April 27, 2003

Blessings from Batman

I was blessed, I think, on Easter Sunday morning by Batman. Or Robin. Or, most likely, by both. I’d better explain.

After one of the Masses at the parish I serve as a deacon, there was the larger-than-usual throng streaming outside. The celebrant and I were glad-handing parishioners, offering Easter wishes.

A family stopped in greeting and their little boy, perhaps five, offered the hands of the two action figures, the aforementioned Batman and Robin, he was clutching. He acknowledged that he identified with Robin the Boy Wonder more than the mature Batman but then waved them at me in a gesture not unlike that of blessing. Scant minutes later, the church vestibule was largely empty of “leavers” and filling up again with “comers” and I found myself wondering about that “blessing.”

Batman and Robin, of course, are champions of justice and provide rescue—salvation, if you will—to those in need. OK, so you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see where I’m going with this. There is a connection (albeit a bit warped) to the Easter message which resounds with those themes.

It’s just that those themes of justice and rescue and salvation often sound a lot better inside the safe walls of a church than outside. But Easter—and Easter time—wasn’t made for inside churches. Easter is a moment of evangelization, a time of triumph to be shared. Pentecost, in a few weeks, is surely important, because it captures that moment in ritual. But Easter is the reason. It’s what makes us different.

It’s the call to “go and tell”—go and tell the Good News. Our troubled, violent, hurting and wounded world needs to know, needs to hear.

What’s the message? Tell the world that the hungry must still be fed, the thirsty still given drink, the poor still clothed and cared for, the stranger still must be welcomed. Tell the world that justice and peace—not corruption and war—are the way of the Lord; that love is stronger than hate, that joy can overcome sorrow. Tell the world that salvation is real, and that the love of God connects us all.

Batman and Robin, for all their good cartoonish intentions, can’t really battle for justice and peace. But we can.

They teach us in journalism school that specifics are always better than vacuous generalities. So here are a few:

The archdiocesan Women’s Committee, in collaboration with the Office for Catholic Schools, the Office of Peace and Justice and Pax Christi Illinois have put together a Mother’s Day peace project. The fighting in Iraq may have been stemmed, but peace isn’t assured there and other wars abound (see Page 8). The origins of Mother’s Day are rooted in efforts for peacemaking.

For information on making peace a priority in your parish on Mother’s Day, call Rita Kattner at the archdiocese’s Office for Councils, (312) 751-8364.

Also, you can make a difference by supporting the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ “Renewing the Mind of the Media” campaign which takes place during May in advance of the church’s celebration of World Communications Day June 1.

The secular media has great impact and influence on our lives. In pledging to support Renewing the Mind of the Media, Catholics are urged to encourage the media to have a “positive influence” in “building a civilization of peace and love.” That can be accomplished by helping to hold the media responsible for honest and appropriate news and entertainment. Reading Catholic newspapers like this one is a great idea, too. For more information, visit www.renewingmedia.org.

Finally, if I could just figure out how to include the other little episode after Easter morning Mass when the little cute-as-a-button toddler shyly opened up her bag of Fruit Loops and offered me one. A pink one.

Hey, I know: She was feeding the hungry. Me.

Tom Sheridan
Editor and General Manager