I’m with you on this one. I had heard some people talking about she wasn’t really coming back to the Church because she’d joined some liberal parish, but so many more people were just glad to hear that she may be coming back. The world is so cynical, and most of us are used to being so cynical, too, that it seems like we’re almost afraid to allow ourselves to hope that something good is happening when we hear it is in case it turns out not to be in the future. But what’s the point of living like that, like there’s no such thing as good news, and if there is, it won’t be good news for long? Personally, I prefer to allow myself to hope once in a while.

This is one of my all-time favorite posts of yours, Simcha. I got teary-eyed at the part about baptism. I was “that” baby - I was baptized at a Catholic Church in Atlanta when I was seven months old, and I firmly believe that it was the grace of my baptism that would eventually lead me back, despite the fact that I was about as far away from Catholicism as one could possibly be. Thanks for a great post.

“f she hasn’t rejoined the Church (or if she’s joined some loosey-goosey liberal barely-Catholic Catholic church)” I’m probably misreading this, but I don’t think there is such a thing as an LGLBC Catholic church. Unless you’re saying she joined some off-shoot or schismatic group that isn’t actually Catholic (e.g., the Polish Catholic Church or Anglican Catholic Church). The Church is the Church and parishes are Catholic or their not, no matter how many LGLBC people attend or run a parish. Right?
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Also, not to be so-three-weeks-ago, but the full picture shows Ms. Holmes in immodest attire, but it’s a dress. She’s not wearing pants. She’s wearing a dress…cognitive…dissonance…setting…in..cannot…compute…error…error…fading…

@Josh - Yeah, a few people were saying, “Oh, I know that Church, and they’re a bunch of dissenters.  If you go there, you might as well not be Catholic at all!”  So I more or less agree with you - not that all parishes are equally faithful, but that as long as the sacraments are valid, then IF she were going there, that would be a good thing.

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I think I can help you with your cognitive dissonance.  She’s wearing yellow, which is an inherently immodest color.  Also, from what little I know about fashion, I"m fairly sure that a dress like that would only go with the kind of shoes that show toe cleavage.  So that cancels out any lack of bifurcation on her lower half.

Love this, Simcha.  As W.H. Auden said, we need to “practice the scales of rejoicing.”

I was truly happy, as well! Like, really happy! :D We have to hope.

Although, I have to admit that when I saw the school Suri is now enrolled in and the announcer on TV said that Lady Gaga and Paris Hilton attended it, I deflated a little.

That’s all right, though. I think we should all start (if we haven’t already) seriously praying for celebrities. They’re all thrown into a cesspool, some from the start of their lives.

The Catholic Church will always be a safe refuge for anyone of good will.

Just the fact that you saw this through the eyes of “its good to be hopeful and happy” rather than, “look at all the stupid gullible religious folk out there, ready to believe every facebook/internet rumor”, proves that you are not as cynical as you accuse yourself of being!  :) 

I have to confess, I was not taken in, I saw that it was actually a poke at the church, and while its true I didn’t actually call anyone foolish for getting excited about it, didn’t see the “isn’t it lovely how hopeful everyone is” side either, so 2 points for you . . .

(For what it’s worth, though, Nicole Kidman DID leave Tom Cruise and return to the Catholic Church - not sure if she stayed, but she was married subsequently IN the Catholic Church, temporarily in good standing.  Maybe Tom Cruise should be given credit for rehabilitating fallen-away Catholics . . .)

Remember Anne Rice? She was all aflush with her “conversion,” and some overzealous website gave her “convert of the year.” She’s left the Catholic Church again, for reasons that were perfectly evident in all of her interviews even in her “convert” period.

These days, unless a celebrity is then maligned for some public violation of political correctness in defense of some Church teaching (even if it’s the barest bones, “hey, Catholicism has a right to hold to its tradition on issue X”), it’s difficult to get too joyful.

I can think of a friend who joined the Catholic Church although not accepting all of the hard teachings, and yes, it did bring us joy. But that’s because we know this person and have a better sense that they are here to stay, and they’re not a public figure whose “dissent” or preference for “gay-friendly” Catholics would cause public scandal (nor does it seem to have the particular edge of righteousness, as Rice’s did).   

It is heartening to see celebrity Catholics/Catholics in public life, but they will let you down as often as they will encourage you (look at Mel Gibson, or Joe Paterno). Trust not in princes, nor primadonas.

“I think I can help you with your cognitive dissonance.  She’s wearing yellow, which is an inherently immodest color.”

When I first read this, I confess that I wasn’t fully awake, and I thought, “HEY!”  ...then I saw who posted it—Simcha Fisher—and then howled with laughter.

“he will not break a bruised reed or quench a smoldering wick” (Matt 12:20, RSV)

Looking at the full meme there has me feeling kind of stupid.  What is the significance of Captain Picard? Are we supposed to care about his taste in religion? I feel like I *should* get it, but I totally don’t.

I remember reading some blurb on Katie Holmes “looking into Scientology” when she first got together with that odd little man, Tom Cruise.  If I recall correctly, the description it gave of her normal sounding parents and the way she was brought up, gave me hope that she would eventually come around…What continues to mystify me is the *laugh out loud* reality that people can buy into that whole spaceship, souls-erupting out of a volcano in Hawaii etc. etc. religion.  Holey Moley!  Just when I want to dismiss it as a religion for the——gullible, I remember our Republican candidate…Mormonism, fake papyrus mumbo jumbo, a planet they call “Kolob” where God supposedly lives, a bunch of guys who think they get to be Gods, and I’m back to asking myself, “HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE THAT THAT NORMAL APPEARING PEOPLE BUY INTO THIS STUFF??”
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Congratulations to your whole family! I love seeing that water being poured on angelic foreheads too.  Yes, HOPE, and JOY.
Thanks for this.

Re: the part about baptism and the hidden effect. The novel “The End of an Affair” by Graham Greene examines the power of this sacrament even for those who have no idea they have been baptized. Fascinating story. As for Katie, she and her family deserve our prayers—especially her parents; can you just imagine how you’d feel if your child joined such a freaky group of egoists.

Thought experiment: You have two choices, 1) you die and meet Jesus. He says “You were prideful and sought the approval of others in your belief of x, y, and z instead of being docile to my revelation. But you did not fully reject my church. Let’s talk about that.” or 2) you die and meet Jesus. He says “You saw the multi-millenial witness of Judaism and my Church and then decided to follow a religion created in the 1950’s by a science fiction writer that developed directly from his fiction. He said an alien named Zenu rules the universe and has been traveling around it for billions of years in a spaceship that looks exactly like a DC-8 without engines. Let’s talk about that.” Which do you choose?

@Becca - I’m probably too old for this, but as far as I understand it, in meme-world, there’s not necessarily a significance to Captain Picard himself—it’s just the new (probably already obsolete)universal symbol for “facepalm” or “holy cow, I can’t believe how stupid you are.”

@Matthew Damian - excellent reference. Point well made!

Love this, Simcha.

I see my whole role in this as ... nothing. She’s in my prayers, as is everyone who is or has been removed from Jesus Christ, including me and the many beams in my eye.  Amazing how much energy we can all expend on other people’s spiritual lives.

“...the eminently digworthy Tom Cruise or Scientology.”

I don’t know what you’re talking about, Simcha…I certainly don’t dig either Tom Cruise or Scientology.

(Not nearly enough weird misreading of this post yet in the comments…so just trying to do my bit here.)

P.S. All things being equal, memes will trend towards sci-fi references for reasons that should be obvious…that, I think, is the main reason Picard (often with his also-facepalming first officer) has become the canonical facepalm image.

Neat post.  I like to imagine myself floating bodily up into the air to meet Jesus.—as St. Paul describes will happen for us.

When I was studying in Rome, there was a middle-aged American Dominican priest who was a professor there.  He was crude with a capital ‘C’...and a number of females were really off-put by his words and actions.  I remember catagorizing him as “that kind of priest” and moving on.

Well, one day in class, he told us of his summer vacation plans.  As with each of the past 23 years, he was going to travel to an inner-city US parish and sit in the confessional for 14 hours each day.  According to Sacramental theology, the penance must be consistent with the magnitude of the sins, and although the penitant is responsible for the penance, but the priest can retain part to do himself if he desires.  About 3 or 4 times a week, some lapsed Catholic would wander into the church looking at the architecture, and end up in the box.  Father said that appropriate penances would be 10 or 15 rosaries, and he’d give them the first Creed, Our Father, and Hail Mary, and finish the rest himself so as not to scare them off.  It was with true tenderness that he spoke of the joy of welcoming a sheep home.

So he was definitely conflicted, but hope springs from unusual places.

And this is the #1 reason why I’m not conflicted by Obamacare, the HHS mandate, or any of the other persecutions against us today.  Hope springs eternal, and one day I hope to travel to my true home.

@Patrick, I got chills thinking about that priest taking on so much of the sinners’ penances. Just like Christ did for us! What a fitting thing for a priest to do. Does anyone know if us lay people can do something similar? Is this what it means when we offer something up for someone else?

@Simcha: Wait a minute, how is yellow an inherently immodest color?

Tom Cruise was brought up in the Catholic Church.  I have hope for him, yet.  Simcha, I get what you mean by Tom being “dig worthy”.  How is it that he can be a follower of Scientology?  How can he be so misled?  How is it that there are so many people who are misled?  These are rhetorical questions.  If we live faithfully, they may see it and be brought into or back into the Fold.

She is, however, sending her daughter to Convent of the Sacred Heart, on E 91st St.  Yes, it’s an elite school (about $39k per year? This is the UES, after all) but it is a Catholic school.  If one is going cry foul for saying the church she supposedly joined is liberal and therefore unclean, then so too re: her daughter’s school.  It’s a Catholic school, which is a start.

Thanks for airing the REST of the story and putting a joyful, hopeful ending on it.

I saw this on Facebook- and it was odoriferous from the beginning.

@Patrick, the 400 pound Franciscan that baptized me had what my Mom would call a potty mouth.  It kind of shocked us, but he was so good, happy and jolly that everyone managed to get over it. He also did work with poor teens.  It seems to me that some places just tolerate bad language more than others.  Latins cuss a streak I’ve found, even the “proper” ones.  In fact they seem to take a special pleasure in it with hand motions and everything.  One priest I know never cussed in front of the ladies, but according to my husband, really let his hair down in front of the guys.  I was so shocked, as in his case you wouldn’t find a more elegant priest.  Of course none of these words have anything to do with blasphemy.  I’ve heard that Italians can take that to a whole new level.
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I was really moved about what you wrote too.  God bless him.

catholics worship a fictional deity as well.

@Gina

Same here.

Simcha…you just made my day!! Got the JOY of the Lord in my soul baby!!! Thank you for the love….it is our only hope…!!!!

I haven’t read the comments, usually do, so sorry if I reiterate someone else’s thoughts.

I also passed the meme around. However, I did a little research first (if you can call it that! lol) Katie was quoted that in a huffington post article. A couple people pointed out the original meme, but you know what, I wasn’t embarassed, I thought it was awesome how that took that work and turned it for good. ;) Even before someone pointed that out, I had posted I was well aware of the irony some people may impose on that post but this is a reason for joy! Someone took the time to point out that the church was known for some of its liberal leanings, but I said, hey, I still rejoice!This was a neat article.

One thing I noticed- I don’t think I’ve ever noticed so many exclamation points in a blog post of yours. ;) It lends to the content, however.

No one ever knows when the unseen hook and invisible line will suddenly tug someone back to the faith.  Thanks be to God!

@KitesGD - Well said.

Baby steps. Baby steps. The child is starting Catholic school, and although it is Convent of the Sacred Heart, AKA Our Lady of the Lexus, it’s a start. We should all pray for her courage to do this, and that it yields much fruit.

Perhaps a bit like Jennifer F’s baptism (if I may be so bold), decades ago I was encouraged to receive the Eucharist at one of “those” Catholic parishes, as a devout Protestant visitor, and they knew I was a Protestant!  And I look back at that moment of Jesus Present in me as the seed of my conversion 16 years later.  Some parishes and some priests can be really out there, but they still have Jesus, and I have to believe that the Eucharist is efficacious, even in the ignorant.  I join you all in wishing Katie Holmes the Best.

I don’t really understand why we should be rejoicing at the end of a marriage.  Isn’t marriage supposed to be for life?  I am glad she left Scientology but I don’t think it was right to leave her husband thereby giving her daughter a broken family.

Not overjoyed ,
Some of those thoughts ran through my mind, too.
I don’t follow news about celebrities & wouldn’t presume to guess about who or what’s to blame in a divorce.But for a child, divorce is not an occasion of rejoicing.

Not overjoyed: You raise a good point. I don’t think most people are rejoicing at the end of her marriage so much as at the end of her being under the influence of Scientology (granted, in part, via her husband).

Marriage is for life, and thus in the eyes of the Catholic Church despite whatever legal status her marriage to Tom Cruise may have with the government, to the Church, she is presummed to still be validly married until when and if a requested annullment is granted by the Church when and if the discern that the union was invalid.

Until such a time, Katie is considered married,and it is a very serious offense against marriage if she has left her husband for insufficient reason; however, the rest of us, not being Katie Holmes, must take her word that she has sufficient reason to live as a married woman apart from her husband, seek a civil divorce, and, especially if she wishes to marry in the catholic Church in the future, seek an anullment.

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, however, it is my understanding that Katie Holmes was baptised Catholic. Therefore, a civil marriage is not VALID in her case.  If she were not a Catholic then the Church would recognize the legality of her marital union.  She also underwent a Scientology wedding and we all know there’s not even a hint of validity in that.  She has to divorce civilly for legal / financial reasons.  But I think she might be able to be absolved for this with a heartfelt confession and not need an actual annulment.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought the Church recognizes the validity of a marriage recognized by the government.  This is different from saying it was a sacramental marriage - obviously it was not.  But there thousands of people baptized Catholic who are corrently married outside of the Catholic Church.  Are these people all living in sin without valid marriages with illegitimate children?  And regardless, the child needs a father and a mother in the home, not just a mother.

The Church recognized the validity of a civil marriage of two non-Catholics.  Catholics are held to a higher standard. A Catholic cannot contract a valid civil marriage.  My Catholic SIL has been civilly married 3 times.  Not one of her marriages is valid.  If she were to repent, she would not be required to apply for annulment because these marriages were not Sacramental.  Children of invalid unions are not considered illegitimate by the Church.  The children still have legal protection and identity under the law.

All I know about canon law regarding marriage is that it’s absolutely futile for a layman to speculate about the validity of someone’s marriage.  What I and others were happy about was that Holmes might be coming back to the Church, not that she’s divorcing Tom Cruise.  Obviously, the greatest news of all would be if he became Catholic, too!  I agree that divorce is almost always bad news, especially for kids.

If a Catholic marries outside the Church *without the proper permissions/dispensations,* then the marriage isn’t sacramentally valid.  Fixing this does not require an investigation, but there will be administrative paperwork, not just Confession.

Keep in mind that Cruise was married to a different Catholic, Nicole Kidman, before Katie, and had two children with her.  His marriage to Katie was his third.  Red flags anyone?  Yes, the children always pay the highest price.  Hopefully it is grace that is working on Katie, and not just terror that her beautiful daughter was about to get sucked into the vortex of that demented cult.  If I was in her shoes, and finally woke up to smell the coffee, I would have done the same.  She and her daughter were (are?) in danger, and that’s a game changer.  Here’s a nice Hollywood ending:  Tom wakes up, and sees what he stands to lose, he opens his “Eyes Wide Shut” (heh I couldn’t resist)realizes his popularity and star status mean nothing in the face of eternity,(and true love) repents, comes back to his Catholic roots, reconciles with his little family, has his marriage validated, and leaves a bunch of Scientologists gnashing their teeth…(Then gives a tell-all interview about those freaks, in the name of protecting future victims).

According to recent entertainment news reports, Katie Holmes has registered with St. Francis Xavier parish, known to be a very liberal (“pro gay marriage” according to these sources) parish, and she registered her daughter with Convent of the Sacred Heart.  Past alumni include Carolyn Kennedy, Paris Hilton, Lady Gaga and Madonna’s daughter Lourdes.  It’s too early to tell how seriously Ms. Holmes will take the Catholic faith, but it is right to pray for her (and others facing similar circumstances).
Tom Cruise had 3 wives thus far, so which marriage was valid here, considering they were all likely Scientology ceremonies?  Someone above mentioned to hope the family would be reunited one day, which family exactly?  It’s a bit complicated in Hollywood.  Katie Holmes may not need an annulment as her marriage was not sacramentally valid in the church as others have commented above.
My initial reaction was that I was pleased with this news (not because of the divorce though) but I am also a little cautious in believing that this is a true conversion.  However, it is not my place to judge, and I can offer up some prayers for her and Suri.