Wordless Wednesday: Stained glass

Stained glass windows from St Mary's in Greenville, SC.



Below, in order:

Christ stills the tempest
Jesus carries His cross
Our Lady of Sorrows
Acts 1:3 - He showed himself alive
Our Lady of Good Counsel


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Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Left: Dad and son arrive at this evening's Mass commemorating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

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After all of the media foofaraw over my priest, I figured it would be relatively safe to go today's Mass. The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Latino holiday, and the Spanish-speaking priest was presiding. And I was right! I was one of extremely few gringos in attendance.

It was educational to sit through a Mass that I didn't understand. This is how many immigrants feel, living in the USA: Huh? What?

I didn't know any of the songs, not even the basic melodies. It is almost as if there is more than one Catholic church.

And then again, of course there is not: I could follow the Order of Mass fine. I knew everything that was going on; the bell rings for the consecration and the host is held aloft. I followed along okay, as Latinos follow along okay for the English Masses. It's all one church, and A follows B, predictably, comfortingly. The ritual washes over one's soul, richly reassuring and reminding.

One of the hymns seemed ineffably sorrowful, and the woman next to me wept silently. Since I didn't know the Spanish lyrics, I wondered if the sadness was in the hymn itself, or some memory called up by it. I thought the woman could be missing her homeland. I wondered if the Blessed Mother made her think of her own mother, who is probably very far away. The concept of the Communion of Saints means that we are all together; the entire Church partaking of communion together, throughout time and space, living and dead. It is an idea that has always comforted me, and whenever I seriously meditate on it, my fear of death dissolves. I felt this especially strongly as I realized so many of the immigrants at this Mass were actively praying for their kinfolk at home-- missing them so much, I could feel their intense longing through their wistful singing.



Left: Adorable little pumpkin in traditional Mexican dress, inspects the articles that have been brought for a Feast Day blessing.


Children came with baskets of flowers and vigil candles as offerings for the Blessed Mother. Some were dressed traditionally, and were just SO PRECIOUS! (I am missing my grandchild mightily, and again, I realized so many people present were also missing children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, brothers, sisters....) Babies were brought forward for blessings. We were all ceremoniously doused with holy water.

I recognize the story of Guadalupe, even delivered in Spanish, through the use of certain words: Juan Diego, Maria, Sacramento. I love the Blessed Mother very much, and when I have asked her for comfort, she has never failed me, as she did not fail St Juan Diego.

It was a wonderful evening, and I felt greatly restored.

My priest advises penance for Obama vote

Father Jay Scott Newman

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Possible secondary subtitle: What should Daisy do?

Italics in article below is mine.

Priest advises penance for Obama vote

Parishioners shouldn't take Communion until they do because of president-elect's abortion view, he says

By Ben Szobody • STAFF WRITER • November 13, 2008

The priest at St. Mary's Catholic Church in downtown Greenville has told parishioners that those who voted for Barack Obama placed themselves under divine judgment because of his stance on abortion and shouldn't receive Holy Communion until they've done penance.

The Rev. Jay Scott Newman told The Greenville News on Wednesday that church teaching doesn't allow him to refuse Holy Communion to anyone based on political choices, but that he'll continue to deliver the church's strong teaching on the "intrinsic and grave evil of abortion" as a hidden form of murder.

Both Obama and Joe Biden, the vice president-elect, support legal abortions. Obama has called it a "divisive issue" with a "moral dimension," and has pledged to make women's rights under Roe v. Wade a "priority" as president. He opposes a constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court decision.

At issue for the church locally and nationwide are exit polls showing 54 percent of self-described Catholics voted for Obama, as well as a growing rift in the lifestyle and voting patterns between practicing and non-practicing Catholics.

In a letter posted on St. Mary's Web site, Newman wrote that "voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exists constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil."

Catholics who did so should be reconciled to God through penance before receiving communion, "lest they eat and drink their own condemnation," Newman wrote, echoing a I Corinthians admonition for anyone who partakes "without recognizing the body of the Lord."

The response from parishioners has been supportive by a margin of 9 to 1, Newman said. He also cited Scripture in urging parishioners to pray for Obama and cooperate with him wherever conscience permits.

Bishops in Baltimore for their annual meeting this week are wrestling with how to explain church teaching on abortion in light of voters' choice of Obama, who is Protestant, and Biden, who is Catholic, according to The Associated Press.

Francis Cardinal George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told colleagues that "the common good can never be adequately incarnated in any society when those waiting to be born can be legally killed."

Bishops have more vocally spoken about abortion this election season, though the issue hasn't generated as much public debate as the decision in 2004 to deny then-presidential candidate John Kerry communion because of his abortion views.

Stephen Gajdosik, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Charleston, told The News that calling parishioners who voted for a candidate who supports legalized abortions to penance is a question of how best to deepen a flock's relationship to God and a move left up to local priests. He said such a move is appropriate and in line with church teaching.

In an e-mail interview, Newman cited a survey earlier this year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life that showed fewer than 25 percent of the 65 million Americans who call themselves Catholic attend Mass each Sunday, a "disturbing fact of life" that he said shows the vast majority of those baptized into the church "do not live as disciples of Jesus Christ in any observable way."

Mass-attending Catholics, he said, "vote overwhelmingly" for candidates who oppose legalized abortion.

The Catholic dilemma coincides with a split in Protestant circles between those who consider abortion as a non-negotiable moral concern when voting, and emerging groups such as Sojourners who call for candidates to be evaluated on a "consistent ethic of life," abortion and the Iraq war included.

Newman calls abortion the "chief battleground" in the so-called culture wars, and different from "prudential" matters such as health care, education or the war on terror. A Catholic who gets an abortion, encourages one or assists in the procedure is automatically excommunicated from the church, Newman said, a penalty he said doesn't apply to other forms of killing.

"The reason is that abortion is usually murder in secret and it lays axe to human life at its root," he said. With nearly 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade, Newman said Obama would seek to make "hidden murder" a legally protected right, and anyone who voted to give him such power "will be complicit in the legal holocaust which will follow."

Asked about the moral weight of abortion, Gajdosik said that if only three abortions per year took place in the United States, while an objectively immoral war took thousands of innocent lives, then the war might outweigh abortion as a moral concern.

As it is, he said, the weight of large numbers of innocents "slaughtered" should be the overwhelming issue of concern to Catholics.

Gajdosik said that for someone to be guilty of cooperating with evil, a person would have to know what's at stake and purposefully vote anyway for the candidate who supports legalized abortion.

Newman said, "An uninformed vote is an irresponsible vote," and that no informed voter this year could have mistaken the candidates' abortion positions.

No matter the intention of the voter, Newman said a vote for Obama is "material cooperation" with his goal of extending the use of lethal violence against unborn children.

Asked if he would actively deny the sacraments to Obama voters, Newman said he won't because the church teaches that no one is denied communion unless it would cause "grave scandal," such as in the case of a notorious public sinner.

However, he said he'll continue to teach the necessity of being in "full, visible communion" with the church before receiving the sacraments.

Yes, this directly affects me this time. This is my church, although my attendance is scattershot and I also go to Masses at various other parishes in the upstate. St Mary's is the oldest parish in the region and fairly stunning. (The beautiful stained glass art I have featured on my blog, is all from St Mary's.)

St Mary's members are pretty affluent and old-south. After years of attempting to fit in socially, I simply gave up and moved on, for the most part.

South Carolina is a death penalty state, as I have written before many times, and in the past, I organized prayer vigils for prisoners condemned to death. In fairness, Father Newman graciously allowed me use of the church and church facilities for these events, but notably did not himself attend.

I have to ask: Why doesn't this abortion-logic apply to other issues? Anyone who voted for 100 more years of war, as well as the continuance of capital punishment and the denial of universal health care (leads to DEATH, you know), should also confess and ask for penance, in my ever-humble opinion.

And failing that, why can't we simply call it a wash? Why is abortion the sole litmus test?

If I were as plucky as I once was, I'd make a point of attending daily Mass at St Mary's, but alas, Father Newman CANCELED daily Noon* Masses a couple of years ago. This made it impossible for many of us who work on weekends to attend at all. As it is now, my health issues have basically confined me to my home for a few more weeks anyway.

My last physically-demanding task was standing in line for an hour and a half to vote.

***

*EDITED TO ADD: As Anonymous pointed out to me, St Mary's offers very early (7am) daily Masses. I referred to the 12 Noon daily Mass being canceled, and was not specific. My deepest apologies. I am dimly aware of Masses at such ungodly hours, but mostly, have only heard of them by legend and yes, in the church bulletin. (((shame))) Sorry, I did not actually check the website before linking.

Odds and Sods - June is busting out all over edition

Left: Sacred Heart of Jesus (stained glass) from St Mary's, oldest parish in Greenville, SC.

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Good News! The Blog Carnival for Progressive Christians is here at last:

The carnival for Progressive Christians came out of a conversation about frustration with the organized Christian church. As a Christian without a church, I am in a quandary about sacraments, worship, fellowship…all those things that happen in a church, and I am deeply conflicted about attitudes and behaviors I see within the organized church, attitudes that, in my opinion, do not reflect the mind of Christ. The Carnival is open to anyone, and is a safe place for queer/trans/non-normative folk.

Do you ever feel frustrated with Church? What do you do to keep in touch with God? Have you written about your experiences and how you deal with them? The theme for July is “Community”.

If this speaks to you, go submit an article.

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One Good Reason I Oppose the Death Penalty:

There are INNOCENT PEOPLE on death row.

At left, Glen Edward Chapman, who spent 14 years in prison, a good deal of that time on North Carolina’s death row. He was convicted of two murders in Hickory, NC, in 1994. Nelda Holder reports in Mountain Xpress:

That conviction, however, was reversed in 2008, due to diligent work by a legal team [see “Sprung” in the previous week’s Mountain Xpress] that has just been announced as winners of the WNC American Civil Liberties Union’s 2008 Evan Mahaney Champion of Civil Liberties Award, which they will receive on June 7.

Marion attorney Frank Goldsmith and Chapel Hill attorney Jessica Leaven share the award spotlight with mitigation specialist Pamela Laughon — a psychology professor at UNCA who brought student volunteers into the research — as well as Asheville-based private investigator Lenora Topp. The case for Chapman’s release was built on a series of legal missteps uncovered by the team, including evidence never submitted in his original trial and a confession by another person.

Chapman is the 128th death-row inmate to be exonerated and freed, nationally, since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit.

For more information, see also the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Photo of Chapman from Mountain Xpress.

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I first heard Sean Costello's music only quite recently. He was a prodigy, releasing his first album at the age of 17. And now he has left us, already, only one day before his 29th birthday.

So, so young.

House of Blues Radio Hour fans may have heard the musical eulogy given by Elwood on the weekly radio show. The official cause of death isn't listed online, and Elwood only mentioned that Debbie Smith, Sean's mother, has set up the Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research, with instructions on Sean's website about how to donate:

The Sean Costello Memorial Fund for Bipolar Research
c/o BB&T
3620 Tramore Pointe Parkway
Austell, Georgia 30106.

Such requests usually signal a death from substance abuse and/or suicide, and my deepest condolences go out to Ms. Smith. The loss of one so young, so talented, is just wrenching.

Yall might contribute if you can.

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Also:

JoJo gives us great photos (and a guided tour) of the Edward Gorey house in Yarmouthport, Massachusetts. G is for George, smothered under a rug/H is for Hector, done in by a thug. I'd love to visit the house on Halloween!

The latest asshole to storm Blogdonia is one Rachel Moss, who tried to be Ann Coulter and (of course) pissed everybody off. And then, the whole thing mushroomed when other rightwingnut partisans jumped in. It's quite instructive to read about how these things get out of hand; a study in Blogdonia-swarms, as well as anonymous racist baiting, all spiced up with hatred of fat and transgendered people.

Now, poor Rachel Moss is hysterical and probably in hiding. (Stay there, okay?)

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And finally, the best for last! From Axinar's, comes one Harriet Christian (no relation to my man Ted, don't think!) who is giving it to us straight:



Tell us how you really feel!