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This link will keep 'parishioners-at-large' in touch with current creative liturgy sources and resources that respect a variety of 'traditions' within the Church.

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A 'lay' Catholic weekly publication with an accent on an intelligent analysis and commentary on curent issues, trends and concerns of interest to Catholics.

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A national Catholic lay newspaper covering events not usually covered or presented with a clerical bias in the local diocesan press or but of concern and interest to Catholics.

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A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.

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Vital information about the disclosure of sexual abuse and related issues affecting Catholics in the pew and the manner in which Bishops continue to exempt themselves from accountability

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A 'movement' of lay Catholics 'inspired' by the abuse scandal calling for greater accountability of bishops to 'Catholics in the Pew.'

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Daily Scripture

+ 3rd Week in Lent

Integrity demands honesty and yields forgiveness.

Readings: Hosea 14:2-10 Psalm 81:6-11, 14, 17 Mark 12:28-34

Thus says the Lord: Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God; Say to God, “Forgive all iniquity, and receive what is good, hat we may render as offering the bullocks from our stalls.” [Hosea 14:1, 3]

One of the scribes and asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear O Israel! The Lord our god is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The scribe said to him, “Well said…, there is no greater commandment greater than these. [They] are worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifice. [Mark 12:28-33]

“I’m sorry if I have offended you,” or words similar to these are what I would call a shallow political apology; empty words without substance. The offender is distancing him/herself from the offense. There is a hidden question in the apology, e.g., ‘why are you offended… ‘ worse, ‘I am sorry that you took offense’ putting the burden on the other person to apologize for being offended. Yipes!

A personal or institutional apology is an admission of wrongdoing and can be used for fodder in an indictment and subsequent trial so attorneys are very careful to caution their clients against any admission of guilt that could be used against them in court.

Sadly even our Church has masterfully avoided admission of wrongdoing in multi-million dollar settlements with those who were abused by priests and religious. Spokespersons for church, political or commercial institutions are careful to point out that such a settlement “is not an admission of guilt or wrongdoing and is actually a compromise of a disputed claim.” More ‘yipes!’

Lent is a time to confess our wrongdoing, personal and institutional, hands down! In the words of the psalmist, “my sins are before me always.” [Ps 51] But the Lord is our refuge and our strength. “Let the wise understand and speak these words without equivocation or prevarication.

Integrity has its rewards in this life and in the next.

Quiet Love

Thursday February 21, 2008

This poem in prose was composed by me as my annual Christmas message and greeting but the Spirit did not move my soul until the feast of the Baptism of Jesus. And so my Christmas ‘cards’ did not get to the post office until two weeks ago! I share it now with my website visitors. It is entitled, ‘Quiet Love.’

_______

When I was a child,
I used to think of God as an old man
high in the sky
with a long white beard stretching over the earth,
sweeping silk silver-lined clouds.
A sort of Santa Claus—a gentle soul
but not adverse to “making a list and checking it twice
to find out who’s naughty or nice.”

Such talk among adults is silly isn’t it? —fodder for Gnostics or agnostics and even atheists? Perhaps, but I think God enjoys a bit of banter now and then.
And I suspect that God is often amused
at the attempts of great and small,
of prophets, priests and popes among them
to pin on God a personality
and put words in God’s mouth
as if such were possible
though I do believe artists and poets have come close
in their playful pursuit to depict
the movement of love through the lens of ancient sages
down through the ages—quiet love.

‘The Great Mystery’
is the name our Native American ancestors
gave to God because they knew
God is mysteriously part of everything and everyone—quiet love
penetrating the depths of eternity from one end to the other
birthing us to life
at every moment—day and night.

I believe that Jesus gave birth to God in humanity
uniquely as no one else in human history—as movement, as life, as goodness,
as love.
I think of Jesus as the incarnation of ‘quiet love.’

I think too of all the people confined to silence, not by choice,
in cells of solitude, prisoners of their body
the windows of their minds closed to the familiar faces of yesterday.
Quiet love silenced by the slow deterioration of the mind
or worse, empty souls, searching for someone to love,

And the many who have lost their way on lonely streets
or in caves of dark despair
waiting for quiet love to free them from the isolation of insignificance
or the dysfunction of worthlessness or ironically, iconic vanity.
Waiting for quiet love to touch them.

Meanwhile the pundits preach
from pulpits, of their political superiority
a gospel of narcissism to be sure,
spreading their feathers like pheasants looking for a mate —and a vote.

And what of the evangelical ‘merchants’ with gold rings
in search of fine pearls instead of tending to lost sheep
bruised by wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Stealthy ‘guardians’ of sound doctrine and dogma
stern monitors of stoic rites and rituals
moved more by fear of the unknown than by awe of the Mystery,
assuring firm adherence to rules and rubrics
that harken back to other ages—the dark ages
lest they be quickened by a new movement of the Spirit
God Spirit—quiet love.

Yet quiet love seeps through the cracks and crevices
of ancient times and places
and over time we come to know our origin
and our destiny
in quiet love—
that will not be silenced.
c Kenneth E Lasch 2008