I went to visit an additional 2 churches today in Albuquerque after visiting St. Filipe de Neri. For those are keeping official count, today is January 31, and I have visited 34 churches so far this year. I wanted to get a little ahead because I know travel days and sickness may prevent me from getting to Church on certain days. 

I made some remarks yesterday about Norman, Oklahoma. I thought it was the prototypical town of the Catholic experience the United States. I’m not going to resend that statement, but I am going to have to admit that, after today, I didn’t really know what I was talking about. Norman was typical to my experience, but my experience is limited. 

I visited a small church today in Albuquerque known as Queen of Angels and the Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. This parish was established to serve the needs of Native Americans who were being bussed away from the reservations to receive a public education in Albuquerque. It became a parish where Catholics who were Native American were free to incorporate their Native rituals into Catholic worship.  

As I walked around the church, I noticed saints of European antiquity adorned with medicine bags, sacred feathers, and drums. Instead of golden censers to burn incense, pots of coal to smoke aromatic herbs sit at the foot of the altar. At the statue of Kateri Tekakwitha is a small pot of sacred cornmeal which is used to sprinkle over the feat of the statue. The sacred cornmeal holds a value similar to that of holy water.  

The genocide of the American Indian is a dark aspect of the history of the United States that I feel is just coming to light in the American culture. There is even a dark side to the ministry of the Church which blindly fed the pursuit for more land, more control, and more power over the lands of colonization. These wounds cannot be easily healed, but I felt a small gesture of healing taking place at Queen of Angels today.

The experience of being Catholic does not presuppose European customs. Being Catholic means being universal, and the inclusion of Native traditions in the worship of Native Americans illustrates how universal the Church is called to be. To see my Google Earth pictorial of Queen of Angels parish, click here.

And when I thought I had already been blown away for the day, I walk into Our Lady of Perpetual Hope Byzantine Catholic Church. This church has a sign in the front which proudly announces “In union with the Pope” though the average Roman Catholic would not see how. The Byzantine Rite is a grouping of churches which originate in Eastern Europe (Arab, Hungarian, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak, Ukrainian.) The celebration of the Eucharist in these churches developed differently than in Western Europe, but the bishops and patriarchs of the Byzantine Rite remained loyal to the primacy of the Pope as the first among equals in the shepherding of the flock of the Church.  

In this church there is a screen between the assembly and the tabernacle. This screen symbolizes the veil that exists between this earthly world and heaven. We can see through, but just barely. After reading and reflecting upon the scriptures as an assembly, the priest goes behind the veil and speaks to God on behalf of the people. He then returns with the Eucharist in the particles of bread and wine mixed together, to be given to the people directly in the mouth.  

I have been to a Byzantine Rite Mass before, there is an honored sense of tradition for those who worship in the Byzantine communion. What I have never had the privilege of experiencing before is the openness that the Byzantine community in Albuquerque has. The sign on the door reads “All are welcome!” Byzantine churches have a unique architecture usually with domes and crosses on top. If you have downloaded Google Earth, you can see my pictorial of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Byzantine Catholic church by clicking here. What I never expected to see was a Byzantine church made out of Adobe! What was more, is when I got into the church, there is a stain glass window of Our Lady of Guadalupe. To learn more about the Byzantine Rite and the parish, visit their website at www.olphnm.org. 

I had a tremendous conversation with the parish Deacon when I entered. I wish I could express with greater ease the spirituality of comfort in diversity that he had. Here is a man with Irish descent, working with Eastern European traditions, professing unity with a Roman pontiff who comes from Germany, now serving in a land irrevocably influenced by Native Americans, using text that are translated from Russian, and now celebrated in English and Spanish. Wow. 

In all of it, he is unthreatened to have a stranger walk in and sit down with him to talk about the Faith. Perhaps it comes from being in a minority that is given dignity and respect, even if sometimes overlooked. He has clearly risen above the issues that plague most struggles for unity in diversity. He names these struggles “working against” (that is. seeking something out of anger against something else) and “power.” If we can over come these fallacies, then we are free to follow God in the language and traditions God has spoken to us.  

What a day! Three amazing churches, and yes, I have to altar my comments about Norman Oklahoma because the Church in America is way bigger than I thought. I can’t begin to say what is “typical.”  

I am also moved to say there is an error in my own thought. In the Roman Rite, we are often arrogant to say, “In every country of the world there are people who are praying the same prayers that we are. It is the same Mass, no matter what language it is in.” As much as I supported this before, today has made me realize this isn’t quite accurate. The communion is the same, and our prayers for each other in that communion, but we don’t need to hide behind words or costumes, statues or icons to prove our unity. 

The Church can be such a sign of unity. We can have entirely different ways of praying, and still be in communion. A simple pilgrim like me can still be welcome. The Byzantine Rite proves that. The Native Americans prove that. Why do I feel I’m just at the tip of the iceberg here? If this is possible for aspects of the Church, can it be possible for aspects of the world?