Americana
Google Earth Pictorials:
St. John Neumann Parish |
St. John Neumann Parish |
St. John Neumann Parish
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A land where we are strangers
A place where we are called
With adventure and a mission
To new visions meant for all.
For to follow dreams in time,
Is the path which we have known
Always welcoming the sunrise
When God claims us as his own
What is the American experience? I found myself asking that a lot today. I visited the shrines of American saints today, St. Cabrini and St. John Neumann. While doing so, I also visited the first church in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. What does it mean to be an American saint? What does it mean to be an American?
The East Coast of America has a unique place in history as the "birthplace" of the country. New York was once the capital. Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was written. Both cities have shrines in which bodies of a saint is on display in a glass coffin (don't worry the faces are made of wax and the clothes cover the skeletons).
Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Italy and asked the pope to go to China. She was told, "Not to the east but to the west!" and she came to America in 1889. Where she cared for children and the sick through schools, orphanages, and hospitals that she helped create all over the United States. In a special way, she was thought of as the care giver for the immigrant, since most of the influx of Catholicism in American came from abundant numbers of immigrants. Find out more about Mother Cabrini by clicking here.
St. John Neumann was the patron of my grade school, which is why it was important for me to come here. He was born in Bohemia in 1811 and became a Redemptorist priest in New York. He was later assigned as the bishop of Philadelphia and is credited to a major extent of starting the Catholic School system in America. This is why most Catholic Student Centers on Public Universities across the United States are called "The Neumann Center" Learn more about St. John Neumann by clicking here.
It his hard to imagine that the work of St. John Neumann and St. Mother Cabrini was "cutting edge" but it was. Their lives were risky, full of adventure. Not only do you have to imagine a world without cell phones and computers, but without real acceptance of their very faith tradition (if they were tolerated at all).
It was easy to get a sense of this from seeing the church of St. Joseph's in Philadelphia, which is just steps away from Independence Hall – where the Declaration of Independence was written. St. Joseph's is the oldest Catholic church in the state of Pennsylvania. Click here to view their website. The church looks very "American" verses the Gothic, Roman, or suburban parishes I have photographed thus far. It needed to be that way because Catholicism was trying to fit into a culture that was hostile to Catholicism. They did everything they could to minimize the impact and difference between the Catholic Church and the other churches in Philadelphia at the time (the parish was founded in 1733 when the colony was mostly Quakers). There was almost a secretive nature to the parish. The building exterior, as you can see by using Google Earth to view the pictorial I did. Looks like an ordinary colonial brick building that has no "church" like features. The entrance was even in the footpath of an alley, which kept it from being noticed and made it all the more mysterious.
The Jesuits who built and ran St. Joseph's, St. John Neumann, and Mother Cabrini were bold, courageous, and cunning. They adapted to the circumstances and proclaimed their faith in a unique way that was both true to their tradition and to their experience. They journeyed out beyond the simple quite comfort zone of home and migrated to another horizon. For this reason, the many immigrants I know back in Chicago were deeply in my prayers today. I too, after all, am a foreigner in this land. I have to recognize the boldness and courage of those who leave their home to come here.
My whole reflection today takes place in the cradle of independence for this country. I find that funny. Yesterday at dinner, Fr. Baker said "Pay attention to today's trends in the church, they will become tomorrow's heresy." Independence has become the battle cry of the American ethos. "We are FREE!" It was once our triumph and now has become a danger. Independence has become as much a liability in the development of becoming a fully actualized human being as it is an asset. To a large extent, the mission of AD SODALITATEM and this very pilgrimage is to reinforce our need for interdependence over independence..
This constant process of correction throughout history is amazing. What we do right today, becomes wrong tomorrow and needs to be fixed. That is why it is constantly important for the Church and the people of the Church to be in constant reflection. When I look at the lives of Mother Cabrini and St. John Neumann, my best evaluation is that they did this well. They looked out at the world around them and saw what the Church needed at that point in history and they did that. Today, it doesn't mean we need to open more schools, hospitals, or orphanages. It doesn't mean we need to dress like Mother Cabrini or St .John Neumann. It doesn't mean the Church has failed when a school closes. We do not need to do WHAT these saints did, we need to do what they DID. Read the signs of the times and… adapt. And that is probably the most American thing any of us can do. It is good to be in the part of the world that had the courage to welcome and pursue change.
Special instructions for today's Google Earth pictorials. The file will open up the entire day's pictures but will zoom to the Shrine of Mother Cabrini. You can get this file by clicking here. To see the other shrines, click on the folders found under "January 10, 2007." Or you can click here just to see the Shrine of St. John Neumann or click here to see Old St. Joseph's Church.
A place where we are called
With adventure and a mission
To new visions meant for all.
For to follow dreams in time,
Is the path which we have known
Always welcoming the sunrise
When God claims us as his own
What is the American experience? I found myself asking that a lot today. I visited the shrines of American saints today, St. Cabrini and St. John Neumann. While doing so, I also visited the first church in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. What does it mean to be an American saint? What does it mean to be an American?
The East Coast of America has a unique place in history as the "birthplace" of the country. New York was once the capital. Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was written. Both cities have shrines in which bodies of a saint is on display in a glass coffin (don't worry the faces are made of wax and the clothes cover the skeletons).
Mother Cabrini founded the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Italy and asked the pope to go to China. She was told, "Not to the east but to the west!" and she came to America in 1889. Where she cared for children and the sick through schools, orphanages, and hospitals that she helped create all over the United States. In a special way, she was thought of as the care giver for the immigrant, since most of the influx of Catholicism in American came from abundant numbers of immigrants. Find out more about Mother Cabrini by clicking here.
St. John Neumann was the patron of my grade school, which is why it was important for me to come here. He was born in Bohemia in 1811 and became a Redemptorist priest in New York. He was later assigned as the bishop of Philadelphia and is credited to a major extent of starting the Catholic School system in America. This is why most Catholic Student Centers on Public Universities across the United States are called "The Neumann Center" Learn more about St. John Neumann by clicking here.
It his hard to imagine that the work of St. John Neumann and St. Mother Cabrini was "cutting edge" but it was. Their lives were risky, full of adventure. Not only do you have to imagine a world without cell phones and computers, but without real acceptance of their very faith tradition (if they were tolerated at all).
It was easy to get a sense of this from seeing the church of St. Joseph's in Philadelphia, which is just steps away from Independence Hall – where the Declaration of Independence was written. St. Joseph's is the oldest Catholic church in the state of Pennsylvania. Click here to view their website. The church looks very "American" verses the Gothic, Roman, or suburban parishes I have photographed thus far. It needed to be that way because Catholicism was trying to fit into a culture that was hostile to Catholicism. They did everything they could to minimize the impact and difference between the Catholic Church and the other churches in Philadelphia at the time (the parish was founded in 1733 when the colony was mostly Quakers). There was almost a secretive nature to the parish. The building exterior, as you can see by using Google Earth to view the pictorial I did. Looks like an ordinary colonial brick building that has no "church" like features. The entrance was even in the footpath of an alley, which kept it from being noticed and made it all the more mysterious.
The Jesuits who built and ran St. Joseph's, St. John Neumann, and Mother Cabrini were bold, courageous, and cunning. They adapted to the circumstances and proclaimed their faith in a unique way that was both true to their tradition and to their experience. They journeyed out beyond the simple quite comfort zone of home and migrated to another horizon. For this reason, the many immigrants I know back in Chicago were deeply in my prayers today. I too, after all, am a foreigner in this land. I have to recognize the boldness and courage of those who leave their home to come here.
My whole reflection today takes place in the cradle of independence for this country. I find that funny. Yesterday at dinner, Fr. Baker said "Pay attention to today's trends in the church, they will become tomorrow's heresy." Independence has become the battle cry of the American ethos. "We are FREE!" It was once our triumph and now has become a danger. Independence has become as much a liability in the development of becoming a fully actualized human being as it is an asset. To a large extent, the mission of AD SODALITATEM and this very pilgrimage is to reinforce our need for interdependence over independence..
This constant process of correction throughout history is amazing. What we do right today, becomes wrong tomorrow and needs to be fixed. That is why it is constantly important for the Church and the people of the Church to be in constant reflection. When I look at the lives of Mother Cabrini and St. John Neumann, my best evaluation is that they did this well. They looked out at the world around them and saw what the Church needed at that point in history and they did that. Today, it doesn't mean we need to open more schools, hospitals, or orphanages. It doesn't mean we need to dress like Mother Cabrini or St .John Neumann. It doesn't mean the Church has failed when a school closes. We do not need to do WHAT these saints did, we need to do what they DID. Read the signs of the times and… adapt. And that is probably the most American thing any of us can do. It is good to be in the part of the world that had the courage to welcome and pursue change.
Special instructions for today's Google Earth pictorials. The file will open up the entire day's pictures but will zoom to the Shrine of Mother Cabrini. You can get this file by clicking here. To see the other shrines, click on the folders found under "January 10, 2007." Or you can click here just to see the Shrine of St. John Neumann or click here to see Old St. Joseph's Church.