Author Archives: Phrogge

Coronavirus and Good Friday

On Good Friday we recall the sufferings and death of Jesus, while knowing full well that we will celebrate the Resurrection on Sunday. We believe Jesus died to the life he knew among us as a human like ourselves, and rose to a full and unlimited life, the life we are destined for in the providence of our Creator God. We cannot know our new life without first dying to the life we know now.

It seems to be the nature of creation that out of death comes new life. We see it all around us. This is true for each of us as we grow and mature, letting go of old habits and ways of thinking, and taking on new ones. As a consequence of the coronavirus, we are seeing suffering and death in the institutions we have become very familiar with – economy, government, church. We will have to do some serious rethinking of our priorities and ways of doing things. No doubt this will be true especially in the way we are church. The old ways do not seem to be working anymore. Many have sensed this already and have been working to effect some changes in how we think and act. The crisis is providing impetus to all this.

The crisis is showing how for many of us religion is a spectator sport. In the Roman Catholic version of Christianity, we have become intent on watching masses on tv and internet because our churches are closed. The idea of “virtual participation” is with us, and probably needs to be studied, along with many other notions. We have become inured to simply watching more or less passively, even during mass in church, while a man says the prayers, does the preaching, dispenses the communion. A spectator sport.

If we are willing to take the chance, we can see this in our own life as well. We might ask ourselves how or even if, we are willing to grow, which can be an unsettling experience that doesn’t get any easier no matter our age in years. There are many times when the old answers do not fit the new questions, and what worked in the past does not work now. This is something we have to face in our own life and in the church’s life.

The basic responsibility of someone who is serious in following Jesus is to be open to the Spirit who leads us to suffering, death, and resurrection, to conversion and growth in our daily living, in other words, how we live with other people. It has little to do with just doing holy things, or watching while somebody else does them. We are learning Jesus is not apart from our daily living, but a part of it, if we are willing to take the chance and trust.

Many us us like to have nice ideas and words to describe who Jesus, God, etc, is for us, but unless these have an impact on how we live everyday with the folks in our life, they are just something else to be a barrier between ourselves and Jesus, some feel good stuff that we hold on to to make ourselves feel safe, but which also keep us from growing.

I’ve always been amazed, and disturbed, at how folks keep saying that, because I am a priest, I have an in with “the Man upstairs”. I know that is not true, but many folks really believe it. I’ve had many (often very scary) experiences that showed me I am not special in any way, but have a responsibility to and for others in my life. The current crisis is among these events. While I can live-stream a mass on CCTV for the residents where I live, that does not make me special. It just reminds me of my own responsibilities and my need for conversion and growth, in other words, sufferings, death, resurrection. Each of us in our own way has an “in” with God. Jesus showed us God is among us in everybody, and we don’t need a go between. God creates us and loves us as we are, and most of us can’t get our heads around that. This leads us to experience we are with each other and need each other.

There is no rising to new life without dying to the life that was before. In some ways the church is going to change. It could well be that what is coming will be something we wouldn’t recognize from where we are right now. No doubt there will be many who want to go back to the way things were before the crisis. The same is true in our own life. Do we just want the way things were, or are we willing to change, to grow, to be completely open to the Spirit leading us through our suffering and death to our own resurrection?

Coronavirus Thoughts – Some Church Effects

There is little doubt that, even after it has passed and we return to what we have long known as normal life, the current Coronavirus crisis will have significant impact on the Roman Catholic version of Christianity, and probably on other traditions as well. A legitimate question is what are we going to do with all this. Will we give serious thought to new and different things, or will we focus on getting back to “the way things have always been”?

One area that probably will be affected is celebration of Eucharist. To their credit many priests are live-streaming masses for online use. What also is happening, though, is folks are getting together in small groups to celebrate their own Eucharist. Some families living together in one household are doing this in their own houses. Other folks, respecting the call to shelter in place and avoid gatherings, and making use of online programs to establish their own communities together online for Eucharist. Both of these offer different modes of gathering in prayer. A fear is that they will be told that, since there is not a priest involved, they do not have the “real Jesus”, a phrase once used by a bishop to criticize a parish group who refused to accept the closing of their parish and had formed their own Christian Community.

The clericalism in the church would seem to be a major obstacle in any constructive attempts to look at what is going on. I firmly believe the Spirit is very much involved in our reaction to what is going on “teaching us to observe everything Jesus taught us”. He did not teach us to build large churches, wear fancy clothes, or favor celibate male superiority. When he said, “wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am with them”, he did not say anything about faculties, gender, buildings, etc. Growth is happening, folks are actively making their own choices, and and who is to say that the “real Jesus” is not with them.

It seems that we are living on the cusp of the old and the new — the old is very obviously with us, and the new is with us too, perhaps less obviously. The new is happening in small groups everywhere as folks are beginning to experience that so much of the old that has served us so well for centuries no longer works so well. What we are headed for is not something that we can fully describe from our vantage point today. It could very well be something we cannot recognize.

Among the things that are going on is the sense the Jesus is among us and in each of us, whether or not a person wears a stole, is LGBTQ, follows a clearly delineated set of actions. Small groups, such as Intentional Eucharistic Communities, are taking responsibilities for their own celebration of Jesus among them, and not just putting the responsibilities on one person. There seems to be a process of discernment happening. We are coming to realize that, as important as rituals and rites are, they are not the only way to gather and celebrate Christ’s presence among us. There is no Harry Potter factor where words have to be recited and gestures executed exactly or nothing happens. We are at a time of “already but not yet”.

Folks are learning not to be passive in their life in the church, to take responsibility for their own growth and life. Often they are seen as threats to the status quo. The crisis is forcing us to come together in smaller communities to celebrate and grow. It is reinforcing our need for, and our responsibiities to, each other. We are learning during this virus not only to protect ourselves from others but to protect others from ourselves. We are forced to put others first. And so the Gospel happens.

It seems to me that, if we really believe in the Holy Spirit, then we have to be open to and trust her as she leads us forward to ask the basic question, “what does it mean for us to be followers of Jesus in our own time now and in the setting of what is going on now?” Everything has to be on the table. We have to truly be open, not telling the Spirit what we are willing to learn and what we are not willing to learn. None of this can be for our own convenience.

For many of us, Eucharists celebrated on retreats often have had a powerful impact, and for some it is still an important part of our lives as adults. In my own experience, Eucharists I celebrated in combat in Vietnam still are a powerful part of my life, and probably are a factor in my uncomfortableness in celebrating large and “complicated” liturgies. In combat settings I did not follow all the liturgical prescriptions. Celebrations in bright colored vestments were not too good in rice paddies. Masses were brief and to the point, at times interrupted by unfriendly neighbors, and involving casualties. Memories like this do not go away. Some return time and again as unpleasant and intrusive dreams.

The point is Eucharist happens in the setting of our lives as they really are, and as we live them, not as we wish they were or some person or group tells us they ought to be. Eucharist can be adapted to circumstances. Sometimes our circumstances are conducive to prayer, other times they are not. And yet, Eucharist happens as intentionally we gather together reflecting our circumstances, whatever they are.

In all probability the desire to return to the status quo will be more effective than the desire to move ahead. The hope is that the folks who have experienced small group liturgies will keep moving in their direction.

In the current Coronavirus crisis God is with us, often in and through each other. And when this crisis passes, God still will be with us in and through each other. Hopefully we will not return to business as usual, in large and often anonymous groups in large churches. Perhaps many of us will have come to experience the power and caring of Eucharist in small groups, and will move wherever this takes us. The important factor is being fully open to the Spirit in every way. Grace is real.

Just sayin . . .

Some thoughts on the Coronavirus Situation . . .

The other day a friend of mine said, ”Jesus has to fix his church, because if he doesn’t people will just leave”. Maybe that is what all of us are here for — to fix the church. Legend says that a long time ago Jesus told St Francis to “rebuild my church”. Who can say that Jesus isn’t telling folks in our day to do the same?

The Coronavirus is having serious worldwide effects. One of the areas so affected is religion, especially the Roman Catholic version of Christianity. Throughout the world masses are cancelled and churches closed. We are reminded that the church is not buildings and plants, the church is people — us. It is our church, and we do our best to be open to the Spirit and Christ. Jesus told us “I will be with you always”, and, “I will send the Spirit to teach you to observe everything I have commanded you”. Especially these days we believe this is what is happening now, and we beg the courage to go where the Spirit is leading us, and do what the Spirit is guiding us to do.

The current crisis clearly shows us the devastating impact that clericalism has had on the church. Pope Francis points out that clericalism is perhaps the biggest problem we face. In the current crisis we see both clericalism and a remedy to it. We also see the power and impact of the “religious police” who who see themselves as the only “authorized” interpreters of the word and will of God, and eagerly set upon any who deviate in the slightest from their accepted norms and terminology. They are very active in their attacks on, and protests against, Pope Francis and his attempts to lead the church to be more open to the Spirit.

In a number of nursing homes and hospitals there are restrictions as to visitors and who can get in to help the patients and residents. In some of these places pastoral ministers who are not ordained are celebrating their own versions of the Sacraments of Anointing and Reconciliation. Many of these pastoral ministers are women. Who is to say that these ministrations “do not work”? Especially in the matter of women providing these ministrations, some would say that God is limited by gender. These pastoral ministers truly are serving God in their patients and residents, who don’t really care about the minister’s gender. We need to encourage and empower them as they do God’s work among us.

Recently the Vatican decreed that General Absolution can be offered under some circumstances. In the matter of a hospital or nursing home, it suggests that the ministers who can’t have direct access to patients and residents use “amplification of the voice, so that the absolution may be heard”. Why can it not be that someone on the staff who is already known to the patients and residents be able to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation with the face to face? Does it really have to be done by an anonymous voice of a public address system? Pastoral Ministers who are providing such ministry have to be encouraged. They very well may be a significant part of the church as we grow.

With the closure of churches and the cancellations of masses many priests are live-streaming masses on tv. Why could it not be that the heads of households and families be able to celebrate the Eucharist together, whether they are male or female, married or not married, gay or straight? This is the way the church started out 2000 years ago. When Jesus said, “wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there with them”, he didn’t say anything about gender, faculties or permission, places, vestments. All that sort of thing came later with the rise of clericalism.

We are called to live the gospel in whatever circumstances we find ourselves. We don’t need civil law and circumstances to change so it is easier for us. These days we live in very difficult and challenging circumstances. Yet we believe the Spirit is among us, perhaps urging us to be creative and we believe that grace is real. We are also coming to realize that what is in the way is the way. Throughout history the church has adapted to circumstances. The gospel message remains the same, but how it is lived changes. The basic question, what does it mean for me/us to be a disciple of Jesus in my/our circumstances, is being asked today in the current crisis. The focus is on how we serve God in each other, and not how do we preserve the rights and privileges of celibate males.

Throughout the world women are stepping up where we celibate males cannot provide “sacramental ministrations”, and they are doing a terrific job. Some wonderful women, feeling the call to serve as priests themselves, have become ordained and, again, are doing a wonderful job, and the whole church benefits from their ministry. During my time as an active duty army chaplain, I came to see that women chaplains provided and insight and energy to pastoral ministry that we celibate males will never have. The same can be said of our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. They, too, can provide pastoral insight that we celibate males will never have. The same can be said about the married priests I served with. Then, too, there are ordained priests who also felt called to be married and raise a family. We benefit from their ministry The obstacle to any development or growth in this area is clericalism, as we celibate males protect our turf and institutional system.

In the matter of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, why does it have to be that when a person is gravely ill a priest unknown to the patient and their family has to come in to celebrate the sacrament. Why cannot a person who has been caring for patients be able to anoint and celebrate Reconciliation? God is not limited by gender — we are, and we can change that.

We have to be careful, though, that we do not create another clerical caste. It might be that Christ is calling each of us and all of us to “repair my church”. When we emerge from the current crisis, we might look back on how all of us, using our own ways in our own areas, provided ministry, and realize that these do not have to be limited to the time of crisis, but are valid too in ordinary times. Perhaps with Pope Francis we will come to know our equality of service and our focus on people rather than systems, as important as they may be.

At a pastors’ conference in 1983 the presenter said, “traditionally we have believed that the church has Christ’s mission; perhaps we should be saying Christ’s mission has a church; what Christ’s mission will have in the future could very well be something that we would not recognize from where we are now”. Perhaps the current situation is a step in that direction. It is clear the Spirit is not done speaking.

As we move on our goal has be be openness to the Spirit in all things, not just our own convenience, and the protection of clericalism. Everything has to be on the table. Grace is real.

Just sayin . . .

Random Thoughts, December 2018

With the distressing news of current events in the church there is a lot of talk these days about clericalism — the system where celibate male priests/bishops/cardinals who have been and are managing the church — and the damage this system has caused the church by creating an atmosphere that has allowed terrible abuses to happen and then to be covered up. As bad and tragic as the sex abuse and coverup is, what is even worse is whatever in church culture created the atmosphere that allowed this to happen.

Pope Francis is leading, and urging, discussions about this. He feels strongly that this clerical system has to go. Naturally he is facing strong opposition from the members of this clerical system itself who are interested only in protecting their rights and privileges. It seems they really believe they know better than anyone else how folks ought to live their lives, even in the most intimate details. Proper living and doing God’s will means simply following the rules laid down by these celibate males. However, there is also a groundswell of people who agree with and support Pope Francis. There are many and varied schools of thought beginning to make their ideas known in areas where even recently certain topics have been declared closed to discussion, eg, ordaining women, married priests, etc.

When I was ordained 50+ years ago I enjoyed being called “Father” and always wearing the collar, cassock, and biretta. A few years later I went on active duty as an Army Chaplain, rarely wore the collar, learned to be called “Chaplain” and being addressed by my first name. While it took some getting used to, I liked it, and I still do. I spent most of my years as a priest on active duty or connected to the Army. For many of those years as well as after retirement, I have also been called by my street name and call sign, “Frog”, and I enjoy this. It cuts through a lot of protocol. In the Army I had a responsibility just like everyone else in uniform, and “Chaplain” recognized that. I don’t have to be called by a special title to help folks however I can. Crawling through mud and being afraid is a great equalizer. I am on the same journey as everybody else, we are all equal, and we help each other. I have been Jim longer that I have been “Father”, and I have earned “Frog”. I like this.

I don’t think I will ever forget my first week on active duty in a basic training camp in Louisiana. My first night involved having a rifle pointed at me by a guard, being told to drop into the front leaning rest position, and ordered to produce an ID card which I didn’t have. The Thursday of that week I spent the day going through the gas chamber with the trainees. It was not an enjoyable experience. The purpose of the exercise was to show them how to use their gas mask and to trust their equipment and training.

That evening the trainees went through the live fire infiltration course in the dark. Again, not an enjoyable experience. All of us were terrified. Once I had crawled through the course, dodging real explosions and live ammo fired just over my head, I felt very relieved and very scared. One of the soldiers in charge of the training said, “Chaplain, were you afraid? There are some young soldiers out there terrified, and your place is with them, so go out and do your job”. I did for several hours. Being ontologically changed and called “Father” didn’t mean a lot, and I was not wearing a collar (cleric clothes are hard to keep clean in this kind of environment). I did the same things every Thursday for the next six months.

I did everything my soldiers did, to include their training. I wore the same clothes/uniform as they wore. Gradually I learned that my place was with my soldiers whatever they were doing. Much of how I served as a chaplain was described as “curb service” — wherever my soldiers happened to be. We referred to it as ”ministry of presence”.

In Viet Nam the experience of combat became a defining element of my life, something understood by those of us who have been there done that, but not by many others, well meaning though they might be. I felt a closeness to my soldiers and my mission, and a sense of purpose that I really have not felt much since. While there on Christmas Eve the best Commanding Officer I ever had told me after I had chosen not to get involved in a personnel situation because I felt it didn’t concern me, and so had gotten several soldiers killed, “Chaplain, anything that affects your people in any way is your concern, and don’t forget it, get involved and do something to help”.

Also, I don’t think I can ever forget the awful experience of being called “baby killer” by others, including priests, many of whom I knew well. That was a real shock I still feel.

Some traditionalist viewpoints emphasize the alleged “ontological” change ordination makes in a priest. I don’t see it that way. IMHO the only change is the role a priest plays in the church system. It is an important role for the church, but does not involve a change on the level of being. A priest is a man before ordination, and a man after ordination – nothing changes but his role in the church. Hopefully in the not too distant future we will be saying the same thing about women.

A number of these viewpoints push the notion about the power the priest has to change bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood. IMHO the priest has no power, only the mission to lead folks in prayer, and it is the the assembled praying believing community that makes Christ present. This is not magic, and the priest is not Harry Potter. It is an act of prayer and faith by a community gathered together for that purpose.

Using titles like we have for priests, bishops, etc, continues to reinforce the male only model of the church institution and set the clergy apart if not above. There is always room as well as a need for questioning and wondering. With the people doing the questioning these days, it is clear the Spirit is alive and well.

I have found that many good folks want to keep calling priests “Father” to reinforce their notion that priests are removed from real life, to keep priests on a pedestal, in other words to keep clericalism alive. Quite often there is a lot of baggage attached to this.

As a retired priest I help out at nearby hospitals and hospices. I am available when needed, but I will come as I am, e.g. if I am doing cardiac rehab when the ER calls, I will come in my gym clothes. I have learned that not wearing black opens conversations with folks who for whatever reason do not want to talk with someone in clericals. Its not good or bad, it just is. IMHO I do not have to wear clericals or have a “title” to help people. There is a time and place for them, and it is not every time and every place.

I don’t see myself as different from other folks, just as someone with a different point of view and different questions.

Jesus called ordinary men and women to be his disciples. He did not ordain anybody, he formed a community of his friends who were willing to spend time with him and learn from him, and then he sent them out to live and learn the kingdom of God. The system/institution we know as church came later.

While we will always need folks to lead communities in prayer, I don’t think we will always need a patriarchal clerical caste. Intentional Eucharistic Communities are doing well with this. The questions are being asked, and the situation is evolving. The Spirit is at work calling us forward, often kicking and screaming.

Just saying . . .

Some thoughts on Holy Family Sunday 2017

These are some random thoughts on what the Gospel Story for the Feast of the Hoy Family says to me as I have been pondering it in the setting of all that is going on these days. The operative words are IMHO (in my {not so very}humble opinion).

As with so many of the Stories in the Gospels, we would like to see the Holy Family Story in nice pastel colors. But when we look at the Stories through the lens of what is going on today, there is not much “niceness” in any of them. They are calls to reflect and reframe, to question, to act. When we let them, and do not limit them to what we have always heard them to say, the Gospel Stories offer new insight into the way we live our own lives today.

As with all of us, what Jesus learned at home while he was growing up formed the values for how he lived as an adult. As we spend time with him in the Gospel Stories we gain insight to what he learned from Mary and Joseph.

From the very beginning of Jesus’ life among us, the Holy Family was at odds with the religious authorities and practices of the time. He was born to an unwed mother and father in circumstances that made his parents socially unacceptable even as they were living their “yes” to God.

He learned that God is not remote and judgmental, or someone we have to be afraid of, but is very much involved in all life, someone with and in whom we live. Jesus did not say much about doing things to keep God happy in this life so we can get to heaven in the next life. For Jesus this life, and the people we meet in it, is important in and of itself.

God is always and still revealing God’s Self through creation and life in all its forms, and the more we learn about creation and life, the more we learn about God being God. When we set up limits on how we will accept God, we may find it safe and easy to feel we know all there is to know and have God all figured out, but we keep ourselves from growing in the Spirit of God.

The notion of gender identity is relatively new in our time on the planet, and it is generating energetic, and not always respectful, actions on all sides. At the very least this requires honest and open dialogue, questioning, and a willingness to be led by the Spirit without giving the Spirit marching orders on where we will allow ourselves to be led. The fact that we are not comfortable with some ideas does not mean that God has finished revealing God’s Self to us. Jesus reached out to everyone in love and caring, and if we are serious about learning from him, we have to do the same.

The very notion of what a family is, and how a family is made up, is being questioned today, as is so much about how we see ourselves. Ideas are surfacing that are seen by many to be a serious threat to so much of what we have held dear for many generations. When we look around us at what many refer to as “non-traditional families” we also see love, goodness, commitment, dedication, caring. We may have to rely on our belief that each of us is created in God’s image and likeness, and ask for the wisdom and courage to be open to what the Spirit is doing among us, and where the Spirit is leading us. In our tradition we do not try to understand in order to believe, we believe in order to understand.

People are important, and are the focus of the Gospels. Each of us is created in the image and likeness of God. Each of us is important, necessary, and none of us is an accident. Either this is real and means something, or it doesn’t. We don’t get to say who reflects God and who doesn’t. Following Jesus is not meant to be safe and comfortable, but is a call to imitate Jesus, following his values in how we choose and how we act.

From time to time God raises up people who, in their response to God’s Spirit, think, say, or do things that lead them to run afoul of religious authorities and their systems and teachings, and so get into trouble. Jesus lived this way, as have so many of his followers throughout history.

The Will of God cannot be limited to rules and regulations handed down by religious authorities over the years that may have worked once, but no longer reflect life as we know it today. Many of them seem established primarily to maintain good order in religious institutions. If life as we know and live it is not what someone or a religious system says it should be, we may have to reflect prayerfully and humbly on whether what we hear from them might not be totally accurate. Jesus promised to send the Spirit who will teach us to observe everything that he commanded us. When we claim already to have all the answers, we have neither room nor need for the Spirit. There are times when we find we do not have the answers to the questions, and we may have to question the answers — always doing our best to be open to the Spirit who leads us to greater understanding of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.

With all that is going on these days in our own country and throughout the world as so many families are being torn apart, we have to look at the Gospel and ask what Jesus is calling us to do.

In line with a lesson I learned from a very wise commander in Viet Nam after a choice I made to not get involved with a request from some soldiers. My choice occasioned a tragedy. When I told the COL that I could have prevented the tragedy because the matter was not my concern, he said, “Chaplain, anything that affects your people in any way is your concern, and don’t you ever forget that”. Jesus shows us the same thing — anything that affects folks in any way is our concern now just as it was for him.

When people are hurting, the Gospel demands that we follow Jesus’ example and act to heal their pain. Families are hurting locally and throughout the world. We have to get involved, and what we are called to do is something we learn we learn from prayer of openness and trust.

Just sayin . . .

Some thoughts on calling priests “Father”

Recently a well respected (definitely by me) Presbyterian Elder wrote an article entitled “Maybe it’s time to reconsider calling priests ‘Father’” for the NCR (National Catholic Reporter). He had some good thoughts and insights. His article attracted the usual comments, many of them snarky and devoid of charity and respect. Needless to say, I share neither their attitudes nor their often dated and closed/limited theology. I do, however, have a few thoughts on this.

When I was ordained 50+ years ago I enjoyed being called “Father” and always wearing the collar, not to mention cassock and biretta. A few years later I went on active duty as an Army Chaplain, rarely wore the collar, learned to be called “Chaplain” and often being addressed just by my first name. While it took some getting used to, I liked it, and I still do. I spent most of my years as a priest on active duty or connected to the Army. For many of those years as well as after retirement, I have also been called by my street name and call sign, “Frog”, and I enjoy this a lot. It cuts through a lot of protocol. In the Army I had a responsibility just like everyone else in uniform, and “Chaplain” recognized that. I don’t have to be called by a special title to help folks however I can. Crawling through mud and being afraid is a great equalizer. I am on the same journey as everybody else, we are all equal, and we help each other. I have been Jim longer that I have been “Father”, and I have earned “Frog”. I like this. In other words, I agree with Bill.

That evening the trainees went through the live fire infiltration course in the dark. Again, not an enjoyable experience. All of us were terrified. Once I had crawled through the course, dodging real explosions and live ammo fired just over my head, I felt very relieved and very scared. One of the soldiers in charge of the training said, “Chaplain, were you afraid? There are some young soldiers out there terrified, and your place is with them, so go out and do your job”. I did for several hours. Being ontologically changed and called “Father” didn’t mean a lot, and obviously I was not wearing a collar (cleric clothes are hard to keep clean in this kind of environment). I did the same things every Thursday for the next six months.

I did everything my soldiers did, to include their training. Gradually I learned that my place was with my soldiers whatever they were doing. Years later in Viet Nam, the best Commanding Officer I ever had told me after I had chosen not to get involved and so had gotten several soldiers killed, “Chaplain, whatever affects your people in any way is your concern, and don’t forget it, get involved and do something to help”.

A number of the comments to the NCR article referred to the ontological change ordination effects in a priest. I don’t see it that way. IMHO the only change is the role a priest plays in the church system. It is an important role for the church, but does not involve a change on the level of being. A priest is a man before ordination, and a man after ordination – nothing changes but his mission. Hopefully in the not too distant future we will be saying the same thing about women.

Several comments talked about the power the priest has to change bread and wine into Christ’s Body and Blood. IMHO the priest has no power, only the mission to lead folks in prayer, and it is the the assembled praying believing community that makes Christ present in his Body and Blood. This is not magic, and the priest is not Harry Potter. It is an act of prayer and faith by a community gathered together for that purpose.

I agree with the Elder that using titles like we have for priests, bishops, etc, continues to reinforce the male only model of the church institution. There is always room for questioning and wondering. With the people doing the questioning these days, it is clear the Spirit is alive and well.

A few weeks ago I wore a suit and tie to a wedding. Somebody there said to me, “You look just like a real person”. Gee, I’d like to think I am a real person. As a retired priest I help out at nearby hospitals and hospices. I am available when needed, but I will come as I am, e.g. if I am doing cardiac rehab when the ER calls, I will come in my gym clothes. I hear a lot “you look just like a real person”. I have learned that not wearing black does open conversations with folks who for whatever reason do not want to talk with someone in clericals. Its not good or bad, it just is. IMHO I do not have to wear clericals or have a “title” to help people. There is a time and place for them, and it is not every time and every place.

While we will always need folks to lead communities in prayer, I’m not sure we will always need a patriarchal clerical caste. Intentional Eucharistic Communities are doing well with this. IMHO the questions are being asked, and the situation is evolving. The Spirit is at work calling us forward, often kicking and screaming.

The Elder knows what he is talking about.

Just saying . . .

Random thoughts, December 2016

Recently I was asked to join the board of an international organization dedicated to church reform. This has caused, or at least provided an opportunity for, some introspection on my part.

My guess is that if I acquiesce to this invitation, which is not something I really want to do, I will do so out of respect for someone who has devoted his life to educating others, has been instrumental in church reform, and through the years has been a great help to Army chaplains, especially in Europe.

I fear that somewhere along the line some version of politics will raise its ugly head. Politics has never been my strong suit. One of the neat things about being retired is that I don’t have to play politics anymore, so I just don’t and some folks don’t like it — their problem, not mine. While I was on active duty, every 3 years or so I would have to reinvent myself as I was reporting to a new duty station. I found it increasingly difficult to keep doing this. I do not look forward to having to go through the drill again, even if only through the internet.

I also know that not a few of my thoughts etc are considered controversial, eg, my “personalist” understanding of the Gospel as helping us live with people now rather than keeping a distant judging God happy and earning brownie points for getting to heaven later. To me the Gospel is about people and how we live with and for others. It is a Story of God loving us, welcoming everyone, and not a book of rules to keep undesirables out.

I don’t believe anybody is “intrinsically disordered” — either we are created in the image and likeness of God or we’re not, and no one but God gets to decide, and I think God has already decided. I like what Benedict said: “every one of us is the consequence of a thought in the mind of God; every one of us is important, every one of us is necessary; none of us is an accident”. The more we learn about God’s creation, the more we learn about God.

Also, I do not believe celibate males, of which I am one, are competent to determine a woman’s relationship with her own body. We do not know family life other than our family of origin, so where do we get off telling families how to live their most intimate relationships? I believe love is not limited to heterosexual relationships.

Reputable scriptural scholarship has shown there is no problem with ordaining women priests. The fact that Jesus didn’t ordain any women doesn’t prove anything, since he didn’t ordain any men either. I learned from my military service that women provide a dimension to pastoral ministry that we celibate males will never have. The same is true about married priests. We pray for more vocations to the priesthood, but it seems we have all the vocations we need. Management just doesn’t want what the Spirit is giving us.

Many in church management, along with their minions, claim to speak in the name of God and really think they can tell people they don’t even know how they have to live their life, what choices and decisions they have to make, and whether or not, usually not, they are in the state of grace, whatever that is. The word chutzpah comes to mind. It seems to me that the only one in our church who is speaking for God is Francis. Look at the opposition he is facing.

My understanding of what it is to serve as a retired priest who is also a retired soldier often does not fit with others’ expectations. But, I enjoy it. I like the military concept of mission. Our mission is to take care of the folks who and when they need us and sort out the details later. I think I identify more as a retired soldier than as a priest, because the way I see things is often quite a bit different from how the priests I work with do. This is neither good nor bad, it just is. Our stories and experiences are different.

My focus is on helping folks wherever I can, not judging them, perhaps a carryover from my time in the Army where the mission is do what I can to help the soldier in front of me. I don’t see laws and rules as paramount. Much of the esoteric dialogue I read these days has little to do with the folks I meet every day. In other words, It doesn’t preach. In a number of ways and in different places and relationships I am helping with folks seriously affected by the devastating number of drug overdoses and the fentanyl curse in our area. This whole mess is causing unbelievable suffering in families, narcotics and law enforcement, first responders, etc.

Then there is the matter of homeless vets and vet suicides. The other day I had the privilege of officiating at the funeral of one homeless vet. There are some real good folks trying to help.

As I type this, I am listening to Lady Gaga singing “Til It Happens to You”, and her talk about living with PTSD, something I am familiar with. She spent time with LGTBQ youth at the Ali Forney Center in Harlem, and said some powerful things to the young people there that are worth listening to. Our LGBTQ folks, especially teenagers, are an important part of God creating, and we need to be with them because so many people are against them. This is especially true in our high schools where people have been disciplined for trying to help them, especially the ones who are “questioning”. There is also what I consider to be a (im)moral issue of bishops making a teacher’s off duty lifestyle or use of social media a condition of their contract and an excuse for firing them. There are similar situations for parish employees, ministers, and volunteers. I know some wonderful people who have been caught up in this. In my opinion this is plain wrong.

Recently I had the grade school mass at a local parish. Somehow bullying made it into the homily, and this surprised me because it was not part of what I planned to say. At the end of mass before the blessing, and on the spur of the moment, I had a chat with the kids about drugs. Later from the principal and the pastor I learned that some serious bullying incidents, both through the internet and physically on the playground, had happened this week. After mass some adults talked with me about kids taking drugs from their parents’ medicine chests. Seems like grace happened.

As important and interesting as understanding the millennial generation may be, in my day to day life it is not even on my radar screen. I have only so many rounds in my clip, and I try to use them where they will do the most good.

I suppose the main reason I stay active is because I believe Jesus meant it when he said “I am with you always, even to the end of time”, and, “I will send the Spirit who will teach you to observe everything I have commanded you”. I believe this is happening. I also believe firmly in the Eucharist and the Sacraments. To me grace is real. I do not believe the Catholic tradition is the only way to “salvation” or whatever term we use to talk about our next step in life. I cannot tell other folks how to live their lives, I have enough trouble trying to figure out how to live my own. All I can do is share my journey with them, and learn from them.

There are a lot of things I don’t like about the institutional church. I think that as a group the USCCB is useless and irrelevant, more concerned about their own prerogatives and authority, and totally separated from the real life of the folks they are supposed to be leading, and definitely a Francis-free zone. Many seem to be biding their time until Francis dies and hopefully, for them, a new pope will come who will turn back everything Francis has done. But these guys do look cute when they get dressed up, like little kewpie dolls on a shelf. Fortunately there are some pastoral bishops who are doing their best and often are not known outside their diocese.

For me the church is the folks in the pews, those who used to be in the pews, and anyone who is interested. With the world in the mess it is in these days, the Gospel offers some powerful insights of how to live justice, love, and mercy. It is a Story of God loving all of us, not a book of rules.

The healing and help we all look for happens when when we let ourselves be led by the Spirit to be there for and with others. All this opens up a whole new insight to the Gospel for this coming Sunday: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind regain their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good news proclaimed to them.; and blessed is the one who takes no offense at me.”

Just saying . . .

Current local events — convocation

As the annual Convocation of Priests approaches, a theme of which is the priest shortage, there have been “consultative” meetings where doctrine from on high is presented to the priests. For reasons mentioned below I have not gone to any of these meetings myself. What I hear from others who have attended is pretty much the same — vague generalities, statistics, double down on maintaining the current clerical structure and not using available “non-clerical” folks to be more involved in parish leadership, no mention of the Eucharist and its importance to everything we do and are, the charade of pretending to consult with the priests.

IMHO, as I talk with other priests, there seems to be interest in having some sort of an off-line get together at the convocation to find out if any others share our views or similar ones. However, it also seems that no one is interested in exercising any leadership in making this happen. So, in all probability, nothing will be done about it.

I include myself in not being interested in exerting any leadership in this area. I don’t have a dog in this fight. I am on the sidelines in all this, and that is fine by me. The way I see it, nothing that happens will affect me, since I will just keep on doing what I have been doing — responding to any pastoral request for help to maintain the parish and area schedules. I consider helping out in this way to be a privilege and an honor which I take very seriously, as do the other retired priests.

Also, I am used to meetings/gatherings where something is actually accomplished, consultation is real not feigned, real prep work is done through ongoing specific consultations with all concerned, with all the appropriate staff sections having input in their lanes or areas of responsibility. Engendering this atmosphere is a function of leadership. There are constant sand table and tabletop exercises to develop planning. When the CG gives the order everything has been thought out, and everyone knows their responsibility and role in the operation, and everybody feels necessary and important for the success of the mission. Obviously this is not happening here, and I get a strong sense that nobody really wants it to. We are just used to being fed pap and pious bromides about praying for more (male celibate) vocations, and are content to let it happen. “Please, sir, may I have some more?” I am not sure I want to be a part of this.

Some other dioceses have become very creative in the staffing of their parishes, using deacons and lay folks in responsible positions. This might be an area where the concept of best practices is worth being explored. While not much can be decided on a local level, we already have enough vocations, but they are not celibate males.There are a good number of our brother priests who have felt also the call to marriage and family. They are still priests, so why can we not make use of their gifts and talents as pastors? Then there are our sisters who have felt the call to priesthood. Some of them, at great personal cost, have acted on their call and have been ordained. They are doing a marvelous job as pastors and bishops in their own communities. This is a reality that cannot be ignored, and must be acknowledged without judgement and name-calling.

As I watch things unfolding and observe when I am helping out in parishes, it is clear that priests are wearing out, folks are walking away, some parishes are withering, others are dynamic. Some places can combine masses, while others, due to space limitations, cannot. We need to communicate laterally among ourselves, since it is obvious, at least to me, that vertical communication, as it is, does nothing but hand down insensitive vacuities: we downtown understand the situation and here is what you are going to do about it. The system does not understand the problem, and the primary goal of a system is to protect itself and its prerogatives. Stovepiping, especially in our current situation, is a fatal flaw. There has to be communication on the ground, and we priests, with our folks – those who still take part in parish life, as well as who used to take part in parish life, are the folks on the ground. There is a wealth of wisdom, experience, and competence in the pews and parish staffs, and we ignore it at our own peril. We cannot say the Holy Spirit is not involved here.

I believe Jesus meant it when he said “I am with you always”, and, “I will send the Holy Spirit to teach you to observe everything I have commanded you”. My question is what does it mean for me, for us, to be a disciple of Jesus in our current circumstances. I don’t think we can afford go take any of this lightly.

“Ride to the sound of the guns!”

Just sayin . . .

VP Biden Officiates Same Sex Wedding

As is fairly well known, recently Vice President Joe Biden officiated at the same sex wedding of two friends of his in his official residence. As would be expected, the management team of the USCCB (American Bishops) responded: “When a prominent Catholic politician publicly and voluntarily officiates at a ceremony to solemnize the relationship of two people of the same-sex, confusion arises regarding Catholic teaching on marriage and the corresponding moral obligations of Catholics. What we see is a counter witness, instead of a faithful one founded in the truth”. They were quickly joined by their predictable minions and guardians of orthodoxy — the religious police.

What I find especially disturbing its that the bishops and these good folks are seeking to have what they consider the church’s view of a religious matter imposed on the general populace. It seems to me that churches can do whatever they want in their own internal religious matters (further discussion on this is not appropriate here) but they do not have the right to impose their religious positions on others outside their denomination.

There is a significant difference between the civil effects of marriage and the religious implications of matrimony. Civil marriage is regulated by the law of the land, while religious matrimony is regulated by religious traditions. The bishops are very big on “religious freedom”, but it seems this only applies to the bishops themselves. Good folks of other or no traditions who do not share the bishops’ ideas are said to be interfering with the bishops’ religious freedom. Others it would seem, have no right to this freedom. The bishops seem to think that strict enforcement of absolute obedience to increasingly detailed laws and practices that have nothing to do with doctrine imitates Jesus and brings people to him, and that folks are to fully accept these dicta even though their living experience shows they are neither valid nor true, always of course backed up by the veiled threat of denying Communion. It is no wonder people are just walking away.

We do not need to pass civil laws that make it easier for us to live the Gospel. Throughout history Jesus’ followers have lived where laws were pretty much unfavorable to living the Gospel, and they did well. Many folks today are living the Gospel in spite the bishops who themselves are unfavorable to them.
I do not think the bishops have any right to meddle in civil affairs as they are doing here and in several other areas. Joe Biden did not intend to perform a religious act, only a civil one. The two are not essentially connected. When I was assigned in Germany one of my soldiers was going to get married at the Standesamt, the civil marriage office, as required by law. I went along to support him. As it happened, the soldier he had chosen to be his Best Man was too young according to German law to fulfill that role, so I stepped in and served as Best Man. I was taking care of my soldier. I think that is pretty much what Joe Biden was doing — taking care of his friends. I don’t think either he or I had any intention of making a religious statement.

My views on freedom of religion seem to be moving toward the notion of freedom from religion. I resent someone trying to force their religious views on me, and I certainly do not want to force my views on anyone else, but I reserve the right to hold my views and live by them.

From time to time while on active duty there were situations involving the use of wine for catholic mass. There are religious traditions who see the use of alcohol in any form as sinful. Sometimes there would be attempts to ban the use of alcohol in army chapels. These usually came to nothing, and we had a sort of peaceful coexistence. At times there were flareups, as when a supply sergeant from one of the traditions would object to having to order wine – and act he considered sinful. Since our focus was always on serving the command, a military term for doing whatever we could to take care of our folks, we were able to work something out, with all of us respecting and supporting others’ religious traditions.

The United States is not a religious country, much less a catholic country. It does not have a state religion. All religions have equal rights. The bishops don’t seem to get this. They can make all the rules they want for their internal religious matters (room for discussion on this elsewhere), but they do not have the right to meddle in civil matters such as this.

Religious traditions and their differences are important. No one interpretation has a lock on Jesus. All of us together reflect Jesus better than any of us alone.

Just sayin . . .

Where are th bishops these days?

With all the recent madness in our country it would be nice to see some leadership from the USCCB, the American Catholic Bishops. Unfortunately there has been precious little. Unless an issue has something to do with preventing abortion, stopping same sex marriage, keeping gays and lesbians down, stopping the ordination of women, protecting the bishops’ freedom of religion against everybody elses’, nothing is said. Although while one bishop gets creative in keeping folks whose lifestyle he doesn’t like from receiving communion, another has decreed that gregorian chant has to be used in all masses in his diocese. This should take care of all the madness.

Sheriff Sid Gautreaux, East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff, makes a good point — “To me this is not so much about gun control as it is about what is in men’s hearts. Until we come together as a nation to heal, as a people to heal nothing will happen. If we don’t come together as a people and this madness continues, we will perish as a people.” In the absence of any leadership from the American Bishops, we may have to act on Pope Francis’ words that the Holy Spirit is not the property of the priests, bishops, or the pope, and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in facing this madness ourselves”.

While the USCCB (American bishops) persist in their irrelevance, the Spirit provides us with a powerful example example of pastoral leadership for our times — nuns. For generations nuns have taught us what it means to follow Jesus in our own times, whatever they may be. They are doing this among us now in action, not just pious pro forma words. But, nuns traditionally have taught us much more than the bishops.

Among many other things our nuns have done, in our own city a Saint Joseph sister organized “Circle the City With Love” yesterday in preparation for the RNC, and which had a significant impact on our city, our folks, our safety forces. Also the “Nuns on the Bus” tour is in our area doing positive things “to bring a politics of inclusion to divided places, change the conversation to mending the vast economic and social divides in our country, and counter political incivility with our message of inclusion”. Inclusion is something the bishops just don’t get. Recently the IHM Sisters published a letter stating, “We cannot let the voices of hatred and fear carry the day”.

The nuns in our lives have always been in our schools, on our streets, and in our neighborhoods, places the bishops have not been. As has been clear in the last few years, the nuns and their active ministries have been seen as a threat by the celibate male centered institutional management.

As anyone in leadership knows, leaders have to be with the people they are leading, and they have to lead by their own example. A good leader leads by example and says, “Follow me”, “do as I do”, like Jesus, like the nuns, like some pastoral bishops. A good leader never says, “Do as I say” “Do what we tell you to do” — that is for managers who issue directives, edicts, penalties, etc, are remote from the folks they try to manage, and seem truly to believe they know more about folks’ lives that the folks who are living their lives. The nuns are with us and showing us how to be open to the Spirit. While some bishops are pastorally active among their folks, where are the USCCB?

The Holy Spirit is moving among us, the nuns are responding and acting, not sure about the USCCB, apparently a Francis-free zone.

Just saying . . .