Famed author-of-the moment Dennis Lehane, who wrote “Mystic River”, which was made into the Clint Eastwood-directed movie, offers us his thoughts on the closing St. Albert’s parish in Weymouth, Mass. Sprinkled throughout is Lehane’s disdain for the more mystical teachings of the Catholic faith and a more temporal view of what the Church is.
I’m of the opinion, in fact, that in the northeastern corridors of our country we often ridicule people of religious faith. It’s too easy to paint the faithful of any religion (but particularly Catholicism with its undercurrent of mysticism and rituals of transubstantiation) as hopelessly out of step, modern Bible-thumpers at war with change, with science, with reason.
Rituals of transubstantiation? This from a Catholic? While his thrust is that there is an unfair stereotyping of Catholics, his clear point is that the better picture of Catholics is that which sees them as people who’ve left behind medieval concepts of mysticism and the miraculous.
If you research that a bit deeper Dom, you will find that Mr. Lehane is a graduate of our own Boston College High School, mid 1980’s
I don’t get your point.
From your piece: “Rituals of transubstantiation? This from a Catholic?”
This from a Catholic who’s family spent thousands of dollars every year for him to get a “good” Catholic education?
Was he educated well in good Catholicism. The Boston College High School element is actually irrelevant except that it is a Catholic High School in the Archdiocese of Boston. The point is did he receive a good Catholic education? Putting it another way: Lenane is an alumnus from a Boston area Catholic High School, you are an alumnus of Franciscan University of Steubenville. If Franscisan University had a Boston based high school, which high school would you prefer your children attend and why? Do you think Lenane would have made the same statements if he attended that same high school or for that matter Franciscan University itself? I am asking objectively, I would be interested to know your answer as you are an alumnus of Steubenville.
There’s no guarantee that a graduate of a hypothetical Franciscan University high school would know his faith or live it any better than a grad from BC High, but the odds would be better.
It makes me recall a recent article in Catholic World Report that showed that Catholics who attend secular universities are more likely to come out with their faith intact than those that go to putative Catholic universities.
My point.
I don’t know if anyone cares, but I graduated from BC High also (Lehane was my commencement speaker). I was never taught that everything that the Catholic Church does is right or that it should never be questioned. Hopefully, the world is changing for the better.