An Aid To Memory

I will be teaching religion this fall at a Catholic Junior high and High School in a town of about 35,000 people, 90 miles from my hometown. The population and distance from “home” are ideal for where I want to be right now. It is a small school, and I will be the religion department, since I will be teaching every grade level. This will be a great chance to teach and learn about a variety of Catholic subjects.

Why is it that whenever a thread or discussion starts off as an anti-Catholic conversation, the anti-Catholic forces eventually turn on each other? I have seen this time and time again.

A few examples: On Paltalk there is a room called “No Salvation in Roman Catholicism.” Just so you know, I rarely enter the room because while there are rational and charitable folks who oppose the Catholic Church, this room is not run by them, but by ignorant, sarcastic, troublemakers. Anyway, it seems like they start off united against us Catholics but eventually they turn on each other, devouring one another about the Trinity, Calvinism, and so forth. Also, Chad recently e-mailed me a discussion he was having on a forum (the same forum as his recent post on his blog, but a different thread). The first 15 pages of discussion stayed on topic about Catholicism, but the last 2 pages are members of the same church turning on each other and bickering about the proper way to appoint leaders.

The moral here: If you are in the middle of an anti-Catholic discussion, just wait it out a little and the same folks will soon devour someone of their “own kind.” Soon, they won’t even notice you!

Being a substitute teacher in the public schools, I get to experience a variety of teachers and classrooms in action. I have learned a lot doing this actually, and have refreshed my knowledge of a variety of subjects. However, it seems that whenever a public teacher tackles religion, he or she often get it wrong. I don’t know if it is because religion is untouchable in the public schools, so even teachers never bother learning about it, or if there is another reason. Here are few of the errors I have encountered:

1. What was taught: Martin Luther was standing up for freedom of thought against a Catholic Church that suppressed free thinking.

Reality: Martin Luther was not a proto-first amendment enthusiast. While he opposed Catholic ideas, he had little tolerance for ideas that opposed his own, as Zwingli could tell you.

2. What was taught: Buddhism has the most adherents of all religions.

Reality: Christianity is at the top, with Islam close behind. While this doesn’t tell us anything about the truth of Christianity, the facts show that Christianity is, as of now, the most popular religion worldwide.

3. What was taught: The Koran is just the Bible with the same characters doing a few different things.

Reality: While the Koran and the Bible share many common people and places, the former statement is an inaccurate oversimplification.

4. What was taught: “I don’t see why Christians can’t get along…Catholics have a Mary-centered worship service, Baptists have a Jesus-centered worship service…they’re basically the same!”

Reality: Catholics don’t partake of the body and blood of Mary every week, and last I looked, Mary is mentioned twice at most in your average Catholic Mass, and sometimes, not at all. This teacher is an atheist, and apparently has never set foot inside a Catholic Church.

Lent is here. Why do I like Lent? It is probably the same reason I enjoy cleaning the house and sorting my books every so often. It is good to clean house every so often. Lent gives us a chance to examine those areas of our life that are encumbered by material and sinful things. By denying ourselves physical pleasures and by increasing prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, we allow God to transform us. Lent is in some senses a journey of transformation (sorry to use a buzz word!). Either Jonathan or I took this photo at a local shrine. I enhanced it using Google’s Picasa2, which is an amazing, free, photo organization and manipulation program.

Here is my basic Lenten plan (a plan I am sharing with my girlfriend Jennifer). I am not posting this to brag in any way, but to share the ideas we had. Note that numbers 1-3 are expected of all Western Catholics. Eastern Catholics and Orthodox Christians often have stricter requirements. For more ideas we have compiled Suggestions for your Lenten Fast.

1. No Meat on Fridays
2. Fasting on Ash Wednesday
3. Fasting on Good Friday
4. Read Matthew, John, Galatians, Philippians and Jude
5. Follow the Church Fathers Lenten Reading Plan
6. No Snacking
7. No Fried Potatoes
8. Save gas by avoiding 1 trip out/week
9. Exercise 3 times/week

Now, here is what sin each activity fights:
1,2,3,6,7,9: Gluttony, materialist attachments
4,5: Ignorance, Sloth
9: General Materialism

Also, the plan is to give any money saved (from not eating fries or taking an extra car ride) to a Catholic charity.

Also, for those interested in discussing the Church Fathers readings online, please check out the schedule for the Catholics Building Bridges Room on Paltalk.

Jonathan tells us why coffee is a pope-approved drink! In case you still aren’t sure that drinking the sweet, dark liquid is fully compatible with the Catholic Church, this image on the right will leave no doubt! Notice how St. Francis gives his approval to my cup of hot coffee.

Right now at home, I am drinking the cheap stuff with Ginger Bread creamer, and when I manage to stop at a Speedway, I am getting hooked on their Colombian with Eggnog Creamer.

I couldn’t resist taking this picture…Since the 1970s, church architecture has gone down hill, but this model for a liberal parish is ridiculous!

A few interesting threads/posts going on over at Titus One Nine and All Too Common on the issue of whether Anglicans are Catholic. It makes for some interesting discussion.

Confraternity: a voluntary association of the clergy or laity established under Church authority. Now referred to as "Associations of the Faithful."

Basically, it is nice to associate with others who share a common spirituality. Now, keep in mind, confraternities are not church factions or parties. They are associations of people who share common goals or spiritualities within the Church. For instance, there are confraternities devoted to the promotion of the Latin Mass, the rosary, and the one I am in, the Confraternity of our Lady of Consolation. The requirements of this confraternity? Simply make an effort to live out one’s baptismal vows more fully.

Confraternities have many spiritual benefits, like having masses and prayers offered up on behalf of members regularly. Plus, it is always nice to have others pray for you and pray for others regularly. Also, you get some nice certificates and doo-dads related to the confraternity! I have posted photos of the enrollment documents for the Confraternity of Our Lady of Consolation here.

According to a sneak preview of the upcoming English translation of the Mass, the liturgy is going to be more faithful to the Latin. This is good news, because the current English translation is theologically weak and undignified in its language compared to the Latin original. Read the article and take a look at some of the changes. One example of change is:

"and with you" is returning to "and with your spirit." A minor point? Yes, but theologically and in terms of language dignity, the new response says more than the former.

Another example of change for the better is the Confiteor. The new translation reads, "I have sinned greatly in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault." This is much closer to the Latin than the current translation.

Among lovers of liturgy the American Catholic Mass has been a topic of derision in recent years. It looks like things are looking up. I can’t wait to pray this Mass.

Thanks to The Seventh Age for the link to the story.