Breaking news: Lexington diocese fires lay parish life directors

Ronald W. Gainer, the bishop of the Diocese of Lexington, called together all his lay Directors of Parish Life right before Thanksgiving and pink-slipped them all. Is the diocese, like the rest of the Catholic Church, so cash-strapped that it can't afford to pay these pastors? No; the bishop just decided he wanted priests in these roles. The laity has too much control; the church needs to move away from its "liberalism" of recent years. No word on where he's finding presbyters. (Perhaps he's got Frankenstein's lab in his basement, which wouldn't be very respectful of the culture of life.) One laywoman, a recent hire, had barely gotten accustomed to her new role and said that the bishop had been quick to affirm her she was doing a great job. Maybe because he knew she was on the way out? But not only laywomen and like rabble were kicked out: permanent deacons will no longer be directing Lexington parishes. The pastors have six months to find new jobs. Apparently by then Bishop Gainer will have pulled 67 priests out of his miter.

In case you were wondering, the Lexington diocese's phone number is (859) 253-1993. You can also email their contact Deacon Jim Paris here, unless, I suppose, the bishop digs up a priest to handle online correspondence. You know, that job really should be handled by an ordained leader of the Church. These laypeople.

I've gotten this info, which hasn't yet hit Google News, from a friend who's the family member of a Lexington parish life director. Not that the axe hasn't already fallen, but like some of my less scrupulous media colleagues, I'm keeping my sources private.

Nun: Woe to you, oil executives!

The Carmelites of Indianapolis are emerging from their cloister onto the Web. Their slick-looking site, PraytheNews.com, publishes the weekly meditations of several nuns on a current event. (They also have a walk-through introduction to contemplative prayer, a four-part plan, perfect for Advent.)

In Pray the News, Sister Terese writes:

The Gospel paraphrased from Matthew 23:

The oil magnates and CEOs sit by the side of White House executives and eat at the tables of their congresspersons. They preach justice and fairness but they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear and lay them on the shoulders of the unemployed, the poor, the families struggling to make it, the widows and widowers; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to lower pump prices or fuel for winter homes. They do their deeds that are seen by others, for they drive cars that are big, and fly in private jets, and mingle with the powerful and the mighty. They love to have the places of honor at corporate meetings, and to be greeted with respect in the halls of the stock market and board rooms.

Woe to you, oil executives! For you lock people out of a share in the profits! Your pockets are lined with millions while you lay the burden on those lacking health care, decent housing, food, and voice to be heard.

We need to read the Gospel through the filter of today’s news. Maybe if Matthew lived in 2005, it wouldn’t be paraphrased.

Y'all heard it here first. Sister says shape up!

The squash of faith and the potatoes of freedom

Last Sunday Cardinal George, passing over goats and sheep alike, preached on being thankful for our faith and for our freedom. Introducing a theme I find neither particularly Christian nor especially American, he implied that complacency ought to follow gratitude: "And people call attention to the bad things done by corrupt men and women in government and in the Church, but you need to ask yourself, where would you rather be? The Church, like the government, is composed of fragile and sinful humans like you and me." And moved on from there. I was depressed. But I rallied some when the Cardinal compelled us to remember that material need and low social status inhibit a person's utilization of freedom, and that until we take care of the needy we can't authentically give thanks for a nation universally free. (This is again my paraphrase, and I may be making the point a little more strongly than Cardinal George.) It's a message we need, an example of Christian faith problematizing American freedom, a message that's countercultural rather than complacently patriotic.

Too often patriotism and faith get muddied together like traces of mashed potato and squash. (I hate that.) At my cousins' Thanksgiving Mass today they're probably singing the idolatrous patriotic medley they seem to recess to on every national holiday. But if Cardinal George--though he didn't put it this way--can draw on his faith to question his country, and can hold gratitude and critique in the same head, perhaps calling the Church to account in light of some American values ought not be such a sin. The Church does not commit to equality and to freedom of dialogue in the same way the US does, and God knows the American execution of these ideals is flawed as it is. Yes, the squash of faith and the potatoes of freedom need to be distinguishable, but it's a richly laden plate that can boast both.

This is a time in our country when for a few months, selflessness stops being countercultural, and every bank, store and dentist's office bloom with full donation bins. Lesson: there's no culture so gross that it can't redeem itself, whether it's our American culture of greed or the Catholic hierarchy of silence. Redemption will come when we, like controversial raisins in the stuffing, carry challenging ideas from one setting into another. (Tired of the metaphor yet? Tough!)

Early free speech advocate.

This Thanksgiving, may you find ample room for gratitude free from complacency. Give thanks for our freedom which, though flawed in execution, encourages us to speak for ourselves. If it's your faith that guides your speaking, give thanks for that gift, and for the fact that nothing on Earth can completely silence the voice of the Spirit. And whether you're blessed in company this Thanksgiving or finding richness in solitude, may you feast richly on the Turkey of Love--the only thing worthy of casting faith and freedom in the roles of sides.

Rumors on gay priests document get louder

An Italian newspaper leaked what could be the final version of the Vatican document on admitting gay men to the priesthood (In Strong Terms, Rome Is to Ban Gays as Priests - New York Times.) Previous rumors had the document sounding less severe than it does now, but on the other hand, I don't trust the Times to give the most nuanced perspective on anything the Vatican tries to do. They've been delivering the same alarms for a few months now, which explains why my one priest professor's getting progressively more pissy. But can you blame him? Indeed, pity the poor persecuted prelates. And pray for peacemaking. Sorry, I'll stop.

St. Radbod, Virgin and Martyr.

The Times says the doc will drop November 29, which I couldn't help noting is the feast day of St. Radbod. You really have to read these things with a jeweler's eye, so let's wait and see what it says. A few words could make the difference between a thoughtfully pastoral message and, well, what everyone's expecting.

Christmas 1, Wal-Mart 0

Blogger Daithí Mac alerted me to a battle between two titans of dubiousness: the Catholic League and Wal-Mart (Shame on You, Catholic League!). It seems that while Wal-Mart made it possible to search for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stuff on its website, a religious freak who tried to search the word "Christmas" was directed to an aggregation of "holiday" items. The Catholic League, whose goal is to defend the First Amendment rights of Catholics and to call the secular media to account on their portrayal of Catholics, took some time out from blurring the distinction between being gay and molesting children to denounce this unbalanced secularism.

Well, it gives me the heebie-jeebies agreeing with these guys, but in this case, they're absolutely right. It'd be one thing, as the League's initial press release said, if December holidays for all backgrounds were filed under "holiday," but to treat only Christmas this way denies that Christians, unlike observers of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, see, well, meaning in the "holiday" season. The Catholic League eventually yanked their boycott because Wal-Mart got their act together and started calling Christmas Christmas, though I recently noticed they continue to icky up the season with a special blend of non-values, introducing "a much more aggressive approach to the holidays", which certainly does warm the heart.

Seriously, though, eliminating the word "Christmas" is just boneheaded. How many people do we think search retail websites for a "holiday tree?" Is it seriously news to anyone that not all the folks with trees in their living rooms show up at Christmas Mass? Lots of Americans observe different Christmas traditions because they were once religiously observant or just because they enjoy them, but I've never heard anyone pretending that what they do is something called "holiday." Meaningful acts that make the winter sparkle, whether they're religious or not, should be celebrated for all their diversity, not lumped into one pernicious retail juggernaut. The most recently ridiculous? A woman where I work went around wishing everyone a "good holiday" last week. Apparently it's no longer PC to assume that people you know all celebrate Thanksgiving.

National Catholic Reporter broke the news today that the Brazilian church may be about to discover patterns of sex abuse like those in the U.S. (Sex abuse in Brazil, NCR.) You might have heard me critique NCR's reporter, John Allen Jr., in this space for focusing too much on Rome's "Latin" culture of deliberation and for showing too little anger around the areas where the Church needs to change (although I admit the fault could be in those who look for editorializing from a journalist.) At any rate, Rome has a culture of deliberation, John Allen Jr. says. Hear this: I hereby predict that Rome will jump on the problems in Brazil like a Black Friday shopper on a discount TiVo. The church of the Global South is providing much of the energy for Catholicism in this moment in terms of vocations and new members, while concurrently Catholicism in Latin America is losing ground to charismatic evangelical Protestant movements. And while Brazil has been home to some troublesome signs of progressive Catholic thought--birthing Catholics for a Free Choice and advocating condoms at Carnival, for example--they're still the world's largest Catholic country, and emotionally and culturally closer to Rome than we godless Americans, who expect to have our crises of faith in the clergy handled in a hot minute, for pete's sake. Stay tuned, and pray for the church in Brazil, and especially for those whom the church in Brazil has most horribly failed.

Penn Jillette: The hope in atheism

Thinking person's clown Penn Jillette on why he finds hope in believing there is no God. He has an unusual approach that I respect: believing there is no God forces him to focus on now: on finding transcendence in the love of his family, on doing right because there is no alternative of forgiveness. But I would observe that while atheists and agnostics frequently, and rightly, reference fundamentalist-type believers as deterrents to faith, I can't think of one account from a nonbeliever who addresses the faith of openminded believing sorts, like Thomas Merton, Jillette's colleague Kathy Dahlen, or many of us. Jillette says "Believing there is no God lets me be proven wrong and that's always fun. It means I'm learning something." Plenty of believers allow their God to challenge them, to prove them wrong, again and again. I wonder if Jillette knows any of these.

P.S. I'm extremely amused that the slug at the top of that page says "NPR : There is No God." Godless liberals broadcasting again!

Not Mutually Exclusive After All

This is a blog about sex in the media, and they have two quotes about God. Good quotes, too.

It's The End of the World: How We Know It

I am a post-Vatican II Catholic raised to focus on social justice and God's love. When we talk about being prepared for the Final Coming, we mean bringing good, Godlike souls to our own death, not dressing nice each day in case God should happen to choose to start the Apocalypse. My best concept of the rapture involves dessert, or maybe a five-hour train ride and a bunch of trashy magazines. But even apocalypostates like me can appreciate The Rapture Index, a daily assessment of the likelihood of the Final Coming. Far more significant than watching the stock ticker, if you think about it. The author says his complex criteria are based on the Book of Revelation, but I'm fairly certain Revelation did not in so many words associate the Antichrist with the Pope: Rapture Index wants you to know that this isn't anti-Catholicism, though, just simple logic: "Because the Pope heads an organization of one billion followers, it is very logical to conclude that the Pontiff will someday fulfill a major the role in the Antichrist’s false church." Ah.

The Antichrist?


The Rapture Index features apocalypse criteria even more mystifying, such as "inflation," "the economy," and "interest rates." The mark of the beast, a sure sign of the end, is tied to universal and compulsory identification systems. I think he's trying to tell us the Apostle John was a Libertarian.

Bet My St. Catherine Beats Your Augustine

Ekklesia: The Congregating.

Originally uploaded by The Disseminary.

There are no words. No, there are too many. It's a Magic- or DND-style card game, but with early saints. You flip a card to "battle", and winning's guided by arcane hierarchies to gladden the heart of any bishop: "The degrees of Orthodoxy are: Heresiarch, Heretic, Heterodox, Ambiguous, Orthodox, Theologian, and Doctor." The site that created this wonder, Disseminary.org, is itself a true delight. They're trying to collect theological resources and scholarship online where they can be freely available to any seeker. This is how big a theology nerd I am: I fantasize about starting a petition to get the New Catholic Encyclopedia online for free. Never mind the obvious benefit to Theologiennes and -enos doing research: what about curious non-Catholics, like poor innocent Muslim bloggers who just want to fact-check and inadvertently cite a racist and outdated Catholic encyclopedia that claims to be a trustworthy source? Snarl. Disseminary doesn't have an encyclopedia yet, but they've got great stuff, and I am so very, very excited they exist. Besides, who can resist the name? All together now: "Which seminary? DISseminary!"

News Item: Diocesan Press Lacks Journalistic Heft

In their November issue, U.S. Catholic did a study (not yet published on the website) on the quality of the Catholic diocesan press. I was almost touched by the righteous disappointment of the author, Raymond A. Schroth, a Jesuit professor, at the irrelevance, clericalism and, well, parochial sensibility everywhere present. I mean, what can Schroth possibly have expected? We're talking about an in-house publication. If you could only access the New York Times through Mayor Bloomberg's website, you wouldn't expect it to really set the standard for municipal watchdoggery.

I shared a rueful laugh at Schroth's gentle sendup of the dribblingly weak columns that come off Catholic newswire and are pasted into diocesan back pages. In my youth, which is recent enough to be relevant to the discussion, we were for a time required to read the "Kids' Corner" out loud in the car on the way to church. It was like, "Do you ever feel sad? Sometimes when we hit our brother we feel sad. Sometimes Jesus felt sad, too, like in the garden at Gethsemane." My brother and I got so used to protesting this ritual that we were surprised when our parents, probably sickened by the steady drip, drip of treacle, sprung us from it. We were promoted to reading the "grown-up" column, only somewhat less insulting to the intelligence of all.

You ask if your diocesean paper covered the sex abuse catastrophe? A lot of diocesan papers won't even let dissenting groups like Voice of the Faithful and Call to Action print letters to the editor. But the mainstream press, willing to create at least the appearance of a dialogue, will make a call to Dignity on gay Catholics or WOC on women priests, putting the diocesan organs in the position of depicting something as newsworthy that appears to have no controversy surrounding it.

It's not an enviable position. (And Schroth does laud a few papers that buck the trend with relevant news and smart commentary.) I'd like to see diocesan editors taking pride in their role as press, and bishops (here as always) acting as though strength came from surviving dissent, not quashing it.

Certainly, Catholic readers have a responsibility to demand better quality. But on the other hand, so much good stuff is already out there: America, NCR, U.S Catholic itself. You can grab a Catholic Worker for your social justice fix, or Sojourners for a more broadly Christian take. Beliefnet's a good ecumenical tool and the blogosphere, though weak in radical Catholic voices, forever inventive. The secular press of late, though I will always hound them for selective reporting that verges on anti-Catholic, has done a good job of ferreting out the icky in our own dioceses. And since the secular press can't rely on piety to keep up their subscriber base, they respond to readers as well as publishers. Chicago magazine did a special issue on Chicago Catholics that conveyed better than any bishops' statement the diversity of people and thought in the American Catholic church.

If you've got enough good Catholic reading to get through without paging through the diocesan paper, I can't say I entirely blame you. Because sometimes Catholics feel sad--and sometimes that merits honest, uncensored attention.

People in ministry should cultivate a sense of irony. And maybe consume some pop culture from time to time.

Otherwise you end up with a gay Catholic chastity outfit advertising a (click; scroll) lesbian pajama party.

Honoring the creative God with a rave

Matthew Fox is a longtime priest who now ministers in the Episcopal Church after being kicked out of ours because of his radical teachings on cosmology: he's the creator of Creation Spirituality, which holds that God, through creative force, is present in all creation (panentheism.) He is a theologian who expends energy both on calling the Church to greater holiness and on studying and teaching those elements of theology that have very little to do with transitory issues of church reform. Some thoughts of his I gleaned from (and yes, I am still on this) the Call to Action conference:

Christianity flies on two wings: the historical Jesus (not to be confused with Paul) and the cosmic Christ.

The doctrine of original sin traps people in guilt. "What the hell are we doing building a church on original sin when Jesus never heard of it?" [I don't agree that the doctrine is wrong but readily agree that it, like many doctrines, gets misinterpreted in unhealthy ways; more after I finish my philosophy paper, which will be on sin ; ) ] Fox prefers the notion of an original wound, of our yearning to return to face-to-face communion with God.

Scientists are mystics who "make themselves vulnerable to the wonder of creation, more so than some bishops we know." [And hey, check this out: Sacred starry night, about a physics professor and mystic.]

At the Call to Action conference where I heard him speak, Matthew Fox (dancing at right) showed a news item from Canadian TV about the Cosmic Mass. an ecumenical, media-fueled new style of worship he's involved in. Something like the Mass we're used to, the Cosmic Mass features segments of joy, sorrow, Communion and incitement to service. Unlike the Mass we're used to, it's set to techno and involves lots of dancing. What a cool way to think about not only the elemental components and messages of the Mass, but also the ways in which our current liturgical practice affects our bodies and emotions, even if we don't normally acknowledge the ways in which it affects us.

Aarti in the Mass: the battle for inculturation

One of the gifts of the Vatican Ii liturgical reforms--affirmed by the Pope and everybody at the recent Eucharistic synod, you'll remember--was a new openness to inculturation, including cultural symbols and practices in the Mass within certain parameters and as bishops (and, as we know the way this often happens, the people) deem it appropriate. A group of Indian priests and bishops recently announced their plan to "Indianize" Catholic traditions there, involving cultural signifiers such as aarti (a ritual of respect for God using lights), dance at Mass, and ascetisim through the ashram tradition. Interestingly, some practitioners of Dalit theology--India's theology of liberation--are deeply suspicious of these changes, which they say will inscribe the patterns and practices of Hindu oppressors of the lower castes.

Anyway, I mention this because I didn't know what aarti was when I read this, and it sounds so beautiful. I hope the reforms go through.

More from Call to Action 2005

More input from the always brilliant Call to Action conference this past weekend. Technological issues delayed my posting till now: fie on a conference center without working wireless.

James M. Lawson, Jr., an activist who taught nonviolence with Dr. King, opened the conference with his plenary address on Friday night. I dashed in from work for the second half. Rev. Lawson spoke about the legacy of Rosa Parks and offered suggestions for uniting religious and community activism for justice. "Don't be afraid," was one of his primary messages to activists, and "cultivate your network" of support and reinforcement. He urged us to create a list of those who support and sustain us and deadpanned "Maybe add to your list one or two people whom you consider to be outrageous sinners." This is not to challenge our moral worldview, but rather to give us opportunities to "become ignition points of God" to one another, sinners and pious ones alike.

Rev. Lawson's delivery ranges--and sometimes veers--between thrilling solemnity and crackling, hollering energy. Although I think he deployed it better at CTA in 2003, both medium and message worked to wake up the crowd. "We've done enough talking to each other," Lawson said, initiating a frustration with the inward spiral of progressive movements that I'd hear echoed throughout the conference. He urged us to focus our energies outward to reform the church, recommending classic nonviolence as a tool for channeling our righteous anger. Anger, he said, drives us through protracted struggle, and it is this that leads to change.

I stayed with some friends at a triumphantly social justice-minded parish in Milwaukee. Like real ascetic pilgrims we slept in the religious education rooms, surrounded by toys, tiny chairs and a huge print of the Dali crucifixion. Because this is the Internet, and because things are the way they are in the Church, I'm withholding the parish name so I can tell you the following story about our host. Brother Dave is a tall Midwesterner who palbably embodies that spirit that religious sometimes do of finding good everywhere in the world, of never being less than happy. He frequently evokes the phrase "wreathed in smiles," especially when talking about Call to Action and its missions. Quoth Brother Dave, with heavy sarcasm: "You're studying theology? Well, now, that's not fair. You're a woman! Does the Curia know about this?" Once he bid me goodbye with a cheery "Get ordained real soon, okay?" I told him we were working on it.

Peace sermon risks gov't sanction for Episcopal church

This, as the French would say, is arrogance from the arrogance house. Rich, unctuous gourmet arrogance off the hottest burner on the kitchen stove in the most important room of the house of arrogance. A justice-minded Episcopal church has been threatened with losing its tax-exempt status(Antiwar Sermon Brings IRS Warning, Chicago Tribune, today) because--get this--the pastor preached, right before the election, that Jesus would oppose war. What a subversive message, right? Look how those liberals twist the Gospel for their own ends! Jesus, who preached and lived peace, Who gave himself up to be killed, though he could have saved himself, because the integrity of his radical teachings inevitably called down capital sanction. Truly an inappropriately political message in a Christian church.

And the arrogance of targeting this innocent act by a peace-minded pastor. I mean, doesn't anyone remember how Bush's reelection campaign sought evangelical church directories to broaden their base?(Evangelicals Say They Led Charge for the GOP, Washington Post, Nov. 8, 2004.) Maybe Bush's detractors were too busy crawling into bed and sobbing when this article came out (check the date) to make the appropriate hue and cry. I hope, emboldened by the last year and a half--in which our president has abandoned America's poor to death by bombs, waves and deprivation--we will all find voice now to call out this latest outrage.


I have more conference updates coming, but had to get this out first.

First dispatch: Richard McBrien on our new pope

This is a crowd that likes to clap. Exhorted to dance, interact or do other things speakers use to whip up their audience, they’ll do so gamely, but spontaneous applause is where they really shine—they wait expectantly for each winning line. Richard McBrien, a Notre Dame theologian with a vaudeville man’s infectious grin, realized this, and warned us he’d be stepping on his best lines to save time. But the irrepressibly loquacious Fr. McBrien had a good topic—an early look at Benedict XVI’s papacy—and so he held forth, and we clapped a lot despite our warning.

Father McBrien read us a rich variety of comments published in America, pre-emptive hopes of influential Catholics for the new Pope’s approach. He pointed out that Benedict, in meeting with Hans Kung, has already moved toward an atmosphere of collegiality that John Paul II did not foster. McBrien impugned John Paul II for permitting an atmosphere of “viciousness” between Catholics on the left and the right, saying that the new Pope should live up to his title of pontifex, bridge-builder, and encourage centrism and dialogue by meeting with representatives of both sides.

McBrien’s conclusion: “I have observed nothing troubling” in the early months of Benedict’s papacy. Negative changes, he said, such as the firing of America editor Thomas Reese, had been building before the conclave and gave the wrong early impression of Benedict’s intentions. However, in contrast to John Paul II, who refused to meet with Hans Kung for 25 years, Benedict accepted the invitation immediately, extended the interview to a substantive length and wrote a statement which he asked Kung to approve before its publication. McBrien also praised Benedict’s addition of the hour of dialogue to the Eucharistic synod, drawing a big laugh by adding, “Not that the dialogue was necessarily productive, but they have to get used to it!” I think he tempered the opinions of many of us who worry about Benedict’s past as the CDF’s Rottweiler. There are indeed hopeful visions of a future marked by collaboration and dialogue moving both up and down the church ladder of power.

Off to Call to Action!

In true pilgrim fashion, I'm seeking sanctuary in a church with a few friends. Last time we attended we camped in an upstairs room used for religious ed, and piously spread our sleeping bags on what looked very much like an erstwhile chapel altar. It reminded me of sleeping under the lit Christmas tree when I was little: Take your shoes off, this is holy ground! Check back for conference updates, and pray the Midwest Center has wireless.

Crawling up the Devil's Backbone

I'm sorry I was absent for a couple days. As luck would have it, I was on an extremely blessed and relaxing work trip to southern Illinois. I had enough time between duties to sneak away--caught my first sight of the Mississippi and climbed up a bizarre land formation called the Devil's Backbone. (There's also a big rock they call the Devil's Bake Oven--nice to see some gender-role parity in language for the Evil One. I'm kidding.)

Look what else I got to do:


The labyrinth is a meditative bodily practice of walking a gradual path until you come to the center, then spiraling back out until you resume your place in the real world. Though it's not just for Christians, it can function as a metaphor for drawing closer to Jesus, then moving gradually back to the real world, hopefully with new spiritual insight. In Carbondale, there's a labyrinth painted on the ground, next to a Wendy's and close to one of the main streets. The would-be mystic becomes a public witness to the spiritual life as she moves rather portentously through the geometry of the walk. The cars go by, and people look at you curiously, but isn't that how it always is, trying to live as if God mattered? It almost makes no difference if no one notices that what you're doing is not what's done by everyone.