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Christian Witness, Homilies, , ,

Reflection for the 6th Sunday of Easter 2017

A reason for
hope.

Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.

Today, we hear St. Peter advising the members of the early Church to bear up under persecution. But that isn’t the starting point. He isn’t recommending that we sit around, awaiting persecution, before we show the strength of our faith. He recommends that our starting point is always to offer hope to every and anyone who asks us for a reason for our hope.

Always being ready to offer hope is our calling as Christians. The world is so full of hopelessness, loss, and the seemingly unfillable gap between where we are and where we want to be.

Our call is to show that the gap isn’t the end, you get there and fall into nothingness. Rather, we must tell the world that one never has to face that chasm anymore – for Jesus Christ, risen and alive – has filled it. He has bridged the gap. He is our hope and our gift – to offer in gentleness and reverence, with clear conscience.

People around us must deal with the hopelessness that we used to face – part and parcel of the sinful human condition. As followers of Christ we have already recognized that hopelessness has been overcome. The depth of death is no more. Darkness has been crushed and light is ours. We have taken hold of the Savior and His tools that overcome hopelessness. We can point every and anyone we meet to Him and use His tools to share the promise of true hope.

According to a recent Pew Forum study, there is persecution of Christians in 131 of the 193 countries in the world. That’s almost 70%. The people Peter wrote to were similarly being slandered and threatened. Their witness to Christ’s hope made them the constant targets of those who served the empire and hailed nation as lord. They had a choice. Leave hope behind and again face the gap, the deep pit of despair, or stand firm in the Holy Spirit, the promises of Jesus Christ they held.

Peter reminds us that to this very day, regardless of the world’s resistance, irrespective of persecution, the promise of Jesus Christ is hope-filled. Jesus’ execution by the world was not the end. It was the beginning of hope.

From a merely human point of view, death is the end, the gap cannot be filled, and the chasm cannot be crossed. But thanks be to God, death is ended, the bridge is in place, and we can take the hand of every and anyone and offer them a reason for hope.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, ,

Being a Confessor of the Faith in Mishawaka, Indiana

Wikipedia defines a Confessor as:

The title confessor is used in the Christian Church in several ways. Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith, but not to the point of death.

I recently blogged about Nan Gilbert, a member of the PNCC who has been discharged from her job simply for her membership and allegiance to the PNCC. You might think: isn’t that employer horrible, persecuting people for their faith in Jesus Christ and their allegiance to Him.

Funny thing, she worked for a Roman Catholic high school run by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. Note that the school still lists her as a member of their staff on their website (as of the writing of this post).

I attempted to confirm the events with the Ecumenical Officer for the Diocese, the Rev. Robert C. Schulte and the school’s principal, Mr. Carl Loesch. Fr. Schulte responded but refused to comment on the status of Ms. Gilbert, citing confidentiality. Ms. Gilbert has personally confirmed these events with me.

Ms. Gilbert was told to renounce her affiliation with the PNCC and come back to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. She was also asked to renounce any relationship with her fiancee, a former cleric of the Roman Catholic Church. Upon refusing she was told that she could either resign or be fired.

From my perspective, there is the potential for further repercussions aimed at Ms. Gilbert based on what she has reported to me. The whole episode is truly insidious, truly sinful.

In the end this is simple coercion and prejudice. While coercion is allowed for by Roman Catholic Canon Law, this would be an area outside Canon Law, because it affects the member of another Church — an area covered in joint agreements and by the Roman Church’s own prohibitions against coercion. So it comes down to bullying.

Here’s an excerpt from Marian’s Mission Statement:

…As a Catholic community, Marian values the sanctity and individuality of each student and strives to live the example of Jesus Christ as teacher and servant.

Is that saying that Jesus as teacher and servant treated His co-workers without sanctity or individuality? Don’t you just love mission statements. So many words, never reflected upon, never considered. Just a decoration on one’s website. If they cannot follow their Mission Statement how can they follow the Popes and the Gospel?

Grant this, O Christ, that we may never let ourselves be broken by threats, persecution and suffering, but always firmly and faithfully profess Thy holy faith. And when false human judgments pursue and wrong us, grant us the faith of the apostles and courage of the martyrs, that we may be capable to suffer and even die for Thee. Amen. — From the Prayer for the First Station. The Stations of the Cross, A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church.

Here’s a better Mission statement:

“Fides suadenda est, non imponenda”
(Faith is a matter of persuasion, not of compulsion)

Perspective, Political, , , , ,

The Democratic Republic of the United States

Our President and those with him, along with at least some section of our militaryYes, yes, support our military, but when will they support their constitutional duty. They should have “eliminated” the Chinese interrogators rather than take orders from them. have turned our country into a communist stooge state. From ABC News: Report: U.S. Soldiers Did ‘Dirty Work’ for Chinese Interrogators. Alleges Guantanamo Personnel Softened Up Detainees at Request of Chinese Intelligence.

U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay allegedly softened up detainees at the request of Chinese intelligence officials who had come to the island facility to interrogate the men — or they allowed the Chinese to dole out the treatment themselves, according to claims in a new government report.

Buried in a Department of Justice report released Tuesday are new allegations about a 2002 arrangement between the United States and China, which allowed Chinese intelligence to visit Guantanamo and interrogate Chinese Uighurs held there…

Didn’t we stand in opposition to communism not too long ago (at least outwardly)? Didn’t we call small countries and some people communist stooges? Now it’s just a business deal I guess. We have become communist stooges.

And on the Uighurs (from Wikipedia):

Following 9/11, China voiced its support for the United States of America in the war on terror. The Chinese government has often referred to Uyghur nationalists as “terrorists” and received more global support for their own “war on terror” since 9/11. Human rights organizations have become concerned that this “war on terror” is being used by the Chinese government as a pretext to repress ethnic Uyghurs. Uyghur exile groups also claim that the Chinese government is suppressing Uyghur culture and religion, and responding to demands for independence with human rights violations. These include mass abortions of Uyghur children and forced termination of marriages between Uyghur people. Uyghur children who are born unauthorized are denied food and shelter by the government.

The war on terror being used as a pretext? Who’d have thought…

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