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
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.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Weekday
Masses 15th - 18th May
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 10:30am Karingal
Friday: 11:00am Mt St Vincent
Weekend Masses 19th & 20th May, 2018
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday Mass: 11:00am Devonport
(Whole of Parish Mass – Pentecost Sunday)
Ministry Rosters 19th & 20th May, 2018
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye 11am A Hughes,
T Barrientos, P Piccolo
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Port Sorell:
Readings this week – The Ascension of the Lord
PREGO REFLECTION:
I ask God to open my eyes to notice where he has been
present in my life.
What has brought me sorrow and what has brought me joy?
Knowing that God is deeply interested in me, I bring my reflections before him
and ask for the grace to open my heart to the truth of the Gospel.
I read the
passage prayerfully.
This text is part of the long ‘farewell discourse’ from
the Last Supper.
Using my imagination, I picture Jesus gathered in the room
with his beloved disciples.
What is the mood of Jesus and the rest of the
gathering? What do I notice?
As I picture myself here, perhaps as a beloved
disciple … or maybe as if looking in on the scene, how do I feel ... hearing
Jesus speak so lovingly of his followers?
Do I feel that I am able to share in
the joy of Jesus?
Where am I being sent?
What do I need to help my being sent
into the world?
I speak to Jesus as I would to a dear friend, sharing my
thoughts and feelings.
I finish my prayer by making a slow sign of the cross.
Readings next week – Pentecost
Sunday (Year B)
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Mary Webb & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs
about this time:
9th – 15th May
May they
Rest in Peace
Mother’s
Day Prayer
We
pray for all mothers, who give life and tend to our every need;
May
they be blessed with patience and tenderness to care for their families and
themselves with great joy.
Amen.
Weekly
Ramblings
A1 & A2 (Annie Davies and Anne Fisher) were in Hobart
on Monday and Tuesday for meetings. Fr Phil went to George Town to meet with Fr
Zammit who will be heading off on Holidays next week and Fr Phil will be
helping in that Parish for 3 weeks commencing next weekend. Fr Paschal
celebrated Mass at Deloraine last weekend (and I am there this Saturday) whilst
Fr Richard is leading a Pilgrimage in Israel. Fr Paschal has also been to
Hobart for a meeting re the Safe Communities program (he was still in the
Seminary when we did the training last year).
That’s the past week – next week we, Frs Phil, Paschal and
myself, will be away on Monday for the funeral of Fr John Williams. Fr John is
Fr Mark’s uncle and for many years was one of the senior figures in Catholic
Education both in Tasmania and on the National Scene as well as being a former
assistant priest in the Devonport Parish, as it was then. In recent times he
has not enjoyed good health and has been living in retirement at the Mary
Ogilvie Home at New Town. May he Rest in Peace.
Next weekend we have the whole of Parish Mass at Our Lady
of Lourdes Church at 11am. This is the only Mass in the Parish next Sunday as
it is one of the two occasions during the year when everyone is invited to be
part of the larger Parish Community for one celebration. After Mass there will
be a shared meal in the Parish Hall and everyone is invited to join us for that
celebration as well.
Next weekend is also the next stage in the journey towards
the reception of the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist for our Parish
children. At Mass the candidates will be presented with the Creed as a reminder
of what we believe as God’s children – please keep these children and their
families in your prayers.
On this special day I wish each and every mother a Happy
Mothers’ Day!
Please
take care on the roads and we look forward to seeing you next weekend.
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome
and congratulate ….
Ryan
Nasiukiewicz
WHOLE OF
PARISH MASS – FEAST OF PENTECOST:
Everyone is welcome to gather in the OLOL Hall after
the whole of Parish Mass, Sunday 20th May for a cuppa and light
lunch. To assist with catering could you please indicate on the sheet provided
at Mass Centres if you would be able to bring something savoury or sweet to
share.
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
MARGARET SILF
Ulverstone
Thursday 24th May, 7pm – 9pm - “The Stories that Shape Us”
– reflecting on the precious gift of imagination which enables us to shape
stories and narratives in our search for meaning and understanding in our
lives. Some are life-giving, some
control and seduce us and others endure and grow as we grow.
Ulverstone
Friday 25th May 10.30am – 12.30pm - “Born to Fly” – how we, too, like the
caterpillar’s metamorphosis, are in the process of transformation – invited to
be co-creators of a different kind of future for humanity.
MACKILLOP
HILL LIBRARY:
FOOTY
TICKETS:
Round 7 (Friday 4th May) Geelong defeated GWS by
61
points. Congratulations to the following winners; Christine Singline,
Zillah Jones, ………….? (Remember to check your tickets!) There
are still plenty of tickets to be sold at Devonport and Ulverstone each week,
so for a little bit of fun why not help support our Parish fundraiser and buy a
footy margin ticket (or two) $2.00 each. There are three prizes of $100.00 each
week. You’ve got to be in it to win it!!
BINGO - Thursday Nights - OLOL
Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
TASMANIAN CATHOLIC YOUTH
FESTIVAL:
https://hobart.catholic.org.au/content/tasmanian-catholic-youth-festival-1
KENOSIS RETREAT: Kenosis mean self-emptying and
refers to God, putting his divinity aside to come amongst us as a human being.
In this retreat we will explore who we are so as to accept ourselves and truly
be in a position to empty ourselves for others.” Date: June 15th – 17th 2018,
Presenter: Fr Ray Sanchez C.P. Venue: Maryknoll House of Prayer Blackman’s Bay.
For further information please call Anne on 0407 704 539 or email journallingretreat@iinet.net.au
Falling into Mercy
The transition to the second half of life moves you from
either/or thinking to both/and thinking: the ability to increasingly live with
paradox and mystery. You no longer think in terms of win/lose, but win/win. It
is a very different mind and strategy for life. In order for this alternative
consciousness to become your primary way of thinking, you usually have to
experience something that forces either/or thinking to fall apart. Perhaps you
hate homosexuality and then you meet a wonderful gay couple. Or you meet a
Muslim who is more loving than most of your Christian friends. Or you encounter
a young immigrant who doesn’t match your stereotypes at all. Something must
break your addiction to yourself and your opinions.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Adult Christianity and How to Get
There, disc 1 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2004), CD, MP3 download.
Dreaming is sometimes the most realistic thing we can do. Or, is there still something else we might do, like public protest, or something else?
In his book on prophecy, Commandments for the Long Haul, Daniel Berrigan offers this advice. Prophetic gestures aren’t always politically effective. Often they accomplish nothing that’s practical; but he adds: If you can’t save the world at least you can save your own sanity.
Sometimes that’s all that can be accomplished by our protests against injustice. Moreover struggling to salvage our own sanity is not as privatized as it first appears. When we protest something that’s wrong, even though we know our protest is not going to practically change anything, the sanity we are saving is not just our own. We’re also saving the sanity of the moment.
Commenting on the current activism on the issues of human rights and the environment of Booker Prize winning novelist, Arundhati Roy, art critic, John Berger, says this: “Profound political protest is an appeal to a justice that is absent, and is accompanied by a hope that in the future this justice will be established; this hope, however, is not the first reason the protest is made. One protests because not to protest would be too humiliating, too diminishing, too deadly. One protests (by building a barricade, taking up arms, going on a hunger strike, linking arms, shouting, writing) in order to save the present moment, whatever the future holds. … A protest is not principally a sacrifice made for some alternative, more just future; it is an inconsequential redemption of the present.” In essence, it preserves some sanity in the present moment.
But it may be inconsequential in terms of practically changing anything. Most everything remains the same. The injustice continues, the poor continue to be poor, the international scene continues to threaten war, racists continue to be racist, the environment continues to be ravaged, corruption continues to go unchecked, and dishonesty continues to get away with its lies. And so people go on marches, go to prison, go on hunger strikes, and sometimes even die for protesting, while the injustice, corruption, and dishonesty go on. At a certain point, logically and inevitably, we need to ask ourselves the question young Marius, in Jean Val Jean’s, Les Miserables, asks after his friends have died while protesting and nothing seemingly changed: What was your sacrifice for? Was this worth dying for?
Those questions are valid, but they can have a positive answer. They didn’t die in vain, for nothing, for an impractical idealism, for a naïve dream, for something they’d have outgrown had they lived longer. Rather their death was “an inconsequential redemption” of the present moment, meaning, its practical effectiveness may be immeasurable, but the moral seed it sows inside that moment will eventually help produce things that are measurable. All the women who initially protested for the vote never got to vote. But today many women do get to vote. The moral seed they planted in their inconsequential protests eventually produced something practical.
Sometimes you might feel pretty alone in making your protest and it might seem that you’re working only at saving your own sanity and bewailing only your own diminishment and humiliation. But no one is an island. Your diminishment, your humiliation, and your sanity, are part of the immune system of all humanity. Everyone’s health is partially dependent upon your health; just your health is partially dependent upon everyone else’s.
And so protest is always in order and is indeed mandated by our faith. We may not remain passive in the face of injustice, inequality, racism, indifference to the poor, indifference to the Mother Nature, corruption, and dishonesty. We need to sow moral seeds into the present moment. How?
Not all of us (perhaps even most of us) are called upon to take up placards, make public protest, have ourselves arrested, or lay down our lives for a cause – except when the injustice or corruption is so extreme as to merit that. Normally, for most of us, our protest must be real but need not be the witness of martyrs.
I very much like a counsel proposed by Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec, in a recent issue of America magazine. Commenting on the tensions that exist today between our Christian faith and the complex challenges that come to us from the world, Durocher, after first acknowledging that there are no easy answers, offers this counsel: “The first step is to acknowledge them [the tensions]. Second, to understand why they arise. Third, to accept and even embrace them. And fourth, to commit to living a mature Christian faith in spite of those tensions.” (America, April 30, 2018)
In the face of all that’s happening in our world, some of which goes against everything we believe in and hold dear, sometimes all we can do is to hold our own moral ground, humbly, prophetically – and perhaps quietly.
And since that’s all we can do, it’s surely enough.
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
as we use our gifts to serve you.
as we strive to bear witness
Amen.
Our Parish Sacramental Life
Baptism: Arrangements are made by contacting Parish Office. Parents attend a Baptismal Preparation Session organised with a Priest.
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)
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: First Friday each month.
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 7pm Community Room Ulverstone
Weekday
Masses 15th - 18th May
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe
Thursday: 10:30am Karingal
Friday: 11:00am Mt St Vincent
Friday: 11:00am Mt St Vincent
Weekend Masses 19th & 20th May, 2018
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday Mass: 11:00am Devonport
(Whole of Parish Mass – Pentecost Sunday)
Ministry Rosters 19th & 20th May, 2018
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: A McIntyre, M Williams, C Kiely-Hoye 11am A Hughes,
T Barrientos, P Piccolo
Ministers of Communion: Vigil:
T Muir, M Davies, D Peters, J Heatley
10:30: B & N Mulcahy, K Hull
Cleaners. 18th May: M & R Youd 25th May: M & L Tippett, A Berryman
Piety Shop 19th
May: R Baker 20th May: P Piccolo
Ulverstone:
Cleaners: B & V McCall, G Doyle Flowers: M Byrne
Penguin:
Greeters: G Hills-Eade, B Eade Readers: Y Downes, T Clayton
Ministers of Communion: J Barker, M Murray
Liturgy: Sulphur Creek C Setting Up: F Aichberger Care of Church: G Hills-Eade, T Clayton
Port Sorell:
Clean/Flowers/ A Holloway, B Lee
Readings this week – The Ascension of the Lord
First Reading: Acts 1:1-11
Second Reading: Ephesians 4:1-13
Gospel: Mark 16:15-20
PREGO REFLECTION:
As part of my preparation to pray, I look back over these
last few weeks of Easter.
I ask God to open my eyes to notice where he has been present in my life.
What has brought me sorrow and what has brought me joy?
Knowing that God is deeply interested in me, I bring my reflections before him and ask for the grace to open my heart to the truth of the Gospel.
I read the passage prayerfully.
This text is part of the long ‘farewell discourse’ from the Last Supper.
Using my imagination, I picture Jesus gathered in the room with his beloved disciples.
What is the mood of Jesus and the rest of the gathering? What do I notice?
As I picture myself here, perhaps as a beloved disciple … or maybe as if looking in on the scene, how do I feel ... hearing Jesus speak so lovingly of his followers?
Do I feel that I am able to share in the joy of Jesus?
Where am I being sent?
What do I need to help my being sent into the world?
I speak to Jesus as I would to a dear friend, sharing my thoughts and feelings.
I finish my prayer by making a slow sign of the cross.
I ask God to open my eyes to notice where he has been present in my life.
What has brought me sorrow and what has brought me joy?
Knowing that God is deeply interested in me, I bring my reflections before him and ask for the grace to open my heart to the truth of the Gospel.
I read the passage prayerfully.
This text is part of the long ‘farewell discourse’ from the Last Supper.
Using my imagination, I picture Jesus gathered in the room with his beloved disciples.
What is the mood of Jesus and the rest of the gathering? What do I notice?
As I picture myself here, perhaps as a beloved disciple … or maybe as if looking in on the scene, how do I feel ... hearing Jesus speak so lovingly of his followers?
Do I feel that I am able to share in the joy of Jesus?
Where am I being sent?
What do I need to help my being sent into the world?
I speak to Jesus as I would to a dear friend, sharing my thoughts and feelings.
I finish my prayer by making a slow sign of the cross.
Readings next week – Pentecost
Sunday (Year B)
First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
Second Reading: Galatians 5:16-25
Gospel: John
15:26-27; 16:12-15
Your prayers
are asked for the sick: Mary Webb & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Fr John
Williams, Epie Howlett, James Leith, Sr Janet Sexton, Moya Hickey, Maureen Roach, Edwin
Fisher, Bernie Mason, Lexie Weedon
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs
about this time:
9th – 15th May
Lauris
Pullen, Don Burrows, Felicia Periera, Karina Locket, Joan Bonner, John Nickols,
Anthony Smith, Ernest Wilkins, Norah
Lillas, Emily Reynolds, Mary Coad, Ethel Dooley, Audrey Enniss, Marian Hamon, Tas
Glover, Henry & Madeline Castles, Elaine Miliè, Mary D, Bernard C & Baby
Mary Marshall, Don Breen, Patricia Speers, Kate & Billy Last, Corrie Webb, Enid Stubbs,
Adeline Munro, Barbara George, Dorothy Leonard, Monica Willoughby and deceased
relatives and friends of the Sheridan, Bourke and Knight families and all
Mothers in heaven.
May they
Rest in Peace
Mother’s
Day Prayer
We
pray for all mothers, who give life and tend to our every need;
May
they be blessed with patience and tenderness to care for their families and
themselves with great joy.
We
remember mothers who are separated from their children for whatever reason. May
they feel the loving embrace of our God who wipes every tear away.
We
pray for women who are not mothers but still love and shape us with motherly
care and compassion.
We
remember mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers who are no longer with
us but who live forever in our memory and nourish us with their love.
Amen.
Weekly
Ramblings
This has been another interesting week with a variety of
activities happening that have meant people being in and out of the Parish
House for a variety of meetings etc.
A1 & A2 (Annie Davies and Anne Fisher) were in Hobart
on Monday and Tuesday for meetings. Fr Phil went to George Town to meet with Fr
Zammit who will be heading off on Holidays next week and Fr Phil will be
helping in that Parish for 3 weeks commencing next weekend. Fr Paschal
celebrated Mass at Deloraine last weekend (and I am there this Saturday) whilst
Fr Richard is leading a Pilgrimage in Israel. Fr Paschal has also been to
Hobart for a meeting re the Safe Communities program (he was still in the
Seminary when we did the training last year).
That’s the past week – next week we, Frs Phil, Paschal and
myself, will be away on Monday for the funeral of Fr John Williams. Fr John is
Fr Mark’s uncle and for many years was one of the senior figures in Catholic
Education both in Tasmania and on the National Scene as well as being a former
assistant priest in the Devonport Parish, as it was then. In recent times he
has not enjoyed good health and has been living in retirement at the Mary
Ogilvie Home at New Town. May he Rest in Peace.
Next weekend we have the whole of Parish Mass at Our Lady
of Lourdes Church at 11am. This is the only Mass in the Parish next Sunday as
it is one of the two occasions during the year when everyone is invited to be
part of the larger Parish Community for one celebration. After Mass there will
be a shared meal in the Parish Hall and everyone is invited to join us for that
celebration as well.
Next weekend is also the next stage in the journey towards
the reception of the Sacraments of Confirmation and Eucharist for our Parish
children. At Mass the candidates will be presented with the Creed as a reminder
of what we believe as God’s children – please keep these children and their
families in your prayers.
On this special day I wish each and every mother a Happy
Mothers’ Day!
Please
take care on the roads and we look forward to seeing you next weekend.
Mersey Leven Parish Community welcome
and congratulate ….
Ryan
Nasiukiewicz
son of Jarrod & Sarah on his
Baptism this weekend.
WHOLE OF
PARISH MASS – FEAST OF PENTECOST:
Everyone is welcome to gather in the OLOL Hall after
the whole of Parish Mass, Sunday 20th May for a cuppa and light
lunch. To assist with catering could you please indicate on the sheet provided
at Mass Centres if you would be able to bring something savoury or sweet to
share.
Anyone interested in helping with the lunch organisation
and setting up of the hall please contact Rosie (Rosemarie Baker) on 0408 123 586.
Thank you.
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE
MARGARET SILF
One of the most renowned and accessible spirituality writers of our time, Margaret
is a spiritual explorer who travels widely, engaging with other pilgrims
through her books and retreats for 21st century soul adventurers. Sacred
Heart Community Room, Ulverstone.
Ulverstone
Thursday 24th May, 7pm – 9pm - “The Stories that Shape Us”
– reflecting on the precious gift of imagination which enables us to shape
stories and narratives in our search for meaning and understanding in our
lives. Some are life-giving, some
control and seduce us and others endure and grow as we grow.
Ulverstone
Friday 25th May 10.30am – 12.30pm - “Born to Fly” – how we, too, like the
caterpillar’s metamorphosis, are in the process of transformation – invited to
be co-creators of a different kind of future for humanity.
Book now! Phone 6428:3095
or email: rsjforth@bigpond.net.au. Cost $20.00 per session. Don’t
miss this opportunity!
MACKILLOP
HILL LIBRARY:
Please note that the library will be closed on Wednesday 23rd,
Thursday 24th and Friday 25th May. We apologise for any
inconvenience.
FOOTY
TICKETS:
Round 7 (Friday 4th May) Geelong defeated GWS by
61
points. Congratulations to the following winners; Christine Singline,
Zillah Jones, ………….? (Remember to check your tickets!) There
are still plenty of tickets to be sold at Devonport and Ulverstone each week,
so for a little bit of fun why not help support our Parish fundraiser and buy a
footy margin ticket (or two) $2.00 each. There are three prizes of $100.00 each
week. You’ve got to be in it to win it!!
BINGO - Thursday Nights - OLOL
Hall, Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers for Thursday 17th
May – Rod Clark & Alan Luxton
NEWS FROM ACROSS THE ARCHDIOCESE:
TASMANIAN CATHOLIC YOUTH
FESTIVAL:
The Tasmanian Catholic Youth Festival will bring a
host of international and local speakers and performers to Tasmania for what is
sure to be two days full of joy and celebration. The festival will include:
plenary sessions, workshops, live music, discussion, expo stalls, prayer
opportunities, night rallies, social justice initiatives, food/drink, and
plenty more. The TCYF will be held on Wednesday 16th May
(Launceston) and Thursday 17th May (Hobart). The event will consist
of a day session (9:30am-4:30pm) followed by a night rally (4:30pm-8pm) on both
days. Youth from high school years 8-12 are invited to attend both the day and
night sessions whilst young adults under the age of 30 are invited to attend
the night rallies. Registration for the event is FREE for all
attendees. More information on the event, schedule, speakers/performers and
registration can be found at the website
https://hobart.catholic.org.au/content/tasmanian-catholic-youth-festival-1
https://hobart.catholic.org.au/content/tasmanian-catholic-youth-festival-1
KENOSIS RETREAT: Kenosis mean self-emptying and
refers to God, putting his divinity aside to come amongst us as a human being.
In this retreat we will explore who we are so as to accept ourselves and truly
be in a position to empty ourselves for others.” Date: June 15th – 17th 2018,
Presenter: Fr Ray Sanchez C.P. Venue: Maryknoll House of Prayer Blackman’s Bay.
For further information please call Anne on 0407 704 539 or email journallingretreat@iinet.net.au
Falling into Mercy
The transition to the second half of life moves you from
either/or thinking to both/and thinking: the ability to increasingly live with
paradox and mystery. You no longer think in terms of win/lose, but win/win. It
is a very different mind and strategy for life. In order for this alternative
consciousness to become your primary way of thinking, you usually have to
experience something that forces either/or thinking to fall apart. Perhaps you
hate homosexuality and then you meet a wonderful gay couple. Or you meet a
Muslim who is more loving than most of your Christian friends. Or you encounter
a young immigrant who doesn’t match your stereotypes at all. Something must
break your addiction to yourself and your opinions.
Your first reaction is a struggle: “What do I do now? I
don’t like this. I can’t deal with this. I want to go back to my familiar and
habitual world.” You know your lesbian daughter is good and you love her and
don’t want to reject her. So you ask your minister, “What will I do?”
(Hopefully you have a wise, nondual minister!) Inside such “liminal space” is
where real change happens, where your self-serving little dualisms must fall
apart. It might be called growing up.
Jesus always honored and often idealized good, holy non-Jews,
like the Samaritan man (Luke 10:29-37), the Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5-13),
and the Syro-Phoenician woman (Mark 7:24-30). But even his disciples struggled
to accept that the outsider could or should be accepted. If you’re stuck in the
first half of life, with your explanation about why you or your group are the
best, you will hold on strongly because it’s all you have, and any change feels
like dying.
Often the only thing that can break down your natural
egocentricity is discovering that the qualities you hate in others are actually
within you. You’re not so moral after all. You’ve imagined doing “bad” things;
and if you could get away with it, you know you’d do it. Perhaps the only
reason you don’t is because you’re afraid. Fear is not enlightenment. Fear is
not the new transformed state of the risen Christ that we’ve been promised.
Fear keeps you inside of a false order and will not allow any reordering.
Unless you somehow “weep” over your own phoniness,
hypocrisy, fear, and woundedness, you probably won’t let go of the first half
of life. If you don’t allow this needed disappointment to well up within you,
if you surround yourself with your orthodoxies and your certitudes and your
belief that you’re the best, frankly, you will stay in the first half of life
forever. Many religious people never
allow themselves to fall, while many “sinners” fall and rise again. Our
greatest sin is not falling or failing, but refusing to rise and trust
ourselves—and God—again. Make sure you are always in need of mercy and you will
never stop growing.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Adult Christianity and How to Get
There, disc 1 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2004), CD, MP3 download.
PROTEST, SANITY, AND A CHRISTIAN RESPONSE
This article is copies form the website of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original page here
Dreaming is sometimes the most realistic thing we can do. Or, is there still something else we might do, like public protest, or something else?
In his book on prophecy, Commandments for the Long Haul, Daniel Berrigan offers this advice. Prophetic gestures aren’t always politically effective. Often they accomplish nothing that’s practical; but he adds: If you can’t save the world at least you can save your own sanity.
Sometimes that’s all that can be accomplished by our protests against injustice. Moreover struggling to salvage our own sanity is not as privatized as it first appears. When we protest something that’s wrong, even though we know our protest is not going to practically change anything, the sanity we are saving is not just our own. We’re also saving the sanity of the moment.
Commenting on the current activism on the issues of human rights and the environment of Booker Prize winning novelist, Arundhati Roy, art critic, John Berger, says this: “Profound political protest is an appeal to a justice that is absent, and is accompanied by a hope that in the future this justice will be established; this hope, however, is not the first reason the protest is made. One protests because not to protest would be too humiliating, too diminishing, too deadly. One protests (by building a barricade, taking up arms, going on a hunger strike, linking arms, shouting, writing) in order to save the present moment, whatever the future holds. … A protest is not principally a sacrifice made for some alternative, more just future; it is an inconsequential redemption of the present.” In essence, it preserves some sanity in the present moment.
But it may be inconsequential in terms of practically changing anything. Most everything remains the same. The injustice continues, the poor continue to be poor, the international scene continues to threaten war, racists continue to be racist, the environment continues to be ravaged, corruption continues to go unchecked, and dishonesty continues to get away with its lies. And so people go on marches, go to prison, go on hunger strikes, and sometimes even die for protesting, while the injustice, corruption, and dishonesty go on. At a certain point, logically and inevitably, we need to ask ourselves the question young Marius, in Jean Val Jean’s, Les Miserables, asks after his friends have died while protesting and nothing seemingly changed: What was your sacrifice for? Was this worth dying for?
Those questions are valid, but they can have a positive answer. They didn’t die in vain, for nothing, for an impractical idealism, for a naïve dream, for something they’d have outgrown had they lived longer. Rather their death was “an inconsequential redemption” of the present moment, meaning, its practical effectiveness may be immeasurable, but the moral seed it sows inside that moment will eventually help produce things that are measurable. All the women who initially protested for the vote never got to vote. But today many women do get to vote. The moral seed they planted in their inconsequential protests eventually produced something practical.
Sometimes you might feel pretty alone in making your protest and it might seem that you’re working only at saving your own sanity and bewailing only your own diminishment and humiliation. But no one is an island. Your diminishment, your humiliation, and your sanity, are part of the immune system of all humanity. Everyone’s health is partially dependent upon your health; just your health is partially dependent upon everyone else’s.
And so protest is always in order and is indeed mandated by our faith. We may not remain passive in the face of injustice, inequality, racism, indifference to the poor, indifference to the Mother Nature, corruption, and dishonesty. We need to sow moral seeds into the present moment. How?
Not all of us (perhaps even most of us) are called upon to take up placards, make public protest, have ourselves arrested, or lay down our lives for a cause – except when the injustice or corruption is so extreme as to merit that. Normally, for most of us, our protest must be real but need not be the witness of martyrs.
I very much like a counsel proposed by Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec, in a recent issue of America magazine. Commenting on the tensions that exist today between our Christian faith and the complex challenges that come to us from the world, Durocher, after first acknowledging that there are no easy answers, offers this counsel: “The first step is to acknowledge them [the tensions]. Second, to understand why they arise. Third, to accept and even embrace them. And fourth, to commit to living a mature Christian faith in spite of those tensions.” (America, April 30, 2018)
In the face of all that’s happening in our world, some of which goes against everything we believe in and hold dear, sometimes all we can do is to hold our own moral ground, humbly, prophetically – and perhaps quietly.
And since that’s all we can do, it’s surely enough.
3 THINGS YOU DO (THAT YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW YOU DO)
THAT TELL OUTSIDERS YOUR CHURCH IS FOR INSIDERS
The Church exists to reach the unchurched. But all too often the culture of our parishes belies or even betrays our mission.
There are things you do, that you don’t even know you do, that tell outsiders that your church is for insiders, same for us at Nativity. It’s like dandelions in your lawn, however diligent you are with your lawn care, they’ll show up. You’ve got to be on the look out for them and they must be uprooted at first sighting. Here are 3:
1. “Churchy” Church Announcements
Announcements that are all about church stuff and church events for church people remind the unchurched that they’re outsiders. Craig Groeschel at Life.Church doesn’t even have announcements, he just drives everyone to the web site. We have 5 each week, never more. No magic to 5, it’s just a number that seems to work for us and keeps it tight. Announcements must be church-wide announcements, of potential interest to anyone (so, we would announce “We’re hosting a ministry launch next weekend” we would not announce “There’s an ushers meeting next weekend.” ). But the real point of the announcements is to announce that there’s a lot going on here, and its all good stuff. That’s it.
2. “Churchy” Church Chat
In my preaching especially, but also in all remarks and banter during the service I have to be very careful not to reference events not everyone knows about (“Great party on Friday night.” ) or people not everyone knows, in a way that suggests they do (“Thanks Joe for a job well done” ). I should also be all about removing from my vocabulary churchy words that presume a theological or liturgical background. Also, and this is a big one, the parish must not be self-referential (“We’re a parish that serves” ) or self-congratulatory (“You guys are great!”).
3. “Churchy” Church Rules
Catholic Liturgy sort of presumes an understanding of how to participate. This can be especially intimidating to the unchurched who might know, or have long forgotten, when to sit and stand, not to mention what to say. Meanwhile, church people can sometimes take a little too much glee in knowing the rules and procedure better than everyone else, especially if they are idiosyncratic to the particular parish. We were visiting a church where they had a weird communion procedure that we didn’t quite get, that made us feel very uncomfortable. Every opportunity should be taken to explain everything, to everyone, every time.
Keep consideration of the unchurched front and centre in all the details of your weekend experience.
The Church exists to reach the unchurched. But all too often the culture of our parishes belies or even betrays our mission.
There are things you do, that you don’t even know you do, that tell outsiders that your church is for insiders, same for us at Nativity. It’s like dandelions in your lawn, however diligent you are with your lawn care, they’ll show up. You’ve got to be on the look out for them and they must be uprooted at first sighting. Here are 3:
1. “Churchy” Church Announcements
Announcements that are all about church stuff and church events for church people remind the unchurched that they’re outsiders. Craig Groeschel at Life.Church doesn’t even have announcements, he just drives everyone to the web site. We have 5 each week, never more. No magic to 5, it’s just a number that seems to work for us and keeps it tight. Announcements must be church-wide announcements, of potential interest to anyone (so, we would announce “We’re hosting a ministry launch next weekend” we would not announce “There’s an ushers meeting next weekend.” ). But the real point of the announcements is to announce that there’s a lot going on here, and its all good stuff. That’s it.
2. “Churchy” Church Chat
In my preaching especially, but also in all remarks and banter during the service I have to be very careful not to reference events not everyone knows about (“Great party on Friday night.” ) or people not everyone knows, in a way that suggests they do (“Thanks Joe for a job well done” ). I should also be all about removing from my vocabulary churchy words that presume a theological or liturgical background. Also, and this is a big one, the parish must not be self-referential (“We’re a parish that serves” ) or self-congratulatory (“You guys are great!”).
3. “Churchy” Church Rules
Catholic Liturgy sort of presumes an understanding of how to participate. This can be especially intimidating to the unchurched who might know, or have long forgotten, when to sit and stand, not to mention what to say. Meanwhile, church people can sometimes take a little too much glee in knowing the rules and procedure better than everyone else, especially if they are idiosyncratic to the particular parish. We were visiting a church where they had a weird communion procedure that we didn’t quite get, that made us feel very uncomfortable. Every opportunity should be taken to explain everything, to everyone, every time.
Keep consideration of the unchurched front and centre in all the details of your weekend experience.
Pope Francis, the hermeneutic of conspiracy and the ‘Three F’s’
How many conspiracy theories about Pope Francis have you heard? It’s likely that you have come across at least one, and if your natural reaction was to dismiss it out of hand, perhaps you’ve missed a trick. The author of a book on the Pope’s ‘not-so-cultured despisers’ argues that such narratives have a sociological significance and require our attention if we are to understand the phenomenon of Pope Francis. Paris-based interdisciplinary researcher Peter Bannister is the author of the e-book No False Prophet: Pope Francis and his not-so-cultured despisers.
Surely nobody following Church developments since the election of Pope Francis in March 2013 with even moderate attention can have failed to notice that a major characteristic of his Pontificate thus far has been the perhaps unparalleled polarisation of opinion, in and outside Catholicism, concerning the present holder of the Petrine Office. While his rapturous American reception in September indicated the Pope’s unflagging popularity on the world stage, the rise of a strange and disturbing parallel phenomenon also needs to be acknowledged: statements from a growing number of those professing to be Christians that Pope Francis is variously a Communist infiltrator, doctrinal pyromaniac or even the False Prophet of the Apocalypse. For those readers who may think I exaggerate, let me suggest a brief exercise in ‘applied sociology of religion’. First type ‘Pope Francis False Prophet’ into an internet video search engine. Sort results by number of views. You may well be surprised to discover the size of the audience for conspiratorial narratives concerning Jorge Mario Bergoglio. If you then re-shuffle the results by publication date you will also realise that such narratives are proliferating rapidly, the latest trigger being the Pope’s January 2016 video expressing his prayer intentions regarding inter-religious dialogue. If you can stomach it, complete this little exercise by watching a few minutes of the latest anti-Francis videos and measuring the distance of your jaw from the floor.
You can continue reading this article on the ThinkingFaith.org website by clicking here
How many conspiracy theories about Pope Francis have you heard? It’s likely that you have come across at least one, and if your natural reaction was to dismiss it out of hand, perhaps you’ve missed a trick. The author of a book on the Pope’s ‘not-so-cultured despisers’ argues that such narratives have a sociological significance and require our attention if we are to understand the phenomenon of Pope Francis. Paris-based interdisciplinary researcher Peter Bannister is the author of the e-book No False Prophet: Pope Francis and his not-so-cultured despisers.
Surely nobody following Church developments since the election of Pope Francis in March 2013 with even moderate attention can have failed to notice that a major characteristic of his Pontificate thus far has been the perhaps unparalleled polarisation of opinion, in and outside Catholicism, concerning the present holder of the Petrine Office. While his rapturous American reception in September indicated the Pope’s unflagging popularity on the world stage, the rise of a strange and disturbing parallel phenomenon also needs to be acknowledged: statements from a growing number of those professing to be Christians that Pope Francis is variously a Communist infiltrator, doctrinal pyromaniac or even the False Prophet of the Apocalypse. For those readers who may think I exaggerate, let me suggest a brief exercise in ‘applied sociology of religion’. First type ‘Pope Francis False Prophet’ into an internet video search engine. Sort results by number of views. You may well be surprised to discover the size of the audience for conspiratorial narratives concerning Jorge Mario Bergoglio. If you then re-shuffle the results by publication date you will also realise that such narratives are proliferating rapidly, the latest trigger being the Pope’s January 2016 video expressing his prayer intentions regarding inter-religious dialogue. If you can stomach it, complete this little exercise by watching a few minutes of the latest anti-Francis videos and measuring the distance of your jaw from the floor.
You can continue reading this article on the ThinkingFaith.org website by clicking here
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