What California Taught Me About Being Catholic

Californians are strange animals. They plant imported palm trees everywhere. They irrigate entire deserts. They love salads and tofu. And they have a strange love-hate relationship with their automobiles. But after spending my second summer in California, I think I learned a little something about (surprise) the Catholic faith.

Preserving Cultural Traditions...

I was in California for less than a week when I attended my first Mass at St. Michael's parish in Livermore. It was Pentecost, which usually makes for one of the more festive Masses at any Catholic parish. What surprised me, however, was how festive it was. As Mass is about to start, I heard loud singing in a language I didn't understand. It turns out that St. Michael's has a large Portugese community, and when the Portugese do Pentecost, they DO Pentecost. There was a procession, there was singing, and perhaps most interesting of all, there was a free lunch afterwards in the parish hall for everybody . I had stumbled into a Portugese Festa, a celebration of the Holy Spirit, and I had a grand old time.

The Festa is a celebration of the third person of the Holy Trinity with that grand hospitality like only the Portugese know how. The food is blessed at the end of Mass, and then it is made available - to everyone - for free. I was told that is isn't uncommon for the poor of a Portugese town to descend on the local church for the Festa . In a very Christian fashion, the banquet table is open to everyone.

A month or so later, I had the privilege of visiting Mission San Diego. It was much to my surprise that I ran into yet another festival, that of the ringing of the Mission Bells. The whole parish family gathered in the gardens, for a quaint little fair, complete with food, root beer floats and traditional Spanish singing. There was certainly no better way to spend my Saturday than touring the beautiful old Spanish Mission and enjoying a little bit of Spanish hospitality.

As Americans, we don't have a deep-rooted "culture" from which to draw devotions such as these. In fact, when I was younger, I always looked somewhat askance at the cultural festivals at the local parishes. But after a summer in California, I think I understand things a little better. These festivals aren't just about being Italian, Spanish or Portugese, but about how different ethnic groups can help us to better experience the risen Christ. And of course, the best part about being American, is that we can join in the experience of all of our ethnically different neighbors:)

On the "Vocations Crisis" ...

You can't read more than a few pages of a Catholic newspaper or magazine without hearing about the impending (or current) "vocations crisis." We hear about the "good old days," when every parish had a small army of priests and religious to administer it. Perhaps it was like that once, I don't know. But I know that in the early days of California, that was anything but the case.

When Fr. Junipero Serra and his compatriots in the Franciscan Order first set foot in California with the Spanish explorers, they were the only Christians in the whole of the land. Starting from Mission San Diego de Alcala, the Franciscans set forth on their heroic mission to bring Christ to the native peoples of California. Facing difficulties on all sides, from unruly soldiers to unruly natives, the Franciscans pressed onward. Several were martyred at the hands of the native Californians that they had come to serve. Many died along the way. But in the end, they were successful, building 21 missions in all.

So how many Franciscans were stationed at each Mission church, you may ask? Two. And one of them was specifically assigned to administration duties for the mission fields and orchards. That left one brave priest to meet with and catechize Natives; one brave priest to administer the Sacraments across the vast mission lands; one brave priest to give it all for his native Californian brothers and sisters. Just one.

If such miracles are possible with only a few dedicated Franciscan priests, then what miracles are possible with the tens of thousands of priests and religious (not to mention millions of faithful lay-people) we have in America today? With prayer and hard work, we can evangelize this culture, much as the Franciscans did in California long ago. "For nothing is impossible with God."