the subtitle of Hitchens' book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.
The debate was recorded for broadcast on C-Span and can be seen here.
From a quick scan of blogs reviewing the exchange, I would surmise that most people heard what they wanted and believe that their position triumphed. I have not yet listened to the full exchange, but was particularly intrigued by one segment reported in the Washington Times.
When asked which of Jesus’ teachings he believed to be evil, Hitchens responded that the “concept of vicarious redemption is a disgusting and immoral doctrine.” He went on to say that the “moral rot of Christianity is vicarious forgiveness.”
In essence, I am hearing Hitchens find the mystery of the Cross as the greatest evil. Most Christians seem to regard John 3:16 which tells us, "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life," as the scripture that best defines the Christ experience and the ultimate statement of God's love for us. That Mr. Hitchens finds this thought so repugnant is great fodder for contemplation.

Monday, September 13, 2010

I was just stupid... what's their excuse?


Back in my college days, during the "sloppy agape" days of Catholic Liturgy of the early 1970's, one of the more popular Masses for the dormitory residents on campus at the Jesuit University I attended was the 11:00 pm Mass offered in the student union on Sunday nights. A main reason for the popularity of this Mass was the availability of coffee and donuts following the service. It was then no surprise that this service soon became regularly referred to as the Coffee and Donut Magic Show.
I've often felt contrite about my referring to the unbloodied re-presentation of the sacrifice of Calvary in such a disrespectful manner. But I was young and stupid -- at least the former condition has changed.
However there is a noted lack of contrition on the part of the organizers for the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK who came up with their "helpful terms" in the official booklet to be used for the papal Masses. The Vicar of Christ is described as analagous to a "headline act" and the liturgy itself as a "gig". (story here)
I'm sure Fr. Dalton, the beloved pastor of my youth, would have had a suitable dope slap ready for me had I dared used such terms -- but then, he had standards.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

So affirming... so saddening

I spent a part of last night at the Chicago Catholic Campaign for Human Development Awards Event which honored the 2010 recipients of grants from the CCHD in support of their work addressing the roots of poverty. Both community and parish based programs benefit from these grants and these programs represent initiatives directed toward:

Access to Justice: enabling low-income persons and communities to have access to justice to legally protect their human and statutory rights;
Community and Economic Development: community organizing efforts, economic development, job development and employment training;
Human Development: programs that build up human dignity in individuals and social capital in disadvantaged communities, especially through education, thereby attacking root causes of poverty;
Life and Family Initiatives: projects and programs that defend human dignity, life and authentic human communities.

I was in attendance because of my involvement with Emmaus Ministries one of the grant recipients this year. It was enlightening and affirming to hear of the amount of work being done by so many grass roots organization engaged in initiatives including immigrant aid, violence prevention, worker rights, pregnancy assistance, defense of life, racial justice, family wellness and much more.
As representatives of the individual organizations responded to Fr. Rocky Hoffman's questions about their work, a common theme became evident. Each organization expressed a goal of bringing hope to the hopeless; a hope consists in a knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ. One could not help but feel energized by this sense of shared mission manifesting itself in so many different ways.
Perhaps that is why I was so saddened to learn that Planned Parenthood and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) hijacked a World Youth Conference to not only railroad their anti-life agenda, but to silence as "infiltrators" those who would promote abstinence education. (story here) Particularly disturbing is manner in which Planned Parenthood and UNFPA have evidently targeted the Girl Scouts to shape the minds of young girls into an acceptance of a "sexual rights" agenda that demeans women by placing sole emphasis on their sexual activity and ignoring their intellectual, moral, or spiritual development.
Will they ever come to realize that the human person consists of much more than just genitalia?