Showing posts with label clergy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clergy. Show all posts

Thursday 12 August 2021

Need to inspire others

These days we could read in the Gospel of Mark how Jesus chose his twelve disciples and gave them a task.

From the gospels, we also can see how Jesus attracted people by his words and acts, like the many mriracles he did. We shall not be able to attract so many people by miracles, because we are not able to do such miracles. Also with our words, we probably shall not be able to attract so many people.

Naturally, it would be lovely if we also could bring such Good News, like our master teacher Jesus Christ brought.

We got inspired by him and we would love to inspire others also.

A person who wants to inspire others to be grateful or wants to convince others of the value and truth of gratitude to God has to be a person who others see as living a life of struggles greater than their own. Otherwise people dismiss the caller unto gratitude as speaking down to them, hypocritically, from a place of privilege and ease. 

We have to have empathy with those we are speaking to. We have to imagine what they are going through and what they are thinking about. In a certain way, we also do have to anticipate their questions or thoughts. A very important factor in our preaching is also the way of our listening. We do have to be all one ear to the ones we want to convince of the reason to follow Christ.

Some may think it is to difficult to go out and to preach to people. Or they think one has to have a special education at the university. But it is not that one has to belong to the clergy. Even when you would want to become part of elders in a church, there is not such a high need of religious education at a higher institute.

You also do not have to think preaching or witnessing would be too difficult for you, or that you would not be able to cope with it because of too many struggles.

Perhaps for this reason and also because one cannot deliberately put oneself in a bigger struggle than what God has ordained for one already,

Not every person is going to be able to inspire every other person towards gratitude and peace of heart. And perhaps this is also why much of mankind gives authority, in matters of spirit and truth, to the ascetic monk-like figure than to a person living in relative comfort and abundance. 

When just an ordinary person, living an ordinary civic life, that person can connect to the life of others, knowing exactly what they too have to undergo. Their experiences will not come across as other-worldly as they might to clergymen who often have no sense of the daily concerns of ordinary citizens.

Whether such an association between struggle and virtue (of piety and authority) is warranted remains open to debate. There is some merit to the idea that a person who is in struggle or strife themselves would be able to relate to and find authentic and convincing, someone else who knows what struggle feels like. But the association of struggle with material deprivation is a bias and judgment of a materialistic mind and hence a problematic judgment.

You do not have to be in possession of special attractive tools or books to reach people and to tell them about the times to come. A simple Bible is all you need so that you can show the Word of God.


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Please find to read:

  1. When a day of darkness and of gloominess shall come
  2. When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
  3. To step up – Presenting fruitful words
  4. Matthew 10:24-31 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Do Not Fear – Preach!
  5. Today’s thought July 10 Reading 3 – Matthew 11:4-6: Good news preached to the poor
  6. Spread the word
  7. Repentance for the forgiveness of sins has to be preached to all the non-Jews in Christ his name
  8. Christians having the right heart to call others to go to God
  9. Reason to preach #5 Trained to do it God’s way
  10. How should we worship God? #6 Preachers and Teachers
  11. United helping to spread the Good News
  12. In all circumstances preaching Christ
  13. From house to house #1: Not ceasing to Preach daily in the temple and in every house
  14. Making proclamation as a herald
  15. Preach
  16. Preaching as Public Speaking
  17. Memorizing wonderfully 33 Preach the acceptable year of Jehovah God
  18. Great need of the church today is to feed the flock and get our people into the word of God
  19. Sharing your big scriptures for tough times
  20. Taking as many opportunities as possible to proclaim the Good News
  21. Evangelizing in the “Time of the End”

Monday 26 October 2015

Youngsters, parents and the search to root in life

During the two years Pope Francis has led the Roman Catholic Church, many of the older bishops perhaps may wonder if they did not vote for a the wrong one, because this pope has too much eye for the people and is perhaps too progressive again or again a copy of pope John XXIII.

For the young Christians this pope may bring the same fire we got with that John XXIII when we were young. The enthusiast youngsters say they’ve drawn to his uplifting spirit.
“A man of joy, and I think that’s what attracts people to him. He lives out his Christian faith on a daily basis, he shares the gospel message on a daily basis, and when you see him interact with people, whether it’s a large crowd or one-on-one as an individual you can tell that, and I think that is what really brings people to him, why people gravitate to him,”
Alex Solsma, a WHBY radio sports broadcaster, said.
“He wrote about the joy of the gospel, and then he lives out the joy of the gospel, he preaches the joy of the gospel, and it’s something that is very genuine and that’s what we look for, we look for somebody we can relate to,”
said Kate Ruth, a youth minister in Green Bay.

this pope also knows the modern media and is not afraid to be on the social media. The young can see this pope putting in action the belief and teachings of their faith, and notice that he does what he preaches.

Many young people seeing difficulties in many families and noticing also the very conservative stance of the Roman Catholic Church had their hopes put on the Synod which ended last Saturday.
Many looked forward to see the church changing her rejecting attitude and hoped to find more progressive or contemporary indicating lines of action that could strengthen marriage, making it more attractive to young people, and keeping it alive in the hearts of the spouses over time.

Cardinal Jorge Urosa Savino of Caracas had told the Synod of Bishops on Thursday that united to Christ, who has overcome the world, the Church is called to maintain the splendor of truth even in difficult situations. He said in his Oct. 15 intervention
 “Mercy invites the sinner and it becomes forgiveness when one repents and changes one’s life. The prodigal son was greeted with an embrace from his father only when he returned home.”
Though in which way is the Catholic church willing to receive the 'returned sons and daughters', those who have witnessed a broken relationship and want to build up a new relationship?

The cardinal’s comments to the Synod of Bishops came amid continued debate over access to Communion for Catholics who have divorced-and-remarried civilly. The Church has taught, as in Familiaris consortio, that those persons are unable to be admitted to Communion because
“their state and condition of life objectively contradict that union of love between Christ and the Church which is signified and effected by the Eucharist
and because
“if these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage.”
With the theme: “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.” this meeting of churchfathers, which ran from Oct. 4-25, was the second and larger of two such gatherings to take place in the course of a year.

At the closing service there were readings which punctuated the forgiveness and demonstrated God’s compassion and fatherhood as “definitively revealed in Jesus.”
The day’s first reading from Jeremiah depicts the prophet Jeremiah declaring that “the Lord has saved” the people of Israel who have been “deported by their enemies” because “he is their Father.”

“His fatherhood opens up for them a path forward, a way of consolation after so many tears and great sadness,”
the Pope said.

The children of those divorcees, the church may not forget, are often victims which have to bear the burden as well. Luckily enough not all of them look angrily at the church who is not willing to come forward to pardon their parents. Many of them still seem to be willing to persevere in their fidelity and in seeking God, despite being in a hostile environment or for some in  "a foreign land"
“God will change their captivity into freedom, their solitude into communion.”
the pope said.

Cardinal Urosa stressed the need for repentance and the need for the synod to show “the strength and continuity” of Catholic teaching.
He cited St. John Paul II’s 1981 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Familiaris consortio, the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, and the 2007 'Aparecida document' of the Fifth Conference of Latin American and Caribbean Bishops. These all reaffirmed pastoral care for couples in an irregular situation, while acknowledging that they may not receive Communion.

The Aparecida document was approved by then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, who would be elected as Pope Francis in 2013.
“Can we contradict those teachings?”
Cardinal Urosa asked.

after all that meeting we can wonder what it means and if this synod worked
“in the light of the revealed truth and with eyes of mercy.”
According Cardinal Urosa the synod was called
“to reflect very clearly the teaching of the Gospel and of the Church through the centuries about the nature and dignity of Christian marriage”
and to reflect
“on the greatness of the Eucharist”
and the need for those who receive Communion to be rightly disposed.
Cardinal Urosa noted the synod’s working document discussions about providing a “penitential journey” for those who have divorced and remarried. He said this penitential journey should end in conversion and a firm decision for the penitent to amend his or her life and to live in continence.

After reflecting on the difficulties and joys by pastors in their work the pope at the Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s, warned against a “spirituality of illusion,” and reminded pastors of their duty to accompany the faithful and be bearers of God’s mercy especially in times of suffering and conflict.

He turned to the second reading taken from the Letter of the Hebrews, which demonstrates Jesus’ compassion, leading him to take on all human weaknesses and temptations save sin.
“For this reason he is the mediator of the new and definitive covenant which brings us salvation.”
Looking at the healing of the blind man in the Gospel reading from Mark Pope Francis linked Bartimaeus to the first reading from Jeremiah.
“As the people of Israel were freed thanks to God’s fatherhood, so too Bartimaeus is freed thanks to Jesus’ compassion,”
the Pope said.
As the story recounts, Jesus had left Jericho on his way to  Jerusalem when he responded to the Bartimaeus who was begging. The Pope observed that rather than offering the blind man alms, he sought to encounter him, asking:
“What do you want me to do for you?”
Although
“it might seem a senseless question: what could a blind man wish for if not his sight?”
Pope Francis said, it indicates Jesus’ desire
“to hear our needs.”
“He wants to talk with each of us about our lives, our real situations, so that nothing is kept from him.”
The Pope observed Jesus’ confidence in Bartimaeus and admiration for his faith.
“He believes in us, more than we believe in ourselves.”
Pope Francis observed how the disciples, having been sent by Jesus to call Bartimaeus, say to him
“Take heart!” and then “Rise” – expressions only used by Jesus in the rest of the Gospel.
“Indeed, only an encounter with Jesus gives a person the strength to face the most difficult situations,”
the Pope said before continuing on the disciples’ duty to lead people to Jesus in a way that is encouraging and liberating. And is there not the important task for priests and other clergy, to come closer to the flock and help them to see the Way Christ Jesus showed to mankind?

Pope Francis went on to warn against two specific temptations to which Jesus’ followers are susceptible. He refers to the first of these as a “spirituality of illusion,” whereby we walk alongside Jesus, but to avoid being bothered with the problems of others.
“We can walk through the deserts of humanity without seeing what is really there; instead, we see what we want to see. We are capable of developing views of the world, but we do not accept what the Lord places before our eyes.”
We all are having to live in this world and may not be blind for it. Sometimes we may wonder if the Roman Catholic Church has not shut their eyes for the realities of this world? Have not many clergy become blind for the flock in the world?
Are they willing to hear the burdens of those who want to look for love and for God? For all man love is an essential thing. And sometimes aspired love does not work out and coarse has to be changed. Many couples find themselves in a desert where they seem to loose themselves whilst there are no oases or trees to find a nice shade to come at rest. with the many questions about their relationship and about the matters of life they are pulled from one to an other sited not knowing any more where to go for and what to believe.
“A faith that does not know how to root itself in the life of people remains arid and, rather than oases, creates other deserts.”
Under this first temptation, we do not think like Jesus, despite being with him the Pope said.
“Our hearts are not open. We lose wonder, gratitude and enthusiasm, and risk becoming habitually unmoved by grace.”
“We are able to speak about him and work for him, but we live far from his heart, which is reaching out to those who are wounded.”
The second temptation is what Pope Francis refers to as a “scheduled faith,” whereby we walk with God’s people but follow our own agenda for the journey, expecting others to “respect our rhythm,” and being bothered by every problem.
The Pope observed that this temptation makes us like the “many” people in the Gospel who
“lose patience and rebuke Bartimaeus, with the mindset: “whoever bothers us or is not of our stature is excluded.”
“Jesus, on the other hand, wants to include, above all those kept on the fringes who are crying out to him,”
he said.

The Pope concluded by thanking the Synod Fathers for their participation in the three-week gathering, which officially concluded Sunday.
“Thank you for the path we have shared with our eyes fixed on Jesus and our brothers and sisters, in the search for the paths which the Gospel indicates for our times so that we can proclaim the mystery of family love,”
he said.

Not all the church-fathers are happy for the meagre result. Several uttered the opinion an opportunity was missed to come more to the contemporary time. some think the Catholic Church still is stuck in a two millenia old tradition and is stuck in an outdated doctrine.

Pope Francis I called the Catholics to follow the path the Lord wants us to follow, asking
“him to turn to us with his healing and saving gaze, which knows how to radiate light, as it recalls the splendour which illuminates it.”
“Never allowing ourselves to be tarnished by pessimism or sin, let us seek and look upon the glory of God, which shines forth in men and women who are fully alive.”
After the conclusion of Mass, Pope Francis delivered his weekly Angelus address from the Papal palace overlooking a St. Peter’s Square which was overflowing with pilgrims.
Here, he continued his reflection on the Synod, which means “to walk together.” The Pope said that God himself is
“the first to desire to walk together with us, to make a 'synod' with us."
He added that his “dream” was to establish a people which did not exclude the poor, the disadvantaged, or the elderly, but rather is a “family of families,” where
“those who struggle are not marginalized, are not left behind.”
Jesus offers an example of such families, the Pope added:
“He was made poor with the poor, little with the little, the last among the last.”
Pope Francis added that Jesus did not become this way to exclude the rich, the great, and those who are first, but rather the reverse:
“This is the only way of saving even them.”
Those who might be broadly described as liberal Catholics had hoped that the Pope will lend weight to their various causes. For many conservative Catholics this pope should more vehemently uphold the teachings of their church, particularly on abortion and marriage and should be less liberal or not so forthcoming to the people.

Now after some days where not much information was given out with a two-thirds majority vote, the more than 200 bishops gathered for the Vatican's synod on the family supported Church teaching on hot-button issues such as homosexuality and communion for divorced and remarried persons.

Actual topics brought up during meetings were much broader than the communion for divorced-and-civilly remarried, and Church teaching and pastoral care regarding homosexuality.

A closing news conference at the Vatican Oct. 24 reported a sense of collegiality among the global bishops. Only two of the 94 paragraphs showed a disparity in the voting, both of them surrounding the topic of pastoral care for divorced and remarried persons.

Despite the calls by some for the Church to change its doctrine by allowing divorced and civilly remarried Catholics without an annulment to receive communion, it is a missed chance to get people back into the church because the synod’s final report upheld current Church teaching and practice on the issue.
“It’s therefore the responsibility of pastors to accompany the persons concerned on a path of discernment according to the teaching of the Church and the guidelines of the bishop,” paragraph 85 read.
While there was an overall support for the Church’s teaching and current pastoral practice to remain in place, the document also stressed that divorced and remarried couples are baptised persons who must be
 “more integrated into the Christian community,”
 while
 “avoiding every occasion of scandal.”
“The logic of integration is the key to their pastoral accompaniment,”
 paragraph 84 said, explaining that their involvement in the Church
 “can be expressed in different ecclesial services.”
This puts the responsibility in the hands of the local priests which perhaps have to find themselves a solution to keep those divorcees in the church and to get their children in a healthy spiritual community.

Question what the functions may be for divorcees stays an open book. Perhaps not much is going to change at the current situation where we can find some countries where divorced and remarried persons are not only asked to abstain from communion, but also from teaching catechesis and from being godparents.

At the meeting everybody seemed to have an agreement on the fact that those parents also should get some guidance and pastoral aid. They do believe that consulting with a priest shall be able to help form a correct judgement
“on what hinders the possibility of full participation in the life of the Church and on the steps that can foster it and make it grow.”
In any case they consider it also their responsibility to make sure that those divorced parent shall sincerely have ot look at their family situation and
“how they behaved toward their children when the marriage entered into crisis; if they were tempted to reconcile; what the situation is for the abandoned partner; what consequences does the new relationship have on the rest of the family and the community of faithful; what example this offers to the youth who must prepare for marriage.”
About that marriage for those young people they shall have to know that they must be choosing for a partner of the other sex and that no love between the same sex shall and can be accepted.

The Church’s stance on homosexuality, which was one of the most contested issues of last year’s synod, particularly in the final document has not been changed to the regret of many more progressive cardinals who do find it strange that even homosexual cardinals where not willing to have a more open mind to the civil men  or women who wanted to have a relationship between their own sex.

Strangely enough the topic of homosexuality was almost completely removed, and moved under the carpet got only one paragraph on the pastoral care of families who live with persons that have homosexual tendencies.
“A special attention” ought to be given to accompanying families in such situations,
paragraph 76 of the document said.
It reiterated that
“every person, independently of their sexual tendency, must be respected in their dignity and welcomed with respect,”
but clarified that
“there is no foundation whatsoever to assimilate or establish analogies, even remotely, between homosexual unions and God’s design for marriage and the family.”
Synod fathers called ideological colonization in this regard “unacceptable in every case,” as well as the pressure local Churches often face to succumb to the secular push allowing for gay “marriage.”

The final document also backed Church teaching on life issues, such as abortion and contraception.
In paragraph 33, it is reiterated that all human life
“is sacred because, since its beginning, it involves the creative action of God.”
“The biotechnical revolution in the field of human procreation has introduced the ability to manipulate the generative act, rendering it independent of the sexual relationship between a man and woman,”
the document read.
By undergoing this manipulation,
“human life and parenthood have become modular and separable realities, subject mainly to the wishes and desires of individuals or couples, not necessarily heterosexual and in a regular marriage.”

Only God “is the Lord of life from it's beginning to it's end,” the document continued.
“No one, under any circumstance, can claim for themselves the right to directly destroy an innocent human being.”
Openness to life was also underlined as an
“intrinsic requirement of married love.”
While an unfortunate mentality has diffused in society which reduces procreation
“to individual gratification or that of the couple,”
the synod fathers stressed that children are always a blessing, and are especially loved by Christ.

The beauty of marriage and the family was expressed throughout the document, with strong references to marriage indissolubility from the beginning to the end.

Quoting Pope Francis’ Oct. 4 homily for the opening of the synod, paragraph one of the document emphasized that
“God didn't create the human being to live in sadness or to be alone, but for happiness, to share his path with another person that is complimentary.”
“From the beginning of creation God made them male and female; because of this man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
It recalls how
“God united the hearts of man and woman who love each other and unites them in unity and indissolubility. This means that the goal of married life is not only to live together forever, but to love each other forever!”
“In the freedom of the ‘yes’ exchanged between a man and woman in marriage, the love of God is experienced and made present,”
the document continued, explaining that it is God who sustains this union through the Holy Spirit, even when it fails.

For the Catholic church the family still is the most important touchstone which has to face its indispensable role in the Church.
“So much was God's love that he began to walk with humanity, he began to walk with his people, until it came time to mature and he gave the greatest sign of his love: his Son,” the document read.
“And where did he send his Son? To a palace? To a city? To make an impression? He sent him to a family. God entered the world in a family.”
In paragraph four, synod fathers said that the family, founded on the marriage of a man and woman, is the “magnificent and in-substitutable place” of love and the transmission of life.

Synod fathers said they are able to see the reality of families today across the globe with “renewed freshness and enthusiasm” when looking back with the gaze of Christ.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, pastors, in the knowledge that no family is perfect, can discern
“the paths with which to renew the Church and society in their commitment for the family founded on the marriage between a man and woman.”
“The Christian announcement that concerns the family is truly a good news,”
they said.

according to the spokesman for Cardinal George Pell – head of the Vatican's economy secretariat –  the prelate was “very pleased with the document.”
“It expresses well what the current pastoral practice and teaching of the Church are on sexuality, marriage and families,”
the statement read.
“No doctrinal developments, no doctrinal surprises, no doctrinal backflips. No changes in praxis or discipline,”
but rather a
“beautiful commendation of large families and of the witness of happily married spouses and their children as agents of evangelization.”
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On the Synod concerning the family you also may find to read:

  1. Growing rift between observant parents and their children
  2. Synod of Bishops concerning minors
  3. Conclusion of the synod of bishops for seeing the family in the light of the Gospel and church tradition
  4. Two synods and life in the church community
  5. 72 Synod Fathers on the topic “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the contemporary world”
  6. Need to Embrace People Where They Are
  7. Learning that stuff is just stuff
  8. Importance of parents 1
  9. Importance of parents 2
  10. Father and motherhood
  11. Parents forbidden to pray in front of their children or to take them to church
  12. Poverty and conservative role patterns
  13. Connection between women and environmental sustainability
  14. Agape, a love to share with others from the Fruit of the Spirit
  15. Teach children the Bible
  16. Which Christians Actually Evangelize
  17. Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures
  18. Crisis man needed in this world
  19. Families with four or more kids most happiest
  20. Family happiness and little things we do
  21. How to Raise a Happy Child
  22. Are Christadelphians so Old Fashioned?
  23. Inculcate God’s words and speak of them
  24. Church has to grow through witness, not by proselytism
  25. Church sent into the world
On the matter of abortion you may find:
  1. About lions and babies
  2. Fruitage of the womb
  3. Abortion: The expulsion of an embryo or foetus before it can live on its own 
  4. The Risk Factors Associated with Abortions
  5. Should I Have An Abortion
  6. My Choice (by Jezabel Jonson)
  7. The Real ‘Choice’
  8. “They Told Me What I Wanted To Hear” – Real Abortion Stories
  9. The Things We Carry, by Penny
  10. Not an easy decision to make
  11. Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion
  12. Stop Burning Rape Survivors at the Stake
  13. How to heal after childhood sexual abuse
  14. “Til It Happens To You” by Lady Gaga
  15. Abortion — Not a Trouble-Free Solution
  16. Westboro Baptist Church and Catholic Truth against Nelson Mandela
  17. Always a choice
  18. A philosophical error which rejects the body as part of the human person

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Wednesday 7 October 2015

Different assessment criteria and a new language to be found for communicating the faith

Inside of the Roman Catholic Church in Újkér
Inside of the Roman Catholic Church in Újkér (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
After some questions put to him by the Synod fathers regarding the working method of the meetings, Tuesday the 6th of October 2015, Pope Francis delivered a spontaneous, last-minute speech to the Synod on the family which began meeting on Monday, clarifying that the question of remarried divorcees is not the only issue the assembly is dealing with.

Last year the cardinals had already a extraordinary gathering which was fairly rare in the 50 years of synodal history.  His two speeches at that Extraordinary Synod last year, along with the relation finale, are the official documents that this assembly delivered to this year’s assembly, which will be working in continuity with the previous one.

The cardinals had time enough to hear how the public and the press reacted, though some are much convinced nothing shall change, and certainly not in the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church which they considered to be a Church guided by the Holy Spirit.

The daily Vatican press is not afraid to let us know that some differences in opinion emerged between those who are more concerned about preserving Catholic teaching and those who underline the need for dialogue with the world.

For years it has been known that there were also many homosexuals under the clergy and that they too took on a negative position towards other sexual oriented people in their community. Though the last few years we have seen many more priests openly coming out for their feelings and publicly presenting their gay partner. Otherwise also priest who felt for the opposite sex and did not like to live in celibacy dared to come out and show their female partner and some even their kids they brought forth in a state of marriage, though not being officially being married.

Strangely enough those priests themselves seemed to work with two different weight measures.

The transition from the 20th into the 21st century, for many - believers, parishioners but also priests - requires a new language with which to communicate the Gospel and the possibility of coming up with local rather than universal solutions to controversial questions such as communion for remarried divorcees.

Mgr. Claudio Maria Celli, one of the Synod Fathers invited to the press briefing, said
“The concluding document of last year’s Extraordinary Synod and the Pope’s opening and closing speeches ensure the Church keeps an open outlook and encourage a pastoral attitude. The fact remains that the Pope himself underlined that communion for remarried divorcees is not the only subject being discussed at the Synod. But participants’ outlook remains open in pastoral terms. If all had ended with yesterday’s relatio, what would we be doing here?” 
Some Synod Fathers have placed a greater emphasis on Catholic teaching, others on the importance of improving communication with the outside world. Over the last twenty years this communication got very low, the same as we can see that communication is missing in a lot of families, resulting in divorce, many Catholics have left the ir church and many have become fed up with relgiion havingseen how the Catholic Church tried to cover up the many sex scandals under their clergy.

Many Catholics have seen priests in offering marriage guidance themselves not living according to their celibacy rules nor holding the same ethics normal people would profess. Older priests having sex with young children and than trying to cover this up or to escape civil judgement made many furious about that double-sided attitude of the Catholic Church.

Once more we may hear how the clergy is looking for finding a new “language of mercy” ahead of the next Jubilee of Mercy, to be used with “gay people” in particular.
More than once we may hear from Catholic clergy that
“They are brothers and children who should never be treated as outsiders; they deserve respect,” 
but often no respect is shown in parishes to such people who have other feelings than the mainstream.

As so often with the Catholic Church some of the proposed methods, like for addressing the issue of communion for remarried divorcees, was for a series of “reflection groups” to be created “on a local, national and continental basis” seeing as solutions may vary from culture to culture rather than there being “universal” answers. In past times the Catholic Church has always been very good in adapting her rules of play according the place where it was based. That way masses celebrated in Africa look totally different than those in Europe. And actions done in South America would be consider non acceptable Voodoo in the Northern part of the hemisphere.

Biggest problem for the Catholic Church is  that she has done away with all the modernisations of Pope John XXIII and has not taken in account enough how society has changed and a new language needs to be found for communicating the faith.

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Find also:
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Monday 15 July 2013

Clergy not contributing enough to America

A new Pew Research Center survey finds that when it comes to views of professions' positive roles in society, clergy rank lower than people in the military, teachers, medical doctors, scientists and engineers, but higher than artists, journalists, business executives and lawyers.

Americans were asked to rate 10 professions on their contributions to society. Lawyers were dead last. 43% say they make some contribution; fully a third (34%) say lawyers contribute not very much or nothing at all.

In many communities, a clergy person or spiritual advisor might be sought to be in attendance when there is some type of “life ritual” – Christening/Baptism, Weddings,Funerals, etc.
Some individuals expect their clergy person to be able to have this dialogue and are disappointed, hurt, or feel abandoned by their God because they are unable to have this bond with the Clergy.
I created the graph myself with data from a Pe...
Pew Research Center study (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Overall, just 37 percent of Americans say clergy contribute "a lot" to the nation. When it comes to people who attend church weekly, the numbers are higher with about 52 percent saying clergy make "a lot" of positive contributions.

Even among those who attend church weekly, about 1 in 10 people say clergy contribute "not very much" or "nothing" to society's well-being. A larger number, 29 percent, say clergy contribute "some."
Typological groups according to the Pew Resear...
Typological groups according to the Pew Research Center. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

See the full results at Pew.

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Tuesday 19 February 2013

Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI and lightening

Dear Lovers of Truth,

                                This is a bit early to send, but in a week’s time the news will be stale.
      The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI has come as a shock to the Vatican and Catholics generally. He has been popular with the laity and most of the clergy He has also placed relations with Israel on a better footing by rejecting “Secessionism” – which denies that Israel is “the chosen race” and therefore has no right to the Promised Land. However, since a conference he called to discuss the Middle East was held in Rome during October 2010, he has had serious opposition to this policy, as shown below: 
English: Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI. Русский: ...
English: Vatican. Pope Benedict XVI. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


JERUSALEM POST 23/10/2010 - In a final joint communiqué, the bishops also told Israel it shouldn’t use the Bible to justify “injustices” against the Palestinians.  The bishops issued the statement at the close of their two-week meeting, called by Pope Benedict XVI to discuss the plight of Christians in the Middle East amid a major exodus of the faithful from the region.
The Catholic Church has long been a minority in the largely Muslim region but its presence is shrinking further as a result of war, conflict, discrimination and economic problems.                                                                       .
“The Holy Scriptures cannot be used to justify the return of Jews to Israel and the displacement of the Palestinians, to justify the occupation by Israel of Palestinian lands,” Monsignor Cyril Salim Bustros, Greek Melkite archbishop of Our Lady of the Annunciation in Boston, Massachusetts, and president of the “Commission for the Message,” said at Saturday’s Vatican press conference. “We ‘Christians’ cannot speak of the ‘promised land’ as an exclusive right for a privileged Jewish people. This promise was nullified by Christ. There is no longer a chosen people – all men and women of all countries have become the chosen people. “Even if the head of the Israeli state is Jewish, the future is based on democracy. The Palestinian refugees will eventually come back and this problem will have to be solved,” the Lebanese-born Bustros said.

  This brought swift condemnation from both Jewish and Fundamentalist Christian spokesmen.
Mordechay Lewy, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, told The Jerusalem Post that Bustros, in saying that Jesus nullified God’s covenant with the Jewish people, was “returning to secessionist theology, contradicting Second Vatican Council teaching and Pope Benedict himself – who has welcomed the return of Jews to their ancient homeland.”
“Also,” added the ambassador, “by inviting all Palestinian refugees to return and denying Israel’s right to define itself a Jewish state – the only such in the world – he is regressing to hard-line positions that deny Israel’s right to exist.”

  It would appear that the next pope will have to deal with a rather divided fraternity among the cardinals and other leading clerics when dealing with weighty Middle East policies.
  This is in keeping with Biblical prophecies which indicate the obstinacy that the nations will encounter when endeavouring to solve the problem of Israel - and Jerusalem in particular.
Zechariah 12:2  Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. 3  And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
  
Media speculation has also centred around the numerous violations by the Roman Catholic clergy perpetrated on their charges and the negative publicity resulting from it must play on the pope’s mind, especially that the investigations are now centred in Bavaria, the pope’s home country.
  The shattering effect this is having on the Roman church seems the likely fulfilment of
Revelation 14: 8  And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. 9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

 This only the beginning of troubles for the R.C.Church as there are three more judgements to follow!

NOT JUST SYRIA!
   Although to slaughter and refugee situation in Syria occupies much of the Television news bulletins, similar situations are developing in most Arab countries from, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, across Northern Africa and down to the Central African countries. The unrest and violence doesn’t stop there but is becoming world-wide.

   Every day we hear of terrorists bombing innocent civilians – women and children – and then proudly owning up as the perpetrators of these horrific murders as if God Himself approved of them! They have some terrifying experiences awaiting them at the hand of the judge of all the earth!

   In Bangladesh, Shri Lanka, and India thousands pour onto the streets in protest for their rights, while Pakistanis plead with their government to stop the slaughter of so many Shi’ites!
   In the Pacific region China and Japan argue over almost bare islands while North Korea threatens their kinsmen in the South with annihilation from atomic bombs!

   You will readily bring to mind the words of our Lord Jesus, most recorded in three of the gospels:
Luke 21:9  But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. 10  Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: 11  And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. 25  And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26  Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

  The Gospel in Mark13 has these words as well:
Mark 13:19  For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20  And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.

  Well, it is comforting to know that the Lord God is aware of all that is going on – but how can He show us that He knows? Fulfilment of prophecy is His best witness - BUT did you see this?

  This photo of lightning striking the top of St. Peter’s basilica in Rome occurred only hours after the pope’s resignation speech! Was it approval or a warning? Or both?
Job 37: 2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice, and the sound that goeth out of his mouth. 3 He directeth it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth. 4 After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard. 5 God thundereth marvellously with his voice; great things doeth he, which we cannot comprehend.

Deut. 29:29  The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

In the Master’s Service,
Art


"Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."  Amos 3:7
  1. Pope Benedict XVI resigns
  2. Pope Benedict will hide
  3. Claiming to be the successor to St Peter



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