This week we learned of the death of peace activist, political radical and Jesuit priest Father Daniel Berrigan at the age of 94. I was shocked and, at times, even scandalized while reading the many appreciations of his life. This is a Catholic priest—the man who poured blood on draft documents or burned them with homemade napalm. Did this man belong to the same Church as the peaceful Mother Teresa or my mother? Father Berrigan’s actions happened in a particular time and place. I am too young to know the social and moral upheaval of Vietnam War era America, but, through these bold examples, I was struck by how universal our Church really is.
Oftentimes, we ask ourselves Why isn’t the Church more modern? I often hear the faithful say that we are so behind the times. Certainly, I’ve caught myself saying these things. Then I thought of Father Berrigan. His times feel so different than mine even though my parents lived through them; his concerns, seem so different than mine in their execution. I don’t know where I would fall on his controversial actions had I been around to witness them, but one thing I am grateful for is that this poet-priest—this radical—is as faithful as the quiet Mother Teresa from Calcutta, an equal member of the body of Christ which also includes the stoic Church fathers and the nuns praying in monasteries or my father saying his rosary or Chesterton at the pub. So, when we say we need to catch up with the times, we should be careful of whose times we want to catch up with.
The diversity of Church culture can be seen in our own modern times. St. Paul, Minnesota’s version of Catholicism is very different from a northeastern Bergen County one, which is nothing to say of the cultural differences found in the Church in Africa or Western Europe. The mystical body of Christ—the Church led by our Pope Francis—is a very big place—if we disagree with her or have trouble relating to her or conceiving her vastness of scope and history that makes us human. We should take comfort that what I call “capital C Church” is made up of millions of small communities that I call “lower case C church.” Those churches and their cultures may seem radically different from your own, but take pride that while you may never burn a draft document or sing the Mass liturgy in Latin, you can be pretty excited that you belong to a big enough Church to encompass both a God big enough to love everyone’s form of worship. Happy Mother’s Day. Hi, Mom.
I’ll be seeing you,
Elliot