My mother was a minister's daughter. When she was growing up, her parents taught her that Protestantism was better than Cathlicism because Protestants can interpret the Bible for themselves and because Protestants can make their own relationship with God and don't need a priest to act as intermediary. Protestants are often distinctly anti-clerical in their attitudes (and this attitude applies to the Protestant clergy as well) and this week, I can absolutely understand that point of view.
A priest mailed a letter home to all of his parishioners. I am excerpting part of it.
"First, we Christians do not decorate for Christms until the day before December 25th. Until then, you ought to have an Advent Wreath in your home and pray prayers as a family each day. Thanksgiving is NOT the beginning of the Christmas Season. December 25th is. ....."
Apparently, he is urging us not to put up Christmas trees and other holiday decorations until Christmas Eve instead of following the American custom and putting them up after Thanksgiving Day.
Notice several things about this. It is the custom of American Protestants to decorate for Christmas after Thanksgiving Day. The phrase "we Christians" subtly classifies Protestants as non-Christians. Secondly, this priest, who has headed this parish for less than three months, is intruding into his parishioner's zone of privacy by telling them how to decorate their homes. Thirdly, he is railing against a custom that gives pleasure to many people, especially children and their parents, and harms no one. Fourthly, since a Christmas tree is not really a religious symbol but a seasonal symbol, what exactly is the problem with Catholics putting a seasonal symbol up after Thanksgiving Day? Fifthly, lots of Catholic churches put up Christmas trees during Advent.
It also seems to me that this priest could have offered a compromise position. Yes, put up the tree after Thanksgiving Day but until Dec. 24, decorate it using the Advent colors of pink and purple. Then, decorate for Christmas on the 24th. That way, people still get to enjoy the tree and Catholic identity is preserved. Or, he could have acknowledged that people follow the custom of decorating after Thanksgiving Day but urged them to make the Advent wreath the center of family religious activities. Or, as my brother suggested, instead of using the imperious phrase "we Christians," he could have simply started the sentence with "In my opinion."
Unknowingly, this priest confirmed every negative stereotype Protestants have about the Catholic clergy.
An Israeli Jewish woman friend of mine suggested mailing him his letter back without comment. He would get the message. I am not so nice. In response to his "we Christians do not decorate until..." I would reply "We Americans do not let the clergy tell us how to decorate our homes."
Friday, November 20, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Growing Vegetables for the Poor
The church that I belong to, St. Elizabeth of Hungary in Pompano Beach, has a wonderful youth group leader, Wendy Bourgault, who has come up with an innovative idea. She is starting small garden plots on church property to grow vegetables which will be given, along with dry and canned goods, to recipients of food aid through the St. Vincent de Paul program.
She is starting small, with one plot growing broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, and green beans. She is hoping that each ministry in the church will start its own plot.
For a long time, it has troubled me that truly healthy food--vegetables, whole grains, and fruits--are too expensive for the poor, who must subsist on white flour, corn syrup, and trans fats because those are the cheapest foods in America and the only foods they can afford. The people who need healthy food the most to face the challenges ahead of them are exactly the people who can't afford it. This project aims to fill that critical need.
As Father Paul Kane, the church's administrator pointed out to me, the lack of heathy foods increases the risk of Type II Diabetes and its complications: blindness, heart disease, and many more. He further pointed out the sad irony of the fact that the farm workers who grow the food are paid so little that they couldn't afford to buy the food they grow in the supermarkets.
I am often ambivalent about being a Catholic. Sometimes, the politics of the church as an institution is simply awful and I often disagree with and, I am ashamed to admit, dislike the leadership. However, programs like this make me proud to be a Catholic.
If you would like to contribute to this work, please start gardens for the poor in your own church or house of worship. If you would like to send a donation to St. Elizabeth for the work, please send it to St. Elizabeth of Hungary,
3331 N.E. 10th Terrace
Pompano Beach, FL 33064
Phone: 954-941-8117
Fax: 954-941-0999
School Office: 954-942-2161
Religious Education Office: 954-943-6801
St. Vincent De Paul: 954-942-1850
She is starting small, with one plot growing broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, and green beans. She is hoping that each ministry in the church will start its own plot.
For a long time, it has troubled me that truly healthy food--vegetables, whole grains, and fruits--are too expensive for the poor, who must subsist on white flour, corn syrup, and trans fats because those are the cheapest foods in America and the only foods they can afford. The people who need healthy food the most to face the challenges ahead of them are exactly the people who can't afford it. This project aims to fill that critical need.
As Father Paul Kane, the church's administrator pointed out to me, the lack of heathy foods increases the risk of Type II Diabetes and its complications: blindness, heart disease, and many more. He further pointed out the sad irony of the fact that the farm workers who grow the food are paid so little that they couldn't afford to buy the food they grow in the supermarkets.
I am often ambivalent about being a Catholic. Sometimes, the politics of the church as an institution is simply awful and I often disagree with and, I am ashamed to admit, dislike the leadership. However, programs like this make me proud to be a Catholic.
If you would like to contribute to this work, please start gardens for the poor in your own church or house of worship. If you would like to send a donation to St. Elizabeth for the work, please send it to St. Elizabeth of Hungary,
3331 N.E. 10th Terrace
Pompano Beach, FL 33064
Phone: 954-941-8117
Fax: 954-941-0999
School Office: 954-942-2161
Religious Education Office: 954-943-6801
St. Vincent De Paul: 954-942-1850
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Reflections on the Rosary: The Visitation
The second mystery, the visitation, describes the visit of Mary, when she was pregnant with Jesus, to Elizabeth, when she was pregnant with John the Baptist. She stayed for three month. This mystery reminds us to mediate on Mary's charity in visiting Elizabeth.
Having a baby after menopause--and this does occasionally happen--was probably difficult for Elizabeth. My paternal grandfather used to say that God knew what he was doing when he gave children to the young. He spoke from experience: he had children as a young man and, after marriage to a second, younger woman after his first wife died, as an older man. It requires the energy and resilience of youth to comfortably manage pregnancy and parenting. No doubt Mary helped Elizabeth with the housework and cooking, which was grueling work in the days before labor-savng devices.
There is a second way in which Mary's visit was an act of charity. When one has a momentous event in one's life, one wants to share it with someone who understands. This is the underlying rationale for support groups. As an older woman, Elizabeth was "out of sync" with her friends who, by now, were no longer bearing children and were instead fussing over grandchildren. Mary and Elizabeth were sharing the same experience at the same time--pregnancies, and miraculous pregnancies at that. Mary was there to sympathize with morning sickness, swollen ankles, and mood changes.
What I believe has often been overlooked is that Elizabeth was offering a great act of charity to Mary. Because Mary had conceived out of wedlock, she was no doubt the subject of vicious gossip by her neighbors in Nazareth. Elizabeth's home was far away ,near Jerusalem. Elizabeth allowed Mary to escape the gossip, the prying eyes of neighbors who were no doubt mentally measuring the size of her belly and snubbing her at the community well. Because the people in Elizabeth's home town didn't know tthe dates of the pregnancy and wedding, they could assume that Mary was simply staying with family while her husband worked nearby.
No doubt many priests would regard this thought as heretical, but I have long suspected that Mary journeyed to Bethlehem to avoid the shame of being an unwed mother. Popular pictures have a heavily pregnant Mary on the donkey about to give birth at any second but my own sense is that she could have arrived in Bethlehem much earlier. As the adolescent bride of a poor day laborer, she might not have been able to afford proper lodgings and would have had to resort to giving birth in a stable.
This, of course, is speculation but what I believe is not speculation is that Elizabeth gave a home to a young girl pregnant under embarrassing circumstances, thus showing her deep compassion and capacity for charity. There is a Catholic song in Latin that translates as "Where there is true charity, God is there." God, I am sure, was with Elizabeth.
Having a baby after menopause--and this does occasionally happen--was probably difficult for Elizabeth. My paternal grandfather used to say that God knew what he was doing when he gave children to the young. He spoke from experience: he had children as a young man and, after marriage to a second, younger woman after his first wife died, as an older man. It requires the energy and resilience of youth to comfortably manage pregnancy and parenting. No doubt Mary helped Elizabeth with the housework and cooking, which was grueling work in the days before labor-savng devices.
There is a second way in which Mary's visit was an act of charity. When one has a momentous event in one's life, one wants to share it with someone who understands. This is the underlying rationale for support groups. As an older woman, Elizabeth was "out of sync" with her friends who, by now, were no longer bearing children and were instead fussing over grandchildren. Mary and Elizabeth were sharing the same experience at the same time--pregnancies, and miraculous pregnancies at that. Mary was there to sympathize with morning sickness, swollen ankles, and mood changes.
What I believe has often been overlooked is that Elizabeth was offering a great act of charity to Mary. Because Mary had conceived out of wedlock, she was no doubt the subject of vicious gossip by her neighbors in Nazareth. Elizabeth's home was far away ,near Jerusalem. Elizabeth allowed Mary to escape the gossip, the prying eyes of neighbors who were no doubt mentally measuring the size of her belly and snubbing her at the community well. Because the people in Elizabeth's home town didn't know tthe dates of the pregnancy and wedding, they could assume that Mary was simply staying with family while her husband worked nearby.
No doubt many priests would regard this thought as heretical, but I have long suspected that Mary journeyed to Bethlehem to avoid the shame of being an unwed mother. Popular pictures have a heavily pregnant Mary on the donkey about to give birth at any second but my own sense is that she could have arrived in Bethlehem much earlier. As the adolescent bride of a poor day laborer, she might not have been able to afford proper lodgings and would have had to resort to giving birth in a stable.
This, of course, is speculation but what I believe is not speculation is that Elizabeth gave a home to a young girl pregnant under embarrassing circumstances, thus showing her deep compassion and capacity for charity. There is a Catholic song in Latin that translates as "Where there is true charity, God is there." God, I am sure, was with Elizabeth.
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