|
|
June 2, 2005The Holy Spirit stirs, then ravishesI must let you in on a chat my l’il brother Thom and I are having, via email, because it is stirring all sorts of stuff up in me. It began this morning, with the story about the increase in the number of seminarians, in Seattle. When Thom sent me that blurb he wrote, “something is stirring…” Oh, indeed, something is stirring, and it is splendid. We read, increasingly, a tone of wonderment in the press as reporters who have long-ago shrugged off religion as unsophisticated and tres uncool discover that people - even young people - not only are seeking faith, but embracing it and commiting to it, and living it. And yes, loving it. There is so much going on. There has been so much going on for a while, but it has come into sharper focus, I think, since the death and funeral of John Paul the Great and the election of his successor, Benedict XVI. Something is stirring. The Holy Spirit is never static, she is ever at work, ever on the move. (Yes, I call the Holy Spirit “she.” I’m not looking to offend, and I’m certainly not slamming down a feminist foot of ferocity and gender-fetish. I simply refer to the Holy Spirit as “she.” It is something I have done naturally since I was very small. In scripture, Wisdom is called “she,” and it’s always made sense to me. Stay with me - don’t let it throw you!) I noticed it, truly noticed it, when I began to blog and found that so many of my readers were Evangelical Christians, and that I myself was reading so many Evanglical blogs. After decades of distrust and vilification, suddenly the Evangelicals and Catholics were - in many ways - on the same page. Something had broken down walls of suspicion and name-calling. Part of it, perhaps, was nothing more than an instinct for self-preservation. In a world where Christian sensibilities are routinely and pervasively mocked and ridiculed or hauled into civil courts, the differences between Catholics and Protestants suddenly seem very minor, even silly, in some respects. And part of it may have been because Catholics and Protestants found their shared values reflected in men like Pope John Paul II and George W. Bush, and they noted that both of those men went out of their way to court and embrace all believers, the whole Body of Christ, and not just their own folk. Their examples were not difficult to follow. But I think there is more to it, more to what is “stirring” than simple survival, or the following of public cues by mere men. My son, Buster, works in the rectory of a Catholic church. He tells me that the youth group is over-flowing, and that the rectory receives calls “every day” from people looking to return to the Church after decades-long absences, and from those poorly catechised Catholics who suddenly want to learn about their faith. And every week or so, there is a phone call from a Methodist or a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian saying, “I can’t believe I’m making this phone call, but I’m not getting what I need at my church, and I’m wondering…” “Mom,” says Buster, “I was there last year, it was not like this. Ever since the pope died, it’s been different.” There can be no doubt that the events of John Paul’s death and funeral, witnessed by literally billions of people, was a stunning evangelical moment in Christian history, one that seems to have survived the first blink-and-shrug of humanity’s ever-eroding attention span. Buster says things are “different.” I say things are simply more shaply focused. Fine tuned, as it were. While I have no doubt that our late pope is praying for us from heaven, the Holy Spirit has been at work for all this time…and she seems to be stepping things up. I see it in my emails. It has been my stunned privilege to receive mail from people all over the world, and of every sort of background, who are writing that something, indeed, has been stirred within them. This morning alone came two emails from Catholics who are returning to the faith after being away for a very long time. This is a small, hardly-read blog, and yet I’ve received literally scores of such emals, from people who have found themselves stumbling into a church, falling to their knees before the Tabernacle, or people who write that they were at a prayer service, singing a hymn they have sung a hundred times before, but this time they burst into tears and spent the whole service in deep, profoundly private prayer which left them “changed.” What is happening, this stirring, it is intense, and it is real. It is more than people wishing to be part of the latest trend. It is more than mere emotionalism. When a forthright and self-confident woman I have known for years writes to me that she has spent her whole life disavowing organized religion and now she is set to begin RCIA classes, and enter the Catholic church because she “literally felt myself being shoved through the door,” we are not talking about folks undertaking something lightly. “And,” she writes, “when I get in there, don’t think I’m going to stand for anything less than REAL Catholicism! I want chants! I want Latin! I want the bells and smells! I do not want Fr. Relativity and Sr. P.C. Green Goddess.” Ah, yes. Fr. Relativity. Sr. P.C. Unimpressed with the actual documents of the Second Vatican Council, they’ve been flying for thirty years on the so-called “spirit” of Vatican II. In the last homily Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger gave before he became Pope Benedict XVI, he addressed the “dictatorship of relativity.” The mainstream media talking heads were stunned and angry. Some, like Fr. Richard McBrien, who-is-the-very-model-of a Modern-Fr-Relative, declared that such a homily demonstrated precisely why Ratzinger would never be elected as Holy Pontiff. Others, like Peggy Noonan, who is the very-model-of-the-modern- Catholic-laity, suggested that “with this homily, Ratzinger has just become Pope!” McBrien, a baby-boomer priest accustomed to insulated and rather rarified air, did not get it. Ms. Noonan, a baby-boomer lay woman in the pew,”got” what Ratzinger was talking about, and she dug it. Like so many others, Noonan spent years watching the liturgy of her childhood - a liturgy full of mystery and awe-inspiring devotion - endure deconstruction and revision until it became limpid and uninspiring, and political correctness seeped into every aspect of the worship, stripping it of transcendence and “putting people first.” Into that deconstruction waded John Paul II, saying “Do not be afraid,” and he was re-assuring, and he told us it was perfectly alright, even desirable to love the church that had always been, over the church that was becoming. For those of us who decided to re-embrace the church that had always been, over what was happening all around us, John Paul’s death was a moment of stillness. We were holding our breath. The Holy Spirit was at work, and a new pope was going to be selected, and what would we learn? Would we discover that Fr. Relativity and Sr. PC Green Goddess had been right, for all of these years, and that the Holy Spirit really DID want the Catholic Church to be de-constructed and re-shaped as a quasi-secular instrument of the times, embracing divorce, abortion, gay marriage, clown masses, Pentecost pantomimes and (of course) female priests? Or would we learn that the Holy Spirit hadn’t meant that at all, and that her message at the Council had been garbled and distorted and misused? “Beware the dictatorship of relativity,” cautioned Ratzinger. And when the bells at St. Peter’s Square tolled and the white smoke rose, and the new pope emerged, many in the press could not understand the roar of glee and thankfulness that the “mostly young” crowd below the balcony emitted. It was a roar of hope. It was a roar that said: we will be allowed to keep our church! YES! And the sneers of the relativists shall not prevail against it! My brother is pals-y with a few monks. One of them gave him a bit of gossip, that a well-known, media beloved churchwoman is considering leaving the church, because the Holy Spirit did not provide the right pope to give her what she wants and what she thinks the rest of us need. I guess I understand it. When you have spent thirty years convinced that everything-that-came-before-was all wrong, and that God was going to make it right when and if the Polack ever died, only to find yourself facing the Grand Inquisitor as Papa, it must be disheartening. Part of me hopes she will leave the church, and take her pals with her. It would be a very public leave-taking, with somber commentary from Katie Couric about how the church - the historical oppressor of women - is forcing out such enlightened and groovy thinkers (because it is reactionary and scary and stuck in the patriarchal middle ages), and we know the good sister won’t starve because she’ll become the go-to person at PBS and MSNBC. But part of me hopes she will stay. Part of me hopes she will go on retreat somewhere, someplace where the chapel is not stocked with new-agey celestial gooeyness and no one really gives a hoot who she is, and that she spends a week lying prostrate before the Tabernacle - listening, instead of speaking - perhaps finding what she has lost, reclaiming an inheritance about which she may have forgotten. My brother and I disagree about things. He is much more center-left (but profoundly faithful) and I am much more center-right, and he disagrees with me that there will be a schism, a breaking away of dissatisfied, disaffected Catholics, who are simply so in love with the times and the mores that they cannot bring themselves prostrate, anymore. He doesn’t think it will happen. I don’t see how it will not. But that’s ok. The Holy Spirit is moving. She is thorough and leaves nothing lie. Today I received an email from a nice gentleman who said, “I’m coming back to the church, and your blog is helping.” That is lovely, and I am so glad he is coming back to worship, but I wrote to him: “It is not me; it is the Holy Spirit. She is at work among us. She is ravishing us, one soul at a time.” And if the Holy Spirit is moving us to faith, and to Christ, who can stop her? Who would want to? WELCOME: Curt Jester readers! Please nose around while you’re here. Today we’re talking about some charming Americana, and we’re watching the Hitchens Brothers duke it out. We’re also wondering if Howard Dean is short enough to be a despot and looking on in wonder at the workings of the Holy Spirit. Oh, and we’re gloating a little that we understood immediately that Deep Throat’s coming out was all about restoring credibility of anonymous sources for media over-use! http://theanchoressonline.com/2005/06/02/the-holy-spirit-stirs-then-ravishes/trackback/ 77 Responses to “The Holy Spirit stirs, then ravishes” |
June 2nd, 2005 at 3:59 pm
You might be interested to read the lead article in today’s Wall Street Journal (page 1, column 1). It’s about the tremendous growth in the number of Christians and Catholics in mainland China. It also features a Chinese lady who runs an instant noodle company there. The brand is “Gospel Noodles” which is quite a brave and defiant act in an atheist country. Moreover, she used some of the profits from the company to finance a seminary. (It ran for 4 years but was shut down last year; no one punished, however.)
I started reading your blog several weeks ago and enjoy your writing. Keep up the good work.
June 2nd, 2005 at 3:59 pm
Wandering Bride of Instapundit Lite. Indeed.
The Manolo says, perhaps this would look enticing after many months at sea. The Michael Blowhard says, “Computers have vaporized the stable old world of reading and text. Now everything’s a jumble. Color’s all over the place, visuals have overwhelme…
June 2nd, 2005 at 3:59 pm
I read your blog because I sense the Holy Spirit in your writings. I don’t have to agree with you about Mary or the Eucharist or other uniquely Catholic doctrine to agree with just about everything else you say.
I think John Paul II had a lot of respect from the evangelical Protestants because he did proclaim Christ, and he did so without fear or apology, and he did not go out of his way to offend Protestants. He sometimes said things about Mary that made me cringe, but I respected him as a man of God who lived his faith.
Something *is* happening. It was evident in the response to “The Passion of the Christ”. I’m tempted to say it was evident in the response to the Left Behind series, although I completely disagree with the whole notion of a Rapture. I also wonder if it is a coincidence that the Episcopal Church is having its problems now, as well. I suspect it is no coincidence. Those churches proclaiming the Gospel will flourish, while those proclaiming a watered down message will decline. Following a religion is in many ways wagering your eternal soul, and who wants to wager his or her soul on the wind?
June 2nd, 2005 at 4:00 pm
Which evangelical blogs do you read, Anchoress?
June 2nd, 2005 at 4:29 pm
I’ve long said that as long as someone believe the truths in the Nicene Creed and loves Jesus and honors the Word, we can have fellowship. I think in a word gone relativistic and morally loony, those of us who believe in absolutes of truth and right and wrong do band together.
As far as the H.S.: Hey, I take my cue from Jesus and the gospel writers. They always refer to the H.S. as “he”, male pronoun.
Wacky habit, A, but I still love ya.
June 2nd, 2005 at 4:35 pm
Anchoress writes:
There can be no doubt that the events of John Paul’s death and funeral, witnessed by literally billions of people, was a stunning evangelical moment in Christian history, one that seems to have survived the first blink-and-shrug of humanity’s ever-eroding attention span.
**
I think that part of what happened is that many of our separated bretheren have never set foot in a “pagan” Catholic Church, what with all that statue worshipping, necromancy and bloody sacrifice. They have been preached this sort of poppycock from the pulpits, by their ministers who they, themselves have never seen a Catholic mass and only have the word of *their* teachers to go by.
Now the funeral of the Pope is on TV an everyone is able to watch exactly what a Catholic Mass is all about, in all it’s rich sensual spendor.
I think it’s been an eye opener for a lot of non-Catholic Christians. I can hear a bunch of them saying: “That’s not what I was told! Where is the pentagram? Where’s the child sacrifice?
June 2nd, 2005 at 4:45 pm
Doubtless there are a lot of stupid things that Protestants have been told about Catholics. I’ve heard some of them myself. In that spirit, I’ll also point out that I’ve never seen an evangelical church service that included snake handling, poison drinking, or jumping over pews.
June 2nd, 2005 at 4:56 pm
I am an Evangelical Christian and I’ve been coming here since the death of John Paul II. There is a vitality here. I have found strength and comfort in the reality of a powerful God. But I have seen the same type of person in evangelical churches you describe as Fr. Relativity. I call them the “let’s not offenders”. They seem to want everything innocuous and inoffensive and weak.
June 2nd, 2005 at 4:57 pm
I do believe you are correct about the Holy Spirit/Holy Ghost/Holy Sophia :), Anchoress. I agree with Thom that there probably won’t be a Catholic schism, as seems likely in the Anglican Church, because the Catholics I know who still consider themselves practicing have a deep and profound faith in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. BXVI may not be the Pope I WANT, but I believe he’s the Pope the Holy Spirit has decided we NEED. Those I know who no longer practice either belong to no organized church or find a church that accommodates their cafeteria style. To have an ECUSA-style schism would mean that most of the Bishops would have to have a serious rift with Rome, which I don’t see happening. Especially as the Bishops as a group seem to be more conservative. We may lose a few “celebrities,” but because none of them have a big following and because the MSM don’t understand or support religion in general, those who leave won’t have the impact that Martin Luther did. “Dissenters” will be trotted out whenever the MSM needs them to rail against the Church, then put away before anyone actually has to deal with anything like theology.
June 2nd, 2005 at 5:10 pm
Hey, he’s not called JPM for nothing.
June 2nd, 2005 at 5:55 pm
I will say a Rosary tonight for Cokie Roberts and for my Mom, who is recovering from brain surgery.
June 2nd, 2005 at 5:55 pm
I don’t think there will be a mass schism either. The dissenters will not want to leave since they get so much press and sympathy about being forced to remain in such an oppressive church. When Matthew Fox was doing pagan rituals in the Catholic church and was called for it, he was the brave soul telling truth to power.
Finally he did leave and join the Episcopal church where he is doing the same thing, but no one pays him any attention.
June 2nd, 2005 at 6:19 pm
Anchoress, I think what you are describing is happening in the evangelical churches as well, in other words in the entire Church of our Lord. I use Church with a capital ‘c’ meaning the Bride of Christ regardless of denomination. In my faith, and maybe yours it is called a ‘revival’ and is brought on by the Holy Spirit. I do believe in end-times prophecy and perhaps this is one sign: the great harvest of souls before the Lord returns for the believers, and I do believe in the Rapture. I pity those who still reject Him and will have to go through seven years of tribulation when knowing the Lord will be harder to do and can cost them their lives. But as Paul said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Even so, come Lord Jesus.
June 2nd, 2005 at 6:36 pm
I was at the Pope’s funeral - I’m Italian and apologize for my bad english - and I want to share with you some impressions. That day I found place in Risorgimento Square, just on the right of San Peter’s basilica, and it was filled mainly with polish people: some thousands people packed like sardines. The amazing fact has been that, during all the three hours ceremony, an incredible atmosphere of silence and contemplation reigned, as if inside a church: indeed, the polish people knows how to pray! But John Paul II taught also US the urging need for prayer: the Holy Spirit demands our prayer, a prayer of perfect openess and readiness to God’s will; He needs it so He can change us. I know that Protestant Christians have some problem with Mary but really they miss the point: God expects from us the disponibility of Mary to bring Jesus in our lives.
I think that something is changing because young people has been taught to pray, to offer themselves, and precisely to God, the only one who can fulfill our offer. And John Paul also taught us to pray with the Spirit of the Church, not against the Church.
This commitment of ourselves to God, under the guidance of Mary - she who fully listened to the Spirit - has became a pratical duty: let’s say your rosary every day, let’s sacrifice something for God’s aims, let’s trust the Church. Don’t be afraid of Jesus.
This is what JPII (the Great) did for us! Remember Denver!
June 2nd, 2005 at 7:20 pm
Jeanette - Sometimes, because I am so darned Catholic, I am not always clear that I DO mean the whole Body of Christ - as when I wrote about the Evangelical lady who said she’s begun crying while singing a hymn and just lost herself in prayer. I do mean all of us! And yes, I believe we’re being ‘gathered in.’
June 2nd, 2005 at 7:20 pm
Personally, I wish I could share such optimism. I think the main thing will be how Benedict deals with the clerical sex-abuse crisis. That is the biggest moral crisis the Catholic Church has faced since the Reformation. Right now, some confusion exists about whether Benedict will pursue a case against Fr. Mariscal Maciel, who founded the Legionnaires of Christ and has been accused of abuse. Conflicting stories seem to suggest a power struggle in Rome between those who support Maciel and those who want an investigation. How Benedict deals with this will determine the moral legitimacy of his papacy.
If the Holy Spirit is truly moving, I hope He (or She or Whatever) will motivate Catholics to engage in a kind of bloodless revolution that will depose the misfeasant bishops who have not only overseen and covered up sexual atrocities, but also the general deterioration of a clear understanding of the Gospel.
June 2nd, 2005 at 7:23 pm
Paolo, what an exciting comment to read! You are so lucky to have been present for that remarkable event!
June 2nd, 2005 at 7:38 pm
I think that a lot of people who have always wanted to live the kind of life we are called to by Christ saw, in John Paul the Great’s life and death, that is really WAS possible for a human being to live the way Christ wants all of us to live. Obviously, I am not saying that JPtG led a perfect life, free from sin, as Christ did, but when I think of JPtG, I think: “This man was able, somehow, to live as Christ-like a life as it is possible for a mere human to live. If HE can do it, then maybe if I try harder, I can do it, too.” That’s pretty good inspiration, I think, because a lot of us sinners have long thought that it was impossible to meet the standard Christ set, and, consciously or subconsciously, used that belief as an excuse not to live the life we are called to live. Now we know better!
June 2nd, 2005 at 7:44 pm
I also sense your sense of “something happening” since the death of the late, great John Paul. I agree that there will not be a “schism” of the sort usually associated with that word, because that would require a leadership structure of some sort for the opposition and a coherent, semi-unified alternate truth that they all, for the most part, hold to. That simply does not exist among the disaffected Catholics who would ostensibly be part of the “schism.” I do believe many of those people will stop calling themselves Catholic, however, and give us, the truly faithful, back the dignity of that glorious descriptor.
But a word of caution: never has a resurgence of faith and holiness come without a resurgence of persecution — the Devil does not rest, and will not abide such an afront to his pride. Those who have scoffed at religion, if they are not converted, will click their tongues as the bloodiest century in human history, the century in which more people were martyred for the Faith than in all previous centuries combined, could easily give way to a century even more bloody, where evil is not institutionalized in easily-recognizable, easily pigeon-holed national governments, but is instead enshrined around the world in seemingly-innocuous and nobly-titled causes like “tolerance” and “diversity,” where the only thing not tolerated is God. And this time, Lions and gore aren’t necessary: silent, sterile, easy means of extermination are available… like abortion.
So yes, embrace the new flowering of faith, rejoice that God continues to raise up a new generation of priests and opens the hearts of our (barely) separated brethren in faith — the Evangelicals — but “stay sober and alert, your foe, the Devil, is prowling like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Resist him, solid in your faith.”
John Paul, Apostle of our times, pray for us.
June 2nd, 2005 at 7:55 pm
I hope things won’t come to a schism. It seems that many younger people are moving back to some of the things that the generation right after Vatican II let go of. I’m glad to see that and see a lot of hope in the Church.
June 2nd, 2005 at 8:16 pm
Dear Anchoress, it was only partially luck. I asked God the grace to be present at my Pope’s death, to say him THANKS for the last time.
I’m lucky because I am italian so Rome is not too far, however they are 650 kilometers from my town. It seemed till the last moment I couldn’t be there since a lot of problems related to my job arose, but I didn’t resign because I knew this desire was from God. Infact it happened that a working-task planned for Friday was suddenly postponed to Saturday morning. So on Thursday evening, immediately after my working hours, I went home to say hallo to wife and children and left for Rome where I arrived just half an hour before the blockade planned at 2 AM.
In Rome all went smoothly and the next morning I’ve been able to be back in Milano (northern Italy) for my job.
Do you believe I wasn’t even tired? (To be honest, I had the oppurtunity to sleep for three hours in a roman friend’s house). It has been a special, special day!
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:08 pm
Something is happening, Dear Anchoress. Wisdom calls out in the streets, but Her way is not the easy road. We who hear Wisdom’s call and choose to accept God’s gift of Christ’s Life are blessed above and beyond all that we could ever ask or imagine. And God will unite His People into one flock in order to separate us from the world.
My moment of clarity that denominational teachings are merely different ways of living out our devotion to and relationship with God came the day that my mother died. My mom left the Catholic Church to marry my dad, who still would never dream of converting. Occasionally, though we attended various Protestant churches, my mom would take me to St. Anne’s to Mass or just to pray. She found comfort in the rituals, even though she was no longer a practicing Catholic. (For the record, I don’t recall her ever taking the Eucharist because she had chosen to leave the Church and I was *certainly* never allowed to, we’d just sit in the back and watch.) Anyway, the day my mother died, I had poured out my soul in prayer and suddenly I couldn’t formulate any words to pray. I simply lost my ability to think. I began pacing the hospital hallways reciting the Rosary because I could remember it and I knew that the Holy Spirit could make it what I needed to say to God. I knew then that denominational differences are just like the differences between my brothers and me - they make us identifiable, they don’t stop us from being Family.
God bless you, Dear Anchoress, and keep letting the Spirit of God speak through you.
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:37 pm
[...] ref=”mailto:theanchoress@gmail.com”>Email The Anchoress
The Holy Spirit stirs, the [...]
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:47 pm
“Something is stirring.”
I hope The Anchoress is right, I honestly do:I noticed it, truly noticed it, when I began to blog and found that so many of my readers were Evangelical Christians, and that I myself was reading so many Evanglical blogs.
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:49 pm
I could tell a long story but to respond properly here I will merely say that even though I have believed in God for most of my life I have NOT been a Christian. That has all changed in the last two years and I believe it was in the making all along (I am 60). My wife would make a similar post.
Anchoress, I found your article because of a post you made at Polipundit. Best wishes.
June 2nd, 2005 at 9:49 pm
Paolo–Gracias!
June 2nd, 2005 at 10:12 pm
Instead of the wild son constantly partying and trashing his father’s estate, perhaps it is sometimes better for him to fall away entirely and go off and live the wild life, drinking and carousing and womanizing and partying. At the time, such a schism may seem tragic, but perhaps it is best for all involved for him to go, and go quickly before he corrupts his more impressionable brothers and sisters. No doubt, some sons will stay away, but many also will hit the bottom, and will realize how good they had it with dad. Then such a prodigal son can come home and truly love his home, without hurtful criticism or scandalous dissent, and the father and we can kill the fatted calf and celebrate.
June 2nd, 2005 at 10:32 pm
What a beautiful post and what thoughtful comments. Like many of you, I have also experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit recently - personally, in my parish (where many kumbaya-era Catholics are now praying the rosary and the young moms group will be studying the Theology of the Body this summer), and with non-Catholic friends. I believe the first brisk wind occurred with 9/11, but has reached gale force in the last few months. Your earlier post about the increase in vocations in Seattle (yes - SEATTLE!) shows that miracles are happening all around us if we have eyes to see. I am with ya 100% on everything except the use of “she” to refer to the Holy Spirit. It just doesn’t mesh with the idea that the Holy Spirit is the spouse of the Blessed Virgin … but I still love you and your blog!
June 2nd, 2005 at 11:57 pm
-“Beware the dictatorship of relativity,” cautioned Ratzinger.
-And yet I wonder how many, even yet, have read enough of him to really understand what he means. “Relativity” has concerned Benedict for quite some time, in fact, he simply can’t let go of it, but when you encounter it in his actual writings, it doesn’t seem to be sneering at anybody.
-And it is not the frivolous caricature you make of it out of people you think are both dangerous opponents and silly geese.
-It is an opponent that is far more intelligent, significant, and powerful than any you have mentioned in this post, or that your commentors have mentioned: Matthew Fox, Katie Couric, or your unnamed celebrity.
-It is actually merely a question, the final question of Pontius Pilate to Christ, “What is Truth?” Pilate didn’t take it seriously. But there has been a lot of water under the bridge since then and his question has been reframed by some intelligent men who did take it seriously, and it is these men that really worry Benedict, who takes it very seriously himself, and not Matthew Fox or Katie Couric.
-For the question reframed is “How can we KNOW what truth is?” Not have an opinion about it, not have a view on it, not have a take on it, not have a spin for it–how can we KNOW it?
-If you read Benedict you see that it is a far tougher opponent than you might think, particularly when confronted with what Benedict opposes to it: Revealed Truth.
-Not faith, revelation, **knowledge** from outside the circle of this world. And that is very important to understand: the way the question is now framed completely sidesteps faith. When he is combatting “relativity”, he seldom even refers to faith.
-And those intelligent men have a reply to Benedict: Revealed to whom, and how can they know it, if it comes from beyond the circle of this world? For who among us can step out of themselves, and beyond that circle, to see it?
-Benedict is your champion in a matter which is far beyond insence, liturgy, ritual, and the emotions they stir in support of true faith. It is the deadliest enemy anyone of faith can meet, in fact.
-If you can, go read the past skirmishes of the conflict in Benedict’s own writings, for that is what really endangers the Christian point of view in the world, and not the fluff of a Katie Couric or a Matthew Fox.
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:54 am
Revealed Truth.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6) He left no room for other “theories of truth”, and if someone doesn’t understand even part of “no one comes unto the Father but by me”, then how can they really be open to it?
June 3rd, 2005 at 1:45 am
This is a small, hardly-read blog
False modesty can be very unbecoming.
June 3rd, 2005 at 2:37 am
A beautiful blog, Anchoress. To our Evangelical brothers and sisters of this I know: We acknowledge our fall from Grace through original sin. We celibrate and know our redemption through our Risen Lord. Though imperfect, we’re on a quest for holiness together! I love you all.
June 3rd, 2005 at 3:00 am
I know one man’s experience doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme, but I can attest that I certainly have been moved by the workings of the Holy Spirit since the death of the Holy Father. Raised a protestant, I had lost my faith entirely years ago. In fact, I couldn’t even really tell you why I watched the events surrounding the passing of the pope with such intensity, apart from just recognizing that it was the Holy Spirit at work.
[And here is a point I must stress: the media coverage of the tragic death of Terri Schiavo just prior *really* had my mind focused on what was important to me, and on everything wrong in this fallen society around me. The stark contrast in values promoted by JPII and the Catholic faith was then made prominent in the events surrounding his own death. I truly don't think I would have even followed the death of the Pope otherwise, and this convinces me that the Lord used the death of this poor woman for great good -- truly, she did not die in vain.]
But my life has changed, and after reading several books (and many blogs!) on the Catholic faith I have now become interested in formal conversion. This is a quite dramatic worldview reversal for me, as only a few months ago I considered myself a secular liberal agnostic. Now somehow I have become the type of person I would have mocked as a “wingnut/moonbat” only a few short weeks ago.
I now pray the Church welcomes me home.
June 3rd, 2005 at 7:32 am
A closet truth lover
Leslie, one of a handful of regular visitors, was inspired by my recent posts linking to Juliette and The Anchoress.
June 3rd, 2005 at 8:08 am
#33 Joe. Of course the Church will welcome you home. It did me a few years ago. Like someone mentioned a few posts above, there is much rejoicing and celebration when the prodical son (daughter) returns. He or she is welcomed with open arms.
There is something working - or someone - God - on all of us.
Thank you Anchoress, this is a truly wonderful post with heartfelt comments. I have been blessed by reading both.
June 3rd, 2005 at 10:30 am
After the Schiavo case and the death of JP tG, I too have been moved to return to the Catholic faith after a long absence. My wife has also started going back to Mass. I truly believe that the HS has shown us the way back to our faith. I literally could feel the change in me. It was a truly divine and “physical pull” back to what should matter most in our lives, that of our Catholic roots.
And I believe that it was divine guidance that brought me to your website. You are a remarkable and holy woman. I do thank you.
Rick Lefebvre
June 3rd, 2005 at 11:46 am
It would be trite to say this post was well written, or even ‘great’ or ‘brilliant’ or insightful.
Perhaps ‘moving’ sums it up. Well done.
June 3rd, 2005 at 12:35 pm
Anchoress, yes, I feel the stirring too! May it grow in all of the various divisions of Christ’s churches.
As a Christian that worships as a Mennonite, I was thinking on your use of ’she’ for the Holy Spirit. When I meditate on the work of the Holy Spirit, I find much that could be considered feminine, primarily the subjective relationship of the Holy Spirit to the will of God and Christ. Jesus said that our ‘comforter’ would not speak as Christ did but would bring every word of Christ, and God, into our rememberance, thus we see a submission of the Spirit to the Father and the Head of the Church.
Paul, the Apostle, taught of the headship and order in relationships we have one to another and with God, namely, God, Christ, Man, Woman. (1 Cor. 11:3) (Now I realize that this is not a popularly accepted doctrine today, but I do not question Scripture just because I want it to say something popular.) The point I am trying to make is that your identifying the Holy Spirit by using a feminine pronoun may give us insight into the total image of God, for both man and woman are in the image of God, with woman adding completion to that image. God made us in His image, ‘male and female created He them’ (Ge. 1:27) that man and woman would differ from the rest of His creation, be a special manifestion of God’s image and, with that image, have dominion over the earth. There is also the nurturing image of the woman in life and this is a physical parallel to the spiritual nurturing aspect of the Holy Spirit. So we see that there is a perfect feminine part of God represented here.
I refer to the Holy Spirit as ‘He or Him’ because that is how God’s Word refers to this Persona of God. My thoughts are offered only as an understanding of ‘Wisdom’ as feminine and the correlation of wisdom to the Holy Spirit. I am also seeing a perfection in the Trinity made up of both characteristics of masculinity and feminity that God gave to man and woman represented in their lives as being in the image of God.
I believe we who are indwelt by the Spirit of God and His Christ must be open to the understanding of one another’s view of how God works within our lives without always taking offence to how we verbalize our concepts of God. In refuting error we cannot, must not, loose the command God gave us to love one another. I appreaciated the entire post, thank you.
June 3rd, 2005 at 1:31 pm
The Holy Spirit stirs, then ravishes
One thing leads to another:…
June 3rd, 2005 at 1:47 pm
Yes, it’s true! I know *5 people* about to start RCIA, largely due to the Holy Father’s passing. About half left the church and became evangelicals; the other half are episcopalians. It’s so amazing, and I know it’s just the start.
June 3rd, 2005 at 2:39 pm
Anchoress,
Beautiful post. I commented on your blog shortly after the funeral of JPtG that I felt a connection to God that I’d never felt before and wanted to renew that connection over and over. Well it’s been two months. I haven’t started RCIA, but I have been reading and thinking. I have my first bible, and am reading that. My wife is Lutheran, but I don’t feel compelled to join her Church. What I do feel is a gentle constant desire of the Holy Spirit that the Catholic Church is my spiritual home and I should jump in with both feet. Can’t explain it any other way.
John
June 3rd, 2005 at 2:40 pm
This may surprise but even we in the pariah church of them all are seeing something. In my ultra Anglo-Catholic parish, I have recently been moved to tears on so many different occaisions that I have lost count. I never used to be that way. Oh, I might have cried over a favorite hymn once in a while but not like this. At almost every Mass of late I have felt like I was a piano string just thrumming the whole way through the service. And just last week, I looked up and noticed a young woman in my church (an Anglican church!)with her hands in orans position during this one hymn called Bread of Life (I have just learned much to my surprise that its a fairly recent one. It doesnt sound like it.)
The refrain goes ” And I will raise them up and I will raise them up. I will raise them up on the last day” Our wonderful choir sang the last couple of verses a cappella and I had to fight not just tearing up but bawling outright!
I have to wonder at things like this and I am praying like mad that recovery for the church throughout the world is on the way.
I can’t wait to say “nah nah!” even though technically that wouldn’t be very Christian of me I suppose. Still it would feel good wouldnt it??
June 3rd, 2005 at 2:43 pm
PS. I think it is maybe no accident at all that the Mass that I speak of above was for the Feast of Corpus Christi. At the end of Mass we had a procession of the Eucharist and Adoration after.
June 3rd, 2005 at 3:02 pm
PPS. I say my church is a paraiah only as a statement of fact. To me my church is beautiful in spite of her blemishes and tribulations. I believe she is being tested most sorrowfully in her particular way as all churches these days are being tested in their particular way. God is teaching us not just through the blessings he is showering on the faithful but he is also teaching us through our great and public trials. Just think first it was the Roman church bearing the shame of the child molestation scandals. Next were the Anglicans and the Robinson abomination, now its the Orthodox and the corruption scandals in Greece and in Jerusalem as well as the general terrible persecutions of Orthodox believers in the Middle East. I could go on. But I bring this up because I believe we gain just as much for bearing shame for Christ’s sake as we do from blessings of the Spirit. It makes us mad, it stirs our love and passions. It can make even an Epsicopalian say ENOUGH! no more! Repent or take your innovations and get out!
It’s a wonder to me that at our darkest hour, there is also stirrings not just of hope but of willingness among all faithful believers in Christ to throw down and fight. I think this too can be a moving of the Spirit.
June 3rd, 2005 at 3:09 pm
I just have to say this one last thing. See if you can recognize this slightly altered quote
“Stand and fight People of Christ!!!!!”
Hint: The original quote comes from a very wonderful recent Best Picture winner. Its said by an extremely gorgeous guy on horseback in front of the gate of Hell
June 3rd, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Catholic tradition has always held that God the Father is Mary’s father. God the Son is Mary’s Son. God the Holy Spirit is Mary’s spouse. The Catholic Church is referred to as She because the Church is Christ’s spouse. To arbitrarily refer to the Holy Spirit as She is disturbingly new-agey to me.
June 3rd, 2005 at 3:57 pm
Well, if you didn’t say it was an extremely gorgeous guy I’d guess it was Aragorn before the Black Gate of Mordor in Return of the King.
June 3rd, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Robert,
Heh heh. Smarty.
June 3rd, 2005 at 4:28 pm
Honestly, I don’t understand Viggo Mortensen’s appeal. I found his portrayal of Aragorn to be just too wimpy. In the book Aragorn at least knew what he wanted. He wanted to marry Arwen and he wanted to be King. (Those two things are definitely tied together in the books.) Of course the fact that in real life Viggo speaks more like Wormtongue than Aragorn doesn’t help him in my estimation.
June 3rd, 2005 at 4:34 pm
I’m with you, Robert. Viggo bores me.
Then again, and I know I will catch heck for it, but the LOTR trilogy bored me, too. Too long!
Gimmee Colin Firth. He’s pretty and manly at the same time!
June 3rd, 2005 at 4:44 pm
Joe (and others who find themselves standing at the door of the Church), of course the Church will welcome you home. I was in approximately the same situation a few years ago–going in a few months time from mocking to secretly wanting to join. It was profoundly unsettling, but I eventually made it into the Church and I am very grateful to be here. The Eucharist is well worth any amount of trouble.
June 3rd, 2005 at 4:46 pm
Colin Firth is half the appeal of the A&E version of Pride and Prejudice.
June 3rd, 2005 at 5:00 pm
O
June 3rd, 2005 at 5:18 pm
Ok ya’ll. I didn’t mean to open a discussion of the merits of Viggo as Viggo or Viggo as Aragorn. I was talking about how that scene so aptly reflects this time in our history
We are standing at the Gates of Mordor with an army that has been written off by so many people supposedly much more modern and “evolved” than us. In the eyes of many we are the last of a ragged house better off dead so that Mordor’s program can really get into swing. About us lies the ruins of Christendom. It seems we have failed in so much. How can there be hope? The evil one exploits the particular weaknesses of our “nations” and divides in an attempt to conquer.
But the ragged house dares to stand at the maw of hell prepared to stand in the face of hell’s final onslaught. There is no one else in sight. No help is coming. We are it. We are it because the life, the dream, the hope has not died in us yet and it is our power. It is stirring. Renewal is coming if only we last through our darkest hour.
I believe we are seeing the Church revived contrary to every prediction of its passing from history beginning 1400 years ago (even before that maybe)and continuing with regularity ever since. We are a house that was supposed to pass from any influence long ago and yet here we are and experiencing new vigor and passion, growth and revival.
I can’t wait to see what God does next.
June 3rd, 2005 at 5:47 pm
Anchoress, I love the books but I understand what you mean. Tolkien does take his time getting to where he’s going, but there are some wonderful moments. My favorite is the exchange between Gandalf and Frodo that begins with Frodo saying “It’s a pity Bilbo didn’t kill Gollum when he had the chance.” In the movie, it happens in Moria but it occurs in chapter 2 of the book. There’s another speech that didn’t make it into the movie, where Faramir says (paraphrasing), “I don’t love the sword for its sharpness or the warrior for his valor, but I love them for that which they protect.” And of course, how many times have we heard, “I will not risk open war” and wanted to come back with “Open war is upon you whether you would risk it or not.”
Peggy, okay when you put it that way how can I disagree.
If this is Revival, then one thing we can be sure of is this move of the Spirit is not happening for its own sake. Revivals have historically occurred shortly before great crises. In the United States the Great Awakening occurred decades before the Revolutionary War and the Second Great Awakening occurred shortly before the Civil War. Let us be prepared for whatever is coming.
June 3rd, 2005 at 5:54 pm
#42, regarding the hymn “Bread of Life”, I simply can’t get through that one without crying!! I love it so!
June 3rd, 2005 at 6:07 pm
Robert,
You got me exactly. I do believe there is worse to come which is why the church is being fortified now.
I can’t believe the rest of you. You love the Catholic church and all of its imagery and symbolism and yet you don’t get how very Catholic LOTR is?? While not a strict allegory to any specific chapter in our history Lotr is very much meant to re-present the ancient and ongoing spiritual battle between the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth and the forces of the Evil One. The Evil One has the old ragged but ancient and good kingdom on the ropes. Or so he thinks he does. The remnants of that Old Kingdom come together to stand in the breach while God works a miracle of grace and salvation for the world all unlooked for and out of our sight.
Remember it wasn’t Frodo who finally destroyed the Ring. It was an act of God, an accident that sent Gollum into the lava of Mount Doom clutching the Ring. The Orcs are creatures deformed by sin by being born in darkness. The elves are angels who were born in the first light of Creation. Lembas bread stands for the Eucharist and revives and strengthens the hobbits in their trials. I could go on and on.
You of course have a right to like what you like, but I am still very suprised to hear Catholics call LOTR boring. I can understand if someone found the books a little hard to take, but the movies do a great if imperfect job of condensing the books to where if someone knows where to look (ie past Jacksons alterations) there is Tolkiens original vision writ large for us Christians to appreciate.
June 3rd, 2005 at 6:34 pm
I’m actually talking about the movies. I hated the movies. They were way too long, I have never been able to stay awake during them, and I find myself yelling at the screen. “Throw the ring…just throw the ring, already. Oh, Lord, now they’re going to sit on the big mushroom thingie and Sam is going to start talking about the shire again WHERE ARE THE EAGLES??? Aren’t eagles supposed to come and take them home? When will this end? Just get on the boat. Stop looking at each other so meaningfully, we get it, we get it, GET ON THE BOAT!!!
My husband does not take me to many movies!
June 3rd, 2005 at 7:23 pm
Beautiful post. I’ve also been seeing/feeling the Holy Spirit at work all around me… it is hard to explain, but very obvious. It also makes me want to shout “Hah hah” (however un-Christian that is) at the media and Chittister-type dissenters, constantly telling us that the Church is ‘oppressive’ and ‘outdated’ only to eat their words at the outpouring of love and devotion over JPII’s passing, and Benedict XVI’s election. Clearly none of them could believe this… millions of YOUNG people showing their devotion in the open!! Imagine that!!
As for the LOTR trilogy… it rocks! Sure, it has some slow moments, but overall, is was great (millions of times better than the wretched SW ‘prequels’ that George Lucas shoved down on us poor unsuspecting fans!)
BTW, I loved your blog… I came here via Curt Jester
but I’ll be visitting it regurlarly from now on… thank you, and God bless!
June 3rd, 2005 at 10:23 pm
[...] e differently Gathering up the news Can we storm heaven for Sam “Benedict”? The Holy Spirit stirs, the [...]
June 4th, 2005 at 11:36 am
[...] e differently Gathering up the news Can we storm heaven for Sam “Benedict”? The Holy Spirit stirs, the [...]
June 4th, 2005 at 2:28 pm
You are wrong to refer to the Holy Spirit as “she.” It may make you more secure in your female spiritual insecurity, but the Catholic Church does not refer to the Holy Spirit as “she.”
Refer to web site of Catholic Answers http://www.catholic.com for orthodox Catholic teachings. Herewith “God has No Body”
http://www.catholic.com/library/God_Has_No_Body.asp
God Has No Body
Certain groups, notably the Mormons, have committed the error of saying that God the Father has a body, and have thus become anthropomorphites, people who say that God has a human form.
In recent years, this form of doctrinal decay has also set in among certain segments of American Evangelicalism, most notably in the Pentecostal Word Faith movement. Evangelicals such as Finnis Dake, Jimmy Swaggart, Kenneth Copeland, and Benny Hinn have all (temporarily or permanently) bought into the idea that the Father has a body.
Anthropomorphites argue that man is made in the image of God (Gen. 1:26–27) and point to verses that refer to the strong right arm of God, the eyes of God, and so forth.
In doing this, they profoundly misunderstand Scripture. First, the image of God we bear involves our rational soul that separates us from animals (the function that the image plays in Genesis 1 is to separate humans from the animals God has just created). Second, talk in the Bible about God’s strong right arm, his eyes, and such is metaphorical language concerning God’s power and knowledge. This can be seen by the fact that the Bible also speaks of God as having feathers and wings; yet even the anthropomorphites would not go this far (cf. Ps. 91:4—”He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge”).
Click on link for the rest of this teaching.
June 4th, 2005 at 10:31 pm
After the conclave ended, sales of Card. Ratzinger’s books went through the roof (much to the joy of Ignatius Press no doubt) and I noted that the top-listed books of his, at Amazon a week later, were Introduction to Christianity and Salt of the Earth. I was thrilled… I have read ‘Salt’ several times, it is a truly amazing book and I always marvel that the Cardinal came up with such consistently insightful and powerful responses to the interview questions. I think it is a book that has great power to open minds and hearts… as for Introduction to Christianity, I understand that it is greatly admired by many Evangelicals. I wonder if in the months and years to come, we will start hearing conversion stories that begin…. “It all started when Ratzinger became the new pope, I was curious about him and so I ordered one of his books from Amazon….”
June 5th, 2005 at 12:38 am
The Lord of the Rings is absolutely saturated with Catholicism. Tolkien was %100 intentional in this. Catholics should NOT miss the symbolism involved because he is one of the greatest Catholic writers of the last 100 years at least. Do not write it off. There are many books out there on LOTR and the spirituality behind it but I STRONGLY recomend reading “JRR Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle Earth” by Bradley J Birzer and/or Joseph Pearce’s “Tolkien: Man and Myth” As someone had mentioned it is not straight allegory but it has multiple Christ figures. Frodo (carrying the “cross”, the crushing weight of sin), Samwise (the suffering servant), Aragorn (the return of the rightful king which establishes the new and healed kingdom), Gandalf (who selflessly gives his life for his freinds and is reborn anew) etc.etc. The Lembas is the Eucharist and (stated more clearly in the books) those that eat it are sustained more fully and completely by it as it becomes thier only food. It goes on and on and will put a totally different light on the trilogy. This is NOT a fantasy geek’s story is is a Christian story in general and Catholic specifically.
June 5th, 2005 at 9:43 am
I disagree that LOTR is a Catholic allegory. What Tolkien was trying to do is create an English mythology, which he saw as lacking due to the obliteration of Anglo-Saxon culture (with a couple of notable exceptions such as Beowulf) as a result of the Norman invasion. He certainly layered Christian values on top of his mythology — Gandalf’s prediction that the pity of Bilbo would rule the fate of many, for example — but for the most part the characters and situations in LOTR mirror many characters and situations in non-Christian myth. The hero who goes to the underworld and comes back changed and able to save his people is a motif that occurs all the time in myth, for example.
June 5th, 2005 at 10:33 am
Uh-huh, thanks, Arlene. You’ve put a lot more energy into the whole thing than I ever did. If you read me closely at all, you’d note that a) I have no “female spiritual insecurity,” and that my habit is simply my habit and b) I do KNOW God has no body.
June 5th, 2005 at 10:41 am
Well Robert you are correct on the on hand. Tolkien was NOT writting and allegory and he was writting the mythology of England that he thought was missing. these points are both true. I never said (and Tolkien stated himself) that he disliked straight allegory (unlike his friend CS Lewis in his Narnia stories) but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t saturate his stories with Catholic symbolism. If you read his letters and comments he states this clearly and there can be no mistake that that was his intention. Please read some one or both of the works I listed above. I think that the case will be made.
June 5th, 2005 at 11:47 am
Stefan, I’d love to read those works. Maybe someday I’ll have the time.
It is true that LOTR reflects Christian values, particularly the value of mercy. The only specifically Catholic item mentioned in this thread is the lembas=Eucharist, which I had never heard before and I cannot speak to. (It would somewhat explain Gollum’s reaction to it, though.) My point was that the character archetypes are not uniquely Christian.
I’m sure aspects of the book were informed by Christian, specifically Catholic, theology. I do suspect that more of it was informed by Tolkien’s experiences fighting in WWI, as well as his observations of WWII. Much of his book was also informed by the rise of industrialization, which Tolkien saw as a bad thing. In short, there’s a lot going on in LOTR and I think one of the reasons it has endured is because it is so broadly applicable.
June 5th, 2005 at 1:20 pm
You are right there is alot going on in LOTR and Tolkien did have a strong revulsion towards industrialism (thus his ideal society is depicted in the simple rural life of the Shire). His WWI experiences were also key to his descriptions of Mordor and other things. Those Archtype characters that you note are very important! Tolkien spoke of “sanctifiying” the truths of previous mythologies by (to borrow a term from JPII) ordering them to truth. These myths often had grains of truth in them but unless they were correctly ordered they would not reach their full poteintial. He believed that myth was able to convey Truth in a way that was not possible in other mediums. Myth to him did not mean “fiction” as it implies to us today but rather he spoke of the the one “True Myth” being the life, death, and resurection of Christ. Anyway, he is a very deep fellow and it I think people would find his work profoundly more inspiring if they delved into his mind a bit deeper!!
June 5th, 2005 at 9:57 pm
Quick reads
Some of the articles I found interesting this week:
June 6th, 2005 at 11:20 am
Just a quick note on the question of whether LOTR is an allegory or not.
Tolkien was emphatic that the books were in no way an allegory of any historical political situation. He detested the idea and thought that it got in the way of good story-telling. He feared his good story being used and abused so he very much rejected any such interpretation of his books.
And yet, while he wanted to write a good story that anyone could enjoy, he was also passionate about his Catholicism and felt that if his story were to have any truth or resonance to it beyond that of a good story then it must include a Catholic view of truth.
His solution was I think ingenious. His book is structured on two levels. On the ground level we have that simple good story that anyone can enjoy but he left clues everywhere which lead the inqusitive reader to a higher level of appreciation which is far more specifically Christian. The result is a book that avoids the preachiness of pure allegory but which can be appreciated as a Christian work of Christian ideas and themes by anyone interested in following the signposts and exploring more deeply. When we explore that higher level what we find is not an allegory for any specific historical situation but we find a re-presentation of the Kingdom of God’s ancient struggle against evil. We get an allegory that represents every such time when the Kingdom almost loses the fight and is rescued by Divine intervention. Its an allegory eternally applicable which makes it true which makes it an edifying myth for all Catholic Christians.
Because Tolkien seeded his books so gently with these Catholic ideas, LOTR has brought many people to faith in Christ. Once one ponders its higher ideas and finds them true, there is only one real earthly equivalent for them and that is the Christian church. Only in the Christian church do we find the exact same (true) concepts of sin, redemption, grace, evil and good. All other faiths in some way deny the power of evil or the awfulness of sin or else they redefine good and evil in some way. In Tolkien’s world no such thing goes on. On the deepest levels LOTR is true because it represents reality as it really is.
June 6th, 2005 at 12:55 pm
Well said Peggy. I think that the reason even non-believers find LOTR so compelling and moving is not only that it is just a great story but that it is infused with truths that resonate with them at a fundamental level. Even though the mind might reject transendence the soul knows at some level from whence it came and longs for its return. It is almost like the spiritual equivilent of natural law in which all humans, who being created in God’s image, have been given a drop from the ocean of Divine Reason and are able to perceive certain truths. So to the human heart knows that there that its natural restlessness longs for something beyond. Stories that address deeper issues of honor, sacrifice, and the struggle between good and unrestrained evil ring true with all but the most callous among us. Hollywood has alot to learn.
June 18th, 2005 at 3:02 am
[...] bout the recent increase in Catholic hermits. But then again, as I have been saying…something is stirring…, so this shouldn’t be a big surp [...]
September 25th, 2005 at 2:50 am
[...] Back in June, I wrote that something was happening, that I was sensing it via my email, and through what I was observing in my parish and neighboring parishes, and what Buster was telling me via his job at work: He tells me that the youth group is over-flowing, and that the rectory receives calls “every day” from people looking to return to the Church after decades-long absences, and from those poorly catechised Catholics who suddenly want to learn about their faith. And every week or so, there is a phone call from a Methodist or a Presbyterian or an Episcopalian saying, “I can’t believe I’m making this phone call, but I’m not getting what I need at my church, and I’m wondering…” [...]
<