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by Jim Holman.
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Step Into It

The 2006 L.A. Archdiocesan Religious Education Congress

BY ALLYSON SMITH

An estimated 41,000 Catholic catechists and religious educators from throughout the United States and four other continents packed the Anaheim Convention Center for the Los Angeles archdiocese's 39th annual Religious Education Congress from Thursday, March 30 through Sunday, April 2.

With the theme, "Step Into Freedom," based on the Gospel account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, this year's Congress featured more than 270 workshops and 226 exhibitors, ranging from religious art to music and from publishing houses to educational institutions, as well as archdiocesan ministries.

The congress kicked off Thursday, March 30, with a Youth Day attended by more than 15,000 teens. Workshops included: "Racism: A Sin Against God and God's Children," presented by Carole Goodwin, director of youth and young adult ministries for the archdiocese of Louisville, Kentucky; "Sexuality and Relationships," presented by Dr. Jim Burns of HomeWord; and "Intimacy: No One-Night Stand," presented by Minnesota marriage and family psychologist Bob Bartlett. A variety of artists provided entertainment for the young people. Among the entertainers was APeX Ministries, described in the congress guidebook as a two-man team with a "Christian vaudeville presentation style."

On Friday, Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, chairman of the U.S. bishops' liturgy committee, gave a talk, "Contemporary Liturgical Issues." Bishop Trautman expressed apprehension about the U.S. bishops' upcoming June vote on the new sacramentary (containing the order of Mass) translation, which reflects a more traditional style closer to the original Latin. He described the vote as a "decisive and defining" moment and admitted that the conference is "divided." A full copy of Trautman's speech is available at www.eriercd.org/liturgy.asp.

"Liturgical language today must not just be faithful and accurate to the original, but also intelligible, proclaimable, dignified and reflective of a word order, vocabulary, expression from the contemporary mainstream of the English language as spoken in the United States," said Trautman. "If a translation, no matter how exact, does not communicate in the living language of the worshipping assembly, it fails as a translation. It fails to lead to full, conscious, and active participation."

Trautman continued, "in the proposed translation of the sacramentary, we meet words and expressions that many would consider not in the speech of the mainstream assembly." For example, he said, the proposed translation of the Nicene Creed uses the phrase, "consubstantial with the Father," to replace the present wording, "one in being with the Father." Also, "by the Holy Spirit, He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary" replaces "He was born of the Virgin Mary."

"Both words, 'consubstantial' and 'incarnate,'" said Trautman, "are not readily intelligible to the vast majority of those in the assembly."

Commenting on a proposed change to the first Eucharistic Prayer (the "Roman Canon") -- "grant them, O Lord, we pray, and all who sleep in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace," Trautman drew audience laughter when he quipped, "the phrase, 'a place of refreshment,' is a literal translation that conveys the image of a heavenly spa or tap room at the heavenly hotel."

Trautman addressed another proposed change to the first Eucharistic Prayer -- from "cup" to "precious chalice." Said Trautman: "'precious chalice' -- when I hear those words, I think of a gold vessel with diamonds on it. Did Jesus, at the Last Supper, use a precious chalice or a cup? The gospels clearly say 'cup,' but even in the lectionary from Rome we have the word 'chalice' imposed on the inspired text to carry out this 'sacred language.'"

Alluding apparently to defecation, the bishop garnered more audience guffaws when he recited the following proposed translation for Eucharistic Prayer II: "make holy these gifts, we pray, by the dew of your Spirit -- D-E-W."

Susan Larker, 37, of Long Beach, who attended Trautman's talk, said the bishop "doesn't want to say that 'Jesus took bread into His holy and venerable hands.' He laughed at the Vatican wanting this translation and said that that the laity can't relate to this sort of language."

Friday night's entertainment consisted of a "Rockin' the 'Rena" concert, described as a "rockin' musical festival of song, dance and ritual, including a musical quartet and contemporary artists...." Other Friday events included "lunchtime entertainment" with Pedro Rubalcava and David Haas; Celtic, Justice and Peace, and Nigerian evening liturgies; and the Liturgy of the Hours with music provided by Jeanne Cotter and Tony Alonso.

Saturday morning's festivities started off with British priest Timothy Radcliffe, former master of the Dominicans, who gave a keynote address on "The Church as Sign of Hope and Freedom," drawing on the congress theme, "Step Into Freedom" and the Gospel account of Jesus' raising of Lazarus from the dead. Radcliffe delivered his speech before an audience of approximately 6,000 in the Anaheim Convention Center arena, with Cardinal Roger Mahony and congress organizer Sister Edith Prendergast seated on stage behind him.

Radcliffe said society has "two models" for making moral decisions. "One is to think that it's about choosing just what you feel like doing, and the other is a morality that's about submission to the rules," he said. "Think about sex. Often we think that sexual morality is really just doing what I feel like, it's just a lifestyle option, what feels right for me. The other extreme is the people who think that it's just a question of submitting to the external rules. But this Gospel summons us beyond those alternatives.... Christian morality is about obedience, but not obedience as an infantile submission. It's about obedience in the original meaning of that word ... about learning to hear the voice of the Lord. And what that voice says is, 'stand up and be free.'

"Holiness isn't about obeying all the laws," continued Radcliffe. "Holiness is about acting from the core of our being, where God is."

Saying he didn't "actually understand why," Radcliffe noted that homosexuality has "become a very hot topic in all the churches at the moment.... Usually when we think about" homosexuality, Radcliffe said, "we ask, 'what is forbidden or permitted?' But I'm afraid I'm an old-fashioned, traditional Catholic, and I believe that's the wrong place to start. We begin by standing beside gay people as they hear the voice of the Lord that summons them to life and happiness. We accompany them as they wrestle with discovering what this means and how they must walk. And this means letting our imaginations be stretched open to watching Brokeback Mountain, reading gay novels, having gay friends, making that leap of the heart and the mind, delighting in their being, listening with them as they listen to the Lord.

Noting "the violence of the language used by Pope Benedict when he was the cardinal prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith" and "the violent language of conservative Catholics against so-called liberals," Radcliffe drew applause as he said, "we are not a sign of God's freedom in Jesus until we can dare to belong with each other across every theological boundary. That means we have to see with other people's eyes, and hear with their ears, and feel with their skin, regardless of whether they're Legionnaires of Christ or militant feminists."

At the beginning of his Saturday afternoon talk, "Human Sexuality: Nature and Relationships in Cultural Milieus," Paulist Father Richard Sparks, pastor of the University of California at Berkeley's Newman Center, admitted he had gotten into trouble for remarks he had made at the 2001 L.A. Religious Education Congress. At that congress, Sparks acknowledged Church teaching on the relationship between the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. "But if somebody says, 'do you think Joseph ever wanted to jump her bones?' Do you think Joseph ever thought, 'God, why can't we consummate this thing?... Now all I'm saying is -- even if they didn't have sex, did they ever neck? Or did they maybe cuddle and snuggle? Did he ever sort of fondle his wife? Did she ever kind of fondle him?" At the same conference, Sparks commented on the size of his genitals. "It's a little bigger than Mel Gibson's, but the bigger the better, I say," he said.

Sparks admitted that at the 2001 Congress he was "flippant in my use of humor, and imprudent. I have paid the price," at which the audience laughed. "A copy of my taped talk ended up on Cardinal Mahony's desk, the papal nuncio's desk, and the Congregation for Catholic Education in Rome [more laughter]. Then, I consistently argued that I uttered no heresy or dissent from Church teaching, but I was impolitic, and for that, in context, I wrote a formal letter of humble apology."

Though he said he has not spoken about human sexuality since 2001, he would address the topic in his talk -- "where have we come, what has been the cultural milieu 2001-2006, both in the church and in the wider society." Sparks said he would speak "humbly, charitably [laughter], more as a theological or even sociological commentator."

Sparks noted that he didn't need to tell his listeners about "the basics of Catholic teaching." That is, "I don't think I need to tell you the Church thinks artificial contraception is wrong. I don't need to tell you the Church thinks gay marriage is not appropriate." However he said, "the relationship, psychological, cultural pieces ... have done some shifting in the last five or six years, and I'd like to add those to the mix of the discussion."

To read the notes Father Sparks used in his talk, visit www.calnewman.org.

On Saturday afternoon, a panel titled, "Homosexuality, Celibacy and the Priesthood: Continuing the Conversation," was held, featuring Dr. Thomas Beaudoin, visiting assistant professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University; Jesuit Father James Martin, associate editor of America magazine; and Dr. Greer Gordon, a faculty member of the department of African/African American Studies and philosophy at the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth. (Gordon was also a keynote speaker at the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries conference held last September in San Jose.)

Dr. Beaudoin spoke first. In his talk, he focused on the current tense conversational climate created by the Vatican's November release of the "Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies," and attempted to debunk the view that homosexual priests are child molesters.

After reciting a paraphrase of the "Instruction," which states that the Church "cannot admit to the seminary or to Holy Orders those who practice homosexual behavior, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies, or support the so-called gay culture," Beaudoin quoted several differing interpretations of it, drawing from a December 2005 summary by John Allen, writing in the National Catholic Reporter (http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/2005d/120905/120905h.htm). Next, Beaudoin talked about how several "gay priests" have responded to the instruction by publicly proclaiming their homosexuality. "These priests give human faces to our conversation, and by having the courage to testify to the human specificity of their Christian life, they often testify that they are saying no to a certain kind of violence done to them," said Beaudoin.

"Some Catholics say we should only use the term 'homosexual,'" said Beaudoin, "because it is a clinical, medical term, and that 'gay' connotes a permissive, morally-problematic association." Beaudoin said that, "among other things, some priests describe themselves as 'gay' as an affirmation of themselves and of their sexual identity as beloved before God."

Jesuit Father James Martin followed Dr. Beaudoin. The audience laughed at and applauded his opening quip, where he said he calls the Vatican instruction "Ecce Homo -- Here's the man."

Father Martin then described five groups of people who will be affected by the instruction. The first group, he said, is "gay men interested in the priesthood," who, on account of the instruction, will be "less likely to enter because some -- not all -- but some self-aware gay men will simply feel turned away."

The second group, stated Father Martin, "celibate gay men already in diocesan seminaries and religious formation programs," may "set aside the instruction and rely on years of discernment that have confirmed their vocations, or set aside their vocations and leave their seminaries or religious orders." Based on his experience of homosexual seminarians, Martin said, "most are choosing the first option, trusting in their original call and staying. But they are still upset."

The third group is "celibate gay priests," many of whom "feel demoralized, hurt, offended, and angry because not only is [it] official Vatican policy that their kind is no longer welcome, but there was in the instruction not one word of gratitude, or even acknowledgement of, the ministry of celibate gay priests."

Many in the fourth group -- "gay and lesbian lay Catholics," said Martin, were "offended" when they read in the instruction "that homosexuals cannot properly relate to men and women. That statement, which is unsupported by any empirical evidence in the document, was deeply offensive to many gays and lesbians."

The fifth group, "straight Catholics," said Martin, "may feel embarrassed or angry over the instruction if they know any gay priests. Or, if they wrongly believe that pedophilia and homosexuality are the same thing or that gays can somehow not be celibate, they may be delighted. But either way, straight Catholics, along with every other Catholic, will discover over time somewhat fewer priests in their parishes, retreat centers, schools, hospitals, and universities -- and chanceries." The audience laughed when Martin mentioned the last group.

The instruction, Martin opined, implied "that homosexuals are not fully human. They are not fully human, not simply because they are objectively disordered, which is the theological argument, but also -- and this is very new -- because they cannot reach affective maturity and cannot properly relate to others.... Whether or not one believes theologically that homosexuality is an objective disorder, there are in fact gays and lesbians who are affectively mature and do relate well to others. Now, how do we know this? Because others attest to this and not simply gays and lesbians. Other straight men and women attest to this -- family members, friends, neighbors, and co-workers."

The instruction, alleged the Jesuit, "may also promote the stereotype of the subhuman gay person. Therefore, I would submit, it may actually contradict the Catechism, which says that when it comes to gays and lesbians, 'every form of unjust discrimination' is to be avoided."

Martin continued, "[the Instruction] may be inconsistent with Catholic teaching in other ways as well. The Catechism ... teaches that if they are celibate, gays and lesbians can and should -- can and should -- approach Christian perfection, which surely includes affective maturity. The instruction, however, says that gay men, even celibate ones, should not be priests because they cannot approach affective maturity."

Martin said that the instruction advances "the premise that gay priests are responsible for the sexual abuse crisis ... it may conflate homosexuality with pedophilia in some people's minds, which again may promote stereotypes and confuse Catholics regarding the Catechism's caution against unjust discrimination."

The instruction, said Martin, "seeks to set aside the historic contribution of celibate gay priests, who often labor in silence in the vineyard of the Lord ... these men and those like them are to be officially cast out of the community and blamed for its sins, much as another group of persons were cast out in the time of Jesus of Nazareth. These seminarians and gay priests are the Church's new lepers," he said.

The final panelist, Dr. Greer Gordon, began her talk by reminding the audience, "we are Church -- and it appears right now that some of us have forgotten what Church means."

Gordon said that though she expected that the instruction would be "horrific," it "wasn't as bad" as she expected. "There are some really very solid and very sound statements in it," she said.

However, the "bad news" about the instruction, she said, is that it really addresses pedophilia, not homosexuality. "And one more time, each time we have to deal with pedophilism, we pull out homosexuality, run it up to the gang pike, and begin to beat it up," she said. What the Church really needs to do, said Gordon, is write an instruction about pedophilia.

Gordon questioned, "why is it that we have no similar document about heterosexual priests? It's very interesting to me that the assumption is that we need to somehow curb the sexual urges or desires of our homosexual presbyters."

"The fact of the matter," she continued, "is we have a climate in our priesthood that says sexual activity is okay. You can be sexually active as long as you go to confession and you don't let anybody know you're doing it in public. Perhaps what this document is really uncovering," she said, is the fact that "we do have sexually active gay priests. We do have sexually active heterosexual priests. And the problem is we need a redefinition, recommitment, re-understanding of the word 'celibacy.' By making statements such as we have in this document, that says all homosexuals are called to celibacy, it does in fact cheapen and give us once again confusion around the meaning of celibacy."

Gordon said she feared the instruction will "force us into repressing other people about their sexuality. I'm sorry, but the asexual nun just doesn't do it in the world anymore. We don't need to put thousands of pounds of coif on our women, or we don't need to suddenly make our men walk around as if they' re all macho butches. But what we really need to do is to have very real human beings who have that life-giving force known as our sexuality that allows them to engage in affective, meaningful relationships with men and with women -- and respectful relationships. That kind of scenario presented to us in doctrine does not intentionally call for repression, but it certainly can be read and be interpreted in that fashion."

She concluded by noting that "we don't take any litmus test at baptism" and "try to figure out who's going to grow up to be gay or who's going to grow up to be straight, or who might have some confusion later in life about orientation." As long "as we're going to practice infant baptism, we had best be about the business of accepting the fact that we are going to have gay, lesbian, bisexual individuals -- although I have a problem with bisexuality," she said. Since "we baptize as infants all the members of the Church," they "all stand equally in Christ's love. We cannot continue to beat one another, but rather we need to invite one another to be Christ in the midst of this world. Amen."

Later Sunday morning, Father Donald Cozzens, author of the book, The Changing Face of the Priesthood, which drew great attention when it was published in 2000 because it asserted that the Catholic priesthood is becoming a "gay profession," gave a talk on the state of the priesthood six years later.

Cozzens said that a priest's emotional immaturity "is a factor in the clergy abuse of minors, in certain boundary issues with adult women and men, clergy use of pornography, alcohol abuse, power dynamics, and in fact, truncated spiritual lives, because spiritual maturity and emotional maturity go together."

Cozzens said that "the Church has a schizophrenic approach to human sexuality" and opined that "we need a great deal of theological research on our theology of human sexuality, and it's hard to preach today when people can sense any way a disconnect between what the Church preaches and what the reality happens to be."

Cozzens recalled that Chapter 7 of his book, where he noted that 25 to 50 percent of seminarians and clergy are homosexual, "was considered by some as an unconscionable attack on the priesthood, on priests themselves, and on seminarians." But all he had done, he said, was point "to the reality -- now widely accepted and indirectly acknowledged, even by the Vatican -- that there are large numbers of gay men in our seminaries and in the ranks of the clergy, including the bishops. And most of these great priests are leading wonderful, committed, celibate lives."

While the chapter "validated" the "suspicions" of "conservative Catholics" that large numbers of priests happen to be gay," "progressive Catholics," continued Cozzens, "took note because they believed -- and I think rightly -- that obligatory celibacy is a major factor leading to the disproportionate number of gay priests and seminarians, and so it raised for them the issue of the married priesthood."

Cozzens said he thought "that it's hard to move on from this chapter without comment on the instruction that was issued in November of last year.... Faithful, celibate, hard-working gay priests -- most of whom, we might suspect, do not feel their orientation is objectively disordered -- felt visceral. Many were angry -- and very angry.... I think it is hard to overestimate the pain and suffering and the anger ... that celibate gay priests are feeling today. I think they want to say to us, 'You have no idea.'"

Cozzens said, "addressing the issue of homosexual orientation in our seminaries remains extremely difficult, primarily, I suspect, because many of our seminary faculty are gay themselves ... The pressure to remain in the closet for these men is strong.

Rock Music and Bongos

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CONFERENCE LITURGIES

The Los Angeles archdiocesan Religious Education Congress featured several liturgies at which Cardinal Roger Mahony presided. One of these liturgies, a Mass, occurred on Youth Day, March 31. Janice Ballard (not her real name), who chaperoned a group of approximately 20 young people from the diocese of San Diego, described her impressions of this Mass.

"My group had to attend Mass in an overflow room because the arena was full," said Ballard. "The priest celebrant asked for a show of hands for kids who were interested in the priesthood, and a lot of girls stood up. The music was blaring and loud, like a rock concert. There was no semblance of reverence, even though our kids were reverent. The Mass music was even louder than when Steve Angrizano (a parish musician and one of the Youth Day presenters) was performing. Even the kids complained about the loudness, which is unusual for kids."

Saturday night, a "Black Culture" liturgy was held in the convention center arena. Beginning with a bongo drum sequence and featuring black Gospel singers dressed in native African costumes, the event featured Jesuit Father J. Glenn Murray, director of the office for pastoral liturgy for the diocese of Cleveland.

Murray delighted the audience by deliberately falling down on stage during his homily in order to illustrate how people feel when they fall head over heels in love. He concluded his homily by leading a hand-clapping rendition of "Can't Nobody Do Ya Like Jesus," and dancing all around the stage, with Cardinal Mahony, from his presider's chair, clapping along with the crowd.

Sunday, April 2 kicked off with a morning arena liturgy led by Bishop Tod Brown of the Orange diocese and concelebrated by Bishop Sylvester Ryan of Monterey.

On Sunday afternoon, April 2, Cardinal Roger Mahony presided over the "closing liturgy" in the arena, which was draped with nondescript blue and purple banners. Neither a crucifix nor any statues or pictures of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, or any other saints was present.

A square wooden table in the center of the arena served as the altar. The stage, situated at the arena's north end, held space for musicians on one side and concelebrants on the other, with the cardinal's large presider's chair perched on a raised dais mid-stage. Two large video screens suspended from the ceiling broadcast close-up shots of the liturgical action.

Male and female liturgical dancers, wielding smoking pots of incense, pirouetted and swayed on the arena floor and stage. The Gospel account of Lazarus' raising from the dead was a dramatic reading performed by a deacon and lay people. Loud music, reminiscent of a rock concert, punctuated the entire show. Applause erupted at several points. The responsorial psalm was sung by a cantoress who wore a blouse with a plunging neckline and tight sweater.

Cardinal Mahony gave two homilies, the first in Spanish and the second in English. In his Spanish homily, Mahony drew loud applause as he compared the plight of illegal immigrants to that of the "bound-up" Lazarus, saying, "we can identify another group among us that is also bound up. And who are they? They are the immigrants in our midst. That's why we have to imitate Jesus and be with them to offer them freedom -- steps to freedom -- the theme of our congress. We have to extend to them a new tomorrow, a new tomorrow to help the immigrants, to stand up with them as friends and as brothers and sisters."

Mahony's English homily, however, was markedly different. In it, he only briefly touched on the immigration issue -- and then as a segue from the topic of sexual misconduct.

"People have often asked in the past several months, 'You know, we have been so stifled by this sexual misconduct problem in our country, how will we ever emerge from this?'" Mahony said. "Well, it seems to me we are given an opportunity following the example of these early Chinese Christians to move forth from our timidity and our hesitation, to again live out boldly the Gospel and the words of Jesus Christ, to be heroic in our charity towards one another, to listen to those who oppose us, to not fight against those who insult us, but to pray for them and to reach out to them, to be healers and reconcilers in a greatly polarized land among polarized peoples, to be heroic in reaching out, as we are doing these days towards immigrants. But not only towards immigrants, but those who feel differently. We need to listen to them. We need to pray with them. We need to help them come to a deeper understanding of God's presence in our midst."

At the consecration, the gift bearers processed into the arena carrying glass pitchers of wine and large wicker baskets of bread. The altar table was draped with several multi-colored, picnic-style tablecloths. After a bongo drum Sanctus, Cardinal Mahony consecrated a large round "host" that appeared to be leavened. The Precious Blood was distributed in glasses.

To view a video clip of the Congress closing liturgy, visit www.qdomine.com/Morality%20pages/lareledcongress06-1.htm

During the Congress, the Anaheim convention center basement was converted to a "Sacred Space" that offered confession, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and a labyrinth on which to walk. Only chairs -- no prie-dieux or kneelers -- were available in the adoration area. Much of the artwork in the "Sacred Space" was abstract, but one painting showed the backside of a muscular man wearing only tight shorts, who was apparently "stepping into freedom."

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