How many of you remember Newton Minnow?  I do because of his description [in 1961!] of television as a 'vast wasteland.'  There is evidence aplenty that Newton was right: in fact parts of television have devolved into a garbage dump.  But my recuperation has allowed me to see TV's virtues and to cast yearning glances towards the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation].  Why?

 

In May of this year the BBC featured a documentary involving five men who stayed forty days at England's Worth Abbey and agreed to follow the monks' way of life under the gaze of a camera.  The monks, of course, had to agree to this experiment and welcomed the five as well as the cameras into their monastic routine.  From all I have read this three-part series was an astounding surprise and a must-see when it reaches this country.

 

The five men were mostly young and completely secularized; one remarked it was easy to describe his religious background--'I don't have one.'   One of the men, later to be most deeply moved by a spiritual encounter with one of the monks, rented others porn videos for a living.  All of them, despite misgivings and prejudices, found their monastic experience to be life giving and transformative.  From what I have read, there is a plan afoot for the same monastic experience for British women.

 

I bring this series up because at its heart is a clue about how people change and enter into faith.  In my experience with the R.C.I.A., I have met instances when people enter a church alone and emerge knowing that God is real.  This is quite rare.  What usually happens resembles the BBC series: a person, who may not realize he or she is searching for God, encounters a group of people of faith--a family, a parish, an assembly at worship, a group ministering in jail or a convalescent home--and begins the journey of faith.  Were the seeker able to put into words her desire, it might sound like "I want what they have."

 

The Catholic Church, and in fact much of Christianity, has a challenge because of the public perception of our religion.  It appears to be largely 'No': no to abortion, embryonic stem cell research, same-sex marriage, married clergy, the list is seemingly endless.  [To be honest, the 'No' has not always been well explained, but that is an issue for another time.] The 'Yes' of the Church is barely imagined: yes to the assurance of forgiveness of sins, Jesus' true presence in the Eucharist, peace of heart in prayer, power of Scriptures, closeness to the saints, healing, etc.  Obviously, it is the 'Yes' experiences that attract the seeking person, sometimes at a very young age and even sometimes towards the end of life.

 

 The monks of Worth Abbey had to welcome these five men and invite them into their life.  This is where you and I come in: if we encounter someone whom we believe to be searching, it is our opportunity to invite him or her to investigate the Faith.  This time of year is very important because in our parish the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults & Children is about to begin.  We trust that the Spirit has already been nudging from inside the seeking person; all we do is speak aloud the invitation, echoing what is silently beckoning from within.  It is a lovely privilege to work with and echo the Holy Spirit and in our words!

 

Many years ago I met an older woman named Frankie.  She was eventually received into the Catholic Church at the Poor Clare monastery in Pleasant Valley, having had a correspondence relationship with Poor Clares in the East for years.  An important moment in her conversion was a heart episode in Waikiki.  Having difficulty breathing, she went across the street and into the coolness of St. Augustine Church.  Her breathing quickly returned to normal.

 

The next day she sought out the parish priest and described what had happened.  She asked him 'Do you think this is a sign I should become a Catholic?'  I laughed out loud when she told me the priest's response: 'You could do worse.'  She returned to the mainland, connected with the parish Sister, then the parish, and was confirmed, taking the name Clare.  Frankie lived into her 90s, full of fun and eager to rejoin her husband with whom she was deeply in love.  She went home to God but the weary priest in Honolulu, her Sister friend, the parish and Poor Clares, others in her childhood, escorted her to the door.  Would you like to be 'among that number' for someone else on the journey of faith?  Yes or no?

 

 

 

UPDATE: I had the joy of presiding at the closing Mass of the parish's Caregivers' Retreat this past weekend. Charmiel Teresi, our retreat guide and inspiration, said farewell as she and her husband now live in Texas.  We cannot thank her, Gay Pollock, and the team enough.  We prayed for the caregivers who couldn't be with us, including many of you now reading this.  My brother Leask cares for our mother 24/7, an incredible accomplishment, and my sister Mimi has been my caregiver since I was discharged from Dominican; I cannot even imagine my recovery without her..  As you sometimes hear, 'There is a special place in heaven...'