Contrariwise

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged like I really used to. This blog was once all about me. Now, I’m not advocating a self-centered, narcissistic style of blogging. I believe that all writing betrays the heart of soul of its writer, even just a little. Responding to profound interviews on BustedHalo doesn’t really help you see me.

I’ll try recounting the last week. On Saturday, I woke up fairly early. In the afternoon, I went over to the CSC to meet up with the Daughters for our first and only Shrine & Dine of the semester. I used to say that Shrine & Dines were my favorite thing about CDA. That’s not quite true anymore, but I’ll get to that later. It was the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Since campus is about 15 minutes from the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, there could not have been a better place to observe the feast. Unfortunately, Danielle’s car, in which I was riding, was running late for 3 p.m. Mass despite our early CSC gathering time. We all made it, though.

The 3 p.m. Mass was celebrated in honor of the Institute of the Incarnate Word (IVE) and their female branch, the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará. We love the Servants of the Lord. They wear blue veils, take siestas, and speak lots of Spanish since their order was founded in Argentina. One of our students from UMD, Olivia, is actually entering in January, praise God. Through her connections, we found out that IVE priests would be receiving their cassocks and some Servants would be receiving their names and habits and others renewing their vows. We jumped at the chance to attend.

It was one of the loveliest, most edifying, most reverent Masses I’ve ever attended. We sang multiple verses of many hymns, and there was incense. I love incense. Two priests received their cassocks after the Liturgy of the Word. Ten young women received the white veil for their habits and religious names. The Servants all take names of Mary, so they included Sr. Mary Mother of the Eucharist, Sr. Mary Crown of Martyrs, and Sr. María Corona de los Santos (Crown of Saints). We practically swooned after each name was called. Two sisters I met when we visited their novice house, Sr. Maria Lumen Christi and Sr. Maria of the Angelus (whose baptismal name is Angela Marie) renewed their vows. Finally, Sr. María del Santo Niño (of the Holy Child) made perpetual vows. We were privileged to witness her divine wedding. Danielle had evening plans, so we didn’t manage the dining part of Shrine & Dine, but that was the best two and a half hours I could have possibly spent that day.
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Andrew sent me a link to an article describing the world’s smallest Advent calendar. I’m busy (dying under the stress of) studying for my Spanish composition final on Monday morning, so I won’t even get started on the significance of Advent in secular society, but I must say that’s pretty cool. It’s even nifty for a non-science geek like myself. I don’t know why microscopic bacteria would need to keep track of the days until Christmas, but if one ever wants to, now it can.

BustedHalo a great site that puts a lighter spin on spirituality. It’s run by Paulists, so there’s a large Catholic presence, but I really like the balanced, “seeking” way it treats other faiths as well. (Except for that article about the alleged religious sister who loves The Vagina Monologues….) Plus, I won a signed copy of James Martin’s A Jesuit Off-Broadway!

There have been some exceptional interviews lately. The Faith Between Us, by Peter Bebergal and Scott Korb, details the personal religious journey of the two men, who sought to be a Jewish mystic and a Catholic priest respectively, but found meaning else. Says Korb:

I was sitting there with my stepfather in the days before he died and he said to me, “Look, you have to take care of your mother when I’m gone.” And that became my Christian inheritance, and that became my experience. My stepfather was a very devout Catholic and for him, his experience was that his own afterlife didn’t seem to matter to him in the moment, but only that we—his children—would take over where he left off in taking care of my mother.

I think this moment is less about his stepfather’s focus on this world instead of the next, and more about his focus on leaving his family secure because he knows he’s going on. In that moment, heaven wasn’t as important as making sure his family would be okay. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about heaven like “a very devout Catholic.”

For twenty years of my life I was sure that I knew how to be a Catholic, that I knew how to live as a religious person, and that meant to be as disciplined as I could and to develop an eating disorder and to decide I wanted to be a priest because I thought that that was what God wanted—was for me to be lonely my whole life. And that’s not to say that I think that priests are lonely. That’s to say that in my perception of the priesthood I was lonely and I wanted to make loneliness—as I say in the book—my vocation.

I can understand this. A lot of times, I fear that I’m too legalistic in my practice of Catholicism. What it is, though, is that I just like living my faith that way. I like following the specific practices and traditions that have come down through the centuries. It’s comforting for me to do the same things at every Mass, every day. There’s no one single way to be Catholic (though I think his self-described “Catholic atheism” pushes it). Some priests (and laypeople) do well in the silence. Some crave activity and live fellowship. The apostles were all very different men, after all.

The magazine also featured an interview with Braddigan of the band Dispatch, which I think I’ve heard of in passing. Clearly, I need to pay more attention, because he is so profound and eloquent.

I think a lot of people identify with Christianity or any faith for that matter as a kind of external clothing. Something you were born into, a tradition, something that stays on the outside and it is in this box and then your life is in this box. People tend to approach their lives like there are the three or four boxes that.

[...] I don’t really understand exactly how as an athlete and as a musician and as a person who loves the Lord—how can I put all that stuff together. He said “You just live one life. You are never supposed to believe that ministry was over here and maybe church is on Sundays and your work Monday through Friday and your vacation…it’s one life and who you carry inside you internally, Christ, the Holy Spirit, this light that the Lord talks about that can’t be hidden…that’s your greatest gift.”

Later, he quotes St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” Braddigan really understands that faith is not something you can relegate to a box to check and a place to go on Sundays. Faith gives us life. Faith is life.

Another news story caught my eye today, this time from the Associated Press: “Theology divides Mormons, evangelicals.” It reads like a beginner’s guide to the LDS (Latter-Day Saints) church. I’m not a fan of Mormonism, but I know they favor the practical application of faith in everyday life and big, loving families, which I like.

The biggest concern people have about Romney in the Republican race is that he’s a Mormon. I always thought it was just their lack of familiarity with Mormonism. It seems to me to be more of a question of practical faith.

Another concern for some: that Mormon church presidents are held out as prophets with revelatory power that can alter the church’s direction and beliefs.

Said [Richard] Mouw, “That notion that things can just get changed is scary for a lot of people who worry that a church with a very strong authority center could influence a public leader by suddenly getting a new revelation that has an impact on public policy.”

This reminds me of what they used to say about JFK, that the pope would control the U.S. Thirty years later, they fear the LDS church leader will do the same. I don’t think either is true. It’s a pity that JFK didn’t live long enough for us to see more of his faith in action.

According to data gathered by the Pew Research Center (which has a great website), only 53 percent of people have favorable feelings towards Mormons; 76 percent towards Jews and Catholics. Clearly that 76 percent does not spend much time on college campuses.

I came across a Reuters article about a service that sends images of saints to cell phones. An Italian bishop thinks it’s crass and irreverent. I think it’s pretty cool. Instead of ordering pornography via cell phone, you can get a holy reminder. I have Our Lady of the Streets on my phone, and the stained glass window of the Holy Spirit from St. Peter’s Basilica is my wallpaper. If holy cards are fine, why not holy text messages?