Punctuating Life’s Moments
Some years ago our Vancouver Oblate parish would have infant Baptisms several times a month within a Sunday Eucharist. Following the homily, our pastor Fr. John Brioux, OMI, (RIP) would call the parents and godparents to the sanctuary where he would proclaim “I Baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit’. It was then that Fr. John would take the infant, walk to the front of the altar and hold the infant high while announcing to the community “Let us welcome “name” to our community”. The congregation would then erupt in applause and gratitude. Observing this over fifteen years, I began to refer to it as the Lion King moment!
In his book “Five Great Catholic Ideas” Bishop Edward Clark refers to the Sacraments as punctuating life’s moments. I felt certain that every Baptism with Fr. John left the community feeling more whole and that the parents and godparents felt a vital part of it. Bishop Clark goes on to say that “often the tendency is to think of the sacraments as moments of personal encounter with God or as private experiences of a life lived within the Church. The reality is, however, that the sacraments are not intended for us, individually, but for us as a community.”
In the 80’s I was a superintendent for a bishop who would frequently say to the gathered teachers “It is good to be here” and then proceed to remind us that faith is born and grows in a community. Those words became very special and reminded us that the primary recipient of each sacrament and of every sacramental enactment is the Church itself. Through the Eucharist, the whole Church is nourished as the body of Christ. When we look at the sacraments in this way we see why the rituals within the sacraments of Baptism and Marriage can have such a lasting impact.
While Pew Research has shown that the “nones” are now the second largest group when it comes to religious affiliation we become aware from attending baptisms, weddings and funerals that the “nones” still feel a connection to the church. In his recent article in the NYT on the Catholic church and Ireland, Eamon Maher says “The effects of a traditional Catholic upbringing tend to lie dormant in the psyche of the baptized, only to reappear at the most unexpected moments.” These unexpected moments are often the sacraments when friends and family gather.
A few weeks ago I attended the funeral mass for one of my grade seven students from 1972. It was a very special class as can be seen in the fact that four decades later the eulogy was given by two of his fellow students and at least 50% of his class attended. Chatting with some of my former students at the reception one of them said “Gee, I haven’t been to church for years but I forgot how powerful these moments are”. I am sure her comment referred to the beautiful rituals of the church but I am also sure it reflected how the church does it right, especially when it is done well.
In this day and age it is helpful to be reminded that the church’s dual role is both counter-cultural and to transform culture. The great Jesuit educator Cardinal Avery Dulles used to say that “by their nature, faith and culture will always be in dynamic tension”. When Fr. John baptized a child you can be sure the community witnessing this dual role found comfort in the church. For the parents it is fair to say that the memory of the moment will regularly come back in focus. Our job as Catholic leaders is to understand this tension and to use every opportunity to let the sacraments ‘punctuate life’s moments.’
By Chuck Luttrell – Provincial Associate
