Catechetical and Parochial Concerns

I would like to mention that my pastor and I had a great talk last night with the proprietor and a few of the wait staff (all family) of a local Italian restaurant about why people have stopped coming to church. We focused on the youth, specifically. Hopefully, we will see this issue come closer and closer to the main focus of the Church in America as time goes on and the problem continues to get worse. Here's the experience of a Catholic youth (me):

Despite whatever you may hear from some groups in the field, I don't get the impression that there is a resurgence of youth interest in the Church. Not yet, anyway. I think a lot of that has to do with the nature of contemporary youth. Yes, contemporary youth spend a lot of time deeply abosrbed in a world of pseudo-communication and electronic media. However, they are also a skeptical, inquisitve bunch of people who don't appreciate being force-fed what they can plainly see to be a bunch of malarkey. Most of the adults working in the youth and catechetical fields like to talk about the "glory days" of the Baltimore Catechism and nuns who would crack you upside the head with a ruler if you got out of line.

I can see, very clearly, the underlying thesis of that nostalgia: First, it's a shame we can't just force kids to memorize articles of the faith and regurgitate them on command. Second, it's a shame we can't use physical force to scare them into obedience. I do not look at my grandparents' generation as the glory days of the Church in America. The people who lament our present time complain that kids today have no faith. I, on the other hand, believe that, if they had to be forced into memorization and scared into compliance, then my grandparents' generation may not have had much faith, either. Let's face it, they went to Mass because they had to, and they followed all the rules (and memorized every question in the Catechism) mostly because some old Irish (often) nun scared them with stories of hell and a vengeful God looking to catch them in slip-up and condemn them to hell. Were those really the good old days?

No, today's kids represent a true challenge. How do you get them to be interested in the faith, to want to learn more about it, and to understand its inner workings and the answers to the dozens of questions that they ought to be asking, all of which begin with the word "why"? How do you get them to care? How do you get them to live exemplary Christian, ethical lives without threatening them with eternal damnation? That's the challenge. I think we live in a fabulous time, because I think we live in a time that calls for a true reform. Whoever comes up with the solution to the problems faced by this day and age will go down in history with the ranks of Benedict of Nursia, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Aquinas, Pius V, Pius X, and a score of other Church-reformers who saw the challenges of their day and owned up to them.

Unfortunately, youth and catechetical ministry are not the only problem. A lot of people ask me, "Why aren't there any vocations today?" Well, first of all, I'm not so sure that the vocations aren't there; it may be the case that they're being ignored. However, I do like to tell people that there is no one reason. The lack of vocations comes from an entire society that is crippled and disfigured. I'll talk to you about that some other time. For now, one might also observe that part of the problem is the nature of parish ministry:

None of the priests I know is an accountant, yet they are solely responsible for the accurate keeping of the parish's financial books (sometimes working with budgets of millions of dollars). None of the priests I know is a licensed therapist, and yet they are often the only people asked for advice. If that advice fails or makes a certain emotional problem worse, it is not unheard of for someone to threaten to sue for giving unlicensed therapy. None of the priests I know is a contractor, engineer, or architect, and yet they are solely responsible for the state of their parish buildings. When the foundation settles and the walls crumble, it's the pastor's sole responsibility. None of the priests I know is actually trained in business or management, and yet most of their day is consumed with exactly such tasks. The point I'm getting at is this: Priests, in general, are trained in only two things, philosophy and theology (including liturgical practica). In other words, priests have little opportunity to truly exercise the fields in which they've been trained, and are (unfairly, if you ask me) constantly required to show proficiency where there could be no such reasonable expectation.

Ask almost any priest, and you will find that they are dissatisfied with the fact that they are very often unable to truly exercise their sacramental ministry. It's because they get caugt up in worrying about flower arrangements, electric bills, etc., etc. Priests are unnecessarily pulled in too many directions. Many of them look forward to retirment as the day when the can finally start being "real priests," whose principle ministries involve what? Bringing the sacraments and the Gospel to the people of Christ. That's why we have priests, and, too often, that's not waht priests do. As their numbers continue to decline, this system is not going to be sustainable for very long.

I would like to close with the words of our current Holy Father, "The priest is not asked to be an expert in economics, construction or politics. He is expected to be an expert in the spiritual life."

Panem de Caelo Praestitisti Nobis!

Well, here we are at one of my most favorite feasts of the entire liturgical year, Corpus Christi. Unfortunately, my attempts to brings the traditional practice of a Eucharistic Procession to my weekend parish (St. Rocco's of Pittston) were unsuccessful, both because of a scheduling miscommunication, and because, basically I dropped the ball in getting the word out. Nevertheless, I greatly enjoyed watching the procession from the Lateran to Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. With any luck, I will be able to get this off the ground next year, on a smaller and more realistic scale.

The AARP Guide to Pills

If you'll excuse a brief rant that has absoutely nothing to do with religion or seminary life, I would like to recount to you the tale of a young seminarian who once ventured on a quest to Barnes and Noble, the Wal-Mart of the book sales industry (and I mean that with all that it could possibly imply). On said quest, it was the duty of the young seminarian to acquire for his prefect a legendary work by Edward Gilmartin on priesthood and the Eucharist, with an unknown title.

Behold, having sojourned stealthily into the heart of the black realm of Mordor--I mean, Barnes and Noble--the young seminarian was told by the evil sorceress at the "help desk" that no such title was currently in print. Then, at that exact moment, the seminarian caught sight of something truly grotesque:

There, on a bookshelf, surrounded by other books, sat, seemingly harmless, a book which bore the title, The AARP Guide to Pills. As if gazing upon the cursed Egyption Book of the Dead, the seminarian cringed and felt a chill shoot through him all the way down to the bone....

Silly narratives aside, I was indeed appalled at the prospect that there could even be such a book. Immediately, I wondered how many distinct drugs such a book might discuss. The answer? Over 1,200. Twelve hundred. That's absurd. First of all, it seems to me that this is just the kind of book that enables certain do-it-yourself-minded people to believe that they will have to ability to contradict their physicians and pharmacists when it comes to medication. That's about as useful, in my opinion, as having stayed at a Holiday Inn Express...

My second gripe is that this, to me, is just a sign of a tremendously over-medicated, pill-popping culture in which 250 miligrams of the newest unpronounceable and side-effect-ridden chemical is sure to solve all of your problems. When my grandfathers were alive, they had exactly that mindset about hooch, and it didn't do either of them much good. I can't imagine that just because a doctor told you that it will cure what ails ya' makes it a good thing to put into your body. Doctors. Let's not forget that they're the same group of people, that upper eschelon of American society, that used to make recommendations about which brand of cigarettes was the best.

It just really burns me that the AARP, in its profound charity and compassion for the elderly among us, would exploit (and that's exactly what I think it is) them to the tune of $17.95 for a book about 1,200 medications, the information about which will lead to--what, exactly?

"No, doc. I don't need Fosamax, because it interferes with the Soylent Green I'm taking." You know, for as much as I may not place infallibility in the hands of doctors, I place a lot more of it in their hands than in those of their patients. No, I'm not saying that a patient should be uninformed about the chemicals they're putting into their bodies at a physician's direction. However, I am saying that having knowledge about that kind of thing, which could only be a cursory and barely-informed knowledge, isn't necessarily going to help you. Don't buy a book that gives you the "ability" to contradict your prescription-happy MD. Instead, talk to him, discuss your treatment, and understand the whole picture.

Be Not Afraid

So, as they say out there in average-everyday-land (hmm, the Heidegger reference may be lost on some of you), it's been "like" a month since I've posted anything, and I have no adequate excuse for disappointing you like that. So, I'm going to apologize: "Mom, and the other three people who read this, I'm sorry it's been so long."

My self-effacement aside, finals are over. Hallelujah! (Forgive the non-Latin spelling.) With my second semester of my second year now behind me, it amazes me to consider the possibility that I may actually be half-way done with my four years here at "'De Oblates" in Laflin. More amazing, that means I'm about 22.2222...% finished with my formation for the priesthood as a whole. Wow. I feel pretty good about the past semester, I enjoyed myself, I got closer to some friends at Scranton, and I think I did well. Judging by the grades I received throughout the semester, I think I have to have gotten an A in "C+ Mohr's" class. That man is about as evil as hopscotch. I'm really not sure how he got his bad reputation. Also, since I know you've been wondering, I cannot explain or define phenomenology to you. Not even a little.

In other news, Fr. Buttini has returned to the hospital, though all indications indicate (well, what else would they do, right?) that he will be coming home tomorrow morning. This time, it was cellulitis on his leg, which, from my years as a physician, I know is not nearly as serious as his first episode.

Things here at the seminary are cooking along just nicely. The remodeling of the dining room, which has been going on since February, is almost complete. Rest assured I'll provide you some before and after shots when all of the work is finally done.

I'd like to take a moment (just sit right there....wow, a Fresh Prince of Bel Air allusion for all the other folks out there who grew up in the '90s) to discuss age and aging, if you don't mind. It has occurred to me recently that I am starting to be older than I used to be. I know, that sounds tautological, and, indeed, each of us is always older than he used to be. Nevertheless, I mean "older" in a much more significant way than with reference to objective clock-time since the moment of my birth. Rather, I feel myself moving into a completely different phase of life. What motivates this rumination is my sister's birthday (this past Sunday), on which she turned seventeen. Seventeen! My little sister is seventeen! That's insane. I mean, she's now legally able to purchase copies of Seventeen at the grocery store! In September, my brother will be nineteen, and, in October, I will be twenty-one. Imagine, I'm now moving into that enigmatic epoch of human life in which my age requires a hyphen. It's a crisis, that's for sure. Since nearly all of my readers have already climbed this particular mountain (some of you many, many years ago), I guess I don't need to dwell on it. The essence of my thought here is: wow, in a few short months, I'll be twenty-one and able, at long last, to rent a car on my own. Not what you were expecting, but, then again, that's what I try for.

It may be of interest to you that I have recently updated the OSJ PA Province's website to include my favorite color. Not that there was anything wrong with the old look, just that it didn't particularly float my boat anymore. I also wanted to create a greater contrast between our website and the OSJ CA's website, from which much of our layout had been shamelessly stolen. Feel free to let me know if it was a monumental mistake, and, if so, perhaps I'll consider taking another three weeks to change it all back again. Of course, since most of you come to my blog from the OSJ PA homepage, perhaps you already knew...

Final thought: I'm thinking about starting a vlog, just to make myself that much more of a nerd and, possibly, to spread my "message" to that many more people in this world. Given the success of vloggers like Phil DeFranco and James @ War, both of whose shows I have recently caught on to, it may actually be possible for me to be viewed by several dozens of people of the course of many months. I don't usually think from a marketing perspective, since I have absolutely no formal training, but it seems to me that marketing is more effective when it reaches more people. And you can quote me on that.

Till next time, keep looking up....

(Wait, "keep looking up"? Did he really just use Jack Horkheimer's sign-off from The Star Gazer? Who references Jack Horkheimer on his blog, honestly? Who even watches a weekly show about back-yard astronomy that only runs for five minutes? This dude is weird.)