seeking a new church

I read in this story that a retired bishop has gone over to the dark side. He's advocating the same thing that Called to Fraction has been calling for since their inception. And he'll, undoubtedly, be just disappointed as they are when the Vatican "doesn't hear him". In truth, they'll say what they do when people propose radical change: Say thank you very much but NO!!!!

My favorite quote is "I'm looking for a very different church" because, in some sense, he's right. Initially I wanted to respond, "No, you're not. You want us to be one of a host of mainlain Protestant communities." But, since they aren't a church per se because they've disregarded apostolic succession, he's clearly not talking about simply becoming one of them them. Of course, it would make us look and act exactly like a Protestant community and it makes me wonder why these "dissenting Catholic" don't just go and become one of them. What is so threatening about the catholic church that people always want us to act like other Christian bodies?

Pius X: pray for us

I was struck by a story that I learned about this saint in his biography. It was apparently, as a child, his father didn't think he could send him to more than two years of schooling. But, when he consulted his pastor and his pastor convinced him to send him to a nearby town, Saint Pius earned enough money while in school to send his brother to school and maintained stellar grades.

It reminded me that there are so many times in history when people who have felt compelled by God to do something but have also felt fear but nonetheless do what God wants will often find that God makes a way for them.

As Jesus said in the gospel of John, "Throw out into the deep."

When there's no one around

One of my favorite songs of all time is by Garth Brooks with the above title. It's been a favorite of mine since I was a teacher in Rockford, Illinois. I like it because it talks about what you think about and do when you're by yourself. One of my favorite fantasies I tend to think about is that I'm running for the presidency of this great country. In my mind I would be an independent candidate that advocated a strong, effective government. I'd have a three tier platform: protecting the United States from threats domestic and abroad, developing a consistent ethic of respect for life, and building an attitude of service among the American people. Depending on the day, each of those is more important than the other. I even know what I would do to win.

My campaign would be centered in New Orleans and constantly showing video of me there in commercials. I'd walk around the city showing how much devastation still exists and then show images from the Iraq war. I'd ask why we spend so much money rebuilding a country across the globe while our own country is still in tatters. I'd disperse it with comments from the other politicians that are running that seem to indicate how important that rebuilding New Orleans is and then show how much they have actually helped the project and how much they have spent in Iraq to rebuild that country.

Then it would end with my slogan..

Dennis Miller
Removing the great plank
from my own eye before
I remove the sliver in another's.

In my mind, I always win by a landslide.

Feeling like I connected with people...and then getting kicked in the face

I maintain that it takes a priest at least a couple of years before people are used to hearing him preach and the priest can tell a story that's worth hearing. Even though you can stay too long in a parish, I know most of my brother priests stay too short in order to be able to present a whole picture of their "key themes", if you will. In particular, the younger priests who are associate pastors for just two years are just starting to really fill out the ideas they first presented and the people are just starting to get used to them and then they move. But, that's okay because the associate pastor should just remain in the background anyway. We are learning, making mistakes, and learning through it all. And that's okay.

So recently I've had some great conversations with people about the substance of my homilies. I can tell people are starting to get used to me by their faces and reactions to what I say. I can tell when I'm not being all that effective and I can tell when I nailed it. And it feels like I'm getting a lot of nodding heads and good comments letting me know I'm being heard.

And then someone left a prayer on our prayer board saying, "Please Father Dennis, stop talking about abortion." Which is both a good thing and a very very bad thing. They are hearing what I'm saying but they believe that I should not preach about the greatest American tragedy that is taking place every day in our cities. Can you imagine how quickly we would be out of Iraq if 3000 to 5000 American soldiers were killed each day? But that is routine in this country for abortions, as I've pointed out in this blog before. And someone thinks that I should not talk about it? And thinks that they can get me to do that by writing something anonymously on our prayer board?

I guess most priests know that you can't please all people with our homilies and I have no qualms about upsetting people who believe the homily should either be about making people feel good about themselves or, worse, challenging everyone else but themselves. But I don't know if that is true at all about the writer of this "prayer". I am, nonetheless, sure that I will continue to preach about abortion until this illegal act is seen for what it is: murder.

Crossing the river

The readings for today had a rather intriguing connection to them. You may, in fact, want to read them from this site before you read any more. Then click back and read this to see if you get it.


You can click this link it may help you find it....


In case you missed it, both mentioned crossing the river Jordan. I couldn't help but think that both were about forgiveness and that the river is a good metaphor for forgiveness. In the first reading, the patriarch Joshua was taking the proto-Israelites across the Jordan river into their spacious land of Israel. Joshua was the successor of Moses and, in many ways, is portrayed as somehow less important than Moses in a rather subtle manner. The story of the Exodus begins and ends with a passage through water. Moses parted the Red Sea and there was "a wall of water on the right and a wall of water on the left." When Joshua parts the water, there is only one wall of water, the water flowing towards them walls up. The water that has already flowed by continues to flow until there is none left. As I said, it's subtle but it undercuts the miraculous event that is happening. The miracle God worked through Joshua is just not as cool as the one worked through Moses.

But Moses is the greatest of all the Patriarchs so it's no surprise that Joshua is considered not as important. But, that's okay. It doesn't mean that Joshua is a bad leader. We have a tendency to do that, to say that one who may have done a lot is good and one who doesn't do as much is bad. I've even heard people say that the middle ages goes from good pope to bad pope to good pope to bad pope... I resist that label because even the so-called bad popes did good things and the good popes have had their faults.

This is the danger in making judgments of those kind. It's easy to pass judgment on others and not realize that we could just as easily be called bad if people look closely at what we've done. That's the incredible thing about the Kingdom of God. Jesus says the Kingdom is about forgiveness and the humility associated with that. The true mark of one who is bound for the kingdom is the ability to forgive.

The challenge is are we willing to cross the rivers in our lives in order to forgive those who have wronged us?

I don't really like folk music

My friend, Misty, and I love the movie "A Mighty Wind". It's from a genre of movies called mockumentaries (as opposed to documentaries) and is intended to mock something that most people take too seriously. In the case of "A Mighty Wind" it's the folk music industry as evidenced in three legendary groups. But, in the process of making the movie, the writers made some excellent songs. I think I've highlighted a few in this blog like "A kiss at the end of the rainbow" and the title song, "A Mighty Wind". To be honest, despite the title of this post (which is a paraphrase of a line from the movie, I really do like folk music.

And that brings me to the point of this post. I was listening to CMT this morning as I was getting dressed and I heard this song from a group called Old Crow Medicine Show called I hear them all. It really made me happy to hear it because it just has a catchy tune and a good message. Go hear to read the lyrics as the song is playing. Aside from the Universalism at the end (the image of Jesus sleeping at the feet of Buddha and some shaman being in the same sentence as Elijah is preposterous) the song is pretty good with great imagery. And it's catchy...

I hear them all
I hear them all
I hear them all

Are you as annoyed as I am?

A certain politician has called me three times (at least) in the last two days and called me four times last week. I'm so annoyed that I can guarantee that I will not vote for the person under any circumstances. I come home to a message on my machine saying something like, "Hi. This is Debra Francesca for the _______ campaign and I want to give you a 49 second survey. (pause) It sounds like you're not there. I'll call back later. (Click)"

Ordinarily I wouldn't say anything about it but the message seems to imply that she will keep calling until I participate in the survey. I'm now screening all the calls that come on that line because I don't want to answer the darn survey.

I wish I could just pick up the phone and say, "I'm a religious. Leave me alone you state employee." and they'd have to stop calling. But, instead, I'll just keep getting annoying messages.

And we have over a year more of this!

Relax, eat, drink, and be merry

I preached this weekend about how the rich man, despite receiving from God more than he deserved, didn't give anything to the poor but decided to hoard it for himself.

If I were going to preach again, I would have focused on this phrase. The man really has lost his sense of stewardship, meaning that all we have and all we are comes from God. He thinks that abundance means he can relax. But God's expectation is that, with tremendous gifts come tremendous responsibility. This is why the gospel of prosperity, that believers should expect to be "taken care of" by God, is so preposterous. True believers shouldn't expect God to take care of them, they should expect God to give them responsibilities to take care of each other. God loves us, we must love one another.

A few more thoughts about Mary

Ever since the death of John Paul the Great, I have, through his intercession, felt closer to our blessed mother, Mary. John Paul was able to find Christ in a more profound way through his mother. A good Jewish Mother is always bragging about her son the doctor or her son the lawyer. This is Mary bragging about her son, the savior of the world, without saying a word.

Today the reading was the controversial one from Matthew 13 where Jesus goes home and his town folk ask...

“Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds?
Is he not the carpenter’s son?
Is not his mother named Mary
and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?
Are not his sisters all with us?"

Of course, there is no little controversy about what this means. I believe it is clear that these aren't brothers of Jesus at all (see Catholic Answers on this topic) but cousins or step-brothers but Protestants want to degrade Mary as much as possible (without realizing that, in so doing, they are degrading the one who she bore) so they say these are younger brothers and sisters. I'll leave that aside for the time being. Instead, I had a bit of theological speculation. This will not come anywhere close to dogmatic truth so I don't think I could venture into the area of heresy but feel free to tell me if you think so.

Someday, each of us will "face our maker", if you will. And, we will be surrounded by a cloud of witnesses (okay, that was dogmatic, here comes the speculation) and one will be Mary, the faithful witness even when the disciples abandoned our Lord. At first, I wondered if Mary would be angry at all the people who made fun of her and chastised her in their lives. Of course, it's heaven so I don't think any of that would happen but I laughed a little thinking of Mary turning to Jack Chick (who will, of course, be entirely embarrassed) as she is standing with her crown next to her Son, the King of heaven and earth. He will have to face the fact that Mary's entire goal has been to lead us to Christ and that, even though he never acknowledged it, Mary undoubtedly helped him along his path of faith. The vengeful part of me just wishes that Mary would be able to slap him in the face.

But that's completely contrary to Mary and it tells me exactly why JPII keeps pointing me towards her. Once in a comment, I was asked why we catholics think that Mary is so important and I didn't respond. Here is one response: Mary is important because she shows us how we are supposed to act, how we are to love. Mary teaches us to cry out, "May it be done unto me according to your word" even before our savior brought about the salvation of the world when said, "Thy will be done."

I guess he really is rude

Thank you to pastor Tim Rude of Windsor Heights for at least being honest... even if he only could do it when he thought what he was writing was private.

We all know that evangelicals hate the one true church because they want to turn faith into a purely personal endeavor that can be used to support Republicans. They hate Catholics because we don't give into party politics. We tell our people that they need to use well informed consciences to discern the best candidate. Abortion is an evil. But so is stem cell research and the war and all other threats to the dignity of human life. We tell our people to put forth the best candidate possible regardless of their faith perspective. But that's not the criteria for pastor RUDE. Catholics don't belong in politics. Just evangelicals. Or, at least, that's what he thinks in private communication with a candidate.

And when he gets caught, the pastor said he didn't mean to impugn catholicism. When he was writing publicly, he was a "recovering catholic" and thought we were part of the nameless, faceless Borg. Now he says he didn't want to say anything critical of Catholicism.

A few weeks ago, the catholic church was again criticized by Christians all over the world for making the same statement we have made since the second vatican council, namely that the fullness of truth subsists in the catholic church. At least we let people know what we believe and stick by it. These evangelicals will shake your hand in public, treat you like you are the Anti-Christ in private, and then come back to the table with hand outstretched claiming they still like you.

"Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one." Matthew 5:37

The story of Sodom and Gomorrah

I have to be careful at what I say this weekend. I probably should be used to that by now. Some of you might remember a few weeks ago when I had to be careful about what I said about the story of Bathsheba and David. I had to remember to explain a story from the Bible that some might think of as being rated R in a way that G ears could hear. There are a few stories that are like that and others that are kind of tricky to navigate like when Paul says in the second reading today, “You were also raised with him through faith in the power of God…” Some of you are, undoubtedly, aware that this was a bone of contention between us and our Lutheran brothers and sister up until a few years ago when we put together a common declaration outlining where we agree and where we disagree on this subject. I hear several priests and catechists who, in explaining this and passages like it, articulate a perfect Lutheran explanation and fail to note Catholic nuances. I can hardly blame them, however, since it really takes a keen theological mind to navigate the waters of grace and salvation.

I’d be content if that was what scared me about preaching this weekend. But it’s not. What scares me is the first reading and the truths and untruths that surround it. It would be easy for me to sprint past it on my way to the gospel and simply never mention the terms Sodom and Gomorrah, or Abram and these three men/angels/God or any of that. But, being a person that simply cannot ignore the elephant in the room, I will do my best in coming to grips with this controversial experience.

First of all, let me give a brief explanation as to how Abram found himself entertaining angels. Earlier in Genesis we heard that Abram and his brother, Lot, lived too close to one another. Their servants and shepherds fought one another too often so God moved them to a more spacious land. God had them both settle in Canaan. It says, “Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain, pitching his tents near Sodom. Now the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked in the sins they committed against the LORD.” We read this passage not-all-that-long-ago in daily mass and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for poor Lot. Abram is promised progeny and great growing conditions while Lot is left to live in a town that makes the West Bank seem like the West Indies. So, a few chapters later, God is hearing some distressing things about what is happening in Sodom. Why is God surprised that evil is happening? We heard five full chapters before that “the inhabitants of Sodom were very wicked in the sins they committed against the LORD.” To some extent, it goes back to the Old Testament belief that God can only take evil for so long. He wants us to repent, to seek to be forgiven for our transgressions. But, when we don’t do that, at some point God gives up on us and destroys us. So, he sends three Angels to go see if evil is really happening there and, if so, to destroy it. Our story today is intriguing, therefore, because had Abram not intervened there could have been a drastically different outcome.

Some of you may remember that two weeks ago I talked about my experience of Middle Eastern hospitality. Despite what is often portrayed in the media, when I lived in Israel and visited Egypt, I found that people were quintessentially hospitable. When you see a traveler, it is not just expected that you give water to him or her, but that you give them rest and a place to wash and some food as well. It’s part of their culture and very different from our attitude which tends to be more suspicious and fearful of strangers. Abram takes in the very angels sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Had they passed by, there is every bit of evidence that they would have simply destroyed those evil cities including poor Lot and his family. But, instead, Abram stands up to God. Let me say that again because it is so foreign in our ears; Abram Stands up to God and challenges him. Who is Abram to challenge God’s morality? But that’s the very point of this story. Abram, undoubtedly, wants to secure the life of Lot and so he gets God to spare the fifty, forty or even just ten inhabitants that are living a just life. And, when the Angels go there the next day and threatened to be treated with sexual violence, a most inhospitable act by the inhabitants of those cities, God first clears out Lot and his family, the only just members of their society who didn’t give into sexual immorality, violence and whatever else was happening there, before he destroys Sodom and Gomorrah.

It’s hard for us to think that this whole thing could have ended differently had Abram not spent time negotiating with God. It took Abram’s persistence, the same persistence of the neighbor who from the gospel, in order to ensure that justice triumphed over vengeance, that right triumphed over wrath. I think both of these stories are trying to get us to see the real power of prayer, especially in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. I think we set ourselves up for our prayers to fail all too often. Even though prayer is not magic and God is not a god that does whatever we want, we must still pray for, beg God for what is right. It doesn’t mean we are going to get the answer we want in the exact amount of time we want it. But, persistence in prayer shows God what is truly important to us and how important we think he is as well. If we stop asking, we not only show that we don’t really think something is important but we show God that we don’t trust in him. “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

So many good thoughts that I can't even remember one

I keep having these thoughts that would make good blog ideas while on my walk but forgetting them by the time that I can actually blog. They all tend to be what I would call "interesting dichotomies" or why the church thinks differently about things. I do remember one, though.

I was listening to about four talk shows last night on my drive back from Dubuque seeing a great drum and bugle corps competition. Hannity and Colmes, Alan Colmes, George Schultz, and the O'Reilly factor. I'd listen for a while until they frustrated me and then I'd switch to the other side and listen for a while. While there were points that I agreed with all of them, there were also times when it was abundantly clear that they violated the values of Love God and Love neighbor that I treasure.

One of the more interesting conversations happened on the Alan Colmes show. There's an Arabic speaking school being opened in Queens and people are opposed to it. When I was listening to it, they got the typical redneck idiots who think that the language is the problem, not
radicals that want to kill us that happen to speak the language. One person just made me angry because he said something along the lines of, "I'll ask you a question: they will read from the Koran", which makes me mad because it's not a question.

What really made me mad, however, was that no one was listening to anyone else. Everyone else was so steeped in their own position that the basics of respect, hearing the concerns of others and addressing those concerns, was totally lost. I just kept thinking that it's a good thing that church doesn't operate like this. We aren't always going to change for you but we allow for dissent and at least try to listen to what people say.

Great Quote

I'm reading the book "Catholic Matters" by Richard John Neuhaus. I thought this was a hilarious quote and so true that it makes me cry....

"When the Second Vatican Council permitted the liturgy in the vernacular - contra many liturgists it did not mandate the vernacular - slap-dash translations of the Latin were rushed into use...Many of the appointed prayers may be summarized in the petition, 'O Lord, help us to be even nicer people than we already are.' Awe, majesty, mystery, unworthiness --anything associated with wonder in the face of the numinous -- is out."

Too true. Pray for the reform of the reform.

Hospitality

The readings today made me think of the importance of hospitality. It was tough, though, because I was in a parish that was thoroughly hospitable. My little parish in the country, Sts. Peter and Paul, is an incredibly welcoming place. There's a core group of ten or fifteen that reach out right away and make people feel welcome.

The story of Martha and Mary is, to me, a lesson in learning how to balance paing attention to guests and paying attention to guests physical needs. Martha was so fixated on food and drink that she lost how important it is just to be with someone, especially someone like Christ. Mary, on the other hand, erred on the side of conversation, on spending time with Christ. In retrospect, I could have used the example of the importance of Sunday as a day of prayer. While we work all week, Sunday should be a day of spending time with the body of Christ, the church.

Just back from the Cities

Things are spectacular in my life. I went to see the play version of my favorite musical called 1776. It has great quotes including....

"I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is called a disgrace,
that two are called a law firm
and that three or more become a congress..."

I tend to replace congress with "staff meeting" or "committee" and it makes me chuckle. But, the most fascinating thing was that the audience found a lot more lines humorous than I thought they ever would. Certainly more than I laughed at in the movie. I expected they would think the last hour dragged beyond belief but that wasn't at all true. It all moved along well and there really was only one time that I thought to myself, "this should have been cut." It was a depressing song called "Is anybody there? Does anybody care?"

Two more lines deserve special mention: There's a line from Ben Franklin that says, "Those who would give up some of their liberty in order to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

And, my personal favorite

"...consider yourselves fortunate that you have John Adams (or Fr. Dennis Miller) here to abuse for no sane man would tolerate it!"

Pope celebrates so-called tridentine mass

I was reading this article and thought it would be good to get it out there. It's not all that suprising, to be honest. A clarification of terms is probably necessary. A private mass probably involves less than ten people and probably takes place in a private chapel, such as the pope's private chapel in his residence in his chapel. That's where the pope celebrates private mass. A public mass would involve a more public setting, of course, and would involve more people. You might think that a private mass just involves the pope but that is not encouraged in the new mass and, unless if I'm wrong, impossible in the old rite. There were parts for the server to say and movements that the server made during mass that would be impossible for the priest to do. In many ways, being an acolyte in the old rite is light and day different than the new. Servers had to really know and understand what was happening with near military precision. It was glorious.

But, back to the article, it's intriguing that, this close to the announcement of permission, the media is putting this out there. It's almost as if they are trying to indicate that this is the Pope's preferred way to offer mass. BUT the pope has indicated that the novus ordo mass (the mass as celebrated since the reforms of the Vatican Council) is still to be the norm. The present pope undoubtedly finds a great deal of consolation in the rite that he learned in seminary and has found a place that he can continue to find that proximity to God. What a joy for him and for us.

But, we will continue to make novus ordo masses the norm even as we try to do them with more reverence and more relevance. To the liberals that are terrified that this is going to turn the church back 50 years and the conservatives who hope that it will I say this: Don't try to make the exception the rule.

Happy St. Benedict's Day

Today is the feast of my spiritual father, St. Benedict. His words have become very important for my spirituality in the last year and a half.

And, I'm hoping to have a few thoughts tomorrow about the Pope's latest "controversial" statements. I have a feeling that I won't say the same thing to say as major media outlets.

The theological virtue of hope

I heard a lot about the this virtue during the readings for this weekend. In the first reading which dealt with the celebration the Israelites had when they returned from exile, in St. Paul's rejoicing in the cross of cross which he saw in the marks on his flesh, and in Christ warning the 72 that he is sending them like sheep among wolves; it all points to the suffering we must endure patiently knowing that God is still in charge even when the evil one seems to be so.

It was hot in my little church in the prairie. We had a short mass and then I got back to my camper to load it up. It was too uncomfortable to even stay for lunch. I hurried home and am now sitting in air conditioned relaxation. The good thing is that it should promote growth of corn and that means we Iowans will have some corn on the cob...right around the time my friend Kate moves to town.

Some thoughts on the fourth of July

I don't consider myself a particularly patriotic person. I mean I do have respect for the USA because it does seem to be the best form of government possible in the absence of the promised presence of the Holy Spirit. And I'm a person that believes we should do things in service to the country simply because it is our country.

I think it's interesting that there are some who seem to constantly criticize the government because it cannot do anything right. And there are those who seem to believe that the government cannot do anything wrong. I am a theologian not a political scientist so this could be wrong...or maybe I should just form this in the form of a question since I'm really not trying to say that I know this for sure.

Why does it seem like liberals have no hope and conservatives have false hope? When I think of liberals, I think of people that always find the negative, always seek to criticize. And, conservatives can criticize too but they like to ignore any problems that are present. Am I totally wrong on this?

Intersting article

The pope recently reached out to the church in China in a letter. As I've said in this blog before, he's already going to visit the country but he first communicated a theological message. I find this article interesting that the reaction isn't outrage and anger, at least none that they're aware of.