Mary DeTurris Poust's Blog, page 26
August 22, 2015
Beauty of Mass transforms the most unlikely places
My August Life Lines column, inspired by the renovations at St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Delmar:
My parish church in upstate New York is undergoing major renovations and reconstruction this summer. And so last weekend we filed into the school gymnasium for Sunday Mass, where metal folding chairs and raised basketball hoops brought back fond memories of my childhood Mass experiences at St. Aedan’s parish in Pearl River.
In those days, long before the parish built its current church, the gymnasium was our only Sunday option. Despite the center court markings on the floor and the stage that served as the altar setting, it seemed normal to me as a child, comfortable, and, in its own odd way, spiritual. Now looking at it with grown-up eyes, it makes perfect sense. Although I love beautiful churches and stained glass and statues, it is the action of the Mass that makes the surroundings sacred, not the other way around. That’s how it was then, and it’s how it is today.
When Mass was over at my parish last weekend, our pastor said, “See, we survived. That wasn’t so bad.” And it wasn’t. Not by a long shot. Scripture and song, Communion and community can infuse even cinderblocks and bleachers with a sacred awe all its own.
Although it might sound unlikely, in some ways the experience reminded me of Masses I’ve attended in Italy, where you can happen into any neighborhood church or even St. Peter’s Basilica and immediately feel at home despite a language and culture barrier that would otherwise keep you at a distance. Wherever we are—in a forei
gn country, in a soaring cathedral, in a suburban gymnasium—we are Catholics, and we speak a language that transcends the differences that would normally divide and distract us.
When I wrote my book The Essential Guide to Catholic Prayer and the Mass, I put it like this: “No matter where we go in the world, no matter what language we speak, no matter what our education or background or nationality, the Mass is the Mass. It unites us and reminds us that we are part of one holy, catholic, apostolic Church that spans the globe as well as the annals of history.”
Think back to some of your most powerful Mass experiences. Were they the times you went to Mass in a magnificent historic church or maybe the time you grabbed a lawn chair and joined your summer vacation community for an outdoor Mass in a friend’s backyard. When I reflect on the Masses that stand out in my mind for their sheer spiritual power, I flash back again to my St. Aedan’s days, when our CYO team of officers would prepare a liturgy for Easter morning, always hoping for a sunrise celebration outdoors but inevitably ending up in the gym due to rain. It never dampened our spirits, because as much as we wanted the atmosphere, we wanted even more to be together, singing our favorite songs, hanging our handmade banners, and praying as the family we had become.
So often when we go to Mass, we expect to be wowed—by the music, the homily, the beauty of the building. And all of those things can make the liturgy feel even more special, more sacred. But, when we enter into a situation where we know the superficial stuff is secondary and focus strictly on the sacrament, we sometimes find more beauty than we imagined possible.
As we sat in the second row of the gymnasium church, we were surrounded by all the usual familiar Sunday faces. The cantor seemed particularly joyful. The altar servers rose to the challenge of figuring out a new routine. Everyone seemed a little more patient and a little less fidgety. It was as if we were on our best behavior, and I think that made a difference. In fact, the homily was so good I almost burst into applause. It was a welcome surprise and a sobering reminder to focus less on the where and when and more on the who, why and how.
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August 20, 2015
A Moveable Feast: Holy Year of Mercy pilgrimage UPDATED
Buongiorno a tutti! That greeting can mean only one thing: I am heading back to Italy on a Holy Year of Mercy pilgrimage for another fantastic combination of great food, beautiful scenery, and spiritual inspiration, and this time our chaplain will be my good friend and vicar general for the Diocese of Albany, Father David Berberian. Bonus: Our beloved tour guide from last October, Isabella, has signed on for this pilgrimage, so we will be in the very best hands.
We’ll be hitting some of the highlights from my last pilgrimage, with the addition of some must-see cities we missed the first time around. Here’s the brief run-down of where our Holy Year of Mercy Food & Faith in Italy tour will take us between May 15-26, 2016: Rome, Castel Gandolfo, Orvieto, Assisi, Siena, Bologna, the Emilia Romagna region, Padua, and Venice.
As if that’s not enough, this pilgrimage will occur during the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis. When we are in Rome, we will visit all four major basilicas, each of which will have its Holy Door open for this special jubilee. Pope Francis has called
Photo by Noah Poust
on all Catholics to make a pilgrimage to Rome or some other holy place during the Holy Year of Mercy and “allow our hearts to be touched.”
I hope you’ll consider joining me on this trip of a lifetime. You can look at the full brochure produced by Select International Tours by clicking HERE.
If you’d like to see previous posts on some of my favorite Italian cities, here are the links:
Assisi: Take two. Because one post is not enough to express my love for Assisi.
Rome. From my first-ever trip to Rome in 2010.
If you’d like to keep up with my Facebook page, Italy: A Feast for Body and Soul, click HERE and then click “like” once you’re there.
Ciao for now. I will be posting about my most recent visit to Rome, as well as some reflections from last fall’s journey to southern Italy in the weeks ahead. Although we won’t be heading south to Naples, Sorrento and Capri this time, I have to share those photos and thoughts for all of you armchair pilgrims out there. And I have no doubt those southern Italian destinations will be on the itinerary again down the road.
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August 16, 2015
New job, new office, new chapter
Big news on the work front for me. On Friday, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger of Albany appointed me Director of Communications for the Diocese of Albany. I am so honored — and so thrilled. It’s funny how things come to us when we are ready for them, when we need them or want them but don’t necessarily expect them. If you had told me last year at this time that I would be here today, I would have looked at you funny, and yet here I am and it all seems to make perfect sense. It’s as though my entire career was training for this particular job. I couldn’t imagine a better fit. Over the 30 past years I have served in diocesan communications offices, as a reporter and editor at diocesan and national Catholic newspapers, as a guest and host on Catholic radio and TV shows. I have immersed myself in writing books about spirituality, Church teaching and all things Catholic. And now it all comes together in one job.
Although I will be full-time with the Diocese of Albany, I will continue to do my spiritual writing. I can’t give that up. Writing is a bit like breathing for me. I think I would whither and die without it, so I’ll find a way to do at least a little of that. I will continue my monthly Life Lines column, which appears in Catholic New York and the Catholic Spirit (Metuchen), and I will continue to write for Give Us This Day. In fact, I have a book of Lenten reflections coming out from Liturgical Press in November, and I am beginning work on another book of spiritual reflections for release in 2017.
And I will continue to lead pilgrimages now and then. I already have a 
fantastic Holy Year of Mercy Food & Faith pilgrimage to Italy scheduled for May 15-26, 2016. We are going from Rome and Castel Gandolfo to Orvieto, Assisi, Siena, Bologna, the Emilia-Romagna region, Padua and Venice. It promises to be a trip to remember. You can read more about it HERE. I’ll be back with a separate post on that soon. I promise.
So, please, send a prayer my way as I begin this new chapter in my life. I truly believe the Spirit was at work in all of this and that this is exactly where God wants me to be right now. Although I have been doing social and digital media for the diocese part-time for the past five months, I am looking forward to kicking it up a notch and using my background and experience to help the diocese spread the Good News in new ways (P.S. That’s our diocesan crest up there on the left. The beaver is a symbol of Albany, which was once called Beverwyck — “Beaver” — and the crosier is a symbol of the office of the bishop. The crescent moon and the blue represent the Blessed Mother, patroness of the diocese under the title of the Immaculate Conception. And that’s our cathedral on the right.)
If you’re interested, here’s the press release announcing my appointment and explaining Bishop Scharfenberger’s vision for my office:
Bishop Scharfenberger Announces Changes
To Diocesan Communications Office
Recognizing the power and potential of the changing media landscape, Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger today announced a new vision for the Diocese of Albany’s Office of Communications. To lead that effort, he has appointed Mary DeTurris Poust, currently diocesan Consultant for Digital and Social Media, as Director of Communications, effective Sept. 3. She replaces Kenneth J. Goldfarb, who has served in that position since 2002. The appointment also follows the retirement of Father Kenneth J. Doyle from his position as Chancellor for Public Information.
The restructured Office of Communications will not only include public information and media relations but social and digital media and oversight of The Evangelist, the weekly newspaper of the diocese, bringing together under one roof the diocese’s varied communications tools.
“We want to use our communications proactively to announce and spread the Gospel and to equip not only the Catholic population but the general public with accurate, timely and helpful information about the Church and the activities of the diocese and our parishes,” said Bishop Scharfenberger. “We need to use every means available to do that, and while traditional media, such as The Evangelist, remains critical to our communication and evangelization efforts, we must take advantage of the many new media platforms that allow us to broaden our reach and engage more Catholics in the New Evangelization.”
The diocese joined social media in April, when it launched Facebook pages and Twitter accounts for both the diocese and the bishop. Since then, the number of followers has been on the rise as the diocese begins to engage the rapidly increasing local and global Catholic community that exists online.
“As a long-time journalist, I value the power of the printed word, but 
there is no denying the equal power of new media to reach untapped populations that are hungry for a relationship with God,” said Ms. DeTurris Poust. “With both traditional and new media working together under the newly revamped Communications Office, we will be able to better respond to the needs of our people and the needs of our times. I’m grateful to Bishop Scharfenberger for his vision and for the confidence he’s shown in me to help him implement that plan.”
Ms. DeTurris Poust has been working in Catholic media for more than 30 years and has written seven books on Catholic spirituality and teaching and published hundreds of articles in both Catholic and secular newspapers and magazines on national, regional, and local levels. The former managing editor of Catholic New York newspaper, she is regular contributor to Catholic radio and cable, and a social media expert who has spoken about the importance of using new media as a tool for evangelization to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in 2012 and World Communications Day in Brooklyn in 2014.
Father Doyle, former editor of The Evangelist, spokesman for the USCCB, and Rome Bureau Chief for Catholic News Service, has served as Chancellor for Public Information since 2000. He will continue as pastor of Mater Christi Parish in Albany and will continue to write his nationally syndicated “Question Corner” column, which runs in The Evangelist, for Catholic News Service. Mr. Goldfarb, who came to the diocese after a long career as a journalist covering state government and later as spokesman for the State University of New York, has served as diocesan Director of Communications for the past 13 years.
“We are so grateful to Father Doyle and Ken Goldfarb for their many years of dedicated service to the diocese and the people of God,” said Bishop Scharfenberger. “They leave us with a strong foundation on which to build this next generation of Catholic communications.”
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August 6, 2015
Miscarriage: Love and loss 17 years later
My annual post in remembrance of the baby I never got to meet:
For the past few days I’ve been looking at the numbers on the calendar, growing more and more introspective as we inched closer to August 6. It was 17 years ago today that I learned the baby I was carrying, my second baby, had died 11 weeks into my pregnancy.
With a mother’s intuition, I had known something was wrong during that pregnancy from a couple of weeks before. The day Dennis and I — with Noah in tow — went to the midwife for my regular check up, I didn’t even take the little tape recorder with me to capture the sound of baby’s heartbeat, so convinced was I that I would hear only silence. I went back for the recorder only after Dennis insisted. But somehow I knew. Because when you are a mother sometimes you just know things about your children, even when there is no logical reason you should, even when they are still growing inside you.
When we went for the ultrasound to confirm the miscarriage, we saw the perfect form of our baby up on the screen. I remember Dennis looking so happy, thinking everything was okay after all, and me pointing out that the heart was still. No blinking blip. No more life.
With that same mother’s intuition, no matter how busy or stressed I am, no matter how many other things I seem to forget as I drive my other three children to and fro, I never forget this anniversary. It is imprinted on my heart. As the date nears, I feel a stillness settling in, a quiet place amid the chaos, a space reserved just for this baby, the one I never to got hold, the one I call Grace.
In the past, I have talked about the ways Grace shaped our family by her absence rather than her presence, and that truth remains with me. I am very much aware of the fact that life would be very different had she lived. She managed to leave her mark on us, even without taking a breath. She lingers here, not only in my heart but around the edges of our lives — especially the lives of our two girls who followed her. I know them because I did not know Grace. What a sorrowful and yet beautiful impact she had on us.
So thank you, baby, for all that you were and all that you have given us without ever setting foot on this earth. The power of one small life.
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July 28, 2015
Way of Sorrow: Seeing an old path with new eyes
It’s amazing how different something can look when we are willing to see with new eyes, when we cast aside our preconceived ideas and our human need for “progress.”
When I was on retreat at St. Mary’s on the Lake earlier this month, my retreat leader, Paulist Father Tom Ryan, took a few of us on a hike across the beautiful property along stunning Lake George, including a long-abandoned outdoor Stations of the Cross path cut into the woods behind the chapel. I hadn’t even noticed it on my first two trips down to the lake, but there it was — overgrown, falling down, forgotten, sad. At least that’s how it seemed to me at first. And all I could see was potential.
This would make a great Eagle project for a Catholic Scout in the diocese, I announced, envisioning the path cleared and smoothed, fallen trees removed, wooden crosses refurbished. I could see it filled with local perennials and pretty statues and prayer benches. I made a mental note to find a contact person who could take up the cause when I got home, ever in search of something else to add to my To Do list.
Two days later, after lots of quiet reflection and prayer, journaling and silence, I wandered back to the pathway for some moving meditation. I had just started The Soul of a Pilgrim: Eight Practices for the Journey Within by Christine Valters Paintner, and I was going to try an exercise she calls “Visio Divina,” sacred seeing. The challenge is to use a camera or iPhone to capture a scene that speaks to you in much the same way that Lectio Divina, sacred reading, attempts to illuminate a line or phrase from Scripture that carries a special message. And so I set out to see what might speak to me from the piles of branches and faded placards nailed to trees.
As I started onto the path, looking at it with the eyes of interior peace rather than exterior progress, I saw something very different. I was moved by how beautiful the path was in all its ramshackle glory. There was something so fitting about a Way of Sorrow feeling sorrowful, feeling broken and betrayed.
The faded signs and lonely chair, the crumbling stone stairs and fallen trees, the hallowed out trunks and tangled roots seemed to cry out: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Walk with me down the path now and see what speaks to you. If you can, go out into your own neighborhood one day this week and try to see it with new eyes. Maybe even bring your camera and capture what speaks to you. Leave a photo post in the comment section, if you like.
A leaf out of season greets me on the start of the path
Second station with Mary in the distance
Prayer chair in the wilderness
Sorrowful mother
Stairway to heaven
A dead tree that seems to cry out with sadness
Crucified
Nearing the end of the trail
The chapel awaits at the end of the path
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July 27, 2015
Disconnect, settle in, and just listen
If you missed my latest interview on the Morning Air Show on Relevant Radio, you can catch up by clicking the link below. I’m first up so just hit play. I’m talking about my five-day retreat and the need to disconnect from our devices and just listen to the silence and the Spirit.
What are your favorite retreat spots? How do you feel about sitting in silence for a few hours, or a few days? Some day I’ll do a weeklong silent retreat. For now, it’s bit by bit. Peace.
http://relevantradio.streamguys.us/MA%20Archive/MA20150724b.mp3
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July 26, 2015
Give Us This Day: Always Room at the Table
My Gospel reflection from today’s Give Us This Day:
I come from a big Irish-Italian family, one where the food was always delicious and plentiful. On any given night, an entire extra family could show up for dinner at our house unannounced, and no one would go hungry. There would be chicken cutlets or pasta in abundance, and probably a batch of freshly made chocolate chip cookies. My mother wanted everyone to feel welcomed and loved. It didn’t matter whether you had an invitation, whether you were a close relative or the high school boyfriend of the resident teenager, whether you wanted a cup of tea or a three-course meal, she would smile and put out another place setting. Or five.
When they had had their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” So they collected them, and filled twelve wicker baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves that had been more than they could eat.
Jesus manages to give the crowd a feast from almost nothing and still have leftovers. My mother would have been impressed. Another place setting. Or five. Or five thousand. No one goes hungry; no one is turned away.
In this precursor to the Eucharist, Jesus reminds us in the most practical way that he will always make room for us at his table, even when we show up unannounced, even if we arrive empty-handed. He gives us food for the journey, food that never runs out, food that fills us to overflowing.
If you don’t already have a subscription to Give Us This Day, click HERE for more information on this wonderful collection of daily Scripture readings, Morning and Evening prayer, spiritual reflections, and more.
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July 19, 2015
Summer vacation for the soul
“Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile.” Mark 6:31
Today’s Gospel reading reminded me of my fabulous five-day retreat and the Life Lines column I wrote about making sure you take time apart to recharge your spiritual life this summer. I’ll be back in the days ahead with some reflections — and photos — from my stay at St. Mary’s on the Lake in gorgeous Lake George, N.Y. So here’s my column, which is running in the current issue of Catholic New York. Let me know in the comment section what you’ll be doing this summer to recharge. (That photo to the left was taken from my favorite prayer/journaling spot on a cliff overlooking Lake George.)
By Mary DeTurris Poust
As I write this column, I’m preparing to go on a five-day retreat. It will be the longest retreat I’ve ever done since, in the past, I’ve been able to grab only a weekend here or there. But recently, as I plan for a change in my work life, I realize that my dream of a longer and more intense spiritual vacation might not be possible if I don’t make the time for it right now. Even as I type those words, I’m thinking about canceling for so many reasons—we could use the money for bills, I could use the time to finally get to some long-neglected house projects, I could do the writing jobs that are piling up, I could take the kids to the pool.
But, if you’re anything like me, you probably know that even if I don’t go on retreat, I most likely won’t get to all the “coulds” on that list. In the end the only thing that will be guaranteed is that I’ll miss out on a magnificent opportunity to give my soul some much-needed rest and attention. We tend to put our soul last on the list, or leave it off completely, when we make our summer bucket lists.
Most of us wait all year to take a week or even just a couple of vacation days to regain our mental and physical balance, reconnect with family, and escape the pressure of work responsibilities and household chores. It’s amazing what a little time apart can do for our outlook and energy. We may return to an in-basket full to overflowing at work and an equally overflowing laundry basket at home, but the benefits of a break are worth the catch-up we all have to do later. The same holds true for our spiritual lives.
My portable sacred space in my room with a view.
It’s critical to take a little time away every once in a while to restore our spiritual balance, reconnect with God, and break out of the routines that might be making our prayer lives less than fruitful and fulfilling. A retreat is the ideal way to refresh our souls and jumpstart our faith life, but if you don’t have the luxury of a weekend away, there are plenty of opportunities to create mini-retreats closer to home, or without leaving home at all.
So your challenge this summer is to look at your life, your schedule, the things you simply can’t ignore as well as the things that aren’t necessary but seem to bog you down anyway, and figure out how you can spend even a little time in more extended spiritual reflection and conversation with God.
Can you take one Saturday, for example, and make sure all your responsibilities are handled for that day so you have absolutely nothing on your “to do” list? If not, can you take half a Saturday or another day during the week? Once you’ve got your day nailed down, think about the things that refresh your soul: A hike through a quiet park or preserve while you say the Rosary? An afternoon sitting by a lake reading a spiritual book or writing in a spiritual journal or just silently listening for the whisper of the Spirit? A table in a busy café where you can disappear in the crowd and look inward even as you watch the world go by?
Feeding our soul doesn’t have to happen only in a structured retreat setting. It’s something we can do for ourselves whenever we start to feel fragmented, whenever the stresses of life seem to be getting the upper hand. That usually means we’ve let our connection to God slip a bit and it’s time for some quiet soul searching, which I have found with equal ease whether I’m maneuvering around Manhattan by myself for a day or paddling across a quiet lake in the Adirondack Mountains. It’s not about the exterior view but the interior attitude. Once you set your heart on prayer, retreat is possible anywhere.
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July 4, 2015
What are the cravings that throw you off course?
This week I had a great conversation about food, self-acceptance, and spirituality when I hung out on-air with Allison Gingras, host of Reconciled to You. It was such a fun interview, and I loved getting the chance to revisit my book Cravings: A Catholic Wrestles with Food, Self-Image, and God. After talking with Allison for an hour, I think I need to re-read my own book! And make a date to visit with her in person because I think we were separated at birth, even if I’m way ahead of her on the age trajectory.
If you missed the show, you can listen to the podcast here:
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June 23, 2015
A Moveable Feast: I’m heading back to Italy. Join me!
Buongiorno a tutti! That greeting can mean only one thing: I am heading back to Italy on pilgrimage for another fantastic combination of great food, beautiful scenery, and spiritual inspiration. We’ll be hitting some of the highlights from my last pilgrimage, with the addition of some must-see cities we missed the first time around. Here’s the brief run-down of where our Food & Faith in Italy tour will take us between May 15-26, 2016: Rome, Castel Gandolfo, Orvieto, Assisi, Siena, Bologna, the Emilia Romagna region, Padua, and Venice.
As if that’s not enough, this pilgrimage will occur during the Holy Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis. When we are in Rome, we will visit all four major basilicas, each of which will have its Holy Door open for this special jubilee. Pope Francis has called
Photo by Noah Poust
on all Catholics to make a pilgrimage to Rome or some other holy place during the Holy Year of Mercy and “allow our hearts to be touched.”
I hope you’ll consider joining me on this trip of a lifetime. You can look at the full brochure produced by Select International Tours by clicking HERE. For those of you who were on my first pilgrimage, there is especially good news: We are working to secure Isabella, our beloved tour guide, and it looks like everything is in place to make that happen. We will be in good hands once again!
Here are past posts on some of my favorite cities. Click on the city name to go to the post:
Assisi: Take two. Because one post is not enough to express my love for Assisi.
Rome. From my first-ever trip to Rome in 2010.
If you’d like to keep up with my Facebook page, Italy: A Feast for Body and Soul, click HERE and then click “like” once you’re there.
Ciao for now. I will be posting about my most recent visit to Rome, as well as some reflections from last fall’s journey to southern Italy in the weeks ahead. Although we won’t be heading south to Naples, Sorrento and Capri this time, I have to share those photos and thoughts for all of you armchair pilgrims out there. And I have no doubt those southern Italian destinations will be on the itinerary again down the road.
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