An Anthology of Contemporary Catholic Poetry

Growing up in late 1950s and early 1960s New Orleans meant by definition that you were part of a Catholic culture. My family wasn’t Catholic, but most of my neighborhood friends and school classmates were. Within relatively easy walking distances were several Catholic churches and schools – Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of Divine Providence, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Christopher’s, and St. Philip Neri. Our Lutheran church could only be reached by driving. My parents almost sent me to a Catholic high school. Because the Catholic church was so dominant, you didn’t think of “Catholic” as anything but normal.  

We certainly didn’t think of “Catholic” poetry or fiction as something distinct. Poetry was poetry, and fiction was fiction. We did learn about the importance of Catholic faith when we studied T.S. Eliot, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Henry Cardinal Newman, or Reformation writers, or the religious wars of the 16^th and 17^th centuries. But no one talked about a distinct Catholic literature, even if it might have existed. If anyone had asked me to name a Catholic writer, I would have said G.K. Chesterton, Flannery O’Connor, or Giovanni Guareschi, author of the Don Camillo stories (which I read in high school and loved them all). And that would have exhausted my knowledge.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

 

Sweet Gal, You Made Me Think – poem by Jonathan Rogers at Rabbi Room Poetry.

 

A Letter from Rome – poem by Morri Creech at The Hopkins Review.

 

A Savannah Poet – Richard Kreitner at Jewish Review of Books.

 

I Have Waited for September – poem by Roy Peterson at Society of Classical Poets.

 

Poetry Prompt: Wordle Your Way – Tweetspeak Poetry. 

“The Wild Duck,” poem by John Masefield – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

“What is the Church?” by R.C. Sproul

We talk about what life is like in an increasingly secular age, but it’s difficult to look at anything in the news media, social media, web sites and other communications without finding constant references to religion of almost all kinds, but especially Christianity and Islam. We may live in an increasingly secular age, but you wouldn’t know it from what everyone is talking about, arguing about, expressing fears and concerns about, and thinking about. It can be as tiresome as it is repetitive; no one is convincing anyone except the people in their own echo chambers.

I find this even roiling into conversations of my fellow Christians, with mainliners pitted against evangelicals, traditionalists versus “seeker supporters,” people arguing for and against something called “relevance” in worship services. There’s some faith, little hope, and no love being shown; instead, we embrace our own righteous anger and use it like a weapon.

Author, speaker, historian, and Calvinist R.C. Sproul has been publishing a series entitled “Crucial Questions,” which actually might provide some relief. No. 17 in that series is What is the Church?, and Sproul takes us back to 325 A.D., the Council of Nicea, and the Nicene Creed that resulted.

Consider the context. For only a few years, Christianity had been a legal religion in the Roman Empire. It was engulfed in the Arian controversy, which concerned the divine nature of Jesus and his relationship to God the Father. It was threatening to tear the church apart. The Emperor Constantine called the council and presided over its beginning, although others presided over the discussion and debate. The council eventually beat back the Arian heresy and developed the Nicene Creed, which is still recited in churches around the world today. (The Council also did a number of other things, like determine which books comprised the Biblical canon.)

R.C. Sproul

In his book, Sproul focuses on one element of the creed, which defines the church as one, holy, catholic, and apostolic. Taking each term in turn, he explores what the church is and what it is called to be. He doesn’t gloss over the divisions plaguing the church; in fact, he discusses the major ones.

He distinguishes between the visible and invisible church. He describes what it means for the church to be holy (and believers to be saints). He considers the church’s universality. And he explains what is means for the church to be founded on the apostles. He finishes the work by noting what it means to be a servant and what the true marks of church are.

Sproul is the author of numerous books, articles, sermons, and speeches on Christianity, church history, theology, Calvinism, and related topics. Sproul leads the teaching fellowship Ligonier Ministries, based in Sanford, Florida.

What is the Church?, published in 2013, is a reality check for any of us who describe ourselves as Christians. It is both refreshing and convicting.  

Top Photograph: Hereford Cathedral by Michael D. Beckwith via Unsplash. Used with Permission.