The Word made flesh.

BILLY HINCHEY WAS HIT BY A CAR AND killed instantly when he was 7 years old. Billy was my second-grade classmate. When things get really bad, I pray to Billy Hinchey for help. I pray to my grandparents and aunts and uncles and just about anyone else I know who has gone before me. I know that's a very Catholic thing to do, but I didn't realize how much until I happened to mention it to my raised-United-Church-of-Christ-now-agnostic friend. She laughed out loud and asked incredulously, "You're not serious, are you?" She didn't mean to be offensive; she really did think I was kidding.

Growing up I questioned much about the Catholic faith; I struggled, anguished, rebelled, and came to terms with many of the teachings of the church. But praying to the dead--praying for them, remembering them--never posed a problem for me. Somehow that teaching seeped deep into my psyche and escaped my critical, suspicious eye.

Catholics say that all human life has value and that every human life is unique. So, in fact, there will never be another Billy Hinchey; the qualities and characteristics he brought to life (even for such a short time) can never be duplicated. When I want to draw on his particular wisdom or cry for his aid, there can be no substitutes. I must pray to Billy.

Not all Catholics remember the dead in this same way--much to the relief of my agnostic friend and probably some of my Catholic friends. Yet, each person is commissioned to "hear the Word of God and keep it." We are to be the Word made flesh, just as Jesus was the Word made flesh. We are to breathe life and pump blood into our ideals and beliefs. We are to demonstrate that what we believe makes sense and can be expressed in very concrete ways.

Every Christian lives out his or her faith in a unique way, but there are some recognizable traits among Christian groups. Catholics are loaded with them. Catholics are steeped in tradition, and it is through tradition that the Word is made flesh--made real--from age to age. This is what tradition (from the Latin tradere, "the act of handing over") means. The faith is passed along from generation to generation to be lived anew in that time and space. If it is not received by that generation, then it is not part of the living tradition of the faith.

Some people fear that with the dawn of the reforms of Vatican II Catholics have discarded the traditions that were passed down to them. But the editors of U.S. Catholic suspect that this fear is premature, if not totally unwarranted. Many Catholics today, perhaps in smaller numbers, perhaps not so openly as before, do indeed honor the practices and traditions previous generations of Catholics passed on to them. One can still catch sight of Catholics who say the rosary, attend Mass daily, make pilgrimages, tip their hat while passing a church, sing the Angelus, "offer it up," celebrate saints' days, memorize prayers, and express their faith in countless other ways that reveal their Catholicity.

The ethnic diversity among practicing Catholics also plays a part in the traditions, rituals, and symbols that get handed down, but lying under local Catholic customs are the universal truths of the church. Modern Hispanic Catholics, Polish Catholics, African American Catholics, Asian Catholics, and every other type of Catholic are each making the Word flesh in their own particular way, but their expressions of faith whether they know it or not, are more often than not very much linked to the rich history and culture of the Catholic Church.

Each month this column will contain insights into the living traditions of the Catholic faith. We will hear from Catholics of all shapes, sizes, genders, cultures, and ethnic origins who put their faith into practice.

Nostalgia is not our aim. The purpose of this column is to reclaim the value of traditional elements of our Catholic culture, which, although forgotten or passed over by some, continue to enrich the faith of many today. We'll examine the origins of particular Catholic traditions, rituals, and symbols; explain the meaning behind them; and, most important, describe how this element of Catholic culture transmits meaning and reveals truth for today's practicing Catholics.