‘There’s a spirit of generosity here’
‘There’s a spirit of generosity here’CHARLOTTE — Two longtime friends and spiritual leaders of their local faith communities sat down Oct. 15 at Union Presbyterian Seminary to address their viewpoints on the Reformation.
The Protestant-Catholic dialogue took place at the invitation of Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Dean Richard Boyce, who invited his friend, Benedictine Abbot Placid Solari of Belmont Abbey, to visit the seminary for a special discussion to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
“I do want to give a personal thanks to my brother in Christ, Placid, for being with us today. We have traveled some long miles together as pastors, as disciples, and even in some of the politics of small town life in Belmont,” Boyce said at the beginning of the dialogue, which was open to the public.
Boyce, a former mayor of Belmont, worked with the abbot on local issues during his tenure. He has known him for decades, as Abbot Placid’s uncle in Richmond, Va., was Boyce’s tennis coach years ago.
The two have had many philosophical and faith-based discussions over the course of their friendship, especially during Boyce’s retreats at the monastery. A Protestant, Boyce shared his admiration for the Benedictine monks and his fondness for praying with them in the abbey basilica and attending Mass with them despite his inability to receive the Eucharist.
“I celebrate this friendship we have and the conversation that we have that has been ongoing,” Boyce said.
During the discussion Oct. 15, Abbot Placid and Boyce took turns answering three basic questions: How has the Reformation blessed the worldwide Church? How has the Reformation harmed the worldwide Church? Where in the Church is further reformation needed?
In his response to the first question, Boyce explained that he was going to “place this blessing under the banner of freedom. I believe that there was a granting of freedom with regard to the interpretation of Scripture.”
He believes the Reformation allowed the Scriptures to be placed in the average person’s hands.
“That runs deep in my experience as a reformed Christian… That study, meditation, sort of ‘chewing’ of Scriptures has been a gift to me that I attribute at least in some way to the Reformation. ‘Sola Scriptura,’ to get back to the reading of Scriptures on a regular basis.
“I am not in any way claiming that the Church at that time was not deeply rooted and grounded in Scripture. But at least in terms of the average church person’s ability to read and interpret the Scriptures for him or herself, I think that is possibly a gift of the Reformation to the wider Church.”
Abbot Placid said the first question was “obviously an interesting question for a Catholic to consider.”
In several ways the Reformation could be seen as a blessing to the Church, he said, including setting into motion a necessary reform of the Church and its life; refocusing attention on Jesus Christ and faith in Him; and restoring the divinely inspired Word of God, the Bible, to the preeminent place it enjoyed in first centuries of the Church’s life.
“While, as you might expect, I would hold that the reform effort exceeded reform and actually established new institutions, I believe the fundamental intention was to effect a much-needed reform of the Church. The need for such a reform had become increasingly dire in the century preceding the Reformation, but the Church and its leaders had proved unable and unwilling to undertake the work necessary,” Abbot Placid said.
Boyce was moved after Abbot Placid’s remarks, noting, “There’s a generosity of spirit here.”
Both men also shared their concerns over how the Reformation has harmed the Church, particularly the toll it has taken on Christian unity.
“The legitimate desire for reform of the Western Church in the 16th century has lamentably resulted in even deeper divisions of faith and church life between the churches of the Reformation and both the Roman Catholic Church and the churches of the Orthodox Communion,” Abbot Placid said. “The movement of the Reformation itself has splintered into a variety of often mutually exclusive faith communities. This has created a scandal.”
Boyce agreed. “We divide, and we re-divide and we re-divide. I don’t think that’s a small scandal in the Church of Jesus Christ. It’s a fundamental obstacle to our witness to the Gospel and to the world.”
The friends also lamented the division that exists between churches regarding the Eucharist.
“We did not compare notes at all before this,” Boyce said. “I think you see why I value and trust Abbot Placid as a brother in Christ. He has inspired and challenged me in profound ways during our shared journey in Belmont. Our comments and our hearts seem to be at work in very similar ways on these topics.”
He admitted that during Mass, when he cannot receive Holy Communion, he feels the separation. “That is a painful wound to me personally… that I cannot share in the communion feast with a fellow disciple… But it’s a wound to the (whole) Church worldwide.”
Abbot Placid shared that the inability for Boyce to share in the Eucharist at Mass with the monks was also painful for them. “But since the Catholic tradition in the unity in the Eucharist in both form and ecclesia to the Church, to receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church is saying, ‘I wish to be in full communionwith Francis our pope.’ Out of respect of conscience for those who do not, we are not able to share that communion.”
Where is further reform needed?
Abbot Placid had three suggestions: there needs to be a restoration to full unity in Christian faith and sacraments; the Church needs to avoid the temptation to judge the Gospel by the culture; and the most important, ongoing reformation is that which takes place in the lives of the baptized, as they seek to conform their lives more closely to God’s will.
Restoration of full unity to the one Church of Jesus Christ will be an act of God’s love and mercy, he added, not the result of programs or actions on anyone’s part.
“Nevertheless, the most important reformation and renewal is that which is continually needed in our lives. For the Church is ultimately the body of Christ, the union of the members with the head. It is a living organism, not an institutional structure. The more we are open to the grace of God, the more we will be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ,” he said.
For his part, Boyce said, “I’m just not convinced that the issues that once divided us are issues that still divide us. I think we need to keep reforming the Church, both Protestant and Catholic, in order to make our community more visible in the world.”
— SueAnn Howell, Senior reporter
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate National Vocations Awareness Week Nov. 5-11. This annual event is a special time for parishes in the U.S. to actively foster and pray for a culture of vocations to the priesthood, diaconate and consecrated life.
Cardinal Joseph Tobin, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, reminds us that each of us in the Church has a key role to play in the witness of our vocation in ordinary circumstances.
“As we go about our everyday life and most especially this week, we must keep vocations in our prayers, while, at the same time, being a mindful witness with our own vocation,” he said. “We may never know how our lives may have an impact on someone else’s story. Simply living out our call as disciples of Jesus Christ fully and joyfully in the world bears witness to the love of Christ as He generously bestows on each of us our own personal call.”
National Vocations Awareness Week, sponsored by the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations, is designed to help promote vocation awareness and to encourage young people to ask the question: “To what vocation in life is God calling me?”
Observance of Vocation Awareness Week began in 1976.
— U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
More online
At www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/vocations/national-vocation-awareness-week.cfm: Find prayers and other online resources
Churches across the Diocese of Charlotte held several special events Oct. 13 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Mary’s appearances in Fatima, Portugal – including Marian processions and Masses.
— Catholic News Herald
ALBEMARLE — Misfits are on the loose at the Our Lady of the Annunciation Church in Albemarle, but instead of causing havoc and destruction, they are causing décor and construction. For the past 10 years, “The Misfits” have remodeled, redesigned and reinvented the entire parish rectory, dining hall, offices and chapel. The group of eight to 20 parishioners has worked tirelessly on everything from small projects, like repairing a leaking toilet, to huge undertakings such as remodeling the entire dining hall.
“We have done a lot of repairs and have saved thousands of dollars in labor cost. We have brought four buildings up to snuff. We do anything and everything that Father Fitz (Father Peter Fitzgibbons) needs us to do,” declares “head Misfit” Bob Miles.
“The whole thing started because I opened my big mouth!” Miles explains. “Father Fitz had some woodwork done behind the altar and my critical eye caught a couple of mistakes, and of course I had to say something. Well, adjustments were made and Father was clued in that I knew how to work on stuff.”
It was not long after that Miles’ services were in immediate need.
Church secretary Lori Storms recalls, “Mold was found in the rectory kitchen. Something needed to be done and fast. Father Fitz called Bob and asked if he could come and look. Bob started clearing out the mold – and then bats started invading.”
“It was one thing after the other – one thing got fixed and the next thing would fall apart. First, it was just me and Tom, then more followed, but the rectory was our first of many projects,” Miles says.
The group started meeting every week, and they soon became fast friends.
“Us guys were all hanging out and joking around, complaining about our aches and pains. My wife just looked us up and down, pointed at each of our ailments, saying, ‘Goodness! You got back problems, a bad knee, headaches, no legs, constant fatigue ... you all are just a bunch of misfits!’ The name stuck and caught on quick. The next week Father Fitz announced during Mass, ‘The Misfits have been formed.’”
The Misfits meet every Thursday. They start by attending Mass offered by Father Fitzgibbons and then, over coffee, they plan out the day by discussing projects with Father Fitzgibbons in the “Misfit Office” they designed.
“Father Fitz may not physically help but he helps mentally,” Miles says. “He is the commander-in-chief, along with Lori.”
The group works until about 5 o’clock while curious wives, kids and fellow parishioners stop by with food, drinks and conversation.
The Misfits now even have their own T-shirts – the men in gray shirts and the women in pink, blue or gray.
The Misfits’ handiwork can be seen everywhere. The communal kneelers, bought from Sacred Heart Church, were refurbished and installed by the Misfits. The church’s lanterns, which had to have the LED bulbs changed and the stained glass replaced, were fixed up by the Misfits. (“Older people do not have to use their reading glasses anymore; it is finally nice and bright,” jokes Misfit Tim Schumacher.)
The 2,000-pound baptismal font moved from the front of the church all the way to the back – the Misfits. Even the pews, which Storms claims “are stuck together by nails, glue and God’s mercy,” are kept up by the Misfits.
“We had to actually cut the communion rail because during a funeral people were not even able to walk around the casket,” recalls a fellow Misfit.
“The upper windows were about to fall out (of the dining hall) but nope, we got some ladders and put some metal reinforcements up there. It could have really been a disaster,” Miles adds.
Other calling cards have the Misfits’ signature such as the brightly decorated rooms, intricate tile formations and areas adorned with handmade paintings from parishioners and even Miles himself.
“I have been an artist by trade for the last 30 years, so we can’t help but add an artistic flare. I wanted to paint the dining hall yellow, but ‘Stump’ said turquoise is hot right now. The others agreed, and now we are looking at turquoise.”
In the renovated rectory kitchen Storms opens a small makeshift shelf. “This is a spice rack, but inside it is really covering up an electric box. The Misfits are inventive like that,” she smiles.
In the freshly “burnt amber” painted living room, a large abstract painting hangs over the fireplace. “That’s the work of Bob. He donates a lot of his abstract work as well. He is an incredible artist,” she notes.
Other projects include a grotto, landscaping on “The Hill,” a repaired roof, newly painted offices, replacement windows, LED lights, repaired bathrooms, and new lighted exit signs.
Parishioners love to point out and admire the Misfits’ work around the church.
“See that table over there,” says one parishioner, pointing to the table where Misfits and Father Fitzgibbons are gathered. “They redid the whole church. The whole thing, even that old rectory!”
“The big thing is the support of the parishioners. If it wasn’t for their generosity, this wouldn’t be possible. I count them as Misfits because even though they are not physically working here, they’re helping with their checkbooks,” Miles explains.
At this parish of less than 300 families, it is incredible how much money members are willing to give, he said. “For example, we had 35-year-old folding chairs in this hall, they were just falling apart. A parishioner replaced them all. Now the hall has up-to-date chairs. We also had a lady ask if we needed anything. We said a pizza oven. She ended up buying a pizza oven for our dining hall. It’s unbelievable.”
Schumacher has been a Misfit for two years, David Alzala, two, and “Stump” for about three. On a recent day, their mission is to tile the dining hall kitchen, but they stop for a brief break to explain what it means to them to be a Misfit.
The Misfits “keep stuff light,” “learn from one another,” and “never know what is going to come next,” they agree.
“I do this mostly for the pay,” jokes Schumacher. (There is no pay.)
“Why do I do this? I don’t even know anymore – maybe out of habit, maybe because I like the adventure,” another Misfit half-jokingly contemplates.
“I do it for the experience. I just re-tiled my floor at home and actually knew what I was doing because of this place. I learn so much from these guys,” responds Alzala.
“I wouldn’t do this for no office or laundromat. I do this because it is God’s house and I figure if Father Fitz can help save our souls, we can help save God’s house,” adds Miles.
Whatever the motivation, these Misfits are not going anywhere except to work on Thursdays at Our Lady of the Annunciation Church. “Except if Father Fitz retires, we will stay around as long as he does,” jokes Miles.
In the meantime, parishioners and Father Fitzgibbons are very proud of their Misfits and are excited to see what these remodeling miracle-workers will tackle next.
— Lisa Geraci, Correspondent
CHARLOTTE — St. Thomas Aquinas Church held its annual World Feast celebration Oct. 13-14. Everyone enjoyed the pleasant fall weather, the great food from various cultures represented at the parish, and especially the fellowship with other parishioners.
— Photos by Doreen Sugierski | Catholic News Herald
