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Month: December 2011

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Prayer Vigil for the 1%

Interfaith Worker Justice will hold a Prayer Vigil for the 1% tomorrow, December 8th. You are invited to pray along, starting at 11 a.m., for the wealthiest Americans. We are calling on them to help us create an economy that works for 100 percent of us.

If you are on Facebook, you may RSVP to the Online Prayer Vigil. Then, tomorrow at 11 a.m., change your Facebook status to say: Praying for the One Percent: to whom much is given, more is required — Luke 12:48.

While thousands of unemployed workers and people of faith gather in Washington, D.C. tomorrow for a Flower Prayer Vigil for the 99 percent, I will be praying along with IWJ for the One Percent – the wealthiest Americans who have benefitted from unfair economic policies.

Please join in prayer, even if you’re not on Facebook.

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, IWJ’s national Board of Directors released “An Open Letter to the One Percent:”

To Whom Much Is Given, More is Required:
An Open Letter to the One Percent

During this time of financial crisis and economic disparity, we affirm the God-given dignity of every person. We believe God loves all 100 percent of us and wants to use us to create a more just society.

As faith leaders, we appreciate the generosity, charity, and commitment to the common good that many of you embody.

Still, some of you have used wealth and power to benefit the few at the expense of the many. We expect you to work with us to not only give generously, but to advocate for democracy and economic justice that works for everyone.

We call on you to:

  • Support tax policies and legislation that require more from you so our nation can create good jobs in America
  • Call for an extension of unemployment benefits for those unable to find work

As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.” We are in this together, all 100 percent of us.

National Board of Directors, Interfaith Worker Justice

Christian Witness, PNCC, , ,

Appointment of a reluctant bishop

From the Sun-Sentinel: Calling of a reluctant bishop

South Florida priest appointed to New England diocese, just in time for Christmas

The Very Rev. Paul Sobiechowski is a reluctant bishop. He never wanted to leave his warm little parish in Davie, where he has served for nearly three decades.

But the fourth time was the charm when the Polish National Catholic Church asked him to become a leading shepherd. This time he said yes.

Sobiechowski will say his final Mass on Dec. 11 at St. Joseph’s Polish Catholic Church in Davie, the exact 28th anniversary of his first Mass there in 1983. The next day, he and wife Karen will pack and move to Holy Trinity Cathedral in Manchester, N.H.

“I liked being a priest; I never wanted to do anything more,” Sobiechowski, 57, said after a morning liturgy at the church. “But now that I’m called to this, I just hope I can do what I need to accomplish [God’s] will.”

Sobiechowski was actually chosen in October 2010, during the general synod in Toronto. Polish National Catholic practice, though, elects qualified people before they are needed; that way, there’s always a supply. In May, he was assigned to the Eastern Diocese, 20 parishes in New England, on the retirement of Bishop Thomas Gnat.

Sobiechowski’s name had come up three times before, and he had declined. But this time, he says he heard an inner voice: “I want you to stand for election.” He accepted.

The move will end his work not only in his parish but the community. He was a member of the Davie-Cooper City Rotary Club and a board member of the EASE Foundation, which serves the poor in western Broward.

For 20 years, he and Karen coordinated an annual Advent candlelight service for neighborhood churches. The evening included choirs, sacred dancers, instrumentalists and a buffet. Also included was an offering for Sunset School, a center for special needs children.

Sobiechowski also headed the ecumenical chaplaincy at Memorial Pembroke Hospital, and served as state chaplain for the Polish Legion of American Veterans. And Oct. 18 was declared Bishop Paul Sobiechowski Day in Davie.

He shepherded the church and the 35 residents in its retirement home through three hurricanes and a tornado. Wilma dumped four feet of water on the center of the property. The land has lost some 200 trees altogether; Sobiechowski says he once blew out an arm trying to cut up fallen trees with a 20-inch chainsaw.

“Typical priest work,” he says with a smile.

He considers the stresses worth it for the 150 parishioners, who he says show a “cornucopia of nationalities”: Polish, African American, Asian, Caribbean, several kinds of Hispanic. Sobiechowski says the Spanish-language Mass is the best attended.

More than diversity, Sobiechowski has enjoyed the family atmosphere. “If someone gets sick, everyone is on the phones. If someone gets a birthday, everyone sings ‘Happy Birthday.’

“I love being a priest. You’re always with the people. You get to know families. As a bishop, it’s not just you and the community. It’s 20 communities.”

Even the rectory will expand. He and Karen have become accustomed to living in 800 square feet. He says the bishop’s rectory in Manchester is more than four times larger.

He still sees some pluses to his new home. He likes lobster. He’ll be an hour from Boston. New Hampshire has no state income tax. And people are people, in every state.

“God looked at his creation and said it’s good,” Sobiechowski says. “And if the winters are cold [in New Hampshire], the warmth of the people has to be exceptional.”

“Whatever challenges you have, somehow, with God’s help, we always survive,” he says. “We always pray, ‘Thy will be done.'”

Art, ,

Art for December 7th

Sea Bell Tower, Edward Okuń, 1927

The attack took place on a sunny Sunday morning. A minimal contingent of soldiers was on duty at the time. Most offices on the base were closed and many servicemen were on leave for the weekend. New technology, including the new radar mounted on Opana Point, were in place, manned and functioning at the time of the attack. The incoming Japanese attack planes were detected by the radar and reported, but were mistaken for an incoming group of American planes due from the mainland that morning.

While there were veiled warnings and isolated events of Japanese hostilities in the weeks, days and hours ahead of the attack, no one in command at Pearl Harbor or in Washington, D.C., expected a Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, especially before war was formally declared. Effective cryptography and successful cryptanalysis were in their infancy at the time. Under-funded, under-manned and under-equipped, cryptanalysts had been ordered to concentrate on Japanese diplomatic traffic, rather than naval messages. The nation would have had a much clearer picture of the Japanese military buildup and, with the warning provided by those messages, might have prevented the disaster of Pearl Harbor.

About 360 Japanese attack planes had launched at dawn from aircraft carriers in an attack force of about 33 ships, under the command of Vice-Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. The strike force had steamed, under the cover of darkness, to about 275 to 200 miles north of Oahu. Once the bombers sighted the island, they split into two groups. One group proceeded overland at low altitude across the island and the other flew over the water around the island to make an approach from the south. At 7:55 a.m., the first bombs and torpedoes were dropped. After two hours, the U.S. sustained 18 ships sunk or severely damaged, about 170 aircraft destroyed, and there were about 3,700 casualties. Japanese casualties were minimal.

Homilies, , ,

Second Sunday of Advent 
– B

First reading: Isaiah 40:1-5,9-11
Psalm: Ps 85:9-14
Epistle: 2 Peter 3:8-14
Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

But according to his promise
we await new heavens and a new earth
in which righteousness dwells.
Therefore, beloved, since you await these things,
be eager to be found without spot or blemish before him, at peace.

Taking action:

I want to tell you a story.

My friend was standing outside a bar in Buffalo one night. It was late, closing time. He was with a few colleagues and they were chatting before going their separate ways. While they were standing there, a man came stumbling down the sidewalk. He was growling, gasping at them, and was waving his hands. He went into the bar, which had cleared out. Only the bartender was left behind.

My friend went in after the man. He wanted to make sure the bartender was in no danger. The man was standing at the bar, growling, gasping, waving his arms. The bartender was at the far end of the bar. Suddenly my friend yelled out, ‘Slide me a knife.’

Of course the bartender didn’t act immediately. He didn’t know these men, and he wasn’t going to contribute to a bar fight and stabbing. My friend yelled out, commanding, ‘Give me a knife.’ The bartender slid him a knife, with a stunned look on his face.

My friend cut through a rope that was wrapped around the man’s throat. He had been in a fight and someone had attempted to kill him. If not for my friend following through, and his quick action, the man might have died.

Mark’s like that:

St. Mark’s gospel is the shortest gospel. Of all the gospels, its the one that moves the quickest. It is focused on action and is action packed. There’s no shepherds, birth story, or anything quiet and peaceful about Mark’s gospel. We read the beginning of that gospel today. We are in the Judaean dessert, John is there, yelling out:

“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.”

Bang! John is on the scene. Jesus is immanent.

Mark starts with hard hitting action. By the time we reach the end of Mark’s gospel we are standing outside the empty tomb with two women, an angel, and a message from God.

We are called:

We, the Advent people, are called to action. Jesus’ immanent coming is nothing to be complacent about. He didn’t come to say, pull-up the La-Z-Boy , put up your feet, take it easy, I’ll do it all for you. We are required to act.

The grace we need:

One of the themes I’ve been reflecting on this week is the ‘efficacy’ of grace. Efficacy is a big word, and put simply it means being effective. Efficacy is the capacity to produce an effect.

If we take a Lipitor to lower our cholesterol, we know that it will be effective in doing that. Drugs have efficacy — they produce a result, lowering our blood pressure, reducing our cholesterol, or controlling our blood sugar. An aspirin a day is effective in avoiding a heart attack.

Grace works like that. Grace has efficacy. Grace is God’s medicine of love. It brings so many gifts like peace and healing. It also brings power. Grace gives us the power to live and to act. When we accept God’s grace it is effective in getting us to act.

Problems?

Our world, our neighborhood, our lives are beset by problems. We tend to worry a lot. We need to stop that — because we have the guarantee and effectiveness of grace.

Now think about that. We face so many struggles, and I’m standing here saying don’t worry, act!

The fact is, I am not saying this. God is telling us to act, to move, to take charge and move forward with confidence. Jesus left us all we need to act. We are supported by the strength of faith and His grace. He gave us the Holy Spirit and the Holy Church. In this parish church we have each-other. Finally, He showed us that nothing is stronger than our faith and action, not even death.

To do:

We stand in this season of Advent. It is a time of expectation. It is a time of renewal. It is time to get our ideas right.

If we focus on problems and complaints we will find that they are in our face and are bigger than our God. I ask you, are our problems bigger than our God? Is money bigger than our God? Is the road and work ahead, to build our families, our parish, and our community bigger than our God?

Yes, we have a lot to do. Knowing God’s grace, we will overcome and do more than any one of us can imagine.

Our charge:

My friend took action and saved one man. We need to take action and save all mankind.

At the end of Mark’s action packed gospel we hear:

And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them.

It is time to act. It is time to save our brothers and sisters. It is time to bring the lost back and to open our arms to the people all around us. There is a miracle around the corner — and that miracle will happen if we act. God guarantees that our action will be effective because the Lord is working with us. Amen.

Art, Christian Witness,

Art for the Second Sunday of Advent and the Commemoration of St. Barbara

Saint Barbara, Jan van Eyck, 1437

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. — Isaiah 40:9-11

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