As with Stadiums, So with Churches

I don't like gratuitous change.  In that, I hope I'm in the majority.  I lamented the destruction of the old Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, the place that was home to both the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns from my childhood to my young adulthood.  Heck, I even saw The Rolling Stones and some other well-known bands perform there once upon a time.

But, objectively I knew the stadium was old, in disrepair, suffered from poor design, especially for the TV age, and although just the right size for football, always made even the best-attended baseball games look rather spare.  The best thing about it was the ample and convenient parking lot. Subjectively, it's where my immigrant grandfather, who developed a love of baseball while developing a love for the United States, took me to see my first baseball game.  I was six.  He bought me a cap and a pin.  I still have the cap.

However, the replacement stadium, originally named Jacobs Field but now known by the more prosaic name of Progressive Insurance Field, is beautiful and nicely located downtown.  It has lousy parking, of course, but I think that's a feature in contemporary stadium design.  When I heard that the 21-year-old stadium was to get a re-design this past year, I thought that was a bit premature.

So, I think, did the writer of this article, who is the dean of sports reporting in northeastern Ohio.  As he and I are of the same age and both grew up watching the Indians in the old stadium, it appears we share the same world view.  However, as I read his article, I began to think about change and, by extension, that which is happening in my own professional world.

Cleveland Indians changes to ballpark make sense, even to an old guy like me

Of the quotations that stand out, I offer the following:

My idea of going to a baseball game is not standing in a sports bar in right field, watching the game either live or on large-screen televisions.

Then again, I don't play fantasy baseball. I don't text someone who is 10 feet away from me, or tweet out pictures of myself at a game.

But I know a lot of people do just that.

Many people now watch baseball in different ways than they did in the middle 1990s, as they seem to use their telephones to do everything except to make a phone call.

That's why I like most of the changes at Progressive Field. It's not about me, or the fans of my generation.

I like baseball, and I want others to fall in love with the game.

Now, replace the word "stadium" with "church" and "baseball" with "Christianity", as one may see where my perspective rests these days.  This is why I urge change, even physical change to the seating arrangements and position of the altar.  As much as we want our parishes to be promontories in times of change, we also need to make them spiritually and physically accessible to the generations yet to come.

I love the freedom of expression that is present in true religion; I deeply appreciate that Christianity serves as a nexus for the liminal expression of, as Shakespeare said, "the forms of things unknown", mainly using art and music to further human inquiry and appreciation of the barely knowable.  I would like to see that continue, but to do so may very well mean embracing a newness that may seem disquieting to those who wish our spirituality to remain inert.  It may not be what we prefer, but we also recognize that it may mean that we will be able to fulfill our call to evangelize.