Sheep vs. Beached Whales

This post links to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

 No.

 

 Yes.

I read something recently about lackluster homilies, which touched on one of my favorite topics, the two major Catholic subgroups:

A. Priests.
B. Their critics.

I'd say in general we have a D laity and a B+ clergy. So when I hear griping about how Faddah ain't doin' thus and so, my first reaction is well, what are you doing? Are you knocking yourself out for Jesus' church? If you are, great. I reckon you've earned the right to criticize the priest for whatever he ain't doing, such as delivering vibrant homilies. But after the crit's done, then what? And although I do hear excellent homilies, they comprise maybe 15% of my faith formation. As an adult Catholic, that's my responsibility. It ain't Faddah's job. A sheep ain't a beached whale.

Now here's what I think about bad homilies, in case nobody imagined I had an opinion! Dull homilists aren't likely to improve unless Jesus knocks 'em slap off their horses. But I wouldn't count on it. What I count on instead is individuals within the Catholic laity responding to the Holy Spirit's prodding; and then renovating the Church from the bottom up. Like democracies, the laity tends to get the priests it deserves. So it's up to the laity to act like grownups and take charge of themselves. Father's job is to treat his adult children like adults, not to be a spiritual spoon-feeder and butt-wiper. And if the laity goes from an F for effort to say, a C+, and raises up a generation of faithful, knowledgeable, orthodox, energized Catholics, then they'll also raise up priests who can smack a homerun from the pulpit most Sundays.


Ram photo by Alexandre Prévot. Whale via Treehugger & Globo.

Greenville- Ephrathah 6

Tonight Li'l 'Phrathah hosts Transitional Deacon Jon Chalmers' ordination.
 

Ciao dall'Italia

This post is linked to RAnn's Sunday Snippets

My 22 year-old youngest son, Christian, Jr., may have a vocation to the priesthood. This Fall he'll spend his senior year of college living in the diocesan discernment house near campus, in its first year of operation. That's him as a 4-year old (I think) in the blogtitle.

Tempus Fugit.

Every now & then over the last decade, people have commented on his altar service, observing that he does a good job. Before college, the mother of another server once said of him, "He's very I-don't-know-what...I suppose he has a modesty of motion so you aren't really aware of what a good server he is." Modesty of motion. I like that: being noticed for not being noticeable.

Christian, his two sisters, and My Wife the Travel Agent are on a Catholic tour of Italy right now (Popes, shrines, relics, Eucharistic miracles, etc.). I'll join them in a few days.

My wife has been posting about the trip on Facebook; this bit's interesting:

"We are in Florence now, leaving tomorrow for Padua and Venice, but the past few days have had some truly curious twists and turns, especially for Christian:

 Lanciano

First, we were in Lanciano to see the famous 8th century Eucharistic Miracle. We got there on Sunday morning shortly before Mass so the local priest asked that we quickly go in before Mass started. Our group filed single file in front of the altar to climb up behind to view the Eucharistic Miracle which is elevated above the altar. The church was full with the choir trying out some of the hymns before Mass, so we were parading in front of the congregation kind of by default. When Christian rounded the altar after his viewing, an older nun rose out of her pew and approached him, embraced him and gave him a kiss in the cheek. Others in the group asked if he knew her but of course he'd never seen her before in his life. After greeting Christian, she returned to her seat without explanation, and she did not greet anyone else or speak to anyone else in the group.

Crocifisso di San Damiano nella Basilica di Santa Chiara

The following day we were in Assisi, and among the many stops was time spent in the Basilica of Saint Clare. Christian was praying before the Crucifix of San Damiano, and this time a Franciscan friar approached him and handed him a small replica of the crucifix - none of the rest of us were so honored. Oooeeeooo - kind of an interesting couple of days for Chrisbo!"

I'll say. Must've been that modesty of motion. Or something.

Altar Boys & Vocations

Some observations about my 2,000-household parish regarding vocations:

We have had a boys-only corps of altar servers for at least the last 10 years; currently there are 49 servers, ranging from 6th grade through college. To have ten at the 11am Solemn Mass is not unusual.

We had one ordination in 2005.

We had another in 2007.

We currently have two seminarians.

Two of our college-age men (including my youngest son) will live in the diocesan discernment house next Fall. That's 2 out of a total of 8 for the whole diocese.

And of course there are also highschool-age servers who are explicitly considering vocations; one of our senior servers plans to go straight from highschool into the seminary.

I do not suggest a direct cause-and-effect here; nonetheless, the boys-only approach has a positive influence on vocations, and is a critical part of an overall conscious intent in the parish to nurture them.

The corps in action (scroll ahead to about 2:00)

2013: Our third former altar boy was ordained  this summer.

2014: Our fourth former altar boy will be ordained this summer.