THE CHURCH CATHOLIC

This weekend’s multi-cultural festival is an important event for our parish, not only because of the opportunity to gather and celebrate (which we hadn’t been able to do, properly, for two years), but because it also reveals to us a basic truth of our Faith: that the Catholic Church is a catholic Church. What does the word “catholic” mean?

The word comes to us from the Greek: kath’ and holos (of the whole) yields katholikos, meaning “universal” or “worldwide.” And so fundamentally it means the whole Church of Jesus Christ (even though the term does have a “secular” use, as “My tastes in music are very catholic—I like all kinds of styles.”). The word first appears in describing the Church in the writings of St Ignatius of Antioch (whose feast-day was this past Monday). While on his way to Rome to be martyred by being thrown to the lions in the Colosseum, he wrote a series of letters to individual churches, and in his letter to the church in Smyrna, he refers to the catholic Church as something larger than a local body: “Where the bishop is to be seen, there let all his people be; just as wherever Jesus Christ is present, we have the catholic Church.”

Still, the universal Catholic Church must be found in local churches—it must be incarnated in concrete places, with real believers. And those local churches likely will (and should) look different, even as we all profess the one Faith. There are customs unique to local churches that give them their savor. I think of the ways local churches in Italy have a virtual competition at Christmas to see which of them can stage the most elaborate and incredible Nativity scenes (no mere ox and ass here—we’re talking about re-creating the entire of Bethlehem!). I think of the special foods eaten only at Christmas or Easter in various countries. I think of the varieties of musical styles and instruments found in the worship of these countries.

So at Our Savior we celebrate our catholicity by celebrating our multi-cultural heritages as the Body of Christ here. Ours is a diverse parish, as everyone knows: we have a strong and wonderful presence of people from Vietnam and the Philippines, and from many different Central and South American countries, bringing their language and local flavors to Cody Road. We have a sprinkling, too, of people from other countries—Poland, Germany, England, Ireland, Italy, Russia, Lebanon, and so on. And this year we have special guests from the Holy Land! We learn from all this the truth of the Mystical Body of Christ as St Paul describes it (I Corinthians 12:12ff)—many different members, one Body.

It’s a great joy to be able to celebrate unity in diversity and to be able to eat and drink, sing and dance, in ways perhaps we never knew we could (I’m thinking especially about my first visit to San Francisco de Asis in Temascalapa). There is need for unity, but there is never a need for rigid uniformity. All can have a place at the Lord’s table and brings their own special gifts to the altar. Let’s celebrate!

-Fr. David