She knocks hard on the door, and it echos. Father Paul's voice calls out behind it, bidding us to enter.
We enter single file. Eliot's hand is warm on my shoulder and my stomach quiets, a little. Father Paul asks each of us, "What is your name, and what do want of the Church?" I was too nervous to say more than, "Alyssa Michie," and "To become a catholic" but what I really wanted to say was, "To become a part of God's universal family."
We line up in front of the congregation, our sponcers facing us. Eliot, makes the sign of the cross on my forhead, on my ears, mouth, eyes, heart, shoulders, hands and feet. Its not until they get to the shoulders that I remember to pay attention to Father Paul's words. I can't remember them now though. I just remember feeling sealed like a letter.
The other Catechumens and I verbally agree to our belief in the Gospel and the church. At a question from Father Paul, our sponcers say "Yes," they have found us to be genuinely seeking the truth. And then the congregation verbally agrees to help the rest of the chatechumens and I on our spiritual journeys. It was a little like a marriage ceremony, that part.
So, I am not fully, in writing, Catholic now. I am technically called a "Catechumin." But if I died tommarow I would get a Catholic burial.
It feels good. I'm not sure what else to say. All the glam and revelation happened before this and led me to this, so comparitively its not that exciting, but it leaves me feeling happy, and accepted. Like a strong sunny golden day. Simple and good.
I love my new family!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Evangelism; Catholic and Fundamentalist Protestant attitudes
Sometimes I still feel like a goat in sheep's clothing; thinking in the pattern of a protestant. But when I go to Mass, or read about the saints or pray the rosary; whenever I remember the "great crowd of witnesses" around me, that's when I feel the most Catholic; the most universally connected with Christians around the globe and all throughout history and in heaven.
Still, the residual goat inside of me lets out a bleat sometimes. One particular thing that its found interesting to chew on is the catholic attitude towards evangelism. There is a direct rejection of fundamentalism, with all its culture and attitudes. This is not to say that there aren't Catholic Fundamentalists, they're just a minority. This rejection of fundamentalism stems from a deep-seated sense of persecution, both from the fundamentalists themselves, and from the secular world that paints the catholic church with the fundamentalist brush.
( The difference between Catholic Fundamentalists and Protestant Fundamentalists is that PF's take everything in the Bible to the extreme w/o always fully understanding the context and over all meaning, while CF's take everything in the Catachism to the extreme. I could talk more about this but thats for another blog. )
Simply said, catholics get made fun of on TV, in movies, in pop culture and history class, and catholics are afraid that if we start preaching on street corners people will start burning our churches instead of just using words. Its not as an acute a fear as perhaps the Jews. The last time christians were persecuted in the western hemisphere was hundreds of years ago, but the fear is still there, and its anxious, simmering, and unspoken. The KKK doesn't just hate black folks you know. For example, David, one of my RCIA buddies, just found out that he's been "disfellowshiped" by his family's church. No one in that church is supposed to talk to him, even his parents. Lucky for him though his family doesn't care. He's got one of those families with every different family member in a different denomination, so one extra catholic after a priest uncle isn't that big a deal.
Anyways, going along with this fear of stepping up on the soap box is the belief that this tactic doesn't work anyways. Which came first, the feeling or the belief is up for debate. Regardless though, these beliefs are coralated.
But what Catholic evangelism is, is service. The Catholic Church is the single largest charitable organization on earth. The catholic mission plan is to live within the community, and work on provideing for the needs of the that community while remaining open and willing to talk about the faith. In the catholic church its more of a priority that a young catholic know the location of the nearest soup kitchen he can help out at than knowing all the books in the Bible. This tactic can backfire, because it is helpful to know the books of the Bible, and our Human Relations Dept may not be as top notch as Donald Miller but at least we have the integrity part down. Besides, who needs Donald Miller when you've got Augestine or Thomas Aquinas?
(Donald Miller is the author of Blue Like Jazz)
Still, the residual goat inside of me lets out a bleat sometimes. One particular thing that its found interesting to chew on is the catholic attitude towards evangelism. There is a direct rejection of fundamentalism, with all its culture and attitudes. This is not to say that there aren't Catholic Fundamentalists, they're just a minority. This rejection of fundamentalism stems from a deep-seated sense of persecution, both from the fundamentalists themselves, and from the secular world that paints the catholic church with the fundamentalist brush.
( The difference between Catholic Fundamentalists and Protestant Fundamentalists is that PF's take everything in the Bible to the extreme w/o always fully understanding the context and over all meaning, while CF's take everything in the Catachism to the extreme. I could talk more about this but thats for another blog. )
Simply said, catholics get made fun of on TV, in movies, in pop culture and history class, and catholics are afraid that if we start preaching on street corners people will start burning our churches instead of just using words. Its not as an acute a fear as perhaps the Jews. The last time christians were persecuted in the western hemisphere was hundreds of years ago, but the fear is still there, and its anxious, simmering, and unspoken. The KKK doesn't just hate black folks you know. For example, David, one of my RCIA buddies, just found out that he's been "disfellowshiped" by his family's church. No one in that church is supposed to talk to him, even his parents. Lucky for him though his family doesn't care. He's got one of those families with every different family member in a different denomination, so one extra catholic after a priest uncle isn't that big a deal.
Anyways, going along with this fear of stepping up on the soap box is the belief that this tactic doesn't work anyways. Which came first, the feeling or the belief is up for debate. Regardless though, these beliefs are coralated.
But what Catholic evangelism is, is service. The Catholic Church is the single largest charitable organization on earth. The catholic mission plan is to live within the community, and work on provideing for the needs of the that community while remaining open and willing to talk about the faith. In the catholic church its more of a priority that a young catholic know the location of the nearest soup kitchen he can help out at than knowing all the books in the Bible. This tactic can backfire, because it is helpful to know the books of the Bible, and our Human Relations Dept may not be as top notch as Donald Miller but at least we have the integrity part down. Besides, who needs Donald Miller when you've got Augestine or Thomas Aquinas?
(Donald Miller is the author of Blue Like Jazz)
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