022: Much on My Mind—Two Topics In Particular…

As I sit down to collect my thoughts after a long weekend of fireworks, grill sessions, a beautiful Sunday mass, and catching up with some great people along the way, I should be all smiles. In some ways, of course, I am. The beautiful mass was bittersweet, though, and a tragic occurrence in our country is weighing heavily on my mind.

I will start with the latter, and then I will dive into a slightly lighter but still thought-provoking topic. First, as I was celebrating the Fourth of July with a few in-laws and friends, the reports were making their way through the social media threads and on legacy news channels which detailed the Texas floods. I have seen the footage of the Guadalupe River rising substantially in minimal time. I have heard and read about all the heroics, and those selfless acts should never go unnoticed. I have read about the vile antics stemming from a desire to blame when we are still in the process of trying to rescue survivors and recover deceased victims. Above all of this, as a parent, what weighs most heavily is that I have become aware of the many children (and one is too many) who will not be returning to their families. Several entities were demolished during these historic floods. Camp Mystic, however, has been most prominent on the news. As a result of this camp and other nearby areas getting destroyed by nearly unprecedented flooding, 82 deaths have been confirmed (as I write this). 41 people are still missing. 68 of those deaths occurred at Camp Mystic (40 adults and 28 children). 10 girls remain missing…

I am a Coast Guard veteran. I know rescue swimmers, and I am friends with a few pilots. They are more well trained than anyone in the world at search and rescue in the harshest of conditions—alongside our National Guard friends. Nobody can ever be prepared to conduct these operations in the area where there are deceased children though. Nothing—no matter how brutal the training or how much a grind the studying can be—can ever prepare the human soul to encounter this.

This was a Christian camp. I have heard stories of the founder and owner of the camp ensuring the survival of several girls before perishing himself. I read about two sisters who were found deceased while clinging onto their rosaries and holding onto each other.

Kids go to this camp and ones like this one as youths to make friends, to make stories, and to make memories they recount for the 80 years to follow. Instead, they are killed in a horrific weather event—many before they even reach 10 years old.

If there is any silver lining I can find, I guess there are a few. One would be the heroic figures we will learn about in the coming days and weeks. The other would be that if anyone were to leave this world for what eternity has in store for us, I have to imagine that spending time at a Christian camp and learning about our Lord isn’t the worst of ways to meet Him face to face.

So for a minute, maybe pause the theological debates we like to dive into. Also, contrary to some opportunistic jerks online and on television, this isn’t a time to talk about lawsuits or blame. The after action efforts are a phase of every response, and this one will be no different. This is a time for prayer—prayer for our first responders continuing to put in countless hours of work, prayer for those we have lost (especially the children), and prayer for the affected families.

I say all of this, and I somehow still don’t feel like I have the words to adequately describe how this all makes me feel, and I almost feel selfish using “I” in this context. Still, I looked at my young son tonight and couldn’t imagine losing him, especially like that. So pray for comfort, wisdom, and heeling for everyone processing this.

The Reassignment of a Great Priest

After covering that, this almost feels like an abrupt transition, but as I intend for this blog to predominantly be about Catholicism, I feel that this is worth discussing.

I will start by saying that I have been a Western PA resident for a little over a decade now. While I currently reside in Westmoreland County, I lived in Pittsburgh Proper for several years. During that time, I became a regular attendee at St. Stanislaus Kostka parish. Some of the most memorable priests of my life have graced this beautiful old Polish church. I still attend here once a month to stay connected, but I attend more locally the other weeks of the month (as that would be a lengthy trek for me to navigate every Sunday).

This week, I attended at St. Stan’s. It was one of my all-time favorite priest’s last Sunday there. As I operate here under a pen name, I almost feel bad using his name, but I will. To those who have Fr. Ruffalo joining their parish, get ready to learn more than you ever thought imaginable. He is one of the most traditional priests I have ever met, he is one of the most rooted, one of the most intelligent, and easily one of the best preachers. And it just so happens that his last homily that I might ever hear from him (I hope I get to see him somewhere down the lines) was an absolute banger. Truly. My son even behaved, somewhat, so I got to listen to all of it.

He started by, astonishingly, working in the furry convention which was taking place in Pittsburgh this weekend. Of all priests I have ever met, he was the last one I EVER thought would work a furry convention into a homily. Yet, here we are, and it somehow worked brilliantly.

Before I go further, this is for me as much as it is anyone else. I want to account for this so I don’t ever forget it. He began by talking about how in human history we have often wondered about ourselves as having this or that animalistic trait. Furthermore, we have gone through the efforts of personifying animals—giving them particular human traits depending on the animal. He gave a litany of examples—be it the lion as the kind of the jungle, the cunningness of the serpent, the aggressiveness of the wolf, etc. In Catholic history, Fr. educated us that a common and old image on many tabernacles is that of a pelican. A pelican, it is believed, will harm itself by pecking at its own skin and drawing blood in order to feed her chicks. We can, of course, see the symbolism in connection with the Eucharist.

In today’s gospel (Luke 10:1-12, 17-20), Jesus heavily leaned on animalistic traits. While he cites serpents and scorpions in a negative context in order to portray the power his disciples will have over them, the more pertinent piece of this is when he tells his disciples to be “lambs among wolves.” In other words, be the most humble creature possible in the face of the most ferocious predators. Interpreted in another way, Fr. reminded us today that the lamb is the food that will nourish those most in need of its benefits for all of eternity. So why would we humble ourselves to such an extent, even today, in order to feed the most seemingly vile of creatures? Well…the wolves are desperate. In an effort to achieve a peace and relief from hunger, they will feast on anything presented to them.

This is a difficult admission, but most of us are more like the wolf than the lamb. I see it in every corner of society, but especially in zoomer men. Zoomer men are looking for direction from absolutely anywhere they can get it. Some of those sources are unfulfilling, but the lamb (the Eucharist) is the most fulfilling. And to the extent that we are lambs and not wolves, we achieve this connection with the wolves by offering ourselves for the wolves to find that elusive peace. This is quite beautiful. Fr. Ruffalo went on to basically say that this is achieved through immersing yourself in evangelization efforts in the way that the disciples did. It comes from making these connections through actions. I loved when he said that anyone standing on a street corner and reciting scripture or saying the end is nigh is nothing more than a spokesman—nobody actually cares though. It is only through getting your hands dirty and taking difficult action that true evangelization occurs. Perhaps unfortunate news for the sola scriptura folks, but a profound message nonetheless. This was a brilliant and theologically dense message; and to think, it all started by talking about a furry convention.

Again though, Fr. Ruffalo is an intellectual mammoth of the Pittsburgh Diocese, and his new parishioners are in for a true blessing. I wish him and his new parishioners the best, and I must mention one more time that the victims of this tragedy in Texas will forever be on my mind. My heart is heavy tonight as I type this. -P.K.