There is an interesting article on the NCR site on how a couple of Texas congregations are supporting their members on the space station: How a Texas congregation is supporting its members on the space station | National Catholic Reporter (ncronline.org)
"About 10 miles from Johnson Space Center, a Houston-area church takes a moment during Wednesday Bible studies and Sunday evening services to pray for two members who cannot be there."
"In fact, there’s no way on Earth for NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Tracy Dyson to show up at Providence Baptist Church. They’re in space, orbiting the planet. More specifically, these two members are working on the International Space Station together."
"Like many astronauts before them, they brought along their faith when they launched into space."
"God uses all of us in pretty neat ways, and I think I get the most joy from what I do thinking about it in those terms," said Dyson, discussing her job on the "Bible Project" podcast ahead of her March launch on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Dyson’s six-month mission isn’t scheduled to end until September, but Wilmore and his fellow NASA test pilot, Suni Williams, should have been back weeks ago. They are staying longer than expected following thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing’s inaugural crew flight for its Starliner capsule. Wilmore and Williams have said they are confident the capsule will return them home safely; engineers are still poring over Starliner test data.
"...Wilmore paused before boarding the Starliner on each launch attempt, huddling in prayer with technicians and Williams. He acknowledged the risks of spaceflight — especially on a test flight like his."
"Our families have been a part of this from the beginning. … As far as preparing them, they’re prepared. We trust in sovereign God. Whatever the plan is, we’re ready for it, whatever that might be," he told reporters ahead of the flight."
"...The U.S. space program has had stunning achievements and devastating tragedies.
"Former NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins knew space exploration was high-risk, but didn’t feel its full weight until his first assignment. A life insurance company drove that home ahead of his Soyuz rocket launch in September 2013, Hopkins said, recalling being told they didn’t insure astronauts."
"Hopkins realized he was not spiritually ready. Between trainings, he began converting to Catholicism, a faith he’d been immersed in since he began dating his Catholic wife but insisted he would never join."
"It’s the idea of being an astronaut and recognizing the risks that we take," he said. "It felt like something was missing for me."
When he received Communion for the first time, he was overcome with a clarity and peace that he wanted to take into space. With his priests’ help, Hopkins secured permission to take a pyx of consecrated hosts. He administered weekly Communion to himself and on long, intense spacewalk days. "It just set the tone for the day," he said. "Then, you just go through the step-by-step process of executing the spacewalk but doing it knowing that Christ is with me."
"Others have taken Communion in space, including Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin after landing on the moon with Neil Armstrong in 1969
"...The Rev. Wencil Pavlovsky, pastor of St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in the Houston area, helped former astronaut Mark Vande Hei bring Communion into orbit. Vande Hei was aboard the space station in 2017 when Pope Francis called it.
Pavlovsky says ministering to astronauts isn’t much different than supporting others: "What I do find unique and what I truly, truly appreciate is that they have a very different perspective because they get to look back at us the way God does."
"Thirty-six St. Paul the Apostle parishioners have been astronauts, Pavlovsky said."
"...Relatedly, there is a phenomenon that philosopher Frank White calls the Overview Effect, when someone’s worldview shifts after looking at Earth from space."
From this article in Futurism.com Astronaut Says He Had Religious Experience During Spacewalk (futurism.com):
"In an interview with Kingsport, Tennessee's Times-News paper, astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore described a spiritual experience he felt while fixing an issue on the outside of the International Space Station during his third trip up in 2014."
"Wilmore was with a fellow astronaut on the exterior of the space station when he rounded a corner and encountered a huge, reflective, out-of-use radiator that he hadn't expected. He had just been doing his job when he was quite literally faced with himself — and the whole of space."
"I came around the corner and boom, there I was," the astronaut told the newspaper. "I could see myself from head to toe in this mirror. That’s the first time I had ever seen me in a space suit. You don’t have mirrors that you look at. I had seen video of me. To actually look and see that it was me was kind of striking." He lifted his gold visor and peered into his own face in space for the very first time. Then he looked back over his shoulder at the station."
"It’s a very, very black sky with the sun shining contrasting with the beauty of the earth and the contrast of colors," Wilmore said. "And about that moment I looked down at the earth and saw Hawaii going by... The beauty of the contrast of the island and the blue water and the clouds you could see and the blackness of the sky of space and the space station, the sliver and the big huge gold solar arrays and the contrasting color."
"As the Times-News notes, Wilmore is a devout Christian, and he told the paper that he felt his awe become a feeling of what sounds like religious transcendence."I was there because the Lord in His planning purposes allowed me to be there and gave me that desire in my heart," Wilmore described. "That’s why I was there."
In some ways the astronauts experience something which is common to all of us when we are in a new situation, separated from family and friends. But contemplating our earthly home from space is an experience which most of us have not had.
It was inspiring to me the different ways believers have taken their faith with them on their journeys, and how their congregations back home have supported them, also how the space travelers have taken own their prayers and messages of support for those on earth with them.
I have never had a supportive "faith community" (and, never having been much of a joiner, it's probably because I don't really want one). But I think all of us take our faith into the workplace, whether it's in space or here on Earth. I used to say a short prayer before every class.
ReplyDeleteOur Episcopal priest used to invite us to bring something from our work to the altar for a blessing on the Sunday before Labor Day. I used to bring my grade book.
But so much work is done online now that that little ritual, which I found meaningful, has been lost.
Will religious observances change as we move so much work to computers and as pandemics (COVID will be the first of many) habituate us to solitariness? Are humans becoming "decorporealized" and no longer desirous of the Sacraments and tangible sacramental?
The Boy was here yesterday telling us that a AI girlfriends are now available to download. Alzheimer patients in nursing homes are already being given stuffed animals programmed to do random activities like real dogs and cats.
Such a strange world ahead!
I guess that I did not think of astronauts as being common workers, but in the category of first responders, and military who have increasingly got a lot of attention in at least my parish. That might have something to do with the increasing lack of creditability of priests and religious. The old formula was always clergy religious and faithful as hierarchy of holiness.
ReplyDelete1. Logging workers
Fatal injury rate: 111 per 100,000 workers; Total deaths (2018): 56; Salary: $41,230 Most common fatal accidents: Contact with objects and equipment
2. Aircraft pilots and flight engineers
Fatal injury rate: 53 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 70 Salary: $121,430 Most common fatal accidents: Transportation incidents. The majority of aircraft pilot fatalities occur in crashes of privately owned planes and helicopters rather than on regularly scheduled commercial jet aircraft.
3. Derrick operators in oil, gas, and mining BLS Category: Derrick, rotary drill, and service unit operators, oil, gas, and mining
Fatal injury rate: 46 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 20 Salary: $51,390 Most common fatal accidents: Transportation incidents, contact with objects and equipment
4. Roofers Fatal injury rate: 41 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 96 Salary: $42,100 Most common fatal accidents: Falls, slips, trips
5. Garbage collectors BLS Category: Refuse and recyclable material collectors Fatal injury rate: 34 per 100,000 workers; Total deaths (2018): 37 Salary: $42,100 Most common fatal accidents: Transportation incidents: The most common cause of death for these workers is being struck by a garbage truck or other vehicle.
6. Ironworkers BLS Category: Structural iron and steel workers
Fatal injury rate: 29 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 15 Salary: $53,650 Most common fatal accidents: Falls, slips, trips
7. Delivery drivers BLS Category: Driver/sales workers and truck drivers Fatal injury rate: 27 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 966 Salary: $29,610 Most common fatal accidents: Transportation incidents
8. Farmers BLS Category: Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers. Fatal injury rate: 26 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 257 Salary: $71,160 Most common fatal accidents: Transportation incidents
9. Firefighting supervisors BLS Category: First-line supervisors of fire fighting and prevention workers Fatal injury rate: 20 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 14 Salary: $82,010 Most common fatal accidents: Transportation incidents
10. Power linemen BLS Category: Electrical power-line installers and repairers Fatal injury rate: 20 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 29 Salary: $71,960 Most common fatal accidents: Exposure to harmful substances or environments
22. Police officers BLS Category: Police and sheriff’s patrol officers Fatal injury rate: 14 per 100,000 workers Total deaths (2018): 108 Salary: $67,600 Most common fatal accidents: Violence and other injuries by persons or animals
How dangerous is it to be a police officer? Working as a police officer is about 4.1 times as dangerous compared with the average job nationwide, based upon the workplace fatality rate. Police officers have a workplace fatality rate similar to maintenance workers, construction workers, and heavy vehicle mechanics.
Firefighting and emergency ambulance workers are the only first responders in the list of top 10 most dangerous occupations. Police are way down on the list.
ReplyDeleteMost of the fatalities seem to be related to transportation.
The statistics I am reading are that there have been 678 people who have gone into space as of 2023. The US has lost 19, plus 3 more who died in a launch pad fire. That figures up to a 2.8% fatality rate. The Russians have lost 4 cosmonauts, 3 in 1971, and 1 later. So the total number of people lost is not that large, but neither is the total number of people who have traveled into space. Not really great statistics. Evidently the insurance industry didn't think so either, since when one of the astronauts inquired about life insurance he was told that they don't insure astronauts. (I have to think that NASA insures them in some way)
ReplyDeleteThere are five different agencies involved with the space station, with people from 15 different countries. The level of cooperation with one another in close quarters is impressive.
DeleteAll of them were tested extensively for claustrophobia before joining the program. I would have flunked big time!
Jean said: “I think all of us take our faith into the workplace, Our Episcopal priest used to invite us to bring something from our work to the altar for a blessing.”
ReplyDeleteThe Reformation tried to emphasize the priesthood of all believers, that the common work of the baptized should be valued along with that of the clergy and religious. Theoretically Vatican II emphasized the universal call of holiness of all Christians.
In practice however, the recent efforts of many parishes to emphasize stewardship, the giving of time, talent, and treasure, especially the notion of tithing (giving a percentage of one’s salary to the church) has tended to work against viewing our labor as something we give to God and others.
When I was on pastoral council, I asked the RENEW group that met in my home what they thought about the parish’s attempt to have people decide what percentage of their income should go to the church. They were all against it! Most had horror stories of people they knew who had been exploited by TV Evangelicals with the pitch that God would more than make up for any money they donated.
Since most group members were older, many questioned income as basis for tithing, e.g. one widow of a physician was wealthy enough to send her son to Notre Dame. She and others viewed their generosity toward their children as part of stewardship.
Although we are sometimes encouraged to “offer up” our sufferings and disappointments we are rarely encouraged to offer to God all the good things that we do, except for those done for the church.
I had read William James “The PHD Octopus” and so regarded my own graduate education as a kind of necessary evil. I viewed my service to persons with mental illness as a great privilege, although I made far less than most psychologists of my age and position
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In the RENEW small groups we rarely discussed our work life. However, I did find in the Commonweal Local Community that most professionals saw a spiritual side to their work life. At one evening meeting which was mostly of men who had once studied for the priesthood or religious life, we all had the experience that “clericalism” had either motivated us to leave or had shoved us out.
We all found that our subsequent parish experiences were disappointing, however we had all found ways to make our professional lives a “ministry” that was far more satisfying than anything we had done in the parishes.
The offertory of the early Church was a very physical with people giving mostly things rather than money. The major cities had huge staffs of deacons to take care of this weekly redistribution of wealth. The role of the archdeacon who supervised all this was so important that archdeacons were often elected to be bishops.
At this time of Eucharist renewal which most emphasize is being place on take things away from Mass into our daily lives, perhaps an equal amount of time should be spent on the offering of our lives.
As a grade school kid I learned the Morning Offering; "O Jesus through the immaculate heart of Mary, I offer Thee my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass, throughout the world." I still say it; I think it is a good way to make the day a part of prayer.
DeleteI agree that too much emphasis on tithes and financial contributions is a turn-off. At the same time I realize that a parish needs to keep the lights on, and pay the custodian and secretary, and make necessary repairs and upkeep. So there's always going to be "finance talks" and fund raisers.
I did try, when I was working, to make the effort I put onto the job part of my Christian life.
The three parishes which are part of our "family of parishes" put out a joint bulletin now. Sometimes I am entertained by the fund raisers on the St. Stanislaus' page. They are the smallest and most rural of the parishes, located about ten miles down the road. A couple of items lately: " Holy Name Society tractor drive and poker challenge. $20 dollars a tractor, includes one poker hand. $10 for extra hands. Meal for free will offering at the end." And last week, "Holy Name Society blue rock shoot". I have to give their Holy Name Society credit for creativity!
Delete"I agree that too much emphasis on tithes and financial contributions is a turn-off."
DeleteThe Rebuilt series of books has garnered a lot of attention among parish professionals as a way to grow a Catholic faith community. One of their recommended practices, which runs contrary to the usual parish practice, is to not shy away from talking about money. They argue that quite a few of Jesus's words and parables were about money in some way, and whenever money comes up in the Gospel, they take the opportunity to talk about how their parish uses the parish donations for good works. They see it as one of the keys to their success.
By contrast, most parishes do a fundraising series, called the Catholic Appeal, for 1-2 weeks per year. They do it during the time when the homily would normally be preached, and usually little or no connection is made between the Gospel and the request for donations. It is pretty painful. I've had to lead it from time to time. But without it, the parish can't continue as a running enterprise.
I have never thought a yearly appeal from the parish was offensive or amiss, especially since the parish was elderly and half of them wintered in Florida. Money coming in peak heating months was meager. They seem to be booming now with all the new people geeked up about the current priest. Will be interesting to see how many stay when he leaves.
DeleteMany years ago, I read something encouraging people to view their jobs and families as monasteries of a sort, places where you were to exercise the virtues of charity, patience, courage, purity, humility, honesty, and diligence. Good for the betterment of your soul and for the improved harmony of all.
ReplyDelete