It was my distinct honor and privilege to attend the 2013 Called to Communion Retreat. I cannot express to you how blessed I feel to know these men. There is a closeness here that goes far beyond friendship; it is that spiritual and supernatural friendship that binds us all in the Body of Christ.
Every one of us believes that the riches we found in the Reformed tradition not only formed us, but led us here. We were honored to be joined for the weekend by Dr. Scott Hahn, one of the best theologians in our country and the world today. Ahem. Let's just say that if Dr. Hahn wants to be in the group...we'll talk it over and see what we can do. [Ha!--ed.]
It was fun to hear Scott talk about the "old days" and the men who shaped him. We noticed very quickly that for each one of us, Scott knew or worked with someone who mentored or inspired us. The Reformed world is very influential, but it isn't big.
One thing I will never forget is the laughter; we laughed as much as anything. The Lord God has a sense of humor. If you don't believe this, you need to start again. And the laughter was a symbol for the love that we have for one another. For every single one of the men, I thought: "I feel like I've known him forever."
The other thing you'd notice is the brains. I was in awe of how gifted everyone was in that area. More than this, though, our strengths complement one another, and compensate for our weaknesses. Saturday night, just dumbstruck by the dizzying dynamism of the days-long discussion, [For shame!--ed.] I said to the group, "This is a room full of nerds!" They all shrugged and said, "You're just figuring this out now?"
Because Casey Chalk was there, I felt consoled in the absence of Barrett "Boot-Strap" Turner, my friend from the Old School. Anyway, Casey said that Barrett was the reason he returned to the Catholic Church. Dude, I know what you mean. He's a smart one. I can't hang with him intellectually, but I have made him laugh a few times. That's something, right? [Dude, you're the only one who calls him "Boot-Strap," and he probably hates that movie.--ed.] Well, if you hang with JK, you're getting a nickname. That's how it works.
I always talk at length to Andrew Preslar. For some reason, he likes to hear what I have to say. Just so you know, he's smarter than you. Don't let the "I'm just a dude from Carolina" persona fool you. But he's so...normal. One of the funniest things about the weekend was that Bryan Cross, Fred Noltie, (of Noltie Conundrum fame) and I had met Andrew at the Texas Roadhouse in Steubenville for dinner on Thursday before things got under way. He said, "I don't read books any more." And then spent the rest of the weekend recapping about 60 books none of us had read. Ha! Whatever you say, dude.
Tom Riello gave me a Rosary, and asked me to remember him and Called to Communion in prayer. I will never forget this. And to think it only happened because he didn't want to walk to the other room to get mine. He's like a long-lost brother, man.
I can't forget Dr. David Anders, the one who can be credibly called our expert on John Calvin. Besides all that, he doesn't say a whole lot relative to others, but when he wades into a discussion, it's almost always a game-changer. I love those people. Just so David knows, one of my goals in life is to get him to say to me, "Good point." I am in awe.
Tom Brown is a lawyer in the Navy. I started to talk to him about the impact of historic judicial decisions on our political participation today. Well, he didn't say I was an idiot--actually, quite the opposite--so that's a win.
OK, we need to talk about Dr. Hahn's library. First of all, it was kind of a big deal to be having lunch on Sunday at the Hahn residence in the first place. Then he was like, "Let's go see the library." I don't know what I was expecting, but I was not expecting a library with over 18,000 books in it. I think he said it has more books than the library at Franciscan University. Every book that any of us said, "Yeah, I need to read that," we found. I don't know if the guys were tempted to theft, but I understand it. This was like Disney World for intellectuals. I saw Ross Douthat's "Bad Religion" just sitting there. Been meaning to read that. Heh. And then, a title caught my eye: "The Political Problem Of Religious Pluralism" by Kozinski. I made a comment that it sounded interesting, and Dr. Hahn got very animated and said he wanted to read a paragraph from it. After what was surely the best paragraph I've heard in a year--to the effect that acknowledging Christ is paradoxically the only way to save our society--I asked Dr. Hahn if he had any encouragement for how to think Christianly about political involvement, given my interest. I would characterize his answer as pessimistic on that score, but we should definitely create vital communities and cultures centered around the Church.
The whole exchange underscores one major obstacle to having a flourishing society: Christian disunity. Doctrine creates cultures, in the sense that Christian culture is an attempt to make the doctrine of God real in our lives, and in the lives of others. That we do not agree is a counter-sign to the world against our words that the one God has spoken. Though we can be thankful for the mystic communion we all share by baptism, at some point we all are forced to realize that the gospel is in the details.
Jason Stellman and I debated politics for several hours Saturday, and into Sunday morning. Yes, that Jason Stellman. What an interesting guy! And an eminently likable guy. I couldn't believe this was the guy certain Reformed people had charged with intellectual dishonesty and deception. Anyway, even though he described himself as an "anarcho-socialist," and I think the only good socialist is probably a dead one, our conversation--grounded, we hope, in the Church's social teaching--produced a substantial amount of agreement, at least in the theoretical. I also have it on the record that if I ran for president, Stellman would vote for me.
And then I come finally to our fearless leader, Bryan Cross. I owe him so much. As Guinan told Riker about Picard, "Our relationship, it's beyond friendship, beyond family..." I needed this trip to put a fitting capstone on this phase of our lives. I realize that when I look at Bryan, I am looking at everyone who loves Bryan, and everyone Bryan loves. All those who have, by God's grace, made him who he is are people who I'm obligated to thank. I want Carol Cross and Laura Cross to especially know how thankful I am for them, as they go with Bryan to Iowa. I will remember to pray to and with the Blessed Mother, and that, no matter what happens, I'm still just silly Kettlecorn.
I am privileged to be a small part of the Called to Communion project, as we work for the full flowering of Trinitarian life in our lives, and in the lives of others.
Every one of us believes that the riches we found in the Reformed tradition not only formed us, but led us here. We were honored to be joined for the weekend by Dr. Scott Hahn, one of the best theologians in our country and the world today. Ahem. Let's just say that if Dr. Hahn wants to be in the group...we'll talk it over and see what we can do. [Ha!--ed.]
It was fun to hear Scott talk about the "old days" and the men who shaped him. We noticed very quickly that for each one of us, Scott knew or worked with someone who mentored or inspired us. The Reformed world is very influential, but it isn't big.
One thing I will never forget is the laughter; we laughed as much as anything. The Lord God has a sense of humor. If you don't believe this, you need to start again. And the laughter was a symbol for the love that we have for one another. For every single one of the men, I thought: "I feel like I've known him forever."
The other thing you'd notice is the brains. I was in awe of how gifted everyone was in that area. More than this, though, our strengths complement one another, and compensate for our weaknesses. Saturday night, just dumbstruck by the dizzying dynamism of the days-long discussion, [For shame!--ed.] I said to the group, "This is a room full of nerds!" They all shrugged and said, "You're just figuring this out now?"
Because Casey Chalk was there, I felt consoled in the absence of Barrett "Boot-Strap" Turner, my friend from the Old School. Anyway, Casey said that Barrett was the reason he returned to the Catholic Church. Dude, I know what you mean. He's a smart one. I can't hang with him intellectually, but I have made him laugh a few times. That's something, right? [Dude, you're the only one who calls him "Boot-Strap," and he probably hates that movie.--ed.] Well, if you hang with JK, you're getting a nickname. That's how it works.
I always talk at length to Andrew Preslar. For some reason, he likes to hear what I have to say. Just so you know, he's smarter than you. Don't let the "I'm just a dude from Carolina" persona fool you. But he's so...normal. One of the funniest things about the weekend was that Bryan Cross, Fred Noltie, (of Noltie Conundrum fame) and I had met Andrew at the Texas Roadhouse in Steubenville for dinner on Thursday before things got under way. He said, "I don't read books any more." And then spent the rest of the weekend recapping about 60 books none of us had read. Ha! Whatever you say, dude.
Tom Riello gave me a Rosary, and asked me to remember him and Called to Communion in prayer. I will never forget this. And to think it only happened because he didn't want to walk to the other room to get mine. He's like a long-lost brother, man.
I can't forget Dr. David Anders, the one who can be credibly called our expert on John Calvin. Besides all that, he doesn't say a whole lot relative to others, but when he wades into a discussion, it's almost always a game-changer. I love those people. Just so David knows, one of my goals in life is to get him to say to me, "Good point." I am in awe.
Tom Brown is a lawyer in the Navy. I started to talk to him about the impact of historic judicial decisions on our political participation today. Well, he didn't say I was an idiot--actually, quite the opposite--so that's a win.
OK, we need to talk about Dr. Hahn's library. First of all, it was kind of a big deal to be having lunch on Sunday at the Hahn residence in the first place. Then he was like, "Let's go see the library." I don't know what I was expecting, but I was not expecting a library with over 18,000 books in it. I think he said it has more books than the library at Franciscan University. Every book that any of us said, "Yeah, I need to read that," we found. I don't know if the guys were tempted to theft, but I understand it. This was like Disney World for intellectuals. I saw Ross Douthat's "Bad Religion" just sitting there. Been meaning to read that. Heh. And then, a title caught my eye: "The Political Problem Of Religious Pluralism" by Kozinski. I made a comment that it sounded interesting, and Dr. Hahn got very animated and said he wanted to read a paragraph from it. After what was surely the best paragraph I've heard in a year--to the effect that acknowledging Christ is paradoxically the only way to save our society--I asked Dr. Hahn if he had any encouragement for how to think Christianly about political involvement, given my interest. I would characterize his answer as pessimistic on that score, but we should definitely create vital communities and cultures centered around the Church.
The whole exchange underscores one major obstacle to having a flourishing society: Christian disunity. Doctrine creates cultures, in the sense that Christian culture is an attempt to make the doctrine of God real in our lives, and in the lives of others. That we do not agree is a counter-sign to the world against our words that the one God has spoken. Though we can be thankful for the mystic communion we all share by baptism, at some point we all are forced to realize that the gospel is in the details.
Jason Stellman and I debated politics for several hours Saturday, and into Sunday morning. Yes, that Jason Stellman. What an interesting guy! And an eminently likable guy. I couldn't believe this was the guy certain Reformed people had charged with intellectual dishonesty and deception. Anyway, even though he described himself as an "anarcho-socialist," and I think the only good socialist is probably a dead one, our conversation--grounded, we hope, in the Church's social teaching--produced a substantial amount of agreement, at least in the theoretical. I also have it on the record that if I ran for president, Stellman would vote for me.
And then I come finally to our fearless leader, Bryan Cross. I owe him so much. As Guinan told Riker about Picard, "Our relationship, it's beyond friendship, beyond family..." I needed this trip to put a fitting capstone on this phase of our lives. I realize that when I look at Bryan, I am looking at everyone who loves Bryan, and everyone Bryan loves. All those who have, by God's grace, made him who he is are people who I'm obligated to thank. I want Carol Cross and Laura Cross to especially know how thankful I am for them, as they go with Bryan to Iowa. I will remember to pray to and with the Blessed Mother, and that, no matter what happens, I'm still just silly Kettlecorn.
I am privileged to be a small part of the Called to Communion project, as we work for the full flowering of Trinitarian life in our lives, and in the lives of others.
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