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April 13, 2005The Catholic Springtime?Okay, it might be time to say it. I have been resisting writing about this, because it seemed too soon, but the Holy Spirit likes to haul me out of bed at strange hours and make me write stuff, and such is the case, this time - or it was, when I started this in the wee small hours. My own judgement says, don’t do it just now. And yet, here I am, writing it. The thing is, something is happening. My email box is running high with these sorts of messages: “I have never been religious or a Christian and yet I realize now that I do believe, and I want to believe more.” “I was leaning toward Catholicism and the funeral has pushed me to take some action on it.” “The pope’s funeral sent me back to Mass for the first time in 15 years.” “Can you point me toward some Catholic sources?” “Something has changed inside me. His funeral and the days before it, made me pay attention to him for the first time, really, and his faith made me want what he had.” “I have had a deep mistrust of organized religion, (but) the death of John Paul II has affected me deeply. The message of the Lord that JP2 communicated so well, ‘Be Not Afraid’ has resonated within my soul and my being more deeply this last week than I can say in words… I want to feel this connection to God and renew it again and again. I do not believe the Lord cares which path we take to Him only that we follow that path and strive with all our hearts and actions to be true to Him. I believe that John Paul II would be happy knowing that his example helped bring me closer to God.” “Can you point me to some sites where I can get a little information on the basics of the Catholic faith?” Buster works in our rectory, answering phones and scheduling funerals and such. He reports that he’s fielded perhaps 20 calls this week, from people inquiring about “coming back to church,” and perhaps 8 or 9 calls asking about RCIA (classes for people thinking about entering the church). My little brother Thom said that his parish is reporting the same. Something is happening. A friend of mine, a devout Baptist who nevertheless has a longstanding relationship with Mary and who regards the Catholic church as the “taproot” of Christianity feels it. It is as though something has shifted. You could almost feel it happening in the weeks leading up to the death of John Paul the Great, when first the Iraq elections went off with success, then Sr. Lucia - the visionary of Fatima died, then Terri Schiavo’s situation came to the attention of the world, and then JPII died, and we saw that staggering influx of humanity, getting off of planes and trains and dragging their luggage with them, sleeping in streets, to simply BE in Rome, together at a particular moment. To gather together near Nero’s obelisk, surrounded by the magnificent art of the Christian era, an era almost considered “quaint” these days, especially in Europe. 800,000 people, with more across the river, gathering there. 800,000 people, praying together, in dead old Latin, the formerly “universal” language, and in every other language. In Greek, in Polish, in Italian, in German, in Mandarin, in Spanish, in French - they all prayed in their own language, in worship and praise of the Creator, and in thanksgiving for the life of one of his creatures. And then, in what the Creature John Paul had named The Year of the Eucharist, the whole world saw these hundreds of thousands receive Communion, the Holy Eucharist, live and in public. The whole world peered in and saw faces closed in prayer, and for a while it felt like the entire world was STEEPED in holiness, surrounded by prayer. It is all significant. And yes, something shifted. For many, it was a palpable shift. And the whole world saw it. The press is telling us that the Catholic Church is in dire straights, that the pews are empty (look full to me) and the seminaries and convents are, too. They don’t mention that worldwide there are more seminarians today than there were in 1961. They don’t write about this simple fact: Where orthodoxy is embraced, there are no shortages of vocations. The late Cardinal John O’ Connor was just figuring this out, shortly before his death, and he gave the okay to several new orders of nuns and priests and their numbers are thriving, as well. I’m sure Cardinal Mahoney in LA has an empty seminary, but Archbishop Chaput does not. Nor does Bishop Rigali, nor Burke. The Legionaries of Christ are burgeoning. So are the Fathers of Mercy: Fathers of Mercy, and the women’s orders are expanding like mad, but NOT the old, tired, 1960’s activist orders; these are newer orders, more orthodox, more committed to prayer and service and tradition. These Dominicans can’t seem to build motherhouse extensions fast enough, and the Carmelites, both active and contemplative are seeing a resurgence. Even the abbeys and priories are coming back from what everyone thought - 20 years ago - was the end of monastic life. This is a particularly beautiful site. For Catholics who wondered 20 years ago if we would still be a Eucharistic church by now, this is all very heartening. I think had any man but Wojtyla been pope in these last decades, things would be very, very different for us. And, of course, for the whole world, for very different reasons. But, you look at these sites, and you see it in the joyful faces of the young. Something had already been put in motion, and it does seem like…something has happened. A shift. I pray it’s true. http://theanchoressonline.com/2005/04/13/beat-me-daddy-eight-to-the-bar/trackback/ 32 Responses to “The Catholic Springtime?” |
April 13th, 2005 at 3:55 pm
You are so very right - something is happening. I’ve been feeling it since I discovered you a few months ago. Your writing makes me feel so peaceful and has made me realize that I miss the Catholic church and I miss the Eucharist. My husband and I have not been to church for the past 15 years. Last Saturday we went to confession and started going to mass. What a glorious day that was! Thank you, Anchoress.
April 13th, 2005 at 4:17 pm
I pray it’s true too, Anchoress. Not just the Catholic faith but all of Christianity which I think you meant too. It is so dismaying to see how secular and anti-Christian our world really is. Maybe this will be great revival on the earth so Jesus can come as a thief in the night and take us to heaven where we’ll be forevermore. Maybe this is the final harvest before what we Baptists anyway call the Rapture. But the Lord tells us no one but the Father knows the day or the hour, so I’m just guessing. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
April 13th, 2005 at 4:18 pm
As a Catholic turned Protestant who at this point doesn’t see himself ever returning to Catholicism, I’ve been sensing something too. I sensed something when “The Passion of the Christ” came out last year, and was hugely successful despite the best efforts of Hollywood and some major media players to supress it. Shortly after that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court attempts to introduce gay marriage by judicial fiat. All of this happens in the year of a Presidential election whose outcome may have determined the survival of the United States as a sovereign nation.
What this is all leading up to I don’t know, but I sense a purification happening, and a choice to come.
April 13th, 2005 at 5:04 pm
I agree. Last year it was revealed that Cardinal Law, whom we had been told was living quietly in a Baltimore convent after he was run out of town, was in fact jetting back and forth to Rome and generally living large. The Boston archdiocese refused to reveal where his income was coming from.
I had made it through the whole pedophile mess up to then, but at that point my head exploded and I stopped going to Mass. Something changed in the course of the last month’s events,and I have started to go to Mass again.
April 13th, 2005 at 5:36 pm
As an Evangelical Protestant, I pray that priests and others in the Roman Catholic Church are preparing to deal with these returning members of the flock and inquirers. An advertising campaign wouldn’t be out of order either.
April 13th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
As an Episcopalian who cherishes the close ties to the Catholic liturgies, I too find myself looking for closer ties to the Virgin Mary. While I’m active in my church and feel very close to its traditions, I am concerned about the liberal leanings it has taken. I deeply respect and admire JPII devotion to tradition. It’s funny how all those “old fashioned” beliefs–such as chastity and “death do us part” marriages–are true basis of human health and happiness in a coomunity. Paradoxically, those who die to self choose life while those who live for self choose death.
April 13th, 2005 at 5:47 pm
I still have serious problems with the Roman church as it is today, but over the past few years I have come to see the value of traditional catholic faith and to see the Catholic church with our dear great Pope at its head as a powerful bulwark against forces that would try and destroy Christianity and the truth it keeps.
It will indeed be hard for many to justify their ways now that so many have seen the power of a great Pope. What happened in the days after the death of John Paul the Great and at his funeral could not have arisen from any other faith. Rome was the center of the world and all came to pray beside the body of this Pope, this man made from the grace of Christ’s Love and from devotion to Our Lady.
This is out in the world now. Billions have seen it. The impressions that they received are even now filtering through their minds and hearts. I pray that people of all faiths are asking themselves where this man came from and why he was who he was and I pray that they correctly conclude that it was no accident and no coincidence that he was a orthodox catholic Christian. I pray that they connect the dots and see at last that he was a man made possible only by faithfully following Christ cruxified, dead, buried and risen again!
April 13th, 2005 at 5:54 pm
PS. I am a orthodox Anglican. I meant to say that but I didn’t.
April 13th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
PSS. BTW I believe that all the Christian churches are fast approaching reconciliation and I look forward to seeing great strides in our lifetimes particularly given the massive and terrible threat of islam in our own backyard particularly in Europe.
We unite or perish and I believe that we will all soon come to see that.
April 13th, 2005 at 7:38 pm
If you think the Pope had worked tirelessly on earth think what he is doing now that he is even more fully alive in Christ. The Pope had also talked about a new springtime for the Church in the new millennium, though it did use conditional terms for this to happen. I think there are positive signs that this might happen, especially in Africa. Time will tell if it will happen in Europe and the U.S.
April 13th, 2005 at 8:20 pm
I think your timing is perfect. I’ve also been feeling the pull of Christ for about three years, and especially powerfully over the past five or six months, and so strongly in the last month that I would love to just walk away from my law practice and enter a seminary (at the ripe old age of 41), or travel to Africa to work with the Church there as it acts as the front line against Islamic expansion, and just start over doing what it seems clear to me that I am being constantly and insistenly called to do, which is give over my life completely to Christ in some way that is more than just praying every day and going to church on Sundays. Seeing JPII’s last few months, reading about how he’s lived his live, and thinking about my own future are all telling me that there is a different, better, more rewarding life ahead of me if I have the courage to take the leap. Now, to see if that courage can be found. I hope so.
April 13th, 2005 at 9:18 pm
Catholicism
The Anchoress on a Catholic Springtime. A jewel….
April 13th, 2005 at 10:13 pm
I’ve been feeling this as well, not just for myself but just something in the air. Great post!
Your Biggest Fan Who Would Stalk If He Had The Gas Money,
Dirty Harry
April 13th, 2005 at 10:25 pm
At least personally, I have noticed three surges:
1. The ECUSA meltdown got my attention as to the value of the Deposit of Faith, and what perverted idiocy it was to abandon or invert basic doctrine to accomodate, our near-infinite tendency to self-deception. This sped up my journey toward Home;
2. The Pope’s final days demonstrated what remains as to houses built on rock vs. ones built on sand; and
3. As I move toward Eastern Orthodoxy, I am preoccupied, almost consumed, with applying a pilgrim’s heart and a negotiator’s logic to the possibility and probability of Union.
Something/Someone is afoot, so far as I can tell it. O that we all including churchmen would, as B. Penfield contemplates, ready ourselves to leave everything and submit ourselves to the Geist above the Zeit, sans employment, prestige, vestments, mere concepts, historical grudges, assumptions and expectations, unfrocked of everything but Christ and his irreducible truth.
April 13th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Have you seen this? Isn’t there anything one can do?
Two Muslim teenage girls are in custody based on an extremely vague charge that they “plan to be suicide bombers.”
scroll to: Teenage Wasteland
http://bodyandsoul.typepad.com/
April 14th, 2005 at 12:44 am
I think John Paul’s entire 27 year papacy was needed to stem the tide against modernism and dissent. Over the next 30 to 50 years, I believe we will really start to see the impact of his papacy. It will take time, but his pontificate shifted the momentum and now we are moving in the right direction.
There is still much work to be done, but John Paul has given us the tools.
April 14th, 2005 at 4:44 am
(posted 4.13.05
April 14th, 2005 at 4:48 am
Oops, #16 was supposed to display a graph showing 80% of college students believe in God. The survey was published yesterday and conducted by The Higher Education Research Institute.
April 14th, 2005 at 5:27 am
Yes, yes, yes! I’ve questioned if it was the Holy Spirit waking me to blog on similar topics, but, well… she has.
Read Daniel 12:4 and think about the absolute EXPLOSION of the blogosphere, as documented at: http://www.perseus.com/blogsurvey/geyser.html
Add to everything you said: two of the strongest earthquakes ever in the history of the planet and now, two volcanoes (one spewing poison gas)… all in Indonesia (’nuf said there.)
And finally, the *timing* of all of this. If we ground 9-11-01 in Daniel 12:11-12 the period prophesied for the final days runs from March 24th through May 8th… of this year.
Side note: some fascinating statistics on church growth in the U.S. can be found at: http://www.thearda.com/
April 14th, 2005 at 5:41 am
I feel it as well. Peter Kreeft write that mankind has a God shaped hole in its heart. We try to fill that hole with money, sex, pleasure and whatever but its like trying to fit in the wrong puzzle piece.
BTW, I go to the Fathers of Mercy chapel quite often. They say the Mass so beautifully and reverently. I come out feeling renewed in spirit every time.
April 14th, 2005 at 8:48 am
Keep abiding in the great timing of the Holy Spirit, Anchoress. I’ve been aprehensive about the enclave(sp?) and the resulting new Pope, but I seem to be at peace this morning. With all the positive energy and prayers for continuation of devout love and Faith, our new Holy Father will most certainly travel the same road as our Great JPII. Maybe it’s the atmosphere I find here in your Holy space. Thank you
April 14th, 2005 at 8:54 am
I had to come back because I noticed “conclave” in the following article I have yet to read. It’s coclave, not enclave(I wonder what an enclave is?) And, look, Anchoress!! I’ve got a smiley face, How’d that get there??? What a great sign for the rest of the day forward
Oh, my!!!
April 14th, 2005 at 10:29 am
“The Catholic Springtime?”
In light of the post below, check out this one from the Anchoress.
April 14th, 2005 at 4:13 pm
I must say that I completely agree with the idea that there is a spiritual change in the air. I am a protestant and don’t know how much impact I feel the pope has had, but I know that there are a lot of Christians focused on developing a stronger genuine relationship with the Lord. The church I attend started a 24 hour a day prayer room on the first of March that has been occupied by individuals and groups every moment around the clock since the opening. With people so anxious to sign up and be part of this corporate effort to the point the sign up sheets for the first and then second month were filled so quickly that it is likely that we will continue through May. The Lord is calling to his children and many of us are responding.
April 14th, 2005 at 4:17 pm
Well, I’ll just say “Me too.” I was raised Catholic and became Lutheran after marriage. I love both religions for their contributions to my spiritual journey (just a little church speak, there), but I have found myself keening for Catholicism again. I think I’m more ready now than ever to study and absorb its many rich teachings…hungry is a good word for it. What mysterious and hopeful movement is afoot?
April 14th, 2005 at 4:32 pm
#22 - some (not enough) Catholic parishes have what is called chapels or rooms of perpetual adoration, wherein parish members (and usually folks from surrounding parishes) sign up for an hour a week, round the clock, so that someone is always “keeping watch one hour” with Christ.
I’m working hard to try to get such a thing installed near me!
April 14th, 2005 at 4:41 pm
I have to admit I agree, there has been something greater at work here, most sensible and tangible in the air. Though I would say it was noticeable even slightly before Sr. Lucia’s death and that of Pope JPII. Can’t deny its had its effect on me, and made me turn back to my roots of spirituality in the Catholic faith. Its like this unquenchible thirst or nagging, and I do hope all this growth and calling of peoples keeps going and grows into something greater.
April 14th, 2005 at 5:01 pm
I think it’s been in the air for a least a year - possibly longer, and it is like the Holy Spirit giving a long, clarion call to all Christians.
I think the Schiavo situation emphasized for many that the Christian churches, despite some differences, have a core commonality, and that it’s time for Christians to look at all they have in common, rather than continuing to emphasize what separates.
And I do think that the transparent holiness of the pope (and his invitation to us to truly observe his witness, in all of his suffering, as a final instruction on the value of life) was put before our eyes unusually - with wall-to-wall coverage for the days preceding and immediately after his death, and then the global witness of the faithful (the powerful sight) engaged in Worship of the Lord, seen by the whole world.
Yes, I do believe the Holy Spirit is at work, calling, calling. And I think many are answering, “Here I am! You have found me!”
April 14th, 2005 at 6:32 pm
I’m 33, and I’ve considered myself agnostic since I was 13 years old. But given all that I’ve learned about Islam in the last 4 years, I’ve come to realize that Jesus had a pretty good message for the world. Even if there is no god, this message is good for mankind. I did not fully appreciate this until I learned of the horrible teachings of Islam. This sounds harsh, but it is just my honest opinion.
April 15th, 2005 at 12:11 am
Anchoress: “…a devout Baptist who nevertheless has a longstanding relationship with Mary…”
I am very interested in hearing little more about this. Could you explain in more detail what you mean?
April 15th, 2005 at 11:31 pm
As an ordained priest in the Charismatic Episcopal Church (no affiliation with ECUSA, etc), I must echo these sentiments. I feel that the Holy Spirit is calling for a true Catholic Springtime, not just for Roman Catholics, but for all who appreciate the power of Christian Sacrament.
I just finished listening to Christopher West’s “Crash Course” on JP the Great’s Theology of the Body, and my heart is still burning within me. This doctrine must be made available to all who can appreciate sacramental mystery and theosis, for lack of a better word. There is untapped power here to change the face of the world as we know it!
April 26th, 2005 at 11:22 pm
Remember that there will be wolves in sheeps clothing. Christianity will unite under the Church that has been here since the begining. We must cherish the Catholic Church because it is Jesus’s Church. Bad priests and laypeople will try to destroy it and discredit it, but we must fight to restore the faith of our fathers going back 2000 years.
The next chapter of human history is the Triumph of the Immaculate heart of Mary. Because God loves the way Mary gave up her will to Him He is now going to reward her with a great gift. Her gift will be to orchistrate, along with all the angels in heaven and the faithful on earth, the greatest triumph of Jesus Christ’s Church that the world has ever seen.
Investigate Our Lady of Fatima and also the prophecies of Pope Louie XIII.