Crazy Catholic Question #75: Our Children

CCQ#75: What is offered for our Pre-K and elementary-age children here at CTR?
Many of us who are now the parents of school-age children were raised in the 70’s in the wake of the most significant period of transition that the Catholic Church has experienced in over 500 years (aka, Vatican II). The Chinese have a curse that says “May your children be born in a time of transition.” Now, though I’m VERY grateful and happy to be a post-Vatican II baby, I do have to admit that my early faith formation (aka “Catechism”) despite - the prayerful good intentions of many faithful people - wasn’t all that. The Catholic Church is a big ship that changes course about as fast as an iceberg. So, understandably, it took a bit of time to develop engaging and sound curriculum to replace the Baltimore Catechism of our parents’ generation. My experience of catechism can be characterized (a tad tongue-in-cheek) like this….“God loves you. Now go make a collage.”

So my Dad really took over our religious education, and I have, for the most part, done the same with my own kids who really didn’t’ get much out of the “workbook” style of delivery. A couple years ago I was introduced to the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd through some friends at Gesu Parish in Detroit and it has been nothing short of life-changing for our family. The profound connection with the Gospel and the liturgical life of the Church that this Montessori-based program has given my kids is just remarkable.

CGS was founded in the 50's by two Italian laywomen, one a scriptural scholar and one an expert in Montessori education. Together they conceived of a simple, attractive method for sharing the richness of the Faith with children. The curriculum is presented in three levels, and includes time in the "Atrium," which is a quiet environment where children hear Bible stories and watch them acted out with simple handmade materials; they learn songs and prayers, and are encouraged to play quietly with simple and meaningful objects. The method emphasizes contemplation of Scripture, Liturgy and "the enjoyment of God."

Since beginning CGS my youngest daughter, age 6, has become very alert and interested in the details of our liturgy and enjoys explaining things to me at Mass, “I know what a chalice is, Mom. I know why the priest is wearing purple, do you?” She gasps when she recognizes phrases. "The people in darkness have seen a great light!" she agrees in a church whisper. "I KNOW THAT."

My two older kids, who haven't been through CGS for the earlier levels, are slightly tougher nuts to crack. But even my 13-year-old didn’t groan even once this year when we headed off to Gesu for time in the atrium. That alone in my book is a miracle! This method effectively conveys the most cherished, central spiritual messages and images of our faith to everyone, even the tough nuts.

So, about a year and a half ago I took on the role of Director of Religious Education here at Christ the Redeemer…AND guess what? Our “Official” ribbon cutting for our first Atrium is on Good Shepherd Sunday, April 17th! It’s a bit of a groundbreaking as well because we are beginning to build our second atrium for our older children over the summer.

Our Faith Formation program runs twice during the summer or we offer a school-year program that meets eight times from Fall - Easter on Sunday afternoons. You need not be a parishioner to enroll, so invite your neighbors and friends to consider joining us too! Happy Easter!

Inquire about CGS and/or send your "Crazy Catholic Questions" to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at: http://crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.

Crazy Catholic Question #74: Mercy

I am paralyzed by regret and fear that God is disappointed and angry with me. I just can’t seem to believe in God’s love and forgiveness. How can I find healing?

Many years ago Brennan Manning, when he was still a priest back in the 70’s, shared a story about one day when he was at the airport getting ready to travel and he had his collar on and a man came up to him and begged him to hear his confession. He said the man looked gaunt, tired and so desperate that even though he was in serious “travel” mode, he couldn’t say “no” - so they found a quiet place to talk and this man shared what Brennan describes as a “very grave and serious sin” this man was carrying for many, many years.

He recounts that as he spoke the words of absolution and prayed over this man, he could actually see the man’s face change and lighten. He said that it was absolutely stunning the physical effect that the release of this sin had on the man; the words of forgiveness literally transformed him.

So, Brennan went on with his day, checked his baggage, got on the plane and he says as he was putting on his seat belt he heard the Lord speak in his heart and say “Will you do for yourself what you just did for your brother?” Can you take hold of the boundless mercy that I offer to you, always, without conditions or barriers?

Pope Francis is all over this, right? He says the very essence of God is Mercy. Period. End of discussion. He says the Mercy of God is the most beautiful truth of our faith. God’s love for us is so great, so deep; it is an unfailing love, one that always takes us by the hand and supports us, lifts us up, and leads us on. Fr. Greg Boyle says Jesus never modeled the “One-False-Move-God, but rather was always proclaiming the “no-matter-whatness of God.”

I long to believe in the image of God that Jesus paints for us. I want to believe in the utter foolishness of God’s mercy. That like the Good Shepherd, God would do the pastorally unthinkable, and completely outrageous thing and leave the 99 to find that one lost renegade sheep. I want to believe that I’m that precious and treasured by God; that each of us is that precious.

Today, together, we profess our belief in the power of God’s love to change and heal each of us, and for us to then change the world. No small dream.

Bishop Untener says Jesus didn't go from town to town saying, "Bring me your best and brightest." Rather, he sought out the ‘hot-messes’ among us. He taught us that God doesn’t shun or abandon us in our darkness until we clean up and get our act together. Rather he said God loves and accepts us as we are, not as we should be. God doesn’t love us despite our faults and failings, but rather works in and through them to bring about His kingdom. Jesus preached a God who knows that we're not perfect, that there's a dark side to our lives, that we've got some shameful memories, and that God wants to be with us in those parts of our lives where we don't feel so good about ourselves. Jesus came to say not simply "I love you," but to say, "I love you THERE, in the part of your life no one else sees.” May this love seep deep into our souls this sacred day…

Crazy Catholic Question #73: Paschal Mystery

What is the Paschal Mystery?
Ah, Churchy words…gotta love em’. We Catholic Christians understand and respond to suffering in a very distinct way based on centuries of shared, collective wisdom around what we call the Paschal Mystery.

The Paschal Mystery simply refers to Jesus’ life, death & resurrection and what we have slowly come to understand about this mystery over the centuries. The Paschal mystery is kind of the lens through which we Catholics look at all of life. It is the process of dying and rising, death and new life that we can observe all around us and in our own personal lives and history.

We experience this mystery of dying and rising each year as we go through the different seasons; things die in fall/winter, spring & summer bring new life. We are a part of nature too. We also have our own dyings and risings. Sometimes these are obvious; someone dies, and a baby is born. But other dyings and risings are less obvious. An experience of dying might be when you have an argument with a friend that leaves you feeling upset, or you see a homeless family and don't know what to do to help. We die a little with each experience of conflict and sadness.

An experience of rising might be reconciling with that person who you hurt or who hurt you. Or after seeing the homeless family and some despairing over the complexities of poverty, new life can come from gathering some friends and volunteering together for an organization like the HOPE Warming Center that cares for people who are in need.

All of life has this rhythm of dying and rising. Thousands and thousands of years of reflection on this Paschal Mystery and human experience tell us: if we trust God in times of suffering and death and don’t cling too tightly to our sense of how things “should be,” our surrender, somehow, eventually brings us to a deeper fullness of life.

This is not to say that we should seek or endure suffering without a fight or let people abuse us. God never asks us to be doormats. Jesus was certainly not a doormat - quite the opposite. Jesus was always standing up for what he knew was right and healing people, easing the suffering and isolation of others. Sadly, the way that he loved often brought suffering with it. Though never “good,” if we do not give in to bitterness, our suffering CAN have value. It can actually draw us closer to God and one another. God does not inflict or will our suffering, but is with us in it.

When asked what brings eternal life, Jesus said love God and love your neighbor as yourself. When we love someone we are not indifferent to their struggle, right? It becomes our own; we carry their pain. We hurt too. Togetherness is our greatest remedy for suffering. By supporting each other in our suffering, we give each other hope. In the Paschal Mystery of Jesus, God is telling us to love with abandon and determination, that suffering is not the end, God is with us in our pain, and death does not have the final word.

Crazy Catholic Question #72: Salvation

How are we saved by the cross? How are we to understand Jesus’ death as salvific?
Many Christians around the world are still taught and believe the outdated, debunk and disturbing 12th century understanding of the Cross often called the “theory of satisfaction” that basically says that we humans sinned and offended God, so God was angry with humanity and demanded justice, or some kind of payment for our blunder. But humanity couldn’t offer any kind of divine gift big enough to diffuse God’s anger since we are just lowly humans. So, God, needing to loose a lighting rod, sent Jesus, and Jesus said, “You can loose it on me” substituting himself for us. Lighting rod gets struck; Sacrifice is carried out; and God is again happy because he got his bloodlust satisfied. (Alison)

This is a very pagan idea of sacrifice going back to the ancient Aztecs in which the priest sacrificed a person or animal to satisfy a hungry God. It is NOT our Catholic understanding. It was not Jesus’ understanding. The Jewish priestly rite that Jesus grew up with was already way beyond this primitive understanding of sacrifice.

“If we cling to the idea that God will not forgive us until his Son has been tortured to death for us then God is a lot less forgiving than even we are sometimes. If God is satisfied or somehow compensated for sin by Jesus’ suffering, he must be vengeful in a pretty infantile way.” (McCabe)

St. Thomas Aquinas states that the mission of Jesus from the Father is NOT the mission to be crucified; what the Father wished is that Jesus should be human.

The obedience of Jesus to the Father, his mission, was simply to meet us right here in our own history and show us the way to be a loving human being.

Jesus’ death on the cross was not “God’s will” - that would make him a rather sick and abusive God, certainly not worthy of our trust. Rather the cross is the reminder of the world WE have fashioned where it is dangerous and sometimes even fatal to be a compassionate, courageous and loving person. God, out infinite love for us, his misdirected people, sent his love embodied in the person Jesus to live with us and show us the way and we murdered him.

The fact that Jesus never broke, never became bitter, and never stopped loving us even as we were nailing him to the cross, but rather prayed “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they do” - his endurance in this love is what saves us and continues to show us the way; this is how we are “saved” by the cross of Christ, both by how Jesus lived and how he died.

Not for one minute did Jesus stop being a loving compassionate person and we are bid to follow him in this way. Jesus knew that this kind of limitless, unconditional love is the only force in our world that can bring about real and substantial change but sadly, it sometimes, also brings us to genuine suffering because of the state of the world.

As the story goes: Seeing all the suffering in the world, the man prayed, “Great God, how is it that a loving Creator can see such things and yet do nothing about them?” And out of the long silence, God said, “I did do something . . . I made you.”