Author: Michael Levenson
Publication: The Boston Globe
Date: March 20, 2005
URL: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/20/catholic_men_hear_encouraging_words/
Speakers aim to help them reexamine
their faith, role
Some 2,000 Catholic men gathered
in Boston yesterday to pray, sing, and listen to unusually frank speeches
by clergy discussing contraception, pornography, adultery, adoption, and
community service, with the goal of encouraging men to reexamine their
faith and masculinity.
Catholic lawyers, retirees, youth
workers, teachers, and others from across New England attended the first
annual Boston Catholic Men's Conference, an event inspired by the gatherings
of the Promise Keepers, a predominantly Protestant organization that has
packed stadiums with Christian men who pledge to become stronger in their
faith and personal lives.
James Towey, a Bush administration
official, set the tone for yesterday's conference when he told the packed
gymnasium at Boston College High School to reject what he called ''militant
secularism" and ''reflect together on what it means to be a Catholic man."
''We are called to have a personal
encounter with Christ," said Towey, a former legal counsel to Mother Teresa
who was appointed in February 2002 as director of the White House Office
of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. ''I would encourage you to be
godly men."
Other speakers included Archbishop
Sean P. O'Malley, Thomas Monaghan, the founder of Domino's Pizza, and Jim
Caviezel, the actor who portrayed Jesus in ''The Passion of the Christ."
O'Malley celebrated a mid-afternoon
Mass in the gymnasium, devoting his homily to the importance of prayer
and of being part of a worshiping community, but also telling the men that
''we need to celebrate adoption . . . it is the answer to abortion," and
describing contemporary society as ''a world where too often the father
is absent spiritually, emotionally, and physically."
He also asked the conference participants
to consider whether any of them are called to become priests ''at a time
when a priestly vocation requires great courage and great generosity."
Other speakers employed the sort
of fiery rhetoric more commonly associated with television evangelists.
Scot Landry, who organized the event with other lay Catholics from Boston,
said the idea came first from a Procter & Gamble executive in Cincinnati
who had seen his Catholic friends attending events hosted by Promise Keepers.
A common thread in many of the speeches
was what Towey called concern about ''a culture that is hostile to the
themes of God." He cited as examples gay marriage, abortion, and profanities
uttered by radio host Howard Stern. He extolled the benefits of prayer
to help heal marriages, saying it would help husbands examine their own
faults before criticizing their wives. ''It's just a purifying experience:
the word of Christ," Towey said.
The Rev. Larry Richards, pastor
of St. Joseph Church in Erie, Pa., and counselor at Cathedral Preparatory
High School for Boys, wandered from the podium to make his points. He was
interrupted several times by applause.
Recounting his experience teaching
high school boys, Richards, who has sold thousands of Catholic-themed tapes,
said the meaning of life is not ''to bed every woman" but to know and love
God. But because most Catholics don't take their faith to heart, he likened
their relationship to God to being ''married to somebody but not having
sex with them."
He received applause when he said,
''You are called to be the spiritual leaders of your home, not your wife."
Richards attacked a culture that
extols the male body.
''I have never heard anyone say
once at a funeral, `Did you ever see the ripples in that guy's stomach?'
" he said. ''I'm not saying you shouldn't work out every day. But I'm saying
if you're working out two hours a day on your body, you should work three
hours a day on your soul."
Richards said the most important
goal for Catholic men is to ''do everything in your power to get your wife
and children to heaven." He called the charge as much a Catholic duty as
a masculine duty. ''Gentleman," Richards said, ''if you can't tell your
[family] that you love them, you'd better look between your legs, because
there's nothing there."
He promoted a website, www.settingcaptivesfree.com,
that he said would help end ''addiction" to pornography, masturbation,
and homosexuality.
As for temptation to extramarital
affairs, Richards said, ''You can let that bird fly over your head; just
don't let it nest in your hair," and he reminded the audience that the
church forbids artificial contraception.
To avoid conception, he said, men
would need to avoid sex for eight days a month. ''Oh, suck it up, gentlemen!"
he said. ''Try not having sex for 45 years," he said, referring to his
own vow of celibacy.
Steve Sanders, 50, a lawyer from
Seekonk who was among 71 members of his parish at the event, called the
speech ''wonderful." The message, he said, ''was to accept our responsibilities
as Catholic males and to not be afraid to be a leader." He added, ''I think
the speakers so far have been excellent. They don't speak in generalizations.
They zero right in to who they're talking to."
Steve Cunha, 29, a graphic designer
from Billerica who attended with 50 members of his parish, said he had
discussed the men-only focus with friends and concluded it would allow
more frank discussions.
''Men need to talk to other men,"
Cunha said. ''I think we share things in common, that we don't share with
women. We're told by society to live up to certain roles. This can help
us to question certain of those roles."
During a midday break, the men clapped
and sang along to a band. They waited in a line to file into a room where
60 priests manned confessionals.
Monaghan spoke about Ave Maria University,
where he serves as chancellor, now located at an interim campus in Naples,
Fla. He called it one of the only Catholic universities to adhere to strict
academic and doctrinal standards.
At other Catholic universities,
he said to applause, ''you have 'The Vagina Monologues' performed, you
have pro-abortion speakers given honorary degrees -- that's not going to
happen at Ave Maria University."
Monaghan said in building a new
college campus, he is looking for an ''example we can set for the rest
of Catholic higher education."
Reporters were barred from Caviezel's
speech because, Landry said, the actor likes to speak ''from the heart"
and feels he cannot do so if his words become public.
Michael Paulson of the Globe staff
contributed to this report.
