Confirmed

Grams and Grandad spent the weekend in Houston with Nick and Marie. We were there to celebrate with them as Marie received the sacrament of confirmation.

Marie being anointed, the priest moved right in front of her just as I snapped the photo

The confirmation took place on Sunday evening at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Although we've been practicing Catholics for our entire married life, this was a unique experience. Our Lady of Lourdes is actually Giáo Xứ Đức Mẹ Lộ Đức which is a Vietnamese parish of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston. The church hosted confirmation for several parishes last Sunday, which also was Pentecost Sunday. I think there were close to a hundred adults who were confirmed that night. Most Catholics are confirmed as teenagers, but often, for one reason or another, while they are baptized as babies and receive communion around eight years old, they never get around to confirmation. Such was the case with Marie.

I want to tell you a little bit about the church. The building is only about a year old and is really, really beautiful. This is the second new church I've been to in the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, and they are really exceptionally beautiful in the traditional sense. So many modern churches look like retail establishments. These buildings are much more traditional and I'm sure much more expensive. But, kudos to their architect. They really are gorgeous. This church has mass in the Vietnamese language with one mass in English on Sunday.

Photo from here

As you can see, the church is beautiful. But, the church is not the building. The church is the people and this church has some wonderful people. You could tell they were proud to be hosting this event and they were proud of their church. As we arrived that evening, I was intrigued to see several ladies in traditional Vietnamese clothing. As it turned out, those dresses were lay minister's vestments. The Eucharistic Ministers wore white and gold and the Hospitality Ministers wore bright pink.

I snapped these photos with no flash because they were taken during the mass. I thought the traditional dress was a beautiful addition to a very special celebration. Eucharistic Ministers at our church and at most churches dress exactly like the photo below. Serviceable and neat, but much less beautiful.

Photo from here

I have to say that I was very disappointed in the behavior of quite a few of the people who attended this mass. Before the service began, an announcement was made requesting that everyone refrain from flash photography and from moving forward to take photos during the service. There would be ample time afterward to pose for pictures and the Vicar General, who was bestowing the sacrament, would be happy to pose for photographs after mass. Over and over during the very long service, people with cameras got up and walked in front of everyone to snap a photograph. Some even had their friends stop in front of the altar and pose for pictures during the mass. It was very disrespectful of others who were straining to see their own loved ones as they were anointed.

Marie chose Christopher as her saint's name. Saint Christopher is the patron saint of travelers. Marie is definitely a traveler herself. Next week Marie will start her new assignment with Exxon in Norway. Here is the newly confirmed Marie with her husband and sponsor Nick. Congratulations Marie, we are very proud of you!

I thought you might also like to see that today I have a new blogging assistant. Her Highness is asleep on the sofa right next to me. Yesterday we drove home from Houston to Corpus Christi. Then we met Katy in Three Rivers last night and I came back to San Antonio with her to spend the week taking care of Her Highness. Grandad will come up for the weekend. Our Little Princess has gone with her Daddy and big sister Mady to visit family and friends in Louisiana.

As you can see, we're both working very hard. Nice work if you can get it.

One of those subjects we should avoid ... Religion

Grams has spent several days writing and re-writing this post.  I realize that it will not be popular and will probably tick some people off to the extreme. But I'm going to publish it anyway, because sometimes you've just got to say what you've got to say. This is one of those times.

Grams was raised in the Southern Baptist Church. When I say that I mean, if the church-house was open, we were there. We went to Sunday School and church services on Sunday morning. We went to training union and evening services on Sunday night. And we went to prayer meeting on Wednesday night. As teenagers our entire social life was centered on the church. We had youth group on Tuesday and sometimes Thursday nights, youth choir on Sunday afternoons, and youth fellowship on Sunday nights. We went to church camp in the summer and usually one or two weekend retreats during the year. Most of my friends were from the church and virtually everyone I ever dated I met at church. By the time I was in high school, I started teaching Sunday School.

Grandad was the only guy I ever dated who was not Baptist. Grandad is Roman Catholic. He never misses mass on Sunday or on Holy Days.  He goes to confession regularly and has, at various times, served as a lay minister and director of several parish programs. He even went to the minor seminary with the intent of becoming a priest. Basically, he's as Catholic as I was Baptist.

After we married, we tried attending both churches but it was short-lived. Honestly, every time Grandad walked into a Baptist Church, he acted like he was about to be struck by lightning. After a couple of years, I realized that the basics are the same, it's the trappings that are different. Baptist churches are generally plain and unadorned, Catholic churches are ornate and highly decorated. Catholic priests wear vestments, Baptist ministers wear suits.

As a young bride and before we had children, Grams converted to Catholicism. I just couldn't see trying to raise kids in both churches. I think religion is confusing enough if you're getting the same message all the time. Trying to teach both to a kid ... that's just too much. So after a few months of instruction from a priest, I was confirmed in the Catholic Church on Palm Sunday in 1978.

I said all that to say this, I have spent my life around people who profess faith in God. Most of my friends and acquaintances are self-professed Christians. But I can't help but wonder if they really believe what they claim to believe. Do they practice their religion because that's how they were raised or have they really thought about what they believe and why they believe it?

For example, Catholics believe in "transubstantiation." That means they believe that when the bread and wine are blessed by the priest during mass, they actually become the body and blood of Christ. Let me be clear, they don't believe it represents the body and blood, they believe it becomes the body and blood. But, it has long been my contention that most Catholics don't really believe in transubstantiation. I think that if they really believed that transubstantiation was real, churches would not hold everyone who would want to receive communion. If the faithful really believed that they could receive the actual body and blood of Christ, they would not be able to stay away.

With the exception of about a year in 2003-2004, there has never been a time in my life when I didn't attend Sunday services of some type every single week. Over the past several years, I've come to realize that I'm a product of both my birth and my circumstance. I worship as I do because that's what I've been taught and where I've been, not because of my own investigation or understanding.

I know there are many other religious groups who believe many things and follow different doctrines ... some I agree with and some I don't. But, what I have come to believe in recent years is that modern religion is mostly designed as a control mechanism. It's all about someone controlling someone else. Whether it's birth control, abortion, dancing, or any of a plethora of other subjects, it really is about control.

I'm trying to become more conscious of my own beliefs and my own thoughts. You see ... the bottom line is that I have my own brain and my own conscience and I can think for myself. I don't need the church or anyone else telling me that I have to do this or not do that. Maybe I'm just burned out on church ... or maybe I'm just moving on to the next step. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I've lost my faith, but I'd willingly lose my religion!