What do the Pope, Facebook, and Gardening Have in Common? (This post.)

A Little Buffet: Interview with the Pope, Facebook for Good, and Gardening

The Faith of Francis

The new interview with Pope Francis is out, and the average person and average Catholic is left to sift through the many news stories that seek to distill the lengthy interview into a palatable portion. Obviously, different media outlets have different editorial motivations to choose pulled quotes or otherwise summarize the conversation.

Ideally, the majority of people would read the whole interview, or at least open the primary source to view the transcript and skim through Francis' words for sections and subjects in which they are interested.

I'm not here to damn society for its habits, though I do fear the momentum of our BuzzFeed-ified style of gathering information. I think we can serve each other well by sharing our favorite parts with each other, so what I do want is to call attention to one of many bright spots in Francis' consistently inspiring message.

The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently. Proclamation in a missionary style focuses on the essentials, on the necessary things: this is also what fascinates and attracts more, what makes the heart burn, as it did for the disciples at Emmaus. We have to find a new balance; otherwise even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel. The proposal of the Gospel must be more simple, profound, radiant. It is from this proposition that the moral consequences then flow.

Amid this section of the dialogue, Francis insists upon a bigger manifestation of the faith that fuels our being. Yes, the Church has strict, absolute teachings on divisive moral and social issues. Yes, the Church's positions can be unpopular and come off as dismissive or intolerant. The challenge for Catholics then becomes to delve more deeply into the truths and realities of our faith, strive toward understanding, and share that wider faith that proceeds from our God of total unity.

Francis is calling us to a more comprehensive, complete, lived faith. We don't need to cast aside the teachings we uphold, for they respond to the challenges of our times in light of the truth we know from Christ. We do need to broaden our perspective, and live out our faith beyond the parameters of any specific social issue.

Yes, abortion is wrong, but more than opposing pro-abortion laws and practices, how do we learn to love better, to better support mothers unsure about keeping their pregnancies, to strengthen the understanding of marriage and family? Birth control is wrong, but how do we develop a fuller understanding of sex, of self-gift, of parenthood? Homosexuality is a heavy cross to bear, but how do we better identify and magnify the dignity of homosexual people, love in relationship, and true expression of love?

Francis is exhorting us to live a faith that does not become boxed in by itinerant rigidity. We can call out sin in our society and in one another for what it is, but we are not militant policemen. We can simultaneously oppose social sin while also loving and calling to light the dignity of all people, all called to be ministers from Christ in baptism. Our faith can inform our politics and morality, but it is bigger than any issue or dispute. God calls us to live a faith that enfleshes His love, the love He showed by becoming Man, by dying and rising, and by sending us the Spirit to be with us always.

The Sunnyside of Social Media

Social media gets a bad rap these days. As with most any invention or new technology, people have used it for good as well as bad. We hear stories of cyberbullying, sometimes leading to suicides, of sexting and excessive sexualization of young people, of addiction, obsession, and self-absorbtion stemming from social media's growing dominance over people's lives.

Amid the darkness, there are plenty of times when social media helps bring light into the world. Like Good Samaritan-esque stories overshadowed by news of murders and shootings, good things are happening in the social media sphere. And even more importantly, as seen in this case, we can find God bringing the good that He always will bring from a potentially dark time.

A deeply beloved teacher was recently fired from my alma mater high school. The specifics of the circumstances are contentious and unclear, but our dear teacher took to social media to respond. He told all of us that he was in fact fired, that students were misled to believe that he had resigned, and that he was embracing this crossroads moment as a liberating opportunity in his life, concluding by saying, "I know God will not lead me down a path that is wrong for me. I want to thank all for the outpouring of support. You have touched me more than you know!"

There is always the back-and-forth of he-said-she-said conjectures, and we may never know the exact story. What we do know is that a man who was loved by 15+ years of students was now dismissed. He'd no longer man the post from which he made such a tremendous, positive impact on hundreds, if not thousands, of students lives.

Within a day of his sharing the sad news, 150 people had liked his post, and a beautiful stream of support, stories, and gratitude followed. Alumni came out of the woodwork to affirm and thank this great teacher and stand with him in a tough time.

50 comments in total tell the story of a swath of alumni and their concern, support, gratitude, and a host of other emotions in solidarity with our beloved teacher. Christ's victory on the cross showed us that nothing - not even literal crucifixion - was so bad that God could not work good from it. From Christ's cross came salvation for all, and from this tough time came love, community, and support for a man of Christ.

Planting the Seeds

Directing retreats is easily my favorite part of my job. The performer part of me, the part of me that makes me an introvert by only a small majority, enjoys being in front of a crowd, cracking jokes, being loud, breaking the ice, and defusing their awkwardness, even if by magnifying it. And the minister part of me loves seizing on that attention and guidance, on the budding community that can form on retreat, to push people to a meaningful, spiritually richer, faith-alive place.

The best part of all of that? Empowering youth to lead. The retreat is a blast, fun and one-of-a-kind in such a particular way. However, the training and communal preparation of a leadership team is the best to me. Walking the path of emotions and logistics is beautiful. How do you prepare a person and team to emotionally, mentally, and spiritually engage others while also giving them the tools - questions, a schedule, activities, etc. - that support that encounter? It's a challenge I embrace and dive into headlong.

I love to walk the prospective leaders through things dry-run style, exposing them to the same activities that they'll ask others to do - making them dance the dance, answer the questions, fill out the worksheets. Yet no matter what I do or say, we can't prepare for everything. I can only put in my best effort toward forming them to be capable on their own and then unleash them.

And inevitably, they face frustrations. They encounter students and groups who are even more extreme versions of the characters we role-played in practice small groups. They wonder if they've failed, or fallen short. And I try to remind them, as I remind myself in training them, that we can only do our best. We may never get to know the degree to which we succeeded in our leadership. We can only give our best most faithful effort and put it in their hands.

Ministry is a richly metaphor-ize-able topic, and I love gardening's applications to it. Ultimately as ministers, we are often gardeners. However, our gardening task may differ depending on the growth of the "plants". Sometimes, we are planting the seeds; sometimes, we are watering them; sometimes, we are pruning the branches on a shrub; sometimes, we are enjoying the fruit the tree bares; sometimes, we may end up resting comfortably in the shade of the tree. It is up to us to pay attention to the stage of the garden before us - in our small groups, in our schools and parishes, in our classrooms - and give our best effort toward gardening accordingly.

Whether it's an increasingly seasoned campus minister training upperclassmen or teenagers guiding freshmen on their first high school retreat, we must give our faithful effort in whatever stage of work lies in the vineyard, and then find peace in surrendering our effort and the encounter-in-faith by offering it up to God.

Team Prayer Service: Unique While One in Christ

From time to time, the delights of my job as campus minister give me the platform to speak to the school or groups of students. Here is the talk (followed by the readings I chose) I gave at the weekly football team prayer service, the first part of the team's preparations between the end of the school day and their Friday night games.

The past few years, the NBA has become increasingly dominated by “super-teams.” People forget, but the Celtics were the ones who really started it when they traded for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen to join Paul Pierce, and they won a championship. Miami followed suit and has won two championships, and teams like the Lakers, Nets, and Knicks have tried to copy the super-team approach without much success. 

Two years ago, as NFL training camps geared up, the Eagles signed free agent QB Vince Young to backup the oft-injured Michael Vick. Earlier that offseason, the Eagles had made some big splashes. They signed top free agents CB Nnamdi Ashomugha and DE Jason Babin to expensive contracts. They shipped out Kevin Kolb for cover-corner Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a high draft pick. And then they added Young as a high-profile backup to their flashy starting QB. 

When the Eagles introduced Young at a press conference, he was asked about the impressive roster the Eagles had assembled for the 2011 season. Without hesitation, he told them, “Dream team,” and added, “It's beautiful to see where we're trying to go.” 

Young's line would be replayed over and over that year as the Eagles started the season 4-8 and never really threatened for playoff contention. Young had evaluated his team based on how famous its players were, how much money people were getting paid, and how much attention they had gotten in the media. When he uttered that infamous line, he hadn't even stepped on the field yet with this “dream team.” And when he did, he must have quickly realized that no matter how good the team looked on paper, none of that mattered when they couldn't back it up on the field. 

What's a real Dream Team? Quick history lesson: the 1992 USA Men's Basketball Team. The real Dream Team. The original Dream Team. 11 of its 12 members are in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Early in their olympic preparations, during a scrimmage against a team made up of college players, Coach Chuck Daly intentionally made dumb substitutions and poor coaching decisions. Coach Daly knew the team would lose and intended for them to get frustrated and motivated. It worked. As the 1992 Olympics, they went undefeated as a team, winning on average by 45 points. The best players of that era – many of them among the greatest of all time – understood that they were part of one of the greatest teams ever and adjusted their styles to form an unstoppable team and absolutely dominate the international competition. 

What stops groups from getting there? Why couldn't Kobe, Nash, Gasol, and Howard dominate last year? Why don't the Yankees win the World Series year-in and year-out? Why did the Eagles' “dream team” fizzle out? 

Teams have to realize the importance of their identity. Dwight Howard didn't buy into being a part of Kobe's Laker dynasty. The Yankees' players probably get complacent once they've gotten big money contracts. The Eagles big acquisitions didn't come together as a team. 

For you guys, you have to consider to yourselves – Who am I on this team? 

What do I mean to my teammates on the field?... What's your position? What are your assignments for each formation? What's your responsibility for each play? 

What do I mean to my teammates off the field?... Who needs my support? What players can I help by reviewing positioning and technique? What players can I go to with questions about my own game? What teammates will pick me up when I'm down? Who can I fire up? 

I'm a baseball player, and I've been a baseball coach. I never played high school football, but I can tell you about high school baseball players. Most of the guys head to the field, walk to the on deck circle, or take the pitcher's mound with their stats firmly in mind. 

Guys can tell you how many errors they've made, or not made. Hitters have a running tally of their RBI and a live number for their batting average. Pitchers could tell you their ERA on an inning-by-inning basis. Baseball players get obsessed with their stats, and it becomes really easy to become distracted from the team, and the most important stat – the W column. Guys become more worried about their batting average and ERA than the outcome of the game. 

When I was a starting pitcher, I was the same way. When a hitter made contact, as I'd watch the play and move to cover my responsibility, I'd judge whether or not it was an error or hit and recalculate my ERA and stats as I walked back to the mound. Some games, I'd be more focused on getting outs and keeping us in the game. Other games, my mental attention to my own stat sheet only made the outcome worse for me and my team. 

It was an epidemic for us. Most guys knew their own stats as well as the stats of their teammates and could readily produce arguments on why they should be pitching or in the starting lineup rather than that guy who's out there, including my teammate, Mike. 

One of our players was named Dante. He was the QB from our football team. He had never really played much baseball, but he still made the baseball team without attending tryouts; coach used him as a pitcher and a right-fielder. Mike was next to me on the bench while Dante started that game, and Mike didn't like when Dante played or pitched instead of him. In the middle of the game, Dante came up with the bases loaded, after already driving in a couple runs earlier in the game. This at-bat, he got a pitch on the outer half of the plate and hit it to the opposite field, out toward the scoreboard and up into the wind blowing out to right field. The ball carried over the wall for a grand slam and kept us in the game when we were trailing big. I couldn't believe how well Dante was hitting that day. Neither could Mike. Earlier in the game he had made his case against Dante playing, and now as Dante rounded the bases, Mike quietly said to me, “Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while.” 

Rather than be happy for our team and for our teammate, Mike was obsessively fixated on his individual stuff. Even if Dante's spot on our team wasn't earned, even if he got special treatment, he was still a teammate. He was still playing hard. He was still helping our team try to win. 

In two years, my baseball teams won 13 games. We lost 47. Forty-seven. We laughed under our breath when our coach yelled at us. We were slow and lazy getting ready for games. We buried a message in a bottle in the dugout sand as we blew a 10-run lead and got slaughtered by mercy rule. 

We knew how to make each other laugh and have a good time, but we had no idea what it meant to be a team, to focus on a goal together. We knew our own stats, but I doubt many guys knew our record. We looked out for ourselves and knew what we produced when we got playing time, but we never worked toward becoming a team and forging an identity. 

Jesus asks his disciples what people are saying about Him. People are still figuring Jesus out. They know He is wise and holy and loving, but they're not sure what His deal is. Is he a reincarnation of Elijah or Jeremiah? Is he a new prophet from God? Is he like John the Baptist? 

Jesus asks Peter what he thinks personally, and Peter hits it out of the park. Peter goes out on a limb and admits that he knows that Jesus is the Son of God. Almost like a game show announcer telling a contestant what he's won, Jesus embraces Peter with support and love. 

Jesus is so proud of Peter that he makes him the leader of the group. Jesus tells Peter that He'll support whatever Peter does to guide believers, and this is where we get the tradition of a pope. The pope is meant to follow this call that Jesus gives to Peter to unite and guide Christ's people all over the world. Peter's conversation with Jesus is one of things that gives our “team”, our Christian community, its identity. Peter's profound faith in Christ leads Jesus to make him our leader, someone around whom we can unite as we try to follow Christ. 

In the first reading, Paul told us that even with our unique qualities, we are part of one group together. For people in Paul's time, it didn't matter if they were Jewish or Greek people. It didn't matter if they were free-men or slaves. They were one in Jesus Christ. Their belief in Him, their baptism into His life, death, and resurrection united them. 

For us today, the same idea continues. We know Christ is the Son of God. Regardless of whether we live in Illinois or Indiana, regardless of whether we come from white, black, Latino or any other heritage, regardless of being freshmen or seniors, we at Bishop Noll know we are one together in Christ. 

Jesus pats Peter on the back because he knew it and was not afraid to say it. Peter's faithful commitment to Christ helps solidify Peter's identity. When we recognize that God made us and loves us, that he sent Jesus and the Holy Spirit to show us His love, we too find our identity. No matter if we're male or female, black or white, rich or poor, young or old, we are all united in Christ. 

So think about this team: What sets you apart? What makes you unique? What do you bring to the table that is special to just you? 

For your team – How can you contribute that to an identity that's bigger than just yourself? How do you share yourself in a way that helps others and makes the group better? 

It all is built on Christ. As we try to learn what makes us unique as individuals, as we try to learn how we can contribute ourselves to the team, we can start from our unity in Christ. And as Bishop Noll students, as members of the Warriors football team, we must build everything on that reality. We are all one in Christ.

__________

Readings

First Reading

A reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians:

For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.
For all of you who were baptized into Christ
have clothed yourselves with Christ.
There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free person,
there is not male and female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
And if you belong to Christ,
then you are Abraham’s descendant,
heirs according to the promise.

Gospel

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew:

[Jesus] asked his disciples,

"Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

They replied, "Some say John the Baptist,

others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."

He said to them, 

"But who do you say that I am?" 

Simon Peter said in reply, 

"You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." 

Jesus said to him, 

"Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. 

For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, 

but my heavenly Father.

And so I say to you,

you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,

and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”

Relationship or Public Relations?

I just can't seem to resolve the internal tensions I'm feeling in the midst of this heated-up battle for the smart-phone market share.

Nokia is trying to take a bite out of it with ads that emphasize the power of their "reinvented zoom" on the smart phone camera that enables you take amazing pictures. No problem there. But it's the way they pitch it.

Much like Apple's pedestal-ization of the power of the iPhone's camera, iTunes, and FaceTime features, this new ad centers on a moment at a concert during which a girl takes a photo of the stage, uses the new zoom and crop to create a really sharp image of the performer, and quickly shares it with friends. We then see a montage of her friends' guffaw over what they think are her awesome seats.

Things that are ok: taking pictures at concert, sharing your experience with friends, being jealous of or impressed by or excited for friends' exploits.

Things that are dangerous: staring at your phone rather than the world around you, especially in the midst of a special experience like a live concert; having to share such experiences or know about others' immediately; needing to provoke a reaction via texts or social media.

I stopped the fast forward on a DVR-watch to review this commercial when it came up, wanting to hear my girlfriend's reaction as compared to mine, to see if my interpretation was ridiculous.

We started by expressing frustration at the girl's tunnel-vision, looking down into the funnel of light emanating from her backlit screen amid the hullabaloo of a concert.

Then we thought about how just being at the concert, and being there with a friend, was insufficient. The photo had to be shared - in this case, her friends also craved immediacy in pulling their phones out immediately and expressing mostly disbelief and jealousy.

We finished wondering - building off this growing impulse we feel to be documentarians of all things we experience - if because of the ease of doing video, photo, FaceTime, check-ins or status updates, we cannot resist providing a constantly refreshed stream of self-identification to the world. And if we cannot resist having tight control and immediate broadcast ability.

We as humans have always felt anxious about how others perceive us. In the past, we turned mainly to physical trappings. We might alter the way we dress, the way we talk, the expressions we use, the places we go to hang out, our hairstyle, etc. Now, the plethora of social media accounts out there provide a huge opportunity for people to control the flow of information about themselves and supply people with a very particular image.

Instagram provides your life in photos. Twitter broadcasts the stream of consciousness. Snapchat and Vine send around the mundane or sudden ideas. Foursquare and other "check-in" apps let people know where you've been and where you are. Pinterest shares your creativity. Tumblr, Blogger, Wordpress and others give you an online forum. Facebook does most all these things and more.

Everyone can basically become their own PR-firm, crafting the spread of information and updates about their exploits day-by-day, hour-by-hour, minute-by-minute.

This can be a blessing and a curse. All technology can be used for good or bad. It's up to us to decide what to do with the power in the palms of our hands.

Sometimes, technology enables us to communicate with others more than we ever could before. It becomes a supplemental way for us to bridge the gap between encounters in the traditional ways (face-to-face conversation, nights out, etc). We get into trouble when the technology becomes the primary way we communicate with others (there are times when distance and/or time make it more necessary to resort to this) and takes a big bite out of traditional encounters. Worse, we really dehumanize ourselves when our mode of interaction and expression becomes solely electronic.

We become shadows of ourselves when we rely on a technological tapestry of our activity to define ourselves and show others who we are. Posts to social media can provide fodder to our friends that allow them to stay better plugged into the happenings of our lives. Checking in on friends online can be a great starting point to the next conversation you get to have with a person. The danger comes when our desire to keep tabs on a friend's life devolves into the only way we stay appraised of their lives.

This might be ok for old acquaintances from school or friends you might only care to see once in a blue moon. However, if our primary relationships - with parents, siblings, and best friends - evolve into this mode, the nourishment we need, the love that our being calls us to can give and receive back in kind, gets diluted. We go thirsty and find great difficulty finding legitimate sustenance through solely or heavily electronic relationship.

Let me offer myself as a case study, and cast the first stone at myself.

Pros? I turned off those little red numbers on my phone that tell me how many notifications I have in my Gmail or Facebook, and they also can no longer pop up in my lock screen. The camera in the iPhone is great, and it allows me snap pictures even if I forget or choose not to bring my point-and-shoot digital camera; plus, it syncs automatically to my laptop and is nifty for stuff at work and boosting my social media accounts there. Relatedly, I'm building a Twitter and Facebook following to try to get campus ministry and faith into the news-feed streams of teenagers and redeem some of the chatter that saturates those worlds. Finally, my dad loves picture messaging, especially about places we'd like to go as a family but can't necessarily all get to at the same time - sporting events, dinners out, visits to friends.

Cons? Texting and emailing is easier than ever, and my balance between just calling and/or visiting friends or co-workers in person can be tenuous. An in-person conversation can be so much more immediate and conclusive than the up-in-the-air-ness of email that I lean on too heavily. I, too, shoot photos and videos at sporting events and concerts. I try to limit myself to a select few pictures or a short video or two, but temptation can be strong. I think I did ok lucking into on-the-field seats at Notre Dame last weekend, and I only hope the memory is ingrained strongly from that one-of-a-kind experience. Most obsessively, I love the geo-tagging on Facebook. I love to post statuses or pictures on location and add locations to photos I post in batches. I meticulously went back in time and geo-tagged my photos on Facebook because I loved the map feature on my timeline and how it illustrated all the places I've been. It's definitely a guilty pleasure, and I know I've used it to brag.

What do you think? How do your social media and wireless capabilities affect your desire to create or control perception of you? Are you just telling it like it is and simply providing a link for people into your life? Are you very consciously and editorially choosing particular things to tailor an image? Are you complementing relationships through your usage or replacing interpersonal encounters with technological activity?

Even if you think your usage isn't troublesome, what about your intentions or motivations? Why are you checking in with a status and tagging the location? Why are you taking an Instagram of that sunset? Why are you checking your mail or refreshing your newsfeed?

At the end of the day, is the way that each of us use the technology at our fingertips oriented toward relationship or our own public image and perception? Is it emphasizing or belittling our humanity? Is it enhancing or diluting our human relationships?

Call to Worship: Lie in the Grass

From time to time, the delights of my job as campus minister give me the platform to speak to the school or groups of students. Here is the my Call to Worship to open our start of the year Mass, adapted from thoughts originally found in a previous blog on a homily I heard:

Good morning! Welcome to our Opening of the Year Mass, the first of many times when we will gather around this table to realize our unity in Christ. Right now we're on the brink of another school year. Looking ahead to nine months of classes, homework, tests, essays, and projects can seem daunting – and not just to you students, but also to the staff, administrators, and your teachers, too.

Let me tell you three simple facts.

1. Grass grows.
2. No one has ever seen grass grow.
3. If you laid down in a field for a long time, the growth would envelop you.
--Repeat--

Students, you might not want to go to class at all. You might not want to jump back into the deep end of schoolwork. You might already be getting tired of getting up early, working the whole day, and then going to after-school practices. You might feel like all these rules and prayers are cramping your style. You might feel like you don't have time to worry about God or what you believe in right now.

Teachers, you might already be dragging in lesson-planning or grading. You might be dreading that next test you have to write, then give, then grade, and then record to the gradebook. Staff and administration, you may already be drowning in a crowded inbox of emails or feeling overwhelmed by a filled-up voicemail box.

Let me tell you three simple facts.

1. Grass grows.
2. No one has ever seen grass grow.
3. If you laid down in a field for a long time, the growth would envelop you.

We may get tired, stressed, or frustrated as we dig into the new year. But we need to embrace patience. Patience that our routines will become comfortable and familiar. Patience that we can meet our deadlines and get our work done. Patience that we will learn each other's names, get to know each other, and make new friends. Patience that our GPA's can improve with hard work and focus. Patience that our God who made us and loves us is in fact with us always, already at work in our lives before we even wake up in the morning.

Our patience and dedication grows when we support each other. Bishop Noll is known as a family. The family that prays together, stays together. We come together to pray many times a day, and none is more important than our prayer around the Eucharist. Jesus comes to be with us and offers Himself to us. Let's come together to receive Him. And today when your Eucharistic Minister looks you in the eye and says, “The Body of Christ,” know that your Amen isn't just in response to a mysteriously bless-ed piece of bread. For we too are the Body of Christ, walking, breathing, living, and loving one another.

We can help each other's patience by our love and community. Let's start now, with this Mass, and commit to this family.

Grass grows. Great things have happened, are happening, and will continue to happen here. It's hard to see each bit of growth, but if you stick with it, the grass will envelop you.