On Mondays during October, Commonweal had a series called Reimagining U.S. Catholicism Today. They were available live through Zoom, then posted on YouTube. Each topic had a panel of four people and a moderator. They are each an hour long. This, the final and best one, was on the pandemic, Community and Sacramental Life. Below the break I give an outline of the conversation with brief phrases that may help you through the hour, and also help us the discuss the panel.
The Future of Community & Sacramental Life |
Claudia Avila Cosnahan (moderator): involved in the archdiocesan and regional pastoral councils in LA.
Question: what effect has the virus had on parish life and parish ministry?
Darius Villatobos youth ministry
1. how fragile parish life is (gave example of deacon who had to take over responsibility when priest was absent) who leads the parish?
2. challenge to be church outside of church, who provides external leadership
Natalia Imperator-Lee, professor, New York area
The virus revealed fictions about our community such as shared government and having our revenue stream depend upon in-person worship. Ordained ministers devastated without sacrament as a way to relate to people. The soccer mothers who do catechesis have not heard from their pastor. On the other hand someone in New York reconnected by internet with a former pastor offering Mass in Seattle
Neomi De Anda academic Dayton
Never was a parish person, but more aware now of all the other places outside of the parish, such as schools, hospitals where we have been practicing faith for thousands of years. The real question is not the parish but how is Catholicism penetrating life
Brett Hoover academic
Our parish programs were all focusing attention on parish and parish worship. People are now absolutely without help. People do we know how to pray outside of Mass. They are angry at churches for not opening.
Claudia What transformation is required?
Natalia Mass going was central to new Evangelization. We need a new understanig of Eucharist. We have made it too small by limiting it to the Mass
Brett: Remember the prophetic critique of ritual worship. Worship needs to be in every part of life where love and mercy are shared.
Darius : Who are leading parishes? In many case its is the youth ministers in charge of livestreaming and social media. How do we create safe places for our lay ministers and the creatively of young people. Clergy not equipped to engage our community beyond the sacraments which creates a lack of trust.
Neomi People do not see it as OK and even necessary to stay home from Mass, and that this is a pro-life issue
Brett In some parishes multiple volunteers are checking on everyone. There are lots of opportunities on line but a generational gap with regard to social media.
Neomi Other possibilities beyond the internet are needed because not everybody is comfortable with it.
Darius The coming holidays are going to be very difficult because we are not going to be able to gather as parishes and extended families.
Natalia The virtual church brings a new appreciation of Incarnation and the sharing of material life
Claudia Many questions from the Zoom audience about how we understand the Eucharist
Natalia I am not saying sacramental ministry is not important, but that the meal is not the only place where we share life, sacrifice, and service.
Neomi Breast feeding, the sharing and nurturing of new life is an example of the most basic things we do. Family gatherings need to be reformulated, all of life is fragile not just parish life
Brett A greater sense of shared responsibility is needed. Eucharist has eschatological aspect; it is always imperfect, the blessing of partial measures, the full presence of Christ in limited circumstances.
Darius More emphasis on importance of being sent, the Eucharist as food for the journey; the virtual breaking of bread, not only in this place and this time
Claudia Many leaders wanting to take on leadership, but established leadership shutting things down.
Brett The hierarchical mentality even when it is not needed, we don’t need pastoral leadership or permission to do many things.
Darius Those unconnected with the parish might better represent our church then the church going. While Mass is hard to engage people, creating spaces to answer basic issues (sexuality, politics) might be easier. Father is not going to mind you bringing somebody new.
Neomi Shared homily and reflections which began with priest, went to bible study, and lectio divina
Darius The issue of race, and the availability online of seminars in how to talk about race
Brett People finding things elsewhere not just in local group
Natalia The stone which the builders rejected, the quasi monastic life with family or alone, rediscovering simple pleasures
Neomi The notion of fasting from basics such as hugging, sharing of meal
Brett We are too achievement oriented, the need to incorporate grief, the cross and resurrection and not always be Mr. chipper
Claudia Question: has it changed the trajectory? what is here to stay?
Natalia Accelerated some changes, polarization. People who were leaving have cut loose. A rediscovery of the psalms, don’t rush through lamentation
Neomi We accompany God by accompanying everybody else who is suffering.
Darius Our church needs to offer spaces for prophetic dialogue; people felt more comfortable at home and in other places
Brett: Less worrying about disaffiliation; can’t all be done in parish; we need to pray and live at home
Yeah, and while Commonweal liberals navel gaze over this kind of airy-fairy stuff, Catholic schools are suing the state of Michigan for the "right" not to wear masks on religious freedom grounds.
ReplyDeleteby all means, let's accompany God by accompanying the suffering--after our kids have given them covid.
https://www.mlive.com/public-interest/2020/10/catholic-school-sues-michigan-to-drop-its-unreasonable-mask-mandate-in-schools.html
Having to deal with what's going on right now, and trying to figure out how we're going to move forward as people of God after the pandemic are not two mutually exclusive things. I'm sorry your area is reacting in a way which seems likely to increase suffering. Actually everyone is dealing with their own kind of irrational. We've got the MAGA types here, though they don't seem to be open carrying.
DeleteOne thing that's not helping me any is that the pandemic is bringing out our pastor's inner Savonarola (if I spelled that right). I go to daily Mass when I can to find a little peace, among other things. Yesterday got a blast of what I consider hellfire and brimstone. Don't know why he feels the daily Mass crowd needs it. Husband claims I don't know what hellfire and brimstone is, if I didn't grow up Evangelical. I'll take his word for it.
My point, probably made with more heat than sense, is that most Catholics are aligned with the Trumpistas to a greater or lesser degree, and that is a huge problem going forward.
DeleteIf they want to evangelize, they need to de-politicize some of their own members and address their dumb ass ideas about public health.I
I have asked Raber to reduce his diocesan pledge by the percentage that goes to Catholic schools and presumably assists with lawsuits like this. He declined, so I sent a commensurate amount to the ACLU.
I do get what you're saying about most Catholics in your area being aligned with the Trumpistas. The same is true here, and it does make me feel alienated at times (like right now, before election, most of the time!) I take comfort that it isn't across the board, most polls show Catholics more or less evenly split. Despite what certain of the clergy try to tell them. If Jim Pauwels is reading, maybe he will tell us how it is among Catholics he knows, I think Chicago area is fairly blue.
DeleteDefinitely agree with you that we need to de-politicize in order to evangelize.
According to Fivethirtyeight, Trump has an eight point lead among white Catholics. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/trump-is-losing-ground-with-some-but-not-all-white-christians/
DeleteAmong parents of children at Catholic schools, which are generally bastions of white privilege due to expensive tuition, I would guess the margin is much higher.
Priests and bishops who see Catholic schools as important means of evangelizing might want to take a look at what's going on in these enclaves and how they play with the community in general.
Example: A couple of years ago, after some racially charged incidents at Lansing Catholic Central that punished black athletes for kneeling during the national anthem, the bishop set up a study group that recommended changes. A small step forward, but not before some players left the school and there was a lot of bad publicity. https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2019/10/11/lansing-diocese-race-kneeling-protest-football-players-diversity/3941333002/
Where Catholic groups and individuals have a high profile in the community, it behooves them to watch how they align themselves with partisan politics on both sides of the aisle.
Catholic parishes also need to do a better job raising their profile as assets to the community. And if the parish is not perceived as an asset to the community, that ought to be of concern.
I don't see these kinds of practical topics covered in the kinds of discussions Jack describes above
Jean says "Where Catholic groups and individuals have a high profile in the community, it behooves them to watch how they align themselves with partisan politics on both sides of the aisle."
DeleteYes. After Vatican II and before JP2 the American bishops were more liberal, writing a letter about the economy and another about nuclear warfare. Those letters resulted in the conservative Catholics organizing and eventually the alliance between them and JP2.
The bishops wanted to do another pastoral on women, but they found they could not write one without disagreeing with Rome. Eventually Ratzinger wrote that Bishops conferences only taught if their letter was approved by Rome or if they unanimously agree on the letter.
We need to recognize that Catholic and Republican conservatism was shaped in reaction to perceived overreach by bishops and the government.
A lot of the Nones become Nones because they reacted against what they perceived as the hypocritical alliance between clergy and the Republican party. The many sexual and financial scandals first among Evangelical and now among Catholic clergy reinforce the idea that religion is hypocrisy.
Jack, thank you for that longer view. As a kid, my parents and the Catholics were the Democrats in the neighborhood. I suppose I am still trying to come to terms with the Republicanization of the Church in my area. ECUSA is often called The Republican Party at Prayer, but I was wholly unprepared for this to be true in the RCC.
DeleteI think the RCC and ECUSA have switched places in the political landscape in recent decades. Most Episcopalians I have met are liberal.
DeleteFrom what I read, Black and Hispanic Catholics are much more likely to skew Democrat. And maybe this is what has some of the White ones spun up, that they might get outnumbered.
DeleteThe gay clergy issue caused the Anglican Realignment such that ECUSA remains more "liberal" while some of the conservatives joined a mission organized by the Bishop of Uganda. I think the Uganda-aligned churches are still in communion with Canterbury.
DeleteOur old Episcopal Church split between ECUSA and the Anglican Catholic Church over women's ordination. The Anglican Catholic Church is outside the Canterbury communion (not to be confused with the Anglo-Catholics, which is a legit movement within the Anglican communion). There was also a vocal and disruptive minority of ECUSA charismatics who made us spiky and decorous worshipers very uncomfortable. Each faction in the old parish hoped the charismatics would drift to the other group. Sadly, the ECUSA remainders got stuck with them.
It was all dizzying, confusing, and ugly at the time we left.
The ECUSA parish I sometimes visit looks pretty much like a high-toned Methodist outfit. Nobody knows anything about the saints, and there are no statues or candles or holy water dishes, but the singing is pretty good.
Katherine - the area where I live is pretty evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. Not that there is a ton of difference between them, from what I can tell. Part of it surely is that the Trumpification of the GOP is driving suburbanites into the Democratic Party.
DeleteOur own parish seems to reflect the same sort of thing. There definitely are pro-life Republicans in our parish. But there also are a lot of people in helping professions - a lot of teachers and nurses. They tend to support programs which help people, and unfortunately (maybe even tragically), those programs has become sinful within the Republican Party. I blame the libertarians.
The clergy of the Chicago Archdiocese tend to be relatively progressive, certainly compared to what I read about clergy in other dioceses preaching pro-life homilies all the time, endorsing Trump and wanting to do Latin masses. We have very little of that stuff around here. Although I think the faculty at the diocesan seminary is fairly conservative; Cardinal George was around for a long time, and I see his influence in that.
Thank God I live in Northern California! The bishops and archbishops tend to be very (Cordileone) to moderately (Barber in Oakland) conservative. However the thriving parishes tend to be led by and attended by moderates to liberals. Republicans around here are as scarce as hen's teeth. This is Nancy Pelosi's home area after all. I have yet to see a Trump yardsign anywhere local, but I know that they do exist in the mainly white exurbs east and south of us.
DeleteI forgot to mention Vasa (a true troglodyte) in Santa Rosa.
DeleteMy copy of Commonweal with the announcements of this series for the month of October arrived on Oct. 23. Great again? We can't even deliver the mail anymore.
ReplyDeleteI heard several points that deserve more comment. One quick one that struck me is that there are Catholics all over the country who are off the grid and see a priest only intermittently. We say we don't, but we do make liturgy and the Eucharist the markers of Catholic life, and then forget about that when it comes to rural Catholics. Someone -- I forget who -- said the pandemic has made ordinary Catholics, for once, live like the sisters and brothers we disregard. Which is true. If we can't provide the Eucharist for them, how important in life as lived can it be?
Another salient point is how wasted our homilies are. It is safe, of course, to just repeat the parables in modern terms and beat to death the obvious conclusions. But then you never get around to teaching people how to pray, and Catholics freeze up (the way my AME and COGIC friends don't) if called upon to utter a prayer in public. If they can't do it in public, they probably aren't doing it in private. Why not?
That's one thoroughly blown opportunity in every homily. Another, which came up in the discussion, is race. More Catholics do racist things than have abortions (if you can imagine that), but the only "touchy" subject that seems safe for the ambo is abortion.
And, another thing... I'll save it for later. That's enough for a first cut at the webinar.
Tom, about Catholics freezing up about uttering a prayer in public (I'm assuming you mean an extemporaneous prayer, not a memorized one) guilty as charged. Though there is a reason, my private prayers tend not to be in words, or at least none that would string together well for a public offering. There are worse things than an Our Father and a Glory Be.
DeleteGood point that more Catholics do racist things than have abortions.
Tom writes "Which is true. If we can't provide the Eucharist for them, how important in life as lived can it be?"
DeleteOf course throughout the world there are many places were Mass is rare because there are not that many celibate priests. The preference of celibacy over the Eucharist is certainly a very distorted form of Christianity
All four of the Reimagining Catholicism series are available on the Commonweal Youtube site. I watch three out of four on Zoom but was not impressed by the first three.
Delete"The preference of celibacy over the Eucharist is certainly a very distorted form of Christianity." Exactly, Jack. Exactly.
DeleteUpdate. My November issue of Commonweal arrived today, exactly one week after the October. I thought it had gone to monthly. :-}
DeleteMy attitude toward Trumpistas affects my attitude toward my fellow Catholics and my family. I have few Trumpista friends so that not so much. It is definitely a litmus test for me now. If the Trump-supporting Catholics said they were voting for him because of abortion only, even though he's an abomination, I could have some respect for them. But they actually buy the whole enchilada and won't admit they are making a really big tradeoff. I despise that.
ReplyDeleteOur parish apparently has its very own Facebook page. (I wouldn't know.) During the shutdown it became very lively, I am told, when someone endorsed one presidential candidate and some others called him or her a #@!!*. This caused several others to weigh in with language that, I am told, seriously discomposed the pastor. The deacon who passed on this information refused to tell me who said what to whom or which candidate's supporters started it. Damn deacon acts like a priest.
ReplyDeleteThat explains why the pastor is always talking about healing the county. It might help if he got specific and took on the issues. But, noooo, we can't do that. Someone said you have to meet people "where they are," and our spiritual leaders do that. Then they leave them there.
A lot of the Nones become Nones because they reacted against what they perceived as the hypocritical alliance between clergy and the Republican party. The many sexual and financial scandals first among Evangelical and now among Catholic clergy reinforce the idea that religion is hypocrisy.
ReplyDeleteYup. This has been shown in study after study for years now. This is why almost 40% of young adults now identify as “Nones”
But the old folk who run the evangelical churches and RC parishes still don’t get it. They don’t listen. So the traditional white dominated evangelical churches and RC parishes will continue to see shrinking memberships. The RC might be saved by the Hispanic Americans. It will be interesting to see what the post-pandemic church world will look like. Some of the older generations might disappear too.
I am going to make the prediction that the Republicans are going to get their a$$es handed to them this election. That just might get some of the PTB in the church's attention; convince them that they put their money on the wrong horse. Or maybe that they shouldn't be betting their money (and their souls) on these "horses" at all.
DeleteMy friend M's daughter fell sick on Monday. M fled to my house under her nurse daughter's orders to evacuate. The daughter tested positive. The symptoms change as the virus makes its journey through the system. Starting with fever, fatigue and loss of appetite, those symptoms have now abated to be replaced by sore throat and loss of smell. One hopes this will be the extent of it. Advantages: she's 30, she's female, she's fit, she's thin. M is still ok seven days after probable exposure. She was tested at a CVS drive through this morning. If she's positive, I guess I'll get tested. Not especially worried. When I started flying on planes, I was very nervous. Then I finally realized the worst that could happen was I could die, and I accepted it, I was at peace.
ReplyDeleteSo it's not the nurse who is sick, but another daughter? Anyway prayers that she recovers uneventfully and that neither you nor M get it.
DeleteI know what you mean about planes, I'm less afraid of something that can kill me quick than something which just leaves me as an invalid or in chronic pain.
Katherine, it IS the nurse and she didn't want her mother exposed further. She is staying at M's home while taking courses for nurse practitioner. Doesn't know how she got it but the hospital is the probable candidate. M and I are still ok today.
DeleteOh, geez, take care! Glad M got a test. Prayers for all of you.
DeleteI was surprised to see cars snaking around ten block at the covid drive-thru test site over in Owosso, Michigan. First time I have seen that out here in cornfield country.
You have to make an appt in PA at CVS. but it still hasn't gone crazy yet. Thanks to everyone for the prayers. So far so good.
DeletePrayers ascending, Stanley.
ReplyDeleteLet us know - assume she will have a negative test though.
Jean , are your older relatives doing ok still?
I only have an aunt, 85; otherwise, I am now everyone else's oldest relative.
DeleteAuntie was exposed to covid when her daughter caught it. We are not close, but she was OK when I called her earlier this week.
Daughter (my cousin) seems to have a fairly mild case, but it is hanging on. She was slated to be stem cell donor for her brother with leukemia. Docs have not said whether she will still be able to donate. She is the only family member who is a match, so who knows where this goes.
I presume that for every covid case there are stories like is.
Glad to know the 85 year old is doing Ok. One of my closest friends from my college days just lost a cousin to covid - he was 74 and had COPD. High risk.
ReplyDeleteUpsetting about the stem cell donor. It's a rough procedure for the donor (worse for the donor than for the person who receives the cells apparently). I don't know if Covid can be transmitted via stem cell transplant, but your family will soon find out.
My cousins's son needed a stem cell transplant two years ago.The closest match was someone on the registry who lives in Ireland. He was a perfect match - unrelated as far as we know, but our family ancestry is half Irish so maybe a distant relative. Sadly, the prospective donor decided against donating after he was contacted by the registry and he removed his information from it also.
My cousin's other son was a half match - the best they could do.
Seems like a stem cell or bone marrow transplant is kind of the Hail Mary pass, when all else fails. I only know one person for whom it was successful. They tried it with my brother-in-law but ultimately it didn't work. The only close match was a person in Germany on the donor base. Bless his heart, he did the donation. They do have to give the donor meds to stimulate cell production, which I understand can cause severe body aches. But they have to wipe out the recipient's own bone marrow cells, which means scorched earth chemo.
DeleteYes, my cousin has gone through the scorched-earth chemo. It made him incredibly sick, and now that the transplant is in jeopardy, he may have gone through it for nothing and whatever immunity he had wiped out to boot.
DeleteOne of our cancer group members had SCT several years ago. She was in great shape, her cancer had advanced just up to the point of acute leukemia, she had a 10-year-old son and was motivated. So she was an ideal candidate.
Sadly, it was just grueling. And, as happens in a large percentage of cases, the transplant worked, but her immune system turned on her and she died of pneumonia.
Not for me, thanks.
That’s so sad to go through all that and still not make it. With a 10 year old. Life can be so cruel. My cousin’s son died a year after his transplant. He was 39. He did have about 9 good months, but ultimately the transplant didn’t save him. The leukemia returned and was found in his brain. He died in the same hospital where his grandfather, - my uncle and this cousin’s dad - died of leukemia in 1957 at age 42. My cousin has never fully gotten over her father’s death. She is an only child, and was the apple of her dad’s eye. She was 12 when he died. To lose her son to the same devastating disease seems extra cruel.
DeletePerhaps we need new subject.
There is a beautiful Halloween blue moon tonight!
I wasn't trying to be upsetting or negative. You asked how my family was. If you only want the happy happy, don't ask.
DeleteYes, the moon was lovely last night.
I’m sorry if I upset you, Jean. I was thinking about the young mother, and my cousin’s son. I’m trying to cheer myself up. I am very depressed and scared right now that we will fail to get rid of trump this year.
ReplyDeleteBut since my good friend’s cousin died of Covid a few days ago, I am also concerned about your relatives who were exposed.
Just ignore me when I write stupid stuff. It happens a lot lately. :(
I understand the feeling. We're all on edge, and my brain will not be functioning properly for a few days while it gets used to whatever the flu shot is doing to my system. Vaccinations hit me harder than they used to.
DeleteD--'s story was a sad one, but her humor, compassion, and willingness to be honest about what she was going through with the stem cell transplant was a gift. Many of us older folks in the cancer group have talked about the inevitability of death and the hope that ours might be as filled with grace. Her life meant something, and some of us wrote notes to her sister to share with the son so he will know that.