Three articles that you should read

First read:

Christianity Lite by Mary Eberstadt. Even though she paints with a pretty broad brush, I think she has the major pieces in place. I've often wondered why those who don't really believe don't have the honesty to just leave?

Then fight your way through:

Bishops: it's time to cut loose by the aptly-named Kate Childs Graham, a woefully immature rant by this "writer" for the not-so-aptly-named & often heretical National Catholic Reporter (No, the NC Register is the good one!). Note the opening reference to her "partner" & further note her "credentials" at the end. Again, why don't you & your ilk just leave?

Finally - or if you only have time to read one:

The Prince of this World & the Evangelization of Culture by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M., Cap. Actually, you should read anything & everything that Abp. Chaput writes! He's the Bishop Sheen of today, if you ask me.

Going to Mass in Shanghai

Greetings Loyal Reader(s),

I've just returned from a 2 week stint in the Orient, & since blogs are frequently blocked there, I have not been able to post anything. Previously, I gave my experience of going to an English-language Mass in Shanghai at St. Peter's church (here). This time I give my impressions from a very different worship experience.


Shanghai's Catholic Cathedral of St. Ignatius is a beautiful, red brick, neo-gothic church that was built about a hundred years ago (though there seems to have been a Jesuit-run church on the site since the 1600's when the land was granted to the Church by a local nobelman & convert to Catholicism), but was almost completely razed during the "cultural revolution." It's been rebuilt to some degree, but it still needs a lot of work. There is an on-going project led by a Jesuit artist to replace all the stained-glass windows that were knocked out by the revolutionaries with new ones in a more modern Chinese style. The rose windows are in place - with the Sacred & Immaculate Hearts facing each other across the transcept - & about half of the others in the nave. They are lovely, but some of the designs are a little abstract to my eyes. Still, the splashes of color that illuminate the building's interior is a preaching of the Gospel all its own. There is also some beautiful artwork on display, especially in the side chapels: paintings, statues, relief carvings, & other ornamentation that are either escaped the revolution or were more recent additions.

The cathedral's very good choir & pipe organ were in full use during the 7:30am liturgy I attended. The Ordinaries (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, etc.) are sung in hauntingly beautful Chinese melodies, although some of the chants & hymns begin with something familiar from an old Latin hymn - like the beginning of Credo III - but then depart into their own styles & melodies, as Chinese language typically expresses the same thought in a much shorter phrase. Not only the choir, but everyone I could observe sang & sang loudly! Since attendance was probably about 1,000 people, you can imagine the sound resonating throughout the nave & surely even spilling out into the nearby streets. Many older Chinese Catholics have really suffered hardship for the Faith & they seem genuinely grateful just to have the opportunity to come to Mass.

Compared to the English-language Mass, where about half those in attendance were Westerners, I only saw 4 at this liturgy, including me. Most in attendance were just regular working Chinese folks, & there was no element of "canned for tourists" on display. What was a bit conspicuous by its absence was the presence of children. There were some young mothers with babies in attendance, & a group of children bring up the gifts, but there still seemed to be a dearth of young folks for a community of this size. I observed the same care & attention that the priests gave to the liturgy's rubrics that I noticed at the English-language Mass at St. Peter's in November.

There was no heat in the building, so it was as cold or colder inside than outside, which was around freezing that early in the morning. I got a strong sense that this was how going to church must have been before modern times. Everyone still bundled up in their heavy coats, scarves, mittens, & caps. Plenty of destitute & crippled line up outside of the gates to the church grounds, I suppose because they know that Christians are generous. If a beggar can't get help at a Catholic church, then I'd say we've lost the plot somewhere. I always give them something. I noticed one young man sitting there with both of his hands & forearms missing - something I could easily imagining happening in the extremely unsafe working conditions I've observed in Chinese factories & worshops. His little beggar's cup had a few coins in it, & he looked up in amazement & gratitude at me as I dropped a 100 RMB note in it - about $15. I just wanted to let him know somehow that I still recognized him as a person - someone as valuable & worthy of respect as I was, probably more.

The following Sunday I went back to the cathedral for the 7:30am Mass to find that the bishop himself was there! I suspect he may have been an auxilary due to his relatively youthful appearance. The day's Gospel was of the wedding at Cana, a "manifestation" of Jesus as God, which in the old calendar is traditionally coupled with the appearance of the Magi & the Lord's baptism all on the Epiphany. The bishop spoke at length in Chinese on the role of Mary in the Church & in the life of Christians. Of course I could not understand the homily, but I noticed that the names Maria & Jesus were frequently coupled together. It seemed to me that the Chinese are culturally prone to a kind ritualism that leads to magic & that the bishop's word helped to put things in proper perspective: Mary as the mother & intercessor that always leads us to the Son. The choir was really on the ball for this celebration, as tends to happen when the bishop shows up. Interestingly, these was no collection during the Offertory at either Mass, the reason I imagine is that this church receives its revenue from the government, being a state-approved church. Hopefully, this situation between the Vatican & the Chinese government will be resolved one day soon (see the Pope's 2007 Letter to the Faithful in China).

A renovation of the church building's exterior began since the previous week's visit, no doubt as part of a general overhaul of the city underway for the 2010 World Expo being held in Shanghai this year. Putting on the best face to the outside world, no doubt. Still, the Church is alive & well in China, despite all its difficulties past & present. Its future challenge, as China continues its meteoric rise, is to call a people intoxicated by thoughts of wealth, power, & pleasure to a humble & self-sacrificing faith rooted in genuine love: of God, of neighbor, & of self. Perhaps in this way, China will become a kind of mirror in which the West can find its way back to Faith.

I was delighted by my experience of worshipping with the Catholic faithful of Shanghai's cathedral, & hope that I can return again sometime.

Mary's House

George Weigel writes an interesting column for the Denver Catholic Register, often about the intersection of faith & public policy; but as the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God draws near, consider this article about the 50th anniversary of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., an amazing place I was fortunate to visit this year (see Here).

A Catholic friend once mentioned that his Protestant friend told him that "The building doesn't matter; the church is the people." While that's true enough in it's place, it need not diminish the importance of the physical place of worship. In fact, to exclusively hold the former view is an error.

A church building certainly has it's practical aspects, from providing a safe & comfortable space to gather to providing catechetical & evangelical opportunities through art & architecture. However, the primary purpose of the building is to provide a place for the sacred assembly, the ecclesia, to offer liturgy - the privileged meeting place of the faithful with their God. Here he manifests himself to us, not only in our minds or hearts, but physically present among us in the Eucharist.

If this were not so, then the Protestant would be right & the building wouldn't matter. But since it is so, since we are made present to the entire Paschal Mystery & Christ Jesus himself comes among us physically in substance if not in appearance, then the place where this happens is consecrated - set aside only for this (this is also why concerts or other purely social functions should not be held in the Nave & why the Eucharistic Chapel is not a cry room). To think otherwise is a tacit endorsement of dualism, a heretical notion that our only concern is the spirit & that matter is a hindrance to be diminished or sloughed off. As embodied creatures, nothing could be further from the truth. Things matter.

A sacred space, like a Catholic church or cemetery - or any sacramental for that matter - is a place ripped away from this fallen world & claimed by God for his Kingdom through the Church; it becomes part of the New Creation. I'm sure that every Mass held on Jeep hood in some distant battlefield had a rite to sanctify that spot before the liturgy was conducted.

But I've said enough. If you have a chance, make a visit to the Shrine. If you can't, you can still support it financially. You will be blessed with various gifts of CD's of beautiful choral music & calendars of sacred art throughout the year, & as a true communion of saints, the priests there will pray for your intentions. How important is this monumental, but living, embodiment of the Holy Faith in our nation's capitol at this time!

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Click here for the Shrine's website.

"The Liturgy is the 1st Priority. Everything else comes later."

Pope Benedict XVI's 2009 Christmas homily...
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Dear Brothers and Sisters!
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"A child is born for us, a son is given to us" (Is 9:5).
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What Isaiah prophesied as he gazed into the future from afar, consoling Israel amid its trials and its darkness, is now proclaimed to the shepherds as a present reality by the Angel, from whom a cloud of light streams forth: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11). The Lord is here. From this moment, God is truly "God with us".
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No longer is he the distant God who can in some way be perceived from afar, in creation and in our own consciousness. He has entered the world. He is close to us.
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The words of the risen Christ to his followers are addressed also to us: "Lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age" (Mt 28:20). For you the Saviour is born: through the Gospel and those who proclaim it, God now reminds us of the message that the Angel announced to the shepherds. It is a message that cannot leave us indifferent.
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If it is true, it changes everything. If it is true, it also affects me. Like the shepherds, then, I too must say: Come on, I want to go to Bethlehem to see the Word that has occurred there. The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received. What is it that these first witnesses of God's incarnation have to tell us?
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The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch they could hear the message precisely because they were awake. We must be awake, so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people. What does this mean?
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The principal difference between someone dreaming and someone awake is that the dreamer is in a world of his own. His "self" is locked into this dreamworld that is his alone and does not connect him with others. To wake up means to leave that private world of one's own and to enter the common reality, the truth that alone can unite all people.
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Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world. Selfishness, both individual and collective, makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another. Awake, the Gospel tells us. Step outside, so as to enter the great communal truth, the communion of the one God. To awake, then, means to develop a receptivity for God: for the silent promptings with which he chooses to guide us; for the many indications of his presence.
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There are people who describe themselves as "religiously tone deaf." The gift of a capacity to perceive God seems as if it is withheld from some. And indeed our way of thinking and acting, the mentality of today's world, the whole range of our experience is inclined to deaden our receptivity for God, to make us "tone deaf" towards him. And yet in every soul, the desire for God, the capacity to encounter him, is present, whether in a hidden way or overtly. In order to arrive at this vigilance, this awakening to what is essential, we should pray for ourselves and for others, for those who appear "tone deaf" and yet in whom there is a keen desire for God to manifest himself.
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The great theologian Origen said this: if I had the grace to see as Paul saw, I could even now (during the Liturgy) contemplate a great host of angels (cf. in Lk 23 :9). And indeed, in the sacred liturgy, we are surrounded by the angels of God and the saints. The Lord himself is present in our midst. Lord, open the eyes of our hearts, so that we may become vigilant and clear-sighted, in this way bringing you close to others as well!
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Let us return to the Christmas Gospel. It tells us that after listening to the Angel's message, the shepherds said one to another: "'Let us go over to Bethlehem' they went at once" (Lk 2:15f.). "They made haste" is literally what the Greek text says. What had been announced to them was so important that they had to go immediately?
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In fact, what had been said to them was utterly out of the ordinary. It changed the world. The Saviour is born. The long-awaited Son of David has come into the world in his own city. What could be more important?
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No doubt they were partly driven by curiosity, but first and foremost it was their excitement at the wonderful news that had been conveyed to them, of all people, to the little ones, to the seemingly unimportant. They made haste they went at once.
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In our daily life, it is not like that. For most people, the things of God are not given priority, they do not impose themselves on us directly And so the great majority of us tend to postpone them.
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First we do what seems urgent here and now. In the list of priorities God is often more or less at the end. We can always deal with that later, we tend to think. The Gospel tells us: God is the highest priority. If anything in our life deserves haste without delay, then, it is God's work alone. The Rule of Saint Benedict contains this teaching: "Place nothing at all before the work of God (i.e., the divine office)".
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For monks, the Liturgy is the first priority. Everything else comes later. In its essence, though, this saying applies to everyone. God is important, by far the most important thing in our lives. The shepherds teach us this priority. From them we should learn not to be crushed by all the pressing matters in our daily lives. From them we should learn the inner freedom to put other tasks in second place however important they may be so as to make our way towards God, to allow him into our lives and into our time. Time given to God and, in his name, to our neighbour is never time lost. It is the time when we are most tr uly alive, when we live our humanity to the full.
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Some commentators point out that the shepherds, the simple souls, were the first to come to Jesus in the manger and to encounter the Redeemer of the world. The wise men from the East, representing those with social standing and fame, arrived much later. The commentators go on to say: this is quite natural. The shepherds lived nearby. They only needed to "come over" (cf. Lk 2:15), as we do when we go to visit our neighbours.
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The wise men, however, lived far away. They had to undertake a long and arduous journey in order to arrive in Bethlehem. And they needed guidance and direction. Today too there are simple and lowly souls who live very close to the Lord. They are, so to speak, his neighbours and they can easily go to see him.
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But most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us.
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We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger. In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him.
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But a path exists for all of us. The Lord provides everyone with tailor-made signals. He calls each one of us, so that we too can say: "Come on, 'let us go over' to Bethlehem to the God who has come to meet us."
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Yes indeed, God has set out towards us. Left to ourselves we could not reach him. The path is too much for our strength. But God has come down. He comes towards us. He has travelled the longer part of the journey. Now he invites us: come and see how much I love you. Come and see that I am here.
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Transeamus usque Bethlehem, the Latin Bible says. Let us go there! Let us surpass ourselves! Let us journey towards God in all sorts of ways: along our interior path towards him, but also along very concrete paths the Liturgy of the Church, the service of our neighbour, in whom Christ awaits us.
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Let us once again listen directly to the Gospel. The shepherds tell one another the reason why they are setting off: "Let us see this thing that has happened." Literally the Greek text says: "Let us see this Word that has occurred there." Yes indeed, such is the radical newness of this night: the Word can be seen. For it has become flesh. The God of whom no image may be made because any image would only diminish, or rather distort him this God has himself become visible in the One who is his true image, as Saint Paul puts it (cf. 2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15).
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In the figure of Jesus Christ, in the whole of his life and ministry, in his dying and rising, we can see the Word of God and hence the mystery of the living God himself. This is what God is like. The Angel had said to the shepherds: "This will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:12; cf. 2:16). God's sign, the sign given to the shepherds and to us, is not an astonishing miracle.
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God's sign is his humility. God's sign is that he makes himself small; he becomes a child; he lets us touch him and he asks for our love.
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How we would prefer a different sign, an imposing, irresistible sign of God's power and greatness! But his sign summons us to faith and love, and thus it gives us hope: this is what God is like. He has power, he is Goodness itself. He invites us to become like him.
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Yes indeed, we become like God if we allow ourselves to be shaped by this sign; if we ourselves learn humility and hence true greatness; if we renounce violence and use only the weapons of truth and love.
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Origen, taking up one of John the Baptist's sayings, saw the essence of paganism expressed in the symbol of stones: paganism is a lack of feeling, it means a heart of stone that is incapable of loving and perceiving God's love. Origen says of the pagans: "Lacking feeling and reason, they are transformed into stones and wood" (in Lk 22:9).
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Christ, though, wishes to give us a heart of flesh. When we see him, the God who became a child, our hearts are opened. In the Liturgy of the holy night, God comes to us as man, so that we might become truly human. Let us listen once again to Origen: "Indeed, what use would it be to you that Christ once came in the flesh if he did not enter your soul? Let us pray that he may come to us each day, that we may be able to say: I live, yet it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)" (in Lk 22:3).
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Yes indeed, that is what we should pray for on this Holy Night. Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, come to us! Enter within me, within my soul. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen.

Hear, O heavens, & give ear, O earth (Reprise)

Icons are wonderful. They are used for prayer & for teaching; hence they employ a certain standard “grammar” as to how stories are told & how things are portrayed, which makes entry into their mysteries more accessible. Most Catholics will recoil at this, but wild experimentation is forbidden, except for master iconographers who are able to progress this form of sacred art within the stream of Tradition. We must enter into their world, not twist & distort them to fit ours.

This particular icon is pretty easy to enter into. It is a “store-bought” Russian triptych of the Annunciation & the Nativity. There is a lot to ponder here.

With the doors closed, we see the angel Gabriel – the power of God – approaching Mary. Wings whooshing & feet striding, the angel carries the staff of God’s authority, his hand outstretched to impart an urgent message. The angel interrupts a surprised but receptive Mary while knitting, perhaps recalling Job 10:11+…

Thou didst clothe me with skin & flesh, & knit me together with bones & sinews. Thou hast granted me life & steadfast love; & thy care has preserved my spirit. Yet these things thou didst hide in thy heart; I know that this was thy purpose.

Kings David & Solomon look on from above. The promise God made to them to establish their house forever will be fulfilled in Mary’s child, born of the house of David. The closed doors are a reminder of how the Old Israel waited for the fulfillment of the Divine promises & the endless possibilities of the Divine Love.

As the triptych unfolds, so does the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation for us. There is much more to ponder here than is possible in this brief space.

Hear, O heavens, & give ear, O earth: the ox & ass of Isaiah 1 have finally found their master – the Lord of a new Creation. God has finally raised up a son among men that will not disown or rebel against him. The Blessed Mother rests on a curious red cushion, her head tilted in deference to her son. The child, wrapped in bands of cloth, lies in a sarcophagus-like – or is it an altar-like? – manger within the darkness of the cave – surely a prefigurement of the sacrificial death for which he was born to endure. Abp. Sheen says that Jesus was the only man who lived his life backwards: he died first to enter into a life of glory. So even here at his birth, the iconographer calls our attention to the death of Jesus. The lesson? As glorious as the Nativity is, it is not his birth through which we have our salvation.

The angels singing Gloria!, the astrologers bearing their gifts, & the shepherds herding their sheep all make their appearance. Did you notice that no one’s hands are visible? They are all hidden in the folds of their garments. Humility? Respect? Awe in the presence of the Divine?

Above, the spiritual realm breaks into the earthly one; a beam of grace descends on the child & provides the guiding light for all.

Rejoice, the Lord is near.

"God the Father of mercies has reconciled the world to himself..."

Advent is a time of preparation for the arrival of the king. Just as you would clean up your house in advance of the arrival of special guests for dinner, we should work even harder to prepare our souls to welcome the King of kings & Lord of lords. There are a lot of communal penance services around this time of year, & while these are fine things, remember that we fail to live up to our baptismal dignity as sons of God all year round, so we must train ourselves to seek the remedy all year round, if necessary.

Below is a rather long note I wrote to a friend who is interested in learning more about Christianity, but is put off by the differing beliefs & practices of the various groups who call themselves Christian. Their particular question had to do with confession of sins to a priest:

I wanted to explain a bit more to you about Confession. It is one of the seven sacraments of the Church, that it, a special channel of God's grace for those who receive it. Confession of sins was a Jewish tradition, "In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the wilderness of Judea... At that time Jerusalem, all Judea, & the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him & were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins (Mt 3:14)."

But the origin of the sacrament of Confession is Jesus himself, who gave it as a gift to the Church to continue for all time his very own ability to forgive sins. No one can forgive sins but God (and, of course, Christians believe that Jesus is God the Son), but God can forgive sinners who repent through his priests. It is not all sins that require this sacrament, but only the most serious sins like adultery, theft, murder, & the like. Sins such as being unkind to some or thinking impure thoughts can be remedied by prayer & acts of charity.

This gift of Jesus to his Church is also found in the Bible. After Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Sunday, he gave this power to his 12 astonished apostles when he said, "'As the Father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them & said to them, 'Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, & whose sins you retain are retained (Jn 20:21-23)." [Ed.: It logically follows that they would have no idea what to forgive or retain unless they actually witnesses the crime or, more likely, the sinner told them their sin.]

Although I'm sure many people have misused the gift of Confession by thinking they can do anything & then just go to confession (which is, by the way, a very great sin called presumption), I can tell you from my own experience that I have been able to overcome many difficult personal failings through this channel of grace, along with lots of prayer participation in the liturgy, fasting, & other acts of charity. It is also very humbling to have to tell another person the most horrible thoughts of the mind, desires of the soul, & acts of the body. God knows that we need to get this poison out of our system & gives us the means to do so, if we choose.

In ancient times, people would confess their sins to the bishop, who would usually impose a very sever penance, sometimes lasting years before the person was reconciled back to the community. It was very much a public happening back then. It is only since about the 10th century that confession to a priest in private began. After the confession, the priest gives the penitent a penance to perform to help right the wrong that was done & as a symbol making reparations to both his fellow man & to God. The penitent must also promise to do everything possible not to commit that sin again. Also, I have heard from priests that hearing the confessions of others makes them keenly aware of their own sins & increases their desire to become more holy.

I think you already know that a priest can never tell anyone anything that is revealed to them in the confessional, even if they have to go to jail or are threatened with execution. The history of the Church is filled with examples of priest saints who were martyred for refusing to tell something that was revealed to them in the confessional. If a priest did reveal something, he would likely be removed from the priesthood (though he technically remains a priest forever) & he would himself have committed a very great sin.

Finally, I would mention that many other Protestants feel that because they are "saved" that there is nothing they can do to lose their salvation. They believe that once they profess Jesus as their Lord, then they are guaranteed heaven no matter what they do afterward. The Church has always taught that we have the ability to turn our back on God & separate ourselves from him. Being "saved" isn't something that happens at one moment in time, but a continuous struggle throughout one's life to remain faithful to God all the way to the moment of death.

Protestants may say that someone who really believes won't do anything sinful, but I think we all know that that is simply not true. Even though our souls are remade new when we are baptized, the tendency to sin remains our entire lives. Protestants often say that someone who continues to sin after professing Jesus as their Lord is really a "false believer." It seems that if they believed once but later could be a false believer, then no one really knows whether they are saved or not. Protestants really have no solution to this problem, & many will continue to do whatever they want, thinking everything is right between them & God without realizing that they have actually turned their backs on him.

If nothing else, the sacrament of Confession & the Catholic practice of confessing sins to a priest at least keeps a healthy sense of sin alive in our conscience. Most importantly, it is also a beautiful gift that God has given us to raise us back up after we fall.

Let it snow!

It doesn't snow too much here in Tennessee, so when it does - & sticks - we make a big deal of it. This was wet, sticky snow - perfect for making a snowman. It also stuck to the branches beautifully, making some striking winter scenery.

The critters were loving it, too. The birds were really flocking to the feeders, I guess since their usual fare is under the snow now. The cardinals don't seem to migrate during the winter - I saw them all winter last year & are certainly still around now. There's something very Christmasy about a bright red cardinal set against a snowy backdrop.

The dogs enjoyed playing in the snow. Little Max loves the cold weather, but the Labs, Ellie & Zoe, aren't quite sure. They were just glad we all got to be outside together for a while. I let Max out to help me roll up the balls for the snowman, but he thought the game was to smash them apart as fast as I could roll them together, so I chucked his little fuzzy butt back into the backyard.

Alas, all things must pass. The snow is already gone from the ground, & Mr. Snowman isn't looking so good.

Oh well. It was fund while it lasted!