CATHOLIC? 

NOUN  OR  ADJECTIVE? 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 30^th Sunday in Ordinary Time [A] is, “Catholic?  Noun  or  Adjective?

This sermon or homily might  be confusing or a head scratcher. You might find yourself thinking once or twice or more, “What the heck is he talking about?”

My hope is you’ll do some thinking about what it means to be catholic (adjective) or a Catholic (noun). 

I get this question from today’s readings.  But before I get to them, I want to add that  I also got this question from C.S. Lewis’s book, Mere Christianity.

But he applies it to the word, “Christian.”  He asks, “Christian: noun or adjective?”

He prefers Christian to be a noun - and one is a Christian if one is baptized.

C. S. Lewis then says we often use the word “Christian”  as an adjective.  For example, we say things like, “I wasn’t being very Christian the other day - on the way I treated a person at work.”

C.S. Lewis  would prefer Christian to be used as a noun. Then if we are going to make a judgment on a Christian, then we use adjectives like “good…  bad … practicing … fallen away…” with the noun “Christian”.

Next, in this homily I’m thinking of the word,  “Catholic” - mainly as a noun. My main hope is that we be good Catholics.

Yet we’ve all heard catholic  used as an adjective. We’ve all heard people describe themselves as a, “Catholic Christian.” 

I would hope  that if people use catholic as an adjective -  they would also use it as a noun and ask themselves, “Am I a catholic Catholic?”

CATHOLIC

We all know the roots of the word, “catholic”.

Knowing that we can grasp “catholic” as an adjective as well as a noun.

“Kata” is a Greek prefix  which means “with”. “Holos” is the Greek word for “whole”.

So a Catholic means being one with the whole world - being one with all people - being open to all people -  thinking universal -  thinking global - and if we do that - if we respect all people - then we’re living up to our name.

Tough task. Tough going.  Difficult to do.

Understanding - labeling oneself as a Catholic is what I’m saying here. Then add the descriptive adjectives as in, “Fallen away Catholic.”  Or “practicing Catholic.” Then we say things like,  “I am a Roman Catholic.” Or - when checking into a hospital, we state to the question of religion: “Catholic.”

I am a Catholic - in case of an accident - please call a priest.

ST. MARY’S RECTORY

Last week we priests here at St. Mary’s went up to our retreat house in New Jersey for a convocation for our Redemptorist Baltimore Province.

We Redemptorists are growing in South America - Africa - and Asia - and declining in Europe and the United States and Canada.

Last week I looked around and saw a great cast of characters.  I looked around and I saw a lot of different shades of brown. I looked around and I  saw a lot of people of various ages and shapes - hair and no hair.  I listened to people with different accents - and different theologies and philosophies and ways of doing and seeing life.

Take the Redemptorists here at St. Mary’s - here in our rectory on Duke of Gloucester Street - whom you experience if you come here for Mass in this parish on a regular basis. 

We have Father William Guri from Zimbabwe in Africa. He’s part time - because he’s going to school to get his doctorate in pastoral counseling at Loyola of Baltimore.

We now have Father Luyen Dau who came to America from Vietnam when he was around 17.

When I eat with them I hate to say, “What did you say?” when I don’t get what they are saying - with their accents.

We now have Father Ronald Bonneau from Vermont. He’s one of the many French Canadian background folks in New England - people who came down from Quebec for work, when work was scarce up there. He was working in Toronto the last few years in our Novitiate. He spent a good bit of his life as priest in Paraguay.

We have Father Micky Martinez from Paraguay who does most of the Latino work here - but does some English Masses and a day of Duty. His first language is Guarani Indian in Paraguay. Spanish is his second language - but he also speaks English and Italian and maybe more languages.

Father David Verghese is of India Indian background. His parents are doctors from India. They settled down in South County, Maryland. Most Indian Catholics are in the Kerala area of India.

There’s more. We have Father Olive who is in residence. He’s of French and St. Thomas,  Virgin Island background.

Father Pat Flynn is still on our roster - but time will tell if he gets back - with his health problems. He’s from South Africa - with Lebanese and Irish roots.

Father Tizio is from Brooklyn with Italian background - his dad coming from Sicily.

Father Eric Hoog is of Hungarian background and Philadelphia background. He has worked in the Islands of the Caribbean - as well as a Naval chaplain all over the world.

Father Joseph Krastel is from Baltimore and is of German Background. He has worked up here the United States and down in the Caribbean. 

Father Charlie Hergenroeder is of German ancestry and is from Baltimore. He has worked in Brazil and up here in the States.

And I’m from Brooklyn, but my mom and dad are from Galway - on the water - Ireland - and they spoke Gaelic - but didn’t teach it to us.

I mention all these names and a tiny bit about who these men are - because it’s so varied - as in an group of people.

I consider it a blessing that I have been stationed with and met so many Redemptorists of lots of different backgrounds. It’s an education living and working with people of such diverse background. That’s the heart of my talk today.

I think it has made me more catholic - adjective.

Driving up to New Jersey for that  big time meeting we had last week,  Father Joe Krastel and I stopped at the rest stop on 95 just before the Delaware Memorial Bridge. I said to Joe, “If anyone wants to see how America is, just grab a seat at this rest stop and look around: Chinese, Latino, Gringo, and a lot more people of all kinds of backgrounds: Muslim, Red Neck,  folks in wheel chairs - young,  old, trucks, buses, Lexus and Smart Cars.

MAJOR QUESTIONS

How have you been challenged - changed - by the different people you have met and interacted in your life?

Do we have a narrow or a broad view of who we are interested in, comfortable with, talk with on a regular basis?

Are we xenophobic - that is scared of people from elsewhere?

We are citizens of a specific country;  are we in favor of our country broadening itself - taking in a lot of different people from different cultures?

How do we see the Catholic Church [Catholic being used as an adjective there]?

TODAY’S READINGS

Now we can revisit today’s readings.

Today’s first reading from Exodus begins with this message: “You shall not molest or oppress  an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt.

It challenges us to be respectful, decent, hospitable, towards people we interact with.

Are we?

How many times have we thought and talked about the immigrant, the alien, the different from us?  What was the tone and themes of those conversations.

Just read the Letters to the Editor in any United States’ newspaper.

If a priest says what Pope Francis says about caring for refugees, immigrants, illegal aliens, when he voices comments about walling out people,  I guarantee he’ll be blasted as being political - using the “bully pulpit” and he get turned into the bishop.

In today’s second reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians - perhaps the earliest New Testament document - we hear how the Early Church - was made up of folks from many different places - for example, Macedonia, Achaia.  We heard Paul saying that we have to learn how to imitate him. In another letter he says that he’s imitating Christ. [Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:1.]

Read all the letters of Paul - as well as the Acts of the Apostles - as we hear about how people couldn’t tolerate each other - struggled with different cultures - and manners.

In today’s gospel we have the moment someone asked Jesus point blank, “Which is the most important commandment?”

This scene appears in 3 gospels, but each time it’s a different person who asks Jesus that question.

In today’s gospel (Matthew),  it’s a Pharisee, a scholar, who asks Jesus the question.  In Mark it’s a scribe - those who could write.  In Luke it’s a lawyer.

The Gospels mention all kinds of groups in Palestine in the time of Jesus: Pharisees, Sadducees, Levites, Scribes, Lawyers, Gerasenes, Romans, Publicans, the Sanhedrin, the Canaanites, etc., etc., etc.

Notice that we all sub-group.  We all join our groups for comfort and protection and security - and the need to be a member of some group.

And sub-groups use all kinds of tricks to wall people in and out.  

And way before the Wall Pusher wants walls on our borders, St. Paul talked about walls being broken [Cf. Ephesians 2:14], and the gospels talk about Jesus coming through walls [Cf. John 20:19-21]. And the Book of Joshua - Chapter 6 - talked about the walls of Jericho come tumbling down.

And our own Robert Frost in his poem Mending Wall - gave us a poem that folks don’t realize sums up both sides of the wall building controversy, He begins, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall.”  Then again his neighbor says, “Good fences make good neighbors.”

Jesus simply says, “The greatest commandment is to love the lord our God, with all our heart, with all our soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment and the second is like it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

CONCLUSION

So a Catholic is one who tries to love God and all people - all over the globe - all over the world - and if we do, then we’re telling each other - we’re all into this in Christ Jesus - probably a dark skinned Jew from Palestine.

And some people didn’t like his message - especially his own people who crucified him for thinking big picture - round global thinking like a big piece of bread - white or brown bread?