tvc . dsj . org | February 20 , 2018 COMMENTARY 15 Faith and Superstition
By Rev . Ron Rolheiser , OMI
Theologian , teacher , award-winning author , and President of the Oblate
School of Theology in San Antonio , TX
The power of a subordinate clause , one nuance within a sentence and everything takes on a different meaning .
That ’ s the case in a recent brilliant , but provocative , novel , “ The Ninth Hour ,” by Nina McDermott . She tells a story which , among other things , focuses on a group of nuns in Brooklyn who work with the poor . Times are hard , people are needy , and the nuns , who work mostly in home care for the poor , appear utterly selfless in their dedication . Nothing , it seems , can deflect them from their mission to give their all , their every of ounce of energy , to help the poor . And on this score , McDermott gives them their due . As well , for anyone familiar with what goes on inside of a religious community , McDermott ’ s portrayal of these nuns is both nuanced and accurate . Nuns aren ’ t all of a kind . Each has her own unique history , temperament , and personality . Some are wonderfully warm and gracious , others nurse their own wounds and aren ’ t always evident paradigms of God ’ s love and mercy . And that ’ s case with the nuns that McDermott describes here . But , quirks of individual personality aside , as a community , the nuns she describes serve the poor and their overall witness is beyond reproach .
But then , after telling this story of faith and dedication and reflecting on how today there are few groups of nuns who still live so radical a commitment , McDermott , through the voice her narrator , introduces the subversive subordinate clause : “ The holy nuns who sailed through the house when we were young were a dying breed even then . … The call to sanctity and self-sacrifice , the delusion and superstition it required , faded from the world even then .”
Wow ! The delusion and the superstition it required . As if this kind of radical self-sacrifice can only be the product of false fear . As if whole generations of Christian self-sacrifice , vowed celibacy , and singleminded dedication can be dismissed , post-factum , as ultimately predicated on delusion and superstition . How true is that ? I grew up in the world McDermott is describing , where nuns were like that , and where a powerful Catholic ethos supported them and declared what they were doing was anything but delusion and superstition . Admittedly that was another time and much of that ethos has not stood the test of time and has , indeed , to a large part succumbed to the raw power of secularity . And so McDermott is right , partially . Some of that selflessness was based upon an unhealthy fear of hell fire and God ’ s anger . To an extent too it was based on a notion of faith that believed that God does not really want us to flourish much here on earth but that our lives are meant to be mostly a somber preparation for the next world . Perhaps this isn ’ t exactly delusion and superstition , but it is bad theology and it did help underwrite some of the religious life in the world McDermott describes and in the Catholic world of my youth .
But there was also something else undergirding this ethos , and I inhaled it deeply in my youth and in a way that branded my soul for good , like nothing else I have ever breathed in in this world . Notwithstanding some false fears , there was inside of that a biblical faith , a raw mandate , that taught that your own comfort , your own desires , and even your own legitimate longings for human flourishing , sexuality , marriage , children , freedom , and having what everyone else has , are subject to a higher purpose , and you may be asked to sacrifice them all , your legitimate longings , to serve God and others . It was a faith that believed you were born with a God-given vocation and that your life was not your own .
I saw this first in my own parents who believed that faith made those demands upon them , who accepted that , and who consequently had the moral authority to ask this of others . I saw it too in the Ursuline Nuns who taught me in school , women with full red blood flowing through their veins but who sacrificed these longings to come into the public schools in our remote rural areas and teach us . I saw it too in the little prairie community that nurtured me in my youth , a whole community who , by and large , lived out this selflessness .
Today I live in a world that prizes sophistication above all else , but where as a whole society we ’ re no longer sure what ’ s “ fake news ” as opposed to what we can believe in and trust . In this unsteady world the faith of my youth , of my parents , of the nuns who sacrificed their dreams to teach me , and of the nuns whom Nina McDermott describes in “ The Ninth Hour ,” can look very much like delusion and superstition . Sometimes it is delusion , admittedly ; but sometimes it isn ’ t , and in my case the faith my parents gave me , with its belief that your life and your sexuality are not your own , is , I believe , the truest , most non-superstitious thing of all .
Saint Katharine Drexel - March 3
The daughter of a wealthy Philadelphia banker , Katharine received marriage proposals but wanted to become a contemplative nun . After inheriting a fortune , she visited the Dakotas and witnessed American Indians ’ poverty , subsequently pleading with Pope Leo XIII to send them more missionaries . But he and others encouraged her to found a congregation to work among people of color . In 1891 , she and 13 companions became the first Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament . For more than 40 years , she led the order , using her fortune to establish numerous missions and schools for Indians and African Americans . Following a major heart attack in 1935 , she retired to a life of prayer . Canonized in 2000 , she is the patron of home missions .
- By Catholic News Service