Mersey Leven Catholic Parish
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
Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Finance Officer: Anne Fisher
Parish Mass times for the Month: mlcpmasstimes.blogspot.com.au
Weekly Homily Podcast: mikedelaney.podomatic.com
Archdiocesan Website: www.hobart.catholic.org.au for news, information and details of other Parishes.
Parish Office Closed until Tuesday 22nd January, 2019
OLOL Piety Shop will be closed until 3rd February, 2019
PLENARY COUNCIL PRAYER
Come, Holy Spirit of Pentecost.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.
Come, Holy Spirit of the great South Land.
O God, bless and unite all your people in Australia
and guide us on the pilgrim way of the Plenary Council.
Give us the grace to see your face in one another
and to recognise Jesus, our companion on the road.
Give us the courage to tell our stories and to speak boldly of your truth.
Give us ears to listen humbly to each other
and a discerning heart to hear what you are saying.
Lead your Church into a hope-filled future,
that we may live the joy of the Gospel.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord, bread for the journey from age to age.
Amen.
Our Lady Help of Christians, pray for us.
St Mary MacKillop, pray for us.
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
Devonport Friday Adoration: Recommences 1st February, 2019.
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)
Devonport Friday Adoration: Recommences 1st February, 2019.
Devonport: Benediction (1st Friday of the Month) - Recommences Friday 1st February, 2019
Prayer Groups: Charismatic Renewal – In Recess until Monday 4th February, 2019 - Healing Mass sponsored by CCR will be held at St Mary’s Church Penguin on Thursday 14th February, 2019
Weekday Masses 22nd - 25th January
Tuesday: NO MASS
Wednesday: NO MASS
Thursday: NO MASS
Friday: NO MASS
Weekend Masses 26th - 27th January
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin (LWwC)
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday: 8:30am Port Sorell (LWwC)
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport (LWwC)
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Readings This Week:
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
I prepare to pray by allowing
myself to become still and silent before God. I read the Gospel slowly and
prayerfully. I use my imagination to enter the wedding feast at Cana. I may
choose to be a guest, a disciple or one of the servants. I use all my senses to
bring the feast alive in my mind. What do I see, hear, smell, touch, and taste?
What do I feel as I take part in the celebrations? When Mary turns towards her
son, asking him to help at the feast, what do I notice about their
relationship? As I see what happens next, what is my reaction to witnessing
this miracle, or ‘sign’? I ask Jesus to explain the deeper meaning of his
actions at the feast. I read the passage slowly, once more. This time, when
Mary says, ‘Do whatever he tells you’, I imagine she speaks these words to me,
in the midst of my life. What is Jesus asking me to do? How am I to respond?
Whenever I feel ready, I finish my prayer by making a slow sign of the cross.
Readings Next Week:
Your Prayers are asked for the Sick:
Christiana Okpon, Robert
Luxton, Maree Walsh, Joy Kiely, Robert Harcourt-White, Rose Grimes, Isabelita
Santos, Vic Slavin, Lionel Faustino, Marg Stewart & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
George Freeman, Zoe
Dickinson, Ray Grant, Rex Radcliffe, Kevin Lawler, Carmel Cook, Danny Busch, Stephen McSherry, Gladys
Ballini, Nestor Manundo, Fortunata Paule, Pat Faulkner, Denise Payne, Zeta
Mahoney, Monica Piggot, Isabel Archery
YourLet us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 16th - 22nd January
William Richardson,
Heather Hall, Kerry Berwick, Brian Matthews, Patricia Lewis, Joan Summers, Jean
Von Schill, Josephine Last, Bernard Mack, Barry Lyons, Dorothy Bell, Nicola
Tenaglia, Margaret Lockett, Nouhad Wenbe,
May they Rest in Peace
Take care during these final weeks of the School Holidays,
SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION FOR 2019
Information will be available shortly for children and
their families in Gr 3 and above who wish to be part of our Parish Sacramental
Preparation for 2019. If you know of any child/ren who are eligible to be
prepared for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist
please contact the Parish Office after the 29th January – Thank you.
Ever Ancient, Ever New
This article is taken from the Daily Emails from Fr Richard Rohr OFM and the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the emails here
Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late
have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that
I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which
you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me
from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You
called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone,
and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in
breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for
more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. —Augustine of Hippo
(354-430) [1]
Within each of us is a deep desire for union and intimacy
with God, with our truest self, and with all of Creation. Because life is hard,
and we’re wired for survival, we develop coping mechanisms that separate us
from each other and God. Thankfully, God is patient and has many ways to reach
us. Jesus is one of the clearest, most visible images of God’s love. His
teaching and example model for us what it means to be both human and divine—at
the same time. He dismantles our preconceived ideas about who and where God is
and is not.
Jesus—and others who followed after him like Paul and
Francis and Clare of Assisi—made room for the new by letting go of the old.
Jesus had the courage and clarity to sort out what was perennial wisdom from
what was unreal, passing, merely cultural, or even destructive. John the Baptist
described Jesus as a “winnowing fan” that separates the grain from the chaff
(see Matthew 3:12). If we don’t winnow, we spend a lot of time protecting
“chaff” or non-essentials.
Jesus did not let the old get in the way of the new but
revealed what the old was saying all along. Contemporary poet Christian Wiman
writes beautifully, “Faith itself sometimes needs to be stripped of its social
and historical encrustations and returned to its first, churchless incarnation
in the human heart.” [2]
It might surprise you that Jesus could be considered
subversive. Christians often think of him as the founder of a new religion. But
that was probably the furthest thing from Jesus’ mind. He was a Jew, through
and through. While honoring and emphasizing the essential and core elements of
his tradition, he just ignored and even undercut most non-essential religious
norms and mandates. This is rarer than you might think and is invariably the
character of any true reformer. They know they are merely following the
constant thread of Spirit.
[1] Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 10.27. This translation
is taken from the Office of Readings on St. Augustine’s feast day (August 28).
See http://www.liturgies.net/saints/augustine/readings.htm.
Wendy Beckett - RIP
This list is taken from the Archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
No community should botch its deaths. The renowned anthropologist, Mircea Eliade, suggested this and its truth applies to communities at every level. No family should send off a member without proper reflection, ritual, and blessings.
On December 26th, 2018, the family of art and the family of faith lost a cherished member. Sr. Wendy Beckett, aged 88, famed art critic, committed woman of faith, and nurturing friend to many, died. Since 1970, Sr. Wendy had been living as a consecrated virgin and hermit on the grounds of a Carmelite convent in England, praying for several hours a day, translating religious tracts, and going to daily Eucharist.
Early on, after choosing this way of life, she began to study art history, started writing articles for magazines, and published the first of more than 30 books on art. In 1991, she did a short BBC documentary on television and was an immediate hit with a wide audience. She soon began to host her own BBC show, Sister Wendy’s Odyssey, which was so popular it sometimes attracted one quarter of the British television audience.
Anyone who watched her programs was soon taken by three things: The absolute joy that was present in her as she discussed a piece of art; her capacity to articulate in a simple and clear language the meaning of a particular work of art; and her earthy appreciation of sensuality and the nude human body which she, as a consecrated virgin, could describe with a disarming appreciation.
All of those qualities (her joy, her simplicity of language, and her capacity to give the pure gaze of admiration to the nude human body) were what endeared her to her audience but also brought scorn from a number of critics. They mocked her simplicity of language, criticized her for not being more critical of the art she presented, and were put off by that fact that she, a consecrated virgin, could so comfortably discuss sensuality and the nude human body. They found it difficult to digest that this pious woman, a consecrated virgin, clad in a traditional religious habit, sporting thick glasses and buck-teeth, could be so much at ease with sensuality. Robert Hughes, of Time magazine, once mocked her as a “relentlessly chatty pseudo-hermit with her signature teeth” whose observations were “pitched to a 15-year-old” audience. Germaine Greer challenged her competence to describe erotic art given the fact that she was a consecrated virgin.
Sr. Wendy mostly smiled at these criticisms and countered them this way: “I’m not a critic”, she would say, “I am an appreciator”. As to her comfort with sensuality and the nude body, she would answer that just because she was committed to celibacy did not mean that she was not fully appreciative of human sensuality, sexuality, and the beauty of the human body – all of it.
There are of course different ways in which the unclothed human body can be perceived, and Sr. Wendy was a smiling, unapologetic appreciator of one of them. An unclothed human body can be shown as “nude” or as “naked”. Good art uses nudity to honor the human body (surely one of God’s great masterpieces) while pornography uses nakedness to exploit the human body.
Sr. Wendy was also unapologetic about the fact that her consecrated virginity did not disprivilege her from appreciating the erotic. She was right. Somewhere we have developed the false, debilitating notion that consecrated celibates must, like little children, be protected from the erotic so that even while they’re supposed to be doctors of the soul they should be shielded from the deep impulses and secrets of the soul. Sr. Wendy didn’t buy that. Neither should we. Chastity is not intended to be that kind of naiveté.
Full disclosure: I had a personal link to Sr. Wendy. Many years ago, when I was young and still searching for my own voice as a spiritual writer, she sent me a large, beautifully- framed, print of Paul Klee’s, famous 1923 painting, Eros. For the past 29 years it has hung on a wall behind my computer screen so that I see it every time I write and it has helped me understand that it’s God’s color, God’s light, and God’s energy that inform erotic longing.
In 1993, while visiting the monastery where Sr. Wendy lived, I had the opportunity to go out to a restaurant with her. Our waiter was initially taken aback by her traditional religious habit. With some trepidation he timidly asked her: “Sister, might I bring you some water?” She flashed her trademark smile and said: “No, water’s for washing. Bring me some wine!” The waiter relaxed and much enjoyed bantering with her for the rest of the meal.
And that was Sr. Wendy, an anomaly to many: a consecrated virgin discoursing on eros, a hermit but famous art critic, and an intellectually brilliant woman who befuddled critics with her simplicity. But, like all great minds, there was a remarkable consistency at a deeper level, at that place where the critic and the appreciator are one.
5 Signs Of A Great Staff Culture
Weekday Masses 22nd - 25th January
Tuesday: NO MASS
Wednesday: NO MASS
Thursday: NO MASS
Friday: NO MASS
Weekend Masses 26th - 27th January
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin (LWwC)
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday: 8:30am Port Sorell (LWwC)
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport (LWwC)
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Readings This Week:
Second Sunday of the Year – Year C
First Reading: Isaiah 62:1-5
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Gospel: John 2:1-11
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
I prepare to pray by allowing
myself to become still and silent before God. I read the Gospel slowly and
prayerfully. I use my imagination to enter the wedding feast at Cana. I may
choose to be a guest, a disciple or one of the servants. I use all my senses to
bring the feast alive in my mind. What do I see, hear, smell, touch, and taste?
What do I feel as I take part in the celebrations? When Mary turns towards her
son, asking him to help at the feast, what do I notice about their
relationship? As I see what happens next, what is my reaction to witnessing
this miracle, or ‘sign’? I ask Jesus to explain the deeper meaning of his
actions at the feast. I read the passage slowly, once more. This time, when
Mary says, ‘Do whatever he tells you’, I imagine she speaks these words to me,
in the midst of my life. What is Jesus asking me to do? How am I to respond?
Whenever I feel ready, I finish my prayer by making a slow sign of the cross.
Readings Next Week:
Third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year
C
First Reading: Nehemiah 8:2-6. 8-10
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:12-30
Gospel: Luke
1: 1-4. 4:14-21
Your Prayers are asked for the Sick:
Christiana Okpon, Robert
Luxton, Maree Walsh, Joy Kiely, Robert Harcourt-White, Rose Grimes, Isabelita
Santos, Vic Slavin, Lionel Faustino, Marg Stewart & …
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
George Freeman, Zoe
Dickinson, Ray Grant, Rex Radcliffe, Kevin Lawler, Carmel Cook, Danny Busch, Stephen McSherry, Gladys
Ballini, Nestor Manundo, Fortunata Paule, Pat Faulkner, Denise Payne, Zeta
Mahoney, Monica Piggot, Isabel Archery
YourLet us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 16th - 22nd January
William Richardson,
Heather Hall, Kerry Berwick, Brian Matthews, Patricia Lewis, Joan Summers, Jean
Von Schill, Josephine Last, Bernard Mack, Barry Lyons, Dorothy Bell, Nicola
Tenaglia, Margaret Lockett, Nouhad Wenbe,
May they Rest in Peace
Weekly Ramblings
I am erring on the side of caution
but I have decided that I will continue to get as much rest as possible and
there will not be any Masses during this coming week. This also includes
Australia Day when I had advertised on the monthly Calendar that there would be
9am Mass at Ulverstone – apologies to everyone. However, if there is a sick
call or urgent hospital call then I will be/am available and will answer it as
quickly as I can. I am seeing the Doctor on Friday for an update so hopefully I
will be ok after that.
We join with all the Tasmanian
Catholic Community in offering our condolences to Fr Mark and his family
following the death of his father, George, last weekend. It was good to see
quite a number of Parishioners at the Funeral Mass on Thursday – thanks to Toni
Muir who drove me there, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to go.
This Sunday is a big day for our
Filipino Community as they celebrate the Feast of Sto Nino de Cebu. Dating back
to 1521 when Majellan presented the image to Queen Juana as a gift during her
baptism this feast day is a central moment in the life of the Filipino
Community. I hope that it will be a great celebration.
Fr Paschal and the Tasmanian WYD Pilgrims have arrived
in the USA and were travelling to Costa Rica on Thursday (our time) when he
sent a text and photo. We pray for their safety and for a great experience of
grace and peace during their time away. Take care during these final weeks of the School Holidays,
SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION FOR 2019
Information will be available shortly for children and
their families in Gr 3 and above who wish to be part of our Parish Sacramental
Preparation for 2019. If you know of any child/ren who are eligible to be
prepared for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist
please contact the Parish Office after the 29th January – Thank you.
Ever Ancient, Ever New
This article is taken from the Daily Emails from Fr Richard Rohr OFM and the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the emails here
Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late
have I loved you! You were within me, but I was outside, and it was there that
I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which
you created. You were with me, but I was not with you. Created things kept me
from you; yet if they had not been in you they would not have been at all. You
called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone,
and you dispelled my blindness. You breathed your fragrance on me; I drew in
breath and now I pant for you. I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst for
more. You touched me, and I burned for your peace. —Augustine of Hippo
(354-430) [1]
Within each of us is a deep desire for union and intimacy with God, with our truest self, and with all of Creation. Because life is hard, and we’re wired for survival, we develop coping mechanisms that separate us from each other and God. Thankfully, God is patient and has many ways to reach us. Jesus is one of the clearest, most visible images of God’s love. His teaching and example model for us what it means to be both human and divine—at the same time. He dismantles our preconceived ideas about who and where God is and is not.
Jesus—and others who followed after him like Paul and
Francis and Clare of Assisi—made room for the new by letting go of the old.
Jesus had the courage and clarity to sort out what was perennial wisdom from
what was unreal, passing, merely cultural, or even destructive. John the Baptist
described Jesus as a “winnowing fan” that separates the grain from the chaff
(see Matthew 3:12). If we don’t winnow, we spend a lot of time protecting
“chaff” or non-essentials.
Jesus did not let the old get in the way of the new but
revealed what the old was saying all along. Contemporary poet Christian Wiman
writes beautifully, “Faith itself sometimes needs to be stripped of its social
and historical encrustations and returned to its first, churchless incarnation
in the human heart.” [2]
Precisely because Jesus was a “conservative,” in the true
sense of the term, he conserved what was worth conserving and did not let
accidentals get in the way, which are the very things false conservatives
usually idolize. As a result, he looked quite “progressive,” radical, and even
dangerous.
It might surprise you that Jesus could be considered
subversive. Christians often think of him as the founder of a new religion. But
that was probably the furthest thing from Jesus’ mind. He was a Jew, through
and through. While honoring and emphasizing the essential and core elements of
his tradition, he just ignored and even undercut most non-essential religious
norms and mandates. This is rarer than you might think and is invariably the
character of any true reformer. They know they are merely following the
constant thread of Spirit.
[1] Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 10.27. This translation
is taken from the Office of Readings on St. Augustine’s feast day (August 28).
See http://www.liturgies.net/saints/augustine/readings.htm.
[2] Christian Wiman, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern
Believer (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux: 2013), 92.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, Eager to Love: The Alternative
Way of Francis of Assisi (Franciscan Media: 2016), xix-xx; and
Richard Rohr with Huston Smith and Allan Dwight Callahan,
Portrait of a Radical: The Jesus Movement (Four Seasons Productions: 2000),
DVD.
No community should botch its deaths. The renowned anthropologist, Mircea Eliade, suggested this and its truth applies to communities at every level. No family should send off a member without proper reflection, ritual, and blessings.
On December 26th, 2018, the family of art and the family of faith lost a cherished member. Sr. Wendy Beckett, aged 88, famed art critic, committed woman of faith, and nurturing friend to many, died. Since 1970, Sr. Wendy had been living as a consecrated virgin and hermit on the grounds of a Carmelite convent in England, praying for several hours a day, translating religious tracts, and going to daily Eucharist.
Early on, after choosing this way of life, she began to study art history, started writing articles for magazines, and published the first of more than 30 books on art. In 1991, she did a short BBC documentary on television and was an immediate hit with a wide audience. She soon began to host her own BBC show, Sister Wendy’s Odyssey, which was so popular it sometimes attracted one quarter of the British television audience.
Anyone who watched her programs was soon taken by three things: The absolute joy that was present in her as she discussed a piece of art; her capacity to articulate in a simple and clear language the meaning of a particular work of art; and her earthy appreciation of sensuality and the nude human body which she, as a consecrated virgin, could describe with a disarming appreciation.
All of those qualities (her joy, her simplicity of language, and her capacity to give the pure gaze of admiration to the nude human body) were what endeared her to her audience but also brought scorn from a number of critics. They mocked her simplicity of language, criticized her for not being more critical of the art she presented, and were put off by that fact that she, a consecrated virgin, could so comfortably discuss sensuality and the nude human body. They found it difficult to digest that this pious woman, a consecrated virgin, clad in a traditional religious habit, sporting thick glasses and buck-teeth, could be so much at ease with sensuality. Robert Hughes, of Time magazine, once mocked her as a “relentlessly chatty pseudo-hermit with her signature teeth” whose observations were “pitched to a 15-year-old” audience. Germaine Greer challenged her competence to describe erotic art given the fact that she was a consecrated virgin.
Sr. Wendy mostly smiled at these criticisms and countered them this way: “I’m not a critic”, she would say, “I am an appreciator”. As to her comfort with sensuality and the nude body, she would answer that just because she was committed to celibacy did not mean that she was not fully appreciative of human sensuality, sexuality, and the beauty of the human body – all of it.
There are of course different ways in which the unclothed human body can be perceived, and Sr. Wendy was a smiling, unapologetic appreciator of one of them. An unclothed human body can be shown as “nude” or as “naked”. Good art uses nudity to honor the human body (surely one of God’s great masterpieces) while pornography uses nakedness to exploit the human body.
Sr. Wendy was also unapologetic about the fact that her consecrated virginity did not disprivilege her from appreciating the erotic. She was right. Somewhere we have developed the false, debilitating notion that consecrated celibates must, like little children, be protected from the erotic so that even while they’re supposed to be doctors of the soul they should be shielded from the deep impulses and secrets of the soul. Sr. Wendy didn’t buy that. Neither should we. Chastity is not intended to be that kind of naiveté.
Full disclosure: I had a personal link to Sr. Wendy. Many years ago, when I was young and still searching for my own voice as a spiritual writer, she sent me a large, beautifully- framed, print of Paul Klee’s, famous 1923 painting, Eros. For the past 29 years it has hung on a wall behind my computer screen so that I see it every time I write and it has helped me understand that it’s God’s color, God’s light, and God’s energy that inform erotic longing.
In 1993, while visiting the monastery where Sr. Wendy lived, I had the opportunity to go out to a restaurant with her. Our waiter was initially taken aback by her traditional religious habit. With some trepidation he timidly asked her: “Sister, might I bring you some water?” She flashed her trademark smile and said: “No, water’s for washing. Bring me some wine!” The waiter relaxed and much enjoyed bantering with her for the rest of the meal.
And that was Sr. Wendy, an anomaly to many: a consecrated virgin discoursing on eros, a hermit but famous art critic, and an intellectually brilliant woman who befuddled critics with her simplicity. But, like all great minds, there was a remarkable consistency at a deeper level, at that place where the critic and the appreciator are one.
Wendy Beckett - RIP
This list is taken from the Archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here No community should botch its deaths. The renowned anthropologist, Mircea Eliade, suggested this and its truth applies to communities at every level. No family should send off a member without proper reflection, ritual, and blessings.
On December 26th, 2018, the family of art and the family of faith lost a cherished member. Sr. Wendy Beckett, aged 88, famed art critic, committed woman of faith, and nurturing friend to many, died. Since 1970, Sr. Wendy had been living as a consecrated virgin and hermit on the grounds of a Carmelite convent in England, praying for several hours a day, translating religious tracts, and going to daily Eucharist.
Early on, after choosing this way of life, she began to study art history, started writing articles for magazines, and published the first of more than 30 books on art. In 1991, she did a short BBC documentary on television and was an immediate hit with a wide audience. She soon began to host her own BBC show, Sister Wendy’s Odyssey, which was so popular it sometimes attracted one quarter of the British television audience.
Anyone who watched her programs was soon taken by three things: The absolute joy that was present in her as she discussed a piece of art; her capacity to articulate in a simple and clear language the meaning of a particular work of art; and her earthy appreciation of sensuality and the nude human body which she, as a consecrated virgin, could describe with a disarming appreciation.
All of those qualities (her joy, her simplicity of language, and her capacity to give the pure gaze of admiration to the nude human body) were what endeared her to her audience but also brought scorn from a number of critics. They mocked her simplicity of language, criticized her for not being more critical of the art she presented, and were put off by that fact that she, a consecrated virgin, could so comfortably discuss sensuality and the nude human body. They found it difficult to digest that this pious woman, a consecrated virgin, clad in a traditional religious habit, sporting thick glasses and buck-teeth, could be so much at ease with sensuality. Robert Hughes, of Time magazine, once mocked her as a “relentlessly chatty pseudo-hermit with her signature teeth” whose observations were “pitched to a 15-year-old” audience. Germaine Greer challenged her competence to describe erotic art given the fact that she was a consecrated virgin.
Sr. Wendy mostly smiled at these criticisms and countered them this way: “I’m not a critic”, she would say, “I am an appreciator”. As to her comfort with sensuality and the nude body, she would answer that just because she was committed to celibacy did not mean that she was not fully appreciative of human sensuality, sexuality, and the beauty of the human body – all of it.
There are of course different ways in which the unclothed human body can be perceived, and Sr. Wendy was a smiling, unapologetic appreciator of one of them. An unclothed human body can be shown as “nude” or as “naked”. Good art uses nudity to honor the human body (surely one of God’s great masterpieces) while pornography uses nakedness to exploit the human body.
Sr. Wendy was also unapologetic about the fact that her consecrated virginity did not disprivilege her from appreciating the erotic. She was right. Somewhere we have developed the false, debilitating notion that consecrated celibates must, like little children, be protected from the erotic so that even while they’re supposed to be doctors of the soul they should be shielded from the deep impulses and secrets of the soul. Sr. Wendy didn’t buy that. Neither should we. Chastity is not intended to be that kind of naiveté.
Full disclosure: I had a personal link to Sr. Wendy. Many years ago, when I was young and still searching for my own voice as a spiritual writer, she sent me a large, beautifully- framed, print of Paul Klee’s, famous 1923 painting, Eros. For the past 29 years it has hung on a wall behind my computer screen so that I see it every time I write and it has helped me understand that it’s God’s color, God’s light, and God’s energy that inform erotic longing.
In 1993, while visiting the monastery where Sr. Wendy lived, I had the opportunity to go out to a restaurant with her. Our waiter was initially taken aback by her traditional religious habit. With some trepidation he timidly asked her: “Sister, might I bring you some water?” She flashed her trademark smile and said: “No, water’s for washing. Bring me some wine!” The waiter relaxed and much enjoyed bantering with her for the rest of the meal.
And that was Sr. Wendy, an anomaly to many: a consecrated virgin discoursing on eros, a hermit but famous art critic, and an intellectually brilliant woman who befuddled critics with her simplicity. But, like all great minds, there was a remarkable consistency at a deeper level, at that place where the critic and the appreciator are one.
5 Signs Of A Great Staff Culture
This article is from the blog by Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timonium, Maryland. You can find the original blog here
We spent some time this week reflecting on our staff culture.
Culture, as we write in Rebuilt, is the potent brew of what an organization believes, what it does, and how it operates. It encompasses traditions, values, norms, behaviors. Author and management consultant, Peter Drucker, writes simply: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” It affects everything.
Of course we want a healthy culture for our parish staff, but we actually aspire to more…we want a great culture. It’s a work in progress for sure, but here are five signs you’re headed in the right direction.
#1. Clear Vision, Mission and Purpose
The mission of the Church is given by Christ. Even so, lots of parishes lose sight of it. When it comes to vision, many churches can be even less clear and more confused.
Without vision the people perish, as the Bible tells us.
Even when parish leaders cast clear vision people can lose sight of it. As others have said before “vision leaks.” It has got to be repeated consistently and constantly. Purpose, or why we do what we do, is also important, especially in churchworld where turning the flywheel week after week can lead us to question our purpose.
#2. Core Values
While a parish might be lacking in vision and foggy on mission and purpose, every parish has operational values…whether they know it or not. These are all about how we proceed in fulfilling our mission. At Nativity we have identified six:
Simple: we’re not that smart.
- Adaptable: keep calm and carry on
- Growth Oriented: go deeper, go wider
- Excellent: outstanding fitness for purpose
- Committed: dedicated to the greater good
- Hospitality: wow-ing people with extraordinary service
These are ours but values can vary from organization to organization, and can really be anything you want. But if you don’t go ahead and identify specific values your team will inadvertently adapt unarticulated values, more likely negative ones like “meetings always start late” or “we talk about one another when they’re not in the room.” Specifying values can keep everyone positive and accountable.
#3. Collaboration
As our staff has grown we have outgrown our parish office. Currently we are in the midst of an experiment in an open office plan. That means most everybody, including me, does not have assigned offices or workspaces, we just have open work stations. It is too early in the experiment to know if it is successful, but given our situation it was worth a try. But whether we stick with it or not, I think it has definitely gotten people out of the nests they tend to create for themselves, especially if they’ve been working in the same space for awhile.
This, in turn, can easily lead to silo ministries and programs and events that become the personal province of individuals.
Physical presence and proximity stimulate collaboration.
No technology can replace face-to-face interaction in which people know about what the others are doing and even get involved in it, when helpful.
#4. Trust
Nothing can unite a team more solidly and successfully than a culture of trust. Nothing can pull it apart more completely than the lack of it. I need to trust my staff and if someone comes along I don’t trust, that should disqualify them from remaining on the team. Conversely my staff needs to trust me. Trust is also actually a huge factor in productivity, creativity, and performance. A whole lot more is going to get done in a culture of trust.
#5. Health
A great staff culture is going to include an environment that emphasizes learning and personal development. It’s one where people have goals and are held accountable for them. It’s one where success is recognized, celebrated, and rewarded. Health includes a proper work/life balance: personal issues and problems do not intrude into work and work honors personal and family boundaries. Health also includes….health.
Having a great staff culture is not easy, and it is always a work in progress. And even one person can damage it. It requires vigilance and commitment to develop it and maintain it.
The Management of the Church
The way in which business leaders think and operate has changed a great deal in recent decades, writes Quentin de la Bédoyère, particularly when it comes to management structures in their organisations. Are there any parallels to be drawn between corporate practice and the way in which leadership functions in the Church? Quentin de la Bédoyère is Science Editor for the Catholic Herald and author of Autonomy and Obedience in the Catholic Church (T&T Clark, 2002). You can read the complete article on the ThinkingFaith.org website by clicking here
‘...many claim the right to organize the Church as if she were a multinational corporation and thus subject to a purely human form of authority. In reality, the Church as mystery is not “our” but “his” Church: the People of God, the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.’ So wrote John Paul II to the German Bishops, referring to what the Extraordinary Synod of 1985 noted as a tendency of certain lay organisations to ‘critically consider the Church a mere institution.’[1]
Of course the Church is not a ‘mere institution’ but it does have a lot in common with the multinational corporations referred to by Pope John Paul II: it is a society of human beings and therefore it exhibits human characteristics. As such, it needs to take note of the best understanding of how organisations can be ordered for maximum effectiveness – an understanding which became apparent in the middle of the 20th century. While many secular organisations responded to these changes of culture, many feel that the Church has failed to do so.[2] An appreciation of the developments in management theory and practice in recent decades might provide the Church with the tools it needs to respond to such changes and therefore to the needs of its members.
‘...many claim the right to organize the Church as if she were a multinational corporation and thus subject to a purely human form of authority. In reality, the Church as mystery is not “our” but “his” Church: the People of God, the Body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit.’ So wrote John Paul II to the German Bishops, referring to what the Extraordinary Synod of 1985 noted as a tendency of certain lay organisations to ‘critically consider the Church a mere institution.’[1]
Of course the Church is not a ‘mere institution’ but it does have a lot in common with the multinational corporations referred to by Pope John Paul II: it is a society of human beings and therefore it exhibits human characteristics. As such, it needs to take note of the best understanding of how organisations can be ordered for maximum effectiveness – an understanding which became apparent in the middle of the 20th century. While many secular organisations responded to these changes of culture, many feel that the Church has failed to do so.[2] An appreciation of the developments in management theory and practice in recent decades might provide the Church with the tools it needs to respond to such changes and therefore to the needs of its members.
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