Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

Several scholars have written books recently about the place of the Church in the world with regard to Vatican II. Some say that the effects of the “Protestant” Reformation were largely unintended. It is true, for example, that Martin Luther went to his death saying that he never intended to start another church. Politics got involved in the dispute, as always happens, and the struggle over who had the power of the universities in Europe at that time became the motive for the Thirty Years’ War that sealed the division of denominationalism.

Some say that Vatican II actually began with the French Revolution, when Church leaders, those corrupt as well as those not corrupt, were rounded up and put to death by the mob. This watershed event, the struggle between Catholic and reformed Christian monarchs caught in a new struggle with a dawning “enlightenment” of
post-Christianity, marked the beginning of the Church’s divestment of temporal power, finally with the loss of the Papal States. Vatican II was the first time that the Church soberly looked at herself as an institution without a temporal kingdom, and sought to clarify what it meant to make a bridge (literally, “pontiff”) between the world and the Kingdom not of this world. She sought to self-identify as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, in the world, but not of the world, without the encumbrances of secular politics.

As much as Europeans might not like to admit it, I think this process needed the witness of the American Experiment to take place. Principles of democracy and equality, religious liberty and separation of Church and State had not really been tried before. Please don’t misunderstand, I believe that Church and State are such that they cannot be mutually exclusive in certain ways as long as people of religion are considered among the citizens. But there is a healthy separation
that must be in place for religious liberty truly to be religious liberty for all, and not just for some. Liberty must be cherished and protected, but religion must also be supported and nurtured.

Looking around today it is a rare occurrence to find a religion existing independently of state government or political power. And religions are at their least authentic expression while being driven by a government. Wherever a particular religion is promoted as the national religion, you will find discrimination, the possibility of forced conversions and, especially where the abuse of power goes unchallenged, extreme abuses and crimes claiming religion as justification. The
reality is that the actual religion has little or nothing to do with these extreme practices, but the government in power has developed a culture with its own propaganda and subsequent history, so it is exceedingly difficult to uncover the truth. Such were aspects of Christianity a millennium ago, to which Vatican II is a stark contrast today.

In the same way, some of us hope for world religions to experience the same self-discovery of their faith and culture in the American context, where religion has the rare chance to exist free from political power. We need to work together so as to let this example shine to other parts of the world where people still know the
oppression of political systems that define their religions and prevent peaceful coexistence. The American Experiment can still shine a light on what is possible. Islam and Hinduism, even some branches of Christianity, have a chance here in the United States to breathe fresh air and learn their traditions free from imposed political ideologies that would otherwise twist and distort their practice.

In such an environment, we might even be able to progress beyond mere tolerance to respect. According to all the relationships we have formed interreligiously here in the U.S., I can tell you that I know of not one event when these abuses, murders, terrorist activities and fear have not been condemned by our interreligious
brothers and sisters.

We do, however, have the ability to sustain the hate and intolerance. With broad strokes it is easy to identify the enemy and lump all people of a particular profile into that category. This is when I call upon all Christians to do the uniquely Christian thing, the one thing that makes us different. If we truly have an enemy, we must love them. We must do good for them, as we would do for a friend. The practice of compassion and loving kindness, which is shared by all religions, is a good starting place. Then, let us use encouragement in friendship as we go about living this American Experiment together.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

This week I am glad to announce to you some of the ideas that our Laudato si’ discussion group is ready to propose to the parish for consideration as a response to Pope Francis. You will find our ideas listed on pages 8-9 of today’s bulletin.

You will notice that one of the ways our parish is seeking to grow our community into a place where people know each other and are known is by encouraging your family’s inclusion in the Parish Photo Directory. People can feel welcome by getting to know who is sitting next to them in church. I ask you to do it. As it stands right now, only about 350 families will be represented (500 years from now they will think we are only a small parish)—the photographers are scheduled up to Thanksgiving with only 6% of appointments taken. I think we can add more if there is interest.

At the heart of the encyclical is not nature for nature’s own sake. Nature is God’s creation and we must honor it, but it was made by God for a particular purpose. Pope Francis says that God made the earth as the place where he intends to encounter mankind. To destroy the place is to destroy the meeting. Listen to what he says
about how creation is made for the Eucharist:

“The sacraments are a privileged way in which  nature is taken up by God to become a means of  mediating supernatural life. Through our worship  of God, we are invited to embrace the world on a  different plane. Water, oil, fire and colors are taken  up in all their symbolic power and incorporated in our act of praise. In the Eucharist, we find its  greatest exaltation. God himself became man and gave himself as food for his creatures. The Lord choose to reach our intimate depths through a fragment of matter. He came not from above, but  from within. [How absolutely beautiful is that  thought?] The Eucharist joins heaven and earth.  The Eucharist is a source of light and motivation  for our concerns for the environment, directing us  to be stewards of all creation” (233).

One of the women in our group wrote this:

“Reflecting, I came to realize that if we allowed God to do what he had intended, that is, if we allowed him to be in charge, things might kind of take care of themselves. For example, if you cut yourself, the body starts immediately to clot and stop the bleeding. The body is always repairing itself. As for nature: While I was waiting at the light to turn into the supermarket, I noticed the “weeds” growing up out of the tons of cement. It was one of those “moments.” To realize the power of God to have his creation growing up through tons of cement. That he is always trying to make things right, and we are preventing it. It made me sad to think just how much we have destroyed …”

Another parishioner wrote this:

“Pope Francis has inspired me to see outside of political party alliances and focus on the teachings of the Church and everything you just said in your bulletin. After all these years I realized that neither political party truly represents the compassion of Christ or represents the sanctity of life from conception to natural death (fair wages, etc.) and I am moved by the Holy Spirit through the Pope to share this with the world. I look forward to learning how I can help our parish though the political/financial controls that have consumed us  as I also continue to grow. I know this is the truth  although a hard one for many to open their eyes to. It takes true grace to question oneself and change.”

I am so grateful for all who are willing to look around and see the world with new eyes. “All is gift” (St. Ignatius), and “all is grace” (Dorothy Day). Until we are able to see the beauty that is in a blade of grass we won’t begin to understand the love of God. It is my conviction that our world doesn’t care for our world today because they do not know the love of God staring at them from every blade of grass. And only then the tree that passes now from the green of ordinary time to the red of martyrdom, a dying that gives witness to the new life of resurrection at Eastertime. I would imagine the voice of God to be more beautiful than, or maybe the combination total of,
every midnight and bird and poem and storm, Brahms’ “Requiem” and sunrise, all in an instant.

Pope Francis puts it rather soberly:

We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it. We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty. It is time to acknowledge that light-hearted superficiality has done us no good. When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment (229).

Let us care. God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

As I write this article tonight, we have just returned from the special Gala Dinner given in honor of Bishop Loverde on his 50th Anniversary of Priesthood. Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception and Holy Cross Academy were represented by a table of senior staff members.

As we were driving home, we were commenting on the importance of such events. For the life of our diocese, as our third bishop, Bishop Loverde has been a remarkable leader, whose example of service has deepened and grown the outreach of our diocese to open hearts and make Jesus known to them. He has been for our parish a good friend, always supporting with his presence and genuinely interested in our family of Saint Mary. Under Bishop Loverde’s care, our parish has seen remarkable  accomplishments as well. Such events provide a corporate memory for our community that is so important as we offer our gratitude and pray for the future leaders of our Church.

Included here is a smaller version of the ad that we will be running in the Arlington Herald this week to honor him. It features a photograph of him anointing our new altar at our Mass of Dedication on November 22, 2010, nearly five years ago.

Bishop Loverde is, for me, an inspiration of how authentic ministry looks. He has given himself repeatedly to our diocese, to an extent that would seem physically impossible even for a young man in most circumstances. At times he will share the reality of fatigue, of frustration, of real challenges, but never as a complaint. It seems to work for him in such a way that he comes through the challenge with greater energy than before. He is always there with a smile, asking how you are, and really wanting to know. As we have learned in the Called and Gifted program, this is how you can discern authentic gifts: no matter what they demand of you, if the gift is real and you are using it effectively, you will be more energized afterward than before.

If you are discerning a ministry in the parish, this is a good lesson for you, too. Right ministry gives you life, in the same way a good homily gives you hope and encourages you to have the courage to go forward and try harder. Right ministry, in the end, asks two questions that demand an answer. The first is, after I’m done, am I closer to Christ? Or farther away? The second is similar, but even more important: After I’m done, have I had something to do with making Christ more present? Is Christ more present to those whom I have served?

I chose the text in the ad to the left very carefully, they are words of Pope Francis at the Chrism Mass in Rome the first year he was Pope. He told the priests at the Mass that, to be authentic, they had to be witnesses and mediators of the nearness of God to all those they came into contact with. Not just to help people call him to mind, but to make his nearness palpable, immediate, here and now. God’s presence.

Thomas Merton is quoted saying that, second only to the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, the next most important place where you will encounter the real presence of Jesus is in the person who is standing in front of you.

God bless you.

 Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

Last week about 25 of us gathered for our first of three meetings to discuss and respond to Pope Francis’ encyclical on Care  for the Earth, Laudato si’. One of the great things that happens in a large parish like ours is that you discover such diversity of backgrounds and knowledge of people who come together, people who represent such different disciplines as  environmental sciences, farming, teaching, economics, conservation and weather. Then there’s people like me who get to learn from all of you.

Somebody corrected me, as previously I had referred to this encyclical as the Pope’s document “on the environment,” and I realize it is such an error that I need to print a correction! It is about the environment, in part, but this simplification has led many to decide they can dismiss it as a document merely about climate change, words that boil up so much political controversy over already-formed alliances. I believe sides have divided our culture over this issue for personal gain, without really  looking at it. In our day we have allowed real moral issues to become so aligned with politics that it seems people don’t even consider the objective reality of them without the lens of partisan affiliations. Early in our discussion last week, we decided to leave the words climate change aside and look at what the Pope is really saying. He says so much more.

It came up in our discussion that some say the Pope is a Marxist. Another political label meant to distract attention  from the reality of which he speaks. It is true he speaks out of his own experience (how could he not?) of the struggle he knew all his life with South American totalitarian regimes who had no compassion, no mercy for human persons. But he spent his visit to our country not calling us out and condemning us for being a free market society built on hard work and well-earned success, but challenging us to use its fruitfulness for the good, and leave behind the part that can destroy us spiritually and culturally, to avoid what destroys the fragile balance of God’s creation given to us as  stewards, meant to be preserved, nurtured, valued.

He does say often that politics and economics so dominate the discussion that what we do today—in all spheres of our lives and the life of our planet—has more to do with the bottom line and cost per unit than it does with the dignity of workers, their right to a fair wage, the promotion of peoples and the care of the earth. Would we not rather get things cheap (especially the things we don’t really need) than pay what it costs to give someone a good paying job? Maybe we wouldn’t do this consciously; Pope Francis is saying that we have gotten to the point that the people who work for $5 a day in different countries in the world aren’t even remembered as a part of the system anymore.

You don’t have to travel very far to witness personally the damage done to fragile ecosystems. The health of our bay is a subject of great concern, much more than just the price of crabs. What about the changes being made in the southwest, where cities along the paths of rivers have dried them up, leaving people further along without any water at all? Some countries are now trying to replant lost hardwood forests with “sustainable” cash crops of fast-growing trees, often “invader” plants that cause the extinction of further species? Some of these forests require six or seven generations to be reestablished, more time than we have or are willing to give.

I think the most compelling point that Pope Francis makes about the earth is that it is the place God designed where  the encounter takes place between him and mankind. God created the earth to be a safe place for human beings, not a place where the law would protect a pet more than an unborn child. Not a place where the poor become poorer, where indigenous peoples disappear because of another’s greed. Not a place where we consume, waste, and throw away the fruits of that creation without regard to the impact that we have on others.

When I was looking for a college, my parents said that they wanted us to find a college that actually taught ethics in their curriculum. This was over thirty years ago: ethics was virtually impossible to find. This, I think, is the main point that Pope Francis is trying to make with his encyclical. God’s gifts are given to us with a moral charge included: we must once again look at our lives and the way we are using his gifts from a moral perspective. Ultimately we must understand the Planner behind the plan, if that plan is to succeed. He is returning ethics to the discussion table.

We meet again next week; the week after, we plan our parish’s active response.

God bless you.