Christmas in New York

Somehow it seems like time has been going faster the past few months. I went from writing something about once a week and now I’m struggling to even do once a month. Since last I wrote, it has become Christmastime in the city. Tonight was the big tree lighting at Rockefeller Center and for a few weeks now the big window displays have been up at the major department stores. I’m looking forward to a visit from a good friend in the coming weeks when we can traipse around the city taking in all the Christmas sights. I’m also thinking some Christmas cookie baking might be in order … to share with coworkers and students, roommates and friends. This is my plan.

Otherwise, I have been staying busy with bible study and CCD and just living life. Maybe it’s because the days are so short right now … but it just seems like I blink and the day is over.

And with that, I should probably do some dishes, read for my bible study, and get to bed. Just a short update for now.

(If you’re looking for some great, free traditional Christmas music, I stumbled upon this lovely Pandora station today.)

 

The city of, apparently, a million atheists

I’ve been avoiding the free daily newspapers on my commute to work lately. Not really because I don’t want to be informed of current events, but more to encourage myself to do some reading of one of the five or so books I currently seem to be flopping between.

But, on my way headed home from work, the cover of Oct. 20th’s AM New York caught my eye — a picture of the NYC skyline, focused on the empire state building and surrounded by the big white words “GOT GOD?” I quickly grabbed myself a copy to further investigate. Thinking, albeit somewhat optimistically, maybe they were focusing on religion in New York. Then I read the subhead: “Atheism ads coming to subways rile some New Yorkers.”

I applaud AM New York for including reactions of both sides. In fact, their story shared the feelings of a handful of New Yorkers upset by the upcoming ad campaign that claims “A million New Yorkers are good without God.” Unlike this CNN article that focuses more on the atheist point of view.

As someone who works for a Christian (read: Catholic) organization that advertised on the NYC subways not too long ago, I debated how I felt about the atheist ad campaign. I recognize and respect the freedom of speech aspect; there is no reason they should not be allowed to advertise, but I mentally stacked up the purpose and motives between Holy Name Province’s ad campaign with this. HNP was advertising for vocations — reaching out to working men who might be feeling unfulfilled at their current job and challenging them to consider making a “life shift.”

The AM New York and CNN articles both are careful to say the atheist campaign is to raise awareness among fellow atheists that they aren’t alone — not as an attack on religion. But, this raises two questions in my mind: 1) Are there really NYC atheists who feel they are the only secular person here? Because honestly, I feel like it is probably just as easy to feel you are only the faithful person in the city; 2) Can you really assume that all 15 percent people who checked “none” for their selection of religion on the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey are truly “good without God”?

I guess I would like to know what the other options were. A growing number of people in my generation (and probably in the world in general) consider themselves spiritual but not religious. They might believe in a “superior being” or something greater than they are even if they don’t subscribe to or desire to participate in organized religion. It all just seems a bit … presumptuous?

And then there’s the question of how this campaign could impact those who are good with God. AM New York quoted a 37-year-old Bronx mother as saying, “I teach my children to believe in God and lead a life faithful to Him. If my children see these ads that say there is no God, they’ll think their mother is lying.” Or what about the person struggling with their faith?

But, the more I think about it … maybe this should just be a call to action for those who are good with God. Its an opportunity for the mother to explain to her children that some people don’t believe in God, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t exist. It’s all the more reason for the churches — meaning the faithful people that fill them every week, not just the leaders — to be that much more willing to speak out about their personal faith.

 

There’s a good chance you’ll miss autumn in New York if you blink

Well, a ridiculous amount of time has passed since I added anything to my blog. It’s a little bit ironic, because at work it is sometimes my job to encourage our friars to keep their blogs up-to-date, and here I let mine go a month or two with nothing new.

I guess the reasoning is two-fold: I’ve been busy and I haven’t had anything in particular that has inspired me to write about. The warm days of summer have quickly cooled to autumn, which this week seems to be on the outs as well. I took my first “PTO” (paid time off) day from work and went on a long weekend vacation to Wilmington, Del., to visit a friend of mine. It was one of the more relaxing, rejuvenating weekends I have had in a while.

I’ve been trying to get out, meet new people and do new and exciting things. In the span of a few days I went to a small benefit concert featuring The Fray (my first NYC concert) and a fashion show of a friend-of-a-friend, so to speak (at Webster Hall) and taught my first Sunday School class. (That weekend actually followed the relaxing, rejuvenating weekend).) I’ve joined a small bible study at my church, attended an all-day training to lector at my parish and resumed going to a variety of theology talks.

I actually made the 3-train trek back to Greenpoint for the first time since my July move. It was interesting to see it through such different eyes. For my first four months in New York, Greenpoint was the only home I knew. Now, comparing it to Astoria … I just like Astoria so much better. It was good to go back and not feel like I missed the neighborhood I was originally reluctant to leave. Yes, I have a significantly longer walk to the subway every morning, but that walk is significantly more enjoyable than the 1/2 block walk to my apartment in Greenpoint.

Today, when I called my GreaterWorks mentor during my lunch break (I hadn’t been able to get a hold of her since before my move to Astoria) it occurred to me that somewhere along the line in my recent years, I’ve actually become a fan of talking on the phone. I’m not sure exactly when this snuck up on me, but I know I wasn’t always this way. In the past few weeks, I feel like I’ve been having myriad catch-up phone calls. If I have extra time on my lunch break, I tend to try to call someone to pass the time. If I stay in on the weekend I usually have someone I can talk to. I enjoy my brief conversations when a friar calls me at work.

I guess this is so shocking because I used to dread phone conversations. (I guess I can thank YouthWorks! and 2 summers of pre-trip phone calls for getting over some of that … and for sending me all over the country so I have no choice but to make some phone calls to keep in touch.) Somehow I’ve managed to lose my old shy self in New York, because I am yet to meet someone who really believes me when I tell them by nature I am shy.

Anyway, now I just feel like I am rambling. But … I thought I would share a few thoughts since I’ve just been too busy/distracted lately.

 

There’s a good chance visuals in religious ed books haven’t changed since I was in 3rd grade

Case in point: the cover to We Believe: We Are the Church, the textbook St. Francis of Assisi uses for its grade three CCD classes.

This will be my pleasure reading over the coming months, as I am officially the sole 3rd grade CCD teacher at the church … so long as I don’t actually end up being needed for 7th grade. (While I did very much grow to appreciate junior highers while living in Rapid City, I am hoping I get to stick with the 3rd graders).

I am excited, and maybe a little nervous… mostly because I can’t believe after about a month of going to a church and knowing no one, I am about to be trusted with a dozen or so children. Not that I am incapable … it just seems like I am jumping in with both feet.

I am also excited for the prospects of trying to get some young adult group/activities going at the church with the help of the DRE … who it turns out knew the group I was involved with in Greenpoint. Sometimes the smallness/interconnectedness of New York City seems so unlikely … and yet I feel like there are just all these overlapping circles of people who know each other. Anyway. Mostly I just wanted to share the cover of the textbook … no great wisdom tonight.

 

If delicious pizza is what you seek, look no further

One of my roommates in college had a recipe for pizza dough. Granted, dough is pretty simple, but she passed the recipe on to me and I shared it with my senior year roommate, my GreateWorks teammates, my YouthWorks! staff and now, in NYC, I think I might have perfected it. If you enjoy Hawaiian pizza, here’s what I do:

 

A case for saints … and other thoughts on being Catholic

While praying my rosary in the lower church of St. Francis in the presence of the Eucharist, a conversation I had a week or two ago came to mind.

It was with a guy I met briefly at a Christian happy hour (hosted by Redeemer Presbyterian — the church I found my roommate through) who described himself as “raised Catholic.” I’ve met a handful of these people over the past couple of years, and each give varying reasons for why they are no longer Catholic: for example, a friend of mine was Catholic until she felt God was calling her to be a pastor, so she became Lutheran.

As my conversation with this former Catholic progressed, I asked him if his parents were still active in the Church, to which he quickly replied yes, then hesitated and said, “Well, my dad more than my mom; I think she prefers more a Redeemer-type service.” So I asked what it was about Redeemer that would make it superior to a Catholic Mass, to which his reply was, “Well, its just more … scripture-centered.” My imediate response was, “As opposed to … Christ-centered?” (referring, of course to the Eucharist, though I think he missed this point). And he said he felt like the Catholic Church is “too focused on saints.”

I think the saints and their connection with the Catholic Church is all too often misunderstood. I’ve spent some time trying to explain to non-Catholic friends that Catholics aren’t worshipping or praying TO saints, but it is hard to clearly get the point across. So, sitting in a chapel surrounded by paintings of holy men in brown robes, I had this thought of how to best explain it. Or at least shed SOME light on it.

Personally, I don’t understand the criticism of saints. I think of it this way: 1) the Catholic Church is universal; 2) we are brothers and sisters in Christ; 3) all Christians ask living friends and family, especially people we consider to have strong faiths to join in prayer with us for our special intentions. Can you see where I’m headed with this? I just don’t see why, if we believe in eternal life, it is so miscontrued that we would ask our brothers and sisters in Christ, those who have lived holy lives and died and now live in heaven … to join in prayer with us.

And, as far as a Mass being to saint-centric, this just doesn’t seem to stand up as an argument. Do we mention saints? Yes. But how would that be different than having a Mass in remembrance of a family member? Except we look to the saints as people who strived to live their lives as God wanted them to … in hopes we could learn something from them. But I digress.

As my conversation began to wind down, the former Catholic asked me if I had been to any non-Catholic church services. Being immersed in YouthWorks! and GreaterWorks and an overall multi-denominational culture, I found myself at a variety of other Christian services. In the past couple of years I’ve been to a handful of contemprary services, including “hip hop church,” as well as Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist and non-denominational churches. So I told him, “Well, yes.” So he asked me what I thought of them as compared to the Catholic Church. I explained that while I think there are definitely aspects of some other Christian churches that Catholicism could learn from, there is at least one thing I won’t ever find in any other church that I’m just not willing to give up: that is, the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist.

Which, really, he had nothing to say after that.

 

On the N, in the lower church, at Central Park

I’ve recently decided to more actively pursue prayer in my daily life. Again.

During my summers with YouthWorks, we had “devo” time carved out for us as part of the schedule … ideally anyway. Admittedly, as a site director, probably 50 percent of my devo time was spent mopping a kitchen, finding rainy day back-up ministry plans or catching an extra 10-20 minutes of much, much needed rest.

With GreaterWorks, time for devotions is strongly encouraged. I will say, having it more or less built into your daily life makes prayer a lot easier. But being back at home with no real schedule, motivating myself to read the Bible just didn’t happen near as often as it should have.

Now, just around the corner from the six month mark of my move to New York City, I’ve decided I’m settled enough to stop making excuses for myself.

It started on my way into work one moring, on the N train, after one of my former staff who was doing another summer with YouthWorks told me they badly needed prayer. Knowing my subway ride is usualy right around 25-30 minutes, I figured it was the perfect opportunity to pray a rosary. (I always carry two with me.)

One of the things I really appreciate about praying the rosary — especially in the distracting environment of the subway — is the focus it allows. Maybe a very focused, dedicated person could stay completely on topic praying on the subway … but I am a people watcher. I would get distracted probably in the first 5 minutes outside of a quiet, prayerful environment. But the rosary holds my attention (and, if my mind wanders a little, I have the beads to keep me on track).

So for the next few days, my morning commute was my rosary time. Then, one morning when I was feeling too tired or rushed to focus, I held off on my rosary for lunch time. For the first time, I took advantage of the “lower church” at St. Francis of Assisi, right next to my office. During the week they almost always have Eucharistic exposition, so I headed down to pray the rosary.

And, I finally took advatage of an opportunity I had been considering for most of the summer: joining the rosary walk at Central Park.

Since then, I’ve been trying to turn this into a new habit for me. I’ve gone to a sprinkling of daily Masses (with the number of churches and variety of daily Mass schedules in the city, it hardly seems excusable to never take advantage), sometimes praying my rosary before or after that.

My ultimate goal, at this point, is to get myself to bed early enough (clearly not happening tonight) so that I can get up early enough to start attending 7 a.m. daily Mass at my St. Francis when it starts up again in the fall. But for now I’ll take my baby steps with the rosary on the subway.

 

Only in New York…

New York has it moments for me: the one’s where I really appreciate the opportunities it has that just wouldn’t happen elsewhere.

Tonight I decided to go, kind of on a whim, to this concert/talent show type thing that was happening in the basement of a church. I arrived a half hour late, just in time to hear a guy play a song.

But not just any song. A song I had stumbled upon through the MySpace of my favorite band, The Weepies. Having missed any sort of introduction of who this man was, I wondered if he was a fellow Weepies lover and therefore found the song as well. But it just sounded so much like the original. And sure enough, it was the original artist.

I’ve been trying to go to a low-key concert of an artist I thoroughly enjoy since I’ve come to the city, and this one I just stumbled upon.

After the talent show was over, I approached Greg, having to know if the last name he shares with Steve Tannen (50 percent of The Weepies) meant he was in fact related. So I boldly said: “I have a random question for you. You aren’t by any chance related to the Weepies?” To which he replied: “As a matter of fact they are my brother and sister-in-law.”

Where else, except New York City, can you go to a Catholic young adults event and have a casual conversation with a man related to your favorite band? I mean really.

 

On the new church

On the suggestion of an usher at Sunday’s Mass, I held off on submitting my contact information for my new church until I could hand-deliver it to the rectory. I did this Monday, handing it off to a teenage girl working at the front desk.

By Wednesday I had received a follow-up call from the director of religious education/faith formation from the parish on my indicated interest in helping out. I originally missed his call but returned it during my lunch break, and we chatted about my experience and interest and his. He previously worked for the Diocese of Brooklyn and has only been the DRE at St. Francis since June 1. He also helps out with the children’s liturgy and would like to get a young adult group/ministry growing at the parish. We are planning to meet up in early August to talk and flush out  my involvement in the parish ministries a little more.

Today, I received a census card and temporary collection envelopes from the church. This is kind of exciting, as it is more or less the first time I am essentially 100 percent adult in the church. The not-so-exciting part: Despite the fact that I provided a document with my name neatly hand-written, the sender successfully misspelled my name as D-o-l-e. I proceeded to cross out and correct all of the misspellings, and plan to include a kind note calling attention to the mistake (it would be quite obnoxious if it didn’t get fixed right away).

Richard, the DRE, said I should be hearing from all of the other people in charge of the groups/ministries I expressed interest in. So far, he’s the only one I’ve heard from, but it is nice to be feeling somewhat involved already.

It makes me think that peopel who feel like they don’t get anything out of church or there is no point to it aren’t involved. Just a thought.

 

20 days and counting

It’s hard to believe I’ve been living in a new apartment just shy of three weeks (and maybe even harder to believe I’ve been calling New York City home for almost six months now).

Things are finally starting to get settled. Over the past week my roommates and I have managed to finish some unpacking and arranging, get Internet (and a router) set up, and have some additional ceiling fans installed. Another bonus: the cats seem to be getting along a little better, slowly but surely.

It just so happened that the first two weekends in this apartment, I found myself significantly far away from Astoria. That being said, this was the first time I was in town to check out a church since the big move. I had done a little research on the Brooklyn Diocese’s Web site on what churches were near by and found one that would be about a five-minute walk, so I settled on that one.

I should probably add at this point that I am taking a decidedly different approach to finding a church than I did the first time around in Greenpoint. I, admittedly, dragged my feet a bit (partly because I was uncertain of my permanence in the area) in choosing, and when I found something I liked I still found it hard to commit to going to the same church every week.

So, this time around I’m trying something different. I was happy to see, included in the bulletin, a little information request form in the bulletin (going to a lot of churches from other Christian denominations, this seems pretty common … not as much in the Catholic church). I filled it out with my name, address, occupation and some of the general ministries and what not I would be interested in learning more about. After Mass I asked one of the ushers where would be the best place to turn it in, to which he said the rectory, during the week (so I guess I’ll be heading over there sometime). Basically, my plan is to not look around and just dive head-first into this church.

Because, what I found from my first method — which proved to be mostly unsuccessful — is that there are a lot of churches to choose from in New York City … and each one has some drawbacks. I could probably search forever for the perfect church and never find it. The other thing I found was that ultimately what I miss the most about my church from Booneville, the thing I am ultimately looking for in a church here is  community. And frankly, I think the only way I am going to become a part of a church community is to jump in and get involved. So that’s the plan. Maybe some Eucharistic ministry … maybe even some CCD in the fall? We’ll see…

On a fairly different topic, after my roommates (two sisters) returned home from their church this evening, we got into a little bit of a debate about religion and politics and whatnot. But there is one this about the non-denominational church that they attend that kind of bothers me … and I think bothers one of the sisters.

Part of the process of becoming a member of this church includes a baptism (at the beach, no less). As I mentioned before, I’ve been to a variety of Christian churches in the past couple of years, and some definitely include places that are trying to reinvent church and make it “cool.” I’m not necessarily fundamentally opposed to this, but I guess I just think something like baptism and joining the church should be cool enough on its own … it doesn’t need to be turned into an event at the beach.

But that’s not really my major grievance with the event. The thing is my roommates have been Christians for their entire lives, being baptized, like myself, as an infant. After 16+ years of Catholic schooling as well as a general immersion in the Christian faith, I know that baptism, one of two sacraments accepted by every Christian church is universal, i.e., it transfers from one denomination to the next (so if you grow up as a Lutheran, then transfer your membership to the Methodist church, then ultimately become Catholic … you wouldn’t be re-baptized each time. The first one counts across the board).

So my grievance is that this church strongly encourages its new members to be baptized as a part of their joining the church, regardless of previous baptisms. From the impression I get, there is no more simple ceremony of transferring membership to the church. So what does that mean, to ask all new members to be re-baptized? I feel like it is almost saying regardless of your walk with Christ, regardless of where you are coming from, your baptism, your Christianity, was invalid until you joined this church.

As someone who has spent some time surrounded by a variety of flavors of Christians, some who are more ecumenical and accepting of different Christian backgrounds than others, I feel like something like that subconsciously works against ecumenism. Anyway, I’m sure I could go on and on, but I just wanted to put in writing my thoughts on the issue.

Alas its time for bed as another Monday is here again.