It was a standard hot and humid August day in Rome in 1903, when Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto rose from his throne, near the end of the ceremony in which he was being installed as Pope Pius X. Pius X made his way from his seat and walked toward the crowd in the massive basilica. Attendees, wondered what he was up to. He stopped by an elderly woman in the front row, it was his mother. She was one of the few mothers still alive to see her son selected as supreme pontiff. As he approached his mother he held out his hand and he gradually leaned over her. He leaned not to give her an embrace or kiss her cheek, or thank her. No he whispered to her: "I would like you to be the first to kiss the ring of the fisherman." She kissed it, and then held out her wrinkled hand with her simple worn wedding ring and said: "Now, Giuseppe, you kiss this one. For if it wasn't for my ring, you would not have yours." The Spanish have a saying that an ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy and perhaps no example fits this saying than this exchange. A haughty, full of himself son getting a taste of humility from his mother. This exchange is pertinent during Christmas.
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| Church of the Visitation, Ein Karem |
Christmas is celebrated on December 25, with a coopting of some of the pagan Roman Satunalia and winter solstice festivals. The Gospel accounts give no exact date of Christ's birth, but they do give hints. Recently, daily Gospel readings have focused on Mary. After all, it is the woman who does all the hard work, while the man stands waiting for the baby to arrive. Born in less than sanitary environment, the conditions of the birth of Jesus presaged his ministry to the poor and outcastes. Rightfully so, moms take center stage this time of year, one example being the Gospel for the fourth Sunday Advent.
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The Gospel reading for the fourth Sunday of Advent focused on Mary visiting her cousin Elizabeth. This required Mary to journey, likely on foot, over 100 miles from Nazareth to Ein Karem, which is near Bethlehem. Mary, had just become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. To avoid thieves, and for protection, a lone woman traveler would have likely joined a group or caravan. No companion is listed for teenage Mary, so I have to give her a great deal of courage to make the long journey, on foot, alone but for those in the caravan she joined. The reading is rather interesting as it focuses on a private conversation between Elizabeth and Mary. As one monk, Eric Hollis, OSB noted, it may well be the only scene in the New Testament where no men are standing around. He further wrote "...this is a moment of beautiful intimacy in which Mary and Elizabeth profess their astonishment at what the Lord has done for them."
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| Church of the Visitation, Ein Karem |
We all know that mother's have an extra set of eyes in the back of their heads. A mom lives in the real world, and see the conditions their children are exposed to, the hardships and the joys. Everyday she is surrounded by reality and its affects on her children. Mother's watch their children grow and I am sure the mom's get wisdom passed down to them from their children, as children obtain wisdom from their moms. Females have historically been the main caregiver for their children so their relationship with their children is more intense and greater depth. A mom obtains significant real world experience. They see, know and understand. They have a great knowledge of the human condition.
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| Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem |
A child is precious in the mother's eyes, just as a mother is precious in the child's eyes. This reality of the mother and child relationship is important. When a professional athlete gives thanks, the first person mentioned is the mother. This relationship has a great power and capability to better form the world. Mother's are nurturing and a psychologist, commenting on the recent school shooting in Madison, WI, noted that female shooters are rare, in part, she said, because girls are taught from an early age to be nurturing. Killing goes against the nurture. Part of me wonders if it is also the tribal make up from our early ancestors of hunters and gatherers where it is has become part of our inherited DNA? Women cared for the children and gathered, while the man hunted.
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| Tradition holds this marks the birthplace of Christ. Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem |
I think all of this points to the reason why the Spanish have that saying, as apparently do some other ethic groups. This saying may well be true and shows what the church loses due to its male dominance, where one mother is equal to 16 clergy. Think how much more depth the church would have if women were more involved. Priests live in their own cocoons, and with the now young radical-traditional priest mindset taking over, they are becoming less and less of the world. They shut themselves off more and more from reality, creating an alternate universe in which they thrive with like minded persons. The cocooning leads to lack understanding of relationships and how people navigate the world. Clericalism sets them on a pedestal, but at great expense to the operation and ability of the church to minister. They are brought in after the tragedy to perhaps comfort the afflicted, but they do not have the same relationship and experiences of a mother.
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| St John the Baptist Church, near Ein Karem |
Let me take a few examples. First, one of the newly formed pastorates in the Madison diocese, although not alone in this, prohibits females from being altar servers and Eucharistic Ministers. It is reported that at one mass, shortly after the pastorate was created and priests assigned, there was a need of an additional Eucharistic Minister at a mass. A long-tenured female Eucharistic minister got up to perform the duty, but the rad-trad priest told her to sit down. He said, he will allow only men to distribute communion. This is the thinking of the young rad-trads, not just humiliating a person in front of the congregation, but brazenly being authoritative, without regard for the culture of the parish. Just jam it down the throats of the parishioners. People need no wonder why so many leave the church.
Of the three priests that serve that pastorate, they rotate funerals, and so a parish member cannot choose who says the funeral mass of a family member that passed away. A few months ago a man in McFarland passed away, and he has a son that is a priest. Rather than the funeral mass being at the McFarland Catholic Church (which is one of three parishes in the pastorate which rotates funeral masses) his mass of Christian burial was held several miles south at the church were the deceased's son is stationed. This, even though his father was a founder of the McFarland parish. Rad-trads often make it about themselves. You see this in the sermon excerpt the pastor this pastorate wrote for the WI State Journal and published Dec 24. Perhaps showing how insignificant the Catholic Church has become, he was the only Catholic priest to write, although of the other dominations there were two Lutheran and three Methodist ministers who were asked.
Third, a young trad priest at a different pastorate was recently granted a sabbatical for several months and he will not return to that pastorate. Besides making one wonder what is going on, I am not sure why the guy is getting such a long sabbatical, when many senior clergy members have never had one. They have to be coddled, I guess.
The clergy today set themselves above the parish members, they like their own little world running around in their birettas and soutanes as members of their own subculture. Their self-importance certainly conflicts with the message of Pope Francis who desires a clergy that has the smell of their sheep. Instead the young clergy are about as opposite as one can get from this desire. This is the whole problem, they lack understanding of the real human condition and they purposefully try to set themselves out and above the world. In other words, they are the opposite of a mom. I wonder how many young priests do this to compensate for an inferiority complex? Making the matters worse, this subculture is promoted by the Bishop. Clericalism is the root of evil in the Church and, rather than waning, it is being reinforced in much of the US and other countries.
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| Manger Square |
In the time of Jesus, childbearing was important. Elizabeth met with much scorn from not having produced an offspring for so long, and Mary was viewed in contempt as having conceived out of wedlock. Another commentator quotes Nancy Rockwell who has written that "Hiding within the wonders of Christmas area thousand years of doctrinal female subjugation, doctrines, which like tinsel, are dripped all over the season of Christmas." Elizabeth would not live to see her son beheaded, but Mary would be at the foot of the cross. Mary stayed by her son through his humiliation and horrendous death while his male apostles, cowered in a room. And, the apostles, so it is said, being male, means that only males can be priests.
With the new radical traditional priests and their heightened misogyny, perhaps the ratio of mothers to clergy goes from 1:16 to 1:32. People desire more than a misogynistic priest. One ounce of mother is worth more two or three pounds of clergy in the Madison diocese. The church needs more woman like Pius' mother who was not afraid to put her elevated son in his place.
May all have a Blessed Christmas!
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