The death of George


I went to the funeral of a 95-year-old friend and neighbor today. It started with a rosary, moved on to a mass, and ended with one of my friend’s distinguished children saying that he knew of no higher honor than to be compared to his father. I was wrecked throughout. First, I was alienated by a memorial service that excluded non-Catholics entirely and was conducted under the auspices of a church that I consider the institutional embodiment of evil. Secondly, I was touched to the core by his son’s recollections of George’s goodness, the moreso because I couldn’t say the same about my own father.

George and I would sit and watch mass on TV while eating ice cream or drinking brandy. I didn’t mind watching those masses because he would invariably pause them when we started to talk in any depth, or at least try to talk, a stroke having made it difficult for him to remember words. He never asked about my religious views, and I never offered them because of his communication problem. John said he survived WWII by going to mass everyday (he served on a ship), and I envied him that comfort, but few things are more certain to me than that religion isn’t a gift from God but the invention of men, and I do mean men. Today, the things that I had once tried to love about the Catholic Church—the rosary, the stations of the cross, the saints in the windows, the words of the mass, the font of holy water, and the red light signifying the presence of the host—all represented a lie that, under the pretense of love, has gone far toward filling the world with hatred, abuse, persecution, and bloodshed, as well as hungry children for the impoverished and mansions for the church’s hierarchy.

I seldom passed George’s house on foot, on my bike, or in my car, without him seeing me and waving wildly with a handkerchief while smiling like a dog who was too happy to contain himself. I’ve now lost two neighbors who waved to me that way, and, oh, but how empty those windows look, and how I wish I had visited those men more often to store up memories for the famine that their deaths represent. Ghosts are becoming more present than the living in my life.

After I wrote the above sentence, I surmised that his family would be home from the cemetery, so I went to John’s daughter’s house for the reception. God bless Catholics, for there was enough beer, wine, and hard liquor to get everyone there smashed.

I’ll be honest with you—this being a phrase that my father often used, stupidly, I thought, but for some reason, it came into my head just now—George was a wonderful man. He was unfailingly considerate, generous, and good-humored, and if I had any thought that his Catholic faith had contributed to his many virtues, I would find it difficult to criticize Catholicism. But as easy as it is for me to attribute evil to the Catholic Church, I hate it too much to allow for the possibility that it might also be responsible for good. This is the opposite of how I once thought.

Growing up as I did in a denomination that made Southern Baptists seem liberal, I learned that the world contained two outstanding evils—atheism and Catholicism. This, combined with the plainness of my own church and my awareness of the ornateness of Catholic churches, created in me a very great interest in Catholicism because that which most people hated always struck me as deserving of investigation. When I became an Episcopalian in my early twenties, it was only because I found Catholic dogma even harder to accept than Episcopal dogmaby then, I saw all dogma as a challenge to work around rather than a gift to cherish.

In 1997, I made one last serious attempt to believe that there’s something deserving of worship: I joined the Catholic Church. As I ask myself whatever possessed me to go through a six-month process of being admitted only to leave as soon as I was admitted, I can’t think of a satisfactory answer. I can but say that I was under enormous internal stress at the time for reasons that I won’t go into, and that I love things which are old, and the Catholic Church is awfully old. When I lived in Minnesota, I would often visit the Minneapolis Institute of Art and admire the beautiful saints statues and triptychs from the Middle Ages, and I wanted so very much to feel connected to all of that, instead of persistently feeling as though I’m floating through time and space, unattached to everything that is past, everything that is to come, and most things that are present. I wanted to feel as if the hands of those artists were my hands, their eyes my eyes, their hearts my heart. Against all truth, I mythologized the era as being simple, clean, and deeply colored, which is the way it’s portrayed in the art of the period. I, who couldn’t accept the existence of a literal deity, wanted to at least accept something, so I joined the oldest church on earth in the hope that the mere act of joining would give me a sense of connectedness.
 
I first applied for the membership class at St. Marys, but after talking to me for five minutes, the priest pronounced me unfit to join, so I presented my case to the priest at the more liberal St. Thomas. He said he had no problem with me, but that, like everyone, I would need a sponsor. Since I didn’t know a soul there, he appointed Bill, explaining that Bill’s extensive knowledge of church history and theology would enable him to address my concerns. Unfortunately, the more Bill and I came together, the further apart we grew due to his growing disapproval of me. It must have been hard for him to allow me to join (I needed his okay), but he pinched his nostrils, and publicly vouched for me on the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. Afterwards, he presented me with a copy of Thomas Merton’s The Seven Story Mountain and warned that if I ever joined another church, God wouldn’t forgive me. It was the last time we spoke.

There I was, a brand-spanking new Roman Catholic whom, despite my best efforts, had gotten nothing of value from all the classes, nothing from my scholarly sponsor, and nothing but a fleeting wave of emotion from my confirmation. A few weeks later, the priest called to ask what had become of me, and I said it wasn’t working for me to be a Catholic. He wished me well without asking any questions. I now look upon the whole episode as one of the more embarrassing of my life, because I knew throughout the process that I didn’t have an intellectual leg to stand upon, yet I joined anyway.

There’s a character in Elmer Gantry with whom I identify more strongly than anyone I’ve ever known or read about. Frank Shallard went through seminary and preached for years despite his ever-growing nonbelief, yet, as unlikely as it sounds, he was a person of integrity. Gantry didn’t bother to ponder the question of God’s existence because his only interests were the prestige and wealth that went with being a famous evangelist. Neither did maintaining their belief pose a challenge to such preachers in the book as did believe, because they were “superbly trained to ignore contradictions.” Frank Shallard, by contrast, wanted to believe—in something—but he couldn’t avoid probing questions, and his questions had to admit of rational answers, so he kept on preaching for the good he could do, even as he sought an alternate belief. Gantry finally outed him in the following exchange:

Frank was so simple as to lose his temper when Elmer had bullied him, roared at him, bulked at him, long enough, with Frank’s own deacons accepting Elmer as an authority…he screamed back at Elmer that he did not accept Jesus Christ as divine; that he was not sure of a future life; that he wasn’t even sure of a personal God.

Mr. William Dollinger Styles snapped, “Then just why, Mr. Shallard, don’t you get out of the ministry before you’re kicked out?”

“Because I’m not yet sure — Though I do think our present churches are as absurd as a belief in witchcraft, yet I believe there could be a church free of superstition, helpful to the needy, and giving people that mystic something stronger than reason, that sense of being uplifted in common worship of an unknowable power for good. Myself, I’d be lonely with nothing but bleak debating-societies. I think — at least I still think — that for many souls there is this need of worship, even of beautiful ceremonial —.”

“‘Mystic need of worship!’ ‘Unknowable power for good!’ “Words, words, words! Milk and water! THAT, when you have the glorious and certain figure of Christ Jesus to worship and follow!” bellowed Elmer. “Pardon me, gentlemen, for intruding, but it makes me, not as a preacher but just as a humble and devout Christian, sick to my stomach to hear a fellow feel that he knows so blame much he’s able to throw out of the window the Christ that the whole civilized world has believed in for countless centuries! And try to replace him with a lot of gassy phrases! Excuse me, Mr. Styles, but after all, religion is a serious business, and if we’re going to call ourselves Christians at all, we have to bear testimony to the proven fact of God…”

The Gantrys of the world are welcomed by the church; the Shallards are not. So was it in Jesus’ time, and so is it today.

Fifty-four years after I started to lose my fundamentalist faith, I find it sad how cheerfully confident I was that I would soon find an alternative and even enjoy the search. This was because I assumed great diversity among religions, and there is, of course, enormous diversity, but it is diversity of what people believe rather than of how they think. I also assumed that, just as botany and history have their authorities, so does metaphysics. Now, I see no reason to think that anyone knows any more about ultimate reality than I do, death being the only path to certain knowledge. 

Art by Zdzislaw Beksinski. His images describe my feelings better than any words. It is a nightmare to be simultaneously attracted and repulsed.

13 comments:

Strayer said...

My neighbor Jack, now dead like two of yours, was completely nonreligious. He was always happy to see me, nearly always partially to fully drunk and could cuss like a pack of carpenters. He told me, however, that I was Jesus Christ to the cats and that coming from him won my heart. Knowing the pompous nature and unapologetic wealth of the Catholic church, I liked to go watch the spectacle of their services on Easter and Christmas Eve. It was like watching a play (free) or going out on Halloween night to see the costumes--for entertainment purposes only. Sometimes I still do that. You'd think the oldest church out there would have more wisdom, at the least, by now.

Snowbrush said...

"I liked to go watch the spectacle of their services on Easter and Christmas Eve. It was like watching a play"

I had a deep need for ritual and ornamentation from my childhood, maybe the moreso because my own church so shunned it that the only beauty their buildings contained was on the funeral home fans with which we fanned ourselves in the Mississippi heat.

Helen said...

As always, thought-provoking and deeply touching. My conversion to Catholicism went much like yours .. though I converted for different reasons.

I would have loved knowing your friend George ...

stephen Hayes said...

I admire your quest for spiritual relevance. At least you put yourself out there as an explorer and active participant rather than sitting back and basking in convenient assumptions. When it comes to religion I honestly don't know what to believe, but I so desperately want to feel a connection to something greater than myself.

Snowbrush said...

"My conversion to Catholicism went much like yours .. though I converted for different reasons."

I wish you would write about it.

"I would have loved knowing your friend George ..."

He was a sweetheart. He moved into the house in which he died when he was age 35. He raised six children there, and his wife died when he was 62. No doubt, the mass helped him to survive all of those things too.

Snowbrush said...

"so desperately want to feel a connection to something greater than myself."

Well, that makes two of us anyway. I say that laughingly, yet I really don't get that most people think about all this very deeply but are instead too easily satisfied, whether as theists or as atheists. As a result of that funeral, I'm being forced to ask myself how important to me are creeds, labels, consistency, and the opinions of others. Certainly, I can never be a Catholic or even a theist, yet I find such atheist organizations as there are to be unfulfilling, so there is nothing that I would like more in my life than a church that was (a) ritualistic and (b) accepting of my non-belief. Unfortunately, the one that fits me best as far as belief is the Unitarian, but it's as boring as the church I grew up--as are all Protestant churches except the Episcopal.

lotta joy said...

I would say you were more attracted to the long standing traditions of the Catholic church than any of their beliefs. It may have represented stability to you. Structured movements and automaton answers are not thought provoking, and are intended to create unquestioning obedience, structure and organization.

You answered your own question by the simple statement: "George was a wonderful man. He was unfailingly considerate, generous, and good-humored".

No religion teaches us to be considerate of ALL others.

Generous, only when emptying our pockets for the good of the church and its affiliates.

Good humored? With statues of tortured men surrounding you and your loved ones?

George was a good man because he could be nothing other than what he was by nature, not doctrine.

Snowbrush said...

"I would say you were more attracted to the long standing traditions of the Catholic church than any of their beliefs."

Absolutely! The beliefs were an obstacle. I don't even much like Jesus much less Jesus deified.

"No religion teaches us to be considerate of ALL others."

I recall when a Christian reader wrote that it was okay for her to hate me because I hated God. That's how easily Jesus commandments can be rationalized away by people who simply don't want to obey them. I have NO thought that Christians are more loving than atheists, the question being whether their dogma makes them less loving. I think it likely that, when all is said and done, people are what they are. Staunch Catholic that he was, George simply loved and delighted in people. Even if I had told him I was an atheist, I think he would have remained my friend. When he was young, maybe not, but at his advanced age, I don't think he would have let the word come between us.

"Good humored? With statues of tortured men surrounding you and your loved ones?"

Yes, even with that, George laughed easily. Again, I think people are what they are. Religion might make them more that way in one area or another, but I don't think it changes their basic identity.

"Structured movements and automaton answers are not thought provoking, and are intended to create unquestioning obedience, structure and organization."

Structured movements and scripted answers go with ritual, and I adore ritual. I would guess that, at this point, many Episcopal Church are more "high church" than are most Catholic churches, and this means that they are correspondingly more ritualistic, yet they are also a thousand times more free to think for themselves. One virtue of ritual is that it allows me to NOT think. I find it meditative. Maybe you're familiar with Qi Gong and Tai Chi, which are ancient martial art forms that are also popular as exercise. Every movement is finely structured and defined, and require not thinking beyond muscle memory. Whereas I would never do sitting meditation, I love doing movement meditation. Church ritual is a bit like that.

Snowbrush said...

"He told me, however, that I was Jesus Christ to the cats and that coming from him won my heart."

What a beautiful compliment, and so very true given all the lives you've saved and the joy you've brought. You clearly share a bond with cats that I very much doubt that most cat lovers can come close to. There's an old Gary Larson cartoon in which two monkeys are eating bananas and one says to the other, "You know. I really like these things. Heck, we all do, but with me, it's so more than that." I think this how you feel about cats, and how cats feel about you. I like to think I have a good rapport with animals, but I know I can't come close to you in how you relate to cats.

Helen said...

Dear Snow, any post about my Catholic conversion would have to be published after my death ~

Strayer said...

Oh Gary Larson. I loved his cartoons. That one you cited be terrific. I love cats. Heck most people do. But with me, it's so much more than that. Ha!

Joe Todd said...

Sorry for your loss Snow. I just lost a good friend of mine. Jeff was 49 years old and he basically drank himself to death. He used all the willpower at his command to try and stop drinking and just couldn't do it. Religion didn't work for him either.

Robin said...

You and I spend time in very different worlds...but we often come together - experiencing some of the same emotions.

I was up visiting a dear friend in the Valley of the Moon (Sonoma). She moved there from SF four years ago - and I go up to visit 3 or 4 times a year... when I am there, I happily take over the *Dog-walking* Duties....and go out (at least twice a day on L-O-N-G walks with her dog)...like you, I am an *Observer* - I notice people, their homes, etc. These past four years, I always looked over at a home with a *Swedish Horse* and a *Wilkommen* Sign over their front door.. two weeks ago, the house was *For Sale*... that spoke volumes to me.. someone died...and the Family opted not to keep the home. I mentioned it to my friend....and she had never noticed their home, the welcome sign etc. Do you know, Snow, I missed them...and I had never met them.. Life (and Death) so strange... so unavoidable...your friend lived longer than my Father, who was a WWII Bomber Pilot in Africa and Italy...but the loss of your friend made me miss my Father even more.. I am rambling....but I wanted to say I truly understand... as a Catholic, I believe George has passed on to a better place with no pain or sickness. But, I feel your pain..and send you love and hugs. And..hey...you DO have a special bond - not just with Cats - but with Animals.

Love, always,

♥ Robin ♥