From "On the making of Catholics: How the Church Fathers united the faithful",
By Joe Tremblay
(http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=1634)
"...what is commonly expected of the today’s candidates in these programs is that they attend these lectures. The downside is that not much more is expected of them."
I hear you. I'm on my RCIA team and am also a professional instructional designer. In the ID biz, we have a saying that "talking isn't teaching," yet RCIA seems to be comprised of 99% talking and 1% ritual. (The way to get on an RCIA team seems to be to love talking--but we can learn as much from the candidates/catechumens as from hearing our own voices.)
"There are as many ways to God as there are men and women," The Pope has said. And yet we package them all together, and don't really get a deep sense whether the Church teachings have sunk in or not; it's a matter of endurance, not conversion.
And it isn't just about stuffing their heads with factoids; if we fail to show them--share with them--God's beauty and glory, we haven't done anyone a service.
Worse, I fear we are providing a very unsteady foundation upon which to build their faith.
If they are unable to bring real conversion into their hearts, and have this conversion show through their lives, acts, and families, how much better off are they, really?
Maybe we don't need to return to the ways of the early Church (after all, hardly anyone in America today is completely unfamiliar with Jesus Christ, unlike people living 1900 or so years ago), but I believe our RCIA programs could be effective on a much more spiritual level.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Does life get easier after conversion?
I'm on our parish RCIA team, and being fairly new to active Catholicism myself, a common (though often unasked) question is: Will my life get easier once I accept the Catholic faith?
It's reasonable enough to ask; it would probably seem unnatural to start any kind of new practice with the idea of making our lives *more* difficult. You can turn on your TV just about any time of the day or night and see some man or woman offering money, health, a new car, romance, or whatever--in direct response to the sending of a few hundred dollars, whether the religion in question is Christianity or the other great American religion, vanity.
But I think it's important to understand that there are no such material assurances in scripture.
Let's take Mary as an example. She is told by an angel that she will conceive and bear a son. "You have found favor with God," Luke reports. That seems like quite a distinction, as of course it is.
Today, we would think that finding favor with God to be a pretty cushy assignment.
And yet...where does Mary give birth? Not in a maternity ward (of course, there weren't any); not even in nice hotel. In a stable.
No sooner does she give birth than the Holy Family must literally flee for their lives to another country.
Was she married to a wealthy man? Hardly. Joseph was a carpenter, a blue-collar worker. No fancy home, no servants.
And let's face it, it's downhill from there. She went on to witness her only son tortured and executed to the taunting of a mob. Shortly thereafter, she had to comfort and encourage the disciples, a skittish bunch if ever there was one. (Read Blessed John Paul II's "Redemptoris Mater" for more on this.)
Today, we might be tempted to think that if that is favor with God, he can keep it. Even Teresa of Avila (who is becoming one of my favorite saints) once said to God, "If this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few."
So in today's WIIFM (What's in it for me?) culture, we get back to our original question: Will my life be easier after my conversion?
Well, who can say? I would think that if you believe having a big house and a new car will make you happy, your conversion still has a way to go. Instead, think of it this way: come what may, you know--truly know--that you are embraced by a loving God whose ultimate plan for you is better than anything you can imagine for yourself.
Mary knew it, though it must have broken her heart. Still, she persevered, and now rules as Queen of Heaven. What a great example--and lesson--for us!
To sum up, your life may not be "easier" after conversion--but it will certainly be *better*.
It's reasonable enough to ask; it would probably seem unnatural to start any kind of new practice with the idea of making our lives *more* difficult. You can turn on your TV just about any time of the day or night and see some man or woman offering money, health, a new car, romance, or whatever--in direct response to the sending of a few hundred dollars, whether the religion in question is Christianity or the other great American religion, vanity.
But I think it's important to understand that there are no such material assurances in scripture.
Let's take Mary as an example. She is told by an angel that she will conceive and bear a son. "You have found favor with God," Luke reports. That seems like quite a distinction, as of course it is.
Today, we would think that finding favor with God to be a pretty cushy assignment.
And yet...where does Mary give birth? Not in a maternity ward (of course, there weren't any); not even in nice hotel. In a stable.
No sooner does she give birth than the Holy Family must literally flee for their lives to another country.
Was she married to a wealthy man? Hardly. Joseph was a carpenter, a blue-collar worker. No fancy home, no servants.
And let's face it, it's downhill from there. She went on to witness her only son tortured and executed to the taunting of a mob. Shortly thereafter, she had to comfort and encourage the disciples, a skittish bunch if ever there was one. (Read Blessed John Paul II's "Redemptoris Mater" for more on this.)
Today, we might be tempted to think that if that is favor with God, he can keep it. Even Teresa of Avila (who is becoming one of my favorite saints) once said to God, "If this is the way you treat your friends, no wonder you have so few."
So in today's WIIFM (What's in it for me?) culture, we get back to our original question: Will my life be easier after my conversion?
Well, who can say? I would think that if you believe having a big house and a new car will make you happy, your conversion still has a way to go. Instead, think of it this way: come what may, you know--truly know--that you are embraced by a loving God whose ultimate plan for you is better than anything you can imagine for yourself.
Mary knew it, though it must have broken her heart. Still, she persevered, and now rules as Queen of Heaven. What a great example--and lesson--for us!
To sum up, your life may not be "easier" after conversion--but it will certainly be *better*.
Why don't we work harder in service of the Lord?
Even a dog wants to please his master.
How much more should we humans want to please our Lord?
How much more should we humans want to please our Lord?
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Captivity is not Incarceration
I think I've mentioned before that I take notes during Mass. It's a great idea; I highly recommend it.
Sometimes I take notes at other times, too. The problem is, I don't always have a context for them, so later on, I often forget what the note was for--or even that I'd written it in the first place!
I had that experience the other day, when I came across a line I'd scrawled on the top of a piece of paper: Captivity is not incarceration.
I saw it and thought, what did I mean by that? I couldn't remember exactly, but it got me to thinking.
Sometimes, we are captives to our bad habits--or to sin, to be more honest about it. But it doesn't feel like we're in captivity. It's not like we're in some prison camp, flogged on a regular basis and fed scraps from the spoiled-food bin behind the supermarket.
It seems like we're in control. Like the alcoholic who says, "Hey, I'm not an alcoholic. I just enjoy a drink now and then." Or the girl whose had more sex partners than I've had fish dinners, but thinks she's just having fun.
These things can tie us with silken ropes. They can actually feel good--until we pull too hard against them, or worse still, try to remove them. Then we realize who's really in control...and it's not us.
Well, thanks to the scriptures, we know where this road leads, don't we, fellow prodigals? It's not incarceration, but it is captivity of the worst sort. And like the prodigal, we'll end up bankrupt--morally as well as economically.
So, then how do we get free? How do we make the jailbreak from sin?
By asking God for help, of course. God waits on us patiently, ready to respond.
"But isn't it really," asks the cynic, "just trading one form of captivity for another? Don't we exchange one master, the devil, for another, however benificent God might seem?"
Ummm...no. Because remember, God gives us many graces, and one of the most important is the ability to choose freely. We can choose to accept God or reject him. But once we accept satanic domination, once we slip those soothing, tempting, silken ropes onto our hands and feet--and around our neck--we can't so freely walk away from them. To use another old-fashioned word, we can't easily repent...unless we ask God for help.
Luckily, God is always there. And combining our determination with his infinite graces, we can succeed.
Now, does that sound like captivity to you?
Sometimes I take notes at other times, too. The problem is, I don't always have a context for them, so later on, I often forget what the note was for--or even that I'd written it in the first place!
I had that experience the other day, when I came across a line I'd scrawled on the top of a piece of paper: Captivity is not incarceration.
I saw it and thought, what did I mean by that? I couldn't remember exactly, but it got me to thinking.
Sometimes, we are captives to our bad habits--or to sin, to be more honest about it. But it doesn't feel like we're in captivity. It's not like we're in some prison camp, flogged on a regular basis and fed scraps from the spoiled-food bin behind the supermarket.
It seems like we're in control. Like the alcoholic who says, "Hey, I'm not an alcoholic. I just enjoy a drink now and then." Or the girl whose had more sex partners than I've had fish dinners, but thinks she's just having fun.
These things can tie us with silken ropes. They can actually feel good--until we pull too hard against them, or worse still, try to remove them. Then we realize who's really in control...and it's not us.
Well, thanks to the scriptures, we know where this road leads, don't we, fellow prodigals? It's not incarceration, but it is captivity of the worst sort. And like the prodigal, we'll end up bankrupt--morally as well as economically.
So, then how do we get free? How do we make the jailbreak from sin?
By asking God for help, of course. God waits on us patiently, ready to respond.
"But isn't it really," asks the cynic, "just trading one form of captivity for another? Don't we exchange one master, the devil, for another, however benificent God might seem?"
Ummm...no. Because remember, God gives us many graces, and one of the most important is the ability to choose freely. We can choose to accept God or reject him. But once we accept satanic domination, once we slip those soothing, tempting, silken ropes onto our hands and feet--and around our neck--we can't so freely walk away from them. To use another old-fashioned word, we can't easily repent...unless we ask God for help.
Luckily, God is always there. And combining our determination with his infinite graces, we can succeed.
Now, does that sound like captivity to you?
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Charity begins...in government?
I see that a bunch of professors at Catholic universities opposed the presence of Speaker of the House John Boehner (http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/cassidy/110519).
It seems they think he isn't supportive enough of government intervention in people's lives.
Well, you'll have to forgive me, but I thought that this sort of thing was way beyond government's job.
What I prefer is a government small enough that I can keep enough of my money to donate to the charities of my choice and where I know it can do the most good, and not have my hard-earned dollars confiscated and redistributed at some bureaucrat's whim. (This is also in keeping with the Catholic notion of subsidiarity.)
If these professors (who, while they may teach at Catholic schools, don't seem particularly Catholic; I wonder how many support abortion) believe that the only way the poor in this country will ever receive help is by forced contribution, they show a remarkably weak faith in Catholic teaching--and far too much faith in faceless bureaucrats.
For a more reasonable approach to this, see this link:
"...[A]n ongoing dialogue between Paul Ryan, a Catholic from Wisconsin, who is the House Budget committee chairman, and Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the president of the Catholic bishop’s conference, about Catholic social teaching and its application to the current budget debate."
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/267678/shepherding-moral-economic-policy-paul-ryan-and-archbishop-dolan-s-dialogue-catholic-s
It seems they think he isn't supportive enough of government intervention in people's lives.
Well, you'll have to forgive me, but I thought that this sort of thing was way beyond government's job.
What I prefer is a government small enough that I can keep enough of my money to donate to the charities of my choice and where I know it can do the most good, and not have my hard-earned dollars confiscated and redistributed at some bureaucrat's whim. (This is also in keeping with the Catholic notion of subsidiarity.)
If these professors (who, while they may teach at Catholic schools, don't seem particularly Catholic; I wonder how many support abortion) believe that the only way the poor in this country will ever receive help is by forced contribution, they show a remarkably weak faith in Catholic teaching--and far too much faith in faceless bureaucrats.
For a more reasonable approach to this, see this link:
"...[A]n ongoing dialogue between Paul Ryan, a Catholic from Wisconsin, who is the House Budget committee chairman, and Archbishop Timothy Dolan, the president of the Catholic bishop’s conference, about Catholic social teaching and its application to the current budget debate."
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/267678/shepherding-moral-economic-policy-paul-ryan-and-archbishop-dolan-s-dialogue-catholic-s
Thursday, May 12, 2011
At the Transfiguration
At the Transfiguration, Jesus appeared with Moses and Elijah.
Peter and James and John were present as witnesses.
Clearly, these three could recognize Jesus. But how did they know that the other two were Moses and Elijah? Did the Holy Spirit tell them? Did Moses say, "Hi, I'm Moses, and this is my friend, Elijah"?
I'm not trying to be irreverent at all. I just can't help but be a little curious about it.
Peter and James and John were present as witnesses.
Clearly, these three could recognize Jesus. But how did they know that the other two were Moses and Elijah? Did the Holy Spirit tell them? Did Moses say, "Hi, I'm Moses, and this is my friend, Elijah"?
I'm not trying to be irreverent at all. I just can't help but be a little curious about it.
Here's a question for you
Do you suppose Jesus ever had a toothache?
As fully man, he probably did. As fully God, certainly not.
What do you think?
As fully man, he probably did. As fully God, certainly not.
What do you think?
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