tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83498528208143350202024-02-20T20:14:51.281-08:00Ramblings of a country pastorFr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.comBlogger249125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-66636867221725953542019-09-26T12:09:00.001-07:002019-09-26T12:20:20.736-07:00Rebuilding the Fortifications<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is unwise to lower one's defenses before an enemy whose only option is your destruction. In fact, when one is up against such an enemy, good defenses and fortifications are necessary. Otherwise one's enemies will despoil everything one loves.<br />
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Of all of the troublesome aspects of modernism that has found itself within the Church is the aspect of the dismissal of the devil, the demonic, and evil. It is the flip side of the coin to the denigration of the transcendent that has become the norm in most Catholic liturgies as practiced, in our education systems, and in the waning of the devotional life. To downplay the transcendent is to downplay both the godly and the demonic and tame them into merely human overreactions to physical or mental phenomenon. As our liturgies became people-focused, so the demonic was regulated to scary movies and parlor games. The devil has been more than pleased for such a development.<br />
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I have been reading Fr. Gabrielle Amorth's " An Exorcist Tells His Story." Towards the end of the book he bemoans the dismissal of the demonic on behalf of the clergy and the unwillingness to see the demonic as a clear and present danger to the flock. Granted, there are many psychological disorders that were once treated as demonic possession, but we have now gone to the opposite extreme where everything is a psychological disorder and not demonic. Even in our blessings, exorcisms were dropped. The use of blessed salt and blessed oil got dropped. Fr. Amorth remarks in his book how much more effective Confession and Eucharist are. But we have seen sharp declines in both. It is as if we have taken all of our ramparts and defenses and leveled them to where the demonic is having free reign to trouble us.<br />
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I am not going to assign blame for how we got here. It is counter-productive. It suffices to say we are here now.<br />
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What do we do? We rebuild our defenses! Inasmuch as we need to refocus Mass on the transcendent do we need to acknowledge and actively thwart the demonic. Simply dismissing the existance of the demonic will not dimiss the demonic; in fact it will only encourage the demonic. Here is what I purpose that can be done now.<br />
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1) Shut off the spigot! The devil cannot make us do anything. He can tempt. He can influence. That's it. We need to look at the influences we allow into our lives. First, we expell anything of the occult from our lives and homes. Oujia boards, tarot cards, and other things used to conjure spirits have no place in a Catholic home. The use of mediums, seances, and other people associated with the occult are not to be toyed with. These are the most obvious sources. However, take a good long look at what is being heard, watched, read, and played when it comes to TV, music, books, movies, and video games. What are you exposing yourself and your children to? What is being encouraged? What is being taught? The devil isn't going to coming at you looking like a horned beast but as a shining angel.<br />
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2) Get back to regular use of the sacraments! The sacramental life of the Church is there is assist us with God's grace to get in and stay in a state of grace. These are the ultimate ramparts and defenses against the influence of the demonic. Regular confession is necessary. Frequent reception of the Eucharist builds our defenses. Fr. Amorth remarks on the power of these two sacraments towards the fight against the demonic.<br />
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3) Develop a healthy devotional and prayer life! Pray the rosary. Develop spiritual reading. Pray. Ask for the saints' and the Blessed Mother's intercession in thwarting the devil. Who better to ask that those who succeeded in being victorious over Satan and his demons? Pray the Divine Office. Spend time in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. See each and every one of these as defenses against the devil and his minions. It will help us be watchful, intentional, and aware.<br />
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4) Use sacramentals! I caution here with warning you NOT to treat sacramentals like talismans or good look charms. The use of sacramentals is to remind us of God's presence in our lives and to keep us focused on Him. The use of sacramentals in troubled times and fearful times is good as long as they are not being used as charms.<br />
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5)Make regular use of fasting and abstinence! Is it any wonder that the same time we dropped exorcisms we also wildly downplayed the use of fasting and abstinence? Both of these detach us from worldliness and are excellent weapons in the fight against the demonic. In Matthew 17:21 Jesus tells us some demons can only be fought through fasting and prayer. The selflessness of prayer, fasting, and abstinence works against the complete selfish nature on the demonic.<br />
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For many blessings I now use the Rituale Romanum specifically because exorcisms and prayers for the protection against evil are in those blessings. At the end of every Mass in my parishes, we pray the St. Michael the Archangel prayer. Blessed salt and holy water are always available at my parishes. I hand out St. Benedict medals like Christmas candy. If we are to set our eyes on Christ, we must be aware that what He fought against, we fight against. We do well to not dismiss the demonic, but to use the grace of God and the tools of the Church to be our protection and our defense against such powers. <br />
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Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-200884694079899902019-08-18T20:06:00.001-07:002019-08-18T22:05:24.815-07:00Losing a Patrimony<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In 567 BC, the Temple of Solomon was destroyed, along with Jerusalem, by the Babylonians. The temple had stood for over three centuries, built when the Kingdom of Israel was united and at the height of its power. Over the three succeeding centuries, the kingdom slowly collapsed. First, internal dissension born of the pride and faithlessness of Solomon in his old age and of his foolish son, Rehoboam, the united kingdom divided into the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judah in the south. Both kingdoms would lose all sense of their covenant with God, with the northern kingdom embracing idolatry immediately, and the southern kingdom going back and forth, from reign to reign, until the time of the Major Prophets when the Valley of Hinnom to the south of Jerusalem was polluted with the stench of the worship of idols. More and more, Israel was becoming indistinguishable from their pagan neighbors. Leadership largely failed. The great patrimony granted them by God, built up by faithful men, was now to be taken from them. In embracing the worldly idols they had shoved God's protecting hand away and paid the consequence for it. God would not let them profane His Holy name and demand His benefits and protection. Corruption flowed from the Valley of Hinnom to the Temple Mount to the palace of the kings. Israel had placed its hopes not in God, but in alliances with foreign powers and pagan gods to stave off threats.<br />
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When one reads Ezekiel 22:25-27, God lays the blame for Judah's downfall squarely on the leadership who had abandoned the covenant. In verse 26, we read,<b><i> " Her priests have despised my law, and have defiled my sanctuaries: they
have put no difference between holy and profane: nor have distinguished
between the polluted and the clean: and they have turned away their eyes
from my sabbaths, and I was profaned in the midst of them."</i></b><span class="p"> We know that the prophets were persecuted for telling of God's anger with the House of Judah for their worldliness and infidelity. For their lack of fidelity, the patrimony given them by God was stripped away from them and they were exiled for 70 years. God had not written them off. Like a parent, though, if His children would not listen Him, He would take away their toys to get their attention and call them back to faithfulness. I fully believe the Catholic Church in the west finds herself at such a crossroads.</span><br />
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<span class="p"><i><b>By the Numbers</b></i></span><br />
It is no secret that the practice of the faith in Europe and the Americas is in a downward spiral. In the United States, the numbers are terrifying (or they should be) http://cara.georgetown.edu/frequently-requested-church-statistics/. Although the numbers of Americans who self-identify as Catholics keeps going up (largely due to an influx of Latin Americans), almost every measure of participation is sharply down, Catholics are more likely to believe as the world believes when it comes to moral issues, and the number of weekly Church-going Catholics continues to plummet to less than 1 in 4 Catholics.<br />
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The last 20 years have been gravely difficult for the Church in the United States. A Church of immigrants who labored hard to build churches, schools, hospitals, and other structures, are finding all that blood, sweat, and tears being auctioned off because the buildings stand empty or to pay for settlements levied against them in civil lawsuits having to do with the ongoing sexual scandals and cover-ups. That bleeding is far from over. In New York, new legislation passed regarding the statue of limitations for child victims of sexual abuse. Within hours, starting at midnight of the effect date, hundreds of lawsuits were filed (https://nypost.com/2019/08/14/child-victims-act-takes-effect-with-many-lawsuits-targeting-catholic-church/ ) with the diocesan insurers balking at what is sure to be huge settlements ( https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Archdiocese-sues-insurance-firms-14068132.php). Things look grim. One can easily imagine other states following New York's lead.<br />
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Such press coverage and lawsuits, I would imagine, will only serve to drive the numbers of practicing Catholics even lower as their faith is shaken more and more in leaders who seemingly do not have the good of the flock at heart. One can imagine it will be driven still lower as the patrimony gets sold off to pay for the misdeeds of a minority of priests and the covering-up of those misdeeds by many prelates, who ironically enough covered-up the crimes because they were afraid of losing the patrimony. God didn't select the Babylonians to scourge Israel for its iniquities because the Babylonians were themselves just. They weren't. They were Israel's enemy and as Israel pushed God aside, they were the plague that destroyed them. Those going after the Church aren't selected by God because they are more righteous, but because we became worldly and pushed Him aside. The Babylonians are at the cathedral doors and we put them there.<br />
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<i><b>How Did This Happen?</b></i><br />
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For the House of Judah, the central reason that they witnessed the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple was their faithlessness. They acted as their pagan neighbors did. They worshiped their gods. They held their pagan beliefs. They became their own enemy; an enemy that so rotted them from within that by the time the Babylonians came, there was little left to defend.<br />
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For decades now, Catholic catechesis and faith has been in a downfall. That downfall has fueled the numbers we now see in regards to the attitudes and beliefs of Catholics. There is an old Greek saying, 'The fish rots at the head first." The clergy of the West has long adopted worldly ways of thinking and believing. They are more likely to agree with progressive policies of the left. They are more likely to find sophistry to protect such polluted thought. They are more likely to cuddle up to politicians than with the prophetic voices of our time. They are likely to dismiss, sometimes with great scorn, the teaching of the Church and her Magisterium, and push for laxity on a host of moral issues.<br />
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In the local parish, the priest who preached for covenant fidelity got replaced with Fr. Feelgood. Obligations and rules were seen as impinging on freedom and archaic trappings of an oppressive age. Liturgy moved from being centered on God to centered on man, more often than not bordering on a cult of personality of the priest who was more likely to want to be liked than to be truthful. Great harm was done by the ultimate act of cowardice and spiritual malpractice: "just follow your own conscience". This would be fine and dandy had the clergy bothered to form consciences in union with the teachings of Christ. They did not. They left truth to be a matter of subjectivism and relativism. They fed their flock the very same poison they ingested. Like the false prophets of the Old Testament, they misled the flock and persecuted true prophets. Like Pashur persecuting Jeremiah because Jeremiah actually prophesied faithfully (Jer 20:1-6), so many within the Church persecute the Jeremiahs of our own age. Pashur's persecution, though, could not stave off Judah's downfall.<br />
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The main culprit for our agonies in the West is as old as the Old Testament itself. Read again the highlighted quote from Ezekiel above. The Church of the West is too worldly. For example: last week a disturbing study came out regarding the core Catholic belief of transubstantiation/Real Presence, with only 28% of self-identified Catholics saying they know and believe this teaching. That number should terrify clerics who know they will have to stand before God to answer for a starved flock. The response from our leaders in this country? Largely crickets. Let's make them read more. That will do it. No questions about whether the rampant abuses we have allowed in Mass have had an effect. No questions about the belief of the clergy. No critical calls for a wholesale renewal. It faded in and out like a putrid scent; a scent that many just hope will go away on its own. What is that scent, you ask? It is the scent of decomposition of a dying body. Our bishops are much more likely to weigh in on political issues than such core issues as this. <br />
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Catholic politicians who openly thumb their nose at Church teachings are rarely reprimanded, rarely told to not take Communion until they have changed, and are cozied up to for photo ops. Our leadership in this country reminds me of the Judean kings, who instead of trusting in God, made alliances with foreign powers who either failed them or turned on them and destroyed them. Worldly leaders will do that. I believe this has contributed to cheapening of the Eucharist. If a Catholic politician can believe immoral things, why can't the person in the pew? Immorality and infidelity constantly build upon one another. Abandoning the pews and the core beliefs are a natural consequence. It is worth noting that these same politicians will be all too happy to feast on the carcass of the Church's patrimony as the former allies of Judah feasted on the spoils of Jerusalem's destruction.<br />
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<i><b>All Is Not Lost</b></i><br />
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We might well see a severe dent put into the patrimony of the Church in this country. We might well look in horror and shame as did those leaving Jerusalem for exile as they looked upon the billowing smoke of their beloved city and temple. However, we must remember the rest of the story.<br />
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Jerusalem fell and the temple was destroyed to be sure. But the Jewish faith did not die. In fact, it ending up spreading. It's communities spread throughout the pagan world became the seedbeds from which the Apostles started their preaching about Christ. The people were allowed to return and rebuild. The temple rose and fell a few times before it was destroyed altogether. The one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross made the temple obsolete. The Church Militant will exist until Christ comes again. It will persevere. However, that perseverance is based on her ability to be faithful. If chastisements are necessary to get our attention and keep us from final destruction, they come at the hands of a loving God. God made clear that the Babylonians would pay for the destruction they leveled against Judah in Isaiah 13. So those who have lashed out against the Church to destroy her for profit, expediency, or sport will also have to face God. We will survive.<br />
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Survival depends upon whether we are ready and willing to lay aside our worldliness and turn back in faithfulness to God. We cannot be insurgents against the Kingdom of God and God's children at the same time. In how we worship, in how we live, in how and what be believe, in how our consciences are formed, in how we instruct, and in how we witness to the world, we must show a profound trust in God's will for us. Our leaders must look to our core beliefs first; a people who don't believe in the Eucharist cannot be masked by a group of social justice warriors.<br />
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We must pray. We must demand better of our leaders. We must demand better of ourselves. We must not still the tongue of the true prophet no matter how much conversion he calls for us to undergo insofar as he is teaching in union with God. We must make our worship focused on God again. We must be willing to be despised by the worldly, the sophists, the immoral, and the elite. We must be willing to be of no account to the powerful. We must be willing to become like a child, as Christ tells us. Hubris got us into this mess; humility will lead us out.<br />
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Jesus tells us that He is THE way, THE truth, and THE life. We do well to remember that, teach that, live that, and be willing to suffer for that. Will our faith be shaken? Yes, of course it will. But as Hillaire Belloc once remarked, "<a class="title" data-author="Hilaire Belloc" href="https://www.azquotes.com/quote/1095354" id="title_quote_link_1095354">The
Catholic Church is an institution I am bound to hold divine - but for
unbelievers a proof of its divinity might be found in the fact that no
merely human institution conducted with such knavish imbecility would
have lasted a fortnight.</a>" <i><b> </b></i> <i><b> </b></i> <br />
<br />Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-31294600841070239872019-08-12T20:55:00.001-07:002019-08-13T09:08:02.109-07:00Catholic and The Eucharist: What Happened?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last week, Pew Research put out a study about Catholic Belief and the Eucharist. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/08/05/transubstantiation-eucharist-u-s-catholics/ The reaction has been varied. As much as I would like to believe that this will be a clarion call, I am doubtful.<br />
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<i><b>By the Numbers</b></i><br />
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First: The numbers: 50% of self-described Catholics say they know that the Church teaches that the Bread and Wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. Of this group, about half do not believe this teaching. It would be a likely consequence that the more one goes to Church the more likely one believes in the Catholic teaching of Real Presence/transubstantiation. One would quickly reason that someone who believes this teaching would be drawn to Mass. Of those who go regularly, only 63% believe that The Eucharist is the Body and Blood of Christ. The study shows that those below the age of 59 are 70%+ likely to believe the Eucharist is mere symbol. Those who are more educated are more likely to believe in Transubstantiation, even then, though, it is a high of 37%<br />
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Certainly this belief would be reflected in the percentage of Catholics who go to Mass. According to Center for Applied Research in Apostolate (aka CARA) out of Georgetown, in 2018, only 21.1% of Catholics attend Mass weekly. This is down from 54.1% in 1970. Catholics who go at least once a month have fallen from 71.3% in 1970 to 54.9% in 2018. Participation in the sacramental life of the Church as a whole has fallen greatly in that same time period.<br />
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Catholics who have their children educated has also fallen precipitously. With the exception of those in Catholic Higher education, which has gone up in this time period, children in parish based religious education programs and parochial school has been halved over the period between 1970 to 2018. That said, the number of self-identified Catholics has risen since 1970 from 54.1 million in 1970 to 76.3 million in 2018 Only 68.7 million are even connected to a parish. . Another 26.1 million were raised Catholic but no longer self-identify as Catholics. <br />
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That belief in the Real Presence is a s low as it is should come as no surprise to anyone who follows the studies. Most pastors can tell you that less than half of the people they have on their parish rosters come to Church with any kind of regularity.<br />
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<i><b>No Easy Answers</b></i><br />
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In the many responses to the newly released study, there have been many reasons brought forth as to why Catholic belief has fallen to such a low. The cry from the USCCB is that we need better catechesis. There is great truth in that. However, that is like saying the Titanic needs more lifeboats after the ship has hit the iceberg. For several decades now, we have known that we need better catechesis. We need better and more faithful material. This is all true. However, when about half of those who know the teaching still do not believe, catechesis is not enough.<br />
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Brian Holdsworth, in his vlog response to this study, points out that we are dealing with a hard teaching. When Jesus introduces the teaching in John 6, many of His disciples leave Him and go back to their former ways of life. That the Son of Man would be sacrificed on the Cross and His flesh and blood needed to be eaten by those for whom it was sacrificed was a hard teaching to take. It said much about His own mission, about the state of humanity, and what Jesus would expect of His disciples. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic faith. Without it, as Jesus says, we have no life within us. Belief in the Eucharist is not a nice added extra for following Christ, it is absolutely essential! There is something that is deeply moving but quite unsettling about the Eucharist. It cuts viscerally into our minds, hearts, and souls.<br />
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So why are we not believing?<br />
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<i><b>Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi</b></i><br />
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St. Prosper of Aquatiane remarked in the 5th century about the connection between how we pray (lex orandi) and how we believe (lex credendi). For much of Christianity, literacy was low. One simply could not hand a few books to you (which were expensive beyond words anyway) and have you learn. The churches were built to tell a story of Christianity through its art, stained glass, and statues/icons. Churches were built to be more than a 'worship space', but a place where one's senses were carried beyond this world to the transcendent. The music used was singular to worship. Everything was designed to draw one into a great mystery. The focus was God...not the congregation nor the clergy.<br />
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Be honest. When you walk into your parish on Sunday, what are you drawn into? Where is the focus? When you look at the body of the Church, what strikes you as central? When you listen to the words of the songs sung, where is the focus and what are the beliefs being expressed? Is there any real difference between what you hear on the radio and in Church? Are you drawn to the Transcendent God or kept firmly in the temporal order?<br />
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I argue that when we are kept in the temporal order, we lose as reason for even coming to Church. If the way we pray focuses on the congregation or the clergy, we have as disoriented prayer. We may well prefer the temporal because it is familiar and comfortable, but if we feel no connection with a transcendent God, why go? I can get good feeling from being out in nature. I do, in fact. I can good feeling from a good meal, a pleasant conversation, a night out with friends, or so on. Certainly worship of God should lead us to a place of transcendence. That, however, can be disquieting and unnerving at first if we are temporal minded people.<br />
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When we come into a building that is largely indistinguishable from a theater we will bring what we bring into a theater; the expectation to be entertained. When the music and preaching are mundane, banal, ordinary, or commonplace, we feel no real difference between heaven and earth. As Pope Benedict XVI pointed in saying that beauty is necessary in liturgy as beauty is an attribute of God. Beauty is meant to lift us up beyond ourselves and be fixed on another. <br />
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Over the past 50 years, what transpired in Mass, from architecture to music to ritual to art became more and more commonplace. In some cases it became cheap and disposable. The primary way of catechesis for when it came to sacraments, the lex orandi, became banal and uninspiring, which has reflected itself in the way we believe, the lex credendi.<br />
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<i><b>Handling the Beloved</b></i><br />
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You can tell much about how much one treasures something by the way they handle it. A surgeon who understands that his every move matters and shows great care will handle the surgical instruments and organs with great care out of respect for what is being done. A mother who loves her child will handle that newborn with great diligence and care<i><b> </b></i>as they treasure that new life given them. How we handle something says a great deal about what we believe.<br />
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I believe that you can tell two things about a priest rather quickly within Mass. You will come to know his belief and spirituality in how he preaches. More often than not, a homilist than regularly lacks substance or challenge will be a priest who lacks substance or challenge in his own spiritual life. Secondly, you will be able to tell whether the priest actually believes that the bread and wine are the Body and Blood of Christ by how we handles the Sacred Species and the attention he pays to. These moments are perhaps the most instructive for catechetical purposes. I have seen priest who handle the Sacred Species with great care and who take their time when elevating the Sacred Species and in how they give Communion. I have also seen priests who have treated the Sacred Species as if they were short-order cooks, slinging them about as if they were common and unworthy of reflection or care.<br />
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One must also look at how the priests handle the beloved, that is the flock of their parish. Part of the scandal brought forth in the sexual scandals of the Church is one I have frequently remarked about: How can a man believe that what he holds is the Body and Blood of Christ yet do such outrageously sinful acts as well? Before I get accused of the heresy of Donatism (a belief that the validity of a sacrament depends upon the holiness of the priest), it is another example of lex orandi, lex credendi. If there is reasonable doubt that the priest doesn't believe either because of how he handles the Sacred Species or because of a critically sinful lifestyle, why, then, would those in his care believe?<br />
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The needed catechesis is more than matter of books and videos; it is in how the belief in Real Presence is comported by those who lead. Mass is the ultimate catechesis on the Eucharist. Its words, actions, music, and ritual are called to point to the belief that at Mass we come into the heavenly court. If it is not experienced there, then all the written words and videos in the world will do little more than confuse or frustrate.<br />
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<i><b>The Search Has not Gone</b></i><br />
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Many of those who quit coming to Mass have not quit looking. A minority will dismiss religion altogether (atheism) or deny the existence of a personal god (agnosticism). Many will try and find meaning in the material world. Many more will describe themselves as 'spiritual but not religious.' Some will dabble in other forms of Christianity. Others will dabble in other religions. Oftentimes they will have an sadness or animosity towards Catholicism. Maybe some will identify a teaching. My take is that their disappointment is in their experience of the Church not being what it says it is engenders that anger.<br />
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They will search. Many will not come back for fear of being burned again. Some don't know quite what they are looking for. However, if they do come back across the threshold and find the same banality or hypocrisy they found before they will never come back. I posit that should the come back and see a true and abiding belief in Christ in the Eucharist that is witnessed by word and ritual, by the life and attentiveness of the priest, and by a community focused on the transcendent so as to convert build up the temporal, they are more likely to stay.<br />
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The battle is far from over. The sheep are not lost forever.<br />
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<i><b>What Now?</b></i><br />
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If the Church in this country wants to right this ship, she must look at how Mass is celebrated and how Catholics are taught about the faith. We must lay aside the catechesis that was watered-down and made it seem that Catholicism was whatever you were comfortable with. We must look at how Mass is celebrated and asks ourselves whether what we are doing teaches the Real Presence. Does it point to transcendent quality of the Eucharist? Where does it point us? Lex orandi, lex credendi!<br />
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We must evaluate our teaching tools. Are they quality or banal? Do they lead or mislead? Where do they point? This is more than catechetical materials. It includes music, art, architecture, ritual, homiletics, and other aesthetics. <i><b> </b></i> <br />
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All this said, beautiful churches with beautiful rituals are not enough if the parish is not a place of devotion, charity, compassion, mercy, evangelization, and prayer! The Real Presence in the Eucharist is given to us for a reason directly connected to the mission of the Church: to go make disciples of the nations! If discipleship is not lived by those who do believe and receive the Body of Christ, then it makes others wonder what is the use of receiving the Body and Blood of Christ.<br />
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This leads to a final point: a sinful heart will be blinded to truth. It is no wonder that the collapse of belief in the Eucharist has been accompanied by a even greater collapse in Confession. The state of grace is necessary for the effective reception of Communion. Many parishes access to Confession is stingy to non-existent. We must once again allow our parishes to be field hospitals; that is, places where those wounded by sin can find healing.<br />
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I would like to think that perhaps the Church in the United States would finally see the dire straits she has placed her flock in and extract herself from worldly concerns and get her house in order. I don't see much desire for that because it will be a difficult road. Pray that we wake up. <br />
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<i><b> </b></i> <i><b> </b></i><br />
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<br />Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-21531929215683468082018-11-21T09:32:00.000-08:002018-11-21T09:32:15.910-08:00Why Camp Maccabee Now?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Scandals within an institution have a tendency to cast suspicion on any and all parts of that institution. The Catholic Church is not exempt from that. Furthermore, any thing to do with youth, especially young men (who made up the majority of victims in the sexual abuse scandal within the Church), comes under additional scrutiny. It should. The camp that I lead is no exception. <br />
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Why then, should you fiscally support, prayerfully support, or send your high school son to this Camp? Why not just shut it down in such an atmosphere?<br />
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<b><i>Why Camp Maccabee was Founded</i></b><br />
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Let's start with the why the camp was founded. The camp was founded in 2009. The scars of the opening salvo of the scandal where still very much in mind. Many within the Church's ministerial roles had adopted the procedures put forth by the Dallas Charter on the Protection of Youth. There was a palatable fear, though, among those who worked with youth about working with youth. Founding a camp to work with the one group that had been the major target of the abuse was a risky proposition.<br />
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That said, the camp was founded because so many young men within our Church were failing to grow into leaders. I noticed this with doing recruitment for priestly vocations and in working with young couples for matrimony. The idea of virtue was not where one would hope for those looking at a sacramental vocation. I saw this, as well, in the work I was doing with annulments. We saw young men drifting. We also noticed that these young men wanted little to do with the Church. Many were drawn to sports. I noticed this long before 2002.<br />
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I started paying attention to the message we give young men in our classrooms and churches. Their coaches, if they play sports, challenge them. They tell them to give their best, push themselves, and succeed. Their coaches, the good one at least, were pushing teamwork, fellowship, and interdependence. These, of course, are the things that make a great team a great team. What were they hearing from us? Be nice. Be nice ad naseum. We were not challenging them. We were not calling them to faith. We weren't calling them to heroism or greatness. They needed us to sound more like a coach and less like a children's TV program. We were getting the young male leadership we were forming. <br />
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<b><i>What Do We Do?</i></b><br />
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The Camp is a Sunday through Friday camp. That is not a lot of time in a young man's life. That is 117 hours of the 8736 hours that young man has throughout a year. That is time to sow a few seeds. We have to make the time count.<br />
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First, we realize that most young men have loads of energy. We use that to our advantage much like a coach does. The days include some type of expending of physical energy, all of which has some deeper lesson. Some activities are meant to build teamwork and interdependence. We want to teach them that building a team means bring out the best in each other and lending help to those who are deficient in an area. They have a warrior dash (mile long obstacle course), low ropes course, rock climbing, and archery to help build up that sense of teamwork. They have a 7 mile float trip to build up a sense of comradery. They learn to fly fish as a lesson in patience.<br />
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Second, we realize in the midst of these activities, we must plants those seeds of virtue. We see masculinity as a matter of growing in the corporal and theological virtues. We will use some text through the week to drive this home. We will sprinkle it through small talks and homilies. We tell them that being a leader is learning to virtuously serve and not be served. You want to talk about a message that flies in the face of the causes of the abuse scandal in the Church! A man of virtue doesn't abuse. He doesn't prey on his flock. He protects them. <br />
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Third, we realize that they must understand that it not merely by their own efforts, or even the efforts of their team, that they succeed. Without God, their motives, however noble they be, will fall short. Prayer is central to the camp. To be a leader in the Church, whether it be a s a layman or as a cleric, requires a selfless man of God. Daily mass, Morning, Evening, and Night prayer, are part of the daily schedule. Time for Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, Rosary, Stations of the Cross, and such are scattered throughout the week. One cannot be a virtuous leader in the Church without a prayerful relationship with God. <br />
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We make clear that Christ and His Church call them to excellence...that each young man is called to virtue. If they understand this, then the type of husband, dad, or priest they will be is greatly effected.<br />
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<b><i>Why Support Us?</i></b><br />
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Not every young man who passes through the Camp gets it. I would like to tell you they each do, but that is not the case. That might seem a odd thing to say. The camp understands that the worlds these young men come from shift. We only have them for 5 and a half days. The Governing Board of the Camp keeps evaluating what works and what doesn't work. We keep looking at how we can be better.<br />
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The camp, from its inception, has been completely (maybe even militantly) compliant with the Dallas Charter. No person who interacts with these young is allowed to do so until they have done the required Protecting God's Children/Virtus training. Staff is vetted. Staff is warned that any immoral interaction will be treated with such and criminal behavior will be directly referred to local law enforcement immediately. We run a tight ship. This year, we are instituting better guidelines in the training of staff and procedures for discipline.<br />
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The leadership of the Camp receives no payment for their duties. A modest stipend is offered to our college age staff as a recognition that most have to take time off of necessary jobs to help us. Monies raised go to the running of the camp and the upkeep of material needed for the camp.<br />
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The camp holds fast to the Deposit of the Faith. What we teach is fully in line with the teachings of the Church. Both in liturgical practice and in materials used, we do not diverge from the Church. Anyone who supports us should know that we don't monkey around with, water down, or rebel against any teaching of the Church, including her sexuality morality. We want to raise men of virtue, not worldly hedonists. <br />
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<b><i>Why Send Your Son?</i></b><br />
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I tell the parents who have children in my parochial school or PSR/CCD programs that we view ourselves as partners with you in the Catholic formation of your children. I know many of you reading want to raise young virtuous men who will be the leaders God calls them to be. If you son is called to matrimony, I know you want to raise a son who will be an awesome and faithful husband and an awesome dad who will teach his children to be leaders as well. If your son is called to priesthood, I know you want a son who will be seen as a true virtuous leader who will protect and provide for whatever flock is assigned him. We, at Camp Maccabee, want that as well!<br />
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We want leaders. Your son needs to hear that from his church. Your doesn't need to be nice by his church, he needs to be told to be heroic. He needs to be rallied to virtue. He needs to be told and shown a path of relationship with Christ.<br />
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The camp is not for everyone. It is a physically demanding camp. We do adjust for some limitations. However, even then, we challenge as much as we can. No electronic devices are allowed. No phones, no tablets, no portable music or gaming devices. There are some disciplinary problems that might make the camp not an option. We will work with what we get, but 5 days is not enough to shift an entire lifetime. It is a moment to sow godly seed.<br />
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<b><i>Details, Details, Details...</i></b><br />
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The camps for 2019 are June16th to 21st, June 22nd to 28th, and July 21st to 26th. The camper needs to be there by 1PM on Sunday and will be released at noon on Friday. We are based out of St. Robert, Missouri. We spend two nights elsewhere. One night is in Camdenton, Mo. The other night is at Montauk State Park near Licking, Missouri. <br />
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The cost of the camp is $150.00 per camper. No young man will be turned away from the camp because of funds. The actual cost per camper last year was $483. The difference comes from generous contributors. That includes everything necessary for the camp: food, transportation, equipment, venues, junior staff, and insurance. While we are connected with the Diocese of Jefferson City, Missouri, we receive no funding from them nor do we ask from funding from them.<br />
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While we have been able to take some young men with milder physical limitations and take young men who are higher on the Autism spectrum, we are not equipped to take anything more challenging.<br />
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No camp is perfect. Some young men have loved this experience. Some have hated it. We do our level best to make this a strong, spiritual, and positive experience. More information can be found at our website www.campmaccabee.com Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-75529703865353400212018-11-20T11:19:00.001-08:002018-11-20T11:29:00.237-08:00Of Holy Mother Church<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC3-L-72bChjXU9pTBL_3_gvEVmXE3ylSBhVsh4ttnFS-uvvKWylbVTp0s-wmB_B906FZhoG3vhfMp8wITyCAK5NLQUMwso9uT3MT0geQK7sZudbPZtTM_1-GX-ur5JoSAWS8Ioy889srB/s1600/Holy-Mother-Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiC3-L-72bChjXU9pTBL_3_gvEVmXE3ylSBhVsh4ttnFS-uvvKWylbVTp0s-wmB_B906FZhoG3vhfMp8wITyCAK5NLQUMwso9uT3MT0geQK7sZudbPZtTM_1-GX-ur5JoSAWS8Ioy889srB/s1600/Holy-Mother-Church.jpg" /></a></div>
I had a discussion with my spiritual director yesterday about the recent scandals in the Church. While not defending any of the malfeasance, he stated that many of the bishops and clergy were do what they were doing because they believe they are protecting Holy Mother Church. It led to a discussion about what was meant by that. Both of us think that there are many laypeople, priests, and bishops who first see Holy Mother Church as a collection of buildings, wealth, and other earthly structures. I can honestly say I have never seen Holy Mother Church as merely earthly structures, building, or hierarchy. They are her patrimony to be sure. They serve a purpose. However, I have always seen Holy Mother Church as the beliefs, teachings, sacraments, and what we refer to as the Deposit of the Faith. Holy Mother Church has had to forego her patrimony many times. Her patrimony is usually laid waste in every persecution. From Rome to Elizabethan England to ISIS controlled territories, historically her churches have been destroyed and her hierarchy killed. Yet she remains. She remained in the catacombs or Rome. She remained in the barns and hidden rooms of England. If the pressing RICO act investigations into the Church were to decimate the physical structures of the Church in this country, Holy Mother Church would remain.<br />
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I am not saying Holy Mother Church isn't being battered. She most certainly has been and continues to be. But the battering doesn't come in the form of dilapidated buildings long abandoned nor closed seminaries and convents. It is coming from what emptied those buildings and caused property to have to be sold to pay the debt of lawsuits. It is what leads to the suspicion, disregard, and even potential criminal charges being leveled against priests and bishops. When the Deposit of the Faith is assailed, that is where real damage is done. The Deposit of the Faith, the teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church, are the soul of the Church. Without it, no mater how beautiful the structures or how powerful her bishops, when the Deposit of the Faith is attacked Holy Mother Church suffers.<br />
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How is Holy Mother Church attacked?<br />
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She has been severely damaged by neglect. The work of evangelization has suffered greatly. It failed when the primary form of education fell into a disorder of the validity of faith being validated by how a teaching made you feel. If a teaching challenged, then permission was given by clerics to ignore the teaching or adapt it to what was comfortable. How on earth did we go from the sanctity of marriage and family life to inviting the demonic presence of artificial birth control, homosexuality, pornography, and such being not merely turned a blind eyed but to be given permission? Too many clerics worried about being approved of rather than protecting both Holy Mother Church and the sheep of their flock. Sometimes it was done because the desire to build Church buildings, schools, new departments at a university; truth was overwhelmed by the desire to build earthly kingdoms and expand power.<br />
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If Holy Mother Church was wrong about sexuality and family life, what else was she wrong about? Is she wrong about Mass? Gosh, maybe that might fuel both the rampant disbelief in the Eucharist, the decline in Mass attendance, the decline in clergy, and the shifting of Mass from Divine worship to bad theatrical productions? What about confession and sin? Might the selling of the Deposit result in the nosedive of confessions and the disbelief in personal sin? No wonder the shift from personal sin to corporate sin took place!<br />
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Now, anything the Church teaches seems to be automatically disbelieved. Pick your teaching want to ignore. Want to justify your belief in Social Darwinism, throw the corporal and spiritual works of mercy out the door. Want to justify your belief in eugenics? Throw the teachings of human sexuality out the window. Want the worship of God to be more about the worship of you? Throw the sacraments out! This is where Holy Mother Church is damaged. Here is where she suffers.<br />
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To my brother clerics who have sold out the Deposit of the Faith to some other advantage, whether it be personal notoriety or accumulation of wealth, to just keep people off your back, or to build or maintain: Not one brick of one church building enters the Kingdom of Heaven. Not one vestment, regardless of how grand, tacky, or even creepy they are will enter the kingdom. There will be no Vatican nor chancery in heaven. All of these things will no longer be needed. All these things, like our preaching, teaching, and witness are to point to heaven.<br />
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Every bit of damage that Holy Mother Church suffers is a direct result of a Judas moment: that moment where we decide that the Church can be compromised for my own personal gain. What on earth goes through a cleric's mind to prey on his own flock in order to get some sense of sexual rush or power? Can you be worried about the faith and prey on believers at the same time? Why didn't bishops immediately put themselves between the flock and the predator, even if the predator was one of his own priest? I will wager that one cleric who has his Judas moment will aid and abet another cleric in their Judas moments...which is itself a Judas moment. Why would a cleric tell a parishioner to engage in a behavior that will harm them? Is it to be liked? Is it to be thought of as relevant and cool? Is that what your 30 pieces of silver are going to buy you?<br />
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The damage doesn't just come from the clergy. Parents will teach their children the same kind of toxic lessons for the same self-serving rewards. The parent, for example, who teaches his or her children the unimportance of Mass is usually a parent that believes that themselves. The parent who teaches their children that what makes you happy or gets you ahead (sports, money, for example) is usually the parent who has done so themselves. The parent who hands their son the condom with the attitude that he's going to do it anyway is usually the parent who has bought into that reasoning. What do you buy with the thirty pieces of silver? Sleeping in? Being thought of as being relevant and cool?<br />
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If we want to turn this around, if we truly want to protect Holy Mother Church, then we have to accept the following:<br />
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1) We have to repent. To repent means to turn from evil and embrace the good. We must be able to identify our Judas moments and repent of them. That means we must make amends for our Judas moments. If that means we lose part of the patrimony of the Church, then that is what it means. Notice, God never let the People of Israel keep the gains of their sins.<br />
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2)We have to embrace and teach the truth and nothing but the truth. We have to accept that teaching the truth will bring persecution. People will walk away angry. They did from Jesus. If we are following Him, some will walk away from us as well.<br />
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3)We must live so as to point to heaven. Our job is not to be popular, honored, or comfortable. We must be willing to risk everything to engage in the faith.<br />
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How did Catholicism survived the persecutions of Elizabethan England? It survived, although it lost every ounce of it earthly structures and hierarchy, because brave men crossed the English Channel to train in seminaries, knowing that in doing so, they signed their own death warrants. It survived through a network of laypeople who hosted and hid those priests, and continued to be Catholic. They ended up winning, but it did cost people their lives. It survived because people believed.<br />
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I don't want our bishops to protect buildings and power at the cost of covering up sin. I want them to protect Holy Mother Church, especially from diabolical wolves in shepherd's clothing with banks of silver pieces to dole out to each and every Judas they can find. Holy Mother Church will survive. It is she who ends up married to Christ. We who are attached to her through faith and way of life enter the marriage feast with her. She doesn't bring stones of buildings, but the living stones of her body...us. We can not hold onto Holy Mother Church on one hand and hold the purse of the thirty pieces of silver in the other hand. To protect Holy Mother Church necessitates the dropping of that purse and every bit of ill gotten gain bought with it.Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-23303586953720894922018-11-18T20:28:00.003-08:002018-11-20T10:06:55.058-08:00We Dropped Our GuardAs a priest, I have come to view the Book of Blessings as a banal collection of lukewarm sentiments that could have been written by a greeting card company. The point of each blessing is blessing the person or blessing the person who uses whatever is being used. It is all a blessing to do good. Benign. Lifeless. To look at the Book of Blessing one would think we are in a time of peace and all we need is that little extra oomph to be better at being good.<br />
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It reflected a worrisome trend that followed after the Second Vatican Council although it was not called for by the council. The trend is simple: we regulated the demonic and Satanic to almost the same level of danger of teddy bears. They got regulated to mythological status bearing no more danger to the soul than puppies. Our mention of evil, for the few times it comes up, almost seems embarrassingly brief. It is regulated to three hastily asked question before the profession of faith during baptism. It is not as if we are inducting these newly baptized into the Church Militant, it is more like a benign ceremony inducting them into a country club. The Dies Irae became Happy Happy Joy Joy.<br />
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That certainly flowed into art and architecture. It is rare that churches are built and appointed to the extent that one gets a feeling of a connection to the power of the Church Triumphant, into the Heavenly Court populated by towers of faith, the angelic choirs, and the full power of God. No, we now enter rather largish theaters with all the transcendence of a doctor's office waiting room. Catholic art devolved into either highly disjunctive figurines that one has to try to believe was a human or angelic form, or subjected to milquetoast renditions of candy glass skinned dainty figurines. Our churches went from training grounds for the Church Militant to buffet lines for the Church Inoffensive. As in our prayers and rituals, so in our art and architecture, we dropped our guard. We willfully forgot that we are at war with an enemy whose only option is our eternal destruction. <br />
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Sooner or later, that would find its way into preaching and teaching. We now make friends with our sins. We don't fight the demonic anymore. We invite it, give a glass of sweet tea, and tell it to put its feet up! How can we not look at the current state of the Church and see anything less?! Once again, our Church is rocked with scandal. Sin was given a home in too many clerics' hearts and souls. The silence on moral issues was a warning sign that having made nice with their own demons, some clergy, even bishops, expected us to place nice with our demons. Furthermore, they chastised anyone who called the demonic what it was. Shame on us for our intolerance! Personal sin and the preaching of it fell away to the much more comfortable corporate sin. So, the sin of Sodom was unnatural sex, oh no, it was being inhospitable ...the people of Sodom were...you know...not nice. Dropping your guard against evil leads to an unbelievable inability to see truth.<br />
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We dropped our guard in every possible way against an insatiable enemy. The Devil and his minions have run over the Church with almost no effort to respond. He will continue to run rampant until we understand who we are, who he is, and who God is.<br />
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That we are at war with the devil has to find its way back into our common vocabulary and consciousness. In the old blessing prayers, there were exorcisms. We chased the demonic out of what was being blessed before handing it into the hands a soldier for Christ. It needs to find its way into our art and architecture. We should visually understand the army of angels and saints who fight right by our sides in this struggle. We should find in it our music. We are too busy singing commercial jingles about ourselves and how nice we can be to get who God is and who we are before God. In our worship and preaching we must re-establish that understanding that the Church asked for, especially of the laity: You are an holy army fighting against evil as light invades and overcomes darkness!<br />
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We can establish all the protocols and rules we want (and in many cases should), but we must be realistic about who we are up against. The Church Inoffensive would have you believe we are merely up against unjust structures and inequality...something that can be dismissed with protocols and procedures. That has all the brilliance of saying I am up against these pock marks on my skin and not a virus that makes those pock marks appear. We are up against the hellish, the demonic, against the father of lies himself. He doesn't come in the form of the hellish creatures that populate horror films and juvenile caricatures splashed across your average death metal album cover. He comes as an angel of light, dressed up in all your worldly hopes and dreams. He seems all so nice. He seems so reasonable. <br />
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As a Church, we dropped our guard against the demonic. We rid ourselves of the offensive military jargon and became the Church Inoffensive. From that time on, we have seen the Church in the West be decimated. Our Confession lines disappear, our Masses empty out, our seminaries empty out, our religious orders die, our parishes struggle, too many of our clergy become demonic in action themselves, and we double down on the same exact recipe for failure. We are being laid waste because we drop our guard in exchange for worldly baubles and kitsch hoping the tenets of Universalism are true and we all go to heaven anyway.<br />
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As we lay among the wounded on the battlefield looking for someone to blame, perhaps instead of blaming God, we should blame our adversary the devil. God didn't point us in this direction. The smoke of Satan has entered the Church through the doors and windows we opened for him to enter through. If we don't like the resulting destruction, then perhaps, we need to start fighting back. We need to be building ramparts against evil instead of accommodating it. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jkiWTG4AyMfeHUDf5pCslrED1j13NQGYJDOki6f06ICP06kL8SixiQtt8W2nD5mLyf0mW5Ddvh2S4t2U0lBrBscCWWpgWTxbmgGmwtGX7_wx2-m6br5axSSrRxIphuNQb5JOUbvlvYLv/s1600/armorofgod-31.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jkiWTG4AyMfeHUDf5pCslrED1j13NQGYJDOki6f06ICP06kL8SixiQtt8W2nD5mLyf0mW5Ddvh2S4t2U0lBrBscCWWpgWTxbmgGmwtGX7_wx2-m6br5axSSrRxIphuNQb5JOUbvlvYLv/s320/armorofgod-31.jpg" width="320" /></a>How do we fight back? Use the armaments St Paul talks about in Ephesians 6:11-12. Pick up the weapons of abstinence, fasting, mortifications, and alms-giving with the same valor that a star athlete embraces exercise and training in order to be more effective on the field. Unite yourself to the champions that have gone before us, especially the Blessed Mother. Pick up the Rosary as a warrior would pick up a mace to drive back the demonic. Our fight isn't against flesh and blood, it is against the demonic and satanic. These tools detach us from the candy coated poisonous temptations that the devil offers us. They drive him back.<br />
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Finally we must start calling the truth truth again. We dropped our guard when we allowed in artificial birth control, abortion, every deviation of sexuality we could imagine, cohabitation, pornography, fraud, and whole litany of evil. These are every bit effective as Oijia Boards and other occult accoutrements for inviting the devil into a place in our life. Truth will lead us to humility. Humility will allow us to pursue reconciliation (especially sacramentally) and regain our strength to get back on the field of battle. This, by the way, is why the devil tempts us so on not going to Mass and Confession. The enemy hardly wants us to find the field hospital.<br />
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We are at war. We will be until Christ come again. The Church in the west had better come to grips with that soon and very soon before the Church in the west becomes so ineffectual that it dies altogether. You want strong priests and vocations? Start encouraging the courage needed. We are training soldiers in a theater of war, not concession stand attendants in a theater of song and dance.<br />
Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-77520797504705407822018-10-28T19:58:00.000-07:002018-10-28T19:58:10.712-07:00Bartimaeus And Reconciliation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>This is the the homily given for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B</i><br />
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Have you ever wondered why there are so many stories of healings in the Gospels? What is the purpose? They can come across as stories to tell us what a nice a caring guy Jesus was. Is that it? Or is there more going on?<br />
<i> </i><br />
In the Gospels, everything that Jesus says and does points to His central mission. From the Incarnation through the preaching of the Gospel through the Passion and Death through the Resurrection and past the Ascension, it is made clear that everything Jesus says and does points to the reconciliation of God and humanity through the forgiveness of sin. He wants this so much that on the very day of the Resurrection, in the Gospel of John, Jesus charges His apostles to forgive sins in is name. So how do the miracle stories such as the story of Bartimaeus from today's Gospel point to that?<br />
<i></i><br />
In the Scriptures, disease was seen as a symbol of sin. Blindness was seen in this way. Blindness reduced its victim to a life reduced to begging. When Jesus gives Bartimaeus his sight back, He is doing more than restoring use of his eyes, He is restoring him to everything lost by the blindness. For that blindness to be alleviated, steps must be taken first. First, Bartimaeus must recognize the obvious fact that he is blind. Second, he must have hope that Jesus can cure him. Third, he must approach in faith for that cure. Finally, fourth, he must live anew as one who can see.<br />
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The first step is that of humility. He must recognize that he is blind and that this blindness is not to his good. This is instructive to us. Humility is honesty before God. In humility we see where we are strong, but we also see where we are weak, where we fail, where we need healing, and how these things are holding us down. Humility will lead us to hope. As Bartimaeus hopes that Jesus wants to cure him and can cure him, so we must have hope that Jesus does want to cure us and in doing so, reconcile us to the Father. Are these not necessary towards making a good confession? We must have the courage to cry out as Bartimaeus did, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" We must realize what he did: Jesus can save us and wants to do so.<br />
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Jesus does want to make us whole through the forgiveness of our sins. He beckons for us when we call out for Him. One of my primary jobs as a priest is to say ,"Get up, take courage, Jesus is calling for you!" It is what I am doing at this moment! It is what I do every time I teach and preach about the sacrament of Reconciliation. Don't let the fear that you can't be forgiven keep you silent on the side of the road! Don't let the demonic lie that God doesn't want to forgive you still your tongue from calling out for the mercy of the Son of David! Do not let the delusional deceit of pride quiet your will believing that you are not blind. Jesus is calling you: Take courage...get up!<br />
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Notice that Jesus asks Bartimaeus what he wants Him to do? Could Jesus not see that he was blind? The next step for Bartimaeus is that of faith. Humility and hope have led him to this encounter with Christ! Let faith in the power of Christ through the sacraments He Himself gave us lead you to the place to be able to say in the confessional . Master, I want to see!" When we confess our sins, have sorrow for them, and wish to be free of them, we tell Christ we want to see. Christ does not force His grace upon us, we must ask in faith for that grace. He is all too happy to give it to us if we wish to be truly free of our sins and its attendant blindness. Notice the words of Jesus, "Your faith has saved you." Jesus responds to our humility, hope, and faith with His power to restore us to the Father.<br />
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The story is not over though. What does Bartimaeus do next? Does he go back to the roadside and resume begging? Does he pluck his eyes out or blindfold himself because he missed the blindness. No. We are told he starts to follow Jesus. Reconciliation through confession is not a call to pick where we left off. No, the conversion of heart is meant to draw us to the love that Christ lives and follow it in our own lives. In our trip through humility, hope, and faith, we end up pursuing a different path set by the love of Christ.<br />
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This innocent enough story of a blind beggar is a call to conversion and reconciliation! Let us be humble in understanding where we need to be healed. Let us break the shackles of fear and pride, and place our hope that Jesus does want to heal us and restore us. I bid you, "Get up, take courage, Jesus is calling you!" In faith, approach Him in Confession and tell Him "I want to see!" The great truth is that He wants you to see as well. That is why He gave the Apostles the authority and duty to forgive sins in His name. If we are to pursue Christ and the life Hes ets us to, we must get up from the side of the road and ask for His grace.<br />
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Get up! Take Courage! Jesus is calling you!<br />
Tell Him , "Master, I want to see!" <br />
<br />Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-1406020570456457042018-10-26T10:09:00.001-07:002018-10-26T10:27:31.151-07:00Leaving the Church Indulgent<div data-block="true" data-editor="q09u" data-offset-key="4kikf-0-0" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: pre-wrap; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span data-offset-key="4kikf-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">My experience of the Catholic Church is limited. My first contact was in 1977 when I was a 6th grader. I have no experiential understanding of the Church prior to those dates. I know that many who do have either a tendency to paint it as a time unparalleled while many others paint as dark and oppressive time. </span></span><span data-offset-key="166ut-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="cqe30-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="cqe30-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">I do have plenty of experience in the Church after 1977. having been in the seminary system at some point for 13 years, a priest for 21, and a pastor for 18 years. I also have an appreciation of history and its ebb and flow. The same Church that embraced the utter simplicity of Carmelites and Carthusians also embraced the ornate styles of the Rococo and Romance periods. </span></span><span data-offset-key="acc99-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5t4s5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="5t4s5-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Through this, though, has been a single thread: the Church consistently teaching the Deposit of Faith through each epoch. How that was lived out from age to age varied into an 'all-in' attitude in times of persecution to a lethargy in low ebbs and time of great indulgence. Oftentimes, these churches grow up side by side.</span></span><span data-offset-key="5a6c3-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="6pdp2-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="6pdp2-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">The Church in Africa, particularly Nigeria, is suffering greatly from persecutions. So too the Church in the Middle East, China, and India. We see priests kidnapped and murdered in such places and in Mexico as well. These are churches in the crucible. In the west, though, I see a very different Church...not a Church suffering, but a Church indulgent.</span></span><span data-offset-key="40mgb-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="67gdh-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="67gdh-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">In Europe and most of North America, I see a Church indulgent. I see a church populated by those with the luxury of time and freedom of movement and expression. This is not to say that are not those who do eschew the life of indulgence and practice the faith well; they are the minority though. I see pushes for every indulgent activity to be at best turned a blind eye towards and at worst embraced. Pornography plagues the society. Any and all perversions of human sexuality have champions and the power to make changes to allow for them. Worship has been reduced to a 'what I like" power struggle where we act as if the Church has no opinion or teachings on what worship is to look like. The teachings of Christ are treated more as an anesthesia to numb us into false joy and condone our indulgence than a wake-up call to conversion and repentance,</span></span><span data-offset-key="abejs-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="3m4cj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="3m4cj-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Perhaps in fewer places is this more clearly seen than in our attitudes to fasting, abstinence, and mortification. They and any somber style in liturgy and music are almost seen with derision by many. It is as if they simply were wiped off the face of practiced Catholicism. It would seem that the Church simply did away with most all of this and fenced in the woeful remainders of such practice into Lent...as a way of making us miserable. The more indulgent a society becomes the more anathema fasting, abstinence, and mortification will become. We want the spiritual candy without any of the nasty tasting veggies.</span></span><span data-offset-key="d1iln-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="eim67-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="eim67-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">But a diet of junk food and candy, as tasty as it might seem, will stunt and hurt the health of the person. It will lead to multiple problems so many of the body's physiological systems. By the same token, when the practice of faith is regulated to only what I like, it is to the determent of our souls. The more we embrace indulgence as a matter of lifestyle, the more we will demand as much in our spiritual life. The worship of God will become what makes me feel something (the worship of the person) as opposed to being directed to God...hence what the Church wants and teaches in worship will become as relevant as the nutritional information of food is in a toddler's mind.</span></span><span data-offset-key="3uodq-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5fuhj-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="5fuhj-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">A Church indulgent is a pox to the Church Militant.</span></span><span data-offset-key="eha7d-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="d83-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="d83-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">We have a job to do. In any field in which one is dedicated to excellence, proper training is necessary. Part of that proper training for us as Catholics is the training that comes from fasting, abstinence, mortifications, and (yes) tithing. How is this training?</span></span><span data-offset-key="90jvh-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="5onf7-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="5onf7-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Fasting, abstinence, mortification, and tithing train us to be freed of indulgence. In purposely re-allocating the use of our time and resources to that which frees us from enslavement to indulgence is like spiritually dieting and loosing the excess weight that wears on our entire soul. It makes us lean and healthy. It also helps us keep our eyes fixed on where they should be: on the battle waging. It also helps the rest of the Body of Christ become healthy. </span></span><span data-offset-key="dp5j9-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="935ob-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="935ob-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Fasting, abstinence, mortification, and tithing also help us understand we are not built for mere life in this world, but for eternal life. It teaches us that valuable lesson that the world need not cater to my every whim. That leads to a freeing posture that Mass is not about what I like, but about the worship of the God as the Church sees fit. </span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="c51b5-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="6ivbk-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">You see, only the indulgent man or woman would see fasting, abstinence, mortifications, and tithing as sorrow inducing misery. The well ordered man and woman would see them a joyous opportunities to detach from worldliness and embrace the life of Beatitude. remember, the life of beatitude is seen by Christ as necessary for the Kingdom of Heaven. The life of indulgence will surely keep a person our of heaven as excess baggage would keep you from entering a narrow gate.</span></span><span data-offset-key="brlkf-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="4psqt-0-0" style="direction: ltr; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; position: relative; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="4psqt-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Fasting, abstinence, mortifications, and tithing are not designed to induce misery. They might seem as much to the person trying to transition from indulgence. That is why doing these things not just in Lent, but throughout the year is important. One should take into account one's health into this. This is why mandatory fasting in the Church does not apply to everyone in Canon Law. </span></span><span data-offset-key="7cp36-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2p9tf-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">Use of the sacraments are absolutely necessary. The grace of God is necessary to transition from indulgence to freedom. The Lord needs you to be a lean fighting machine who can witness to the world the freedom that comes from being unshackled from the chains of indulgence and its powertrain of selfishness. </span></span><span data-offset-key="fkha3-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="e9cib-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">If we really want to change the Church in the west, it will come through fasting, abstinence, mortifications, and tithing fueled by the sacramental grace God gives us in the sacramental life of the Church. Just as in the human body, the healthy parts bolster and help the unhealthy parts find health again. When a cleric says that you shouldn't have to do acts of penance because you didn't do something, it shows a deplorable understanding of the Body of Christ. We are in this together. </span></span><span data-offset-key="pnk2-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><br data-text="true" style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="d76d-0-0" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;"><span data-text="true" style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif;">We need in the west, to go from being a Church Indulgent to being a forceful and effective Church Militant. </span></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-14948066143288235022018-09-04T13:44:00.000-07:002018-09-04T13:49:35.432-07:00It Can't Be About Me: A Reflection on Priesthood<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the greatest errors most people make is in trying to make their lives about themselves. Such a dank existence revolves around trying to fill an insatiable hole with an array of self-serving appetites, self-centered pleasure, and a unquenchable desire for attention. Those around such a person are caught up in trying to please a person who cannot be pleased unless they are endlessly adored and obeyed without dissent.<br />
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Clergy of every level are not exempt from such temptations. In fact, by virtue of the office they hold, an unspoken presumption of unwavering obedience seems built in. Priesthood can be a dangerous place for a narcissist.<br />
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Priesthood, live correctly, points away from the priest. He values leading in order to serve, not to rule. As a priest, I take my cues from Jesus and the Blessed Mother. Jesus says of Himself that He came to serve, not to be served and to give his life as a ransom for the many. He who is the Incarnate God says such about Himself. How can I as a priest of Jesus Christ say anything more about myself? There is no room for princes here, only servants. The Blessed Mother proclaims herself the servant of the Lord, offering herself to God's will. She tells the servants at Cana to do what Jesus tells them to do. Should not such a disposition be my own in how I guide a parish?!<br />
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To whit: at Mass the focus should not be on me as a priest. Nor should it be on the congregation. We do not come to Mass to worship either the priest or the congregation. We come to worship God. As a priest, I am not called to be a master showman. If I do so, I am removing the focus from God to me. Make no mistake, this is mortally dangerous.<br />
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Why? Because if my words do not point to Christ, I become a hindrance to salvation. At best I am an irritating gong belching pablum. At worst, I am a demonic lacky spreading seeds of confusion and rebellion in the garden of the Lord. If my actions are the theological equivalent of giant neon sign begging the observer to be entertained by my grand showmanship, I am taking your focus away from what can and does save you. It is Christ's sacrifice on the Cross that brings the possibility of salvation. It is the giving of His Flesh and Blood through the Eucharist that breathes life into you. My job as a priest is to point there by word and action.<br />
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I will assure you if a cleric makes it about himself at Mass, an act of supreme arrogance, he will make it about himself everywhere. He will compromise faith to get the desired self-satisfying lauds of praise for his derring do. He will rebel against authority whilst demanding unswerving obedience to all he says. It is in this dangerous ground that the seeds of scandal will be planted and harvested. As with anyone, his appetites will be unquenchable and the attempt to quench them, no matter how sinful and scandalous, will be justified every single step of the way.<br />
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It is for all these reasons that Jesus pleads for disciples to embrace humility. Humility informs us that only God can fill the sum of all our desires. No amount of money, praise, attention, sex, pleasure, or numbing agents can fill our need. The humble priest knows that if his words and actions do not point to Christ, then he is a danger to his flock. He knows only with God's grace can he lead. He fears not anger. He knows doing and saying the right thing might well bring on anger. It did in the life of Jesus.<br />
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So many of the problems the Church has suffered over two millennia can be laid at the feet of clerics who made it about themselves. If we are to turn things around, all of us, lay and clergy, must live lives that point away from ourselves and point to Christ. I say both because it has been from the ranks of the laity that have come the clergy. I am fond of reminding people that I did not emerge from my mother's womb at the age of 31 wearing a Roman Collar. For the first 30 of those years I was a layperson. Teach humility in the home. Live humility in the home. Seminaries are not magic shows. They can only form what is given them. Send in a strong man...a humble man...and despite the seminary he goes to, he comes a strong and humble priest. That strong humble priest will serve well, for he won't make the priesthood about himself. <br />
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<br />Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-89415262504430341132018-08-22T12:38:00.001-07:002018-08-22T12:38:59.891-07:00A Wary Shepherd<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Being a shepherd isn't easy.<br />
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A shepherd is not always the owner of the sheep. He must take care of the sheep as the owner of the sheep desires. He must feed the sheep what and where the owner wants them to eat. He must remember he is answerable for the sheep entrusted to him.<br />
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A shepherd must be aware that predators want to devour his flock. They want to gorge themselves on every single ewe and lamb. In fact, the wolves would like to make a meal of the shepherd as well. A strong shepherd they will fear. A weak shepherd they will target.<br />
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A shepherd must be aware that the wolves would like him to become like them so that they may prey freely on the flock. They will welcome a shepherd who preys on the flock as well. They will encourage the shepherd to prey on his own flock without compunction. If the wolves cannot co-op the shepherd to prey on his own flock, then they will look to destroy him.<br />
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The shepherd must know the wolves are wise and wily. They will do their best to fool the sheep into a false sense of security. They will encourage them to wander far from the flock. The shepherd must train the sheep to listen to his voice and trust him over the wolves. The shepherd must be on guard against the wolves for his own good and good of the flock.<br />
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The shepherd must take the flock where the owner wants. He must trust that where the owner wants the flock to be is to the benefit of all. The shepherd must lead through verdant meadows and craggy mountain passes. He must keep sure of his own footing and be attentive to the footing of the flock, especially those who find the more difficult parts of the path too hard. With adept skill, a wary shepherd negotiates the most treacherous of trails and trains his flock to do the same.<br />
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The shepherd must be cautious of what the sheep consume. Pretty flowers can oftentimes be toxic poisons. He must steer his flock away from what is toxic lest they become fitting prey for the wolves. He must also avoid eating what is toxic, lest while in a diminished state the ever-present wolves snatch members of the flock or attack him.<br />
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The shepherd must also be aware of other shepherds. He must be able to tell the difference between a shepherd who is good at being a shepherd, a shepherd who bad at being a shepherd, and a wolf dressed as a shepherd. He must not allow the poor example of poor shepherds or the nefarious example of wolves in shepherd's clothing cause him to despair, compromise, or abandon his post.<br />
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Finally, the shepherd must know he represents to the owner of the flock. The flock will presume that the shepherd is doing what the owner wants. His diligence, care, protection, and skill point beyond himself and to the owner of the flock.<br />
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Bishops and priest are shepherds of a flock that belongs to Christ. He calls us to be these wary, skilled, protective, and wise men who will be good at shepherding. Parents are those shepherds, especially dads, of the flock entrusted to them in their spouse and children. Christ has the same expectation of parents in regards to their families as he does pastors and bishops of his churches.<br />
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When we shepherds fall short of our duties, we allow our flocks to be picked off. We invite the wolves in to prey of the flock. Or abandon the flock and our flocks suffer greatly. As the flock assigned us--- be it a bishop to a diocese, a pastor to his parish, or a parent to their spouse and children--- is not ours but God's first. We are held accountable to Christ for what we did with his flock. We must cultivate virtue in each of us to be those who are good at shepherding. We must cultivate them in the lambs as they will one day share in that role of that shepherding. One cannot prey on the lambs and train simultaneously the lambs to be good shepherds.<br />
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One of the primary reasons Camp Maccabee was founded was to train men to be good shepherds. To be a man who is good at shepherding, one must pursue virtue, holiness, and be a reflection of the Good Shepherd to that part of the flock of Christ entrusted to him. In an age where we see the fallout and grievous damage of bad shepherds, we don't abandon the flock, we raise up good shepherds will lead their flocks as Christ, the Good Shepherd, would have it done.Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-59340488822501902312018-08-17T10:33:00.000-07:002018-08-18T06:05:36.163-07:00Walking on the Via Dolorosa: Scandal and Betrayal in our ChurchThe Church in the United States is in troubled times. Truth be told, she has been for decades. As we stand on the shore looking at what might be the outer bands of a category 5 hurricane, looking around us and wondering what we will left standing once the storm has passed, and looking with worry on how things will be rebuilt, it is easy and understandable that many might rage at this storm. Once again, we walk the Via Dolorosa (the way of Sorrow...the Way of the Cross) as we pass through this scandal.<br />
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<b><i>Feeling Desecrated</i></b><br />
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On the night of July 23rd, 2016, while I pastor of St. Clement Church in Bowling Green Mo, my parish church was desecrated. A person had entered the church with bags of human feces and smeared them on the altar, lectern, confessionals, statue of the Blessed Mother, baptismal font, presider's chair tabernacle, and managing to find the key to the tabernacle, mixed it with the Blessed Sacrament. She had poured wine on the vestments, threw unconsecrated bread on floor, poured out the Holy Oils into the carpet, and desecrated the Holy water. It was a surgical attack. <br />
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I was away from the parish running Camp Maccabee. When the sheriff called (he is a parishioner) and told me what had happened, it was like getting hit by a car at full speed. My bishop told me to stay where I was for the media would be besieging the place and the church could not be used for any sacrament until the desecration was addressed. It was the longest week of my life. When I returned home, I mourned. I wrote on this blog a posts called "The Long Good Friday." On the following Saturday, a minor exorcism, Mass of reparation, and re-consecration took place so that the Masses for the weekend could take place back in the church.<br />
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I was blown away by the immediate response of my flock. I cannot imagine the violation and grief they felt coming into the church that Sunday morning and finding things as they were. Never being presented with such a thing in my priesthood, I knew what words I would say could make or break things. I prayed intensely, asking for guidance. I wrote about caution and mercy in the face of such great evil. Word started getting back to me that almost all of my parishioners were already looking to being merciful. As details unfolded about the soul who did this, we found out it was not a stranger. The person was Catholic, but also was practicing Wicca. There was mental illness involved. We had helped this lady on multiple occasions. It hurt.<br />
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I remember in one of the conversations I had with the bishop at the time, Bishop John Gaydos. I remember him clearly telling me not to allow this to change me or my parish to the negative. The devil will use tragedy to plant seeds of white hot hatred and a burning desire for vengeance. When the church was exorcised, the reparations made, and the Blessed Sacrament restored to His rightful home, it was like a intense darkness had been lifted. Praying before the Blessed Sacrament after the Eucharistic Procession around the exterior and interior of the Church, I wept with joy that the darkness was gone.<br />
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Some of my parishioners offered to raise bail money for the woman and we started the process for attaining the ability to absolve (must come from Rome as to absolve for desecration of the Blessed Sacrament must be granted by the Holy See). Unfortunately, the woman committed suicide before that could happen.<br />
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<b><i>Feeling Desecrated Again</i></b><br />
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When we read through the Pennsylvania's Attorney General's Grand Jury Report, it like reading a description of hell. As the sins of a high ranking American prelate are exposed and the attendant cover-up by those who knew is also exposed, it is easy for those who love the Church to feel as if we are walking through a desecrated church. These activities are as unwelcome and heinous within the church as the human feces were in the parish church of St. Clement. The smell is equally sickening. The feelings of rage, fury, anger, and wrath from those who love the Church are warranted. However, what happened at St. Clement might well be a tutorial for how to handle this crisis.<br />
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<b><i>Cleaning up the feces</i></b><br />
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The parishioners had a disagreeable task that Sunday morning. They came to worship God, but they now had to clean up human feces smeared on their beloved church and in the Blessed Sacrament. It was nasty work. However, the first stage of healing was cleaning up. The fecal matter was removed. Items that were beyond repair (Roman Missal, Lectionary, some clothes, and Ciborium) were set aside so that they could be buried in the cemetery later. Vestments were sent to the cleaners. The only visible scar was where the oils had been poured into the carpet. Despite best efforts, it could not be removed.<br />
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Likewise, we have to remove what has been desecrated. That will take a thorough cleaning of sins we have allowed to reside in our church for generations. These actions came as a result of beliefs. Tolerance of sinfulness, especially in regards to human sexuality, led to the mentality that made it seem that molestation of children (mostly boys), abuse of power over seminarians and young priests, and that when caught, thought as merely unfortunate, that it must be covered up led to a toxic atmosphere that brought great darkness. This tolerance of sinfulness spilled into every avenue of church life. the same hands doing these nefarious things were the same hands that presided at Mass. These were the same hands that taught, preached, and led flocks. This tolerance of sinfulness must be expunged from our midst, as disagreeable a task as it might be, just as the remnants of the desecration had to be done.<br />
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This will require must self-reflection on the part of many. It will hurt. It will smell. But it must be done.<br />
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However expunging this will not be enough.<br />
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<b><i>Exorcising and Reparation</i></b><br />
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Just as my parish Church had to be exorcized and reparations for the grievous sin against the Blessed Sacrament had to be made, so to must any and all influence of the devil must be exorcized from our church and reparations must be made to address in justice these sinful acts.<br />
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I see many articles screaming for heads. Maybe these people resign. I don't know. If they do or don't can not stop all of us from calling for and acting upon the removal of the false teachings, lax morality, and acceptance of deviant behavior that got us here. I really believe that the loss of transcendence (not called for by Vatican II or the General Instruction of the Roman Missal) and Faustian deal struck with the world's morality paired with a complete dismissal of the devil, demonic forces, and entities left us collectively open to these attacks. We must rebuild the ramparts against these attacks knowing that the devil has not one intention of doing anything but stepping up his attacks.<br />
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Reparations to God must be made. Whether by neglect, leaving ourselves open, acceptance of evil, or turning a blind eye to evil, we have neglected and abused the great gift given us by Christ in His bride. Many are calling for the bishops to collectively make reparations and penance. That is appropriate. However, as St. Paul reminds us that when one part of the body suffers, all suffer. Many are in the midst of a Novena Rosary that started on the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and ends with the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary (Oct. 7th). Perhaps joining ourselves to this as an act of reparation for this country and our church in this country might well achieve such an end. Details can be found at www.romancatholicman.com/54-day-rosary-novena-for-our-nation-august-15-october-7/ . We all have a vested interest in doing our part towards the exorcising and reparations of our Church. <br />
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<b><i>Final Thoughts</i></b><br />
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How my parish handled the desecration said much about who they are. Although I would never wish for such to ever happen, the desecration told me they were in a good place, that wanting to live the Gospel in the most heartbreaking of circumstance was desired, and they ended up stronger for having gone through such a crucible. They made their Via Dolorosa in those dark days. But we all know the story of Christ doesn't end with the Cross of the tomb. It continues on through the Resurrection and Ascension.<br />
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The hurricane will pass. There will be damage. We will have to rebuild.<br />
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We will have to make this Via Dolorosa. Each step will test us. Let us not lose sight nor hope on where the road eventually leads. Christ defeated the devil through the Cross. We will also defeat the devil by carry this cross as Christ carried His. We will have to exercise forgiveness and mercy from our cross as Christ did from His. It will be difficult. <br />
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My parish ended stronger after their Via Dolorosa. The Catholic Church in this country can be stronger when this is done. It all hinges on our decisions and reactions. Just remember, none of the other apostles walked away from Christ because of the sins of Judas. Neither can we walk away from following Christ because of the Judases in out church home. Virtue in the face of vice must be how we handle this desecration of the Church in our country. Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-24924098609364859292018-05-22T06:57:00.002-07:002018-05-22T06:57:51.642-07:00Pentecost<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This last week we had our confirmation Mass for the 10
juniors who got confirmed this year.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In
his homily, Bishop Shawn McKnight reminded those being confirmed that the gifts
of the Holy Spirit were not being given to them for their own good, but for the
good of all.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This certainly is in line
with the teaching of Jesus Christ. When sending out the disciples to prepare
the way for Him, He tells them, “Freely you have received, freely give.”
(Matthew 10:8) It is easy to have a merit badge mentality about the sacraments.
We go through preparation and classes and at the end receive the sacrament almost
as a graduation certificate.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This
accounts for why so many bail on the practice of the faith upon receiving
whatever sacrament it be until it is time to receive the next sacrament.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If we go to that first outpouring of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost, we can plainly see that the gifts of grace given through
the sacraments are not ordered merely for the good of the person receiving
them.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Out Into the Streets</span></i></b></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the
Acts of the Apostles 2:1-40, we hear of that first outpouring of the gifts of
the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and the immediate effects that the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit had on the apostles and those gathered in the Upper Room.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>At the Ascension, Jesus promised that the
Holy Spirit would be sent to the Apostles and disciples as they were to continue
the mission He started.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For 10 days they
waited in the Upper Room, the location of the Last Supper, in watchful prayer
waiting for that gift of the Holy Spirit.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Upon
the reception of the Holy Spirit, the apostles and disciples immediately leave
the Upper Room to head into the streets of Jerusalem and boldly proclaim the
Gospel.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>St. Peter, who only 53 days
earlier had thrice denied knowing Jesus, now boldly proclaims the Gospel of
Jesus Christ.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He urges those hearing him
to be stirred to belief in Christ.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
gift given to St. Peter and those gathered in the Upper Room was given because
they had a mission to do.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>From Pentecost
on, the Apostles and disciples would fan out through the known world to
proclaim the Gospel.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For nearly two
millennia, Catholics had gone to the four corners of the world, to almost every
tribe and nation, to proclaim the Gospel. Many would give their lives in this
proclamation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Some still do to this day.
</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">A Public and not Private Faith</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As with
those in the Upper Room, so with us.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In
every sacrament we are given something of the Holy Spirit.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Certainly in confirmation we are given this
Holy Spirit in very explicit way.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>However, all sacraments are made present to us through the working of
the Holy Spirit.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>No more than the gifts
of the Holy Spirit were treated as a private devotion or merit badge by those
first Christians can it be treated so by us.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Through the working of the Holy Spirit, we are to be every bit the agent
for radical change to this culture that St. Peter and those in the Upper Room
were to the city of Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. No more than the Apostles
could remain in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost can we stay in the
shadows in our own day.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
Catholic faith is meant by its very nature to be sign to the world.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We are to stick out as different to the
cultures in which we live.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We are to be
champions for those in need, for the defenseless, for the searching, and for
the poor. Our morals are not to be shaped by worldly morals.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the Great High Priest Prayer of John 17:
1-26, Jesus prays on the night of the Last Supper that the Church He is about
to found through His own Flesh and Blood would recognize the uniqueness of what
is to happen.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He reminds us that we are
not of this world. We live in the world and cultures in which we find
ourselves, but we are to be bold witnesses in each and every one of those
cultures.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When we don’t, we fall into
the sin of Laodicea: lukewarmness.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
natural byproduct of lukewarmness is a Catholic whose life is indistinguishable
from the culture in which we live.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is
this blandness of faith, this wasting of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, that
Jesus finds so repugnant that He vomits it from His mouth (Rev 3:16). </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Because
so many Catholics have turned a public faith to a private hobby, we have lost
ground in our culture.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>From the
breakdown of the family, to the disrespect for human life in all stages, to the
approval of the gross misuse of human sexuality, to the falling practice of the
faith, to the dropping of priestly and religious vocation, Catholicism has
ceded ground in the name of getting along in our society.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Our mission, as Catholics, is to infuse the
gifts of the Holy Spirit into the culture around us.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Where
there is ignorance, we use the gift of wisdom. Where there is bias and
prejudice, we use the gift of understanding. Where there is doubt, we use the
gift of counsel. Where there are lies and propaganda, we use the gift of
knowledge. Where there compromise, we use the gift of piety. Where there is
rebellion, we use the gift of the fear of the Lord. Where there is fear, we use
the gift of fortitude.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>None of these
gifts are given us to be stored as trophies to gather dust.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They are given to us to effect positive
change in the culture around us.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Our
faith is not a trophy nor a pious hobby, but an active agent for true and
lasting change in our world.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Forging Ahead</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>These
gifts of the Holy Spirit are given for the purpose of the Mission of Jesus
Christ to make known the Gospel, and this is to greatly inform the direction,
institutions, and mission of this parish.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>It is my job as pastor to commandeer all of these and order them to the
mission of Jesus Christ. Our ability to do this can be concretely measured in
visible criteria.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>All of our educational
apparatuses are to be changed so as to be unapologetically orthodox in
teaching.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Along with this honing of our
educational systems, we will be teaching the necessary wisdom and charity to
apply these teachings so as to provoke conversion.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Alongside of this, I wish to see our parish
profile be more public in the community in which we live. I will also be
provoking people to make our faith public in how they set their priorities.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is especially true with how priorities
are set for their children!</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
gifts of the Holy Spirit bear fruit.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Abandoning lukewarmness for the fervor of the Gospel bears fruit.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Measurable criteria include Mass attendance,
participation in various educational programs and social outreach, and most
strongly in being a parish that produces priestly and religious vocations. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I end with this: In Luke 12:49, Jesus says, “I
came to set the world afire, how I wish it were already kindled.” To live as Christ
seeks demands we leave the lukewarmness of Laodicea behind and embrace the fire
of that first Pentecost! Pentecost is considered the birth of the Church, it
becomes the template by we are measured. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span>Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-42971936403990669872018-05-16T09:48:00.001-07:002018-05-16T09:48:08.305-07:00Lukewarm Parishes Part 4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwHMhdWopX3mGLSpn9PpTqx3mWF8l6ZGfR_A22QC1hqrJLtTAR0buKG9TmiJyVPIrLO_shjKHrBP8XynggIdSIy13HgZvmGHwetKsrKoro6au72STNcrhqm_Vs0QEHNXbtLMXcj3awbh4/s1600/laodicea+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="170" data-original-width="300" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdwHMhdWopX3mGLSpn9PpTqx3mWF8l6ZGfR_A22QC1hqrJLtTAR0buKG9TmiJyVPIrLO_shjKHrBP8XynggIdSIy13HgZvmGHwetKsrKoro6au72STNcrhqm_Vs0QEHNXbtLMXcj3awbh4/s400/laodicea+4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">The second
recommendation of Jesus to the Church of Laodicea to correct their lukewarm
nature was to “buy white garments in which to be clothed, if the shame of your
nakedness is to be covered.” (Rev 3:18) Laodicea was well known in the cloth
trade.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Its cloths were made of the dark
wool of the sheep raised in the region.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>It would seem madness from this vantage point to bleach the local wool
to a bright white.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The ears of the Laodiceans
who first heard this message would well understand what was being asked.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Standing Out, Not
Blending In</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To understand what makes
lukewarmness so very tempting is to understand that lukewarmness is the
temperature of compromise.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Lukewarmness
lacks the fiery heat of passion or the icy cold of hatred.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It blends into whatever is around it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is a spiritual chameleon. The lukewarm do
not like to stick out.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Playing it safe
is the goal of the lukewarm.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The huge
problem with this is that they drift where the society drifts.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They adopt externally, at least, whatever the
surrounding culture adopts. They either adopt or sit in silence.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Either way they refuse to stick out.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For the Church of Laodicea,
being part of the Roman Empire, there was a vested interest in blending into the
populace.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So much of what Christianity
embraced was in direct opposition to the Greco-Roman culture and Rule of
Law.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Concepts we take for granted such
as the dignity of the human person, family life, the role of government, the
role of religion, human sexuality, and other items were viewed radically
different from the morals and ways of governance of the Roman Empire.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the face of such things, the Laodiceans
took the position with their Christian faith to hold internally to Christian
beliefs, do only what was safe, and then publicly hold a different stance from
their internal beliefs. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Spiritual lukewarmness leads to
the same deal with the devil.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is the
all too common “I am personally opposed but…” deal where a compartmentalization
of the person comes into play.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Lukewarmness leads to that wiggle room that allows a cafeteria approach
to faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are certainly a boatload
of issues that our popular culture takes offense at with the Church to this
day.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In fact, let’s be honest, it still
is same list as before: the dignity of the human person (especially in
abortion), family life, the role the government, the role of religion, human
sexuality, and so on.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In our own
country, to hold morals contrary to the popular morals leads to derision,
ridicule, and other forms of public humiliation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In other areas of the world it can lead to
imprisonment, lawsuits, suspension of human rights, and in some areas,
death.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Yet in all of this, Christ wants
us to stick out.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He wants us to be as
different in appearance to the world as we are belief.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is threatening.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is worth noting that in the Roman Empire,
despite sporadic and intense persecutions over three centuries, the Christians
grew from a handful of believers measured in the hundreds to a dominant faith
numbering in the millions.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It did this
without returning violence for violence or persecution for persecution.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They stood out.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They stood tall. They held their ground.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They won the day. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">With Clear Sight</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Finally, Jesus tells them to “buy </span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">ointment to smear on your eyes, if you would
see once more.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Again, to the
Laodiceans, this would sound familiar.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>According to Greek historian Strabo, there was a medical school in
Laodicea.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the region was a key
ingredient used in eye lotions.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus
compares their lukewarmness to a blurred vision.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Perhaps the lack of fire in their faith comes
from a willful resistance to see the truth of the Gospel. The Church of
Laodicea does not see themselves as in such a state as Jesus does.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In verse 17 of the same chapter, earlier
Jesus says, “You keep saying, “I am so rich and secure and I want for nothing.”
Little do you realize how wretched you are, how pitiable and poor, how blind
and naked!”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus tells his disciples, “The
truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Clear vision is necessary for conversion.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As individuals and as a parish, we need to
ask ourselves in all honesty as to whether we effectively witness to those in
our lives and to the community as a whole.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The clearest place to see this in our personal lives is the list of
priorities we set in our life and why we choose one thing over another.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Our Christian ancestors were
willing to risk everything to follow Christ.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>They left all manner of safety, security, comfort, and convenience
behind.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Even today, many in our world
are made to make the same choices. Their courage should encourage us.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To be blunt: when we make
choices between faith and other things, who wins?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Is faith something we fit into the rest of
our schedule?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Do we drop Mass when it
becomes inconvenient to other things going on?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Do we feel compelled to take on a worldly moral just to keep the
peace?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Do we adopt a worldly moral
because it is more convenient to our lives?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Do we resent a teaching of Christ because to accept it means to take a
unpopular stance? Does a worldly way of looking at life influence our faith
(political party for example) or do we seek to use our faith to influence
society?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Do we compromise some elements
of the faith to move ahead?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Do we teach
our children that faith, the practice of faith, or the deepening of faith all
take a back seat to getting ahead in this world?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Do we prioritize sports, leisure, work,
entertainment, and such over our faith?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The more we answer yes, the more lukewarm we are.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Remember, again, that Jesus finds
lukewarmness so revolting that He spews it out of His mouth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Can we be spewed from the mouth of Christ and
still enter heaven?</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-3279920183164286302018-05-16T09:44:00.001-07:002018-05-16T09:44:38.147-07:00Lukewarm Parishes Part 3<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZivO2ggaJf93yEcXFYV9lOR9KIKDmjSUPXCsWASCdDCpYbpknstiJCezOhR5LyhMa-QW3Cx-YC9KM8tUh6fmdk7Ucq4iHfRUE3MVDElUXn_M13fHUmarN9MDysOBgD3sQXqwXcj6oyN7N/s1600/laodicea+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="474" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZivO2ggaJf93yEcXFYV9lOR9KIKDmjSUPXCsWASCdDCpYbpknstiJCezOhR5LyhMa-QW3Cx-YC9KM8tUh6fmdk7Ucq4iHfRUE3MVDElUXn_M13fHUmarN9MDysOBgD3sQXqwXcj6oyN7N/s400/laodicea+3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">In the Book
of Revelations, when Jesus is speaking to the Church of Laodicea, He is
speaking to a single parish in modern terminology. The parish of Laodicea has
become lukewarm.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They enjoy tremendous
wealth and are spared the persecution many of their sister parishes in the same
region are undergoing. The lukewarm nature of Laodicea is so revolting to Jesus
that He says He spews it from his mouth.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>However, He gives them three ways by which to rectify their revolting
situation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">“But From Me Gold
Refined by Fire”</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus’ first antidote to their
disease of lukewarmness is to “buy from me gold refined by fire if you would be
truly rich.”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Mind you, they are already
fiscally rich.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>But Jesus sees them as
spiritually poor. He encourages them to seek spiritual wealth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Their wealth, though, comes from “gold
refined by fire.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When gold is mined, it is not
pure.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Grains of dirt and other
impurities exist within the nugget.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For
gold to be refined, it must be heated up to melting.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In that stressing of the gold, the impurities
are burned off and all that remains is the gold.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Unlike the other churches/parishes in the
area, Laodicea is spared persecution from outside. The external sources which
would help to purify them are not there as they are in other areas.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Not much has changed over two thousand years. There are
Catholic parishes around the world where the Church is being persecuted by
outside sources.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>One can look to Mexico,
where drug cartels are killing priests (two in last few weeks) while they are
getting ready for Mass or hearing confessions. One can look at Nigeria, where,
again, this last weekend, two priests and numerous parishioners were murdered
in an attack.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In this country, we have
no such attacks taking place.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>That
doesn’t mean there aren’t attacks.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Our attacks are much more subtle but every bit as
potent.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For Laodicea, their attachment
to the wealth and other benefits they enjoyed became the source of their
lukewarmness. When I do not have to choose God or something else at the point
of a sword, it is much easier to not choose God. The pressure to choose other
than God comes from a desire towards the things of this world.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>That desire leads to a constant compromise of
matter of God and faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Priorities
follow suit. Faith gets reduced to “putting in my time” at Mass (maybe…unless
something else more important comes along).<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The more we compromise, the more lukewarm we become.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We know from this passage that Jesus finds
such lukewarmness revolting enough to want to vomit from His mouth. What then
is this “gold refined by fire?”<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Where do
we get it?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>How do we get it?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Refined by Fire</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In these simple words, Jesus is
telling us that we must be purified as gold is.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>That is not easy. In fact, the refining process essentially changes the
gold nugget.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>By the same token, the
refining or purifying process means a drastic change.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To those who understand the language of the
Church, this should be no surprise.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>During the liturgical season of Lent, we focus on the purifying
elements.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In embracing fasting,
abstinence, prayer and alms-giving, these become the fire by which we become
purified.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>All of these speak to an idea
important to purification and refining: detachment.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The gold cannot hold onto its imperfections
and debris and still become pure. These spiritual practices, while highlighted
during Lent, are not exclusive to Lent.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>In detachment from the things of this world, we learn proper use of
these things and where on the scale of priority they should actually be.
Detachment leads to a proper re-ordering of our lives toward God and shakes off
the grime of lukewarmness.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Notice though, that Jesus tells
us to “buy from me” <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>this gold.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is more than our own efforts.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We need the grace of God to do any of
this.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>God gives us the grace to build
the virtues of prudence (knowing how apply wisdom to choices and priorities)
and temperance (self-control).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>God gives
us a forge to purify ourselves of lukewarmness in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Part of that sacrament
is the desire to amend one’s life and to use the grace of God to not go back to
the trough from which one just repented. Reconciliation, like all avenues of
grace, is to disrupt this path of lukewarmness.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>However, to disrupt that path necessitates choosing a better, more
worthy path. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;">Refining is Difficult</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To leave lukewarmness behind
means an essential change of priorities.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>If we are to change these priorities, it will make us stick out.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is why it is difficult and does court a
degree of persecution through ridicule or persecution.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It comes in the form of a young man I know
who had to choose between weekend Mass and a job that constantly and
intentionally prevented him from going to Mass. It comes in the form of a teen
I knew that to go to church youth events meant being threatened with his
starting spot on a team (the coach was Catholic…let that sink in).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It comes in the form of a young lady having
to choose being with her friends for a party or attending a necessary workshop
to work with youth in the parish.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It
comes in the form of a sports family who makes the effort to go to Mass while
on the road, even when they are the only ones of their group that do.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is all about the hard choices.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The lukewarm or cold will
immediately go to that which compromises the practice of faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Sometimes the choice results in good.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The young man quit his job and found a better
job.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Sometimes it is difficult.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The teen did lose his starting position. He
became a better man for it. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The lukewarm
will look for an excuse, the courageous will stand tall. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Our own willingness to stand
tall in the midst of this refinement becomes a lesson for those placed in their
care.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Lukewarm parents will usually (not
always) raise lukewarm children at best or kids that just abandon faith
altogether at worst.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Part of parenting
is to expose that life is full of hard choices and what one chooses as
priorities says much to the character of the person.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Our choices, when it comes to our Catholic
faith, either expose a fire from within for God or expose a lukewarmness that
places faith and God as a lesser priorities.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Maybe it is that flavor of playing second fiddle to the world that makes
Christ want to spew us from His mouth.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Christ doesn’t ask of us what He
Himself has not given.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In His
proclamation of the Gospel He gives us a way of life.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, He
makes clear that we were so much a first priority that He is willing to pour
out His own life for us.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the constant
access He gives us to the Holy Spirit, especially in the sacraments, He makes
clear how much He wants to be a part of our lives.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the face of such love, we can now see why such
lukewarmness would be revolting and offensive to Jesus?</span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-61534054952838409902018-04-26T09:48:00.000-07:002018-04-26T09:48:17.390-07:00I'm Not Being Fed!!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have heard this phrase bandied about many times well before I was Catholic (1977). I have heard it said by every type of Christian. I have heard Catholics say it. I have heard every type of Protestant say it. I have heard Orthodox say it.<br />
<br />
I understand the frustration that usually lies behind it. It can mean a variety of things though. It can mean I am not being told THE truth. I can mean I am not being entertained. It can mean I am being challenged and I don't like it. It can mean I am being spiritually malnourished. It can mean I am getting real food when I want junk food and candy. <br />
<br />
This post has a narrow intended audience. I t is written for Catholics. One might be able to extrapolate parts for one's own church, but I am aiming at Catholics. <br />
<br />
<b><i>You are being fed...maybe</i></b><br />
<br />
I want to start with a very basic premise. If you are a Catholic in a state of grace, you are being fed every time you do go to Mass. The primary feeding does not come in the form of well-executed liturgy, nor truth filled preaching, nor in great music necessarily. These are the work of man. The primary feeding comes from what Jesus Christ offers in the giving of His Flesh and Blood in the Eucharist. In John 6:55, Jesus proclaims, "For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink." If one is in a state of grace, one does not leave the Catholic Church without being fed what is the real food we need...maybe.<br />
<br />
Maybe? Yes. Maybe. Every sacrament has what is called form and matter. The form are the words used and the matter are the things used. To change the form or matter invalidates the sacrament. For example, the priest changes the words of the Institution Narrative of the Eucharistic Prayer changes the form of the Mass and can invalidate the sacrament. In other words, you do not receive the Body of Christ; you receive bread. The true feeding you need is not done. If something other than unleavened wheat bread (in the Roman Rite) is used, it invalidates the sacrament. The addition of honey, other grains, and leaven are prohibited in the Latin Rite. Such abuses should be reported immediately to the Diocesan Bishop as Catholics who are free to receive the Eucharist to have a right to the Eucharist. Clerics do not possess the authority to change either the form or matter of any sacrament. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal makes this clear in section 24, " However, the Priest will remember that he is the servant of the Sacred Liturgy and that he himself is not permitted, on his own initiative, to add, to remove, or to change anything in the celebration of Mass."<br />
<br />
If the form and matter is properly done, even if the priest is not a holy man, then one is fed at Mass. One is fed even of the homily is horrible. One is fed even if the music is wretched. One is fed even if the priest goes 100 MPH. In the end, the Sacraments is the work of Christ and His Church. The real food needed comes from Christ. Believe me, though, I am not letting those, clergy and laity, off the hook for poor execution of their roles within the Mass. The Mass is the worship of God. When Mass becomes the worship of man, we are going to have the problems expressed by 'I am not being fed."<br />
<br />
<b><i>Right Recipe...Right Ingredients</i></b><br />
<br />
I like to cook. I know you can have all the right ingredients and still have an inedible meal. You have to follow the recipe. The type of ingredients matter. Say a recipe calls for strawberries and you use rotten strawberries, you have used what the recipe called for, but have managed to ruin the dish all the same. The same goes for how we worship. I can have correct form and matter; that guarantees the Eucharist to be sure. But our worship of God should be a like quality. How we worship should be as best a reflection of the reality of the Real Presence.<br />
<br />
After correct form and matter, we should have correct orientation. The Mass is all about the worship of God. We come first and foremost to give thanks to God. The presence of God at Mass is not incidental: it is primary. I wonder how many times I hear, "I am not being fed" is actually a belief that I am not coming into the presence of God. It can be a bemoaning of a loss of transcendence. Though, the transcendent God IS present in many ways at Mass (The Word, the Eucharistic Species, The People of God), it can be obscured by a misfocus or lack of focus. The presence can be obscured by too much a focus on the people. The focus can be obscured by a lackadaisical mannerism or a 'going-through-the-motions' mentality where I am merely putting in my time...and as little time as I can get away with giving.<br />
<br />
While the apex of the Mass is and always will be the Eucharist, the other ingredients are to be of a quality that befits the Eucharist. The Church should connote an entrance into the presence of God. It should be more than just a gathering space akin to an auditorium where we are only silent once the play has begun. <br />
<br />
In entering into a Catholic Church, because of our belief in what the Blessed Sacrament is, there should be an acknowledgement and etiquette about how we respond and act. When the building focuses too much on the people, it loses that sense of transcendence and becomes mundane and commonplace. The sanctuary of the Church should be seen as the center of the throne room and not the stage for the play. <br />
<br />
How the priest does the Mass and preaches matters. If it did not, seminary training would be much lesser. Because he must avoid being the center of attention (which is difficult) and seeing himself as a showman trying to sell the performance, he must remember he sets the tone for worship. If he goes through the motions or rushes through it, he tells the people what he thinks is or is not going on. The Church is specific in its rubrics (ways of doing things) and prayers in telling the priest what is expected and what the people who have come to the Eucharist have a right to. <br />
<br />
The homily does matter. For better or worse, it is the principle point where the lay faithful are given an explication of the truths of the faith and reason to worship. The homily cannot be divorced from Catholic teaching. For better or worse, the homily exposes the spirituality and faith of the priest. It can do grave damage if it becomes a place where he departs from the teachings of the Church. If it shows depth and faith, it encourages the faithful to seek the same. No cleric who has been given charge of this task can believe it a throw-away task; it was through His proclamation of the Gospel that Christ first made known the will of the Father. We clerics must take the same seriousness and depth in preaching and teaching that Our Lord did. We are obligated to the truth. We can poison the meal with deceit.<br />
<br />
In as far as music goes, it does matter for two reasons. First, music should facilitate our worship of God. Too often, the lyrics point not to God but to just how special we think we are. Sometimes the music can be so like the secular music that there is no difference between that and what is heard on the radio. Recall, what is on the radio is meant to entertain. Second, the purpose of sacred music isn't to entertain..it is to offer worship to God. I am not at Mass to have things speak to me primarily...no, I am there at Mass to speak to God. If the focus is off, then one will leave empty. It is like the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. The Pharisee came to tell God how great he was, the publican came to rely on how great God is. Only one walked out justified. (Luke 18:9-14)<br />
<br />
All this said, it is still possible for a person to feel like they are not fed even though all the other ingredients are there. What about them? Let's just say you can't walk into a 4 star restaurant and want a Big Mac.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Focus, Focus, Focus</i></b><br />
<br />
Throughout all of history, there has always been those who want to be entertained. The focus is on them. Mass must speak to their desires and proclivities. It becomes style over substance. My disposition in coming in can be like bringing a vial of poison into the meal with me; taking that poison as a aperitif before the meal. It is especially loathsome when a priest does this. Remember, we priests are to be the servants of the Liturgy, not its master. <br />
<br />
When the focus is primarily what I get out of Mass, then prepare to starve. The focus is not where it needs to be. The focus is to be on God. The focus is God as He is, not as I want Him to be. It is not the job of the Church to change itself to worship the God I want; it is the job of the Church to call us into worship of the God who is. Were the congregation and the clergy to focus on this reality, were all aspects of the Mass to point to this reality, then I believe people would leave knowing they have been 'fed'. For the Mass is always about the glorification of God and the sanctification of His people. We get what we get as God's part in this exchange. It is an exchange. If we leave our part out, then we will leave Mass incomplete. That, my friends, accounts much of the time for 'not being fed.'<br />
<br />
The focus matters. The focus matters for the priest. The focus matters for the musicians and cantors. The focus matters for the lectors, servers, and other persons assisting in Mass. The focus matters for every single of the lay faithful. We should be assisting each other in maintaining that focus so the worship and glorification of God DOES take place and the glorification of HIs people DOES take place. There will be times where the focus is bit harder, especially when toddlers are out of sorts (I am a big believer that they stay as the only way to train appropriate behavior is to follow through...and every parent has been there). There will be times when the music is off or the preaching is off. Nobody bats 1.000. Nonetheless each of us is to use the grace of God to maintain that focus.<br />
<br />
Some find this easier to do in the Ordinary Form and some in the Extraordinary Form. I am not going to get in the weeds on this one, but only to say that both are recognized by the Church as legitimate. Since it was the Apostles, specifically Peter and his successors, that were given the Keys to the Kingdom, I should very careful in attempting to commandeer that authority to suit my own proclivities. Both have rubrics and prayers that are not to be adjusted by the priest. Both rituals should be adhered to with all due diligence. Focus matters. Obedience matters.<br />
<br />
The only time I would recommend fleeing a Church is if the priest is changing form and matter in such a way as to invalidate the Mass and prohibit the faithful in a state of grace from reception of the Blessed Sacrament. If that is happening, then indeed, the person is not being fed. For the true food and drink Christ offers isn't splendid music, superb preaching, or such..it is and always will be His Body and Blood.<br />
<br />
<br />
<b></b><i><b><br /></b></i>
Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-44849331088231068662018-04-25T09:17:00.002-07:002018-04-25T09:22:54.377-07:00An Open Letter to Young Catholic Men<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", a band or fellowship is formed among men of various races to accomplish a single goal; to fight back and defeat a seemingly all powerful enemy bent on the destruction of all not of his making. Key to this is the destruction of a ring of tremendous power. We know the story. The fellowship suffers defeats and success. The fellowship has to fight valiantly. Through tremendous selfless struggle and a courage to stand up in overwhelming odds, they win the day.<br />
<br />
Tolkien's writings still resonate with so many because they tap into the human condition in a powerful way. In this case, they point to the fact that we must face incredible evil from time to time. How we face evil exposes the kind of man we are. How willing we are to stand up, shatter any connections to comfort, and willingly engage with a culture who seeks nothing more than our complicity and silence goes to the core of the definition of masculinity in our world.<br />
<br />
We have a tendency to deal in extremes in our culture. Extremes are easy to identify. To one extreme when it comes to masculinity is the warped image of the man as an authoritarian despot who treats all around him as a means to an end. To the other extreme is the image of a perpetual boy numbed with comfort and spineless in opinion. When I speak of masculinity, I wish to avoid these extremes. Too many times, we drift to these extremes to define who we should be. I am purposing a third way. For Christ calls us to neither be dictators nor door mats.<br />
<br />
My proposal is for us to find our masculinity in something that is modeled after Jesus Himself. I caution, though, in as much as the definitions of masculinity are manipulated by cultures, so is the image of who Jesus is. In this we must avoid the extremes of a Vengeful God who cannot wait to drop us into hell or the peace, love, and crunchy granola hippie who is a tragic victim of 'the man'. <br />
<br />
<b><i>Jesus and Masculinity </i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b></b><i></i>Key to understanding Jesus, is to understand that He is completely motivated by love, specifically self-giving love. The life He embraces is one of detachment from all worldly goods. He shows compassion where love dictates it should. He shows fervor and courage where love dictates it should. He is not defined by any societal conventions. He eats with sinners. He talks to people he shouldn't. He doesn't back from confrontation. He is the Son of God/Son of Man that the Father wants Him to be. Even when He had to face the torture and brutality of the Passion and crucifixion, He doesn't back down. <br />
<br />
When He sends His apostles and disciples out, He tells them He is sending them out as lambs among wolves. He expects them to follow His lead. When He calls them despite their frailties, He knows who they can be with His help. He expects them to follow Him in a life of detachment. He expects them to follow the same compassion and courage. He expects them to face their crosses with the same love and courageous resolve that He did. On top of this, He expects them to preach what is considered madness in the Roman world. <br />
<br />
In the Roman world, the paterfamilias (father of the family) had absolute control over his wife and children. They could be killed, sold into slavery, or any other action that he saw fit. The apostles were not to model the way they fathered this fledgling church on such behavior. In fact, they were to challenge the very idea of the paterfamilias as it stood. They didn't do this by going to the opposite extreme and teach men to be door mats; the heart of being a leader was to be a servant. This is how Jesus leads, this is how his apostles were to follow suit.<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Pressure</i></b><br />
<br />
Most young men find themselves in a world that still preaches the extremes. On the one hand we have the part of the culture that tells us that you prove your manhood by what you can conquer. This is the basis of the hook-up culture. This is the success-at-all-cost culture. This is the culture that tells you to manipulate everything around you. It requires a great deal of arrogance and suppressing of being a servant. On the other side, you are told to sit down and shut up. You are taught to be ashamed of anything distinctly masculine as being part of the rape culture/patriarchy. This side assumes the only other option is the other extreme. The goal is to create an easily subjugated group.<br />
<br />
Both sides, though, have a common enemy. Catholicism. Both sides speak in terminology of power: either being the one wielding power or being the one who power wielded over. Catholicism, as is written, goes in an opposite direction. It places a premium on selfless love. If one selflessly loves, then one will not treat others as a means to and end; whether that end be sexual conquests, fiscal conquest, or whatever other conquest is sought. If one selflessly loves, then hedonism (the Playboy mentality) and materialism cannot be sought. Catholicism also places a premium on being a witness to something greater. Hence, a life of mousy silence and religion-as-a-personal-hobby is not the goal either. Catholicism requires making stands for the truth even when that truth is unpopular. Catholicism requires entering into the warfare of culture to uphold the truth. While the truth will set you free, it will not win the approval of the culture.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Isolation and Fellowship</i></b><br />
<br />
The greatest way to manipulate someone is to increasingly isolate them. If I were the devil, I would use isolation as a primary tool. How would I strangle the spiritual life of a young man? I would introduce him to porn as early as possible. I would simultaneously teach him to treat sexuality as a means of self-gratification and then make him feel deeply guilty about seeing women as such. That way I could isolate him out from forming healthy relationship with women and use it as a source of shame to preclude service to God. I would have wallow in a swamp of shame at his weakness and resentment that the Church teaches he should not be doing this.<br />
<br />
If I were the devil, I would have the young man cut himself off of sacramental grace; I would want nothing of the life of Christ in him. I would isolate him from his community of faith. I would cut him off from men who might model Catholic masculinity. I would make him feel uncomfortable in deepening any sense of faith. I would provide of plethora of distractions all of which he could treat as greater and more pressing priorities. In doing this, I could isolate him from godly men and surround him with men from the extremes. I would leave him trying to fill a hole in his heart with all of these things.<br />
<br />
In Tolkien's story, the task of standing against evil is not left to one man. A fellowship is formed. Even the task of destroying the ring isn't left to a single man; that man takes his friend with him to push him and encourage him when he felt weak or was tempted by the power of the ring. Jesus sent his disciples in groups of two. He expected the Apostles to be one, to create a group who would be one throughout the world. They were to support one another and bring out the best in one another. They were to be bound in the same selfless service that He Himself lived.<br />
<br />
Over the years, fraternal orders have been formed for Catholic men to bring our the best in other Catholic men so as to call to courageous and selfless service. I speak of groups like the Knights of Columbus and more recently, the Frassati groups. The goal is to make men understand that if you are isolated, you are an easy target for destruction. As we want you to be strong, we form the bonds of fellowship.<br />
<br />
That first and most essential bond is that of the divine life placed in us by the Sacramental life of the Church. You cannot do this without the life of Christ running through your veins. It is also the place you learn about selflessness. This means getting away from the idea of Mass as something you get something from to a place where you offer selfless service and worship to God. It means being able to see sacramental grace as the fuel to building resolve to the man God made you to be.<br />
<br />
Last Sunday, during a panel for confirmation, a question was asked how to maintain faith and grow as a person left home and was no longer compelled to go. One bit of advice I gave was to surround yourself with people who would call you to being a person of faith. In the same panel, I also challenged the students to look at what influences they allowed in their life through media and entertainment. Inevitably, young men, you make the decisions of what you allow into your life. IF you drink poison, be prepared for the consequences.<br />
<br />
Add men to your life who will encourage you to rise to the level of selfless service. Push beyond the tepid nature of comfort. The world is not going to like your doing this. Then again, what enemy likes it when a combatant enters the field of battle against it? <br />
<br />
<b><i>Know the Tools</i></b><br />
<br />
In Tolkien's story, the fellowship was not sent out to their task unarmed. The weapons of war necessary to the task at hand were taken with them to accomplish the task. St. Paul likens the life of a Christian to that one of a soldier going off to battle. The main armor and weapons of the Catholic man are the virtues. A Catholic man embraces them and learns how to effectively use them with all the skill of a soldier and his weapon. Dropping these weapons and armor only leaves you vulnerable to an enemy who gives no quarter. <br />
<br />
A Catholic man has at his disposal a use of the cardinal virtues. He can use prudence to judge how and when to act. He can use justice to put his own needs aside in order to give to another what is needed. He can use temperance to show the self-control and discipline to act rightly and selflessly. He can use fortitude to show the courage necessary to take the stands he needs to take, to engage wisely in the battles he must fight, and to band with his brothers so that man is left behind.<br />
<br />
A Catholic man knows that he isn't meant to do this on his own. He has the God given and God strengthened theological virtues to know God's will (faith), to trust God's will (hope), and to execute God's will in such a way as to model himself after Christ (love). This boldness gives you the ability to cry out "DEUS VULT" when our culture would scare you off the field. <br />
<br />
Find that fellowship in your own life. I know it might require a great courage and might also mean intense shifts. I know some of you might already feel isolated. Maybe you have already allowed poisons like porn, promiscuity, and such into your life. Maybe you have isolated yourself from the sacraments or have treated faith as a pious hobby at best. The point is, though, that God can take you from such a timid and selfish existence and rise you above it. You just have to be willing to be uncomfortable, to stand out, and to be the man who doesn't live in the extremes of this culture. <br />
<br />
We need men who will rise up and take on the courage of the Tolkien's fellowship. We need men who will mimic Christ and His apostles and embrace detachment and pour themselves out for the good of those God will place in their care. If you are called to marriage and family life, your family will need you to be this man. If you are called priesthood, your parish will need you to be this man. We know the damage done by those who took on these roles and weren't these men. Now...go out and learn to be this man. Know that God will give you what you need if your willing to do it.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<b></b><i></i>Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-4393132084961175222018-04-24T09:33:00.003-07:002018-04-24T09:33:48.145-07:00Lukewarm Parishes Part 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJT0rAogaX0S776g_gyqy-seld8ek6zwkFJ6KSZiXgUAobJ1NGHHudyZNHlHL5M9rpRcp1zsKi6B8YKq19fQECW0lEZKwQdmSjKjKIidEVrcUKNacOT9BG3lMPF6seHaPN6-RvzKabBpBW/s1600/Laodicea+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJT0rAogaX0S776g_gyqy-seld8ek6zwkFJ6KSZiXgUAobJ1NGHHudyZNHlHL5M9rpRcp1zsKi6B8YKq19fQECW0lEZKwQdmSjKjKIidEVrcUKNacOT9BG3lMPF6seHaPN6-RvzKabBpBW/s400/Laodicea+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In the history of the Church, outside persecutions have
never been able to destroy the Church.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>They have caused grave damage, but cannot destroy. The Church has
suffered greatly at her own hand, though, throughout the ages.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>One of the greatest autoimmune viruses to
inflict the Church is the one that was inflicting the Church of Laodicea: that
of lukewarmness. An autoimmune disease is any disease in the body is essentially
attacking itself.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Some autoimmune
diseases, such as MS or rheumatoid arthritis can literally cripple the body to
immobility.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>So lukewarmness does the
same.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It cripples a parish or diocese
into immobility and a disagreeable acceptance of a status quo.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Lukewarmness and the Status Quo</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I
believe that the phrase, “We have always done it this way” is a sign of a dying
institution.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This doesn’t mean we throw out or adapt
teachings on faith and morals within the Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This doesn’t mean we treat Mass as a blank
pallet on which to do what we want.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Truth be told, I believe we need to stick stronger to these things.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Compromise, in these areas, is a direct
result of lukewarmness.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
status quo I speak of is the willful pursuing of ways of education, formation,
and evangelization (or the lack thereof) that are pursued (usually
half-heartedly) even though they produce little to no positive results. More
often than not, the status quo takes a one-size-fits-all mentality.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The status quo also desires a modus operandi
whereas you come to us and our programs as opposed to we go to you.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Lukewarmness and the status quo seek to stay
safe.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Lukewarmness and the status quo
resist taking chances or stepping out of comfort zones.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Why?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Lukewarmness and the status quo are ruled by fear of change.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I
remember being part of committee whose objective was to look at a policy that
everyone around the table knew was not working.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>For THREE years we spoke about it.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>We brought in experts.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However,
any divergence from the current policy was met with a mix of wringing of hands
and steadfast stubbornness of changing the current policy…even though we had
already acknowledged the current policy didn’t work.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>After the three years, the policy stood
unchanged without the slightest adjustment and still did not work. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Qualities of a Lukewarm Parish</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Why was
Jesus so revolted by the Church of Laodicea?<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Why did he find it so bad that He wanted to projectile vomit it from His
mouth?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He accuses them of being
lukewarm.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What made them lukewarm?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They were comfortable with how things
were.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Is being comfortable a bad
thing?<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>After all, many in advertisement
act as if it is the ultimate goal. In a way, being comfortable can be
detrimental to a parish.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To maintain
comfort in a parish, change cannot happen. A lukewarm parish does have certain
qualities.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>First,
a lukewarm parish is all about the status quo.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>It will be all about the status quo even when it is generally
acknowledged that the status quo is harming the parish.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Leadership will be a good-old-boy network of
champions for the status quo.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They will
shut out new voices while complaining that new voices do not come forward. They
will keep using the same tired things over and over again.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They will be champions of deferred
maintenance in every aspect of parish life.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>They will complain about the catechesis but not change materials.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They will complain about the lack of youth
while either insisting on continued pandering or doing nothing and blaming the
youth for not liking what they like.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In
all this, the actual teachings of the Church will be circumvented when they
become inconvenient. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Second,
a lukewarm parish is slow to evangelize.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>They will want new members, but insist that new potential members come
to them and adapt 100% to the local status quo.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Church teaching that does not back the status quo will be forgotten or
deliberately left out so that things remain as is.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A lukewarm parish will not retain many who
join them.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They will also lose the
overwhelming amount of their youth. The reason for this is that a lukewarm
nature is a dying nature. It is not a human trait to invest in what is
dying.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Investment of one’s time, energy,
and resources usually will go to what has a future.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The more vibrant the future, the more vibrant
the investment of time, energy, and resources will be as well.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Third,
a lukewarm parish will shoot for the minimum.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>As with any lukewarm entity, just enough will be done to keep things
breathing.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A minimalism in worship, in
catechesis, in formation, and all other aspects will be hallmark.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The most dominant thing will be
fundraising.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A plethora of fundraising
(capital projects aside) will show that the parish isn’t showing enough life
for many to invest.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Staff will be
minimal.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Programs will be tired. In such
a parish, the budget will determine the mission. When that happens,
lukewarmness has become toxic.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Finally,
a lukewarm parish will be a place of hand wringing and excuses. People will
know something is wrong.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They will feel
helpless to change these things. Helplessness will breed excuse making.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>None of
these sounds like what Jesus wants for His Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If we consider what He went through in
bringing us into existence through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, we
should want for us what He wants for us.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the
passage from Revelations, His answer to Laodicea’s lukewarmness is “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">But from me gold refined in fire…buy white
garments in which to be clothed…buy ointment to smear on your eyes.” </i><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Revelations 3:18.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the next three weeks, we will look at
these three things and how to use them to leave Laodicea once and for all! </span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span>Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-3620312122926014472018-04-17T14:13:00.001-07:002018-04-17T14:27:11.003-07:00Lukewarm Parishes Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_EuDVIHltdqb6qhHOIs3D1aaRvFmEPnjzn3nloSWZr-Yj_vCef89etxkq_8KAWKZNXhkcjhBuyq5iWyUtITcuEECELu6ia3Obuw1rhWfYPXLJXQ70XRbtWfJm_5Go9enkF9I4bE4GuGgc/s1600/laodicea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_EuDVIHltdqb6qhHOIs3D1aaRvFmEPnjzn3nloSWZr-Yj_vCef89etxkq_8KAWKZNXhkcjhBuyq5iWyUtITcuEECELu6ia3Obuw1rhWfYPXLJXQ70XRbtWfJm_5Go9enkF9I4bE4GuGgc/s320/laodicea.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Many times, I have sworn to myself, that if I ever did
publish a book, I would title it “Leaving Laodicea: Embracing Holiness as a
Parish.” Laodicea is one of the seven churches in the Book of Revelations to
whom St John is instructed to deliver a message. </span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="74003014"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“To the angel of the church in Laodicea,</i></a><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> write this:</i></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">“‘The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God’s
creation, says this:<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="74003015"> “I know your works; I know that you are
neither cold nor hot.</a> I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you
are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you
say, ‘I am rich and affluent and have no need of anything,’ and yet do not
realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="74003018"></a><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Revelation 3:14-17</span></i></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The city of Laodicea was known for its spring that ran hot or
cold. It was a very wealthy city. When Christianity was first preached there,
it seems it took some root. However, Jesus faults this new church with a
lukewarmness that is intolerable. The actual Greek verb, which is translated
‘spit out’ gives more the impression of projectile vomiting.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In other words, like the taste of something
utterly revolting, Jesus finds the lukewarm nature of Laodicea to be thoroughly
revolting.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">What causes lukewarmness?</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">When we look at what little we know about Laodicea, we can
get something of an answer.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If something
is lukewarm, it is tepid.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Laodicea was a
wealthy town.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There is no evidence given
that the Church of Laodicea knew anything of persecution as did a number of the
other seven churches.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They were
comfortable.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We live in a society that values comfort.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We will spend great amounts of money to
accrue comfort.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We will even simulate
comfort by numbing ourselves through chemical addictions.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We will simulate comfort through the misuse
of our sexuality and the use of pornography.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>We will seek that which gives us that sense of well-being.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To value comfort necessitates a
disproportionate focus on the self. The search for comfort will lead to a
rejection of what disrupts that comfort.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>In this rejection, we will compromise away whatever upsets our comfort.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">In the same way, we will resent whatever disrupts our
comfort.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We will blame outside forces
for this unwanted intrusion into our comfort (especially God).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">For one who values comfort, the role of religion is to
merely comfort. The comfortable religious person doesn’t seek to grow, but to
remain is a state of inert stasis where they drift along as a leaf down a
stream. The role of God in such a religion is to rubber stamp whatever theology
I cobble together that makes me comfortable. If I do grow, it is completely on
my terms and with a predetermined outcome.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Again, God’s roles are to rubber stamp my efforts and pat me on the head
for any effort. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Lukewarmness is a direct result of compromise. Lukewarmness
cannot find the intellectual and spiritual honesty to own up to what is
actually being done.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Since it neither
has the coldness of abandonment of faith nor the heat of a truly lived faith, Christ
finds it loathsome enough to want to reject altogether.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Why not?! Certainly Jesus did not go through
the passion, death, and resurrection so that we may be ho-hum about faith and
the living out of discipleship.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Lukewarmness breeds indifference which breeds animosity</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Children pick up what we as adults are truly excited about
or find important. They will see this on how we live, on what is chosen as a priority,
our words/attitudes about things, and our willingness to donate time, energy
and resources to a cause. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">By the same token, children also pick up what isn’t worth
their time or energy.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What the adults in
their life are lukewarm about will pass on and deepen into indifference.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What the child witnesses to be burdensome, of
lesser priority, or unimportant will be passed on down.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This indifference leads them open to going
one step further into an animosity toward whatever is at hand.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">We see this in study after study about faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For example, studies on Church attendance
show a progressive slide from one generation to the next.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are multiple factors that contribute to
this, but one of the most dominant is the attitude towards God and faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When a parent is indifferent or seemingly
goes through motion, it says something powerful to their children.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Statistically, this is especially true of the
attitude of the dad. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Lukewarmness of one generation provokes the next generation
to drift even further away.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There is
something innate in our nature that abhors going through the motions. This is
especially true with younger people. It seems to be inauthentic. Why bother
with such drudgery?</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Hence, lukewarmness is the devil’s playground. It is why
Jesus shows such a viral antipathy to it.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Lukewarmness provides fertile ground for doubt, disbelief, and
inevitable rejection of faith. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">However, Jesus would not warn Laodicea about their
lukewarmness if it were irreversible. It is reversible. In the next few weeks,
I am going to reflect on how we leave lukewarmness behind.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I am a big believer in the fact we cannot
complain about behavior we enable. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As a
pastor, I want to see every aspect of who we are as a parish - outreach,
education, devotion, worship, formation of our youth, and social support to roar
like a lion.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">No parish should be comfortable living in Laodicea.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>No family should be comfortable living in
Laodicea. No individual should be comfortable living in Laodicea.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>On all
levels, it is far past due time to shake off the dust of Laodicea and forge
boldly ahead.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span>Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-22874408991648298042018-01-26T09:16:00.003-08:002018-01-26T09:16:43.949-08:00Why Fake News Works<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJiP-Gu61XJip5N7GzD5MzyI_d1ei4_amUDEDdP2uLIOXXSVge6FiSf-V5wWbeZc-HtMMB-a55_XGwdIabLc6J-tjhoHf7dFKlnkI0hnZ92uvi68KI3FW0KIObCUTiVQDTlPYbjYaWS9il/s1600/fake-news.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="640" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJiP-Gu61XJip5N7GzD5MzyI_d1ei4_amUDEDdP2uLIOXXSVge6FiSf-V5wWbeZc-HtMMB-a55_XGwdIabLc6J-tjhoHf7dFKlnkI0hnZ92uvi68KI3FW0KIObCUTiVQDTlPYbjYaWS9il/s400/fake-news.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Recently Pope Francis spoke about the phenomenon of fake news. He said that its finds its roots in the Garden of Eden. This is a powerful statement in his aligning fake news (propaganda) as rooted in the fall of humanity in Eden. <br />
<br />
Fake news is not a new thing. From the lies and misinformation first used to tricked humanity into turning against God down through ages with the widespread use of propaganda to perpetuate a lie so as to garner power, fake news and its antecedents have long been the favored tool of tyrants to spread lies so as to manipulate populations.<br />
<br />
<b><i>The Father of Lies</i></b><br />
<br />
All misinformation and deceit has a satanic source. It is not without reason that bearing false witness finds itself as a topic in the Ten Commandments. Bearing false witness/lying breeds confusion deliberately. Starting with the lie told to Adam and Eve, that God did not want what was good for them, in sowing confusion, so that Satan could more easily turn humanity against God, lies have been sown so as to create chaos and confusion. Make no mistake, fake news is a tool for those who wish to divide.<br />
<br />
Why does the devil want to divide? The devil is THE anti-Christ, he is the opposite of Christ and His mission. If Christ came that we might be one (John 17:20-21), then the natural goal of the devil is going to be to sow as much division as possible. He preys on fear. To gin up fear, he will utilize lies to create and sustain a atmosphere of mistrust. If the devil can get us to see each other as the enemy or as suspect, then he has an ample field to work with.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Us versus Them</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
The devil has been very successful in his endeavor. He has managed to split humanity into so many factions, that we can scarcely cooperate for even those things that effects us all. No matter how mind-numbingly idiotic the division is, people can be found to nurture and sustain it. Propaganda has been used by those who have given themselves first and foremost to the most base and evil things of this world to keep power. They are able to tap into a very base part of fallen humanity; fear of the other.<br />
<br />
Fake news is a buffet meant to sustain the lie. It is a buffet of tasty tidbits. It is full of salacious gossip, misinterpreted speculation, and glee at another's errors. Ultimately though, the buffet is thoroughly poisoned. The more the buffet is eaten from, the more the immunity is broken down. The immunity in question is the that part of our mind and soul that can aptly distinguish between lies and truths. How on earth, though, can you make a person willingly eat of such a poisoned menu?<br />
<br />
Simple. Wrap the entire menu in a dose of subjectivity; convince the person that they and those who think like them are always right and those who don't now are always wrong. Deal in absolutes about people. Reduce people to their being either this or that, but not both. Inflate the pride of the individual to the point that any deviation from their subjective definitions of good and evil must be dealt with in a scorched earth manner. With the disease sufficiently spread, the immune system of mercy, reason, and forgiveness is defeated. Hence the fake news is eaten and spread with an unquenchable fury.<br />
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<b><i>The A Priori World of Fake News</i></b><br />
<br />
Having set groups against each other, it is then easy to set an a priori base that any and all things that the 'other' does must be evil. Any good that might be done by the 'other' is simply waved away in lieu of it not fitting the predetermined narrative. The good done by the 'other' is dangerous to the a priori narrative pushed by fake news. Instead of treating individuals as individuals, we treat them as parts of enemy groups. <br />
<br />
That is the end goal. Once any person can successfully marginalize a group, then that person can do anything to that group as they have dehumanized them. This is the tool of tyrants. This is the tool for those who have sought to eliminate entire segments of the population. If I can get you to hate a group, I can get you to turn a blind eye or even get you to join in any evil that I might have planned.<br />
<br />
Let's be honest, though. No one can sell what no one wants to buy. Because humanity is fallen, because we suffer from the effects of Original Sin, because we struggle with concupiscence, and because we can want the easy path, we are all too ready to have groups defined as those to be liked and those to be hated. It feeds into our darker selves.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Feeding an Appetite</i></b><br />
<br />
Humanity struggles with this darker self. The devil knows this. God knows this. Tyrants know this. They know we have dispositions towards envy, wrath, gluttony, and greed. We can be tempted to see the success of the other as detrimental to our own success. We can suppose the worst motivations on those who hurt us or disagree with us. We can see another's belongings as taking away from what I should have. All of these require as a prerequisite a egotistical pride that measures all things by how it effects me.<br />
<br />
Fake news works and is so widespread by virtue of 24/7 media and social media because so many of us want to believe the absolute worst about others. We want to bolster our identity by tearing down the identity of others. Furthermore, lacking the work ethic to do this on an individual basis, we merely put whole groups into camps and assign them common beliefs. This, my friends, is identity politics.<br />
<br />
<b><i>Why It Is a Lie</i></b><br />
<br />
The narrative falls apart if we choose to examine it with any depth. First, the human person is complex. Good and evil motivations can and do exist in the same person. Because we presume the ability to grow, develop, and change, simply treating a person as a stagnant agent, though convenient for a narrative, is simply not true. Fake news is designed to force people into a pigeon hole where they consistently stay. It stymies conversion because it does not desire conversion. However, with most people, given the tools to do so, conversion to the good is possible. <br />
<br />
However, we resist this because the conversion of another might well beg the question why we don't change to the better. I can justify my own hates, biases, and prejudices only so long as the 'other' remains a constant. When the 'other' changes, it necessitates my own change of how I look at them. More threatening is the thought if the 'other' might not be always evil and wrong, then is my side always right and good? Better for most to wallow in a comforting lie than to face an uncomfortable truth. <br />
<br />
<b><i>Looking Beyond the Label</i></b><br />
<br />
Truth leads us to see people as unique individuals. Jesus does this. Instead of summarily dismissing other groups than that to which He culturally belonged, He saw past the categories (Samaritans, Romans, Lepers...) and looked to bringing out the good in them through a restoration of relationship. To be sure, not all accepted such a generous offer, but the offer is made based on an ability to see in the most sordid of sinners something worth saving and redeeming. Jesus did not overlook the evil men do, but He did know they were capable of better with the help of His grace.<br />
<br />
Hence, we must, as a matter of virtuous discipline, not indulge in the tawdry delight of fake news. It is not merely beneath our collective humanity, but directly goes against the heart of the Christian Mission. If our starting point is to presume a person evil, it will be hard to see anything as salvageable in them. This requires a basic disposition that the role of the entirety of creation is to sate me. Nothing fuels the taste for fake news like a selfish heart. <br />
<br />
We were made for better. Fake news cheapens the person of the person who spreads it.<br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><i><br /></i></b>
Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-36148933637689825742018-01-09T11:01:00.001-08:002018-01-09T11:01:56.745-08:00#Evangelization2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fS9mLcMooet1An4prULWdMp382zxCwTJPAnpkKrlXJY-52q6y4NDAWOe-Dobv8xqEVTg5OWlr4hWbxHCK22aF1albaUflvRS_VSPjgLDnrMjeKMgvvpQFicRdmk4r5eUT-Ue_bKAFlOs/s1600/Evangelization+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="200" data-original-width="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fS9mLcMooet1An4prULWdMp382zxCwTJPAnpkKrlXJY-52q6y4NDAWOe-Dobv8xqEVTg5OWlr4hWbxHCK22aF1albaUflvRS_VSPjgLDnrMjeKMgvvpQFicRdmk4r5eUT-Ue_bKAFlOs/s1600/Evangelization+1.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">“Full authority has been given to me both in
heaven and earth,</span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Go, therefore, and make disciples of the
nations!</span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Baptize them in the name of the Father, and
the Son, and the Holy Spirit!</span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Teach them to carry out all that I commanded
you.</span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 13.33px; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">And know that I am with you always, until
the end of the world! Mathew28:18b-20</span></i></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>These
last words of Christ to the Apostles in the Gospel of Matthew are excellent
words with which to begin the year 2018.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>In these words we find the essential and central mission of the
Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>These words of Christ, a
directive to evangelize, are at the very heart of who we are and always have
been as the Body of Christ in this world. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>When are baptized into the Body of Christ, we
are brought into her mission.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>During the
Anointing with Chrism Oil at baptism, we are directed (be it the adult coming
in or the parents of an infant) to share in this evangelical mission of
bringing Christ into the lives of all we meet.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Training disciples</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For the
apostles who heard these words, they had been given training.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For three years they followed Jesus.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They saw the miracles. They were given
instruction is such a way that even the best of seminaries could never provide.
They didn’t always get it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, what
they were given was enough to provoke them to leave the safety and security of
everything they knew and proclaim a seemingly ridiculous message throughout the
world: a crucified Messiah who frees us from sin and death.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Christ
gives us the same opportunity to learn at His feet.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He gives us a share in His life through the
sacraments of the Church, He gives us the educational and spiritual formation
of His Church, and He gives us the primary incubator of disciples, the family.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the coming year, our parish needs to help
bolster each of these elements.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is
our job as a parish to make sure that we have not just the tools to get about
the work of the Kingdom, but that we have the best of tools.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is
times like this where remembering who we are as Catholics transcends mere
parish boundaries. One of the challenges of being pastor of two parishes,
especially when the size of those parishes are as different as they are, is
that I must acknowledge that elements such as budget, staff, and volunteers
must be taken into account as to how we approach our task of
evangelization.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Christ and His Church do
not differentiate the call to evangelization based on the size of a
parish.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Remember, the earliest churches
were small and in homes. In some of the things I am purposing, both parishes
will need to take into account the abilities of the other and help each other
as is fit; that is part and parcel of our catholicity. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Training through the Sacraments</i></b><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>All
of our efforts will fall short without the grace of God.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>A Catholic who exempts themselves from the
sacramental life of the Church is doomed to failure in living its mission.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Without the sacraments we lose sight of why
we do what we do. Without the sacraments the essential character of the Church
is reduced to a social club or social work club.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I am not saying that either of these are
evil.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In fact, a healthy parish has a
familial bond that brings us together and a outreach to the larger community,
especially to the needy of the local community.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>However, the Church is more than that.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the
sacraments we are given the grace necessary to live out the essential catholic
charism: evangelization.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Each sacrament
is given to bolster that grace in the life of a member of the Body of Christ so
as to engage in evangelization as God sees fit.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They are pathways for the Holy Spirit to
breathe the boldness and wisdom necessary to live the life of Christ in such a
way as to go and make disciples.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
sacraments, when received in a state of grace (baptism gives us this gift), <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>insert the life of the Incarnate God, Jesus
Christ, so as to embolden us to engage.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>When that state of grace is lost through mortal sin, the Confession must
be done to restore it so that the other sacramental graces given us are not
squandered. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Part of
the things I wished to do to bolster this have already started.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is why in adult education I am focusing on
the Mass.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Last semester we went through
the Constitution on the Liturgy (Sancrosanctum Concilium) and we will be doing
the General Instruction of the Roman Missal for the second semester.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This class meets in the parish hall at SS
Peter and Paul at 7PM on most Tuesdays staring on the 9<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> of
January. It is why I have already greatly expanded the times for confession in
both parishes. It is why I am speaking frequently about the sacraments during
the homilies. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Over the next year, we
will also be evaluating the preparation programs for the sacraments so as to
make sure we are giving those who are being formed into the sacramental life of
the Church the best available tools.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is
why I will be absolutely insistent that anyone who calls themselves Catholic
within the parish boundaries is going to Mass every Sunday and Holy Day.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If chronic illness or advanced age prevents
that, I have an army of Eucharistic Ministers and myself to bring the
sacraments to them.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I try to get out
once a month to afford access to the Eucharist, Confession, and Anointing of
the Sick to our ill and aged. I have others in the Boonville Correction
Facility who I will now go to twice a month to afford them Mass and
Confession.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Everyone else, if they are
going to be authentic about their faith, MUST avail themselves to the Mass and
Confession.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We cannot engage in the
mission of the Church if we are starving ourselves of the ability to do so.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Because
the sacramental life of the Church is essential to our Catholic identity, being
on a parish roster will not be considered enough unless one is ill and of
advanced age (unable to get out).<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Too
many times, people will put themselves on parish rosters so as to have access
to a parochial school for free.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Our
diocese does not charge parishioners for tuition on the belief that Catholics
who put their children into our schools are living the faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Chronically exempting oneself and one’s
children from the sacramental life of the Church tells me that what is actually
being sought is a free private education and not a Catholic education.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I have no interest in fully supplementing a
private education. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I also have no
interest in throwing people off of our parish roster.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, I am asking that such families be
honest and either start living the sacramental life of the Church or be removed
from our roster and be tuition families. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We must be honest. </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Domestic Church</span></i></b><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
Catholic Church sees as its most basic building block an entity called the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">domestic church</i>, that is, the church of
the family. The family is where the lessons of faith are most powerfully taught
by word and deed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The example of the
parents in the way they do or do not live their faith will be the primary
influence on the faith of their children.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>This is especially true for the dad of the family.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The faith or faithlessness of the dad is the
single largest determining factor of whether the children grow to embrace the Catholic
faith themselves.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
family is the first place of evangelization.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Children are the first targets of evangelization on the part of their
parents.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Catechism of the Catholic
Church, sections 2221-2231, make clear that the role of the parents in the
reception and nurturing of faith in their children is paramount.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For example: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the
responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should
initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of
which they are the ‘first heralds’ for their children.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>They should associate them from their
tenderest years with the life of the Church.”</i> <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>(CCC 2225)</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I
invite moms and dads to read the entirety of these sections from the
Catechism.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>These are the duties that you
told God you would undertake when you had your children baptized.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The role I play within the larger parish as
a pastor, you moms and dads (again, particularly the dads) play within your
family.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Inasmuch as it would be
scandalous for me to use my position to drive a wedge between my flock and the
Church or my flock and God, so it is scandalous for parents to do the same with
their children.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To this end, Jesus warns
us<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, “Scandals will inevitably arise, but
woe to him through whom they come. He would be better off thrown into the sea
with a millstone around his neck than to give scandal to one of these little
ones.” (Luke 17:1-1)</i> </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Helping You Help Them</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Each
parish has a responsibility to help those who are the primary teachers in the
ways of the faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Many times, though,
the primary teachers had the necessary knowledge and formation withheld from
them when they were young.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is hard to
hand on what one does not have.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I
realize that for many decades Catholic catechesis has been lacking.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In some cases, it has been seriously
lacking.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This must be fixed.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To this
end, our parishes have given access to an excellent online program called
‘Formed’ to give parents a forum to deepen their own understanding of the faith
and give them an opportunity to be the primary teachers of the faith they are
called to be.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I know many parents feel
inadequate to the task to be primary teachers.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>We want to help you rise to the standard and be for your child who they
need you to be and who God wants you to be. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Starting
in January, we will be starting the ‘Choice Wine’ series for our married
couples in order to help them be what they are called to be.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It will be started at SS Peter and Paul.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>If there are people from St. Joseph who would
like to be facilitators for this, I will most happily point you in the right
direction.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Again, given the catholic
nature of our faith, it is not merely desirable that parishes act in tandem and
cooperation, it is absolutely necessary.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I also have the “Beloved’ series if some would like to try that.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Beloved Series is available on the Formed
website.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Partners, not Replacements</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Whether
your child is in a parochial school, a PSR program, or a confirmation class,
parents are called to be partners in the process.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As already said, parents are the first
teachers.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We offer various educational
opportunities to supplement what should be going on in the home.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>No Catholic teacher, however brilliant they
may be, will be able to counteract fully the lack of teaching that may be missing
from the parent.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the
coming months we will be developing ways in which parents are given more of a
role in the spiritual and sacramental development of their children.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is not the job of a teacher to be the
primary teacher and witness to the faith.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>They must be witnesses to the faith to be sure, but, it is the parents’
responsibility to be the primary teacher.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Just as in the classroom there is a necessity to make sure what is being
taught is not a personal interpretation of the truth, so it is in the
home.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Parents are every bit as
responsible for upholding the truth of Christ and His Church as I am as a
pastor.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I am a
big believer that pastors and parishes cannot gripe about behavior that they
enable.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>More often than not we enable
behavior because changing behavior is much more difficult.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, the task of the parish is to make
sure that each of her members is living up to their evangelical call.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I know this might represent a massive shift
in how we do business.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, if my
goal as a pastor is to guide the parish in its totality to Christ, then my call
necessitates reaching out and correcting the ship even if it is the only ship
in the harbor to be corrected.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What
happens in other parishes is not my responsibility; what happens in my parishes
is my responsibility.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is why I want
myself and my staff to be your partners in the development of our youth into
Catholic disciples ready to live their baptismal call.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The family is the first place where faith is formed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is even the primary place where the faith
is formed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Family members are bolstered
in this role in the sacramental life of the Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>However, faith has a definitive look and set
of beliefs within the Catholic Church.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The Catholic Church, while it does value the emotional response, wants
that emotional response to be grounded in truth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>In the Catholic Church, faith and reason go
hand in hand.</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u></u></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">It’s not a children’s book</span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The Catholic faith is a wide ranging set of truths that all
are intertwined with each other.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
Catholic faith is not a faith of compartments where faith applies to some
compartments and not others. The Catholic faith is an integrated whole.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Understanding it is not easy.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Like most systems of advanced thought or
sciences, Catholic theology circles around a few foundational premises that
inform all the teachings.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The
application of these teachings must be understood to teach them effectively.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> This is why learning the faith is important.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What we do in any and all education programs
is to help in both the understanding of the tenets of the faith and the
principles under which they are applied.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>This is why the Church demands that her clergy have at least a master’s
level education.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is why bishops are
to be fastidious in overseeing the content of catechetical materials to be
used.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is why pastors are to have that
same knowledge of what is being taught to their parishioners and are to be seen
with the same role within the parish as a parent is in the family: the primary
teacher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The Church does want us to grasp these concepts.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Catholic Church has it written in the
words of Scripture and in the words of the Catechism of the Catholic
Church.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Both of these are complicated
documents.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The Church wants all her
members to have broad knowledge of both.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The Church is also aware that simply giving either of these documents
without any training can lead to error. The Catechism and the Sacred Scriptures
are not children’s books that are easily understood or implemented.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Help Me Help You</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> As a pastor of souls, one of my major tasks is to help each
parishioner to understand our Catholic faith.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I have several venues to do this. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The first venue is the pulpit.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I know in the 10 minutes or so I have on
Sundays and elsewhere, I have a group in front of me to whom I am responsible
for teaching the truth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The homily is to
use the words of Scripture to point to the truth and suggest practical
application of the truth to our everyday lives.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>To waste that time with fluff and pablum or to use that time to poison
the minds and souls of my parishioners by promoting error<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>are both offenses before which I would have
to answer to God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The second venue I am given is in my writing.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>As you can tell, I use the Pastor’s Pen as a
venue to explain the faith.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I also use
social media and my blog to expound on the truth of the Catholic faith.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The third major venue I am given is the classroom.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I spend some time most days in some classroom
setting.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I try to get in see the classes
in our school and other educational venues.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>I teach adult education, bring in speakers for our Tapping into Theology,
and use what venues I have to teach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> To do this means I have to appropriate my time wisely.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>To be able to be coherent in these tasks
necessitates me continuing to educate myself and be sure my spiritual life is
continuing to develop.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Consequently, I
read most every day. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I make sure prayer
is a daily part of my regimen.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I make
choices at what gets air time in my brain and what doesn’t.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What gets priority in my life is based on
what helps me to execute the duties I have as a teacher and pastor of
souls.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I can’t give what I don’t have.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> No more than I as a pastor can give my parishioners anything
solid in the passing on of the faith, nor can anyone.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I am aware of this.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This is why I teach and try to use the pulpit
as I should.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is to give you the
tools.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is why I had our parishes
subscribe to Formed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>This way each
parishioner with internet access has a way to get to excellent content <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>and better teachers than myself and have that access
24/7.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> It is also why I am absolutely insistent that Catholic
parents are regularly practicing the faith and being formed in the faith. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Without God’s grace, all the correct data in
the world will go nowhere quickly.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>It is
not just a matter that I want to see my parish parents succeed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>I do.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>The point is that I NEED my parish parents to succeed.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Their kids need their parents to succeed at
this most important task.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> It is not just parents though.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Each member of our parish, regardless of age,
gender, education level, or socioeconomic level, is necessary to the engagement
of this parish with the fallen away of our neighborhoods and the unchurched of
the same neighborhoods.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are so
many people out there who are searching for truth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There are many voices saying they have the
truth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We have to be more convincing
about the actual truth.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Because the
Catholic faith is a lived truth, practice of the faith is absolutely essential
to the ability to evangelize.</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Our Reason for Being</span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> The role of evangelization is not something extraneous to
the lived expression of the Catholic life; it is the core of it. Jesus didn’t
tell His disciples after the Resurrection to go home and keep to themselves what
they had seen and heard.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He told them,
rather, to go baptize the nations.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>He told
them to teach the nations all that He had taught them as disciples. He told
them to trust that He would be with them.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>Since that time, men and women have transversed the entirety of the
known world, bringing with them the message of the Gospel.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>The apostles, the early missionaries, the
missionaries who went into barbarian territory, the missionaries who crossed
oceans to new worlds, and the current day missionaries who use electronic and
conventional media, all continue that mission.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13.33px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"> That mission to evangelize is not limited to these select
few. It is meant for all who have passed through the waters of baptism.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Consider the Parable of the Talents in which
great wealth was given to three persons with the command to use it wisely.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We are given the sacraments, the Scriptures,
the catechism, and the devotional life.<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span>We are given access to a great fount of knowledge.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>We have been given the five talents; let us
use them wisely to help build up the Kingdom of God. </span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "calibri";"></span>Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-91010845997208220942018-01-03T10:01:00.000-08:002018-01-03T10:01:32.604-08:00Your Keeping Using That Word....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The movie, "The Princess Bride", is quite the quotable movie. There are a number of great lines. I am particularly fond of the line "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means." This is a response to a character who keeps using the word 'inconceivable" repeatedly, most of the times not being appropriate to the situation. It's funny because many times people will use words repeatedly and not get what the word actually means.<br />
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Sometimes, it is rather tragic. One such word that people bandy about is the word 'believe' or 'belief'. Most people mean that they hold a intellectual premise as true. However, their actions would not show that they actually do hold the premise to be true. Belief, as such, is seen to be a stagnate entity, a set of words etched into the words of a page, but not connected to anything beyond the words. Many times a belief is reduced to a an academic truth. Belief is more. In fact, with this 'more', one can rightfully question whether one does believe at all; whether they are using a word that does not mean what they think it means.<br />
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If one truly believes a proposition, one's actions will show that. For example, if I say I believe Copperheads are poisonous, it will change how I respond to or treat a Copperhead. If I say I believe it but handle a Copperhead as if were an earthworm, you might well question whether I actually believe or not. Yes, it is factually accurate that Copperheads are poisonous and my belief is well founded, but if my actions do not follow through with said belief, then I take an unnecessary risk. If my beliefs follow through, not only will I not handle the Copperhead like an earthworm, I will be cautious and teach others to be cautious. <br />
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Today, in the Catholic Church, is the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. The name 'Jesus' means 'god saves.' The name is itself an belief. It sets the essential reason for being of the Incarnate God; He comes to save. Save whom? Humanity. From what? Sin and death. I think most Christians would save they believe this. I would hope so, but do our actions follow through?<br />
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Jesus isn't the only entity out there saying they can save us. In fact, the entities are legion. Who we actually believe will save us, will be the entity we conform our lives to. For example, if I think sports save, then the focus of how I make decisions and set my priorities will reflect that. I will sacrifice time for other things to bolster it. I might not say 'sports save' but my actions will betray the internal disposition, whether I name it or not. You can just as easily replace the word 'sports' with wealth, fame, honor, power, pleasure, or a whole host of other things and get the same result. The purpose is not to say that any of these things are evil by their nature (they are not), but when Jesus gets the leftovers and not the first fruits, we are saying that we believe something else saves me.<br />
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I can say I believe the bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ. Factually, I would accurate. However, you will see the depth of that belief by whether of not I go to Mass, the attitude I have to it, the attitude I have toward Eucharistic Adoration, the attitude I have to state of my soul...and so on. You will notice it in the way I receive. You will notice in the way I handle the Eucharist as to see whether the belief has any depth or place. Again, belief motivate changes in behavior.<br />
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To use sports again (just because it is easier), if I truly believe that sports save me it will effect my willingness to practice, strength train, to eat correctly, to get enough sleep, how I spend my time and money, and will become the first priority. I will be okay with sacrificing the time and energy that might go to other entities (family, faith) in order to pursue what I think saves me. Sports are good...they are great in my humble opinion. Furthermore sports and exercise are essential to good health. But they do not save. No earthly venture does. How we set priorities tells God much about what we truly believe.<br />
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If belief is stagnant or has no bearing on our choices, how we can stand before God with any authenticity and say that we believed in Him. It is not enough to proclaim, even publicly, "Jesus is my Lord and Savoir", if our actions do not show that such a belief changes who we are and conforms our life to His. Saying I believe is not enough...actual belief, that which will provoke change in our lives and will inform our priorities, that is what Christ ask for. Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-2403931024130213012018-01-02T10:04:00.001-08:002018-01-02T10:04:46.141-08:00Homily for SS Basil the Great and Gregory Nanzianzen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"Call no man your father." We hear these words in Gospel for the propers for the feast of St Gregory and St Basil. Yet, the Church has us call her priest, 'father'. Is the Church telling us to disobey Jesus or is there something larger going on? Many of the religious authorities of Jesus' time wanted honor. Whether their actions merited such honor was neither here nor there. Jesus wants His followers to seek humility rather honor. "Who exalts himself will be humbled, who humbles himself will be exalted" as per the end of the Gospel of today. The Church, in having her priests called 'father' is not so much reminding the people to honor as they are reminding the priest continually of the role they play. We priests are not seek honor without being honorable.</div>
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Why this Gospel for this feast? If one looks into the lives of these two great teachers, priests, bishops, and friends, one see two men who did not seek to outdo each other in the honor they could be paid, but in the virtue that they lived. That virtue would be put to the test as both men had to stand up to those who perpetuated a popular heresy called Arianism. Arianism taught that Jesus was not the Son of God. This teaching throws into question the saving plan of the Father and the effectiveness of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Both men would have to stand up to the Emperor Valens, who wanted to make Arianism the state religion. Both men knew that do what is right, they must be willing to risk everything, including every ounce of honor afforded them as bishops, to uphold orthodoxy and truth.</div>
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These two men become models for us. It is easy to capitulate to false teaching in order to maintain honor or popularity. This is true for priests. This is true for parents. We cannot be so attached to power, wealth, pleasure, or honor that we compromise truth for the sake of not being hassled. Leadership within the church, be it domestic, parochial, diocesan, or universal must rise above such attachments and humble itself to the will of God. Sometimes that is hard...very hard. Sometimes it is risky. Many times it is resented. It would have been easier in the short term for Gregory and Basil to capitulate to the popular, but they would have to kill off every ounce of virtue they had to do so.</div>
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St. Basil and St Gregory model for us that virtue is found in clinging on to the truth despite the storms that might come. In their willingness to be humiliated for the truth, they are exalted in heaven. We cannot expect any less for ourselves. Leadership is hard. It means unpopular decisions and standing tall against those false teachings that would have us compromise away the integrity of the faith. We pray for the intercession of SS Basil and Gregory as we rise to the battles our leadership demands and ask for the same grace to charitably but forcefully hold onto and teach the truth of Jesus Christ in its entirety.</div>
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Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-30171142264197337272018-01-01T08:26:00.002-08:002018-01-01T08:28:36.951-08:00Homily for the Solemnity of Mary. Mother of God<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In the early centuries of the Church, there was much our forefathers struggled with understanding. Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Describing who He is defied any conventional understandings as so much of who He is is not confined to any knowledge of time and space as we know it. Some believed that He was only God and not actually a human being. Some believed He was only a man and not God. Some believed that He was both but that one nature edged out the other. It became necessary for the Church to call for gatherings of the bishops to hammer these things out because the answer to these questions radically changed belief. The meetings are called ecumenical councils, starting with Nicea in the year 325. In 431, the bishops met at the city of Ephesus. One of the pronouncements that came out was what is called the Theotokos...that is, that Mary is the Mother of God...the God bearer.<br />
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The Council fathers didn't mean that Mary somehow gave birth to the Trinity or existed before the Trinity as a mother predates the existence of her child. The teaching of Theotokos, which we celebrate at the end of the 8 days that make up the Octave of Christmas, speaks to her son. The teaching is that Jesus is fully God and fully man, in being and nature. All of this is united in the person of Jesus Christ, born into this world through the obedience of the Virgin Mary.<br />
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In this solemnity, we give thanks to God for the obedience of the Blessed Virgin Mary to His will. Her becoming the Theotokos was a result not of God's force, but of her obedience to God's love. Being the Theotokos, she is the first disciple, the first apostle, and the first evangelist. Her obedience makes possible the forward progression of God's salvific plan for humanity. This feast which bookends the celebration of Jesus' humanity in the Incarnation with the celebration of His divinity has much to teach us.<br />
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The feasts of the Church are more than beautiful portraits on the wall of the museum for us delight in their beauty. No, they always tell us something of what God expects of us. In the Gospel, we again hear of the first hearers of the Incarnation, the shepherds; a group that desperately needed this proclamation of the Incarnation and the attendant salvation brought through it. They go and tell Mary and Joseph what they have seen and heard. What happens to these shepherds after this event , we do not know. However, even this points to the essential charism of the Church. <br />
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The obedience of Mary to God's will, an obedience that made her the Theotokos, is to modeled in out own life. Though we do not do it in the identical way Our Blessed Mother did, we are called by virtue of our baptism to be a theotokos ourselves. In our own obedience to God's will, we are able to bear God to those, who like the shepherds, dwell in the darkness of sin and unbelief. It once again reminds us of the evangelical call of the Church to go make disciples of the nations; something that will once again be driven home in the coming Solemnity of the Epiphany. This evangelization is core to the purpose of the Church; we are called to be a theotokos to others until Christ comes again.<br />
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Be clear, though, that it is by God's grace that we are a theotokos; we must have the sanctifying grace of God within us to bear Him. Disobedience to God's will through sin damages, obscures, or even evicts that presence of God; we cannot be a theotokos and a bearer of sin at the same time. We must choose. As we come into this new year, let us ask God for the grace to be a theotokos and for the grace to defend against anything that would harm such a call. As Mary is, we are called to be. Let us not turn from such a divine calling, but embrace it with the totality of who we are. Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-53102777930334675492017-12-31T12:15:00.001-08:002017-12-31T12:15:46.580-08:00Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have a question for you all today. What is the most dominant image used in the Scriptures to describe the relationship God wants with us? Servant/master? Soldier/general? No, almost exclusively, the image is that of a family. Familial terms are used to describe what God wants when it comes to us. This is a departure from other religions, where the gods really didn't like humanity and at best considered some of their favored as pets...rarely taking one to be a child. The God of the Scriptures? The God who is a family (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) creates us to be family with Him and each other for eternity. <br />
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When Jesus reveals the first person of the Trinity, He reveals Him as Father. He reveals Himself as Son. He refers to the Church as His bride. We are referred to as adopted sons and daughters of God our Father, as brothers and sisters in Christ. These are not hallmark sentiments, but a reality that God makes clear. The family matters. How much so?<br />
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In the first two readings we hear of the person of Abraham. God promises to make of him a people for Himself. From this unlikely source ( a childless couple), He will raise up a single family of Sarah, Abraham, and Isaac. That family would grow into a clan and then a nation. It all starts with God intervention in one family. When the second person of the Trinity comes into the world, He is placed by the Father's will into a family. The Father gives the responsibility of raising the Messiah to Mary and Joseph. Why? Although Jesus is indeed fully God, he is also fully human. That means his human brain and body needed to develop and grow as well. This precious task is entrusted to Mary and Joseph. I am willing to bet if we were able to see the internal workings of this holy family, we wold not see Joseph saying to either Mary or Jesus, "It's your job to make me happy!" This would not have been out of line for the times in which the holy family arose. Neither to I think we would have Mary tell Joseph or Jesus, "It is your job to make me happy!" Nor can I imagine Jesus saying to his parents, "It is you job to make me happy!". What binds the person of the holy family is the same thing that binds the persons of the Trinity:self-giving love.<br />
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It is that self-giving love that binds our families as well. The stronger this love, the stronger the family. The stronger the family, the stronger every institution to which that family belongs becomes. It is for this reason that the Church refers to the family as the domestic church. It is in these incubators of faith that the husband and wife and their children grow in love, grow in faith, and grow in the image and likeness of God. What I am to a parish, you parents are within your family. The healthier our families, the healthier our parish.<br />
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Mind you, we are not the only people that get how key the family is. I am currently reading the "Lion of Munster". Munster is a city in Germany and lion in question is a man, a bishop, named Clemens Von Galen. He was the bishop of Munster as Hitler rose to power and through WWII. Bp. Von Galen had to do battle with the 3rd Reich who insisted in putting NAZI propaganda in the Catholic classroom. He had to contend with the family-destroying Hitler Youth, who were part of the effort to take for the state the responsibility parents had in raising their children; even turning those children against their parents should their parents speak ill of the Reich. In fact, every totalitarian dictatorship or wanna-be dictatorship tries to appropriate for themselves the duties of the parents. Our secular society is no exception.<br />
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Our secular society attacks the family a regular basis. It has so redefined marriage and family life so as to render it irrelevant and sterile. It did this by divorcing the marital act (human sexuality) from the marital bond and turned it into a recreational activity. It threw in copious amounts of artificial birth control and pornography so as weaken the bonds all the more. Marriage and family life became the enemy to human happiness. Children, if one must have them at all, were props to make the parent look good. It permeates our entertainment and even advertisements (including children's programming) with an special dose of venom for dads, who are often portrayed as clueless, self-absorbed, and childish..if they are even present at all. This is not hyperbole! Witness what is happening in Japan, which is already in a demographic free-fall and which is worsening as the young men have become enamored with porn instead of relationships. It also is devastating Italy, France, Germany, Russia....and on and on. The devil is working overtime to destroy the family.<br />
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Mom and dad, you are the sentinel at the door. I could not imagine Mary and Joseph allowing something into their home that would hurt the child Jesus. Your job is not easy. It gets harder when you divorce yourself from the sacramental life of the Church. We need God's grace to live up to the great responsibility which we are given. To sacramentally starve ourselves endangers the essential mission of the family. Study after study paints a rather grim portrait of what happens when the parents are disengaged from the practice of the faith..particularly the dads. If the dad is disengaged from the faith, regardless of the devotion or lack thereof of the mom, the likelihood of the child embracing and living the faith is under 25%. If he is engaged, again regardless of the devotion of the mom, it rises to 65%...if both parents are engaged, it goes to 85%. How you parent matter!<br />
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This is why I am becoming very insistent that if a family has their children in any of our education programs or school, that regular practice of the faith, especially being at Sunday Mass, is a must. You will notice not so much a shift in policy as much as a upholding and enforcement of policy that for a child to be in our school as a registered parishioner means I see them and the family...including dad...on the weekends. If I as a pastor allow 'Catholic in name only', I cannot complain when parents shoot for 'Catholic in name only.' Like a good father, I have to shoot for what is best. The parents need to be here because of the task they have before God. I can ill afford to be okay with them not being given the tools to do their task. In fact, in the New Year, our parish is starting a program called 'New Wine' which is aimed at strengthening marriages. Strengthen the marriage, strengthen the family. If our parish is to flourish as it should, then it is on our interest to bolster marriage and family life and to actively against what would despoil the family and marriage. <br />
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Why? Because the point of this feast is not merely to look at the Holy Family as if it were a masterpiece in a museum, but to see in the Holy Family what we ourselves as followers of Christ are to become. We refer to the union of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as a HOLY family...not a good family...not a nice family...but a holy family. Hence the goal for our families is not be a good family, a nice family, a sports family, a rich family, a successful family. No, the goal is to have holy families. That takes God. As we move into 2018...let that be the goal for your family: to becomes holy family! Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8349852820814335020.post-53818288856985481492017-12-26T15:21:00.000-08:002017-12-26T15:21:18.131-08:00There is no Beige SeasonEarlier today, I happened upon a thought of Bishop Robert Barron disparaging what he called the 'beige church.' It has stuck with me through the day. <br />
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Beige is a neutral color. For many, such as myself, it is a boring and non-descript hue. It is the color of winter where I live. It is a color without statement...inoffensive, bland, non-threatening. The Church uses many different colors to inform us of a liturgical reality. They are meant to incite some spiritual response. The inform us of a liturgical season. In my parish, we talk of Mass settings specific to seasons, which I lump into the Green Season, the Purple Seasons, and the White Seasons. There are no beige seasons. There are no seasons of the Church that are meant to lull into a inoffensive state of niceness.<br />
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Yet, a fair statement might be made that so many in leadership, both lay and cleric, strive for a beige church. The beige church is one of comfort. It is easy. It demands little spiritually. It gives nothing spiritually. It wraps itself in a bland corporate visage. It preaches as if the goal is to soothe into a hushed silence or comatose spiritual state of existence. It plays like a new age ditty, repeatedly hitting the three same chords over and over again until the listener has either gone mad or fallen asleep. It is uninspiring and easy to leave.<br />
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Its churches are not churches any longer, but worship spaces. They are paeans to mediocrity and even ugliness. They lack either the soaring heights of the gothic, the swirling arches of the baroque, or even the stark majesty of the Cistercian. The beige church lacks either the regal simplicity of chant or the bombast of organ, it lacks the color of procession, the urgency of preaching, and the scent of holiness. All replaced for the tidy look of a bank lobby, the easily dismissible mundanity of beige walls, singsong Muzak droning in the background, and condescending banal messages masquerading as homilies. Neither the thundering theophany nor the still quiet voice find a home here. The senses are anesthetized into a spiritual coma content on the sound of its own breathing.<br />
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Given the rich heritage of artistry and theology we have been given, to reduce the Church to a beige entity is to bleed her dry. Those that bled her dry were not beige themselves. No, they ran crimson with malice, emerald with envy, and soaked with scarlet in their lust. The colorful spectrum that disperse the light that had the ability to overshadow these garish hues had to be painted over by a nice coat of beige. <br />
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I have yet to ever see a beige battle standard. Battle standards often stand out for their brilliant and bold shades meant to hearken its followers to courage and its enemies to fear. The thunderous message of Christ Crucified and Resurrected should spur us to the field of battle; our anthems blaring like the hosts of heaven. Even our silences should roar like the thunder of a coming storm. <br />
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There should be no room in our parish life, in our personal lives, nor our spiritual lives for the blandness and inoffensiveness of beige. God's grace does not leave in such a colorless place. The Blood of Christ runs a brilliant red, not beige. The Church is to actively soar to the heights, not sleep like a winter field. Its rhetoric is there to compel conversion, comfort the afflicted, and spur the troops to victory. Like bold colors, it offends the sensibilities of the comfortable. It stirs up and shatters the darkness boldly and without apology.<br />
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Give me this church and we turn the tide. This church, and not the church of beige, captures the attention of a warrior's heart and valor. Give me the Church that stands boldly against oppressors even in the face of certain death. Give me the Church that can have the soft stir of a symphony and its booming movements as well. Give me a Church that assaults my senses instead of numbing them. Give me a Church that possesses all of what Christ gave us...in all His strength and boldness.<br />
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We can send the beige church to a liturgical ash heap and dismiss it as an experiment in niceness and mediocrity that failed miserably. We better do so quickly while there are some left.Fr Bill Peckmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13645306356294218503noreply@blogger.com1