• Bulletin Board, Announcements, Calendar
• Editorial - Op Ed
• Welcome and Website Protocol
• Article Archive

Print this page

Article Categories

• Book Reviews
• Open Letter
• Editorials
• Notes, Quotes & Comments
• Pastor's Study
• Project Millstones
• Sidebar Comments
• Weekly Message

Links

Liturgy
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.

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

National Catholic Reporter
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.

Survivos' Network for those Abused by Priests or Religious
A National Network of self-help support groups for people abused by clergy or religious.

Bishop Accountability
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

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

Search

Daily Scripture

+ 20th Week in Ordinary Time

I’ll do it myself.

Readings: Ezekiel 34:1-11 Psalm 23:1-6 Matthew 20:1-16

Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: because my shepherds did not look after my sheep, but pastured themselves and did not pasture my sheep, I will claim my sheep from them and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep. I will save my sheep, that they may no longer be food for their mouths. [Ezekiel 34:10]

There is much talk about a vocation shortage—fewer young men entering the seminary and fewer still persevering to ordination. Not withstanding some notable exceptions this has resulted in the lowering of standards for ordination. Moreover, priests and candidates for the priesthood are being ‘imported’ from other countries whose needs are as urgent as ours.

The prevailing accent seems to be on the need to have a sufficient number of priests to ‘say Mass’ and provide for the sacramental needs of the faithful. But surely in the light of the Second Vatican Council, priests need to be more than presiders at Mass and providers of the sacraments, as important as are these roles.

The earliest experience of the Church can be instructive in this regard. The notion of presbyter provided the early church with presiders for worship and leaders for base communities. Celibacy was not an issue and there was no clerical caste. The gifts of the faithful were recognized in such a manner that men and women, married and single fulfilled the spiritual needs of the community including the sacramental needs.

Notwithstanding the inadequacy of the notion of shepherding people (sheeple?) the need remains for qualified men and women to minister to the needs of the community.

Ezekiel warned the priests and assured the people of Israel that God would find away to pasture his people.

Ezekiel’s words need to be taken to heart again and in fact we already see that God is indeed providing a way through the action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men and women, married and single, who are tending to the needs of the faithful.

All about politics... a respone

Tuesday May 13, 2008

Just so my subscribers know that I am not above and beyond critique or criticism, I am posting a response to my previous posting entitled “Er, ahem, it’s all about politics… isn’t it?” [Cf. Notes, Quotes & Comments website link]. The subscriber makes a fair point!

To the Editor:

Oh, there’s such a better way than these two on the subject of race in America

Obama does it far better, just to choose one.

Black men of the cloth need only look at Nelson Mandela and his utterly radical forgiveness. It turned a nation around, away from retribution and hate speech, and snatched it from the jaws of civil war. No Nurenburg here, just a Truth and Reconciliation Commission where sin was confessed and forgiven but not forgotten (I wonder where this practicing Christian man got this idea??) Still not an ideal nation, riddled as it is with problems, but racial attitudes are on such a better glide path.

Unlike South Africa, in our nation the decision to turn around was made about two generations ago, all we need do is nurture it with some degree of tolerance. Assaulted by Wright, white onlookers of good faith wonder what’s been happening these last 45 years as the nation threw its treasure at a problem that happened long before they were born, embarked aggressively on affirmative action, and still strives to rid itself of the hangovers from our own personal apartheids.

The Rev. Wright chooses not to use the past as a positive mechanism for racial healing, but rather seems to wallow in it or perhaps even use it as a weapon. Spong is obviously sympathetic and seeks to explain, quite unsuccessfully, by claiming “out of context” as if it were true, the reluctance of whites to acknowledge white sin, and then raises the inevitable straw man (“Someone, seeking to destroy America’s first viable African American candidate, had linked him to the historic anger of the black Church… racial fear is still live and well in America.”)

Huh?

Pretty weak “someone!” And pretty tame “fear” as Obama gains traction regardless of whether he may win the nomination!

Two men of the cloth (three really with Bill Moyers) and not a word about the power of forgiveness! Strange how the black clergy tends to rally around Wright while the black community doesn’t seem to want to go there. Maybe this is indeed the time for some Christian soul-searching, so we can get to another level.

The truth is that few people of good faith in America really care that a woman and a black man are running for its highest office—-don’t get me wrong, they think it’s a wonderful and positive sign, but they’re simply not going to vote for one or the other for that sole reason. It is NOT racist to question Obama’s experience or judgment or his links to others, or even the extent to which he may share “the historic anger of the black Church.” We need to know him! We already know his female opponent, perhaps too well.

Disclosure: I have no intention of voting for Obama if he wins the nomination. But if he wins the presidency, I’m quite comfortable with his obvious intelligence, and trust that he will act on the data and seek to do the right thing.

Editor’s Note:

There is no doubt in my mind that forgiveness is the ultimate goal for victims of discrimination and their descendents and Christ remains the model and exemplar for Christians though, to be sure, Mohandas Gandhi also was a strong advocate of forgiveness. It is to be sure the refined sense of prophetic vision to which Martin Luther King called all Americans. As ‘on target’ as the subscriber’s observations, many are still in the process of conversion to this refined position. Nevertheless, he is wise to remind us that our destiny is truth, justice, reconciliation and peace. Forgiveness is the conclusion of a long process. My mantra remains a version of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission referred to above: “No healing and forgiveness without justice; no justice without truth; no truth without full accountability.” The justice to which I refer is called ‘restorative justice’ and takes place with the offender acknowledges his or her failure and says, “I’m sorry.”