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Religion The Downtown Chapel of the St. Vincent de Paul Parish sits humbly and unassumingly on the corner of Sixth and W. Burnside. The square, olive green building looks little like the typical image of a Catholic church, lacking a steeple and cross. The only external ornament the building has is a black statue of a crowned man in simple robes opening his arms, as if to address the people or take them into his arms. The parish's mission statement states: "Compelled by the Gospel of Jesus Christ through
prayer and The parish has a Hospitality program, through which they offer services including as haircuts, foot care, birthday celebrations, and arts and music programs for the poor. They also run a food pantry and the Brother Andre Cafe, which offers a warm meal every Friday night. The inside chapel reflects the simplicity of the parish's exterior. The alter is a simple table with a green tablecloth, with two candles in brass candleholders next to it. Along the back wall are the twelve Stations of the Cross. Beside the first station there is a small table with information about the parish as well as a basket of free rosaries that come with a small prayer booklet. At many Catholic parishes I've been to, the bread and wine are served from gold bowls and cups, and the bowls and cups are kept in a gold safe off to the side of the alter. Instead of gold, the cups and bowls here were made of glass and the safe is made of lead. In the entranceway of the chapel are 3 pictures, as well as a statue of St. Vincent de Paul. One is a circle of colorful stain glass with a dove in the center and the words "Peace" and "Charity," written above and below the dove, respectively. There are also pictures of "St. Joseph Workman" holding a saw and "Mother of God Mother of Christians" holding a boy in her arms. All three have halos around their heads. The parish’s patron saint, Vincent de Paul, is the patron saint of charitable institutions and charitable workers. (The Catholic Community Forum) The parish keeps a bust of him in the entrance way and two statues of him in the chapel itself. Father Ronald Raab, an associate pastor at the chapel, says the St. Vincent de Paul Parish is a place for people who feel left out, or rejected, from other parts of society. Though many of these people consist of the poor and needy, it is not limited to them. Father Raab speaks proudly of the church’s gay and lesbian couples who feel like outcasts from other Portland churches and feel accepted at St. Vincent de Paul’s. (Raab) A congregation of outcasts brings some challenges that most Christian churches do not have to deal with. After the opening hymn for mass on Sunday, July 27th 2005, a man shouted out, “Does anyone have some money?” and repeated the question several more times before being escorted out of the parish by a female parishioner. Father Bob Loughery kept the mass moving without a pause or acknowledgement of the disturbance. After the mass, Father Raab admitted with a smile on his face that this kind of event was a common occurrence at St. Vincent de Paul’s. Charity houses have been an important part of the Old Town culture for almost as long as the neighborhood has been in existence. The charity houses were drawn to Old Town because of the area's heavy concentration of poor. (Pattchet) Today, about half of the charity institutions in Old Town have a religious affiliation. For example, the Union Gospel Mission was founded in 1927 as a collaborative effort by forty area churches with the mission of "feeding the hungry, restoring the addict and loving [their] neighbor." It provides meals for people, clothing, and referrals to other groups. In addition to these services, they also hold nightly religious services. (Union Gospel Mission Portland) Another religiously affiliated charity house, the McDonald Center, is a Holy Cross-run assisted living house under construction at Sixth and Couch and was started by a priest at St. Vincent de Paul's. In mid-June, 2005, "The Vegetarian House" near Fourth and Couch displayed a poster advertising a free video seminar on “how to live a happy life” with the Quan Yin Method. (See Figure 2) The poster said that you could, "discover your eternal True Self through the Inner Light and Inner Sound with the Quan Yin Meditation Method." Inside the restaurant, there is a glass counter with free booklets as well other materials on the Quan Yin Method. The video seminar7 was held at in a library located a 10-15 minute walk outside of Chinatown. The group of about 30 people who attended consisted of about half ethnically east Asian and about 40% white, with the remaining 10% of the people belonging to other ethnicities. At the seminar , they played two movies. The first was an overview of the mission and purpose of the Quan Yin method followed by a short biography of the charismatic leader8 of the organization, Supreme Master Ching Hai, as well as many praises for her humanitarian efforts. The second was a video of a lecture given Ching Hai. In it, she combined an outline of some of the basic beliefs of the Quan Yin Method and examples of their application, many of which she turned into bad jokes that even the audience in the video did not think were very funny. I think this style of presentation, being half stand-up comedy and half lecture, was meant to undercut the idea that we were listening to a sermon. Though I use the word "religion" to describe the Quan Yin method, the organization's spiritual leader, Supreme Master Ching Hai seems to deny that it is a religion. Perhaps she would say that it is not "just a religion." Firstly, she stresses the logical and scientific nature of the Quan Yin method. In a speech she gave to the United Nations in 1992 that is reproduced in a free booklet available at "The Vegetarian House", she says that the world beyond, which the meditation allows you to reach, is "something very scientific, very logical and very important." (Ching Hai 12) When discussing the Kingdom of God, she says that, "It sounds too religious when we say the Kingdom
of God. It's This denial of religion seems to just be one of language or labels and not of religious practice or belief. Ching Hai's message rejects the cosmology of the "old days." After rejecting the Christian language of “heaven” and “Kingdom of God”, she does not turn to a different religious tradition to describe her ideas. Instead, she borrows terms more accepted in the scientific and secular world like “consciousness” or “logic”. However, I think that according to Clifford Geertz's definition of religion,9 this meditation technique would be considered a religion. While not perfect, I think that Geertz’s definition provides an acceptable platform on which to evaluate the Ching Hai’s Quan Yin Method without entering the briar patch of defining religion, which is beyond the scope of this paper. The center of Geertz’s definition is the equation of religion and a “system of symbols.” I think the system of symbols that comprises the Quan Yin Method is best examined alongside the definition’s other aspects. The Quan Yin Method has established “powerful… moods and motivations,” as demonstrated in Portland by both the display (and hence, public declaration of belief) in The Vegetarian House and the roughly half-dozen people who were actively recruiting at the video seminar. The general order of existence represented by the Quan Yin method is described in Ching Hai’s U.N. lecture, which I will describe shortly. The fourth and fifth aspects of Geertz’s definition are closely related and have to do with how the religious perspective (Quan Yin Method in this case) is different from other perspectives and how people come to adopt it. (Geertz 110) Though it probably varies on a case-to-case basis, I think that, the primary cause of the “aura of factuality” for the Quan Yin Method is the charismatic power of Ching Hai. The followers of Ching Hai pay a great deal of attention to her image. Her picture is on all the literature given out and a large framed photograph of her was displayed at the front of the room all through out the video seminar. The Quan Yin method also represents an interesting combination of Buddhism and Christianity, the two religions that have the most cultural presence in Chinatown. Ching Hai was, “brought up as a Catholic, and learned the basics of Buddhism from Her10 grandmother.” (Ching Hai 8) The Quan Yin method, however, is in the Buddhist tradition and not Christian. In Ching Hai’s biography, found in a free booklet at the Vegetarian House, it describes her journey to enlightenment and discovery of the Quan Yin method: She came to realize the futility of one person trying
to help It is the Buddhist tradition that provides the foundation
of Ching Hai’s enlightenment, not Christianity or any other tradition.
From Christianity, Ching Hai borrows only terms, such as “Kingdom
of God,” which she equates to parts of the Quan Yin method. Why
is there the emphasis on her Catholic upbringing and use of a handful
of Christian terms? |
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