Theology and Massage

Yesterday I went to my favorite masseuse because of painfully tight muscles in my neck and shoulder. She's really a hoot--the descendant of a long line of Swedish masseuses. She even has pictures of her grandmother's class graduating from massage school back in the old country in her treatment room. I'll call her Freda.

I always enjoy talking with Freda. She loves to opine on the local sports teams and political matters. She's very very conservative in her views. Yesterday when she asked me where I worked (always a difficult thing to explain to nonPresbies, and sometimes even to Presbies), she started to talk about her own religious background.

It seems Freda is a lapsed Catholic. Every 15 years or so she tries going to mass again, gets ticked off by the priest's homily, and re-lapses. She said that if churches only preached what Jesus said, and left out Paul, then they would disappear because the church is more concerned with rules than love. She's not a fan of Paul and thinks he hated women.

Ahem. That gave me the opportunity to share with her the fact that Paul had several women colleagues that he valued highly--as revealed in his letters and in Acts. Freda was surprised, and then said that growing up in Catholic schools they did not study scripture--and her theory is that was because scripture would contradict some of the teaching of the church.

Freda wanted to know if Presbyterians had women ministers, and then asked a lot of questions about how my church was governed. She was impressed that decisions weren't made solely by the clergy, but equally with the laity. At the end of the day, though, Freda says "once a Catholic, always a Catholic." There's that loyalty again that I noted in my post Church Without Walls.

And the neck and shoulder pain--much better already. Thanks, Freda!

Real Church Without Walls

Less than a mile from my home stands this church without walls. It's a Catholic church that is expanding its sanctuary with several hundred additional seats, in addition to some other renovations and expansion.

The walls have been knocked out and only the skeleton of the building with its pointed roofs and stained glass windows remain at the moment.

The congregation is worshiping across the street in the gymnasium of its education building for the next year or so until the expansion is complete. This is a very large, growing congregation with several thousand families in the parish. Masses are celebrated almost around the clock from Saturday evening through Sunday evening. El Jefe and I plan our weekend driving in the neighborhood around its schedule. A parochial school that goes from preschool through middle school is on this site and operated by the church.

While my denomination is threatened with yet another in a long line of schisms over theology and practice, the growth of this church is not fazed by the controversies within the Catholic Church. And they have their share, too: the scandal in the American church involving pedophilic priests; disagreements over the ordination of women, birth control, abortion, divorce, priestly celibacy etc.

It's interesting to note that my friends who attend this church say the only thing limiting the growth of this parish is the shortage of priests. Priests from the Third World are routinely rotated through the parish to assist the resident pastor. In contrast, there is a surplus of Presbyterian pastors in the PCUSA--especially in urban and suburban areas.

This week the Pope kicked up some controversy by reiterating the traditional Catholic position that Christ established one true church on earth and that is the Catholic church. Many of my Catholic friends would demur on this point, as they do on some of the other official policies and doctrine of their church. But I don't hear or read a lot of talk about schism in their church.

We Protestants are well-named. We protest and divide when we don't agree. Our heritage is one of division, not unity. The Presbyterian Church emphasizes in its ordination vows the pledge to further the "peace unity and purity of the church." Unity and peace seem to be more valued by Catholics, while purity in theology and practice has historically been the most important value for Protestants.

I think each side could learn from the other and bring those values into better balance.