What Do I Love About My Church? Let Me Tell You...

Last week Friday my friend Kathy (katdish) asked What do you love about church? on her blog. I had so many answers running in my head, and little time that day to type them, much less sort them. But since it IS Sunday, reflecting on why I love worshipping Him at the Church I do worship Him in and sharing that seems a good idea.

First of all, I'd be remiss if I didn't share that us Catholics believe in transubstantiation. That means that we believe that at the consecration, the bread truly becomes the physical body of Jesus Christ, and the wine truly becomes His precious blood. I love going to Church on Sunday and receiving Him in such an intimate way.

I also love the liturgy format. Gloria, Opening Prayer, Old Testament Reading, Psalm, Epistle, Gospel, Sermon, Creed, Prayer Petitions, Offertory, then Liturgy of the Eucharist.

I love that my parish is not only handicapped accessible, but level. We all go in through the same doors. Their isn't a separate door, with ramp like at some other parishes I have been at. It would seem that this sort of thing wouldn't matter, but it does. My mom loved being able to go into a Church that was level (though she wasn't in the parish I am now except wheeled in a coffin...our last parish was also level.). Going in and out the same way made her feel less like she was in the spotlight, and less self conscious. So now I notice if a Church is level, and find myself happy when I find that it is.

Speaking of level, I like how my parish is not hung up about who has what. Socio-economic distinctions aren't much noticed. (We do have a food collection for those who are in need, but who gets it isn't common knowledge.)

I was very fond of my former pastor. Going to him for the Sacrament of Reconciliation was a life changing experience. Twice. I am going to miss him. I plan on liking our new pastor. He tries hard, and he tells great jokes. No, I haven't had the opportunity to go to him for confession.

I love the friends I have made through various parish organizations. I also like that I got involved in these organizations through other friends I made. It wasn't me being out going or anything.

I love having the opportunity to teach CCD.

I love seeing people I know and BEING one of the friendly people at Church now.

We have an "evangelization committee". I put that in quotation marks because the idea seems to me to be more about being welcoming and educating people (fellow Catholics and anyone else interested) about our Faith, and sponsoring programs and activities to help do that. What it really is about is reaching out to people. When I think "evangelization", my mind thinks of people who go door to door. We don't. It's not that we are opposed to people going door to door, it just isn't what we do.

I love the hymns. But then, I'd probably like the hymns anywhere. I love the way a hymn can bring me to tears.

I'm sure there are other things I love about my Church, but this post is getting a little long....

Over a year ago, I wrote a post about why I go to Church on Sunday, which deals with the same idea in a bit of a different way.

For more reasons others love their Church, check out Katdish's blog.

Church, From a Friend's Perspective

My friend Bernadette wrote an amazing post on Church for today's One Word Blog Carnival: Church.

I started to write a post for today about Church, focusing on unity (or lack of) and love (or lack of) and stuff... I'll probably post it some other time. For now, I'd really like to direct my cyber friends to Bernadette's blog, where she says a lot of things I wish I did.

Tears in My Eyes: Stories from the Catholic Festival of Faith

I do believe that I promised on Monday that I would share the stories that made me cry at the Conference. One made me cry because of its beauty, the other with sorrow. I'll start with the sad so I can end with the glad. That's how I roll...

Cardinal Francis George celebrated Mass. His homily was astounding. He told us about visiting a Missionary priest in Africa (my apologies, I forgot which country), and how four men from a faraway village came up to then Fr. George and asked about the Missionary priest while he was taking a walk. Fr. George* directed them to the rectory (hut in which priest was living). One man did not go with, but stayed out with Fr. George. Fr. George did not speak the man's native language, but they spoke briefly in English.
Fr. George asked the man where they had come from. It turned out that the four men had been traveling on foot for four days. They had heard about this priest speaking of a God who loves them, and the village chose these four to find out what it was all about. When Fr. George asked why he didn't go with them to speak with the Missionary priest, he responded that he had a lot of quiet time to think on his walk. He thought about how hard his community works, and still they starve, are sick, and watch their children die. In the face of all that, the idea of a God who loves them is too good to be true. (This is where I start bawlin' like a hormonal school girl.)
Cardinal George then shares with us that he has prayed for this man all these years since. He shared that the hardest thing is that we can't give anyone faith, but can only show our own, share why we have it, and pray for the people around us who have none. He also shared that if we truly know ourselves, we have to admit that God's love is "too good to be true", no matter what our circumstances, and yet it is so true. God does love us, and we need to share it.

Now the happy story. It was actually shared in the keynote speech hours before Mass. Most Rev. George Murry, SJ was sharing with us the story of a girl who was born with a cleft lip. When she went to school, children made fun of her. She found that strangers seemed to find her hard to look at. When asked, she'd tell people that she fell on glass and split her lip, because somehow that seemed more acceptable than being born different. She was also born hard of hearing, but was a bright girl who somehow learned how to fake her way through the hearing tests at school. She hated being different, and the attention it brought to her.
Well, you know how those old fashioned hearing tests included the teacher whispering a sentence in your ear that you were supposed to repeat? Me neither. Waaaay before my time. I was tested in the mechanized "raise your hand when you hear the beep" age, but I digress. This young girl's teacher whispered in her ear "I wish you were my little girl..."
She ran all the way home, laughing and happy, excited to be loved.
Bishop Murry said that that is what faith in Jesus ought to be.... The realization that He loves us even though we feel deformed by our sins, and a need to joyfully announce that we are loved. Eventually, we also realize His love for others, and want to share that too.

I don't know about anyone else, but I see the two stories as linked together. I feel that we can share our faith truly only by sharing the joy of being loved with a love that is to good to be true, and yet it IS. Oh, and you know something cool? Faith is one thing that you can share all you have with someone, and still not have any less for yourself!

My friend Kathy has shared a quote by Rich Mullins that I think is appropriate here. I am gonna send you on over there to read it at her site now if that is okay with you...



*I mean absolutely no disrespect to my beloved Archbishop Cardinal George by referring to him as Father George here. He was not yet a Cardinal in this story, and even if he was, once a priest, always a priest, whether we are talking about the Pope or a bishop.

The Reasons I Go to Church on Sunday

This picture is an actual picture my Church in the winter that I found on the internet today.


I know. It is Tuesday. By my own scheduling, I should have wrote something funny yesterday for Life is Funny, and something I learned today for What I Learned. But I didn't. I like these blog carnivals, and hope to return to them at the end of the week. They help me focus on a blog topic. But for the last couple of Sundays, I found myself thinking about the reasons I go to Church, and I feel moved to share them. You see, I am sure I hate to get up on a Sunday morning as much as anyone else. And God, who knows all, knows I am not holier than anyone else. So why don't I sleep in? Why not snuggle up with Bob, since sometimes he works on Saturday, or I teach CCD on Saturday? It is definitely all I really want to do when I wake up at 7:00 Sunday morning. Why not do it?

Because it wouldn't actually make me happy. Really. It feels like it would at 7:00 a.m. (I know, not terribly early, but come on...SUNDAY...it might as well be 5:00 a.m. ) But it wouldn't. Going to Church on Sunday is important to me. Why?

1) The Lord commanded us to keep the Sabbath day holy. That I must do, because God Himself says he wants that of me. I know, there are many ways people choose to do that. I don't actually doubt the validity of many of them, so long as the intent and purpose is to obey God. But the Church I choose to belong to , the Roman Catholic Church, says a Catholic MUST go to Mass every Sunday as part of keeping holy the Sabbath day. Why would I choose to be a member of any Church or organization, but then also choose to flout its rules? If I join a club, I go to every meeting and follow the rubrics. It was my own choice to belong. The same with Church. No one forced me to be Catholic. I chose it. So I must also choose to follow its rules as to how to keep holy the Sabbath day.
2) I believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Transubstantiation. I believe I am receiving Jesus's actual Body and Blood in Holy Communion, just as He offered at the Last Supper, and told the apostles to continue. Why would I skip Mass if I believe I am going to receive Jesus? That wouldn't make any sense.
3) Once I get to Church, I see people I know in the parking lot and vestibule. I also see people I know after Mass. Since teaching CCD and joining the Italian Catholic Federation, it seems that I know lots of people. I like having friends and Church, and touching base with them weekly, and being supported and encouraged by them. I also like knowing people I see because it has helped me be less judgemental.
For example, on Mother's Day, one of the ushers wished me a Happy Mother's Day. Some of you know how desperately I have wanted children, and can imagine how bitter I feel when someone wishes me a Happy Mother's Day, and I can't have kids. But the man who wished it to me was a sweet little old man I know from ICF...not well enough that he knows my story, or even remembers that I am childless. Just well enough to know that we both mean well, and would never purposely hurt the other. I knew it would hurt him to know that those words stabbed and twisted in my heart, and I like him too well to do that. I chose to confuse him by smiling, and wishing him a Happy Mother's Day as well, which seemed every bit as appropriate as wishing it to a childless woman....At one time, I don't think I would have been purposely rude to him, but I would have said I am not a mother, and been obviously upset by it. I would have gone home seething that the ushers should know better than to generically wish women without children or corsages in Church a Happy Mother's Day. This time I left chuckling. Poor man. Wondering why I wished him a Happy Mother's Day...
4) I love to sing the hymns at Church. Most of the time, it doesn't really matter which hymn. I say most of the time because I don't like it when the age old words are changed to make them more inclusive. I think we should increase our understanding to be inclusive, not change the words. For instance, "Pleased as man with man to dwell" in Hark! The Herald Angels Sing gets changed to "Pleased as us with us to dwell" every Christmas. There are other songs, but I am not sure you would recognize them as well. I like singing the hymns the way I know it. Also, it drives me crazy when we skip my favorite verse in a song due to time constraints.
That happens to the last stanza of Amazing Grace all the time. I know that it wasn't actually in the original, but still, it is a beautiful thought that reminds me that we are doing now what we will be doing joyfully one day in heaven: Singing praise to Him who we could not help but praise if only we know Him. And I love being reminded of that...
When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining like the sun,
We've no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.
Still, inclusivity and watching out for time constraints pleases some. It can't be all about me. It's Church. It ought to be all about Him, and I am not sure He cares one way or the other. I usually just add the last verse in my head anyways. As for inclusivity in hymns, unfortunately I know most of them and choose not to use the missellette to follow most of the time, so I end up singing it the old way anyway. I know. Someone ought to be blogging about me and how I mess up the hymns at Church every once in a while. Maybe they do....
5) The sermon. It is good to hear the priest's thoughts on the bible passages we read and listen to. Different priests have different styles. Father Andrew is profound in his simplicity. Father Ron is often brilliant, as is Father William. Father Ted can use the word to admonish us to be better, as well we should sometimes. I need this. I need to hear the thoughts of someone else on scripture, someone more learned and dedicated. It is good for me.
6) Bob would not stay and snuggle with me anyways. He loves going to Church on Sunday. He would leave me home alone under the covers. Then what would even be the point of staying home, am I right people?

Yes. Sometimes we go to Mass on Saturday evening instead. But even when we don't, and go on Sunday, it is SO worth it!

Please feel free to share in the comment section how you choose to keep the Sabbath holy.