Lindsay Loves

When I was in undergrad at Maryland, I had an experience with the Eucharist that changed the way I understand the True Presence. Tonight, in Mississippi, I had another.

I’m spending the Thanksgiving holiday with my grandfather and his wife on the Gulf coast. My dad’s family isn’t religious at all, so I used MassTimes to find a Catholic Church nearby and went to the vigil Mass this evening. I passed the church at first; Google Maps told me it would be on the left, but it was clearly on the right. I had enough sense (and experience with getting to lost) to know to turn around, though, so I made it to Mass just before the opening hymn.

I slipped into the back, opened up my hymnal, and joined in the singing. We were sitting in chairs instead of pews because the church was flooded to the roof by Hurricane Katrina, but if I hadn’t read that on the website, I would never have known. I’m not sure what triggered it, but all of a sudden I started to feel dizzy and my vision blurred. I get vertigo ocassionally, but never as bad as that unless I wake up sick. I barely made it through the opening prayers, which included the introduction for the double baptism this church’s Father Bob celebrated. (What is it with priests named Bob? I know 3 in the South alone.) I finally had to sit down and try to breathe.

Sometime during the first reading, I knew I had to get out of that room. I picked up my things and spent the rest of the Liturgy of the Word breathing as much fresh, rainy air as I could stand. Finally, I felt calm enough to go back in. I felt like I was having a panic attack, or that something was smothering me. It might have been triggered by a moldy smell in the church, but I’m fairly sure they cleaned that all up when they rebuilt, and I’m not allergic to mold.

Later, during the preparation hymn, I had to sit down again. I debated whether I should risk going up to receive communion. Then I realized that if anything would make me feel better, it’d be Jesus. So I joined the line, and received under both species as usual. I’ll never be able to explain it, but as soon as the Eucharist was in me, I felt better. So much better. It was a small miracle, but so significant that I will never doubt the power of the Eucharist again. Sometimes God makes the sun move backwards, and sometimes he just makes you feel better. Either way, he’s always there.

Happy new liturgical year, friends.

Tags: Catholicism

In a burst of activity and productivity, I am catching up on the e-newsletters that piled up in my inbox. I get the National Catholic Register‘s weekly update of free articles (which change daily). The title “Even Superheroes Need Superheroes” caught my eye. Angelo Stagnaro’s article details Catholic comic book characters, including Hellboy, Daredevil, and Nightcrawler (from X-Men).

From the popularity (and awesomeness) of comic book movie adaptations, I find myself intrigued by comic superheroes. I thought the first two X-Men movies were great (the third, not so much). I liked Daredevil, I loved Spider-man and Spider-man 2 (never saw 3), and I know Greg liked Hellboy and some others Stagnaro mentions. I’ve also noticed the presence of Catholicism and Catholic imagery in the media these last few years. The Punisher’s sense of justice is carried out in less than desirable ways, but I can see sprinklings of a basis in Catholic social teaching.

Is that good enough, though? Can we be satisfied with vestiges of Catholicism in the media, or do we need something more overt? Could we ever have a tv show or movie where the characters do “normal” things, but just happen to be Catholic? I’m not sure, but those conversations are certainly more likely when pop culture gives us avenues for discussion like ubiquitous rosaries.

Tags: Catholicism

I’m going to say that I didn’t score 100% because I’m not perfect. Oh, well. Lent is a-coming.

Eucharistic theology created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Catholic You are a Catholic. You believe that the bread and wine are transformed by the priest and become the Body and Blood of Christ. Though the accidents, or appearance, of bread and wine remain, the substance has been changed. The Eucharist remains the Body and Blood of Christ after the celebration, and is reserved in the Tabernacle; Eucharistic devotions are proper. As the whole Christ is present under either species, you partake fully of the Eucharist even if you receive only one. Catholic 94% Orthodox 69% Luther 56% Calvin 25% Zwingli 6% Unitarian 0%

Via dreamlit @ LJ

Tags: Catholicism

I was delighted today to read a BustedHalo article about opening the canonization cause for “spiritual seeker” Fr. Isaac Hecker. Spiritual seeking has recently become very popular. As the “spiritual, but not religious” camp started to grow, more people sought the truth. Sometimes, they even find it.

As humans, we have a necessary and inherent desire for the truth. I have come to believe that the Roman Catholic Church has the truth. I wouldn’t call my lapse a time of spiritual seeking, but for many people, the road to God is long and winding. Perhaps my friend Br. Peter Martyr, O.P., (formerly Patrick Y.) explained it best in Bible study my sophomore year. God’s plan is the straight path to heaven. We might wander off, double back, or almost miss it completely, but as long as we make it to the end, we’ll be saved.

Fr. Hecker had a long journey to Catholicism and founding the Paulists. He was raised a devout Methodist, but even after falling away as a teenager, he continued to experience the presence of God. He spent his life trying to reconcile that call with the realities of the everyday while pursuing intense study and contemplation. (Sounds like many of the saints.) Eventually, he found his mission in becoming a priest and championing an American Catholic identity. The Church in America could use some work. I’m trying to help. Perhaps the intercession of Fr. Hecker will bring the advent of a world where the New Evangelization is no longer necessary. The American Catholic Church will hold on despite the trials, seeking refuge in her faithful followers.

Tags: Catholicism

BustedHalo a great site that puts a lighter spin on spirituality. It’s run by Paulists, so there’s a large Catholic presence, but I really like the balanced, “seeking” way it treats other faiths as well. (Except for that article about the alleged religious sister who loves The Vagina Monologues….) Plus, I won a signed copy of James Martin’s A Jesuit Off-Broadway!

There have been some exceptional interviews lately. The Faith Between Us, by Peter Bebergal and Scott Korb, details the personal religious journey of the two men, who sought to be a Jewish mystic and a Catholic priest respectively, but found meaning else. Says Korb:

I was sitting there with my stepfather in the days before he died and he said to me, “Look, you have to take care of your mother when I’m gone.” And that became my Christian inheritance, and that became my experience. My stepfather was a very devout Catholic and for him, his experience was that his own afterlife didn’t seem to matter to him in the moment, but only that we—his children—would take over where he left off in taking care of my mother.

I think this moment is less about his stepfather’s focus on this world instead of the next, and more about his focus on leaving his family secure because he knows he’s going on. In that moment, heaven wasn’t as important as making sure his family would be okay. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t thinking about heaven like “a very devout Catholic.”

For twenty years of my life I was sure that I knew how to be a Catholic, that I knew how to live as a religious person, and that meant to be as disciplined as I could and to develop an eating disorder and to decide I wanted to be a priest because I thought that that was what God wanted—was for me to be lonely my whole life. And that’s not to say that I think that priests are lonely. That’s to say that in my perception of the priesthood I was lonely and I wanted to make loneliness—as I say in the book—my vocation.

I can understand this. A lot of times, I fear that I’m too legalistic in my practice of Catholicism. What it is, though, is that I just like living my faith that way. I like following the specific practices and traditions that have come down through the centuries. It’s comforting for me to do the same things at every Mass, every day. There’s no one single way to be Catholic (though I think his self-described “Catholic atheism” pushes it). Some priests (and laypeople) do well in the silence. Some crave activity and live fellowship. The apostles were all very different men, after all.

The magazine also featured an interview with Braddigan of the band Dispatch, which I think I’ve heard of in passing. Clearly, I need to pay more attention, because he is so profound and eloquent.

I think a lot of people identify with Christianity or any faith for that matter as a kind of external clothing. Something you were born into, a tradition, something that stays on the outside and it is in this box and then your life is in this box. People tend to approach their lives like there are the three or four boxes that.

[...] I don’t really understand exactly how as an athlete and as a musician and as a person who loves the Lord—how can I put all that stuff together. He said “You just live one life. You are never supposed to believe that ministry was over here and maybe church is on Sundays and your work Monday through Friday and your vacation…it’s one life and who you carry inside you internally, Christ, the Holy Spirit, this light that the Lord talks about that can’t be hidden…that’s your greatest gift.”

Later, he quotes St. Francis: “Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” Braddigan really understands that faith is not something you can relegate to a box to check and a place to go on Sundays. Faith gives us life. Faith is life.

Tags: Catholicism

Another news story caught my eye today, this time from the Associated Press: “Theology divides Mormons, evangelicals.” It reads like a beginner’s guide to the LDS (Latter-Day Saints) church. I’m not a fan of Mormonism, but I know they favor the practical application of faith in everyday life and big, loving families, which I like.

The biggest concern people have about Romney in the Republican race is that he’s a Mormon. I always thought it was just their lack of familiarity with Mormonism. It seems to me to be more of a question of practical faith.

Another concern for some: that Mormon church presidents are held out as prophets with revelatory power that can alter the church’s direction and beliefs.

Said [Richard] Mouw, “That notion that things can just get changed is scary for a lot of people who worry that a church with a very strong authority center could influence a public leader by suddenly getting a new revelation that has an impact on public policy.”

This reminds me of what they used to say about JFK, that the pope would control the U.S. Thirty years later, they fear the LDS church leader will do the same. I don’t think either is true. It’s a pity that JFK didn’t live long enough for us to see more of his faith in action.

According to data gathered by the Pew Research Center (which has a great website), only 53 percent of people have favorable feelings towards Mormons; 76 percent towards Jews and Catholics. Clearly that 76 percent does not spend much time on college campuses.

Tags: Catholicism