Field Trip to Marshall Parte Tres

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

My third day in Marshall started out so peacefully and calmly. I only had scheduled my confirmation class meeting with Clara and Deloris, the first Holy Communion teacher, in the afternoon. The morning was mine to meditate. I found a taize prayer cassette tape to listen to as I crocheted a scarf for Clara. As I wrapped the yarn around the hook over and over again, I found myself lost in thought about Bethel, its people, its place in my life, and mine in Bethel's. My JV year has been very different than I thought it would be for a myriad of reasons. It has affected me greatly, as it should and is supposed to. Yet at times I feel lost in the change and then again at times I find more of my true self in the change. Such issues came to the forefront as I had my meeting with these faithful ladies.

I came as prepared as I could with my research on confirmation classes, all of the outlines and handouts of my Youth Group nights that I had written myself, photocopies of activities from various books here, and anything else I could find useful. However no matter how much I prepare for things here, a curve ball is usually ready to come my way. She told me that the only CCD programs that they have are a First Communion class (which they do when the kids are around 8) and a Confirmation class (which is done when the teens are around 15-16). There is obviously no Catholic school and there is no Youth Group, therefore these two classes are the only formal Catholic education in Marshall.

Also, because of Marshall's remoteness there is no clergy that stays there for an extended period of time. There are no deacons and our own Fr. Chuck can only get out there for about a weekend every six weeks. Therefore more often than not, they have no Masses or even deacon services, only Eucharistic services which I learned were lead by Clara and Angelina. Clara, bless her heart, additionally volunteers as the parish administrator while still having a full time job at the school. The entire parish is not only run by volunteers, it is run entirely by women. Clara said to me, "It would be nice to have at least a deacon for Holy Days of Obligation, like Christmas". It made me think back to pleas that I would hear at my home parish back in Murrysville around Christmas season like carpooling and volunteers for decorating the church, which aren't wrong of course. It just put things into a new perspective.

After going over the confirmation materials and implementations of them, we started discussing why people are leaving the church. Clara said how the attendance dramatically goes up when a priest is here, but as mentioned that is rare. She also explained that because a lot of people have children out of wedlock, they feel that they are not as accepted into the Catholic community and that they cannot receive Communion. And because it is a Eucharistic service the attitude then has become, why go? Though I can't say for certain, I would imagine Confession is not only hard because they would only have the opportunity to go every month and a half, but also because with such a sacrament, people often need trust, comfort, and full understanding of the sacrament. These things can be difficult to have for anyone let alone those in an area that feels isolated from the greater Church.

How do you create community? How do you help a congregation feel the extension of Christ's arms through the Church when the arms of the Church leaders are not always physically present to reach out? What do you say to the only four Jesuit priests left in the Y-K Delta that are over-worked, not getting any younger, and having to deal with the sexual abuse cases in our diocese that has officially left it bankrupt? What do you say to a Polish priest, who comes here without being able to speak English and is suddenly put in charge of seven parishes? How do you ease the frustration of the women, who are sometimes the only ones taking hold of leadership and yet are prevented from fully coming into such leadership as a priest solely because they are women? How do I answer them as an ambassador to the Church? What do I tell myself as a Catholic woman bearing witness to all this first hand?

When I came back to Bethel, my JVC area director was here for her visit and meetings with us. When I told her about the women lead Eucharistic service, even before I went into my frustrations, she asked me if I ever felt called to the priesthood. When she pointed out my gifts and passions, we began to wonder if I were a man, would more people ask me if I were called to the priesthood. To be honest I just might guess that they would. Do not misunderstand me, I love the Catholic faith and the Church. But I cannot deny that I'm struggling with this issue and others seriously.

I could and would go on at length about my thoughts on women priesthood, but I will leave that for another time and space. I will say that women priesthood is about more than a "quick fix" to the need for priests. And I will also say that whatever your gender is, we need prayers and guidance for vocations. Even if we didn't have a lack of priests, if just one person did not (for whatever reason) hear or answer the call to enter religious life when it would have been God's will to do so, we would experience a tragedy. I pray to Christ as the Prince of Peace to help guide us to best live out the Church as He envisioned it.

Later that night, though I had planned on going out to Slaviq again, I caught the local stomach flu. I was "man down" for the evening.