A few days ago I went to my daughter's school for parent/teacher conferences. As I was waiting for another parent to be finished I roamed the halls looking at art projects, a prayer corner, scientific symbols, etc. As I turned a corner I noticed a large colored poster listing the pictures and names of all of the priests of the diocese and the pictures of seminarians and the places where they are studying. I couldn't help but feel a little disconnected from them as my brothers in Christ. I began thinking of my own journey in my theological education and wondering how helpful it would have been for me to be noticed by my parish and the diocese as one following her calling by the Holy Spirit to study and write theology. I also thought about the four spiritual discernment students who have so couragiously faced the differences between their False Self and their Authentic Self and what sacrifices this has cost them. They, too, would certainly have benefitted from the prayerful support of the parish and the life affirming comments that their brothers and sisters in Christ could have greeted them with. They are lay leaders of the Church going forward into the uncertainty of faith and they do not even know how the Holy Spirit is using them to bring Him to the church and to the world.
So many of us are so used to being the "other" within our parish community that we do not even make note of it anymore. The body of Christ in which no spiritual gift is to be above another has created a hierarchical picture of what is important and has been so successful that the laity doesn't even question themselves about the gifts of the Spirit once it has been determined they are not being called to ordination or the religious life. This is an institutional manipulation of faithful that continues to create an atmosphere in which women and men are spiritually imprisoned and deprived of the wisdom of God.
In the 1990's Pope John Paul II apologized to women within the Church for the Church's role in denying them equality of dignity. What a wonderful thing to seek forgiveness but is it truly forgiveness that is sought when change is not expected and demanded. It reminds me of a political program that I watched one day where a homosexual speaker was talking about the need for laws changing because when left to "reason", homosexuals and others who have lived as different were not truly respected in their difference. They were still the "other".
The Church with all of its knowledge and all of its grace certainly should be able to move forward in the Spirit of Christ and open wide its doors to the different gifts that are being provided for the sake of Christ's mission. This should not be rocket science. So what is the problem here? Why are there posters with only pictures of men and the special callings that they have? Where are the women? Where are the laity? Why not a wall of faithful for the children to see as role models of faith? What is the fear here that still keeps us only affirming and celebrating a few? Do these deserve to be on this poster? Absolutely, yes. Do they deserve to be prayed for and assisted in faith and through the means of benefactors? Absolutely, yes. But so does every other person who going forth with "yes" on their lips. They need to be able to clarify their gifts and their vocations within the body of Christ or the body hurts as Scripture tells us; the Church hurts; the children hurt, and most of all of those who feel displaced and limited are hurt.
We, as the Church, need to change this. We need to be open to the Holy Spirit to speak up when opportunity comes. We need to write about our disagreement with this way of presenting our parish. We need to "see" and "hear" those who are struggling because of it. We cannot pass this on to someone else for if not us, then who? Amen.
It seems to me that the whole issue could revolve around the idea that the charisms or vocations that are lifted up are those involving the priesthood, or religious brothers or sisters. The only real discussion of a "call of the holy spirit" is in regard to those pathways. If the discussion of call and vocation were broadened so thatthe idea of asking God for guidance in choosing ones direction etc. were opened and normalized for everyone, there would be more of a celebration of people's call and their charisms. It would lead to healthier, more spiritually alive parishes, and quite likely an increase in priestly vocations.
ReplyDeleteBrian
How right you are. My question, though, is this? There is so much material already written about exactly what you have just stated. Why do you think this mentality continues? What needs to happen within our parishes to connect them with advancements occurring elsewhere?
DeleteI think ithas to do with a narrowness of vision. I think there is a NEED for priests, so the church hierarchy puts an emphasis on the idea that VOCATION as a calling to religious life, ie. priest, sister, brother or deacon. Even brother, sister and deacon are secondary to the Priestly vocation. Thus, people with a call to service, to religious vocation may even be artificially pushed toward the priesthood. If, instead, the idea of vocation as a calling to live one's life as a Catholicin society, and using ones gifts as God calls us, whatever direction that might be, the whole idea of answeringa call becomes more normalized for everyone, allowing a more full examination of a "call". This may even serve to prevent people who are not really called to the priesthood to not go down that path and instead find another way of more fuly living out their call. One could speculatively suggest that perhaps this would even help prevent some abusive situations
DeleteBrian