Why we all should mark 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday

January 28, 2012 by

One of the Bloody Sunday memorials to the 14 killed by British troops. Image in public domain courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.Bloody Sunday is mainly remembered by Americans because of the music: U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” still plays on the radio and is likely to be heard repeatedly this week, because a new documentary on U2 has just been released called U2: From The Sky Down in Blu-ray and DVD. (Care to read more about Bono, U2 and peacemaking movements? Check out Blessed Are the Peacemakers, by Daniel Buttry, which includes an inspiring profile of Bono.)

Of course, Bono and U2 weren’t the only musicians to enshrine the outrage over the 1972 Bloody Sunday killings in popular music. As our own Holidays column about Blood Sunday notes: John Lennon penned his own version of “Sunday Bloody Sunday” for the album “Some Time in New York City.” Paul McCartney’s single, “Give Ireland Back to the Irish,” took up the cause as well and was banned by the BBC.

The 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday is still close enough to the tragic event that lots of fresh analysis is springing up in news media.

Background on what happened 40 years ago: On January 30, 1972, in Derry, Northern Ireland, a peaceful and unarmed march for the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association—banned by British forces—was met with withering gunfire by soldiers of the British Army. Fourteen men died from the hail of bullets. Another dozen were seriously injured. British officials spent many years defending their troops by spinning what eventually turned out to be lies about the incident.

THE IRISH TIMES: BLOODY SUNDAY DROVE HOME PARTITION

The Irish Times newspaper in Dublin once was considered a firebrand for uniting Ireland but, today, is regarded around the world more as an important newspaper of record in the Republic of Ireland. A column in the Times marking the 40th anniversary of Bloody Sunday is headlined: “Bloody Sunday Helped Reconcile Southern Nationalists to Partition.” The Times points out that, forty years ago, the global reaction to the killings amounted to a fresh tidal wave of anti-British sentiment. The Times’ analysis concludes, however, that ultimately the shock, and an immediate upswing in violence following Bloody Sunday, pushed the South to accept separation.

In part, the Times’ story says: “The North had seemed as never before to have become a visceral reality in the South. But literally within days, alarmed at the appalling vista suddenly revealed in the mood and scale and class composition of the demonstrations, in the burning of the embassy and the strut in the step of republican paramilitaries, the main parties of nationalism emotionally and intellectually disengaged from the North and resolved to come down hard on any elements that in the name of the North dared challenge the integrity of the Southern State. The main effect of Bloody Sunday on nationalism in the South was to reconcile it to partition.”

WHY REMEMBER ‘BLOODY SUNDAY’?

Scene from the video report, below. Tereshchuk is at far right at the Derry memorial to Bloody Sunday.You may ask: If you’re not British or Irish—or a fan of a rock band that sang about it—why should we care, given a relatively small loss of life that day?

Our answer: Because there are multiple Bloody Sundays. We should take a moment to learn and remember essential lessons from 1972, 1905, 1965 and in other such “Sunday” tragedies. One of the most crucial Bloody Sundays was in 1905, when peaceful protesters in Russia were gunned down by the tsar’s soldiers. That tragedy was one trigger that eventually led to the 1917 Russian Revolution. Another infamous Bloody Sunday struck in 1965 at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Alabama. Leading that civil rights march was John Lewis (now a U.S. Congressman and a figure profiled in Blessed Are the Peacemakers). The savagery of police attacks on the nonviolent marchers at the bridge horrified the nation and electrified the civil rights movement coast to coast.

BLOODY SUNDAY 1972:
CLASSIC CASE OF JOURNALISTS FIGHTING FOR THE TRUTH

David Tereshchuk, a veteran TV and newspaper reporter from the UK who has been writing about news media online since 2004, witnessed the incident 40 years ago and has written a fascinating column about the history of deception by British officials after the killings. Headlined “Reporting the Massacre—and Beating the Lies,” Tereschuk tells the story of journalists’ courageous contributions to the truth.

How close was Tereshcuk to the tragedy? He writes in part: “That chilly afternoon in 1972 I took cover behind a rubble barricade in the Bogside district of Londonderry while members of the British Army’s crack Parachute Regiment fired a total of 108 high-velocity rounds that killed 13 members of a demonstrating crowd instantly, and injured more than a dozen others, one of whom died within a few months. Four of the dead, all under 21 years of age, were killed within 40 feet of me.”

In a short video clip, Tereshchuk revisits the site of the massacre and talks about his memories with a colleague. The clip is a vivid reminder of how deeply these events continue to affect people. Even though he has had years of tough assignments around the world, Tereshchuk talks emotionally toward the end of this clip about how scarred he remains from that day.

Watch the video in the screen below. Just click on the screen to start the video. if you don’t see a video screen in your version of this story, you also can jump to YouTube and watch the video there.

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Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

Meet James Martin SJ, bringing laughter back to church

December 6, 2011 by

FATHER JAMES MARTIN SJ. Photo courtesy of Martin and his publisher.Father James Martin SJ, best-selling author of an earlier book on world-famous saints, now is focusing his attention on the millions of living saints who fill the pews in our houses of worship each week—often with the grim resolve that going to church is the right thing to do. Martin argues that our real goal, far more often than we allow it in church, should be joy, not somber duty. And that joy should include bringing more humor and outright laughter back to church.

(MAY 2012 UPDATE: James Martin’s earlier bestseller, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life, is now available in paperback from Amazon.)

Earlier this week, we reported on Martin’s new book, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life.
To spark your interest, we even published the first Q and A from this interview on Monday.
AND—psssst!—If you jump back and check the Monday story, you’ll find that we also shared several amusing stories from his book.

Now, meet the Jesuit priest, journalist and best-selling author who prefers that people simply call him “Jim” in our interview with ReadTheSpirit Editor David Crumm …

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INTERVIEW
WITH FATHER JAMES MARTIN SJ
ON BETWEEN HEAVEN AND MIRTH

DAVID: Of all the many subjects you write about, concerning Christianity and our culture, why did you think a book on using humor in the church was the most important thing to publish right now?

JIM: I traveled a lot around the country, talking to groups about my earlier book, My Life with the Saints. I discovered that what people most wanted to hear were stories about the ways saints led joyful lives. They also were very interested in saints’ senses of humor and jokes they made—how the saints praised laugher. I realized that we are all facing two big problems. First, most Christian groups are rather in the dark about this aspect of the lives of saints. But, second and much more of problem: The idea of being joyful in church is a foreign idea to most Christians! It was almost as though I needed to give them permission to enjoy a good joke with the saints, to show their sense of humor and to laugh out loud in church. If you doubt that this is a problem, just take a look at the artwork in most churches. There are far too many sad and tortured-looking saints. Some of these saints had such a sweet nature and enjoyed a good laugh at the humor of life, yet we have captured them forever in images that glower at us.

DAVID: Lots of people are interested in this new book. For example, you’ve already appeared on the Colbert Report, talking about this with Stephen Colbert. We will provide readers a link to that video clip at the end of our own interview. I was impressed that Colbert calls you “The Chaplain of the Colbert Nation.” Hey, that’s a great responsibility, right?

JIM: Yes, it is! I’ve been on the Colbert Report a number of times over the years. I was on once talking about Mother Teresa, once about the pope’s visit to the United States, once talking about poverty. I’ve been on the show maybe four or five times.

A STORY ABOUT MARY THAT WE SHOULDN’T MISS

DAVID: In this new book, you give individual readers—and book-discussion groups—lots of choices of material within a single volume. First of all, as we’ve already told readers, there is a lot of humor in the book. It’s simply fun reading. But then you give us various chapters on, for example: reading the Bible with a fresh eye for the humor. In other sections, you address direct questions readers may have like: “I’m not a funny person. How do I learn to tell jokes?” And, here’s one that especially caught my eye: You write about humor in the Visitation—and you urge readers not to miss the entire version of Mary’s hymn of joy after hearing the message from the angel. We just featured an interview with the Bible scholar N.T. Wright who made a very similar point about Mary’s hymn of joy. Wright says too many Christians miss the full version of that text at Christmas.

JIM: There are so many examples of people missing the joy that’s right there in our tradition. I went to a parish in New Jersey that had a statue of St. Therese of Lisieux, this very sweet-natured young nun. But, when I looked closely at the statue, there stood this 10-foot-tall image of her outside the church glowering down at me.

DAVID: Our home office is in Michigan where there’s a major shrine to St. Therese, so I know her story very well. She was the Little Flower and she loved life. I think of her life as tragic, because she died so young of illness, but she squeezed a lot of joy out of her short life.

JIM: Yes, of course! She was charming and lighthearted and humorous. How can you read about her life and not see the joy? Yet, so many artists depict her as gloomy.  This is a problem with so many figures. St. Philip Neri was known for his wit. He used to go around Rome with half of his beard shaved off to encourage people to poke fun at him. And, I just got a letter from a priest in India who read my book and who used to work with Mother Teresa. When they were working on the constitution of her religious order, she talked about the candidates needing a sense of humor. He asked her: “Why?” And she said: “If they don’t have humor, they won’t be able to persevere. Our work is far too difficult. They need joy to last.”

LAUGHING IN CHURCH: A DANGEROUS IDEA

DAVID: You include Cal Samra in your book, the guy who has produced, for many years, a newsletter about church humor. I’ve reported on Cal Samra’s work a number of times over the years. He promotes an all-humor-themed Sunday for the weekend right after Easter, each year. He calls it Holy Humor Sunday. In churches that have tried this, they really enjoy the response from churchgoers. But it sounds like a dangerous idea to many readers.

JIM: Part of the problem is that humor and even the idea of laughing in church is frowned upon in so many places. I even titled one chapter in the book “Laughing in Church” so people would notice this point. As Christians, we are people who proclaim Good News and joy, but this idea of laughing seems anathema to so many people. Catholics say that we “celebrate” the Mass. It’s supposed to be a celebration. Of course, the Mass is not a laugh riot, but some parts of the Mass should be joyful.

I was talking with one man who complained that, if we get too joyful, then: “How am I supposed to be contemplative?” When he asked me that question, I thought: Wow. Is that an interesting assumption about contemplation!?! Then, I asked him: “So, how do you contemplate something like the ocean or a beautiful sunrise? Do you do it with a big frown on your face?”

DAVID: Well, I suspect people who are so serious-minded will find themselves tested, now that you have written this book. I can envision lots of clergy buying this book and immediately swiping all the good stories to use in their own preaching.

JIM: Point that out! I totally support your desire to get people to buy this book and, if the way to do it is to remind preachers that they can use these stories, then do it. But we should say: Each chapter is chock full of material not only for preachers, but also for your own individual spiritual life as a reader.

DAVID: It’s obvious in this interview that you do focus quite a bit on your own Catholic church. But, this book is far broader than any one denomination. These basic ideas, really, apply to all kinds of spiritual journeys. As a Protestant myself, I’ve got to say: We do quite a heavy-duty number on the Bible ourselves.

JIM: Oh yes! Go into a Protestant church and find the images of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane or at the Last Supper. Look at the main images of Jesus inside a Protestant church and you’ll find he’s looking pretty dour. I find this ironic because a number of the great Protestant leaders, like Martin Luther, used humor all the time. Luther thought of himself as quite a wit! I’ve talked about this with Martin Marty and he says this is not just a Catholic problem. This runs across Christianity.

HUMOR ISN’T OPTIONAL, ESPECIALLY IF YOU HOPE FOR HEAVEN

DAVID: You make an important point both in the opening and the closing of your book. Joy isn’t optional in a spiritually healthy life. In our own ReadTheSpirit Books, we just published a book called Guide for Caregivers that makes this point from a very practical standpoint: Humor leads to spiritual health. But, even more than that, you point out that Heaven—this great hope for millions of us—is a place of supreme joy. If we’ve lived our lives joylessly, then we’re not well equipped for heaven.

I love it that, in the final reference to this central issue, you quote Rabbi Burton Visotzky of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. You point out that the rabbi says: “Laughter and humor are ways to prepare oneself for the ecstasy in the world to come. In fact the Talmud says that in the world to come we will dance a hora with God in the middle!”

JIM: If part of our life on earth is a preparation for heaven, and if heaven is a joyful place, then part of our life on earth should include joy. But more to the point, joy shows your true faith in God. If your life is oriented toward a place where you’ll be in union with God, then why shouldn’t you be happy? And for the Christian, Christ is risen! I can’t think of any more joyful reason for living than that. The fundamental orientation of the Christian should be joy.

That is not to say you must be happy every day. You’d be a robot if you weren’t sad at times of loss or natural disaster, and so on. When Jesus is crucified, the disciples mourn. But, we have to assume that the disciples are very happy on the first Easter Sunday. They run to the tomb; they don’t mope around. And, remember, the final events in Jesus’ life represent one week, compared with several years of his ministry. What was he doing the rest of the time? His life was full of table fellowship, dining with visitors, hanging out with his friends, preaching the good news, telling playful parables, healing people and going to wedding parties. His first miracle was to make more wine for people at a party!

DAVID: Close this out with some humor, Jim.

JIM: OK. So, Jesus comes down for the Second Coming and he calls the Pope. Jesus says, “I’m back!”
The Pope says, “This is fantastic!”
Jesus says: “Yes, I’ve decided it’s time for me to come back to the seat of the One True Faith, but I have good news and bad news.”
The Pope says, “What’s the good news?”
Jesus says, “All sins are forgiven and and everyone is welcome into heaven.”
The Pope says, “Fantastic! Fantastic! But what’s the bad news?”
Jesus says, “I’m calling from Salt Lake City.”

REMEMBER, it’s a great Chrismas gift: Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life is available from Amazon right now.

Want see FATHER MARTIN on COLBERT REPORT? This link takes you to the Colbert Nation website where a 6-minute clip of the interview about Jim’s book will play, after a short commercial message.

More on spiritual gifts of humor?

ReadTheSpirit publishes Guide for Caregivers, a new jump-start, start-anywhere guidebook by author and pastoral counselor Dr. Benjamin Pratt. You’ll find that humor, laughter and the joy of good friends and music are key goals Pratt addresses for caregivers, including some practical ways to rediscover your joy even in the midst of a hectic, stress-filled schedule.

Please help us to reach a wider audience

Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, tell a friend to start reading along with you!
We welcome your Emails at [email protected]
We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed.
Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

Joy to the World in Father Martin’s funny book on saints

December 4, 2011 by

In one sentence we can review—and convince lots of readers to purchase—Father James Martin SJ’s new book, Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor, and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life.
Here’s the one sentence: In this book, you’ll find lots of Father Martin’s best jokes and humorous stories that will leave you, your friends and your congregation laughing all the way to joy and inspiration.
(Or, in just 6 words: Buy the book; share the laughs.)

Father James Martin SJ, the Jesuit author and journalist, is widely known nationwide for his America magazine articles, his popular books and his appearances on network TV, providing analysis about the Catholic church or other matters of faith. We also highly recommend his earlier book, My Life with the Saints, which you can order from Amazon by clicking on the title.

Later this week, don’t miss our interview with Father Martin. But, today, in introducing his newest book, we will share our first Question and Answer.
As Editor of ReadTheSpirit, I asked: “Of all the many subjects you write about, concerning Christianity and our culture, why did you think a book on using humor in the church was the most important thing to publish right now?”

Father Martin answers: “I traveled a lot around the country, talking to groups about my earlier book, My Life with the Saints. I discovered that what people most wanted to hear were stories about the ways saints led joyful lives. They also were very interested in saints’ senses of humor and jokes they made—how the saints praised laugher. I realized that we are all facing two big problems. First, most Christian groups are rather in the dark about this aspect of the lives of saints. But, second and much more of problem: The idea of being joyful in church is a foreign idea to most Christians! It was almost as though I needed to give them permission to enjoy a good joke with the saints, to show their sense of humor and to laugh out loud in church. If you doubt that this is a problem, just take a look at the artwork in most churches. There are far too many sad and tortured-looking saints. Some of these saints had such a sweet nature and enjoyed a good laugh at the humor of life, yet we have captured them forever in images that glower at us.”
(Later this week, you can read the entire interview with Father Martin.)

WHY YOU SHOULD READ ‘BETWEEN HEAVEN AND MIRTH’

AUTHOR AND JOURNALIST FATHER JAMES MARTIN SJ. Photo courtesy of Martin and his publisher.First, there’s a whole lot more than jokes and other humorous stories between these covers. Among many other very smart pieces of advice Martin gives us in this book is: How you can grow your church by using more humor. These days, church growth is the holy grail for most clergy. Plus, Martin also provides a wonderful overview of the history of humor in our faith and he covers the theological importance of publicly expressing our joy.

Second, while Martin obviously is Catholic and is most popular in Catholic circles, this is an ecumenical book—and will even be popular with readers from other faiths. For example, one of Martin’s clergy friends is the Reform Rabbi Daniel Polish, who he includes in one chapter.

BALAAM AND HIS ASS: Rabbi Polish describes for Martin the earthy humor in the story of Balaam and his talking ass in the book of Numbers Chapter 22. In Martin’s words: “Balaam, a non-Israelite prophet with a gift for divination, encounters an angel of the Lord, but fails to recognize him. Instead his donkey, who is miraculously given the power to speak, recognizes the angel. The talking donkey also takes the opportunity to rebuke Balaam for his mistreatment: ‘What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?’ Rabbi Polish believes the implicit question in the story is, to make the point in vernacular English, ‘Who’s the jackass here?’”

SOME RELIGIOUS LEADERS ACTUALLY ARE FUNNY, IF WE GIVE THEM A CHANCE: In the book, you’ll read about many real-life men and women in religious leadership who could be quite amusing, given a chance. Martin argues that we deliberately mute the humor. He asks: When was the last time a new bishop was introduced to the news media with the words, “and he has a great sense of humor”? Almost never, Martin says. In fact, many religious leaders have, indeed, enjoyed life’s humor.

New York Catholic Cardinal John O’Connor always had a sly sense of humor. Martin describes a long and dull fund-raising banquet that O’Connor had to endure—including an endless reading of donors’ names by a master of ceremonies who was ill prepared and continually had to check a series of little note cards to recall the names of noted people. Finally, the emcee told the crowd: “And now, Cardinal O’Connor will come to the dais and give us his benediction.”

The cardinal walked up to the podium and said, “Almighty Gody, we thank you for all the blessings you have bestowed on us. And we do this in the name of your Son, ummm … (and the cardinal pulled out his own little note card and glanced down) … Jesus Christ.”

THERE’S HUMOR IN EVERY RELIGIOUS TRADITION

Here’s one last example of the humor you’ll find in this book: This one was given to Martin by a friend who is a Lutheran pastor. This story shows how, whatever your individual religious tradition, there probably are foibles you can—and should—turn to laughter.

A Lutheran pastor is asleep one night when the phone rings. The fire department is calling to say that someone is about to jump off a roof. The pastor throws on his clothes, jumps into his car, and races to the house. When he arrives, a firefighter points to the man on his roof.
“Don’t jump!” yells the pastor.
“Well, I’m going to!” says the man. “I’ve got nothing to live for.”
The pastor asks, “What about your family?”
And the man says, “I’ve got none!”
The pastor asks, “What about your friends?”
The man says, “I’ve got none!”
The pastor pauses for a long while and then says, “Well, I’m sure we could be friends. I’ll bet we have a lot in common.”
“I doubt it,” says the man on the roof.
The pastor thinks. “Well, do you believe in God?” he asks.
“Yes,” says the man.
“See?” says the pastor. “We have that in common! Are you a Christian?”
“Yes,” says the man.
“So am I!” says the pastor, delighted.
“Are you a Lutheran by any chance?”
“Yes I am,” the man says.
“I’m a Lutheran pastor!” says the pastor. “We have so much in common!” Then he pauses and asks. “Which branch? Missouri Synod or Evangelical Lutheran?”
“Evangelical Lutheran,” says the man.
Then the pastor says, “In that case: Jump, you heretic!”

Come back later this week for our full interview with Father James Martin SJ

More on spiritual gifts of humor?

ReadTheSpirit publishes Guide for Caregivers, a new jump-start, start-anywhere guidebook by author and pastoral counselor Dr. Benjamin Pratt. You’ll find that humor, laughter and the joy of good friends and music are key goals Pratt addresses for caregivers, including some practical ways to rediscover your joy even in the midst of a hectic, stress-filled schedule.

Please help us to reach a wider audience

Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, tell a friend to start reading along with you!
We welcome your Emails at [email protected]
We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed.
Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online magazine covering religion and cultural diversity.

Gift ideas: Meet a guide into the wonders of literature

November 10, 2011 by

If you love the inspirational work of C.S. Lewis or Frederick Buechner—and so many of us do—then you know that their lively Christian writings leap from their love of literature. One of the defining moments in Lewis’ life, according to biographers, is the moment when a friend insisted to the religiously skeptical Lewis: “The myths are true.” This catalytic comment, biographers say, was a key step in Christian conversion. These great writers—and many others, of course—first felt a stirring for the larger spiritual universe deep in the pages of books. Lewis, of course, loved early classics in world literature. Buechner writes about his lifelong love of L. Frank Baum’s Oz novels, among many other novels.

Writing in this same vein is Sarah Arthur, whose new At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer is a great choice for holiday gift giving. Click back to read our Monday story about our other two gift-giving picks this week: Shooting Salvationist and Streams of Contentment.

Just like a passage out of Lewis or Buechner, Sarah quickly takes us into a beloved library from her childhood. After such early adventures in the pages of great writers: “We remember certain scenes from certain books like we remember major life events: they become part of our personal histories, listed among the episodes that marked turning points in our lives. Indeed, many of us might include a poet or an author, whether dead or living, among our spiritual mentors. On a quiet evening, culrled up with a good story, we have encountered the memorable character, the articulate phrase, the evocative image, the small suggestion, the smuggled truth, the shattering epiphany, which changed us, and we weren’t even looking to be changed. It enriched our lives, and we didn’t even know our own poverty. We were not the same people afterward.”

Purchase and read At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer, which is available right now from Amazon—and you will not be the same person afterward.
And now, here is Sarah Arthur herself in …

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH SARAH ARTHUR
ABOUT AT THE STILL POINT: A LITERARY GUIDE TO PRAYER

SARAH ARTHUR, courtesy of her publisher.DAVID: You say that this book is an attempt to marry two worlds: Christianity and literature. I guess I would start by saying that they always have been a part of the same world. In your introduction you recall the era when many big churches included lending libraries with a wide range of books. But, I do understand your argument that, today, faith and literature often seem divided.

SARAH: It’s vital to nurture our imagination with great literature. Too often, when we are thinking about faith, we tend to sideline something like a contemporary poem as having been written just for our entertainment. We don’t see the connections that we can make with the poet. Poetry has been so denigrated in our society today that about the only place most people expect to find it is in a Hallmark card. We’ve forgotten that God speaks to us through our imagination. We know this as children and we continue to witness this even when we’re grown up. Sometimes we see this in its purest form when we’re interacting with children. But most of us are told that we should grow out of this. Imaginative people, at a certain point, seem dangerous to us.

Too many people confuse the spiritual life with a cut-and-dried following of strict precepts. There is no space left for the creative imagination. There are writers and artists who are trying to do the same thing I’m doing in this new book with music or with the visual arts. My specialty happens to be literature. So, I have focused these readings in that realm.

More than appreciating literature, we need to acknowledge again that our imagination is a gift. It is a mark of the Creator within us. To exercise imagination is to live into part of that image of God. J.R.R. Tolkien often said: We are sub-creators. We make because we were made. We begin to treat scripture as if it is an encyclopedia or textbook and we lose the creative imagination that’s right there at the center of our faith.

DAVID: You’re best known for books, which we will mention in our overview story, for younger readers. You’ve written books of meditations on Tolkien’s and Lewis’ fantasy novels. But, this new book feels more like a book aimed at adults. Did you consciously plan it that way? You’ve got guides to literary imagination already for younger readers—now it’s time for a more adult guide to prayer fueled by literature?

SARAH: That’s a good question: Is this more for adults than students? But, I think that the answer depends on the reader. I remember having a conversation with some high school students and they were complaining that what passes for Christian fiction these days makes them gag. These Christian novels were being pushed on them by adults who love them. And I told them: Try reading something different like Crime and Punishment. I remember a student coming back, thanking me for the suggestion and telling me: That’s the most amazing book I’ve ever read.

I’ve had a lot of experiences with young people reading literary classics and really responding to them. I think we underestimate what young adults can handle and appreciate.

DAVID: How about the Twilight sensation that’s sweeping the country this autumn, once again, as we approach the release of this new movie?

SARAH: Twilight certainly is wonderful for younger readers right now. It’s this journey of the imagination that, in many ways, is quite creative. But there’s so much more out there than Twilight. If you enjoyed those novels, don’t stop there! If you love fantasy, there’s Wind in the Willows. There’s Hans Christian Anderson. There’s George Macdonald.

DAVID: The fact is that our world has produced countless literary geniuses and many of them are right here in the pages of your book: Jane Austin, Garrison Keillor, G.K. Chesterton, Herman Melville. As you demonstrate in these pages, there is no shortage of terrific literature to stir the spirit!

SARAH: That’s right. And I know that each reader will be drawn to some works more than others. Someone will pick up this book and get hooked on Jane Austin’s Northanger Abbey—or perhaps they might discover a great classic like George Eliot’s Middlemarch that might take them a whole season to read. Some people today still get hooked on Tolstoy and, if Tolstoy is your choice, then you’re going to be reading for a while. I don’t expect readers to enjoy every selection I provide in the book. This is more of a sampler.

DAVID: One great thing about your book is that, if readers do get a taste for the classics, many of them are easily available. If you suddenly become a fan of Tolstoy, for example, there’s one edition of his works that costs just 99 cents on a Kindle.

SARAH: That’s right. I want people to choose what inspires them. I want people to feel free to read at their own pace. The last thing in the world I want to become is someone’s 9th grade English teacher, assigning them to meet deadlines to get a good grade. I want people to pursue their delights. And, if you pick up this new book and discover that something lights up your day—then for heaven’s sake grab that and carry it with you for a while and enjoy it.

We know from ancient times that the Divine qualities include truth, goodness and beauty. In most churches, we get a lot of the truth and goodness part of this message, but I think we’re losing sight of the beauty as a part of our experience of the Divine. It’s God’s beauty that often compels the transformations that truly open up our lives.

Remember: You can purchase and read At the Still Point: A Literary Guide to Prayer, which is available right now from Amazon.

Please help us to reach a wider audience

Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, tell a friend to start reading along with you!
We welcome your Emails at [email protected]
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Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

Good News 4: Flunking Sainthood with Jana Riess

October 26, 2011 by

What happens when an ordinary person—like you or me—tries to become a saint? What happens when we summon up our spiritual fortitude and take our best shot at practices like centering prayer, fasting, reading Scripture, keeping Sabbath? Well, the spoiler in this saga is: We fail. Most of us simply can’t keep pace with the spiritual Olympians who wrote some of those classic works.
But—in the striving to reorient our lives—we discover some of the timeless treasures in the pathways they lay out for us!

That’s what Jana Riess—the well-known journalist and author—spent a year discovering and now has is unfolding for the rest of us in the delightful new memoir Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor.

That’s why our interview with Jana fits into this Good News about the Church series.
You might want to jump back and read earlier parts in this series: First, our interview with Stephen Rossetti on why priests are among the happiest professionals in America (and you can read excerpts of Rossetti’s book, including tips on prayer).
Or, read our interview with Thomas Groome about the powerful influence of religious education—if we pursue learning throughout our lives.

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH JOURNALIST JANA RIESS
ON FLUNKING SAINTHOOD (AND REDISCOVERING SPIRITUAL RICHES)

DAVID: You earned a masters in theology from Princeton and a doctorate in American Religious Studies from Columbia, but I suspect you may be best known as editor for books about religion at Publishers Weekly (PW) magazine for a number of years. You left PW but you’re still involved in religious media from a journalist’s perspective. How does the discipline of journalism shape your exploration of spiritual classics in this new memoir?

JANA: Paraclete Press actually approached me about doing this book. They wanted someone to write a memoir about reading spiritual classics. Paraclete publishes a significant list of spiritual classics and they’re always interested in finding new ways to make the classics relevant today. I realized that it wasn’t enough just to read these classics. Just providing my commentary on the classics wouldn’t have been all that interesting. So, I suggested that I do monthly practices from my readings. That became the focus and, as I started, I didn’t expect to keep screwing up in all these practices. Each goal just proved harder than I anticipated.

It’s a fascinating question: Does my background in journalism shape this kind of a book? First, I should explain that I never was trained as a journalist, really, so the fact that I went into magazine journalism while I was in graduate school surprised everyone. My goal was trying not to wind up as an academic in an ivory tower. When the PW job opened up, I thought of it as a perfect opportunity to blend my study of religion as an academic discipline—with writing about this for ordinary people.

Journalism is a good fit for me. Journalism requires you to have curiosity about people and their lives. And, I’m nosy. So, that’s a good fit. When you carry that interest in people’s lives into your writing, I think it makes a huge difference. My curiosity leads me to learn more about other religions that are so important in people’s lives. I’m open minded and curious about all of this. I’m willing to find new connections. I’ll bet there aren’t many books on spiritual classics that quote both Dorothy Day and Billy Joel.

TWEETING THE ENTIRE BIBLE

DAVID: And, at the moment, your creativity extends far beyond this new book. You’re actually in the middle of tweeting the entire Bible. Or, I should say: You’re giving us Jana Riess’ clever commentary on every verse of the Bible. We will give readers a link to your Twitter feed and we also should tell them to look for the hash-tagged #Twible—for Twitter-Bible—while they are on Twitter.

JANA: Yes, that’s a big project! I’m somewhere in Isaiah now. The idea behind the Twible is to approach the Bible in its entirety but to be looking for the humor and fresh insights along the way. I’ve been using the Protestant canon of the Bible, although once I’m finished with the Protestant canon I have been thinking about tweeting the Apocrypha. The best humor in the Twible actually tends to come when people respond to something I tweet—usually something they think they’re familiar with but then they see it from a different perspective as they follow my tweets.

THE BIGGEST
SPIRITUAL CHALLENGE:
TAMING CONSUMPTION

DAVID: There is some humor in this new memoir, Flunking Sainthood. It’s not like people will guffaw as they read it, but this is fun reading. It’s entertaining, mainly because it’s so darn true. As I was reading the book, I often found that you voiced my own everyday struggles as a reader. I thought of C.S. Lewis in some of his books, like The Screwtape Letters, in which the humor and the revelations really come because you understand our anxieties, foibles and fears.

As I kept reading, I came to this conclusion: Wow! So much of our spiritual struggle in all of these various disciplines comes down to a battle with consumption: Food and money and gadgets! We can’t get enough! It’s all about what we love to consume, what we try to deny ourselves for the larger good—and what we decide to share with the community.

JANA: You’re a very astute reader. Yes, that theme of consumption kept coming up, especially in the chapter on fasting, the chapter on generosity and tithing. Yes, you’re right: That’s the great temptation of our age: Excess! We live in the most affluent culture in world history. So, the temptations of our time are very much geared toward overconsumption and it’s everywhere we turn. I certainly have not figured out a good answer to the question: How much is too much?

One of the classic spiritual challenges is to eliminate all that isn’t necessary in our lives. To find contentment, we need to control how much we consume. We need to limit our lives. Yet, now we are in the era of smart phones and email and Facebook—and we are expected to be available to the world 24/7—so we never stop communicating. We can’t find time for silent meditation, time away. I can’t keep living like that. So, one thing I try to do is strictly restrict my computer access on the weekends. I’m not an absolutist about this, but I did try to practice a more orthodox Sabbath while I was working on the Sabbath chapter. From that experience, I carried away some important lessons—like planning for the Sabbath in advance so we can actually make it happen.

SPIRITUAL RULES? WRITE YOUR OWN

DAVID: One thing that fascinates me in your book is that you aren’t urging people to reject media or new-media devices. There are a number of books on the market about spiritual simplicity that try to pluck the low-hanging fruit for people and urge things like: Stop all newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Get rid of your Facebook page. Dump your cell phone. There are books on the market that make those recommendations and that may sound good, if you’re really burned out. But the truth is: We need to navigate a middle course and your book really is not about “flunking.” It’s about moderating. It’s about learning and adapting what makes sense in our lives.

For example, there’s a passage in your book where you write about using your MP3 music player and noise-cancelling headphones—both high-tech devices—to create a little sanctuary of sound while you write. That’s a great idea. You’re not rejecting these gifts out of hand, right?

JANA: I like that word for this: gifts. And, I think the question is: Are there smart ways to use these gifts that are available us? My iPhone now does marvelous things like: It gives me the freedom to keep from getting lost. If I need them, there are maps right there to orient me. My iPhone also gives me the freedom to be connected with people in miraculous ways.

However, we have to figure out the limits we should set. People never want to hear this from an author, I suppose—but I don’t think there’s one rule for everyone. I think the limits must be different for each person. I can’t just hand each reader my list of Five Things that are sure to improve your life. In my life, for example, I’ve found that I really need to unplug on the weekends. There are other people who go further than I would go with that. There are people who refuse to watch movies or TV on the weekend. In our house, that’s one of the cool things we look forward to on the weekends: family movie night on Sunday nights. We’ve made a decision that one day a week, we won’t go to stores or spend money—but we sometimes go to restaurants on Sundays. I can’t set the rules for everyone. We each have to work out what makes sense.

DAVID: I think people will enjoy your new book and pick up a lot of ideas along the way. I also think that it’s a great choice for small-group discussion. I could see groups reading one chapter a week—and trying some of these practices for themselves. What do you hope readers will find here?

JANA: I hope people will have fun with it. I am inviting people to learn and to laugh with ourselves and with our religion. I want this to be an enjoyable experience. And, while people are having a good time with the reading—I hope that the book also challenges people spiritually. Since the book was released, I’m hearing from early readers and I’m pleased that readers are identifying different chapters that they tell me are their “favorites.” That’s what I want. We all respond in different ways to spiritual practices—some resonate with people more than others.

Readers will realize from the first page of the book that I wasn’t perfect with any of these spiritual challenges. Too many people want to be perfectionists about this and there is a real danger in concluding that, if we can’t do a spiritual practice perfectly, then it’s not worth doing at all. What I discovered is that it’s absolutely worth trying even if you can only get 25 percent of the way there.

REMEMBER: You can get Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor from Amazon.

Please help us to reach a wider audience

Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, tell a friend to start reading along with you!
We welcome your Emails at [email protected]
We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed.
Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

Good News 3: Interview on religious education

October 25, 2011 by

FROM BOSTON COLLEGE’S THOMAS GROOME comes an in-depth guide to rethinking the purpose of religous education. FROM TOP: Boston College Chronicle profiles Groome (click the image to read the Chronicle’s entire profile), NEXT is the book cover, THEN Groome’s faculty page at Boston, BOTTOM is the Boston School of Theology where Groome teaches.“You don’t grow Christians by merely sending them to religious education once a week,” The Boston College Chronicle reports this week in a profile of Thomas Groome—chair of the school’s Department of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry. The Chronicle reports on the importance of Groome’s latest book, an inspiring, in-depth look at the purpose of religious education called: Will There Be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples. “To raise good Christians—who know the faith intellectually, feel it in their hearts and demonstrate it with their actions—Groome says parents need to have intentional Christian practices in their homes,” the Chronicle reports. That is, indeed, the bottom line of Groome’s latest book: Effective religious education is a lifelong journey that touches all phases of our lives, until our faith and our daily life are interwoven.

In the course of 377 pages, Groome says a whole lot more than that. He provides a step-by-step rationale for religous education—specifically Christian education, which is his specialty. He starts with Jesus in the Gospels and works his way up to today, even taking us on a quick circle of the globe before his book closes.

Groome and his new book fit nicely in our series this week on Good News about the Church. (ALSO: Read our earlier excerpts from Stephen Rossetti’s book about why priests are among our nation’s happiest professionals, then our interview with Rossetti about his research on clergy and, later this week, read our interview with Jana Riess about reclaiming the wisdom of Christian classics and spiritual disciplines.)

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INTERVIEW
WITH THOMAS GROOME
ABOUT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

DAVID: Let’s start with how broadly this new book speaks to readers. You’re a Catholic scholar—but I think a lot of parents will find this book helpful, whatever their denomination may be. I also think the book’s value extends beyond Christianity. These general principles could be adapted in other faiths, as well. Does that comment surprise you?

THOMAS: I do write self consciously out of my Catholic identity and I sometimes quote from Catholic documents in this book, but my work is broadly ecumenical. I think the best way to be universal is to write out of the truth we find in our own back yard. Over the years, my books have been picked up by Jewish, Hindu and Muslim educators. I’m talking about general approaches and principles, so—yes, I hope that this book has value for lots of readers.

DAVID: While this book is brand new—the title question certainly isn’t new. Way back in 1976, John Westerhoff, professor of theology at Duke, was asking, “Will our children have faith?” In 1983, Walter Brueggemann was flipping the words around to ask, “Will our faith have children?” And, last year, we reported on Kenda Creasy Dean’s important new look at younger Americans’ mixed-up version of Christianity in “Almost Christian.” We’ve been asking this question for decades. Why do we keep asking? Is it that no one has a good answer—or that we are called to keep asking the question in all generations?

THOMAS: The latter. A friend challenged me and asked: “Aren’t you reflecting a lack of faith by raising this question?” Remember that Jesus promised to be with us always until the end of time. My answer is: Jesus himself raised this kind of question. I actually footnote John Westerhoff’s book—it’s the very first footnote in this new book. Will our children have faith? Yes, Jesus will be with us always, but how do we keep our children and our families connected to the faith? And I’m asking about more than just the education of our children. I’m raising these questions about our society and the whole world. We have moved into a posture in Western culture where the default position is a lack of faith. The cultural expectation today is that you’re not a person of faith. We favor a kind of self-sufficient humanism in our popular culture.

We are becoming a secular society in the West. And we should say: There are positive aspects to secularism. When the prime minister of Turkey stands up and says that he wants Turkey to remain a secular society—we all breathe a sigh of relief in this country, right? But the negative aspect of this is that it becomes easier for people to lose track of their faith. My concern is the question: How do we see to it that there will be faith in the future? How do we include faith in the family, the parish and the larger community?

DAVID: You write as though there is some doubt about the outcome. This isn’t simply an intellectual exercise for you. People who care about the future of our faith really need to stop and think about this in a serious way, right?

THOMAS: Yes, I think our situation is precarious. I was born and raised outside of Dublin, Ireland, and it’s amazing to see what has happened in Ireland in a very brief period of time. There has been such a major social shift. There are parishes that have shifted from 80 percent Mass attendance on Sundays to 10 percent or so in about a 10-year period. It’s not inevitable at all that our faith will endure. And the larger question, beyond just the endurance of faith is: What kind of faith will endure? Can we continue to foster a life-giving, emancipatory faith in the next generation—or will we find a limiting and controlling faith growing? Fundamentalism is on the rise in all of our faith traditions, including Protestantism and Catholicism. That is ominous. What kind of faith do we hope to see?

DAVID: Well, you’re certainly not alone in this campaign. We just featured an interview with Marcus Borg in July in which he talked, once again, about his deep concern about the future of religious education. From Marcus’ point of view, and from your own as well, religious education can’t end with a few classes in elementary school.

THOMAS: Yes, you’re hitting the nail on the head. I ask crowds sometimes: “What kind of community does it take to raise a Polish person?” And this question sounds silly, at first, but the crowd usually calls back the answer: “A Polish community.” And I’ll ask: “What does it take to raise a Hispanic person?” They’ll say: “A Hispanic community.” But then I ask the zinger: “What does it take to raise a Christian person?” Well, many people don’t even realize that we need a whole Christian community to raise Christians. That question stops a lot of people and makes them think.

My whole theme throughout this new book is that we need lifelong continuing education. Otherwise people’s faith journey becomes arrested at second, third or fourth grade. In many of our churches, education ceases when young people make their confirmation. If our faith journey leaves off at age 10, 12 or 13, then lifelong faith becomes a pretty precarious question. Parents today are hyper involved in the formal education of their children. They want them to get music lessons, math training and help they might need with their homework. But, do they have the same intentionality about faith formation?

Parents sometimes complain to me about the situation in their parishes. They’ll say, “This Christian education doesn’t work.” Then, I say to them: “How can it work if you’re just dropping off your child and expecting someone else to turn out a Christian by the time you pick up your child an hour later?”

REQUIRING PEOPLE TO DO WORKS OF JUSTICE

DAVID: Well, there’s a whole lot between these covers. You touch on many principles. Here’s one example that jumped out at me from the middle of the book. You write that it’s not enough just to intellectually understand Christian theology. And, beyond that, it’s not enough to learn some spiritual practices like prayer—and to feel inspired ourselves. You cite a statement by an international gathering of bishops on the purpose of education and you sum it up this way: “If what we preach or teach does not require and prompt people to do the works of justice, we are not representing the gospel of Jesus Christ.” In other words: The proof is in what Christians actually do in the world to improve life for all of humanity. And, that principle extends far beyond the Catholic church. That’s a principle taught by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, for example.

THOMAS: It’s true and I’m totally convinced of that principle. I don’t know how people can claim to have read the gospels and claim to be taking them literally—and miss this central point. When I listen to radio preachers across the radio dial, I keep hearing sermons about praising God and Jesus for saving me—then Hallelujah and that’s all there is. I hear very little from that kind of preacher about the central call to love one’s neighbor as ourselves and reach out to the poor. Nothing about: “I was in prison and you visited me.” There’s nothing about living out these great commandments. It’s all about the wonderful feeling of being saved.

DIGGING DOWN TO THE ROOTS OF OPPRESSION

DAVID: You go even further in the book. You argue that, even if you add in a little charity with your faith—that’s still not completely understanding Jesus’ call. You write, “If people come through a curriculum of Christian religious education and remain sexist, racist, classist, ageist, homophobic, negligent in their responsibilities to the poor and marginalized, for the abused and oppressed, for the environment and ecology, then their program or school has not educated them in Christian faith.” That’s on page 143 if readers want to look it up for themselves. And, that’s powerful stuff!

THOMAS: I do need to say: There’s certainly room for charity in our Christian calling. I often get angry at people when they criticize someone like Mother Teresa and say things like: “Yes, she fed the hungry and was present with the sick, but she didn’t really challenge the political structure in India to reform!” I tell people: “She did enough!” Not everyone can engage in the social reconstruction of their society. There is a place for compassion. There is a place for charity. I sometimes go with my son to help out in the feeding program at the Catholic Worker soup kitchen in downtown Boston.

So, there is a place for compassion, but then I am saying that we must try to go further than just feeding people and ask ourselves: Why are people hungry? What are the structures that are leaving so many people in poverty? Where do people keep picking up these attitudes like sexism and racism—and all those other attitudes in that passage you just read? I say that they all begin with a basic denial of the essential truth of our faith, which is that we are all made in the likeness of God. We teach that God made us all in God’s image. We must be concerned for all.

TEACHING LIKE JESUS

DAVID: Your book goes back to the Bible and to powerful truths at the core of the Christian faith—and the core of Judaism before that. You literally are teaching that people can learn to do religious education like Jesus did it 2,000 years ago, right?

THOMAS: This may be the most important point in the book. People want to know: How we should do this? How do we help people find a positive, life-giving faith? That’s where the rubber hits the road. And I do have this simple proposal that we go about it in the way Jesus went about it. There is a style to how Jesus taught in the gospels. No, we can’t replicate that in terms of Jesus’ place and culture 2,000 years ago. But we can approximate the way he went about it. You find examples of this throughout the gospels and especially in Jesus’ parables. But a central text to look at is Luke 24:13-27, the story of Jesus encountering the two men on the road to Emmaus. It’s extraordinary in that story to see how Jesus joins these men and walks with them. He doesn’t tells them what they should see. He asks them to tell their stories. He starts with their lives. He gets them to name what matters to them today. Then, they lay out their laments to him and he still doesn’t tell them what to think about it. Then, he interprets Scripture and he brings them into the story of the faith community. He begins with their lives, then brings them into the faith tradition. I tell Christian educators: That’s our job.

We invite people to bring their lives to the faith—and their faith to their lives. That’s writ large in the life of Jesus: Life to faith—and faith to life.

REMEMBER: You can order Will There Be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples from Amazon now. AND: Come back tomorrow for our interview with Jana Riess.

Please help us to reach a wider audience

Conversation is far better than the dangerous shouting matches we’ve been witnessing in our global culture. So, please, tell a friend to start reading along with you!
We welcome your Emails at [email protected]
We’re also reachable on Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, Huffington Post, YouTube and other social-networking sites. You also can Subscribe to our articles via Email or RSS feed.
Plus, there’s a free Monday morning Planner newsletter you may enjoy.

Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.

Good News 2: Interview on Why Priests Are Happy

October 25, 2011 by

THIS WEEK, we are publishing news from three leading authors—all of whom are finding fresh insights in the timeless values of the Christian tradition. Later this week, you’ll hear from Thomas Groome about the enduring importance of religious education and Jana Riess about rediscovering Christian classics. Today, we welcome Msgr. Stephen Rossetti to talk about remarkable conclusions in his study of Catholic priests nationwide.

Who is Stephen Rossetti? You may recall his name from news reports during the sexual-abuse crisis that erupted about a decade ago in the Catholic church. From the mid 1990s until 2009, as both a Catholic priest and a psychologist, he served as head of the St. Luke Institute—one of the leading institutions treating psychologically troubled priests. Rossetti often wound up commenting in major news reports about the firestorm swirling through his church. Top journalists tended to call upon him as a respected professional trying to help the church shape better, research-based policies.
Two years ago, Rossetti left St. Luke’s and became associate dean for the School of Theology and Religious Studies at Catholic University of America. He describes his current work as “overseeing the education given to future priests.” These days, leading journalists still turn to Rossetti as an articulate, rigorous advisor trying to improve life throughout his church. Evidence of that viewpoint is the fact that two leading promoters of Rossetti’s new book are John Allen, Vatican expert for the National Catholic Reporter, CNN and NPR, plus ABC and NPR news analyst Cokie Roberts.

Earlier, we published excerpts of Why Priests Are Happy. Today, you’ll hear from the author …

HIGHLIGHTS OF OUR INTERVIEW WITH
STEPHEN ROSSETTI ON WHY PRIESTS ARE HAPPY

DAVID: Let’s jump right into a great example of the many conclusions you draw in your new book. Here’s one that startles me: There’s a relationship between prayer and our body weight. Prayer helps us combat anxiety and depression and, if we don’t pray, then we may “medicate” our tensions in other ways—like overeating.

STEPHEN: That was a fascinating finding. I ran the numbers from our study in various ways, and it’s clear there is a correlation between the amount of time we pray and whether we are overweight. Now, correlation doesn’t mean causation, but it’s clear that those who pray more tend to be thinner.

DAVID: This isn’t a diet book, of course.

STEPHEN: That’s right! I’m not proclaiming a new prayer diet, but stop and think about this: Prayer helps people deal with stress better. We have a greater internal sense of peace through prayer. When these things are all in place in your life, then you tend to use alcohol and food in less dysfunctional ways.

DAVID: The prayer section is just one group of findings in this fascinating book, but it certainly jumped out at me as applicable beyond the priesthood. There’s wisdom in that chapter for everyone, I think.

STEPHEN: How does prayer affect people’s lives? We see very clearly that the more people pray, the happier they are in their lives—and the less depressed they are, the less burned out they are, the less lonely they are.

DAVID: Let’s stop there for a moment: Prayer and loneliness? People might think of prayer as the ultimate in solitary practice.

STEPHEN: Theologically prayer is a deep connection with God and then, through prayer, we connect with others. Prayer allows us in solitude to connect with others. Prayer helps us do that. It was just fascinating to find, in this study, that the more we pray the less lonely we are.

DAVID: Actually, that makes a lot of sense to me. I remember the stories we published last year from Tangier Island in Virginia, a tiny island with a very religiously active population. The local Methodist church on the island distributes a weekly prayer list of hundreds of concerns in this close-knit community and people spend time, each week, praying for those concerns. Yes, I can see how prayer connects us with other people.

But, let’s back up for a moment and hear your summary of this big research project. As a journalist, I have followed your work for years, and I was impressed by the data that went into this new book.

STEPHEN: The core of this book is a very extensive 2009 study we completed. It was huge: 2,500 priests were involved. So, this is a large study—current and comprehensive. Then, I also used a 2004 study I completed as a check on the 2009 study to make sure the numbers were consistent. When the two studies found the same things, then the new study was given even more weight.

RESEARCH FINDINGS FLY IN THE FACE OF MEDIA PERCEPTIONS

DAVID: It’s good that your research base is so solid, because your findings fly in the face of popular myths about priests, fueled by media. I’m talking here about more than just news media. Watch any network TV series that occasionally includes a priest and you’ll find very troubled characters. Sure, we occasionally see heroic urban priests on network TV, but more than likely we’re going to see disturbed clergy. Add in newspaper and magazine stories about the state of the Church and, generally, Americans have a picture of clergy in crisis.

STEPHEN: We can’t underestimate the power of media like television and movies to shape our impressions of clergy. Once, there were movies like Bing Crosby in Going My Way and the Bells of St. Mary’s, which were angelic portrayals of priests. But I don’t think those really were helpful, either. Now, we’ve gone from those kinds of depictions of priests to downright negative portrayals—if not mocking. You almost never see a healthy, happy Catholic priest in the media these days.

Does that affect the priesthood? Well, it doesn’t help. And, I don’t think that we should return to the Bing Crosby image. That places the priest on an angelic pedestal that’s unrealistic. Then, if a crisis hits like the one that rocked us in recent years, then people are shocked and crushed. But this popular image, today, of dysfunctional, lonely depressed priests—well, that’s not accurate overall. It’s one reason I wrote this book—to get some actual facts out there. I’m not interested in portraying angels, but I do think we should talk about the truth.

DAVID: Given the overwhelming verdict of popular culture, do you feel that you’re out on a limb with this new report on clergy happiness?

STEPHEN: Have you seen the new Forbes report on the happiest jobs in America?

DAVID: That’s a good point! (Just last month, there was a Forbes story by Steve Denning in which Denning said he found “some surprises” in a listing of “the ten happiest jobs, as reported in the General Social Survey by the National Organization for Research at the University of Chicago.” The list includes firefighters, physical therapists, teachers, psychologists and—Number 1 on the list are clergy, which Denning sums up as: “The least worldly are reported to be the happiest of all.”) I’d say that’s a strong confirmation of your findings.

STEPHEN: It shows that the most contented and happy group in the United States of any vocational group are clergy—both Catholic and Protestant in that study cited by Forbes. So, I bet that many of these findings from my own study of Catholic priests also would apply to Protestant clergy.

DAVID: I think some things are different in those two big branches of Christianity, however. For example, Protestant clergy tend to feel much more responsibility for things like keeping the church’s roof from leaking and making sure the pews are full. Catholic pastors are responsible for their buildings, too, but not in the same way that the weight falls on a typical Protestant pastor. And, of course, because of the Catholic priest shortage, most parish priests can’t keep up with the big numbers of parishioners, right?

STEPHEN: Yes, walk into parishes anywhere in the country and the priests have more work than they can handle. Plus, we’re part of a worldwide institution that has a certain amount of international vitality to it. We’re not hanging out by ourselves. We’re part of a community of priests and an international church that is a supportive community that assures us that we won’t be left high and dry. We have a figure, the pope, who goes from country to country and is treated as if he is an international celebrity. So, yes, of course, there are some factors unique to the Catholic church and Catholic priesthood.

THE ROLLER COASTER: OLDER VS. YOUNGER PRIESTS

DAVID: Your study did uncover some areas of critical concern for Catholics nationwide. Probably the biggest is the striking difference between older and younger priests. In one section of the book after another—in topics like burnout or general happiness—the older priests fared much better. The data charts you include look like roller coasters. The difference is that striking.

STEPHEN: Yes, and part of that, I think, is because in the old days, when I first became a priest, you were not made a pastor until you had crossed your 25th anniversary, your silver jubilee. You had a long time in mentorship before you were in charge of a parish. You really learned the ropes. By the time you became a pastor, you were ready. Now, just about anywhere across the country, after maybe three to five years, you’re likely to be a pastor. I think it’s too much pressure for most young men. You’re still trying to adjust to being a priest in our secular culture. You’re adjusting to celibate living, to relating to people in a parish—and suddenly you find that you’re the CEO-pastor of a 2,000- or 3,000-member parish. That’s very hard. You’re trying to maintain your spiritual balance, your leadership and suddenly you’re in charge of a big parish.

DAVID: Fortunately, another one of your findings is that Catholic priests tend to be more likely than the general population to seek help when they need it.

STEPHEN: This is encouraging. I’m a licensed psychologist and we’re constantly teaching this: When you need help—seek it! Part of what it means to live life as a healthy caregiver is to seek out help for yourself when you need it.

DAVID: And that’s one more example of a lesson from your book that’s helpful to all readers—whatever your religious affiliation may be.

STEPHEN: Yes, I think there is a lot here for lay people who want to be happier. Just like priests, you’re likely to find happiness with family, with friends and with God. Greater connection with the Lord of our lives and with the people around us—that’s the starting point. It’s what makes priests so much happier than the general population. Anyone can take these findings to heart.

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Originally published at readthespirit.com, an online journal covering religion and cultural diversity.