One of the tenets of modernity is that art is supposed to be challenging. It is supposed to shock us an make us look at things in a new way… or something like that. I think that is a bunch of hooey actually. But it is hooey that is often used to allow the most pedantic, anti-religious, screeds imaginable get a firm voice in the public forum as long as they are directed against Christians and especially if they are aimed at the Catholic Church. This time the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities gets to display its incredible cultural sensitivity with a blasphemous play entitled The Pope and the Witch . “Tolerance” at its finest. At any rate, I am glad they got to put on their little play since it became the catalyst for a little bit of political action staring some very worthy men.

I wouldn’t care at all to see the play, but the play outside the play must have been worth watching. After reading about the topic on Open Book I clicked to Cathy_of_Alex at The Recovering Dissident Catholic to read her comments.

Drifting on the wind on this snowy evening, I thought I heard “O Sanctissima”. Huh? I rounded the corner and there’s a whole big crowd of 70-80 people in front of Rarig. Mostly men. 2 of them in surplices and holding a banner: “Men of Christ”, with the insignia of St. John Vianney, the college seminary at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

I finally noticeed that the 4 young men who parked next to me had pullovers with the word Vianney on their right sleeves. We all moved in to support the crowd. They were really well organized. They had laminated sheets with the words to their hymns. They were reciting the Sorrowful Mysteries and alternating with hymns: “O Sanctissima”, “Immaculate Mary” I was so overcome I can’t still can’t remember what else. It doesn’t matter. The future of our priesthood was there and well represented. Men of Christ, indeed. 

The good men of Saint John Vianney College Seminary had come out in force. As Amy of Open Book pointed out Father William Baer of Saint John Vianney College Seminary’s comment on Stella Borealis:

Do we want Catholic men to sing? Give them a chance to fight for Christ, give them a chance to celebrate our victory in Christ, and then give them chants and anthems, ancient and new, whose words and melodies and spirit befit an unconquerable band of brothers in Christ.

Adoro te Devote picks up the tale with these comments

 

Just a few short moments after the police officer left, the Cavalry from SJV arrived and set up shop, so we crossed the street to join them. They held their banner, and let me tell you, these guys are HARD CORE! They wore cassocks and surplices, but no coats, not hats, no gloves. They stood with their banner and we all grouped behind them, now on the gathering area in front of the theatre.

It was beautiful; I have never before been surrounded so completely by male voices singing with such dedication and resonance. Usually, in church, in choirs, most of the singers are women, but tonight was different. We female voices added to the prayers and to the songs as a compliment, rounding out the tones raised in glory to God.

The prayers were powerful, they were bold, and above all, they were peaceful.

We stood out in that cold, shivering, protesting, and showing the world that we, as Catholics, have a living, vibrant faith that will not be quashed by the intentional misconstrual of our beliefs. By our prayers for the Pope, we displayed our solidarity to the Vicar of Christ, while behind our backs the Pontiff was being mocked in full theatrical glory to the amusement of those worshipping at the altar of secularity.

By the end, my fingers were so numb I could barely move them over the beads of my rosary and I thought my toes had been lost. Many were shivering, shuffling, but no one faltered, no one stopped, no one gave up.

 

I am glad to see these young people out there entering the fray. God bless each of you.

 

Hooray… even more blogs are picking up this story including one of my favorites:

Happy Catholic  — “It’s bad enough those folks outside are praying for me!”

 

Sometimes the press’ take on thing relating to the Catholic Church amuses me to no end. Take for example this article in the New York Post.

Queen of Peace parish in Kew Gardens Hills has open the doors of its school building to the Ida B. Wells School for pregnant and parenting girls. The parish lost its school due to declining enrollment and the girls needed a refuge from the “dilapidated building in Jamaica”. The article’s author seems to be stuck in an “oh wow that is odd” mindset with clichés like “Strange bedfellows” and points to an “obvious clash of sensibilities”. But I see nothing odd or even remarkable about the arrangement. The parish lets the 80 students and 50 babies attend classes in its buildings with the provision that any course conflicting with Church teaching be given at a nearby public school and not on parish property. It all seems reasonable to me.

But… What a good thing to see. Not just that the secular press is reporting on the story, but that the girls have a place to go where they and their children can be safe and warm. Where they can receive and education and hope to improve their lives and the lives of their children. 

While I am not a huge fan of public education  I hope that they see much success.

 

See also: Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling 2 for info about the hymn

A friend of mine once said “There must be something really powerful in feeling that you have discovered what God wants you to be doing with your life and living that life fully and unapologetically.” These are very powerful words. Satisfaction in life should boil down to one thing Vocation. God creates each of us to love and to serve him, He has laid out his “Golden Path” for us, each of us, having the courage to step onto that path and follow it to the end frees us to find honest joy.

 

This Lent I am reading St. Therese, Story of a Soul, for much of my life I have struggled with the idea that I should be successful in the world’s notion of success, that somehow I need to do more and be more. I am learning slowly and painfully that I need to trust more and be little and follow quietly in my path. I don’t care right now in this time and place if anyone outside the sphere of my family and friends knows my name or when I die if the world mourns my passing. I will be content if I raise godly men and women from the children I have been entrusted, if I do good work, if I love my husband. Those things are my vocation, my role and the end and beginning of my happiness. It is a small path, a little house, a simple garden, but it is crowded with joy and lovely things that Christ is waiting for me to take pleasure in.

Speaking of Vocation, The Anchoress has a link to something joyful. The Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist started ten years ago with four sisters. They now number seventy with an average age of twenty-eight. They made the television. I wish, on occasion, that I had that calling. Though it is not mine I respect it very much. As others before me have observed those Orders who have kept their habits, their poverty, the life of obedience are the ones that have survived. They are the ones currently growing. The “Elvis style nuns” are dieing off – quite literally. These nuns are cool, and traditional, and alive.