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
Eucharistic Adoration - Devonport: Every Friday 10am - 12noon, concluding with Stations of the Cross and Angelus
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: First Friday each month - commences at 10am and concludes with Mass
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 7pm Community Room Ulverstone
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 - commences at 10am and concludes with Mass
Benediction with Adoration Devonport: First Friday each month - commences at 10am and concludes with Mass
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 7pm Community Room Ulverstone
Weekday Masses 2nd – 5th April, 2019
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
7:00pm Devonport… Stations of the Cross
7:00pm
Ulverstone…Stations of the Cross
Ministry Rosters 6th & 7th April, 2019
Ulverstone:
Penguin:
Latrobe:
Port Sorell:
Readings this Week:
Fourth Sunday of Lent – Year C
First Reading: Joshua 5:9-12
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
Readings Next Week: Fifth Sunday of
Lent – Year C
Your prayers
are asked for the sick:
Christiana
Okpon, Fred Heazlewood, Thomas & Frances McGeown, Charlotte Milic, Jason Carr, John Kelly, Uleen Castles, Pam
Shepheard, David Cole, Rose Stanley & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Andrew Kirkpatrick, Rose Kirkpatrick, Pat Mapley, Rita
Dawkins, Noel Beha
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 1st – 7th April
Robert Charlton, Mary Marshall, Paul Banim, Horace Byrne, Eileen Murfet, Beris McCarthy, Fred Harrison, Bruce Ravaillion, Ada Davey, Jane Dutton, Paul
Lowry, Duncan Fox, Daphne Wills, Also deceased family and friends of Robertson &
Ravaillion families.
May they Rest in Peace
Weekly
Ramblings
Thanks to all those who have offered assistance with the
Thursday night Bingo fundraising efforts. We still need help and if anyone is
able to help with some backroom assistance then that would also be appreciated
– please contact the Parish Office (Tues – Thurs) and Annie or Anne will be
able to give you some information. PS we could still use some extra people on
Thursday evenings.
On Wednesday 17th at 6pm we will begin 24 Hours
of Prayer at OLOL Church. As part of a combined Churches of Devonport this will
be a time of prayerful preparation for Easter. We have sign-up sheets in each
of our Mass Centres inviting you to add your name to one of the time slots –
these will be shared with the other Churches to ensure that we have each of the
time slots covered.
PROJECT COMPASSION – GIVE LENT 100%
Michaela is a 21-year-old trainee at
Purple House, a dialysis centre in the Central Desert for people suffering from
kidney disease. With the support of Caritas partners, Michaela is helping to
build a social enterprise, a connection to culture and a new outlook for the
chronically ill. Please donate to Project Compassion 2019 and help provide
essential care, employment and training for First Australians.
OUR LENTEN LITURGY IN 2019:
- After
the introduction, Mass begins with the priest greeting from the rear of
the church and then proceeds while Kyrie
Eleison or Lord have mercy is
sung. On each of the Sundays of Lent, the Rite of Sprinkling (Asperges)
will take place during the singing of the Kyrie. The name ‘Asperges’ comes from the first word in the 9th
verse of Psalm
51
in the Latin
translation, the Vulgate.
- By
having moments of silence before and after the readings and after the
homily RGIRM (2007) 45.
- At
the breaking of the bread (the Fraction Rite) there will be a short
narrative before intoning the Lamb of God
- There
is no Gloria or Alleluia verse (replaced by a Gospel acclamation).
- The
second collection will be taken up when stickers are being given to
children - not during the reflection hymn.
BBQ & BOOK CLUB:
Michael and Grainne Hendrey invite
you to join them in their home Friday 5th April 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
SACRED HEART SCHOOL FAIR:
Buttons Avenue Ulverstone, Saturday
6th April 10am – 2pm. Entry is free – featuring cake stall
(donations of cakes, slice grateful accepted) produce, chocolate wheel, rides,
craft, food live entertainment and much more. Come along and have some fun!
KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS MEETING:
Sacred Heart Church Community Room
on Sunday 7th April. Please
bring food for a shared meal commencing at 6.00pm followed by a meeting at
6.30pm.
SACRED HEART CHURCH ROSTERS:
Rosters are now being prepared for Sacred Heart Church.
Please let Jo Rodgers (6425:5818/ 0439 064 493)) know as soon as possible if
you are interested in taking on a role within the Church or if you are unable
to continue on the roster.
OUR LADY OF
LOURDES SCHOOL:
Our Lady of Lourdes currently have
places available for enrolment in Kinder and Grade 1. Allow your children
or grandchildren to flourish in a learning community where we are
Christ-centred, student-focused with learning for life. Inquiries phone:
64241744 email: olol@catholic.tas.edu.au
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall,
Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers Thursday 4th
April – Merv Tippett & Graeme Rigney.
FOOTY MARGIN RESULTS:
Round 1 (Friday 22nd March) Geelong
defeated Collingwood by 7 points. Congratulations to the
following winners; Chris George, Nick Dalton-Smith, Veronica Mahoney. There are
still plenty of tickets to be sold at Devonport and Ulverstone each week, so
for a little bit of fun why not 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!!
Australian Church Completes First Phase of Historic Plenary Council
The Australian
Catholic Church has completed the first phase of its 2020 Plenary Council, in
which laypeople will be allowed to vote and decisions could be binding on the
nation's Catholics, once ratified by the Vatican.
The meeting's
organizers have received more than 20,000 submissions from more than 75,000
Catholics around the country in a 10-month "listening and dialogue"
process that finished March 13.
The landmark
meeting that will take place in two Australian cities during 2020 and 2021 is
already bringing to the surface debate about the role of the laity in the
church and other reforms that are becoming more urgent in the wake of the
ever-growing global sexual abuse scandal.
The Australian
meeting will be only the third plenary council to held anywhere in the world
since World War II; the Philippines held one in 1991 and Poland in 1993. There
were three plenary councils in the United States before 1884, but none since.
The Australian
council was announced in 2017, during the five-year Royal Commission into
Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
That inquiry
documented decades of abuse by Catholic clerics, clergy from other faiths and
adults from nonreligious institutions and handed down its findings in October
2017. Some findings related to the administration of the Catholic Church and
the formation of clergy, including a recommendation that the seal of the
confession be removed for abuse cases.
"Around
the start of the new millennium, the Australian bishops started discussing the
possibility of some sort of national gathering to take up the challenge St.
John Paul II issued in his apostolic letter 'Novo Millennio Ineunte,'"
Lana Turvey-Collins, facilitator for Plenary Council 2020, told Catholic News
Service. The letter said the new millennium was the perfect opportunity for
every church, nationally and on a diocesan level, to reflect on the faith and
determine what pastoral actions to take in order to make Christ known and loved
in today's world.
A plenary
council is the highest form of gathering of any local church. It has
legislative and governance authority, and decisions made at the council -- if
approved by the Vatican -- become binding for the Catholic Church in Australia;
a synod does not have this legislative and governance authority.
The Australian
church has been rocked by the sex abuse scandal, Royal Commission and recent
conviction of Cardinal George Pell to six-years' imprisonment for sexually
abusing two 13-year-choirboys. The cardinal remains in jail pending an appeal
hearing in June.
"The
plenary council of the church, it's only going to have credibility if laypeople
get to vote on its recommendation -- and that they have at least half the
vote," de Groot told CNS.
"There are
still some bishops who have a default setting to the way things were, and that
needs to change," he said. "There are 5 million baptized Catholics in
Australia and 800,000 kids in Catholic schools around the country; they need to
be given permission to speak, and they need to get some power with this voice.
The question
being asked of Australian Catholics, "What do you think God is asking of
us in Australia at this time?" has triggered a wave of responses among
Australian Catholics and at least some of the church's senior clerics.
Some of the
responses "included the role of laity, feeling a sense of belonging and
times when they've experienced rejection or judgment; people shared their
experiences of sacraments and liturgy and their hopes for the experience of these
to be faithful, inclusive, engaging and spirit-filled," Turvey-Collins
said.
She added that
there was great diversity in how this could and should be achieved as people
shared their experiences and hopes on topics such as women, leadership and
governance, church leadership in society on social issues such as ecological
justice, homelessness and radical compassion "like Jesus was."
"I have
been very moved by the stories of faith, hope and resilience I have
heard," Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, plenary council president,
said in a statement following the conclusion of the first phase.
He explained
there was "no precedent for a national invitation to prayer" as well
as dialogue and sharing of stories, which he described as a sense of stepping
into the unknown "and being unsure of what the experience might
become."
The first
session of the 2020 Plenary Council will take place in Adelaide, the capital of
the state of South Australia, in October 2020. In May 2021, a second session
will be held in Sydney, the venue of the 1936 Plenary Council.
For the next
step, the Australian bishops' National Centre for Pastoral Research will
conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the submissions received
and, using best-practice research methods, will identify key themes that have
emerged. In May, the bishops' Commission for the Plenary Council, the Plenary
Council Executive Committee and the facilitation team will work together with
the National Centre for Pastoral Research to finalize the national themes for
discernment. The themes, announced June 9, will become the focus for the
listening and discernment phase and will be the foundations for the plenary
council agenda.
De Groot said
these will be very telling and "the difficult issues need to be exposed.
We need to know what all of those issues are; we need to change the governance
of the church, the way it deals with grievances and complaints -- there needs
to be transparency about why decisions are made. The plenary council, in its
preparation, must address these things."
"Discernment
is a term that we hear quite often these days, and practicing discernment in
our communities and in our preparation toward the plenary council will help to
ensure we are listening to God, listening to each other and considering our
path forward as the people of God in Australia," Costelloe said.
Turvey-Collins
said final numbers of people attending the council are yet to be determined,
but it is expected there will be approximately 300 delegates.
"Canon law
provides the framework for who the delegates are and includes episcopal
leadership, religious and consecrated leaders and laypeople," she said,
adding that the church would seek delegates from all parts of the country and
from various backgrounds, including indigenous Australians, people from the
Eastern Catholic Churches, people of all ages, occupations and walks of life.
De Groot said
that while the council naturally needs to deal with the core business of being
Catholic, "it also must deal with governance, safeguarding and formation
of leadership."
The decisions
made at the Plenary Council will then require implementation and this timeline
is not yet clear, Turvey-Collins said.
Lessons Through Failure
An article by Fr Ron
Rolheiser OMI from his weekly email
What’s to be
learned through failure, through being humbled by our own faults? Generally
that’s the only way we grow. In being humbled by our own inadequacies we learn
those lessons in life that we are deaf to when we are strutting in confidence
and pride. There are secrets, says John Updike, which are hidden from health.
This lesson is everywhere in scripture and permeates every spirituality
in every religion worthy of the name.
Raymond E.
Brown, offers an illustration of this from scripture: Reflecting on how
at one point in its history, God’s chosen people, Israel, betrayed its faith
and was consequently humiliated and thrown into a crisis about God’s love and
concern for them, Brown points out that, long range, this seeming disaster
ended up being a positive experience: “Israel learned more about God
in the ashes of the Temple destroyed by the Babylonians than in the elegant
period of the Temple under Solomon.”
What does he
mean by that? Just prior to being conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon, Israel had just experienced what, to all outside appearances, looked
like the high point of her history (politically, socially, and religiously).
She was in possession of the promised land, had subdued all her enemies,
had a great king ruling over her, and had a magnificent temple in Jerusalem as
a place to worship and a center to hold all the people together. However,
inside that apparent strength, perhaps because of it, she had become complacent
about her faith and increasing lax in being faithful to it. That complacency
and laxity led to her downfall. In 587 BCE, she was overrun by
a foreign nation who, after taking the land, deported most of the people to
Babylon, killed the king, and knocked the temple down to its last stone.
Israel spent the next nearly half-century in exile, without a temple,
struggling to reconcile this with her belief that God loved her.
However, in
terms of the bigger picture, this turned out to be a positive. The pain of
being exiled and the doubts of faith that were triggered by the destruction of
her temple were ultimately offset by what she learned through this humiliation
and crisis, namely, that God is faithful even when we aren’t, that our failures
open our eyes to us our own complacency and blindness, and that what looks like
success is often its opposite, just as what looks like failure is often its
opposite. As Richard Rohr might phrase it, in our failures we have a
chance to “fall upward”.
There’s no
better image available, I believe, by which to understand what the church is
now undergoing through the humiliation thrust on it through the clerical sexual
abuse crisis within Roman Catholicism and within other churches as well. To
recast Raymond Brown’s insight: The church can learn more about God in
the ashes of the clerical sexual abuse crisis than it did during its elegant
periods of grand cathedrals, burgeoning church growth, and unquestioned
acquiescence to ecclesial authority. It can also learn more about
itself, its blindness to its own faults, and its need for some structural
change and personal conversion. Hopefully, like the Babylonian exile for
Israel, this too will be for the churches something that’s positive in the end.
Moreover,
what’s true institutionally for the church (and, not doubt, for other
organizations) is also true for each of us in our personal lives. The
humiliations that beset us because of our inadequacies, complacencies,
failures, betrayals, and blindness to our own faults can be occasions to “fall
upward”, to learn in the ashes what we didn’t learn in the winner’s circle.
Almost
without exception, our major successes in life, our grander achievements, and
the boost in status and adulation that come with that generally don’t deepen us
in any way. To paraphrase James Hillman, success usually doesn’t bring a
shred of depth into our lives. Conversely, if we reflect with courage and
honesty on all the things that have brought depth and character into our lives
we will have to admit that, in virtually every case, it would be something that
has an element of shame to it – a feeling of inadequacy about our own body,
some humiliating element in our upbringing, some shameful moral failure in our
life, or something in our character about which we feel some shame. These are
the things that have given us depth.
Humiliation
makes for depth; it drives us into the deeper parts of our soul. Unfortunately,
however, that doesn’t always make for a positive result. The pain of
humiliation makes us deep; but it can make us deep in two ways: in
understanding and empathy but also in a bitterness of soul that would have us
get even with the world.
But the
positive point is this: Like Israel on the shores of Babylon, when our temple
is damaged or destroyed, in the ashes of that exile we will have a chance to
see some deeper things to which we are normally blind.
Jesus' Hermeneutic
Jesus’ approach to interpreting sacred text was radical for
his time, yet honoured his own Hebrew Bible (or what Christians call the Old
Testament). Even though Jesus’ use of Scripture is plain enough for us to see
in the Gospels, many Christians are accustomed to reading the Bible in a very
different way. We simply haven’t paid attention and connected the dots! Over
the next couple days, I’ll share some examples that reveal Jesus’ hermeneutic
so that we might follow his methodology:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, What Do We Do with the Bible?
(CAC Publishing: 2018), 44-46.
But Where Are The Others?
This article is taken from the 2019 Archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
Most of us have been raised to believe that we have right to possess whatever comes to us honestly, either through our own work or through legitimate inheritance. No matter how large that wealth might be, it’s ours, as long as we didn’t cheat anyone along the way. By and large, this belief has been enshrined in the laws of our democratic countries and we generally believe that it is morally sanctioned by Christianity. That’s partially true, but a lot needs to be nuanced here.
This is not really the view of our Christian scriptures, nor of the social teachings of the Catholic Church. Not everything we acquire honestly through our own hard work is simply ours to have. We’re not islands and we don’t walk through life alone, as if being solicitous for the welfare of others is something that’s morally optional. The French poet and essayist, Charles Peguy, once suggested that when we come to the gates of heaven we will all be asked: “Mais ou sont les autres?” (“But where are the others?”)That question issues forth both from our humanity and our faith. But what about the others? It’s an illusion and a fault in our discipleship to think that everything we can possess by our own hard work is ours by right. To think this way is to live the partially examined life.
Bill Gates Sr., writing in Sojourners some fifteen years ago, challenges not only his famous son but the rest of us too with these words: “Society has an enormous claim upon the fortunes of the wealthy. This is rooted not only in most religious traditions, but also in an honest accounting of society’s substantial investment in creating fertile ground for wealth-creation. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all affirm the right of individual ownership and private property, but there are moral limits imposed on absolute private ownership of wealth and property. Each tradition affirms that we are not individuals alone but exist in community – a community that makes claims on us. The notion that ‘it is all mine’ is a violation of these teachings and traditions.” Society’s claim on individual accumulated wealth “is rooted in the recognition of society’s direct and indirect investment in the individual’s success. In other words, we didn’t get there on our own.” (Sojourners, Jan-Feb., 2003)
Nobody gets there on his own and so, once there, he needs to recognize that what he has accumulated is the result not just of his own work but also of the infrastructure of the whole society within which he lives. Accordingly, what he has accumulated is not fully his, as if his own hard work alone had brought this about.
Beyond that, there’s something else which Benjamin Hales calls “the veil of opulence” which lets us naively believe that each of us deserves everything we get. No so, says Hales. A lot of blind luck in involved in determining who gets to possess what: “The veil of opulence”, he says, “insists that people imagine that resources and opportunities and talents are freely available to all, that such goods are widely abundant, that there is no element of randomness or chance that may negatively impact those who struggle to succeed but sadly fail through no fault of their own. … It turns a blind eye to the adversity that some people, let’s face it, are born into. By insisting that we consider public policy from the perspective of the most-advantaged, the veil of opulence obscures the vagaries of brute luck. But wait, you may be thinking, what of merit? What of all those who have labored and toiled and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to make their lives better for themselves and their families? This is an important question indeed. Many people work hard for their money and deserve to keep what they earn. An answer is offered by both doctrines of fairness. The veil of opulence assumes that the playing field is level, that all gains are fairly gotten, that there is no cosmic adversity. In doing so, it is partial to the fortunate. … It is an illusion of prosperity to believe that each of us deserves everything we get.” (New York Times, August 12, 2012)
Scripture and the Catholic social teaching would summarize it this way: God intended the earth and everything in it for the sake of all human beings. Thus, in justice, created goods should flow fairly to all. All other rights are subordinated to this principle. We do have a right to private ownership and no one may ever deny us of this right but that right is subordinated to the common good, to the fact that goods are intended for everyone. Wealth and possessions must be understood as ours to steward rather than to possess absolutely. Finally, perhaps most challenging of all, no person may have surplus if others do not have the basic necessities. In any accumulation of wealth and possessions we have to perennially face the question: “Mais ou sont les autres?”
Weekday Masses 2nd – 5th April, 2019
Tuesday: 9:30am Penguin
Wednesday: NO MASS LATROBE
Thursday: 12noon Devonport
Friday: 9:30am
Ulverstone
12noon
Devonport
7:00pm Devonport… Stations of the Cross
7:00pm Devonport… Stations of the Cross
7:00pm
Ulverstone…Stations of the Cross
Next Weekend 6th & 7th April, 2019
Saturday: 9:30am Ulverstone
Saturday Vigil: 6:00pm Penguin
6:00pm Devonport
Sunday Mass: 8:30am Port Sorell
9:00am Ulverstone
10:30am Devonport
11:00am Sheffield
5:00pm Latrobe
Ministry Rosters 6th & 7th April, 2019
Devonport:
Readers Vigil: M Stewart, M Gaffney, H Lim 10:30am: J Henderson, J Phillips, P Piccolo
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: 5th April: M.W.C 12th April: B Paul, D Atkins, V Riley
Piety Shop: 6th
April: R Baker 7th April: K Hull
Ulverstone:
Reader/s: J & S Willoughby Ministers of Communion: B Deacon, K Reilly, E Stubbs
Cleaners: M Mott Flowers: G Doyle Hospitality: K Foster
Penguin:
Greeters G & N Pearce Commentator:
J Barker Readers: K Fraser, T Clayton
Ministers of
Communion: E
Nickols, J Garnsey Liturgy: Penguin
Setting Up: E Nickols Care of Church: M Murray, E Nickols
Latrobe:
Reader: S Ritchie Minister of Communion: B Ritchie Procession of Gifts: J Hyde
Port Sorell:
Readers: D Leaman, G Gigliotti Ministers of Communion: J & D Peters Cleaners: C & J Howard
Readings this Week:
Fourth Sunday of Lent – Year C
First Reading: Joshua 5:9-12
Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:17-21
Gospel: Luke 15:1-3. 11-32
PREGO REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL:
I come quietly and gently to my time of prayer. I ask the
Lord to help me hear this familiar story anew, taking time to read slowly,
reverently. What particularly draws me, or touches me? Perhaps I focus
especially on Jesus’s description of the Father … how he watches out … runs to
meet his boy … the tender embrace … his joy. What do I find myself thinking and
feeling as I witness all of this? Now I imagine myself (re-)turning to God, or
to Jesus, to ask for his forgiveness. How does he respond to me? And in turn,
how do I want to respond to him? Trusting in his love and compassion, I share whatever
is in my heart and ask for anything I need. When I am ready, I end my prayer
with my own words of thanksgiving.
Readings Next Week: Fifth Sunday of
Lent – Year C
First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21
Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14
Gospel: John
8:1-11
Christiana
Okpon, Fred Heazlewood, Thomas & Frances McGeown, Charlotte Milic, Jason Carr, John Kelly, Uleen Castles, Pam
Shepheard, David Cole, Rose Stanley & ….
Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Andrew Kirkpatrick, Rose Kirkpatrick, Pat Mapley, Rita
Dawkins, Noel Beha
Let us pray
for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 1st – 7th April
Robert Charlton, Mary Marshall, Paul Banim, Horace Byrne, Eileen Murfet, Beris McCarthy, Fred Harrison, Bruce Ravaillion, Ada Davey, Jane Dutton, Paul
Lowry, Duncan Fox, Daphne Wills, Also deceased family and friends of Robertson &
Ravaillion families.
May they Rest in Peace
Weekly
Ramblings
On Tuesday (2nd) I will be in Hobart for a
Council of Priests Meeting and on Wednesday Fr Paschal and I will be there for
a Pastoral Conference. Fr Phil has a prior medical appointment on Wednesday
morning so is not available for the Mass at Latrobe – apologies to anyone who
is inconvenienced.
Thanks to all those who have offered assistance with the
Thursday night Bingo fundraising efforts. We still need help and if anyone is
able to help with some backroom assistance then that would also be appreciated
– please contact the Parish Office (Tues – Thurs) and Annie or Anne will be
able to give you some information. PS we could still use some extra people on
Thursday evenings.
On Wednesday 17th at 6pm we will begin 24 Hours
of Prayer at OLOL Church. As part of a combined Churches of Devonport this will
be a time of prayerful preparation for Easter. We have sign-up sheets in each
of our Mass Centres inviting you to add your name to one of the time slots –
these will be shared with the other Churches to ensure that we have each of the
time slots covered.
Please take care
PROJECT COMPASSION – GIVE LENT 100%
LIVES CHANGE WHEN WE ALL GIVE 100%
Michaela is a 21-year-old trainee at
Purple House, a dialysis centre in the Central Desert for people suffering from
kidney disease. With the support of Caritas partners, Michaela is helping to
build a social enterprise, a connection to culture and a new outlook for the
chronically ill. Please donate to Project Compassion 2019 and help provide
essential care, employment and training for First Australians.
OUR LENTEN LITURGY IN 2019:
Our words, actions and music in the liturgy lead us ever
deeper into the paschal mystery this Lent:
- After
the introduction, Mass begins with the priest greeting from the rear of
the church and then proceeds while Kyrie
Eleison or Lord have mercy is
sung. On each of the Sundays of Lent, the Rite of Sprinkling (Asperges)
will take place during the singing of the Kyrie. The name ‘Asperges’ comes from the first word in the 9th
verse of Psalm
51
in the Latin
translation, the Vulgate.
- By
having moments of silence before and after the readings and after the
homily RGIRM (2007) 45.
- At
the breaking of the bread (the Fraction Rite) there will be a short
narrative before intoning the Lamb of God
- There
is no Gloria or Alleluia verse (replaced by a Gospel acclamation).
- The
second collection will be taken up when stickers are being given to
children - not during the reflection hymn.
BBQ & BOOK CLUB:
Michael and Grainne Hendrey invite
you to join them in their home Friday 5th April 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
SACRED HEART SCHOOL FAIR:
Buttons Avenue Ulverstone, Saturday
6th April 10am – 2pm. Entry is free – featuring cake stall
(donations of cakes, slice grateful accepted) produce, chocolate wheel, rides,
craft, food live entertainment and much more. Come along and have some fun!
KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS MEETING:
Sacred Heart Church Community Room
on Sunday 7th April. Please
bring food for a shared meal commencing at 6.00pm followed by a meeting at
6.30pm.
SACRED HEART CHURCH ROSTERS:
Rosters are now being prepared for Sacred Heart Church.
Please let Jo Rodgers (6425:5818/ 0439 064 493)) know as soon as possible if
you are interested in taking on a role within the Church or if you are unable
to continue on the roster.
OUR LADY OF
LOURDES SCHOOL:
Our Lady of Lourdes currently have
places available for enrolment in Kinder and Grade 1. Allow your children
or grandchildren to flourish in a learning community where we are
Christ-centred, student-focused with learning for life. Inquiries phone:
64241744 email: olol@catholic.tas.edu.au
Thursday Nights - OLOL Hall,
Devonport. Eyes down 7.30pm!
Callers Thursday 4th
April – Merv Tippett & Graeme Rigney.
FOOTY MARGIN RESULTS:
Round 1 (Friday 22nd March) Geelong
defeated Collingwood by 7 points. Congratulations to the
following winners; Chris George, Nick Dalton-Smith, Veronica Mahoney. There are
still plenty of tickets to be sold at Devonport and Ulverstone each week, so
for a little bit of fun why not 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!!
Australian Church Completes First Phase of Historic Plenary Council
The Australian
Catholic Church has completed the first phase of its 2020 Plenary Council, in
which laypeople will be allowed to vote and decisions could be binding on the
nation's Catholics, once ratified by the Vatican.
The meeting's
organizers have received more than 20,000 submissions from more than 75,000
Catholics around the country in a 10-month "listening and dialogue"
process that finished March 13.
The landmark
meeting that will take place in two Australian cities during 2020 and 2021 is
already bringing to the surface debate about the role of the laity in the
church and other reforms that are becoming more urgent in the wake of the
ever-growing global sexual abuse scandal.
The Australian
meeting will be only the third plenary council to held anywhere in the world
since World War II; the Philippines held one in 1991 and Poland in 1993. There
were three plenary councils in the United States before 1884, but none since.
The Australian
council was announced in 2017, during the five-year Royal Commission into
Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
That inquiry
documented decades of abuse by Catholic clerics, clergy from other faiths and
adults from nonreligious institutions and handed down its findings in October
2017. Some findings related to the administration of the Catholic Church and
the formation of clergy, including a recommendation that the seal of the
confession be removed for abuse cases.
"Around
the start of the new millennium, the Australian bishops started discussing the
possibility of some sort of national gathering to take up the challenge St.
John Paul II issued in his apostolic letter 'Novo Millennio Ineunte,'"
Lana Turvey-Collins, facilitator for Plenary Council 2020, told Catholic News
Service. The letter said the new millennium was the perfect opportunity for
every church, nationally and on a diocesan level, to reflect on the faith and
determine what pastoral actions to take in order to make Christ known and loved
in today's world.
A plenary
council is the highest form of gathering of any local church. It has
legislative and governance authority, and decisions made at the council -- if
approved by the Vatican -- become binding for the Catholic Church in Australia;
a synod does not have this legislative and governance authority.
The Australian
church has been rocked by the sex abuse scandal, Royal Commission and recent
conviction of Cardinal George Pell to six-years' imprisonment for sexually
abusing two 13-year-choirboys. The cardinal remains in jail pending an appeal
hearing in June.
Jack de Groot,
CEO of St. Vincent de Paul in New South Wales and chairman of the
Implementation Advisory Group to Australian bishops and religious on sex abuse,
said in many ways, the country is a test case for the church worldwide.
"The
plenary council of the church, it's only going to have credibility if laypeople
get to vote on its recommendation -- and that they have at least half the
vote," de Groot told CNS.
"There are
still some bishops who have a default setting to the way things were, and that
needs to change," he said. "There are 5 million baptized Catholics in
Australia and 800,000 kids in Catholic schools around the country; they need to
be given permission to speak, and they need to get some power with this voice.
The question
being asked of Australian Catholics, "What do you think God is asking of
us in Australia at this time?" has triggered a wave of responses among
Australian Catholics and at least some of the church's senior clerics.
Some of the
responses "included the role of laity, feeling a sense of belonging and
times when they've experienced rejection or judgment; people shared their
experiences of sacraments and liturgy and their hopes for the experience of these
to be faithful, inclusive, engaging and spirit-filled," Turvey-Collins
said.
She added that
there was great diversity in how this could and should be achieved as people
shared their experiences and hopes on topics such as women, leadership and
governance, church leadership in society on social issues such as ecological
justice, homelessness and radical compassion "like Jesus was."
"I have
been very moved by the stories of faith, hope and resilience I have
heard," Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe, plenary council president,
said in a statement following the conclusion of the first phase.
He explained
there was "no precedent for a national invitation to prayer" as well
as dialogue and sharing of stories, which he described as a sense of stepping
into the unknown "and being unsure of what the experience might
become."
The first
session of the 2020 Plenary Council will take place in Adelaide, the capital of
the state of South Australia, in October 2020. In May 2021, a second session
will be held in Sydney, the venue of the 1936 Plenary Council.
For the next
step, the Australian bishops' National Centre for Pastoral Research will
conduct a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the submissions received
and, using best-practice research methods, will identify key themes that have
emerged. In May, the bishops' Commission for the Plenary Council, the Plenary
Council Executive Committee and the facilitation team will work together with
the National Centre for Pastoral Research to finalize the national themes for
discernment. The themes, announced June 9, will become the focus for the
listening and discernment phase and will be the foundations for the plenary
council agenda.
De Groot said
these will be very telling and "the difficult issues need to be exposed.
We need to know what all of those issues are; we need to change the governance
of the church, the way it deals with grievances and complaints -- there needs
to be transparency about why decisions are made. The plenary council, in its
preparation, must address these things."
"Discernment
is a term that we hear quite often these days, and practicing discernment in
our communities and in our preparation toward the plenary council will help to
ensure we are listening to God, listening to each other and considering our
path forward as the people of God in Australia," Costelloe said.
Turvey-Collins
said final numbers of people attending the council are yet to be determined,
but it is expected there will be approximately 300 delegates.
"Canon law
provides the framework for who the delegates are and includes episcopal
leadership, religious and consecrated leaders and laypeople," she said,
adding that the church would seek delegates from all parts of the country and
from various backgrounds, including indigenous Australians, people from the
Eastern Catholic Churches, people of all ages, occupations and walks of life.
De Groot said
that while the council naturally needs to deal with the core business of being
Catholic, "it also must deal with governance, safeguarding and formation
of leadership."
The decisions
made at the Plenary Council will then require implementation and this timeline
is not yet clear, Turvey-Collins said.
Lessons Through Failure
An article by Fr Ron
Rolheiser OMI from his weekly email
What’s to be
learned through failure, through being humbled by our own faults? Generally
that’s the only way we grow. In being humbled by our own inadequacies we learn
those lessons in life that we are deaf to when we are strutting in confidence
and pride. There are secrets, says John Updike, which are hidden from health.
This lesson is everywhere in scripture and permeates every spirituality
in every religion worthy of the name.
Raymond E.
Brown, offers an illustration of this from scripture: Reflecting on how
at one point in its history, God’s chosen people, Israel, betrayed its faith
and was consequently humiliated and thrown into a crisis about God’s love and
concern for them, Brown points out that, long range, this seeming disaster
ended up being a positive experience: “Israel learned more about God
in the ashes of the Temple destroyed by the Babylonians than in the elegant
period of the Temple under Solomon.”
What does he
mean by that? Just prior to being conquered by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of
Babylon, Israel had just experienced what, to all outside appearances, looked
like the high point of her history (politically, socially, and religiously).
She was in possession of the promised land, had subdued all her enemies,
had a great king ruling over her, and had a magnificent temple in Jerusalem as
a place to worship and a center to hold all the people together. However,
inside that apparent strength, perhaps because of it, she had become complacent
about her faith and increasing lax in being faithful to it. That complacency
and laxity led to her downfall. In 587 BCE, she was overrun by
a foreign nation who, after taking the land, deported most of the people to
Babylon, killed the king, and knocked the temple down to its last stone.
Israel spent the next nearly half-century in exile, without a temple,
struggling to reconcile this with her belief that God loved her.
However, in
terms of the bigger picture, this turned out to be a positive. The pain of
being exiled and the doubts of faith that were triggered by the destruction of
her temple were ultimately offset by what she learned through this humiliation
and crisis, namely, that God is faithful even when we aren’t, that our failures
open our eyes to us our own complacency and blindness, and that what looks like
success is often its opposite, just as what looks like failure is often its
opposite. As Richard Rohr might phrase it, in our failures we have a
chance to “fall upward”.
There’s no
better image available, I believe, by which to understand what the church is
now undergoing through the humiliation thrust on it through the clerical sexual
abuse crisis within Roman Catholicism and within other churches as well. To
recast Raymond Brown’s insight: The church can learn more about God in
the ashes of the clerical sexual abuse crisis than it did during its elegant
periods of grand cathedrals, burgeoning church growth, and unquestioned
acquiescence to ecclesial authority. It can also learn more about
itself, its blindness to its own faults, and its need for some structural
change and personal conversion. Hopefully, like the Babylonian exile for
Israel, this too will be for the churches something that’s positive in the end.
Moreover,
what’s true institutionally for the church (and, not doubt, for other
organizations) is also true for each of us in our personal lives. The
humiliations that beset us because of our inadequacies, complacencies,
failures, betrayals, and blindness to our own faults can be occasions to “fall
upward”, to learn in the ashes what we didn’t learn in the winner’s circle.
Almost
without exception, our major successes in life, our grander achievements, and
the boost in status and adulation that come with that generally don’t deepen us
in any way. To paraphrase James Hillman, success usually doesn’t bring a
shred of depth into our lives. Conversely, if we reflect with courage and
honesty on all the things that have brought depth and character into our lives
we will have to admit that, in virtually every case, it would be something that
has an element of shame to it – a feeling of inadequacy about our own body,
some humiliating element in our upbringing, some shameful moral failure in our
life, or something in our character about which we feel some shame. These are
the things that have given us depth.
Humiliation
makes for depth; it drives us into the deeper parts of our soul. Unfortunately,
however, that doesn’t always make for a positive result. The pain of
humiliation makes us deep; but it can make us deep in two ways: in
understanding and empathy but also in a bitterness of soul that would have us
get even with the world.
But the
positive point is this: Like Israel on the shores of Babylon, when our temple
is damaged or destroyed, in the ashes of that exile we will have a chance to
see some deeper things to which we are normally blind.
Jesus' Hermeneutic
Jesus’ approach to interpreting sacred text was radical for
his time, yet honoured his own Hebrew Bible (or what Christians call the Old
Testament). Even though Jesus’ use of Scripture is plain enough for us to see
in the Gospels, many Christians are accustomed to reading the Bible in a very
different way. We simply haven’t paid attention and connected the dots! Over
the next couple days, I’ll share some examples that reveal Jesus’ hermeneutic
so that we might follow his methodology:
• Jesus
actually does not quote Scripture that much! In fact, he is criticized for not
doing this: “you teach with [inner] authority and not like our own scribes”
(Mark 1:22).
• Jesus
talks much more out of his own experience of God and humanity instead of
teaching like the scribes and Pharisees, who operated out of their own form of
case law by quoting previous sources.
• Jesus
often uses what appear to be non-Jewish or non-canonical sources, or at least
sources scholars cannot verify. For example, “It is not the healthy who need
the doctor, but the sick do” (see Mark 2:17, Matthew 9:12, and Luke 5:31), or
the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (see Luke 16:19-31). His bandwidth of
authority and attention is much wider than sola Scriptura. He even quotes some
sources seemingly incorrectly (for example, John 10:34)!
• Jesus
never once quotes from nineteen of the books in his own Scriptures. In fact, he
appears to use a very few favourites: Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Hosea, and
Psalms—and those are overwhelmingly in Matthew’s Gospel, which was directed to
a Jewish audience.
• Jesus
appears to ignore most of his own Bible, yet it clearly formed his whole
consciousness. That is the paradox. If we look at what he ignores, it includes
any passages—of which there are many—that appear to legitimate violence,
imperialism, exclusion, purity, and dietary laws. Jesus is a biblically formed
non-Bible quoter who gets the deeper stream, the spirit, the trajectory of his
Jewish history and never settles for mere surface readings.
• When
Jesus does once quote Leviticus, he quotes the one positive mandate among long
lists of negative ones: “You must love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus
19:18).
Adapted from Richard Rohr, What Do We Do with the Bible?
(CAC Publishing: 2018), 44-46.
But Where Are The Others?
This article is taken from the 2019 Archives of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find the original article here
Most of us have been raised to believe that we have right to possess whatever comes to us honestly, either through our own work or through legitimate inheritance. No matter how large that wealth might be, it’s ours, as long as we didn’t cheat anyone along the way. By and large, this belief has been enshrined in the laws of our democratic countries and we generally believe that it is morally sanctioned by Christianity. That’s partially true, but a lot needs to be nuanced here.
This is not really the view of our Christian scriptures, nor of the social teachings of the Catholic Church. Not everything we acquire honestly through our own hard work is simply ours to have. We’re not islands and we don’t walk through life alone, as if being solicitous for the welfare of others is something that’s morally optional. The French poet and essayist, Charles Peguy, once suggested that when we come to the gates of heaven we will all be asked: “Mais ou sont les autres?” (“But where are the others?”)That question issues forth both from our humanity and our faith. But what about the others? It’s an illusion and a fault in our discipleship to think that everything we can possess by our own hard work is ours by right. To think this way is to live the partially examined life.
Bill Gates Sr., writing in Sojourners some fifteen years ago, challenges not only his famous son but the rest of us too with these words: “Society has an enormous claim upon the fortunes of the wealthy. This is rooted not only in most religious traditions, but also in an honest accounting of society’s substantial investment in creating fertile ground for wealth-creation. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all affirm the right of individual ownership and private property, but there are moral limits imposed on absolute private ownership of wealth and property. Each tradition affirms that we are not individuals alone but exist in community – a community that makes claims on us. The notion that ‘it is all mine’ is a violation of these teachings and traditions.” Society’s claim on individual accumulated wealth “is rooted in the recognition of society’s direct and indirect investment in the individual’s success. In other words, we didn’t get there on our own.” (Sojourners, Jan-Feb., 2003)
Nobody gets there on his own and so, once there, he needs to recognize that what he has accumulated is the result not just of his own work but also of the infrastructure of the whole society within which he lives. Accordingly, what he has accumulated is not fully his, as if his own hard work alone had brought this about.
Beyond that, there’s something else which Benjamin Hales calls “the veil of opulence” which lets us naively believe that each of us deserves everything we get. No so, says Hales. A lot of blind luck in involved in determining who gets to possess what: “The veil of opulence”, he says, “insists that people imagine that resources and opportunities and talents are freely available to all, that such goods are widely abundant, that there is no element of randomness or chance that may negatively impact those who struggle to succeed but sadly fail through no fault of their own. … It turns a blind eye to the adversity that some people, let’s face it, are born into. By insisting that we consider public policy from the perspective of the most-advantaged, the veil of opulence obscures the vagaries of brute luck. But wait, you may be thinking, what of merit? What of all those who have labored and toiled and pulled themselves up by their bootstraps to make their lives better for themselves and their families? This is an important question indeed. Many people work hard for their money and deserve to keep what they earn. An answer is offered by both doctrines of fairness. The veil of opulence assumes that the playing field is level, that all gains are fairly gotten, that there is no cosmic adversity. In doing so, it is partial to the fortunate. … It is an illusion of prosperity to believe that each of us deserves everything we get.” (New York Times, August 12, 2012)
Scripture and the Catholic social teaching would summarize it this way: God intended the earth and everything in it for the sake of all human beings. Thus, in justice, created goods should flow fairly to all. All other rights are subordinated to this principle. We do have a right to private ownership and no one may ever deny us of this right but that right is subordinated to the common good, to the fact that goods are intended for everyone. Wealth and possessions must be understood as ours to steward rather than to possess absolutely. Finally, perhaps most challenging of all, no person may have surplus if others do not have the basic necessities. In any accumulation of wealth and possessions we have to perennially face the question: “Mais ou sont les autres?”
CHURCH GROWTH BY ADDITION & ATTRITION:
4 REASONS PEOPLE LEAVE
This article is taken from the weekly blog written by Fr Michael White - Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timonium, Maryland. You can find the blog here
Probably most churches experience a high tide of church attendance this time of year, with Lent and Easter. We definitely do. But this year we have taken advantage of this special season to really challenge parishioners to invest and invite their unchurched friends to join us. And it seems to be working, currently our weekend attendance is up 8 – 10% over last year. We also invite guests to identify themselves at the Next Steps Kiosk when visiting (where we have a gift bag for them) and recently there have been as many as two dozen a week.
Its great to see your parish grow as you welcome newcomers and guests. But there is another kind of growth that happens in healthy parishes: growth by attrition.
People leave failing churches all the time: financial instability, congregational conflict, doctrinal divisions, all can lead to departures. And that is not surprising. But none of those dysfunctions would be present in a healthy church. So, why would people leave a healthy church, why say good-bye to something that is working well? How can it be true that church growth is accompanied by attrition?
In fact, as Pastor Carey Nieuwhof writes, some people leave because things are going well, or because you’re getting healthier. As your parish makes progress on the path of health you absolutely will lose people.
Why? One of several possible reasons, all variations on the same theme.
- They liked it the way it was.
However dysfunctional a church community might be, it works (at some level) for the people attending. Change something, or anything at all, and you threatened what they have.
- They’re afraid of your direction.
Directionless churches can be comfortable churches. Set a direction, cast a vision, unveil a master plan, question the status quo and you’re threatening someone’s comfort.
Perhaps they’re more interested in the past they knew than the future you envision. However inspiring your vision, however compelling your mission, there will always be people who just don’t want to hear it.
- They don’t like the new people.
Suddenly there is someone else sitting in my seat; more cars on the parking lot means I have to arrive earlier; I don’t know everyone by name. Newcomers can be unwelcome to the regulars, and if the newcomers are different (ethnically, culturally, economically) they can be very unwelcome.
- They don’t really want to be in a healthy church.
Not so long ago a parishioner left our parish. He was definitely a never-miss-a-Sunday kind of guy and active in ministry. All evidence suggested he was on board. Then one day he left? Why? The guy had demonstrated some dysfunctional behavior (right out of the playbook for dysfunctional churches) and we called him on it. He resented being challenged when it came to emotional health.
Like seeks like: people who gossip want to be around other gossips, complainers love complainers, consumers seek the company of other consumers.
As you grow a healthier church unhealthy people will want to leave. Let them go and you will grow.
For a much more comprehensive and complete take on this see:
“5 Rather Startling Reasons People Leave Your Church” @careynieuwhof.com
The Prodigal Father
A Postmodern Homily
This article is taken from the weekly blog written by Fr Michael White - Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timonium, Maryland. You can find the blog here
Probably most churches experience a high tide of church attendance this time of year, with Lent and Easter. We definitely do. But this year we have taken advantage of this special season to really challenge parishioners to invest and invite their unchurched friends to join us. And it seems to be working, currently our weekend attendance is up 8 – 10% over last year. We also invite guests to identify themselves at the Next Steps Kiosk when visiting (where we have a gift bag for them) and recently there have been as many as two dozen a week.
Its great to see your parish grow as you welcome newcomers and guests. But there is another kind of growth that happens in healthy parishes: growth by attrition.
People leave failing churches all the time: financial instability, congregational conflict, doctrinal divisions, all can lead to departures. And that is not surprising. But none of those dysfunctions would be present in a healthy church. So, why would people leave a healthy church, why say good-bye to something that is working well? How can it be true that church growth is accompanied by attrition?
In fact, as Pastor Carey Nieuwhof writes, some people leave because things are going well, or because you’re getting healthier. As your parish makes progress on the path of health you absolutely will lose people.
Why? One of several possible reasons, all variations on the same theme.
- They liked it the way it was.
However dysfunctional a church community might be, it works (at some level) for the people attending. Change something, or anything at all, and you threatened what they have.
- They’re afraid of your direction.
Directionless churches can be comfortable churches. Set a direction, cast a vision, unveil a master plan, question the status quo and you’re threatening someone’s comfort.
Perhaps they’re more interested in the past they knew than the future you envision. However inspiring your vision, however compelling your mission, there will always be people who just don’t want to hear it.
- They don’t like the new people.
Suddenly there is someone else sitting in my seat; more cars on the parking lot means I have to arrive earlier; I don’t know everyone by name. Newcomers can be unwelcome to the regulars, and if the newcomers are different (ethnically, culturally, economically) they can be very unwelcome.
- They don’t really want to be in a healthy church.
Not so long ago a parishioner left our parish. He was definitely a never-miss-a-Sunday kind of guy and active in ministry. All evidence suggested he was on board. Then one day he left? Why? The guy had demonstrated some dysfunctional behavior (right out of the playbook for dysfunctional churches) and we called him on it. He resented being challenged when it came to emotional health.
Like seeks like: people who gossip want to be around other gossips, complainers love complainers, consumers seek the company of other consumers.
As you grow a healthier church unhealthy people will want to leave. Let them go and you will grow.
For a much more comprehensive and complete take on this see:
“5 Rather Startling Reasons People Leave Your Church” @careynieuwhof.com
The Prodigal Father
A Postmodern Homily
This article is taken from the thinkingfaith.org website. You can find the original article here.
The familiar parable of the Prodigal Son traditionally prompts us to reflect on the love and forgiveness of the father who welcomes back his younger son. But what if we focus on the effect of the father’s generosity on the relationship between the two brothers? Desmond Ryan argues that if we look at this story in a new way we see the harmful consequences of prioritising relationships based on authority over those based on a sibling model. Desmond Ryan is Honorary Fellow in the School of Health in Social Science, University of Edinburgh, and Colaborador Externo, Departament de Treball Social i Serveis Socials, Universitat de València. His current project is an attempt to set up an Observatory which would gather information on the fullness of life experienced by individuals, families, neighbourhoods, and other forms of human organisation.The original version of this article was published in New Blackfriars, Volume 87, Issue 1009, pp. 268-272.
prodigal, adj. & n. Recklessly wasteful (person); lavish
[L. prodigus wasteful]
It is tempting to think of Jesus’s parables as timeless, unvaryingly true for every age; it’s a temptation I find myself resisting in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. A process of what one might call ‘postmodern contextual reframing’ has been going on in my mind, with the result that it is still a powerful parable, and it is still about prodigality. But it is not about a son.
Accepting the context from Jesus’s own telling, it is a story with a point about his own Father, a father who loves unconditionally. Hence Christians have constructed this man as a model for God. But our hard-to-resist emotional identification with the elder brother prompts a tiny reservation. Were the love as it should have been, we would not have this sense that he is right to feel aggrieved. Somehow there is a gap between words and deeds.
The crucial deed is a non-deed, an omission: the father neglects to include his unprodigal son in the welcome. He had plenty of opportunity: he could have sent another servant to let him know at the same time as the servant was sent to kill the fatted calf. Staging a rave with appropriate dressing up, eating, drinking and cavorting takes time; if the brother were to participate he needed to know it was on. But no, at the end of the day he returns from his labours for his father and comes upon a disconfirming conundrum: his own home ablaze with celebration and him completely in the dark. No wonder he goes into a sulk.
An understandable oversight on the father’s part, you say? Yes, of course, one always forgets something when concocting an impromptu party. But look at what this guiding star of forgiving love has forgotten – to cover for the most emotionally charged relationship in the Bible, the foundation-story of hate, fraud and violence among men: Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, Joseph and his brothers . . . This oversight suggests that this paterfamilias is a tad egocentric, even verging on the narcissistic. He has sons, and he relates to them in an exemplary way. But he is blind to the fact that to be a father of two children is to be a parent of two siblings. He has created a family, but he can’t manage it.
His behaviour prompts a further reservation. It drives me to suggest that he is immature, that he has failed to accommodate himself to the transition in the family system consequent upon his children’s coming of age. The failure of the father to relinquish the emotional rewards of his role keeps the son trapped as child. In Eric Berne’s ‘Transactional Analysis’ terms, they are not communicating as adults: the line of communication is angled, not on the level.[1] The emotion may be felt as love, but it is not morally effective as love. It is, to suspicious postmoderns, an abusive relationship. The evidence of abuse in the parable is that the elder brother acts like an overlooked adolescent, yet we know he is a grown man. Space has not been made for this grown man among his significant others, notably vis-à-vis his father; he is held back, held down. His rage at the party is the rage of a person who has been both overlooked and overtaken – the father has overlooked and the brother overtakes.
And so, self-esteem through the floor, the elder brother regresses. As pious parable-hearers we dutifully disapprove of his emotional outburst. But this is to be pushed off the story by the moral. What the story shows is that those who relate to us may need also to relate to each other. Sure, we privilege our I-Thou relationships. But there are also third-party relationships. We can contribute to those Other-Other relationships, or we can neglect them. Here they are neglected, and the storyteller shows the consequence when he has the elder brother redraw the family genogram for the father with the brilliantly distancing ‘This son of yours’.
The storyteller shows the consequence – but omits to draw the moral for the father. The moral that was drawn is the moral for the son, and thus (as heirs of the people in the parables) for us: he has, and we have, a generous and forgiving father/Father on whom we can always depend. This moral has been hugely influential in Christian history. But I think our age is requiring us to move on. We need to push our way back into the story and leave this old moral behind. For it may be said to have constructed (with other influences from Mediterranean culture of that time) a structural fault in Christianity: a parent-centred relational universe, a moral system which privileged vertical relationships over horizontal ones. It is a ‘fault’ because when the vertical becomes the plane of salvation, the horizontal becomes incidental. The sacralisation of fatherhood in Christianity has undermined the holiness of alternative ways of relating, and has diminished the importance of non-hierarchical links.
I see this privileging of the vertical as impoverishing contemporary human experience in two ways, one an effect, and the other an effect of the effect. The primary effect, the diminution, even distortion of the human horizontal, manifests in ‘pathological’ forms of what should be relations of the highest human value: priests infantilising their congregations, teachers ignoring the developmental needs of their children, health professionals objectifying their patients, workers instrumentalised by their employers as so many machines, electors manipulated into sanctioning the grandiose apotheoses (Shock and Awe) of politicians wishing to lord it over others. Thus both in Christian institutions – parishes and congregations, family, education, religious orders and communities – and in the secular institutions of states and societies emergent from Christian civilisation, the privileging of the hierarchical as the axis of effectiveness, of ‘redemption’, has marginalised the autonomous responsible self. When the parent takes priority, the adult is eclipsed. The vertical may be the dimension of obedience, trust and dependence between parent and child. But the horizontal is the dimension of leadership, love and work among adults: marriage and friendship, aspiration and achievement, art and play, equity and justice, dialogue and peace.
It is because we struggle with so many and such painful challenges in achieving adult ways of handling ourselves in our world that we should acknowledge that it is the father who is prodigal. He is the recklessly wasteful person – indeed lavish in his self-giving love, but still yet wasteful of the human treasure he holds in trust. The wastefulness derives from his failure to accept his sons as independently relational beings. He longs for them to turn to him with their needs; but their need to be enabled to love each other as brothers, to transcend their rivalry as siblings, escapes his notice. He is blind to the emotional system he lives in and to how it constructs its members. He is blind to how his own self-idealisation closes off his capacity to respond to others in ways that respect who they might be independently of him.
‘He relates to them as if they were what his thought governs. He acts with them according to old form and meaning . . . In this way the making of meaning in [his] mind is not something that grows from any active engagement in the world. It is a meaning that is brought from the past or is carried around as the way to be and [he], living from the isolation of his vision of life, imposes the meaning on the world.’[2]
This ‘isolation of his vision of life’ means his love will not be productive, generative. It will fail to be articulated into the future and into the wider community through his descendants. For his sons should have learned from him how to balance each individual’s needs with those of the social wholes which they are part of and co-create. From him they should have acquired faith in the possibility of rising above the inertia imposed on old relationships by self-idealisation and the search for security.[3]
The second impoverishment of human experience from the privileging of the vertical in Christian culture is a certain retreatism with regard to the plasticity of the contemporary self. Since institutional Christianity is so inclined to the vertical axis, it is failing to engage with postmodern culture, a horizontal culture of self-authorship, cocreation and mutuality in relationships, where truth is perspectival, authority contingent, personhood fragile. Managing the flow between moments is, for increasing numbers, the maximum response to the challenge set by this culture, not building lasting structures. This world, corrosive but not necessarily corrupt, has no respect for parental Christianity. It deconstructively draws Christians’ children to take journeys into alien cultures, where often they waste their substance, sometimes their lives, seeking the flowing self which they could not find in their parents’ house. Thus the spiritual estrangement of their children and the consequent emptying of their churches is the paradoxical return to the prodigality of self-indulgent Christians.
So we – faithful to the scripts and scrolls of outer and inner parents – have wasted our opportunities to hear and make heard a gospel which can speak to the yearning spirits coming of age around us. Neglecting the signs of the times (burgeoning non-religious spirituality, etc), living on cultural legacies of questionable relevance to our situation, we have allowed Christianity to become self-referring, and so to be distanced from a famished world crying out for compassion. This distancing of Christianity from the larger population has resulted in the distancing of the larger population from Christianity. The secularisation of today is a Christian achievement – unwilled perhaps, but a consequence of wilfulness. Christians impoverish their age by failing to be fully present to it.
God, however, is present to every age. If so, scripture must be reclaimable by all, even by the men and women of this age of suspicion. It can have no less rich resources to offer us than have been received by earlier generations. This parable reclaims me by prompting me to raise my voice in respectful yet insistent challenge of our Christian legacy of adult-averse institutions, world-refusing spirituality, and deafness to youth. I would wish to challenge the waste of human beings whose mutual giving and receiving in love is diminished by the continuing dominance of the vertical axis over the horizontal, of fatherhood over brotherhood, of institutional preaching over humane teaching, of dependence over partnership, of feeling comfortable with oneself over anticipating the needs of others.
We hear a new truth in a familiar gospel story in the way truth can best be heard, as making sense of the lives of its hearers. There are other lives than mine where new readings of this parable would be opportune. Girls and young women are siblings too, and experience prodigal parents in their own ways. Migrants, prisoners, pensioners, ethnic minority members all find themselves pressed, by their lack of social power, into roles which are marked by a form of junior status: de facto children. Perhaps readings which make sense of their lives will appear when the last vestiges of Roman patria potestas fade from the Fathers who regularly have to preach to this text. But, for me and for now, as I become aware of the lessons for a post-paternal age of recognising the prodigal father’s success and failure as a parent, I marvel at the resourcefulness of scripture.
[1]Berne, E., Games People Play: the psychology of human relationships (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1964) pp. 28-32.
[2]Shainberg, D., ‘Making meaning’ in P. Pylkkanened. The Search for Meaning: the new spirit in science and philosophy, (Wellingborough: Crucible, 1989), pp. 155–69, p. 166.
[3] Shainberg, ‘Making Meaning’, p. 167.
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