More On "Stickiness" and Catholic Culture

The Catholic faith has a "stickiness" to it when people are exposed to many things that are part of our Catholic culture. Just as the parables and the images that are presented in the Bible help us to absorb our faith, so to do many other traditional Catholic practices help weld our faith to us. Some of the those practices might be central to the faith like the sacraments; others may be of minor importance in and of themselves, but they all work to establish and strengthen our faith. The Holy Spirit is at the center of it all. But the adult community must help the young increase their faith experiences.

When kids are only exposed periodically to the Catholic faith they may have little cultural or traditional experience with it. They are overwhelmed with secular cultural images and experiences, but have almost no Catholic cultural experiences. Not surprisingly, they are not growing up in the faith at all.

The ethnic traditions of faith for many Americans have been dissipating as we become more homogeneous not only in our ethnicity, but also in our Christianity. Blended traditions can often cherry pick a few tenants of faith and culture, essentially making for a weak stew that offers little nourishment.

Some parishes focus on instilling the faith in our young and have built programs to help cement the faith. We need that cultural stickiness to help develop a lasting faith. We need a culture of faith.

Historically, this is not the first time in the United States that the Catholic Church was challenged to renew the faith in its people. In the post Civil War Era, industrialization was leading to a more secure although austere life for Americans of all faiths. Men suddenly found themselves in completely different lifestyles than their fathers who had been adventurous immigrants and pioneers. The struggle to survive independently by one’s own wits and strength under God had been replaced by a life greatly influenced by secular business and industry. Men began to join fraternal organizations to foster a sense of belonging. Often, these societies had some type of chivalrous foundation, but they also had secret initiation rites and rituals, which gave them the feel of religious organizations. Many were concerned that these secular organizations could serve in some way as a replacement for faith organizations.

Father Michael McGivney was a young Irish American priest who lived in the second half of the 19th Century and created the Knights of Columbus. He was born in Waterbury Connecticut of Irish immigrant parents and he lived from 1852 to 1890. Like many priests of his day, he worked tirelessly for his flock and died at a young age. More than anything else, McGivney was a parish priest who saw problems and set out with endless enthusiasm to do something about them.

The families that McGivney served faced many problems. Alcoholism was rife and the churches of the day were instrumental in setting up Total Abstinence societies(TAs) that encouraged an alcohol-free lifestyle. These clubs also served to help create a place for young people to come together socially. Plays were produced and performed offering the young members an outlet for expression. In response to the horrific problem of immigrant families with fathers working themselves to death, McGivney began applying what he already knew about organizing and planning to create a new Catholic fraternal organization that would offer a substantial benefit to its members who became ill or died. It would take a few years, working through some resistance and inertia, but in time, Father McGivney established the Knights of Columbus with a group of laymen friends.

Today the Knights organization remains the foremost Catholic fraternal benefit society helping families obtain economic security and stability through its life insurance, annuity and long-term care programs. However, in most parishes today, the Knights are better known as a service organization providing needed support and services to the church. The Knights of Columbus has over 13,000 Councils and 1.7 million members.

Today, youth ministry programs at parishes are working to provide that cultural "stickiness" that helps draw and retain youth to the faith through many activities like youth Masses, concerts, clubs, musicals and missions. Education is also an important component, but there is much work that needs to be done.

Image of Father Michael McGivney from St. Mary's Spiritual Center, Baltimore, MD

Catholic Culture Provides "Stickiness"

Stickiness is a term used to describe how a particular action, communication or experience tends to be remembered -- to stay with someone. It is heavily used term today in marketing circles, but it is also useful for religious discussions as well.

Religion in its most stark and unencumbered state can be difficult for children to absorb and none to easy for adults either. Jesus overcame the "stickiness" problem by using beautiful imagery and parables to evangelize those around him. And his teachings so beautifully recounted in the Bible have helped us absorb and remember the principles of our faith. The Old Testament is also rich in images, stories and poetry.

Catholic traditions build off our Judea-Christian heritage and are enriched by cultural forces from many ethnic groups. The enormous Irish Catholic immigration that came about as a result of the mid-19th Century Famine must have had a huge impact on U.S. Catholics. But establishing the Catholic faith in the United States wasn't easy and it didn't happen over night. The original waves Irish famine immigrants were poorly educated in their own religion and it took a huge influx of Irish priest to establish schools and parishes to educate the masses. An Irish Catholic renewal in Ireland itself in the late 19th century helped insure that later Irish immigrants were better schooled in their faith.

In the same era, other immigrant groups were being educated as well and it was not unusual for Europeans to help sponsor Catholic institutions in the United States. Funds from Germany and other places came into the United States to build schools and churches to keep the Catholic faith alive in our "wilderness."

Religious persecution in Europe took many forms and both Protestants and Catholics took part in them. In the United States, Catholics were more likely to be targets of intolerance. Thus, Catholic religious leaders were aggressive about setting up Catholic Schools. It occurred to many that Catholic identity could easily be lost in a country that was predominantly Protestant. The Catholic school system developed and grew. In no small part, the priests and nuns who operated the Catholic schools saw to it that children were educated in the faith.

Bible stories certainly would play a big part in that education, but so would all the sacraments, the ceremonies, the rituals, and other rich aspects of the faith practice. A Catholic call to action would be important. The practice of the Catholic faith would be a large part of everyday life. There were morning, noon, evening and bed time prayers. There was abstinence from meat on Friday and fasting for mass each week. Every Sunday was a day for church and during Lent and Advent many would attend each day. There was the Family Rosary, nightime Novenas, First Fridays, and holy days. Guardian Angels stood at the ready each day. Saints were asked to intercede on all manner of troubles and affairs. The Blessed Mother was called on regularly.

In houses there were crucifixes, religious paintings and First Communion photographs. Each spring, a May altar was set up in a prominent place in the house. Catholics proudly displayed their faith to everyone.

The Faith was also directed externally to helping others--the Corporal Works and the Spiritual Works of Mercy are examples of how Catholics were taught to take action for others.

All these things helped provide a "stickiness" in Faith.

Stained glass window from Immaculate Conception Church,Cottonwood, Arizona.

Frightening News on the Irish Front

I was in church last Sunday and I am fascinated by the diversity of our priests these days. My schedule requires that on certain weekends I attend different churches so I get to "know" several priests during the course of a year.

In the last decade or so, we've had priests for India, the Philippines, Poland and Africa.

At one church there is a Priest from Kenya who is a large athletic man who has an African-British accent. He exudes great confidence and is deliberate in his sermons and all his actions in the mass. You can't help but feel the strength of his faith.

When we pulled up at church this week, the Priest was pulling up with his car. He stepped out with a small person whom I mistook for young boy. It turned out the person was actually a very small man who was an older Priest from Nigeria.

The two African Priests said the mass. At the end of the mass, the Priest from Nigeria stood up to say a few words. First off, he said he would like to thank Americans for their faith that was in many ways a guiding light for the rest of the world. He said it was our faith and support with the faith and support of European Catholics that led to the missionary work in Africa which in turn led to his and other African priests vocations. He was basically saying that by supporting the mission work in Africa decades ago we were now seeing and experiencing the benefit of that work by having priests like him serve parishes in the US. I was touched by this because one of my Uncles was a school master from Scotland who had actually gone to Africa with his wife to run a Catholic school. I couldn't take any personal credit for this of course, but it made the Priest message seem more relevant. Perhaps all those small coins we used to put in those little milk carton mission banks had done some good.

The Priest then told us that unfortunately, the Catholic faith in Europe was almost dead. Traveling through Europe, he had seen empty churches and almost a total lack of any expression of the Catholic faith. He went on to say that even in Ireland, mass participation was on the decline and the church had seemed to have lost its way offering shorter masses to try to hold onto to those who considered mass a burden on their time.

I had talked to an Irish publisher a year or so ago when Ireland was in the throes of their examination of the church's running of the various social services. The Publisher suggested that the people had enough of the Catholic church and its priests.

I am hoping against hope that these reports are exaggerated or at least short lived. I think it is wonderful that we have an increase in priests from Africa, India and the Philippines. This gives us new strength and vigor. These priests add a new dimension to the faith and Lord knows we need it. It also suggests that the church is growing in the places from which these priests come to us. It is all good as they say.

But as an Irish American, you can't help but feel bad when you consider that the church in Ireland might be on the decline. For Irish Americans, Ireland holds a special spirituality for us. The Irish religious came to this country at a time when the Catholic church was in a primitive vulnerable state under siege from many quarters. Their work was instrumental and inspiring. Not only did they keep the faith alive here, they also improved the religious training and education of the poor Irish--many of whom had come over during the famine.

It was the second and third generation Irish American priests who have established such wonderful institutions like the Knights of Columbus, Catholic Hospitals, Universities, etc. We need that continuing flood of new blood from Ireland. We need the example of Irish piety and faith. We need all the help we can get! We have our own faith crisis going on right here.

The world keeps changing and we might not like everything that the Vatican does. We might feel disgraced and angered by the Priests who have betrayed their faith and abused children. We might believe the church leaders mishandled much of the scandal. We might disagree with things that are being said and done by some of the human beings who are our church leaders. But we can't help but believe that the body and blood of Jesus Christ that is present at the altar for us at each mass is a gift that is present in the Catholic Church. Most of our priests are wonderful spiritual people who have kept the faith, who have fought the good fight. Certainly, the Irish can see this, can they not? I pray so.

Grandfather and the Start of the Day

This photo is one of my grandfather at the start of his day a long time ago before trucks. He started his own business and delivered ice, vegetables and eventually furniture. Later on, he worked for the union. He lived through World War I, Prohibition, the Great Depression, and World War II. He died in the age of Interstates and airplanes.

I know my grandfather knew desperate times and I am sorry that I never got a chance to meet him because he died a few years before my birth. But I know my grandfather and grandmother were religious people and no doubt were raised on stories of Saint Patrick.

I like the desperation in Saint Patrick's prayer and have posted it on this blog before. I have become a greater admirer of Saint Patrick as I grow older. See my previous posting on him for a bit of his prayer and my thoughts about him.

In addition to Saint Patrick's prayer, I thought of a short saying that I found inspiring. If you are looking for a way to center yourself at the beginning of the day, the quote below is helpful-- it is a prayer/saying from an anonymous source that makes a lot of sense:

This is the beginning of a new day. God has given me this day to use as I will. I can waste it or use it for good, but what I do today is important, because I am exchanging a day of my life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that I have traded for it. I want it to be gain, and not loss; good, and not evil; success, and not failure; in order that I shall not regret the price I have paid for it.

My thanks to Paul H. for helping me recover this one--long ago seen pasted on his dad's mirror. I do not know the actual source for this, but Paul thought it may have an Alcoholics Anonymous connections although his dad was not a member. If anyone knows the source, please let me know and I will post it.

Sisters in Habits

Catholics in the United States often went to Catholic schools. Some of the reasons for this is obscured in time, but essentially for groups such as the Irish Catholics it was a matter of survival--culturally, faith-wise and in some places physical survival.

One of my own sisters became a Sister when she was still a teenager and served as an Adrian Dominican for about a dozen years. She was one of the youngest women going into the convent at the time and when she left there were not many Sisters younger than her still there. She had many close friends that left as well, but I don't want to write this post about reasons that may have led to their exodus, I wanted to write this post to say how much I am in debt to the fine women who helped me through my school years who wore the habit.

The Sisters at our school were Sinsinawa Dominicans, but I think it's safe to say that while each order had its own personality, the teaching sisters had very similar goals and characteristics.

At one time there were over 140,000 nuns in this country. If you attended a Catholic school like I did when the Sisters were numerouos, you know what a tremendous service they performed. Sisters were focused on making good Catholics out of us, but you could see they worked very hard themselves on their sanctity as well and doing just about everything with excellence. Visiting convents as a young boy to see my sister, I have some insight on how the Sisters did most everything with precision and determination. They were a special class of people who gave 100% to everything they did.

In the baby boomer classrooms where students often numbered 40 or more (my classes actually had over 50 to a room), the Sisters were overworked and under appreciated. Often the Sisters kept teaching through dreadful illnesses and well into their 70s and 80s. In these overcrowded classrooms often fully stocked with kids today who would be classified as special needs kids and certainly behavior-challenged kids, some of the Sisters would turn to a little corporal punishment (which was essentially the rule of the day for many of our parents in those days) and that seems to be what many Catholics remember or at least talk about.

We should also remember the tears they shed for us, the kindness they showed, the late nights they put in grading papers, the endless prayers they said for us and perhaps more than anything else their determination to see that we set out on the right path. We owe them so much and today we could use them more than ever, but their numbers are dwindling.

I was raised in a family of women with a father who was a tough Irish Catholic cop with a big heart and a special love and respect for the Sisters. The women in my family all faced the women's right movement and related issues in their own individual ways. But for my money, it's hard to imagine more powerful women than the sisters who spent more time than our own mothers guiding 40-60 little souls each day. It's hard to imagine any other job where so much influence was yielded on such a personal level. We may not have bloomed into saints, but we are all better people because of them.

I am one of those who like the funny plays that depict the prototype Sister who is ready to scold the audience in a tough love Catholic school way. But for me these performances are best when the actress gives us little insights of love, kindness and humor that give us a tiny glimpse into our lives years ago. Let's not forget the real Sisters who cared so much for us "back in the day." Do you what you can to show them you care.

Saint Patrick 1600 Years Later

The Irish came over to the United States in huge numbers in the mid 1800's during and after the famine. Irish priests followed in an effort to care for the souls of those who left. Most of the immigrants had lived in Irish rural settings with laws that suppressed Catholic faith practice; many of the immigrants were not well schooled in their own faith. Met here with extreme prejudice like most groups of poor uneducated immigrants, the Irish flocked together and worked hard to become Americans.

Many got a jump start to citizenship by joining in the Civil War—signing up literally right off the boat. Many of the Irish had a propensity towards tough physical labor and joined the railroads. Taking these tough jobs earned the Irish some much needed respect, but they still needed to band together to get a footing in their new home. The one occupation most of the Irish seemed to avoid was farming, having just come from the failed potato patches that their families had “leased.”

It’s pretty certain that Saint Patrick did not drive out the snakes from Ireland. But it is fairly certain that the faith of the Irish was God’s gift carried over by Saint Patrick and many others in the centuries following his mission. Patrick’s gift helped hold the Irish together in the toughest of times under the rule of the English and helped those post-famine Americans in the tenements of New York, Boston and other cities. While we, both Irish and non-Irish alike, may hold up a glass to celebrate the day, I’d like to make my own toast to the Irish priests and sisters who helped “civilize” many of us both Irish and Irish alike in the path of Saint Patrick. May the generosity and sacrifice of Saint Patrick and these good people live on another 1600 years.

Saint Patrick's Breastplate

I love Saint Patrick's Breastplate because it is a dramatic, kind of desperate prayer to match the life of the great Saint. The famous prayer commonly called Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, traditionally attributed to him, is beautiful, yet simply written. The prayer does not appear in Patrick’s meager writings, but it has been handed down over the centuries and can be found in many different variations today. It speaks for those of us today who see and seek divine strength and intervention in daily life. A small part of the prayer follows:

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun
Brilliance of moon
Splendor of fire
Speed of lightning
Swiftness of wind
Depth of sea
Stability of earth
Firmness of rock.
I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s host to secure me
against snares of devils
against temptations of vices
against inclinations of nature
against everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd.

Approaching Saint Patrick's Day

It is my view that Saint Patrick should be appreciated for his courage, his simplicity and his incredible legacy of success. Kidnapped as a young man from Roman Britain, Patrick was desperately afraid of imminent death as he literally "slaved" away as a shepherd in the fields of Ireland as a young captive. His famous prayer is not some delicate little verse, but a heartfelt almost desperate appeal to God for protection--he didn't just ask for a helping hand, he wanted to be surrounded by Christ as he went about his business. And Patrick did go about his business. After reaching safety at home following years in captivity, he decided that he must go back to face the pagan Irish to convert them.

Unlike the learned Saint Augustine who wrote the foundational work on the Trinity, Saint Patrick was said to have explained it simply to his pagan Irish audience using a clover. It worked. Patrick's life is surrounded in rich traditional stories although there is little we know with certainty. We do know that Patrick and many brave priests that followed him were able to convert the Irish without bloodshed. We also know that fifteen hundred years after Patrick, his legacy spread throughout the United States. Following the almost unfathomable exodus of Irish from their homeland to a new home in North America, the Irish Priests and Sisters followed to make a superb mark on our society here by throwing themselves into their work with the same zeal and courage as Saint Patrick himself.