Church is tough. We are like a big dysfunctional family regularly squabbling and bickering about bizarre things. Sometimes we try to divorce each other or run away from home. But, we can’t, really. The Christian church family is the only family that. . . (continued at Messy Jesus Business)
Posts Tagged ‘Catholic’
you’re invited to a church family reunion
Posted by Julia Walsh on June 26, 2012
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Catholic, church, faith, Family, God, religion | Leave a Comment »
A young nun’s response to “For These Young Nuns, Habits Are The New Radical”
Posted by Julia Walsh on December 23, 2010
I am fascinated by how the season of Advent/Christmas tends to be a time when the secular media tells stories about how people live their faith. Sometimes it makes me sigh out, “Hey! We don’t just do this faith thing on holidays! How about some Truth during ordinary times?”
Nonetheless, I appreciate the attention, especially when the stories focus on how our generation keeps the good faith. Yesterday I was able to catch a story on NPR’s “All Things Considered” called “For These Young Nuns, Habits Are The Radical.” The story gives nine minutes of good attention to a lively congregation, the Nashville Dominicans, who have many new, young members. Please listen to the story, and tell me what you think. It’s a conversation worth having for all of us who desire to discern how we are each called to live the gospel radically in our own ways.
I really loved the story. Everything that was described and stated resonated with my own reasons for becoming a young nun.
My only disappointment is that the story failed to mention that communities like mine are still receiving new young members. Although we don’t come in as crowds, we count.
While I was discerning the sisterhood in college, some of my friends recommended the Nashville Dominicans to me. I remember requesting materials and considering them. I also remember being attracted to some things about their life, like how many new young members they have. I don’t remember why for sure, but I decided to eliminate them from my list of possible communities. Afterwards, I joined my community.
Today I have no doubts that God called me directly to my community, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration. I am very confident that I am right where I need to be and living the way that God needs me to. I am grateful and honored to be a member of a holy community of praying, steadfast women of social justice and service. I am inspired by the wisdom of my elder sisters and the actions of my peers. I believe that the light that comes out of the adoration chapel in our motherhouse energizes the globe with peace and healing. We don’t look too traditional, but our motto, “modern lives, sacred traditions”, rings true.
I believe I belong with the FSPA because I fit in, and they support all that I am about. Without having met the Nashville Dominicans I can’t really be sure, but I suspect that they are more concerned with being faithful to the magisterium and upholding church doctrine than I am. I can’t say that I am not concerned with those things; I believe that it is the call of some parts of the church to do that work.
I have never felt called to dissent against the church. I do feel called to challenge, however.
As I challenge, I am inspired by the courage and the approach of some of my favorite church reformers: St. Francis of Assisi, St. Clare of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, and Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA. With great reverence and deep connection to God, all four of these holy disciples stood before church authority and asked for changes. They pointed to the gospel of inclusivity and stirred the hearts of the powerful. They stood for and with the powerless. They prayed, and the changes began.
The reformers of the past have taught me that it is important to ask questions. We are a church defined by conscience, so we must always offer safe spaces to authentically discern the ways that the Spirit uniquely tugs at our hearts. As we keep our faith let’s remember that the reign of God in its fullness is unlike anything we have ever seen or experienced before, it’s much better. I am pretty sure that God’s dreams for us will only come true if we remain open.
I love the diversity within our church. I am grateful for the witness of the Nashville Dominicans and communities like theirs. Nonetheless, I don’t think my own gospel witness is any less valid. The division in our church is very painful and slows us from showing our love. I scramble for more ways to commune with all types of Catholics, and I want to build bridges. I believe we need to be diverse because it enriches us, and I pray that we can love and listen to each other through our differences.
I celebrate Christian diversity as Christmas comes closer. As I sing songs of hope, I am moved to make a proclamation:
Dear journalists who love stories about young nuns, I hope you’ll notice me too. I am 29 and I am also a young nun. I don’t wear a habit and I don’t go to mass at 5:30 in the morning, but I go as often as I can. I love the pope and I love my gay brothers and sisters. I pray a lot and I serve the poor. I witness the gospel through my ministries of teaching and writing. I love Jesus and I proclaim the Truth. There’s other sisters like me too, and we are also radical. Thank you. God bless you, Sister Julia
Originally from Northeast Iowa, Sister Julia is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration, based in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Her love for God and God’s good world is manifested in her attempts to be an educator, a youth empower-er, an earth lover, and a peacemaker. She ministers at an inner-city Catholic high school in Chicago.
Sister Julia blogs at http://messyjesusbusiness.wordpress.com/ and http://youngadultcatholics-blog.com/.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: American Catholicism, Catholic, Catholic Church, Catholic diversity, Catholic division, Catholicism, dialogue, Franciscan Sisters, Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, julia walsh, modern nuns, Nashville Dominicans, NPR, religious life, unity, Young Adults, young nuns | Leave a Comment »
What’s the body got to do with God?
Posted by Jessica Coblentz on November 5, 2009
I was talking about the body last week at a Halloween party. A friend had asked me, “If God is transcendent, how are our bodies important for connecting to God? Can’t we just use our reason? Maybe even emotion? What’s the body got do with it?” I was surprised by my reaction. My gut instinct was to aggressively defend the sacred nature of the body–I’m a feminist! Feminists care about bodies! I must salvage the body! Instead of simply pouncing on this genuine friend with my feminist enthusiasm, I began to explore the origin of his question. “Haven’t you experienced God through physical ritual and practice? Through spiritual disciplines of fasting or feasting? Maybe through sexual desire even?”
“No. Not really.”
Hmmph. For some reason, instead of charging back with those pent up imperatives, I began to think about how I came to take for granted the seemingly obvious role of the body in my spirituality. Was this rooted in my Catholicity–in my belonging to a faith characterized by the standing, kneeling, eating, drinking, singing, and moving around of the Sunday liturgy? Or was it simply a personal reaction to all the body-bashing I find in Catholic sexual ethics? Was it an outgrowth of the Church’s social teachings about the goodness of creation and our affirmation of embodied life?
I brought these questions with me as the school week started. On Tuesday nights, I gather with a few other first year students at the Harvard Div School to discuss primary texts written by Christian mystics. While a number of tangental topics arose, as usual–prayer, scripture, liturgy–the mystics kept bringing me back to these questions of the body. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: asceticism, body, Catholic, feminism, God, mysticism, prayer, Scripture, Sexual ethics, sexuality, spirituality | 1 Comment »
Clare, and the Communion All Around Us
Posted by Jessica Coblentz on August 13, 2009
Last Tuesday was the Feast Day of St. Clare of Assisi. She is the namesake of the Jesuit university where I did my undergrad studies, and subsequently, she is the saint I picked for myself rather unthinkingly when I celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation a year ago. On Monday when I first heard about her impending Feast Day, I felt like a little girl who had just received an invitation to her best friend’s birthday party. I was so delighted to celebrate her life! And this flood of excitement surprised me. How and when had I acquired such devotion to St. Clare? Or to any saint for that matter? Sure, I have these various connections to her. But I never before had I realized that the connections had become personal.
I didn’t grow up in a family or parish community with a particularly visible devotion to the saints. St. Jude was the patron of my childhood church, but beyond the name of the parish, the only real sign of it was in the reliable mention of his name at some point during the Eucharist Prayer. There was a big statue of Mary in our sanctuary, but she was known more for her virginity than her sainthood. Thus, for most of my life, if you asked me to define a “saint” I could not give you more of an explanation than, “someone who the Church deems important.” And this bothered me. I didn’t know who the saints were–only that, as a Catholic, they were supposed to be important to me. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Catholic, community, saints | Leave a Comment »
Altar Boys…er, “Altar Servers”
Posted by kd on April 3, 2009
When I was in 2nd or 3rd grade at Immaculate Conception School in Watertown, SoDak, my teacher—maybe Sr. Virginia—sent home a dual-purpose permission slip. All the students in the class had to get the okay for a fieldtrip to visit Laura Ingalls Wilder’s home in DeSmet and the boys had to have their parents sign off on enrolling them in training to be altar boys. I remember that both okays were on the same tear-off sheet on the same letter home.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: altar servers, Catholic, Catholic Church | 9 Comments »
Don’t You Get Me Wrong Now
Posted by Theodora Ranelli on April 2, 2009
I went to see a local production of Jesus Christ Superstar last night. There are many things that have informed my Catholicism — you know, the Bible. Church services. My priest. Saint Books. Those Catholic picture books. Mariology. Ornate Cathedrals.
But especially, Jesus Christ Superstar. I would ride my bike down the sidewalk singing “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” My sisters and I did beanie baby throw shoes (in which you dance while throwing the beanie babies up in the air). I did productions of Jesus Christ Superstar with my paper dolls in an all-girl cast. I’ve talked about this before, but it was one Lent, after listening to Jesus Christ Superstar, that I realized Jesus’ pain relating to his death, even if it was willing. “Gethsemane” gave me a soundtrack to experience Holy Thursday and become better involved in my Church services. I would spend countless hours arranging spools of thread like the angels in Heaven and practicing “Heaven on Their Minds.” Listen Jesus to the warning I give…. Imagining the 39 lashes given to Jesus, marring his body is embodied through song. (The scenes with Pilate and the crowd gave me a very real depiction of hurt and anger, more than what I was getting in my stale Catholic school. But it made me pay attention in Church. The rituals during Lent and Holy Week became alive for me.)
Now that I reflect on my Catholic beliefs: low-Christology, political, melodramatic, belief in the real resurrection as when people remember — came from my religion, but it also came from Jesus Christ Superstar.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: American Catholicism, Catholic, Jesus Christ Superstar | 4 Comments »
Ghosts of Advents Past, Present and Future
Posted by Becky on December 23, 2008
Well, here we are less than two days before the Christmas season starts and at the end of Advent. Now, I really have to ask myself “where did the Advent season go?” Sure, I knew Advent was coming. Before Halloween was over, stores were selling Christmas decorations, so the gem of the Christian Tradition that is Advent had to be coming as well. Yet, since the first week of November, I’ve been running one of the longest marathons of my life. While taking 6 graduate courses at once (this is NOT recommended), I also chose to attend both the Call to Action Conference and the SOA/WHINSEC Vigil at Ft. Benning, Georgia held only two weeks apart and a collective 36 hours roundtrip of driving on top of the marvelous and life-changing activities in between. Following that, I had to write about 200 pages worth of research papers, study for and take my final exams, and devote time to the candidates and catechumens in my parish’s RCIA program which I coordinate. With all of that, I have unfortunately not had the chance I usually do to reflect on and enjoy our Advent season. My prayer life has been reduced to “God, thank-you for your many gifts…” as I collapse into an exhausted sleep nearly every night. This is not the way I have prepared for the celebration of the Incarnation ever before in my life, and I hope not to again in the future, but I certainly have gained some needed insight this year.
I have always loved the Advent Season because we get to hold both our past and future in our hands at the same time. With the darkest days of the year forcing us inside, we are offered a time to reflect back on the joys and sorrows of the year as well as the mystery of God become human nearly 2000 years ago. We then get the opportunity to revel in our lives with God today and prepare the way for the future coming of Christ and the Kin-dom of God.
On Gaudete Sunday, the St. Louis NextGen Faith Sharing group gathered, and while we were sharing a bit about how our Advents were each going this year, I began thinking about the past Advents of my life. I am so thankful for the ghosts of Advents Past because they allow me to uncover the many meanings of Advent 2008 and the advents that may come as we await our future in God.
As a child, my diocese used blue candles instead of purple to remember the aspect of Advent in which we are all called to travel with Mary, the first Theotokos—“God bearer,” through whom we learn the lesson of saying “yes” to God, and praising and thanking our Creator for the blessing of the Incarnation. We are all then called to bring Christ into the world through our own actions and words. In the fourth grade, I may have played the Angel Gabriel in the Christmas pageant at school which taught me to preach the Gospel, but I began the lesson of being a theotokos in spending several days in Advents past volunteering with one of my local anti-poverty organizations.
I learned the lesson preached by both the Prophet Isaiah and John the Baptist during my first year of college. I sang for the 9 PM Mass as a part of the Chapel Choir Ensemble, and we had prepared some traditional and contemporary pieces for the first Sunday of Advent. At the last minute, our conductor chose to turn the lights out in the chapel and send Andy, our long-haired, peace loving, Catholic hippie tenor up to the balcony to welcome in the Advent season by being a voice in the wilderness singing “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord” from Godspell. Sure, it might have been a little theatrical, but it struck a spiritual chord within me that comes back every first Sunday of Advent. During this season and throughout our lives, we are called to prepare ourselves and the world for the coming of Christ in our own lives, and we are also to be like Isaiah, John and Andy by helping others understand the importance of Christ’s presence and work today. We are surrounded by the wilderness, and whether we live on a farm in Iowa or in the heart of New York City, we must be that voice crying out Emmanuel—“God with Us”.
Advent 2008 has been a lesson in truly being present to the people around me even when I have a list of things to do that has never been so long. Though I may not have been able to devote as much time as I would have liked to the people around me or to my God, this Advent taught me to cherish even the small opportunities I am given. Since we never know when the time is coming, and just in case there are no more Advents, I have done my best to be here now in the brief moments of this advent. If there are ghosts of Advents future, I hope they will offer me the opportunity to be present, watchful, and give me more time to devote to this preparation season.
May the end of Advent and this Christmas season encourage us all to live this difficult and most blessed Christian life throughout the year. Peace be with you!
Becky Schwantes, a Minnesota native, is currently a Master of Social Work candidate at Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her M.A. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2008 and has worked as a parish faith formation minister, social worker and in college campus ministry. Becky also holds a B.A. in Theology and Social Work with a minor is Social Justice and Peace Studies from the University of Portland, Oregon. Her primary areas of interest are Christian Social Ethics, Eco-Feminist Theology, Mental Health and issues of Aging. In her free time, she enjoys traveling the world, walking labyrinths, singing, and laughing with friends. Her favorite saints are Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: Advent, Catholic, Christmas, Incarnation, Prepare, Presence, Theotokos | Leave a Comment »
Democracy in Action! Well, sort of…
Posted by Becky on September 24, 2008
It is now officially autumn in an election year, and interested voters and observers around the world are following the candidates and are eager to hear what they have to say during the scheduled debates. Three debates are slotted for the presidential candidates, while one debate is set for the vice-presidential candidates. In past years, the primary focus seemed to be on the presidential debates, but with the media’s intense fascination with Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, viewers around the world are expected to tune in on Thursday, October 2nd to watch her take on the Democratic party’s veteran senator, Joe Biden. In fact, for weeks now, the BBC website has had a permanent link to pre-VP debate information on their main page.
Considering this new found attention for the VP debate, I thought I would offer some observations on how this extravaganza is affecting the lives of those at its host university. After twice holding the presidential debates in recent year (1992 and 2000), Washington University in St. Louis was awarded what many originally saw as a consolation prize: the VP debate. Now that things have changed in regards to vice presidential “importance,” our campus is flooded with reporters, items are for sale everywhere (t-shirts, mugs, pens and even sweat pants…), and the grounds and maintenance crews are working overtime repainting walls and curbs, replacing dead flowers, and surrounding campus (and it’s a fairly big campus) with temporary aluminum fencing, pounding stakes in for secondary vinyl fences, and creating a protest pin (which members of the local Catholic Worker have already pledged to be in). The Athletic Complex, the actual venue for this shindig, is already closed for preparation that will include bomb squad sweeps, secret service details, and other anti-terrorism activities. This means that students will be unable to use the fitness facilities until October 6 even though the debate will be over on October 2. On the day of the debate itself, traffic, including the public bus I take to and from campus, will be banned.
Now, I would not mention these inconveniences if the benefit of this debate truly outweighed their annoyance. For all that the staff (so many maintenance workers have been in the grueling sun for days!), faculty and students have to do or put up with for this debate, getting to attend such an affair would make it all worthwhile. But of course, there is a catch. Of the thousands of tickets available for this debate, it is estimated (though not guaranteed) that only 200-300 will be given to the university. Over 7,000 of the 12,000 students have entered the ticket lottery for one of these coveted tickets, and odds are obviously slim.
Now, even if I were “lucky” enough to be selected in the lottery for a ticket, the debate will be nothing more than a pre-fabricated, staged dialogue between two candidates who have been given the questions ahead of time and have exchanged answers with the other political party. A moderator is asking questions, and in effect there will be no debate. It is just two politician-actors putting on a show. The candidates won’t even engage one another; they will perform for the audience and “smile pretty” for the camera. For more information on the death of the American Presidential Debate, see PBS’s website.
So what on earth does this have to do with being a young adult Catholic? Reports are estimating that the Millennial Generation will have the largest showing ever in history in representing young adult voters who have traditionally been the least likely to show up at the polls. As Catholics, we are called to live out the Gospel of Jesus in all we do and work for a better world as we glimpse the Reign of God. One primary way of having a voice in the world today is by voting. So if you haven’t yet registered to vote, please do so, and make democracy really happen…not just a lot of show like this debate is bound to be!
Becky Schwantes, a Minnesota native, is currently a Master of Social Work candidate at Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her M.A. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 2008 and has worked as a parish faith formation minister, social worker and in college campus ministry. Becky also holds a B.A. in Theology and Social Work with a minor is Social Justice and Peace Studies from the University of Portland, Oregon. Her primary areas of interest are Christian Social Ethics, Eco-Feminist Theology, Mental Health and issues of Aging. In her free time, she enjoys traveling the world, walking labyrinths, singing, and laughing with friends. Her favorite saints are Francis de Sales and Jane de Chantal.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: 2008, Catholic, Presidental Debate, Vice-Presidental Debate, vote, Voters, Washington University in St. Louis | 3 Comments »
