Friday 23 October 2020

30th Sunday In Ordinary Time (Year A)

 Mersey Leven Catholic Parish 

OUR VISION

To be a vibrant Catholic Community 
unified in its commitment 
to growing disciples for Christ
 

Parish Priest: Fr Mike Delaney 
Mob: 0417 279 437
Assistant Priest: Fr Steven Smith
Mob: 0411 522 630 
Priest in Residence:  Fr Phil McCormack  
Mob: 0437 521 257 
Seminarian in Residence: Kanishka Perera
Mob: 0499 035 199 
Postal Address: PO Box 362, Devonport 7310
Parish Office: 90 Stewart Street, Devonport 7310 
(Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 10am - 3pm)
Office Phone: 6424 2783  Email: merseyleven@aohtas.org.au 
Secretary: Annie Davies Finance Officer: Anne Fisher


Mersey Leven Catholic Parish Weekly Newsletter: mlcathparish.blogspot.com.au
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.


Parish Prayer


Heavenly Father,
We thank you for gathering us together 
and calling us to serve as your disciples.
You have charged us through Your Son, Jesus, with the great mission
  of evangelising and witnessing your love to the world.
Send your Holy Spirit to guide us as we discern your will
 for the spiritual renewal of our parish.
Give us strength, courage, and clear vision 
as we use our gifts to serve you.
We entrust our parish family to the care of Mary, our mother,
and ask for her intercession and guidance 
as we strive to bear witness
 to the Gospel and build an amazing parish.
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 
Legion of Mary: Wednesdays 11am Sacred Heart Church Community Room, Ulverstone
Prayer Group: Charismatic Renewal – Mondays 6pm Community Room Ulverstone 

SUNDAY MASS ONLINE: 
Please go to the following link on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLCP1
Mon 26th Oct        NO MASS
Tues 27th Oct        9.30am Devonport 
Wed 28th Oct        9:30am Ulverstone ... Simon & Jude 
Thurs 29th Oct     8.30am Devonport ... pre-recording Sunday Mass
                             12 noon Devonport  
Fri 30th Oct           9:30am Ulverstone
Sat 31st Oct         6:00pm Devonport  
      6:00pm Ulverstone
Sun 1st Nov      10:00am Devonport ... ALL Saints    ALSO LIVESTREAM
     10:00am Ulverstone 
 If you are looking for Sunday Mass readings or Daily Mass readings, Universalis has the readings as well as the various Hours of the Divine Office
                        

Your prayers are asked for the sick:
Jill Cotterill, Deb Edwards, Sydney Corbett, Merv Jaffray, Delma Pieri, & …

Let us pray for those who have died recently:
Oscar Van Leedt, Fr Liam Floyd, Athol Brown, Brian Robertson, Jose, Cesar & Hermie Diaz, Fr Frank Gibson, Graham McKenna, Joyce Maxwell, Warren Carpenter, Uleen Castles, Helmut Berger 
                       
Let us pray for those whose anniversary occurs about this time: 21st – 27th October, 2020
Betty Wells, Margaret Williams, Paul McNamara, Denise O’Rourke, Margaret Mary Watson, Maggie Peters, Francis McQueen, Robert Grantham, Jedd Carroll-Anderson, Patrick Clarke, Esma Mibus, David Murray, Brenda Wyatt, Bridget Monaghan.

May the souls of the faithful departed, 

through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

                        

PREGO REFLECTION ON TODAY’S GOSPEL
I settle into a quite space, one where I will hopefully not be interrupted. 
I entrust myself to the Lord. 
I ask the Holy Spirit to open my mind, body and soul to God, who is Divine Love. 
I sit in humble, receptive silence.
When ready, I read this familiar passage a number of times, slowly and with openness. 
I absorb the profound life-invitation and challenge contained in Jesus’s words. 
I savour the thoughts, feelings, and memories they evoke.
As I read the text again and then put it down, perhaps I can allow the Lord to speak to me afresh through my imagination. 
I ask God to help me enter the story as if I am actually right there in the scene … to hear Jesus speaking directly to me now, to experience him, to be in his presence as he teaches with authority and courage.
I let myself come close to Jesus. 
As I look at how he is engaging with others, do I speak to him myself? 
Does he speak to me? Does he touch me? Do I touch him? I trust God to lead me ...
I ponder on these three aspects of love: love of God, love of neighbour, love of self. 
How does Jesus want to deepen his love in my life? 
How can I take his love into the world even more? 
How does my life of prayer and work serve this sacred love? 
I speak to the Lord.
When words cease, I sit in silence in the presence of love.
Through the week ahead, I may like to form a ‘prayer-pattern’ of love. 
I consciously breathe in God’s love for me ... then as I exhale, I consciously breathe out my love of God and neighbour.
I end my prayer by asking the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit to bless me. 
As I slowly make the sign of the cross, I thank the Lord for the time I have just spent with him, as well as the gifts I have received.
                        

Weekly Ramblings

On Monday, 2nd November, we will be celebrating not only All Souls Day but also our Mass of Remembrance for those who have died in the past twelve months. I would like to extend an invitation to all Parishioners who have lost family members either here or elsewhere to join us in remembering your loved ones at this Mass. For many in our community 2020 has been a particularly difficult time as the opportunity to farewell a loved one has been restricted by the Covid-19 regulations – this Mass is an opportunity to remember them in a special way. The Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of Lourdes commencing at 7pm.

This Sunday (25th) following the 10am Mass at OLOL we will be sharing the experience of Praying the Divine Office – the daily prayer of the Church. As per previous weeks you do not need any prior experience – simply come along and find out more about this very traditional prayer form.

The final prayer experience will be based on Ignatian Imagining and will be held at Sacred Heart after the 10am Mass on 1st November. Again, you will be guided in an experience of this form of prayer and given resources to assist in your continuing journey.

During this past week we have farewelled two people who were part of our community during their long and fruitful lives. On Tuesday we gathered at St Canice Church in Sandy bay to farewell Fr Liam Floyd after 67 years of priesthood. Fr Liam was an assistant both at Ulverstone and Devonport back in the 50’s & 60’s as well as a number of other parishes throughout the Archdiocese. On Thursday we celebrated the funeral of Athol Brown who died at the grand age of 100 years and 364 days.  May they rest in peace.

Take care, stay safe and stay sane


                        

MONTH OF PRAYER CONTINUES...
This weekend - An introduction to ‘Liturgy of the Hours, the daily prayer of the Church’ will take place at 11.15am this Sunday 25th October at Devonport. This session will conclude with the Midday Payer. This also includes an opportunity to take part in the Evening Prayer (Vespers) in the coming week; Sunday, 25th October to Friday, 30th October at 6.00 pm at Devonport. (On Saturday, 31st October, at 5.30 pm at Devonport)

Next weekend - An introduction to Ignatian Imagining will take place at 11.15am on 1st November at Ulverstone. Ignatian Imagining is the method introduced by St. Ignatius in which we form a mental image of something not present to the senses and so enter into the key meditations and become part of Gospel scenes. 

MORNING PRAYER
Morning Prayer (Lauds), will be recited 9.30am to 10.00am at St Joseph’s Mass Centre Port Sorell this Monday 26th October. Prayer of the Church (Divine Office) for the day will be used. Participants will be introduced to the ‘Prayer of the Church’ and provided with the prayers for communal recitation.
For further information contact Giuseppe Gigliotti 0419 684 134 or gigli@comcen.com.au Covid protocols will be observed.
                        

KNIGHTS OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS 
Annual General Meeting this Sunday 25th October at the Parish Hall, Stewart Street Devonport at 5pm. Any men from the parish who are interested are welcome to attend. For more information please phone Giuseppe Gigliotti 0419 684 134. 
Covid safe procedures are followed.
                        

2021 COLUMBAN ART CALENDARS are now available from the Piety Shop at OLOL Church Devonport and Sacred Heart Church Ulverstone. Cost $10.00 each.
                        

OUR LADY OF MERCY COLLEGE REUNION LUNCH
Furner's Hotel (Chelsea Room) Ulverstone Friday 27th November for interested past pupils of Our Lady Of Mercy College Deloraine at 12 noon. Please phone Mary Owen 0429 354 406 to book a seat as numbers are limited to 20 people.
                        

COME ONE, COME ALL
BINGO will be recommencing Thursday 5th November.
Eyes down 7:30pm
Covid safe procedures will be followed.
Help from anyone wishing to volunteer would be greatly appreciated.
                        

                       Mersey Leven Catholic Parish 
                                would like to wish
                                  Bobbie Crocker 
                        a very happy 90th Birthday, 
                  celebrated on Tuesday 20th October 

                        

Letter From Rome 

Italian Cardinal Tried To Stop Clergy Se3x Abuse Trial In 2009


Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, former bishops' conference president, urged Vatican to let a credibly accused priest to quietly move into a religious community

-  Robert Mickens, Rome, October 23, 2020. 

This article is from the La-Croix International website - you can access the site here but complete full access is via paid subscription


"It is the great monstrosity. It is more serious than anything else."

"That is how Pope Francis has described pedophilia in a new documentary unveiled in Rome on Wednesday, in which he looks back at several key episodes of his pontificate."

These were the introductory lines that Loup Besmond de Senneville, the new Vatican correspondent for La Croix, used to begin his article on the film "Francesco".

But the pope's comments on clergy sex abuse of minors, and everything else he says in this documentary (about immigrants, poverty, the environment, etc…), have hardly been mentioned in the press.

The gay civil unions sensation
That's because just about everybody, it seems, has been talking about one phrase that made headlines around the world – "Pope Francis comes out in favor of gay civil unions".

Obviously, this is big news.

After all, the Vatican has officially opposed civil unions – and instructed Catholics that they must do so, too – since 2003 when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the direction of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, issued a document that compared the approval of civil unions to the "legalization of evil".

The future Benedict XVI insinuated that people should be happy enough that society even put up with cohabitating homosexual couples. He called that the mere "toleration of evil".

So, yes, this is pretty big news. And for a lot of other reasons, as well.

The great monstrosity
But what about the words Pope Francis used to describe pedophilia or – what he likely meant – clergy sex abuse of minors?

He called that "the great monstrosity" and the crime that is "more serious than anything else".

And in the documentary he describes how he removed a bishop in Chile for covering up the abuse perpetrated by a priest that mentored this particular bishop.

It's not clear how many other bishops Francis asked to stand down for abuse cover-up because, like just about everything in the Roman Curia, there is no real transparency.

Bishops are often made to resign under the "ill health or other serious reason" provision in the code of canon law. We are never told what, if anything, ails these men.

We are left to guess or to assume the reason, while the bishop who's been forced to tender his resignation can justify his own denial by clinging to the illusion that it was actually a question of stress. That's ill health, after all.

Going after the big birds
How many cardinals have been forced out or disciplined for sweeping abuse under the rug? There don't seem to be any at all.

Perhaps, we'll read the names of some who should have been if the promised report on the former archbishop of Washington and child-abuser, Theodore McCarrick, is ever published.

Francis has shown he is not afraid to get tough with cardinals. He removed McCarrick from the College of Cardinals in July 2018 and then "defrocked" him seven months later.

And in 2015, the Jesuit pope took away the cardinalatial rights from the late Keith Patrick O'Brien, although – bizarrely – he allowed the Scotsman to remain a cardinal.

His crime was that he had sexually harassed or was sexually involved with adult seminarians and priests.

Last month, Francis applied the "O'Brien Solution" to Cardinal Angelo Becciu, taking away the Italian's rights while allowing him to remain a cardinal. Apparently, it was because the cardinal was caught embezzling.

But, naturally, the Vatican has never said so.

Other Angels should fall
A cardinal that has no rights is akin to being a lame duck – or, certainly, a very odd one.

Why has the pope not applied the same penalty to cardinals that have covered up sexual abuse?

And among them are a couple, like Cardinal Becciu, who are named "Angelo".

One of them, a former Vatican Secretary of State, is notorious for having protected the serial rapist and psychopathic founder of the Legionaries of Christ. This particular Angelo will likely be cited in the McCarrick report.

But there is another Italian cardinal named Angelo who's attempts to cover up the sexual abuse of one of his diocesan priests recently came to light.

He's Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the retired Archbishop of Genoa and former president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).

Bagnasco accused of cover-up and urging a priest to lie
This week the Italian daily, Il Fatto Quotidiano,reported that the 77-year-old cardinal, who retired only last May, tried to stop the canonical trial of a priest accused of sexually abusing minors and soliciting sex in the confessional.

He did this just last year – in March 2019, one month after Pope Francis had called all the presidents of the world's national bishops' conferences to Rome for the big summit on how to deal with clergy sex abuse.

The officials at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) know exactly what Cardinal Bagnasco attempted to do because they were the ones (specifically, it was Cardinal Luis Ladaria SJ, the CDF prefect) that ordered Bagnasco to conduct the trial.

But Bagnasco tried to stop the canonical process.

Instead, he proposed, in a letter to the CDF, that the cleric simply be sent away. And, amazingly, he even suggested that the priest should lie to his parishioners about the reasons why.

A 4-point proposal to avoid a trial
According to documents recently published by the Italian abuse victim's network, "Rete l'Abuso", the Genoese cardinal tried to persuade the CDF to accept a 4-point proposal.
1. Instead of a judicial process, it could be sufficient to have a direct intervention by the bishop with the assistance of the judicial vicar
2. Remove the priest from the parish where he worked well for 21 years
3. Suspend him from hearing confessions
4. Send him to a religious community where there is a climate of regular communal prayer and entrust him to the care of an excellent psychotherapist (in Milan), N., well known to me and my seminary.

Cardinal Bagnasco even had the gall to suggest that this credibly accused priest be allowed to remain in his parish for an extra two months (until the end of May 2019) so he could be present for previously scheduled First Communion and Confirmation ceremonies.

At this point don't you think the pope should have stepped in?

Instead, the doctrinal congregation simply stopped the farce. In July 2019 it told Bagnasco that it was taking the canonical trial out of his hands and sending it to the archdiocesan tribunal in nearby Turin.

Will the pope act?
Bagnasco is no run of the mill bishop.

Leaving aside his conservative credentials (he comes from the stable of the late Cardinal Giuseppe Siri who ordained him to the presbyterate in 1966), he became one of the most influential bishops in Europe during the era of Benedict XVI.

In 2006, the Bavarian pope appointed Bagnasco, who then headed Italy's military ordinariate, to Genoa and made him a cardinal in 2007.

That was the same year Benedict personally appointed him president of the CEI, a post he held until 2017 when Pope Francis removed him.

Nonetheless, the members of the conservative Council of the Bishops' Conferences of Europe elected Bagnasco their president in 2016, which was seen as a direct challenge to the current pope.

Revelations of his attempt to block a CDF-mandated canonical trial of a credibly accused priest have hardly been mentioned in the Italian press.

If Pope Francis really believes that sexual abuse of kids is "the great monstrosity" and "more serious than anything else", then covering up such crimes certainly has to be worse than embezzlement.

And the penalty for doing the former should be at least as severe as committing the latter.
                        

Liberation

This article is taken from the Daily Email sent by Fr Richard Rohr OFM from the Center for Action and Contemplation. You can subscribe to receive the email by clicking here 

James Cone (1938–2018) is one of the greatest American theologians of this past century, yet sadly many Christians have never heard of him. His work laid the foundation for a liberation theology that spoke directly to the injustice, oppression, and violence faced by the Black community in the United States. Jesus made it clear that he came to bring “good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18), showing that if we liberated the people on the margins, the good news would float upwards—in the opposite direction of the “trickle down” economic model, which is largely an illusion. Jesus’ teaching empowered Rev. Dr. Cone to write, “Any message that is not related to the liberation of the poor in a society is not Christ’s message. Any theology that is indifferent to the theme of liberation is not Christian theology.” [1] Cone reflects:

Like white American theology, black thought on Christianity has been influenced by its social context. But unlike white theologians, who spoke to and for the culture of the ruling class, black people’s religious ideas were shaped by the cultural and political existence of the victims in North America. Unlike Europeans who immigrated to this land to escape from tyranny, Africans came in chains to serve a nation of tyrants. It was the slave experience that shaped our idea of this land. And this difference in social existence between Europeans and Africans must be recognized, if we are to understand correctly the contrast in the form and content of black and white theology.

What then is the form and content of black religious thought when viewed in the light of black people’s social situation? Briefly, the form of black religious thought is expressed in the style of story and its content is liberation. Black Theology, then, is the story of black people’s struggle for liberation in an extreme situation of oppression. Consequently, there is no sharp distinction between thought and practice, worship and theology, because black theological reflections about God occurred in the black struggle of freedom.  

White theologians built logical systems; black folks told tales. Whites debated the validity of infant baptism or the issue of predestination and free will; blacks recited biblical stories about God leading the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, Joshua and the battle of Jericho, and the Hebrew children in the fiery furnace. White theologians argued about the general status of religious assertions in view of the development of science generally and Darwin’s Origin of Species in particular; blacks were more concerned about their status in American society and its relation to the biblical claim that Jesus came to set the captives free. White thought on the Christian view of salvation was largely “spiritual” and sometimes “rational,” but usually separated from the concrete struggle of freedom in this world. Black thought was largely eschatological [focused on the ultimate destiny of humanity] and never abstract, but usually related to blacks’ struggle against earthly oppression. [2] 

                        

The Prince Of Lies

This article is taken from the archive of Fr Ron Rolheiser OMI. You can find this article and many others by clicking here

Looking at our world today, what frightens and unsettles me more than the threat of the Covid virus, more than the growing inequality between the rich and the poor, more than the dangers of climate change, and even more than the bitter hatred that now separates us from each other, is our loss of any sense of truth, our facile denial of whatever truths we judge to be inconvenient, and our slogans of “fake news”, “alternate facts”, and phantom conspiracies. Social media, for all the good it has brought, has also created a platform for anyone to make up his or her own truth and then work at eroding the truths that bind us together and anchor our sanity. We now live in a world where two plus two often no longer equals four. This plays on our very sanity and has created as certain social insanity. The truths which anchor our common life are becoming unmoored. 

This is evil, clearly, and Jesus alerts us to that by telling us that Satan is preeminently the Prince of Lies. Lying is the ultimate spiritual, moral, and psychological danger. It lies at the root of what Jesus calls the “unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit”. What’s this sin and why is it unforgivable?

Here’s the context within which Jesus warns us about this sin: He had just cast out a demon. The religious leaders of the time believed as a dogma in their faith that only someone who came from God could cast out a demon. Jesus had just cast out a demon, but their hatred of him made this a very inconvenient truth for them to swallow. So they chose to deny what they knew to be true, to deny reality. They chose to lie, affirming (even as they knew better) that Jesus had done it by the power of Beelzebub. Initially Jesus tried to point out the illogic of their position, but they persisted. It’s then that he issued his warning about the unforgivable sin against the Holy Spirit. At that time he’s not accusing them of committing that sin, but he’s warning them that the path they are on, if not corrected, can lead to that sin. In essence, he’s saying this: if we tell a lie long enough, eventually we will believe it and this so warps our conscience that we begin to see truth as falsehood and falsehood as truth. The sin then becomes unforgivable because we no longer want to be forgiven nor indeed will accept forgiveness. God is willing to forgive the sin but we are unwilling to accept forgiveness because we see sin as good and goodness as sin. Why would we want forgiveness?

It’s possible to end up in this state, a state wherein we judge the gifts of the Holy Spirit (charity, joy, peace, patience, goodness, endurance, fidelity, mildness, and chastity) as false, as being against life, as a malevolent naiveté. And the first step in moving towards this condition is lying, refusing to acknowledge the truth. The subsequent steps also are lying, that is, the continued refusal to accept the truth so that eventually we believe our own lies and we see them as the truth and the truth as a lie. Bluntly put, that’s what constitutes hell.

Hell isn’t a place where one is sorrowful, repentant, and begging God for just one more chance to make things right. Nor is hell ever a nasty surprise waiting for an essentially honest person. If there’s anyone in hell, that person is there in arrogance, pitying people in heaven, seeing heaven as hell, darkness as light, falsehood as truth, evil as goodness, hatred as love, empathy as weakness, arrogance as strength, sanity as insanity, and God as the devil.

One of the central lessons in the gospels is this: lying is dangerous, the most dangerous of all sins. And this doesn’t just play out in terms of our relationship with God and the Holy Spirit. When we lie we’re not only playing fast and loose with God, we’re also playing fast and loose with our own sanity. Our sanity is contingent on what classical theology terms the “Oneness” of God. What this means in lay terms is that God is consistent. There are no contradictions inside of God and because of that, reality can also be trusted to be consistent. Our sanity depends on that trust. For instance, should we ever arrive at a day where two plus two no longer equals four, then the very underpinnings of our sanity will be gone; we’ll literally be unmoored. Our personal sanity and our social sanity depend upon the truth, upon us acknowledging the truth, upon us telling the truth, and upon two plus two forever equaling four.

Martin Luther once said: sin boldly! He meant a lot of things by that, but one thing he certainly did mean is that the ultimate spiritual and moral danger is to cover our weaknesses with lies because Satan is the Prince of Lies!
                        

Keep Your Politics To Yourself


This article is taken from the weekly Blog of Fr Michael White, Pastor of the Church of the Nativity, Timoneum, Baltimore. You can read his blog here

They say in polite conversation to never discuss politics or religion. In my profession, I find it pretty difficult to stay away from the topic of religion. However, I have found it necessary to stay far away from the topic of politics, at least here in church.

In fact, I do not talk politics in church, at all. Some pastors do like talking politics from the pulpit. And that is their prerogative. But I advise pastors who ask me, against it. In fact, in my book “Rebuilding Your Message” (Ave Maria Press, 2015), one of the chapters is called “Keep Your Politics to Yourself.”

That said, I am far from apolitical. When I was a little kid, like kindergarten, when asked what I wanted to be when I grew up, where most little boys say superhero, policeman, football player, I always said ‘President of the United States.’ I am a confirmed news junky and have been for as long as I can remember. Even as a little kid I followed politics closely (without, of course, understanding it).

I followed politics the way some kids follow sports. I remember one summer my family went on vacation at the time of one of the major party’s national conventions, and while my family would go out sightseeing, I stayed in the hotel and watched the convention coverage gavel to gavel. I do not share this with you to demonstrate what a strange child I was, but to underscore just how politically engaged I have always been my whole life. And what a discipline it is for me not to talk about it publicly.

But I do not believe the Church should stay out of political issues altogether. The Church needs to have a clear voice in the temporal realm. The Church should play a prophetic role in society, speaking truth to power. In this sense, the Pope and the Bishops’ Conferences, as well as each bishop in his own diocese, have an important role to play. But as a pastor, I don’t really like talking about politics, myself. I don’t really like talking about politics because I know politics divide. It’s at the very nature of politics to divide. And I don’t want a divided parish.

You know, there is actually an easy way for pastors not to divide their parish on politics – talk politics. Support a consistent political view whether it be liberal or conservative – loud and clear over and over again and the people who disagree with you will, over time, leave.

But that’s not what Jesus did. He resisted every effort to allow his kingdom to become a political movement. When the crowds wanted to make him king, he walked away. Over and over again even his apostles misunderstood his intentions when it came to worldly position and power. And over and over again he had to correct and redirect them that his kingdom was different.

In the Gospel passage we read last Sunday (Matthew 22.15-21), the religious leaders tried to trip him up and trap him by drawing him into a question about taxes – always and everywhere a hot political topic. The Pharisees were the Conservative party, opposed to Roman rule and Roman taxes, as distinct from the more Liberal Herodians, who supported Rome. Which was Jesus?

He threaded the needle between politics and religion. Pay your taxes to the government but give your heart to God.

The early Christians did the same. Paul said very little about the politics of his day. The consistent advice he gave to Christians: obey the law, pay your taxes fulfill your civic responsibilities and love the Lord. Otherwise, he never addressed the political issues of the day, many of which were at odds with Christianity. Same for Peter, John, and all the others.

So, I don’t like politics in church. And yet, and yet, I feel compelled to discuss the upcoming election. To not acknowledge the upcoming election and the role it plays in our lives and the life of our country or the impact it could have would make your experience at church seem irrelevant to your current life. And that is something your church should never be.

We don’t always get this right as parish leadership, but our goal is to be a place that speaks into your daily life and helps you see the current culture and current events, in the context of God’s kingdom. Our goal is to inspire, encourage, and equip you with the goodness and grace God shares to shape your heart and challenge your thinking. Our goal is not to tell you what to think or how to vote, but to provide leadership to help you form your thinking and make your choices.

You know, while Jesus and the early Church did not address politics as a whole, they found a way to build a movement that united people of different parties and persuasions. For example, among the twelve apostles there was both Simon the Zealot and Matthew the tax collector, politically polar opposites. The zealots hated Rome and wanted to insight rebellion. Tax collectors were collaborators with the Romans and benefited from Roman rule. In fact, most grew wealthy because they colluded with the corrupt Roman policies when it came to taxation. Matthew was a man of means and wealth, Simon was a hippy protestor. And yet they found unity and fellowship in the person of Jesus Christ.

That’s what I want for our parish as well. I don’t want a parish where everyone agrees with one another politically. I don’t want to lead a parish where everyone agrees with me politically. I don’t.

If you just look at our staff, even our leadership team we don’t all agree politically. I don’t want to have a staff in which everyone agrees all the time. Fortunately, that’s never been a problem.

If you are looking for a parish where everyone agrees with you then you could be missing out on an important part of what Church is, and you might be missing out on the unprecedented opportunity we have as a parish at this time. We can be a model for our community, what it looks like to disagree politically and still be united behind something much larger and much more powerful than who the next president will be.

It was said that the Sun never set on the British Empire. But Scripture assures us that this accolade belongs to the kingdom of God. In the first reading (Isaiah 45.1, 4-6), the prophet Isaiah shares God’s vision and plan when it comes to kings of this world.

I am the Lord, and there is no other;
apart from me there is no God.
So from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting
men may know there is none besides me.
Isaiah 45.5-6

Over and above every ruler and every reign, nothing is greater than God. Every nation, every tribe, every tongue in all corners of the world will one day know that the Lord is God and there is no other. And fast forward 2500 years that’s what we have in the Church.

After the resurrection Jesus sent the apostles to the whole world with one purpose: to make disciples of all nations. That job is far from complete, and its often handled badly, but it is happening: From the rising of the sun to its setting there are people gathering today to praise and worship the Lord and share his word. The Lord is God. The Lord is the ruler of heaven and earth.

So why would we worship any lesser ruler? Why would we allow anything to distract us from our service to the Lord or divide our fellowship in faith?

It matters who is going be the next president. But it doesn’t matter as much as what we do here. Long after this 2020 election cycle is over and made into a Netflix series, long after the winner of the election leaves office, and is replaced by still others, and long after that too, God will still reign.

Political power lasts for whatever season it spans. But it is always and only the blink of an eye in the light of eternity. God and God alone is the one who will reign forever. He is the Lord God and there is no other, there is no rival. The politicians you vote for may be, at least in your estimation, smart or strong or insightful or just right about the issues that matter to you most, or just better than the alternative. But not one of them has laid down their life for you.

The God who did that forever calls us to unite behind him and what he is doing in the world. Our hope is not in any political party or particular candidate. Our hope is in the person and preaching of Jesus Christ, that we can share with our community, shape our culture, and influence our beloved nation.
                        

The Trinity: On Loving Love Loving

‘The name we give to God, The Trinity, marks the depth and height of the Christian knowledge and experience of who God is.’ James Hanvey SJ considers how we might begin to think and speak about the loving relationship between Father, Son and Spirit into which we ourselves are welcomed. Rev. Dr. James Hanvey SJ lectures in Systematic Theology at Heythrop College, University of London.
This article is taken from the ThinkingFaith.org website where you can find a wide range of articles by clicking here  

One of the most familiar things we do as Catholics is to make the sign of the cross in the name of The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. For Christians this is the name of God, The Trinity. Whenever we go to Mass we are gathered in that name and at the end we are blessed and sent in that name. We are baptised into the name of Father, Son and Spirit and throughout our lives that threefold name accompanies us. The ancient Gaelic prayers see it as an encompassing, so that all our life is gathered into the Trinity.

The strength of the Triune be our shield in distress
The strength of Christ, His peace and His Pasch,
The strength of the Spirit, Physician and health,
And of the precious Father the King of grace.

This binding of the Name is no empty or ritualistic formula but the proclamation of the heart of Christian life and faith.

The name we give to God, The Trinity, marks the depth and height of the Christian knowledge and experience of who God is. It is completely unique to Christianity. Too often our understanding and experience of God as Trinity is dismissed as a mystery or presented as some sort of paradox or conundrum: ‘three persons, one God.’ Now, of course, God is the absolute mystery of our lives and because we, as finite creatures, have only very limited ways of expressing the transcendent glory of God’s Trinitarian life, we have to remember that our language must be humble, partial and inadequate. If it were not then it could not speak truthfully of the reality of God who cannot be contained within our speech. The point of our attempting to put this luminous, holy reality into the poor rags of language is not to obscure but to point the way – the way from thinking and speaking to the life of the mystery itself. So, when we speak of the Trinity as a mystery we do not mean that we should not think or speak about it but rather that its meaning is inexhaustible. On the contrary, then, we can never be done thinking and speaking and coming to an adoring wonder that we have been given such an extraordinary vision of God’s own life. So what do we mean when we say ‘three persons, one God’? Well, we’re not talking arithmetic. If we are then, clearly, we’re going to get into trouble and our Trinity will seem nonsensical.

A helpful way of coming to understand what we mean is to think of the three primary colours: red, yellow and blue. If you divide a piece of paper into three sections and paint each section a different primary colour, then spin the paper very quickly it will appear white. It is a simple illustration of oneness and threeness. It makes the point that the ‘oneness’ is dynamic but does not diminish the three. In the long struggle to speak about the Christian experience of Israel’s God one of the great insights was that God’s oneness is also a unique oneness. It entails and indeed requires the living relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit: oneness cannot be thought without these relationships and vice versa. We always have to think them together.

But that opens up another problem about the word ‘person’. When we use it in the special context of the Trinity it doesn’t mean what we normally mean by person. Even Augustine had to admit that when we spoke of ‘person’ in the Trinity we really had no understanding of what we meant. The best we can do is be clear about what we don’t mean: we are not speaking of three individual centres of independent consciousness and wills, and, of course, we are not speaking of three ‘bodies’. If we thought this way, it would not be a Trinity but a club – a very exclusive club! Yet once we’re clear about what we don’t mean we can begin very tentatively to glimpse something profound: that ‘person’ in the Trinity points us to the eternal relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit and that these relationships both distinguish them from each other but simultaneously open up a union in which each dwells in the other. The Trinity is a sort of ‘communion’ (co-union).

This has two important consequences for us. First, if they ‘indwell’ in each other then they also reveal each other: to know one is to know all and to know each in their distinctness and in their communion. Second, we know that these relationships are relationships of love. The Trinity is the revelation that God is Love. Now we get Love wrong if we think of it as a ‘thing’ – something we can possess or control. It is a relationship and it is a verb – we can only ‘have’ love by loving, by participating in a relationship of love. So, the Trinity is Love Loving – dynamic, unfathomable, inexhaustible, eternally complete and creative. Yet, here is the great wonder. We only know this because the Father gives Himself to be known in His Son and the Son gathers us into this eternal self-giving through and in the Spirit. In other words, the fact that we can speak at all about God as Trinity is already a sign that we are beginning to participate in God’s Triune life: we know and experience that the Trinity is Love Loving us. This is what we call grace. The whole of the Church’s liturgy lives out of this knowledge. It is our act of love, both a confession and a proclamation – ‘a great cry of wonder’ – that in loving us the Trinity takes us into these relations of life, so that we learn again how to love by participating in Love. Literally, by ‘being-in-Love’.

In this way we can see that the life of grace is a Trinitarian life and that grace is itself a relationship through which and in which we learn love. The Trinitarian Life of God is our school of Love and by loving we come to Love loving and that is our sanctification.

All this is beautifully and simply expressed in the great prayer of the Mass: ‘Through Him, with Him, In Him, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, All Glory and honour is yours Almighty Father. Forever and ever, Amen.’

This the prayer of our life.

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