{"id":4497,"date":"2006-11-20T00:25:24","date_gmt":"2006-11-20T00:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2006\/11\/its-un-christian.html"},"modified":"2006-11-20T00:25:24","modified_gmt":"2006-11-20T00:25:24","slug":"its-un-christian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2006\/11\/its-un-christian.html","title":{"rendered":"“It’s Un-Christian!”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The pastor at the parish we usually attend (that of "Lights! Lights!") could have his photograph next to the entry on "Low Key" in the dictionary, if there was one. Really. Even though he strikes us as being the Robert Moses<\/a> of his part of town, when he’s offering Mass, he’s all business (the business of prayer, we assume) and lets himself get absorbed in the liturgy. Which is, naturally, why we go there.<\/p>\n

His homilies are never longer than 7 minutes, and they’re fine, even though for all I know, what I hear on any given Sunday is what I would have heard on that same Sunday 3 years previously. I really don’t care. There’s always a point<\/em>. Succinctly delivered, before we move on. Which is refereshing. <\/p>\n

So anyway, today, inspired by  something in the Mass readings <\/a>, he preached about death – specifically, the Christian attitude to death. He went on, for him, a tear about families that have, as he called it, a "Victorian" attitude toward death, and never speak of it, and are fearful of even mentioning it. "If that’s your family’s tradition," he said firmly, "For God’s sake<\/em>, stop it. It’s Un-Christian.<\/em>" <\/p>\n

I was rather impressed. I also wondered if he had something of a tussle or frustrating experience with a family recently. Could be. But I’ll also say – families with young children take note. We sat three rows from the front…and never had to leave once. Joseph is starting to behave exceptionally well, being quite <\/em>interested in trying to follow along in the Mass books, as I said before. And Michael was, I suppose, caught up in thanksgiving for the gift of his life. Or the Sesame Street coloring book, I’m not sure which.<\/p>\n

Whether you’re confronted with death or a 2-year old, just remember…<\/p>\n

Hope is a virtue!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. 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