Christos Aneste, Forum's closing and more

Today, the Greek Orthodox Christians celebrate Orthodox Easter and hail, greeting one another with Christos Aneste! Christ is risen! Truly, he is risen! For a brief, comprehensive and really delightful survey of today's feast, read the article by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople. 

One of the pericope's within the article caught my attention. "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling death by death, and granting life to those in the tombs." Life to those in the tombs -- human beings living here and now in the darkness and experiencing one or more of the maladies and misfortunes that life inevitably presents. Orthodox Easter presents an alternative perspective of an open tomb rather than an empty grave. Patriarch Bartholomew writes, "The miracle of the Resurrection then is an open invitation to a new way of living that prevails over the darkness within us and around us."

A new way of living. This radical, counter cultural way of being rehearses a breathtaking alternative to the present world culture of fear, alienation, self-preservation, entitlement, power and suspicion. The turbulent water of Christian baptism that is Easter confronts us with the constant and ongoing conversion that seizes the human person on every level and throughout every fiber of intellect, moral behavior, religious conviction, emotional expression, ecclesial commitment and missionary activity in service to the world through the lived action of the Gospel. Through our baptismal initiation, we are hurled into the turbulence of the Paschal Mystery. Life can never be the same. As Nathan Mitchell wells says, "...for in conversion's crucible, a new and terrible beauty is born."  from Echoing God's Word, James B. Dunning, founder of The North American Forum on the Catechumenate. 

Remembering Forum

This week, we received the really sad news regarding the forthcoming closure of The North American Forum on the Catechumenate, an international and collaborative ministry of members dedicated to the full implementation of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, with support ministries in the areas of reconciliation, catechesis, liturgy and mission. Created to form and inform the entire church of its work in the ongoing labor of evangelization through sacramental celebration in the full implementation of the RCIA, two of Forum's original team leaders, Jerry Galipeau and Rory Cooney wrote heartfelt (and heartbreaking) blogs regarding Forum's ending. I mourn with them. Forum pulled me up from an empty grave and plunged me into the open tomb of love and labor of the work of Christian Initiation.

I am changed because of the work of Forum. Like the conversion of Paul, the blinding light hit me with the experience and full impact of the Rite of Initiation of Adults through my first Beginnings and Beyond. That entire week (middle of July and hotter than Hades!) knocked me off my proverbial horse and set me on a completely changed course in my ministry and my life as a Christian. There is no return to a former life once you experience the drench of the full implementation of the rite celebrated and examined and celebrated again.

A parish believed so much in the full implementation of RCIA that they brought Forum's Beginnings and Beyond to Stonehill College in the early '90's. Fr. Dan Hoye, former secretary of the USCCB and author of The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults was among the participants, along with his music director and his wonderful RCIA team. I worked with one of Forum pastoral musicians, Kevin Bourrassa and served as the cantor and leading sung music for all the liturgies.We introduced Jerry Galipeau's response to the first reading for Easter Vigil, Evening Came and Morning Followed, Rory Cooney's Exodus Reading and Bernadette Farrell's God of Abraham to the diocese at that Beginnings and Beyond. That music bred like a rabbit and can be heard in many parishes throughout several diocese in the Northeast region.

I am forever grateful to Fr. Lou Phillipino, Fr. Paul Caron (later, my pastor, teacher and mentor at St Francis Xavier in Acushnet, MA), Kathy and Michael Sites, Rose Kelleher and the parish RCIA team of Immaculate Conception Parish in Easton, MA for introducing me to Forum, for your vision, your hard work and your love for this rite and leading all of us who attend that Beginnings and Beyond, which really was beyond the beyond. We've remained connected with clear-sighted vision in the implementation of this rite. You are what this work and ministry is all about. 

I know so many others who have experienced deep conversion through Forum's visionary teaching and witness. I participated and witnessed how the full implementation of this rite changes and converts entire communities and changes hearts in several parish contexts. When I attended my first Forum convention, I recognized the resurrected Christ in leaders like Nathan Mitchell who offered one of the most riveting keynote talks I've ever heard anytime, anywhere, Fr. Raymond Kemp lit the house on fire with his compelling preaching and presiding; I was privileged to work with Fr. Ray and Fr. Walter Burghart, S.J. on a Preaching the Just Word retreat for our diocesan presbysters. Jerry Galipeau directed music for the Forum conference that year and invited me to assist Chris Walker staff the handbell section for call to worship in the exhibit hall and for some of the liturgical music. That same week, Jerry was elected by Forum's board to replace Forum's exiting leader Thomas Morris who gave us The RCIA: Transforming the Church: A Resource for Pastoral Implementation. Gabe Huck sat next to me at one of the keynotes and shared his thoughts on the RCIA and Triduum. My copy of Tom's book and Gabe's book The Three Days: Parish Prayer in the Paschal Triduum look very much like my study copy of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults - ragged, underlined, paper clipped, written in margins, time worn and loved throughout. When I wrote my master's thesis, The Re-formed Rite of Penance, Forum's Joe Favazza, whom I later worked with at Stonehill College was my reference for reconciliation through theological reflection.  

Over the years, I've met, hosted and worked with so many gifted liturgical composers. Because I compose and publish, I do so appreciate the work that these wonderful artists produce on behalf of the church and how their music evokes the prayer of liturgical texts of the RCIA and transmits them from head to heart. The task of composing requires long hours of writing, editing, re-editing and re-re-editing, asking choirs, assemblies and cantors to test the material, hope a publisher will take a chance on the work and pray that assemblies will find the music prayerful and liturgically appropriate for the implementation of the rite. It takes the work of a village to compose and publish liturgical music. 

David Haas, Marty Haugen, Rory Cooney, Christopher Walker, Bob Hurd, Bernadette Farrell, Dan Schutte, Tom Kendzia, Tony Alonso and a host other pastoral composers pray and probe, explore and labor, compose and produce magnificent scores married to the church's theological texts on behalf of the RCIA that pierce hearts and create the living musical liturgy for the Rite of Christian Initiation. (Please forgive my omissions; there are many who labor in this field with very little monetary benefit and recognition but reap heaps of reward stored up in the new Jerusalem, our destiny (thanks Rory). I know; I live that life.

We go on

How can the church adequately express the profound gratitude for the vision of liturgical pioneers James Dunning and Christiane Brusselmans and to all visionaries who allowed themselves to be purged in Pentecost fire to provide us with the tools we need to fully implement the Rite of Christian Initiation?

By going on. We go on and continue the work of evangelization, of conversion, of full implementation of one of the most beautiful gifts to the Church that the Second Vatican Council prompted, endorsed and encouraged - the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. True that a beloved 'root,' North American Forum on the Catechumenate will close its doors soon. Windows open. With Easter hope and conviction, we believe that the breath of the Spirit of God causes a gust of change in us and through us and among us through the prompt, the push, the synergy that is Christian community lived within the Paschal Mystery. We will go on to teach, to preach, to sing the liturgy and continue the work that Forum began in 1981. We will go on because Christ told us to go and make disciples of all nations "for the life of the world." (Thanks, Jim Dunning.) That's not a suggestion; that's the work ahead of us. Who will continue the work? That's not for us to say but for us to trust that Christ is risen and living and dwelling among us and still calling new disciples who will learn the work of Christian Initiation from what we do ourselves. The RCIA will live because grace continues to stir us to we teach, to implement, to preach, to compose, to sing, to celebrate and to live what has been entrusted to us. 

Consider the magnificent gift of Team RCIA, the phenomenal website created by Nick Wagner and Diana Macalintal, picking up the torch and continuing on to provide us all with rich resources, webinars, 'free stuff', books, music, team formation tools, preaching help. Consider the ongoing work of National Pastoral Musicians, which continues to educate, encourage and provide conventions, webinars, workshops, written materials and rich opportunties for "learning, network and support, resources, vocation, mission and spirituality." (Quote from J. Michael McMahon, President of NPM, Pastoral Music, May 2013, Vol. 37:4). Consider the work of dependable publishers like World Library Publications, GIA Publications, Oregon Catholic Press, Liturgy Training Publications, Resource Publications among others produces ongoing tools in liturgical formation, mystagogy and ongoing education. To my knowledge, none of these ministries are closing their doors. We go on. 

Full throttle

Jesus warned us about losing heart. "Do not let your hearts be troubled," he said. "Have faith in God and faith in me." Do we have enough faith in the work behind us to give us the courage to forge the way ahead? The Rite of Christian Initiation must be experienced at full throttle. That can only occur when communities, through faithful leadership accept the "open invitation to a new way of living that prevails over the darkness within us and around us," revealing the risen Christ in the midst of the worshipping assembly and the daunting rite of the RCIA. James Dunning believed that the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults would be modeled, adopted (and pastorally adapted), implemented to become the 'ordinary' work of the Church. That has been Forum's mission all along. Now it's our turn to pass that torch and believe with every fiber of our being that Christ is risen! Truly, he is risen! and fan a flame until it turns into a pillar of fire for all captives to follow out of the darkness and into the daylight of life in Christ.  

With full hearts of gratitude, we thank the members of The North American Forum on the Catechumenate for its faithful ministry on behalf of the RCIA. Your gift to the Church will continue to shine for us all for many years to come. 

To our Greek Orthodox friends, Christos Aneste! May the feast of all feasts lead us all from the darkness of the tomb into the light of Easter day. 

Sunday, a day of leisure -- really???

Spinning the plates 

Nina directs music and liturgical ministries in a mid-size parish of approximately 1,600 families. With a bachelor's degree in music and a graduate degree in liturgy, Nina directs a volunteer department of over 150 volunteers who serve as choir members, cantors, instrumentalists and all lay liturgical ministers. Her music program includes four choirs (adult, youth, children and funeral choirs), an instrumental ensemble of string, wind, brass and percussion musicians and a fleet of cantors and leaders of song. Her liturgical ministers serve as readers, extraordinary ministers of Communion, leaders of Children's Liturgy of the Word, parish nurse ministry. Nina also teaches music approximately 20 hours a week in the parish elementary/middle school, provides music for all Sunday, holy days, weddings and funerals and all of the 'special' events that occur within parish life, including school liturgies.  

Married to Dave, an tax accountant for a large law firm, Nina and Dave live with their three-year-old son Jamie and their eleventh-month-old daughter Isabelle in a suburb section of the city where Nina and Dave work. They discovered several weeks ago that Nina is pregnant with their third child. 

Nina and Dave also care for her widowed father John, a retired teacher who suffers from chronic diabetes, heart disease and other medical conditions that require a special daily diet, medication management and frequent visits to his many physicians. John needs a ride when he has a doctor's appointment; he can no longer see well enough to drive himself. Nina and Dave alternate bringing John to his appointments in between bringing their children to the pediatrician for routine visits. 

Between the many and unusual work hours of their individual jobs, the care of young children, the care of a sick, elderly parent and the daily maintenance that comes with regular household chores, "leisure" is not a word in Nina and Dave's vocabulary. They just "try to keep the plates spinning." 

"There are days that we just go without sleep," Nina confesses. She laughs as she hands Isabelle a teething ring that escaped from tiny hands wet with drool, apple juice and soggy Cheerios. "I've actually slept in a sweat suit to be ready just to get up and get going without having to do much more than run a comb through my hair and wash my face. If someone's up at night (and that's pretty frequent between the kids and Dad), I've actually asked myself the next morning, 'Did I brush my teeth today?"

We talked about attempting to find balance and rest time within this happy but hectic household. "It's difficult," Dave admits. " With two afternoon Vigil Masses, an afternoon wedding with a possible funeral in the morning, and four liturgies on Sunday, including a Sunday night Mass for the Youth Group, weekends are just lost. Even evenings can be a challenge because of Nina's rehearsal schedule and her other responsibilities at work and school. I can work from home on weekends and we're lucky that I can do that but my regular work week averages between 60-70 hours a week. I try to be home by 6:30 pm so that Nina can get out of the house and be on time for whatever she's got going on at the parish and so I can be home for the kids and for John. It can get pretty dicey trying to keep all the plates spinning." 

Nina nods and continues. "There are times when I've had to bring the kids to school when I teach or rehearsals and events in the parish because a babysitter cancels at the last minute and Dave is still at work. Palliative Care and Hospice volunteers do come to care for Dad but you need to set that up in advance. If one of the cards in the deck comes loose, the whole stack can come tumbling down pretty fast."

In praise of leisure

In this week's New York Tiimes, Mark Oppenheimer commented on a particular section of the book "Pope Francis: His Life in His Own Words," which contains conversations with the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. Oppenheimer's column zeroed in on the art of recovering leisure as a sacred necessity for the wellbeing of all people. One of the book's remarks caught my particular attention with regard to Sunday as a day of rest and part of the religious anthropology of Catholic tradition.  

"More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society." In such cases, (Bergolio) concludes, "work ends up dehumanizing people."

The article continues that the whole of Sunday is supposed to matter beyond worship"owed to God, the joy proper to the Lord's Day, the performance of the works of mercy, and the appropriate relaxation of mind and body."

The comments echo a former papal voice, John Paul II and his letter Dies Domini (The Lord's Day), written to align with the church's year of Jubilee in 2000. 

"The rediscovery of this day is a grace which we must implore, not only so that we may live the demands of faith to the full, but also so that we may respond concretely to the deepest human yearnings. Time given to Christ is never time lost, but is rather time gained, so that our relationships and indeed our whole life may become more profoundly human." (DD 7)

The final paragraph of Oppenheimer's column in the New York times alludes that pastoral ministers, lay and ordained do not always practice what they preach. 

"Of course, those who preach a relaxing Sabbath, with friends and family, are often working hardest on the day they exalt." (Comment by Mark Oppenheimer)

Coming up for air

Pastors find themselves in a particular conundrum with regard to attention to the leisure of their lay pastoral staff. For example, the church acknowledges that music lives within the heart of each person. Beautiful music acts as a conduit of grace through the grace of God, the 'giver of song' (STTL 1) and acts as "an outward sign of God's love for us and of our love" (STTL 2) for God. People expect and access this sacred tune and text through its music ministers, their commitment and devotion and response to their calling. Natural outcomes result in talented individuals assuming positions as pastoral musicians, while others answer similar vocational calls as leaders of faith formation and liturgical ministers, both lay and ordained. The work is great and the pay is generally small to adequate. Charitable works finds their identity first in the body of its ecclesial ministers as a model of what life should look like as life in Christ. 

So when do pastoral ministers come up for air? How do pastors encourage them to do so when so much of what happens on the Lord's Day depends on the work of a pastoral staff? For priests, deacons, pastoral musicians and all other ecclesial leaders, Sunday can be a difficult day to find time for leisure, as Pope Francis' comments suggest. In the case of Nina and Dave, finding time to rest presents them with tremendous challenges. Like all other pastoral ministers who work on Sunday, Nina rolls up her sleeves and goes to church at 8am, returns around 1:00 pm for a few hours and leaves again at 4:00 pm to rehearse the youth choir and minister music for the 5:00 pm evening liturgy.

College campus ministers begin their Sunday at 10:00am and go straight through 11:30 pm, when the last Mass ends. Add to that the work that must be done to prepare for the Lord's Day and while sustaining the community life of a parish or campus ministry with all that sacramental and faith formation entails.

When does a pastoral staff take a breath and come up for air?

Might there be a few ways to address the needs of a pastoral staff for a bit of well earned and necessary leisure by the communities that hard working pastoral ministers serve? 

Works of mercy in mercy of the Body

Nina and Dave told me that when Nina delivered Isabelle, the parish choir pitched in and brought meals for two weeks that included food for John's special diet. Each evening at 5:00pm, a choir member appeared at their door with food that sustained the family for several weeks as Nina recovered from a Cesarean section delivery. "We had so much food that we were able to freeze some and use those meals when we really needed a break, " Dave told me. "What a lifesaver." 

The smallest of deeds can measure the greatest love. Service occurs in the simplest ways when given with great love. This is our mission and call - to be at the service of one another "until it hurts" as Mother Teresa tells us. In this particular case, members of the faith community came to rescue of a member of the pastoral staff in a very human way - they fed her family. 

Committed pastoral ministers serve us week after week, month after month and year after year, sometimes with little personal time to recover from a great deal of community service. Even an hour given of time given to a member of a pastoral staff offers them some necessary and much needed time off just to come up for air. 

From comical to contemplative 

"One day, an associate pastor from a parish called me with a question," Nina said. "I was holding Isabelle under one arm while I stirred a pot of soup with my other hand, trying to hear what this priest was saying while Jaime was dragging pots and pans from a cupboard and banging them with a spoon. My dad was buzzing me with a device that we installed in his room; he needed something. I had the phone cradled between my shoulder and my ear while I held the baby and lowered the heat under the burner before the soup boiled over. I answered the priest's question and then remembered an upcoming liturgy that we were both involved in the near future. So I asked him, "While I have you on the phone, can I ask you a question?"

"Oh no, I don't want to talk about anything else right now. It's my day off." 

Nina laughed as she told me the story. "At first I was stunned and then was just angry. How did he dare say that to me?! Didn't this guy get it? And then I just stopped and laughed out loud. How in the world would he know what I was living through? He doesn't live it. He set boundaries for his own time out and stuck to his guns. He needed his time off."

Nina thought a minute before she added, "I must say that I do envy him that kind of freedom but then again, he doesn't have what I have," and she kissed the top of Isabelle's head and rolled her eyes sideways toward Jaime, who was playing with his toys as we chatted. Such generosity does not show itself often in any work setting.

I found this story simultaneously comical and somewhat difficult to hear. Nina's story alludes that even while pastoral ministers work within the same context, the failure to enter one another's lives and understand each different context and the challenge may add to the existing burden and strain of ministry who give up their Sunday in service of the people of God. Walking in someone else's shoes with thoughtful consideration may actually encourage some contemplative down-time for pastoral ministers, lay and ordained who need to walk the balance between service and self-care. Even better, parish staffs may take some time together to pray, to share experiences and come clean about their needs to one another. Communication and listening to one another with the ears of the heart really matters for positive change to occur.  

A paradigm shift - coming clean

Pastoral ministers are perhaps the worst offenders with regard to asking for help from one another and from the communities that they serve. If pastoral staffs want to create a paradigm shift in the present culture of the secularized 'weekend' as opposed to 'the Lord's Day, coming clean with one another may create a new model of walking the talk. Contemplative pause begins with an admission that we are human and need the corporal works of mercy applied to ourselves as readily as pastoral ministers apply them to the people they serve. Pastoral ministers are part of that Body of Christ too and subject to those works of mercy and in need of them as much as anyone else. 

Are the church's ministers guilty as charged of the "consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society?" In the zeal to discover our humanity, do the church's ministers end up as a dehumanized people? Perhaps the biggest service pastoral ministers can do for the Body of Christ is to walk the talk of truth and come clean regarding the imminent need for help to gain perspective, respite, prayer time and leisure. If pastoral ministers believe that the assembly is the sacramental body of Christ in love and service, then that body of pastoral ministers must be bodily models of what that kind of community looks like in the flesh.  

"The spiritual and pastoral riches of Sunday, as it has been handed on to us by tradition, are truly great. When its significance and implications are understood in their entirety, Sunday in a way becomes a synthesis of the Christian life and a condition for living it well. " (DD 81) That includes those who work on the Lord's Day - the church's pastoral ministers. 

Michael Joncas, the Boston Marathon and growing up

Fr. Jan Michael Joncas at PCOn Thursday, April 18, 2013 Providence College hosted Father Jan Michael Joncas, Ph.D. as the presenter for the annual St. Catherine of Sienna Lecture. A celebrated professor and lecturer, author and liturgical composer, Father Joncas holds the Artist in Residence & Fellow of the Center for Catholic Studies at St. Thomas University in Minneapolis, Minnesota as well as the post of Associate Professor of Catholic Studies and Theology. Add to his list of credentials "a really nice guy." He enjoys people, engages in conversation with deep intention and makes you feel as though you're in the only person in the world when you speak with him. He is a gift to the Church. 

Father Joncas' presentation entitled "I will not let you go, unless you bless me: The Spiritual Journey in Catholic Imagination," incorporated content and examples from various arts and literature as he explored the three stages of childhood, adolecence and maturity to examine the human quest for God.

Childhood

Beginning with a piece written by bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, Joncas rehearsed the elements of the human spirit beginning with childhood. We see the world with wonder, marveling at simple, tangible things that fill us with awe and delight. Father Joncas read Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins. The sonnet invites the sacramental sense of the sacred that ends in praise of a God who creates marvelous diversity and delights in the myriad varieties of talents and abilities of the human family given as blessing and gift by a God who loves us beyond anything we can ever imagine.

Using his own setting of Psalm 118 This is the Day, Father Joncas propelled us into exhilarating Easter joy through his brilliant and straightforward setting that includes a succession of bold Alleluias that underpins and sustain the chorus: This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad." Alleluia, translated "Praise God" cohesively connected us to Hopkins' sonnet that simply ends "Praise Him." 

Adolescence

As I listened to this portion of the presentation, I recalled the childlike joy, the awe, the wonder and delight of the diversity of people that created a community to cheer runners to the finish line at the Boston Marathon last Monday. The beauty of the day and the joy of the community looked like Easter morning, the early childhood of Christianity. And then, like children gradually becoming involuntarily aware of human heartbreak, violence, cruelty and despair, we were thrust into adolescence, where struggle becomes reality, glory is diminished and swallowed up by fear and brokenness and the darkness of sin becomes a concrete entity. Without faith, this malaise can be irreparable and last an entire lifetime.

Photo by Associated Press photographer Huynh Cong UtCalling upon the Catholic imagination, Fr. Joncas used Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem Spring and Fall, which observes a young girl on the cusp between childhood and adolescence. The poet declares that "ultimately, all human sorrow derives from a single source - our consciousness of our contingency and finitude, so that all our mourning is grounded in mourning." (Joncas, 4.18.13)

Chiseled into our memories are the sights from Monday's Boston Marathon events that reminded me that other members of the human family have suffered atrocities and thrust innocent children into the grueling human work of adolescence. 

In his presentation, Father Joncas described the intuition of the wound is at the heart of the world and the world's own woundedness comes from itself -- a falling from grace in its origin from the beginning of time and still active and present among us. How do we move from adolescent behavior into a mature faith and awaken to the reality that we contribute to the wounded world? Let those among us without sin cast the first stone; there are many ways to inflict pain and suffering without thrusting explosives into the midst of a collected crowd of people. Therein lies the challenge: to surrender to redemptive grace as opposed to idolizing our own ego. That's called growing up. 

How many of us have read in the ream of social media that some people to refuse pray or forgive the perpetrators of Monday's terrible act of violence? What are the wounds within the adolescence of these two young men that led them to such heinous acts? Can we take some responsibility that we may have contributed to those wounds? Where is mercy within us? Can we find it in our hearts to forgive seventy times seven, as Christ instructs us? (Matthew 18:22) Or will we stay stuck in the muck of bitterness, anger, despair and brokenness, which destroys life as surely as an explosion?

Worse, will we allow the darkness of evil to perpetrate our souls and ask for an eye for an eye? Turn to history for the answer: darkness begets darkness. We have been shown the way of life through Christ, the Light of the world. Light every Paschal candle and walk into the light of that mystery every day. That light, that mystery, that paschal hope is the only way out of the darkness. Easy? No. But if we call ourselves Christian, this is what is required of us, what separates us from those who will not love, not forgive and refuse to move from an adolescent faith into mature faith. Perhaps it's time to ask: what do we believe? 

Maturity

Fr. Joncas moved us into the final stage of Catholic imagination with That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the Comfort of the Resurrection, whose line "Enough!" resonated loudly and clearly this week. Enough of this time of false gods, of misplaced passions and entitlement, of hard-heartedness and cruelty. Enough! Are we not people of the Cross and Resurrection? How will grace move us to recover our wholeness and share in Christ work to shape the world into a place of living saints, not hallowed in heaven but living here and now on earth. If we believe that the Resurrection makes life possible, all life, than we have the last word over the darkness of wounds, of division, of heartache and bitterness, of wars and weapons, of joy over sorrow. We have it in our power to move into agapic love and a mature faith by crying in one voice "Enough!" But it will take more than a village. Like the agapic love of the Trinity, we must encircle the globe with the light of Christ through the use of our imagination, our creativity, our wholehearted committment to be one peoples for all peoples. This is the only solution to the current culture of fear, retaliation and injustice. The end of this sickness begins one person at a time, one deed at a time. 

Solidarity

As Father Joncas' presentation came to a close, my thoughts moved again to friends and neighbors that I have not yet met who live around the world and fall victim to terrible crimes against humanity everyday. Later, this picture came across my Facebook page. This is solidarity at its finest. Can the community that calls itself Christian bring itself to do likewise and forgive those who persecute us? 

Gratitude and prayer  

Following Father Joncas' lead, I suggest sitting with his setting of Psalm 139, You Have Searched Me, which he used in his presentation and one of my long standing favorites. Many thanks to Father Joncas for a magnificent presentation and to Providence College for its sponsorship. 

We continue to pray for the victims of the Boston Marathon, the deceased and their families and for a nineteen year old boy who walked into the darkness instead of the light. May we be the light of Christ for all in the days and years ahead. 

May the Easter light that shines from the East rise in our hearts to bring light to the darkness, warmth and hope to a despairing world and keep Christ alive through our words and deeds.

Amen. 

Remembering women the on 50th anniversary of Pacem in Terris

On April 11, 1963, Pope John XXIII issued Pacem in Terris - Peace on Earth. He died two months after he issue this ground breaking encyclical. The letter addresses human relationship that includes the rights and duties of all peoples; between people and government; the need for international equality among countries, peoples and communities and collaboration and care giving between nations, Christians and non-Christians within political and socio-economic structures.

Long story short, we belong to God and one another and we need to think and behave like we do if we expect peace in our homes, in our communities and on this earth. That's the nutshell version of Pacem in Terris. The encyclical still resonates with relevance, truth, beauty and vision. (Read Pacem in Terris here.)

I read Pacem in Terris years ago. To mark its anniversary, I decided to re-read the text and reflect on how this prophetic letter speaks to us here and now. What's changed in fifty years since John XXIII penned this text? Worldwide wars still rage and ravage countries and communities and steal thousands of lives, leaving a wake of bereaved and damaged communities in their stead. Political strife continues to polarize governments. Polemics exist within structural religion. Socio-cultural developments and economic imbalance continues to plague the majority of earth's population, challenging individuals, families and communities with more and more duress, which play out in the state of peoples' mental, physical and spiritual wellness. Do we keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again? Lyrics from a Pete Seeger tune that I used to sing in the '60's popped into my head: "When will they ever learn; when will they ever learn." (Where Have All the Flowers Gone)

As I began to plumb Pacem in Terris on Monday, Lady Margaret Thatcher died. I ruminated on the Iron Lady's career spanning her early and formative years as a grocery clerk in her civic minded father's store to her position as Britain's first female prime minister. At the same time, a passage in Pope John's letter caught my attention, evoking memories of other women leaders besides Thatcher who created change - female peacemakers that claimed the rights and duties that befit their human personhood.

"The part that women are now playing in political life is everywhere evident. This is a development that is perhaps of swifter growth among Christian nations, but it is also happening extensively, if more slowly, among nations that are heirs to different traditions and imbued with a different culture. Women are gaining an increasing awareness of their natural dignity. Far from being content with a purely passive role or allowing themselves to be regarded as a kind of instrument, they are demanding both in domestic and in public life the rights and duties which belong to them as human persons." Pacem in Terris, 41.

That paragraph led me to ponder Margaret Thatcher's legacy as a peacemaker within the context of Pacem in Terris and likewise reflect on other female leaders who followed their internal voice and wore the yoke of leadership in a specific time of history. I begin with the controversial figure of Margaret Thatcher who Britain will memorialize and bury this week 

Remembering Margaret

Thatcher arrives for her first day at 10 DowningWhen Margaret Thatcher, "MT" as her husband Dennis called her, arrived on the job as Britain's first female prime minister at 10 Downing in 1979, throngs of people cheered their approval and support of the 'Iron Lady,' a name she adopted from a Soviet journalist who dubbed her so for her uncompromising leadership style. Before she entered 10 Downing, she greeted the people and gave a brief speech that included a peace prayer usually attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. I encourage you to go to the Margaret Thatcher archives here for a brief, poignant read of how Lady Thatcher and her speech writer Sir Ronnie Millar arrived at the final text of that famous speech and why they used that particular prayer.  

Sir John Major, who served in Thatcher's cabinet and followed The Grand after the bombing her as Britain's prime minister believes that Thatcher "will rise up among the tall trees of peacemakers in the history of Britain's prime ministers."

Thatcher weathered many political storms within Parliament, in Britain and within that period of history of the world.

Despite opposition from her cabinet, Parliament and British allies, she retrieved the Fauklands from the Argentinian Junta.

Through her partnership with Mikhail Gorbachev and other world leaders, including Pope John Paul II, Margaret Thatcher helped to end Communism.

She survived the torrential violence of the IRA, which included the assassination of her campaign manager Airey Neave in a car explosion claimed by the IRA, as well as a bombing directed at Thatcher on the Grand Hotel, where she stayed in Brighton during the Conservative Party conference in 1984. 

In 1985, Thatcher helped to negotiate peace and put an end to that period that Ireland named "The Troubles," assisting with the negotiations of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. 

Another MT 

Mother TeresaDuring the time that Margaret Thatcher became a powerful figure within world history, another "MT" entered the world scene of international peacemakers. Mother Teresa of Calcutta emerged as an international figure in the 1980's although she began her work and founded her religious order, the Missionaries of Charity many years prior.

As a peacemaker, Mother Teresa negotiated with political figures from all around the globe. Highlights include the Siege of Beirut in 1982. Mother Teresa led some of her sisters to rescue 37 children trapped in a front line hospital by negotiating a temporary cease-fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red Cross workers, she crossed through the war zone to the destroyed hospital to evacuate the young victims and cared for them throughout their recovery. 

When Eastern Europe experienced an open mindedness in the late 1980s, she amplified her efforts to work with Communist countries that previously denied access the Missionaries of Charity and seized the window of opportunity to create many projects in that region. 

 Mother Teresa ignored the dangers in Africa and assisted the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl and earthquake victims in Armenia.

Mother Teresa addresses UN AssemblyIronically, Mother Teresa offered the same prayer as Margaret Thatcher when she addressed the United Nations on its 40 Anniversary with the theme, "One Strong Resolution: I Will Love,"  invoking the peace prayer associated with St. Francis of Assisi. The difference between the two women? Margaret Thatcher used half the prayer; Mother Teresa included the full text and invited the leaders in the General Hall Assembly to pray with her from the prayer cards that had been distributed to the members of the United Nations ahead of her arrival. (Read the short but intrepid full text of Mother Teresa's speech to the UN.)  

Women prophets of peace 

Corazon AquinoCorazon Aquino, 11th president of the Philippines and the first female to hold that office in Asia restored democracy to her country as her strong leadership gave voice to civil liberties and human rights. She successfully held peace talks with communist insurgents and Muslim secessionists and restored economic health by creating a market oriented and socially responsible economy of the Philippines. 

Wangari Maathai Wangari Maathai promoted ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa, standing up against the oppressive regime in Kenya. 

Shiri EbadiShiri Ebadi drives the force of the reform of family law in Iran and became the country's first female judge. 

Jodi WilliamsJodi Williams led the campaign to ban landmines (ICBL) and successfully created the Ottawa Treaty, which outlaws their production. 

Rigoberta Mench Tum Rigoberta Mench Tum negotiates peace as a Guatemalan Indian-rights activist. A Mayan Indian of the Quich group, Tum led the resistance against the abuses of the military government. 

Aung San Suu KyiAung San Suu Kyi of Burma created the National League for Democracy and became became a symbol of peaceful resistance when the junta placed her under house arrest after she ran and won more than 80% of  the parliamentary seats. 

Alva Myrdal from Sweden advocated for nuclear disarmament with Mexican leaders as a government worker and diplomat.

Mairad Corrigan and Betty Williams During "The Troubles" in Ireland, Mairad Corrigan and Betty Williams founded the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (now named the Community of Peace People) when they witnessed a car veer off the road and Corrigan's sisters three young children died due to a high speed chase by the IRA. Through their leadership, thousands of Catholics and Protestants met and demanded peace in Ireland and the end to violence.

Dorothy DayDorothy Day advocated the Catholic economic theory of distribution and founded The Catholic Worker Movement as a nonviolent, pacifist movement that gives direct assistance to the poor and homeless in houses of hospitality. 

Emily Greene BalchEmily Greene Balch, an American sociologist, political scientist, economist and pacifist led the women's movement for peace during and after the First World War. 

Great personal sacrifice 

"Far from being content with a purely passive role" (PT 42) these women and others in the last 100 years possessed strength of purpose and the passionate desire to work for the common good, to create change, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. No leader escapes without personal loss or error of judgment even as they spend every waking minute thinking and acting on behalf of the people they serve. Let those among us tempted to judge and without sin cast the first stone. 

The themes of peace, justice and human rights sing within the socio-political activity of these women. The "force of nature" that Pacem in Terris describes in its introduction seized these committed female leaders to do something to become the voice of change for the good in their time. Dissatisfied with a content life, all of these women were driven by their zeal to create peace within social structures that existed due to the "longstanding inferiority complex of certain classes because of their economic and social status, sex, or position in the State, and the corresponding superiority complex of other classes."

In the hopeful spirit of Pacem in Terris, may this kind of structural dysfunction and injustice is become a memory in our history. May women everywhere respond to their interior call as peacemakers in their homes, their workplaces, their governments, their churches, the communities and the world. And may all of those structures open wide their doors to the gifts of women in the spirit of justice, human rights and equal opportunity so that we realize their gifts, which come from God, can benefit us all as we continue to work and pray for peace on earth. 

What are we waiting for? A word about children

Children and the musical liturgy 

Children love music. They dig rhythm. Many move easily and without guile. When some find difficulty expressing emotion and thoughts through words, music speaks to them. Through music, children can develop gross and fine motor skills that serve them throughout their physical, intellectual and spiritual development. Children can very often repeat singable musical phrases and grasp the language of music at a very young age. Although some children may not show apparent musical abilities until puberty, my years of experience as a classroom music educator for special needs children, mainstream classroom and teaching gifted and talented children combined with my years as a pastoral musician taught me that all children act and react to the elements of music in tangible and viable ways.  

Parishes who do not attend to the musical nature of children within liturgical celebrations miss out on a rich resource that not only awakens a deeper spirituality and faith in its youngest population but loses a window of opportunity to awakens its adult assembly into more active worship. Who can deny the invitation of children that invites an assembly into musical prayer? The musical liturgy that attends to the faith development of children as it breaks open sacred scripture and allows a fuller experience of the living word alive in its participants shapes an entire church as young voices prompt adult voices from lethargy into active engagement. Yesterday, four young women reminded me of the importance of the Church's mission of evangelizing through the musical arts. 

Danielle Trial, Chris Eubanks, Katie St. Pierre, Martha GannonThe four young women in the picture met in a parish where I served as the music teacher in the parish Pre-K-8 school and served simultaneously as the pastoral musician/associate of the parish. Yesterday, we all gathered to celebrate Katie (third from the left), 'showering' her with love and gifts as we anticipate her marriage this coming October. Danielle, Chris, Katie and Martha all sang in the parish Children's Choir. They learned ensemble music from resources like Rise Up and Sing that incorporated psalms, mass parts and hymns that were easily sung by the entire assembly. The girls emerged as leaders of song and developed their ability to serve as cantors of sung prayer. As their individual singing abilities became apparent, they led psalms and canticles for Children's Liturgy of the Word for the youngest members of the community. When their confidence and musicianship continued to flourish, I integrated them into the Adult Choir as leaders of song when I merged all ensembles together for feasts and special events. They tell me that their love of music and of worship began with their experience of the musical arts in Children's Choir.

Three out of the four girls chose music as a profession and still lead music for worship in several locations. Although she chose nursing as a profession, the fourth still sings in a parish choir. Other wonderful young pastoral musicians that I mentored, taught and nurtured throughout the years took the work seriously and continue to serve as cantors, organists, music directors and choir directors in parishes everywhere. When we cooperate with grace and plant a seed in God's vineyard, sometimes we're fortunate to witness the marvelous fruit of our love and labor. Deo gratias. 

Children are now 

Some veteran pastoral musicians believe that if we 'train' children in the practice of musical liturgy, we will somehow insure the musical church for future generations. While I agree that the practice of a robust ministry of the musical arts will hopefully act as a feeder system for the church of tomorrow, I believe that there is nothing more important than the church at our disposal now, in this time and place and in the bodily presence of the children in our midst. Children are not the future; they're here with us now in liturgical worship. God aches to speak to them. Why are we not putting our best energy, imagination and creativity at the disposal of our most vulnerable members who trust us to listen to their needs and respond to them in a way that speaks to their hearts? 

I must tell you that in my travels, I do not find many parishes that engage young children in sung prayer and in the practice of breaking open God's word. Vatican II gave us a vision of pastoral creativity, of imagination to capture hearts and lead them to God. I believe that one of the powerful ways that we can engage children in the liturgy is the through the practice of the musical liturgical arts to develop faith in children of all ages through resources that uses rich imagery. Where is our commitment to children on behalf of their conscious and active participation in the Eucharistic liturgy and beyond, when they are sent from the liturgy into the marketplace to be leaven in the schoolyard, the soccer field, the classroom, with adults and among their own peers?

Begin at the beginning

Initiative may be half the battle. Who can deny that we want to engage children in the prayer and worship of the church? But where do you begin if you're not musical, if you don't have a full time pastoral musician to initiate a children's choir, ensemble and youth choir? Where do you begin if you have limited resources? In my opinion, full time professional pastoral music directors really have very little excuse to eliminate an entire population of young people from their music programs. Fostering and nurturing the musical liturgy includes little people. Period. But what about parishes with less? 

Just begin. I recommend initiating Children's Liturgy of the Word. Children are dismissed from the assembly before the celebration of the Liturgy of the Word with a blessing. They are sent forth to break open the Word of God with a leader in a separate and reverent space to hear and testify how the Word of God is active and present in their own lives. Each CLOW includes prayers, readings, psalms, songs and petitions that follows the structure being celebrated in the adult assembly. Here's a sample of Children's Liturgy of the Word from Liturgy Training Publications. http://www.ltp.org/resources/CLW13_Sample.pdf Another resource? Check out Treehaus Communications at http://www.treehaus1.com/

But what about music?

To provide music for the celebration, use Music for Children's Liturgy of the Word by Christopher Walker and Paule Freeburg, DC, published by Oregon Catholic Press. The music books and CD sets for Cycles ABC provide more than 130 psalm responses and gospel acclamations for all the liturgical seasons. Chris and Sr. Paule offer simple melody lines, rhythmic interest that capture children and faithful scriptural texts. So easy that a child can do this! If you want to take a step further and send a cantor from your choir or train several of your youth choir students or experienced leaders in your children's choir to lead music for CLOW, all the better! But there's no excuse to do nothing. All the resources are available --- children, leaders and published resources. http://www.ocp.org/products/11194

Once you begin, I think that you might be surprised at the adult resources that exist in your parish. Parents, experienced teachers and even some musicians that worship in your pews may be willing to step up and help if you cast wide the net and invite your parishioners into the journey. And what pastor will decline an opportunity to reach out to strengthen and expand parish outreach to his youngest population? A vital part of the church, our children,wait for the adult church to step up and do our best to give them every opportunity to sing and pray well. What are we waiting for?