A Circus of Splendor

Last week I had the distinct privelege of attending a Cirque du Soleil performance while in Florida. This is the second of their live shows that I have seen, and while they were both very different from one another, I was just as entranced. The first, Ka, we had seen years ago in Vegas. It's a stunning show, an opera of sorts, with everything from flaming arrows to a believable shipwreck, to a hydraulic stage that literally suspends, at one point, from a point 70 feet above the footlights. This past show, La Nouba, is like a circus on steroids. The haunting melodies and bizarre freak show is accented with death defying aerials, and impossible tumbling acts.

While I sat, mesmerized by the spectacle, and frustrated that I don't have eyes far enough apart to watch BOTH the sensuous flexibility of the ballet dancers on the stage at the same time as the breathtaking tightrope dance high above, I remembered hearing Christopher West in a course echoing the thoughts of his mentor Blessed John Paul II "we need good art."

Yes, we do.

And we need a lot more of it.

Cirque is particularly gifted at incorporating the vast wonders of the human body into its art. And this is the particularly amazing crux of the matter. It is not only about what human bodies can do, but about who human beings are. The creators carefully craft worlds of wonder that challenge performers to jump higher, dance longer, twirl faster. My breath catches again and again as I am amazed at how strong and supple, how enormously and deliriously beautiful the human body is - how fascinating its Maker.

It is because of these rushes of inspiration that I don't want to minimize the good art that is out there in the world. And I don't want to engage in a real argument about what makes art good, except that I believe it should make us "feel". We need art to evoke the temper of our hearts- to engage us in questions about what it means to be human, and to point us, whether directly or indirectly, to the God who made us.

I remember the first time I went to the Met in NYC and realized that the only "realistic" human figures in the majority of the art stop in the late nineteenth century. I mean, sure, there are some as you move into the 20th, but since the Met was set up in chronological order, it was easy to notice how quickly the figures- the human figures- fade away.

I think the first question we need to ask is why? And the second is: what do they fade into?

This is no tirade against modern /postmodern/ contemporary art. It's a question. Do we still make good art?

My experience at Cirque says Yes.
My experience in day to day life? Well, I don't know that we're making enough of it. And if we are, are we listening/ looking/ smelling/ breathing/ touching it?

And if we aren't in some way indulging in the sensuous romance and beauty and skill and imagination of art, how are we focusing on the senusous romance and beauty and imagination of heaven?

I don't have an answer, other than to agree with CW. We need good art.

And perhaps to encourage each of us, in our own way, to support it. To make art, to support the arts, to find good art and bring it home, share it with others, make it a gift we can participate in and bring hope for others with. Because art is part of what makes us aware of our own humanity. And I think when we remember who we are, we have a shot at remembering Whose we are.

(Not familiar with Cirque du Soleil? Click Here for a taste!

Burden of Conscience

Once more to the oft-argued issue that women are "emotional," and here is proof.

Ever since the day the news broke about the HHS mandate, and the conscience rights act, my heart has hurt. I don't mean I feel saddened by the tyrrany of the government and the stupidity of the masses who can't get out of their own way. I mean full on, shoulder-weighing, pit of the stomach, wanting to cry and scream and kick... broken heartedness.

I suppose I ought to recognize this for what it is. The Body of Christ is being persecuted, and, yes, it hurts. It hurts in a new and astonishing way, because even though Catholics are perhaps one of the few groups that the media regularly mocks and ridicules untempered, we still have remained free to practice our faith and serve the world- we have been able to do as we have been Called.

It isn't a new thing, really. On tv shows the religious or pious or faithful are often explained away in neurological terms or psychological terms. Just last night, House featured a "nun" who didn't know why she was becoming cloistered, and her subsequent hook-up with Chase, the doctor who entered the seminary, only to leave it, his faith, and anything he learned about theology in the dust. Not only was the audience supposed to believe this woman's faith was so tenuous that she flipped from: being about to make her permanent vows in a life of celibacy and prayer to: a one night stand with the handsome doctor in only a few hours' time... but we were also supposed to be convinced that her final "call" from God was truly based on neurological complications. Faith as disease.

Over the weekend, trolling for media attention, Nicki Menaj wore a crazy little red riding hood get up, accompanied by a papal figure. I suppose that if you are a singer at the grammys and unable to garner a win, you need to do something "shocking" to get notice. Even the openly-gay George Katziopolis of Fashion Police dismissed the get up as in bad taste and "just stupid" but still, it was Catholics on the block.

Don't get me started about all the other references, the mislables, the misunderstandings, the regular anti-Catholic or just uneducated assumptions that are prevalent and accepted every day - on Chelsea Lately, Jon Stewart, and other comedic talk shows where Catholics are great food for fodder.

But this is the world we live in. We have a sense of humor about our religion. We get offended from time to time, but have the option (every time) to turn off Family Guy, or whomever is the latest Catholic basher.

But THIS. This awful, looming, brutal injustice- this tyrranical rule that has Obama being compared not only to George III in the American Revolution, but also to Henry VIII, and I believe rightfully so - this Hurts.

Is it forcing people to think? Yes, by God. Is it lighting a fire under some bishops who til now sat in glass houses? Absolutely. Is it stirring conversation in churches, parishes, ministries, schools and hospitals which call themselves Catholic? You bet. And maybe this is the one silver lining. This is the opportunity for Catholics to get educated, to demand equality and constitutional promises. This is the opportunity for non-Catholics to stand by us as fellow people of faith, and support our right to religious liberty. This is the chance for our non-religious brothers and sisters to get over the piddly issues, and join us in solidarity - in the belief we can share as Americans- that we have the right to believe or not believe, the right to act as our conscience dictates - the right to true and lasting freedom.

But in the meanwhile, I am very emotional about this. My people, my church is being brutally riddled with doubt and suspicion and bound with the ties of tyrrany. And since I, too, am the Church, I am being brutalized as well. This great sin against the human person, and against woman, is leveled against me as well. And other than pray and write, my hands are tied.

So I write. And I share my emotion. Because, Lord help me, we may also see emotion as a disease, along with pregnancy, along with faith, but that is wrong. Emotion is the call of the heart. And Scripture tells us Wisdom is born in the heart.

Lest we continue to act without wisdom, lest we (God forbid) allow only our knowledge to guide our way - I for one insist that we begin to listen to the depths of our hearts free from fear and free from doubt. I for one pray we let the stirrings of our hearts rise and swell into a great, crashing wave of passion that breaks these bonds and crashes on the shores of injustice. I beg us all not to grow weary, not to forget what is true, good and beautiful.

And I ask us all to help one another, in communion, to seek hope and encourage one another through these dark days. Because on the other side of the crucifixion is life... and we are all called to say yes.

Once More for the Cheap Seats

So the debate continues on about whether or not the Catholic Church and her institutions (schools, colleges) should have to act against their collective conscience and pay for birth control and abortions for their employees. While the Biggest Problem here is that it is Actually a matter of freedom of religion, and not, in fact, an issue of particular morality, we Americans are a fickle and easily distracted lot. When you put something shiny in front of us, we pick sides, never noticing the menacing shadow the shiny object may be casting.

But even within the entirety of these issues, there is something that continues to irk me. Even in yesterday's interview with Cardinal-elect Dolan, one of the interviewers brought up an argument which has been tenaciously woven into every argument I have heard so far. The argument goes something like this: But if thousands of Catholic women have used birth control at some time in their lives, then it doesn't make sense that the Church would insist this is a "Catholic" stance.

You may think that I am ignoring the debate that has long since raged between those who want an easy out when it comes to sexual relationships, and those who believe that sacrifice is not a bad thing. But the point within the argument that Really Irks me is this: "Catholic *women* use birth control".

What about the men?

Why are we bolstering the idea that this is a "woman's issue," which naturally implies, I think, that men are not part of the dialog? And -are you kidding me? - why are we as a society so eager to let men off the hook here?

My main argument goes something like this: I assume that if there are, in fact, "thousands" of Catholic women using contraceptives then I assume there are also thousands of Catholic men doing the same. How come this is about the women, and the men are completely left out of the equation? How come condoms are just not an issue? Because you don't need a prescription to use them? Or because we just don't believe as a society that men should ever really be culpable for reigning in their sexual appetites?

Just like my argument that the Church ought, in this day and age, honor those men who have lived in chaste virginity in the same manner in which we honor women, I stand firm in my belief that sex is a Human Issue. And, unless all those textbooks aimed at middle schoolers are wrong, in the normal course of healthy humanity, sex leads to babies. And babies - the product of a mother AND a father- are not a punishment, but a blessing. Just ask the thousands of infertile couples, dozens of whom live in Your Neighborhood.

I realize those speaking with the voice of the Church have bigger fish to fry. I truly didn't expect that Dolan- who did a laudable job in his interview on CBS- would lean across the news desk and say, "yes, and Catholic men use contraception too... or, yes, and Catholic men aquiesce to having intercourse with women who contracept" (think about that... it's Adam all over again, throwing Eve under the bus with a devil-may-care "who me? couldn't be MY responsibility, right?)

So if we can please put the argument where it belongs, I would be happier. That is not to say I do not find it deeply unsettling that we are having this conversation. Or that I in any way will relinquish my right to religious freedom. Or even that I believe that if enough people use contraception that makes it right. Because that will never happen.

I do feel compelled, since the topic of conscience is at stake, to add that when the Church uses the term "conscience" she means "well-formed conscience." There is an expectation that one has been educated properly, educated oneself, brought struggles to prayer and discernment, cared to ask questions and be open to wiser minds. So for all the folks out there who identify as Catholic but use contraception, I would like to suggest that they have not been fully exposed to the way the Church thinks about the dignity of the human person at every stage of existance. And in their defense, I believe most think of conscience as "If I don't feel guilty, then it's fine." But there are no angel/devil pairs to pop up on your shoulders, and there is no sense of guilt if you just don't know better.

(If you'd like to get a sense of the way in which conscience should be used, I would suggest Ratzinger's article from Communio: "Conscience and Truth." )

I beg our media, our own religious leadership, and us all: please don't make this a woman's issue. When humans are divided from the fullness of their own remarkable collaborative selves, we begin to treat the "other" like a thing, and no longer like a miracle.

Don't Tread on Me

If you don't yet know about the U.S. government's assault on religious freedom, I suggest you try these sites: a video of Cardinal Dolan and background and this blog by Bad Catholic in response. I have to say, this 18 year old who writes the referenced blog has far more clarity of thought than many of our politicians.

There are three things that, frankly, tick me off about this law, and I will discuss two in this post. The first is that it was passed "under the radar", as it were. And when Cardinal elect Dolan specifically asked Obama about its implications in a private meeting before it was passed, the president assured him it would not be problematic for Catholics. (Lies, lies.) Second, the argument is swarming out there about whether or not abortion, contraception and sterilization (which the law addresses and says must be funded by Catholic employers) is moral, or a "right". This is NOT WHAT THE LAW IS ABOUT! It uses these issues as a blind behind which lurks a far more menacing, far more insidious evil. The law is actually about religious freedom in the United States, and conscience rights. If enforced, this is the first time in our history that the government will have successfully punished its citizens for standing by their religious beliefs and right to freedom of religion. And, as "Bad Catholic" says SO well: "This injustice is not something that need solely concern the Catholic Church — if the federal government can force Catholics to act against their consciences, they can force anyone to act against their conscience, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Atheist, and by the same pitiful reasoning."

Think about it. So you are one of the many who believes that abortion is a medical issue that should be funded. Or perhaps you don't see why contraception is the evil that the Catholic Church sees it to be. Perhaps you also believe that people of your faith have the right to gather in public places, or perhaps part of your faith prohibits eating a particular kind of meat or serving some kind of food. Well, perhaps it doesn't phase you that Catholic hospitals would have to pay for their employees who aren't Catholic (we aren't bigots, people; we hire qualified people regardless of religion, for example, as doctors and nurses...)and want to undergo sterilization. But would it BEGIN to concern you if your company's founders were Kosher and now had to serve shellfish at your next comapny celebration? Would it bother you if your church had to meet in a basement because you were no longer allowed to meet in a proper building? Would it alarm you, as an atheist, if you were mandated to attend a church every Sunday by virtue of your citizenship?

Several bloggers have used the example of a Hindu company being mandated to serve beef at a party because a non-Hindu employee would like beef, or of a Jewish deli being mandated to serve pork sandwiches because the customers prefer it. We UNDERSTAND that this is wrong. Why? Because hundreds of years ago, people fought and died to prevail against the tyrranical rule of a king who had forced religious rule (and other atrocities) down people's throats. And though the U.S. has not always had a stellar history, one thing it has done well is continue to uphold that right.

As Catholics this law is about abortion, sterilization, and contraception, because these things are contrary to our religious beliefs and our moral code.

As Americans, this law is Primarily about my right to the freedoms of the First Amendment. I have a right to religious freedom. The government CANNOT force me to do what is against my consience, or dictate the actions of a religious body. And you have a right, whether you are Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Mormon, Christian Scientist, Atheist, Unitarian...

In response to the tyranny of the 18th century, we fought, and became the American people. In response to the tyrrany of the 21st century, we fight again. For justice. For freedom. For life.