Rooted in faith
By Lou Baldwin
Special to The CS&T
Who are we, and Whose are we?
They were two questions explored by Msgr. David H. Benz, pastor of St.
Philomena Parish in Lansdowne, during a seminar on Black Catholic spirituality
at the St. Peter Claver Center for Evangelization in Center City on March
10.
The second question was easier to answer than the first: “We are
the Lord’s,” Msgr. Benz said. “God does not exclude
anybody.”
Belonging to the Lord involves one’s spirituality, and everybody
has a slightly different sense of what that means, as breakout sessions
at the workshop indicated.
“My spirituality is who I am, my faith, how I believe,” said
Toni Patterson.
For Janice Mason, spirituality was “feeling the love of God, knowing
that God is there all the time, believing and trusting the word of God.
Loving the Lord and God my Father with all my heart.”
“Spirituality is often called the ‘collective unconscious,’
because it comprises all the experiences, upbringing, education, and in
some cases, religion, that gives meaning to one’s life,” Msgr.
Benz said.
That takes us back to his first question. While we all belong to God,
knowing who we are, Msgr. Benz maintains, is dictated by our past experiences;
the culture of our ancestors and where they came from, and the lessons
passed down to us by our parents and grandparents.
It is really different for every individual, he said; its not the same
for someone whose ancestors come from Nigeria as it is for someone whose
ancestors came from Sierra Leone. It is different for those who, like
most area African-Americans, had roots in the South before the great migration
North than it is for those whose families have lived many generations
in Philadelphia.
Msgr. Benz’s own roots in the African-American community were also
shaped through a German engineer grandfather who married an Ethiopian
woman and migrated with her to the United States. His personal style of
instruction too, probably reflects his former career as a military chaplain.
All the factors of our past influence our employment, our expression of
art, our music, the books we read and even our religion, Msgr. Benz said.
Many Catholic African-Americans were raised in other denominations, he
noted, and coming to the Catholic faith, they bring that past with them,
too.
“Our culture is a living reality,” he said. “We are
supposed to pass it on. If we are not upholding and teaching all the good
things that were passed on to us, they mean absolutely nothing —
they are meaningless.”
All of us, in our diversity, belong to God. And, to quote the old hymn
“Were You There,” we were all there with Jesus when He died
on the cross, Msgr. Benz added.
“He knew who I was before I came to be, and He went to that cross
for me,” he said. “So I was there for my sins, my transgressions.
…
“In Catholicism, we express community through our liturgy,”
he said.
“The liturgy of the Catholic Church can be an even more intensive
expression of the spiritual vitality of those who are of African origin,
just as it has been for other cultural and ethnic groups,” Msgr.
Benz added.
African-American liturgies are noted for their lively spirit, singing,
and the clapping of hands — all of which are good, Msgr. Benz, believes.
Still, he said, he has reservations about some other aspects, such as
“the yellers, the screamers, the dancing in the aisles.
“A lot of those who do it have no content, they get caught up in
the histrionics,” he said.
Msgr. Benz emphasized that good liturgy is centered on Scripture —
and Scripture is intended to be proclaimed.
In criticism that could be applied to any congregation, Msgr. Benz took
issue with lectors who come to the podium obviously unprepared —
without having read their liturgy’s Scripture passages previously,
or meditated on them and prayed on them. The lectors, then, can only read
those passages rather than proclaim them, he said.
At the same time, music directors should also select music that applies
to the liturgy’s Scripture lessons, Msgr. Benz said. And the same
holds for homilies.
“How we celebrate is driven by God’s word,” he said.
“My role as a preacher is to bring those Scriptures alive for you
— it is not to make you feel good on Sunday morning.”
During the seminar, the importance of celebrating ethnic differences within
the context of universal Catholic teaching was not lost on Caroline Moore,
who became a Catholic just a year ago and now attends Our Lady of Hope
Church.
“Everything I was, I brought with me,” she said. “I’m
just at a higher level.
“I’m 64, and I had a devotion to the Blessed Mother for 20
years — prayer helped me get through some traumatic experiences,
and I watched EWTN,” Moore said. “I thought, ‘I’m
doing everything — I might as well be Catholic.’ “I’m
happy for sessions like this,” she said, “because I don’t
want to lose my identity. We each bring into the Church who we are.”
Lou Baldwin is a member of St. Leo Parish and a freelance writer.