Obama and the Catholic Vote

Today's Wall Street Journal has more...

I do think that the key here is younger voters who generally as a majority are not tied into the traditional church structures but rather, engage in "spiritual tinkering" as Robert Wuthnow the great Princeton sociologist writes. They create a "virtual faith" to coin another phrase from Tom Beaudion the great Practical Theologian at Fordham (and who bought me lunch today--thanks!) and that leads them to merely be inspired by the many voices who call their experiences into greater light.

For example:

The clarity of the Bush administration when it came to their message on the war, America's security and even on economics may indeed have inspired the young people who actually went out and voted--but probably kept an apathetic bunch of people who saw no positive alternative to the institutional government at that time.

Contrast that with a very easily disputed message:

When the war is a fiasco and people, especially the young, are tired of it--having very specific plans for an alternative was a clear strength of the Obama message.

The campaign's message on having an alternative to simply combating Supreme Court justices and legislation with regard to life issues like abortion was also a secondary message that worked well--and especially was well-received amongst younger Catholics who generally again, are not tied into the message of the Bishops but still are concerned with objective evil like abortion (in short--they don't see abortion as being peachy keen but also don't see an institutional alternatives to overriding the law either--until now).

Moreover, young people are SOLUTION based. They are the God Googlers who expect instant gratification in all areas of their life. Once the economy tanked and it was clear that Mccain had no answers for the crumbling of the economy and planned to keep with the Bush tax plan--a clear alternative was a young person's only choice. I think Obama wins regardless of the economic collapse but add that to the mix and he bodyslammed McCain (in the figurative sense, of course).

54% of Catholics voted for Obama. The bigger question in the inner Catholic world now is whether or not younger Catholics informed their conscience on issues like abortion and voted for Obama anyway, saw both candidates as morally reprehensible on the life questions and voted for what they perceived to be the lesser of two evils, or ignored the issue entirely.

Sociologists---get to work!

An Open Letter to President-Elect Obama

Dear Mr President-Elect,

Congratulations. You have inspired many of us with your candor and energy. Your drive to the Presidency has been well-earned. You ran a great campaign and I pray today that peace will soon come to our country as the result of your efforts.

Mr President elect, I am a card-carrying member of your party and agree with you on most issues. I firmly believe that the poor and middle class deserve support from the government. I believe in social justice and in programs that help bring that about that are also government-sponsored and are supported by private entities as well. I think the death penalty is barbaric and that war is an atrocity. I believe President Bush stupidly got America into an unjust war and hate the face that he used pre-emptive means in doing so. I believe that we have to regain the respect of the United Nations, our allies and countries throughout the world. I believe that the environment is needing much of our support as well and that it should be a national priority. Our economy also needs to become one of our top priorities naturally with the current economic crisis placing not only Wall Street but many global markets in a precarious place.

However, Mr President-Elect, I do not agree with you on the issue of abortion. As a Catholic I have been compelled by not merely my faith but also by scientific fact that abortion is the murder of innocent human life. It is indeed a social justice issue as well. Poor women face abortion a lot more often than anyone else and abortion being available as an option pushes them into killing their baby because we feed into that fear that tells them that they aren't any good, that they should be ashamed and that they can't possibly be a good mother. Not only does the fact that abortion on demand give them that option but many of our citizens makes it an option for them by their indifference.

For the first time I have heard a democrat talk about making abortion rare. I believe that you are sincere and that perhaps you think in your heart that abortion really is as tragic as Catholic teaching professes it to be. With that in mind, I ask for your support in doing just that--making abortion as rare as it can be--or even making the option of abortion a decision that never has to be made because we have all figured out how to support those who find themselves with an unexpected pregnancy.

How can we all work together to do this? I'm asking Catholics to pledge to simply support one pregnant woman this year. Whether it's doing something small like buying diapers or a crib for a pregnancy crisis center or giving a pregnant woman a room in your home rent free (or at least low), I ask that perhaps the office of faith-based initiatives makes this a priority in your administration.

Know that I think you are a great man and that while time and God himself will judge us all on how we have treated the unborn, I hope that this transcends mere legalities and that we all directly work to avoid a barbaric choice.

Perhaps helping young women make that kind of choice indeed is the start on the road to peace in our world and to bring us all into concern for the least of our brothers and sisters.

I'd like to suggest that your answer to helping young women in this regard can be met with your own inspirational and simple refrain: "Yes, we can."

Know that you have my prayers today.

Much peace,

Mike Hayes
Woodside, NY

Abortion and Today's Election

I've been reading on various Catholic blogs that people MUST vote for McCain/Palin over Obama/Biden becauee McCain upholds Catholic teaching on abortion.

Guess what? He doesn't.

John McCain does NOT accept ALL the teachings on protecting the unborn. He is in favor of embrionic stem-cell research which regards life in the womb as disposable at best--a far worse crime in my opinion than the woman who is shuddering in fear at the prospect of an unwanted pregnancy and finds no support anywhere around her--even from us Catholics at times. McCain also supports abortion rights in cases of rape or incest.

Now that being said--it's bad on the other side too. Obama certainly does not support a life position in favor of the unborn. Unlike McCain however, he does support other aspects of a life platform outside of the womb. He's against the death penalty and also wants to fight to keep abortion rare (which is a much better statement than what democrats usually espouse).

I think anti-abortion people are right when they say that we have to regard life in the womb as holy in order to have peace--however...

The sad tragedy is that we are so far removed from that possibility that it's sad.
We're so far away from even being able to convince anyone that a life within the womb--invisible to human eyes without a sonogram--is something worth protecting. How many of us took in a pregnant teen this year? How many of us convinced a woman to keep her baby and promised to financially help her even if it inconvenienced us or made it hard for us to pay the bills (or even just made us give up cable for a month or two)? How many of us REALLY cared?

The truth is that we don't.

What's worse?

We can't even get people to know--never mind care about--their next-door neighbors. People don't see citizens of Iraq or any other Middle Eastern country as valued members of the body of Christ either. We don't do a good job of praying for our enemies for the most part and many of us are more than apt to agree to put grandma and grandpa in a home because it is inconveinent for us to care for them ourselves. And to top it all off, we don't understand the committment involved in being married and we play compromising games with our spouses instead of putting 100% into being in a mutually beneficial relationship that leads to unity and creates life.

What's our big sin these days? It's not relativism--not even close. It's being selfish.

We might talk a good game about abortion but until pregnancy crisis centers are shrines, until Catholics are lining up to be foster parents, until we tithe 10% to pregnant unwed mothers and until we do it all with a smile on our face...we've got no shot at ever ending abortion--not by a longshot.

In short, we've got our work cut out for us.

That's WE...have got our work cut out for us. And we must all start there--with ourselves, with our families, with our neighbors and parishioners and friends and colleagues. We have to live OUR lives as if all of this matters...or simply put---none of it ever will.

What we really need to do is to change our own hearts and let in those who deserve our utmost protection.

And that has nothing to do with voting for President--or changing a law, or electing someone to the Supreme Court. All of that is "helpful" but it doesn't mean a damn thing if we're not really committed.

So before you pull that lever or punch a chad--know that you have a very complex decision to make. Not one that exonerates you from playing a part in making abortion illegal simply by voting for who you consider the lesser of two intrinsic evils. Rather, the decision you make today is to make sure that whoever gets elected sees YOU as a mover and a shaker in making sure that the unborn are protected. YOU...not elected officials...not judges...not even Bishops. YOU.

And ME too.

So I leave you today with far better words than I could muster up. They come from the greatest man to ever walk this earth--our God. Jesus.

Matthew Chapter 7

"Stop judging, that you may not be judged.

For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.

Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye?

You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother's eye.

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, or throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them underfoot, and turn and tear you to pieces.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread,
or a snake when he asks for a fish?

If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.

"Do to others whatever you would have them do to you. This is the law and the prophets.

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and those who enter through it are many.

How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few."

It's time to put our money where our mouths are and removing the planks from our own eye. Start today...Here's one guy who did just that.

http://www.maltahouse.org/

What did you do today?

Still Church Searching in Queens

I think we are going to settle on St Sebastians in Queens as our "parish of choice." Although we plan to head back into Manhattan to go to Ascension parish this weekend to meet up with some friends. We ran into their ministry fair last weekend and they have quite a good number of things going on. The pastor also had a great homily on the late workers who were paid the same wage as those who had worked all day.

"Whenever I read this I want to yell "THAT'S NOT FAIR! I mean, this is how unions start!... But what we need to keep in mind is that we don't need to pay attention to who gets the credit, or who gets more than I did---instead we need to be focused on Jesus...are we pleasing God with our work? How are we bringing Jesus into the lives of others?"

We attended Our Lady Queen of Martyrs this weekend again. We were treated by the best homily I heard in months by Deacon Greg Kandra of the Deacon's Bench blog! And surprise surprise, I was even mentioned anonymously in his homily:

I had lunch with a friend who went to World Youth Day and he said that one of the Bishops said that "while all of us who are here are in the club, so to speak, there is something that keeps us from committing ourselves totally to Jesus."

I was that friend and those words indeed inspired me to look more deeply at my own life and helped me make the decision to pursue a vocation to the diaconate.

Deapite the great homily and even a fairly nice choir, I just didn't get a warm feeling from the place (Greg, if you're reading this do not include yourself as playing a part in these feelings). So we might head back for some inspiration from time to time but I don't think this will be our regular place of worship.

St Sebastians isn't all that warm either but I can see it warming up a bit more readily than other places and I see more of a role for me to get involved there.

We are going to try St Rapael's and St Teresa's also in the Woodside/Sunnyside area in coming weeks. But it's looking like St Sebastian's has the inside track right now.

Church Search

I've taken it upon myself (and my wife) to do some research on parishes in Queens (a borough of NYC--if you've been to NYC and flown into JFK or LaGuardia-you've been there) to see if we can find any that appeal to young adults. So far we have these two to report on:

St. Sebastian's in Woodside: This is our neighborhood parish and it's the biggest one in the greater Queens area. The pastor, Msgr Hardiman is very welcoming and is a good homilist. There seems to be a lot of activities but I'm not sure how many people are very active. The parishioners tend to keep to themselves but to be fair, I haven't exactly put myself out there and said "hi" to too many people myself. Lots of Filipino young adults attend here and a large hispanic presence as well. The rest of the parish are mostly Irish-Americans in an area known for it's Hibernian flair. A strong dedication to supporting the armed forces exist here and the pastor is very vocal on life issues. They do have a young adult discussion group on the tenets of the faith and their 6PM Sunday mass is well attended. Mediocre music but I've heard worse.

Our Lady Queen of Martyr's in Forest Hills: For those of you who are fans of The Deacon's Bench, this is Deacon Greg's parish. Unfortunately, we didn't pick the mass that he preaches at--but we were treated to a rather good homily by the priest who did preside. The congregation seems middle-aged which reflects the area but they also seem very involved. Lots of parents who send their kids to their school of which Everybody Loves Raymond star Ray Romano is an alumnus. Generally speaking, I liked the parish. It didn't thrill me, but it was solid liturgy. Smells and bells galore and well-trained altar servers (which I thought was the best feature of the parish actually).

From now until Christmas I'll post on a few new churches in the Queens and perhaps Brooklyn area each Sunday or so. Stay tuned.

Dean Hoge: Sociologist par excellence, RIP

Dean Hoge may not be a household name to most. but in the field of sociology of religion in indeed was a legend. Hoge died yesterday after a long battle with cancer at the age of 71. Much of the work that we've done at BustedHalo can certainly be traced to many of his findings in the book, Young Adult Catholics: Religion in a Culture of Choice (written with Bill Dinges, Mary Johnson and Juan Gonzalez). That book gave us a lot of the sociological trends that indeed helped us gain a foothold on how to attack what clerics were then calling "the young adult problem."

Hoge was a wonderful pragmatist when advising people like myself on how we might want to address young adults. Always a "data guy" Hoge would always throw numbers back at you to dispute common misconceptions. He revealed and continued to hammer home the fact that "young adults indeed were not disaffecting from the church--but merely not regular attendees or participants. They are still checking off the "Catholic" box." He would often tell my colleagues and I to watch out for judgmentalism. "Hitting these people with every tenent of church teaching and telling them that they are bad will NOT work. In fact, that's what drives most of them away in the first place."

Indeed. What I liked most about Dean was his folksy charm. He was an "aw shucks" kind of guy who was always very humble while still speaking with valid authority. He was a true gift to all faiths and he was a faithful Christian, very active in his own Presbyterian church.

His longtime colleague, Bill D'Antonio had this to say:

“While he was first and foremost a scholar, I’d have to say that I don’t know of a person who was more a Christian throughout his life,” said friend and colleague, William D’Antonio, who worked in recent years with Hoge at Catholic University’s Life Cycle Institute. “He was a shy person, but treated others with an easy grace as he attempted to live the Gospel.”

I couldn't have said it better...Rest in Peace, Dean.

Hat tip to Deacon Greg for the heads up.

A Forgiving God?

An excellent article on atonement and forgiveness has been written by Fr. Bill O'Malley who has taught at Fordham Prep for eons (no offense). Fr. O'Malley lived in my dorm at Fordham and always had a warm smile, an open door, and a quick wit for all of us.

Go read his latest masterpiece HERE

More Memories of Mike and the Mad Dog

Chris Russo is about to start his new radio show on Sirius and its been bringing up lots of memories of my former career, and especially of Russo on Saturday morning:

There was the famous "Back to back beer spots" story...where I was serving as the engineer and I played a Miller Beer spot and then a Budweiser spot right after it. ("Spot" is radio lingo for commercial for the unititiated). I had also been moonlighting for WOR Radio at the time and asked permission to work there before I did so and it didn't seem like a big deal to the powers that be. I thought otherwise after this moment. Russo comes right out of the jingle and yells "Back to back beer spots! Boy oh boy, WOR is doing a helluva job with Mike Hayes. No wonder they're losing money with the Giants. If ya don't know what the heck I'm talking about our intern engineer Mike Hayes played back to back beer commericals which he's not supposed to do. If I'm Chrysler and I buy time on WFAN I don't want you running a TAY-ota spot right after it. (giggles) Vinny from Queens...."

Funny...he was probably getting revenge for the tommohawk chop call. But it was then that I started to know that there were some bad feelings with me working for WOR at WFAN and I started to wind it down there. I liked working there but the pay was very low and the chances for promotion were slim. WOR offered me more hours and a higher rate and I got a full time job out of it after a year or so. I also was able to cover sports for Bob Papa--now the voice of the NY Giants.

In hindsight, I should've left both places much faster than I eventually did. I was holding on to something that just didn't fit. I didn't really have the passion for sports or even for radio--even though I like the podcast we do now and the video stuff I've done on the road as well and even filling in for Fr Dave on Sirius from time to time.

As we always say...It all comes out in the wash, doesn't it?

BustedHalo.com Facelift

In case you missed it--and in case you've been wondering where I've been...and we know you have...

BustedHalo.com got a major facelift last month and I am busy expaning the new Googling God section for Faith Information.

We'll be calling stuff out each week that will expound on what the church teaches but we'll do that in an informative way that's also entertaining (using video, online powerpoints, audio and of course the dreaded article) and we'll also try to cover the pastoral element--merging the practical with the theoretical while remaining true to the intentions of the church's teaching.

First feature will be on October 1 and will be "something" on the upcoming election, so stay tuned.

Bob Sheppard Update--well...not really.

At the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese's conference for Faith Formation where I'm tomorrow's keynote speaker, and I ran into this story (Hat tip to The Mets Police) on Bob Sheppard who still doesn't seem up to par two months after his intended goal of returning to the Yankee Stadium PA Booth.

As first reported here on Googling God on July 7th, Sheppard may in fact have trouble simply staying awake for 9 innings.

The solution as mentioned in the Newsday column might be to have Sheppard do the opening lineup and first few innings and then hand things off to Jim Hall who should get the permanent position anyway when Shep officially retires.

Beaker offers a funny

Via Rocco Palmo

Mike and the Mad Dog - RIP

Mike Francesa and Chris Russo, better known as Mike and the Mad Dog have called it quits. Two New York Sports Radio Legends decided to part ways today with Russo reportedly having a deal already in place with Sirius radio.

I served as their engineer for about 5 years and loved working on the program. They are exactly the same way off the air that they are on the show. Mike is gruff and alwaqys gets right to the point. Chris is zany and always full of enthusiasm. They both did me tons of favors when I was just a young kid trying to break into the business. One of my highlights was being on their show as a reporter from (of all places) the Gaucho Gym in Harlem covering (of all things) Felipe Lopez's (the basketball one not the baseball one) press conference on where he was going to attend college (St. John's).

It was interesting being behind the scenes with those guys. Bob Gelb was their longtime producer and he was a great guy too. We saw all the fights between them and their disagreements with those in the sports world. They broke tons of stories. It was exciting to be there when Magic Johnson told the world that he was HIV positive and every Fall Saturday and Sunday when they were by themselves, there was no better place to be during Football season...well, except Friday night when they made their football picks together.

One memory stands out. Chris was a really good natured guy and we used to tease him about being a San Francisco Giants fan. Because I had interned at WFAN and was later hired by them, he'd tease me and say--"Have they promoted you from intern yet?"

Anyway, the Braves were playing the Giants in a crucial game and Russo was touting the Giants all day long on the air. We'd play Giants highlights everytime something good would happen because he'd be in the newsroom screaming at us for them. So we got revenge. The Giants had two men on and were down a run. Russo yelled to me, "I want the next highlight on the air ASAP, Mikey!" I had just about had it with him, to be honest--but it was hard not to like the guy's enthusiasm for his team. So when the next play was a 6-4-3 double play--I did exactly as he asked. That double play for the Braves was on the air as fast as possible followed by the Braves theme song--the Tommohawk Chop.

Later in the evening the Braves were pretty much in commmand and I called Russo at HOME and played the chop song down the phone line!

He immediately hung up on me.

Next day on the air:

Russo: "Everyone's killing me. You're killing me. Gelb is killing me. Spitz (executive producer) is killing me. That dope intern Mike Hayes is killing me calling me up and playing the tommohawk chop down the line last night. I can't win!"

I think this is a good move by Russo who will bring hundreds of sports fans to Sirius. If Mike is smart he'll sign an NFL deal with them too.

If you're not listening to KT Tunstall...

Than you are missing out. Go to her website here. For the uninitiated, she's a Scottish singer who is a bit folky, a bit rocky, a bit country but a whole lot of fun. My wife and I caught her in Atlantic City last night and she rocked. We had mezzanine seats at The Music Box which is a small intimate theatre (translation, we were up high and there were "floor seats" down the stairs from us. So there isn't a "bad" seat per se. But regardless, KT said the following during the show:

"So either the people in the back are very shy, or the people up front have imaginary friends sitting next to them. There's plenty of seats up here so why don't you all just come on up! They should do this on an airplane!

So we went from row V (10 rows up the stairs plus the 10 rows of floor seats) to row EE (5th row). Awesome. She rocked! I snapped some shots with my camera phone--here's the best one.

Summer Retreat

A wonderful summer retreat at Mt. Paul Retreat Center. 43 people took in the lakefront and had a fab time.

The retreat team did an outstanding job--some of the better talks I have heard. They made me look good especially since I was away for awhile in Australia.

Blogging will be sporadic as I am down at the Jersey Shore taking some rest at our uncle's house.

Papal Mass

Sorry for the late post:

Here's my report from the Papal Mass

Wolrd Youth Day Booty Call

Needless to say...hormone-crazed teens and college students...

Pope as Audiobook

So John Paul II was Pope as Rock Star, I think Pope Benedict is more of a Pope as Audiobook. People love to listen to him and he gives really good theological discourse which is always challenging to listen to in the freezing cold with 150,000 noisy pilgrims. I think that one of the problems with World Youth Day is that it provides great emotional resonance and people fall in love with the Pope (and hopefully Jesus)--much like a Promise Keepers revival stirs up the same kinds of emotions. However, it does little for the intellect. Even the Cathechetical sessions with the Bishops just skim the surface.

Here's my proposal for Young Adults (20s and 30s) to engage with the Pope: Offer a one week course on a topic of the Pope's choosing to teach to young adults online. 250 young adults will get a trip to Rome to sit in the Pope's classroom and 50 will have lunch with him each day and celebrate a mass with him in a more intimate setting.

Nonetheless, great theological insights were shared with the crowd. Rocco gives you the text of the Vigil homily. I'm not sure if the teens heard it. Regardless, a good night to all who sleep outdoors. I'm in my nice warm hotel bed.

Wuss that I am.

Receive the Power From the Holy Spirit

This is the theme for World Youth Day--and yet, I'm not sick of it yet.

The Vietnamese Young Adults dig it too!

Vigil with the Pope

Cardinal George Has One--Why Don't You?

Buy Googling God NOW
and then maybe one day, you too can be the President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops!