What's a Monsignor and Other Mysteries?

I gave a presentation on the Catholic Church to an adult study group yesterday. 2000 years of the Catholicism in 2 hours. The quandary as to what a monsignor is, as well as other like questions, were the majority of the interests. I barely touched the surface of liturgy and spirituality. Even amongst the most earnest catholics these definitions seem to be very important. Perhaps I cringe because I see these things as the most unimportant of everything that we do. When I was a youth, just beginning altar serving, the associate of the parish invited us young servers to meet on Saturday mornings for continued altar server training. What it turned out to be was a Bible study for fifth graders. It was awesome. Fr. Raun has us read, and spoke about, Amos, Habakkuk, Elijah, and some of the other prophets. Perhaps because we lived on the west side of Rockford, but we did have an understanding of poverty and discrimination. The prophets sometimes stood alone in decrying the Sin and Evil they witnessed. This past week as Benedict prayed before the site of a horrendous massacre, perpetuated by the Nazis in World War II, he reminded all of us of how important it really is to bring attention to the Sin and Evil that is in our midst. The role of the Church to teach, preach, and to sanctify, draws us all into an understanding that Jesus' work continues today through the ministry of the Church. There is a prophetic role of the Church that recognizes the dignity of men and women and must remain steadfast in matters of justice and peace. Matthew doesn't place the Beatitudes at the beginning of his Gospel because it sounded nice there. Understanding that Sin and Evil are real entities challenges us to pay attention to what is really important, what really matters, in our Church. As we get closer to Easter we begin to reflect on the Paschal Mystery. This is what it is all about for us. The Church is in the world to proclaim Good News.