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.
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:
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:
Devonport: Benediction (1st Friday of the Month)
Prayer Groups: Charismatic Renewal
Weekday Masses 26th February - 1st March, 2019
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Ministry Rosters 2nd & 3rd March, 2019
Devonport:
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
Readings Next Week:
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
Readings Next Week:
Eighth Sunday in
Ordinary Time – Year C
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Jason Carr, John Kelly, Uleen Castles, Pam Shepheard, David Cole, Joy Carter, John Otenasek, Christina Okpon, Rose Stanley, Hilario Visorro & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Sandra Allison, Joan Carter, Ethan Maine, Jim Bleasel, Bettye Cox, Norris Binns
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 22nd -28th February
Collin Morgan, Michael Duggan, Max Watson, Rita Sullivan, Kristine Morgan, Thea Nicholas, Glen Clark, Reg Alderson, Irene Kilby, Connie Fulton, Richard O’Neill, Mary Mann, Joan Mansour, Antonio Sciamanna, Thomas Beard, Michael Sturgess, Thomas & Nancy Kelly, Des Peters.
May they Rest in Peace
Mersey Leven Parish
Community welcome and congratulate Joseph Summers
My computer (horror of horrors) won’t load any programs and
I keep getting a screen saying – we have encountered a problem – and the person
I normally go to for computer help is away until Monday. There was a leaking
tap in the laundry that has wet the hallway carpet, the hot water cylinder is
leaking, one of the toilet bowls has developed a leak and it’s only Thursday!!
On the bright side we have had a great response to the
Lenten Discussion Groups and the take-up of books for personal reflection
during Lent. There are more copies of both sets of material available this
weekend and if you need further copies please contact the parish Office and
we’ll make sure more are available.
Thanks to everyone who was praying for me during my recent
bout of pleurisy. I am ‘fully’ recovered – whatever that means – and am up and
about again. I am also attempting to have
Wednesday’s as my day off (Fr Paschal has Mondays & Fr Smiley has every
day!! I mean he is almost 80) so if you can’t get me on Wednesday leave a
message and I’ll get back to you.
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:
Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe: Our 2019 gatherings commence Monday
25th February 10.30am - 12 noon.
We look forward to your company and contribution to our lively
discussions.
PLENARY COUNCIL 2020:
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER:
BBQ & BOOK CLUB:
MT ST VINCENT AUXILIARY:
Members from the Auxiliary will be selling Lucky Shamrock Tickets ($2.00 each) after 9am Mass at Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone on Sunday 3rd March. Three prizes to be won! Please bring along your gold coins and help support this great fundraiser.
LENTEN PROGRAM 2019:
FOOTY TICKETS:
The 2019 AFL footy season starts Friday 22nd March. 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) Payments can be made in cash to the Parish Office or Direct Deposit into Parish Account (you will need to contact the Parish Office to arrange). People who choose this option will be given their tickets for the whole season.
If you are able to assist with selling tickets at any of the Mass Centres please contact the Parish Office 6424:2783.
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall,
Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
ATTENTION PARISH MEN:
The Thursday night Bingo team needs extra people to help out with bingo calling. Please give this some serious thought as the Bingo evening is a major fund-raiser for the whole parish. Contact Merv Tippett 6424:1025 or Tony Ryan 6424:1508 if you are interested.
GRAN’S VAN: 
If you are able to assist on any of the Sundays in April
please contact Shirley or Tony Ryan on 6424:1508.
Many happy returns Fr Phil on
your 76th Birthday!
God bless you on your special day
and may it be filled with love, laughter, family, friends and wonderful memories.
Patience
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
The New Testament shows history working in a way that is both evolutionary and positive. See, for example, Jesus’ many parables of the Kingdom, which lean heavily on the language of growth and development. He uses metaphors of the seed, the maturing ear of corn, weeds and wheat growing together, and yeast rising. His parables of the “Reign of God” are about finding, discovering, being surprised, changing roles and status. None of these notions are static; they are always about something new and good coming into being.
Why do I think this is so important? Frankly, because without it we become very impatient with ourselves and others. Humans and history both grow slowly. [1] We expect people to show up at our church doors fully transformed and holy before they can be welcomed in. But metanoeite, or change of consciousness, can only come with time. Patience is the very shape of love. Without it, religion is merely about enforcing laws and requirements. Without an evolutionary worldview, Christianity does not really understand, much less foster, growth or change. Nor does it know how to respect and support where history is heading.
Anything called “Good News” needs to reveal a universal pattern that can be relied upon, not just clannish or tribal patterns that might be true on occasion. This is probably why Christianity’s break with Judaism was inevitable, although never intended by either Jesus or Paul. Both Jesus and Paul were good Jews who thought they were reforming Judaism. By the early second century, Christians were already calling themselves “catholics” or “the universals.” At the front of their consciousness was a belief that God is leading all of history somewhere larger and broader and better for everyone. Christianity cannot be bound by ethnicity or nationality. This puts it in essential conflict with any group that wants to domesticate the message for its own “patriotic” purposes.
Without a universal story line that offers grace and caring for all of creation, Jesus is always kept small and seemingly inept. God’s care must be toward all creatures; otherwise, God ends up not being very caring at all, which makes things like water, trees, animals—and other peoples—seem accidental, trivial, or disposable. But grace is not a late arrival in history, an occasional add-on for a handful of humans. God’s grace and life did not just appear a couple thousand years ago when Jesus came, and his story was told through the Gospels. God’s grace cannot be a random solution doled out to the few and the virtuous—or it would hardly be grace at all! (See Ephesians 2:7-10 if you want the radical meaning of grace summed up in three succinct verses.)
What if we recovered the sense of God’s inherent grace (the Holy Spirit whom we called “Uncreated Grace”) as the primary generator of all life? We are, of course, in evolution all the time. To deny change and growth is to deny the obvious, yet humans seem good at that. The ride is the destination, and the goal is never clearly in sight. To stay on the ride, to trust the trajectory, to know it is moving, and moving somewhere always better, is just about the best way to describe religious faith.
[1] See Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church (Baker Academic: 2016). This faith-filled historical study by a Mennonite scholar shows how the early church was much more patient and humble about growth and change than Christians tended to be in later centuries. The title says it all.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (Convergent Books: March 5, 2019), 96-98; and “Introduction,” “Evolutionary Thinking,” Oneing, vol. 4, no. 2 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2016), 115-116.
An Honourable Defeat
This article is taken from the Archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
In 1970, the famed British writer, Iris Murdoch, wrote a novel entitled, A Fairly Honorable Defeat. The story had numerous characters, both good and bad, but ultimately took its title from the travails of one character, Tallis Browne, who represents all that is decent, altruistic, and moral among the various characters. Despite being betrayed by most everyone, he stays the course in terms himself never betraying trust. But the story does not end well for him.
On the basis of his seeming defeat, Murdoch poses the question: Where’s justice? Where’s fairness? Shouldn’t goodness triumph? Murdoch, an agnostic, suggests that in reality a good life doesn’t always make for the triumph of goodness. However, if goodness sustains itself and does not betray itself, its defeat will be honorable.
So, for her, what you want to avoid is a dishonorable defeat, meaning: Defeat you will face, your goodness notwithstanding. Sometimes you cannot save the world or even the situation. But you can save your own integrity and bring that moral component to the world and to the situation and by doing that you preserve your own dignity. You went down in defeat, but in honor. Goodness then will not have suffered a dishonorable defeat.
That’s a beautiful stoicism and if you aren’t a believer it’s about as wise a counsel as there is: Be true to yourself! Don’t betray who and what you are, even if you find yourself as unanimity-minus-one. However, Christianity, while respecting this kind of stoicism, places the question of victory and defeat into a very different perspective.
Inside our Christian faith, defeat and victory are radically redefined. We speak, for instance, of the victory of the cross, of the day Jesus died as “Good” Friday, of the transforming power of humiliation, and of how we gain our lives by losing them. Earthly defeat, for us, can still be victory, just as earthily victory can be a sad defeat. Indeed, in a Christian perspective, without even considering the next life, sometimes our defeats and humiliations are what allows depth and richer life to flow into us and sometimes our victories rob us of the very things that bring us community, intimacy, and happiness. The paschal mystery radically redefines both defeat and victory.
But this understanding doesn’t come easily. It’s the antithesis of cultural wisdom. Indeed, it didn’t even come easy for Jesus’ contemporaries. After Jesus died in the most humiliating way a person could die at that time, by being crucified, the first generation of Christians had a massive struggle with both the fact that he died and particularly with the manner in which he died. First, for them, if Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, he wasn’t supposed to die at all. God is above death and certainly beyond being killed by humans. Moreover, as a creedal doctrine, they believed that death was the result of sin and, thus, if someone did not sin, he or she was not supposed to die. But Jesus had died. Finally, most faith-perplexing of all, was the humiliating manner of his death. Crucifixion was designed by the Romans not just as capital punishment but as a manner of death that totally and publically humiliated the person’s body. Jesus died a most humiliating death. No one called Good Friday “good” during the first days and years following his death. However, given his resurrection, they intuited without explicitly understanding it, that Jesus’ defeat in the crucifixion was the ultimate triumph and that the categories that make for victory and defeat were now forever different.
Initially, they lacked the words to express this. For several years after the resurrection, Christians were reluctant to mention the manner of Jesus’ death. It was a defeat in the eyes of the world and they were at loss to explain it. So they remained mostly silent about it. St. Paul’s conversion and his subsequent insights changed this. As someone who was raised in the Jewish faith, Paul also struggled with explaining how a humiliating defeat in this world could be in fact a victory. However, after his conversion to Christianity he eventually understood how goodness could take on sin and even “become sin itself” for our sake. That radically flipped our conceptions of defeat and victory. The cross was now seen as the ultimate victory and, instead of the humiliation of the cross being a source of shame, it now became the crown jewel: “I preach nothing but the cross of Christ.” That gave us the passion narratives.
We live in a world that, mostly, still defines defeat and victory in terms of who gets to be on top in terms of success, adulation, fame, influence, reputation, money, comfort, pleasure, and security in this life. There will be plenty of defeats in our lives and if lack a Christian perspective then the best we can then do is to take Iris Murdoch’s advice to heart: Realistically, goodness will not triumph, so try to avoid a dishonorable defeat.
Our Christian faith, while honoring that truth, challenges us to something more.
The 2018 Synod and the Gift of Young People
An important Vatican meeting last year about young people, faith and vocational discernment was just one stage in a journey in which the whole Church is engaged, says Fr Giacomo Costa SJ. Ahead of the 2018 Synod of Bishops, the Special Secretary outlined his hopes and expectations for the dialogue that would take place; now, he considers the importance for the future of the Church of what was said and heard, and of how the process unfolded. Fr Giacomo Costa SJ is Special Secretary for the Synod of Bishops and Editor of Aggiornamenti Sociali, in which the original text of this article appears. It was published in the December 2018 issue (797-804), translated into English by John Coughlin and edited by Robert Czerny. This extract was taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website - you can find the complete article here
The 15th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on the theme, ‘Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment’, concluded on 28 October 2018. Nevertheless, the journey that began there is certainly not complete. After two years of preparation, the assembly gathered in the Vatican for nearly one month. The participants were over 250 Synod Fathers from all over the world, 49 auditors (including 34 young people), 23 experts, eight fraternal delegates representing other churches and ecclesial communities, and one special invitee. It was an intense experience of listening and working together, in which I had the joy of participating personally in my role as Special Secretary.
Much more than merely a concluding text, the final document of the synod[1] traces a ‘journeying together’ and this, in fact, is the etymological meaning of the term ‘synod’. The synod experience was so deep and intense that the participants hoped that, ‘the “flame” of what we have experienced in these days may spread’. The Church at all levels – the episcopal conferences and local churches – are invited to move forward in the same way, ‘committing themselves to processes of communal discernment, including in the discussions some who are not bishops, as this Synod has done.’ (Final Document [henceforth FD] §120)
In this light, I will try to identify major milestones on this path and, above all, describe how we journeyed together, with particular ways of proceeding that struck participants as being at least as important as the topics covered, if not more so.
You can continue reading the article by clicking here
Weekday Masses 26th February - 1st March, 2019
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: 9:30am Latrobe Thursday: 12noon Devonport
Friday: 9:30am Ulverstone
12noon Devonport
Next Weekend 2nd & 3rd March, 2019
Saturday Mass: 9:30am Ulverstone
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell 9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 2nd & 3rd March, 2019
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: M Stewart, M Gaffney, H Lim 10:30am: E Petts, K Pearce
Ministers of Communion:
Vigil: D Peters, M Heazlewood, T Muir, M
Gerrand, P Shelverton
10:30am: F Sly, E Petts, K Hull, S
Arrowsmith
Cleaners: 1st March: M.W.C. 8th March: K.S.C.
Piety Shop: 2nd March: H Thompson 3 March: K Hull
Ulverstone:
Reader/s: D Prior Ministers of
Communion: M Mott,
W Bajzelj, J Jones, T Leary
Cleaners: V Ferguson, E Cox Flowers: G Doyle Hospitality: M & K McKenzie
Penguin:
Greeters J Garnsey, P Lade Commentator:
Y Downes Readers: K Fraser, J Barker
Ministers of
Communion: J
Garnsey, P Lade Liturgy: Pine Road
Setting Up: A Landers Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols
Latrobe:
Reader: H Lim Minister of
Communion: I
Campbell Procession of Gifts: J
Hyde
Port Sorell:
Readers: G Gigliotti, D Leaman Ministers of Communion: Jan & Don Peters
Cleaners: G Richey, G Wyllie
Readings Next Week:
Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
First Reading: 1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:45-49
Gospel: Luke 6:27-38
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
After coming to some stillness in whatever way is best for
me, I read this Gospel passage slowly, paying attention to the feelings and
thoughts evoked in me by its words. Jesus says these words “to you who are
listening”, and I try to be attentive to his message; this is God’s word for me
today. When I am ready I share my thoughts and feelings with our Lord. Perhaps
I am aware of times when I have been able to respond in similar ways to those
Jesus suggests. I recall these times with gratitude and share them with the
Lord, giving thanks for his love working through me. Maybe I feel that some of
his suggestions are simply too difficult for me? I share these thoughts with
the Lord. I need not be sad. Jesus will help me in his mercy, compassion and
love. I can rely on him. I may want to choose one person or situation that I
will meet this week. I share with our Lord and ask for his help, knowing that I
can always trust in his presence with me. I end my prayer in stillness. I may
wish to pray Our Father ...
Readings Next Week:
Eighth Sunday in
Ordinary Time – Year C
First Reading: Sirach 27:4-7
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:54-58
Gospel: Luke
6:39-45
Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Jason Carr, John Kelly, Uleen Castles, Pam Shepheard, David Cole, Joy Carter, John Otenasek, Christina Okpon, Rose Stanley, Hilario Visorro & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Sandra Allison, Joan Carter, Ethan Maine, Jim Bleasel, Bettye Cox, Norris Binns
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 22nd -28th February
Collin Morgan, Michael Duggan, Max Watson, Rita Sullivan, Kristine Morgan, Thea Nicholas, Glen Clark, Reg Alderson, Irene Kilby, Connie Fulton, Richard O’Neill, Mary Mann, Joan Mansour, Antonio Sciamanna, Thomas Beard, Michael Sturgess, Thomas & Nancy Kelly, Des Peters.
May they Rest in Peace
Mersey Leven Parish
Community welcome and congratulate Joseph Summers
son of Jason & Erin on his
Baptism this weekend at Our Lady of Lourdes Church.
Weekly
Ramblings
Do you
ever have one of those weeks when every time you go to do something else seems
to goes wrong. Well I think I have had one of those weeks!
My computer (horror of horrors) won’t load any programs and
I keep getting a screen saying – we have encountered a problem – and the person
I normally go to for computer help is away until Monday. There was a leaking
tap in the laundry that has wet the hallway carpet, the hot water cylinder is
leaking, one of the toilet bowls has developed a leak and it’s only Thursday!!
On the bright side we have had a great response to the
Lenten Discussion Groups and the take-up of books for personal reflection
during Lent. There are more copies of both sets of material available this
weekend and if you need further copies please contact the parish Office and
we’ll make sure more are available.
Please take care
MACKILLOP HILL SPIRITUALITY CENTRE:
We are looking for a Volunteer(s)
to assist us in the garden (no heavy work involved) at 123 William Street from
time to time. Frequency negotiable. If
you would like further information please phone Sr Margaret 6428:3095 or 0418
367 769.
Spirituality in the Coffee Shoppe: Our 2019 gatherings commence Monday
25th February 10.30am - 12 noon.
We look forward to your company and contribution to our lively
discussions.
PLENARY COUNCIL 2020:
You are invited to a follow-up gathering to develop our
responses to the question: What is God asking of us in Australia at this time? Thursday
28th February, 2019 10am – 11:30am at Parish House, Stewart Street, Devonport.
Contact Clare Kiely-Hoye 6428:2760
WORLD DAY OF PRAYER:
Friday 1st March 10am Penguin Uniting Church - all welcome!
Friday 1st March 1:30pm Ulverstone Christian
Reformed Church – all welcome!
Friday 8th March 10:30am Sheffield Bible Chapel.
Shared lunch – all welcome!
BBQ & BOOK CLUB:
Michael and Grainne Hendrey invite you to join them in
their home Friday 1st March for an evening of conversation and
spirituality-ness. BBQ starts at 6:30pm, BYO meat and drinks and something to
share. Book club from 7:30pm to 9pm. RSVP Michael 0417 540 566 or Grainne 0414
968 731
MT ST VINCENT AUXILIARY:
Members from the Auxiliary will be selling Lucky Shamrock Tickets ($2.00 each) after 9am Mass at Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone on Sunday 3rd March. Three prizes to be won! Please bring along your gold coins and help support this great fundraiser.
Members from the Auxiliary will be selling Lucky Shamrock Tickets ($2.00 each) after 9am Mass at Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone on Sunday 3rd March. Three prizes to be won! Please bring along your gold coins and help support this great fundraiser.
LENTEN PROGRAM 2019:
You are welcome to join a weekly Lenten Program for six
weeks beginning Thursday 7th March 10am – 11:30am at Parish House, 90
Stewart Street, Devonport. Brisbane Lenten books are available at the
program. For more information contact Clare Kiely-Hoye 0418 100 402.
FOOTY TICKETS:
The 2019 AFL footy season starts Friday 22nd March. 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) Payments can be made in cash to the Parish Office or Direct Deposit into Parish Account (you will need to contact the Parish Office to arrange). People who choose this option will be given their tickets for the whole season.
If you are able to assist with selling tickets at any of the Mass Centres please contact the Parish Office 6424:2783.
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall,
Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers Thursday 28th February
– Merv Tippett & Terry Bird.
The Thursday night Bingo team needs extra people to help out with bingo calling. Please give this some serious thought as the Bingo evening is a major fund-raiser for the whole parish. Contact Merv Tippett 6424:1025 or Tony Ryan 6424:1508 if you are interested.
GRAN’S VAN:
The month of April has again been
allocated to our Parish to assist with Gran’s Van on the four Sundays in
that month. Help is required as follows, (a) Cooking a stew (meat supplied),
(b) assisting with food distribution (c) driving the van. Helping with
(b) and (c) would take two hours of your time, 6:30pm – 8:30pm.
If you are able to assist on any of the Sundays in April
please contact Shirley or Tony Ryan on 6424:1508.
Many happy returns Fr Phil on
your 76th Birthday!
God bless you on your special day
and may it be filled with love, laughter, family, friends and wonderful memories.
Patience
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
The New Testament shows history working in a way that is both evolutionary and positive. See, for example, Jesus’ many parables of the Kingdom, which lean heavily on the language of growth and development. He uses metaphors of the seed, the maturing ear of corn, weeds and wheat growing together, and yeast rising. His parables of the “Reign of God” are about finding, discovering, being surprised, changing roles and status. None of these notions are static; they are always about something new and good coming into being.
Why do I think this is so important? Frankly, because without it we become very impatient with ourselves and others. Humans and history both grow slowly. [1] We expect people to show up at our church doors fully transformed and holy before they can be welcomed in. But metanoeite, or change of consciousness, can only come with time. Patience is the very shape of love. Without it, religion is merely about enforcing laws and requirements. Without an evolutionary worldview, Christianity does not really understand, much less foster, growth or change. Nor does it know how to respect and support where history is heading.
Anything called “Good News” needs to reveal a universal pattern that can be relied upon, not just clannish or tribal patterns that might be true on occasion. This is probably why Christianity’s break with Judaism was inevitable, although never intended by either Jesus or Paul. Both Jesus and Paul were good Jews who thought they were reforming Judaism. By the early second century, Christians were already calling themselves “catholics” or “the universals.” At the front of their consciousness was a belief that God is leading all of history somewhere larger and broader and better for everyone. Christianity cannot be bound by ethnicity or nationality. This puts it in essential conflict with any group that wants to domesticate the message for its own “patriotic” purposes.
Without a universal story line that offers grace and caring for all of creation, Jesus is always kept small and seemingly inept. God’s care must be toward all creatures; otherwise, God ends up not being very caring at all, which makes things like water, trees, animals—and other peoples—seem accidental, trivial, or disposable. But grace is not a late arrival in history, an occasional add-on for a handful of humans. God’s grace and life did not just appear a couple thousand years ago when Jesus came, and his story was told through the Gospels. God’s grace cannot be a random solution doled out to the few and the virtuous—or it would hardly be grace at all! (See Ephesians 2:7-10 if you want the radical meaning of grace summed up in three succinct verses.)
What if we recovered the sense of God’s inherent grace (the Holy Spirit whom we called “Uncreated Grace”) as the primary generator of all life? We are, of course, in evolution all the time. To deny change and growth is to deny the obvious, yet humans seem good at that. The ride is the destination, and the goal is never clearly in sight. To stay on the ride, to trust the trajectory, to know it is moving, and moving somewhere always better, is just about the best way to describe religious faith.
[1] See Alan Kreider, The Patient Ferment of the Early Church (Baker Academic: 2016). This faith-filled historical study by a Mennonite scholar shows how the early church was much more patient and humble about growth and change than Christians tended to be in later centuries. The title says it all.
Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ: How a Forgotten Reality Can Change Everything We See, Hope For, and Believe (Convergent Books: March 5, 2019), 96-98; and “Introduction,” “Evolutionary Thinking,” Oneing, vol. 4, no. 2 (Center for Action and Contemplation: 2016), 115-116.
An Honourable Defeat
This article is taken from the Archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
In 1970, the famed British writer, Iris Murdoch, wrote a novel entitled, A Fairly Honorable Defeat. The story had numerous characters, both good and bad, but ultimately took its title from the travails of one character, Tallis Browne, who represents all that is decent, altruistic, and moral among the various characters. Despite being betrayed by most everyone, he stays the course in terms himself never betraying trust. But the story does not end well for him.
On the basis of his seeming defeat, Murdoch poses the question: Where’s justice? Where’s fairness? Shouldn’t goodness triumph? Murdoch, an agnostic, suggests that in reality a good life doesn’t always make for the triumph of goodness. However, if goodness sustains itself and does not betray itself, its defeat will be honorable.
So, for her, what you want to avoid is a dishonorable defeat, meaning: Defeat you will face, your goodness notwithstanding. Sometimes you cannot save the world or even the situation. But you can save your own integrity and bring that moral component to the world and to the situation and by doing that you preserve your own dignity. You went down in defeat, but in honor. Goodness then will not have suffered a dishonorable defeat.
That’s a beautiful stoicism and if you aren’t a believer it’s about as wise a counsel as there is: Be true to yourself! Don’t betray who and what you are, even if you find yourself as unanimity-minus-one. However, Christianity, while respecting this kind of stoicism, places the question of victory and defeat into a very different perspective.
Inside our Christian faith, defeat and victory are radically redefined. We speak, for instance, of the victory of the cross, of the day Jesus died as “Good” Friday, of the transforming power of humiliation, and of how we gain our lives by losing them. Earthly defeat, for us, can still be victory, just as earthily victory can be a sad defeat. Indeed, in a Christian perspective, without even considering the next life, sometimes our defeats and humiliations are what allows depth and richer life to flow into us and sometimes our victories rob us of the very things that bring us community, intimacy, and happiness. The paschal mystery radically redefines both defeat and victory.
But this understanding doesn’t come easily. It’s the antithesis of cultural wisdom. Indeed, it didn’t even come easy for Jesus’ contemporaries. After Jesus died in the most humiliating way a person could die at that time, by being crucified, the first generation of Christians had a massive struggle with both the fact that he died and particularly with the manner in which he died. First, for them, if Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah, he wasn’t supposed to die at all. God is above death and certainly beyond being killed by humans. Moreover, as a creedal doctrine, they believed that death was the result of sin and, thus, if someone did not sin, he or she was not supposed to die. But Jesus had died. Finally, most faith-perplexing of all, was the humiliating manner of his death. Crucifixion was designed by the Romans not just as capital punishment but as a manner of death that totally and publically humiliated the person’s body. Jesus died a most humiliating death. No one called Good Friday “good” during the first days and years following his death. However, given his resurrection, they intuited without explicitly understanding it, that Jesus’ defeat in the crucifixion was the ultimate triumph and that the categories that make for victory and defeat were now forever different.
Initially, they lacked the words to express this. For several years after the resurrection, Christians were reluctant to mention the manner of Jesus’ death. It was a defeat in the eyes of the world and they were at loss to explain it. So they remained mostly silent about it. St. Paul’s conversion and his subsequent insights changed this. As someone who was raised in the Jewish faith, Paul also struggled with explaining how a humiliating defeat in this world could be in fact a victory. However, after his conversion to Christianity he eventually understood how goodness could take on sin and even “become sin itself” for our sake. That radically flipped our conceptions of defeat and victory. The cross was now seen as the ultimate victory and, instead of the humiliation of the cross being a source of shame, it now became the crown jewel: “I preach nothing but the cross of Christ.” That gave us the passion narratives.
We live in a world that, mostly, still defines defeat and victory in terms of who gets to be on top in terms of success, adulation, fame, influence, reputation, money, comfort, pleasure, and security in this life. There will be plenty of defeats in our lives and if lack a Christian perspective then the best we can then do is to take Iris Murdoch’s advice to heart: Realistically, goodness will not triumph, so try to avoid a dishonorable defeat.
Our Christian faith, while honoring that truth, challenges us to something more.
The 2018 Synod and the Gift of Young People
An important Vatican meeting last year about young people, faith and vocational discernment was just one stage in a journey in which the whole Church is engaged, says Fr Giacomo Costa SJ. Ahead of the 2018 Synod of Bishops, the Special Secretary outlined his hopes and expectations for the dialogue that would take place; now, he considers the importance for the future of the Church of what was said and heard, and of how the process unfolded. Fr Giacomo Costa SJ is Special Secretary for the Synod of Bishops and Editor of Aggiornamenti Sociali, in which the original text of this article appears. It was published in the December 2018 issue (797-804), translated into English by John Coughlin and edited by Robert Czerny. This extract was taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website - you can find the complete article here
The 15th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, on the theme, ‘Young People, Faith and Vocational Discernment’, concluded on 28 October 2018. Nevertheless, the journey that began there is certainly not complete. After two years of preparation, the assembly gathered in the Vatican for nearly one month. The participants were over 250 Synod Fathers from all over the world, 49 auditors (including 34 young people), 23 experts, eight fraternal delegates representing other churches and ecclesial communities, and one special invitee. It was an intense experience of listening and working together, in which I had the joy of participating personally in my role as Special Secretary.
Much more than merely a concluding text, the final document of the synod[1] traces a ‘journeying together’ and this, in fact, is the etymological meaning of the term ‘synod’. The synod experience was so deep and intense that the participants hoped that, ‘the “flame” of what we have experienced in these days may spread’. The Church at all levels – the episcopal conferences and local churches – are invited to move forward in the same way, ‘committing themselves to processes of communal discernment, including in the discussions some who are not bishops, as this Synod has done.’ (Final Document [henceforth FD] §120)
In this light, I will try to identify major milestones on this path and, above all, describe how we journeyed together, with particular ways of proceeding that struck participants as being at least as important as the topics covered, if not more so.
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