My Take on “The Knights, Redux”

I subscribed to RealCatholicTV months ago and every time one of Voris little videos for The Vortex appears in my inbox I cringe. I leave the email there, unread for days until I get up the nerve to open it. Many of these emails simply never get read, especially “Truth and Evil” and “The War on Marriage” but in the case of “The Knights, Redux” I can never really turn down an opportunity to find out what’s going on in the largest Catholic men’s organization.

I’ve said it before, but Michael Voris needs to reflect upon the idea that as Catholics we are united by the Sacraments, we have to build the Church together in as much harmony as we can muster. Now I admit I do not keep my ear to the ground for all the goings on in the Catholic Church the way I do with Mormonism, however sometimes the topics Voris decides to discuss seem like he’s the only one talking about them.

This weeks Vortex installment explained some recent developments from a past story. A local counsel of the Knights of Columbus kicked a pro-choice politician out of their organization for his “pro-death” stances. The national organization informed the local chapter that they had no authority to withhold  membership from a fellow Catholic man.

I feel it’s necessary to point out, amid Voris claims that this was a grievous and pretty darn close to sinful mistake on the part of the national KofC, that the organizations founding principles are Charity, Unity, Fraternity and Patriotism. Founded in 1882 by a young parish priest Venerable Michael McGivney, the Knights of Columbus are the “strong right arm of the church.” They seek to better the church and their communities through acts of service and providing support to one another. As a Catholic organization they sure do contribute time and energy to Pro-life organizations, however, Pro-life activity is but one aspect of what the Knights take on for themselves.

And furthermore there is more than one way to be a pro-life. You can be pro-life and pro-choice, trust me I do it all the time. Without knowing the politician this situation is swirling around I’ll guess that he believes deeply in the sanctity of life and desires for a time when there is not a need for abortion but also believes in the sanctity of free will and does not believe we should hinder anyones ability to examine their own conscience and make a choice. Perhaps this nameless politician gives his time and talents to better funding for pre-natal and childhood healthcare and supporting women who choose to carry their children to term.

After this situation happened the local parish, as well as Voris, wrote to the KofC which only resulted in the national branch instituting bylaws to make it even more difficult to take take away a person’s membership. Of course Voris is disgusted, enraged and after determining that the organization is headed in the wrong direction he withdrew his membership. Voris is now claiming that the Knights are “nothing more than a business,” which isn’t entirely unfounded. The Knights do own a life insurance company and encourages members to join, as one of the Knights main endeavors is taking care of the orphaned, widowed and poor. According to the KofC website they have a 1.7 million worldwide membership, the largest Catholic lay organization, has donated $151 millions to charitable organizations (some Catholic, some not) and has volunteered over 69 million hours of community service. I have seen my own father work countless raffle booths, cook meal upon meal for families with recently deceased mothers or fathers, donate his time and talents and I even worked at the parish Bingo (they split the proceeds with the parish and charitable organizations) in middle school and high school, even benefiting from being awarded a scholarship. The Knights do so much good.

Although Voris admits that most local councils are faithful to the Church he believes the national organization has no desire “to be faithful.”

Mr. Voris, what’s so unfaithful about keeping a Brother Knight in the fold? Why should we kick our brothers out of a volunteer organization? Why do you consider the Knights a “Catholic” organization? Why not broaden our understanding of brotherhood, fidelity and Catholic?

Mr. Voris, you and the other Brother Knights who decided to end your membership with the KofC are only missing out on opportunities for fraternity. Sure, there are other means of doing good within and outside the church but there’s nothing like putting your shoulder to the wheel, to use a Mormon phrase, with fellow Catholics.

For all you Catholic men out there take a look and join this wonderful organization…

http://www.kofc.org/eb/common/video/ev2.html?id=frat_inservice&w=400&h=225&t=0&l=null&bgC=0xffffff&ap=n

Ladies at Work

Yep, those are "altar girls" with Blessed Pope John Paul II

In the summer of 1998, a few weeks after I donned a pure white First Communion dress with a pretty awesome veil, I went to altar server training. For three years I served my parish community alongside my older brother every Sunday and for several more years I continued on and helped (and by help I mean tell then after Mass “Ringing the bells is all in the wrist. Here I’ll show you.” I was ten give me a break) other young girls and boys fulfill their role as an altar server. I loved it. I loved bringing the priest what he needed throughout the Mass, I held the book for him as he read blessings and when I was strong enough l carried the cross, leading the procession of altar servers, lector, deacon and priest in and out of the sanctuary. I took my job setting up for the next Mass seriously. Once I hit high high school I followed in the footsteps of mother and sister and became a lector. I had the wonderful experience of Sunday after Sunday listening to either the bold, authoritative voice of my mother or my sister’s kind, assertive voice over the pulpit, reading the Word of God from the lectern. It was not uncommon for people to recognize our family, which included my brother (who became an usher) and father, a Eucharistic Minister at the groceries or restaurants, etc.

Look boys AND girls serving

Despite what Michael Voris claims in his recent installment of the Vortex, The Feminization of the Church*, my presence and the presence of women in leadership positions have not deterred men from taking active roles in the parish. Along with seeing my mother and older sister read to our congregation I also saw men do the same. I served alongside boys my age on the altar too. My father served shoulder to shoulder with women when distributing Communion. All around me I see men and women playing their part to serve our parish family and Heavenly Father.

Voris is right, however, men typically do not enjoy taking direction from women. Doesn’t that say more about men than it does about women? He is also right that men attend church less frequently and serve in ministries less frequently too. But when I look at my home parish it feels very 50/50.

We have a pastor (the head priest, my childhood priest is now a Monsigeur but we all still call him Father) and two parochial vicars (a fancy way of saying priest), and four deacons. These guys are the top dogs followed closely by our very capable and organized female parish office manager. Our religious education director is a nun and the mother superior of her convent. By the way, her office manager is a lay man. For a period of time growing up the RE director was a young charismatic priest. I attend 8 am Mass (which means the church is not packed and we’re always looking for more people to serve in every capacity) and when I was younger my brother and I were the only altar servers. When I go to Mass with my parents most of the alter servers are girls with a few boys now and then. Most lectors at 8 am are women, however in my parish in New York it’s practically even. The choir director is female and has a couple of men and four or five women under her stewardship. The head usher and altar server trainer is a man. In terms of RE teachers I have had a variation of male and female teachers. The ushers are predominately male but I know of a family of girls who have all served in this capacity at Masses later in the day. The leader of the ACTS retreat community is a woman (my mom!) and she serves with both men and women.

A lady at work

I see a vibrant community at my home parish, my NYC parish and the new parish I will be attending in the Summer.

Voris’s assertion that the presence of female altar servers “blurs the distinction” between masculinity and femininity just ain’t true. My days as an altar server are a defining part of my life as a Catholic. What equitable experience of service during the Celebration of the Eucharist is there for an eight year old?

I was a fabulous altar server and if my female presence on the altar deterred boys from serving their faith community that says more about them and their parents than it does about me.

The bigger problem in my Church is the education of the laity (both young and old) and retention, not little girls who are awesome at ringing bells and lining up purificators. 

*He also says some stuff about it’s feminie to run out of a room crying and other things that are pretty darn sexist. Voris is right in saying there is something intrinsically different about males and females but the things he decided to point out were sickening.

Justin Bieber, a lost Catholic voice?

Just days ago Justin Bieber (yeah, I’m writing about Justin Bieber) discussed his faith in God, the power of prayer and his pro-life stance on abortion, making the Huffington Post wonder if Justin Bieber could be the go-to evangelical of the rising generation. I read his statements, appreciated his stance on abortion in the case of rape (“I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”) and put it to rest. Little Justin Bieber is young and exploring his faith. I think he has a thing or two figured out and has a lifetime of prayer and reflection to figure out heaps more.

What I do not think Justin Bieber or his mother Pattie Mallette had in mind when they shared their Christian beliefs was to be featured in this week’s installment of RealCatholicTV. The RealCatholicTV website seeks to promote ‘pure’ Catholicism and, according to the segment I watched about The Biebs, fight against “modernist, liberal, progressive trash” within the Catholic Church.

Oh and how could I forget? RCTV is also where “lies and falsehoods are trapped and exposed.”

How did Bieber and his momma come into the fold? Here’s the link.

Mallette was raised Catholic and enrolled Justin in Catholic parochial school (well, according to RCTV at least). Mallette  now considers herself a Christian Non-Denomination Evangelical, even asking Bieber’s Christian fans to pray that she and her son use the gifts of “wisdom and discernment.” What is troubling for the folks over at RCTV are people who are “deeply committed non-Catholics.” RCTV sees Bieber and Mallette as “lost opportunities,” that somewhere along the way these ex-Catholics were not shown the “true beauty of The Church.” They are a “lost opportunity” because host Michael Voris sees someone with Bieber’s notoriety as an opportunity to share a Catholic story in a positive, faith promoting way.

Voris asks us to  ”Imagine if at the end of a concert Bieber said something like ‘I’d like to thank the Glorious Virgin Mary for her ‘yes’ that brought about salvation.’”

Voris says “The world stage needs Catholic voices.”

What RealCatholicTV wants is a specific brand of Catholic voice, that definitely is not mine or most of the Catholics I know. To a certain extent, a very small extent, I can see Voris’s issue with Catholic voices today. They tend to be of the comedic variety, although not all of these hilarious voices take shape in a George Carlin “I used to be Irish Catholic” way.

There is beauty within my faith tradition but there are plenty of things that make me shake my head at good ol’ Mother Church. I embrace the creeds and doctrines I do not understand and the ones I want changed. One of my favorite things to ask my deeply devout father is “Don’t you think Mom would make a fabulous deacon?” I ask partially in a joking manner because I know it irks him but I ask mostly because I think my mom would enrich our parish with her love of the Gospel and The Church. I have a strong, proud progressive Catholic feminist voice, but it is Catholic nonetheless.

See, we Catholics have been around for 2,000 years so we have splintered off, officially and unofficially, into varying degrees of belief and practice, with differing results but we are all still brothers and sisters and we are all still Catholic. More importantly we are still sons and daughters of a Heavenly Father.

I see our ability as Catholics to embrace one another’s differences as a good thing. A healthy step in a wonderful direction, a way we’ve been speed walking for generations. Voris, though, says that people like me practice our faith with “cowardice and reluctance” not obedience and faithfulness.

Shutting down the liberal wing of the Catholic Church does not serve the Body of Christ. In fact St. Paul says “there can be no division in the body.”

Mr. Voris, you and me, “we were baptized into one body.”

You need me. And, begrudgingly, I admit I need you.

Joel Burns

Thank goodness for everyone circulating this around facebook and all over the internet. I’m in awe of this man.