Fr. Cutie on Fox News, talking about his new book.
via Father Alberto Cutié.
A Clergy Glut: a Few Thoughts
A reality check!
The Episcopal Church did a horrible job of funding clergy education. It’s why I went to University of Chicago rather than General. It is one reason seminaries aren’t supported by their clergy after they graduate. The Episcopal church, as a whole, does not fund clergy education the way other denominations do.
It might be that our jobs will change. Churches fund benefits, allow priests to be out in the world, doing other vocational work that they love. As churches are organized, they can get benefits for their priests and fund a pension much more reasonably. Priests can do what they love during the week, but fulfill their clear canonical expectations of teaching. They can live in the rectory and throw parties for the church. In essence, priests would work 1/3rd time. It would be humane, force churches do develop lay leadership, and encourage some creativity in the clergy. It shouldn’t be the only type of position, but a possible one. Perhaps we would ordain people who were already lawyers, social workers and musicians with a steady profession.
But this also means that seminary education should change. We could require masters in other disciplines, but require a steady three year reading list, consistent writing, and local apprenticeship. Seminaries can do online education during the year, and host intensive 2-3 week training on-site, or weekend training for lay people; or offer training during the week training for clergy.
Not all residential three year seminaries should close. But they should be competitive. Let them turn people down. But we should remind congregations that “we need strong lay people” and do a better job of rewarding them. Clergy should have $15,000 hospitality budgets to spend on feeding and rewarding other people.
John Wooden, RIP
I’m not a sports fan, except I will occasionally participate in the madness and enjoy the periodic live game. I admire skill, but I think amateur sports a re lot more entertaining. So to read about John Wooden has been interesting because I knew so little about this sports hero.
Although I am usually skeptical of the advice given by coaches, businessmen or celebrities, I find the following a reasonable creed.
John Wooden’s Seven Point Creed.
- Be true to yourself.
- Make each day your masterpiece.
- Help others.
- Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible.
- Make friendship a fine art.
- Build a shelter against a rainy day.
- Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
Personally, I think clergy could learn from good coaches. It is one of the skills that should replace pastoral care.
Pentecost
Fifty days after Easter, the spirit gave the apostles the power to speak in the languages of all the peoples.
It is a reversal of the story of the Tower of Babel. In that story, we tried to become like Gods by building a tower to the heavens. We were cursed to misunderstand and mistranslate. We would be caught in perpetual confusion, a consequence of our audacity. The source of violence in human culture was named: pride and misunderstanding – competition with the Gods for power.
Yet in this week’s reading, the spirit brings people together. Language to understand and comprehend rather than divide. The most holy work, in this case, is one of translation. And translation requires charity, because no translation is ever perfect.
Our age, however, has so compressed time and space that comprehension becomes very challenging: in part because there is too much to comprehend; and our words move exceptionally fast. Add that the same youtube video seen by people of two completely different cultures may be translated completely differently.
What characteristics do we need to handle our contemporary problems of “translation?”
First: we should remember that church – or any institution – should be an adventure. Charting new territories is fun and rewarding. Safety, quick solutions, and fads just postpone the inevitable.
Second – Tenacity: keeping attentive to the different ways we can improve. It means, also, plotting out small steps. A big vision is very useful, but it is also to map our small successes along the way. tenacity is how one learns a language – we are willing to keep speaking, even if we make a mistake. We listen carefully so that we can be sure we understand.
Last: listening. It is perhaps most true that the apostles were not just speaking in the language of the people, they were listening to the world.
There are immense difficulties here at St. Barts. And yet, there are also great opportunities. Let it be an adventure; and may we be both steadfast and resilient in the days ahead.
Blessings,
Keeping the Word
Yesterday Jesus said in the Gospel (John 14:23) that “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” It’s one of those conditional statements that bugs me. If you don’t love Jesus you won’t, but if you do you will.
When I think of promises, I also think of contracts and laws. Contracts as in written agreements with the power of force; laws as in cosmic natural laws such as gravity. Law makes the world ordered; as do promises. They allow us to plan, to have expectations. We have subconscious promises, ones we don’t articulate, but are present in our assumptions and habits.
We can see all sorts of ways people break promises. People leave their marriages. Governments lie about war. Police are on the take, extorting criminals rather than turning them in (I just saw the movie Serpico). Churches can’t extricate the criminals within their orders.
Often people’s words do not fit their actions. Perhaps that’s the truly religious person: one who’s words always match their actions. And maybe that’s why truly religious people are silent.
Some philosophers have argued that hypocrisy is wherever you look for it. It’s the nature of public life that our public proclamations don’t match our private lives. A male politician might be great about supporting women’s issues, but be vile to their spouses. Johnson was a racist, but the president who did the most to change institutionalized racism.
And the brokenness we experience in the natural world happen when different cosmic laws engage. When someone falls to their death, we wish, perhaps, that gravity might not take hold. But then, what would happen if we could not rely on such certainty.
Perhaps the point here is that we make promises not denying that they get broken, but in spite of them. We are given, because we have faith in God’s deep promise – that we know through his cross and resurrection – the power to continue building trust, to continuing uttering words, to continue acting, even though our everyday confidence is a little less arrogant, a little more modest, and little more humble. We might find ourselves in positions where we do break our promises. But if we love one another, if we maintain our honesty, if we do not flee from the consequences, and if we accept our flaws with generosity, and trust that we can each do better, we may still taste how God continues to have confidence in us.
In the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan makes a promise to the Witch. But the altar is broken due to the deeper promise, one based on sacrifice, which is known in the world. By raising it, God reveals his trump card. We can trust in Jesus.
But what does this obscure code mean? I suspect it means something like this: we don’t give up. We don’t give up on one another. We don’t give up on our families; we don’t give up on our communities; we don’t give up on our governments or our churches. In spite of our diminished expectations we find ways to move, to act, with the confidence we have. Whatever promises are broken shall always be trumped by the promise we believe God has made in us. And when our words match our actions, it may not merely be silence, but also the expression of our vitality; the simple witness that He Is.
Ernesto Cortes, Jr.
I was recently reminded about this fellow.
When one woman asks him to explain how he “motivates” people to support a cause with actions as well as words, the storm rolls in. Cortés can scarcely conceal his impatience. “Perhaps I prejudge you unfairly,” he begins, “but when I hear your question, what I think you’re really saying is, ‘How can I convince people to do what’s good? How do I get them to do what’s right? How do I get them to follow my agenda?’ ” He pauses, frowning. “That’s not organizing. What I mean by organizing is getting you to recognize what’s in your best interest. Getting you to recognize that you have a child, that you have a career and a life to lead, and that there are some things that are obstacles to the quality of your life. I need to get you to see how you can affect those things through relationships with other people. And it’s only going to happen if you engage in some kind of struggle.”
He pauses to let it all sink in. “We organize people not just around issues, but around their values,” he says. “The issues fade, and people lose interest in them. But what they really care about remains: family, dignity, justice, and hope. We need power to protect what we value.”
In churches, we call this asset based congregational development. Begin where people are, not where you think they should be.
The Pygmalion Effect
One aspect about church life is that when a congregation believes it can accomplish great things, they are more apt to do the work necessary to get there. This is not the Law of Attraction, or The Secret. But such confidence allows goals to be broken down into manageable tasks. It is not a quick fix, nor is success guaranteed. New challenges arise even in the midst of success. We’ve done a great job at St. Barts at balancing the budget, but there’s always another pipe that needs to be fixed.
This idea is called The Pygmalion effect. Expectations orient results. Leaders who trust and enable their congregation will have greater success than those who withhold authority. Students do better with teachers who believe in them. Children respond differently after getting hurt with a parent who expects tears, and a parent who expects tenacity. It affects creativity as well – feeling like a sucky writer will not make one a better writer. Writing with encouragement will get the work done.
Not to say that there aren’t times people truly get hurt. Sometimes we need… improvement. But a perspective that allows for opportunity and openness is frames our choices we see before us. It’s not a matter of promoting optimism: but if I trust my volunteers, we’re likely to do more than if I don’t trust them. People can rise up to each other’s expectations. There can be a great transformation.
False Memories and Resilience
The NY Times reports there is a bill to extend the statute of limitations for cases of sex abuse.
Although I believe that the church should take a zero-tolerance rule regarding sexual abuse, I have two nagging anxieties. One is that human beings are often prone to suggestion and false memories. It is possible that people, in the hunt to figure out the root cause of their personal challenges, invent stories.
Secondly, I also wonder what it means to say that being sexually abused ruins someone for life. This intimates that one’s life is worth less because of the abuse. Is there merit if someone says, “this horrible event happened to me, but I’m not ruined”? Must we assume that healing is always beyond our reach? Resilience is a worthy, admirable virtue, even if it may not be mandated or expected. Throw the offending priests in jail. Let’s also, however, expect the truth and hope that the victims lives are still considered worthy rather than damaged. Let us resist saying a victim is “damaged goods.”
Arizona’s Immigration Law
Although it feels good to plenty, this law is a bad idea. Even for Republicans.
1) Undocumented workers now have greater reason to fear the law and will find more dangerous ways to avoid it and the police. It entrenches the black market in human traffic.
2) Not only undocumented workers will be affected, but anyone who is a police suspect. If you go for a drive without having your papers, a cop could stop you, and you’ll have a very bad afternoon.
3) It increases the opportunity for police corruption. Police may, instead of having to do the work of the INS, decide that getting more kickbacks are the way to go. This law invites the abuse of power.
4) It’s a huge F.U. from Republicans to Hispanics. Many hispanics share moral and financial values of moderate Republicans. But this meanness simply looks like the Republicans maintaining their whiteness. This is one way the GOP screws itself long term.
5) It will affect the state coffers. Enforcing these rules is expensive, and a responsible government will have to find ways to fund it. Higher taxes anyone?
6) It was NAFTA which initiated the great wave of immigrants from Mexico. Perhaps people might examine the costs of ruining the economy of the Mexican countryside before pinning the blame upon those simply seeking to survive.
7) The Law is unconstitutional if the Fourth Amendment has any meaning.
8) Leviticus 19:33-34; Exodus 22:21
If Priests had Practical Skills
As the church declines, I wonder if the Church Pension Fund would be sensible enough to send clergy to technical schools. Have the ministry programs combine the role of public intellectual and handyman. Bishops going to churches that are falling apart and doing something useful, like fixing their boiler. Both women and men.
Yep, its time to revamp the curriculum.
The Divine Latitude 