Study reports beautiful churches important in young people's conversions

Inside of Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal)

Now that there's a study proving what most of us already knew, can we return beauty to our churches?

The Telegraph revealed the results of the study, stating that, “Around 13 percent of teenagers said that they decided to become a Christian after a visit to a church or cathedral.”

Even more surprising was the report’s finding that the “influence of a church building was more significant than attending a youth group, going to a wedding, or speaking to other Christians about their faith.”

In fact, “The study suggests that new methods invested in by the Church, such as youth groups … are less effective than prayer or visiting a church building in attracting children to the Church.”

Philip Kosloski reports on this as well as considering how U.S. parishes have begun building traditionally beautiful churches again.

I still remember being in Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal and seeing a young man standing in the center aisle with tears running down his face. His concerned girlfriend was asking if he was ok. He looked somewhat embarrassed, responding, "No, I was just having a moment. It just hit me all at once."

Yes, that beauty does hit you and hits you hard. If we are open to it, often God's presence is using beauty to touch your soul.

More than beauty is converting young people

The Telegraph reports on the study's other points. Interestingly, the British are dumbstruck that one in six young people are Christian, saying how high these numbers are. I was interested in the point that it is not youth groups or guitar masses that pull people in but having read the Bible or being taken to visit a church.

The study suggests that new methods invested in by the Church, such as youth groups and courses such as Youth Alpha, are less effective than prayer or visiting a church building in attracting children to the church.

One in five said reading the Bible had been important, 17 per cent said going to a religious school had had an impact and 14 per cent said a spiritual experience was behind their Christianity.

“Things which we would class as old hat methods are some of the more effective ways."

Yes, the good old fashioned ways of personal encounter with Christ still work just fine.

Lagniappe: The Anti-authoritarian Authority

“Commander, I always used to consider that you had a definite anti-authoritarian streak in you."

"Sir?"

"It seems that you have managed to retain this even though you are authority."

"Sir?"

"That's practically zen.”

Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

Well Said: Blandings Castle and the original garden

The gardens of Blandings Castle are that original garden from which we are all exiled. All those who know them long to return.

Evelyn Waugh on P.G. Wodehouse's Blandings Castle series

Well Said: The prayer is like the river itself ...

The words [of the Rosary] are like the banks of a river and the prayer is like the river itself. The banks are necessary to give direction and to keep the river flowing. But it is the river with which we are concerned. So in prayer it is the inclination of the heart to God alone which matters ... As the river moves into the sea, the banks drop away. So, too, as we move in to the deeper sense of God's presence the words fall away and ... we shall be left in silence in the ocean of God's love.

Robert Llewelyn

I don't pray the rosary often but I do find it very helpful occasionally for getting me back on target, getting me back in the river so to speak.

Worth a Thousand Words: An Out of Doors Study

John Singer Sargent, An Out-of-Doors Study, 1889,
depicting Paul César Helleu sketching with his wife Alice Guérin

Worth a Thousand Words: The Artist's Father, Reading a Newspaper

Albert Engström, The Artist's Father, Reading a Newspaper

Genesis Notes: My Soft Spot for Esau

When you are reading slowly through a book the way we are through Genesis, you can never tell what might strike you.

In my case, reading Robert Alter's translation of Genesis what hits me are the details we're given about Esau. He's slow and simple, as we are shown, but darn it, he tries so hard to do what his parents want. And then he's always done down by his own mother as well as his twin.

I already was feeling this, pondering Jacob's theft of the birthright while knowing that at the end of their "twin" saga it is Esau who welcomes his brother home generously. It's one of the unexpected bits of the story that I love most — Esau's welcome home.

Then reading about Jacob going off to find a wife, I noticed for the first time that little insertion of Esau overhearing his mother's dislike of Hittite wives (which he's got two of) and how he went and got a wife from the tribe of Abraham.

And Esau was forty years old and he took as wife Judith the daughter of beeri the Hittite and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite. And they were a provocation to Isaac and to Rebekah. ...

And Rebekah said to Isaac, "I loathe my life because of the Hittite women! If Jacob takes a wife from Hittite women like these, from the native girls, what good to me is life?" ...

And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him off to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there when he blessed him and commanded him, sayng, "You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan." ... And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father. And Esau went to Ishmael and he took Mahalath daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to his wives, as a wife.

Genesis 26:34-35; 27:46; 28:6, 8-9, Robert Alter transl.

Darn it. Just made me feel worse for him.

It is proof that there is always more in Scripture than we can absorb in just a reading or two. Slow reading allows time to ponder and for it to come truly alive. I have a real fondness for Esau that I'd never have thought possible before.

Peter Paul Rubens, The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau, 1624.

This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Worth a Thousand Words: Lady Writing a Letter

Albert Edelfelt, Lady Writing a Letter

Well Said: Belief in the Middle Ages

From Introduction to Christianity by Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) which is admittedly dense but is also simply terrific. One of the things that I love most about this book is the way that Benedict will casually admit a truth that many believers would like to ignore. He does it time and again and every time I mentally cheer because hiding our heads in the sand is not only unbecoming, the only ones we fool are ourselves.

...when today as believers in our age we hear it said, a little enviously perhaps, that in the Middle Ages everyone without exception in our lands was a believer, it is a good thing to cast a glance behind the scenes, as we can today, thanks to historical research. This will tell us that even in those days there was the great mass of nominal believers and a relatively small number of people who had really entered into the inner movement of belief. It will show us that for many belief was only a ready-made mode of life, by which for them the exciting adventure really signified by the word credo was at least as much concealed as disclosed. This is simply because there is an infinite gulf between God and man; because man is fashioned in such a way that his eyes are only capable of seeing what is not God, and thus for man God is and always will be the essentially invisible, something lying outside his field of vision. ...

Benedict never forgets that Truth can only be found by not ignoring all truth when we come across it, even when that truth is something we would rather gloss over. Such as the fact that people are people both in the Middle Ages and now ... and that nominal believers are not something only found in our time.

Lagniappe: Someone was trying to kill him ...

Vimes smiled. Someone was trying to kill him, and that made him feel more alive than he had done in days.

And they were also slightly less intelligent than he was. This is a quality you should always pray for in your would-be murderer.

Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

My Interview Tomorrow on EWTN's Son Rise Morning Show

I'm excited to have a chance to discuss Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life on the Son Rise Morning Show. Son Rise Morning Show is a fast-paced morning program covering everything from current events to catechesis, with reflections on the saint of the day and the readings from Mass.

Airing Tuesday, June 13

6:50 a.m. (Central Time)

740AM Sacred Heart Radio in Cincinnati

and on the EWTN Global Catholic Radio Network

If you miss the show, you can listen to the podcast.

Well Said: Simple and Stupid

Colon thought Carrot was simple. Carrot often struck people as simple. And he was.

Where people went wrong was thinking that simple meant the same thing as stupid.

Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

My Interview Tomorrow on KATH 910 AM radio

When it rains, it pours! I've got another interview airing this weekend!

I got the chance to tour the local Catholic radio studio and, most importantly, talk with Dave Palmer.

We talked about Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life, but also a whole lot more: my conversion story, podcasting, connecting with Catholics online, and everyday Catholic life.

Here's where you can hear the interview.

Airing Saturday, June 10

3:10 p.m.

KATH 910 AM

North Texas, Guadalupe Radio Network

Lagniappe: "Wot a thing it is to be so sought arter!"

"Wot a thing it is to be so sought arter!" observed Sam, smiling.

"I don't take no pride out on it, Sammy," replied Mr. Weller, poking the fire vehemently, "it's a horrid sitiwation. I'm actiwally drove out o' house and home by it. The breath was scarcely out o' your poor mother-in-law's body, ven vun old 'ooman sends me a pot o' jam, and another a pot o' jelly, and another brews a blessed large jug o' camomile-tea, vich she brings in vith her own hands." Mr. Weller paused with an aspect of intense disgust, and looking round, added in a whisper, "They wos all widders, Sammy, all on 'em, 'cept the camomile-tea vun, as wos a single young lady o' fifty-three."

Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

The Wellers are both wonderful characters and when Sam and his father get together there are few better, or funnier, scenes in literature. I was laughing out loud by the the time Mr. Weller finished explaining to Sam why a coachman is such prime husband material. This is just a sample of the passage.

Christopher Closeup Interview - 2nd Verse - Better Than the First!

Or maybe I remember the second half of my conversation with Tony Rossi as being better because I just kept getting more and more interested myself! As I've said before, Tony is a great interviewer.

If you haven't heard of The Christophers before this is your chance to check out a very worthy group. Their motto is "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." And that's how we all should try to live, right?

Here's where you can hear the interview.

Part 2 of the interview airs this Sunday:

• Sirius-XM’s The Catholic Channel (129) at 6:00 am and 10:30 am (Central time)
• Relevant Radio network at 3:30 pm (Central time)

Tune in and get the inside scoop on Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life ... and me!

Both parts of the interview also will come along as a podcast. Rest assured, I'll let you know when that happens!

Seeking Jesus: "Julie points to very particular aspects of Christ with each entry."

I've been slowly working my way through this book page-by-page, and so far I am really appreciating the ways in which Julie points to very particular aspects of Christ with each entry. It's all too easy to make Christ into an abstraction in prayer, and I love how the text is guiding me back to making that relationship more tangible and concrete. I'm so glad I have a lot more to go!

JoAnna, GoodReads

JoAnna's progress report makes me so happy! That is exactly what I hoped for, that the book would gently lead readers to open up and encounter Christ in their own way.

For a sample, more reviews, or interviews, go here. Or pick up a copy for yourself or as a gift.

If you've read Seeking Jesus in Everyday Life and liked it, please consider posting a review on Amazon or GoodReads. It makes a difference in helping others decide to try it too!

Genesis Notes: Jacob - Chosen By God

GENESIS 27 & 28
These two chapters are interesting in many ways. I remember reading about Jacob having that dream about the ladder and it always seemed as if it would be rather crowded for those angels ... I didn't know exactly what kind of ladder they had in mind.

The ladder described here is probably a ziggurat, the sort of tower built by the people at Babel. A ziggurat was a tall, stepped temple-tower believed to connect heaven and earth - hence the angels ascending and descending the steps. God himself was at the top of the ladder and spoke to Jacob in his dream, a sign that God would now be Jacob's God.

The reconstructed facade of the Neo-Sumerian Great Ziggurat of Ur
(I always wondered what a ziggurat looked like)

What always stood out most was the infighting that was going on in the family. Not only do we have Esau's and Jacob's sibling rivalry, but we have the parents favoring different children. Isaac wants to pass his blessing on to Esau and Rebekah is determined that Jacob will inherit everything, so everyone is working at cross-purposes. By this time, I have been trained to look below the surface just enough to know that Rebekah and Jacob are going to reap a whole lotta trouble for forcing their way through instead of letting God handle it in His own time.

Abraham and Sarah took things into their own hands and tried to produce the promised son through Sarah's maid Hagar (Gen. 16). They were successful in the sense that they had a child, but it was not the son God intended and although God did bless Ishmael, the promises were not fulfilled through him. The results of Abraham and Sarah's efforts were bitterness and discord in the family; division between them; and long lasting trouble between the descendants of Ishmael and Isaac. Rebekah's and Jacob's efforts to bring about God's will by their own efforts would be equally destructive to their family. Their actions would force Jacob to flee his brother's anger and be separated from his family for 20 years, and he would never see his mother again.

Rebekah's (and Jacob's) actions are not justified; a good end even if promised by God does not justify the use of trickery to get there. But God will make good come of it. (NOTE: we will read in Gen. 48 of a younger twin being blessed - by a blind Jacob this time - over the older without any trickery or double-dealing.)

Once again, it just doesn't seem fair that one person is arbitrarily chosen over another as God's favorite. However, that thinking is just not looking at the "big picture."

That God "loved" Jacob and "hated" Esau means not that Esau (the nation of Edom) was condemned arbitrarily but that Jacob (Israel) was chosen, not on the basis of any intrinsic good or merit but by God's sovereign will. Remember that all mankind is in a state of separation from God. All mankind is "hated," if you will, because of sin. But the love and mercy of God are so great that He reached down and chose one of those "hated" ones and made his family into a channel of blessing for all the world, so that all men might benefit. God "chose us in him before the foundation of the world," Paul told the Ephesians in Eph. 1:4-6, "that we should be holy and blameless before him. He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

Throughout Israel's history, God had to remind them again and again that being chosen as His "firstborn" did not mean they were better or more deserving of His blessing than anyone else. They only needed to look at their past to see that God does not use human criteria of worthiness. More often than not He selects the young, the weak, the poor, and the undeserving on whom to bestow His grace. All favor is due to God's great love and grace, and not to any merit on our part.

All quotes from Genesis, Part II: God and His Family. This series first ran in 2004 and 2005. I'm refreshing it as I go. For links to the whole study, go to the Genesis Index. For more about the resources used, go here.

Well Said: It was an age of reform, and even radical reform

It was an age of reform, and even of radical reform; the world was full of radicals and reformers; but only too many of them took the line of attacking everything and anything that was opposed to some particular theory among the many political theories that possessed the end of the eighteenth century. Some had so much perfected the perfect theory of republicanism that they almost lay awake at night because Queen Victoria had a crown on her head. Others were so certain that mankind had hitherto been merely strangled in the bonds of the State that they saw truth only in the destruction of tariffs or of by-laws. The greater part of that generation held that clearness, economy, and a hard common-sense, would soon destroy the errors that had been erected by the superstitions and sentimentalities of the past. In pursuance of this idea many of the new men of the new century, quite confident that they were invigorating the new age, sought to destroy the old sentimental clericalism, the old sentimental feudalism, the old-world belief in priests, the old-world belief in patrons, and among other things the old-world belief in beggars. They sought among other things to clear away the old visionary kindliness on the subject of vagrants. Hence those reformers enacted not only a new reform bill but also a new poor law. In creating many other modern things they created the modern  workhouse, and when Dickens came out to fight it was the first thing that he broke with his battle-axe.

G.K. Chesterton, commenting on Oliver Twist,
Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens

That national feeling sounds very familiar, doesn't it?

Worth a Thousand Words: The Oval Fountain in the Gardens of the Villa d'Este, Tivoli

Hubert Robert, The Oval Fountain in the Gardens of the Villa d'Este, Tivoli

From my inbox: Catholic Door Online Store

The New Way to buy Catholic ... shop Catholic ... evangelize.

Catholic Door is the premier Catholic store online. Here you will find the most popular items along with unique and even one of kind items. Whether you are studying up on your faith, getting something to help you during your prayer time, wanting to display your Catholic identity or find the perfect Catholic gift for a loved one, Catholic Door can help you. Our goal is to modernize the shopping experience.

It looks like they sell just about any Catholic thing you need. And they've got a blog with some interesting posts. Check them out!