FRIDAY POTPOURRI: PARISH HISTORY:

1951

On January 1st, 1951, the convent was completed.  The cost of the building and furnishings including the chapel, was $110,000.  Today that would be over a million dollars.  What a joy it must have been for the nuns to move out of the school with its communal lodging for 12 nuns and in to their own beautiful building for although the nuns would have been working during the hours the school was in session, living in a school building must have come with its own unique challenges

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THEOLOGY ON TAP, AKRON: OH WHAT A NIGHT

Less than 48 hours ago I looked out my window and saw THIS:

Today I look out my window and see THIS:

It's a beautiful world isn't it?

That is why I've not been blogging.  It is not good to get sand in your computer.

Anyway, I got back just in time for my day away from the parish.  (See how that works?)  But it was still a busy day around the office.  It was Theology on Tap Akron Day and Mother Theodora was coming to speak.  So before hand (they were coming all this way after all) I decided to have the nuns from Christ the Bridegroom Monastery over for dinner along with some priests and seminarians.  It began with the social hour: 

Then we moved in to the dinning room where Marcy and her outstanding crew made us a delightful dinner.  Terri even made cookies with the parish seal on them - and she made the table cloth - and the arranged the flowers.  It was awesome because if I had taken care of it, we would have ordered pizza.

In the above picture to the far right is Sara Lynn who was just accepted as a postulant!  Congratulations!  Please keep her in your prayers.

Below is Mother Gabriella practicing a song a tap number that she was about to perform.

Okay, I was COMPLETELY kidding about that.

Here is most of the gang that was here yesterday.

Then we moved on over to the church where they sang Byzantine Vespers for us.  The parish and community was invited to join us.  It was beautiful.

Then we jumped into our cars and drove out to the Winking Lizard in Peninsula for Theology on Tap, Akron!

There were a lot of priests and seminarians there.  Thanks for coming out guys.

The reason that I really like THIS picture . . .

Is because it reminds me of THIS picture.

Mother gave a great talk to a packed house.

Fortunately we had a little more room this time because the restaurant moved us to a larger room!

I hope you are able to join next time on March 8th when Fr. Marty Miller will be speaking.  Also, on February 20th, I will be speaking at Theology on the Rocks at D'Agnese's on White Pond for those of you who are adults but not necessarily with the adjective "young" before it.

Thank you to Eric Eirmann, Rocco, our MC, and everybody who helped make it a great night.  

Thanks also to Visitation Parish for sponsoring the evening.

Thanks to St. Joseph Parish, Cuyahoga Falls for letting us borrow their sound system.

ToT Akron is a ministry of St. Sebastian Parish.  If you are interested in sponsoring a night, please contact me!

ROAD TRIP

So yesterday I wrote to you that I was going to be away from the parish most of the day with two of the seminarians who are staying at and working for the parish over the summer to go to Christ the Bridegroom Monastery to visit the sisters there and check on the progress of the St. Sebastian icon.  It is over in Burton, Ohio surrounded by an Amish community.  We passed a couple of buggies on our way.

We had lunch and chatted and then Sister Iliana FINALLY asked, "So, do you want to see the icon?"  It was killing me being polite while the anticipation built.  So we made our way to the icon room and got our first glance of St. Sebastian.

It is marvelous.  Better than I hoped.  But it isn't done yet.  She has to wait several months before putting on the last coats.  Everything needs to dry.  She was concerned about a delivery date but I assured her that we actually don't NEED it until 2018, the 90th anniversary of the parish.

On a whim she painted the background blue which turns out to be fortuitous.  The church building of St. Sebastian is largely blue in the interior due to the first pastor's devotion to the Blessed Virgin.  So that just turned out cool.

Across the street is a shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.  You can go visit it yourself.  A number of people visited it while we were there praying and looking around.  The first thing that you come across is this church.  It doesn't look like much from the outside but the inside is pretty cool and conducive to prayer.

Then you take a long walk back to the outdoor shrine.  

This is the main shrine on the property but there are many more minor shrines such as to Fatima and Lourdes.  Some of it is in disrepair but the community seems to slowly restoring it to what it once was.

Then there are these bells.  I need them.  I promised not to make too much noise but I had to ring them at least once and Sister was kind enough to let us have at it.

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

There are 6.6 million Catholics in the United States.  There are approximately 38,000 priests.  Some of that number of priests includes those who are retired, sick, or in special ministry.  Of the lay people, even if they are retired or sick, they still need a priest.

 

Hopefully you are in an area where you have ready access to the sacraments.  But what we miss out on having “spare” priest around is the one who has time to go on a field trip with the school or teach in the classroom, goes to lay meetings, knocks on doors and sits down with someone for a cup of coffee.  Although the tide seems to be turning (very slowly) on the vocation crisis, the numbers simply will not be there for some time.  Even if one million men entered the seminary today, it would be six to ten years before they hit the street and retirements now are coming quickly.

 

We miss the nuns also.  The advantage with nuns at a parish today would not be one of cost.  Gone are the days when the nuns would work for almost nothing.  With smaller numbers they have needs too.  But here is the interesting thing: when the nuns went to the convent after school, they prayed together and ate dinner together in community.  You can bet that they talked about the school, about certain children that needed attention, asked for advice, all the topics that made for a stronger school. 

 

We are still blessed in Catholic schools with our lay teachers.  They are Catholic, most likely from the community and possibly even from the parish, and they believe in the mission of the school because believe me, they would not be there simply because the pay is so generous.  They have skin in the game more than just a paycheck. 

 

So there are some great areas of concern for prayer.  Beg the Master of Harvest to send more workers for the harvest: send more good priests, increase our nuns, make strong (and Catholic) our schools.

NUN FOR THE FUTURE?

Continuing yesterday’s post . . .

 

What about the women?  What is happening to the religious orders around us?  Though worldwide numbers are growing just as worldwide vocations to the priesthood are soaring, in the west the numbers are pretty abysmal.  The median age for the orders that served as the backbone of dioceses is skyrocketing.  The Los Angeles Times reported in 1994 that only 3% of nuns were under the age of 40.  But what is more astonishing about this number is that the vast majority of the nuns under 40 are in a limited number of orders.

 

In the same article was this, “Sister Eleace King, a research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University in Washington, concurred.  "It tells me that the majority of religious congregations of women in this country will not survive. Most are dying," King said.”

 

A 2012 story in the NCR reported however, “One of the most striking findings regarding new entrants," say the writers," is that almost equal numbers of women have been attracted to institutes in both conferences of women religious in the U.S. in recent years. As of 2009, L.C.W.R. institutes reported 73 candidates/postulants, 117 novices and 317 sisters in temporary vows/commitment. C.M.S.W.R. institutes reported 73 candidates/postulants, 158 novices and 304 sisters in temporary vows/commitment." 

 

But this is a little misleading.  As Fr. John Larson wrote, “It seems that a recent article in America has used some statistics that appear to show that LCWR and CMSWR communities had about equal numbers of postulants, novices, and temporary professed according to the 2009 CARA survey, and thus things were somewhat equal in terms of vocations. However, the LCWR represents over 3 times as many communities as the CMSWR. This is definitely not a fair use of stats. The article wants to be “devoid of distortions.” I am not convinced.

 

“Another thing that the article points out is: “The vast majority of both L.C.W.R. and C.M.S.W.R. institutes do not have large numbers of new entrants.” This is true, but of the few that do have large numbers, it should be noted that they are all CMSWR communities. It may be “unfair” to put the media spotlight on them, but having lots of vocations attracts attention, does it not?”

 

So the issues are varied, confusing, and controversial.

 

Recently, there was an altar call at a local young adult retreat.  There are always at least a few young men who will step forward and declare that they are considering the priesthood.  It is particularly to see this down at the youth retreats at Steubenville.  But more exciting is seeing how many young women step forward to say that they are considering religious life.  At the local retreat mentioned above, TWENTY TWO young women stepped forward.

 

Twenty two.  At this one retreat.

 

It is a nasty little secret however that most of these that follow through leave our diocese.  Women from Cleveland have joined the Sisters of Life, Nashville Dominicans, TORs, and a host of other orders that seem to be supplying that for which these young women are looking.  Cleveland has women’s religious vocations.  The nuns in our area have such great institutions, amazing histories, outstanding achievements, monstrous support, huge hearts, great potential, and I wish we were feeding them.  We need them.  We love them. 

 

That being said all this comes together to make it more difficult for a woman to discern a religious vocation.  If you know of a woman in this position, offer her all the prayer and support you can muster.  It is going to be a long and arduous journey.

MONDAY DIARY: FIELD TRIP!

Last Monday I was on a field trip, which ate up a sufficient amount of time that the blog post that day had to be skipped.  Sharon Dietrick who is on the board of the Poor Clares, and Wes Hollendonner of Rubber City Productions (see photo below) headed up to St. Paul Shrine (see more here) to interview Mother Thomas (who spoke at a luncheon recently at St. Sebastian as a fundraiser for the new Academy of Culture and Arts) about her two works in progress.  Below is part of her studio.

It was rather a unique experience.  As you might expect not many visitors (especially men) are allowed about the cloister.  So it was a very special and solemn visit for us.

 

This is the backside of a reredos of an old chapel that has been converted into an art studio for Mother.  It is here that Mother is working on a painting of St. Sebastian that will be destined for this parish.  Below is an under coating and Mother is preparing it for the final stage of applying more exact coloring, shading, and details.  This is a picture taken by Sharon of Mother explaining her technique to me while Wes videos.

Wes shoots the nave from over the reredos for the second video we shot while I explored nooks and cranneys.

Below you can see the main room of the chapel.  Behind the altar is where the other pictures were taken.  Here you can see the enormity of the other painting on which Mother is working.  It is of mammoth proportions.  The title of it is Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and was destined for a parish of the same name in Philadelphia.  Unfortunatley, after it was commissioned, it parish was closed.  That is part of the reason for the documentary: a hope to find another home for the painting.

 I think this is one of Mother's finest works.  Here you can see Mary and Jesus surrounded by the communion of saints.  If you could see the rest of the painting it would work its way down to the Church militant.

If you get the chance I recommend a visit to the shrine.  You will get to spend some time in adoration (or go to Mass - see the link above for details) see the beautiful architecture, visit the gift shop (I highly recommend it if for no other reason than that there prices are VERY reasonable) and to see some of Mother's other paintings.  You probably wont get to see Mary, Mother of the Eucharist or St. Sebastian since they are in the cloister.  Hopefully, however, you might be able to see St. Sebastian at the parish as Mother hopes to have him done in time for our annual St. Sebastian Day celebration in January. 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG SISTER

There is a great article in the Akron Beacon Journal today about Our Lady of the Elms 90^th anniversary.  You can read it by clicking here.  The “Elms” is only a couple of blocks from St. Sebastian and just five years older.  In essence, they grew up together.  And like siblings close in age, they didn’t always get along when they were young.  A peek at the archives, in which are letters written to the bishop at the time, reveals some rivalry over having two Catholic schools so close in proximity.  But as they matured as institutions I like to believe we have grown into a mutual respect having each developed our own identities.  Another
good article here.

 

It is interesting to look back into the archives of the founding of parishes and institutions.  That can reveal a lot of surprises.  I remember doing a research project on my home parish.  Sacred Heart was a Slovenian nationality parish in Barberton, Ohio.  It was always a tiny parish and has since been repressed, merged, given boundaries, and opened under the parish name of Prince of Peace and is larger now that it has ever been as a strictly nationality parish.

 

Going back into the archives I found that the founding of the parish and school was not smooth and cordial.  The deeply ethnic city got a lot of its flavor from a people who strongly associated with their ethnic roots.  So there was a tiny Polish parish, a small Slovak parish, the Hungarians had theirs, the mostly Irish and Germans had the “down town” parish, and the Slovenians were to have theirs.

 

Starting the parish was tricky indeed.  Letters written to the bishop demonstrated what a monumental task it was.  In the “old country,” the government took care of building the churches.  Now people were going door to door asking for money to build a church.  It seemed to them like there was a scam going on in this new land.  “Start building a church,” people would say, “and then we’ll start giving money.”  Of course, one needs money in order to start building and so you have your catch 22. 

 

That problem was eventually solved and the idea of starting a school came about.  The problem was that there were already a number of Catholic schools in this small city and the bishop was not excited about starting another.  Letters back and forth were not always cordial and so when I finished my report my Mom would not let me give it out at the parish.  “Those families are still around and we don’t want to drag up the past in this way.”  So it remained silent all these years.

 

The bishop finally did decide to let these tenacious Slovenians start their own school with the understanding that, after the families had been inculturated, the school would close.  That is easier said than done.  Who declares the inculturation finished?  Who closes an operating school?  But time, cost, changing demographics took care of this.  One by one all of the ethnic parish school closed, long before the priest shortage or recent slew of closings that has everyone up in arms.  Eventually even the parishes themselves closed. 

 

One might think that all that remains of a closed parish is a building, most of which have become new Protestant denominations and deteriorating grandeur (at least in this case although Sacred Heart has become a new Catholic parish,) boxes of artifacts and files in an office at the diocesan archives, and some wonderful memories.  But such is not the case.  The life of a parish lives on.  It lives on in the faith that was nourished in the people and their families that continue to form the faith life of the world today (my priesthood being part of the that) and in the souls that live on forever in heaven with our God – an eternal effect – because they once shared the faith life of fellow Slovenians in a tiny parish called Sacred Heart in a small city called Barberton. 

MONDAY DIARY: ALMOST EXCRUCIATINGLY TRUE STORIES: MYSTERY EXCURSION

N.B.  I am going out of town until Wednesday evening.  There will be no more posts until Thursday.

Well,

I told you that I was going to explain why last week’s Monday Diary was late and I had pictures and all to go along with a story but I lost them somewhere on this computer.  I downloaded them and knew that there was something amiss but didn’t have time to cope with it at the moment.  They are here somewhere but I don’t know how to find them.  So I'll do my best with pen and ink.

Anyway, here is what happened.  I was invited on a mini retreat.  It was not exactly clear where I was going but that is somewhat by design.  “Just tell me when to have my bags packed and assume all the rest of the planning,” is my traveling motto.

A very generous person donated the use of a private jet to take a small band of us to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. 

You might know the Shrine better for its most famous resident, Mother Angelica.  About an hour ride past dozens of Baptist churches from the Birmingham airport the Shrine rises out of an otherwise rural area like the fabled Brigadoon.  It was made all the more fantastical for us having spotted a grand rainbow just before coming upon it.  Then suddenly there were white fences, rolling acres of grass and trees and cows and horses. 

One passes through a giant rough iron gate welcoming people of all faiths to the shrine.  The first building encountered is the “barn” where I would be staying and where a new order of which I was completely unaware, is taking shape.  By barn, I mean one of the nicest retreat centers for priests I have ever encountered.  That it looks like a barn on the outside is a bit misleading.

“The Knights of the Holy Eucharist” is a new order set up by Mother Angelica.  These young men serve the needs of the sisters who are cloistered at the Shrine.  “They serve Masses, Healing and Benediction services, give public witness to the profound reverence and devotion befitting such a sacred service.  They also provide assistance, tours and talks to the many pilgrims who visit the Shrine.  The Knights also generously attend to the needs and maintenance of the Shrine.”

But that is not all they do.  Oh no.

Brother Michael who served as our host not only took very good care of us, but showed us some of his projects: repairing statues, making wine and beer, cooking, making jerky, all of which we got to sample. 

The shine itself is breathtaking.  Here is their website and some pictures from online since I cannot find my pictures.

The day we were there was spent in adoration, prayer, and dining.  I will admit that I was a bit intimidated by the prospect of the trip when I found out where it was that we were going.  Sometimes “holy people” scare me.  One never seems to be able to live up to the level of holiness that “holy people” like and they let you know it.  I must say that there was not a soul that we came across that was not joyful, welcoming, accepting, and willing to share and accommodate.

In addition to the Knights, we were in the company of Franciscan priests and were able to visit with the cloistered nuns in one of their parlors.  A parlor is a sort of living room with a grill that cuts it in half.  The nuns there were so happy and joyful (how excited they were to get some chocolate!) that one had not the sense that they were locked in but that we were locked out.

It was only 24 hours but it filled my tank.  I recommend visiting the Shrine which is one of the most visited sites in Alabama.  40% of the visitors there are not even Catholic.  And the EWTN studios are only 45 minutes away.  I think of returning there one day when I the trip can be a bit more restful. 

FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA

Yesterday our computers were down and I was unable to post before I left for the day.  Apparently Time Warner was down for much of Akron due to a digging incident. 

Yesterday on Fresh Air (NPR) Terry Gross interviewed Bishop Blair about his role in helping certain of our religious to be more in line with the Church.  Interestingly it was a great platform for Gross to voice her concerns about the Church disguised as very lengthy questions at the end of which she would say, “So what do you think about that comment?”  (You can hear the whole interview here.)

A major concern of hers and, quite frankly, of many, many people is that the Church is out of step with today’s culture.  Many people are leaving the Church, reports Gross, because the Church does not keep up with emerging views on women, persons with SSA, marriage, and the whole ball of wax that you might easily discern yourself.

But for Catholics, it is not a matter of the Church keeping up with the culture.  That is a distinctly Protestant idea.  It is much easier to achieve conformity between culture and religion also when all one has is the Bible.  As the past Episcopal Archbishop of Washington once said when defending his view on the homosexual lifestyle, “Don’t argue Scripture with me.  You can make Scripture mean whatever you want.”  But for Catholics, we have Tradition to grapple with also.  Tradition helps interpret Scripture and Scripture helps interpret Tradition.  We hold what we believe to be revealed truth that cannot simply (or complexly) change.  If it was held true in the year 212, it must also be held true as divinely revealed in the year 2012. 

(If you listen to the interview, Gross does point out things about the Church that have changed and asks if not things like an all male priesthood could not also change.  But what changes is practice – man made stuff – not theology.)

But do we want another Church that is just like everybody else?  Why are we (especially as Americans who cherish individualism and freedom of expression) not excited that there is somebody out there who is thinking outside of the mainstream box?  Will we really be happy when religion is just like what our food and music landscape is becoming – the same the same the same from sea to shining sea?

To quote Chesterton, “We do not really want a religion that is right where we are right.  What we want is a religion that is right where we are wrong . . . They say they want a religion to be social, when they would be social without any religion.   They say they want a religion to be practical, when they would be practical without any religion.  They say they want a religion acceptable to science, when they would accept the science even if they did not accept the religion.  They say they want a religion like this because they are like this already.  They say they want it, when they mean that they could do without it.”

NUN LIKE IT!

I will admit that I get excited around nuns.  If I see a nun in the congregation I slip back into the sacristy and announce, "We have nuns today," with the same enthusiasm that some of our servers reserves for the bells of the ice cream truck.

This week we are being visited by two daughters of the parish who are both sisters to each other and sisters.  They also have another sister who is a sister but she is cloistered and was unable to join the reunion. 

They were gracious enough to take a little of their valuable vacation time to come over to the rectory for coffee and chat and then visit our Vacation Bible School.  It was very informative for me.  We have a couple of young ladies interested in religious life and I have no idea how to provide them or direct them toward those things for which they are looking.

The one sister who is a Nashville Dominican said that they are becoming a bit more specific about who joins them because they have to.  Their order is currently bursting at the seems.  "Such was not always the case," she told us.  After Vatican II they lost 40% of their sisters because of the direction they chose to take.  But the fruits are paying off now as we can see by their numbers and the work that they do.

"Your women can come make a retreat with us to explore religious life.  We understand that the are just inquiring and even if they think religious life is for them, we might not be the right fit.  We will give them direction of other places they might want to explore.  Nobody wants a vocation in the wrong place."  You can find out more about them here.

Her sister, who is a who is a Sacred Heart Sister (Franciscan) offered similar opportunities.  (These are the sisters that tended to John Paul II.)  But she also told us about the Visitation Sisters.  "They are for older women, widows, women with medical problems and the like."  If you thought you were no longer eligible for religious life, this might be the place for you!

Find out more about the Sacred Heart Sisters here.

Find out more about the Visitation Sisters here.

See their conference website here.

See the diocese of Cleveland vocations website here.

After that we went on a tour of our Vacation Bible School.  It was fun to see the look of awe on the children's faces as the sisters spoke to them about being a bride of Christ "and living with Jesus in our chapel."  What a wonderful witness.

Thank you sisters everywhere for all that you do!