Things Borrowed for Good Friday

From Paul Brian Campbell, SJ at People for Others, this ancient Irish Prayer:

O King of the Friday
Whose limbs were stretched on the Cross,
O Lord who did suffer
The bruises, the wounds, the loss,
We stretch ourselves
Beneath the shield of thy might,
Some fruit from the tree of thy pass
Fall on us this night!

From Fr. Austin Fleming at A Concord Pastor Comments, "What Our Savior Saw from the Cross" by Tissot:

To Tatt or Not to Tatt...Ew?

To commemorate (What a) Year for Priests, Paul Brian Campbell, S.J. has offered readers of People for Others the opportunity to ask any question they might have about priesthood. My immediate question for him was, "are you nuts?" Still, I admire his willingness to serve the PoG* this way.

Turns out I needn't have worried much because the ten questions that will be reduced to five via voting are predictable and lacking in luster, with this exception: "Is it ok to get a tattoo?"

According to my calculations, at least four people want this query to be in the final five ─ not enough to rate an entire blog post by Paul, who has nevertheless confessed an "occasional urge to get A.M.D.G. inked on [his] upper arm."

Maybe it's the factoid of being raised Jewish, but I view tattooing as something of much more interest and significance to Jews, especially those who are Torah observant. (And, ok, Christians who might be a bit too fond of quoting Leviticus.**) In other words, I have difficulty wrapping my brain around why anyone would ask a Roman Catholic priest about tattoos.

Jews of a certain generation (mine) were raised to believe getting tattooed guaranteed exclusion from a Jewish cemetery which, as it turns out, isn't true. Also, we grew up around Shoah survivors whose arms had been brutally tattooed by Nazis.

Is it ok to get a tattoo? Can a Roman Catholic priest say getting a tattoo is okay without sounding like a supersecessionist? Probably ─ if he's up on the debates among Jews on the matter.

GenY and Millennials have come up with creative interpretations of Leviticus 19:28, my faves being from Punk Torah, especially this "Ask the Alterna-Rebbe" video about body piercings and Judaism. I also recommend Monica Rozenfeld's article in Busted Halo, "Tattooed Jews" for an overview of arguments about body defilement, idolatry, and self-expression.

I was keen on "body art" for myself during the 1980s. Alas, by the time I'd decided what I might want and where I might want it, my skin had lost enough collagen to ix-nay the project. Since that sorry skin slide continues, a tattoo is not in my future, although if I had the skin tone, pain tolerance, money and time I'd want one that looks like this:



*People of God
** Especially, Leviticus 20:13

Blogalogue with Paul Brian Campbell: Day Five

Love when a man of God is also wise, smart and a good sport! Paul Brian Campbell, SJ is certainly all that and more, especially considering the conditions under which he's writing this morning to answer my question: "What do you make of Pope Benedict's latest statement calling for the Church to do penance?"

Meredith,

I write this under unusual circumstances as I have a three-year old crawling all over me and offering to help me type. I’m staying with friends in Southern California because last night I sponsored their eldest son at Confirmation.

My hostess is the quintessential “good Catholic mother.” (She claims her mother wouldn’t agree but she says that at least she tries.) She told me she nearly stood up and had a “Joe Wilson moment” during the homily on Good Friday when her Pastor preached on how attacks on the Pope were attacks on all of us. She was not impressed with the latest from the Holy Father. I think the Vatican has lost nearly all its credibility with people like my friend.

I think that Pope Benedict is saying the right things or at least better things but I’m concerned that it’s too little, too late. I am reminded of the British queen who initially failed to respond to Princess Diana’s death and only appeared on TV with a stilted appreciation of Diana because the British people were outraged and demanded that she do something. Queen Elizabeth did enough to appease the nation and is still on the throne. I imagine Pope Benedict will also survive this crisis.

This has not been my most cogent post, I’m afraid, but I’d rather write with my god-daughter hanging around my neck than do anything else on earth.

Thank you for the last week of dialogue. It has been wondrous. Bless you.

Paul

____________

You'll find my answer to Paul's poignant question (from a poem by Mary Oliver) over at People for Others.

Blogalogue with Paul Brian Campbell: Day Four

Over at People for Others, Paul notes that we're "keeping it 'real.'" More evidence of that in Paul's response to my question, "How is this week different from all other weeks?" He reminds us that our faith calls and re-calls every Christian to generosity and compassion as a commitment, not necessarily a "feeling."

Meredith,

This has certainly been a "different" week. I want to use this post to reflect on what has been happening these last few days. I have been astonished by some of the comments our blogalogue has called forth from readers. Some have remarked that our dialogue is impressive, but others have been less pleased. One commenter expressed the desire to see us rot in hell.*

Yesterday, as you well know, I was pretty worked up about some of the nastier comments and we exchanged a couple of emails about how to respond, if at all, to negative remarks. Before we decided anything, I got word that the father of a fellow Jesuit had a heart attack. Suddenly, I had no time for moral certitude about the correctness of my opinions. My feelings of self-righteous indignation evaporated. Someone I cared deeply about needed my support and this helped me put everything else into a new perspective.

I found myself thinking about my friend's Dad -- a gun-toting (no kidding) rock-ribbed conservative who is also one of the kindest and most courteous men I know. Similarly, a staunch liberal friend came to mind. Never shy about expressing her opinions, she is unfailingly respectful of others no matter how much she might disagree with their positions,

Whether or not they know it or can admit it to themselves, our most strident critics (and perhaps our most ardent admirers) are motivated by fear and/or have been damaged by the Church. They deserve my respectful attention, not my derision. Perhaps the only thing I can offer is to pray for them and wish them well. If I don't resolve to break the cycle of vitriloic point and counterpoint, who will?

My lofty benevolence here makes even me suspicious. Check back with me in a month to see if I'm beginning to "walk the walk."

Paul

*Editor's Note: Really? Must have missed that one because I was fixated on being characterized as "boring." Pride goeth, etc.

____________________________________

Today, you can find out what I have to say about vocation (mine) over at People for Others.

Blogalogue with Paul Brian Campbell: Day Three

Intrigued by Paul's job title beyond the "SJ," I asked him to tell us more about being the Vice President for Mission and Identity for Loyola Press. I tossed a bunch of dimensions at him: "Philosophically/theologically/practically speaking, what does that mean?" Here's his answer and I want to highlight Other6.com. Paul calls it a "ministerial website." I view it as yet another opportunity to deepen faith and more consciously live out our baptismal call.


Meredith,

I’d love to give a smart-aleck response to your rather complicated question, but it deserves a (fairly) serious answer. Very few companies have “Mission & Identity” officers but, then, we’re not like most other companies because we are a not-for-profit Jesuit ministry.

It drives our Sales & Marketing folks slightly crazy when I remind them that our Jesuit owners prefer to see people draw closer to God than for us to bring in millions of dollars. (Of course, they prefer it if we can do both!)

About 90 people are employed at the Press and that includes two Jesuits. Having said that, it is the most thorough and intentional Jesuit work I have ever encountered because our (lay) leadership has drunk endless gallons of Ignatian Kool Aid and is totally committed to our mission.

A member of the managerial team, my formal brief calls for me to work on our “ministerial websites” (IgnatianSpirituality.com and Other6.com). I am responsible for New Employee Orientations, arrange for on-going formation of our staff on Ignatian topics, help lead a small group through the 19^th Annotation of the Spiritual Exercises, and am local coordinator of those participating in a national Ignatian formation program. I am also asked to represent the “Jesuit face” of Loyola Press in various settings.

A good deal of my work, however, goes on behind the scenes – I respond to customers who are upset by something an author has said or written, I persuade authors that their carefully-chosen titles will doom their books’ sales potential, and I visit diocesan offices to learn how the Press might better serve its customers.

Loyola Press wants to help people develop a deeper friendship with God. I love that mission and am thrilled to work here. I’m not at all sure that my response has been sufficiently philosophical or theological, but I hope it has been practical enough.

Paul

____________________

Today, you can find what I have to say about using social media to build faith and community at People for Others.

Blogalogue with Paul Brian Campbell: Day Two

My conversation with Paul Brian Campbell, S.J. continues with his response to my comments about choosing to stay in the Catholic church these dicey days. Meanwhile, over at People for Others, I respond to his question about why I think Catholics ought to pay attention to the "Emerging Church" movement.


Meredith,

I asked you to write on the question, “Why do you choose to stay in the Catholic church when it appears to be in crisis?” I was moved by your thoughts and wanted to respond immediately.

The line that leaps out at me is: “I actively, consciously choose to walk by faith and not by fright.” I needed to hear that from someone. I have been so angry at the hierarchy and frightened of impending doom for so long that I have all but overlooked my calling “to walk by faith.” Not blind faith, not stick your head in the sand faith, but a calm and steady-eyed trust in God made manifest in Jesus Christ.

You believe that Holy Spirit-generated change is coming and point out that the challenge is believing that we can “all be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye.” Tell me about it. I am old enough to (just) remember the turmoil and excitement that followed Vatican II. Lots of change and hopes for a more participative laity and responsive hierarchy. And then it all seemed to be clawed back as the Church’s innate conservatism emerged victorious once more.

Is it possible that this crisis will lead to real and lasting change in the way the Church sees itself and operates among us?

What gets me is that individual Catholics, whether clergy or lay, have no apparent difficulty in standing up at Mass and humbly stating, “I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned through my own fault, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; and I ask Blessed Mary, ever virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.” Why, then, as an institution can our hierarchy not summon up the guts to make the same Confiteor collectively?

You stay because you “know God is bigger and the Holy Spirit more powerful than anything humans might muck up.” Meredith, I believe. Help my unbelief.

Paul

Blogalogue with Paul Campbell: Day One

This week: A conversation with Paul Brian Campbell, S.J., VP for Mission, Identity, and Online Community at Loyola Press whose blog, People for Others inspires and delights.

From the blog description: "Paul dares to believe that people for others will, quite literally, make the world a better place." We start by ruminating about being Roman Catholic these days. Visit his blog to see what I have to say.


What helps you remain in the Catholic Church during times of crisis?

Meredith,
The cynical and, sadly, partly true answer to your question is learned apathy and inertia. I feel so bludgeoned by what has been happening in the Church since the sexual abuse scandal started coming to light, that I sometimes feel like a turtle that has withdrawn into its shell and is waiting a long time before attempting to stick its neck out again.

There have been moments when I’ve been tempted to flee to some cleaner and tidier form of Christianity like the Episcopal Church or the Quakers. But then, I remember what you recently and beautifully expressed about spending: “...way too much time muttering, 'I’m outta here,' stay anyway and quote James Joyce through gritted teeth: 'Here comes everybody.'"

Another part of the answer is that I myself know how the Church has always been in crisis. If we weren’t being persecuted by authorities, then we were the ones organizing the persecution.

I find that I have to keep going back to Jesus Christ.

I believe that Jesus is the Incarnate Son of God, I believe that He founded the Church (but not the Vatican!) upon St. Peter and his sometimes scandalous successors. Most viscerally, I believe in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. I cannot imagine being able to separate myself from the Body of Christ.

What worries me most is the thought that by staying in the Church and within its hierarchical structure I am defending the indefensible and collaborating with the corrupt. I keep telling myself that the Holy Spirit is in charge and that what needs to change will change. Trouble is, of course, with the Church you need as much patience as God has…

Paul

Starting Monday: Blog-alogue with Paul Brian Campbell, S.J.

Glory be! After months of chatting via various media, Paul Brian Campbell, S.J., VP for Mission, Identity, and Online Community at Loyola Press suggested we engage in a public blog-alogue during Easter.

Can't remember if he said, "during Easter" or "let's get through Holy Week." In either event, we've made the journey through Holy Week, proclaimed "He is Risen!" and are now geared up to hunker down for a blog-alogue starting Monday, April 12. Here's the drill:

We've developed five questions for one another to answer. My questions for Paul and his answers will appear right here. His questions for me and my answers will appear over at his blog, People for Others.* Our responses will also appear as blog posts rather than in the comments box. We're hoping you'll use the comments box on both of blogs to join our conversation.

Just a guess, but due to our gift of gab and no shortage of opinions, this week-long event could possibly last until Jesus comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead. World without end.


*Note this note from his blog: Although he is a member of the Society of Jesus [Jesuits], the views he expresses in this blog are not necessarily those of the Jesuits or Loyola Press.