Shaw: A guide to 'good enough' parenting

By Russell Shaw

Back in prehistoric times when my wife and I were busy doing our parenting, I paid very little attention to the many books that promised to tell me how to do the job really well. My loss, I suppose. Yet I can’t help thinking my omission may have reflected a healthy instinct.

After all, if I’d spent a lot of time studying some expert’s version of what an ideal father was like, chances are good that I’d only have ended up depressed at how far short my own efforts fell — and at the realization that, no matter how many books I read, they probably wouldn’t get a whole lot better. Being a parent is hard enough without making yourself feel worse about your inadequacies than you already do. Let mediocre be mediocre, I say.

Perhaps it’s this inglorious personal history that moves me now, midway between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, to say few kind words on behalf of the sort of parents many of us either are or once were — parents, that is, who are not Wonder Mom and Super Dad but only good enough.

Being a parent is probably the most important job most people will ever have and one for which few receive any formal training. Under the circumstances, being good enough is no small thing, especially since the real-life alternative usually isn’t being Super Dad or Wonder Mom but being a total flop.

What does a good enough parent look like?

Good enough parents often don’t know just what to say or do in times of family crisis, but at least they stick around when things get tough and see it through to the end as best they can.

Good enough parents sometimes blow their stacks when provoked beyond endurance by their little darlings (or their spouses), but they usually don’t smash the furniture and they generally calm down fairly soon.

Good enough parents don’t really care that much about a lot of the things that interest their children (a good enough father, for instance, may not play basketball or have any interest in the sport), but they’re reasonably adept at faking enthusiasm for harmless stuff that fascinates their kids.

And religion? The notion of being good enough applies here too, but the standard of what that means in practice has to be a good deal higher. “It appears that the relative religious laxity of most U.S. Catholic teenagers significantly reflects the religious laxity of their parents,” one researcher says. Studies of young people who care little or nothing about faith have shown that they generally are the products of homes where parents don’t care much about it either. This confirms the well-known rule of parenting that although your kids may not pick up your good habits, almost always they’ll pick up your bad ones.

That doesn’t mean a good enough parent has to be an honest to goodness saint, but at least he or she has to be seen giving it an honest try and continuing the effort day-in and day-out in ways kids can observe. Consider, too, that good enough parenting itself may be a way to sainthood.

In these confused times, when many Americans duck marriage and parenthood entirely, it would be foolish to chide those who still take up the challenge for not doing better at it. The message should be that they’re doing plenty — and something almost everybody can manage — by being good enough. And then, just possibly, they really will be Wonder Mom or Super Dad.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Good news for geeks

By Mary DeTurris Poust

My son, my oldest child, will graduate from our parish school in a few weeks and head to the public high school. The very large and intimidating (but excellent) public high school. And I have to admit, the thought makes my stomach do little flips. Not good flips.

I won't go so far as to say that I'm having flashbacks, but the thought of my baby standing in the Ground Zero of teenage cruelty known as the cafeteria -- or even worse, phys ed class -- is almost more than I can bear. I was not among the "cool" kids in high school. I was anything but, wearing so many uncool labels it was hard to keep track: twirler, folk group singer, honor society member, CYO president. Add to that the fact that I never went to a party at the bleachers and spent most of my free time at my parish church and, well, you probably get the picture. Last one picked for the team. Any team, from field hockey to square dancing.

So when I saw this story in the New York Times today, I ripped it out and left it on the kitchen table for my son and my tween daughter to read. Alexandra Robbins, 34, author of "The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth," is a former "power dork" who has made a career out of helping teenagers realize that being unpopular in high school is often a good indicator that you'll go far later on. Her book chronicles the lives of high school archetypes — the Loner, the New Girl, the Nerd and the Band Geek.

From the story in the Times:

Their stories beautifully demonstrate things we know intrinsically: being popular is not always the same as being liked, that high school is more rigid and conformist than the military, and that the people who are excluded and bullied for their offbeat passions and refusal to conform are often the ones who are embraced and lauded for those very qualities in college and beyond — what Ms. Robbins has dubbed Quirk Theory.

As anyone who’s seen movies like “Heathers” knows, the social agonies of high school are nothing new. But the Internet has magnified those feelings of alienation for the oddballs. Partly it’s the relentless exposure to celebrity culture, to images of perfection and roaring success with little discernible talent. (Hello, Kardashians.) But it goes beyond issues of appearance.

“Facebook is now the online cafeteria,” Ms. Robbins says. “It’s this public space, largely unsupervised, and it mirrors the cafeteria dynamic where you walk in and have to find a place to belong. At school, you have to pick a table. Well, on Facebook you not only have to pick a table, you have to pick who’s at your table and who’s not. And then kids feel they have to be publicists for themselves, maintaining their photos and status. It’s exhausting.”

Also exhausting is the care and feeding of popularity, which Ms. Robbins has discovered is not so much about being liked (some popular teenagers are liked, many are not) as about being known. “Popularity is a combination of visibility, influence and recognizability,” she says. “If you’re someone who engages in studying or practicing violin, these are not activities that put you in front of the student body. So these kids aren’t in the popular crowd, but it doesn’t say anything other than the fact that their talents are not visible.”

In other words, the president of the chess club may have more real friends than the cheerleader, but still be considered unpopular.

As a former geek (and perhaps a current geek who just doesn't realize it), I can attest to Ms. Robbins' theories. The very things that made me "odd" in high school made me "interesting" in college. My willingness to walk to the beat of a different drummer served me well once I was out of the popularity-is-everything world of high school. I attribute a lot of that not only to my family but to my involvement in CYO, which was -- at least where I lived -- the very best version of youth ministry, a powerful combination of service, spirituality and social events. We sang in nursing homes and planned liturgies, but we also went to dances and hung out together at church when many of our classmates were getting into trouble.

It's one of the reasons I've been pushing my son to get involved in our own parish youth ministry. In fact, the two of us are heading to Indianapolis in November -- along with about 25,000 other teenagers -- for the annual National Catholic Youth Conference. I want him to see that he is not alone in his thinking, his values, his beliefs, even if he finds himself alone now and then in the cafeteria at school.

And as Ms. Robbins points out in the Times story, knowing who you are and being willing to break from the crowd is critical:

Ms. Robbins has many deeply comforting words for these teenagers; and one story speaks in particular to those who’ve been right there with the high school outcasts. It’s about an experiment performed by the late-19th-century French naturalist Jean-Henri Fabre on caterpillars that were hard-wired to follow each other in a long head-to-tail line.

“Fabre set them up in such a way that they were following each other around the rim of a flowerpot — with their favorite food only inches away,” Ms. Robbins says. “For seven days they followed each other around until they died of starvation and exhaustion. They couldn’t see how a simple deviation from the path would get them to the food they needed right away.”

Geeks are many things, Ms. Robbins suggests. But one thing they aren’t are caterpillars.

To read the full Times story, click HERE.

Aid and prayers for tornado victims

Cars crushed like soda cans, trees stripped not only of leaves but of bark, entire neighborhoods wiped away as if they had never existed. The situation in Joplin, Mo., where the death toll is 117 and likely to rise, is desperate for so many who have lost everything. Catholic Charities is urging donations to help the survivors rebuild.

"This has been an absolutely brutal spring storm season in the U.S. and now are hearts are saddened once again and our resources tested by this disaster in Joplin," said Kathleen King, senior vice president of External Relations for Catholic Charities USA. "From the earlier tornadoes in Alabama, to the recent flooding, to this downtown devastation in Missouri - the human need is huge and donations are essential."

Over the past month, CCUSA has been coordinating with Catholic Charities agencies to provide food, clothing and shelter for victims of the Alabama tornadoes, and most recently, for the flood-impacted areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. The severity of the situations has created a huge need for financial donations to support the assistance efforts. Now, the disaster that has cut through the heart of Joplin further increases the need.

From the St. Louis Review:

Brian O’Malley, president of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, said May 23 that he extends “heartfelt prayers and concerns to those suffering the disastrous effects of last night’s tornado in Joplin. Catholic Charities is providing an efficient means by which donor support can reach those in need in the timeliest fashion possible.”

One hundred percent of the donations will go to those directly in need, he said.

The latest news reports put the number of confirmed dead at 117, but that number is expected to climb as search and rescue efforts continue in the wake of the single deadliest U.S. tornado in more than 50 years. More than 2,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, among them St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, which was in the direct path of the tornado. Part of the Sisters of Mercy Health System, St. John's was able to to evacuate many patients before the tornado hit.

Mercy President and CEO Lynn Britton said in a message that the hospital is in the process of tracking patients who were evacuated and touching base with the 1,700 Mercy workers in Joplin.

“Our priorities, of course, begin first with people...As you have no doubt seen in news reports, our hospital suffered significant damage. The building has been completely evacuated and secured. Structural engineers are on their way to Joplin to evaluate the facility,” she said.

To aid the Joplin tornado relief effort, send a check payable to “Catholic Charities” (memo line: JOPLIN) to Catholic Charities, P.O. Box 952393, St. Louis, MO 63195-2393, or visit the Catholic Charities Disaster Relief site by clicking HERE.

Sunday morning quarterbacking on the Rapture

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I've been thinking a lot about the whole Rapture frenzy and why it seemed to take on a life of its own. Certainly in the world of Facebook and Twitter it did. And if you follow me on Facebook, you know I was having quite a good time with the alleged impending doom. Not because I'm cavalier about meeting my Maker one day but because I was entertained by the hubris of one man to try to scare the rest of the world into thinking that most of us were not going to be raptured at a specific time and date, even according to individual time zones.

Why do some people -- albeit an odd few -- cling to these sorts of weird predictions, be they Evangelical Christian or New Age Mayan? I think it's because people like the idea of having some control, even over their own demise, or rapture. But, as we know all too well, we don't have control. Car accidents and cancer, hurricanes and heart attacks take our loved ones regardless of what the calendar says.

Jesus said, "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour." (Mt 25:13) In other words, be ready -- every day, any day. Which is easier said than done. It's much more palatable to think someone can give us a date and time, isn't it? But we Christians are meant to live our lives as if any day could be our last.

Last night wasn't the Rapture after all, but I'm sure the predictions are already being recalculated as we speak. For those of us who believe in Jesus, no predictions are necessary. He told us everything we need to know. Now we just have to do the hard part: live it.

Blessed JPII statue: Is it art or ugly?

By Mary DeTurris Poust

Okay, let's take a poll. What do you think of this hideously ugly statue of Blessed John Paul II, the first to be erected by the city of Rome? Oh, I'm sorry, was I supposed to remain unbiased in asking that poll question? Impossible. But maybe I'm just not looking at this the right way. Let's see what others think.

Here's what CNS Blog posted on the subject:

This week the city of Rome erected its first statue of Blessed Pope John Paul II. The Vatican newspaper said yesterday what a lot of people were thinking: it’s ugly.

Sculptor Oliviero Rainaldi intended to show the late pope with his cape billowing in the wind, as a symbolic image of welcome. The 16-foot-tall bronze sculpture was placed outside Rome’s main train station, where tens of thousands of visitors arrive daily.

But when unveiled May 18, it looked more like an open tent, or a sentry-box, or a bell, commented L’Osservatore Romano. The papal cape looks like it was split open by a bomb. More importantly, the newspaper said, it’s unrecognizable as John Paul II — the head is “excessively spherical.”

Excessively spherical is probably the nicest thing anyone could say about this sculpture. Okay all you art aficionados and JPII fans, let's have it. What do you think of this statue?

Shaw: Causes and Contexts abuse report provides answers... and raises two big questions

By Russell Shaw

When the American bishops commissioned the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York to study sex abuse of children by priests, the emphasis was on getting answers to questions. The researchers’ final report provides many answers, but in doing it may also raise at least two more large questions.

First, how persuasive will people find its answers regarding the root causes of clergy sex abuse, in particular the role that homosexuality did — or didn’t — play?

Second, did the study ask and answer all the big questions about the scandal, especially about the coverup of abuse by bishops and other church authorities?

The John Jay College report, The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010, was released May 18 at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Filling 143 oversized double-column pages and accompanied by 481 footnotes, the $1.8 million study is a product of extensive research, much of it done in otherwise closed diocesan files.

According to previous studies, American dioceses have received claims of abuse from more than 15,700 people against about 6,000 priests since 1950. Against this background, the picture painted by the John Jay report is sobering but, on the whole, relatively encouraging for the Church.

Sex abuse of minors by Catholic priests spiked sharply in the 1960s and 1970s but, starting in the 1980s, went into a sharp decline. As matters stand, more than 90 percent of the known cases of sex abuse occurred over 20 years ago.

The John Jay report links clergy sex abuse to a complex of underlying social factors reflected in other forms of “deviant” behavior that include sharp rises in the ‘60s and ‘70s in drug use, crime, premarital sex, and divorce.

Dismissing some commonplace explanations, the researchers conclude that an all-male priesthood and celibacy “are not causes” of the abuse problem. As for the dropoff in the last 25 years, Causes and Context describes it as “earlier and sharper” than declines in other deviant behaviors, and attributes it to activism by abuse victims, continued attention to the issue by the national bishops’ conference, and new diocesan responses.

In sum — to use an expression repeated several times by the researchers — the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in the United States is “a historical problem” — the increase in abuse and the decrease in abuse both occurred in the past.

So what about the new questions raised by Causes and Context?

Start with the first: What was the underlying cause of abuse? In particular, what role did homosexuality play? According to the researchers, it’s a misrepresentation to speak of “pedophile priests,” since only about 5 percent of the abusive clergy were men with an attraction to young children.

But the situation is very different with an older age group, since a full 81 percent abuse victims were teenage boys. The John Jay people nevertheless insist that they found no evidence that homosexual orientation was a predictor of abusive behavior.

Instead, the report speaks of men with confused sexual identity and difficulties in forming relationships whose seminary training in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s ill equipped them to cope with the pressures of the revolutionary 1960s and 1970s. That most abuse involved teenage boys is attributed to the fact that the priests had more contact with boys than with girls. Will people find that persuasive? Perhaps. But the argument could go on for years.

Almost as a throwaway line, the report mentions another factor: “Many priests let go of the practice of spiritual direction after only a few years of ordained ministry.” As the discussion continues, that’s a thought worth exploring.

Question number two: How about the coverup?

This is not a major focus for Causes and Context, but the document does make some relevant points.

Years back, society generally had little understanding of the harm that sex abuse does to children. Bishops tended to concentrate instead on rehabilitating offending priests. Starting in 1985, however, the conference of bishops devoted ongoing attention to this problem. By 1992, it had in place a set of five sound principles for dioceses to use in addressing it.

Some did. Others didn’t. Ten years later the facts of the coverup exploded and did irreparable harm to the Church. And, despite the Causes and Context study and ongoing remedial efforts in dioceses nationwide, there is no telling when that will end.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Child removed from Botox mom's care UPDATED

Remember the mom who was injecting her 8-year-old daughter with Botox in hopes that she'd have a better shot at winning some kiddie beauty pageants? Well, she has lost custody of her little girl, according to the latest news reports.

From the NY Daily News:

After Kerry Campbell appeared on "Good Morning America" last week talking about giving her young daughter Britney the wrinkle-erasing injectible, San Francisco's Human Services Agency announced they were launching an investigation after receiving numerous calls from horrified viewers.

"There was a pretty big community response," Trent Rhorer, the director of human services told the San Francisco Chronicle last week.

The investigation doesn't necessarily mean that Campbell will lose custody of her child for a long period of time. Child welfare experts said she may be able to regain custody through meeting a variety of conditions that could include parenting class, counseling and supervised visits.

Hopefully this will be a wake-up call for other parents who subject their children to this newest version of child abuse. Is our culture so obsessed with some warped version of "beauty" that even the beautiful little face of an 8-year-old girl isn't pretty enough for our taste? What next?

UPDATE: According to the latest news reports, it appears Botox mom's story was all a hoax, a fake story knowingly solicited by The Sun. Or was it. Folks at The Sun are insisting they thought the story was real and even had a reporter witness the mom injecting her daughter. So this twisted plot thickens. Any way you slice it, this is a case of a mom gone bad. She either injected her daughter with Botox or was willing to pretend she did to make some quick cash. Pretty much a lose-lose situation, at least for the daughter involved.

No-meat Fridays returns to UK

By Mary DeTurris Poust

I don't know about you, but I'm thrilled to hear about this (h/t The Deacon's Bench). The bishops of England and Wales have re-established the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays, something that will go into effect in the UK on Sept. 16, the one-year anniversary of the pope's visit there.

From the bishops' resolution, according to Zenit:

Every Friday is set aside by the Church as a special day of penance, for it is the day of the death of our Lord," a statement of resolutions from the assembly reminded. "The law of the Church requires Catholics to abstain from meat on Fridays, or some other form of food, or to observe some other form of penance laid down by the Bishops’ Conference."

"The Bishops wish to re-establish the practice of Friday penance in the lives of the faithful as a clear and distinctive mark of their own Catholic identity," the statement announced.

The prelates added that it is "important that all the faithful be united in a common celebration of Friday penance."

"Respectful of this, and in accordance with the mind of the whole Church, the Bishops’ Conference wishes to remind all Catholics in England and Wales of the obligation of Friday Penance. The Bishops have decided to re-establish the practice that this should be fulfilled by abstaining from meat," the resolution stated.

The prelates said those who do not eat meat normally should abstain from some other food on Fridays.

That last bit applies to people like me. As a vegetarian, I go vegan on days of abstinence. It can be a bit of a challenge cooking-wise, but it really makes me stop and think. Which is the point. A return to the no-meat-on-Fridays practice is a great idea, in my humble opinion. And not just because I don't like meat. Abstaining -- fasting from anything we really enjoy -- helps us open up a little more space for God and calls us back to our spiritual center.

Every time we go to reach for that favorite food we just can't have that day, our hearts and minds soften a little and we think of something, someone other than ourselves. During Lent, I opted to fast every Friday, and it really helped me focus spiritually. I thought I would continue the practice once Lent ended, but I find it much easier to slack off now. Just yesterday I started out the day saying I would fast, but lunch time came and, well, it's not like I have to do anything special this season, so I ate my normal lunch. Turns out I need that Church community, that spirit of solidarity, to help me progress as an individual on this sometimes-difficult spiritual journey. I don't think I'm alone.

I hope the U.S. follows suit and we a return to Friday abstinence down the road. What say you?

Shaw: Prospects bleak for peaceful coexistence with Islamic traditionalists, even post-bin Laden

By Russell Shaw

Some early media reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden were, to use as charitable a word as possible, unserious. To such a point that one was reminded of a scene in The Wizard of Oz. The wicked witch has been killed, and the other characters dance about and merrily sing, “Ding-dong, the witch is dead!”

There are several things to be said about that kind of coverage and commentary on the killing of bin Laden. One is that it was in hideously bad taste. The death of any human being is a profoundly serious affair. That’s no less true because bin Laden was himself the author of many other people’s deaths, including those of several thousand Americans.

On this point, the Vatican’s reaction got it right. While noting bin Laden’s many heinous crimes, the statement nevertheless added that “a Christian never takes pleasure from the fact of a man’s death” but sees it instead as an occasion not “to disseminate hate but rather to foster peace.”

On a different plane, it’s imperative also to grasp the fact that bin Laden’s death in no way removes the threat to Western — and Christian — interests that he symbolized. On this point there was much to ponder in an Op-Ed column in The New York Times by former National Security Council counter-terrorism coordinator Richard A. Clarke.

The declared goal of Al Qaeda and similar groups, Clarke said, is to create a kind of federation of “religiously pure Islamist states” — a restored “Islamic caliphate,” that is. For Islamist ideologues, the present Arab Spring is a step toward that end. And although bin Laden is dead, “their goal has not changed, nor has their willingness to use terror.”

“Believing that their religion requires them to act violently against nonbelievers in the West and impure, apostate Muslim elites, the Islamist extremists will not be stopped by the elimination of Al Qaeda’s leader or even by the eradication of Al Qaeda itself,” Clarke warned.

This point was reinforced for me soon after bin Laden’s killing in a private session for a small group conducted by an eminent canon lawyer. The subject was canon law and Islamic Shari’a law. The lesson was illuminating.

Canon law, the canonist pointed out, is a body of legislation that applies only to the Catholic Church. In no way does it usurp the function of civil law. But Shari’a is expansive and pervasive—indeed, potentially universal in scope.

The fundamental reason is that classical Islam doesn’t recognize the distinction, taken for granted in the West, between church and state, the next-worldly realm of religion and the this-worldly realm of the temporal order. Society is considered a unitary whole, to be shaped and controlled by Islam and Shari’a as appointed instruments of Allah. Shari’a law therefore reaches into every nook and cranny of the lives of individuals and the life of the community.

Where they are weak, the canonist remarked, traditionalist Muslims are prepared to live with the Western system because they have no other choice. Where they hold power, religious conviction obliges them to impose Shari’a, with results more or less to the disadvantage of non-Muslims.

If that is so, prospects for peaceful coexistence between Islamic traditionalists and non-Muslims will remain bleak as long as the traditionalists continue to believe what they believe. Among the several conclusions to which that points is that Western media need to go slow in touting the forces currently battling Arab dictators as “pro-democracy” as they’ve been doing.

Sorry, friends, this isn’t Oz.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Help for the Rosary-challenged (like me)

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time with the Rosary. I am Rosary-challenged. But I recently reviewed four books that look at the Rosary from different perspectives, and I have to admit that I feel a little space opening up for this ancient prayer. I'm saying it more often and more effectively. I think.

So check out my story in Our Sunday Visitor, and then check out some or all of these great books. I'll get you started here:

Four recent books offer different perspectives on ancient prayer for experts and novices alike

By Mary DeTurris Poust - OSV Newsweekly, 5/15/2011

When it comes to the Rosary, some people are like marathon champs.

They have no problem saying the words to familiar prayers and reflecting on the mysteries as they drive two hours on a busy highway with 18-wheelers buzzing by, as they take their morning power walk through the neighborhood, even as they wait in line at the grocery store or bank.

These long-distance prayers are able to enter into the beauty and mystery of the Rosary in ways that can confound many of us.

I have to admit that I’m Rosary-challenged. This traditional prayer that was so much a part of my childhood has always been a struggle for me. I’d try to pray at night and fall asleep. I’d kneel in our parish chapel, but before I knew it my mind was wandering and I’d lost count even with the beads there to prevent that.

Not that long ago, I bought a Rosary CD and tried to pray as I walked to church, but even then my thoughts could not find a place to rest. The Rosary seems to test the limits of my otherwise impressive multitasking skills.

So, when four different books on the Rosary arrived on my desk in recent months, I took it as a sign that it was time to give the Rosary another shot. Each of the books approaches this prayer from a different perspective, giving readers the opportunity to find a method that suits their spiritual style. Continue reading HERE.

A little pro-life inspiration from Pampers

I thought this would be a great way to kick off Mother's Day weekend. Yes, I know there's a mention of IVF and surrogates, but the bottom line is that this commercial really, truly celebrates life, and that's something worth supporting. Give it a look. And Happy Mother's Day to all the moms, grandmothers, godmothers, aunts, and spiritual mothers.

Happy 99th birthday to us!

Today, May 5, 2011, is the 99th anniversary of the first issue of Our Sunday Visitor national Catholic weekly newspaper, now more commonly known as OSV Newsweekly.

From that humble beginning as the brainchild of young parish priest Father (later Archbishop) John Noll in a small Midwest town, we've grown to be the largest English-language Catholic publishing house in the world, encompassing periodicals, pamphlets, books, bibles, curriculum, religious education aids, parish offertory envelopes (and parish online giving) and a host of other products that touch the lives of millions of Catholics in the United States every week.

And OSV Newsweekly has become the No. 1 independent Catholic newspaper in the United States, and one of the last remaining true weeklies.

Earlier today, the presidents of our two divisions sent out an email to all OSV employees at our Huntington, Ind., headquarters, our plant in Ohio and our office in Orlando, Fla., with this request:

As we prepare for our centenary celebration next year, let us keep in mind Archbishop John Noll and his founding charism to serve the Church, inform and form the laity and help Catholics to bear witness to their faith in society.

Greg Erlandson
President, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing
Kyle Hamilton
President, Our Sunday Visitor Offertory Solutions

Please keep us and our work in your prayers! For a brief history of OSV, check out this link.

The image above is the front page of the May 5, 1912 issue — Vol. 1, No. 1. 

Beatification Recap

The life of Pope John Paul II was filled with admirable feats. He vigorously promoted life and dignity, boldly confronted Communist regimes, and traveled the world inspiring millions.

But one of his most impressive accomplishments, at least statistically, was his recognition of hundreds of new saints. John Paul beatified and canonized more men and women than all previous Popes combined--over 1,800 in all.

But he didn’t do so arbitrarily. The Pope recognized that in this particular age, the world yearns for examples of holiness, and he was eager to provide them.

Yet on Sunday, May 1, this man who constantly pointed to examples of modern sanctity found the spotlight directed back toward him. John Paul’s beatification Mass—which officially made him Blessed Pope John Paul II—proved to be one of the highest-attended events in Vatican history. Roughly 1.5-million pilgrims squeezed in and around St. Peter’s square, many having spent the previous night on the surrounding streets.

Some of the more than 1.5-million pilgrims celebrating the beatification

The pilgrims were joined by hundreds of cardinals and bishops, thousands of priests, and a number of presidents and dignitaries. The Polish presence was particularly thick and included the Polish President himself. Amazingly, one report had one out of every eight Poles traveling to Rome for the beatification.

Cardinals and bishops processing to the altar

After a long procession of bishops, cardinals, and eventually Pope Benedict XVI, the beatification rite took place at the beginning of Mass. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the papal vicar for Rome, began the rite by approaching the chair of Pope Benedict, and reading a short biography of John Paul’s life.

The biography was read in Latin, which made it difficult to comprehend for the majority of the crowd. But any time they heard “Poland” or “John Paul II,” they roared their approval.

Cardinal Vallini proposing John Paul's beatification to Pope Benedict

When Cardinal Vallini was through reading the biography, he stated his petition for John Paul’s beatification. Pope Benedict XVI accepted the request, thereby officially proclaiming him as Blessed John Paul II.

Jubilant applause crescendoed throughout the crowd, and an enormous portrait of John Paul was unveiled in front of the basilica. It featured the smiling face so familiar to Catholics across the world and glowed like the Pope's own personality.

The portrait of John Paul that was revealed during the beatification

It’s hard to describe the ecstatic joy throughout the celebration. When 20,000 people scream at a basketball game, it’s energizing. When 80,000 people roar at a soccer match, it’s even more invigorating. But when more than a million voices thunder through an entire city—a country, to be more accurate!—the atmosphere is absolutely electric.

Blessed Pope John Paul II has now officially joined the ranks of the beatus. Though he pointed to many other examples of holiness, he now stands as a modern hero himself, one who will surely be loved for centuries to come.

Another view of Blessed John Paul II

Photo by Ramona Balutscu

By Mary DeTurris Poust

What do you think when you see the photo above? Does it make you sad to see John Paul II's image tossed on the ground with the rest of the trash left behind after crowds packed St. Peter's Square for his beatification May 1?

Ramona Băluțescu, a journalist who writes from Romania and was part of the "Church Up Close" program I attended in Rome last September, took that photo and posted it on Facebook today. When another colleague commented that it made her sad to see the image crumpled on the street, Ramona offered a surprising and beautiful perspective on what she saw through her viewfinder in Rome that day:

"I took this photo since it moved me a lot. But... An image is as a coin; it has a face and also a story and not always does the story say what the face is showing. Newspapers look this way since people slept on them... They wanted to be there and more than being read, these newspapers helped them to get through the night. It was cold and rainy. Our Pope JP2 would have been happy to know that so many people went there for him and that he was able to give confort even as a photo on a newspaper, while they were trying to sleep on the streets, in cold weather, waiting for the big day!"

Things often aren't as they seem. One person's trash is another person's blanket or bed. Thank you, Ramona, for reminding us that we sometimes need to look below the surface to find the beauty in the world around us.

Vatican blogging meeting - The Big News

Continued live-blogging from the Vatican blogging meeting:

Thaddeus Jones, who works with the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, began the final part of the conference by sharing some of the social media projects the Vatican is currently working on.

The first one he introduced was a Pope John Paul II commemoration web page--www.johnpaulii.va/en--which has a beautiful, modern look and feel to it. The site beautifully memorializes the newly-beatified Pope, and was created to share him with a new generation of online natives.

Jones then briefly covered the Vatican's YouTube channel and a new webpage which will be used to share Vatican video, both of which are small, yet important steps to further engage the digital world.

Next to speak was Eva Janosikova, who is in charge of social media promotion for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid. Demonstrating social media's potency, she highlighted the Facebook page set up by the Vatican for the event. The page currently features over 200,000 followers, which makes it one of the Vatican's most successful new media projects to date. The page shows that the Vatican seems to be interested in using Facebook to generate dialogue instead of creating a new social network from the ground up.

But the big news of the day came after Jones then introduced a representative from a design group partnering with the Vatican. The group was tasked with creating a state-of-the-art news website for the Church that fully takes advantage of new media, a huge step for the Vatican onto the digital continent.

The new site, though not quite ready, will soon be found at News.va. It includes Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter integration, streaming video, blogs, and a full archive of media. And mobile enthusiasts need not worry: everything on the site is fully accessible through iPhones, iPads, and Android devices.

We at the conference were presented with a sneak peak at the site, and the first thing I noticed was the site's aesthetics. Simply put, the site is gorgeous. Some of the biggest complaints voiced by tech-savvy Catholics regard the drab look of Vatican websites, a problem that hasn't changed in many years; the current site is not particularly engaging and doesn't compare well to other popular websites.

But I think that's all going to change with News.va. I snapped some pictures of the new site so you can see what I mean:

That gold bar in the middle shows the most current Vatican tweet.

The style mimics modern blogs with excerpts, pictures, and sidebars.

A more visual, modern, intuitive feel to the Vatican news site.

According to the Vatican, News.va was ultimately created to "dialogue with the world." The site aims to gather news from all parts of the Catholic world and make it easy to absorb and discuss it. Since "dialogue" is the ground of the modern communication revolution, this new site is bound to please the online Catholic community.

Overall, the meeting has revealed that the Vatican has firmly embraced the digital age. They're not only intrigued by it, but committed to it. The Church has recognized its power, she has heard the cries of her people to "set sail on the digital seas," and now she has taken off!

Vatican blogging meeting - The Vatican's Response

Continued live-blogging from the Vatican blogging meeting:

After the first panel discussion, which involved reflections from five grassroots Catholics, the second panel shifted to the question everyone is interested in: what does the Vatican think of blogging and social media? The panel charged with answering that question was moderated by Fr. Antonio Spadaro, S.J. and included five Vatican representatives. Spadaro himself consults the Pontifical Council on Social Communications, and writes a popular Italian blog on religion and technology. The other panelists are each involved with the institutional church.

Spadaro began the panel by explaining that when it comes to blogging, "the Church needs to listen." Blogging, in particular, is a medium used to get the message out. Everyone wants their voice to be heard, everyone wants to be known. But dialogue also requires a willingness to listen, to be open to new ideas. And that's precisely what the Church and all the bloggers present are hoping to do at this conference. We are called, first of all, to listen.

Interestingly, Spadaro also explained that the Church hopes to connect with all bloggers, not just those with the most visitors. "We want to stimulate a wide dialogue with everyone," Lombardi said. "The blogging culture is very much bottom-up. So this meeting is about far more than those present today. The Church needs to dialogue not only with the those bloggers on the top, but those throughout the spectrum."

Next, the meeting featured a lengthy reflection from Fr. Federico Lombardi, the head of the Vatican press office.

Lombardi opened with some insights on Pope Benedict's reaction to social media. "He doesn't blog and he doesn't use Twitter," Lombardi explained, "but he does understand the power of new media." In the past, Lombardi reminded, the Pope has supported the use of text-messaging to communicate with the faithful, and he has been fully behind the Vatican's social media efforts.

Recognizing the value provided by bloggers, Lombardi then complimented the blogging community for their vital help in defending Church teaching. He specifically alluded to the controversy over birth control due to Pope Benedict's book-length interview, Light of the World. Lombardi thanked bloggers for offering quick clarification in this case. The secular media, to a large extent, distorted and decontextualized the Pope's view. But many online Catholics responded by loudly articulating the true views of Benedict and the Church.

Finally, what does Pope Benedict himself think of new media? "This Pope is very open-minded," Fr. Lombardi summarized, "and he's willing to use any means of social communication for the good of the Church." To that end, Lombardi mentioned that the Pope is now preparing to use satellite technology to host a live meeting with astronauts in space.

Overall, Lombardi's reflections revealed the Vatican's primary attitude toward new media: curiosity and humility. Lombardi reiterated that because the Vatican is new to this whole shift and isn't on the cutting edge of technology, the Church hopes to learn from the faithful how to harness these tools. In this way, the Body of Christ can work as one, using our strengths to overcome our weaknesses.

Don't forget that you can watch the live stream of the blogging conference at SQPN!

Vatican blogging meeting - Questions and Answers

Continued live-blogging from the Vatican blogging meeting:

After the first five panelists spoke for a few minutes each, the meeting was then open for questions and answers for about half an hour. Here were some of the more interesting ones:

• "How do you handle copyright issues with blogging?
• Rocco Palmo - "There are two sides to the coin. First, you can be sued for copying and posting even a single paragraph without attribution. On the other hand, the great part of the blogging world is that you can encourage traffic to other websites by highlighting their material." It seems that by attributing media to its original source is one way to proceed prudently. Use and reference the content of others, but give attribution where attribution is due.
• Matia Madasco - "We're seeing a massive change in how 'copyrighting' is understood online." This hasn't entirely been fleshed out yet, but the Church should have a voice in the conversation. This is a profoundly ethical topic that needs the Church's guidance.
• "What about the conflict between journalism and bloggers?"
• François Jeanne-Beylot - "In France, there are so many journalists who have their own blogs and participate in this new type of free press. They have no obligation to blogging, but they feel freer to write through that medium than through print. I see the worlds of bloggers and journalists merging instead of becoming two distinct media forms. They are overlapping and coming closer together each day."
• Elizabeth Scalia - "We are in a communication evolution where the old guard is falling. Journalists are discovering that they have to embrace the Internet, and they need to take blogging seriously. Also, in this shift, people are looking to broadcast media for analysis rather than for reporting. That's what the bloggers provide."
• "Have you found yourself changing your blogging style in recent years?"
• Elizabeth Scalia - "Yes! Just yesterday I was prepared to live-blog the beatification, but a lot of my followers told me to instead just use Twitter. So I blasted off these short updates--140 characters or less--instead of the more in-depth blog posts. And they loved it! If anything, my embrace of Twitter has caused me to become much more disciplined in my writing. It forces me to shrink my thoughts down into manageable chunks."
• Fr. Roderick Vonhogen - "Speaking about Twitter, that's a great tool to direct people to other material. Connect your Twitter account with your blog or your parish website and you can draw people in. Even just a funny joke or a snarky comment can bring people into deeper communication. In this way, Twitter is like stained-glass windows, music, or the liturgy: it is surface level media that draws people into the deeper things."
• Fr. Roderick Vonhogen - "I've learned, primarily from Pope John Paul II, that more information doesn't necessarily correlate to more wisdom. We shouldn't enter the rat-race of 'who has the scoop first.'" This forces us to get out more information, more updates, and more posts with increasing speed. But the Church should be the one--slow as she is--telling the world to slow down, to process and absorb only the information we need to grow in virtue.
• Other Comments
• François Jeanne-Beylot - There are three reasons why we blog:
• To build a profile, promote a specific product, or to sell your company's goods
• To put your own personal ideas down
• To objectively seek truth and stimulate new ideas
  

Don't forget that you can watch the live stream of the blogging conference at SQPN!

Vatican blogging meeting - Blogging advice from Fr. Roderick Vonhogen

Continued live-blogging from the Vatican blogging meeting:

In his 2010 World Communications Day message, Pope Benedict XVI spoke specifically to priests. Titling his message "The Priest and Pastoral Ministry in a Digital World," the Pope encouraged his brother priests to be active online, to use new media, and not to dismiss the online world as just a mere fad.

Fr. Roderick Vonhogen is one media-savvy priest who has heeded this call, a perfect example of the "priest in a digital world." Though he's based out of the Netherlands, Fr. Vonhogen impacts people from around the globe through his many podcasts. The podcasting network he started, SQPN, is heard all over the world and reaches thousands of Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Yet among his brother priests, his work hasn't been completely welcomed. Fr. Roderick explained that fellow priests claim, "You waste your time with that hobby. You should be preaching in the church!"

"But, if I preach in church," Fr. Roderick likes to respond, "I reach two hundred people--maybe. And I know them all. They come to church on Sunday, they're already Catholic, and I'm not even sure if they stay awake while I preach!" But online, Fr. Roderick points out, he can reach 20,000 people at a time, people who never darken the doors of a church yet are still interested in religious matters.

"I want to be shepherd for people who really need one, not for the people who already have one. Using new media is basically like building a parish, but one that is worldwide and one that reaches the lost sheep. I want to be a shepherd to the digital world."

With that desire and his podcasting success, Fr. Roderick has already answered the Pope's call. And, as a premier digital shepherd, he's given the Church a great example.

Don't forget that you can watch the live stream of the blogging conference at SQPN!

Vatican blogging meeting - Blogging advice from Elizabeth Scalia

Following Archbishop Celli's opening remarks, each of the first five panelists offered their own thoughts on blogging. The English representative on the panel, Elizabeth Scalia (The Anchoress), began by noting how astute our current pontiff has been in this field.

"Pope Benedict XVI has been quick to understand the transformative power of new media," Elizabeth said. "The Pope has been ahead of the curve, encouraging priests, religious, and lay-people to engage these tools."

But with this encouragement, the Pope has also reiterated the need for online charity.

Elizabeth echoed the Pope by claiming, "Catholic clarity cannot be disseminated without a measure of charity. This charity can sometimes be difficult to find on the Internet." The Internet can be a true spiritual battleground, Elizabeth noted. Unchecked, it produces a walling-in of our minds, a constriction of ideologies that can make authentic charity truly difficult.

Blogging, in particular, encourages a special kind of "us-vs-them" mentality. We read these blogs, but not those. We engage with "orthodox" bloggers--as we understand "orthodox"--but not those new media heretics. This fostering of factions runs counter to the unity of the Church. And if we are to bring the aroma of Christ online, we must seek charity and--though not at the sake of truth--unity.

In its depth, wideness and diversity, the Church is somewhat like the Internet.  But unlike the Internet, the Church is bound by 2,000 years of truth and tradition.We need to be sure that Catholic online engagement doesn't devolve into a boundless, lawless frontier. And Elizabeth pointed out that this applies to each blogger in this room as much as anyone.

Closing with self-deprecation, Elizabeth added that she hasn't conquered these problems herself, and that she's in the muck of the online world with the rest of us. "Since I began blogging," Elizabeth admitted, "I've gone to Confession much more often."

Don't forget that you can watch the live stream of the blogging conference at SQPN!

"We’re here to meet each other. We’re here to establish a dialogue."

Live blogging from the Vatican blogging conference:

Archbishop Claudio Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, kicked off the Vatican blogging meeting with some opening remarks.

Noting the excitement over the gathering, Celli recognized that "some have argued that we should have taken this initiative some time ago, and that is true. But we’re here today.” And that's what matters.

It's true that bloggers, podcasters, and new media aficionados have long-desired the Church to engage new media. Today's meeting is a sign that they have not only heard the call, but have answered.

The Archbishop was quick to point out, however, that this conference isn't a formal one, merely a "time to meet each other, a time to dialogue." He made it clear that this wouldn't be the last word on blogging.

Instead, Celli said, this meeting is like music. "This is the first movement that will anticipate the music that will be played in the symphony.”

Don't forget that you can watch the live stream of the blogging conference at SQPN!

Vatican Meeting with Bloggers

In just a few minutes, an unprecedented meeting of Catholic bloggers and Vatican officials will take place mere feet from yesterday's beatification. The Vatican has welcomed 150 bloggers from around the world to meet and dialogue about the relationship between religion and new media, both sides hoping to gain insights on how to bring the Church into the digital age.

I'm here in the meeting hall right now, and I've already talked with a blogging priest from Indonesia, a Spanish Jesuit podcaster, and a handful of clerics working with the Pontifical Council of Social Communications.

The meeting is somewhat organized, with a couple of panel discussions featuring five panelists and one host each. The first panel will include bloggers representing five different languages: English, Italian, French, Spanish, and Polish. The second panel will feature five people involved in communication strategies directly for the Church.

You can watch the whole meeting live over at SQPN.

I'm hooked up with an Internet connection during the conference, so I'll be providing live updates throughout. Stay tuned!

Shaw: Moral causes of poverty cannot be solved with entitlements

By Russell Shaw

For a long time I supposed that social issues — abortion, same-sex marriage, and the rest — were the great dividing line in American politics, with the collapse of natural law thinking at the root of the problem. While I still see the culture war resulting from this as a large part of what ails us, I’ve come belatedly to understand that something else also is at work: conflict between two fundamentally different visions of government’s role in bringing about a good and just society — and perhaps even what that society should look like.

Wishing to be fair to them both (a nicety their partisans generally ignore), I’m hesitant even to give them names. But since to speak of them it’s necessary to call them something, I suggest “social democracy” and “democratic capitalism.”

At bottom, social democracy sees government as a provider and democratic capitalism sees it as an enabler. As we are now being reminded, many large conflicts in contemporary America find their origin in that difference. It needs exploring.

Many years ago, George Santayana, the erstwhile Harvard philosopher who lived in this country for most of four decades, concluded that individualism and good will coexist at the heart of the American character. How can that be? As he explained it, the instinct of an American was “to think well of everybody, and to wish everybody well, but in a spirit of rough comradeship.”

“When he has given his neighbor a chance,” Santayana said, “he thinks he has done enough. ... It will take some hammering to drive a coddling socialism into America.”

Not long after, the hammering began via the Great Depression and the New Deal. Much that’s happened since then has served to continue it. Government in America has moved beyond simply providing a safety net, to meeting a vast range of people’s needs and wants, from day care and prescription drugs to arts subsidies and public broadcasting. Call it coddling, as Santayana did, or call it enlightened social policy, that’s where we are now.

But now, too, we have a lagging economy in combination with a soaring deficit, with threats of national bankruptcy looming in the background. Hence the debate that will dominate the run-up to next year’s election, essentially driven by the clashing visions here called democratic capitalism and social democracy.

Does Catholic social doctrine have anything to contribute to the debate? Certainly it does. But it remains to be seen whether those officially responsible for articulating that body of teaching will rise to the occasion.

A recent statement on federal budget policy from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops highlighted concern for the poor as a criterion of budgetary decisions. Quite so. But the official representatives of Catholic social doctrine ought also to be taking the further step of pointing out that for many of America’s poor, poverty has not only economic causes but also cultural — in other words, moral — ones that entitlements alone can’t solve.

To pass over the roles that family breakdown, illegitimacy, no-fault divorce, single parenthood, toxic schooling, drugs, and early dropping out have in creating the culture of poverty vastly oversimplifies the problem. And to say that isn’t blaming the poor for poverty but simply recognizing inconvenient facts.

Facing up to social issues is no substitute for economic policy, but ignoring the link between the two spheres is also a mistake. Helping people see the link and respond appropriately could be Catholic social doctrine’s biggest contribution to bridging the gap between social democracy and democratic capitalism in today’s America.

Russell Shaw is an OSV contributing editor.

Shaw: Unresolved post-bin Laden

The death of Osama bin Laden points to an obvious question: How many little Muslim boys growing up in places like Islamabad, Tehran, and Baghdad will be taught that bin Laden died a hero’s death and they should aim to be like him?

I leave the leader of al-Qaeda and American tactics to the judgment of God.

But beyond question the death of bin Laden leaves entirely unresolved how the United States and the West propose to deal with the deadly combination of cultural grievances and religious fanaticism gripping so many of his followers today.

Vatican statement on death of Osama Bin Laden

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi, S.J., released the following statement regarding the death of Osama bin Laden:

Osama bin Laden, as we all know, bore the most serious responsibility for spreading divisions and hatred among populations, causing the deaths of innumerable people, and manipulating religions for this purpose.

In the face of a man’s death, a Christian never rejoices, but reflects on the serious responsibilities of each person before God and before men, and hopes and works so that every event may be the occasion for the further growth of peace and not of hatred.