SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - A GOOD TIME OF YEAR NOT TO BE A FIR TREE

To tell the truth, I had intended to move on to something quite different in this series, but it did not seem appropriate for this time of year. So I thought I would share (at least one - there are more) origin of the Christmas tree borrowed heavily from the Catholic Source Book by the Rev. Peter Klein.

When I was in the seminary we used to try to re-create (somewhat) the Medieval mystery plays with varying success until some wayward turns had them banished for the past decade. (Please don’t ask.) If you know anything about these plays you might know that to represent the tree of good and evil in the Garden of Evil with apples hanging on it.

At some point much later in history the Germans brought back the tradition of the tree and modified the decorations by adding sacramental wafers along with the apples, “relating the eating that brought death with the eating that brings life.” I tried this one year on the tree in the rectory at my last assignment but too many people found the unconsecrated altar breads used in such a fashion scandalous so I never did it again. Of course I did lots of things one should never do in decorating a tree. I once used microwave buttered popcorn to string and decorate the tree. BIG mistake rancid butter is.

Anyway, the decorations evolved over time. Perhaps oranges were added to the apples, then colored balls, and perhaps the altar breads were replaced by breads in the shape of stars and angles and what not.

In Victorian times many trees took on the entire story of salvation history. There is one such tree that is (or at least was – I’ve not been there for a spell) put up in Cleveland at the Western Reserve Historical Society that had this theme, from the Guiding Star at the top to the devil being kicked off the tree at the bottom.

MOVE OVER OSCAR

Over a coffee a priest was enumerating his points of disappointment with our new bishop. I was rather blown away for he was quite vitriolic. When he was done I said, “Wow, I rather like our bishop.” He surprised me even further by saying, “Yea, I do too.”

It seems in general man likes to grumble a lot. It’s the old, “You missed a spot” syndrome. It is glossed over that 99.9% of something is great but that one spot sticks out and ruins everything. That’s what news broadcasts are based on. We don’t hear about the hundreds of thousands of kids who went to school today with their homework done, who behaved, and got an A on the spelling test. We hear about the one kid who shot his teacher.

Fr. Crawford who made it a practice to be rather cynical and dry long before his time gave this advice before ordination, “Ten percent of the people will love you no matter what you do. Ten percent of the people will hate you no matter what you do. And the other eighty percent wouldn’t know the difference if there were a trained baboon doing your job.” Though some people will be supportive no matter what, some people will look for the crack in the damn no matter what.

I once had a spiritual director, an Opus Dei priest, who said after I had grumbled about my bishop, “Never speak ill of your bishop.” He was absolute. I don’t know if I am that absolute. Some bishops need to be spoken ill of at least in certain situations. But the vast majority of the Church’s grumbling is simply counter productive. Are we not family? Should we not be as “functional” as possible?

The thing is, the grumbling can bring a community down. The constant tearing down of a pastor, a bishop, or even a pope can only damage us. Look what happened to Saint John of the Cross (notice the saint part) whose community grumbled against him and treated him most sorely. A room full of people each stating one thing that they don’t like about someone up on the chain can leave the whole room with the impression that everyone is in agreement that they do not like him. All of a sudden a bad humor spreads and bad humors are generally hard to put out.

My pastor, my bishop, and yes, even my pope has from time to time done things of which I do not approve. But so what? He has to do something. He simply did not choose my way. Does that make him a bad leader? No. It made him different from me. Is what he did evil? No. Is what he did eternally damaging to the soul? No. So I give the poor guy a break and hope that some day when I am a pastor, the person I displease because a decision had to be made and I did not make it in this person’s favor will cut me a break too.

FOR SALE: VATICAN. CHARMING VIEW OF TIBER FROM VATICAN HILL. ALL SERVICES INCLUDED.

In a store a man stopped me and asked, “Are you a Catholic priest?” I had my blacks on but had pulled out my tab collar. After receiving an affirmation he said, “I thought so,” and then launched in on vicious attack, most of which was unfounded, against the Catholic Church. Don’t think I was hurt or offended, I relish in such things.

His biggest complaint was the wealth of the Vatican. It was the reason he left the Church so long ago. Why this particular point should be the linchpin for his leaving I can’t figure out (I would think some perceived false teaching would be a much better reason, but that is just me).

He was convinced that if the Vatican would sell off everything that it had, that there would be an end to poverty in the world. But the Catholic Church was there simply to suck up money from the rest of the world so that it (I suppose the lucky few that “get to” live in the Vatican) can live in luxury.

So let us suppose for a moment that the Vatican were to sell all that it had. To what end? Suppose every one who was poor in the world got $1,000 and a meal. Then what? Would the institutions and practices of the world have changed? Would the causes of poverty be wiped out? What of future generations who now also no longer have their patrimony as Catholics available to them?

And is not part of the “mission statement” if you will of the Catholic Church to be an influence on culture? What is to be gained by destroying some of the greatest collections of art and knowledge in the world? At the Vatican these pieces belong to all the nations.

There is the mindset too that the poor need a meal and a place to sleep and we have done our job. Not so. This is crass. This pays not attention to the dignity and complexity of the human person. The poor need beauty too. A sensual being needs to be fed more than in his stomach to be truly fed. Besides, to make this statement is to miss the fact that the Catholic Church is of the greatest contributors to those in need in the world already.

Perhaps I lack the eloquence to state the argument convincingly, but Professor Thomas F. X. Noble of Notre Dame does give some insight in his Popes and the Papacy course from the Teaching Company:

“Let’s do say the Vatican is not rich. There is this notion that the Vatican is rich. Well, the Vatican bank controls three and a half billion in assets but none of that belongs to the Vatican it belongs to the depositors. We could say, ‘Oh, they have all that stuff.’ Fair enough. Are they going to sell St. Peter’s? Are they going to sell Michael Angelo’s pieta? Are they going to sell the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? How could one put a value on any of these things?

“It may amuse you to know that each of those things is on the Vatican books with the nominal value of one Euro. For what would the price be?”

THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD

How many little party favors and trinkets do you collect especially around the holidays? They may even be nice but the thought might spring to mind, “Where am I going to put this?”

It was not too long ago that I had this thought. The party favor was not all that bad, but as priests we have rather limited quarters and it was going to be one more thing for which I would need to find a spot. Besides, there was a much nicer one in a box in the trunk room that would be brought out for Christmas.

For some reason it was at that moment that I was yanked back into my childhood and saw the favor with young eyes. As I ran my fingers over it I thought how much I would love having one of these as my very own, not having anything like it. As tawdry as I may think it now, it would have been incredibly special to me at one time. I thought of all those with next to nothing for whom this would be quite a treasure, deeply appreciated and cared for over the years, this thing that I at first thought to throw out.

A vision of all the things that I own then came to mind along with the realization that there are many people who would look at these objects as cheap and worthy only of the trash can. Then a vision occurred in which the best of the best were mine, the finest living space, the best cars, clothes, you name it. But in the end it would be the wrong stuff. In fact, it would only be more stuff. None of it would be missed on the journey to heaven (if one indeed were going to heaven.) The finest the world has to offer will be dust and ashes, something to brush off of yourself as you reach for the only thing of value, the only food in the universe, the only thing worth having.

Which in the end made my trinket both the most valuable object in the world (for you are the richest person if you are satisfied with what you have) and absolutely worthless (if your heart is set on heaven.)

TUESDAY QUOTE OF THE WEEK - XLII

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: "Under all our grumblings there is a subconscious substance of gratitude." G. K. Chesterton

QUOTE II - "If a woman can polka for an evening, she can stand up to years of marriage." Garrison Keeler.

IN OTHER NEWS:

I just thought that I would share with you another blog that I am starting with my sisters that might be of interest a few of you. In trying to organize Dad's estate a little bit we came across many things he has held on to since his days in WWII. He spoke of this time in his life only rarely and so what we are discovering here in letters, pictures, drawings, and other what nots are opening new insights for us. Unfortunately the people pictured or referred to in the letters are largely unknown to us and we agonized as to what to do with it all. We came up with the idea of posting it as we struggle to put it in order to see if people might find it interesting and perhaps educational, and who knows, maybe someone referred to might still be around.

The posts will not come nearly as often as they do on Adam's Ale; maybe once a week. And they are progressive and not timely so if you find interest in it, I recommend that you start with page one and work your way forward. And so, if you have an interest in WWII, you are cordially invited to USS PRIDE DE 323; Pages from a Scrapbook.

THINGS COULD BE WORSE, YOU COULD HAVE HIS JOB

Saturday night I was driving in an unfamiliar part of town with all of the priests from this parish. The road we would normally be taking was closed because of a water main break and we were circling around trying to get back to the parish. As we approached a main intersection a police car was coming straight at us flashing its lights and blaring its sirens. It blocked the street off across from us, which was fine because we were turning anyway. With the prodding from the other priests to, “Just go ahead,” we continued on only to be honked at by the police car.

The reason became somewhat apparent as soon as we turned the corner. There were police cars all over the place and the road was shut down. A normally busy road, it was empty of all cars as though we had stumbled onto a parade route, except that it was dark and there was no parade.

There was not a lot of time to decide between pulling over or finding a quick way off the street as just then a pickup truck came careening around the corner in a dangerous manner followed by police car after police car. One of the other priests mentioned after that they didn’t know the city had so many police cars.

Before I could register what was going on the pastor said, “We’re in the middle of a car chase!” It was actually quite thrilling although Sunday there was a big fat NOTHING about it in the newspaper.

How easily it would have been for the truck veering around that corner with its tires squealing to lose control. Had the street been wet or had the truck had bald tires or if he had simply been going more quickly we could have ended up on “Worlds Greatest Car Chase Crashes,” as we would have been right on his flight plan. Perhaps guardian angels were working over time. With the diocese facing a priest shortage as it is, this would have been a headache Sunday morning for somebody as we are taking care of not only the mass schedule here, but also helping out at a neighboring parish and a local convent. Thank you guardian angels.

I am not at all kidding when I say I put full stock in the idea of Guardian Angels. I’ve been pulled out of too many scraps (like pulling into the middle of a car chase) to not have caught a glimpse of a wing or halo here or there.

Here’s just one more story (are you reading M.O.?) I never claimed to be particularly bright and the following story may confirm that notion in your mind. One fall night out at the farm a few of us priests had gathered for a bon-fire. Late into the night there were only two of us left with a sizable fire still roaring when - DO NOT TRY THIS – the other priest said, “Ya know, when I was in the Boy Scouts, we used to put a bottle of water in the fire and it would squirt like a geyser.” I will spare you most of the details, suffice to say a) it didn’t work, and b) we progressed to the point of putting a bottle in the fire with the lid on. It started making funny noises (and not “ha ha” funny either) and one of us had the place of mind to say, “I think we should go stand behind the tree,” which we did.

We stood there for a few minutes while the “not ha ha” funny noise continued and I finally said, “I’m just going to go over there and knock the bottle out of the fire.” Right then there was an explosion. Not a nice, tiny, polite explosion, but the kind that brings people out because they think there has been a terrorist attack. The fire was blown out, large logs were flung out from the epicenter, and there was a little crater where the bottle had been. There was a beautiful aspect to it. All around for quite a large circumference there were tiny red coals that seemed to mimic the stars in the clear night sky. We felt like giants walking amid galaxies.

We started to laugh uncontrollably. That is, until we realized we could have died and gave up a prayer of thanks to our guardian angels for leaving us completely unscathed and much wiser.

Don’t forget that your guardian angel is there and ready to help you, and equally so, to remember to say thanks now and then. And be honest – you have a guardian angel story too don’t you . . .

SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP - XLII

It always seems that it's either feast or famine. There are a host of videos that I'd like to post today, one being stolen from Uncle Jim, but R. B. sent in another one that took the blue ribbon this week:


IN OTHER NEWS:

My sister sent this one in. It is a better rant on the Merry Christmas ban than the usual whining drivel. This guy makes some good points. Click on the red light.

Cara put me in touch with Catholic Greeting. Send a Catholic greeting to someone!

Jay announces that Catholic Carnival 148 is up and running over at Bryan Murdaugh.

Matthew sends his report for the first GK Chesterton meeting along with some pictures here. To read the minutes click on "Report". They are looking for more GKC enthusiasts! Contact Mathew if you are interested at gkcleveland@gmail.com

Lillian Marie sent this note along to let all of you know, "Pilgrims who visit any public sanctuary, shrine or other worthy place dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes may receive (an) indulgence for nine days from 2 February." Those who live anywhere near Cleveland are fortunate as we have a Lourdes Shrine right here!

Finally, the Diocese of Cleveland E-Newsletter reports that the Holy Father has said, "St. Chromatius reminds us that Advent is a time of prayer," said the Holy Father, and that it is necessary to be in contact with God. God knows us, he knows me, he knows all of us, he loves me, he won't leave me." Read more here.

SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - SHARED SYMBOLS

Here is an interesting building.

This is where symbols crash. Early on in this series it was mentioned that symbols only have the meaning that we assign to them. I did not know what this building was when I saw it being built, but I did have some guesses based on what I thought the symbolism was saying.

Notice the canapies over the front doors. To me they appear as two stylized hands stretching out over those approaching the building. One can imagine the four fingers held together and thumbs opposed to each other in a manner like a priest extending his hands to give a blessing. Moreover, there are skylights in the center of the hands. To me this was the resurrected Christ extending his blessings on those who enter this Christian building.

Not so!

The building is actually Park Synagogue East. According to the architect they are part of "three large organic shapes (that) burst from the box - a Jerusalem stone sanctuary and two great copper canopies leading to a two-story lobby. These two entrances of equal importance - one for the school, the other for the sanctuary, library, and offices - bend towards each other in a gesture of welcome and blessing."

Just interesting to note what happens when symbols collide. Context becomes very important. What may seem like obvious Christian symbolism in the hands of Christian artists and architects may not seem so in the hands of others. Best to read the sign before entering to sign up for RCIA.

THIS TOPIC IS TAXING

Financially it is a blessing that churches in the United States are free from paying many taxes, but it is not left entirely tax free. No property taxes are paid by your parish on buildings and grounds that are used specifically for church purposes. And like non-profit organizations, purchases made by your parish for parish purposes are exempt from sales tax.

You parish does however pay taxes on the rectory. And if the rectory also has parish offices in it, the parish pays taxes on the portion of the house that is used for living space. Of course, all the usual employment taxes are also paid by your parish.

Your diocesan priests also pay taxes. Any purchases that they make for anything that is not for use by the church is subject to sales tax. Occassionally someone will say, “Of course, I won’t charge you the sales tax for that,” and I’ll have to correct them by saying that it is a personal purchase and that I do indeed need to pay the appropriate taxes.

There is of course a tax to be paid by the priest on the rectory. Living there is considered an income and so he must pay a tax on it (called a parsonage tax).

The Social Security tax is an odd duck. Any clergy person may opt out of the Social Security system but it must be done within a certain time frame following ordination. I have known a few people to do this, but most men do not and so we pay into it as anybody else would. This point might skew the answer to the question on the poll. That being said, priests pay into this fund as independent contractors. The oddity of that will be seen in the next paragraph.

Of course, income taxes must be paid on the city, state, and federal level. Like death, there is just no getting around it (unless you are taking a vow of absolute poverty.) But unlike Social Security taxes, for these taxes priests are considered employees. (Why the double classification I have no idea and no one has been able to explain it to me.)

This is why clergy taxes scare me. The Diocese of Cleveland brought together a large group of tax consultants recently to help them figure out how to handle clergy taxes. There are (at least as of a few years ago) no forms specifically for clergy and none that exactly fit. I gave up trying to understand and simply gave my records over to a firm (luckily Cleveland has a firm that deals specifically with Catholic Clergy!) and told them to do whatever they needed to do and to just keep me out of jail.

There you have it! No big mystery. Although I buck at the complexity of it, it is only fair that clergy do their part to help keep the country rolling. Now, if there were only a tax break for celebacy.

BUT DID IT HAVE TO GO THROUGH RCIB FIRST?

A local parish has received the Cleveland Restoration Society’s Preservation award for 2007. If you would like to see some before and after pictures, please go here. It is truly a magnificent structure.

Unfortunately it may also cease to be a parish soon as the diocese tries to cope with shifting demographics and limits on manpower and finances. But that does not mean that the grand old place will cease to be of importance to the diocese as it will remain as a shrine.

The actual name of the church is Conversion of Saint Paul Shrine, though that is not the original name. When it was built in 1876 it was known as St. Paul Episcopal Church in the heart of Cleveland’s Millionaires’ Row. The community that lived in the area moved to the now more fashionable area of Cleveland Heights where Saint Paul’s Episcopal Church is today. So in the 1930’s, the Diocese of Cleveland purchased the building, refurbished and redecorated it and constructed a three-story monastery there to house the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, more commonly known as the Poor Clares, whom Bishop Schrembs had invited into the diocese in 1921. They remain there to this day.

Bishop Schrembs said of the building, “The purchase of Saint Paul’s was the most providential purchase that I have ever made. It saves to Cleveland a beautiful Gothic church the destruction of which to make way for commercial uses would have caused a pang in the hearts of many Cleveland citizens. The church is to be given over to a new purpose that will make it to many generations as dear as the Basilica of Montmartre in Paris or the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in New York.”

According to the book, “A People of Faith: Parishes and Religious of the Diocese of Cleveland”, it was not until 1949 when the shrine was raised to parochial status that the name was changed to Conversion of Saint Paul Shrine in order to distinguish it from Saint Paul Croatian Parish which was very close by and thus do we put to rest the ugly conjecture that the name was intended as a slight against the Episcopalians.

If you are in Cleveland I recommend this magnificent structure on your architectural safari, but even more so for the chance to spend some time in adoration of our Lord. Information is woefully lacking on the Internet and I would call before making plans.

E. 40th Street and Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44103, (216) 431-8854

LATE NOTICE: I was just invited to have the holy hour at the shrine TODAY at 6:45 (followed by coffee and cookies at 7:45. There is a holy hour the first Thursday of every month at this time.

DEATH AND TAXES

I guess the life of a priest is still pretty mysterious in some ways to many people. Quite often at movie theaters, in restaurants, on the beach, or in a pub, people will ask, "Are priests allowed to do that?"

One often misunderstood area is in the paying of taxes. Recently a have changed something about my taxes and was explaining it to a friend. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "Priests pay taxes?" This does not happen that often, maybe because I do not talk about taxes all that much, but it happens often enough that I though I would take a pole. In the right hand column you will see a question concerning priests and taxes. You have until Friday morning at 7:00 AM to cast a vote for what has always been your particular perception of the type of taxes that your priest pays. Results will appear on Friday.

QUOTE TUESDAY - XVI

FINDING TRUTH WHEREVER IT MAY BE FOUND: “Who dares nothing need hope for nothing.” Don Carlos

QUOTE TWO – “The Gentleman is solid mahogany. The fashionable man is only veneer.” G. J. Holland

IN OTHER NEWS:

Look here to read Pope Benedict's new encyclical Spe salvi (30 November 2007).

With great joy I announce to you another person from this parish is looking into the religious life! You know her by her confirmation name(s) as she signs her posts Lillian Marie. She is serious enough about it to let it be common knowledge. If you would like to see two places that she is discerning you can look here and here. Please keep her and all looking into religious vocations in your prayers! Blessings to you Lillian Marie!

This is just a cool site: Juke box plays the hits from the 50's through the 80's in the background while you work. As if you didn't need yet another distraction. Thanks Faba.

The Diocese of Cleveland E-Newsletter has a link to the rest of this article from the Catholic News Service, "WASHINGTON (CNS) -- To answer the question that is increasingly being asked of officials with the archdioceses of Washington and New York -- and pretty much anyone else who works for the Catholic Church in the region -- you can't yet get tickets to any events during Pope Benedict XVI's visit to those cities in April."

The DOCEN also have a link to the Catholic Internet Broadcasting TV. Check it out.

Lots of goodies from the DOCEN this week. Here is a story about the formation of a new parish in the diocese from what was once three.

BOOK REVIEW: THE SHEPHERDS' PRAYER

From time to time I recommend books on this site but this is the first time I was asked to do so I thought I’d warn you by announcing, “BOOK REVIEW.”

Years ago one of the jobs I had included having to go to yard sales (can you believe it?) and from time to time personal treasures would be purchased. One of these treasures was an ancient, leather bound book by the title, “Night Scenes in the Bible.” In it, the author used his imagination to fill in gaps in the Biblical stories with pious fiction to lead the reader deeper into the mysteries of otherwise well known passages. One story in particular that really stayed with me over the years was “The Road to Emmaus.” I was in the seminary making a private holy hour and reading this book and was transported so deeply into the story that from that point on it became one of my favorite accounts from Scripture. It helped me see the story from different angles and place myself squarely in the prose.

“The Shepherds’ Prayer; A Christmas Novel” by Richard M. Barry does much the same thing. I must say that it never occurred to me that good citizenry of Bethlehem may not been overly thrilled about the Messiah being born in their town. Barry says of it, “. . . there was also great sadness that resulted in Bethlehem when Herod ordered the killing of all the male babies. Not much has been written or is ever said about that traumatic event and how it must have impacted the people of Bethlehem and their attitudes about the poor Galilean child who was the target of Herod’s wrath.” Don’t worry though; it is not a gruesome tale but one full of hope and joy, a tale truly for the Christmas season.

The term “novel” however might be a bit of an overstatement. When I was contacted they actually wanted to send two different books and when I heard the term “novel” I recommended they send only one as I would not have time to read and review two before Christmas. Well, as it turns out it is much shorter book than anticipated and the average reader could knock it out in a sitting or two. It is definitely not a literary masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a good contemplative story. I would probably recommend it more for younger readers who enjoy reading or for families that read and listen to stories together. If I had a family I would probably enjoy reading them a chapter at night (there are eight chapters) but as it is, I do think I’ll send copies to my Godchildren. There is a nice gift plate inside the book for such purposes.

If you go to their website HERE you can find out more about the book, read the first two chapters to make sure you would like it and if so, order copies of it or of the audio version.

SUNDAY VIDEO ON TAP XLI

R. B. supplied this week's Video On Tap. I can't inbed it so you have to go to the site to watch it. I'm not sure my pastor would be crazy about me having this as my new ministry here - but with the way that I cook it might do more harm than good anyway.

After going here you will have to click on the trailer.


IN OTHER NEWS:

If you would like to look into more of Fr. Leo's ministry, look here.

This is for you Christmas fanatics!

Jay announces that Catholic Carnival 147 is up and running over at Living Catholicism!

ATTENTION!

Here is important news for G. K. Chesterton fans (who happen to live in the Cleveland area)! G.K.Cleveland will have their first meeting on 2 December at 2PM at John Carroll University Library. Meet for a tour of GKC archives and then stay for coffee and company! Enter JCU at South Belvoir veer left around campus. Look for Grasselli library and parking on the campus great maps can be found here. For more info, contact Matthew Lewis gkcleveland@gmail.com.

SYMBOLIC SATURDAY - ADVENT

Advent is a time of waiting and so the symbols seem to center around waiting. The purple that we use to decorate for this season puts us in anticipation. We are waiting for the big event. It is something like having a sheet over a new sculpture and we are waiting until it is unveiled and can have the party.

An advent wreath is really a calendar. It was originally intended us a focal point of prayer that is non-liturgical. It was meant for the home and refectory. It consists of a wreath of evergreens with four candles. Each week of advent an additional candle is lit to mark the great countdown until Christmas. Traditionally (but not necessarily so) three of the four candles are purple while one, the one that marks the third week of advent (or Gaudete Sunday) is Rose. Gaudete means “Rejoice!” and is the first word of the mass in Latin that day (the introit). We are celebrating that we are half way to Christmas and so we use a lighter shade of purple (not pink!)

You do not even need to have wreath. If you are radical (and if you are celebrating advent instead of Christmas you already are) you can have an advent log – or be creative. An advent calendar, at least one with a faith-filled theme, can fulfill much the same purpose.

Can’t wait to put your tree up? Consider having a Jesse Tree. Decorate your tree with symbols that represent Jesus’ family line. This idea comes from the prophecy, “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse.” Notable personages for the tree would include Noah, Jacob, Moses, Ruth, Jesse, David, Mary, Jospeh, etc. . . Doing this you learn about these people and their symbols and then later can decorate the tree with all of your regular bulbs.

Whatever you do, help bring prayer and an awareness of the season to your home and may this advent bring you many blessings!