Cathedrals of the Immaculate Conception: Fort Wayne

Cathedrals of the Immaculate Conception

Well I realize I have been to a number of Cathedrals of the Immaculate Conception. I attend the Cathedral in Fort Wayne Indiana. It is a beautiful building that has a strong German influence in its architecture and its wood carvings of The Stations of the Cross which are are phenomenal. They are huge, wood carvings of various cities and times with Jesus. Beside the 14 Stations of the Way of the Cross the artist is also telling another message, that Jesus is the same in every place and every time. The Cathedral Square includes the church, the MacDougal Chapel, the Chancery, the Cathedral Center for C.C.D. and the rectory. The landscaping, statues and the presence in the downtown area is stunning.

Two years ago I saw the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. it was breathtaking. The structure was Eastern. It had 60 chapels in it, each represented by a different ethnic group or identity within the American Catholic family. It is the largest Catholic Church in America

This week I attended services at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield Illinois. It is a very different type of building. It is Greek Revival with 20 Doric columns. The cathedral will begin renovations and within two years will be a brighter building. Still, it was impressive. The building left one with the impression they were in a pagan temple that had been converted by the local Christians.

The stain glass windows tell the story of the Catholic Church. This includes windows dedicated to St. Peter, St. Ignatius, and Pope Leo among others. The windows also tell the story of The American Catholic Church. This includes St. Brendan bringing Christianity to the Western Hemisphere, George Washington commissioning Bishop Carroll during the Revolutionary War and Abraham Lincoln commissioning Archbishop Hughes. It is indeed an American Catholic Church.

So, now that I have noticed that I am in love with Cathedrals of the Immaculate Conception there is only one thing to do, go find more!

Thinking About Family

Well, I spent some time in Springfield Illinois. I was with with family, my extended family or a part of it. Being with family members that you rarely see makes you think and remember.

We have so many models of family. We have the Holy Family which is a blended family, remember, Joseph is the step-father. It is a great model of unconditional love, of “stick-to-it-ness” of the deep love between a mother and her son. We have the Son in that family who is also part of the Triune God. The Trinity teaches us that we are always in relationship. However, for most of us the Holy Family does not reflect our family.

There is the family that permeates Springfield, the Lincoln family. Here is a family touched with depression, with mental illness and hardship. Still, it is a family that made a contribution that is still with us today. Most of us will never make that kind of contribution but some of us can relate to the family dynamics.

The current scenario gives us another family model from Springfield, Barack Obama. Here is a man with a white mother, an African father, and an Indonesian step-father. This is a man who has lived in the Midwest, both coasts and the pacific rim. We have a word for this kind of experience, American.

So I am thinking about my extended family. It is hardly as exotic as the senator’s but still is an American Tapestry. It includes African Americans, Russians, English, Norwegian, German and Italian. Cherokee and Black Foot members. It includes Catholics, protestants, Jehovah Witnesses, Jews, Unitarian Universalists and pagans. It includes folks with two homes who are world travelers and folks in a doublewide.

I am aware there is no mixture of faith, ethnicity, race and/or Social Economic Status that guarantees a healthy family. I also think as a society we have spent way too much time focusing on pathology. Watch television and you come away believing all families are dysfunctional. That is not true. What is true is that all families suffer, it can not be avoided. What they do with that pain is what is important.

I look at my family members and “perspective” is a word that keeps popping up. The younger adults or pseudo-adults are more prone to see crisis and conflict as rejection. They have not learned yet that one of the functions of a family is to learn that we can tolerate a lot, as long as it is not abusive, and still claim one another.

I look at my family and I am aware that I am also part of a much greater family. I have my Catholic-Christian family that spans the world and the ages. I have the saints, I have the Body of Christ. That knowledge helps provide perspective and support.

So, today I am just thinking about family. We certainly recognize a happy family when we see one. We recognize it in other species, we talk about animals that are good parents. We even spend time speculating on the parenting skills of dinosaurs! And then we focus on something else and take family for granted. But not for me, not today. Families provide us with boundaries, points of view and places to belong. So, at least for today, family, thank you.

The Death of the Chaldean Archbishop

Funeral of the Chaldean Archbishop

While I was in Kentucky for the past week I did not hear any news from the outside world. I was greatly saddened when I got home to find out that the Chaldean archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho was found dead on Thursday. There were no bullet holes. However, the archbishop did have medical problems and required daily medications. Whatever happened, the extremist who killed three other Christians and kidnapped the bishop are responsible for his death.

The sufferings of the Chaldean Christians in Iraq is a growing problem. Priests and deacons have been killed, lay members have also been targeted. 40 Churches have been bombed. The small ancient Christian community is leaving Iraq. The death of a culture is a very real possibility.

The Pope has called out, forcefully and emotionally for an end to the massacres in Iraq. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has expressed their extreme saddens over the death of the archbishop. The Bush administration has yet to acknowledge that Christians and other minorities are persecuted in Iraq on the basis of their religion.

We must continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Iraq, pray for support for the refugee programs and pray that governments demand an end to this specific, callous and ruthless persecution.

Workfest 2008: The Final Day

Well, all good things must come to an end. We had breakfast, devotions, filled out paper work. Each school got a packet of info to bring back home. Then each school had chores to do to make Camp Caleb at least as clean as when we got here. After that, pack up and on the road by 10:00 AM.

So, what did we get out Workfest and CAP? A week of Christian Brother and Sisterhood. A week of being servants. A week of new friends, new skills and new beauty. We learned about around the year volunteer opportunities, internships, and sabbaticals. We learned about opportunities to live in community. We had a week of Christians of different denominations acting as if they were part of the Body of Christ instead of arguing. We had a week where people could tell we were Christians by our love. We had a week in which students and faculty from the University of Saint Francis got to know one another in a different setting and it was wonderful.

I had so many things to be thankful for. During a reflection one student talked about how his father always wanted to do construction work with him but the student avoided it because he did not know how. He came here to help others and is going back home to spend time with his father doing construction work, that is a gift. A leader told me of coming back two years later and talking to a family he worked with. What he found out was that the changes they made in the family’s home resulted not only in changes in the family but in the extended family. He never anticipated such a ripple effect. I saw a person who has had to face multiple adverse challenges during the last year laugh, dance, be silly and help others. I am thankful we have created our own USF Franciscan tradition of presenting a blessed Tau from Assisi to a CAP worker. I am thankful for all of the hard work Jan Patterson did to make this trip a reality and I am grateful for the Franciscan community that prayed for us while we were in Kentucky.

So, we drove through the rain, from Kentucky to Lima Ohio. We drove back to Indiana. I was afraid Indiana would look bland after Kentucky but our campus is beautiful. The Lake, the castle, the John Paul II Center looked magical. As soon as we arrived the clock tower chimed. We all got in one last circle and said our final prayer.

It was a wonderful week and now…Workfest 2009!

Peace and all good,
Carl

Workfest: Our Leaders, a Blessing

Workfest 2008: One More Coat