Some more notes on the JP2CC
Okay, I really try to avoid complaining when I blog. (Pause for hysterical laughter.) No, really, I do! but keep in mind that a good friend of mine once told me that I reminded her of Statler and Waldorf (those two old guys in the box)in the Muppet Show….
In her comment below, Davey’s mommy noted that although the JP2CC had nice “museum stuff”, she was “disappointed with all the technology seemingly for technology’s sake.”
Many other people I’ve talked to feel the same way, and in some ways I think the problems with the JP2CC nicely illustrate the ongoing problems with catechesis and formation in the Church in the US.
The JP2CC is laid out in roughly three parts. The entry level has “The Gallery of Mary” — big, floor-to-ceiling pictures of Mary as she appears in her various titles and apparitions. There’s also a big picture of people from around the world, and a ramp where you can view casts of handprints made by various Catholics (including the Holy Father — whose handprint is very shiny from people rubbing their hands against it –and Cardinal Maida’s). There’s also a room with a permanent display of things related to JP2 himself — including vestments and skis, cool! and don’t forget to check out his shoes! The gift shop is also on this level, as well as other temporary exhibitions as needed. The second level is the current installation of fine art.
The ground level — the Interactive Galleries — is what Davey’s mommy and I were less than enthralled with. The premise is you see a movie and get a little swipe card. Then you go from “interactive module” to “interactive module”, read some placards, and swipe your card. At the end, you can take your little swipe card over to a printer and it will print out a little summary of what you did. Al lot of it is looking things up on the internet — no joke! (It may be an intranet, I haven’t looked too closely because the internet is something I do when I’m at home….) You can even sit in a little booth, press a button, and record a short reflection on your own “faith journey.”
Meanwhile, as you stroll around the galleries, you see older people getting frustrated because they can’t figure out how to use the trackball to “make your own stained glass window”, and if you don’t figure out how to do it fast enough the computer kicks you off and you lose your work. Or you see older people getting frustrated because they can’t figure out how to use the internet. Meanwhile, the younger people are ignoring the internet stuff because they can do that at home. They’re lining up three deep to pull on the bell pulls (also a cheesy activity; you can’t make your own song with the bells, you can only play along to pre-programmed songs, of which one is “Amazing Grace.” You stand around the bell pulls with around eight other people, you put on headphones, and you ring your bell when the little light goes on in front of you.) Or else they’re fooling around with the bricks in the fountain thing. (The idea is the bricks have words on them, and when you put the bricks in the fountain the water goes around the bricks. Around! It’s meaningful!
“What my faith means to me.” “My faith.” It’s all a very self-referential “thinking about my faith journey”, “we are a diverse Catholic community” kind of thing, Now, what exactly is a “faith journey”? I’m still trying to figure that one out, and it seems kind of silly to me to ask that of U.S. Catholics — many of whome don’t even really know what the Catholic faith is, much less their own. The message of the Interactive Galleries seems to be, “we are very diverse, and everyone has their very own faith journey, and it somehow involves beautiful art and music (which is in the history section, got that? history!) and this is all very cool and it has computers! Isn’t that special?” This whole Interactive Gallery thing gives me the impression of having been designed by a committee of bureaucrats who vaguely knew that “interactive” is modern and that young people like computers. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much there beyond Faith being something vaguely connected to your ethnicity and that nice warm fuzzy feeling you get when you hear Christmas carols.
Now, what is this going to mean to people whose heritage of Catholic art and music has been taken away from them? to people who have never been taught even the rudiments of the faith — that Jesus is truly present in the Holy Eucharist, that Mary prays for us? to people who have never been taught to pray on even the most rudimentary level? who think that Mass is the place you don’t have to go after you get Confirmed? There are lots of well-meaning people out there who have no idea that being Catholic is not genetically transmitted, that you choose to be Catholic, that there objective truths about God that can be learned and taught, that the Church really was founded by Christ, that being Catholic means swimming against the stream sometimes, that the Church offers us the means to enter into intimate friendship with Jesus Christ, that we never take our “faith journey” alone….
(Part of this is my own bias, of course, in that I’m a little impatient with what, to me, is vague jargon and that, yes, I do feel cheated by the complete lack of catechesis I received in CCD in the 70’s and 80’s. I also hate fads.)
You can see this same issue in the way the JP2CC presents some of its other exhibitions. A while back, the Center had the opportunity to present relics of Saint Therese and other Carmelite saints, and a painting of Saint Therese done by Celine. I was looking forward to something really special, but I was so disappointed in the way they were presented. First of all, they were hard to find, and the collection was scattered all over the Center. Once you found the relics, if you didn’t know what you were looking at, all you would see would be a big glass case full of tiny gold frames holding blood-stained hankies with little typed cards in front of them. What a lost opportunity! So many Catholics don’t know why relics are venerated — why not explain that, and tie it into general reflections on the dignity of the human person? How about those Catholics who don’t even know what a Carmelite is — why not post a placard on the history of the Carmelites, an explanation of their charism? and how about some biographical information about Therese and the other Saints whose relics were present? One of the artifacts on display was a chair from Saint Therese’s chair — ok, it was in a glass case and probably needed to be protected from the elements, but why not make a replica and put it in a diorama of Therese’s cell, so visitors can see it in context? You could even give young visitors the chance to try out dress-up clothes of a Carmelite habit.
I thought it was amusing that in the same hall, the Center was also displaying “relics” of the late Jacqueline Kenney Onassis.
A few more notes on the Center, for when you plan your trip: They have nice activities for kids, including organized crafts and play rooms for older kids and for babies and toddlers. The play room for the older kids includes bells to ring (in any melody you like, although they do provide music for “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore”), a stained-glass window activity, and blocks — no computers! There is plenty of room for active play for the toddlers, and private places to nurse infants (although armchairs in those little nooks would have been nice, as opposed to cafeteria chairs….)
The cafeteria does not have much of a selection, especially in the way of hot food. (The Shrine cafe is much better.) The gift shop is in impeccable taste (although it’s a little pricey.) The book shop is very disappointing — not very large, many dubious selections — but they do have some cool little things for the kids.
As long as I’m dishing dirt, let me add that the Shrine’s gift shop is not terribly pricey, but it also stocks some appallingly tacky stuff; that their cafeteria has nice homey food and only takes cash; and that it is really easy to find a priest to bless your new medals and rosaries — or give you spiritual direction. The people who work at the Shrine have always been nothing but kind to me — I used to meet my husband there after work so that we could carpool home together, and one of the guards would always keep an eye out for my husband and let him know whether or not I’d already arrived. The docents have also been known to give rosaries out to visiting children. The Shrine also has many, many opportunities to go to Mass and/or Confession.
The Franciscan Monastery’s gift shop is also a little tatty, but that also means that young pilgrims can afford their very own little Jerusalem Cross like the Crusaders wore…. The whole place seems like a great place to bring kids, especially boys.