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Year: 2006

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Perspective

Indictments

R.C. Bishops at war

The Young Fogey in Something to ponder discusses the possibility of a R.C. Bishop (Fabian Bruskewitz) in the U.S. excommunicating a fellow bishop (Thomas Gumbleton).

In actuality I’m not sure it could be done. Such excommunications are probably reserved to the Holy See itself (ala Archbishop Milingo). Still, at a minimum, it sets up a rather awkward relationship within the USCCB.

I agree with Serge, I too wonder how the EWTN apologists would speak to the issue.

Moreover, I wonder what the fallout from the tightening of the reigns will look like. The throwing of indictments and cross-indictments? Test case anyone?

Poetic indictment

Bernard Brandt wrote an indictment of pastors in the form of a poem. I like Bernard’s writing and I’m glad to see he’s posted something.

The pastor of every diocese is the bishop. As with Serge’s post and its implications, this indictment addresses those who fail to follow the example of Christ. They latch on to one aspect of Jesus’ ministry and miss the rest (e.g., Bruskewitz —“ throwing out sinners, being the judge; Gumbleton —“ eating with sinners without calling them to repentance and conversion), and in doing so act the disordered pastor.

Check out A Villanelle which begins:

Sheep scatter when they are not being fed.
We see this in the fields, and at the Mass.
Those who deny this know a lie is said.

Current Events, Perspective, Poland - Polish - Polonia,

Priorities, priorities

A person’s priorities are often defined by the sort of upbringing they receive – not an absolute truth, for people can reject anything – but a general truth derived from the nature (God given) and nurture we receive.

The following article from The Warsaw Voice: What Poles Prize Most illustrates the power of a culture where faith, and its integration into the culture, leads to family being a priority.

Family happiness is prized above everything else by Poles, a new survey has found. Work is the second most important value, according to the study by the CBOS polling center. Nearly 75 percent of respondents said family happiness was the most important for them. Work comes second (50 percent of those polled). Other issues Poles find important include good health (49 percent); peace and quiet (48 percent); honesty in life (47 percent) and respect from other people (43 percent). These are followed by having a circle of friends, religious faith, national prosperity, education, wealth and freedom of speech. Last on the list are success and fame.

Professional work is most often included as one of the five most important issues by people running their own business (83 percent), young people (70 percent of those aged 25-35) and people with a college education (62 percent).

Nearly all respondents (92 percent) agree that work lends meaning to life, that it is worth being a hardworking person and that any job should be performed with commitment, regardless of its importance. Almost 90 percent say that hard work is a necessary condition for success in life. Eighty-four percent believe that working is a moral obligation toward oneself and other people; 80 percent say that good work brings reward or success.

Nearly half of those surveyed (46 percent) say that satisfaction from work is not necessary, while “material benefits” are the most
important. Some 66 percent say that the primary goal of work is to earn money. Interestingly, 55 percent of respondents say that one cannot become rich from honest work.

The poll was conducted in early November on a representative sample of 979 adults.

I believe that the same can be said for immigrant communities in the diaspora. The people I grew up with, or their parents, who were second generation, still held the same values. I remember the good Felician Sisters saying God, family, country. It stuck. Would that it were so for the world.

Holy Family of Nazareth hear our prayer.

Christian Witness, Current Events

When you don’t believe

From LifeSite News: Nun Imposes Religious Christmas Gifts Ban at Catholic Hospital

TAMPA, December 21, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) —“ When a group of teachers and sisters from Villa Madonna Catholic school tried to brighten up patients’ hospital stay with Christian-themed gifts, the nun in charge of St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital missions decreed that such gifts were inappropriate. A nun from a different order, Sr. Kim Keraitis, who helped organize the gift giving responded she found the political correctness of the decree appalling.

The St. Petersburg Times reports that the decision was made that religiously neutral ornaments that read “Joy to the World” and “Peace on Earth” were in; lapel pins depicting Christ’s birth, ornaments with “Merry Christmas,” and Jesus-themed T-shirts were out.

Sister Pat Shirley, a member of the Franciscan order that founded the Tampa hospital in 1934, told local media, —Yes, we were founded by Catholic sisters, but we serve everybody in our community.—

—We have to create an environment in which all feel comfortable, whether it be Christmas or Hanukkah or Gasparilla or any circumstance,— Sr. Pat said St. Joseph’s vice president of missions. —Gasparilla— is an annual summer tourist festival sponsored by the city of Tampa based on local pirate myths.

The website of the hospital’s foundation, however, said clearly that St. Joseph’s remains a Catholic hospital.

—It’s not Tampa General,— Sister Keraitis of the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco and principal of Villa Madonna school said. —It’s not Wal-Mart. It’s a Catholic hospital, so if you want to distribute items that say ‘Merry Christmas,’ even if there are people there that are of other faiths, it’s kind of understood that it’s a Catholic hospital.”

Among the gifts organized by Sr. Keraitis were red T-shirts the read, “Jesus is the heart of Christmas … Villa Madonna wishes you a Merry Christmas.”

The Franciscan Sisters’ politically correct attitude was not shared by parents of patients, however. Kimmie Martinez, a Villa Madonna teacher said that when the group was told they would not be allowed to distribute the gifts without parental consent, they toured the halls singing Christmas songs and parent’s accepted the gifts —eagerly—.

The volunteers asked if patients believed in Jesus and if they did, they got the gifts, Sister Keraitis said.

“I don’t want to cause a big stir, but my concern was the fact that it’s a Catholic institution,” Sister Keraitis said. “Within the Catholic institution, we shouldn’t have to apologize for saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to people.”

St. Joseph’s Children’s hospital is part of a group of St. Joseph’s Health Care facilities originally established in 1934 by the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany who came to Tampa to aid the victims of an outbreak of yellow fever.

The Franciscan Sisters of Allegany have missions in Brazil, Jamaica and Bolivia but are experiencing the same drought of candidates as most of the orders of Catholic sisters who ‘reformed’ in the 1960’s. They currently have two candidates for admission in the US.

Which is not amazing at all considering the lack of evangelical fervor found here. If this director is any indication, the Order has no purpose other than to provide for health and social service outreach. A secular operation with a pinch of Jesus.

What is really astonishing is the lesson the students at Villa Madonna are learning. Do not witness your faith, hide it under a bushel basket. Thankfully they are under the care of the Salesian Sisters who will make this a teaching moment.

This event is even worse in a state like Florida that is overrun by Evangelical Christians. It causes a grave scandal in that Roman Catholics (of the type symbolized by this particular Franciscan Order at least) are seen as embarrassed by Jesus, scandalized by His birth. Franklin Graham’s Operation Christmas Child has no problem bringing the Word of God and God’s revelation in Jesus Christ to people who do not know Him or reject Him. Sister Pat Shirley could go to school on him and Him.

If you follow the links to the Orders in the story above and look at the respective Mission of each Order you will see the problem right away. The Salesian’s are focused on Christian witness, the Franciscans are focused on being a good social and human service agency. How sad.

Everything Else

Why marvel ye at me?

O Virgo virginum,
quomodo fiet istud?
Quia nec primam similem visa es
nec habere sequentem.
Filiae Ierusalem,
quid me admiramini?
Divinum est mysterium hoc quod cernitis.

O Virgin of virgins,
how shall this be?
For neither before was any like thee,
nor shall there be after.
Daughters of Jerusalem,
why marvel ye at me?
That which ye behold is a divine mystery.

Mary drags us to her Son, Jesus. Yet we resist her.

She points to Him. She disappears into the background for Him. She gives up the ‘normal’ life she could have had, for Him. She suffers for Him. She follows Him and serves Him —“ not as the glorified maiden, but as a maidservant.

I am the handmaid of the Lord.

Her action, work, love, and dedication are theologized to such an extent so as to miss her humanity. Her simple humanity submitted itself fully to the Lord. Trusting, not knowing. Hearing, not debating. Serving, not bemoaning honorifics.

Would that we take her at her word: Why marvel ye at me? Would that we follow her example all the more closely. Would that we allow ourselves to be carried away, subsumed fully by the mystery of the Incarnation. Would that we say with her,

Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Current Events, ,

Life imitating art

From Dean at Deanish: Monty Python Becomes Real

I was just checking on the news this morning and I catch the following headline: —Llamas Enlisted to Thwart Biological Weapons—. Is it just me, or is that more than slightly reminiscent of a wonderful line from Monty Python and the Holy Grail in which King Arthur asks, —Explain again how you may employ a sheep’s bladder in the prevention of earthquakes?—

Check out his entire post – and a related screen cap from Monty.

I also like his site design (Word Press of course). It’s very clean and easy to read. Dean features lots of posts and information about Nintendo. I’ll be checking his site out more fully after I get my hands on a Wii (and yes, I’m waiting till after Christmas).

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