Prodigal Altar Boy Blog - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Prodigal Altar Boy Blog

22 March 2012

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

Jeff Elkins’ blog post today was great.  Short and to the point, Jeff‘s post, “Sermons – Bah Humbug", questions the efficacy of the sermon as a teaching tool.  He makes a great point that because most sermons lack required readings, essays and tests, what is retained from even the best sermon is lacking from, say, a university lecture.   Jeff is astute in his observations and I agree with him. 

I’m hammering out the assembly edit for the documentary, and Jeff’s blog shaped some of today’s edit of the first act.  Across all of the interviews of TQ’s former parishioners was his dedication to education.  One parishioner told how TQ would climb into the pulpit with an armful of books, from Kierkegaard to Hans Küng (yeah, I found the “symbols” button), weaving their writings into the liturgy.  There is even a TQ quote advised the congregation to read Küng’s book (The Council, Reunion and Reform) to grasp the implications of the Second Vatican Council.  Those were the required readings.

In terms of essays, TQ’s prolific writings connected homilies with readings and Küng’a book.  If you scan through “A Reluctant Malachi,” to see TQ saw the Second Vatican Council as a slingshot to energize the church.  In his words, “That’s my little vision – to energize this Community.  We have fantastic talents and fantastic gifts, which have been locked up – there is no real outlet for them.  So, I’m telling you – this is my little vision – you can laugh all the way home – you can laugh while you’re having a drink tonight – I don’t care! This is my post-Vatican II vision.  Let’s make a toast to Pope John XXIII who tore open the Church’s shutters, letting fresh air blow through!  If we want to do this as a Community, we can!  So this is my little vision!”

Now, for the test.  I wish I could have interviewed more people because while the people I interviewed all testified to changed lives (Haiti missions, integrated parishes, a thrift shop vital o the community, Black Catholics fusing their culture with worship), there are stories of changed lives I know about, and no doubt many more I haven’t heard.  Judging from the sample population of the good people I interviewed, I think they passed the test of whether they would put their faith into action and put Jesus’ commission into action.

Next Up:  The Bad

A Lone Bird Singing In The Darkness

Prodigal Altar Boy Blog

20 March 2012

A Lone Bird Singing In The Darkness

Officially, spring is here, and we have been seeing signs of it over the past few weeks.  One sign for me has been the singing of birds.  For the past week, while it is still dark, there’s one bird that starts singing.  Maybe his “light detector” is calibrated a little ahead of his peers, but in the pitch black early morning hours; he is singing his song for all to hear.  And it is beautiful.  With no competing songs, I can really focus on this bird’s song and the song moves me. 

Without anthropomorphizing too much, I wonder if the other birds fume as this bird begins to sing in the dark, “Hey, still dark here.  Song time starts when it’s light!”  When the sun finally comes up, are the other birds’ songs ones of complaint about the one that insists on singing while it is still dark? 

That bird’s song moves me because he sings the song God has put on his heart.  That bird sings the song in the dark because he was made that way.  That bird sees the morning light a little sooner than the other birds.  That bird is ahead of the curve and we could learn much from that bird.

How often do we see things we should address, but because no one else sees it, we keep quiet?  How often do we chastise those who do speak out because no one else is speaking out?  How often when we do speak out, we shrink back after our peers show their distaste for our song? 

To piggyback on yesterday’s Hans Kung piece, I am amazed at how TQ saw the implications of the Second Vatican Council and worked to make people aware, long before the Council concluded.  After the Council, he worked to focus on the theory of adaptation for liturgy to reframe the gospel for the present day.  While many chastised TQ for those efforts, for many others, the result was a deeper understanding of the gospel and the role of Christians in society.

TQ, like Hans Kung, understood the importance of renewal in the church.  Like songs in the early darkness, renewal is usually rejected or suppressed.  TQ and Hans Kung continue to be songs in the dark.  Now is the time to listen to those songs and take them into our hearts.

Happy Birthday, Hans Kung!

Prodigal Altar Boy Blog

19 March 2012

Happy Birthday, Hans Kung!

Today is Hans Kung’s birthday.  I’ll save you the trip to Wikipedia and tell you:

“Hans Kung is a Swiss Catholic priest, theologian, and prolific author. Since 1995 he has been President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic (Stiftung Weltethos). Küng is "a Catholic priest in good standing",but the Vatican has rescinded his authority to teach Catholic theology. He had to leave the Catholic faculty, but remained at the University of Tübingen as a professor of ecumenical theology, serving as an emeritus professor since 1996. Although Küng is not officially allowed to teach Catholic theology, neither his bishop nor the Holy See have revoked his priestly faculties.”

The full Wiki page is here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_K%C3%BCng

Q:  “What’s so important about Hans Kung?” 

A:  In terms of “The TQ Project,” Hans Kung’s book, “The Council, Reform and Reunion,” is central to TQ’s story.  That 1961 book was the main book TQ recommended to his first parish in Alexandria as essential to understanding the Second Vatican Council.  Pope John XXIII’s 1959 encyclical Truth, Unity and Peace, states that while the Council would “…discuss important matters of religion...the most pressing topics will be those which concern the spread of the Catholic faith, the revival of Christian standards of morality and the bringing of ecclesiastical discipline into closer accord with the needs and conditions of our times." (emphasis added)

That last bit on bringing ecclesiastical discipline into accord with the modern age was TQ’s mission.  In an interview, TQ confirmed that press coverage of the Council, combined with implications of the Council as well as the questions it raised, compelled him to educate his parish about the Second Vatican Council.  In his words, “We had to wake the people up.”

I was reviewing Art’s recollection of TQ’s fervor, quoting from stacks of tomes he hauled from the pulpit.  TQ said hundreds of Kung’s book were sold at the parish.