9/11, A Homeless Man, A Bagel, & the Grace of God

Over at Busted Halo, newly ordained deacon and staffer at CBS News, Greg Kendra tells his wonderful conversion story:


It started around the time my parents died, in the early 1990s, and I began to feel asense of my own limitedness—my own mortality. And the cavity grew in the wake of 9/11. After the towers fell, I spent two days in New York City, writing special reports for CBS News, unable to make it home because all the roads and subways were closed; in the days that followed, between the candlelight vigils and photocopied pictures taped to bus stops and the endless funerals accompanied by bagpipes playing “Amazing Grace,” I had a growing sense that there had to be something more. My cradle Catholicism had faded into indifference; mass was something I attended when I felt like it. My faith, if you can call it that, was patchy at best.

But after 9/11, I realized with a blinding clarity that the tidy life I’d established for myself could vanish at any moment. Then, one day, on the way back from picking up bagels, I passed a homeless guy on the subway, begging for money. I offered him a fresh bagel. He thanked me with so much enthusiasm, you’d have thought I’d given him a fresh cut of sirloin. When my train came, I looked over my shoulder to see where he’d gone. And there he was, at the end of the platform: he’d broken his bagel in half and was sharing it with another homeless man.

This withered old man who had next to nothing gave half of what he had to someone who had even less. Deep in the recesses of my Catholic memory, something stirred. “And they knew him in the breaking of the bread.” Something began to speak to me.

I realized: I’d been given much. What could I give back?

Elevation

While on retreat at a Trappist monastery in 2002, I found my answer. There, I stumbled on something unusual: a deacon. He was from England, but at that time was living in France. I’d never met a deacon before. I’d heard about them, and once or twice I’d seen them, but my parish back in Queens never had one, and I was intrigued. (Deacons, I discovered, are married, and they have jobs outside the church. They are part of the Catholic clergy, and receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. They preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals, and can proclaim the gospel at mass and preach.) We spent a long afternoon talking about the diaconate, and I was amazed to learn that he also worked in broadcasting, for the BBC. He’d done some freelance work for CBS, too, and we knew a lot of the same people. Was God trying to tell me something?

The next day, I saw the deacon in action, serving mass in the abbey church and preaching a wonderful homily in three—yes, three—different languages. And it was then that it struck me. Here was a man much like myself, doing what I did for a living, and elevating his life to God in a way that was, to my disbelieving eyes, quite beautiful. Could I do this? As I sat in the abbey and heard the chants and watched him elevating the chalice, it dawned on me: Yes. Yes. You can do this. You should do this.

Catholic-Orthodox Conversation on Lay Formation

Fr. Gregory, an Orthodox priest and campus minister over at Koinonia and I have started up a interesting conversation on the difference between (and what we can learn from)Catholc and Orthodox approaches to lay formation.

Take a look and feel free to join in.

A Christian Craig's List

Craigslist is a centralized network of online urban communities, featuring free classified advertisements (with jobs, internships, housing, personals, for sale/barter/wanted, services, community, gigs and resumes categories) and forums sorted by various topics.

It was founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark for the San Francisco Bay Area, and as of November 2006, Craigslist had established itself in approximately 450 cities all over the world.

Sam, the Chief Operating Officer at Holy Apostles parish here in Colorado Springs turned me on to a very interesting and potentially useful tool for parishes similar to Craig's List. It might be valuable for parishes that are trying to move into a more 'mission focused' ministry.

Ark Almighty is connected to the new movie, Evan Almighty, which apparently is about God calling a character from the Bruce Almighty movie to become a contemporary Noah, complete with heavy beard and plans for an ark. Youth Specialties, Willow Creek Association and the International Bible Society, three religious groups apparently within the evangelical world, partnered with Universal Pictures and Grace Hill Media to shape the ArkAlmighty program.

The website is linked in the title of this post.

THE INSPIRATION: "Doing kind deeds for others isn’t a new phenomenon. Fourteen years ago, Pastor Steve Sjogren inspired thousands of people to engage in random acts of kindness in his ground-breaking book, Conspiracy of Kindness: A Refreshing New Approach to Sharing the Love of Jesus with Others. The book ignited a flurry of selfless, unexpected acts of kindness intended to help others understand God’s gift of love and grace to all people.

ArkALMIGHTY takes Sjogren’s ideas one step further by actively seeking out people in need and connecting them with those who are willing to help. Inspired by the themes in the upcoming film, Evan Almighty, ArkALMIGHTY seeks to follow God’s call for Christians to always do good - to friends, to neighbors, to family members, to strangers, even to those who don’t like us.

What makes ArkALMIGHTY unique is that it harnesses the power of the internet to effortlessly match needs with the skill sets of everyday people. The impact of ArkALMIGHTY is boundless – first by meeting the needs within the church, it can easily expand its reach into neighborhoods, communities, and beyond."

The idea behind the website is that church communities can sign up and have their own page in which parishioners or people from the local community can post requests for help, ranging from walking the family dog, helping repair a fence, to forming a prayer group. People in your church community can see the requests and then respond with offers of help.

Sam showed me the free starter kit that he was sent - a 3x6 foot vinyl banner, four t-shirts, four baseball caps, 200 door hangers, 200 flyers, a bunch of small buttons, a CD with instructions, a BOOK, a teen's guide to arkalmighty, etc. He was astounded at the haul - probably worth $100.00, he estimates.

"There's some money behind this," he said. I have to agree. I mean it's not every website that has John Goodman walk across the page and make a pitch to "get involved."

This seems to be a new way of promoting a movie, one that actually helps people in the process. It's also a very media-savvy way for churches to reach out to the unchurched. Included in the website are some "success stories" in which people tell how they benefited from the kindness of others through the website.

Check it out!

The Iraq War is Hitting Home

In the last few weeks I've met two young men who are going to go to Iraq. Sean has just graduated from high school, where he was on the wrestling team. He's fiercely proud of his high school. His pastor commented to me last year on how much he had matured in the last few years, and that his participateion in the youth group had really helped him in that process.

Tonight I offered a home Mass for a couple whose eldest of two sons, Patrick, leaves for California tomorrow to prepare to go with his Marine battalion to Iraq in August. He's part of a rapid response team that will be working in a city that is known as a gathering point for insurgents, and from which they are sent to other parts of Iraq. He was telling some of his friends at the dinner after Mass that he had been told that the previous tour of his battalion had been exceptionally quiet, but that this tour would be just the opposite.

He was not grandstanding, or bragging. When asked if he felt prepared, he said, "Yes, of course."

Patrick will be nineteen a few days before he leaves for Iraq. Sean's eighteen. Patrick might weigh 140 lbs. I don't think he shaves. Sean can manage a bit of fuzz around his chin, but that's about it.

I don't know how anyone can be prepared to be in an environment where anyone not in uniform could be a potential assassin; where the body of a dead comrade could be booby-trapped to maim or kill a soldier who comes to retrieve it. How can eighteen and nineteen year-olds expect to be prepared to see their friends bloodied by shrapnel? How will they respond if one morning they find the body of a child they'd befriended?

I know the military does its best to prepare these adolescents - many of whom no doubt have seen their share of carnage on TV, movie and computer screens - but Iraq is not a videogame.

I mourn for Sean and Patrick, and the thousands of youths like them who are in Iraq or headed there. They will be forever changed by their experience, like their brothers and sisters who have gone to war before them. Some come back stronger, more resilient, more confident, more aware of the complexities of the world and politics. They sometimes become wonderful leaders.

Others come back broken in body or spirit, innocence lost and replaced with cynicism or fear or worse. They don't make us comfortable, and too often we subtly shun them, or lose them in some bureaucracy. They take some of the imagined glory out of war. Some of them end up in our soup kitchens and we judge them without knowing their story or their sacrifice.

God bless and protect you, Sean and Patrick. God bless all of our troops in Iraq. May you come home safely, and soon. May peace come to the Iraqi people soon, too.

Over 3500 American soldiers have been killed, and another 25,000+ wounded. Sixty-four to seventy-thousand Iraqi civilians have also died.

Let us pray for them all, and for an end to this conflict.

Vox Nova Again

I know that Br. Matthew has highlighted the folks over at Vox Nova before, but I wanted to throw in my two cents!

I know that I often point readers of this blog over to Michael and Katerina over at Evangelical Catholicism. Their blog is by far one of the most articulate and rigorous attempts at examining the issues of the world through the lens of Revelation. Now, Michael and Katerina have joined a group blog with other men and women who seek to expand the conversation regarding the evangelization of social structures and cultures. According to its Purpose:

Vox Nova is a response to the ecclesial mandate to promote the common good in every sphere of human existence. We come from varying backgrounds and carry diverse social outlooks, traversing a wide range of demographics and political sympathies. Vox Nova is free, to the furthest extent possible, from partisanship, nationalism and demagoguery, all of which banish intellectual honesty from rational discourse.

United in our Catholic, pro-person worldview, yet diverging in our socio-political opinions, we seek to provide informed commentary and rigorous debate on culture, society, politics and law, all while unwaveringly adhering to, and aptly applying the principles of Catholic doctrine. We are not intellectually wedded to any single political ideology. Following the example of the rich tradition of Catholic social doctrine from Pope Leo XIII to Pope Benedict XVI, we do not forge artificial blockades between "faith and morals" and "social judgments." We do not and will not filter Catholic doctrine and morality through contrived categories in order to morph our Catholic faith and practice into some ideologically acceptable form.

I have found the posts at Vox Nova to be uniformly thoughtful, thought-provoking, rigorous, reflective, and completely engaging. It is a current example of how faithful Catholics can have varied views on how to apply the Church's Teaching to the world.

I absolutely can not recommend it enough!

Living the Resurrection

Wow. What a story.

At 17, Kristen Anderson lay across the railroad tracks a few yards from her parents' house and let 33 freight train cars pass over her at 55 miles per hour. She had lost several friends, her grandmother, and then had been raped. She wanted to die.

But, inexplicably, she didn't - although her legs were severed.

"Kristen knows there is no logical explanation for her survival.

"It was a God thing," she says.

Kristen celebrates the anniversary of her suicide attempt the way most celebrate a birthday.

She calls it her "rebirthday," a symbol of the spiritual change after painful months of recovery.

The experience prompted her to turn her life over to God, and in the process, Kristen began reaching out to teens who felt as hopeless as she once had.

Kristen underwent a conversion after leaving the hospital and now has a ministry of outreach to those who are considering suicide. I'll bet they listen.

"When I first started this, I was surprised by how many people thought about or tried to kill themselves. Nothing surprises me anymore."

You can visit her website here.

Today in My Town

This is the sort of annual event that only two other cities in the US, Annapolis, Maryland and Newburgh, NY, witness: The annual military academy graduation with it's dramatic fly-overs over the town.

It is Air Force Academy graduation day - in this heavily military town, in the midst of a long war.

The war in Iraq is not an abstraction here. Thousands of local residents are in the middle of or preparing for their third tour of duty in Iraq. Liz, who is very active in my parish and generously loans Fr. Mike her car "Lazarus" when he is in town, is also a Colonel and has served in both Iraq and Kuwait. Men and women in military fatigues are a common sight - at Mass and around town.

On many flights back to Colorado Springs, I have sat near returning soldiers or watched their eager families waiting to greet them. As I watch and listen to them, I wonder:

How do you deal with the pressures of separation and possible injury and death? How do you deal with what you see, hear, and do on the battlefield? How do you, as a lay apostle, responsible for issues of government and war and peace, find your way through the minefield of moral and spiritual dilemmas involved?

A couple weeks ago, a retired military man gave his testimony at our parish. In passing, he mentioned that he had been away from the Church for many years before returning to the practice of the faith after retirement. One reason? For years, he had carried the keys to nuclear missiles around his neck and he felt he could not do that and practice his faith at the same time.

It is the sort of story you hear in a town like this. Where the local paper produced this moving on-line memorial to local soldiers who have died in Iraq since 2003.

All 219 of them. As of Monday.

An Apostle for Bhutan

What a fascinating story. Via Asian Catholic news.

The only Bhutanese convert to Catholicism today is a Jesuit priest, Father Kinley Tshering, who discovered his vocation when he found himself sitting next to Mother Teresa of Calcutta on an airplane.

He encountered Christianity as a student in a Jesuit school in Darjeeling, India. He wanted to become a Catholic but the Jesuits refused to baptize him. Finally, a Salesian priest baptized him in the 9th grade.

"He wanted to become a Catholic priest, but some missioners dissuaded him saying he could serve the Church better as a married layman in Bhutan.

All this changed after a chance meeting with Blessed Teresa of Kolkata during a flight in 1985. The young Bhutanese executive sat next to the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. "She convinced me that I had a religious vocation. Then nobody could stop me."

Today, he is headmaster of the school in Darjeeling that changes his own life. But he is waiting for democracy to be established in Bhutan so that he can return there and minister as a priest.

"Father Tshering says he can "literally count" the number of Christians in Bhutan. "They are mostly Indians and Nepalese, and are considered outsiders." Protestants outnumber Catholics."

Father Tshering says his faith in Christ has never wavered. However "so many dissenting voices in the Catholic Church" worry him.

At the time of his conversion, he wanted to preach the Gospel in his country. "After so much training, we get confused," he said, adding that "only Christ" remains unchanged. "It is a real challenge to be a Catholic. It is one's basic conviction in Jesus that keeps one's faith (alive)," he added.


Sherry's note: The World Christian Database estimates that Bhutan has 17,000 Christians out of a population of 2.1 million. 1,000 are Catholic, 5,000 are Protestant, 11,000 are Independents.

The Fall of Constantinople - 1453

Today is the 554th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks and Paul J. Cella III pays homage here.

As he points out, at that moment, the centuries of bitterness between Greek and Latin Christians simply evaporated:

A mass was said at Holy Wisdom on Monday, May 28; at last, in this final hour, Catholic and Orthodox joined together in worship of the Risen Lord. Greeks who had sworn oaths never to darken the doors of a church contaminated by Romish heretics heard liturgy next to Italians who had declared the Orthodox more loathsome than the infidel Turk. There, in that last agony of the Roman Empire, Christendom was unified, and the Church breathed with both her lungs. There, in the person of the ragged remnants of Constantinople's defenders, the sons of the Church Universal joined in true fellowship. There, in this greatest of tragedies, and only at the bitter end, was a true Christian brotherhood of Greece and Rome.

The lineaments of the Emperor's final speech are known to us. John Julius Norwich gives us perhaps the most moving construal:

He spoke first to his Greek subjects, telling them that there were four great causes for which a man should be ready to die: his faith, his country, his family and his sovereign. They must now be prepared to give their lives for all four. He for his part would willingly sacrifice his own for his faith, his city and his people. They were a great and noble people, the descendents of the heroes of ancient Greece and Rome, and he had no doubt that they would prove themselves worthy of their forefathers in the defense of their city, in which the infidel Sultan wished to seat his false prophet on the throne of Jesus Christ. Turning to the Italians, he thanked them for all that they had done and assured them of his love and trust in the dangers that lay ahead. They and the Greeks were now one people, united in God; with his help they would be victorious. Finally he walked slowly round the room, speaking to each man in turn and begging forgiveness if he ever caused him any offense.


Why must we wait for the bitter end to embrace our brothers and sisters?

The Vocation of Business

Mark Shea posts about a new book of interest to lay apostles:

John Medaille's The Vocation of Business: Social Justice in the Marketplace published by Continuum Press.

The overriding theme of this book is that the original unity of distributive and corrective justice that prevailed in both economics and moral discourse until the 16th and seventeenth centuries was shattered by the rise of an individualistic capitalism that relied on corrective justice (justice in exchange) alone. But an economics that lacks a distributive principle will attain neither equity nor equilibrium and will be inherently unstable and increasingly reliant on both government power (Keynesianism) and consumer credit (usury) to correct the imbalances. Catholic social teaching, by contrast, emphasis a greater equity in the distribution of land and other means of production, and the just wage, and thereby leads more naturally to economic equilibrium and social justice. Finally, the book shows many examples of functioning systems, both large scale and small, that operate on the principles taught by the Church and produce a high degree of both equity and equilibrium.

And here are some very positive "blurbs" about the book:

'In this remarkable book John Médaille succeeds in showing how the more radical elements in Catholic Social teaching can be turned into really practical projects for building an alternative to capitalism. He shows that the key is to alter the culture of the business and the corporation in order to ensure that political and economic purposes, distributive and corrective justice become once again integrated, as classical philosophy and Christian theology alike demand. *The Vocation of business* supplies us at last with some keys for the turning of Christian critique of liberalism into a new from of effective practice.'

John Milbank University of Nottingham

"John Médaille has produced a tour de force - a book that manages to give the reader just enough insight into the various thinkers and subjects treated without overloading the reader and without missing anything important out. The careful yet unequivocal judgement on neoconservatism and the chapter on Distributism are particularly good."

Helen Alford OP, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Angelicum

Looks very interesting! Check it out.

Who Are Our Untouchables?

Several thousand tribal and Dalit Hindus in India have converted en masse to Buddhism at a ceremony in Mumbai. The converts hope to escape the rigid caste system in which their status is the lowest. You can read more about the event in a BBC article linked to the title of this post.

It makes a lot of sense that those of low caste might wish to "cast off" the shackles of a religion that keeps them marginalized within their own culture. Indeed, the hope of new opportunities, a new life, have always been a part of religious conversion.

St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians (1Cor 1:26-29) would indicate that that community wasn't composed of elites. "Consider your own calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong, and God chose the lowly and despised of the world, those who count for nothing, to reduce to nothing those who are something, so that no human being might boast before God."

The Gospel was first embraced by those who had become marginalized within traditional Judaism - known sinners and women. Of course, the Gospel still must be proclaimed to sinners, which includes each one of us. But beyond that commonality, to whom else might the Gospel be effectively addressed today?

When we think of evangelization within our own communities, we need to consider those who might be most open to the Gospel may not be the wealthy, the educated, the powerful, but, instead, the poor, the unemployed, and those who are marginalized because of disability, sexual orientation, marital status, or the lack of education. These may well be our own "untouchables."

Yet when I think of the communities in which I have served, I have to admit I don't know how well the homeless, the single parent, the hearing impaired, or the person with a homosexual orientation were embraced. It is not enough to preach about welcoming these individuals, that welcome has to be extended by people in the pews, and that means often stretching beyond ourselves, and seeking to find the Lord where we might rather not look.

I'm guessing that throughout the history of the Church, the people who have been most open to receiving the hope-filled Gospel of new life and conversion have been precisely the sort of people "respectable folks" are uncomfortable around.

These days would a recent Hispanic immigrant (illegal or not) find welcome in our parishes? Or a middle-eastern Catholic? Why do so many of our parishes look so homogeneous? Why do we tolerate the fact that in our dioceses some parishes have gleaming physical plants and all the electronic bells and whistles imaginable, while Our Lady of Deferred Maintenance barely survives financially from month to month, and has a skeleton staff?

Which of these parishes, do you think, would have a community like that described by St. Paul?

We who are "respectable" in the eyes of the world may not be as converted to the Lord as we think. We may need to be reduced to nothing.


My friend, Pat Armstrong, occasionally sends me these interesting articles from the BBC and the Irish Times, and for that I'm grateful!

The Eight Cent Bible in Vietnam

I love creative local initiatives like this, reported by Asia News (hat tip: Amy Welborn)

In a small parish in Vuon Xoai (Central Vietnam) someone came up with the idea of selling small Bibles at the price of 2,000 dong (US$ 0.08) or giving them away for free to those who could not afford even that much. So now, every Sunday, at the end of mass, a small table is set up in front of the church with Bibles and a collection box. The area might be poor and life hard, but Catholics lead a life of faith and have not renounced the idea of spreading the word among the residents of nearby hamlets and villages.

The idea has caught on so much that it is now being implemented in some parishes in Ho Chi Minh City. It is also informed by a belief that if the six million Catholics of Vietnam read the Bible, led their lives according to its principles and devoted themselves to mission, in two years they should be twice as many.

The apostolic underground is taking root everywhere.

Iraqi Christians Online

Stroll on over to Chaldean Thoughts, the blog of a Catholic Iraqi woman, now married to an American and living in Beaumont, Texas.

Fayrouz (the name of a very famous Arab woman singer) is a good source for news of the Christian community in Iraq. If you scroll down, she also has links to other Christian Iraqi blogs on the right hand side.

And if you'd really like to go cross-cultural, check out this website for Fayrouz, the Lebanese singer and listen to clips from her cd's.

Iraqi Women Paying the Price of War

The New York Times has a heart-breaking story this morning about Iraqi women refugees now dominating the sex trade in Syria.

Back home in Iraq, Umm Hiba’s daughter was a devout schoolgirl, modest in her dress and serious about her studies. Hiba, who is now 16, wore the hijab, or Islamic head scarf, and rose early each day to say the dawn prayer before classes.

Maraba, a suburb of Damascus, has become a hub of prostitution.

But that was before militias began threatening their Baghdad neighborhood and Umm Hiba and her daughter fled to Syria last spring. There were no jobs, and Umm Hiba’s elderly father developed complications related to his diabetes.

Desperate, Umm Hiba followed the advice of an Iraqi acquaintance and took her daughter to work at a nightclub along a highway known for prostitution.

During the war we lost everything,” she said. “We even lost our honor.” She insisted on being identified by only part of her name — Umm Hiba means mother of Hiba.

And this little excruciating detail:

Even in central Damascus, men freely talk of being approached by pimps trawling for customers outside juice shops and shawarma sandwich stalls, and of women walking up to passing men, an act unthinkable in Arab culture, and asking in Iraqi-accented Arabic if the men would like to “have a cup of tea.”


Sherry's note: If you haven't spent time in the Arab world, this won't make sense - but it is literally unthinkable. Simply meeting the eyes of a man is enough to convey the message that you are "available". I once had to stand across the street from a mosque outside Jerusalem's Damascus Gate for 45 minutes waiting for a ride. Forty five minutes of fruitlessly trying to hide behind a telephone pole with my eyes absolutely glued to the ground as man after man walked up to me and tried to start a conversation in Arabic (My standard answer being "La, la shukran") Until a pair of shoes walked up to me and started talking in Hebrew (Damn! I thought, "now its the Israelis!) and I responded in English, "I'm sorry,I don't speak Hebrew" - only to have the voice respond in familiar American English. So I slowly let my eyes travel up until I saw the gun he was carrying . . . Life on the West Bank just isn't American suburbia.)


This is one of the prices that women of all cultures and times have paid for war, poverty, societal collapse, and abandonment. Those of us who won't be pushed into such a life if we lose our parents or are born into poverty or abandoned by a spouse or never married or can't find a job in a bad economy are incredibly privileged.

And those of us who are privileged owe something to our sisters who are fighting for their lives and the lives of their children.

Sister Marie-Claude Naddaf is a Syrian nun at the Good Shepherd convent in Damascus, which helps Iraqi refugees. She tells of an Iraqi family she just met:

“I met three sisters-in-law recently who were living together and all prostituting themselves. They would go out on alternate nights — each woman took her turn — and then divide the money to feed all the children.”

More on this later.

Ground Zero in Greensburg, Kansas

A moving piece that gives you a sense of what it is like to live through and survive a F5 tornado as the citizens of Greensburg, Kansas did recently.

From the Wichita Eagle.

Then check out these pictures from the Diocese of Dodge City.

Ya Gotta Take the Long View

I've posted about the first new Maltese saint, Dun Gorg, before. He was the founder of the MUSEUM movement and a pioneer in the formation of the laity. But it has been a while and an article in the Malta Times about him made me chuckle - because the story sounds so familiar.

A century ago, in 1907, parish priest Dun Gorg set out to form the laity of Malta, a country that was nearly 100% Catholic and overwhelming uneducated. (Sherry's note: in 1907, the vast majority of lay Catholics in the world were not hanging around theological salons with the likes of Jacques Maritain. The majority were in a situation much closer to that of the Maltese than to the educated elite of the US.)

What got Dun Gorg going? Experiences like this:

On one occasion, as he was teaching catechism in church, Dun Gorg overheard the sacristan tell a group of children that God had created Himself. It was one of those incidents, it seems, that made Dun Gorg decide to gather a group of young men and prepare them to teach catechism, to found an institution for such a purpose. Dun Gorg's intention was that the society would be made up of lay people who would commit themselves to live by God's word in everyday life, and give their lives to teaching.

Dun Gorg laid emphasis on the need for people to learn the Bible, even being able to recite parts off by heart, and on the need to know the moral teachings of Christ and the Church.

And the reaction? I suppose it was entirely predictable:

Certain priests thought that moral theology should not be taught to the "ill-mannered and socially inept". A fellow priest who said he had been "teaching moral theology to boors"

Some priests opposed it because they feared that the movement was a sect that would break off from the Church.

In one town, word spread that the society's members were sick people. Mothers stopped sending their children to catechism as a result, fearing they would get some kind of disease.

Dun Gorg started being compared to Manwel Dimech, an important progressive figure at the time who led an "anti-clerical" movement called Society of the Enlightened. One of the most controversial Maltese political figures, Mr Dimech was eventually exiled and died in Alexandria.

It was feared that MUSEUM was promulgating some kind of dubious spiritual illumination.

Various members of the society testified that he took into his home "known sinners and people not pertaining to the Catholic faith".

Suspicions, according to Crispin Mangion, a member of the society whose confessor was often Dun Gorg, also derived from the fact that the priest had established contacts with a mission of a British Protestant Church. Dun Gorg's ecumenical spirit led to suspicions that his covert intention was to protestantise the Church.


Short term result?

When Archbishop Mauro Caruana asked Dun Gorg to close the houses, the MUSEUM founder obeyed immediately. But soon after the first two were closed down, a counter order arrived as the Archbishop no longer doubted Dun Gorg's intentions.


Long term result?

The MUSEUM movement was approved by the Church in 1932, 25 years after its founding.

And next Sunday, Blessed Dun Gorg Preca will be canonized at St Peter's Basilica.

I happen to be one of those Catholics who really believes what Catholics are supposed to believe: that the Second Vatican Council was led by the Holy Spirit and ultimately, a really good thing for the Church.

And stories like that of that soon-to-be-Saint Dun Gorg Preca is one of the reasons why.

Discussion on Orthodox Blog: The Parish: Mission or Maintenance?

Fr. Gregory, an Orthodox priest over at Koinonia, has started a discussion of our vision booklet, The Parish: Mission or Maintenance, which Fr. Michael Sweeney and I gave as presentations to theologians and seminarians at the Angelicum and North American College in 2000.

Pope John Paul II inaugurated his pontificate with this invitation to the world; now he inaugurates a new Christian millennium with the same invitation. And, throughout the Church, we are witnessing a remarkable convergence of signs of renewal of the Church in her mission to the world. The apostolic role of the laity has been resoundingly affirmed and promoted at the highest levels of the Church for the first time in our history. The Holy Father has called the whole Church to re-dedicate all her energies to the new evangelization. Lay Catholics who assume personal responsibility for the Church’s evangelical mission are emerging by the millions all over the globe. A dramatic shift in the historic relationship between clergy and laity is well underway, which has important implications for all Catholic leaders who work with lay people.

It is our conviction that, through these historic developments, the Holy Spirit is both illumining and empowering the office of the ordained, and releasing the full vigor of the lay apostolate, for the sake of Christ’s redeeming purposes in the world. But something even more unexpected is happening. As the apostolic gifts and call of the laity have become evident, the apostolic potential of the parish – the one truly universal Catholic institution and the place where ninety-eight percent of Catholics have their only contact with the Church– has also been revealed in a whole new light. No longer can the parish be simply a place where the laity receive the spiritual goods of the Church. If all lay Catholics are apostles to the world as the Church teaches, then the institutions that nourish them must become places of apostolic formation, support, and consultation. The worldwide network of parishes that has sustained the faith of lay Catholics for centuries can and must become primary centers of lay formation and outreach to the world. We would like to explore with you the theological and practical implications of this new challenge.

To read (or download) the whole of PMM, go here.

(For those of you who like to hold a text or would like to discuss it in a group - as many parish leadership teams have done -, PMM can also be ordered in dead tree version for a mere $2 through our online bookstore).

To take part in the discussion at Koinonia, go here.
Koinonia: The Parish: Mission or Maintenance?

And, of course, be sure and tell us what you think below.

Philip Neri and the House of Mirth

Today is Philip Neri's Feast day as well as Memorial Day. So I thought it appropriate to link to a post on Neri that I did back in March:

Philip Neri and the House of Mirth

Where's an Intentional Disciple When You Need One?

This is an excerpt from an essay (click the title to link) by David Lazarus, who writes for the San Francisco Chronicle. The article is about the pulling of what's known as an "alcopop," an entry-level drink aimed at young adults, according to the beer industry, but very attractive to underage drinkers.

There's usually a lot of partying over Memorial Day weekend. But one thing
people -- particularly young people -- aren't drinking is Spykes, a
candy-colored beverage from Anheuser-Busch that the company has pulled
from the market after criticism from consumer watchdogs and the attorneys
general of California and 28 other states.

"This is great news," said Mike Scippa, advocacy director for the Marin
Institute, a San Rafael alcohol-awareness group. "We've been pushing for
this for as long as we've known about the product."

Spykes was introduced in 2005 with virtually no traditional marketing,
relying instead on the Internet and word of mouth to generate buzz among
consumers. It became available nationwide in January.

Spykes packed a considerable wallop, with 12 percent alcohol content and a
hit of caffeine to boot. It came in flavors like Spicy Mango and Spicy
Lime, and was packaged in little 2-ounce bottles that sold for about a
dollar apiece.

In a letter earlier this month to August Busch IV, Anheuser-Busch's chief
exec, the attorneys general expressed "serious concern about your
company's promotion and sale of alcoholic energy drinks -- alcoholic
beverages that contain caffeine and other stimulants and are highly
attractive to underage youth."

Anheuser-Busch announced about a week later that it was calling a halt to
Spykes. But the company pointedly insisted that there was nothing wrong
with its product or how it was marketed.

Spykes "has not performed up to expectations," Michael Owens, an
Anheuser-Busch vice president of marketing, said in a statement. "Due to
its limited volume potential and unfounded criticism, we are ceasing
production."

He added that Spykes had been "unduly attacked by perennial anti-alcohol
groups," including the Marin Institute.

To be sure, Spykes wasn't alone among what critics call "alcopops" --
flavored alcoholic beverages that some say are designed specifically for
teenagers, especially girls (although alcohol companies say the target
market is young adults).

The American Medical Association reported in late 2004 that about a third
of teenage girls had tried alcopop drinks, and that teenage girls consumed
more alcopops than any other alcoholic beverage.

Owens at Anheuser-Busch noted that the alcopops market "has more than 50
products available ... in all colors and flavors." He said Spykes had "the
lowest alcohol content product in this market segment."

But Scippa at the Marin Institute said Anheuser-Busch, maker of Budweiser
and Michelob beers, "has distinguished itself with egregious products and
marketing tactics."

He called Spykes "an entry-level drink, particularly for young women," and
said the product "also crossed the line into energy drinks, which young
men enjoy."

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has taken a similarly
strong stand against alcopops, said that "Anheuser-Busch did the
responsible thing, if begrudgingly, by pouring its caffeinated,
child-friendly alcoholic drink known as Spykes down the drain."

"But the real question is how this ill-considered product slithered from
the drawing board to the assembly line in the first place," said George
Hacker, the group's alcohol policies director. "One also wonders whether
the company truly hit bottom with Spykes or whether it will again stoop to
market kid-friendly drinks after the furor subsides."

One has to wonder; do any Catholics work for Anheuser-Busch? Any serious Christians at all? Or even anyone asking the question, "would MY underage child be attracted to alcohol by this product?" How does a product like this get off the drawing board?

I am guessing that there were people involved who had some serious reservations, but perhaps they didn't raise any objections for fear of losing their job, or losing their promotion. Wouldn't it be great if somehow our parishes could support parishioners who want to take a stand against the development of such products, and who might lose their jobs as a result? Or better, wouldn't it be great if our parishes could support these parishioners by letting a company know that doing the wrong thing would lead to financial and public relations woes!

A New Day for Some Gypsies

The BBC ran an article about thousands of Roma (Gypsies) undergoing conversions that change their lives. Click on the title for a link to the entire article, but here are a few excerpts:

"The settlement is built on a ridge, and behind the houses, a cliff falls suddenly onto a green plain below, dotted with brown horses.
And finally a river, which flows into another river. The Danube.
But something was different here from so many gypsy neighbourhoods I have visited. Everyone was busy.
These people are Pentecostalists (sic) - a church movement which has spread like wildfire among the gypsies of Eastern Europe in particular - a form of religion which fits better with their own mythology, than the strict rituals of Orthodox or Catholic.

It is also giving a people much derided as work shy, a protestant work ethic.
"I stole, I drank, I was lazy," Iliya told us later, with a twinkle in his eye, playing the caricature of a gypsy villain, on a stage of his own carpentry.
"And then I got a life-threatening illness. And I started to pray."

That was 10 years ago.

With God's help, he said, his whole neighbourhood practises Christianity now.
Together they have built a church, rebuilt their own homes, and found an energy and purpose in their lives which seems, to a stranger at least, almost miraculous…"

"We sat in a circle. The prayers came thick and fast, between a chant and a mumble, rising and falling like waves.

"Now I'm going to tell you a story," said the prayer leader.
"A man was driving a bus down a steep hill. There was a cliff on one side, a ravine on the other.
"Suddenly, a child ran out into the middle of the road. In the split second that followed, he had to make an appalling choice.
"To kill the child, or all his passengers."
The man paused for a moment. His audience froze.
I felt angry. Why was he telling this story in front of children?
"He drove straight into the child," the man continued.
"There was blood all over the windscreen. The passengers ran forward, remonstrating with him.
"'You should have killed us instead,' they shouted. 'How could you kill an innocent child?'
"Then there was a deep silence." On the bus and in the room.
"Then the driver spoke. 'That child was my own son,' he said, 'and his name was Jesus.'"

The story points out once again, that evangelization, even of those many in Europe would consider to be beyond hope of conversion, does bear fruit. It also raises the challenging question of how much the liturgy can be adapted to new cultures so that the symbols and gestures used are meaningful. Finally, the story told by the prayer leader is an example of the creative ways in which the basic message of the Gospel needs to be told in order to make an impact on a contemporary audience. Not that we don't preach Christ crucified, of course, but that we use analogies, images and metaphors that help people appreciate what God has done – and will do – for us.

hat tip: Pat Armstrong

Did you hear it?

...the Pentecost Sequence, that is. What is the Pentecost Sequence? It is a ancient and beautiful prayer to the Holy Spirit which is often set to music. The prayer is better known as Come, Holy Spirit or Veni Sancte Spiritus. Here are the words of the prayer, with verses in Latin and English:


VENI, Sancte Spiritus,et emitte caelitus lucis tuae radium.

COME, Holy Ghost,send down those beams,which sweetly flow in silent streams from Thy bright throne above.

Veni, pater pauperum,veni, dator munerum, veni, lumen cordium.

O come, Thou Father of the poor;O come, Thou source of all our store, come, fill our hearts with love.

Consolator optime, dulcis hospes animae, dulce refrigerium.

O Thou, of comforters the best, O Thou, the soul's delightful guest, the pilgrim's sweet relief.

In labore requies, in aestu temperies, in fletu solatium.

Rest art Thou in our toil, most sweet refreshment in the noonday heat; and solace in our grief.

O lux beatissima, reple cordis intima tuorum fidelium.

O blessed Light of life Thou art; fill with Thy light the inmost heart of those who hope in Thee.

Sine tuo numine, nihil est in homine, nihil est innoxium.

Without Thy Godhead nothing can have any price or worth in man, nothing can harmless be.

Lava quod est sordidum, riga quod est aridum, sana quod est saucium.

Lord, wash our sinful stains away, refresh from heaven our barren clay, our wounds and bruises heal.

Flecte quod est rigidum, fove quod est frigidum, rege quod est devium.

To Thy sweet yoke our stiff necks bow, warm with Thy fire our hearts of snow, our wandering feet recall.

Da tuis fidelibus, in te confidentibus, sacrum septenarium.

Grant to Thy faithful, dearest Lord, whose only hope is Thy sure word, the sevenfold gifts of grace.

Da virtutis meritum, da salutis exitum, da perenne gaudium, Amen, Alleluia.

Grant us in life Thy grace that we, in peace may die and ever be, in joy before Thy face. Amen. Alleluia.


Here is the prayer set to different musical settings:

This is my favorite. It is a beautiful setting composed by a contemporary composer, Arvo Pärt.

Here is a setting by the 15th Century composer, John Dunstable.

Here is another by an early master of polyphony, Palestrina.

For something entirely different, here is a Nordic version of the Veni Sancte Spiritus.

So, did anyone hear this piece at Mass today? Do you know what version it is?

A Pentecost Homily

This was preached by a priest ordained almost one year, Fr. Brian Dolejsi, who teaches with the Institute (as you might gather from the content of his homily). He serves a cluster of parishes in South Tacoma.

A few years ago, I went hiking with two friends. Towards the end of the second day, our trail disappeared. We are all experienced hikers but our trail simply had not been maintained and so we were a little anxious. At this point, we had hiked many hours and miles that day and planned to return to our car that afternoon. The sun was starting to set and we thought we were almost there…what to do? We knew it would be difficult to stay another night not to mention there were people waiting for us at home. We could go down a different valley, far from our car but not sure where that would lead. We could go up, which we tried but there was an impassible crevasse on the other side. Our only option was to patiently retrace our steps for a little while in search of our trail. After a few minutes, we could see the continuation of our trail up a steep incline. We had to work hard but after several minutes of effort we blazed a new trail which led us to where we needed to go. Eventually, we made it to our car some three hours later in pitch black, happy for soft seats and a warm place.

This evening, we gather as a community of faith in south Tacoma. Where are we on our journey of faith as followers of Christ? Fundamentally why are we here as parishes? Are we to thrive or to fade out? Some might say, like me and my friends we have lost the trail, the path God has called us to. My friends and I could have stayed in the same place in fear, or we could have gone another more dangerous direction of our choosing either up or down but none of these options would have helped us attain our goal. Instead, we retraced our steps a little bit to get back to common and familiar ground, then we scanned the horizon for our destination and blazed a trail to get there.

I propose this evening that we now have the opportunity to do the same. We have the opportunity to look back to remember our identity and then to scan the horizon of our faith again to see where God is leading us, to final glory and the fulfillment of the kingdom of God here and now. The only way to get there is to blaze a new trail, by having hope, working hard and together and taking courage we are moving in the right direction.

I propose nothing less than a re-evangelization of south Tacoma through our parishes. This is the new trail we must blaze through the work of the Holy Spirit. We can accomplish this by shifting our paradigm, doing what we already do in an excellent way, and in creative new ministries.

First, we need to shift our paradigm of how we see ourselves. The only reason the church exists is to evangelize. We begin with evangelizing our own and then proclaiming the good news to the local community. In turn, our parishes are not to be seen as a hospital where people only come if they have problems to be solved. We are this for many; however, we are to be centers of evangelization where we form competent lay apostles able to respond to the various needs of the local community. The model of the parish as a house of lay formation proactively meets the needs of the local community. Instead of waiting for people to come to us, we move out into the world preaching the good news that we are redeemed, that God’s grace is at work in everyone’s life and can lead us to new life. In this area, we need to start with inviting back, indeed calling back those who have fallen away from regular participation in their parishes. These may be your family, friends, or co-workers, and it will take time but unless we invite we cannot expect a return. After this, we move to the larger community of those who have no experience of the church and the presence of the Risen Christ in their lives.

Secondly, we need to renew excellence in all of our ministries to accomplish our mission of re-evangelization. Many positive ministries are already taking place with many faithful people engaged in helping proclaim the message of Christ. What I am proposing is a thorough and prayerful reflection about the quality of each ministry in our parishes. Can they be improved? Are we accomplishing what we have set out to do? Can we do a better job of showing God’s love? Are we doing our ministry not just in an adequate way but in an excellent way? In our communities, perhaps more than most places in the Puget Sound, there are people hurting, lonely, lost, fearful, and in need of a place to call home. These needs stem from lack of jobs, drugs, depression, abusive relationships, discrimination and other injustices which infect our world. Yet, it is us, the people of God, who have a message of healing and grace to offer to all. Why should we not be the ones to offer these people a message of healing and grace? Indeed, we exist to do just this, to evangelize, to propose the faith, to invite, to be the risen Christ in the lives of others.

Thirdly, we are called to create new ministries. If what we are currently doing is not helping our church grow, then things need to change. We need to start with an honest evaluation of the place when we encounter 90% of our people, the weekend masses. We need to re-evaluate and do a better job of celebrating our Sunday liturgies in an excellent way. We should have a greeter and commentator at the beginning of each mass welcoming and educating the entire community before mass even begins. Our music, preaching, and liturgical ministries should be performed in the most excellent manner possible. There should be effective advertising of our parish services and opportunities for people to easily become engaged with us. We need to invest more time, energy and resources into making our Sunday liturgies consistent moments of evangelization. I also propose we take a new parish census. This would involve a systematic assessment of the local community in south Tacoma. This takes place with a series of phone calls to those already on our parish directory, thanking those that have remained engaged and welcoming those back that have fallen away from active participation. Following this, we can move out into the local community and go door to door if necessary and welcome Catholics back or at least make personal contact with our neighbors to let them know we are here as a resource for them.

No doubt this is a great deal of work but it must be supported by my other proposed new ministry. In order to strengthen and engage all parishioners, I propose a renewal of small faith sharing communities. Many of the most active and happy Catholics I have met in these parishes are the ones who are actively engaged in a ministry which on many levels functions as a smaller community within the larger parish, enabling a sense of place, support, and ongoing spiritual growth. We need to invite all members of the parish into similar types of groups, meditating upon the Gospel and living it in our lives in a spirit of prayer. I believe that a renewal of our Sunday liturgies, a parish census, and an increase in small Christian communities as a way for us to blaze a new trail of evangelization. These ministries will help us welcome all, proclaim the risen Christ in a tangible way, and give us all a new sense of mission as the baptized…and just maybe renew our own faith experience.

Many of you might be thinking…the new priest is full of unrealistic ideas…it can't be done. My question to you would be, why can’t we do it? Are we happy with our parishes right now? Sure, there are some good people and some ministries are functioning well, but could we do more to proclaim Christ? These are things I have prayed over…if you have other ideas, let’s hear them and bring them all before the Lord in prayer and ask God to show us the way and we will gladly follow.

Actually, I beg the Holy Spirit to show us this night, do you want these parishes to survive and thrive or not? If you don’t, if this is not your will, then give us the courage and patience to accept this and to find ways in which to fulfill our vocations. However, if by chance you do…then all of us gathered here this evening shows not only who we are but what we can be. If you do want us to thrive, then Holy Spirit blow through us this evening. Renew us again just as you did for the disciples, revealing to them the presence of the Risen Christ in the Church and giving them courage and wisdom to carry out your mission in the world as apostles. Holy Spirit, enliven our minds and hearts to know and love your goodness so that renewed in our love of you we may invite others into the wonders of your mystery.

Can we respond to the needs of our local community? YES. Can we form members of the community who can live out their baptismal call for their own benefit and benefit of others? YES. Can we inspire another generation of Catholics to live and love the faith? YES. Can we re-evangelize our community? YES. We can accomplish this mission - with the help of God alone. But this has been the experience of the Church throughout generations. Trusting in God’s grace, the mission continues. Indeed this process of re-evangelization will lead to your own perfection and growth in holiness as you fulfill again the mission Christ has given you through the use of our individual and common gifts of the Holy Spirit. This will not take place over night as we know, but if we are not moving towards this, blazing a new trail, if we do not have a goal as a cluster of parishes, as individual parishes, then we are lost. We trust that nothing is impossible for God, even bringing life from death and filling the people of God with grace when we say Amen!

Many would say that these parishes are like a smoldering fire. They once were great but now they are ashes, with only a few coals burning at the bottom. But what is in the coals simmering down below but an intense heat: the faithful that have remained true, that have been consistent in their love of God and the Church. And what do we do this evening is invite the Holy Spirit to come and breathe new life into these ashes…and, just like a real fire, have those smoldering embers catch blaze again and produce light, heat and goodness…to catch fire again, to be filled with the Holy Spirit and generate a blaze that will be seen for miles, all the miles of south Tacoma. A blaze of a new trail leading to our final destination, the proclamation and the building of the kingdom of God in the world and our own perfection in love. Veni Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit!

Rose Petals at Pentecost

Over at What Does This Prayer Really Say?, you'll find some pictures of the annual Rose Petal shower at Rome's Pantheon on the Feast of Pentecost. Find all the pictures at

(http://wdtprs.com/blog/2007/05/pentecost-at-the-pantheon/)

Shout-out to Fr. Mike: Consider your options for next Pentecost!

Have I Strayed From God's Purpose?

Fr. Mike preached at my parish this morning (my pastor is doing mission work in the Ukraine this week)on the mission and purpose for which all of us as individuals and the Church, as a whole, has received the Holy Spirit.

Here's an apropros post from Catholic Writings on the same theme (http://catholicwriter.wordpress.com/2007/05/27/saturday-may-26-
dont-stray-from-your-purpose/

I watched “Pirates of the Carribean : At World’s End” today. I was struck by one line that was said to Davy Jones, who used to be a man but was transformed into an octopus-like creature. Someone in the movie says to him something like: You have strayed from your purpose, and that has changed who you are.

As Christians in the world today, we each have a God-given mission in life, and we are called to stick to our purpose. There are many things, good things in fact, that can make us stray from our purpose. For example, what may have started as a good means of evangelization, such as blogging for God, may make us so obsessed with gathering more hits for the blog that we stray from our purpose. Or what may have started as an interest in liturgy may become an obsession that turns into legalism that makes us stray from our purpose. Or what may have started as a love for tradition may become an obsession with tradition that makes us intolerant of others that makes us stray from our purpose.

Our purpose is not something that we create for ourselves. Rather, it is given to us by God and discovered by us. Let us all pray for the wisdom to discern our true purpose in life, and not stray from that purpose.

Pentecost and Mission

As Fr. Mike noted below, the Feast of Pentecost is not only the birthday of the Church but simultaneously the reception of supernatural power for the sake of her primary mission: to preach Christ to all and make disciples.

So just a few things to contemplate:

Michael Green in Evangelism in the Early Church points out that conversion, as we know it, was something almost totally new in the ancient world, when Christianity was born. The Roman attitude was: if you encountered some new faith that appealed to you, you simply added that new god/goddess or devotion to your pantheon - and many of these gods were "local" deities. The idea of conversion to an exclusive devotion to a single, universal God was introduced by Judiasm. So the impact - and scandal - of the "great commission" to go out and make disciples of all nations.

Most Catholics tend to think of religious identity as basically stable, that most people stay in the faith of their birth. But, as David Barrett points out, religious affiliation is, in fact, remarkably fluid. He estimates, as of 2000, that

19 million people convert to Christianity every year.

16.5 million Christians leave the faith every year!

The old saying:"God has no grandchildren" certainly comes alive when contemplating this statistic.

It is staggering to realize that 35 mlllion people move in or out of the Christian faith every year! That does imply a net gain of 2.5 million Christians every year or 69,000 new Christians every 24 hours!

In a given 24 hour period 122,000 new Christians are baptized and 37,000 new Catholics are added to the Church.

The "New Evangelization" is directed to the 16.5 million and their families who leave every year. The Mission Ad Gentes is directed toward the 19 million who will hear and be baptized for the first time this year.

And both spring from Pentecost.

Blessed Pentecost

"Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.
The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name--he will teach you everything and remind you of all that (I) told you." John 14:23, 26

The Holy Spirit is given to us not only so that we can remember what Jesus taught, but also to help us "keep his word."

For each of us, that means applying that word in the various environments and situations in which we find ourselves. The great saints are always creative people. Not necessarily artists working with marble or oil paints, but creative in terms of responding to or anticipating the needs of the humanity around them. Often they begin doing things that the rest of us look at as quixotic, idealistic, simplistic, or doomed to fail.

And then they succeed.

Or at least they make a difference in the lives they touch - a difference that is supernatural, as they use the gifts the Holy Spirit has given them so that people experience a glimpse of the healing power, love, providence, and joy of the risen Lord.

Barbara Elliott, one of our Called & GIfted teachers, and a great supporter of the Institute along with her husband, Winston, has written a book of contemporary saints who are making a difference in the inner cities of some of our largest metro areas. I encourage you to visit her website, "Street Saints," (click the title of this post) to get a glimpse of the inspiring lives of individuals who are truly living in the Spirit.

Perhaps they may inspire you to respond to a call God has placed in your heart.

Lots Going On This Weekend

This three day weekend won't exactly be a holiday.

It's full. Major landscaping, wall and bed building, sand and paver ordering - all in preparation for the creation of a new patio for the emerging rustic Tuscan garden. And probably planting tons of basil for pesto and impatients as well.

This is a picture of the starter garden on Labor Day weekend last year, with a portion of the really long (70 ft?)hand-built, dry stone wall snaking erratically down one side. Imagine a really big mountain looming over it and you get the idea.

Three strong, competent men planted 4 trees in the back this week so its already beginning to feel very different. Fr. Mike, the incredible weight-lifting OP gardener, will be over shortly to haul that dirt and lift those stones.

You get occasional glimpses of enchantment to reward you for your aching back and rapidly emptying bank account. (Even done mostly by generous, unskilled, free labor and as cheaply as possible, gardening isn't cheap).

It's an act of magninimity -especially at 6,700 feet high - aspiring to do something great for God and for the community. (When your home backs onto a city park and everyone in the neighborhood gets to meditate on a daily basis upon the sun-baked desolation that passes for your backyard, gardening is a corporal work of mercy)

Also I'll be trying to finish up my section of Making Disciples on how the exercise of charisms assist spiritual seekers on the journey to discipleship. (Interesting stuff!)

And I need to race through the 390 pages of Michael Green's Evangelism in the Early Church which looks at the practice of evangelism through about the year 300 AD. Just got last night from Amazon and it looks very good!

I will be blogging - but it will be intermittant and probably full of gardening, charisms, and/or the history of evangelism - at least from me.

My partners in crime on ID, no doubt, have many varied and brilliant things to say.

Erin Go Bragh with Kielbasa

My friend Pat, a lover of all things Irish, was lamenting the loss of Irish traditional culture under the tidal wave of cash generated by the "Celtic Tiger" the other day. The next day, she sent me an interesting link to a BBC article on the influence of immigrants from Poland, of all places, on the Irish Catholic Church. It's quite a change for Ireland to become a destination for immigrants. You can link to the article by double-clicking the title of this post (which was Pat's comment in her e-mail to me!)

The Irish Catholic Church has lost influence in Irish society due to sexual scandals similar to those that occurred in the U.S. immigrants often leave their homeland in search for a better life elsewhere, as millions of Irish men and women did when they came to this land. I w