Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
To be a vibrant Catholic Community
unified in its commitment
to growing disciples for Christ
Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney
Mob: 0417 279 437
Mob: 0417 279 437
Assistant Priest: Fr Paschal Okpon
Mob: 0438 562 731
paschalokpon@yahoo.com
Priest in Residence: Fr Phil McCormack
Mob: 0437 521 257
Mob: 0437 521 257
Postal Address: PO Box 362
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783 Fax: 6423 5160
Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au
Secretary: Annie Davies / Anne Fisher
Pastoral Council Chair: Jenny Garnsey
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Parents are asked to contact the Parish Office to make arrangements for attending a Baptismal Preparation Session and booking a Baptism date.
Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist: Are received following a Family–centred, Parish-based, School-supported Preparation Program.
Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: prepares adults for reception into the Catholic community.
Marriage: arrangements are made by contacting one of our priests - couples attend a Pre-marriage Program
Anointing of the Sick: please contact one of our priests
Reconciliation: Ulverstone - Fridays (10am - 10:30am)
Devonport - Saturday (5:15pm – 5:45pm)
Care and Concern: If you are aware of anyone who is sick or in need of assistance in the Parish please visit them. Then, if they are willing and give permission, could you please pass on their names to the Parish Office. We have a group of parishioners who are part of the Care and Concern Group who are willing and able to provide some backup and support to them. Unfortunately, because of privacy issues, the Parish Office is not able to give out details unless prior permission has been given.
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Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration - Devonport: First Friday of each month.
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Monday evenings 7pm – 9:30pm Community Room Ulverstone
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Parish Prayer
Heavenly Father,
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
Amen.
Weekday
Masses 20th - 23rd February, 2018
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 24th & 25th February, 2018
Devonport: 
10:30am: M Sherriff, T & S Ryan, D &
M Barrientos, M O’Brien-Evans
Cleaners. 23rd Feb: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley 2nd March: M.W.C.
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
Readings this week – First Sunday of Lent – Year B
PREGO REFLECTION:
I bring myself to silence and inner stillness as
best I can. I may notice distractions and how my mind often wanders.
Rather
than struggle with my thoughts, I notice them with kindness, and bring my
attention to my breath or to some visual focus of prayer.
I read the text
slowly, perhaps initially focusing on the first paragraph.
Jesus was drawn by
the Spirit into the desert after he was baptised.
Where is the Spirit drawing
me this Lent? What do I need to let go of in order to draw closer to God?
I use
my imagination to enter the wilderness with Jesus, seeing him alone and tested.
I ask Jesus how he felt facing these challenges.
How does this make me feel?
I
might choose to reflect on the times when my faith has felt tested.
Maybe I have
been too self-reliant and not always placed my trust in God ...?
I share this
with the Lord.
Jesus was looked after by angels.
Who are the people who have
been like angels for me?
I thank God for their help.
I may now want to read the
second paragraph.
I imagine seeing and hearing Jesus calling me personally to
repent.
“[My name], the time has come …” How do I respond to his invitation?
When I feel ready, I slowly close my prayer by telling the Lord of my
own commitment to repentance.
I listen to him.
I ask Jesus to be with me and guide me through these coming
weeks of Lent.
I finish by making a prayerful sign of the cross.
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Joy Kiely, Judy Carpenter, Vic Slavin, Rex Bates, Phil
Tuckett, David Welch & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Beatrice
Zuluaga, Narelle Ravaillion, Dorothy Corbett, Arch
Jago, Francis Young, Valerie McKenna, Josefina-Daguman
Montiel
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs
about this time:
14th – 20th February
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome
and congratulate ….
Weekly
Ramblings
As we begin our Lenten season many of you
are embarking on your journey through Lent as part of a Lenten Discussion Group
– thanks to everyone who has offered to lead one of these groups. As mentioned
a few weeks ago when we did the survey as to the effectiveness of the Advent
Booklet we are mainly using the Surrender Booklet from the Diocese of
Wollongong. 
Please take care on the roads and in your homes,
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Weekday
Masses 20th - 23rd February, 2018
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 12noon Devonport Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone
Next Weekend 24th & 25th February, 2018
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin & Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 24th & 25th February, 2018
Devonport:
Readers: Vigil: V Riley, A Stegmann, B Suckling 10:30am: E Petts,
K Douglas
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
M Heazlewood, B Suckling, M O’Brien-Evans,
G Lee-Archer, M
Kelly, P Shelverton
10:30am: M Sherriff, T & S Ryan, D &
M Barrientos, M O’Brien-Evans
Cleaners. 23rd Feb: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley 2nd March: M.W.C.
Piety Shop 24th Feb:
R Baker 25th Feb: D French Lawns Presbytery (Feb): M Tippett
Ulverstone:
Reader/s: E Cox Ministers of Communion: E Reilly, M & K McKenzie, M
O’Halloran
Cleaners: K.S.C. Hospitality: K Foster
Penguin:
Greeters: G Hills-Eade, B Eade Commentator: Y Downes Readers: M & D Hiscutt
Ministers of
Communion: A Guest,
J Barker Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C Setting Up: F Aichberger
Care of Church: J & T Kiely
Latrobe:
Reader: H Lim Minister of Communion: M Eden Procession of gifts: M Clarke
Port Sorell:
Readers: V Duff, T Jeffries Minister of Communion: P Anderson
Clean/Flowers/Prepare: G Bellchambers, M Gillard
Readings this week – First Sunday of Lent – Year B
First Reading: Genesis 9:8-15
Second Reading: 1 Peter 3: 18-22
Gospel: Mark 1:12-15
PREGO REFLECTION:
I go to my place of prayer, finding a time and place where
I can be alone before God.
I bring myself to silence and inner stillness as best I can. I may notice distractions and how my mind often wanders.
Rather than struggle with my thoughts, I notice them with kindness, and bring my attention to my breath or to some visual focus of prayer.
I read the text slowly, perhaps initially focusing on the first paragraph.
Jesus was drawn by the Spirit into the desert after he was baptised.
Where is the Spirit drawing me this Lent? What do I need to let go of in order to draw closer to God?
I use my imagination to enter the wilderness with Jesus, seeing him alone and tested.
I ask Jesus how he felt facing these challenges.
How does this make me feel?
I might choose to reflect on the times when my faith has felt tested.
Maybe I have been too self-reliant and not always placed my trust in God ...?
I share this with the Lord.
Jesus was looked after by angels.
Who are the people who have been like angels for me?
I thank God for their help.
I may now want to read the second paragraph.
I imagine seeing and hearing Jesus calling me personally to repent.
“[My name], the time has come …” How do I respond to his invitation?
When I feel ready, I slowly close my prayer by telling the Lord of my own commitment to repentance.
I listen to him.
I ask Jesus to be with me and guide me through these coming weeks of Lent.
I finish by making a prayerful sign of the cross.
I bring myself to silence and inner stillness as best I can. I may notice distractions and how my mind often wanders.
Rather than struggle with my thoughts, I notice them with kindness, and bring my attention to my breath or to some visual focus of prayer.
I read the text slowly, perhaps initially focusing on the first paragraph.
Jesus was drawn by the Spirit into the desert after he was baptised.
Where is the Spirit drawing me this Lent? What do I need to let go of in order to draw closer to God?
I use my imagination to enter the wilderness with Jesus, seeing him alone and tested.
I ask Jesus how he felt facing these challenges.
How does this make me feel?
I might choose to reflect on the times when my faith has felt tested.
Maybe I have been too self-reliant and not always placed my trust in God ...?
I share this with the Lord.
Jesus was looked after by angels.
Who are the people who have been like angels for me?
I thank God for their help.
I may now want to read the second paragraph.
I imagine seeing and hearing Jesus calling me personally to repent.
“[My name], the time has come …” How do I respond to his invitation?
When I feel ready, I slowly close my prayer by telling the Lord of my own commitment to repentance.
I listen to him.
I ask Jesus to be with me and guide me through these coming weeks of Lent.
I finish by making a prayerful sign of the cross.
Readings
next week – Second Sunday of Lent – Year B
First Reading: Genesis 22:1-2.9-13.15-18
Second Reading: Romans
8:31-34
Gospel: Mark 9:2-10
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Joy Kiely, Judy Carpenter, Vic Slavin, Rex Bates, Phil
Tuckett, David Welch & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently: Beatrice
Zuluaga, Narelle Ravaillion, Dorothy Corbett, Arch
Jago, Francis Young, Valerie McKenna, Josefina-Daguman
Montiel
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs
about this time:
14th – 20th February
Michael
Ravaillion, Jacqueline Chisholm, John Maguire, Venus Martin,
Audrey Cabalzar,
Lyell Byrne, Nancy Kelly, Geraldine
Piper, Leo Castles, Brian Maller, Frederick Breen,
Bobby Rothwell, Bill
Masterson, Mervyn Burke and Joyce
McConnon. Also Jordan Smith.
May they Rest in
Peace
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome
and congratulate ….
Tyler Lane
Son of Mark & Mariza on his
Baptism this weekend.
Weekly
Ramblings
As we begin our Lenten season many of you
are embarking on your journey through Lent as part of a Lenten Discussion Group
– thanks to everyone who has offered to lead one of these groups. As mentioned
a few weeks ago when we did the survey as to the effectiveness of the Advent
Booklet we are mainly using the Surrender Booklet from the Diocese of
Wollongong.
The result of our survey (over 250
responses) was an 80% approval of the program and the desire to use a similar style
of reflection book again. So, as well as books for members of our Lenten Groups,
we have some copies available for personal reflection. If you are part of a
group your Leader has your book so you don’t need to take a copy. The cost of
the books is $5, group members please pay your group leader, all others there
are money boxes in each centre – this is an honour system, ie if you don’t have
the money this week you can pay later. We invite you to take a copy and make
use of it – it has the daily reflections as well as the material for discussion
which will also provide a wealth for personal reflection.
This weekend we have with us Mrs Sharon
Brewer from the National Centre for Evangelisation. As well as facilitating our
day of Prayer and Reflection on Saturday Sharon will be speaking at some of our
Masses about other aspects of the work of the Centre. I pray that this weekend
will be fruitful for all of us.
Just a reminder that every Friday during
Lent there are Stations of the Cross at both Our Lady of Lourdes and Sacred
Heart Churches at 7pm. This ancient tradition of praying the Way of the Cross
is a great act of penance and reflection.
Congratulations to Maureen Clarke and
Gordie Duff on being Commonwealth Torch bearers – was there anyone else.
Please take care on the roads and in your homes,
Project Compassion- First Sunday of Lent
In Nepal, a
Caritas Australia supported program has helped Janaki turn her life of poverty
and disadvantage around. She is now running her own successful sewing business
and has become a role model in her community.
Please donate
to Project Compassion 2018 and empower vulnerable young people like Janaki in
Nepal to build a just future for themselves, their families and their
communities.
A Just
Future starts with your support! You can donate through Parish boxes
and envelopes by phoning 1800 024 413 or visiting www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion.
Thursday
Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down
7.30pm!
FOOTY TICKETS:
GRAN’S VAN
The month
of APRIL has again been allocated to Mersey Leven Parish to assist with
Gran’s Van on the five Sundays in that month. Help is required as follows; (a)
cooking a stew, (meat will be supplied), (b) assisting with the food
distribution, (c) driving the van. Helping with (b) and (c) would take about
two hours of your time, 6:30pm to 8:30pm. If you are able to assist with any of
the above please contact Shirley or Tony Ryan 6424:1508.
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
YEAR OF
YOUTH PILGRIMAGE TO ST PATRICK’S COLEBROOK
19th Feb: Sacramental
Program Introduction Meeting - 7pm Our Lady of Lourdes Church Devonport
Loving Kindness
We all need to practice being kind, particularly to
ourselves. Only when we first reconnect with the infinite love—our original and
inherent blessing—that is our ground of being can we extend that love to others
through nonviolent actions. When we remember that we are love, we can truly
wish even our enemies well. The Buddhist practice of metta, loving kindness, is
a wonderful way to grow compassion for yourself and for others.
Richard Rohr, Sermon on the Mount (Franciscan Media: 1991),
CD
OUR MOST COMMON SIN
This article is from the archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
Classically Christianity has listed seven sins as “deadly” sins, meaning that most everything else we do which is not virtuous somehow takes its root in one these congenital propensities. These are the infamous seven: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.
In spiritual literature the first three, pride, greed, and lust get most of the ink and attention. Pride is presented as the root of all sin, Lucifer’s primordial defiance of God as forever echoed in our own lives: I will not serve! Greed is seen as the basis for our selfishness and our blindness towards others and lust has often been given the ultimate notoriety, as if the Sixth Commandment were the only commandment.
Not to deny the importance of these, but I suspect that the sin which most commonly afflicts us and is not much mentioned in spiritual literature is wrath, that is, anger and hatred. I venture to say that most of us operate, however unconsciously, out of anger and this shows itself in our constant criticism of others, in our cynicism, in our jealousy of others, in our bitterness, and in our inability to praise others. And unlike most of our other sins, anger is easy to camouflage and rationalize as virtue.
At one level, anger often rationalizes itself as justified indignation over the foibles, stupidity, egotism, greed, and faults of others: How can I not be angry given what I see every day! Here anger shows itself in our constant irritation and in our quickness to correct, criticize, and make a cynical remark. Conversely we’re very slow to praise and affirm. Perfection then becomes the enemy of the good and since nothing and no one is perfect, we’re always in critical mode and we see this as a virtue rather than for what it in fact is, namely, an inchoate anger and unhappiness inside of ourselves.
But our unhappy cynicism isn’t the biggest problem here. More seriously, anger too often parades itself as Godly-virtue, as righteousness, as prophecy, as a healthy, divinely-inspired militancy for truth, for cause, for virtue, for God. And so we define ourselves as “holy warriors” and “vigilant defenders of truth”, taking justification in the popular (though false) conception that prophets are angry people, on passionate fire for God.
However there’s a near infinite distance between true prophetic anger and the anger that today commonly parades itself as prophecy. Daniel Berrigan, in his criteria for prophecy, submits (and rightly) that a prophet is someone who takes a vow of love, not of alienation. Prophecy is characterized by love aching for reconnection, not anger pushing for separation.
And love isn’t generally what characterizes most so-called prophetic anger in our world today, especially as it pertains to God, religion, and defense of truth. You see this in its worst form in Islamic extremism where, in the name of God, every kind of hatred, violence, and random murder puts on God’s cloak. Blaise Pascal captures this well in his Pensees where he writes: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” He’s wrong on one thing; mostly we aren’t doing it cheerfully but angrily. One only has to read the letters to the editor in our newspapers, listen to most talk-radio stations, or listen to any debate on politics, religion, or morality to see raw hatred and anger justifying themselves on moral and divine grounds.
There is such a thing as healthy prophetic anger, a fiery response when the poor of God, the word of God, or the truth of God are being slandered, abused, or neglected. There are important causes and boundaries to be defended. But prophetic anger is an anger that emanates out of love and empathy and always, regardless of the hatred it meets, still exhibits love and empathy, like a loving mother in the face of a belligerent child. Jesus on occasion exhibits this kind of anger, but his anger is antithetical to most of what masquerades as prophetic anger today, where love and empathy are so noticeably absent.
Someone once said that we spend the first half of life struggling with the Sixth Commandment, and then spend the second-half of life struggling with the Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill! We see this illustrated in the famous parable of the Prodigal Son, his Older Brother, and his Prodigal Father. The younger son is effectively out of his father’s house through wrestling with the seductive energies of youth. The older brother is just as effectively outside his father’s house, not through sin, but through wrestling with anger.
As a young boy I was catechized to confess “bad thoughts” as sinful, but bad thoughts then were defined as sexual thoughts. As we age, I suggest, we might continue to confess “bad thoughts”, but now those “bad thoughts” have to do with anger.
A cynic, it’s said, is someone who has given up, but not shut up! He’s also someone who has confused one of the seven deadly sins, wrath, with virtue.
Thursday
Nights - OLOL Hall, Devonport. Eyes down
7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 22nd February
– Merv Tippett & Terry Bird
FOOTY TICKETS:
The 2018 AFL footy season starts Friday
23rd March. Once again Mersey Leven Parish will be selling
footy margin tickets at OLOL Church Devonport, Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone
and St Joseph’s Mass Centre Port Sorell. The footy margin is for the Friday night game each week.
For regular participants (or anyone
new who would like to join) you can purchase your tickets for the year for $54 (all
games and finals) plus $10 for the grand final ticket (total $64) by contacting
the Parish Office. People who choose this option will be given their tickets
for the whole season. Anyone able to assist with selling tickets regularly at
any of the Mass Centres are asked to please contact the Parish Office.
GRAN’S VAN
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
YEAR OF
YOUTH PILGRIMAGE TO ST PATRICK’S COLEBROOK
On the weekend of 3rd/4th
March, Archbishop Porteous is leading a Year of Youth Pilgrimage from St John’s
Richmond to St Patrick’s Colebrook. The pilgrimage involves camping overnight
ad is open to all young people up to the age of 35. Youth under the age of 18
will require a guardian for the duration of the pilgrimage. For more
information please contact Tomasz at youth@aohtas.org.au
or 6208:6038
19th Feb: Sacramental
Program Introduction Meeting - 7pm Our Lady of Lourdes Church Devonport
20th Feb: Sacramental
Program Introduction Meeting - 7pm Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone
23rdFeb: Stations of the Cross - 7pm
OLOL Devonport, 7pm Sacred Heart Ulverstone.
3rd March: Sacramental Preparation Day – 10:30am –
3pm OLOL Church and Hall.
Loving Kindness
This article has been collated from the daily email series from the Center for Action and Contemplation and Fr Richard Rohr OFM. You can subscribe and receive the emails by clicking here
We all need to practice being kind, particularly to ourselves. Only when we first reconnect with the infinite love—our original and inherent blessing—that is our ground of being can we extend that love to others through nonviolent actions. When we remember that we are love, we can truly wish even our enemies well. The Buddhist practice of metta, loving kindness, is a wonderful way to grow compassion for yourself and for others.
We all need to practice being kind, particularly to ourselves. Only when we first reconnect with the infinite love—our original and inherent blessing—that is our ground of being can we extend that love to others through nonviolent actions. When we remember that we are love, we can truly wish even our enemies well. The Buddhist practice of metta, loving kindness, is a wonderful way to grow compassion for yourself and for others.
Begin by
sitting in silence and finding the place of loving kindness within you. Then
speak the following statements aloud:
May I be
free from inner and outer harm and danger. May I be safe and protected.
May I be
free of mental suffering or distress.
May I be
happy.
May I be
free of physical pain and suffering.
May I be
healthy and strong.
May I be able to live in this world happily, peacefully,
joyfully, with ease. [1]
Repeat these affirmations as many times as you wish. When
you are ready, replace the “I” in each statement with someone else’s name. You
might begin with a beloved, then move in widening circles to send love toward a
friend, an acquaintance, someone who has hurt you, and finally the whole
universe.
[1] The Center for
Contemplative Mind in Society,
http://www.contemplativemind.org/practices/tree/loving-kindness.
For Further Study:
Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus: Transforming Heart and
Mind—a New Perspective on Christ and His Message (Shambhala: 2008)
Eknath Easwaran, Original Goodness: On the Beatitudes of the
Sermon on the Mount (Nilgiri Press: 1996)
John Dear, The Beatitudes of Peace: Meditations on the
Beatitudes, Peacemaking and the Spiritual Life (Twenty-Third Publications:
2016)
Richard Rohr with John Bookser Feister, Jesus’ Plan for a
New World: The Sermon on the Mount (Franciscan Media: 1996)
Richard Rohr, Sermon on the Mount (Franciscan Media: 1991),
CD
OUR MOST COMMON SIN
This article is from the archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
Classically Christianity has listed seven sins as “deadly” sins, meaning that most everything else we do which is not virtuous somehow takes its root in one these congenital propensities. These are the infamous seven: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth.
In spiritual literature the first three, pride, greed, and lust get most of the ink and attention. Pride is presented as the root of all sin, Lucifer’s primordial defiance of God as forever echoed in our own lives: I will not serve! Greed is seen as the basis for our selfishness and our blindness towards others and lust has often been given the ultimate notoriety, as if the Sixth Commandment were the only commandment.
Not to deny the importance of these, but I suspect that the sin which most commonly afflicts us and is not much mentioned in spiritual literature is wrath, that is, anger and hatred. I venture to say that most of us operate, however unconsciously, out of anger and this shows itself in our constant criticism of others, in our cynicism, in our jealousy of others, in our bitterness, and in our inability to praise others. And unlike most of our other sins, anger is easy to camouflage and rationalize as virtue.
At one level, anger often rationalizes itself as justified indignation over the foibles, stupidity, egotism, greed, and faults of others: How can I not be angry given what I see every day! Here anger shows itself in our constant irritation and in our quickness to correct, criticize, and make a cynical remark. Conversely we’re very slow to praise and affirm. Perfection then becomes the enemy of the good and since nothing and no one is perfect, we’re always in critical mode and we see this as a virtue rather than for what it in fact is, namely, an inchoate anger and unhappiness inside of ourselves.
But our unhappy cynicism isn’t the biggest problem here. More seriously, anger too often parades itself as Godly-virtue, as righteousness, as prophecy, as a healthy, divinely-inspired militancy for truth, for cause, for virtue, for God. And so we define ourselves as “holy warriors” and “vigilant defenders of truth”, taking justification in the popular (though false) conception that prophets are angry people, on passionate fire for God.
However there’s a near infinite distance between true prophetic anger and the anger that today commonly parades itself as prophecy. Daniel Berrigan, in his criteria for prophecy, submits (and rightly) that a prophet is someone who takes a vow of love, not of alienation. Prophecy is characterized by love aching for reconnection, not anger pushing for separation.
And love isn’t generally what characterizes most so-called prophetic anger in our world today, especially as it pertains to God, religion, and defense of truth. You see this in its worst form in Islamic extremism where, in the name of God, every kind of hatred, violence, and random murder puts on God’s cloak. Blaise Pascal captures this well in his Pensees where he writes: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.” He’s wrong on one thing; mostly we aren’t doing it cheerfully but angrily. One only has to read the letters to the editor in our newspapers, listen to most talk-radio stations, or listen to any debate on politics, religion, or morality to see raw hatred and anger justifying themselves on moral and divine grounds.
There is such a thing as healthy prophetic anger, a fiery response when the poor of God, the word of God, or the truth of God are being slandered, abused, or neglected. There are important causes and boundaries to be defended. But prophetic anger is an anger that emanates out of love and empathy and always, regardless of the hatred it meets, still exhibits love and empathy, like a loving mother in the face of a belligerent child. Jesus on occasion exhibits this kind of anger, but his anger is antithetical to most of what masquerades as prophetic anger today, where love and empathy are so noticeably absent.
Someone once said that we spend the first half of life struggling with the Sixth Commandment, and then spend the second-half of life struggling with the Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt not kill! We see this illustrated in the famous parable of the Prodigal Son, his Older Brother, and his Prodigal Father. The younger son is effectively out of his father’s house through wrestling with the seductive energies of youth. The older brother is just as effectively outside his father’s house, not through sin, but through wrestling with anger.
As a young boy I was catechized to confess “bad thoughts” as sinful, but bad thoughts then were defined as sexual thoughts. As we age, I suggest, we might continue to confess “bad thoughts”, but now those “bad thoughts” have to do with anger.
A cynic, it’s said, is someone who has given up, but not shut up! He’s also someone who has confused one of the seven deadly sins, wrath, with virtue.
5 THINGS THAT USE TO WORK IN CHURCH…
THAT DON’T WORK ANYMORE
From the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore. You can find the blog here
When our parish was founded 50 years ago, there was an established way in which a parish was a parish. Just follow the playbook and all will be well. Looking back, it was probably that very year of 1968 that served as a threshold to cataclysmic cultural and social changes that have changed everything, including the way we need to do church…though many parishes insist on operating out of the old play book. Here are just five things (and there are many more) that no longer work.
1. Build It and They Will Come.
When Nativity was built it was correctly assumed that most Catholics who lived in our 21093 zip code would come to
their assigned parish most Sundays. That is no longer true.
As Carey Nieuwhof says “The average unchurched person doesn’t think about going to church anymore than the average Christian thinks about going to synagogue. It just doesn’t cross their mind.” Just opening the front doors on Sunday morning and expecting a crowd is not even a strategy for survival, much less growth. Parishes need a plan for reaching the unchurched in their community and it needs to be driven through their entire culture.
2. Guilt Them and They Will Obey.
In the Catholic Church Lent is the season, above every other season, when the old school appeal to guilt and obligation kicks into high gear. But it’s a favorite tool in the toolbox throughout the year too. There are very few people who respond positively to this approach, which wasn’t even especially well received back when people accepted and respected the authority of the Church. Today guilt and obligation about church attendance and religious rule keeping appeals only to the people who are already keeping the rules, because it validates their choice and incriminates everyone else. But it’s not changing any hearts.
To announce from the pulpit, “Catholics are forbidden to eat meat on Fridays,” is not growing disciples who appreciate the spiritual value of abstinence, and it’s not convincing anyone to pass on the cheeseburger.
3. Make It All About Them.
The flip side of the guilt approach also no longer works. Parishes easily become self-centered, comforting and coddling insiders (and inevitably become inaccessible to outsiders). Their mission becomes all about service to their members. Nothing is less attractive to the unchurched than a self-centered church.
4. Give Them Random Programs and Fundraisers.
Parishes that are self-centered, and not mission driven, become boring, even the self-serving parishioners are bored. To ward off the boredom these churches throw in seasonal or even random programs or better yet fundraisers (so you can mix it up and make a little extra cash). Here at Nativity they had bull roasts, bingo nights, fashion shows (fashion shows!).
Many parishes have one seasonal fundraiser after another: a Halloween haunted house, Christmas Tree sale, Mardi Gras, a Spring Carnival. Too often this is what churches do while they’re not making disciples.
5. Let Them Do What We’ve Always Done.
It is amazing to me how this one won’t go away, even when nearly everyone would admit it needs to. It is a default for church world, our go to position when we’re not vigilant. I readily admit that it can be true around here, even now. Parishes have got to be honestly evaluating programs and services, as well as underlying strategy, with a constant commitment to go with what God is blessing and letting go of the rest.
From the weekly blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Baltimore. You can find the blog here
When our parish was founded 50 years ago, there was an established way in which a parish was a parish. Just follow the playbook and all will be well. Looking back, it was probably that very year of 1968 that served as a threshold to cataclysmic cultural and social changes that have changed everything, including the way we need to do church…though many parishes insist on operating out of the old play book. Here are just five things (and there are many more) that no longer work.
1. Build It and They Will Come.
When Nativity was built it was correctly assumed that most Catholics who lived in our 21093 zip code would come to
their assigned parish most Sundays. That is no longer true.
As Carey Nieuwhof says “The average unchurched person doesn’t think about going to church anymore than the average Christian thinks about going to synagogue. It just doesn’t cross their mind.” Just opening the front doors on Sunday morning and expecting a crowd is not even a strategy for survival, much less growth. Parishes need a plan for reaching the unchurched in their community and it needs to be driven through their entire culture.
When Nativity was built it was correctly assumed that most Catholics who lived in our 21093 zip code would come to
their assigned parish most Sundays. That is no longer true.
As Carey Nieuwhof says “The average unchurched person doesn’t think about going to church anymore than the average Christian thinks about going to synagogue. It just doesn’t cross their mind.” Just opening the front doors on Sunday morning and expecting a crowd is not even a strategy for survival, much less growth. Parishes need a plan for reaching the unchurched in their community and it needs to be driven through their entire culture.
2. Guilt Them and They Will Obey.
In the Catholic Church Lent is the season, above every other season, when the old school appeal to guilt and obligation kicks into high gear. But it’s a favorite tool in the toolbox throughout the year too. There are very few people who respond positively to this approach, which wasn’t even especially well received back when people accepted and respected the authority of the Church. Today guilt and obligation about church attendance and religious rule keeping appeals only to the people who are already keeping the rules, because it validates their choice and incriminates everyone else. But it’s not changing any hearts.
To announce from the pulpit, “Catholics are forbidden to eat meat on Fridays,” is not growing disciples who appreciate the spiritual value of abstinence, and it’s not convincing anyone to pass on the cheeseburger.
In the Catholic Church Lent is the season, above every other season, when the old school appeal to guilt and obligation kicks into high gear. But it’s a favorite tool in the toolbox throughout the year too. There are very few people who respond positively to this approach, which wasn’t even especially well received back when people accepted and respected the authority of the Church. Today guilt and obligation about church attendance and religious rule keeping appeals only to the people who are already keeping the rules, because it validates their choice and incriminates everyone else. But it’s not changing any hearts.
To announce from the pulpit, “Catholics are forbidden to eat meat on Fridays,” is not growing disciples who appreciate the spiritual value of abstinence, and it’s not convincing anyone to pass on the cheeseburger.
3. Make It All About Them.
The flip side of the guilt approach also no longer works. Parishes easily become self-centered, comforting and coddling insiders (and inevitably become inaccessible to outsiders). Their mission becomes all about service to their members. Nothing is less attractive to the unchurched than a self-centered church.
The flip side of the guilt approach also no longer works. Parishes easily become self-centered, comforting and coddling insiders (and inevitably become inaccessible to outsiders). Their mission becomes all about service to their members. Nothing is less attractive to the unchurched than a self-centered church.
4. Give Them Random Programs and Fundraisers.
Parishes that are self-centered, and not mission driven, become boring, even the self-serving parishioners are bored. To ward off the boredom these churches throw in seasonal or even random programs or better yet fundraisers (so you can mix it up and make a little extra cash). Here at Nativity they had bull roasts, bingo nights, fashion shows (fashion shows!).
Many parishes have one seasonal fundraiser after another: a Halloween haunted house, Christmas Tree sale, Mardi Gras, a Spring Carnival. Too often this is what churches do while they’re not making disciples.
Parishes that are self-centered, and not mission driven, become boring, even the self-serving parishioners are bored. To ward off the boredom these churches throw in seasonal or even random programs or better yet fundraisers (so you can mix it up and make a little extra cash). Here at Nativity they had bull roasts, bingo nights, fashion shows (fashion shows!).
Many parishes have one seasonal fundraiser after another: a Halloween haunted house, Christmas Tree sale, Mardi Gras, a Spring Carnival. Too often this is what churches do while they’re not making disciples.
5. Let Them Do What We’ve Always Done.
It is amazing to me how this one won’t go away, even when nearly everyone would admit it needs to. It is a default for church world, our go to position when we’re not vigilant. I readily admit that it can be true around here, even now. Parishes have got to be honestly evaluating programs and services, as well as underlying strategy, with a constant commitment to go with what God is blessing and letting go of the rest.
It is amazing to me how this one won’t go away, even when nearly everyone would admit it needs to. It is a default for church world, our go to position when we’re not vigilant. I readily admit that it can be true around here, even now. Parishes have got to be honestly evaluating programs and services, as well as underlying strategy, with a constant commitment to go with what God is blessing and letting go of the rest.
Alive with love: the Sacred Heart of Jesus
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website - the complete article can be found here
The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was promoted by St Claude La Colombière and St Margaret Mary Alacoque. James Hanvey SJ explains why this devotion will always be central to the life of the Church and why it is the foundation of our intimacy with Christ. ‘Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, has a heart… With him it is always personal.’
The first time I visited Paray-le-Monial I arrived in late morning and it was raining. We had travelled through the French countryside from Ars. It was poor part of France at the time of the Curé, and even today the landscape appeared austere. The small town of Paray-le-Monial had a quiet, understated charm. Like Ars, it was a place of pilgrimage but somehow remained unspoiled.
Some churches have a formal beauty. They are places that you can explore and admire; one might stay for a few moments of prayer but they’re not really ‘home’. The ancient basilica was quite different; it invited you to pray. It was not difficult to see how Paray-le-Monial was a sanctuaire. Both the convent in which Margaret Mary Alacoque lived and the house of the Jesuit community of Claude La Colombière had a modesty and uncluttered quality – interesting but not distracting. Of course, both saints would have appreciated this simplicity; they would not have wanted anything to obscure the centre of their own life and devotion, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
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