(Sigh)
When I read a story about a prominent celebrity speaking about his son’s interest and attachment to the Eucharist and how he is in catechism (I don’t like calling it CCD) preparing for first communion, I want to to be happy. And I am, really. But (sigh), well just read it for yourself.
David Boreanaz Says Son Motivated by Communion Wafer
For David Boreanaz, getting 6-year-old Jaden Rayne interested in the Catholic Church was easy. During a recent appearance on The Bonnie Hunt Show, the 39-year-old actor revealed that his son’s curiosity was piqued by the Communion wafer while attending Mass alongside his dad several years ago. “He wanted to go to Communion with me, and I said ‘Well, you can come up but you can’t have the Eucharist because you’re not confirmed, you haven’t had your first Communion,'” David recalled. Jaden became increasingly upset, however!
“So as he got closer and closer to the priest, giving them out, he had that look of, like, he really wanted the cracker. So on the way back after I got my cracker, he was in tears. And I said, ‘Well one day you will go to Catholic School and study for your first communion and whatnot, and get your cracker.'”
Jaden is on his way to turning that dream into a reality! On the day David filmed his appearance, his son attended his first Catechism class. “So today was his first day, of having that experience of getting his cracker,” David laughed.
Jaden is the first child for David and his wife Jaime Bergman. He can currently be seen on Bones, airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on Fox.
I am so pleased that Boreanaz is taking his son to mass and cares enough to put him in catechism. I am, really. I don’t want to be the nitpicky guy, but c’mon. I am a bad person. Why can’t I just be happy for them? Why I am overwhelmed with a desire to be snarky? Why am I overwhelmed with the desire to say things like “When will you attend the same class David?” or “Maybe now your son can teach you not to call it a cracker!” See? I did it. I can’t help it! I am a bad, bad person. Is there a patron saint of snarkaholics I can pray to for help in overcoming this unhealthy desire? (Sigh.)
December 3, 2008 at 4:04 am
I’m not even Catholic but I feel your snarkiness…
December 3, 2008 at 4:10 am
I grew up in the same Archdiocese as him and I just have to say that he is a product of an independent prep school, not the archdioceasn schools. Cardinal Krol made sure we were much better catechized than that.
December 3, 2008 at 4:46 am
There is nothing snarky about objecting to this.
The use of the word “cracker” in this context is nothing short of blasphemous.
I hope the writer is doing this because being religious is so unacceptable in his set that he has to be mocking about it even as he does it to be accepted.
Still, isn’t that like denying Jesus before men?
Which gets you denied before His Father in heaven?
This is very sad.
Susan Peterson
December 3, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Happily, when Jaden comes of age he can shed the noise-name and in Christian humility take a Christian name.
— Mack (aka Lawrence Mack Brendan)
December 3, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I think we must be cut of the same cloth, because when I read this article I cringed every time he called the host a cracker.
And I also wanted to shout at my computer screen: “It’s not a CRACKER, it’s the BODY OF CHRIST, you nit wit!”
Not a very Christian reaction, I know. I’m working on it.
December 3, 2008 at 1:04 pm
What Mack said.
And what’s wrong with snark? It’s all part of the privilege of being a man in a manocentric manocracy.
It’s nature’s way of rejecting the ridiculous and digesting the truth. Go read a few articles from Commonweal or NCReporter and you’ll have enough snark for a week.
December 3, 2008 at 1:38 pm
St. Paul got pretty snarky sometimes, but he still made it to heaven. You might ask him to pray for the grace for you to follow his lead. Patron Saint? No. Good role model? Yup.
God Bless,
Ryan
December 3, 2008 at 1:44 pm
If that is snarky, there better be a lot of room in hell because my first thought was CRACKER!! you dimwitted Hollywood s–thead, he needs a nun sized blackboard pointer over the head, cracker indeed
December 3, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Gotta go with St. Jerome–he gave people both barrels of snarkiness all the time!
December 3, 2008 at 2:14 pm
The thing is that he actually goes to Church. And he’s raising his child in the faith. All good things. But I wonder if he was just trying to be glib. Not an excuse.
December 3, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Perhaps he was just using the word his son called the Host. His son likely has no more understanding of it than to see it is small, edible and people are lining up to get it, so it must be pretty special. And it looks like a cracker.
In retelling the story, perhaps David used the word cracker because he was illustrating that his son called it that. Perhaps not, but I’d be willing to give the benefit of doubt.
December 3, 2008 at 3:58 pm
As a former Buffy/Angel fan, I’m glad that my favorite moral, do-gooding, human-abstaining vampire is taking his son to Mass (I bet Edward Cullen from Twilight doesn’t go).
BUT SERIOUSLY.
Cracker? Not quite, David. I wonder if this a truly a legitimate catechesis problem or a lack-of-reverence thing. Either way, not so good.
December 3, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Amy leave Malvern alone, it is a good Augustinian School…. though I must confess I am a Bonner Grad
December 3, 2008 at 5:13 pm
CFGtom, I know poeple who work there, I know people who have gone there and I’m just saying that most people I know from the Archdiocesan school (McDevitt-Lancers rule!) system would never call the Eucharist a cracker on national TV.
December 3, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Malvern is essentially Villanova High School. And as we all know nothing good ever came out of Villanova.
Matt (A St. Joe’s grad)
December 3, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I happened to be working from home and saw the interview, and I felt, well, mixed. I have heard him refer to going to Good Friday Mass in other interviews, and so think there is something going on inside. And in the actual interview, though he referred to being raised Catholic, rather than being Catholic, it did seem that his use of the term ‘cracker’ was referring to his son’s terminology (though one can very easily put an end to such childish misunderstanding). He also made a comment referring to a “lot of priests listening who think I’m ‘cracked’ ” for using the term, or something to that effect, as studio noise was getting louder leading into a break. So perhaps not as bad as at first blush, though not as sound as one might hope, either. FWIW
December 4, 2008 at 10:29 pm
It’s probably just his ensouled vampire past freaking him out about All Things Catholic.
That being said, I really wish the writers of Bones would make his “conflicted Catholic” character just a shade less conflicted. There’s an awful lot of potential there.
I suppose it’s naive to think that Hollywood will give the faith a fair shake. But I can’t help but wonder if there’s one faithful Catholic on the writing staff, gatekeeping some of the things that could be aired if they weren’t there…
December 5, 2008 at 8:24 am
My read was that David was using Jaden’s term. He goes to church. A Catholic one. And he takes his child. And is taking his son to catechism. And he talks about it in a likely hostile environment. It would be too flipping easy for him to drop out. In a culture where talking publicly about faith can bring ridicule, anyone in his position who does it has something going on in his soul. I will much more happily claim a Boreanaz than admit to a Pelosi. He gets a little cringe from me, but snark feels really out of place.
Somehow, I see the good Lord smiling at this one and, at worst, responding with a gentle “Come on, tell it right.”