Eucharist holds ability to reunite America
By Dave Jones
“Do you know the best time to be a Catholic in Oklahoma?” asked Father Bruce Nieli to over 300 gathered Sunday at Tulsa’s Civic Center.
The group had just watched an inspiring video documenting more than a century of Catholic presence in the territory that would become the Sooner state. This year begins the Centennial anniversary of the Diocese of Oklahoma. Despite the heroics praised in the video, Father Nieli, a Paulist National Evangelist missionary, said:
“The best time to be a Catholic in Oklahoma is not in the 1870s. It was not in the 1920s or the 1950s or at the time of the Second Vatican Council. The best time to be a Catholic is today.”
There are great opportunities for evangelism and missionary work here, he said. There is a tremendous need for vocations and for lay involvement in furthering Christ’s work of evangelization and ministering to those in need.
All that is needed, he suggested, is a greater understanding and appreciation of the Sacrament of Unity, the Eucharist. “It is the Presence that brings us all together as one Body in Christ.”
Speaking on “Eucharistic Spiritual & The Transformation of American Culture,” Father Nieli did not disappoint the faithful who attended from as far south as Antlers and Boswell, as far west as Stillwater, and as far northeast as Miami and Grove. His animated address focused on the common ground that all Christians, not just Catholics, should strive to find.
“You have a lot of different kinds of people here,” he said. “I can see that. How many of you like pizza?” Of course, most hands were raised. “I am an Italian American. You know I like pizza.”
“How many of you like pizza with pepperoni?” Many hands were raised.
“How about with mushrooms? With extra cheese?” Fewer hands but lots of enthusiasm.
“How about one of my favorites: anchovies?” Groans from certain anti-anchovians, but a smattering of hands and cheering from a different niche segment of the pizza market.
“But out of all these,” he said, “you know what my favorite is?”
“Supreme. I’m a Catholic. I’ve got to have it all!”
This was his analogy for the splintering of the Body of Christ in America: some denominations are like those who only eat cheese pizza; others like extra cheese; others onions and peppers, sausage and pepperoni, even anchovies. But those who profess their faith as Roman Catholics are like those who prefer pizza with everything.
Just as a supreme pizza lover does not disdain the consumer of mere pepperoni, so the Catholic should understand that in most cases the pepperoni guy has never actually tasted the supreme, and may not know what he is missing.
“Mother Teresa was once asked what she thought of all the religions that were in the world,” Father Nieli said. “She answered, ‘I love them all. But I’m in love with the Roman Catholic Church.’” Thus Blessed Mother Teresa was able to embrace all humanity because she saw in them the image of the Father, the hunger for the truth and the need for love.”
This is an example for everyone, he said.
The United States has a God-given destiny to become a Catholic people, Father Nieli said, and if it happens it will be because of the “transforming power of the Eucharist.” Father Nieli spoke of the site of Ground Zero in New York City where the twin towers and several nearby buildings were felled on September 11, 2001.
