Spirituality is Relational

My orientation, and my bias, is toward spiritual practice and ecumenical dialogue. This week has been a roller coaster ride in seeing the good and the bad. In all of it it I was reminded that any meaningful and authentic life is one lived in relationship with others and that any spirituality will likewise be relational. 

Here are the three "events" for me over the past week.  

I.                 Reporting a Culture of Abuse

On Monday, I read more about the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic Church. You have probably heard of the film, Spotlight, "The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core." I have heard good things about the movie, though I haven't seen it yet. Our local diocesan newspaper, One Voice, which is rather conservative, ran an article about the film. The title of the article was, “Spotlight is not anti-Catholic, Vatican newspaper says.”  On the same page they ran another news item about yet more sexual abuse at a Catholic school in Pennsylvania. Both articles were from the Catholic News Service.

 The article about Spotlight observed:

"it is now clear that too many in the church were more worried about the image of the institution than the seriousness of the act."

"All of this cannot justify the very grave crime of one, who as a representative of God, uses this prestige and authority to take advantage of the innocent," the article said.

The film, in fact, shows the kind of devastation wrought on victims when "they don't even have a God to plead with anymore, to ask for help," it said.

The second article related to a case in Altoona, Pennsylvania, “Report:Priests abused hundreds of kids in Altoona-Johnstown Diocese.” The opening lines reported:

Hundreds of children were sexually abused over at least 40 years by priests and other religious leaders in the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, a statewide grand jury found.

At least 50 priests or religious leaders were involved in the abuse and diocesan leaders systematically concealed the abuse to protect the church's image, according to a grand jury report released March 1 by Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane.

Even after at least 15 years of increasing awareness of the scandal, as a Catholic convert, I find it shocking and incredible that what I can only call "a culture of abuse" has existed within the church. Even with the distressing news of new allegations in Pennsylvania, I see it as a sign of hope that it is being reported rather than ignored in our diocesan paper. A tenuous hope, some may say, but I must also acknowledge the positive aspects of our community of faith. At least more of our society is aware of the problem which hopefully will lead to better protection of our children. (To read a poem I wrote on the subject in 2002, “Slowly God Arises,” go here)

II.             Responding to A Culture of Hate

Being Muslim in Alabama panel discussion
(Photo from Over the Mountain Democrats Facebook page)

On Wednesday night of last week I went to a forum at the Vestavia Library, "Being Muslim in Alabama." The event was billed as “a discussion with Mark Potok, Senior Fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center; Khaula Hadeed, Executive Director of the Alabama Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations; Ashfaq Taufique, President of the Birmingham Islamic Society. Today's polarized political climate calls for reasonable dialog and sincere effort from each of us to better understand the rich, varied fabric of American society and all the members of  the U.S. culture that never stands still. Come learn more about Alabamian Islamic relations and ways we can better understand one another as we work to make a better community for us all.”

Potok shared some statistics involving hate crime and hate speech. He pointed out that following 9/11, hate crimes actually went down until 2010 when specifically anti-Muslim groups began to appear. In 2014, other hate crimes went down while anti-Muslim hate crimes went up. We began to see ginned up issues and conspiracy theories geared toward inciting fear and hate.

Khaula Hadeed and Ashfaq Taufique shared a bit of what it is like being Muslim and living in Alabama. We heard some informative discussion, yet with the polarization and the reactionary political environment we are witnessing today, solutions are not easy. One of the most salient bits of advice offered was that we should simply get to know someone of the Islamic faith. “Have a meal with them,” Mr. Taufique said. “It is difficult to hate someone you have shared a meal with.” He added that he gives this same advice to people in the Islamic community regarding getting acquainted with others. “It will not diminish your faith,” he tells his colleagues, “to get to know your non-Islamic neighbors.”

The most encouraging thing for me was not in any answers (there are no easy or simple ones), but the encouraging thing was that the auditorium was filled to capacity with citizens who are concerned about making a difference.

III.         Mindfulness in Our Spiritual Practice

(Photo from Jim Burklo's website)

On Friday morning I read Jim Burklo's blog on “Prayer and Mindfulness” which highlights the relational aspect of spiritual practice in terms of self and others as well as self and Other (i.e. “God”).  

In my own experience, the best thing I can do for my friends is to listen to them.  If I’m doing too much of the talking, then I’m not adequately listening.  And when I listen, I do best if I really listen: just be present in silence and give my friend my full, compassionate, truly interested attention. . .  Mindful prayer is being God’s friend, and letting God be a friend to us:  simply being, attentively, with each other’s’ being.

Spiritual practice is indeed an endeavor that involves listening, waiting, and paying attention. With all of the reminders this week of betrayal of trust in the church and words of hate in the public square, it was good to be reminded of the need to push the personal “reset button” by spending time in meditation and to practice mindful prayer.

Jim Burklo's blog, Musings, is on the Progressive Christianity website and can be found at  http://tcpc.blogs.com/musings/.

There you have my Monday - Wednesday - Friday summary of the week past. Now on to the week ahead.

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You may also be interested in reading the following posts:

• Spirit Work, Soul Work
• Western Zen
• Trending Up or Moving Backward?

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Something Is Happening Here but You Don't Know What It Is

There is something brewing among the Catholic laity. It is gathering steam and gaining ground. There is a growing concern about abuses and cover-ups, an indignation over a leadership that seems out of touch. I am reminded of Bob Dylan's hard-hitting, if not unsettling song, “Ballad of a Thin Man” that appeared on his album Highway 61 Revisited in 1965. The recurring line in that song is, “Something is happening here but you don’t know what it is, do you, Mr. Jones?”

One of my favorite priests, the late Father Pat Sullivan told us one Sunday of a diocesan meeting he had been to. “I looked at all those priests coming out of St. Paul’s Cathedral,” he said in his Irish brogue, “and I tell you people, it was an undertaker’s dream.” He went on to make his point that with ageing clergy and a shortage of priests, the future of the church is with the laity. For years there has been an increasing shortage of priests, and the response from the Vatican seems to be simply to redouble the efforts that have been failing to attract candidates. The church remains adamant about not ordaining women, ignoring the important role played by women in the early church. It continues to resist anything but a celibate male priesthood, even though the celibacy requirement did not come about until the 12th century (a recent development, comparatively speaking, no?). But the biggest hindrance seems to be an insulated old boy network in leadership that seems unaware and uninterested in what is happening out in the real world, and out in the parishes where the faithful are trying to make some sense of faith and service.

Nicholas Kristof has written extensively in the New York Times about the disconnect between the church hierarchy and faithful who serve on the front lines representing the church to the world. There was an inspiring report just a few weeks ago about the work of simple good-hearted priests and nuns serving the poor in Sudan, in contrast to the robed and powerful in Rome. This week Kristof wrote about Sister Margaret McBride in Phoenix who was recently excommunicated for allowing an abortion had St. Joseph’s Hospital in order to save a young woman’s life. It was a decision which physicians, the patient, her family and the ethics committee were all agreed upon. People who know Sister Margaret are shocked. Kristof points out that when comparing the biographies of the bishop and of Sister Margaret, “Sister Margaret’s looks more like Jesus’s than the bishop’s.”

There are many stories of people doing the real work of serving the poor and feeding the hungry, teaching children and ministering to the sick. They are people whose faith is true and real. They are people who often go unnoticed. At the same time, there are the distressing reports of abuse by priests and bishops who cover up those crimes. There is a hierarchy that is moving backwards to pre-Vatican II days, holding firmly to outmoded constructs while leadership becomes more and more distant from the flock they serve. On May 10, America the National Catholic Weekly ran a news brief of the first traditional Latin Mass in decades at Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated by Oklahoma’s Bishop Edward J. Slattery. Accompanying the news item was a photo of Bishop Slattery in his crimson-robed regalia processing down the aisle. The picture drew critical response from some readers who saw the stark contrast between that image and the service that is really needed in the world. One reader thought sackcloth and ashes would be more appropriate for a bishop's attire. Something is happening here and you don't know what it is, do you Mr. Bishop?

Many are speaking with their feet. If former Catholics were a denomination, it would be one of the largest in the U.S. Many others are simply going about with their lives, trying to live faithfully. Still others are content to let religion be a peripheral matter in their lives, something to remember at baptisms, weddings, and funerals.

Maybe a lay movement will break loose that will shake the foundations of the old boy Church hierarchy, or maybe the influence of the church leadership will continue to wane. Admittedly, the Third World holds a different dynamic and a different set of challenges from those we see in the U.S. and Europe. Who knows what lies ahead for the largest branch of Christendom?

Something is happening here, and the hierarchy does not seem to know what it is. It is not dark yet, not as long as there are true-hearted saints on the front lines such as Sister Margaret McBride and others who are living out their faith. How will all this play out in the years ahead with laity and the church hierarchy, and the true servants of faith? We'll just have to stay tuned and realize that something is happening here but we don't fully know what it is.



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