A New Pope, and A New Hope

So we have a new Pope!

I watched the whole spectacle yesterday afternoon, hoping to be home to witness it. And I was. I have to say, I do love the pomp and circumstance and tradition and ritual of the church. It is beautiful.

Pope Francis gives me a good vibe and I like that. I like his simpleness. And I like his new chosen name. (Who doesn't have a statue of St. Francis in her garden?) I hope that the name is a sign that he will reform and fix my church. I know it is wishful thinking that he will modernize the church, but I can hope. I do think priests should be allowed to marry; women should be allowed higher roles in the church; that divorced people are not "punished" because sometimes it is not a choice to be divorced; that the sex scandals of the church not be covered up. There are so many things that can be improved in my faith and would increase the numbers of people who would continue to be connected to the Catholic Faith.

So we begin a new era. Love live and God bless Pope Francis. The world looks to you now.

Waiting for a New Pope

Photo courtesy of CNN.com.
Vatican workers set up chimney on Sistene Chapel.
The chimney will emit black or white smoke,
which will tell the public if a pope is elected.

Yesterday, the papal conclave began to determine who the next Pope will be. It was an exciting day for Catholics. I personally hope they will pick someone who will modernize the church. Times have changed, and the church could use some change.

I wrote a very basic article for Yahoo Voices on this whole shindig. My intent was to break it down to basics so parents could answer questions for kids. Find it on the link, and perhaps it will help you.

The Tradition of Easter Bread

The beginning of the babka-making session

My grandparents always made babka just before Easter. Their tiny kitchen was covered in flour, but the result was a sweet loaf of raisin-filled bread that made the best breakfast toast, ever. Today, I wish I had their magic homemade bread, as my own breadmaking skills fall a tad bit short. Someday, I hope to make babka as yummy as theirs was, but in the meantime I will just practice the breadmaking craft year after year and keep this tradition alive.

My family is not the only family with an Easter making tradition. Italian families often create Easter crown bread, which has a whole egg braided into the top. Greek families make a similar bread with a red-dyed egg. Another pre-Easter, Lenten favorite bread is the sweet hot cross bun... but I'll reserve a whole post on that treat on Friday.

Easter crown bread with the pretty dyed egg, an Italian traditon

Source: theitaliandishblog.com via Lianne on Pinterest

At Easter, the association with making a special bread is that brea is, essentially, the staff of life. Bread is really eaten in honor of Jesus -- bread needs to rise, as did Jesus did on Easter. And let's not forget that eating bread crosses all cultures and classes. Over the centuries, most families, however poor, could afford to honor the Savior with a specially made bread during this spring holiday session.

Most cultures did their Easter bread baking during Holy Week, so it can be blessed at the church on Holy Saturday. Today, many bakeries have taken over the chore of Easter bread baking since families are busy and many mothers work.

Babka dough in pans, waiting to rise for the second time before baking

This week, my plan is to fit in a babka-making session. I can't leave that task to the bakery, since it could never be the same. It has to be homemade, just like my grandparents' tradition. Coincidentally, the bread is named for the Polish word for grandmother, and every time I think of it, I think of my own grandmother, whom I miss dearly, and I hope her memory lives on in this bread (and my stories and memories) for my own children. Maybe someday they will make babka for their own children.

Stopper Family Babka

Ingredients:

2 sticks margarine

8 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup warm water

4 eggs

4 packages dry yeast

1 tb. salt

2 tbs. orange juice

1 tb. vanilla extract

white or dark raisins

Directions:

In a sauce pan, heat margarine, sugar, salt and milk. Set aside to cool.

Beat eggs and add orange juice.

Dissolve yeast in warm water and add to flour when lukewarm. Add egg and orange juice and milk mixture to flour. Mix together to form dough.

Knead dough until it does not stick to fingers. Use a little flour on board if necessary.

Put dough in glass bowls to rise.

After dough rises once, punch down and put in greased and floured bread pans. Let rise again.

Bake at 325 to 350 degrees, depending on oven, for 35 to 45 minutes.

Meatless Fridays and Faith

It's Friday, and I won't eat meat today.

It's not because I'm some Holy Roller or something. It's Lent, and that's my tradition. I'm Catholic and I will always be Catholic. Not a strict Catholic, but Catholic nonetheless.

Why do I even feel the need to clarify this? Religion is such a touchy subject, isn't it? I was raised Catholic, and have felt the constraint of its rigid rules often. I have thought, from time to time, about converting to another form of Christianity, about attending another church with another denomination. But I can't. It just doesn't feel right to me, for the most part, even thought I'm not crazy about the new Mass translation... And Whitney Houston's rousing "home-going" made me contemplate being a Baptist.

The Catholic Church is my home. To me, Mass is more comfortable than other Christian services. It is what I grew up experiencing; it is what most of my family still attends. I was married in a Catholic Church and I wanted my children to be baptized in the church, which they were, and now I am raising them as Catholics.




Big Girl reading during her Holy Communion Mass

Believe me, I have my share of disagreements with the Church, and I do sometimes fit the term "Cafeteria Catholic," meaning I pick and choose what I would like to follow and sometimes find fault with certain church beliefs. I'm not going to get into all my disagreements with the church here. But If I don't believe it all, you may wonder, why am I still a Catholic?
Because it's my home. It's my tradition. And it has always been my faith.

The Twins, Baptism Day 2010

I believe I know what God wants from me, and what is right and what is wrong. I don't push my faith on others, and I am a very firm believer in tolerance. I can't stand it when people allude that something is wrong with someone else's faith. There is a Muslim mosque being built near a major highway near my home, and I can't tell you the negativity that has been mentioned regarding that building.

Or how when the director of my daughter's religious education program greets boys wearing hats at the door of the school with that statement "Why are you wearing a hat? Take that off? You're not Jewish!" it makes me seethe in my soul and makes me want to scream out that Jesus was a Jew and a compassionate one at that so take it down a notch and find another way to tell a little boy that it's not good manners to wear a hat inside.

Or when a friend of mine made a comment about how Catholics adoring Mary was ridiculous made me want to walk out of her house because I found it completely offensive because Mary is an important figure in my religion.

Religion has always fascinated me, and I have always been drawn to find out more about traditions in all religions. Now, I'm not someone who is so politically correct to change the name of Christmas trees to holiday trees, but I also don't think wishing someone "Happy Holidays" is demeaning the "reason for the season" either, especially if you don't know his or her religious background.

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite series of books was "All of a Kind Family" by Sydney Taylor, about a Jewish family with many kids growing up in turn-of-the-century New York. It was fascinating to read about all the Jewish holidays and the fun traditions the family followed and it was so far removed from my Catholic upbringing, in a small town where I surrounded by mostly Catholics. I recently searched them out (some of them are out of print now :( unfortunately) and read them to my daughter. She loved them too. She liked so much we had a long discussion with our pediatrician, who just happens to be Jewish and wears a yarmulke.

(Funny story about our Jewish pediatrician and my daughter: When we read the Sydney Taylor books, the yarmulke came up. I explained to my daughter that a yarmulke is what her doctor wears, because he is Jewish. My daughter said "Wow! I didn't know that! I thought it was just a doctor's hat!")

Faith is faith is faith. (Of course, there are cults and wayward leaders, but that's a different discussion.) I believe that religion, whether Catholicism or not, can provide structure and morals and give children the same sense of "belonging" that I felt growing up. No-meat Fridays are my religious tradition and a part of my childhood, so I continue the ritual for my own family as much as I can. But I also place a great value on tolerance, and why we need to understand and respect other religions. Everyone is different, but that isn't something of which to be afraid, or to shun, or to put down.

So when I eat fish or cheese pizza or egg salad or whatever tonight, I will be honoring my family's tradition and my religion, but I will also remind my children that part of being a good, moral person of faith is being respectful and tolerant of others' beliefs too.