YOUCAT Handle the Truth!

Catholic schools and Public school religious education programs have their various textbooks and audio-visual programs. Even with adult programs, there’s lots of grasping at straws when it comes to which series is going to win everyone, or win them back, for Jesus and His Church. It’s tiring.

2010 witnessed the publication of the official Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, YOUCAT. It was originally written in German, which is especially noticeable in spinoff texts that have made YOUCAT a series: a Study Guide, an adaptation for younger children, special texts for Confession and Confirmation, an excerpted Bible, a prayer book, and DOCAT, which presents Catholic Social Teachings. The series has two apps: one for daily meditations and another for DOCAT.

Now I’m not making the pitch for the YOUCAT series as the silver bullet, the golden ticket, or the bronze bonanza, but it makes a good start for being ecclesiastically authorized, well-balanced between holy pictures and stock photos, rife with quotes from saints recent and ancient. There’s even an exercise for the bored reader; you’ll have to pick one up to learn what I mean.

Like the standard Catechism, there are no quizzes, reflection questions or conversation starters; the Study Guide provides those, albeit for an older teenage audience. Adaptation becomes the task of the competent catechist. Mileage varies.

I am tempted to make the YOUCAT series our series for public school religious education and maybe even use it for my weekly middle school religion class. Perhaps it will become a text for other age groups—certainly our few high school students who express interest in meeting, but also adults, whose intelligence I don’t think would be insulted by taking this work in hand.

Confirmation: A Lump Sum and an Annuity

Following the Catechism’s treatment of the Sacraments, which itself mirrors the ancient order of receiving them, I speak now of Confirmation. The Western Church by and large has reversed the order of the Sacraments of Initiation for historical reasons, postponing Confirmation to a time when children are “more ready”—more ready to stop going to Mass, that is, if ever they did go with any regularity.

I spot a condemnatory sarcasm in my words and tone, through which I nevertheless shall proceed in writing. At least I am conscious of it; the Holy Spirit’s gifts of wisdom and counsel are prompting a gentle self-policing with the virtue of prudence. But exercising prudence doesn’t mean excusing the obligation to speak the truth in Jesus’ Name, whether it is the truths of Christ and the Church teaching, or the reasoned reflection on my own feelings and experience.

Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, the Holy Spirit completes and perfects the baptized Christian’s identification with Jesus and His Church. Whereas Baptism makes the down payment of the Spirit’s sevenfold gifts, Confirmation instills those gifts in fullness.

If a child profits from the care and direction of baptismal sponsors (Godparents) in the earliest years—even if "care and direction" are entrusted more concretely to the parents—all the more can a Confirmation sponsor’s efforts help the neophyte to live Jesus. Without necessarily hovering, the sponsor should initiate some degree of regular, Christ-centered communication. How the sponsor lives Jesus as a Catholic, publicly and “privately,” is just as important. 

I use quotation marks with "privately" because (1) nothing seems fully private in this technological time except for the seal of Confession and (2) Jesus ominously declared, “Whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed on the housetops” (Lk 12:3).

In that section of Luke 12 Jesus is exhorting courage in the face of persecution from the Enemy of Salvation. Jesus reminds His followers that He “has our back,” we used to say fifteen minutes ago. “Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (12:7). 

Now that's an understatement, because the human person is on a different plane from birds and puppies and every other creature. That difference entrusts to us a certain stewardship (care and direction) over the other creatures, but also invests a certain humble pride: “Wow: God thought enough of me to create me as a human person, for whose salvation God the Son Himself became man.” 

Now God thought no less of the sparrow to create it a sparrow (for each creation has its contributions to the Kingdom), but “to which of the sparrows did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; this day I have begotten you?” (Heb 1:5, except the original text reads “angels” in place of “sparrows”).

I just wish these thoughts might seize the heart of a person, sufficient to enflame him with love for the fullness of truth, goodness, and beauty found in the Catholic Church, so that the Confirmation administered sooner or later might “take.” It doesn’t have to happen according to my personal expectations, preoccupied with outcomes as I am; it just has to happen before the person dies.

The Holy Spirit: Seal for Consecration and Mission

Readings for Pentecost, Mass of the Day

Holy Mother Church rejoices in the abundant outpouring of the Holy Spirit. In our Diocese of Allentown, she rejoices in four newly ordained priests: Father James M. Harper, III, assigned to Notre Dame of Bethlehem; Father Daniel E. Kravatz, Jr., assigned to our parish; Father Kevin M. Lonergan, assigned to St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton; and Father Mark R. Searles, assigned to Sacred Heart, Allentown. The same Spirit who hovered over the primordial deep, the same Spirit who led Moses and the Israelites through the parted waters of the Red Sea, the same Spirit who breathed life into a field of dry bones, the Spirit who filled the womb of the Virgin Mother: this Holy Spirit enlivens the Church in her doctrine, liturgy, morality, and prayer from one generation to the next. Jesus conveyed the Spirit upon the Apostles, St. John says, by breathing upon them on the night of His Resurrection; by contrast, the Book of Acts offers the traditional account of the Apostles and Mary gathered in the Upper Room in expectant prayer. In either case, the Spirit descends upon them to set them afire with missionary charity and clarity.

The Holy Spirit is the Prime Agent in the Church’s Sacramental life. In the Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass notice how the priest extends his hands over the Gifts, meanwhile invoking the Holy Spirit to transform them into Christ’s Body and Blood. This action is called epiclesis, “calling upon” in the sense of “over top of.” Then there is the ancient action of “Laying on of Hands,” which is a constitutive or at least optional component of most of the sacraments. In Confession it is optional for the priest to lay his hand on the penitent’s head if there is no grate separating them; at the very least, he extends his right hand as he grants absolution. In Anointing of the Sick, the priest first lays his hands upon the person’s head before anointing his head and palms. There are the three sacraments that confer the Holy Spirit upon a person in a game-changing, identity-forming way: Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders. While Baptism does not involve the direct imposition of hands, the minister’s hand may touch the candidate in the imposition of Sacred Chrism. In Confirmation, the minister extends hands over (toward) the candidates, and touches the Chrism to the person’s forehead. The Bishop ordains candidates by imposing his hands upon their heads; once again, Chrism is used upon a priest’s palms, and upon a bishop’s head.

All this is to note how the divine Mysteries convey the Holy Spirit’s vital power upon the recipient who by repentance and gratitude strives to be worthy of such magnificent gifts. Confirmation, in particular, “in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church” (CCC 1288). The Bishop, in his very person and in his sacramental actions, re-presents the Spirit-breathing Christ by breathing upon the Chrism he consecrates in anticipation of the Paschal Feasts. The Baptized is rightly called a “Christian,” that is to say, one who is anointed as Jesus Himself was anointed Prophet to speak the Word of God, Priest to offer both Himself and mankind in sacrifice, and King to care for and lead people into the true Freedom of the Spirit.

Just as the Spirit descended at Pentecost to unite the confused tongues of the human race, so the Christian is anointed and commissioned by God to be a force for unity, clarity, and enthusiasm. If you have been baptized and confirmed, and you strive to live in communion with God and neighbor in the state of sanctifying grace, then you are duly empowered to be that force for unity, clarity, and enthusiasm into a world that surely needs it!

Another Advocate

Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter, Cycle A 

In Saint John’s Gospel, Jesus referred to “another Advocate,” specifically the Holy Spirit, whom the Father has sent into the world to reinforce the deeds and words of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the soul of Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church; He is the Church’s living memory, her source of both challenge and encouragement. Jesus curiously says, “The world cannot accept [the Spirit], because it neither sees nor knows him.” People who are not concerned with anything beyond the material, the scientifically verifiable, would have no part with the Holy Spirit. Their church is little more than a soulless zombie, or perhaps a blob that assumes the shape of its container.

The Spirit is the “Advocate” (in Greek, Paraclete): One who is literally called to a person’s side, like a defense attorney. Followers of Christ, sons and daughters of the Church, need this Advocate to help us become witnesses to our faith. Younger Catholics should remember the official definition of Confirmation that the Bishop asked them: “Confirmation is the sacrament in which the Holy Spirit comes to us in a special way to join us more closely to Jesus and His Church, and to seal and strengthen us as Christ’s witnesses.” 

To riff upon our Bishop’s motto, the Spirit invests us with holiness (union with the Lord and others) and mission (service to the Lord and others); He delivers them in the form of His seven gifts, and we are known to have them in our exemplification of His twelve fruits. (Don’t know what the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are? Look them up!)

If we’re baptized and confirmed Catholics, we ought to know and treasure who we are and what we believe, and we ought to be willing to stand up for it in the face of opposition. Last week our Commonwealth joined numerous other states in permitting same-sex marriages. This decision has been met at once with thunderous applause and thunderous outcry; but the most noteworthy response has been silence. 

Most Catholics know, and some are, persons who experience attraction to the same sex. Few, I suspect, know the Church’s teachings enough to distinguish attraction from action (attraction of itself is not sinful, while action is); and fewer still are prepared to defend those teachings. They might consider the Church’s position a condemnation of our brothers and sisters—or of themselves—but fail to recognize the deepest truths at stake; or, however dimly they may recognize the truths, they are afraid to speak of them for fear of being considered a “hater,” “insensitive” and “unenlightened.” Understandably they may not want to be labeled a “hypocrite,” much less get roped in with a Church who has endured the same criticism, often justifiably. Or they may feel ill equipped against the prevailing arguments, with their appeals to “love,” “equality,” and the like. 

In so many respects, as we get to know human beings and their stories, we find that we can no longer hide behind positions. We begin to love persons while not condoning their sinful actions. We are moved to look more squarely at our own lives, to notice where we also have some conversion and growth ahead of us. A comfortable Catholicism fails to satisfy, because a Fire has been lit beneath us!

We should be grateful for our Catholic faith, and we should be ready to offer people “a reason for the hope” within us; but only if we call upon our Advocate to help us affirm the truth clearly and lovingly. Having done our best with that, the results are not our business.

Promises, Promises Can Just Transform Your Life

In an internet feature called "Throwback Thursday," I decided to post a paper that the former secretary of my home parish sent to my Mom a few years ago. She must have been going through some old records when she found this chestnut:

This was a really good find, both for the nerdy picture (dig the size of those spectacles!) and for the personal historical value.

For whatever reason my father and Confirmation sponsor (my paternal grandfather, William J. Zelonis, affectionately known by his coworkers as "Bill Zee" and his grands as "Grump") never signed it. 

Dad really stayed in the proverbial back seat with characteristically quiet support. His vocational advice was very simple: "You got a good head on your shoulders. You don't have to bust your ___ like I did." "Just as long as you don't do anything immoral." Works for me.

People's comments have been understandably favorable. One person, who is deeply involved in promoting the Church's missionary activity, called it a "timely Valentine to the Holy Spirit." My gears started grinding.

First, it reminded me of this martyrous meme:

Yep

The Holy Spirit, given initially at Baptism and fully in Confirmation, galvanizes the human spirit to live the primary vocation to holiness. Our cooperation with that Gift entails the promises I made in that declaration: prayer, kindness, seeking intimacy with God, seeking ways to witness to Christ before others.

I have at times been far from faithful to those promises. I dare not claim my vocation to the priesthood as proof of anything--except, perhaps, God's "proof of purchase." While I may piously refer to myself as His slave, and identify myself in terms of the Lord's commitment to me and mine to Him (cf. Song 6:3), I remain dreadfully free to set it aside in favor of lesser loves.

So for couples who identify themselves with each other: they cannot rest on the laurels of their identification. They must engage in the daily sacrificial proofs of love. For the bishop Saint Valentine, love for Christ eventually meant the gift of his life. "No one takes my life away from me; I lay it down freely" (Jn 10:18).

This total gift of self, this further specification of the baptismal call to sanctity, finds expression in marriage, vowed religious life, ordination, or consecrated virginity. People may apply themselves to certain worthy occupations in a way that resembles that total gift, which is valid as far as it goes; but one's vocation as such pertains to the harnessing of love's energies and the itemized investment of our spiritual and temporal resources. This calling--a mystical mixture of God's ideas and ours, God's initiative and our response--it can hurt, it can fulfill.

I was confirmed in 1988 by the Most Reverend Thomas J. Welsh. Six years later he would accept me as a seminarian for the Diocese of Allentown. He would live to see me ordained a priest, he would preside in choir at my father's funeral, and I would concelebrate his funeral Mass.

1988 was a banner year in my life, aside from my Confirmation. Like many public schoolers who attended CCD/PREP I couldn't wait to stop going to classes. This was strange, because I enjoyed learning about my Catholic faith. Perhaps it was the extra allotment of time on a Wednesday night.

To solve that (not really; it was a discrete decision) I enrolled in the local Catholic school. That fact, as I have written in previous posts, really opened me to love of my religion and to an interest in spirituality and service. Now I had religion classes every day. Now I could play the organ for school Masses and serve funerals. 

In eighth grade I became a "mission rep": the school's student representative to the diocesan Holy Childhood Association, now called the Missionary Childhood Association. While I never considered devoting my life to the service of the poor in other countries, I appreciate how they told us we were all missionaries by virtue of our baptism.

I retain a number of friends from that time in my life. One of them just found that Valentine martyr meme. We can still talk honestly and charitably about religious, spiritual, and cultural matters. I have assisted, and even officiated, at the weddings of some.

It is rather consoling to know that the promises made at Confirmation, at an admittedly insane point in the life of most recipients, can be increasingly activated over the years, perhaps to blossom in a life acutely conscious of the reality and relevance of God.

Confirmation Conversation

In HGA Parish news, Bishop Emeritus Cullen will be administering the Sacrament of Confirmation upon over fifty of our youth this Wednesday. Please pray that these young people will remain open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit throughout their lives.

Some time ago I spoke with a parent of one of our confirmandi. I asked whether Pat (gender-neutral pseudonym, à la the Saturday Night Live character) was looking forward to Confirmation. Affirmative, but only after a period of uncertainty that providentially prompted the parent to make this move:

I started praying about Pat, for Pat's heart to crack open and instead of trying to force Pat I gave it over to God to fix. Around the same time I started looking for more natural opportunities to bring up Pat's relationship (and mine) to God. It all flowed really well and I, with the help of the Holy Spirit, had the right words. Pat was touched and over the past few months has really matured. Pat has strong values that we never really talked about.

This parental testimony immediately brought to mind a line from a poem: "The child is father of the man." Hopkins penned a comic verse on this saying, but Wordsworth's words were worth more:

My heart leaps up when I behold 

A rainbow in the sky: 

So was it when my life began;

So is it now I am a man;

So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!

The Child is father of the Man;

I could wish my days to be

Bound each to each by natural piety.

Wordsworth idolizes the spontaneity of his youth, and wants to preserve the best of it as he ages. When it comes to my faith and to other practices and attitudes I've held, I'd prefer to keep growing; but then again, perhaps some of my current good qualities had their start in those tumultuous days.

O Divine Husbandman, I'll let You decide what to prune and what to retain!

What a parent we have in the one quoted above, who took the occasion of the child's Confirmation as a reason to engage in conversation, a reason to engage one's own relationship with the Lord so as to be a holier, human-er person! How can "taking the journey within" not fail to have some effect on those around us?

This parent took time to get to know the child, which helped the child to consider and articulate what is within. That conversation helped the parent, in turn, to do the necessary work of spirituality and religion. After all, these two (spirituality and religion) are meant to stay intact in this life as soul and body are. One dimension can nourish and strengthen the other, and make for a more integrated person.

Parents can't force their children to take their sacramental preparations seriously, but when they join them in that sacramental preparation (even if their own first Penance or Holy Communion, or their Confirmation, was years ago), untold blessings unfold. Children stay out of jail this way. They may not altogether stay out of trouble (who does?), but they are more grounded in Who and What matters.