By Katie Schleiss
Brian Doyle, UP's resident essayist and editor of the Portland Magazine, will give the Zahm Lecture in the Chapel of Christ the Teacher on Sept. 29th at 7 p.m. Beacon Reporter Katie Schleiss spoke with Doyle via e-mail about his upcoming lecture, his views on hope, being Catholic and more.
The title of your lecture on Sept. 29 is "The Crazy Persistence of & Insistence on Hope as the Genius of American Catholicism." In what ways do you see reasons for hope in society in general and at UP in particular?
What's the alternative? Geez, your generation is young and strong and brilliant and creative and no one's shooting at you and you live in the free-est, inventive-est, cheerfull-est country on earth. As Paul Hawken said in his commencement speech in May, you're brilliant, and the earth is hiring. New media are being invented left and right. This is your time. The whole point of the university is to help its students find and wield their incredible one-time-only-in-ten-billion-years gifts. I guess this seems totally cool to me. I am consistently knocked out not by suffering and loss, which seem like the price you pay for being on this cool spaceship, but by the love and humor and zest and verve and creativity and wild jazzy hope of the residents. Easy to despair. Hard to hope. Former boring. Later sweet and crazy. I vote sweet and crazy.
What do you mean by "crazy persistence and insistence on hope?"
Given the evidence, isn't hope crazy? The world is stuffed with suffering, and everything dissolves in the end, first law of physics, but I put all my marbles in the second law of physics. No energy is lost. Therefore I have two mugs of hope for breakfast every day, and forge ahead, humming.
How is American Catholicism different from any other kind of Catholicism?
More independent. More creative. More sure of its own salt, sort of. Less beholden to corporate headquarters and more interested in being a river of deep Catholic faith infused with the best of the American character, humor, communal fiber, independence of mind, basketball, love and respect for the extraordinary natural gifts showered on this nation. I mean, any Catholicism that produced a Dorothy Day, a Thomas Merton, a Joe Bernadin, a John Vlazny, an Annie Dillard, a Flannery O'Connor. C'mon, what other nation's Catholicism can hold our chili peppers, you know what I mean? Sometimes I feel like this country's Catholicism is out there on the edge of what might be, Catholicism-wise, which is delightful, and scary.
How does your faith play out in your day-to-day life?
Basically, I feel inundated by miracles. I mean, the girl I asked to marry me said yes, my friends still can't believe it, and then all these kids came in the magic mail, and people are so kind and gracious and brave and nutty. I feel grateful even as my back hurts and my beard gets gray.
What do you say to people who say organized religion is full of hypocrites?
I say they're right. So are nations, and universities, and glee clubs and pubs. All human beings are often idiots and greed-heads. But what else can they be? Religions are useful, at their best, boats on the sea of spirituality, roads toward the city of light. Religions are also full of the most creative funny brave people you ever met. Ever meet the Archbishop of Portland? Every time I meet that guy I am proud to be in a club that includes him. Tough old funny honest parish priest, very aware that he is a servant and not a master. That's the kind of Organized Religious Authority that the thin Jewish guy who started this all would be real proud of.
Do you believe in miracles? Seen any?
I have three kids. Where did they come from, really? Beyond the whole lust and zygote thing. Whence came their extraordinary breath? Yeah, I have seen miracles. I saw them emerge from a miracle. It was a mess. I cried.
Looking back to your college days at Notre Dame, what was your take on faith then, and how has it changed?
Was still running away from Catholicism then, which is healthy. I think maybe the example of brave honest questioning people there made me realize that there was a lot more at play in this faith than I thought from the trappings of my childhood faith. Plus looking hard at other faiths, Buddhism in particular, as my sister became a Buddhist nun, made me begin to really appreciate the deep grace of the faith I took for granted.
How do you feel about giving the Zahm lecture, which has been given in past years by such luminaries as a bishop, famous historians and journalists, among others?
I feel like this year's Lecturer is like a punch line to a joke. Some of the nation's finest historians, a colorful bishop, a Scottish philosopher, nationally renowned journalists, and... me? But I bet a buck it will be an entertaining evening. Better than a stick in the eye, as my brothers say.
What, in your opinion, is the biggest injustice facing our generation?
Me personally, I think the biggest problem facing your generation is fresh water, not thuggish terrorism or economic woe or even climate change; but, largely because I see 3,000 young people here every day, I have a roaring faith in the creativity of your generation to figure out energy and peace and a new depth of world community. To answer the actual question, the greatest injustice I see is the way we as a society and culture and species say one thing about kids and do another. We say they're the center of it all, we use the words family values, but there are thousands of kids in Oregon alone who are starving, terrified, uneducated and lost. Doesn't make much sense to me.
How can Catholics act to change the injustices occurring in the world?
I guess I think that Catholicism at its best is about crazy hope, mad insistence on mattering, a wild diligence, a nutty conviction that life defeats death, hope defeats despair, light kicks dark's butt. The essence of the Catholic idea is that every living being is holy, and so we must celebrate and protect and savor every living being. Think how cool it would be if we really all did that. Catholicism insists, and has for 2000 years, which is a decent resume, when you think about it, that the evolution of human beings is toward a deeper and deeper love for everything that lives. There will be, I hope, a world someday in which war is a joke, pollution is insulting, murder a forgotten art. That's what Catholicism shoots for. Also we have excellent rituals, with redolent smoke and cool black uniforms in our professional class.
How does being a Catholic influence your writing?
To be Catholic, I think, is to be soaked in story and miracle and excellent incense and hope and crazy belief and a community of riveting people. Bruce Springsteen, who grew up Catholic in New Jersey, says to grow up Catholic is to swim in an ocean of magic, where anything and everything is possible, even resurrection. He's right. Even if he's from Jersey.
What is your favorite book and why?
Aw, too tough to call. Favorite writers: Twain, Orwell, Robert Louis Stevenson, Annie Dillard, E.B. White, Frank O'Connor, Cafavy, Mary Oliver, King James's Bible, my dad. My dad, 88, still writes a column for a paper in New York City, and he's a better writer than I'll ever be. Taller, too.
What inspired you to become a writer in the first place?
My dad was a writer, my mum a teacher and we are Irish American. So I grew up in an ocean of stories, and got addicted to the joy of story catching and storytelling early. Plus I have a lot of siblings and if you didn't have stories to tell at the dinner table no one even knew your name. I have two brothers whose names we are not sure of because they have always been quiet. I think they're Padraig and Chris but no one's sure.
How do you balance writing with other aspects of your daily life?
First job: dad. Second job: husband. Third job: sing and celebrate the best of what this university and its people and dreams can be. Fourth: be a decent friend and son and brother. Tenth: writer. I try to write a little every day. You'd be surprised how thick the muck gets if you add an inch a day.
What are your words of wisdom to students trying to break out into the writing world?
Sit your narrow butt in the chair every day and write something. Learn to ask questions and listen to the answers and ask more questions and listen more. Stop writing about yourself and pay attention to everyone else. Get a real job and write like a maniac on the side. Everyone is crammed with extraordinary stories; all you have to do is ask for them, and then type like crazy. Stories matter, stories are terrific prayers. Plus sometimes there's excellent beer in it, if you play your cards right.
