Ten insights from Catholic youth, Part I

Several months ago I was asked to speak about my experience at last year's World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, as well as the state of Catholic youth today.  At the time, someone asked me to reprint my notes on the blog.  Clearly, it has taken me a ridiculously long time to do so!  Nevertheless, since I am pre-blogging (scheduling posts ahead of time since I just got married on Saturday), I thought this would be an ideal time to share the ten insights I have learned about Catholic youth, particularly from my latest World Youth Day trip.  

I.                   Bold

-          What other word could describe the desire of 2.5 million young people to raise thousands of dollars to spend a week in a foreign country, walking for miles, eating what is available, living out of a suitcase or a backpack, cramming onto public transportation and becoming part of a billboard to the world that the Catholic faith is alive and thriving? 

      Our young people are bold.  They are not afraid to live their faith, proclaim their faith, and live the radicality that the faith truly deserves.  

Alter Christus

Tom Hoopes wrote this piece around Father's Day, but it's worth a good read now.  He shares some "unforgettable images of the priesthood."  Among them, his final story is the most profound:

But the greatest priestly action I have ever seen was at Mass on a hot summer Sunday at St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, Conn.

This was back before the parish had air conditioning. It was tough for the congregation, but worse for the visiting priest who said Mass in the summer. He had diabetes and some kind of degenerative nerve disorder that made his hands shake.

 “It’s hot for you,” he would joke. “But I’m up here wearing a horse blanket!”

This priest’s homilies were excellent, showing him to be a great student of Catholic social teaching, but the moment that is burned in my memory happened during the Eucharistic prayer.
Father was slowing down through the first part of the prayer, like an old record player that needed to be cranked. When he started the consecration, it sounded like he was going to stop altogether.

But after he started the consecration, it quickly became clear that nothing could make him stop.
“Take this,” pause, “all of you,” pause, “and” … long pause … “eat it.”

He took a long gasping breath and looked like he wouldn’t recover. A parishioner ran to his side. The priest made it clear he wasn’t about to leave the altar, so the parishioner brought a chair for him to rest on.

“This … is … my … body … which will be … given up … for you.”

He lifted the host with shaky hands. We watched in rapt silence.

Find out what happened by reading the rest here.

A new saint -- wife and mother

Some are calling Chiara Petrillo a second St. Gianna Beretta Molla -- a woman who gave her life so that her child might live.  It's a touching story -- the loss of her first two children almost immediately after birth, a diagnosis of cancer during her third pregnancy, and a healthy son given life because Chiara sacrificed her own.  She died a few weeks ago.


It's a story that causes me to think, too, because Chiara and I are the same age, 28.  Chiara's situation could happen to anyone, and yet she accepted it extraordinarily, trusting God's plan and surrendering herself fully to Him.  It leads to a self-examination of where I need to grow in trust and surrender.


It's the Chiara's of the world that remind us that we, too, are called to be saints.  And it's the Chiara's of the world that gently ask us if we are fulfilling that mission.    

I'm eager to read more about Chiara and to watch her cause for canonization begin, as I am sure it will.  Meanwhile, let's also pray for her husband and young son as they grieve the loss of Chiara and begin to share her in a unique way with the world.  You can read her story here.

Bl. Peter To Rot, pray for us

It's the feast day of a little known blessed -- Peter To Rot.  I remember reading his story in a book about modern saints I received around the time of my Confirmation, "Faces of Holiness, Faces of Christ."  But it wasn't until our Kenosis teens began researching saints to be the patrons of Kenosis that I realized the reason for his martyrdom near Papua New Guinea.  He was a martyr for marriage.

Fast forward more than a year later, and my fiance and I were told that the only day available in July for a wedding at the church in which we hoped to marry was July 7.

Fast forward another few months, and I realize that July 7, our wedding day, is the feast day of Bl. Peter To Rot, a martyr for marriage.  God is good!  And, no worries, I am not typing this post on our wedding day.  In fact, as I mentioned a couple of days ago, I have pre-posted until the beginning of August to allow me time to marry, move and travel.  

But I had to share the saint of the day and a link to his powerful story.  

Bl. John Paul II said in his homily for the beatification of Bl. Peter To Rot:

The Martyr’s example speaks also to married couples. Blessed Peter To Rot had the highest esteem for marriage and, even in the face of great personal danger and opposition, he defended the Church’s teaching on the unity of marriage and the need for mutual fidelity. He treated his wife Paula with deep respect and prayed with her morning and evening. For his children he had the utmost affection and spent as much time with them as he could. If families are good, your villages will be peaceful and good. Hold on to the traditions that defend and strengthen family life!

Let's learn from this martyr's story and ask him for his prayers today.  

Prayers, plans and posting

Things might be a little different around here for a month or so.  I'm getting married this weekend (prayers are greatly appreciated as I say yes to my vocation) and will be taking a month or so away from active blogging in order to properly celebrate and settle into our new home in a different city.  That said, the blog will not wither away.  I've pre-posted several things to last the time, so I hope Unshakeable Hope continues to serve you, even if I'm not posting on the latest news stories or trends.


Thanks for the prayers.  I'll be blogging on the other other side of the 7th with a new name ... 

Long thoughts on shorts

Summer time brings with it new amounts of sun, and therefore of heat and therefore of shorts.  Yes, shorts.  Those articles of clothing that these days do a very good job of living up to their name.  I want to be very honest and share that something that completely mystifies me is giving a talk to young ladies about modesty, wherein the young women are nodding their heads and saying things like, "Yes, my friends dress inappropriately all the time, and they just don't realize what kind of message their sending.  I'm different.  I want to dress in a way that communicates respect."


And I think, "Bravo!  So true!"


Until I notice the shorts.


The shorts that barely cover anything.  The shorts that inevitably become even shorter when sitting or bending or even moving.  


But somehow shorts are seen as exempt from a modesty policy.  (Maybe because they're shorts.)   But I think this is a problem.  


I've always heard the longest fingertip rule -- that shorts should be at least as long as the longest fingertip when one's arm is extended along the side of the body.  The fact of the matter is that longer shorts do exist -- even Bermuda shorts -- and it is not impossible to find a pair that don't flash a strobe light that says, "Look at my legs and only my legs."  


Is there something bigger at stake than just looking at one's legs though?  I think there is.  There is something dignified and lady-like about wearing a bit more cloth, whether it's a skirt that at least reaches the knee or a pair of shorts that extends to at least mid-thigh.  There's something that preserves a sense of mystery, a sense of, "I am not your property.  I am a daughter of God."  And there's something that declares where one's sense of dignity lies, and how one defines womanhood -- as a gift to be given or as a stare to be grasped at.  


So, why seek a longer hem in the midst of the summer sun?  Because who I am is a body and a soul; who I am is a person who deserves to be loved.  Because those around me deserve to see me as more than legs and a T-shirt or tank top.  Because the incredible mystery and depth of my person and my femininity can be expressed in a unique way by what I wear, and short shorts just don't do this task justice.  


Ladies, I realize that dressing modestly can come with a few challenges -- finding clothes, hearing the confusion of friends -- but I'd like to encourage you that these few challenges do not compare with the confidence, grace and beauty of reflecting your uniqueness, mystery and depth in a veiled way to the world.  It's worth the sacrifice.  And the new pair of shorts.

Quote book

"The joy you are seeking has a name, a face; that of Jesus of Nazareth, who waits for you in the Eucharist." -- Pope Benedict XVI