Best Practices of Faith Formation

A Modest Television Documentary Proposal

Rather than forming their consciences around the infallible teachings of Catholicism in order to be salt and light to the culture, too many Christians in general and Catholics in particular have wallowed in the spice and shadows of self-indulgence that has led society in general into the shallows of immorality, greed, and pride. Without spiritual revival, conversion of hearts, and an incessant renewal, the destruction of life will continue and the destruction of America is inevitable. The problem and the solution has been well documented by Catholic Bishops... (To READ MORE Click Here to Download Document.)

More of this at the Nineveh's Crossing subsite BEST PRACTICES OF FAITH FORMATION.

How to Get Catholics to Read the Bible

Daily Bible reading and memorization will change a person's life for this life and for eternity. One of the first verses I memorized as a 4-year old was "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee." (Ps 119:11 - KJV).

Here are some ideas I presented during a panel discussion at a Catholic Conference on New Evangelization back in 2008. One of the topics was how to get Catholics to read their Bible more often than simply to listen to the readings during Mass once a week.

The ideas grew out of a television documentary project I had proposed titled "BEST PRACTICES OF FAITH FORMATION."

Because humans learn best through experience and action, these ideas are rooted in role modeling and physical activity.

1. The Mass rubrics should allow for a real Bible to be used during the Mass Readings.   Role Model what you want people to do. Simulate. Congregants do not have The Lectionary or a separate gold trimmed book of the Gospels at home. And age old rule of communication is SHOW THEM, don't just TELL THEM. So, if Catholics are serious about people reading the BIBLE, model it.

2. Instruct people to bring their Bibles to Mass, or put Bibles in the pews. Do both. When it comes time for the Mass Readings ask congregants to pick up their Bibles and turn to the passage about to be read. Wait for and give instructions to the  people to help them find the passage. Don't just say "A reading from the book of Genesis," but rather, "Pick up your Bibles and turn with me to Genesis 1:1. We will read through verse 8." Then wait for people to find the passage before reading continuing:  "A reading from the book of Genesis, chapter 1, verses 1-8. (Pause) 'In the beginning..."

3. Structure Sunday mornings so that while Mass is celebrated in the church, Sunday School Bible Classes are being held elsewhere in the facility. Platoon Mass and Sunday School. Get families in the habit of coming to church and attending both Mass and Sunday School, EVERY SUNDAY THROUGHOUT THE  YEAR. There's more to this suggestion that Evangelicals have perfected. But for the sake of promoting Bible reading, many of the Sunday School classes should be classes taught on a particular book in the Bible, or Biblical theme, led by instructors who are interesting, prepared and are good speakers.   There should be Sunday School Bible classes for every age group.

Small group Bible studies are good and should be encouraged. Such small groups can meet at anytime during the week that is CONVENIENT for those attending. But because of the difficulties of adjusting schedules around work and school, few can commit to a regular time, unless they are retired. Consequently, such short (or even long term) Bible study groups are minimally attended.

SUNDAY MORNINGS however, do not have general conflict with school or work. The family can come together and attend Sunday School classes and then Mass, or the other way around. Sunday School Bible classes also establish relationships, since Sunday School classes become the small group and personal connections necessary for a vibrant Christiana life, which Mass does not provide.

4. Use Bible Sword Drills in Sunday School and Religious Education classes. Here's a starter document I found on the Internet. It will be enthusiastically embraced by young and old alike:
SWORD DRILL ACTIVITY. Pam and I grew up with Sword Drills every week as small kids. As a result, by the time we were teens we could find any Bible reference quickly and the Bible became to us well known and familiar.

5. Start an inter-parish-diocese Teen Bible Quiz program. Bible Quiz is a discipleship ministry geared for teens in sixth through 12th grade. Each year a different book or books of the New Testament are memorized by students. Several times during the year students attend meets within their district in order to test their ability to memorize and understand God's Word. District and Regional meets take place in the Spring of each year with the top teams advancing to Nationals. Each year thousands of dollars in scholarships are awarded to students for their hard work. There are many Internet sites to help a diocese get started. Here's a general description at Wikipedia.

6. From the pulpit, priests should remind congregants EVERY WEEK of the importance of Family Devotions where the Daily Bible Readings are read by a family member, some short discussion about the reading is conducted, and prayers are offered. The term "DEVOTIONS" to many Catholics may denote something different from what I mean here. I do not mean a person's or a family's devotion to a saint or a member of the trinity. To some the term "QUIET TIME" might be better, but that is poor as well. Perhaps FAMILY WORSHIP. Whatever you call it, it should be a STRUCTURED time with the WHOLE family for Bible reading, exhortation, and prayer...and the responsibility for all three of those things should rotate between members of the family.

7. Start a parish Bible Memorization Program with different age divisions and difficulties.  Offer certificates of achievement and public recognition for those that succeed. The programs should be a  year long with weekly recitation standards to encourage habit forming life.

Some of this is described in my Faith Memoir GROWING UP CHRISTIAN: Searching for a Reasonable Faith in the Heartland of America.  While I left Evangelicalism to become Catholic, these foundations in Biblical literacy were critical to my Christian faith, and I have NOT found them in Catholicism. And, I believe their absence in Catholicism is one reason so many young Catholics leave the Church. Thus, while Protestant Evangelical theology is lacking, their faith formation practices and instructional methods should be benchmarked by Catholics. 

Atheism's Anti-Logic

April 12, 2015 

My daughter has a saying posted on her refrigerator: "Just because it rhymes doesn't mean it's a good idea." I suppose that could be called the fallacy of endings.

There's also a fallacy of alliteration, which claims that if the beginnings of words are the same they must be related. 

When I was a child my mother and father took me to hear revivalist Dr. Harvey Springer at a tent meeting outside Jackson, MI. I write about it in my upcoming book about growing up in America's Heartland as a Christian.

Springer used both of the above analogies to claim that Communism and Catholicism were one in the same because they both started with C's, ended with "ism's," and Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Premiere, and Pope Paul John XXIII were intent on taking over the world, one by our death, and one by us having more babies. In the middle of his hell-fire and brimstone sermon he draped a communist flag over two good looking, straight cut kids from the saw-dust audience and proclaimed in a roar that THIS is what would happen if America elected John. F. Kennedy (a Catholic) president of the United States.

These were Faulty Analogies, and unfortunately they are used every day to discredit what is true because the truth demands obedience.

This is where atheism comes in. Yes, it ends with an "ism" so it must also be a cult, or so my mother would say.

Atheism makes the declarative statement that there is no God because his existence is not visible in the observable and knowable universe with our physical senses. This is also a faulty analogy because it assumes that what is knowable must stimulate our physical senses in a direct way like a hug from mama as she smothers us in her bosom. The atheist claims, if it can't be touched, smelled, tasted or seen, then it doesn't exist. 

Logically, the atheist doesn't have physical evidence that he or she has experience first hand for 95% of what they believe in. Oh, they see signs and representations of Pluto, and the Higg's Bosn, and they psychologically "feel" guilt…but they're virtually ignorant of such a thing's existence in the same way they demand evidence for God. I would argue that we have myriad of physical evidence that we touch, smell, taste, see and hear that cannot be explained outside a benevolent, intelligence force.

You must also consider that the atheist's body of knowledge in regard to the universe is a minute fraction of a decimal point of a percentage of what the universe it. A single man's knowledge is smaller than one can imagine, just the way our giant Earth is a spec on a spec, of a spec within a galaxy. So, in context, how can anyone argue logically that they are omniscient enough to declare "there is no God?" 

They can't, and…

…that's why I'm Catholic.

May the Lord Be With You.

Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D.

Editorial at Nineveh's Crossing.com

Catholics Love Gays

April 11, 2015

Let's get something straight. God loves homosexuals, just as he loves all other sinners, of which we are all to be numbered.

God wants the best for all of us, even those of us who commit murder, envy, adultery, and fornication in our hearts. He loves those who steal and even take his name in vain. He loves pedophiles and tyrants. God loves you, me, and all of us. God is love.

But when God looks down and sees one of his loved ones endangering his or her life through behavior that spits-in-the-eye of nature, and brings circumstances into their lives that will eventually bring emotional and physical conflict and sadness, ...he, God, tries his best to discourage the behavior. And being God's witnesses on Earth, Catholics, and other Christians follow his lead.

It's not hate that motivates Catholics and other Christians to discourage the gay lifestyle, it's love. We want them to be happy, and there is plenty of scientific and special revelation that indicates what homosexuality and promiscuity leads to danger and perhaps premature death.

If Catholics truly hated homosexuals, we would let them marry, have free reign over their lust and unsafe behavior, and let them suffer the consequences that nature brings upon them high risk. But we want to see them happy, so we encourage behavior that falls within what science observes will bring less sadness and more joy.

In the end, true religions establish rules based on their scientific and sociological observations of what brings death and what brings life. Some religions do it better than others. The religion that ultimately leads people to a safe, joyous, and fulfilled, happy life, is the one that best understands nature....and God.

That's why I'm Catholic.

May the Lord Be With You. And, may You love his laws, like King David did.

Editorial from Nineveh's Crossing.

The Catholic Church is a "Woman"

[A GRAMBUS post.]

Pope Francis: Women called to service, not servitude

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Saturday spoke about “the vocation and the mission” of women on Saturday when addressing participants of a study seminar organized by the Women’s Section of the Pontifical Council for the Laity on the 25th anniversary of Blessed Pope John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem. The letter was the first in papal teaching dedicated entirely to the theme of the woman, and the study seminar in particular discussed the point which says that God entrusts man, the human being, to woman in a special way.

“What does this ‘special entrusting’…of the human being to woman signify? It seems evident to me that my predecessor is referring to maternity,” said Pope Francis. 

“Many things can change and have changed in our cultural and social evolution, but the fact remains that it is the woman who conceives, carries in her womb and gives birth to the children of men,” the Pope continued. “And this is not simply a biological matter, but carries a wealth of implications for the woman herself, for her way of being, for her relationships, for the way in which we lend respect to human life and to life in general. Calling a woman to maternity, God entrusted the human being to her in an altogether special manner.”

The Pope warned that there are two dangers always present when speaking about this topic, calling them “two extreme opposites that destroy woman and her vocation.”

“The first is to reduce maternity to a social role, to a task, albeit noble, but which in fact sets the woman aside with her potential and does not value her fully in the building of community. This is both in the civil sphere and in the ecclesial sphere,” explained the Holy Father. “And, in reaction to this, there is the other danger in the opposite direction, that of promoting a type of emancipation which, in order to occupy spaces taken away from the masculine, abandons the feminine with the precious traits that characterize it.”

Pope Francis also spoke about the special gifts given to women in the Church.

“ I would like to underline how the woman has a particular sensitivity for the ‘things of God’, above all in helping us to understand the mercy, tenderness and love that God has for us,” he said. “ And it pleases me to think that the Church is not ‘il Chiesa’ [‘the Church’, masculine]: it is ‘la Chiesa’ [feminine]. The Church is a woman! The Church is a mother! And that’s beautiful, eh? We have to think deeply about this.”

The Pope said the document Mulieris Dignitatem arises in this context and offers a profound, organic reflection, with a solid anthropological base, enlightened by Revelation. 

“From here, we must restart that work of deepening and of promoting, for which I have already hoped many times. Even in the Church, it is important to ask oneself: what presence does the woman have?” he said.

“I suffer – speaking truthfully! – when I see in the Church or in some ecclesial organizations that the role of service that we all have, and that we must have - but that the role of service of the woman slips into a role of “servidumbre” [Spanish: servitude]. . . But when I see women that do things out of “servitude” and not out of service,” said Pope Francis. “And that it is not understood well what a woman ought to do. Can she be valued more? It is a reality that is close to my heart and for this I wanted to meet … and bless you and your commitment. Thank you, let us move this forward together! May most holy Mary – a great woman, eh? – the Mother of Jesus and of all God’s children, accompany us. Thank you!”

Answering Atheists and Pro-Choicers

[A GRAMBUS post.]

…Woke up with a story on my mind from last winter and saw a parallel train of thought for those who might call themselves atheists and/or pro-choice.

Last winter I was sitting in my daughter’s family room surrounded by windows overlooking the backyard, enjoying watching the play of those in the room as well as those playing in the snow outside.  All of a sudden Anna, about 7 years old, playing inside, let out a scream, staring outside, and cried, “That’s my Pookey Bear!”  Outside I could see Noah, her cousin, smashing a 2-foot high miniature snowman.  “I made that!  He’s my Pookey Bear!,”  Anna--screaming with tears streaming.

Her mom, of course sprang into action, calling out the back door a reprimand toward Noah, and calling him in.  I could tell by Noah’s face and knowing his otherwise good character, for a boy of 8, that he was clueless as to his fault, as his tears began to become visible.  I tried to explain to my daughter that he was not the malicious type and that he just didn’t understand the gravity of his actions at the time.  His mom, my other daughter, was not present at the time to defend him, as he was in my charge. So not only was I speaking my heart about what I saw happen, but I felt it my duty to take up his cause.  So, with two cousins heartbroken and emotionally upset, the adults in charge came to the conclusion that Noah had come upon the lumps in the snow with sticks (arms) coming out at different angles and seen it as a small hill to be conquered (from behind), whereas we from within the house had seen the cute little face and semblance of snow body Anna had carefully constructed on the side that faced the windows.  My daughter and I explained to Noah that snowmen, no matter how big or small, were always made by someone, and you had to have the permission of that person to change, alter, or destroy it.  A mound of snow so carefully constructed has to be respected as someone else’s creation, because naturally snow just falls to the ground and does not form into shapes except by some person’s hand.  He understood then, and apologized.  Anna put on her snow garb and, with the help of her friend set out to make her Pookey Bear again.

Now I’m sure some of you have seen the parallel already.  For the atheist, the message is: It is obvious to people who are Christians, who sit within the house of God, that any person/human being, so wonderfully and complexly constructed, is not just a product of chance in this world… this universe.  And, for the pro-choice people, the message is:  Every person so carefully and thoughtfully constructed is created in love by a loving God, who genuinely cares for the wellbeing of that creation.  Just because we did not see the face of that new miniature creation hidden in the womb, did not mean that with closer examination it wasn’t there.  It was in the DNA and only took time to become visible.  But, wait!  In this day of high tech fiber optics, we HAVE seen the face of that new creation as early as 3 weeks—when you can also detect a heartbeat, by the way—before most women even know they ARE pregnant.  So, what is our excuse now?  If an 8 year old boy can understand the heartache of his 7 year old cousin over the destruction of her creation, why can’t we understand the heartache of our God—yes, our God, Creator of all things—when we destroy life in the womb?  Or, when we say, “It was just a glob of tissue,” when we have EVIDENCE of it being so much more? ...the very beginnings of a new person, created by God himself, with the cooperation of a woman.  We have scientific evidence of what has heretofore been hidden, and yet people still reject the truth.

In this analogy, the recreation of the snowman by its maker (Anna) is paralleling the way God sent Christ to recreate us back into His own image after the fall of sin.

And, what shall we say to those who say we have no evidence of the existence of God? Well, let's use the evidence of life in the womb as a window of understanding.  Just because we didn’t have scientific evidence of life (a living, heart-beating, human being) in the womb before the presence of cameras and audio equipment that could detect it, did not mean it was not a baby in the making.  So too, just because some people have not, to their satisfaction, seen/heard/experienced evidence of God’s existence, is that proof that He does not exist?  What evidence are they looking for?  It's all around us.  King David expressed it this way in Psalm 19:

But, in addition, we have historical proof/evidence that Jesus (who came to show us the Father/God) really did exist in time.  We also have the very words of Christ written by eye-witnesses, that have been handed down to us in the Holy Scriptures/the Bible—The Old Testament, pointing us to Christ the Redeemer, and the New Testament giving witness to the actual coming of the Savior into the world.  We have the writings of the Early Church Fathers who were the first generation of those disciples of the Apostles themselves.  And, more close to our history today, there is evidence that many of the Saints through the ages have seen visions/apparitions of Mary, the Blessed Mother of Jesus, (try Googling “Our Lady of Guadalupe” or “Our Lady of Fatima”—where the 3 shepherd children were also taught prayers by an angel) or Saints who have seen the child Jesus or the Divine Mercy Jesus, (see Saint Faustina).  The Divine still breaks through to the Human world.  God is active in the lives of men and women, when they acknowledge/believe Him and His Word.

It all comes down to whether people will accept the evidence, whether that evidence be scientific, or natural (in nature), or spiritual.  Bottom line, I think that most people who do not accept the evidence of God and the miracle of human creation, refuse to accept the truth, because it might mean they would have to change their mind-set or life-style in some way.  They think their search for happiness and pleasure and fulfillment in life is hindered by God, when those are the very things God offers us:  true joy, pleasures forevermore, and transformation into the best person you can be.  It all comes down to TRUST.  Do you trust the God who made you to know what will truly fulfill you?  Will you trust that He loves you enough to give you a free will to choose Him? Will you believe that the very things you are seeking are the things He has to offer you, and you didn’t even know it?  ...Or, will you continue to believe the lies of the enemy that the pleasures of this world (that are ultimately empty and unfulfilling) are all there is?

The heavens declare the glory of God;the sky proclaims its builder’s craft.One day to the next conveys that message;one night to the next imparts that knowledge.

It goes on to say that even without uttering a “word” or “speech” nature speaks to us of who God is, and every person on earth, no matter what their language can understand it.  So nature itself—the plants, animals, the seas, the celestial universe—all with one voice, one constant message, is ALWAYS telling us of the existence of God, if we listen.

Gun Control vs. Abortion Control

Search "gun control" and "abortion" on-line and you'll be "treated" with a host of posts and challenging questions about why liberals support gun control (because guns kills dozens in horrific massacres like Sandy Hook), but are all for abortion (which kills millions of boys and girls whose whole life is before them).  If you think logically and humbly about this, the offensive folks from Westboro Baptist may be on to something. But then the Catholic Church has been onto this for some time... like centuries. Here are some quotes from Pope Benedict XVI's World Day of Peace Message for 2013 delivered December 14, 2012.

Peacemakers are those who love, defend and promote life in its fullness.

The path to the attainment of the common good and to peace is above all that of respect for human life in all its many aspects, beginning with its conception, through its development and up to its natural end. True peacemakers, then, are those who love, defend and promote human life in all its dimensions, personal, communitarian and transcendent. Life in its fullness is the height of peace. Anyone who loves peace cannot tolerate attacks and crimes against life.

Those who insufficiently value human life and, in consequence, support among other things the liberalization of abortion, perhaps do not realize that in this way they are proposing the pursuit of a false peace. The flight from responsibility, which degrades human persons, and even more so the killing of a defenseless and innocent being, will never be able to produce happiness or peace. Indeed how could one claim to bring about peace, the integral development of peoples or even the protection of the environment without defending the life of those who are weakest, beginning with the unborn. Every offense against life, especially at its beginning, inevitably causes irreparable damage to development, peace and the environment. Neither is it just to introduce surreptitiously into legislation false rights or freedoms which, on the basis of a reductive and relativistic view of human beings and the clever use of ambiguous expressions aimed at promoting a supposed right to abortion and euthanasia, pose a threat to the fundamental right to life.

Bashing Hollywood a Rite of Christian Passage

I'm in Hollywood for a little more than two weeks doing what I can to promote the principles in my book The Moral Premise: Harnessing Virtue and Vice for Box Office Success within the Hollywood community and get several scripts produced. I helped co-produce a film conference, am taking meetings with producers and industry friends, and will make several appearances (including presentation of an all-day workshop) promoting the proper structure of story telling (in films and television) that elevate what is good, true and beautiful. Yesterday I had lunch with a Sony Entertainment Executive, pitched a couple stories and left behind a script and a treatment.  When I get back to Michigan we will hopefully start production on a television series for EWTN if our crowd funding effort for the Alex Jones Bible series is successful.

While here. I'm meeting with other Christians who are applied full-time the movie and television industry. With them, I lament the bashing that Christians elsewhere seem to take pleasure in dumping on Hollywood, as if there is some evil conspiracy out here to destroy Christianity.  But Hollywood is only at the top of the list for these Christian critics because of the publicity that natural is part of a movie's promotion. THERE IS NO EVIL CONSPIRACY in Hollywood. The conspiracy is promulgated by Satan within the hearts and minds of an ill-informed Christians. And because of the ill-informed bashing done by Christians, the Christian bashing Christians at times receive, is well-deserved. Here's an example.

Today, a friend sent me a review of a "movie" titled THE PERFECT FAMILY (IMDB link) on the Catholic News Service's website. Here's the log line:.

A devoutly Catholic wife and mother has been nominated for one of the church's top awards. She then goes about trying to prove she has the "perfect" family, refusing to accept them for who they are. 

The film was panned for its anti-Catholic bias. (I have not seen it). But the review upset me for a different kind of reason.  The review bashes Hollywood  in general as if THE PERFECT FAMILY was a perfect example of how the entertainment industry as a whole treats Christianity; or as if this "film" (I keep putting that term in quotes for a reason) was part of the Hollywood system and representative of most Hollywood producers. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially in the case of this film. Here's what I wrote the Catholic News Service.

"THE PERFECT FAMILY" is no more "Hollywood" than the defunct P.O. Box of its production company's address. No studio was involved. It was as independent an effort as one can get.  It grossed all of $14,300 [this was an error, it grossed $107,721 domestically, and never saw more than 25 screens]. The distributor is/was in NY, with 2 films in its roster. The Catholic News Service should be criticized for pandering to Hollywood-phobia on a slow news day. For anyone to watch this (assumed) drivel and think it is newsworthy to report on, demonstrates how lazy Catholic media writers are, claiming to be victimized by Hollywood, but then doing nothing good, true or beautiful to counter it. Essentially "no one" saw this "movie" so why report on it? The review assumes that criticizing drivel is a virtuous activity. It's garbage (the review) of a garbage "film", and reminds me that Christians have abdicated their responsibility to promote what is good and are very much to blame for culture's downfall. Christians should get out of the Church basement (where mold and sloth doth corrupt) and be a witness for the light. Until they do that, Catholics have no business, right, or justification to criticize what they have allowed. In the meantime I have a couple of pro-Catholic films that need funding. Where are the Catholic film investors?

Bashing Hollywood by Catholics who are too lazy to do anything else seems to be a rite of passage.  I'm not bitter, but I am spending my life savings traveling to Hollywood trying to get mainstream movies made that elevate Catholicism. While here I meet many, many Catholics and other Christians that are sacrificing their lives doing a lot of good, and working with a lot of pagans who are also trying to do good but are just uninformed. And yet these Christians in the entertainment industry get very little support from the flyovers who throw out the baby with the bathwater. There is no evil conspiracy in Hollywood. But there is a great deal of nobility seeking of the truth (by Christians and non-Christians alike) and there are way too few Christians out here to help in the process.

 (Some months later 3-8-13.) I just read a blog interview with the producers of THE PERFECT FAMILY and how they got the funding for the movie. It's a typical strategy and makes good sense: Attach name actors to key roles so you can attract public attention and get the movie into theaters and into distribution. The "names" will attract viewers and "success." In this case the attachments, in part, were Emily Deschanel, Kathleen Turner, Jason Ritter, Richard Chamberlain and others. It's essentially an all star cast for a movie made for under $1MM. That is an amazing feat and the script must be very clever. It is now on my "to see" list. I will report back. But one thing is clear. In spite of the all star cast, there may be something terribly wrong with the movie. It appears the public shunned it.Or, maybe, they just never got distribution.

March 8, 2013. Pam and I just watched THE PERFECT FAMILY. It is a terrific Catholic movie that tells the truth about imperfect people and how they strive against all sorts of moral relativism to be true to Jesus Christ. Katheen Turner was not only the lead but also one of the Executive Producers. Anne Renton's frosh directorial debut was near perfect.  When Catholic film reviewers trash this film they are being nothing less than sanctimonious. The film tells the truth of an imperfect person trying her best to be be loving, kind, and true to the faith.

Here Comes The Catholic Church - Fr. John Hollowell

The Bishops' Abdication of Responsibility

I've promised myself that I would not spend much time on this, as I have another calling that demands my time in this same moral fight. I've been going back and forth with a popular Catholic radio show host and long-time friend about the HHS Contraception Mandate and Healthcare. He disagrees with Paul Rahe and Rush Limbaugh (who passionately read on-air most of Paul Rahe's essay "American Catholicism's Pact with the Devil"), who claim that the bishops have brought this troubling infringement of the government on themselves by being so supportive of government sponsored and mandated healthcare... as long as it didn't include abortion, contraception, et al.

The following blurb confirms that the bishops have long been a supporter of universal healthcare INITIATED AND CONTROLLED BY THE GOVERNMENT (with a few moral limits). Let's first put that stake in the ground, and then examine the consequences of the bishop's actions.

This came last night from dailynews@calcatholic.com

====== QUOTE======
The following came from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on February 14

WASHINGTON—The White House press secretary, Jay Carney, said in a press briefing at the White House on February 13, “...I would simply note with regard to the bishops that they never supported health care reform to begin with...”
“This is not the case,” said Bishop Stephen Blaire, chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.


“Since 1919, the United States Catholic bishops have supported decent health care for all and government and private action to advance this essential goal,” Bishop Blaire said.“Long before the current battles, the Catholic Church was persistently and consistently advocating for this overdue national priority.”

In the recent health care debate the bishops called universal and affordable health care “an urgent national priority and moral imperative.” The U.S. Conference’s criteria insisted reform should be truly universal, protect human life and conscience and not discriminate against immigrants. “The [conference] opposed the final legislation because it failed this test, a judgment sadly but clearly borne out by the failure of the law and the recent regulation to protect conscience and religious liberty,” explained Bishop Blaire.

“I hope those who made or repeated this false statement will correct the record and report the bishops’ long and consistent record of  support for health care which protects the life, dignity and consciences of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.”

====== END QUOTE======


My radio friend points out that the bishops' support of Obamacare (sans the morally repugnant coverages for things like contraception and abortion) is consistent with the Church's teachings that seek the solidarity of humanity, the distribution of the earth's goods from those who have abundance to those in need, and the principle of subsidiarity.

I too agree with what the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches us in regards to these principles, without hesitation. I understand how they are in accordance with Natural Law. I don't believe them blindly, but know I can defend them easily.

But I believe that the bishops err when they transfer responsibility for the fulfillment of those concepts from the venue of the individual, the family, and small organizations controlled by individuals (all with the oversight of the Church), into the hands of a government that is not prepared to be the moral arbiter of all things human, which healthcare nearly encompasses.

And my reading of the CCC backs up that view. Nowhere does the Church remove itself or the family from the responsibility of these things, and nowhere does the CCC give that responsibility into the hands of the civil authorities

My friend asks me if I think I know more about the teachings of the Church that the bishops? Of course not. But I'm not arguing "knowledge" but rather "practice" and the wisdom and discernment that accompany the implementing of that knowledge. Many lay persons were slow to hold the bishops accountable for their wisdom and discernment of how they dealt with sexually abusive priests.  Knowledge in that scandal was not the issue. Wisdom was. I have a letter from one particular bishop that declares to me that protecting the collegiality of the bishops is more important than publicly taking a pro life stance. Cardinal Ratzinger declares that shepherds who let poison spread in order to avoid conflict are like "mute dogs" and he finds their actions "repulsive. " So, I'm not real quick to embrace the bishops individual or collective actions without some common sense comparisons to Church doctrine and principles. You don't need to be a theologian to realize that a government that legalizes abortion, contraception, and fosters all sort of other immoral practices is not prepared to legislate and rule the morally delicate territory of healthcare. And in such an environment the bishop's embrace of government mandated healthcare is mind-boggling. Indeed it goes beyond mind-boggling. It's irrational.

So, why then are the bishops so anxious for the government to do such a thing? I think it's because they have inadvertently given up their God given responsibility to be moral leaders. They see themselves as impotent and unable to persuade their sheep to follow them. Their laxness in publicly excommunicating various politicians like Nancy Pelosi is an example of their avoidance of conflict, hoping to foster respect by tolerating evil.  They believe that government coercion will work better than Christ's love as exampled in the Church. (Admittedly, with recent scandals, which the bishops have been partly responsible for furthering, they are right that people do not universally see the Church as a great example of Christ's love.)

But the solution isn't to abdicate their responsibility to the government, which is what they have done, and why Rush Limbaugh and Paul Rahe say the bishops have sold their souls to the devil. The solution is for the bishop's to humbly re-embrace their leadership role as society's moral leaders and actively and publicly guide the work of solidarity and the distribution of goods. How should that be done? Certainly not through government taxation and coercion, which violates the principles of true charity and marginalizes an individual's accountability to live out the Golden Rule. But rather the bishops should lobby vigorously for laws that encourage individual responsibility, and that facilitate individual generosity and accountability. And then the bishops need to motivate the laity to live out the beauty of Christ's teachings to care for those in need around us. I think many people do this naturally. Certainly, many of the very rich in this country actively give away more of their wealth than they keep. It is the individual generosity of those who have abundance that builds educational institutions, and funds non-profits that do, literally, a world of good. Exempting such generosity from taxation (both of the giver and the receiver) is just one way that government fulfills the Church's request for human solidarity and distribution of goods. It is the individual, and small organizations led by individuals where bureaucracy is at a minimum, that the Church's principles that bring dignity to the human endeavor are most efficient and effective.

American Catholic Leadership Has Sold Its Soul to the State

Paul A. Rahe

Perhaps the most important half-hour in media, in some years, occurred this afternoon from about 1:45 PM to 2:15 PM (ET) on Rush Limbaugh's show. He read with gusto and salient comment, significant portions of an essay by Hillsdale College professor Paul R. Rahe titled "American Catholicism' Pact with the Devil". You can read the entire essay in all its brilliance at the link in the last sentence. Rahe (a Catholic) says with historical and current depth what I've been fond of saying: Abortion is a problem that is at the foot of the American bishops. Had they been doing their job as moral leaders and not being mute dogs, abortion would not be the law of the land and it would be rare.

Rahe points out that the current contraception debate is what the American Catholic Church leadership has fostered and it's come home to bite. Here are a few paragraphs from Rahe's piece that appears on the conservative website RICOCHET.

==== QUOTE ====

Cardinal Bernadin

In my lifetime, to my increasing regret, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States has lost much of its moral authority. It has done so largely because it has subordinated its teaching of Catholic moral doctrine to its ambitions regarding an expansion of the administrative entitlements state. In 1973, when the Supreme Court made its decision in Roe v. Wade, had the bishops, priests, and nuns screamed bloody murder and declared war, as they have recently done, the decision would have been reversed. Instead, under the leadership of Joseph Bernadin, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Chicago, they asserted that the social teaching of the Church was a “seamless garment,” and they treated abortion as one concern among many. Here is what Cardinal Bernadin said in the Gannon Lecture at Fordham University that he delivered in 1983:

Those who defend the right to life of the weakest among us must be equally visible in support of the quality of life of the powerless among us: the old and the young, the hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed worker.

Consistency means that we cannot have it both ways. We cannot urge a compassionate society and vigorous public policy to protect the rights of the unborn and then argue that compassion and significant public programs on behalf of the needy undermine the moral fiber of the society or are beyond the proper scope of governmental responsibility.

This statement, which came to be taken as authoritative throughout the American Church, proved, as Joseph Sobran observed seven years ago, “to be nothing but a loophole for hypocritical Catholic politicians. If anything,” he added, "it has actually made it easier for them than for non-Catholics to give their effective support to legalized abortion – that is, it has allowed them to be inconsistent and unprincipled about the very issues that Cardinal Bernardin said demand consistency and principle.” In practice, this meant that, insofar as anyone pressed the case against Roe v. Wade, it was the laity.

I was reared a Catholic, wandered out of the Church, and stumbled back in more than thirteen years ago. I have been a regular attendee at mass since that time. I travel a great deal and frequently find myself in a diocese not my own. In these years, I have heard sermons articulating the case against abortion thrice – once in Louisiana at a mass said by the retired Archbishop there; once at the cathedral in Tulsa, Oklahoma; and two weeks ago in our parish in Hillsdale, Michigan. The truth is that the priests in the United States are far more likely to push the “social justice” agenda of the Church from the pulpit than to instruct the faithful in the evils of abortion.
====== END QUOTE =====


Post Script: Later in the day, after perusing the turmoil in the Catholic and public radio and blog-s-sphere) about Rahe's article, I listened to one Catholic radio show host attempt to tear down Rahe's essay with arguments that are best described as ad hominem, strawman, and equivocation/. This host criticize Rahe for being a blogger from nowhere, bitter, and inaccurate, and fallacious.  I carefully studied Rahe's essay, reading each paragraph 2-3 times, looking for fallacies (which I know something about), and concluded that Rahe's perspective was credible and accurate, objective, and redemptive in tone, to say nothing of his credentials as an historian. You'll notice the essay takes us back to the Magna Charta and moves forward through time, building a logical case for the bishop's failure to lead in recent memory, and giving over responsibility to the state, with advice and lessons for today and the future. Rahe also acknowledges that the bishops are doing a good job today. If  you want, however, to "read" Rahe with some biased emotion, subscribe to Rush Limbaugh and listen to today's program from about 1:45 to 2:15 PM ET. It was a rush.

Santorum, Bella, and Natural Law

Ivan Strenski, a progressive blogger questioned (in a nice way), Rick and Karen's Santorum decision to get pregnant late in life and bring Bella into the world. The original article by Ivan is HERE.  The first comment to the post was by "hsmom" who called Ivan's thinking "erroneous at best... and illogical." Hsmom's comments were good. But I felt the need to go further.

Ivan was being honest. He didn't understand how Santorum's "legalistic" behavior to Catholic teaching was good, because it brought such "suffering" into Bella's life. Ivan's logic is typical of many in the world. The only reality they understand is the one they can see and feel right before them at the moment.

Here are my two responses:

Ivan. Please consider:

A. Catholicism's teachings are based on 5,000 years of observing human history and how human experiences reveal what works and doesn't in the universe, i.e. natural law. The Catholic assumption is that life and the universe of reality is ultimately ordered, sophisticated, and benevolently intelligent. Although we cannot know everything, what we do know must be followed if we are to live a life approaching happiness, purpose and meaning. The doctrine is not arbitrary but is the faith's best interpretation of what is true, universally, for all human beings, regardless of our state in life.  Or, what is good, true and beautiful.

B.  Thus, Santorum, like other well-informed Catholics (and few Catholics are well-informed about their faith), is not being "legalistic" to an arbitrary rule, but rather a trust in 5,000 years of wisdom acquired by Judea-Christian understanding about what works in the long run, not just what we see before our eyes (c.f. Bella Santorum). There's a direct analogy to standing on the edge of a cliff and deciding to believe in the effects of gravity. If you trust what experience and scientists tell you, you'll step back from the cliff. That is not legalism in the pejorative sense. But it is following a rule (legalistically) that ensures your greater security. That is what the Church attempts to do under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

C. The problem with human kind is something called "sin" or (to put it in less theological terms) the willful, knowledgeable disobedience of a law of nature. Natural law exists in the physical as well as the psychological realms. Sin is like stepping off that cliff when you've been told that doing so is going to hurt. When pride tells us that we're going to do what we want and screw the theologians and historians and scientists.... then we or others get hurt.

D. Your assumption is that YOU know what is better for Bella, Rick, and their world, than what God (or Providence, or Natural Law) has ordained to occur in their life. And your solution to what you perceive is Rick's problem (a sick child that "suffers") requires that Rick and his wife step off a cliff that they have been clearly warned will cause them harm in ways that you and they cannot conceive. Rick and his wife trust in the wisdom of the ages, not just what they see before their eyes. Rick and his wife understand that they don't understand everything, and what they see is not necessarily what is true when confronted with all of reality, if they could see and understand it. You comments assume that what you see is all there is to understand. But I don't think that intellectually you really believe that.

E. Lastly, we don't want the innocent to suffer. But because our pride-filled propensity to sin (e.g. ignoring natural law when we know better) suffering is a part of the moral world in which we live. Blame pride and ego. But God in his mercy and grace brings meaning out of that suffering, even by the innocent. Christ, innocent in all ways, suffered and died a cruel death for the salvation (in the eternal afterlife) for all of us. Just as a soldier gives his life for his comrades; a willful suffering for the benefit of others. We have no idea how huge Bella's suffering may be, nor do we have any idea how huge and meaningful her suffering is. But to enact one of your solutions would be to bring suffering of a sinful sort, and such disobedience is always like walking off that cliff saying," I am smarter than gravity." This is where we trust God for the short time we are on this earth. For there is eternity to face. This is but a training ground for what is beyond.

Second comment to Ivan:

Ivan,

Not to belabor this, but perhaps this, too, is worthy of your consideration: Your solution to Bella's implied suffering, is that the Santorums should have contracepted, or aborted. On the "contracepted" see my earlier post. But on the "aborted" you imply that killing Bella in the womb would be less "suffering" (and therefore a good) than letting her live and "suffer."  (My earlier post hoped to argue that "suffering" is not a bad thing, ,but there's more to the argument that suffering can be good. See below.)  By extension, if you believe Bella in the womb is a human being, you must also believe that killing a sick child is better than letting her live. And by extension, the same would apply to all adults who are suffering. Would you now care to define "suffering" in terms of when it should prompt suicide or murder? Trusting in the Church's teachings will save you from these sort of dilemmas.

Is suffering good or bad?  Suffering is the result of sin... a bad thing, even when that suffering occurs to a "good" person. The suffering may not be the result of the person's weakness or sin, but rather is the result of humankind's sinful, weak, and imperfect condition... that is, our propensity as a group to ignore what we know (or sometimes don't know) about the nature of reality. This understanding applies to tsunamis as well as adultery, although it may take longer to explain the former than the latter. )  The suffering of a person who has sinned (ignored natural law) should inform the person about what not to do next time if she wants to be happier. On the other hand, suffering by the "innocent" is a call to their lives to pray and offer up their lives as a lesson in helping others to care for others. Thus, Bella is put into the Santorum's life as an "object lesson" that will draw the Santorums and all of us who "watch" the Santorums, how to care for others. Humanity is about caring for others. The dependent around us (like Bella) fulfill a great purpose in teaching those of us who are not so dependent, to care for others. Thus, we the healthy and proud, can be brought low and humbled (in a good way), because others need us to care for them. As human beings we need to learn to care for others. Life is about relationships. Bella teaches us all these great lessons. And by extension, we just might learn that God looks on us as we look on Bella--from God's perspective, we (the "normal") are far from healthy and we need a great deal of help. We are dependent on God's grace, if not his forgiveness, then just to breath and live. For the complexity and sophistication and intelligent benevolence of nature sustains us.

Metaphors and Worship

Assumption Grotto Sanctuary, Detroit, decorated for Christmas

Because of my work in the motion picture industry with stories and screenplays, I can never get enough of metaphors and similes. They are the magical and mystical ingredients in stories that convey truth. Stories told with metaphors are always more powerful than didactic presentations, because metaphors require the mind to engage the soul and the emotions to understand. Metaphors work best because pictures are instantly worth a 1,000 words, and visuals force the audience to internalize and personally identify with the emotional context of a character's decisions that advance the story. That connection drives memory and motivations... often to change.

In Cahtolicisim, I am struck by the rich metaphor that the Church provides — that is, the physical accrutiments we see IN the physical Church buidling, especially during Mass.

And to go one step even further, during an orchestral Mass such as those celebrated at Assumption Grotto under the able baton of the parish priest, Fr. Eduard Perrone, the experience involves the metaphors of hearing and stirs the emotions, memories, and behaviors even more deeply.

Perrone Rehearses Orchestra and Choir

Over Christmas I traveled across town three times to experience Fr. Perrone's first orchestral mass—the first that he's composed. I've been to many Masses that he's conducted with members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestral and their normally expert choir, accented by professional soloists, composed by the greats of history. But this was Fr. Perrone's first... of many to come...some of us hope. It was ... breathtaking in many ways. As Ray Long, Jr (who works for Perrone as weekday Mass organist, and who leads the Gregorian schola) remarked, "You can tell the music was written by a priest, who knows what's actually going on in the mass."

Indeed, I remarked to Fr. after the second celebration, "You've convinced me that every Mass needs bass drums and tuba." He laughed, but he knew what I meant. If you pay attention to what goes on in Mass, you may connect my comment to the place in the singing of the Creed where reference is made to the resurrection of Jesus. It is theologically a bombastic concept, and Perrone brings it off that way with the metaphor of music, particular with bass drum canon hits and tuba blasts. After the very slow and dirge-like "burial" moment, the resurrection strikes the congregation -- and we jump from our seats, as if rising from the dead (sleep.) More bass drum and tuba moments, please.

The third Mass this orchestral Christmas, Fr. Titus Kieninger was the chief celebrant and he delivered a terrific homily, that focused on how the physical elements of the Mass, and the music, contribute to metaphorical communication of what the Mass is all about.  I'll share that next, and insert my observations about storytelling, metaphors, and the value to Christianity that such worship celebrations bring to humanity.

(To Be Continued.)

A Choleric in a Phlegmatic World

My relatives claim they don't understand me. I'm mostly choleric in temperament. They say I get upset without warning or cause. I claim there's plenty of warning and cause if they'd stop ogling their navels and take some Christian responsibility for the state of a culture and world busting at the seams. My conclusion is that all of the men and some of the women in my extended family are phlegmatic or sanguine, and so I'm expected to be like them. A phlegmatic temperament (calm and unemotional) is the "Christian ideal" in many sectarian environments. Infact, 100 years ago, a choleric or melancholic temperament would be considered evil.

I wasn't made to be calm and unemotional when everyday I am made aware of families and individuals who are being destroyed due to substance and physical abuse, suicide, murder, poverty, and the greed and power-thirst of political leaders that repress and imprison their people. As Christians we're called to be salt and light to a hurting world, and every morning we have to ask ourselves "What does that mean I should do today? How should I live and conduct my life so to change a hurting world? How do I make use of my gifts and skills to change what is bad for good?"

There are many answers to those questions as there are individuals in the world. But what frustrates and saddens me is the laze-faire, calm and unemotional attitude that so called Christians exhibit when they get together for social gatherings. There are many such events in my life. In my immediate extended family there are six families with 20 some individuals. If you count birthdays, anniversaries, and special events, there is an event every week of the year that is cause (for some) for celebration I am often invited (because I'm married to phlegmatic-sanguine woman that everyone loves) to these family gatherings. All of the individuals claim to be Christian and are active in their churches (all Protestant except Pam and me.) And what is the conversation like at one of these gatherings? Here's the top subjects:

a. The beautiful cakes and fancy dishes the women (and one man) made.

b. How cute the kids smiles and antics are.

c. What life was like back in up-state New York in 1920.

d. The weather.

e. Pictures and video of the last time everyone got together.

f. The beautiful matching outfits some of the kids are wearing.

g. How to assembly and play with the new toys the kids just got.

h. What happened on the last trip to the beach or pool.

i. The next party.

There is no discussion about spiritual, social, or political issues that might change the world for the better. (Well there is one man who wants to do away with the Federal Reserve and use gold to buy groceries.) The only prayer I've ever heard at one of these events is the polite prayer before the meal. The only Scripture is the brief pause before opening the plethora of Christmas presents that occupy the net 10 hours of time. (Okay, there is the children's Christmas pageant staged with costumes that also occurs on or near Christmas, but with no current social reference.) But none of these things flow over into the current state of affairs of our world, or what anyone is doing outside the care and well-being of their immediate family... aside from asking for money for a annual, guilt-assuaging mission trip.

Where are the on-gong projects and passion for the things of God OUTSIDE our families celebratory care and well-being? Privately, within these families there are the prayers, and there is the instruction about many things Christian, but where and how does that bleed over into our gatherings as Christians. Should we not be:

a. Holding prayer vigils for the hurting families and people we know?

b. Engaging in discussions about the state of our efforts, projects, and sacrifice of resources for evangelizing a world who needs the truth?

c. Sharing what life was like during revivals in our country's history?

d. As a group making and packing up food to take to an unfortunate family?

e. Discussing the current social and political state of affairs and brainstorming solutions of how we as Christians should act and live to change things?

f. Getting together to make clothes and quilts for families that have no family to give them such things?

g. Take truck loads of the toys laying around our house to those kids who have none?

h. Using a trip to the beach or resort to plan an intervention to change the social, political culture?

i. Discussing the best and worse ways to evangelize people who don't want to or have not heard the Gospel message or the benefit of being a Christian?

j. Training ourselves and kids in group activities to be cultural influencers for Christian values, or to improve our skills other than to sit around and eat cake?

k. Discussing significant books, essays, speeches and action to be taken to make a difference?
l. Invite missionaries and evangelists, or social activists into our gathers to talk to us about their work and to recruit us in their sacrificial efforts?

m. Take field trips with the whole family to cultural events (not to sports events but to art exhibits et al) where our minds and souls can be up-lifted to higher values and achievement?

n. Invite family members who have accomplished something noteworthy to share with the group their preparation, work, and results, to inspire us to do similar things?

Now, perhaps some of these things happen when I'm not around. More than one person in my family has told me they don't want to discuss spiritual matters with me... because they're Protestant and I'm Catholic and my assertive personality gets in the way of what they believe. (They are their own infallible source of truth. Ironic isn't it?)   One Thanksgiving after dinner as we were all sitting around a living room, I entered a discussion about how the near-adult daughter of one family needed to search around, and in the words of my daughter, for "a church to attend that matched her beliefs." It was pure moral relativism, and no one else saw the moral ineptitude that was on display or being passed on to the next generation. It stirred my emotions that the values the discussion was promoting within Christian ranks was atheistic in origin.

I have long held that it is the fallacies of Protestantism that have allowed grave sins like contraception, abortion and euthanasia to be so prevalent in our legal system. We are way down the slippery slope. 100 years ago no Christian Church (protestant or otherwise) would have allowed contraception. Today they all do, except the only church that hasn't changed it's definition of truth or how its determined.  If Protestants weren't so inclined to following their own beliefs the moral state of our society would be much different. When I see that thinking spread in my own family, out of the mouths of my daughter and son, I need to speak up, and not softly so as to be politely be told "well, dad, we don't believe that... (so shut up)".   On our recent Northern Michigan sail trip we were sailing up the St. Mary's River on our way to Sault Saint Marie and on our right was the prominent St. Joseph's Island. When I pointed out to our Protestant adult children on board that the Catholic missionaries in the 1500's had named most of these land masses and cities, I was met with a sudden, dead silence. I had breached the peace by citing fact.

I was brought up in a family with preachers and missionaries who frequented our house. The discussions at the time (albeit we were Protestant) were always about the state of the Church, Evangelism, or Missions in the far flung parts of the world.

Maybe it's because I'm too choleric and verbal about my faith in a phlegmatic world. I am easily saddened at the passivity and negligence paid to spiritual matters in our family gatherings, especially when everyone claims to be Christian. I suspect it's a deep prejudice of all things Catholics. I am still stung as I recall not too long ago when my father-in-law and children accused me, behind my back, that I had brainwashed my wife, Pam, into being Catholic. They have never apologized for coercing my wife into a pastor's study and trying to prevent her from becoming Catholic, while I was out of town on business. They call Pam a saint, but they totally ignore the truth she holds silently within her. That saddens me. Truth cannot be bottled up without serious negative consequences not just in our family, but in those parts of society that my family will grow up to affect and effect. Am I wrong to feel responsible? Some would say yes, and the solution is to ignore it. But I see no logic in ignoring what is morally wrong, inept, and dangerous to culture. While should anyone tolerate what is wrong. They don't tolerate what they see is wrong in me.  I am reminded of the Old Testament Priest Eli's punishment at the hand of God for not disciplining his adult sons. Eli as a high priest, and his sons where priests as well, active in the synagogue and teachings things by example that were morally wrong. Eli said nothing. But God had the final word. (1 Samuel 2:27-36).

Our lives are short. There is much work to be done. Who will do it? Who can sleep long with so much hurt around us, and who can spend their days making fancy deserts, and wrapping birthday presents, and playing at the beach when the world is busting at the seam?

Images in Catholicism....Idolatry?

Dr. Henry Ede Eze's new book IMAGES IN CATHOLICISM...IDOLATRY? Discourse on the First Commandment with Biblical Citations is now for sale at Nineveh's Crossing.

The book confronts the misunderstanding among some Protestants and other non-Catholics who are still caught up in the iconoclast heresy of the 8th and 9th centuries. You can read more about the book and the table of contents via the above link, or click on the book's image at right.

Well written, easy to read, and concise, the book comes complete with full Biblical citations at the end of each chapter. This will be a valuable addition to any Christian library.

Clicking the image will NOT make you an idolator. Promise. But it may make you more informed about the images used throughout Christianity and their God give purpose.

Dear Ones...we're Catholic!

[An open letter from Pam to our friends and relatives after her conversion to Catholicism. "Unhappy" was not an accurate description of their reaction.]

Pamela Sue Williams

January 4, 1999

Dear Ones,

I have hesitated to write this, because I know how opposed I was to hearing Stan’s decision to do this only a year ago. I also know that some of you will be unhappy when I tell you about my own decision. The Catholic church has not been perfect, and it may have needed protesting against in times past for its various wrong practices. But I have come to see, over this past year, that it is the church that Jesus established, and that despite its wayward practices of the middle ages, (and they were dark indeed) it has remained doctrinally solid these 2,000 years.

The problem in most cases, where there is disagreement between Protestants and Catholics, has been in communication of beliefs and doctrines. Many supposed differences are really misunderstandings or misinformed rumor. Once I read and heard the truth about what they believe, I could not deny that the Catholic church is still the true church Christ established. Catholics call Protestants their "separated brethren," but we are both Christians, and God wants His church to be united. Perhaps our separation was justified for awhile as the Catholic church went through some dark times, but today it is back on track. Plus, it has never varied from its historical doctrines dating back to the Apostles. (What we have seen changes in have been practices.)

One beautiful doctrine Catholics believe in is the "communion of saints,"… those who have passed out of this world as well as those of us who remain. All the saints are alive,… just not all in this world. The Catholic church practices communion with these saints who have died but are still alive in Christ. I have come to see this as a beautiful thing that is real and true to me.

I do not have a problem with any of the other doctrines I used to think separated us either. And I especially find an answer to the scriptures regarding Jesus’ emphasis on being the true bread, and if anyone does not eat of his flesh and drink of his blood, he cannot have eternal life (John 6:30-60). For me, this can only be settled by the Mass, where through the Prayer of blessing by Christ from the Priest (not unlike the Jewish Priests sacrificing the lamb and sprinkling its blood), the bread becomes Christ’s body and the wine becomes his blood for us to consume as the Lamb of God, sacrificed for our sins.

I have thought about this long and hard and I have had many appointments with Father Cronk at St. James Church in Novi. I have read and prayed, argued with Stan, cried, and had Catholic friends over and out to dinner to probe them with questions. After all was said and done, at the risk of offending some of my Protestant friends and family, I have come to the decision that I’d be wrong not to become Catholic. I hope you will not see this decision as a betrayal or a short-sighted move. I’d like you to consider it as a step in my Christian walk that has opened up new doors to bring me even closer to the God I have always loved and served since I accepted Jesus as my Savior when I was eight years old.

I am truly thankful for the godly upbringing I received and for the Protestant ways I hold dear. They are not diminished or compromised by becoming Catholic. In fact, they are enhanced and expanded to include the early church Traditions established by the Apostles.

I know many of you will not understand (I know I wouldn’t have a year ago), and so I want you to know I will be glad to answer any questions I may have raised in your mind. In the meantime, if you are able and willing, you may join me on Saturday, January 23, at 6:00pm (or when 5:00 Mass is over) at St. James Church on 10 Mile (between Taft and Beck), as I receive the Sacrament of Baptism and Confirmation at that time into the Catholic church. I will not be offended if you choose not to come. I just want you to know when and where the event will take place.

I love you all and have benefited greatly from your kind notes of love and encouragement and your many prayers during my battle with cancer. My treatments are nearly done… one more month to go of 22 radiations. I am thankful for God’s wake-up call to me, to see some old issues in a new light while passing through the valley of the shadow of death. Soon I will be ready to go back to work, stronger for all I have been through, physically and spiritually. I am so thankful to all of you for your support, and hope we can continue to support one another in our journey here below.

Love,
Pam Williams

P.S. As I added personal messages onto the real paper/regular mail letters I mailed yesterday to people not hooked up to E-Mail, one thing kept coming to mind, so I will add it here.
I really wish that all of Christ’s Church would come together — Protestants and Catholics alike!

I do hope this letter helps you to understand my own reason for embracing something that used to seem so foreign. I don’t expect it will in most cases, as it took me over a year, and I had time to study it, …but I wanted to try.