Come, now. Who owns the home where a five-day old has just taken up residence? The father and mother, who prepared the nursery and worry about the mortgage? Nope. The siblings, who couldn’t wait until the baby was safely placed in the cradle they would eventually be allowed to rock? Nope. The pastor, who has come to bless this newly completed family, and spread grace from room to room? Nope.

It’s five-day old Johnny or Mary, who has enslaved everyone without an army or treasure chest. Batting those blue eyes and releasing the dimpled charms have turned hearts to butter, pounding feet to tip-toes, blaring drums to gentle violins, and sent the lawn mower into its private garage. And the baby isn’t even awake!

That’s the point. No one awakens the infant despot, for under that hand-embroidered blanket, work is going on – the work of growth. Everyone is aware of the sacred silence needed for the new-born’s sleep, and if not, he or she is quickly warned either to be as quiet as a seasoned hermit, or suffer banishment to the basement, attic, or the far reaches of Siberia. The baby needs sleep, and, later, nourishment.

Ordinary Catholics, also, need resting time to pray and think and grow. Therefore, when Vatican officials decide to invade their people’s private space with impunity, they do so at the risk of alienating the faithful, appearing irrelevant, and prompting them to seek inspiration, strength and sanctuary beyond the Church Jesus founded. Pretty heavy duty for the shepherds of the flock.

In his “Word From Rome” column for National Catholic Reporter, 9/26/03, John L. Allen Jr. relates how he was in a restaurant in Hill City, Kansas, population 3,000, when the local pastor ambled over to him and asked, “So what’s this I hear about the Vatican banning altar girls?”

Allen said the reference was to a series of articles in the Italian Catholic monthly Jesus concerning the forthcoming document on liturgical abuses, a joint project of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Divine Worship, to be released, possibly in 2004.

The reporter asserts that there is no ban on altar girls in the document, saying that their use would be based on a “valid pastoral motive.” What little girl wouldn’t be skipping to the altar, knowing she qualified as a “valid pastoral motive”? Me? I rather suspect Jesus would have said something like: “You are my dear child. Come. Be my friend. I am yours, forever.”

Apparently, recommendations, not edicts, are being promulgated. There is an emphasis on the role of the clergy, that it not be blurred with that of the laity. Now, I probably attend the liturgy as often as many, and I’ve never gotten mixed up about who was the priest, the deacon, or the laity.

Clapping is out. Too happy. Too happy for Jesus or the Curia? Dancing is out. I haven’t seen many dances in the sanctuary, but the few I have seen were performed with such reverence, faith, and love, I’ve never forgotten them. Can’t say the same for all homilies. If only men danced, would that solve the problem?

Wait. Allen rewards waiting with quotations from Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium, 70, who is widely considered a leading contender to be the next pope, because of his theological erudition and his open, affirmative attitude. Sounds like the breath of spring on fall’s wings. He gets my vote, but wish he were a tad younger.

Thoughtfully, Allen gives Danneels’ attitude about women, which I will repeat word for word ...

Question: Women are more religious than men in all European countries. Do you have an explanation for this fact?

“...I think that women are more sensitive, more perceptive to non-material matters such as religion, art or love. In that sense, they have a thinner skin. They are more connected with or embedded in the cosmos, in nature and life, perhaps also because the woman carries the child. It has also captivated me that the revelations in the Bible are made to women, and that the Pythia of Delphi were also women. But who am I to talk about this subject? I’m not an expert in the psychology of women.

Although the women are more religious, the church is a man’s world. The church may be a man in composition, but in itself she is a woman. The Church is never called our father, but our mother. Today the actual power structure in the Church is male, but it shouldn’t have to be that way. It is just that government in the church has long been closely linked with the priesthood. But I think that priest structure and power structure in principle don’t need to be one and the same. Both my vicars are women, and I see no reason why a woman should not head a Roman congregation.

I don’t see that happening, a woman in charge in Rome.
Maybe not in Rome, but Rome is not the whole Church. We, the periphery, are also part of the Catholic church. Rome has always been conservative, but so is Brussels or The Hague.“

A Dutch colleague of Allen’s was able to do a follow-up interview with Danneels regarding his comments on women, who told him:

“I only repeated what I am saying already for 20 years. Women must get a more important place in the administration of the Catholic church. I am surprised that what I said got such a media response now.... But be sure: I am not willing to commit a putsch against the Curia.”

It seems to me that women, with their greater sensitivity and respect for the Holy Spirit’s work in the lives of the butchers, bakers and candlestick makers in the pews, would be less inclined to invade the laity’s sanctuary with all the force of the Vatican in areas that would best be left to the local pastor or bishop.

Women would understand this day that millions of Catholics are still reeling over the sex scandals, and are struggling over whether to stay or leave the Church. This is not the time to raise the great questions about clapping and dancing in God’s house and theirs.

Without placing too fine a point on it, I found the words of a Jewish son to his father, who had forbidden him to taste the honey he handed down from a tree,
as possessing a kernel of truth for the Curia’s and our consideration:

“You handed bitterness to me when you should
have been handing me sweetness. You lied to me! You
are too full of false prohibitions, bitter taboos, and needless
fears! You are supposed to be handing down the sweetness
of life, but your commandments and taboos bring death
and guilt instead of life and sweetness.”

The Holy Longing, The Search for a Christian Spirituality
By Father Ronald Rolheiser

(Without reservation, I recommend this book to every traveling pilgrim.
From the cover, the words ring true: “At the core of this readable, deeply revealing book, is an explanation of God and the Church in a world that more often than not doubts the credibility of both.”) Doubleday/ $21.95

While we can, let us dance and clap in the House of the Lord! Peace and joy to all.

Home

Archives