Pizza and Wings

I hate decorating for Christmas.  Call me Scrooge if you will, but it just seems like a colossal waste of time and energy.  I don't mind Christmas decorations, mind you, I just don't want to be the one to put them up. Bah! Humbug!  So after wasting most of the Advent Season I got one of our parishioners, a young man who used to work in the office, to help me drag the artificial tree down stairs and decorate it.  It was just a few days before Christmas, and he came by after work.  After we got that and the Nativity scene set up and lit, we went out for pizza and wings. We were met by another of our intrepid youths.  Both guys are in their mid twenties, one got married this past spring and the other has been seeing a young lady for the last few months.  I'll call them Steve and Eddie, because they actually read this blog from time to time and I don't want to embarrass them.

After we settled into Michelino's, a pizza place up the street from the parish, Eddie, the newlywed, began peppering me with questions.  "What do you think of Fr. Benedict Groeschel?" "Do you believe Jesus really rose from the dead?" "Have you ever watched Fr. John Corapi?" "Do you really believe in the True Presence?"  These questions, and some others, weren't asked in an accusatory way.  It was more like a boxer feeling out an opponent in the early rounds of a fight.  He was trying to figure out who I was and what I was about (even though we had met years ago at a Salesian leadership retreat).  I've been blessed to have been to many talks and retreats given by Fr. Benedict, and admire him greatly.  I'm not as familiar with Fr. Corapi, but have caught his TV programs and radio shows, and like him as well.  As for the doctrinal issues, my only answer was that I wouldn't have given up marriage and family for a myth or a metaphor.

Eddie seemed relieved in a way at the answers I gave.  He said that I was one of the few priests he knew who held such "by the book" beliefs.  I was saddened to hear that, actually.  I don't consider myself too far in one direction doctrinally.  I'm not pushing for a Tridentine Mass to be said in my parish, though I have nothing against it.  There are people who think I should get more worked up over Catholic politicians who don't let their faith influence their politicking.  I tend to avoid controversy, really.  My forays into controversial topics here has been pretty limited, actually.  But there are certain basics we must hold to; such as the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, the supremacy of the Pope, devotion to the Blessed Mother, and the Virgin Birth, the great mystery we celebrate during the Christmas Season.  If not what is the point being a Catholic?

On a personal level, the answer I gave about living chaste celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom wasn't just some flippant remark.  If Jesus didn't really rise from the dead, if it was just some "spiritual" return, or a group hallucination, or, worse yet, a fabrication, than any sacrifice we make, even the smallest, is a waste of time, never mind the putting aside of family life.  It is that Jesus is Lord of life with power over death, the Bread of life that gives us his very self by way of the sacraments that makes the vows poverty and obedience, as well as chastity, worth living.  That Jesus' message of repentance and mercy needs to be preached to a new generation is what gives purpose to sacrifices religious and priests make.  That Jesus was an historical person, who lived at a particular time in a particular place; that the events of his life were witnessed to and handed down in both written and spoken form;  that his death had a special significance beyond that of other deaths; that his death did not end with the grave but in resurrection in a body, both glorified and tangible;  that we are destined for that same resurrection is the foundation of the faith.  Without it let us eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die.

If I am one of the few "by the book" priests out there (and I know that there are a lot more than just me), then we can see why the vocation crisis is so deep.  If priests are skeptical about the basics of the faith, who will actually see the priesthood as something to aspire to?  If the Mass is just a memorial in the ordinary sense, why sacrifice to be able to celebrate it?  Young people do have generous hearts, but they want to give themselves for something real, not a fable.  If we don't believe it's real, they aren't either, or else they will believe in the truth but not in us as credible ministers of God's Word and sacraments. Either way we shouldn't wonder why so few are following in our foot steps.