FAITH
TRIBUTES
Late soccer star — or savior?
TOP: Tourists take photos at the Church of Maradona in San Andres Cholula, Puebla state, Mexico, on a
recent Sunday. The Church of Maradona in Mexico, dedicated to late soccer great Diego Armando
Maradona, was founded by Argentine expatriate Buchet, who owns the pizza parlor next door.
BOTTOM: An altar with memorabilia and a sign reading “You shall not have another God before thee.”
The untidiness of Marie Kondo’s eclectic spirituality
Marie Kondo’s Netflix
series, “Sparking Joy with
Marie Kondo,” coming
Aug. 31, is sparking curi-
osity once more about the
Japanese organization
maven’s personal brand of
spirituality.
Kondo markets herself
as an international expert
on “the life-changing mag-
ic of tidying up,” dubbed
the KonMari™ method.
Kondo instructs her clients
to dump everything they
own onto the floor and
touch each item to gauge
whether it “sparks joy.” If it
does, keep it and put it
where it belongs. If it
doesn’t, discard it guilt-
free. She promises this
process will transform
your home into a sacred
space and your ideal life-
style into reality.
Sunday, August 8, 2021 | Section F | San Antonio Express-News | ExpressNews.com
Some Western com-
mentators have dismissed
Kondo’s approach to de-
cluttering as “woo-woo
nonsense.” Others have
defended it as rooted in
Japanese cultural tradition
glossed as “Shinto ani-
mism.”
But attempts to KonMari
Kondo herself by categoriz-
ing her and fitting her into
a box are a gross oversim-
plification. Worse, scholars
of religion and media in
the Pacific, like Jolyon
Thomas and Melissa Borja,
warn that they reproduce
dangerous stereotypes.
If we can’t reduce Kon-
do to a “monster,” out of
touch with reality, or an
Asian sage come to save us
from consumerism, then
what is she?
The answer, like the
& LIFE
Photos by Marco Ugarte / Associated Press
BELIEF by Kaitlyn Ugoretz
The star of “Tidying Up with Marie Kondo” on
Netflix has a new show coming Aug. 31.
history of religion in Japan,
is complicated. Kondo is
the latest successor in a
long line of professionals
in the “spiritual business.”
As such, she offers a vari-
ety of practical solutions to
Denise Crew / Netflix
meet her clients’ spiritual
needs. And what sparks
joy for Kondo and her
“Konverts” is not an alleg-
edly singular Japanese
tradition like Zen or Shin-
to. Rather, it is access to
Study reveals
only half of
U.S. households
give to charity
By Haleluya Hadero
A S S O CI AT E D P R E S S
For the first time in
nearly two decades, only
half of U.S. households
donated to a charity,
according to a study
released Tuesday. The
findings confirm a trend
worrying experts: Dona-
tions to charitable causes
are reaching record
highs, but the giving is
done by a smaller and
smaller slice of the pop-
ulation.
The study, published
every other year by Indi-
ana University’s Lilly
Family School of Philan-
thropy, comes from a
survey that has been
tracking the giving pat-
terns of more than 9,000
households since 2000,
when 66 percent of U.S.
households donated to a
charitable organization.
That number dropped to
49.6 percent in 2018, the
latest year with compre-
hensive figures from
those households.
Experts say many
factors are contributing
to the decline. The per-
centage of Americans
who give to religious
causes has decreased in
tandem with attendance
at worship services as the
number of Americans not
affiliated with any reli-
gion grows. Separately,
the share of Americans
who give to secular caus-
es began to drop follow-
ing the economic turbu-
lence of the Great Reces-
sion, but it hasn’t
bounced back. It reached
a new low — 42 percent —
in 2018, the study said.
Una Osili, the associate
dean for research and
international programs at
the Lilly School, suggests
this is, in part, because
the Great Recession
the sum total of the “spiri-
tual world.”
Global influences on
religion in Japan are noth-
ing new, but spirituality
and New Age movements
have had a significant
impact since the 1980s.
In Japan today, the En-
glish word “spirituality”
connotes foreignness,
fashionability and novelty.
Generally speaking, it
emphasizes individual
experience in contrast to
organized “religion.” As
Ioannis Gaitanidis ex-
plains, Japan’s spiritual
professionals practice a
wide range of therapies
and techniques, such as
healing touch, aura evalua-
tions and past-life reading.
Kondo does not market
her KonMari method as
being “spiritual” per se. In
made it difficult for some
younger Americans to
establish a habit of giv-
ing. The study found only
about a third of house-
holds headed by some-
one under the age of 40
gave to charity in 2018, a
trend Osili believes will
be a challenge for chari-
ties.
“What are the factors
that will bring them into
giving? Especially if they
are not attending servic-
es, and not participating
in networks that will lead
to giving,” she said.
The nationally repre-
sentative study from the
university does have its
limitations. It measures
giving to charitable orga-
nizations, but doesn’t
analyze donations made
through informal crowd-
funding campaigns,
which tends to draw
younger audiences. It
does, however, measure
contributions of goods
and services.
The study says declin-
ing levels of trust among
Americans for institu-
tions and each other may
also contribute to the
move away from charita-
ble giving. That mistrust
is especially pronounced
among millennials,
which could cause anoth-
er layer of challenges for
charitable organizations.
The data shows a ma-
jority of households
headed by a person who
had a college or a gradu-
ate degree, and was mar-
ried or widowed gave to
charity. Wealth was also a
factor.
Nearly 8 out of 10
households with more
than $200,000 of wealth
gave to charity in 2018,
the study said. By con-
trast, less than 4 in 10
households with wealth
Giving continues on F2
her book “The Life-Chang-
ing Magic of Tidying Up,”
she touts the “magic” of
the KonMari method as
being much more practical
and effective than “feng-
shui or power stones and
other spiritual goods.” And
yet, this is exactly the kind
of strategic comparison
spiritual professionals
make to market their ser-
vices.
We can’t overlook that
Kondo “greets” her house
in “Shinto-inspired” fash-
ion, next to guided med-
itations involving quartz
crystals and tuning forks.
The ideal KonMari lifestyle
is presented as one in
which we adopt and adapt
whatever practices “feel
right.”
One such ritual post
Kondo continues on F2
F2 | Sunday, August 8, 2021 | ExpressNews.com | San Antonio Express-News
Faith, football for teen Buddhist lama
By Luis Andres Henao
A S S OC I AT E D PRE SS
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS,
Minn. — In most ways, Jalue
Dorje is a typical American
teen — he grew up in a
suburb of Minneapolis,
loving football, Pokemon
and rap music.
Yet in a few years, he
expects to say goodbye to
his family and homeland to
join a monastery in the
foothills of the Himalayas.
From an early age, Jalue
was recognized by the
Dalai Lama and other
Tibetan Buddhist leaders
as a reincarnated lama.
Since that recognition,
he’s spent much of his life
training to become a
monk, memorizing sacred
scriptures (often rewarded
by his dad with Pokemon
cards), practicing callig-
raphy and learning the
teachings of Buddha.
Now 14, he’s entering his
first year of high school.
After graduation in 2025,
he’ll head to northern
India to join the Mindroll-
ing Monastery, more than
7,200 miles from his home
in Columbia Heights.
Following a period of
contemplation and asce-
tism, he hopes to return to
his native America to teach
in the Minnesota Buddhist
community. His goal? “To
become a leader of peace,”
he said. “Like the Dalai
Lama or Gandhi or Nelson
Mandela.”
On a recent day, he
chanted ancient prayers for
hours with his father and
other monks who gathered
in a prayer room in the
family’s home to ring bells,
bang drums and blow
conch shells near an altar
decorated with offerings of
fruits, flowers and Torma
ritual cakes.
The annual ceremony,
which was suspended last
year because of the corona-
virus pandemic, pays hom-
age to Guru Rinpoche, the
Indian Buddhist master
who brought Tantric Bud-
When he was an infant, Jalue Dorje, now 14, was identified as the eighth reincarnation of the lama Terchen
Taksham Rinpoche. After finishing high school in 2025, Jalue will join the Mindrolling Monastery in India.
dhism to Tibet.
On a break, Jalue sat for
lunch in the yard under the
summer sun, the youngest
by far among the monks,
and then walked upstairs
in his maroon and gold
robes to play the NBA 2K
video game against Delek
Topgyal, his 13-year-old
cousin and best friend.
The process of identify-
ing a lama is based on
spiritual signs and visions.
Jalue was about 4 months
old when he was identified
by Kyabje Trulshik Rin-
poche, a venerated master
of Tibetan Buddhism who
was the leader of the Ny-
ingma lineage. He was later
confirmed by several other
lamas as the eighth Ter-
chen Taksham Rinpoche —
the first one of whom was
born under the name
Taksham Nuden Dorje in
1655.
After the Dalai Lama also
recognized him at age 2 as
the guru’s reincarnation,
FA I T H
Jalue’s parents took him to
meet the spiritual leader of
Tibetan Buddhism when
he visited Wisconsin in
2010. The Dalai Lama cut a
lock of Jalue’s hair in a
ceremony. He was officially
enthroned in a 2019 cere-
mony in India.
Jalue is fluent in English
and Tibetan and often gets
A’s in class.
“Seeing him growing up
to a teenager is a lot of
things to take in because
he’s a Buddhist master, and
at the same time, he’s a
normal person as well,”
said his uncle, Tashi Lama.
In Jalue’s room, a photo
of the Dalai Lama rests
above DVD collections of
“The Simpsons,” “Family
Guy” and “South Park,”
next to volumes of “Bud-
dha,” a graphic novel series
by Osamu Tezuka, a master
of the Japanese comic art
form known as manga.
On his bedside table,
Jalue keeps a journal where
Fran DiBiasio sits alone in Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in March 2020 as
the Rev. Peter Gower celebrates Mass from the front door in Rhode Island.
GIVING
From page F1
less than $50,000 made
donations.
“The overall pie (in
giving) is slowly moving
towards the ultra
wealthy,” said John List,
an economics professor at
the University of Chicago
who studies giving, add-
ing that this shift can be
dangerous. “Rich people
give to causes that rich
people want to give to,”
FIRST CHURCH OF
CHRIST SCIENTIST
501 N. Alamo
(210)227-5029
Sunday Service 10:30am
(Spanish translation of
Bible Lesson available)
Sunday School 10:30am
Wed.meeting 7:30pm
Reading Room:same location
(210)822-8870
ST. PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH
A Loving, Diverse Community of
Faith.
10:30am Worship Services
COME AS YOU ARE!
2302 S. Presa www.stpaulsa.org
Jessie Wardarski / Associated Press
he diagrams football strate-
gies that he’d like to try on
the field playing as a defen-
sive tackle and offensive
guard with his school team.
He loves sports, especial-
ly Atlanta teams.
“You’ll always see me
outside wearing this hat”
he said about his favorite
Falcons cap. “Unless I’m
wearing my robes.”
Would it be easier if he
was just a regular teen?
“Nothing like that crosses
my mind,” he said, laugh-
ing. “It’s always been reli-
gion first.”
Growing up he had a
deal with his dad, who
would give him the Poke-
mon cards in return for
committing Buddhist scrip-
tures to memory. He col-
lected hundreds and would
sometimes sneak them in
his robes at ceremonies.
Every morning he wakes
up to recite sacred texts.
He then attends school,
followed by football prac-
David Goldman / Associated Press file photo
he said. “You have a very
different supply of goods
and services from the
charitable community
when the rich people give
versus when the middle-
class or lower-class gives.”
Critics have long argued
that large charitable dona-
tions by wealthy philan-
thropists are only possible
in an era of rising income
inequality, a point philan-
thropist MacKenzie Scott
cited during her latest
announcement of dona-
tions.
COMPASSION CHURCH
Welcome Home!
Pastor Adrian Compton
Assoc. Pastor Donnie Herrera
Sunday Services
9:00 & 11:00 a.m.
2862 Thousand Oaks
San Antonio, Tx 78232
(210)549-4012
FB Pg: compassionchurchsa
www.compassionsa.org
LITTLE CHURCH OF LA VILLITA
508 Paseo de la Villita
(210)226-3593
Cleo Edmunds
Operations Director
Sunday Worship 11am
Thurs Prayer 11 am
tice, and returns home for
tutoring lessons on Tibetan
history and Buddhism.
Late at night he might
practice his calligraphy or
run on a treadmill in the
basement while listening to
rappers like Drake and Polo
G.
“He’s naturally very
open-minded, and he’s also
very genuinely interested
in the world. … He doesn’t
have these preconceived
notions of who he is,” said
Kate Thomas, one of his
tutors and the teachings
coordinator at Minneapo-
lis’ Bodhicitta Sangha
Heart of Enlightenment
Institute.
“He knows he’s Tibetan.
He also knows he’s Amer-
ican,” Thomas said. “But
like the youth of today, he
is a global citizen as well.
And he started out that way
due to his age, his genera-
tion.”
Jessie Wardarski contributed
to this report.
Phil Buchanan, the
president of the Center
for Effective Philanthropy
and author of “Giving
Done Right: Effective
Philanthropy and Making
Every Dollar Count,“ be-
lieves the declining giving
participation rate also
shows charities are failing
to communicate their
message effectively.
American society tends
to deify businesses and
and athletes, he said.
“And we can do a better
job of elevating the work
and heroism of nonprofits
in communities all across
the country.”
KONDO
From page F1
encapsulates how Kondo
positions herself in the
global spiritual and well-
ness markets. “6 Ways to
Purify Your Space” begins
with the premise that
intangible, invisible forces
affect us. As a result, we
need to make purification
a daily ritual.
But the first purification
practice doesn’t involve
Shinto materials like water
or salt. Instead, we dis-
cover Kondo loves burning
palo santo, a “holy wood”
used for ritual purification
and healing in South
America. In fact, salt is the
only material listed related
to Shinto.
FAITH BRIEFS
St. Mark’s free
concert tickets
available now
Free concert tickets
are now available to the
inaugural Stained Glass
Session at St. Mark’s
Episcopal Church.
Singer, songwriter and
storyteller Radney
Foster will kick off the
concert series on Aug.
20.
Foster has a decades-
long career as a song-
writer. His songs have
been recorded by art-
ists Keith Urban, The
Dixie Chicks and Luke
Bryan, as well as Hootie
& The Blowfish, Kenny
Loggins and Los Lonely
Boys.
The concert will be
held from 8 to 9:30
p.m. at the historic St.
Mark’s Episcopal
Church, 315 E. Pecan.
Tickets are required for
entry and may be ob-
tained by visiting: bit.ly/
StainedGlassSes-
sionsGP.
This marks first in-
person concert at St.
Mark’s since before the
pandemic. Masks will
be required inside
regardless of vaccina-
tion status, according to
a church press release.
PPE-clad clergy
set to return
to hospitals
Baptist Health Sys-
tem’s is allowing out-
side clergy to visit with
COVID and non-COVID
patients at its six hospi-
tals in San Antonio and
New Braunfels effective
immediately, according
to a press release. At
the height of the pan-
demic, all visitors were
banned from COVID
units in hospitals across
the country, resulting in
clergy not being able to
provide in-person sup-
port to patients in their
hour of need.
While BHS chaplains
have been serving pa-
tients, they’ve often
done so via phone or
virtual platforms. Now,
other clergy will be
granted access to pro-
vide support to all pa-
tients requesting visita-
tion effective immedi-
ately, according to a
BHS.
The Pastoral Care
departments in all five
BHS hospitals in San
Antonio and Resolute
Health Hospital in New
Braunfels are available
24/7 to provide min-
istry to patients and
families.
S.A. Food Bank
seeks bilingual
volunteers
The San Antonio
Food Bank is seeking
volunteers to assist with
humanitarian efforts to
aid migrants traveling
through the city. Span-
ish speakers are espe-
cially needed.
The food bank,
which is working with
the city of San Antonio,
says there are hundreds
of volunteer opportuni-
ties and the need is
critical. To register as a
volunteer, visit safb.se-
cure.force.com/jobcal-
endar and select Mi-
grant Resource Center.
Untidiness is the secret
to the KonMari experi-
ence. It is also the reality
of religion in Japan. When
we equate Japanese cul-
ture with Shinto (or Bud-
dhism, for that matter), we
fail to recognize the di-
versity of Japanese spiritu-
al practices, which encom-
passes auras and past lives
as much as shrines and
temples. And not only
that: We fail to recognize
the messiness of our own
global appetites.
Kaitlyn Ugoretz is a PhD
candidate studying the
globalization of Shinto
through digital media at
the University of California,
Santa Barbara. She wrote
this article for Religion
News Service.