What It Means to Be Catholic Now

[rug]

PETER MANSEAUMARCH 9, 2014

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — ONE year into his astonishingly popular papacy, Pope Francis has become the perfect divining rod for uncovering assumptions about the future of the Catholic Church.

After an interview last week, during which he responded to a question about civil unions with a discussion of how “secular states” used them “to regulate different situations of cohabitation,” some mainstream media outlets reported that he had signaled a new openness to same-sex unions. More cautious analysts countered that he had done nothing of the kind.

Wishful thinking is rampant where Francis is concerned, perhaps especially among those born into the faith who have grown distant from it. While a recent Pew poll suggests that church attendance in America has not risen with the pope’s steady stream of positive press, the image he projects of a kinder, gentler Catholicism has inspired many of the lapsed, the recovering, the former and the fallen to reconsider the possibilities of being Catholic without qualification.

Yet even as the pope appears to be opening a big tent, others in the church hierarchy ensure that it will not expand too far. Last July, in response to a question about gay priests, Francis famously uttered one of the lines that set the tolerant tone of his pastoral style, “Who am I to judge?” That same month, the Archdiocese of Detroit published a warning against “nearly a dozen churches” in its jurisdiction that “use the name Catholic, but aren’t.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/10/opinion/what-it-means-to-be-catholic-now.html?_r=0

[IrishAyes]

1. Now that I've learned about the Celtic Catholic church, I'd be tempted to look them up;

but for Pope Francis. How could I leave him? Don't think it's possible. Benedict, in a heartbeat. But I waited too long. Timing's everything, I hear. Only JPII, whose portrait hangs in my living room (long story how I came by it) comes close to Francis. Who happens to be my favorite saint btw. The Vicar of Christ is supposed to reflect Christ's love for the flock. Mere theology won't suffice. If I turned my back on Francis, it would feel like deserting the best of my own family. So I guess he's stuck with me.

[IrishAyes]

2. Okay, okay! Following strong public demand (in my head at least), here's a brief recount

of how I came by such a beautiful portrait of JPII. The very next Sunday I rushed to church and asked the father, "What are you going to do with that picture of JPII in the narthex? Sell it? Send it somewhere? What?"

Bless him, Fr. X leaned over and asked in a conspiratorial tone: "Do you want it? Nobody else does." He knew how broke I was as usual.

Still, I nodded my head like a bobble doll, for once not daring to speak. He said, "Stop by the office soon after Mass."

So I was on pins and needles the whole time. He's a Claretian, indpendent minded with a biting sense of humor. In the basement social hall, he used to face a table laden with donuts and such, make the sign of the cross, then turn to us and declare with a straight face that the entire table of goodies were completely free of calories now. That was his shtick.

Anyway, Fr. X looked both ways (rather dramatically) and then hurried with it out to my car. I thanked him and sped off, feeling as if we'd really put something over on somebody, although I had no idea exactly who. Well, truthfully, some snotty people would've raised unholy hell if they'd seen us, so it wasn't entirely a game. But we played it to the hilt anyway.

Strange, the memories that still give me a warm glow years later. That resembles the way I got the antique print of Rafael's Sistine Madonna from another church, too. I guess maybe great priests think alike?

As long as I feel that Francis might be the same sort, guess I'll stick with him.

In a rather roundabout way, this does describe what being a Catholic now means to me. For all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, I've been deeply blessed in the ways that matter most.
............................................

BTW, one main reason Rafael's Madonna is my favorite is because it's the only one over the centuries where either Mary and baby Jesus show a glimmer of having any idea what's to come. It's prophetic, tragic, and yet so full of love. Not in a million years would God have chosen me for Mary's role because He must know how poorly I would've done. Even today when one of 'my' animals crosses over before me, I go cuckoo. No other way to put it. But I love Mary almost as much as Jesus. Protestants don't realize what they're missing by turning their backs on her. I've even heard of some pastors referring to the Mother of God as a mere tool. Not in front of me, or they'd get their ears pinned back. When I'm way down in the dumps, I climb out by literally dancing around the house singing hail Mary's at the top of my lungs to every tune I can make up. By the time I run out of steam, my heart's well on its way to mending.

Where else on earth can a person find that sort of comfort? Nowhere. That's another reason I can't turn my back on Rome no matter how deep green my Celtic blood runs. Would Mary leave with me? Somehow I doubt it.

[rug]

3. He painted many Madonnas, each showing a different aspect of ttheir relationship.

Thanks for those stories.

[IrishAyes]

4. Many, yes, and all beautiful. But none to equal that one.