Signs of the times?

The very first thing I saw arriving for the first day of the Festival of Faith was the Halloween display in the Navy Pier lobby: a sign promoting something called “The Beast.”

Great, I thought, the Catholic Festival of Faith is being held under the “mark of the beast.” That’s an often-misunderstood Scriptural reference to the antichrist of Revelation, an image some groups have long sought to tie to church.

I was feeling a little defensive, but it was, after all, just a benign commercial.

Then, at lunch the same day, I was wandering the pier in search of a less-expensive bottle of water, and another image struck me. It was a pair of nuns, in full habit, sitting down at McDonald’s (Big Macs and fries, from the looks of it) and praying with the Sign of the Cross. This in the middle of scores of pier-walkers who had nothing to do with the festival or perhaps nothing to do with religion at all.

Two signs, one bubbling up defensively, the other wonderfully positive, a sign of faith in a culture which too often fails to be faithful.

I thought: We’ve forgotten who we were. And who we are.

How was I to know that would turn out to be the core theme of the Catholic Festival of Faith?

In another generation, nuns on Navy Pier might not have raised an eyebrow. Nor, perhaps, would the Sign of the Cross being made in public. But in this modern world, displays of faith, acknowledgements of God, of belonging to a community of believers, of being part of the Body of Christ … that’s unusual. And the people who do it are often thought of as, well, odd.

(Consider, for instance, that the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority felt it necessary to post a sign by the huge stainless steel statue of Our Lady of the New Millennium on the pier disclaiming any notion that it carried religious beliefs. As if a statue of the Blessed Mother could do anything else.)

For the record, this is not a call to bring back squadrons of nuns in full habits. I’m talking more about the sign of faith. It was a sign of faith for 17,000-plus Catholics to gather on Navy Pier, that great secular entertainment venue.

That was the call of the festival. Yes, there was entertainment (quite good) and vendors selling everything from Catholic kitsch to artwork and books; yes, there was liturgy and preaching (very powerful) and there were exhibits of treasures and information booths of all sorts. (Think: county fair with a Catholic flavor.)

Chicago has always had an undercurrent of Catholic culture; we are, after all, an area wrought by immigrants, many Catholic. But in recent years, the predominant American culture has shifted away from traditional Catholic values. And, sadly, many Catholics have shifted right along with them.

But echoing throughout the Festival of Faith was a call to recognize that Catholicism and its unique history, stories, values and attitudes can remake the culture around us.

This isn’t going to be accomplished by a couple of praying sisters. And this is not a retrenchment to a world in which triumphal and militant Catholics march around neighborhoods claiming them, as it were, for the church.

Rather, there is the opportunity to make a cultural statement that says values are important, that God is in the world, that faith is not a private thing to be hidden and ashamed of, but an opportunity to remember, publicly, who we were. And, more importantly, who we are.

More than 17,000 Catholics gathering at or on Navy Pier did that. You do it when The Catholic New World plops into your mailbox. We do it by remembering who we were, and who we are.

Tom Sheridan
Editor and General Manager

Send your comments to Tom

Top

---