Yes, that is Pope JPII giving props to breakdancers. Oh, and this...
All those hats!!!
Needless to say, the media has a short memory of the charisma and joy of Pope Francis' predecessors.
But I'll leave it at that. That's a different topic from what I'm wanting to touch.
Pope Francis isn't saying anything new by saying to love homosexuals, unite with atheists for world peace, or be joyful in the spread of the Gospel. Many in the pro-life movement have been using joy as a primary weapon for years. But I very much agree that joy is lacking in some people's methods of evangelization. Pope Francis is saying in a nutshell that you aren't going to win people to Christ by being confrontational. That's it. You have to start with the basic tents of the faith -- the Resurrection, the Eucharist, Jesus' own words -- before you can start to carve into such heavy, moral dilemmas as abortion and homosexuality. That is necessary not only in the evangelization of non-Catholics and fallen-away Catholics, but in the evangelization of one another. Yes, we as Catholics are called on to witness to each other day in and day out about our faith. We assume that fellow Catholics have heard the Gospel message and come to realize that Christ came to save us. We fail to see that many Catholics' formation have been mediocre at best. So when we attack the use of some theological terms we alienate those of our own belief system more than help each other, especially when those corrections are not done out of care and compassion. I'm as guilty here as any, and perhaps I'm writing this more as a reminder to myself. If someone speaks incorrectly theologically, correction must come subtly and compassionately, not as an opportunity to show off our educational background. That being said, I hope I present this blog post as compassionately as possible by showing both sides of the story as much as possible and reaching fair conclusions. My hope is that people will see how much these internal struggles are silly battles being picked that need to be set aside to focus our energies on true evangelization. Without further ado, I present my take on word wars that need to end right now.
1. "True love waits"
When you're a cradle-Catholic tween, chastity is pushed as a cool and hip thing to be. At the end of chastity talks, you were given chastity cards to sign that looked like credit cards, so you could carry it around in your purse. If a girl showed up to school with a chastity ring, within the next week all her friends were probably wearing one as well.
Now those tweens are young adults, and some are railing against the phrase that was pushed..."True love waits." It does not, they say. True love acts. True love is not sugar-coated. True love is not Sleeping Beauty.
This is true. But that does not mean that the idea behind "True love waits" is false. Maybe it was not properly worded. If it was phrased exactly like Corintians to say "Love is patient," maybe people wouldn't be so up-in-arms. The point wasn't to sit and do nothing and wait for Prince Charming to show up at your Mass some Sunday with the smell of roses from St. Therese in the air and a beam of sunlight through the stained-glass window pouring in on him. But love does wait more than girls flinging themselves at whatever false loves enter into their lives.
The point is, there's no reason to tear up the chastity credit cards and throw off every "True love waits" ring, or demoralize any girl who clings to the phrase and is at least attempting to let it work some good in her life. Chill out, people. Pick your battles wisely.
St. Paul is my favorite example of evangelizing when he speaks with the Romans. Complement any young girl who is excited about chastity in any way, shape, or form. Nourish that spark. "True love waits" is a good starting point. Cultivate that idea to let it mature.
2. "Keep Christ in Christmas"
Among Catholics, I hope it's just more teasing than anything when someone gets all up in a tizzy about the abbreviation "Xmas". One need only to pull out a little Greek. X is the Greek letter of Chi...this is the beginning of the name of Christ... It's just an abbreviation. And for that matter, let's touch on "Happy Holidays". I honestly don't see anything wrong the phrase when used properly, and it certainly need not mean "Death to Christmas!!! Angst! Ire!" If you look at the liturgical season of Christmas in the Catholic Church alone, nearly all the days have a feast day attached with it. There are certainly a lot of holy-days. And it's not rude of us to be ecumenical in our speech and hope that Hanukkah goes well for our Jewish brethren, or even that Kwanzaa be a memorable holiday. Many non-Christians will try to demean Christmas as just a derivative of ancient pagan winter celebrations, but remember that the Church is Catholic, is universal...there is light and truth in all these other religions, and the fullness is to be found in the Church. We can certainly attest that there is goodness to be found in other religions' holidays.
3. "Christian music"
Ohhhhhh the tears that have been shed and the hurt feelings involved in this topic. The easy answer is that there is no easy answer. Everybody would love to have teens stay involved with the Church and get passionate about their faith, and sometimes the best answer is to do it through a medium that they easily identify with. Really, Christian music is smart in that way, to adopt the musicality of popular genres to get its message through. And I would rather have a teen rocking out to a Christian rock song than some of the trash on the radio these days.
But we can't just leave kids there. Teen pop is most certainly not the highest art form, but we must still recognize the beauty in it. We need to stop with defending Christian music till blue in the face, and stop trashing Christian music till blue in the face. Recognize the goodness first. Only then can you start to introduce even more beauty and truth. No one is going to convert from MercyMe to Gregorian chant in a day. Baby steps. I like both. They each have their own place. Give me a good drum beat in the car and a soaring organist in the sanctuary.
We are incredibly musically poor in the United States. While the organ is still technically the instrument of choice for the Church, it is nearly a lost art in the U.S. Parishes are doing what they can for music. If you're going to complain about the loud organist, trying learning the organ yourself...I went to two lessons and had enough of it. It's plain hard and complicated. Whoever decided trying to coordinate feet and fingers with multiple layers of keyboards at the same time had to be the best multi-tasker on this planet. If you're going to complain about the Mass being a mini pop concert, volunteer for music yourself... But both sides need to calm down and work towards music that lifts souls.
There are plenty of other internal battles that plague the Church...Novus ordum versus extraordinary form, "liberal" versus "conservative", "pro-life" versus "social justice"...it could go on and on. These are simply the phrases that have been tossed around and hashed out lately that have been on my heart. Certainly there are errors that need to be addressed, and truth that needs to be found. Discernment often occurs through debates, and that is an honorable pursuit. But if anything is said without love, it is as a "resounding gong" (1 Corinthians 13: 1). Let us take St. Paul as our example and find the light in that with which we disagree before we combat the dark.
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