The Progressive Catholic Voice
  An independent and grassroots forum for reflection, dialogue, and the
 exchange of ideas within the Catholic community of Minnesota and beyond


                                            October 2007


Living Tree: PCV Logo
St. Francis

Dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi, who heard and responded to God’s call to “repair my Church,” and, in so doing, emulated the justice-making and compassion of our brother Jesus.



The Progressive
Catholic Voice

Other Issues

November 2007



The Progressive Catholic Voice's
Endorsing Organizations
(to date)

Call to Action Minnesota

Network of Spiritual Progressives
(Minnesota Chapter)


The Office of Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation, School Sisters of Notre Dame, Mankato Province


The Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM)


Catholic Rainbow Parents

Dignity Twin Cities

Inclusive Catholics

CORPUS
 


 


In this issue . . .

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Welcome!

This monthly e-newsletter is an initiative of The Progressive Catholic Voice coalition, a grassroots movement dedicated to reflection, dialogue, and the exchange of ideas aimed at facilitating renewal and reform within the Catholic community of Minnesota and beyond.

The Progressive Catholic Voice coalition and its e-newsletter has St. Francis of Assisi as its patron saint.  In his time, our brother Francis heard and responded to God’s call to “repair my Church.”  It’s a call that resounds today in a Catholic Church which, at its worst, is corroded and weakened by clericalism, hypocrisy, intellectual dishonesty, a profound lack of imagination, and a monarchical mind set and structure totally contrary to Jesus’ egalitarian model of community.

As progressive Catholics we are drawn to participate in and contribute to the Church’s capacity to grow, change, and evolve in ways that ever increasingly reveal God’s transforming love in our midst.  Accordingly, our calling is to develop and unify the progressive Catholic voice of the local church, as we believe that this voice is an intrinsic and essential part of our Catholic tradition.  Along with the moderate and conservative voices within the Church, this progressive voice needs to be heard in the discussions and deliberations that are part of any living faith community.  As Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-90) once noted: the laity has to be consulted in matters of doctrine, especially when teachings concern their lives so intimately.

Sadly, such consultation is not taking place.  In its place we are witnessing an institutional retreat into clericalism and theological absolutism.  Yet as distressing as this is, we, as progressive Catholics, are unwavering in our commitment to embody a healthy, life-giving, intellectually-honest, and authentically Gospel-based model of church – especially in terms of organizational structure, decision-making, and Vatican II’s call for “full, conscious, and active participation by all the baptized.”

This embodiment is one way we are called to “repair” the Church.  Another involves providing a forum for the voices and stories of progressive Catholics that have been suppressed.  A third aspect involves highlighting and critiquing the inconsistencies, incongruencies, and injustices of an institution that claims to be Gospel-based but sometimes falls short.  All are proactive endeavors and will be undertaken in a respectful tone and in a spirit of love for our brothers and sisters throughout the Church – regardless of whether they identify as conservative, moderate, or progressive.

More often than not, The Progressive Catholic Voice will undertake these three endeavors, vital for the repairing of our beloved Church, by simply asking and exploring questions.  As progressive Catholics, we take to heart Sister Joan Chittister’s observation that “the courage to question the seemingly unquestionable is the essence of spiritual leadership.”

Because we strongly believe that any authentic spiritual leadership must acknowledge and reflect the legitimate concerns and perspectives of all – including progressives – we will lovingly yet firmly question authority.

Some of the questions and issues that relate to our lives as Catholics within both the local and universal Church and which, accordingly, we will raise and explore in future issues of The Progressive Catholic Voice, include:

  • Why is there no input from the laity in the selection of bishops?  Why do we tolerate a model of leadership that is neither representational nor accountable?  How can we inspire positive change?

  • How is lay representation on diocesan and national boards determined?  Can we be truly represented by “appointed” lay members rather than elected lay members?

  • What is the current state of the archdiocese’s Commission on Women?  Why have a number of this commission’s members recently resigned?  Why are stories such as this not being covered by The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the archdiocese?

  • How can we better understand why so many of the young men in the priesthood are pre-Vatican II in their thinking and thus opposed to change within the Church?  Is there a role for us to play in dialoging with these men?

  • How are young and conservative priests faring in parishes more open to collegial models of leadership and to questions and issues of diversity?

  • How does mandatory celibacy and the unacknowledged sexual lives of priests (gay and straight) prohibit and compromise them from being authentic pastors, prophets, and leaders within their communities?

  • How does the Church’s insistence on orthodoxy limit intellectual freedom and authentic education in Catholic secondary schools and universities?

  • What compelled the archdiocese to recently ban communal penance?  How do Catholics experience healing and reconciliation in their lives?

  • What percentage of people in the US who call themselves Catholic believe all the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church?  Is it possible to identify with the Catholic tradition and question the doctrinal formulations of the Roman church?  Could it be that being a “cafeteria Catholic” is the only reasonable and honest way of being Catholic?

We hope you are as energized as we are at the prospect of exploring these and other questions.  As part of The Progressive Catholic Voice community, you are welcome to submit your own questions, stories, commentaries and ideas to this e-newsletter – one that we hope will serve as a vital forum for informed dialogue and respectful critique.

Submissions may be sent to: progressivecatholicvoice@gmail.com.

Peace,

The Progressive Catholic Voice Editorial Team:

Michael Bayly (Coordinating Editor)
Mary Beckfeld
Steve Boyle
Susan Kramp
David McCaffrey (Technical Coordinator)
Brian McNeill
Mary Lynn Murphy
Rick Notch
Theresa O'Brien, CSJ
Paula Ruddy

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An Open Letter to Coadjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt

[Note: We invite you to join with us in signing this letter by sending an e-mail (but be sure to include your name and city) to: progressivecatholicvoice@gmail.com.  In the subject line, please enter the words “Sign Nienstedt open letter."]

Dear Archbishop John Nienstedt,

Welcome to the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis.

In your homily at your Mass of Reception on June 29, 2007, you expressed a desire for unity among Catholics of the Archdiocese.  This is our deepest desire also.

At present we are painfully conscious of division and divisiveness among us that inhibits the Gospel witness of the Roman Catholic Church in the state of Minnesota.  We invite you to lead us in healing our divisions.

We believe that we all start from the same position: we want the Catholic community in this state to be a vibrant living witness that our God is a God of love manifested in the whole creation and in each individual within it.  We believe with you that this is the Gospel lived and preached by Jesus.  We are all called, sent, baptized, to live this simple message of universal, unconditional love.

However, working out the Gospel message in human community at this stage of our evolution is not so simple. We believe that unity – community – is an organic working together of individuals with different gifts and views.

Our individual spirits and life experiences have formed us with different outlooks and drives. Among us we have progressive views, moderate views and conservative views.  Each has a role to play in shaping the ongoing life of the community.

The Archdiocese is an institution to be administered, but it is also a thinking, feeling, and acting community requiring continual formation and renewal.  All voices must be included in the dialogue necessary for this type of pilgrimage, and in order to heal divisions and grow in effectiveness and love.

We are progressive Catholics who ask you to dialogue with us and to include us in the ongoing conversations that shape the thinking of the community.

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A Church Jesus Would Recognize

An Interview with Lena Woltering of the Lay Synod Movement

Lena Woltering is an active member of the Fellowship of Southern Illinois Laity (FOSIL) an organization of lay Catholics working, in the tradition of the early Christian community, to “keep the voice of prophecy alive” and thus “further the reform and renewal of the Catholic Church and to ensure justice, equality, and dignity for all people.”

For ten years Woltering served on the national board of Call to Action (CTA).  Currently, she devotes much of her time and energy to traveling around the United States helping to organize CTA-sponsored events that call for inclusion of the laity in critical Church decisions.  Through these local events, she challenges the laity to claim their rights as full members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Along with Sr. Kate Kuenstler, Lena Woltering will be a keynote speaker at the October 13 conference of Call to Action Minnesota (see listing in Upcoming Events).  Woltering’s presentation at Call to Action Minnesota’s conference will be entitled “Powerful Persuasion: Creating a Church the Historical Jesus Would Recognize,” and will explore the ever-growing Lay Synod Movement that began with the church reformers of FOSIL and is being replicated across the country.

Recently, The Progressive Catholic Voice editor Michael Bayly interviewed Lena Waltering via e-mail about the Lay Synod Movement.
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PCV: What are some of the distinguishing characteristics of the model of Church embodied by the Lay Synod Movement that you maintain would be recognizable by the historical Jesus? 

Lena Waltering: There are four:

1) Acknowledging our own culpability in the dysfunction of our Church.

2) Moving from a “catechism faith” where dependence on the hierarchy is crucial, to a “biblical faith” where we, by our baptism, are all called to ministry.

3) Participation by all baptized in the governance of our Church, including selection of leaders.

4) Recognizing that “charity” is not social justice work. (We miss the boat if we simply feed the hungry and never ask the question, “Why are so many folks starving?”)

PCV: How do you account for the absence of these characteristics in the Church beyond the Lay Synod Movement?

Lena Woltering: The clerical model of Church we have grown up with does not make room for, nor tolerate, the characteristics of the Lay Synod Movement because they undermine the power structure that has been in place for centuries.  Many Catholics look at the institutional church as a vendor of grace and salvation.  The concept of “being” church is something vague and bothersome to many.

PVC: What do you see as some of the implications of the Lay Synod Movement on the Church's methods and conclusions with regards to its authoritative teaching on issues of doctrine and morality?

Lena Woltering: Education is the most crucial element in the Lay Synod Movement.  Thinking “out of the box” does not have to be risky business as many of us were taught.  With regard to authoritative teaching, “Father” does not necessarily know everything about morality and salvation.  We should not be so quick to accept the adage, “The Church has always taught . . .” because many church teachings are merely disciplines that have changed and evolved with our culture.  Becoming participants in what has, for many, been a spectator sport requires a new sense of responsibility.

PVC: Are there Church documents that support the vision of Church embodied by the Lay Synod Movement?

Lena Woltering: The most evident documentation of what our lay synod movement envisions are the documents of Vatican II and the Revised Code of Canon Law (Obligations and Rights of the Lay Christian Faithful.)

PVC: How popular is the Lay Synod Movement within and beyond the United States?

Lena Woltering: The Lay Synod Movement is picking up steam in the U.S.  Since the first gathering in Southern Illinois in 2002, synods have been held in Upstate New York; McAllen, TX; San Francisco; and Dallas/Fort Worth.  Upcoming events are planned for Minneapolis, Florida and two sites in Wisconsin.  I have also been responding to inquiries from other parts of the country.  I know of no activity outside of the United States at this time.

PVC: Doesn’t the use of the term “lay” reinforce the hierarchical model of Church contrary to the vision of community embodied by Jesus, and which for centuries has pitted clergy against laity?  What about calling the movement the “Synod of the Baptized”?  In this way, all could be included and distinctions between clergy and laity would be deemphasized.  What are your thoughts on this?

Lena Woltering: The use of the words “lay” and “synod” are very deliberate – precisely for the reason you object.  Both have been used by the hierarchy for centuries, but never have they been used together.  In fact, when the concept first arose there was much discussion about what we would call our gathering.  We were told only bishops had the authority to call synods.  Recognizing our own baptismal authority, the decision was made to call a lay synod where we could begin the work to break down the divisions created by centuries of clericalism.  As we do the work on a local level, we will continue to use the term.  However, once the movement has grown significantly (and we believe it will) we are hoping to hold a national gathering that will be all about “the people of God!”

Lena Woltering will be speaking on Saturday, October 13, at the Annual Conference of Call to Action Minnesota.  For more information, see listing in the “Upcoming Events” section of this e-newsletter.

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Can Catholic Culture Be Renewed?
By Paula Ruddy

I experience the current culture in the Roman Catholic institution as increasingly intolerable. I am not alone.  Almost every week I hear of people who have left the institution behind, either tacitly or by joining another Christian or non-Christian denomination.

What do I mean by “culture’?  We all live in multiple cultures to some extent. Each family, each workplace, each social group has its own culture.  Without even being conscious of it, we adjust our mental outlook, our way of talking and acting, as we go from the family breakfast table to the office.  We can think of ourselves in the center of many concentric or overlapping circles ranging in size from the family to neighborhood to ethnic group to economic class to national identity. It’s about fitting in, belonging.  Group coherence results from thinking alike, using the same language, understanding the coded behaviors.  People can adjust and get comfortable in many cultures when the underlying values are the same.

When values conflict, however, the pain is intolerable.  For example, let’s say the culture in your family is based on love and respect for each individual person, you listen with eye contact when a person is speaking, you use respectful language, and thoughtful behavior.  If your employer values only getting the job done, if harsh demeaning talk is common, and if you sense you could be replaced with a smoothly functioning robot without anyone’s noticing, then you will probably opt out of that workplace if at all economically feasible.  Authenticity requires it.

Each Catholic parish or faith community has its own culture, of course.  People can find a place in one or another parish or community as a spiritual home.  They feel connected to the others in a way that fills their need for meaning, however they would express it.  They can meet regularly with people who want to know and love God and their neighbors, demonstrating God’s love in the world.  They join in the sacramental life that is at the heart of Catholicism.  Some join parishes involved in social justice or with many opportunities to talk about spiritual growth.  Some join parishes for the kind of liturgy celebrated or for the music.  Some people want to be involved in the running of the parish; some people are happy to let the priest and his staff do the work, and there are parishes for both.  There are parishes in which progressive people have been welcome, where their values of freedom and equality have been honored, their questions respected, and where change is accepted.

What in the world, then, is my problem?  My problem is that in all the parishes where I can feel at home, the ones in which there is a progressive, hopeful, love of freedom and equality and expansiveness of spirit, there is currently also fear.  At the present time in the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis, the bishops and the staff that run the diocese have so suppressed the progressive voice that fear reigns.  Parishes that allow too much freedom are fearful of reprisals, of spies who come and sit in silence at liturgies and report back to diocesan offices. Progressive priests and progressive parish staff fear they will lose their jobs or their status as loyal colleagues if they question authority.

There is a terrible cost to the spirit in being discounted and silenced.  The crippling effect of this is that people begin to find solidarity in being oppressed.  Instead of being able to contribute our progressive voices to the institution as valued members, we can become adversaries, proud to be outcasts.  We find ourselves congratulating each other on being censured.  We speak cynically of hierarchy.  It is a conflicted status, belonging and not belonging at the same time. We have heard the message from the Catholic hierarchy, “We do not welcome a progressive voice.  Go somewhere else.”  It seems healthier to opt out.

Friends say, “Ignore them. By our baptism, we are the Church.”  Even my friends who say they are ignoring it are in constant fear of the bishop’s power to disable their beloved communities in some way.  An institution so centrally organized and with so many members generates power at the center; it is impossible to ignore the power of bishops and diocesan machinery.  They can determine practices in a parish down to the way you position your hands in receiving communion.

Other friends say, “Let’s establish our own parish.”  Congregational independence is, of course, one answer.  By disengaging from the power that is threatening us, we gain freedom from it.  But we also lose the opportunity to use that power to make the Christ vision real on a larger scale.  We can get off the big bus, but the bus will move on carrying some people, crippling or crushing others.  We may be more effective as members to prevent destructive actions in the larger society.  For example, progressive Catholics made their strong moral dissent clear when the Minnesota bishops sponsored an amendment to the Minnesota constitution in 2006 denying GLBT citizens equal protection under civil law.  As far as I know, they did not acknowledge having heard us, so the question of effectiveness is always an open one.

This loss of faith and trust in the hierarchy is painful to life-long progressive Catholics.  We are going through the stages of grief, some angry, some resigned, some struggling to hold on to hope.  It matters to us because we have loved our tradition, so rich in the diversity of human spirituality, so productive of intellectual and artistic grandeur, so peopled with humble and driven saints, so important to the evolution of Western civilization by preserving the writings of the early church.  We have loved it despite recognizing the immense evils that have shadowed it.  We had high hopes at the time of Vatican II that the institution would face its defensive intransigence during the centuries from the Reformation through the Enlightenment and become a creative conversation partner with the other religious and philosophical traditions of the world.  We are dismayed by the deliberate back pedaling from that vision today.

So the problem is at the hierarchical level of the Catholic culture.  Specifically the problem is authority and how the authority is wielded.  If the bishop invites dialogue with all the members of the church, the progressives, the moderates, the conservatives, and creates a culture in which freedom and equality as well as consensus and traditional stability are honored, everyone can grow in spirit.  A wise bishop could create a culture around him that nourishes an energetic, emergent and joyful church.

Without a progressive voice there is no forward motion.  It is the role of progressives to help the bishop, to be imaginative, creative, fearless, hopeful.  I am hopeful that the new Archbishop will work to renew our Catholic culture by actively welcoming progressives back into open dialogue with him.

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The Living Tree of Catholicism: Thoughts on Authority and Fidelity

By Michael Bayly

As we launch the inaugural edition of this e-newsletter, you can be sure that The Progressive Catholic Voice will be perceived and condemned by some of our Catholic brothers and sisters as “not really Catholic.”  Why?  Because The Progressive Catholic Voice dares to ask questions, dares to challenge, dares to dream.

A reaction against a certain type of authority

In order to prepare for the inevitable backlash, I think it’s crucial that as progressive Catholics we acknowledge that such angry reactions to endeavors like The Progressive Catholic Voice reflect a type of Catholic theology that, according to English Jesuit Philip Endean, is “shaped by a Counter-Reformation reaction against Protestantism, in particular against the possibility that a person’s private experience of God could serve as a source of religious authority overriding the Church’s official leaders.” (1)

Endean’s reflections on such a theology can be found in his introduction to the book Karl Rahner: Spiritual Writings.  Rahner, of course, is one of Catholicism’s great twentieth-century theologians. He was also a key figure at the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and, as such, helped move the Church beyond the ghetto of neo-scholastic thinking.

Rahner was instrumental in developing and articulating an alternative theology to such a narrow and abstruse way of thinking, a theology that sought to “integrate the whole of Christian theology around one simple message: that God is a God of self-gift, a self-gift that can, however dimly and incompletely, be experienced.” (2)

A theology based on this understanding of God’s active presence in human life, notes Endean, is one that is open to “a permanent process of growth, interchange, and transformation.” (3)

It’s clear, though, that, such a progressive process of “growth, interchange, and transformation” (especially as it relates to complex human realities such as gender and sexuality) is very frightening for some Catholics. And in order to deny and avoid such a process, many resort to “equat[ing] ecclesial fidelity with passive toadyism” – which for Endean, is “a temptation of modern Roman Catholics.” (4)

More than we know

As comfortable as it may be to wrap ourselves in all sorts of “absolutes” with regards to issues such as gender and sexuality, Endean, in reflecting on the work of Karl Rahner, nevertheless reminds us of the authentically Catholic perspective which recognizes that “dogmas of tradition exist not as truths complete in themselves, but rather as resources for helping us discover the ever greater glory . . . of the God whose gift of self pervades all possible experience.” (5)

Basically, to quote one of my favorite lines from the movie Ben-Hur: “The world is more than we know.”

And whereas I, and others, find hope in such a description of reality, there are those whose response is one of distrust and fear. As a result, some poor souls cling so desperately to aspects of the known that they prop them up as idols from whose shadow they dare not venture (or allow others to venture) out into the world.

Yet as Endean reminds us, “Christian fidelity is not a matter simply of preserving a heritage unsullied, but rather of courageous engagement with what is new, with what seems strange.” (6)

His words recall those of Pope John XXIII: “We are not on earth to guard a museum, but to cultivate a flowering garden of life.”

Endean goes on to say that “the proclamation of the gospel is permanently interactive: no one is untouched by the grace of God, and the proclaimed message will be heard aright only if it somehow interacts – in ways that might be surprising, creative, or unprecedented – with the self-gift of God already present. It follows, too, that Christianity is permanently growing and in process.” (7)

“What Christianity is committed to,” concludes Endean, “is not the claim that its traditions possess the whole truth, incontrovertibly, but rather the claim that its traditions possess one resource among others – admittedly a privileged and indispensable one – for continuing to discover God’s truth.” (8)

Understanding “the Church”

In light of this very Catholic way of understanding the ongoing process of discerning and discovering God’s truth, I, as a Catholic, respectfully disagree with the contention that the “one way and truth” of the Catholic faith excludes those who dissent from the supposed “rules” of our Catholic tradition.

An understanding of the Catholic Church as some kind of exclusive club with an inflexible set of rules fails to reflect basic Catholic theological tenets articulated by folks like Karl Rahner, as well as by the example of community modeled by Jesus.

I think a better and more inviting way of understanding the Church than as an exclusive club, is that of a shared pilgrimage of a diverse group of people united in their commitment to embody God’s loving and transforming presence through their words, actions, and relationships of compassion and justice.

Perhaps the commitment to embody such values should take precedence over “rules.” Jesus certainly wasn’t averse to breaking the religious rules of his day when responding to the demands of compassion and justice.

Those of us frequently accused of trying to “change the rules” of the Church, tend also to be those who are willing to embark on those very Catholic journeys of “courageous engagement with what is new, with what seems strange.” We also tend to be people who have been denied any voice in developing the “rules” that others are so intent on lifting up as absolute and thus unchangeable.

But in reality, the Church’s understanding, and thus teaching (or set of “rules”) on, for example, human sexuality, has been primarily shaped by men within a patriarchal culture. If we want teaching that truly reflects a universal – i.e., catholic – perspective, then a more diverse and inclusive range of voices and experiences needs to be taken into account – including the voices and experiences of women and gay people.

The role of the laity

Also, once we acknowledge the significant role that human experience plays in the process of continually discovering God’s truth about human life and relationships, the role of the laity – all members of the laity – comes into much clearer focus.

Australian theologian Paul Collins, for instance, reminds us that, “Consulting the laity in the formulation of doctrine is part of Catholicism’s theological tradition. Also, the whole Church’s acceptance of papal and episcopal teaching is an integral part of testing the veracity of that teaching. The hierarchy does not have a monopoly on truth.” (9)

Collins finds support for such claims in the writings of the great English theologian, Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-90), “who said unequivocally that the laity has to be consulted in matters of doctrine, especially when teachings concern their lives so intimately.” (10)

Wrote Newman: “The body of the faithful is one of the witnesses to the fact of the tradition of revealed doctrine, and . . . their consensus through Christendom is the voice of the Infallible Church.” (11)

Good news to share

Many of us within the Catholic Church have come to realize the ancient spiritual truth (and thus Catholic truth) that not only can our beliefs shape our reality, but our reality can and should shape our beliefs. That’s the kind of living, growing Catholic Church that most Catholics want to live in and contribute to.

Such an understanding of Church could be imagined as a great sheltering tree. And just as a tree is comprised of different parts, both straight and curved, firm and supple, the Church too is not as rigid and uniform as some may wish to believe it to be. Like a healthy tree, the Church needs both anchoring roots and growing branches that are reaching ever outwards. That such a reality leads to tension is inevitable. But such tension doesn’t have to be divisive or destructive. It can be creative and life-giving.

Accordingly, I believe that despite our differences, those who may feel threatened and/or hostile towards The Progressive Catholic Voice, and those who readily identify with this voice, all have a place and role to play in the Catholic Church.

And for me, that truth says much about the beauty and power of our Catholic faith.

Michael Bayly is an editor of The Progressive Catholic Voice and the executive coordinator of the Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities (CPCSM).

1. Endean, P. (Ed.), Karl Rahner: Spiritual Writings (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2005), p. 13.
2. Ibid., p. 26.
3. Ibid., pp. 26-27.
4. Ibid., p. 26.
5. Ibid., p. 27.
6-8. Ibid., p. 28.
9-10. Collins, P., Between the Rock and a Hard Place: Being Catholic Today (Sydney: ABC Books, 2004), p. 12.
11. Newman, J.H., On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, (1859), ed. John Coulson (London: Collins, 1961), p.63.

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Growing Up Catholic

The Pastor

By Mary Lynn Murphy

One of the most memorable characters who shaped my Catholic childhood was the pastor of our South Minneapolis parish in the mid-1950s.

He was a heavy-set, bald-headed, ham-fisted, red-faced, gravelly voiced, hot-tempered Irishman who seemed particularly tired on Sunday mornings, and who intimidated almost everyone except my dear petite mother who adored him.  He was much like her deceased father – gruff, but tender with underdogs.  He knew her voice in the confessional where he addressed her by name, forgave her repeated failures, and comforted her fellow Irish heart.  He enjoyed her unfailing loyalty, despite his utter intransigence regarding the practice of birth control (“No excuses, no exceptions!”), and the wrath it incurred in my father and most of the parish men, as families grew larger and intimacies grew fewer.

He was kind and encouraging with well-behaved students, but tough as nails on those “sly little urchins” he distrusted.  He could smell a liar a mile away, and there was hell to pay when he caught one red-handed.  He batted them around, shouted in their faces, and publicly recited their succession of Ds and Fs to the entire class at report card time!  His most despised target was beautiful Johnathon, a cunning, blue-eyed, black haired Irish kid we all steered clear of – and who, true to Father’s instincts, spent much of his life in jail.

Father had no mercy for "second rate givers."  In the church vestibule, he published the names of all weekly donors, and the exact amounts contributed.  If the sum total was too paltry, BACK went the thermostat on even the coldest Sundays - just to motivate more "enthusiastic" giving among his shivering parishioners!

Father could have doubled as a union boss or a 5th Ward Chicago alderman.  The Sisters of St. Joseph cowered in his presence, catered to his whims, and cringed (like all of us) at the approaching sound of his heavy footfalls, flapping robes, and rattling rosary beads before unannounced classroom visits.  Just to please him on “Paddy’s Day,” the Sisters staged an enormous Irish variety show each year.  Every kid in the school practiced his/her brains out for weeks.  We could sing “Hail, Glorious St. Patrick” backwards in our sleep, and our dance steps could put the ROC-KETS to shame!  Even our mothers feverishly sewed green costumes and designed props, and virtually everyone participated in the audacious annual show presented on the gymnasium stage to a raucously applauding audience of . . . ONE!! . . . The Most Reverend Father!

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Upcoming Events – October 2007

 

Senator John Marty at the October Meeting of Spiritual Progressives

When: 7:00 p.m., Monday, October 8, 2007.

Where: Plymouth Church (1900 Nicolett Ave., just south of Downtown Minneapolis.  Enter the door under the canopy off the rear parking lot and go downstairs to the Jackman Room.)

The Minnesota Chapter of the Network of Spiritual Progressives is pleased to welcome State Senator John Marty as the speaker at its October meeting.  Senator Marty is well-known for his strong and clear stands on progressive issues, as well as for the depth of his understanding of the close relationship between religion and politics.

 

Dignity Twin Cities 33rd Anniversary Celebration

When: 7:30 p.m., October 12, 2007.

Where: Prospect Park United Methodist Church

Join with the Dignity Twin Cities community for a Eucharistic liturgy followed by cake and a social hour to mark the organization’s 33rd anniversary.

Dignity envisions and works for a time when lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Catholics are affirmed and experience dignity through the integration of their spirituality and their sexuality, as beloved persons of God, can participate fully in all aspects of life within the Church and society.

 

Annual Conference of Call to Action Minnesota

When: 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., Saturday, October 13, 2007.

Where: Community of the Cross Lutheran Church (10701 Bloomington Ferry Rd, Bloomington).

Come join with members and friends of the local chapter of Call to Action for an energizing conference.  Featured speakers at this year’s conference include Sr. Kate Kuenstler who will speak on “The Rights of the Christian Faithful,” and Lena Woltering, who through her presentation entitled “Powerful Persuasion,” will explore the growing lay synod movement.

For more information and registration details, call Judy 612-927-6825 or Sharon at 651-457-3249.  The cost of the conference is $30 (which includes lunch).

 

Second Annual Voices United Conference: “Proclaiming the Sanctity of Inclusion”

When:
Saturday, October 13 and Sunday, October 14, 2007.

Where:
Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (700 Snelling Ave. S., St. Paul).

Voices United, based in the Twin Cities, is an ecumenical movement celebrating the sanctity of inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (GLBTQ) persons and their allies in communities of faith. Voices United believes that the decades of silence around the issue of full inclusion of GLBTQ people of faith has hurt churches, individuals, and God’s good creation.  Drawing upon the work of disparate denominational advocacy around this issue, Voices United seeks to unite voices and hearts around the vision of inclusion.

Keynote speakers at the Second Annual Voices United Conference include:

  • Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder, pastor of City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco and presiding bishop of Refuge Ministries/Fellowship 2000, a multi-denominational fellowship of more that 50 primarily African American Christian leaders.
  • Bishop Lowell O. Erdahl, bishop emeritus of the St. Paul Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and lifelong outspoken advocate for non-violence, world peace, human rights, and full inclusion of all people of faith

Workshop sessions focus on “Baptism: Widening and Deepening the Wellsprings of Belonging,” “Bringing Sunday School Children into the Conversation about Welcome and Diversity,” “Keeping Our Hearts Soft: Non-Violent Engagement in Justice Issues,” “Welcoming 101: How to Open the Doors of Faith Communities to All,” and “Working with GLBTQ Youth.”

To register and for information regarding the conference’s schedule, call 612/861-6086 ext 214.  The cost of the full conference (including lunch on Saturday) is $30.

 

Hager, Sarah and Their Children: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives

Event One

When: 7:30 p.m., Thursday, October 18, 2007.

Where: St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral (519 Oak Grove, Minneapolis).  Note: Free parking is available.

This first of two events is a lecture and book signing by Phyllis Trible, co-editor of Hager, Sarah and Their Children: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives, a book that explores the ancient biblical stories as they relate to contemporary concerns throughout the world.

Phyllis Trible, Professor of Biblical Studies at Wake Forest University Divinity School and Balwin Professor of Sacred Literature Emerita at Union Theological Seminary in New York, has lectured widely throughout the world.  In addition to numerous articles and reviews, her books include God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality; Texts of Terror: Literary Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives; and Rhetorical Criticism: God and the Book of Jonah.

Event Two

When: 9:00 a.m. – 12 noon, Friday, October 19, 2007.

Where: Mt. Zion Temple (1300 Summit Ave., St. Paul).  Note: Free parking is available.

A panel discussion featuring Phyllis Trible (see Event One above) and three scholars from the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim traditions, followed by round table discussions, Q & A, and book signing.

Panelists: Rabbi Amy Eilberg, of the Jay Phillips Center; Dr. Corrine Carvalho, University of St. Thomas; and Dr. Ingrid Mattson, Hartford Seminary and President of the Islamic Society of North America.

Tickets are available through Ticketworks or by calling 651-209-6689 or 800-762-6353.
Adult: $15.  Student (w/ID): $10. Two-day pass: Adult: $25.  Student: $15.

 

Anti-war Protest

When: 4:30 p.m., Friday, October 19, 2007.

Where: Peavy Plaza, downtown Minneapolis.

Two national initiatives, the Iraq Moratorium and the General Strike for Peace have called for making the third Friday of every month a day of activity against the Iraq War. This series of monthly actions began in September and continues on Friday, October 19 with an anti-war rally in Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis from 4:30-5:30 p.m. 

 

Second Annual Bill Kummer Forum
Featuring Carol and Robert Curoe, co-authors of
Are There Closets in Heaven? A Catholic Father and Lesbian Daughter Share Their Story


When: 7:00 p.m., Monday, October 22, 2007.

Where: St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church (1500 Franklin Ave. SE, Minneapolis).

The Catholic Pastoral Committee on Sexual Minorities, Catholic Rainbow Parents, and St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church present a book reading and discussion with Carol and Robert Curoe, authors of Are There Closets in Heaven? A Catholic Father and Lesbian Daughter Share Their Story. Bishop Thomas Gumbleton has written of the book: “From within the context of a traditional Catholic family, Bob Curoe and his daughter, Carol, share their journey together from denial and suffering to full rejoicing in the gifted life of Carol as one of the Moms in a two-Mom family. Their willingness to share their journey will help to break down many barriers of prejudice and discrimination facing the homosexual community.”

Can’t make it on Monday, October 22? Then you can catch the Curoe’s discussing and answering questions about their book at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 21 at PFLAG Twin Cities (Mayflower Church, 106 East Diamond Lake Rd, Minneapolis, MN).

Copies of Are There Closets in Heaven? A Catholic Father and Lesbian Daughter Share Their Story will be available at both the October 21 event at Mayflower Church and the October 22 event at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church. 



Dignity Twin Cities Liturgy with Peg Helminski

When: 7:30 p.m., Friday, October 26, 2007.

Where: Prospect United Methodist Church (located at the intersection of Malcolm Ave. SE and Orlin Ave. SE, Minneapolis).

Dignity Twin Cities
meets every second and fourth Friday of the month at 7:30 p.m. at United Methodist Church. Celebrating its 33rd anniversary this month, Dignity envisions and works for a time when lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Catholics are affirmed and experience dignity through the integration of their spirituality and their sexuality, as beloved persons of God, and can participate fully in all aspects of life within the Church and society. 

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Looking Ahead . . .


Call To Action National Conference:
From Racism to Reconciliation: Church Beyond Power and Privilege


When: November 2-4, 2007.

Where: Midwest Airlines Center, Milwaukee, WI

Each November Call To Action (CTA) convenes its national conference because, the organization states, “we are the Church, the people of God, and yet, our work is unfinished.” Call To Action’s description of this year’s conference continues: “We are a Church always in need of reform, said Vatican II. Always. Ecclesia semper reformanda

To be faithful Church, beyond power and privilege, we do battle with sexism, classism, and heterosexism.  This year, we are called to confront our racism. Why are we, in Call To Action and in the American Catholic Church, still overwhelmingly white, when the human family is predominantly people of color?  Even our nation will cease to have a white majority in 2020 – just 13 years from now!

“Call To Action’s Anti-Racism Team was formed in 2004, and spent two years of training, analysis and planning before giving the CTA Board a strategic plan for moving the organization toward transformation into an Anti-Racist Multicultural Institution. Now the Team has worked closely with board and staff to design this 2007 national conference: From Racism to Reconciliation: Church Beyond Power and Privilege.

“Are we racists? Not, we hope, in the sense of personal prejudice and bigotry. But systemic, institutional racism goes deeper, to include the misuse of power by systems and institutions. CTA is afflicted with systemic racism, because, like the U.S. Church at large, it exists in a society where being white confers an invisible knapsack of unearned privilege, and being persons of color bestows unearned disadvantage. This is unjust, and unworthy of a Church called to embody the Vision of Jesus.

“Dismantling racism looms large in the conference, but the other priorities of CTA are not forgotten: there are sessions about women’s ordination, democratic church governance, peacemaking and the war, and the rights of GLBT persons and couples.

For more information about this year’s Call To Action conference, including information about schedule, speakers, registration and cost, visit here

 

Paul Krugman on the “Conscience of a Liberal”

When:
7:00 p.m., Tuesday, November 6, 2007.

Where: Temple Israel (2324 Emerson Ave., S., Minneapolis).

In this program, Paul Krugman, reputedly today’s most widely read economist, will discuss his recently published book Conscience of a Liberal in a interview with David Morris, vice president of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.  In his book, Krugman explores the past eighty years of American history, focusing on what happened to middle-class America and what it will take to achieve a “new New Deal.”

This event is sponsored by Magers and Quinn Booksellers, the Jay Phillips Center for Jewish Christian Learning, and Temple Israel. It is free and open to the public.  A reception and book signing will follow.

For more information call 612-822-4611.

 

Freedom: Spirit and Accountability

When: 7:00-8:30 p.m., Thursday, November 8, 2007.

Where: The Benedictine Center of St. Paul’s Monastery (2675 Larpenteur Ave. E., St. Paul).

This is the second part of a four-part series entitled “Freedom, Responsibility, and the Adult Christian: The Path of Discernment,” facilitated by S. Mary White, OSB, a licensed psychotherapist and a teacher of Christian meditation.

The series continues on February 21, 2008 (“Community: Self and Other) and April 10, 2008 (“Authority: Listening and Responding”).  Cost: $20 for each session.


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