EPIPHANY 2009

A friend of mine, Jan Kabachus, died recently from cancer. I knew Jan from the early 1980s, when we worked together in a Catholic parish in ministry to the divorced, separated and widowed. Not too long ago, Jan switched her worship community to the Ecumenical Catholic Church, not in union with Rome, called Light of Christ. The funeral service was held at that Church. As Jan was a friend of mine, I went to the funeral. It was quite a lovely service and the homily was very good. Afterwards, I enjoyed a luncheon at the church with other mourners who were friends of mine for many years. I did NOT say to myself, “Oh, these are heretics who left the Roman Catholic Church. I won’t go to the funeral. All those people will burn anyway!”

Now compare my attitude, with another tragic death. A person with a gun came into ski resort nearby, and wanted to find out if people were Christian. He was what I call a Fundamentalist Christian, one who thinks that you are lost unless you belong to their particular faith group. They don’t even believe that Catholics are Christian. Well, the gunman shoots a bullet into the air in this room of workers. This brings the manager, Brain Mahon, into the room to find out what is going on. The gunman asks Brian if he is a Christian. Brian responds, “I am a Catholic.” The gunman shot Brian dead on the spot. Brian died a martyr. He witnessed to his faith and was killed for it. Brian did not run away from the gunshot to protect himself. He went to it. Jesus did not run away from Jerusalem, even though he knew that was where he would die. After the gunman killed Brian he ran out and killed himself. Brian’s death may well have saved others from being shot in that room.

The question for us is, “What kind of Catholic are we going to be?” Will we be willing to stand up for our belief when asked, or when an appropriate time is presented to us?? If a group of people is putting down the Catholic Church, will we remain quiet so as to fit in or not cause any friction? Brian could have said, “It is none of your business,” to the killer, or “It is a private matter.” He was asked and he answered. On the other hand, will we also be open to people of other faiths, to be inviting them to share faith with us, in dialogue, or to come to learn more about the Church? This is more of the ecumenical spirit that the Catholic Church believes is Evangelization. To tell people that they will burn if they do not follow our path is really bad news and is not what Jesus is all about.

Paul the Apostle says that Christ came for Jew and Gentile. That is pretty inclusive. Paul had to deal with some Jewish Christians who felt that Gentiles were excluded. Exclusion is not part of the Catholic Church. That is why we are called “Catholic.” The Magi were not believers. They were searchers. The Shepherds were not followers of Christ. They were inquirers. When they all got to where the baby Jesus was, no one told them to go away. The Holy Family was hospitable, which is very Catholic. There are faiths that believe if you blow yourself up and kill a bunch of people who don’t follow your religious group, then you are a martyr. We don’t believe that.

Herod was kind of a sneaky fellow. To the face of the Magi he said that he wanted to go and worship the Messiah. But in fact, Herod wanted to kill him, because Herod wanted to secure his own power. I have met Christians who say nice things to my face, and then when I am not around they say something else not so nice, such as Catholics go to hell for being Catholics.

As Catholics we are supposed to pray for those who would do us harm. On the cross Jesus said, “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” We pray for the killer of Brian. We do not judge him. It is not our place to tell God what to do, or even to say what God will do. We are not God. We are people who believe in the Catholic faith and want to share that faith with others who are inquirers and seekers. Jesus came to save us all.