After morning prayers, Frere Romeric, prior of the Dominicans, invited me to dine with the friars today for dejeuner. (Remember, they are all priests but one. They call each other frere instead of pere because of that one brother.) After Mass, I was taken to the Dominicans' residence and it was a wonderful meal and good company. I have had conversations with some of the friars, but two of them I had not really spoken to. They were especially interested in my two days with Monseigneur Rey, the Mass at St-Maximin, my overnight at the evechy, (the bishop's house), and my day at the seminary at La Castille. It was fun to talk shop with them. They came right out and asked me if the bishop had asked me to join the diocese. "Three times" I told them. Most often, at meals with the pilgrims in the dining room, I am talking about the USA which really fascinates everyone. It seems like all the French want to know about all things American. The friars wanted to know about parish life, and priestly life.
Last week I had spoken with one of the friars about the Lilly Grant. He must have spoken to the other friars because they were very interested in hearing about this. There is nothing like this in France, and I suspect anywhere else in the world. The priest I met yesterday from Austin Texas also applied for the Grant but was denied. I need to make sure that he calls them to find out why. I know one other person who was denied. The Lilly people told me to tell them to be sure to call and they will review the application and give them specific information why they were denied.
Anyway, the Dominicans were fascinated with this idea that a private secular company would offer up to 6 million dollars each year to assist Christian Clergy. My conclusion for them was that this was part of the vitality of the faith in the USA. I hope my assessment is correct.
After another hour of talk in their living room where coffee was served, I left and prepared to hike up to la grotte. It was a beautiful afternoon. I'm guessing mid 40's F. Cool enough to keep the ground from thawing too much. The trails would have been nothing but mud if it had been warmer. As it was, the air was comfortably cool, and the ground stayed mostly hard.
The previous posting for today has some great pictures of the grotto and the views from the mountain. The camera battery was well charged today. I made sure of that.
What I want to share with you is a conversation I had with a woman up at the grotto. It really gave me food for thought, and I think its an important topic for all of us to reflect on.
I arrived at the grotto and went in to the pilrims' hall to make myself a cup of tea. A woman came in shortly after and sat down and we started to talk. After the usual "where are you from's?" and the "have you been here before?" she started to tell me why she comes here. "It's a tradition of Provence," she said. "We love Mary Magdelene. My mother told me the story and her parents told her and their parents told them". I asked her if the scriptural references to Mary Magdalene were an important part of the story in Provence. She said that there is more tradition than history. I asked her if she had ever read Frere Thomas' Novena on St. Mary Magdelene. I mentioned that he had done a wonderful job in explaining the contradictions in the story and grounding it all in scripture.
"Well", she said, "That is all too religious for me. This is very emotional and connects me with my family's history in Provence." "But without the Scripture, we would have no knowledge of Mary Magdelene", I said. She sounded a bit annoyed when she said, "I'm talking about the message of Mary Magdelene." I said, "It's not Mary Magdelene's message, it's Jesus' message." And even more annoyed, "I'm not talking about religion. I am talking about charity, about love, about solidarity with the poor, about conversion of heart, not about religion." This stunned me. If this is not the message of Jesus, than what is.
All I could think was, "God, what have we done to your church? What have we done to the gospel?" I've heard what she said in Freetown many times. We have separated our church from the message of Jesus. Here was a woman who in all sincerity felt that the virtues she held important, charity, love, solidarity with the poor, and conversion of heart had nothing to do with her religion. There is a lot of work to do. And I think it is not just the work of priests. It is the work of all of us who take seriously our faith and our part in Christ's church. The credibility problem is great. Our church leaders have done a great deal to widen this chasm between our religion and the spiritual values it preaches. But so have parents when they say to their children, "You have to go to church" but excuse themselves. Or who drop them off at religious education but never consider attending Mass. And then there's the "I'm spiritual but not religious" mania. This great disconnect between the message and the practice is the next huge task facing us as a church.
Are we ready?
