Purple Cloth on Cross

Have you ever wondered why, during Lent, there's often a purple cloth draped over the cross? When I visited the Annex last week with my friend Alyssa, I was especially intrigued by this custom.

Turns out, the veil over the cross is symbolically hiding a portion of the cross, and of Jesus' suffering body, so that we may better appreciate the cross as a instrument of our redemption. It helps us acknowledge the device in which Christ died for our sins and it helps humble us.

By veiling the cross, we are also experiencing the loss of a sacred object in which is held very dearly in Christian culture. This imitates the loss that Christ experienced during his 40 day fast in the wilderness. The cloth doesn't completely cover the entire cross, for we are only losing a portion of the sacred object. Again, this is analogous to Christ's situation. At his death, he lost his pride and his earthly body, but he never lost his identitiy as the Son of God. The veil over the cross serves as a reminder that even in loss, there is still something that remains.

The purple color of the cloth is a symbol for Christ's royalty and kingship. The color purple is often associated with majesty, magic, mystery and royalty, all attributes to Christ. The veil is removed at the end of Lent on Good Friday.

Riverside Chuch Speech

We talked alot about Martin Luther King's "Riverside Church Speech" in which MLK comes out against the Vietnam War for the first time. I decided to YouTube the speech, it's 56 minutes long but if you ever have some free time, check it out!

First Catholic to Run for President

Al Smith was the first Catholic to run for President, and he did so in the 1928 election in which he was defeated in a landslide against Herbert Hoover.

Smith's dad died when Smith was only 13 years old, and as a result he was pulled out of school and never ended up going to high school or college. He instead worked at the Fulton Fish Market. Eventually, he traded this job for a position in an office of the Commissioner of Jurors and was soon elected to the New York State Assembly. He kept working up the ranks of the political life until eventually he was elected Governor of New York.

Smith tried to run for President in 1924, but he didn't succeed. When the 1928 election against Hoover came around, Smith was ready. He campaigned hard but was ultimately defeated because of his Catholic background. People were worried he would answer to the Pope instead of the Constitution and they also feared that he tolerated government corruption. He was also in favor of the repeal of Prohibition Laws, which frightened the citizens. However, Smith did succeed in getting many Catholics and women to vote for the first time. His mediocre campaigning, religious beliefs, relation to the corruption of Tammany Hall, and the fact that the power of New York City intimidated some people, ultimately lead to his loss at the Presidential election.

Here is a political cartoon that suggests the Pope is behind Al Smith:

Female Pope, Myth or Reality?

My mom recently sent me a link to this video over email because apparently it's woman's history month and she's super excited about it. But anyway, the video and article go into detail about a myth that there used to be a woman pope, Pope Joan. According to legend, she disguised herself as a man, exceeded all the men in their religious studies, and became pope.

Unfortunately, during a papal procession, she went into labor and exposed the fact that she was a woman. The crowd descended on her and her child, killing them both.

I guess it's nice to know that this disturbing tale is only a myth, and something that Hollywood capitalized on by making two movies on it. But they do explore another aspect of the story: the fact that chairs in which cardinals sit often have a big hole cut out of them. Could this be so you could "check" whether the person sitting on it was a man or a woman? Why would they even need chairs like this if there wasn't ever a threat of a woman cardinal?

It is unlikely that we will have a woman pope anytime soon; the Catholic church still remains a male-dominated hierarchy, and one in which 115 male cardinals vote for the next pope. However, woman still may be able to influence the church more indirectly, and they are still an important aspect of the religion. Here's the link to the video and article my mom sent me:
 Legend of Female Pope Endures As Men Decide Church's Next Leader

Mother Teresa

With all the hype coming out about Mother Teresa not really being as saintly as she had people believe, I decided to do some of my own research to clear some stuff up.

Mother Teresa was an Albanian, Indian Roman Catholic nun who founded the "Missionaries of Charity" which is a congregation that cares for people with HIV/AIDS, leprosy and tuberculosis. The congregation also acts as a soup kitchen, orphanage, school, and family counseling program. However, Mother Teresa was often criticized for misusing charitable monies and refusing to give people medical care or painkillers because she felt they would impede with the suffering that was supposed to bring people closer to Jesus.

According to the article we looked at in class from the Huff Post regarding the sick and poor, Mother Teresa "was more willing to pray from them than provide practical medical care" and she left many people in poor and shoddy conditions after her missions, despite the amount of money she was given. Here's the article from the Huff Post, read it and decide for yourself!

Mother Teresa

Saint Patricks Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day everybody!

Saint Patrick lived during the 5th Century and was the Patron Saint and apostle of Ireland. Apparently he was kidnapped at age 16 and brought to Ireland as a slave. He escaped, but later returned and brought Christianity to his people. He died on March 17th, 461, and his legacy and legend grew in the years after his death.

He is most well known for explaining the Holy Trinity using the 3 leaves of a shamrock. A weird fact: Even though feasts were held in Ireland since the 10th century to celebrate the holiday of Saint Patrick, the first Saint Patrick's Day Parade was actually held in the United States. It was a parade of Irish soldiers serving in the English Army in 1762, and it inspired many Irish Immigrants to connect with their roots with bagpipes and celebrations from that day forward.

May the luck of the Irish be with you!

Abelard and Heloise

We talked about the love story of Abelard and Heloise in class the other day and I found it so fascinating and tragic, I had to do my blog on it. Apparently Abelard was a philosopher and Heloise wished to expand her knowledge of the world, so she sought out Abelard as her teacher. Abelard asked permission from Heloise's uncle to be her teacher, and he soon moved into Heloise and the Uncle's house. Eventually, the two fell in love and started having a secret affair.

However, when the Uncle found out about the affair, he was so grief stricken that he tried to end it immediately. The twist here: Heloise was pregnant. She ran away from her uncle's house to live with Abelard.

Abelard knew that in order to save both their reputations, he must ask the uncle's permission to allow them to get married. The uncle complies, but soon it is uncovered that the Uncle's real plot is to get Heloise to come home to him where he will keep her for his own, and have Abelard killed.

Heloise flees to a convent in Argenteuil, but Abelard gets brutally attacked in Paris (where I think he is castrated). As a result, Abelard feels he can no longer continue as a teacher, and he thinks it is necessary that he and Heloise become Monks and Nuns.

Heloise must give up her child and accept the fact that she may never see Abelard again. However, they keep their love alive through writing letters for over 20 years. Then, by chance, they are briefly united in Paris where they promise to stay  "Forever One" and they realize that their love is the meaning of human existence.

They are never reunited again, but they continued writing to each other through their love letters. This has got to be the sweetest, saddest, love story ever!

DJesus

Have you seen Django Unchained yet? If so, check out this funny spoof they did the other night on Saturday Night Live. It's a movie trailed for "DJesus: Uncrossed" and it just goes to show how contemporary media can bend ancient tradition just to get some laughs!

Sorry the video is slanted :/

Food Poisoning Leads to Witch Trials?

So since we were discussing the Salem Witch Trials briefly in class the other day, I decided to do a little research of my own! I found this youtube video by the History Channel that is only a minute long, and it talks about possible theories of why some women were accused of being witches.

Apparently girls were condemned as being "witches" because they had suspicious behavior (like seizures, delusions, and contortions). But one theory explores the possibility of these girls just having a rare case of food poisoning! Check it out:

J.K. Rowling, A Christian?

Surprise! Turns out J.K. Rowling actually is a Christian and believes in God, but she didn't want to reveal this to her audience for fear they would expect the endings to her books. When asked if she was Christian, here's what she has to say:

“Yes, I am,” she says. “Which seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I've been asked if I believe in God, I've said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what's coming in the books.”

Interesting, eh?  She also says that she doesn't believe in magic, only the magic that takes place in her books. Hopefully this helps clarify the widely held belief among Christians that the Harry Potter series actually endorses witchcraft...

I got these quotes from an interview Rowling had with Evan Solomon and excerpt from an article called the Vancouver Sun by Max Wyman.

Harry Potter as a Christ Figure

So most of us know that the Harry Potter series was greatly rejected in the Christian community for its use of magic and "witch craft" but could you ever believe that Harry is actually an allusion to Christ?

Most of the people condemning the Harry Potter books haven't actually read them well enough to know that the magic taking place in the books isn't actually the "witchcraft" that is commonly associated with the Wicca religion, and that often the magic is done to do good, like saving an innocent animal in danger.

If these reasons aren't enough for Christians to believe that Harry Potter is a wholesome character and book series, then imagine that Harry is actually an allusion to Christ. Harry's mom sacrifices herself to the Dark Lord for Love, and this selfless sacrifice for the protection of the innocent is an important theme in Christianity. Harry is the Chosen One, like Christ, and at times he doesn't want to do what he's being asked to do but he chooses to do it anyway. At the end of the series (spoiler alert!) Harry sacrifices himself to Voldemort because of love (this relates to the salvation of human beings) and only decides to come back by choice (resurrection). Rowling also teaches us what it means to be "good" through Dumbledore who argues that we aren't born good but it is through our choices that make us good. Harry chooses to love, which is a power that the Dark Lord doesn't know. It is Harry's choice to love that is an essentially christian message.

This video sums this all up very nicely!

Naropa University

So two blogs ago I researched Matthew Fox and how he created and ran Naropa's Master Degree Program.

Now I'd like to delve a little more into Naropa University itself! Naropa University was inspired by Nalanda University in India that was established in 4 C.E. and it explored Buddhist philosophy and meditation. Now, Naropa University strives to "achieve wisdom and a deep understanding of the world" and they know that simply acquiring knowledge isn't enough. This search for a greater understanding is what Naropa bases most of their educational curriculum off of and they welcome all kinds of people; from the musician, writer, environmentalist, and poet to the activist, peacemaker, and bookworm. Along with a vigorous academic curriculum, Naropa also addresses "the body, the heart, and the totality of one's consciousness" and teachers aim to give each person a transformative experience. Now, I know this seems like a stretch from "Christian Traditions," but it seems Naropa also deals with the spiritual side of our world.

And here's the link to their website!
Naropa University

Women Priests

I did my book report on "When Women Were Priests" the other day and I didn't get a chance to play the youtube video I inserted at the end (my presentation was a little lengthier than I expected...sorry guys).

But anyways, here it is now! It's about women starting a revolution and becoming priests and deacons in Florida. The Roman Catholic church is excommunicating these women, and making the point that God didn't intend for women to be built in his image. The women claim that they are following the Spirit of God and violating an unjust Church law. The Vatican released this statement:

"This situation is sad for the entire Church....the attempt to ordain women...brings division, and fractures unity in the Church."

I hope these women realize their power and inspire many more women!