A polka Mass featuring Bishop David Zubik will highlight the 16th annual Good Samaritan Roman Catholic Church festival today through Sunday in Ambridge.About 600 to 800 people are expected to attend the Saturday afternoon Mass.Zubik, who will be 62 Sunday, attended Catholic grade and high schools in Ambridge.
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Dear friends, you love “
” as much as me, don’t you? This post I linked to recently was so refreshing. Go on and read it. Meanwhile, read some of her other clever, witty and wise posts. I am a big fan of the laundry series. It’s really quite edifying.
Did you know her husband is a professional writer? It’s funny because the kind of work my husband does requires him to read Phil Lawler’s posts daily on the Catholic Culture website. The kind of work I do inspires me to read Leila’s posts daily. So we often discuss over dinner what each had to say. Quaint, really.
I really enjoyed this post by the Mister Lawler (aka The Chief, if you’re read Leila’s blog), a continuation of what Leila was already saying.
It was especially meaningful to me because apparently, when my mom told some of her friends that we were expecting Isaiah, a few of them said “Well, that’s because they’re Catholic.” Yes, right. Muslims, Protestants and atheists don’t believe in having more than one child. Only us nutter Catholics do that.
So it was a source of encouragement to read both of their perspectives on having children, and remind myself, there’s nothing crazy at all about having children. Duh.
So, just go ahead and read these two pieces. Enjoy them. And enjoy your kids.
One more thing: I think I’m going to use this phrase one of the commenters uses to the ubiquitous “are you done yet?” question (one of those delightfully intrusive questions people feel entitled to ask):
Heck no! You can’t take over the world with only two kids!
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Wow, the days sure are going by quickly here. Shrove Tuesday in Wiki has come and gone.
Tuesday was actually a rare occasion in the rectory, where there was a constant stream of people -young and old- coming in an out of the building I live in to help prepare or purchase food for Shrove Tuesday! I helped with some of the food preperation this morning, which was a nice experience. It was nice to hang around with these wonderful women even for just a little bit! In honor of International Women’s day that we just celebrated this week, I feel inspired to pay a tribute to the women of this community!!
I could talk about the DOS- essentially, though not exactly women deacon-. They on their own are extraordinary women who lead prayer services and wakes around Wiki. The religious life of this community may not be what it is without them. But even besides the 6 women who perform that role beautifully on the Island (3 of them are the core group. The others I don’t see as much), there’s a slew of others who are heavily involved in raising money for the parish, organizing prayer groups, translating Biblical texts in the language, and various other activities. I’ve befriended a few of these women here, and I can’t help but stand in awe at all of them. They, more than anyone else I’ve met here are a beacon of hope in this community. There’s a lot of bad news and sad stories that emerge from Wiki. It would be hard for anyone to have the cahones to continue working for a better community in such an environment..but you wouldn’t know by watching these women commit themselves (without even thinking twice) to hundreds of groups and activities and seminars that work at bettering community life. In my humble opinion, they are the life, not just of the parish, but of the entire Wiki community!
On a non Shrove Tuesday note: My classes are going very well. I find my grade 8s a challenge to say the least -you would too when only 1/4 of the students actually listen to you!!- but the dozen or so people who listen to me are very engaging, so I do enjoy them very much!! Besides them, I now pretty much have my hands full with the visits to the nursing home, 5 other classes at the Junior school and the occasional fun projects with the Gym teacher!! I had a challenging week last week, but I think things are looking up. I was deeply moved this week after my 2nd class with the Grade 3s. I knew the students would be off next week, so I wished them all a wonderful vacation and was getting ready to leave…but many of them came to me and gave me great big hugs. It made my day to say the least!!
Signing off from Wiki!!
Happy Lenten season to all of you!!
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It’s September again, and although the weather is still warm, the signs of impending fresh air and fresh starts are all around us. I’ve always tended to think of this time of year as a better time to put New Year’s resolutions into place – the academic new year, since I’m in education after all. 
One sign of fresh starts are the many new families who start coming to church, sometimes after the summer away, sometimes after much longer. Catechism and sacraments are often the spur to new Mass habits, and this fall promises to be no different.
When I lived in Toronto, someone once mentioned that it’s mostly women who go to church, at least in some Catholic parishes. I’ve seen some evidence in some smaller parishes for that, but it seemed to be mostly exaggeration. Now, one survey casts doubt on that theory: the survey from the U.S., (conducted among a population that may be skewed in relation to the population at large) suggests that women are going to church in fewer numbers than before. This survey was conducted by the Barna group and can be found here. Among the headliners of this survey comes this statistic:
Church attendance among women sank by 11 percentage points since 1991, declining to 44%. A majority of women no longer attend church services during a typical week.
Or, maybe not.
The methods of this survey, and especially its reporting are being challenged by a leading sociologist of religion, Rodney Stark and his colleage, Byron Johnson based on their own (Baylor University) surveys. Their article appears in the Wall Street Journal a few days back. One piece of information that Stark and Johnson pass on is something I have noticed in Catholic parishes – the reappearance of women (and men) in church after their first baby is born. In other words, it’s another perspective on the old story that young people between 15 and 28 disappear from church until they get married, and then church going picks up again, at least for quite a few of them. Problem being: the press seems to report the leaving but not the steady trickle who return to church later in life.
And, just for the record they say: women are probably more frequent church goers (at least in their surveys which probably indicate rates in more heavily Protestant areas of the U.S.) judging by the rate of those who describe themselves as ‘very religious’.
The article by Stark and Johnson ends thus:
…the Baylor data show that in 2007, 38% of women, compared with 26% of men, described themselves as “very religious.” So the gender gap—which holds for every religion in every nation around the globe—remains alive and well in America, just as it has for decades. As for media-hyped studies about religion, one should always beware of bad news bearers.
Add in the somewhat committed and we are probably still dealing with a majority of women who continue to attend church at least several times a year — in the U.S that is. It would be interesting to see comparable Canadian data.
But, if you see a young couple or new family in the pews over the next few weeks, they might be starting off the “new year” right after time away. That would be good news. Don’t tell them their presence was predicted by sociologists… after all, the socioloogists only describe what’s happening when people leave and return to church, they aren’t explaining it.
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