The May 2010 Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Newsletter can now be found at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/Newsletters/Newsletter108(May2010)(RGB).pdf Bill C-384 was soundly defeated by a vote of 228 to 59. Check how the Members of Parliament voted at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/HowTheyVoted.pdf On June 5, 2010, we are co-hosting the US/Canda Push-Back Seminar at the Radisson Gateway Hotel at the Seattle/Tacoma Airport. The overwhelming defeat of Bill C-384 proved that we can Push-Back the euthanasia lobby in the US and Canada and convince people that euthanasia and assisted suicide are a dangerous public policy. Register for the Seminar at: http://www.euthanasiaprevention.on.ca/2010SeminarFlyer(RGB)(LetterFormat).pdf The Schindler family are being attacked by a Florida television station and Michael Schiavo. The Euthanasia Prevention Coalition is standing in solidarity with the Schindler family. My blog comments: http://alexschadenberg.blogspot.com/2010/05/att
Reflections from the pastoral ministry of an Evangelical Catholic Priest.
Our Pope is completely naked. He needs and wears nothing!He is our Holy Father.
ReplyDeleteThis is no great man stooping down to help the poor. This is such a poor man who wants to be with the poor.
ReplyDeletePeople will return to the church in groves even though that is not what he is trying to do at all.
ReplyDeleteJust like Jesus, he wants to be with the poor, the weak, the criminals, the adulteresses because he loves them not just because he wants to help them. Many of them don’t want 'help'. They just want love.
ReplyDeleteP.s. Maybe you can tell that I think Pope Francis should enter the next American idol. He'd win just on the number of my votes alone!!!
Fr. Tim, what do you think of this man?
ReplyDeleteAre you ready for some change?
Larry: Absolutely!!! I am loving what I am seeing and ready and willing to follow his example as I strive to do everyday.
ReplyDeleteFr. Tim
Looks like the fate of the church really is now in the hands of the clergy and their willingness to change not just on the syrface but on a very fundamental level.That may be the hard part.
ReplyDeleteNot the laity, not the media or the secular world but primarily the clergy I say.
Larry: One of the 'Pius popes' (XII?) was heard to have said that the Church could achieve anything... if it could just get her clergy to get with the program. This was a favorite quip Msgr. M.J. Barry would share as he occasionally lamented over dinner at the Cathedral about the recalcitrance of some of the priests.
ReplyDeleteFr. Tim
So in what way should they change?
ReplyDeleteLarry: Less 'How will you serve me' and more 'How can I be of service?' would seem a good start. I have called and knocked on church doors, knowing that the priest is home only to be left standing in the cold because it was after 'office hours'. I doubt that my experience is unique.
ReplyDeleteHow about searching for ways to respond positively to couples who are nominally Catholic when they request a sacrament from the Church rather than making them jump through hoops because they don't attend mass regularly?
How about making concrete our relationship as brothers in ministry, something that would see us actually taking care of each other rather than standing as 'lone wolves' watching to make sure that someone else doesn't get 'ahead' of us vis a vis plush assignments, sabbaticals, etc?
That would make a good start to the changes we clergy could make if we want to better imitate P. Francis.
Fr. Tim
Do you think that washing feet may be one specific and important aspect subject to change? Do you think it possible that an absence of understanding and attitude of washing feet is the underlying source of corruption and chaos?
ReplyDeleteLarry: I think only washing the feet of prominent or popular members of a parish community is indicative of the attitude change I am suggesting is needed. If it is seen as an opportunity to reward people for their generous participation and support of the life of the parish (and probably the priest too) it loses its meaning and power.
ReplyDeleteIf on the other hand it is done in a manner that reflects serving the weakest among us... if it involves washing the feet of people thought of by most as being 'unworthy' of such an 'honor'... then it shines forth as a powerful symbol of service... an expression of essential equality in which no one is considered beneath the service of others. This I believe would represent the change that I would like to see represented liturgically for it would reveal the true power of the symbolic act of washing another's feet.
Fr. Tim
I agree that as a symbolic act that it should be included in the liturgy because as a ritual I don't see how it is in any way less important than the symbolism represented in consuming substantially the body and blood of Christ.
ReplyDeleteBut on a level more fundamental than ritual, I am referring to a feet washing attitude. I do believe that it is crucial for all but clergy in particular to closely examine the meaning behind ‘washing feet’ with a view to grasp a deeper understanding of why, how and what is needed besides a dish of water a cloth and a desire to ‘look’ like Jesus.