The Earring of Great Price

Another confession for me: my left ear is pierced twice. I've had it pierced since my freshmen year at college. I haven't actually worn an earring in several years, and I know that one of my piercings has closed already . . . but the option's there. :-)

I say this because last week at work we were having a conversation over lunch (myself and a few coworkers) about a young woman who applied to work at my Catholic school the same year that I was hired. Apparently, she came in the week before school started to get her room in order, and our principal noticed that she had approx. 9 piercings on one of her ears. The team leader was asked to explain to her that she was now employed by a Catholic school and that an excessive amount of earrings would not be appropriate for a teacher - she would only be allowed what a female student at our school would be allowed: one small pair of earrings, one on each ear. The young teacher said she understood and resigned that afternoon.

While I can understand the reasoning behind uniform policies for our students and our staff, I'm wondering what kind of teacher she would have made if given the chance. I can see it from an administrator's point of view, and I can see if from a parents point of view - administration is worried about image and lifestyle, while parents are worried about example and teaching. However, I can't help but think that Jesus himself lived and breathed among the most undesirable of people during his time: lepers, tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor (who were, for the most part, sinners by definition), etc. He did not worry about his image, or about the clothes he wore, or about the homes he ministered in, or about any of the external things that we seem to emphasize so much (either positively, by saying that we should wear these things instead of those, or negatively, by saying that we should never wear certain things).

I know this is a conversation that many people have had in different circumstances, but I was struck by the fact that if I would have entered my school wearing two earrings on my left ear, I may have been not-so-welcomed. And I don't think that my ministry would have suffered one iota if I did wear earrings or not. The perception of my ministry may have changed in the mind of my coworkers and in the mind of the parents I minister to, but that in no way would affect my ministry in and of itself.

Or would it? I'd be interested in feedback as I get ready to catch some sleep. :-)

Blessings & Peace,

Hugo

Our Proposed Budget

President Bush has proposed a new budget . . . and while I'm not the most politically-minded person, from what I've read parts of this budget will mean that many underprivileged / low-income kids and families will lose medical and support benefits while our military spending will continue to increase by leaps and bounds.

If you'd like to send a petition to your congressmen and senators, you may click here. Hopefully, if enough voters spread the word, we may have an impact on this coming year's budget.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

Quotes

I just finished reading this months US Catholic, and I found two quotes I just had to share . . . they're full of evocative imagery and, I confess, they sound like things I wish I'd written:

Subdued and domesticated by God, water becomes the holy weapon of choice against original sin. The waters of Baptism banish original sin to its primordial home in the abyss. Choas learns its limits once more. - Alice Camille

And one from one of my favorite theologians:
To be religious is to believe that it is meaningful to speak into the endless desert of God's silence. - Karl Rahner

Enjoy them as we travel through this Lenten season. :-)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

SnapShirts.com

I found this site at another blog (and I read several so I'm not quite sure which one it came from, and I don't feel like going through the whole list of blogs I just read - sorry!), but it's quite cool - it pulls words from your blog and creates a customized image that you can order on a shirt - mine's above my post - enjoy! :-)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

Shades of Martydom

I saw this post on Michelle Malkin's blog, so I though I'd post it here:

Afghan Man Faces Execution After Converting to Christianity
By Benjamin Sand
Kabul
18 March 2006

An Afghan man who recently admitted he converted to Christianity faces the death penalty under the country's strict Islamic legal system. The trial is a critical test of Afghanistan's new constitution and democratic government.

The case is attracting widespread attention in Afghanistan, where local media are closely monitoring the landmark proceedings.
Abdul Rahman, 40, was arrested last month, accused of converting to Christianity.
Under Afghanistan's new constitution, minority religious rights are protected but Muslims are still subject to strict Islamic laws.
And so, officially, Muslim-born Rahman is charged with rejecting Islam and not for practicing Christianity. Appearing in court earlier this week Rahman insisted he should not be considered an infidel, but admitted he is a Christian.
He says he still believes in the almighty Allah, but cannot say for sure who God really is. "I am," he says, "a Christian and I believe in Jesus Christ."
Rahman reportedly converted more than 16 years ago after spending time working in Germany.
Officials say his family, who remain observant Muslims, turned him over to the authorities.
On Thursday the prosecution told the court Rahman has rejected numerous offers to embrace Islam.
Prosecuting attorney Abdul Wasi told the judge that the punishment should fit the crime.
He says Rahman is a traitor to Islam and is like a cancer inside Afghanistan. Under Islamic law and under the Afghan constitution, he says, the defendant should be executed.
The court has ordered a delay in the proceedings to give Rahman time to hire an attorney.
Under Afghan law, once a verdict is given, the case can be appealed twice to higher courts.
This is the first case in which the defendant has admitted to converting and is refusing to back down, even while facing the death penalty.
If convicted, the case could ultimately force President Hamid Karzai's direct intervention.
The president would have to sign the papers authorizing Rahman's execution, a move that could jeopardize Mr. Karzai's standing with human rights groups and Western governments.
So far, President Karzai has not commented on the case.
But political analysts here in Kabul say he will be under significant pressure from the country's hard-line religious groups to make an example of Rahman.

I feel humbled and convicted by a man who's willing to stand up for his beliefs in his faith, even and especially in the face of death. My prayers go out to him, his family, and all those involved in persecuting this case. I have a profound respect for Islam, as I do for most world religions, but the people who are pushing for his death . . . . I pray especially for them, because I can't imagine what kind of faith would lead someone to make that decision and I'm having an extrememly hard time loving them right now.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

First Eucharist

In the Catholic Church most people take Eucharist for the first time as children (approx. 2nd-3rd grade). This is preceded by one or two years of catechesis/religious education either at the child's parish or in a Catholic school (parochial or stand alone). This school year I've been giving First Eucharist "classes" to three children of one of my closest friends (and of one his sibling's children), and I've got a few thoughts about the process.

The program of religious education stresses preparation to receive reconciliation for the first time and then to receive Eucharist. The preparation is age-appropriate, which means that story and experiential actions take precedence over mystical theology or religious philosophy. For example, in my preparation of the four children I have stressed the New Testament stories where Jesus talks about reconciliation and the stories in the New Testament that give us the narrative of the last supper and it's transformation into the paradigmatic models that give us the framework for our modern celebration of our Eucharistic liturgies. Stress is given to the Catholic teaching of the real presence in the Eucharist as well as to the necessity and importance of the regular celebration of reconciliation, but it in no way is a course in sacramental theology.

So what are my thoughts?
1. There is no "best time" for first reconciliation and first Eucharist. Some parishes / individual diocesan entities / individual theologians will argue that for historical / theological / pastoral reasons the age of first reconciliation/Eucharist should be: birth, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, Jr. High, high school, or adulthood. The New Testament posits that baptism (and, by inference and anachronistic language) confirmation and Eucharist pretty much took place at approximately the same time (and for whole households on occasion). Modern sacramental theology and practice gives us baptism, confirmation and Eucharist all prepared for at the same time as the norm - the Church as a whole seems to be reluctant to make that the norm in lieu of baptism as an infant, Eucharist as a child and confirmation as a teen.

2. Since I do sacramental prep at my work place, I have a small sample of parents to draw from for this observation, but it's also a general observation as the campus minister for my school: there are some parents who want the whole of Catholic theology, culture, and history taught to their students every year. Perhaps it's my youth ministry background, or perhaps it's the fact that I did not attend Catholic school until I hit college, or the fact that I firmly believe in a youth ministry model as the proper place for teen/preteen/child catechesis - whatever the case, I prefer for religion to be taught on an experiential level with an academic or intellectual component, and not the other way around (where academics and intellect are stressed to the point where any other type of learning is put out by the wayside). I think kids get more from being engaged in their faith development then just from lectures and reading.

3. Being in ministry (this is a side rant) seems to be a compromise between being not Catholic enough and being too Catholic for the Pope. If we're stressing Eucharistic Adoration we have some families who want more social engagement. If we're teaching the social teaching of the Catholic Church there are some who want to know why their child does not know how to pray the rosary. If we talk about Mary there are some who want to know why we don't talk about Dorothy Day and vice versa. It seems a hard, thin line to follow where I (and the school in general) are not veering too much in one direction.

4. 2nd and 3rd graders are enraptured by the rituals, smells, sounds, sights and pomp of their First Reconciliation and First Eucharist. At their first reconciliation these 7 year olds go into the confessional looking like they've just committed multiple homicides - they come out floating on air with halos and wings. Nervous as they may be before they confess for the first time, they obviously feel the benefits of a good confession. Same with their First Eucharist - they partake of the sacrament with more reverence and joy and awe then most people I see taking communion (and I place myself in that group!). Even thought I don't think there's a magical age at which these sacraments would first be taken, I like that younger children are usually the lucky ones for this - they still have a comprehension of the mystery alluded to by the sacraments that older people will tend to gloss over in their desire to achieve factual and theologically nuanced mastery of the sacramental principals.

And that's about it for now - for those that can, enjoy the rest of your Spring Break! :-)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

And the Award Goes To . . .

I like to watch movies. I have a membership with Hollywood Video that lets me rent up to three non-brand new releases at a time for free (I pay approx. $16.00 a month for this privelege). The Hollywood Video closest to me is only a few minutes away, and I've been renting movies there for a while. Most nights outside the Hollywood Video there's a young man who sells home made candy apples for a dollar a piece. Most nights when I rent a video I make sure to have a dollar ready.

Last week I had several videos to return, and I was going to look for several more to rent. As I approached the Hollywood Video I shook hands with him and talked for a bit, then gave him my dollar and told him I'd grab the apple when I came out. I spent an inordinate amount of time browsing (I was looking for something for my wife and I couldn't find it, and of course I didn't ask for help because I'm perfectly capable of finding one DVD on my own!), and when I walked out the Candy Apple Vendor was gone. At the time I didn't think anything of it - I'd forgotten about the dollar.

Monday night I went back to return the videos and game I had rented, and I saw him farther off from his usual post next to the return box by the door. I went in, thinking I'd say hi to him when I came out. About a minute after I came in he approached me and apologized for leaving early the week before . . . and he was holding a candy apple in his hand which he owed me.

I was touched by his honesty and by his desire to make sure I understood why he had to leave (his dad came to pick him up earlier than usual). I was challenged by his honesty as well . . . would I have done the same? I was impressed with his character and know that he has jumped forward by leaps and bounds on my internal trust-o-meter.

Please keep him and his family in your prayers - they struggle for cash and do their best to make ends meet. I pray that in all of my theological meanderings I remember his example.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

The Historical Jesus

I'm reading a book by Dominic Crossan titled The Historical Jesus: The Life of a Mediterranean Jewish Peasant. The first half of the book is spent trying to get at what life would have been like for a, well, a Mediterranean Jewish peasant. He spends time with source documents from the time before Jesus' lifetime, during his lifetime, and after his lifetime, as well as with the canonical Gospels and other gospels and letters that did not make the cut into Scripture.

Parts of the introductory material were boring (to use a technical theological term!), but some parts were veryinteresting. I'm currently in the 12th chapter titled Kingdom and Wisdom. Crossan has been discussing the parables about the kingdom, and one thought in particular struck me.

He writes about the various levels of meaning in ascribing the kingdom of God to children, and he develops three thoughts in particular:

- A kingdom of children is a kingdom of the celibate (since children are seen as "asexual or presexual or nonsexual")

- A kingdom of children is a kingdom of the humble (as opposed to the disciples who were arguing about who would be the most important in the coming kingdom)

- A kingdom of children is a kingdom of the baptized (emphasizing the dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus where a newly born child is compared to a newly baptized Christian)

But the one that hit me the most was this one:

- A kingdom of children is a kingdom of nobodies.

He writes that infanticide was common in Greek and Roman and Egyptian cultures, especially for the less desirable female children. For most adults, being compared to children was like being compared to someone who did not matter, who could not make decisions, who could not help provide effectively for their family, who could not do very much.

In accord with the concept of honor and shame that permeated Mediterranean culture at the time of Jesus, calling his followers to be childlike was not first an invitation to humility, celibacy or baptism: it was an invitation - a demand - to overturn the approved mores of a society that put eminent value on adults and very little value on children. Jesus was asking his followers to give up their political, social, religious and monetary power in exchange for the powerlessness of children.

I believe that this call - this challenge - still applies to us today. We are called not to put our trust in our own power - we are called not to give ultimate power over to our society, our government, our parents, our spouse, our church, our friends, our job. We are called and challenged to live as nobodies in a world that often overlooks those who do not blow their own horn. And we are called to do this so that we can claim ownership in the kingdom of God that is at once permeating our world and yet to come.

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo

So You Want To Be A Wizard

I read through a book series which started with the book So You Want To Be A Wizard. In it, wizardry (the power to create magic in many different forms) chooses who it will live in (magic will not live in the unwilling heart is the mantra all beginning wizards learn) and wizards can choose to use their powers for good (to promote law and the conservation of cosmic energy) or evil (to advance the cause of chaos and entropy).

I haven't read the latest book (Wizards at War), but all of the other books are very . . . Catholic, for want of a better word at this moment. They envision a universe with the forces of goodness (wizards living among us who have taken a vow to protect and nurture life) arrayed against the force of chaos and entropy, anthrpomorphized as the Lone Power, the primordial entity who rebelled against life at the beginning of time and who now works to subvert everything that is good in the universe.

In the first book the two main characters (young teen wizards, though the series is not similar to Harry Potter, in case you're wondering!) fight against the Lone Power after accidentaly being sucked into it's own world/parallel universe. Each subsequent book pits them against this Lone Power or some aspect of the Chaos/Entropy it promotes.

What I thought interesting is that in one of the books Kit (one of the the main characters) helps redeem the Lone Power through her actions, her sacrifice, and her courageous love. However, since the Lone Power lives outside of time (theologically speaking, in kairos time, not chronos time), the Lone Power is now always rebelling and always redeemed.

I like that image for us. Since I like to think of heaven as being timeless (see here and here), I can readily appreciate such a construct as a being who is at the same time unredeemed and redeemed. It reminds me of us (people) - we stand on the threshold of being saints and sinners. Everyday we have to make (mostly unconscious) decisions to live a life that we are proud of or one that we are ashamed of. We struggle to define who and what we are in relation to our God, our world and our inner sense of self.

This Lent would be a wonderful time, then, to spend some time in introspection. Instead of making grnad, sweeping commitments and promises of how we would change our lives, I think making one concrete change every day would serve us better.

As the counselor at my school is fond of saying, one random act of kindness every day will slowly make this world a better place (paraphrased).

As an aside, I've been away from my neglected blog for almost three months - one of my Lenten promises obviously then becomes to write more! :-)

Blessings & Peace,
Hugo