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

AMERICA Magazine
A balanced Catholic weekly magazine published by the jesuits of the United States for an intelligent Catholic readership. Go online to subscribe.

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.

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.'

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

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.

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.

Search

Daily Scripture

+ Ascension Thursday

There is no proof; there are only witnesses.

Readings: Acts 1:1-11 Ephesians 1:14-23 Luke 24:46-53

You are witnesses of all these things. And now I am sending down to you what the Father has promised. Stay in the city then, until you are clothed with the power from on high. [Luke 24:50-51]

In an age of technology and scientific progress, we have an explanation for everything or at least the promise of the same. Yet, there are still truly human experiences – both positive and negative—that defy human explanation. Death is one such experience. Doctors know the medical reasons for death but an autopsy doesn’t tell the whole story. Conversely, who can explain the field of energy that binds lovers for life?

During his life on earth Jesus created a field of energy that changed the course of history and it did not cease at his death or even at his resurrection. It continues to this day – locally and globally. Or else how explain the heroism of the saints of yesterday and the saints of today? Women and men, energetic witnesses who have said ‘yes’ to unconditional love under any and all circumstances continue to change the course of history in the face of those who attempt to chain the Word of God. No, most of them are not formal preachers or even religious teachers per se, but people who live the message of the Gospel of Jesus day in and day out.

The gospel today is typical of the departure of a hero. We might even consider it the conclusion of a hero story. Jesus assures his disciples that he is not abandoning them. Not only that but he will send an advocate who will empower them to continue his mission. “You will be clothed with power from on high.” They will be clothed with the mantle of Christ just as the ancient Elijah was clothed in the mantle of Elias before Elias departed in his chariot to the heavens. It’s metaphor and allegory, of course but the underlying truth of Jesus mission will continue to be proclaimed as Good News for all.

But hang in there until Pentecost when the gifts of the Spirit will be renewed and we will be empowered once more to preach the Good News—using words only when necessary.

Beware, beware beware!

Friday September 12, 2008

Ideas in Passing from Joan Chittister

Editor’s note: As many of you know, Joan Chittister is a member of the Benedictine Sisters in Erie, PA. She is a bit of a prophet and therefore controversial among many. She speaks and writes without guile and without rancor. She speaks clearly and when you read her twice or thrice, her message resonates with increasing numbers of Catholics in the pew. There is indeed a new Catholicism emerging that is rooted in Christ rather than in institutional rigidity and liturgical bric-a-brac. This does not mean that Church laws and liturgical protocol do not have their place. It means that Jesus remains the norm for what is right and just. Conscience remains the hallowed space where God speaks the loudest to the sincere believer. KEL

There is a revolution going on in today’s Church. Very ordinary people are discovering the energy, the insight, and the power that comes with a real spiritual life. And, as it happens when the Holy Spirit steps out of the chanceries of the world, quite ordinary people are being spiritually empowered to make decisions on their own.

They know they have been sent to live the beatitudes in a world where two-thirds of the people are deprived of the basics of life. They know they have been sent to be the sign of the call, the gospel commitment, in a world that wants power and profit instead. They know they have been sent to become the Christ-figure in a world that says, “You get them before they get you!” In a Church that says some of us are inadequate images of Christ. They know they have been sent to turn the world around, one part at a time.

A folk tale may explain it best.

Once upon a time a priest announced that Jesus, himself, was coming to church the following Sunday. How the people turned up in large number, of course, to see him.

Everyone expected Jesus to preach. But he only smiled. And everyone offered him hospitality, but he refused. He wanted to spend the night in church, he said. “How could he!” everyone thought. But the next morning, by the time the church doors were open, Jesus had already slipped away. And to their horror, the priest and the people discovered that their church had been vandalized.

Scribbled everywhere on the walls was the single word, “Beware!” No part of the church was spared; the doors and the windows, the pillars and the pulpit, the altar; even the Bible that rested on the lectern. “Beware!” Wherever the eye rested one could see the word, “Beware!” Shocking! Yet, confusing. Hauntingly terrifying! What were they supposed to be aware of?

The first impulse of the people was to wipe out every trace of this defilement, this sacrilege. The only thing that stopped them from doing it was the awareness that it was Jesus, after all, Jesus, himself, who had done this deed.

But the days went by. That mysterious word, “Beware,” began to sink into the minds of the people each time they came to church. They began to beware of the Scriptures, so they were able to profit from them without falling into bigotry. They began to beware of the Sacraments, so they were sanctified without becoming superstitious. The priest began to beware of his power over the people, so he was able to help without controlling. And everyone began to beware of religion, which leads the unwary to self-righteousness.

They became law-abiding, yet compassionate to the weak; they began to beware of prayer, so it no longer stopped them from becoming self-reliant; they even began to beware of their notions of God, so they were able to recognize God outside the narrow confines of their church. Finally, they inscribed the shocking word over the entrance of their church and as you drive past at night you can see it blazing above the church in multi-colored neon lights. The message is a simple one: Beware! Beware of power without spirituality and beware of any spirituality that does not empower. Beware. Beware. Beware. For the sake of the Church, and the sake of the children, I’m begging you, beware.

– from “Empowerment and Spirituality,” by Joan Chittister,Creation magazine, March/April, Vol. 6, No. 2, 1990

____

Always check website bulletin board for current announcements and recent postings. Simply click ‘Bulletin Board’ on the website header above.