In my retreat in daily life a la Ignatius of Loyola, I am currently studying his Principle and Foundation, which summarizes the point of a Christian's life. The bottom line is this: we are created to praise, reverence, and serve God, and everything that exists can either help us to do so or hinder us from doing so. Therefore, we are to be discerning about how we use the things and opportunities in our lives, so that we are continuously moving closer to God, and not turning away from God.
I have begun baby steps in the direction of listening to God's small, still voice this year by answering His call to speak publicly on several occasions about different ways God has worked in my life. Recently, I went through a bit of a faith confusion, thinking that God was calling me out of my Catholic denomination and into a different Christian denomination. Ultimately, I realized what I had previously come to know, but this time I understand it a bit better: all of Christianity is Christ's church. There is only the one Christianity. Church is not a building nor a denomination. However, the different denominations - just like different parishes within denominations - differ in what of the Gospel they focus on. None of it is wrong per se; just one focus resonates more with me than another focus.
And so, I am learning to shed my dependence on denominational affiliation as the guidepost for how to follow Jesus, and use my denominational tradition - much like St. Ignatius states in his Principle and Foundation - to the extent that it brings me closer to God, but not if it starts to interfere with my relationship with God.
Now, I know some Catholics would argue that there is nothing about Catholicism that isn't of God, but I would beg to differ and point to various events in history, both from long ago and even recently, that prove otherwise. Catholicism is not merely a set of dogma. Just like God is not merely the Commandment-Giver. For me, for instance, Eucharistic Adoration became a hindrance to my faith. I tend to be quite literal, and while I know the church does teach the Real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, for me it crossed a line into idolatry.
How? Well, I began to be unable to sense or appreciate God's omnipresence anywhere but in the physical vicinity of a tabernacle. I became confused as I would pass first the chapel and then the main sanctuary in my church, since "Jesus was in two places" there. There were times I felt guilty for wanting to "be still and know that [He is] God" in the little garden outside my church, thinking I ought to be inside the adoration chapel instead. And with my feminist neo-pagan background, it was very difficult to find the right place for Mary in my spiritual life. I longed for Jesus and wanted nothing to take any of my attention or time away from Him. Yes, I know that Mary always points us to Jesus, but I just didn't see the reason for the extra step.
Anyway, I decided to stay. Again. But I am now aware of the dangers of trying to be "a good Catholic". Instead, I am striving to follow Jesus, and not looking to any human being or human institution to define for me what that should look like.
Which brings me to the topic of service. The other thing I realized from my recent trial of faith was that I was being called to "do more". Rather than blaming my church (parish or denomination) for lack of service opportunities, I realized service was entirely my obligation as a follower of Jesus.
I realized that God put on my heart certain issues for a reason, and that there was going to be an element of stretching me past my comfort level. I need to stay open to opportunities to serve God's people. I had a strong interest in the LGBTQ community, but after a recent event I attended, I see this is mostly a matter of the church staying out of secular law and letting civil rights be handled by all the people, not just people in our church. The other issue of course is the judgment that is so common from many Christians quick to point out the speck in their gay or trans neighbor's eye, while ignoring the log drenched in the sweat, tears, and blood of victims of ruthless capitalism that is found in their own eye.
So I can speak out and act according to my conscience in spite of opposition from other Catholics, without letting myself be bullied out of the Catholic church where they'd rather not have to deal with uncomfortable, challenging issues.
Which only means I'm staying Catholic. It does not answer the question - how do I serve God?
My idea of service goes to the saints of social activism, the heroes of missionary work, the role models of perfect selflessness. Perhaps it should, but it also is limiting and debilitating.
As a mother to two young children, I know my first priority is to them. I am not outsourcing their care or education. But I also know that I cannot make their entire upbringing about them, because that is precisely how I will raise adults who believe the world revolves around them. Instead, I want to make sure that when they are grown, they will in turn feel the drive that I feel to serve others as well, and that this desire to follow Jesus by serving others will spread and multiply.
And so this is what I'm trying to figure out as we contemplate making the move into the countryside. We want to find a couple of acres of cleared land near a friendly small town, and learn various skills of self-sufficiency. I see many benefits to making such a transition. Physical and mental health. Stronger values. Useful life skills. An even more close-knit family unit. Drawing closer to God through the beauty of God's creation. Becoming part of a small community where we can learn all about interdependence.
But what about service? Of course, we aren't talking about living isolated in the wilderness; we hope to have neighbors, albeit a nice long stretch of land away from us on either side. But the other thing that comes to mind as I think about small towns in the United States is a lack of ethnic diversity, which up to this point has always been very important to us and still is. What comes with a lack of ethnic diversity is also no immigrants, and with no immigrants, no need for ESL classes or translation services. I'm trying to think - what do small towns generally need, and how can we meet those needs? Well, there's always a need for healthcare, but we are not equipped for this. There's a need for security and policing, but that's not us either. There's education of the children, but we don't do well with other people's kids. There's mechanical and technical services needed, but again, that's not us.
And how would we "plug in" to the causes that are near and dear to us? Immigration, LGBTQ, the environment. It's true, I actually don't know much of anything about small town living. I do know there tends to be a close-knit sense of community, but that comes at a price of homogeneity. If I want people from all different walks of life, then I need the city, not the country. If I want a drive into town to feel like a trip to an international airport, then I need the city, not the country. If I want to hear different languages spoken, see different religions practiced, and different lifestyles all trying to get along, then I need the city, not the country. And yet, I don't want the city life.
What are my gifts that could actually be useful in a small town? What can I teach or write about? What can I plan and organize? How can my talents not lay dormant as we retreat to country living?
The internet comes to mind. I can write online and by way of doing so, "teach". I can vote. I can give to charitable organizations that address the needs of people far away from my future small town home, while I focus my time and talents on local needs. What if God wants me to help small town white people? I know that sounds silly, but I pride myself on rooting for the underdog and in the United States, white people - what with white privilege and everything - are anything but "the underdog." Perhaps the key is actually my pride. Maybe it's time to set aside my pride and go where I am called. Maybe I need to stop letting the secular rhetoric dictate what issues I'm passionate about. Because to God, all people are equally important. Even the privileged ones.
Monday, October 28, 2019
Wednesday, October 16, 2019
Redefining Virtue
The development of doctrine was one of the critiques of the Catholic church by the Orthodox that I have actually come to think is necessary for a faith that is alive... At the same time, if I accept this idea, it opens up the possibility of all Protestantism being right and true. Good thing I finally understand the "one, holy, catholic [universal], and apostolic church" to refer to all of Christianity as a whole. Various denominations seem to focus on different aspects of the Christian faith, and no single one seems to be "the" true faith of Jesus.
And if the development of doctrine is right, then who gets to decide what does and doesn't fall under the umbrella of acceptable Christian belief and practice? Catholics of course would say the Pope and the Magisterium. But I just don't see how a bunch of celibate men can make proclamations that affect the rest of humanity. Based on what lived experience? And don't tell me it's the Holy Spirit speaking through them, because the Holy Spirit never required an intermediary in the Bible, why start now?
I'm at an infinite impasse, it seems. I rejected the Protestant churches I looked at previously because they didn't have the reverence, piety, holiness that I expected from a church. I found it in Orthodoxy, but then realized for all their holiness, it never seemed to transfer into a lived faith beyond the boundaries of their own denomination. I boomeranged back to Catholicism yet again, but it was short lived.
The piety and reverence and holiness present in the Catholic church... I am wondering if it is actually of God, of it is a recipe for self-righteousness. "Look at all the outward signs of holiness we're doing, see? We're right with God. Therefore, you should do what we say." I am scared to think of the alternative, but I think I must.
The religious establishment of Jesus's day was likewise all about piety, reverence, and outward appearances of holiness. To the point of excluding those who didn't measure up. Same story today, just with different outcasts. And Jesus spoke out against it. He didn't say, "don't be holy". In fact, He said quite the opposite: "be perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48) and "be holy for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).
But of course none of us ever fully lives up to this ideal: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). The idea to on the one hand have expectations of outward piety and reverence and on the other hand an expectation to regularly confess how we fail for any of that to actually lead to a changed life is disturbing.
I hesitate to state this next wondering. One of the virtues that repeatedly seems to draw me back to the Catholic church is chastity. Very few Christian churches actually uphold chastity according to the definition I grew up with and believe: all sex is for marriage only. What flows from this then is no adultery, obviously (though how do you explain adultery to the Old Testament patriarchs who are considered founders of our faith yet had multiple wives and concubines?), but also no premarital sex, no pornography, no prostitution, and no allowing lustful desires of any kind to overcome our emotions. The Catholic church also includes under chastity no same-sex marriage, no birth control, no artificial reproductive technologies, and if I'm not mistaken, even within the bonds of marriage - certain sexual positions and acts.
I hate to say it, but it almost seems like the whole system is set up so that the faithful inevitably fail and then have to bring these "sins" to the confessional. Now that I think about it, it's rather creepy. And considering the recent church scandals, it does not bode well for the church. It appears that some clergy may be living vicariously through the sins of the people. I mean, if we're not supposed to entertain lustful thoughts, why intentionally bring them up to a priest, thereby exposing him to what otherwise may not have entered his psyche?
But the alternative, the rhetoric that claims that the purity culture of traditional Christianity has done a lot of damage to people, doesn't yet sit well with me. They don't just do away with the Catholic teachings that I disagree with (because, you know, I'm the litmus test of what should and shouldn't be church dogma ;)), but likewise premarital sex. I suppose I agree that all other restrictions can be done away with, other than fidelity within marriage. But for some reason, the idea of allowing non-marital sex doesn't sound like holiness to me. Then again, the point is not to judge those who don't live up to the ideal, but to at least have that ideal in theory something to aspire towards. Protestant churches that have redefined chastity have lowered the bar to where it doesn't actually take any effort at all to "be chaste".
One definition I've read of the new chastity is "good stewardship of one's body, and the bodies of those we come in contact with". This is taken straight from the secular culture at large, not from any body of religious writing. The thinking seems to go, since most people are ignoring the old definition of chastity, we may as well redefine it to help people not feel shamed and judged.
Except that what happens when you start to lower the bar is that it continues to go down. I've hear that in some Protestant denominations there's even a push for non-violent pornography to be acceptable within the scope of chastity. I'm sorry, but what the what?!?!
Are we then doomed to have a moving target for our moral standards? If the bar is set too low, it keeps slipping into seriously questionable territory. If on the other hand the bar is set too high, there develops a group of self-righteous who lord it over those who don't equally live up to their definition of chastity, resulting in the shaming and judging that of course Jesus warned against. ("You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:5).)
It almost seems that what is needed is what is preached by the fundamentalists - a focus on the Bible as the sole source of authority. But of course, this doesn't make sense either, since the early church had only oral tradition to base their faith on, then both oral tradition and scripture. What is needed is a system of checks and balances. There is always going to be an interpretation of Scripture. Always. Anyone who claims they "let the Bible speak for Itself" is fooling themselves. The Bible cannot be "taken literally" any more than it can be taken as purely anecdotal. It is nuanced and a respectful approach to the Bible necessitates correct interpretation. Someone or some group of people will interpret it, as they must. The question is - who and how?
I may really need to revisit the Episcopalian church...
And if the development of doctrine is right, then who gets to decide what does and doesn't fall under the umbrella of acceptable Christian belief and practice? Catholics of course would say the Pope and the Magisterium. But I just don't see how a bunch of celibate men can make proclamations that affect the rest of humanity. Based on what lived experience? And don't tell me it's the Holy Spirit speaking through them, because the Holy Spirit never required an intermediary in the Bible, why start now?
I'm at an infinite impasse, it seems. I rejected the Protestant churches I looked at previously because they didn't have the reverence, piety, holiness that I expected from a church. I found it in Orthodoxy, but then realized for all their holiness, it never seemed to transfer into a lived faith beyond the boundaries of their own denomination. I boomeranged back to Catholicism yet again, but it was short lived.
The piety and reverence and holiness present in the Catholic church... I am wondering if it is actually of God, of it is a recipe for self-righteousness. "Look at all the outward signs of holiness we're doing, see? We're right with God. Therefore, you should do what we say." I am scared to think of the alternative, but I think I must.
The religious establishment of Jesus's day was likewise all about piety, reverence, and outward appearances of holiness. To the point of excluding those who didn't measure up. Same story today, just with different outcasts. And Jesus spoke out against it. He didn't say, "don't be holy". In fact, He said quite the opposite: "be perfect like your Father in heaven is perfect" (Matthew 5:48) and "be holy for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).
But of course none of us ever fully lives up to this ideal: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). The idea to on the one hand have expectations of outward piety and reverence and on the other hand an expectation to regularly confess how we fail for any of that to actually lead to a changed life is disturbing.
I hesitate to state this next wondering. One of the virtues that repeatedly seems to draw me back to the Catholic church is chastity. Very few Christian churches actually uphold chastity according to the definition I grew up with and believe: all sex is for marriage only. What flows from this then is no adultery, obviously (though how do you explain adultery to the Old Testament patriarchs who are considered founders of our faith yet had multiple wives and concubines?), but also no premarital sex, no pornography, no prostitution, and no allowing lustful desires of any kind to overcome our emotions. The Catholic church also includes under chastity no same-sex marriage, no birth control, no artificial reproductive technologies, and if I'm not mistaken, even within the bonds of marriage - certain sexual positions and acts.
I hate to say it, but it almost seems like the whole system is set up so that the faithful inevitably fail and then have to bring these "sins" to the confessional. Now that I think about it, it's rather creepy. And considering the recent church scandals, it does not bode well for the church. It appears that some clergy may be living vicariously through the sins of the people. I mean, if we're not supposed to entertain lustful thoughts, why intentionally bring them up to a priest, thereby exposing him to what otherwise may not have entered his psyche?
But the alternative, the rhetoric that claims that the purity culture of traditional Christianity has done a lot of damage to people, doesn't yet sit well with me. They don't just do away with the Catholic teachings that I disagree with (because, you know, I'm the litmus test of what should and shouldn't be church dogma ;)), but likewise premarital sex. I suppose I agree that all other restrictions can be done away with, other than fidelity within marriage. But for some reason, the idea of allowing non-marital sex doesn't sound like holiness to me. Then again, the point is not to judge those who don't live up to the ideal, but to at least have that ideal in theory something to aspire towards. Protestant churches that have redefined chastity have lowered the bar to where it doesn't actually take any effort at all to "be chaste".
One definition I've read of the new chastity is "good stewardship of one's body, and the bodies of those we come in contact with". This is taken straight from the secular culture at large, not from any body of religious writing. The thinking seems to go, since most people are ignoring the old definition of chastity, we may as well redefine it to help people not feel shamed and judged.
Except that what happens when you start to lower the bar is that it continues to go down. I've hear that in some Protestant denominations there's even a push for non-violent pornography to be acceptable within the scope of chastity. I'm sorry, but what the what?!?!
Are we then doomed to have a moving target for our moral standards? If the bar is set too low, it keeps slipping into seriously questionable territory. If on the other hand the bar is set too high, there develops a group of self-righteous who lord it over those who don't equally live up to their definition of chastity, resulting in the shaming and judging that of course Jesus warned against. ("You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye" (Matthew 7:5).)
It almost seems that what is needed is what is preached by the fundamentalists - a focus on the Bible as the sole source of authority. But of course, this doesn't make sense either, since the early church had only oral tradition to base their faith on, then both oral tradition and scripture. What is needed is a system of checks and balances. There is always going to be an interpretation of Scripture. Always. Anyone who claims they "let the Bible speak for Itself" is fooling themselves. The Bible cannot be "taken literally" any more than it can be taken as purely anecdotal. It is nuanced and a respectful approach to the Bible necessitates correct interpretation. Someone or some group of people will interpret it, as they must. The question is - who and how?
I may really need to revisit the Episcopalian church...
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Leadings...
What is church for? I find myself trying to answer this question as I go through my current existential crisis.
For me, I see it as a place to come together with other Jesus-followers to worship the One True God. It's a place I want to hear the Word of God proclaimed and explained and applied to my life. It's a time set aside for gratitude to God for His many blessings. It's a sense of belonging in a community of believers. It's a place to be challenged to strive to love God more deeply, to follow Him more closely, and to serve Him more intentionally. It's a place that stands counter-cultural to the society at large, where God's eternal truths are proclaimed unapologetically, and where the message of Christ is not shied away from for fear of upsetting those who see church merely as a cultural club, a place to be reminded of God's love for them without them actually having to do anything in return.
When I think of church, I think of worship. And when I think of worship, I think of reverence, sanctity, holiness, praise.
When asked to boil down His message into a nutshell, Jesus said: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 'This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 'On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40)
Lately, I have been discouraged by the disconnect between what the secular society preaches as the gospel of social justice, and the often silent or even contrary-seeming stance presented in the gospel preached at church. I have found that some churches seem better at the "love your neighbor" part of Jesus's command, and other churches seem better at the "love the Lord your God" commandment. And before you go there, let me point out that there is a reason Jesus didn't just say "love your neighbor, and thus you will show your love for God". These are related but separate actions.
God Almighty deserves direct praise and worship from us, not merely mitigated through good works towards our neighbor through various social betterment programs. This is the holiness of the gospel of Jesus that I so crave but find wanting at so many of the churches I have visited. We as Catholics claim to believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, yet in the past few decades, we have removed many of the traditional markers of reverence for His presence. We no longer line up kneeling at the altar. We dare to take the Host into our own hands to self-commune. We can't really say we fast even if we observe the meager one-hour pre-Communion "fast" because really, that's how long it takes us to go from the breakfast table to our cars to church and by the time Communion time arrives, we haven't eaten in an hour. (Where's the sacrifice in that?) Everyone is expected to go up for Communion regardless of the last time one has received Sacramental Reconciliation.
No amount of talking or writing about the real presence of Jesus is going to convince people that He is in our midst if we don't actually show this by our actions. We are a liturgical church. We expect ritual, so what is our excuse for removing the most important rituals we had surrounding the Eucharist?
But on the other hand, our church is not quite where I would envision it ought to be when it comes to loving our neighbor. Are Catholics generally very good about serving at soup kitchens, helping the homeless, and assisting with Pro-Life issues? You bet! The only problem is that there are a lot of other groups of people that get left out in the dirt. Members of the LGBTQ community are only welcome in theory, but being gay or transgender is considered a dirty word to be avoided in Catholic circles. The same applies to issues of race and equality, especially when it comes to calling out the white privilege that many of us enjoy at the expense of our Black and Brown siblings-in-Christ. Lately, too, nationalism and patriotism have risen to the level of virtue, leading to isolation of the immigrant and refuge in our midst.
And so here I am, a twice-over revert to Catholicism, desperately wanting to follow Jesus with fellow believers who are committed to leading lives of virtue, holiness, and holding each other accountable, while at the same time refraining from judgment when it comes to the perceived virtue or holiness of others. I remember Jesus saying something about specks and logs in eyes that seems relevant here (see Matthew 7:5).
And so I embark on what promises to be a long, arduous, and trying spiritual journey not to find God, as I have done in the past, but to better serve Him. My desire for holiness pulls me in one direction; my desire for justice pulls me in opposite directions. One place I'm pretty sure I cannot remain is where I am. The Lord is either calling me deeper into my Catholic faith (secular Franciscan? Traditional Latin Mass?), or out of Catholicism and into Eastern Orthodoxy. Perhaps there is a third option, for I believe in an omnipotent God, and I also know that His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8-9).
Only time will tell where the Holy Spirit leads. I trust the process.
For me, I see it as a place to come together with other Jesus-followers to worship the One True God. It's a place I want to hear the Word of God proclaimed and explained and applied to my life. It's a time set aside for gratitude to God for His many blessings. It's a sense of belonging in a community of believers. It's a place to be challenged to strive to love God more deeply, to follow Him more closely, and to serve Him more intentionally. It's a place that stands counter-cultural to the society at large, where God's eternal truths are proclaimed unapologetically, and where the message of Christ is not shied away from for fear of upsetting those who see church merely as a cultural club, a place to be reminded of God's love for them without them actually having to do anything in return.
When I think of church, I think of worship. And when I think of worship, I think of reverence, sanctity, holiness, praise.
When asked to boil down His message into a nutshell, Jesus said: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 'This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 'On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:37-40)
Lately, I have been discouraged by the disconnect between what the secular society preaches as the gospel of social justice, and the often silent or even contrary-seeming stance presented in the gospel preached at church. I have found that some churches seem better at the "love your neighbor" part of Jesus's command, and other churches seem better at the "love the Lord your God" commandment. And before you go there, let me point out that there is a reason Jesus didn't just say "love your neighbor, and thus you will show your love for God". These are related but separate actions.
God Almighty deserves direct praise and worship from us, not merely mitigated through good works towards our neighbor through various social betterment programs. This is the holiness of the gospel of Jesus that I so crave but find wanting at so many of the churches I have visited. We as Catholics claim to believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, yet in the past few decades, we have removed many of the traditional markers of reverence for His presence. We no longer line up kneeling at the altar. We dare to take the Host into our own hands to self-commune. We can't really say we fast even if we observe the meager one-hour pre-Communion "fast" because really, that's how long it takes us to go from the breakfast table to our cars to church and by the time Communion time arrives, we haven't eaten in an hour. (Where's the sacrifice in that?) Everyone is expected to go up for Communion regardless of the last time one has received Sacramental Reconciliation.
No amount of talking or writing about the real presence of Jesus is going to convince people that He is in our midst if we don't actually show this by our actions. We are a liturgical church. We expect ritual, so what is our excuse for removing the most important rituals we had surrounding the Eucharist?
But on the other hand, our church is not quite where I would envision it ought to be when it comes to loving our neighbor. Are Catholics generally very good about serving at soup kitchens, helping the homeless, and assisting with Pro-Life issues? You bet! The only problem is that there are a lot of other groups of people that get left out in the dirt. Members of the LGBTQ community are only welcome in theory, but being gay or transgender is considered a dirty word to be avoided in Catholic circles. The same applies to issues of race and equality, especially when it comes to calling out the white privilege that many of us enjoy at the expense of our Black and Brown siblings-in-Christ. Lately, too, nationalism and patriotism have risen to the level of virtue, leading to isolation of the immigrant and refuge in our midst.
And so here I am, a twice-over revert to Catholicism, desperately wanting to follow Jesus with fellow believers who are committed to leading lives of virtue, holiness, and holding each other accountable, while at the same time refraining from judgment when it comes to the perceived virtue or holiness of others. I remember Jesus saying something about specks and logs in eyes that seems relevant here (see Matthew 7:5).
And so I embark on what promises to be a long, arduous, and trying spiritual journey not to find God, as I have done in the past, but to better serve Him. My desire for holiness pulls me in one direction; my desire for justice pulls me in opposite directions. One place I'm pretty sure I cannot remain is where I am. The Lord is either calling me deeper into my Catholic faith (secular Franciscan? Traditional Latin Mass?), or out of Catholicism and into Eastern Orthodoxy. Perhaps there is a third option, for I believe in an omnipotent God, and I also know that His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts (see Isaiah 55:8-9).
Only time will tell where the Holy Spirit leads. I trust the process.
Celebrate Recovery Mass Invitation
My name is Karolina, I'm a grateful believer in Jesus Christ, and I struggle with codependence, boundary and control issues, and people pleasing.
This is how I generally introduce myself at Celebrate Recovery meetings, held every Thursday evening at the Parish Office.
Two years ago, I heard the announcement at Mass that there was a new ministry starting at OLPH called Celebrate Recovery, and even though it was made clear that this new ministry was relevant for anyone with any sort of "hurt, habit, or hang-up", I automatically assumed that any 12-step program must deal with addiction, and since this didn't describe me, I ignored it.
Meanwhile, I was meeting with a counselor to work on some relationship issues that had been holding me back and preventing me from truly living for Christ without understanding why. My counselor suggested I read a certain book, and when the book, which spoke very clearly to my condition, recommended Celebrate Recovery, I couldn't believe my luck.
When I attended my first Celebrate Recovery meeting, I remember thinking that this is what being in a Christian community is all about. Nearly two years later, I still say I've never met a group of more nonjudgmental, honest people of integrity.
Working the 12 steps of Celebrate Recovery has helped me identify and overcome many of my hurts, habits, and hang-ups. I was hung up on what people thought of me, which of course is bound to end in heartache. I had a bad habit of trying to control other people in an effort to feel good about myself. And I uncovered hurts I hadn't realized needed to be dealt with but were the source of much angst in my life.
You may be where I found myself two years ago. Maybe nothing majorly earth-shattering seems to be interfering in your life, in your walk with Christ. But if you wouldn't call yourself a Saint just yet, Celebrate Recovery can help.
Maybe you are dealing with something very difficult, something hard to articulate even, that is preventing you from being a better version of yourself, as the Catholic author Matthew Kelley likes to say. Celebrate Recovery can help.
Maybe you see the world from a victim perspective, and maybe you truly have been the victim of unfortunate, even terrible, circumstances. There is hope in Christ, and Celebrate Recovery can help.
But don't take my word for it. Join us every Thursday evening at the Parish Office. We gather for informal fellowship and dinner at 6:30, followed by a little praise and worship and a testimony or teaching, and finally we break into women's and men's small groups to openly share our struggles and successes with each other, or just sit in silence, offering a safe space for others to share.
There is no commitment and no obligation. Come as you are, when you can. Come late, leave early, but don't let this amazing opportunity to grow in Christ pass you by, like I almost did.
Thank you for letting me share.
This is how I generally introduce myself at Celebrate Recovery meetings, held every Thursday evening at the Parish Office.
Two years ago, I heard the announcement at Mass that there was a new ministry starting at OLPH called Celebrate Recovery, and even though it was made clear that this new ministry was relevant for anyone with any sort of "hurt, habit, or hang-up", I automatically assumed that any 12-step program must deal with addiction, and since this didn't describe me, I ignored it.
Meanwhile, I was meeting with a counselor to work on some relationship issues that had been holding me back and preventing me from truly living for Christ without understanding why. My counselor suggested I read a certain book, and when the book, which spoke very clearly to my condition, recommended Celebrate Recovery, I couldn't believe my luck.
When I attended my first Celebrate Recovery meeting, I remember thinking that this is what being in a Christian community is all about. Nearly two years later, I still say I've never met a group of more nonjudgmental, honest people of integrity.
Working the 12 steps of Celebrate Recovery has helped me identify and overcome many of my hurts, habits, and hang-ups. I was hung up on what people thought of me, which of course is bound to end in heartache. I had a bad habit of trying to control other people in an effort to feel good about myself. And I uncovered hurts I hadn't realized needed to be dealt with but were the source of much angst in my life.
You may be where I found myself two years ago. Maybe nothing majorly earth-shattering seems to be interfering in your life, in your walk with Christ. But if you wouldn't call yourself a Saint just yet, Celebrate Recovery can help.
Maybe you are dealing with something very difficult, something hard to articulate even, that is preventing you from being a better version of yourself, as the Catholic author Matthew Kelley likes to say. Celebrate Recovery can help.
Maybe you see the world from a victim perspective, and maybe you truly have been the victim of unfortunate, even terrible, circumstances. There is hope in Christ, and Celebrate Recovery can help.
But don't take my word for it. Join us every Thursday evening at the Parish Office. We gather for informal fellowship and dinner at 6:30, followed by a little praise and worship and a testimony or teaching, and finally we break into women's and men's small groups to openly share our struggles and successes with each other, or just sit in silence, offering a safe space for others to share.
There is no commitment and no obligation. Come as you are, when you can. Come late, leave early, but don't let this amazing opportunity to grow in Christ pass you by, like I almost did.
Thank you for letting me share.
Notes from Evolving Faith Conference 2019
*"The Bible is not the fourth member of the Trinity."
Following Jesus made one speaker a feminist. For me, following Jesus nullified my feminist identity.
There is a strong critique of the "purity culture". Yes, Jesus dined with sex workers, but He also said "sin no more".
"Religion" means "ligament, rediscover our wholeness.
The Garden of Eden is the womb of our childhood, idyllic, but we were meant to "leave home" and till the soil. So it wasn't a punishment to be kicked out.
*"My view of God is not the same as God."
Systems keep you from having to think for yourself.
Seminary teaches us to objectify God.
*"Evolving doesn't always require an exodus. Sometimes it just requires an exfoliation."
A people with holy imagination who didn't throw away the Bible though it was used to keep them in bondage. They didn't throw away Jesus, even though crosses were burned in their yard. (re: African-Americans)
*"What the Lord requires also requires the Lord."
"White supremacy is the inaccurate retelling of history."
Decolonialization... this keeps coming up. How do I do it? When teaching history in our homeschool, the first thing I must keep in mind is to try to avoid excessive Euro/White-centrism. The Greeks were not actually the oldest democracy but rather Native American nations. And the US was not merely built on the freedom of religion (that was only true for most of the White settlers), but on forced labor (African slaves did not come here for freedom!) and on cultural genocide and resettlement (Native American peoples did not "come here", they were here first). It matters to tell all of the narratives. But outside of this teaching of history, how else do I decolonize?
If it's not good news for women, for people of color, for members of the LGBTQ community, for the disabled, for immigrants, for the poor... then it is not good news.
Luke 1, written by Brown, colonized people: "In the days of King Herod, in the days of a despot, in the days of a man who loved to build tall buildings and put his name on it, in those days...God broke into the world."
Brown Jesus, indigenous Jesus, colonized Jesus is here to set the image of God free.
If God is love and the Holy Trinity is relationship, then sin is anything that breaks relationships.
Following Jesus made one speaker a feminist. For me, following Jesus nullified my feminist identity.
There is a strong critique of the "purity culture". Yes, Jesus dined with sex workers, but He also said "sin no more".
"Religion" means "ligament, rediscover our wholeness.
The Garden of Eden is the womb of our childhood, idyllic, but we were meant to "leave home" and till the soil. So it wasn't a punishment to be kicked out.
*"My view of God is not the same as God."
Systems keep you from having to think for yourself.
Seminary teaches us to objectify God.
*"Evolving doesn't always require an exodus. Sometimes it just requires an exfoliation."
A people with holy imagination who didn't throw away the Bible though it was used to keep them in bondage. They didn't throw away Jesus, even though crosses were burned in their yard. (re: African-Americans)
*"What the Lord requires also requires the Lord."
"White supremacy is the inaccurate retelling of history."
Decolonialization... this keeps coming up. How do I do it? When teaching history in our homeschool, the first thing I must keep in mind is to try to avoid excessive Euro/White-centrism. The Greeks were not actually the oldest democracy but rather Native American nations. And the US was not merely built on the freedom of religion (that was only true for most of the White settlers), but on forced labor (African slaves did not come here for freedom!) and on cultural genocide and resettlement (Native American peoples did not "come here", they were here first). It matters to tell all of the narratives. But outside of this teaching of history, how else do I decolonize?
If it's not good news for women, for people of color, for members of the LGBTQ community, for the disabled, for immigrants, for the poor... then it is not good news.
Luke 1, written by Brown, colonized people: "In the days of King Herod, in the days of a despot, in the days of a man who loved to build tall buildings and put his name on it, in those days...God broke into the world."
Brown Jesus, indigenous Jesus, colonized Jesus is here to set the image of God free.
If God is love and the Holy Trinity is relationship, then sin is anything that breaks relationships.
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