You’re going the wrong way!

25 April 2009
Saint Mark’s Day


You’re going the wrong way! One of my favorite movies is Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. There is a very funny scene where Del Griffith, played by John Candy, is very distracted listening to his music and smoking cigarettes. At one point he realizes that he is very warm with his winter parka on, but instead of pulling over to remove his coat, he tries to remove it while driving. To make a long story short he nearly wrecks the car and finds himself on an exit ramp. As he returns to the highway, he does not realize he is going in the opposite direction. His passenger, Neal Page, played by Steve Martin, is asleep through it all.

Soon a man and woman in the other lane attempt to warn him that he is going the wrong direction. Instead of listening to them he ignores them and says that they’re drunk. “How would they know where we’re going?” He continues laughing with glee that the couple was trying to tell him the direction that he should go. I won’t spoil the film for those who have not seen it, but it is a wonderful film about metanoia, turning around, indeed turning from a selfish, self-centered way of life to an other centered, unselfish, thoughtful, altruistic way of life – or at least embarking upon that path.

How does this scene have to do with today’s Catholic? Everything. There are many Catholics – indeed Christians – who think that they are going in the right direction. Are we going in the right direction? As individuals? As families? As a school community? As a parish? As a Church?

Catholicism is the oldest Christian expression of faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that within Catholicism the fullness of God’s Revelation is made known to us; His Word and His Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist

All of the disciplines in the building have rules. For instance in English one cannot just create his own spelling rules or grammar rules; in math 2+2 cannot equal 3.764 just because Uncle Jimmy says it is so. The athletic department has to abide by rules and all sports have specific rules for fair play. So it is with the faith of the Church.

I strive to share with the students (and parents) the Tradition of the Church that comes to us from Christ and the Apostles and the early church. I cannot change the mission of Catholic education.

An example of what I am speaking of can be given with polls. There have been many polls where Catholics deny the importance of regularly Sunday worship, the respect for the gift of human sexuality, the life of the unborn or elderly, the integrity of the human body and even the bodily resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead and his promise to return again in glory.

What this boils down to is that many Catholics claim to believe, but by their lives they are practical atheists, or worse, nihilists. Pope Benedict XVI speaks of those who live their Christian life as if God does not matter, or as if life itself does not matter or mean anything (nihilism). I believe he is on to something. There are people who claim to love Christ, but believe and do almost the exact opposite of what he taught and what he lived. I have much more respect for a sincere atheist than the nominal Christian who is really a nihilist. At least the atheists are honest. And no wonder so many people have become atheists. The reason? The poor example of those who claim to be Christians or Catholics.

G.K. Chesterton said “Christianity has not been tried and found lacking; it has been found difficult and not tried.” Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu, admired Jesus and often quoted from the Sermon on the Mount. Once when asked, “Though you quote the words of Christ often, why is that you reject becoming his follower?" Ghandi replied, "I don't reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It's just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Are we being Christ to the World? Are we truly the Body of Christ? Do we believe what Christ said? Are we truly being formed into the image of Christ? Are we merely minimally informed about Jesus or are we allowing Christ to form us, are we being formed into the image of Christ? And are we helping to form the world into the Kingdom of God?

Now we are faced with an empty tomb. If the tomb is empty, then how must we live? If we wish to follow Christ, then we must take up our Cross and follow Him.

As a parent of a teenage myself, I am concerned for the faith of our young people. I realize adolescence is a time for great questioning, but educators across the country are seeing more and more students who are opposed to any intellectual challenge and seem to have all the answers. Yes, I realize Plato had the same complaint against some of his students in Athens in 400 B.C., but do hear me out.

In our culture there is this idea held by some that one can claim to be a good Christian or a good Catholic and not abide by the Commandments or the teachings of Christ and the Church and somehow we all going to somehow stumble into heaven on judgment day, no questions asked. If that is true, then why did Christ go through his agony and die on the cross? What was he saving us from is there is no possibility of losing eternal life in heaven?

C.S. Lewis spoke about those who want all the comforts of a loving God, but don’t want to bother with any of that bothersome morality or changing of behavior that makes us begin to look like a Christian follower of Christ.

In our culture, many people who fall into this category in the words of St. Paul, “they make a pretense of religion, but deny its power” (2 Tim. 3:5). Since many people do not practice their faith, they do not live the faith. They not only do not know their faith, they do not pray. Nor they do not pray with the church. Allow me to explain. Some will pray, sure, but their prayers rise to an image of god that is the bubblegum machine god in the sky, above the world, who has no real connection to the human condition, but a god no less. However, this god is not the God of Jesus Christ.

The god they believe in is really ignorant of most things – especially their personal lives and obnoxious and sinful behaviors – and as such this god is much like them. This god, therefore, excuses their every indiscretion, moral lapse, or sin as just a part of being “human”, or better yet, this god has no moral code at all and as such is unconcerned about so-called “correct” behavior. This god is therefore really only “there” to serve their needs – when they call upon him. Again, St. Paul’s words come to mind: “They make a pretense of religion, but deny its power.”

So, the humans are really in charge of this god, or consider him a talisman to ward off the opposing team’s efforts to beat them in athletic competition. This god is fashioned in their own image and likeness, and he – or “it”, more appropriately – is at their disposal and whim. Usually such prayers addressed to this god are for things and are primarily focused on personal needs. As such, the talk of a personal savior is copiously employed here. Again, the “relationship with god” resembles their own personal relationships.

Pope Benedict refers to such an appropriation of God to be merely for some type of psychological comfort, rather than an intimate and growing relationship with the Transcendent, though imminent, God: the God of Jesus Christ, who humbles himself to share in our humanity. This god is merely “a slob like one of us.” He is not the God that raises up a fallen humanity and calls us to reach for the heights of the kingdom, a kingdom where we are to bring God’s kingdom to the present world: on earth as it is in heaven.

St. Paul taught us to proclaim the truth of the gospel in season and out of season. I have always striven to do that in my 20+ years of teaching adolescents. In paragraph 1666 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church we are reminded that “The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.”

On the Third Sunday of Easter this year the Second Reading is from 1 John 2. “The way we may be sure that we know [Christ] him is to keep his commandments. Those who say, "I know him," but do not keep his commandments are liars, and the truth is not in them… This is the way we may know that we are in union with him: whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived” (1 John 2.3-6).

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says. “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 5:19)

Jesus said: “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (Mt 19.17). “You know the commandments: 'You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother’” (Mk 10.19). "If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn. 14.19) “Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me” (Jn 14.21).

Jesus said: “If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and remain in his love. This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. You are my friends if you do what I command you” (Jn 15: 10, 12, 14, 17).

In 1 Tim. 1:9-10, Paul writes Timothy to clearly inform him and the church what it means to NOT be a disciple of the Lord. Namely those who are: “lawless and unruly, the godless and sinful, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers or mothers, murderers, the unchaste, practicing homosexuals, kidnapers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching.”

In 2 Tim. 3:2-5, Paul continues: “People will be self-centered and lovers of money, proud, haughty, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, irreligious, callous, implacable, slanderous, licentious, brutal, hating what is good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, as they make a pretense of religion but deny its power.”

In 1 Cor. 6:9-11, “Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor boy prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers will inherit the kingdom of God. That is what some of you used to be; but now you have had yourselves washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”

In 1 Cor. 6:15-20, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ's members and make them the members of a prostitute? * Of course not! (Or) do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For "the two," it says, "will become one flesh." But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.”

Finally, the very definition of Marriage itself is up for grabs in our culture. Allow me to remind us all of what marriage is. From the Catechism of the Church:
1601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament."
1660 The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (cf. CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1).
1661 The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1799).
1664 Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from the gift of a child (GS 50 § 1).
1666 The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.
Also, chastity is challenged today and many of our youth have been so infected with the sins of our culture, that they no longer regard the practice of sexual expression outside of marriage as a sin. The Catechism assists us in teaching about Chastity.
The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift.
2339 Chastity includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery (self-discipline) which is training in human freedom. The alternative is clear: either man governs his passions and finds peace, or he lets himself be dominated by them and becomes unhappy.126 "Man's dignity therefore requires him to act out of conscious and free choice, as moved and drawn in a personal way from within, and not by blind impulses in himself or by mere external constraint. Man gains such dignity when, ridding himself of all slavery to the passions, he presses forward to his goal by freely choosing what is good and, by his diligence and skill, effectively secures for himself the means suited to this end."127
2340 Whoever wants to remain faithful to his baptismal promises and resist temptations will want to adopt the means for doing so: self-knowledge, practice of a self-discipline…, obedience to God's commandments, exercise of the moral virtues, and fidelity to prayer.
2342 Self-mastery (self-discipline) is a long and exacting work. One can never consider it acquired once and for all. It presupposes renewed effort at all stages of life.129 The effort required can be more intense in certain periods, such as when the personality is being formed during childhood and adolescence.
2343 Chastity has laws of growth which progress through stages marked by imperfection and too often by sin. "Man . . . day by day builds himself up through his many free decisions; and so he knows, loves, and accomplishes moral good by stages of growth."130
2347 The virtue of chastity blossoms in friendship. It shows the disciple how to follow and imitate Christ who has chosen us as his friends, who has given himself totally to us and allows us to participate in his divinity. Chastity is a promise of immortality.
2348 All the baptized are called to chastity. The Christian has "put on Christ,"135 the model for all chastity. All Christ's faithful are called to lead a chaste life in keeping with their particular states of life. At the moment of his Baptism, the Christian is pledged to lead his affective life in chastity.
2350 Those who are engaged to marry are called to live chastity in continence. They should see in this time of testing a discovery of mutual respect, an apprenticeship in fidelity, and the hope of receiving one another from God. They should reserve for marriage the expressions of affection that belong to married love. They will help each other grow in chastity.
Finally, the Christian identity is formed through personal prayer and communal prayer. The Liturgy, particularly the Sunday Eucharistic Liturgy, forms us as Church. We are formed by Word and Sacrament. When we gather as community in Christ we form the Body of Christ in a special way. When we receive the Eucharist, that is, the Body of Christ, we most fully become the Church, that is, the Body of Christ.
I use this analogy in class: if we don’t regularly attend practice for sports we won’t be able to play in the game. If we cannot follow the rules of the game, we won’t be allowed to play either. So if we don’t practice our faith or abide by the teachings of faith, then how can we claim to be Christians? Sunday Mass attendance (I am slow to use that word because, hopefully, we participate in Mass and not simply punch our ticket) is essential for church. In our culture “faith” or church attendance is nothing more that eternal fire insurance. I pray it is a lifestyle choice for you and your family.

Is it an important measure of a Catholic school’s effectiveness whether its Catholic students, past and present, attend Mass regularly?

Vatican II (Gravissimum Educationis par 2) emphasized that the development of a personal spirituality and participation in the Eucharist are included not just as aims, but as the principal aims of a Catholic school: "Such an education [Christian education] does not merely strive to foster in the human person the maturity already described. Rather, its principal aims are these: that as the baptized person is gradually introduced into a knowledge of the mystery of salvation, he may daily grow more conscious of the gift of faith which he has received; that he may learn to adore God the Father in spirit and in truth (cf. Jn. 4:23), especially through liturgical worship."

Parents have a serious moral obligation to educate their children. Therefore, it is for Christian parents particularly to take care of the Christian education of their children according to the doctrine handed on by the Church. As such, the Resurrection of Jesus is the fundamental event upon which Christian faith rests (cf. 1 Cor 15:14). It is an astonishing reality, fully grasped in the light of faith, yet we commemorate the day of Christ's Resurrection not just once a year but every Sunday and every Holy Day of Obligation. Saint Jerome said: "Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is our day".(3) For Christians, Sunday is "the fundamental feast day.

As Pope John Paul II taught in a 1998 apostolic letter, Dies Domini, the obligation of celebrating the Sunday Eucharist is not an arbitrary law imposed by the Church but "an indispensable element of our Christian identity". Do we want many teachers and students in Catholic schools to be left with the impression that, practically speaking, participation in the Sunday Eucharist is not required for authentic Catholic or Christian faith? Do we want teachers and their students to be implicitly taught that, in an institution aiming to form Christians, participation in the Sunday Eucharist is at best of minor importance or cannot be expected? If so, then the expectations of Catholic schools will be seriously diminished.

The values learned implicitly from students’ teachers can be flawed. Any lack of appreciation of the Eucharist is likely to be absorbed by students whose teachers are significant adults in their lives. Students influence one another, and a climate can be created in which students are taught – both verbally and by implication, that attending Mass is irrelevant and unnecessary. Research demonstrates that even the verbally unexpressed attitudes of teachers powerfully influence students. And it is well known how strongly adolescent behavior is also influenced by that of their peers.

Surely drastic and difficult decisions need to be taken to ensure that, first of all administrators, teachers and parents, understand and appreciate the place of the Eucharist in the Church or the Christian life. If these adults do not participate in the Eucharist fully, consciously and actively, the downward spiraling rejection of the great gift of the Eucharist by young Catholics is likely to continue. What then of the future of Catholic schools and the Catholic Church in America?

Most Rev. Robert J. Carlson, Bishop of Sioux Falls, writes, “We need to be clear in our expectations and call young people to be faithful. Parents need to be partners with us, and if they are the ones who are irresponsible, then they have to be called to the faith witness which is expected of them. Attending Mass on Sunday is a serious moral issue. In a Sunday Eucharist, we participate in the paschal mystery. The mystery of the church is made present.”

Sunday Mass attendance used to be a “given.” Practicing Catholics understood the Ten Commandments and the precepts of the Church as requiring attendance at Sunday Mass. Unfortunately here in the United States, attendance levels have been declining with an average of around 40% attendance, and even now that percentage seems to be declining.

The Pope himself as well as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is asking for a special effort on the part of all Catholics to sustain and improve Sunday Mass attendance. We are each called to evangelize on this issue.

St. Paul wrote to the Romans: “I urge you therefore, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship. Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect… For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another.”

What are the signs of our Christian community? Does a shared community here truly exist? Or have we fallen for the cultural lie of self-sufficiency and rugged individualism which allows us to be off in our own world with our own set of values and code of behavior, rules which can be vicious and completely alien to the mission and vision of the Gospel, Church, and school.

Parents have the duty and responsibility to educate their children in the faith; students who come to a Catholic school should expect a solid, Catholic education. But today the importance of sports and social life is the top priority for some students in the Catholic school. The devotion of athletes and their parents, and the near worship of athletic success, is, by all definitions religious in zeal and, indeed, the athletes and their parents are missionaries with an evangelical zeal.

Therefore, if the concept of a Catholic high school is simply a private-school with fine athletic teams where many people admit that the idea that the Catholic faith is first and foremost among faculty, students, and parents is really only a myth, then are we perpetuating this myth of Catholic education? And why?

Again, if the Catholic School is no longer where the Catholic Christian faith is the primary reason for the school’s existence, then should the church not question whether to continue funding a Catholic high school?

Consider how much local parishes support the schools. As a member of a parish myself, I know that a certain percentage of my weekly donation to the collection goes to further Catholic education. If I am no longer certain of the Catholicity of a Catholic high school, then the situation becomes an issue of injustice, not only to the students and teachers, but to the families and donors who are actually supporting the mission of Catholic high schools.

Are the best days of Catholic education schools indeed behind us?

When Catholics routinely no longer believe in the existence of God, miracles, the Resurrection of Christ, the Virgin Birth, or hearken to Church Teaching concerning the power of prayer, the inviolable dignity of each and every human life from conception to natural death, the dignity of human sexuality and marriage, weekly church attendance and participation, the requirements of social justice, pursuing the common good, and belief in the afterlife, and instead believe that the Church has perpetuated a lie or a myth that has deceived millions throughout history, this seems to be a situation that must be addressed in every Catholic home, not simply in the classroom.

It is – without a doubt – a struggle for the very soul of the Church and our faith in Christ. Our Catholic high schools were established to further the commitment to the faith. May we continue to nurture the faith of our ancestors – many who came here to the United States as unwanted pilgrim immigrants and established Catholic communities with their blood, sweat and tears.