Faith + Reason = Truth

Have you ever seen a black priest?  Catholic priest, to be more specific.  I have never attended Mass conducted by a black priest, but I have seen many black pastors, which are the Protestant leaders of congregations.  And I've also watched a black "bishop" on t.v., Bishop T.D. Jakes (a famous Dallas-area pastor at a very large, well-known, predominantly African-American church).  If there is a difference between a bishop such as Bishop Jakes and a pastor, I don't know what it is.  I DO know that in the Catholic Church, we have a hierarchy of clergy, with Bishop being a step up from a Priest.

In any case, watching Bishop Jakes as well as another African-American pastor on occasion always has the same effect on me:  I feel energized, I am excited about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I feel a great sense of urgency to determine what exactly the Lord's plans for me on earth are and to then embark on a journey right that minute to work towards accomplishing those plans, and finally, I feel obligated to give them some money.  And I don't get angry at anyone for making me feel that way - I just feel like, right at that instant, something is compelling to make a contribution right then and there, for my own sake and the sake of others.  I don't really feel ANY of those things at Catholic Masses, although I do donate every Sunday because, unlike the thoughts I have about the Protestant ministers, I feel like someone's actually accounting for and keeping tabs of my money, and that it will go to appropriate causes as seen fit by the Church.  When I see the cars the really successful Protestant pastors drive, the houses they live in, the clothes and jewelry their wives wear (wives who almost never have full-time employment of their own, I have noted), I can't help but make the connection that all of those things are directly paid for by what's taken up in the collection baskets on Sunday.  That seems wrong to me.

So what's preferred:  feeling inspired by a powerful public speaker who, more often then not, seems more motivated by and entitled to my money than I myself am, or dutifully sitting through the current incarnation of over a thousand years of ritual tradition, leaving it up to myself to be open to the Holy Spirit if and when it so chooses to enter and work through me?