The Heart of the Matter

An "Aha! Moment"

Last night I was listening to a group of advisers and one of them shared an insight that for me broke a mental logjam of not-understanding the core difficulty we face as a parish in Boulder.  His team's task was to look elsewhere for best practices in other parishes so as to advise us with some good research.  One of his points was that we need to face the crux of the problem we face in our parish: that we are in Boulder, Colorado!  And, he continued, there is a culture in Boulder that is decidedly different from elsewhere.  His example was a look at the blogging that happens on the Daily Camera, our local newspaper, versus the blogging that happens at, for instance, the Denver Post.  Our local paper's weblog is filled with cynical comments, while this is not so at the weblog of the Denver paper.  "And that is the crux of our problem."

Aha!  It all came together for me.  Then one other participant said, "And when faced with so much cynicism, we have reacted cynically as well, with a defeatist attitude."  (The "we" I think is "me."  Or, at least it's something I recognized in myself with absolute clarity, like never before.)  So now, I know what to tackle: what is the antidote to cynicism?  This is to be taken to prayer, for only God can change an attitude, especially when it's a deep seated one.

"Debate" is better than "hate"

Is there any topic more guaranteed to raise a ruckus than the topic of abortion?  Perhaps there is such venom over this topic because the citizens of our country never had a say in what should be done on this most thorny matter.  It was the courts, not elected people, who got us going down this path that has left our nation divided, even to the point of hating people of opposing views.  Judicial fiat allows neither faith nor reason their proper voice.

Well, an exciting new page in engaging faith and reason took place here in Boulder last Friday evening.  In anticipation of yesterday's anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme Court, at an auditorium on the C.U. campus, a debate was held between Boston College professor Dr. Peter Kreeft and Colorado University professor Dr. David Boonin, each defending their opposing views on the ethics of abortion. 

If you'd like to read about this debate click here.  This event was sponsored by the Thomas Aquinas Institute for Catholic Thought, part of the effort of our neighboring parish, the university parish here in Boulder, affectionately called "St. Thom's" by Boulderites.  The pastor is Father Kevin Augustyn who is engaging academia and the world of faith.  Kudos to him and the Institute.

One of the best kept secrets of Boulder County

One of the things I miss the most from my earlier days of living in New Jersey was the experience of getting to Broadway plays.  The quality of acting, directing, creation of the sets and the size of the theaters, with their sense of intimacy, all combine to create a something very special about Broadway plays. 

But, gadzooks, I have found a similar taste of this kind of theater here in Boulder County, in Longmont, no less!  There's a very fine theater there called the Longmont Theatre Company.  One of our parish teens was in the play now being performed there: Brighton Beach Memoirs, by Neil Simon.  So I went to the play and was thrilled to see such a fine performance, reminiscent of my best experiences of Broadway.  In fact, the last play I saw on Broadway on one of my trips back there was a disaster, an Irish play revolving around a cat. Ugh!

And here in Boulder County, not in Denver, not in Boulder, but in Longmont there is a fabulous thing happening there.  Put this theater on your must see list. 

A faith healer in Boulder: it's all about Jesus

Some time ago a faith healer came to town and spent an evening at our church.  Her name is Lorraine Louvat.  What was so compelling to me was that our church was filled with people of all faiths and people of no faith.  Lorraine is a Catholic woman who at the age of 4 was told by God she would have a strong gift of healing but would use it later in life. Until the early 90s Lorraine was pretty much a prayer hermit. She is not a religious sister. In 1963 she met with a someone by the name of Padre Pio, who himself was blessed with incredible gifts and was canonized as a saint in 2003. Padre Pio had very extraordinary gifts, including the stigmata and the ability to "read hearts" and foresee things in the future.  Long before Pope John Paul II was elected as Pope in 1979, Padre Pio had told him that one day he would be Pope.  At the time of their meeting, Lorraine knew nothing about Padre Pio but when she went to confession to him he provided her spiritual direction confirming her divine gift of healing. 

By the way, one of my parishioners told me that back in 1963 she was on line to go to confession to Padre Pio there in Italy when word came that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated.  It was just before she went into the confessional and she was sobbing over the death of the president.  Padre Pio told her not to worry because he had just gone to confession the day before!

Back to Lorraine.  She insisted that her ministry of healing was the work of Jesus. In fact, she wanted the Blessed Sacrament displayed in what we call Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament.  And all through the service Lorraine kept referencing Jesus and His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament and how He is the healer, not her.

My hope for Boulder is that what happened that evening will become the beacon of light I so want our parish to be for all the people of Boulder.  The Light of Christ shining in the dark, drawing people of all kinds into His love, symbolized by the Sacred Heart of Jesus.