Sunday evening, the parishioners at Tempe's All Saints Catholic Newman Center learned that the diocese of Phoenix intends to assume control of the parish, effective July of 2010.
Coming at the end of what had seemed till then like a perfectly routine Mass, the news fell on the congregants like a bomb. I know -- I was there, in the crowd. I saw the mute looks of shock as they hit the faces, felt the waves of anxiety that whipsawed from one row to another. Though all of us wished to be numbered among the sheep, never were we more truly sheeplike than at that moment.
The flurry of worry had its roots in a simple calculation: with change of management, would come a change of spirit. For forty years, the community, which specializes in outreach to college students, had flourished under the care of friars from the Order of Preachers. They were wise, these Dominicans. They were witty. Though often offbeat, they were always approachable -- just the type of people, everyone agreed, to bring the Good News to young ears half-deafened by emo, or hip-hop, or whatever the little punks of ASU are listening to these days.
During the question-and-answer session that followed the service, one longtime Newman member came neatly to the point. "I've seen friars -- Franciscans and Dominicans -- bring young people back into the Church after other priests had all but driven them out of it," said the woman, a retired teacher of sixty-five.
This fear, that any priest who answers directly to the bishop will either bore or terrify impressionable youngsters to the point where they will have no choice but to jump ship to the Episcopalians, probably does Phoenix's diocesan clergy a gross disservice. But paranoid scuttlebutt is an inevitable by-product of wars, including culture wars. And for good or ill, the Church is caught in the middle of one.
The bishop's stated motive, as one of our parish administrators reported, is to groom ASU's Catholics for vocations in the diocese of Phoenix. This is perfectly benign; who couldn't use more priests? But, one parishioner, expressing the suspicions of many others, asked whether His Excellency had also been acting out of concern over Gay and Lesbian Fellowship, a Newman Center gay outreach ministry alleged to have condemned same-sex relationships with insufficient vigor. Father James Thompson, the Newman Center's new acting director, and ever a man to measure his words, allowed that this was likely the case.
Later, in the parking lot, a friend confirmed the same suspicion from an unexpected angle. Fairly gloating, he told me, "He's not conservative, our bishop. He's orthodox. The people here -- they're just a bunch of liberals." He spoke the last word with undisguised contempt, as though he longed to dress the lot of the offending Newmanites in sanbenitos and march them off to the flames.
Truly, it was an "Aha!" moment. In my own case, I realized, my smug friend was right. At some very basic level, I am a liberal in matters ecclesiastical. But even now, I have a hard time defining exactly what makes me one. On the surface, I don't fit the profile. I knew only vaguely of the controversy surrounding the gay outreach ministry, and never felt moved to take either side. Social justice has often struck me as bolshevism served up on a consecrated wafer. A fierce High Tory streak makes me squirm with delight at ring- and slipper-kissing, and titles like "Your Grace" and "Your Excellency." I have defended the Venerable Pius XII for brokering the Reichskonkordat, and at times can even work up a vague sympathy for Generalissimo Francisco Franco. The idea that I might go to my grave without once receiving the Sacrament from a lady priest has yet to cost me a single wink.
But one conservative -- or, to use my friend's term, orthodox -- habit I've never been able to acquire is that of conflating sanctity and propriety. The Christ I relate to most easily was a Being of explosive, baffling extremes. He wept in public and in private, he cried out to His Father in confusion. He overturned tables in a fit of pique and healed on the Sabbath, to the grave displeasure of the Pharisees. In His perfection, He was boundlessly compassionate and kind, but He was never, in the middle-class sense of the word, nice.
Very soon after beginning my religious formation at the Newman Center, I began to suspect that the local faithful worshipped a very similar Jesus. I was poor in those days, having left one job closing subprime mortgages, and not yet having landed my next job collecting on those very same loans. Lacking a car, I walked the six-mile round trip to RCIA class and showed up looking -- and probably smelling -- like something the cat dragged in. I gained a measure of notoriety for making dark, irreverent jokes. ("I just saw a bunch of guys walking around in red dresses," a friend once remarked, referring to what was probably a fraternity stunt. "A conclave already?" I shot back. "I got fifty on the Nigerian.")
I should have been politely shunned, given the cold shoulder until I took my business to some edgy, glitzy megachurch. In a more button-down parish, I strongly suspect, I would have been. But at the loosey-goosey Newman Center, I received such an embrace as no aging bachelor has the right to expect from any Catholic community. Even better, I found much to embrace in return. The services may have been informal, but they were unquestionably reverent. The preaching, though it sometimes veered into emotionalism, was invariably thought-provoking. Parishioners often exchanged hugs by way of greeting and parting, but the hugs felt charitable, with no concupiscent undercurrents. The flip-flops on the feet of the students made them seem less slobbish than discalced.
Even with the tacky plastic risen Jesus leaping from the wall of the Old Church, Newman Center Masses rarely failed to leave me agape with Agape.
Bishop Olmstead's long-range plans for the Newman Center remain the stuff of mystery. As a loyal member of the diocese, I will do my best to avoid assuming the worst. After all, a little doctrinal fine-tuning is a good thing. But I would hope that His Excellency will not, in the process, feel the need to remake us into Knights and Damsels of Columbus. Not all of us are cut out for it. One needn't be a cafeteria Catholic to wish for a low-starch diet.
Comments
Thank you, Max Lindenman, for breaking this story, which would seem to be related to last
week's New York Times report of the recently instituted examination of the lives of RC nuns in the U.S.
Your essayist's excellence in speculation--rather than facile conclusion--combined with your wit is what makes your writing so rewarding to this reader.
Just thought readers should have access to the Newman Center's own statement on the matter. Go to newman-asu (dot) org.
Also, the Newman Center does not have a Courage chapter. It was called the Gay & Lesbian Fellowship. A ministry of support for a group that frequently does not feel welcome in the Catholic church. Not affiliated with Courage at all.
The Gay & Lesbian Fellowship is not some scandalous fringe group. Members of the Fellowship have done amazing things to support our mission of creating passionate and faithful Catholic leaders. You'll find these brothers and sisters in faith serving as Lectors and Eucharistic Ministers, preparing meals for students at Soul Food Sundays, helping with our new chapel, giving very generous sums of money to support our programs, and active in all of our ministries. These folks are some of the best Catholics I know; a real model of what Christ calls us to be.
The Newman Center, and specifically Fr. Fred Lucci, is/was the reason I could still call myself a Catholic, despite the Church's increasingly intolerant and misguided stances on most social issues. Fr. Fred's passion and undying love for God and His people is overwhelming and contagious. He made me proud to be a Catholic.
Without leaders like Fr. Fred, though, the Catholic Church today is nothing more than a failing business and a dying political pawn. This move confirms how out of touch Bishop Olmstead and the Catholic Church are with their congregation.
Ironic that an organization with a history of reassigning pedophile priests suddenly decides to outright fire their most loved and magnetic leader for--God forbid--welcoming ALL to worship.
I will leave the Catholic Church over this. And this from a Catholic who was born, raised, baptized, confirmed, married and had his kids baptized Catholic. My family needs a loving, supportive place to worship--and it's no longer here. So
Dear Liberal Catholic Down,
How sad that you would walk away from our Lord because of this. My faith is in Jesus Christ and the Church He founded, and not a Newman Center and certainly not Fr. Lucci.
I credit the Newman Center, Dominicans, and Fr. Fred with my conversion to the Catholic faith. The Newman Center has such a strong emphasis on Catholic Social Teaching, which is why the Bishop gave Fr. Fred an award for "Excellence in Social Justice Preaching" in October 2008. This is certainly a major loss for the ASU community and the greater Catholic community.
Has no one thought about the pledges raised by the Newman Center to build a new facility? Any possibility money is part of the motive?
Readers:
Thank you all for your thoughtful responses.
I owe you apology for mis-identifying the gay outreach ministry. NCP is correct: it is, or was, called The Gay and Lesbian Fellowship, not Oourage.
It may strike some as disingenuous of me to say so, but I consider the Church's position regarding same-sex relationships is beyond the scope of this article. To argue any case, I'd have to be a theologian. I'm not one. My only point was that that the Dominicans had given the Newman Center its unique character. Though I'm resigned to see that character change, I don't especially look forward to it.
I have made the necessary correction. Special thanks, once again, to NCP for pointing out the error.
Another observation: many of the comments refer to Fr. Lucci, whose name does not appear in the text of my article. I omitted it for two reasons.
First, the issue is larger than any single man, even a man as dynamic as Fr. Lucci. It involves the termination of a ministry of forty years, which has touched probably tens of thousands of lives.
Second, Fr. Lucci has never, to the best of my knowledge, sought to make himself into a cause celebre. I would be both imprudent and inconsiderate if I were to make him into one.
Change-
I never said I was "leaving the Lord over this." I said I was leaving the Catholic Church. HUGE difference. For you to misread my comment would be a simple error in reading comprehension. But for you to somehow insinuate that one's attendance at Catholic Mass is the only way one can have a relationship with the Lord is a far, far greater error in both judgment and faith. I believe that many, many religions all talk about and worship the same God--some in different ways and some with different names for Him. With this belief, I know there are other and better venues for my family and me to continue (note: not END, as you narrow-mindedly suggest) our relationship with the Lord. And this is not about one man's firing, as much as I still credit Fr. Lucci for keeping me engaged specifically within the Catholic faith. This is simply the last straw (for me) in a thick haystack of poor decisions by a rigid, exclusionary and narrow-minded political entity masquerading as a religion.
My late husband's ashes rest in a beautiful pottery container made especially for him by Fr. Fred Lucci by his own loving hands. A wonderful message of love is impressed on the bottom. Fr. Fred was the most important figure in my husband's conversion to the Catholic faith and the hand-thrown pottery was an example of the extraordinary loving touches that Fr. Fred brought to the Newman Center.
While I realize that you did not mention Fr. Fred in your story it is important to note that the Newman Center has grown by leaps and bounds since he assumed the reins as director. To deprive him of the position for which he was so well suited is a tragedy in and of itself.
Jesus ministered to the lowest rungs of society including prostitutes, lepers, money lenders, etc. He never asked, to the best of my knowledge, the sexual habits of His flock. He
took on all comers.
Shame on you Bishop Olmstead for booting outI the Dominicans. You are a poor excuse for a "Christian."
tivolirose:
I respect your opinions, ma'am. Please feel free to express them; you do it beautifully.
If I seem to be taking a coplike attitude, it's because I bear responsibility for creating this forum. You'll recall that Fr. James urged us all not to behave rashly. Well, I did my best to make sure that this article was sober, nuanced and respectful -- pro-Dominican, rather than anti-episcopal. But with feelings running so high, there's a real danger that respondents (who, after all, are posting anonymously) will take on the tone of an angry mob. That will bring no credit to the Newman Center in the bishop's estimation. If anything,it may encourage him to deal with us even more sternly than he might originally have intended to do.
Unlike you, I never knwe Fr. Lucci very well. (For example, I had no idea he was a potter -- thanks for telling me.) But I can't believe that seeing us despondent will make him happy.
Fr. Fred is also a wonderful knitter. A very generous and talented person, indeed.
Thanks for the article Max. I am part of the music ministry and like one of my best friends (which by the way I met at Newman) said, the Newman Center in Tempe is out of this world. All because of the Dominicans. And although I think Fr. Fred's energy and down to earthness is a big part of it I agree that its the fact that the 40 year work of the Dominicans is what made this place so lively, and the perfect match for an environment of higher education and diversity like ASU. Whatever the reason for the change, the point is that this will likely take away a lot of the appeal to young students. We don't need to make the Newman Center a place for vocations, if people are moved they will opt for religious life though the Newman Center as it is. What we need is a place where stressed, weary and often doubting students can feel like home, loved and are encuraged to love and be part of the community.
To the author. You are correct. I did get a bit strident at the end of my comment. I have no right to question the "Christianity" of the Bishop nor to make such a judgement. Name calling has never solved anything and I do apologize. As for the rest, I remain solidly behind my reflections.
Tivolirose: Didn't mean to single you out. Like I said, you express yourself very well. Your comments are a delight to read.
Yesterday, I wrote a follow-up piece called "Hall of Mirrors." In it, I address the intense admiration and loyalty that Fr. Lucci tended to inspire. You'll find a link in the upper-right hand corner, under "Max's Recent Articles."
Alvaro: I agree. Only you forgot to mention stressed, weary, questioning alumni! Seriously, though, you're right. This change, whatever it may involve, will be hardest of all on the students. Thanks for pointing that out.
Fra Martin: Thanks for the tidbit. It's little things like these that make me wish I'd known Fr. Lucci better. But it wasn't really possible. His job, as I understood it, was to minister to students. I wasn't one. Since I could neither lead nor follow, I obeyed the Marine Corps dictum and got the hell out of his way.
When I was a student at KU (Lawrence, KS), I attended St. Lawrence Catholic Church, a church community much like the one at ASU. The priest was, in my opinion, orthodox, yet able to connect with students/faculty and even was a chaplain for the KU football team. I just wanted to say that an orthodox or conservative Catholic center can and will attract many students/faculty who live the Catholic faith and who are in love with Jesus. I haven't been back to St. Lawrence in 10+ years and the priest is now a retired monsignor. You can visit the webpage. Search for it online.
St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center:
Thanks for sharing your experience. On the whole, I'm sure conservative, orthodox, or even traditionalist priests can appeal to students who are in love with Jesus. The question most people here have, I think, is whether they can relate to students who think they're in love with Jesus, but aren't quite sure.
In my piece, I warn against writing off diocesan priests as a group. After all, neither Bing Crosby nor Barry Fitzgerald was ever seen in a cappa.
(Last comment was mine. I accidentally typed the code letters into the name field. It's late.)
Oh, and if you got the Crosby-Fitzgerald joke, you, too, may be too stodgy for the Newman Center.
Is not is strange that Fr. Lucci would resign immediately upon learning of a diocesan take over? Something stinks. I am excited about the Newman Center becoming a part of the local church and I am certain the Bishop will find a charasmatic priest who will appeal to the students of ASU. The Church will remain strong and in a year or so people will not even remember -- who was that guy?
Suspicious: To me, Fr. Lucci's decision makes perfect sense. He liked doing things one way, the bishop insisted on doing things another way. When he realized there was no chance at compromise reconciliation, he decided to take off, presumably to a ministry where he'll have a freer hand.
God knows there are people I could never work for, just as there are people I'd never want working for me.
As far as people forgetting Fr. Lucci -- meaning no disrespect, I'll believe it when I see it. He and I exchanged maybe five hundred words in the entire course of our acquaintanceship, but even so, he left a very deep, very complex impression on me. Father Nathan, his predecessor, has been gone foryears, and people still talk about him.
I didn't mean any harm. I just think that if it were me, I would have stayed with the "boat" so to speak. I think that Fr. Lucci was overwhelmed and perhaps the weight may have been too much to carry. As for this article, I do not see the Neuman Center as being all that liberal. In fact, 9 out of 10 homilies were right on. Fr. Thompson seems to be taking his new responsibility as "acting director" well. The diocese should assign a priest there as soon as possible so that Fr. Thompson and he can work together and the new guy can acclimate himself. I think that the Dominicans will help with a smooth transition. Best of luck to Fr. Lucci - I read his letter in this week's bulletin. And if he should read this, always remember that God takes care of his faithful friends. I apologize if I may have presumed something greater than what truly is. Peace.
This is just another nail in the coffin of any liberal thinking in the Catholic Church. The Bishops can reach out to the extreme right, but cannot reach out to the moderate left. Olmstead is a right wing ideologue who is attempting to "cleanse" and bludgeon the Phoenix diocese into a orthodox enclave. The video before the November election was the ultimate obscenity. The scribes and Pharisees of Jesus's time would be at home in the Phoenix diocese. This is certainly not the church of John the 23rd.
Well now you have Father Clements. Very conservative Priest. He ruined the Cathedral. Hope we can get it back
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