Kicking and ScreamingKicking and ScreamingA liberal Catholic's diary on his first year in a Seminary with the Paulist Religious Community Articles
Friday Homily
2007-03-23 21:10:00 For my weekly Frida y reflection, I wanted to pare things down. I was told by one of the parishioners that the crowd at the daily Mass might not get my sense of humor, so I tried to hit a single instead of swinging for the fences. It is based on the readings here.In the gospel today, the people at the public feast see Jesus… essentially a wanted man… and they’re pretty amazed. But they still don’t know what to make of him. They’re a different from the people in the first reading, whose “blindness” was caused by their “wickedness,” and who wanted nothing to do with what is just, what is sacred.The people in the gospel reading are LOOKING for, are AWITING the Christ, but they have their problem is that their looking in the wrong place. “When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.” They help illustrate the point that sometimes it is easy to miss the divine in the familiar.
Baltimore Homily
2007-03-22 17:34:00 Fr. Joe Muth, the pastor at St. Matthew's, my old church in Baltimore , gave this homily on the weekend of March 10th and 11th. He always gives very dynamic homilies, and I wish I could have been there to see this one. The sermon for this week came to me on Tuesday night (3/6) and I tried to deny it. I decided to do other things. It would not leave me so I wrote the whole thing down which, as you know, I don’t normally do. I usually preach from the middle aisle and with all that I have prepared I try to leave room open for the Spirit to move me as I preach. I think this week the Spirit hit me on Tuesday night. I am still open to the Spirit at this moment, but the burden of this message has lived in me all week and, not trying to be too dramatic, I can only quote what Moses said, “I AM sent me to you”. Lent is a time of repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation and these themes continue in the readings this weekend. I begin with Psalm 137Beside the river... More About: More
Not a Yoga Move
2007-03-21 08:44:00 One of the guys in the house is currently working his doctorate degree - having just finished his comprehensive exams for his doctorate, he is in the mood to celebrate by going out to see a movie. This is brought up during dinner, and various options are discussed. I bring up the new Samuel L. Jackson film "Black Snake Moan." Father Bernie strongly encourages "Into Great Silence," the film about contemplative monks that he has been talking about for days as one of the most powerful movie experiences he has had in a long time. The final winner: "The Host", a Korean film about a giant mutated slug that attacks Seoul.In the meantime, another debate was forming in my head. Being that I was going to be headed out of town, I was debating whether I should go to yoga that night, since I would not be able to go for a few days, or accompany my house mate in celebration of the completion of his exams. The giant slug won.There are a lot of great movie theaters in downtown Berkeley, so it... More About: Yoga , Move
New Terrain
2007-03-21 07:05:00 Over dinner the other night, Fr. Bernie discussed a movie he had just seen on monastic life, Into Great Silence. He related what a unique experience it was in that there was complete silence in the theater as the film went on, with the only words being spoken the Liturgy of the Hours and some closing words at the end.This got us onto a discussion about the flood of applications to monasteries after Thomas Merton's book, Seven Storey Mountain, was published in the 1950s. The book describes Merton's transformation from a "directionless, wandering young man" into first a Catholic, and then a Trappist monk. The book hit a nerve and resulted in a great number of people interested in religious life upon its release, and even had as far a reach as to initiate a friendship between Merton and the folk singer Joan Baez. Fr. Al mentioned that he knew a person that entered the Trappists around that time, and that eventually the order encouraged that person to get a degree in Psychology so tha... More About: Rain , Terra
Carmel Topping
2007-03-20 17:52:00 Heading down the Pacific Coastal Highway today for an overnight trip to Carmel and surrounding areas. I have a car available to me for the week, so I thought I would take this opportunity to do some sightseeing and some picture taking. Just finished some mix CDs for the road; 2 (sort-of) California themed CDs (yes one includes the Theme song to "The OC" - shut up, it's a good song!) and one instrumental with "The Mission" soundtrack on it. It's rainy today, but Fr. Al tells me that that will make the scenery more dramatic. Supposed to be sunny tomorrow so I will be able to get both extremes of the coast. Hope I have enough memory on my camera. More About: Ping , Topping
Half Way Through
2007-03-19 19:49:00 Below is an insert I am writing for this week's Bulletin at Newman. Frequent readers may disagree with how well I have been doing at cleaning up the potty mouth from my Lenten Sacrifice a few years back, but I've actually done much better. Hey, I'm trying! I am not one for New Year’s Resolutions; I much prefer giving up something for Lent if there is a particular vice in my life that I need to abstain from. I guess it’s one of the benefits of being Catholic; giving up something is like a New Year’s Resolution, except because God is involved it has teeth.The hardest thing that I ever had given up for Lent was swearing a few years back. I grew up in Northern New Jersey - about a half hour away from where episodes of “The Sopranos” are filmed - so “colorful colloquialisms” were just part of the social landscape growing up. Still, I knew it was habit that I probably needed to “evolve” from, so I thought that would be a good time. It was not easy. Still, I wa... More About: Through , Half
Ruined for Life
2007-03-16 23:52:00 Thirteen years ago, I graduated college and headed out west to do a year of volunteer work through the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) in Phoenix. It turned out to be one of the most defining periods of my life... basically, I wanted an adventure and I thought it would be fun to be a cowboy. But in addition to visions of City Slickers running in my head (Billy Crystal is a Yankees fan too), I had also done a lot of community service work while in college as well as campus ministry retreats, so a year of volunteer work seemed like a natural extension.However at the very beginning of the year, instead of heading out to the Grand Canyon State where I would be living, everyone was required to meet in San Francisco for our week long orientation retreat. It was only my second time out west and my first time to California; I stared out the window of the bus taking us to the airport, noticing the Spanish-style clay shingles that were on the tops of houses, and taking in my first crossing o... More About: Life , Ruin
Stubborn
2007-03-16 21:07:00 Had my second reflection/homily today for the 12:10 Mass. It was based on the first reading: Hosea 14:2-10.The theme of stubbornness with God made the reflection very easy to write. I sometimes have a tough relationship with God… because I am stubborn. Now being stubborn has frequently works to my advantage… when I want something, I have learned that waiting, persisting, I can get what I want.But this God, our God, is MORE stubborn than me. I’m going to get into physics for a moment: this pulpit, this OBJECT does not move. So if I take steps away from this pulpit, from this object, I will move farther away from it. The more steps I take, the farther I will get. It’s basic, logical, physics. God, on the other hand, is not like this pulpit. The more steps I take, you take, away from God, the CLOSER God gets. I don’t understand this… God CREATED the laws of physics – why then does not obey those laws when it comes to objects moving away from . The first reading to...
The White Man Speaks
2007-03-16 03:25:00 What follows is the beginning of a series of posts on the Religion and Culture Seminar we attended in January in New Haven, Connecticut.Anthropology, Jesus, and Connecticut: Part 1This past January, as I mentioned in a previous post, the formation director and the novices (first year seminarians) spent a week in New Haven Connecticut at the OSMC foundation for worldwide mission. A Protestant Organization, they provide support to missionaries all across the world as they serve the poor in third world countries… and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.Evangelization: it’s been the one thing that I have been struggling with ever since I got here… Okay, not the ONE thing, but it’s been up there. When Isaac Hecker founded the Paulists in 1858, he had a dream of evangelizing a brand new America to the faith he thought best suited a democratic republic: Catholicism. Born a Methodist, Isaac spent many of his early years with the Transcendentalists Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Davi... More About: White , Speak , Peak
Keep The Change
2007-03-15 18:51:00 This past Tuesday I was asked to do a talk about Jesus and the Money Chan g e rs at the Temple for our young adult group. The reading was from the Gospel of John and if you want to read the original, click here:My family ancestry is 100% Irish… not 5 percent Italian, not half Russian… 100% percent Irish. Which means that… genetically… I would rather drink a beer or tell a joke than express anger. Anger was considered… BAD. We are taught to move away from anger, suppress it. Paint it over with flowers, jokes, and yes, sometimes religion. After all, even Yoda says anger is the pathway to the darkside.I think, in it’s own way, that attitude is reflected in how Jesus is frequently presented to us – as a nice guy, as loving, as sweet, as peaceful… our name for him is the Prince of Peace. At the same time it’s kind of limiting; it puts Jesus in a box.To prepare for this talk, I approached that highest resource… that was available to me anyway… Wikipedia. And the... More About: Keep
Going native
2007-03-12 18:07:00 There's a great line in one of my favorite movies, Good Will Hunting. It's always been one of my favorites because it's one of the few movies I've seen that deals honestly with the emotional lives of men without devolving into a chick flick. I especially liked that the script did not take the easy way out and make the girlfriend, Minnie Driver, swoop in and save Matt Damon's soul... he did the work he needed to do within the context of the "male community," for lack of a better term.That's largely set up in the early part of the movie when Robin Williams and Matt Damon start working in therapy, Matt Damon's character lights up a cigarette.Williams: "You know, you'd be better off shoving that cigarette up your ass. It'd probably be healthier for you."Damon: "Yeah, it really gets in the way of my yoga."I was reflecting on that moment of cinematic history as I found myself laying flat on the floor... grabbing my ankles while simultaneously lifting my shoulders off of the gro... More About: Going , Native , Goin
Some new links
2007-03-11 11:11:00 For the first time in a VERY long time, I have edited the side panels of the site - most notably, in the area of links. The first reason for this was because I realized that while others' have been very generous in linking to my site, I had not gotten around to returning the favor, so I have expanded and divided out some of the link categories to offer a smörgåsbord of web possibilities out there. If I have left your's out and you have linked to mine, please let me know and I will remedy the situation. ks_intention@yahoo.comThere are some not-nationally known bands that I listen to that I thought other people might like to check out, so I created a new "music" category.The blog tracking is a tracking service that ranks blogs - feel free to press "Vote for me" if you feel compelled. Along that same track, I found some other blogs out there that I thought were interesting... and some of you may have noticed "Atheist" blogs are listed. I generally feel that blogs tend to attra... More About: Links , Link , Some
First swing of the bat
2007-03-09 22:48:00 Today I did my first homily at the 12:15 Mass. Well, since I'm not ordained, it's really technically a "reflection," but since I've been sparse on posts this week I thought I would put this up. It is based on the Gospel reading that can be viewed here:The stone that the builders rejectedhas become the cornerstone;The way this passage was taught to me was frequently used as an allegory for the poor, for the disenfranchised, for the sick, that these are the most important people in God’s kingdom… and I do believe that’s true and that’s central to who we are as Christians, as human beings. But after reading the whole passage, I’m wondering if there’s something else going on in this story.I am one of those people who love compliments. Tell me I am wonderful, tell me I am smart… I will sit and listen to you all day. If I’m being completely honest… at my most basic level… I would much rather be complimented than criticized. Let’s focus on the positive – I... More About: First , Wing , Swing
Crossed Arms
2007-03-06 22:39:00 Back in DC"When in doubt, genuflect." That was the advice Tom Stransky gave me before my first acolyting duty last November. And while I may have parlayed that into some cold cash that first time, on following appointments I have conducted myself with a less... capitalistic... attitude.However, during the Mass, there is a point during the consecration of the bread and wine, where the priest genuflects (kneels). So, a few months when I was serving as an acolyte (glorified altar boy), when the priest genuflected, I followed suit. After the Mass however, I was approached by the presiding priest... turns out I was not supposed to genuflect during that point. I was supposed to bow. "Only the priest kneels at that point.""But Tom Stransky... former president of the Paulists... participant in the Vatican II Council... said 'when in doubt, genuflect!'""Never mind him... bow."Okay, so I start bowing while serving as an Acolyte. However, my days of serving on the altar are few and far... More About: Cross , Arms , Crosse , Ross
A Walk Through Berkeley
2007-03-02 07:08:00 On my first full day in Berk eley , I went walking around the neighborhood to get a sense of the place. The Newman Center is about four blocks from campus, so I started wandering in that direction to go check the place out... and find some lunch. As I reach the edge of Cal (that's what we locals call it around here), I look down the street a notice string of stores and restaurants.Oh good... a Quiznos! Lots of other stuff... I've always loved college towns... there's a campus book store... I'm going to have to stop in there and buy myself a sweatshirt. And then... is that a Carvel?!?! Holy shit, it's Fudgie the Whale!!! Here on the WEST Coast!!! God is shining his... oooppps, excuse me... His light down on me, yesiree! We don't even have Carvels on the East Coast anymore. Oooohhh... look at that: a food cart that makes authentic burritos by the campus gate. I've been jonesing for some good Mexican since I got here; having lived in Arizona and Mexico in a past life, I... More About: Through , Walk , Kele
Movie Night
2007-03-01 06:50:00 The forward of "Armchair Mystic," the book I started reading on the plane, starts out with a story about a boy who after watching a holy man playing by a river, asked the holy man to teach him how to pray.The holy man looked at the boy, then grabbed the boy by the neck, plunged his head under water, and held it there. When the boy finally broke and got his breath back, he asked the holy man why he did that. The holy man's response was "When you want to pray as badly as you wanted to breathe under water, only then can I teach you."For Lent, one of the priests here has instituted "Movie Night ," where the upstairs lounge is opened for a religious movie. The first one selected was the 1964 film "The Gospel According to Mathew" by Pier Pasolini, widely considered to be one of the best movies ever made on the life of Christ.Pasolini was a communist and an atheist and had previously made a lot of what one of the priests here described as "soft core porn films." However one day, when... More About: Movie Night
Are you a faithless preacher?
2007-02-27 15:50:00 O Lord, help me to be pure, but not yet.- Saint AugustineI mentioned in a previous post my trip to Mexico, which I went on with a friend this past May as a bachelor party of sorts. Wanting to really do up our Mexico adventure, we brought movies to watch on the flight both to and from Phoenix. The flight heading out to Phoenix, we put in Desperado, the great shoot 'em up picture by Robert Rodriguez, which featured a cameo by Quentin Tarantino. I had been in a funky mood during the trip... I had only made my decision a few weeks before to apply to the Paulists and I was still knee deep in feelings of confusion, mourning, loss, and anxiety... I hadn't even told most people in my life what I was preparing to do, let alone the girl I had been dating two months before. The friend who accompanied me on the trip didn't even find out until we were on the plane and about to plug in the first movie.The trip was great... nothing for the soul like driving through the desert, drinking Dos ... More About: Faith , Cher , Reach , Less , Preacher
An AL...entine
2007-02-26 20:47:00 One thing that I loved about my old career as a web designer is that, because I was essentially at my desk all day typing code, with headphones I could generally listen to a lot of music during the day... and talk radio.I started this daytime habit with the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN, catching up on all of the sports talk of the day. I like to watch sports, but not on any substantial level (although if it's October and the Yankees are in the playoffs, my schedule is booked). Still, because of my blasé attitude towards most organized athletics, there was this whole world that I was shut out... guy talk. Who was favored to do well in the NCAA tournament, what the Bears did last week against the Packers, why the Spurs were favored to win... this was all stuff that left me out of conversations for a large part of my life.But after stumbling onto the Dan Patrick Show a few years ago, suddenly I had friends... I was knowledgeable about Shaquille O'Neal's horrific free-throw... I was w...
The Early Bloggers
2007-02-26 02:24:00 My lovely sister sent me this... class runs in the family. More About: Blogger , Blog , Bloggers , Early , Logger
Temple of the Dog
2007-01-03 05:26:00 I spent the later part of my New Year's Eve at a friend's house whose Uncle is a priest, and it is their family tradition to do a Mass at the house earlier in the evening before starting the big party. It was hard for me not to think of the Refreshments song with the lyrics "I wonder where I'll be, in a year" during the service. The name of the song is "Don't Wanna Know," and I kept thinking about how if somebody told me 365 days before where I'd be at this point in my life now... with as many blessings as I've had in the past year, I would not have wanted to know either.Uncle Priest talked about how a lot of good things happened in this past year, and a lot of bad things happened in this past year. This was especially true of my friend's family, who had lost a relative this past year as well other illnesses in the family, so the homily had an especially "local" feel. And that the coming year was sure to have it's ups and downs as well, but there was hope because God, an... More About: Temple , The D , Temp
Green and Dumb
2006-11-29 13:16:00 You know, I may not ever have a wedding, but before I entered seminary I was damn sure going to have a bachelor party. So this past May, my good friend Ben and I made a pilgrimage to Puerto Penasco, Mexico to go to the bi-annual Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers beach concert. A drive through the Sonoran Desert in a Dodge Charger, straw cowboy hats, tequila on the beach, and my favorite band (not from the Great State of New Jersey) playing an outdoor show with fireworks. Hailing from Tempe, Arizona, Roger Clyne got his musical start as the front man for The Refreshments in the mid-nineties, originator of such hits as Banditos and the theme song for "King of the Hill." In this age of emo and hip-hop, there just aren't that many bands out there who deliver great, pure, passionate rock n' roll anymore; these guys bring home the tortillas.A highlight of the show was a special version of my favorite song: Green and Dumb . It's the song in the show that invariably creates swaying amon...
Trying to make His way home...
2006-10-07 04:58:00 As I mentioned before, one of the most consistent things about the Paulists houses throughout the country is their location, and the last stop of you "Northeast" tour is no exception: the vacation site at Lake George, New York. Three houses plus a boat house directly on the lake with three boats, PLUS an island in the middle of the lake, Paulists use this as a vacation house as well as the gathering place for the society for a few weeks of RnR in August. We spend a lot of our time here sitting by the fire of the main house.Although I the trip has been wearing me down, this is coming at a good time. Yes, we do have to listen to one more person, but we also have a lot of time to chill. And I'm a little anxious about heading back; my last few months in Baltimore, I had so much to do that at some point I had to put my head down and go into a robotic mode where I just had to get things done. In that process, I knew that I was putting aside a lot of the feelings I was experiencing r... More About: Home , Make
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
More articles from this author:2006-09-15 19:29:00 “Now I know that rose trees never grow in New York City…”First stop on the road trip is New York City. The Paulist mother parish, St. Paul the Apostle, is located on 59th Street and 9th Ave in a beautiful old church that dates back to the 1880’s, one block from Columbus Circle and Central Park. While we had to commute into the city from Oak Ridge (no room at the inn) we spent two days getting to know all of the different ministries, including some very exciting art, communications, and even acting programs. It’s the kind of outside the box stuff I have always seen myself doing. And I’m in New York.As mentioned before and for reasons I’m sure I will go into deeper at another time… well it’s not that I hate the culture of Christendom, but I don’t exactly do back flips over it either. I’m still asking myself why I’m Catholic in the first place; the others seem a lot more into it than me. And after two weeks of all Jesus, all of the time, I am starting to close d... More About: Mona Lisa , Hat , Lisa , Mona 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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