A reflection on an early warning siren, the Eucharist and Purgatory.

Something common place happens here in Cincinnati every noon on the 1st Wednesday of the month.

Like many other areas, the sirens go off. They produce a steady stream of the high-pitch wailing that usually signals an impending storm that could threaten our lives and our homes. It’s usually a sign to collect the kids and head for cover, grabbing the flashlight and radio on the way. It signals a moment when it’s best to place our trust and faith in the almighty power of God and the protection of the Blessed Mother.

But for the 1st Wednesday of every month, it is just a test. It lasts for minutes, conversation usually stops, and then we go on our way.

What was interesting about this month’s test was that it was All Soul’s Day and I was in 11:30 Mass just about Communion time. During the beginning of Communion, the siren went off.

The siren was so loud that it seemed to be parked in the sacristy. The siren drowned out the Dominican brothers who were chanting the Communion hymn. Eventually, they gave up and stopped.

And a very peculiar scene started to unfold. We formed a long line, each a communicant receiving the Eucharist under the sounds of a siren and then under a half-silence punctuated by “the Body of Christ” ringing throughout the church. Both the siren and the contrasting half-silence seemed to permeate every nook and cranny of the church and every crevice of our souls.

It brought urgency to what we were doing and a keener awareness of who we were receiving.

The urgency was especially acute because we still were contemplating the wonderful and powerful homily we had heard on the reality of Purgatory. Father was very matter-of-fact in explaining the existence of Purgatory. He didn’t dance around the fact that Purgatory was real. He even made it sound somewhat appealing in emphasizing that it is a place for us to go to be purified before going to heaven and spending eternal life with God; a place for us to wash away the grime and degradation of our human sin.

We average Catholics tend to want to wish away the existence of Purgatory or think of it as a bad thing. We don’t want to acknowledge that our human sinfulness has consequences for us in the next life. We want to narrow our choices to heaven and hell and be comforted by the perception that only bad people go to hell.

But Purgatory is real. The Church is very emphatic about its existence. And, at this Mass with the sirens going off, it was as if Christ was sounding the alarm. He was telling us to listen to this priest; that Purgatory and hell exist; and that we are to conform our lives to Christ so as to avoid hell, and cut down on the time spent in Purgatory (if not eliminate it altogether).

And the fact that this siren sounded during Communion was especially poignant. Every Eucharist that we receive brings with it a special meaning for our lives. In partaking of the body and blood of Christ, we are giving ourselves over to Christ and his Church, acknowledging that we belong to him.

And if we belong to him, then we must answer a question. Who do we not belong to?

If we truly take Christ’s body and blood as he intended for us to take him, then we cannot give priority to the world, allowing our faith and moral lives to be influenced by those who deny Christ and the Church.

Our challenge is to understand the nature of sin – what it is, how the culture encourages it, and how it impacts our life now and going forward into eternity. It is important to realize that sin is what separates us from God and that Purgatory helps reunite us with him. But it would be better for us if we just united ourselves with Christ now, in this life, and led our lives in total uniformity with his will.

As with that siren during Mass, Christ always sounds the alarm in our lives when we are going astray. Sometimes it’s obvious; most times it’s subtle. It’s up to us to hear it in either case. It’s this alarm that will sound the way to heaven.

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We are each called to be a saint.

Love, hope, conformity of will, and placing Christ at the center of one’s life.

These were the common themes as I prayed through a special Litany of the Saints compiled by Fr. Peter John Cameron, O.P. for the Vigil of All Saints and published in Magnificat.

In this litany, he has us asking 79 saints from throughout the ages to pray for us.  With the invocation of each saint, Fr. Cameron has a short quote from them.

These quotes speak of love, hope, conformity of will and placing Christ at the center of one’s life.  Each of these saints are saints because their talk was matched, if not exceeded, by their actions.

This litany got me thinking.  There are so many polls in America today.  Americans are polled about anything and everything.  I would like to see the following poll taken – “Do you want to be a saint?  Do you want to live a holy and pure life?  Are you happy with just being good enough or do you want to fulfill your spiritual potential?  Do you want to win against evil?”

I think this poll would be depressingly revealing.

Which is why today is so important and why it is one of the few remaining Holy Days of Obligation, when we are expected to participate in Mass.  All Saints Day reminds all Catholics that we are each called to be a saint.   It doesn’t matter what we are doing, what we have done, or who we are.  We are called to be saints.

In the Magnificat litany, there were a few quotes that stand out and are applicable to the average Catholic.

“Once again I give you thanks for your merciful love, kindest Lord, for having found another way of arousing me from my inertia.” – St. Gertrude the Great

“About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing, and we shouldn’t complicate the matter.” – St. Joan of Arc

“If we but recollect the name of Jesus, it is to fight with confidence – for this name subjects all the fury of our enemies to us.” - St. Bernardine of Siena

“As long as obedience is flourishing, all the other virtues will be seen to flourish and to bear fruit.” – St. Ignatius of Loyola

“My Jesus, if you want me, cut the fetters that keep me from you.” – St. Philip Neri

“We must fight our battle between fear and hope in the knowledge that hope is always the stronger because he who comes to our help is almighty.” – St. Francis de Sales

“But for divine grace I would be in temper hard and repellant, rough and crabbed.” – St. Vincent de Paul

“We must love God in the way that pleases him, and not just in a way that suits ourselves.” – St. Alphonsus Liguori

“If the soul longs for nothing else than to love its God, then don’t worry and be quite sure that this soul possesses everything, that it possess God himself.” – St. Pio of Pietrelcina

These men and women had their priorities straight.  They got it right.  They knew what was important.  They placed Christ and his Church at the center of their lives and everything else came together.  They rebuffed evil in their lives and brought peace, hope and love to their age and time.  They lived for God, not for this world.

We each share their calling, their mission, their life purpose – to build Christ’s kingdom and bring about the salvation of souls.

For those who go to Mass today, they may hear the following blessing to close out Mass; it is worth a great deal of contemplation-

“God is the glory and joy of all his saints, whose memory we celebrate today. May his blessing be with you always. Amen.

May the prayers of the saints deliver you from present evil; may their example of holy living turn your thoughts to the service of God and neighbor. Amen.

God’s holy Church rejoices that her children are one with the saints in lasting peace. May you come to share with them in all the joys of our Father’s house. Amen.

May almighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

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We need to take our life plan back from the culture and give it to Christ.

Most of us have developed a “life plan” at some point.  We planned out what we were going to do and where we were going to be at which point in our life. Whether it was marriage, kids, career, or homes, these life plans were rather specific as to one’s dreams and aspirations.

After all, we were all asked in our twenties about what we were going to do with our lives; what mark were we going to make on the world; when were we going to settle down; how much of the economic pie and life’s luxuries were we going to grab for ourselves; what were we going to do to save for our kids’ college and our retirements.

What was the Plan?

The problem arose that, while most of us came up with the Plan, I would venture a wild guess that very few of us really asked God about HIS plans for us before finalizing the Plan. Few of us gave God a blank sheet and asked him to start writing.

Big mistake.

If we do not give God a blank sheet, we end up giving that sheet to the culture; and our culture is more than willing to use that sheet to sell us a distorted message about what should be our life.

Commercials, ads, magazines, websites, music videos, television shows and movies all try to tell us what should be our dreams. We are told about sexy careers and lifestyles. We are made to feel inadequate if we do not achieve these dreams or rise to the level of success imprinted upon our minds and hearts through the lens of a camera. Our culture also pushes us via our elders, mentors and peers, who all try to have a say in our success and telling us what to do with our lives. They try to make their (often un-realized) dream of success become our own.

The result is predictable.

For those who have a God-free life plan, some execute their plan and “succeed” while the others put their life plan on a shelf and fall into a stagnating drift. In either case, what follows is often (but not always) materialism, secularism, disillusionment, heartache, complacency, and hopelessness. What also often follows is a content free relationship with God and the Church. What’s worse is that, whether they are successful or not, too many want to get off the road they are on but can’t.

So, if this is happening to someone, what is the alternative?

The alternative is to empty the heart, mind and soul of all dreams, all aspirations, all ambition, and all expectations. And then turn to Christ. Empty the vessel of all that is not put there by God and then let God fill it with his will and his plans. Cut the strings with a life plan put together without God’s input and then let him write the plan.

The great saints threw out their life plans when they realized the plans weren’t jiving with God’s plan. They then got with the program.

It may be particularly hard to abandon a plan that appears to be working. It is up to everyone to evaluate their lives in the light of Christ and determine the source of their success. Is the plan working because it is from Christ or is it only working in human terms (and not God’s terms)? Is their plan leading them to a closer relationship with Christ and his Church? Or is it leading to a disinterested or distant connection?

It is time for everyone to take their life plan back from the culture and give it back to Christ. It is only then that we will do his will in this age.

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Catholics are called to Personalism and the hard choices that make it happen.

Every day, we hear news stories about some statistic or another. We hear about the number who were harmed from some sort of cause, whether it be disease, violence, accidents or acts of war. We hear about the number of people impacted from policies of decision makers.  We hear about the number of people affected by a decision by a company or organization.

Rarely are there individual faces and personalities attached to these statistics.  There is a lack of personalism in these stories. They are just about numbers, not individual people.

The same can be said about much of our culture.

The culture has depersonalized sex, political discourse, business transactions, and many other interactions between individuals.  It wants us to think about individuals as formless groups, souless images, and mind-numbing statistics.  The easy anonymity of the internet has only exacerbated the problem.

To be truly Catholic means not falling into this trap laid by our culture.

Every person is an individual created by God in his own image with a plan and a purpose.  When we see that 3,000 are laid off, these are 3,000 individuals and families who are impacted because of the decisions of individuals working for the companies.  When we see 25 people killed in a bomb attack on the other side of the world, these are 25 individuals who were killed by other individuals.  When we see that more than 1,000,000 babies a year are aborted in the U.S., these are all individuals who were conceived by women who are individuals and are being killed by doctors who are individuals.

It goes even further.  When we comment on a political discussion board, we are discussing an issue with another individual, typically about other individuals.  When we watch a sporting event, a TV show, or a movie, or read the news, we are dealing with individuals on the playing field, on the screen or in the pages.  When we talk with a customer service representative on the phone or do business with a customer, we are dealing with individuals.  When we see others on the street, we are dealing with individuals.

How often do we think this way?

Yet, Catholicism calls us to think of everyone as a unique individual who we are to love.  We are to treat each and all with respect and dignity.  We are not to use anyone else as an object or as a means to an end.  We are called to personalize every one.

The Catechism is a great resource in developing this concept.

The Glossary to the Catechism defines the Human Person as such:

“The human individual, made in the image of God; not something but some one, a unity of spirit and matter, soul and body, capable of knowledge, self-possession, and freedom, who can enter into communion with other persons-and with God. The human person needs to live in society, which is a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them.”

In CCC 1702, we are taught that “[t]he divine image is present in every man.” In CCC 1878, we are reminded that ”[l]ove of neighbor is inseparable from love for God.”  And then, we learn in CCC 1879 that “[t]hrough the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethern, man develops his potential.”

So, if the divine image (i.e. the image of God) is present in each of us, and each of us possesses all of the wonderful attributes described in the above definition, then we have no choice but to treat each and everyone accordingly.  Similarly, if love of neighbor is inseparable from love for God, we need to care about each and every person if we are to truly love God.  And, we can help others acheive their potential through service and dialogue.

In other words, we can’t read or watch or discuss others in a depersonalized manner.  We can’t just pass others by without considering that they are images of God themselves.  We can’t just look at human statistics as mere numbers.  We can’t just dismiss the actions of others as their own business.

Instead, we are called to treat everyone as an individual.  How do we think about them?  How do we talk about them? How do we treat them?  What do we do for them?

Most importantly, do we genuinely care about them and their souls?  Do we love them enough to pray for them and desire to help them achieve their potential?

Or do we default to depersonalism by exercising indifference, treating others as objects for our own amusement or benefit, or relying on others to care for those in need?

We are called to do so much more.  As such, we need to personalize everyone and examine our consciences to figure out who we are dehumanizing.  We then must change our behavior, habits, and personal interactions consistent with this Catholic personalism.

This personalism is made hard by our culture; but it is made easy if we follow Christ and his Church.

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Silence is key if we are going to listen to Christ and his Church, instead of the culture that seeks to separate us from them.

One of the wisest sayings I have ever heard is that listening is the most important thing you can do in a relationship and you can’t listen if you are talking.

I’ve been thinking about this saying the past couple of weeks.

My school district had failed the last two levies it has put on the ballot.  As a result, most of us have lost our busing.  We need to drop off and pick up our children at school.  I have actually considered it a blessing that I’ve had the opportunity since school has started to pick up my young ones in the afternoon.

The process is always the same.  The multitudes of parents arrive at the end of the school day and we wait - anywhere from 15-30 minutes – depending on when we get there.  At some point, we finally get to collect our kids and scatter on home.

A lot of parents are grumbling about this process.  But, I have found something exhilarating about it.

I’ve found – silence!

I sit in my car, waiting for my kids – in perfect silence.    I can’t speed up the process and I don’t want to sit and grumble.  I also really don’t want the radio on.  I don’t want to read anything.  I just want the silence.

It’s almost as if I am in adoration.

I enjoy adoration, because I know it’s just me and Christ in the Real Presence.  I can’t talk, so I have to give him the opportunity to speak with me.  I get to shut out the world and just listen.  And by listening, pray.

With this in mind, I want to turn to what the Catechism has to say about silence.  It has two paragraphs on silence.

The first is in the section on Adoration -

“Adoration is the first attitude of man acknolwedging that he is a creature before his Creator. It exalts the greatness of the Lord who made us and the almighty power of the Savior who sets us free from evil. Adoration is homage of the spirit to the “King of Glory,” respectful silence in the presence of the “ever greater” God. Adoration of the thrice-holy and sovereign God of love blends with humility and gives assurance to our supplications.” (CCC 2628) (emphasis added).

The other paragraph addresses comtemplative prayer -

“Contemplative prayer is silence, the “symbol of the world to come” or “silent love.” Words in this kind of prayer are not speeches; they are like kindling that feeds the fire of love. In this silence, unbearable to the “outer” man, the Father speaks to us his incarnate Word, who suffered, died, and rose; in this silence the Spirit of adoption enables us to share in the prayer of Jesus.” (CCC 2717) (emphasis added).

Silence is the key to our spiritual lives.  It is instrumental if we are going to block out the demands of the world and the excesses of our culture.  Most times, it seems, God only truly communicates with us when we are dead silent, listening to him.

Think about your relationship with your wife.  If you never listened to her, always talking, always on the go, how would that relationship go?  The same goes for your children.  The same goes for Christ.

The Catechism gives us the two most fruitful times – adoration and contemplative prayer – when we can engage in silence to hear the Lord speaking to us.  But, we don’t need to be in a church or locked in our bedrooms to engage in this prayer.  We can be in a line waiting for the next available representative; or our office in between meetings; or in a car waiting to pick up our kids

Silence is especially important because we have too much noise in our lives.  We don’t have enough silence.  As such, we end up listening to the wrong voices and finding our way into a lifestyle that separates us from Christ and his Church.

I truly believe that people believe what they believe based upon where they get their information.  If one listens to the culture, it’s these values that the person will follow.  To the contrary, if one is listening to Christ and his Church, it is these values that the person will follow.

The culture tends to communicate through a bombardment of words and actions that are thrown at us.  They are full of emotion and feel-goodedness but devoid of the universal truth.

Let’s compare this communication with that of Christ and his Church.  They communicate to us through silence – the silence of prayer, the sacraments, and the study of Church teaching and scripture.  They communicate the universal truth through the ages and in the silent moments of our lives.

With the culture, we really don’t listen.  We process and act.  With Christ and the Church, we have to listen and to do so in silence, through the Word and the Sacraments and prayer.

It is up to us to decide which way we are to go.

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Being humble means living in the constant presence of God and not allowing ourselves to be separated from Him by our culture.

September 14th is the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.  September 15th is the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.  Both feasts go hand-in-hand.

I’m reflecting on these feasts in a special way this year because I’ve been thinking a great deal lately about humility, specifically my own.

I’ve been questioning the things I do; and trying to figure out what I do that is primarily done to draw attention to myself.  What do I do to puff myself up?  Quite frankly, I haven’t been pleased with what I’ve discovered from my self-examination.

But does humility go further?  And are most of the problems in our culture today the result of the lack of awareness that humility does go much further?

The opposite of humility is pride.  And we take pride in many things.  How often do we say, “we’re proud of you” or “I’m really proud of . . ..”?

But pride goes much further.  Man is proud when he suggests that he knows better than God (or his Church).  Or that he can achieve and succeed on his own merits.  Or that he, by his own efforts, can reconcile himself with God for sins committed.  Or that he can go through his day without being in His presence.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines humility as -

“The virtue by which a Christian acknowledges that God is the author of all good. Humility avoids inordinate ambition or pride, and provides the foundation for turning to God in prayer. Voluntary humility can be described as ‘poverty of spirit.’”   (CCC 2559 and 2546).

If “poverty of spirit” sounds familiar, it’s one of the Beatitudes.

It goes even deeper.

In ”The Rule of St. Benedict,” the great saint wrote this on humility -

“[Man] must constantly remember everything God has commanded, keeping in mind that all who despise God will burn in hell for their sins, and all who fear God will have everlasting life awaiting them. While he guards himself at every moment from sins and vices of thought or tongue, of hand or foot, of self-will or bodily desire, let him recall that he is always seen by God in heaven, that his actions everywhere are in God’s sight and are reported by angels at every hour.”

And therein lies my answer.  To be humble is to live with the realization that I am constantly in the presence of God.  To realize that everything I think, say and do is done so in His presence.  To acknowledge that everything that I am, all with whom I interact, all that I sense in this world, is His creation.  To understand that every one of my sins, every time I go against the Christ and the teachings of his Church, I am separating myself from being able to have a personal encounter with God himself; to be the full measure of the man God intends me to be as His creation, made in His image.

Let’s circle back to the two feasts mentioned above.  These feasts are all about humility.  When Christ accepted the Cross and when the Blessed Mother accepted her sorrows, they were living fully their humble service to God the Father.  Christ, both fully Man and fully God, lived continuously in his Father’s presence, even on the Cross.  The Blessed Mother did the same.  They humbled themselves so that God could do his work for the salvation of us all.

Yet, man spurns humility and turns his back on God when he sins; when he believes that he knows better; when he thinks he is the author of his own successes; when he lives by rules written independently from God; when he ignores God’s plan.  In his pride, man too often lives absent the awareness that he is forever in the presence of God.

St. Benedict illustrates 11 other steps needed for a monk to reach the perfection of humility.  In closing his chapter on “Humility,” he promises the following -

“Now, therefore, after ascending all these steps of humility, the monk will quickly arrive at the perfect love of God which casts out fear. Through this love, all that he once performed with dread, he will begin to observe without effort, as though naturally, from habit, no longer out of fear of hell, but out of love for Christ, good habit and delight in virtue.”

Pride is manifested in so many ways in our culture. It’s this pride that leads us to accept sin in our lives.  So, humility will set us free.  And to be humble is to live in the constant presence of God.  Living in his presence will ensure that we don’t dive into the sin that separates us from Him.

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Was pre-Vatican II a “Golden Era” or just an age of complusion and showing up?

You don’t fix what’s not broken; you don’t change what’s working. These are basic concepts upon which man and society typically operate.

So, what happened with pre-Vatican II Catholicism? Why was Vatican II called to begin with? Why were the “Spirit of Vatican II” forces permitted to carry out their acts of rupture?

The ’40s and ‘50s have been considered the “Golden Era” of American Catholicism. Churches were full on Sunday; Catholic schools were full during the day; Catholics were finally being accepted into the mainstream. But, obviously the “Golden Era” wasn’t so golden after all because of the very fact that Vatican II was called in the first place and that the “Spirit of Vatican II” was permitted to hold the sway that it did.

In the past year, I’ve had dinner several times with some friends from the Vatican II generation-those who came of age in the ’50s and ‘60s and remember both pre-Vatican II and Vatican II (and its aftermath). I found a couple of things from our conversations striking.

In one dinner, I shared with them my experiences at a Tridentine Mass. I’ve been to two of them now. Before the first one, I didn’t do any preparation and didn’t know what to expect. As such, I had trouble following along, so I started studying the Mass and became more and more fascinated by it. I went back again. I still had a little trouble in following along, but the Mass was more meaningful and I started to feel a sense of true holiness. I started to get it. I plan to assist in this Mass occasionally in the future.  I also have found that my communion with Christ in the Novus Ordo Mass has been enriched as well.

In talking about my experiences, I got a startled reaction from one of my friends. She said that she couldn’t believe that the Pope wanted to take us back to that time when no one understood anything and couldn’t get anything from the Mass. She said that Latin is too hard to learn and that the old Mass was all about the priests. I got the feeling that she felt nothing but ill concerning her experiences in the pre-Vatican II Mass. I could understand her feeling because I felt some of the same things when I went to the Tridentine Mass. It wasn’t until after I studied it that I became more enamored with the Mass.

A few resulting questions have come to mind. Pre-Vatican II, did the majority of Catholics go to Mass out of obligation or because they truly wanted to worship God? Did they get anything out of Mass other than a clear conscience? Were Catholics really taught the Mass or were they just expected to show up? And if Catholics weren’t taught the Mass, what else were they not taught? We know that they were taught the absolutes (e.g. thou shall not use contraception, cohabitate, have sex outside of marriage, etc.), but were they taught the reasons for the absolutes (e.g. the reason that contraception is wrong)? And were Catholics taught the positive aspects of the faith (e.g. we practice chastity before marriage, not just abstain from sex)? Were Catholics presented with an affirmative response to the culture instead of just a negative one?

For, if Baby Boomers were not taught about the reasons why they were supposed to do certain things or the reasons underlying the sacraments, how could we have expected them to follow through with their faith when the Spirit of Vatican II and the Sexual Revolution hit? How could they have remained steadfast as dissenters split them from their Catholic tradition and the culture split them from the Church when it came to sexual morality? And if they couldn’t withstand the onslaught, how could they have been expected to teach their children to do so?

I also wonder if the “Golden Era” of American Catholicism wasn’t just illusory and held together by a sense of obligation. You went to Mass on Sunday and the Holy Days of Obligation. You went to Confession. You had big families. You sent your kids to Catholic schools and enrolled them in Catholic activities. You abided by the Catholic sexual morality. There wasn’t a question that these were all obligations and you didn’t deviate from them, regardless of whether you understood them.

But, Vatican II ushered in an era when that obligation started to wither away. One obligation after another was either officially thrown overboard or just ignored. As the foundation of the faithful had been built upon a sense of compulsion, too many of the faithful just stopped participating when the compulsion ended.

And I submit that the following development is a good thing – that most of the faithful have lost a sense of compulsion. Catholicism has to be about the affirmative and the positive. We must replace the negative foundation of compulsion with a positive foundation of Christian humanism as taught by Blessed John Paul II.

There are reasons why we should do certain things and not do others. There are reasons why we should care about what others are doing, as long as we do so with compassion and not judgmentally. These reasons center on our salvation and the salvation of others. We do and don’t do certain things, not just because the Church tells us so, but because we should want ourselves and others to obtain purity and holiness and eternal life with Christ.

There were things that needed to be fixed going into Vatican II. Unfortunately, Vatican II made things worse when it was implemented because it resulted in a rupture with the past instead of a continuation (the latter being its intended result). Hopefully, we are now seeing the reforms be implemented in the way that they should have been in the first place (e.g. the New Missal).

Now that most of the obligatory nature of the faith is fading away, we now must turn to teaching the faithful about what the Church really professes (even the hard things) and encourage them to trust the unwatered-down Church as the surest means to obtain salvation.

Catholicism calls us to do much more than just show up.

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To provide alternatives to the excesses of our culture, a good start might be to unlock the churches.

I have a problem.  It’s almost like an addiction that I want to feed again and again . . . .

I like to pray in a church.

When I pass a Catholic Church, especially an older one, I want to go inside and pray.  It’s like someone is pulling me, inviting me to go inside, to get a taste of the riches and the pleasures offered within its doors.

This problem doesn’t sound much like a problem does it.  It’s not like a casino or porn shop or strip joint or bar or liquor store is drawing me; it’s a church.

But, it is a problem. It’s a problem because, unlike the aforementioned establishments, the doors to the church are too often locked.  While I would have no problem finding a casino, bar or liquor store open at all hours of the day or night, I cannot say the same for finding an unlocked Catholic church.  (Note: I live in Cincinnati, where strip joints and porn shops have been made to feel very unwelcomed.)

A good example happened one night last week.  I was a bachelor for the week and went to my parents for dinner.  They live in Northern Kentucky, just across the Ohio River from Cincinnati.  A little before 9, I left to drive home.  I passed by a stately suburban church, saw cars in the parking lot, and decided to go in and pray evening prayer.  I was walking up to the church when a priest came out the side door.  I asked him whether the church was still open.  He said that they were finishing up Benediction and that the doors would then be locked.

He clearly saw my Magnificat (my prayer book) in my hand and he said, “oh, do you want to pray?”  I was instantly excited because I thought I was in; that I would be admitted to the church at this late hour.  But, then he pricked my balloon and let me know that there was only about a minute left before they were going to lock the doors.

I looked at him and realized that Father was not going to let me into the church to pray.  I sulked back to my car and started to drive out.  I happened to pass him as he was moving across to the rectory.  I rolled down my window and caught his attention.  Hoping that a plaintive look from me would make him reconsider, I humbly asked him if he knew of another Catholic church that was open for me to pray.  He told me about the parish a mile away, down the road I needed to take to get back to Cincinnati.

Disappointed, I went on my way.

I went to the parish down the road. The parking lot was full, so I thought my quest was going to bear fruit and I was going to be able to spend some time with Christ in the tabernacle.  After all, there was a good-size party on the deck of the rectory.  I thought surely the church was open with so many people around.

Wrong.  Every door, deadlocked.

I then drove further down the road and it took me into Downtown Covington (directly across the Ohio River from Cincinnati).  There is an old Catholic church on the outskirts of Downtown Covington.  Locked.

I then drove to a church in the middle of Downtown Covington.  Locked.  (This church is actually one where, a couple of years ago, I was in the middle of a Rosary and was asked to leave.)

I knew better than to try the Cathedral in Covington.  At least, they are kind enough to post their daytime only hours on their doors.

Now, keep in mind, I passed a gazillion liquor stores and bars in my travels through this part of the Diocese of Covington.  I could have driven over to Indiana and gone to the casinos.  If I was in any other major metropolitan city, I probably could have found something sexually-oriented.

But, I couldn’t find an open Catholic church.  Heck, I was even turned away from a Catholic church, by a priest, with a prayer book prominently in my hand.

And this night in Covington was just a small sample of the number of locked church doors I’ve encountered.   Parishes in Cincinnati tend to have their doors locked more often than not as well.  It doesn’t matter the hour of the day, church doors are locked if there isn’t a Mass or other devotional going on.  When I am out-and-about, it has almost become a quixotic challenge to find churches that are open when Mass is not being offered.

So, I’ve got some questions for the parishes that lock their doors except for a few hours during the day (when most people are at work).

Does Christ want to be locked inside where his children cannot reach him when they need him?  Does he want to be less accessible to us than are the cultural excesses with which the devil tempts us?  If he calls a disciple to spend some time with him, does he want that pilgrim turned away?

What can be so materially valuable in a church to make it worthwhile to turn away the very people that the Church is supposed to attract, nourish and save?

Are parishes more worried about its material possessions or our souls?

Yes, I understand that people steal from churches.  But, when someone steals from a church, they are stealing at the prompting of the devil.  So, the solution to preventing this stealing is to lock the churches, and to leave the members of the Church exposed to the devil by denying them sanctuary and the encouragement that comes from being in the presence of Christ?

Isn’t this exactly what the devil wants?

Unlock the churches! Invite the faithful and the unfaithful to come in and sit a while with the Real Presence.  Let Christ calls who he wants, when he wants, to spend some time with him.  Open the doors on Christ’s timetable.

Open the doors and the Church will come.  And maybe, the churches will be so full at any given time of the day or night that parishes will not have to worry about material things being stolen.

Our culture needs access to the Blessed Sacrament in the worst way.  Open the doors and grant us this access.

Open wide the gates and let us in!

(And one final thought . . . for those concerned about the safety of worshippers, I’ve seen a couple of parishes use a panic button.  There are ways to ensure safety.)

Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.

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Catholic men need solidarity with other Catholics or they will seek solidarity from the culture instead.

This past Sunday was August 14th – a special spiritual day. It is the feast day of St. Maximilian Kolbe, the patron saint of my parish. It is also the anniversary of the death of the Venerable Father Michael McGivney, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, of which I am a proud member. His cause for sainthood is ongoing, so I presume August 14th will be his feast day if he is ever beautified.

Both holy men had so much in common. They were both priests with a great love and devotion for the Blessed Mother. It can’t be a coincidence that they both died on what would become the Vigil of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. They also had a great vision of how to serve Catholics and spread the faith. They both started organizations that still exist and are multi-national (St. Maximilian founded the Militia of the Immaculata).

It’s this last point that I want to develop.

In the Knights of Columbus and the Militia of the Immaculata, these holy priests saw a need for the laity and it’s one that we have especially today. That need is a need for Catholic solidarity-a need to feel connected to others through the Catholic faith.

The devil has a great number of tricks up his sleeve. The most prevalent one is the trick that makes us believe he doesn’t exist. But, another effective one is the trick that makes us think we are alone in our faith-that we are on an island.

To counteract this trick, we need solidarity-to know that we are not alone. We are connected to others in the faith. We are a Church, each a member of the Body of Christ.

Mass and the Sacraments are supposed to instill this in us, but often times they are not enough for one reason or another. For many, it is in Catholic organizations that we can feel part of something larger than ourselves.

Both Fr. Kolbe and Fr. McGivney understood this idea.

St. Maximilian was brilliant at using then-modern communication vehicles to spread the faith-uniting the faithful throughout the world in a common love and unity in the Church. The Militia of the Immaculata is a worldwide organization in which members consecrate themselves to the Blessed Mother and the service of Christ and his Church. They join together in a common goal and joint battle.

And Fr. McGivney saw a need to bring the Irish Catholics of New England together in a fraternal organization to combat the rampant Irish racism of their time. The idea was for the Knights to join together to support each other. The impact of this simple mission sparked the imagination of Catholic men, Irish and non-Irish alike, and led to a million member organization in several countries. Dedicated to service, fraternity and defense of the Church, the Knights are the embodiment of solidarity.

These two organizations are just some of many that provide this solidarity. There are many other organizations with similar missions.

Yet, despite the Sacraments and these organizations, too many Catholic men fail to identify with this solidarity. They fail to connect with others at Church during Mass. They don’t join any organizations or ministries. Their Catholicism is not part of their core fiber, not part of their identity.

But, they do have an identity and it ends up getting tied to the secular culture.  It usually involves their country club, their fantasy football league, their sand volleyball/softball/bowling league, their favorite bar, their favorite sports team.

They do not have an identity in their faith. And without this identity, they cannot have a Catholic solidarity with others. They end up on an island, alone. Over time, their island starts to disappear into the ocean. They are left with a lukewarm faith or no faith at all.

Solidarity is the key to keeping our faith alive and fervent. Men need to have solidarity with other men and other Catholics, inside and outside of the Mass. We need the solidarity as offered by organizations such as the Knights and the Militia, or any of the other myriad of organizations that fulfill the Catholic mission.

Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.

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Today is my birthday. The older I get, the more I want to downplay this day.

But, this day has to be something more to me, because it is also the anniversary of the day my birth mother placed me for adoption. And, through no other explanation than divine providence, the anniversary of the day I found my adoptive parents 8 years later.

An Out-of-the Ordinary Start

I have never met my birth mother, but I know a little something about her. From what I understand, my birth mother was Catholic, single and employed as a secretary when she became pregnant with me. My birth father was married and the father of two. Evidently, he told her that he couldn’t get anyone pregnant and she naively fell for the line.

My birth mother heroically carried me, especially after my birth father quickly left the picture. My birth mother didn’t want to tell her parents. She ended up moving away, living and working where she could. She finally moved back to her hometown, was unemployed, and eventually found herself in a position where she had to tell her parents.

Together, they made a plan for my future.

I’m guessing that the plan didn’t go exactly according to their wishes.

I was born in a Catholic hospital and immediately placed in the care of the nuns. The goal was to quickly find me a home.

One little problem.

I was born with birth defects to my face. I had a cleft lip and other cranial-facial deformities.

I went to live in a Catholic orphanage and had the first of my surgeries to repair my lip. At 2, I went into the Catholic foster care system. At 6, I was back in a Catholic orphanage. Along the way was another surgery.

When I landed in the orphanage, the plan evolved for me to be there for the long-term.

The Tide Turns

It was then that God’s plan kicked into high gear.  One summer, my future parents decided to volunteer at the orphanage.  I met them through various activities and had an instant connection with them. As my Dad puts it, “the first time I saw you, I knew for some reason that you were going to be my son.” As the summer wore on, I found myself spending more time with them around the orphanage.

For my 8th birthday, they received permission to take me out on a “date.”  We had a great day.  (I was especially taken when I heard that I shared a birthday with my (future) Dad.)

This day was only the first of our “dates.” I started going out with them on a Saturday or a Sunday. Then, I started staying the weekends with them. By the end of winter, they were figuring out how to adopt me.

It was in March that I went to live with them permanently. I finally had my family.

Multiple surgeries followed. So did some challenging times as I adjusted to a normal family life. But I thrived under the love and the security that my parents provided. I began to become somewhat of a normal child who grew into a successful adult.

I am now married, a father, an attorney and a committed Catholic. I still bear the scars and deformities of my birth defects, but the doctors did an awesome job with my face and mouth. If you meet me, you will notice something very distinctive about my face. It’s a “handicap” that I live with on a daily basis, but it’s more of a nuisance than anything else.

Abortion, Birth Control and Me

Despite how my life is evolving, I know full well that a large portion of our culture believes that my birth mother should have had an abortion; and that an even greater part of our society believes that she should have used birth control.

To our culture, the defining question is whether a child is “wanted” by the mother. For many, the whole essence of a child’s dignity is tied up in the question of whether he or she is wanted by man, instead of in the acknowledgment of the truth that every child is created and wanted by God.

It’s this act of creation that is the philosophical thorn in the culture’s side.

The Church teaches the truth that God gave man sex for two reasons – to create life and to unify a husband and wife in the most intimate of bonds. Men and women, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, have tried to ignore this purpose of sex by replacing it.  Now, many believe the purpose of sex is the simple seeking of pleasure between two partners who desire each other.

However, man cannot replace or ignore the desire of God to create life through the sexual act.

Man intuitively understands that there is something more to sex than pleasure, as is evident by the very nature of birth control and abortion. Man knows that sex is tied inextricably with the creation of life or we wouldn’t use birth control to prevent or abortion to kill the life we know to be in the womb. Our culture has embraced birth control and abortion precisely to sever this connection between sex and the creation of life and to short-circuit God, the creator of life.

Yet, man too often forgets that God gets to decide when life is created for he is the one who creates every man and woman. As importantly, we forget that God does not create a life he does not want. Sometimes he decides to bring life out of illicit and sinful acts. Sometimes he brings good out of evil.  Often times, he doesn’t go according to our plan.

A Difficult Case

I am a difficult case for many in our culture for I was exactly the type of child who they say should be prevented. I was one of the worst case scenarios that they like to trot out to support their secular humanism and moral relativism.

Fact #1: I was born to a single mother who did not want me. Fact #2: my birth father left the picture early on. Fact #3: my mother didn’t think she had the support of her parents. Fact #4: I had birth defects. Fact #5: I went through orphanages and foster homes for the first 8½ years of my life. Fact #6: I underwent multiple and painful surgeries and medical procedures throughout my childhood and still live with the effects of my defects.

I’ve heard these facts used by many in our culture as to why a woman should use birth control and have abortions. In their eyes, I shouldn’t have been given the chance to live.

But, my life has also provided the incredible example of the courageous love that a mother can have for her child and the love that a young couple can have for a child not their own; of the love that the Church, its members, and society can have for the least of us; of the capacity of man to grow outside of themselves in acts of selfless love and service; of the ability of all to suffer and overcome.

Most importantly, I remain an incredible example of the glory and merciful grace of God.

We are all God’s children; but some of us feel this way more than most. Some of us can look back and see God’s hand and Christ’s face throughout our lives. We know firsthand the warm embrace of the Blessed Mother, when we had no mother of our own.

Whereas, many in our culture see me as a problem that needed to be prevented or aborted, God saw me as a child he wanted to bring into this world. He saw a chance to bring good out of evil and I am the result.

I don’t know what thoughts were going through my mother’s head during her pregnancy and after she had me. All I know is that she loved me enough to carry me. She loved me enough to trust God and place me for adoption. She left me in the Church’s hands and God took it from there.

Once she had decided to commit one sin, for whatever reason, she didn’t compound that sin with another. I don’t care whether it was consciously or unconsciously, she didn’t circumvent God’s will for her or for me.

And it doesn’t matter that I was unwanted by man for so long. That doesn’t go to the essence of my human dignity. To the contrary, I was wanted by God.  THAT is the essence of my worth. THAT is all that matters.

Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.

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