6-19-07
Greetings!
How do you define a "successful" parish? One that's in the black financially? One that's growing in numbers? One that's welcoming? These are all good things, but they don't get to the heart of the matter. I came across this comment from a Fr. Tim Finigan. It is perhaps the best answer I've ever seen:
....But the other day, I was being interviewed for a programme to be broadcast on EWTN and the interviewer spoke of the parish and asked about its "success." I think it was a light given by the Holy Spirit which prompted me immediately to say that I will only know whether the parish has been a success at the last judgement when our Lord will show me how many parishioners have been saved.
Our "success" or "failure" as a parish is not measured by how we feel or how much money we raise or how many activities we can arrange. The true success of all our endeavours in the Church will be measured by how many of us are saved and go to heaven. A consequence of this view of "success" in a parish is that all our activities should be directed towards this final end.
Source: Fr. Tim Finigan
http://the-hermeneutic-of-continuity.blogspot.com/2007/06/salvation-our-primary-concern.html
What is the purpose of a parish? To get souls to heaven. Everything else flows from that central mission. And Fr. Tim is right in saying, we won't truly know how "successful" we are until the last judgment.
Unfortunately, we cannot quantify this in the present. Some years ago, Prof. Douglas Bushman, STL—founder and director of the Institute for Pastoral Theology—also answered this question in a quantifiable way. He stated a parish's health can be determined by its sacramental life. How many people are at Sunday Mass? How many are at daily Mass? How long are the lines for confession? Only God knows the state of each individual soul—but those living sacramental lives are certainly striving toward that final goal—Heaven---which is "success."
Phil's Tidbits:
An update to the City of Philadelphia voting to label themselves a "Pro-Choice City". The resolution initially passed the City Council by a 9-8 Vote. On 6-14-07 the resolution was reconsidered and overturned by a 13-4 vote. And some sense of sanity prevails. Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop of Philadelphia lead the public outcry. I wonder did Sodom & Gomorrah advertise their debauchery to the wider world thousands of years ago?
A survey compiled last year on the religious professions of college professors showed the following:
10.0% don't believe in God.
13.4% don't know if there's a God, and don't believe there is a way to find out.
19.6% believe in "a Higher Power of some kind," but not a personal God.
16.9% believe in God, but have doubts.
35.7% know God exists and have no doubt about it.
-Source Neil Gross, Harvard University, and Solon Simmons, George Mason University—as cited in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 11-26-06
This only confirms what I saw in my own college experience and what so many of the students I work with tell me. It is a rare occasion where they have a professor who acknowledges the truth of the Transcendent.
From an Advertisement for a music training workshop:
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Music for RCIA / Weddings / Funeral / Reconciliation Services |
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Music can help bring alive these rites. Examine the liturgical, musical and pastoral problems, and discover some solutions as well as take a look at future developments. |
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-So how "alive" are we talking with regard to funeral services.
It's good to see there are a few things that are still considered morally unacceptable in our world.
Abortion, Affairs, Polygamy, Cloning, Suicide on List of Morally Wrong Behaviours
Gallup Poll conducted via telephone interviews with 1,003 American adults, from May 10 to May 13, 2007.
NEW YORK
, June 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A large majority of adults in the United States believe four specific behaviours are unprincipled, according to a poll by Gallup released by USA Today. 91 per cent of respondents believe married men and women having an affair is morally wrong, while 90 per cent feel the same way about polygamy.
Cloning humans is next on the list of perceived immoral behaviours with 86 per cent, followed by suicide with 78 per cent, cloning animals with 59 per cent, and abortion with 51 per cent (with 40% finding it acceptable).
Conversely, more than 60 per cent of respondents think the death penalty, divorce, "medical research using stem cells obtained from human embryos" and gambling are morally acceptable.
Pre-marital sex is thought to be acceptable by 59% and wrong by 38%. Having a baby outside of marriage is seen as wrong by 42% but acceptable by 54%.
Acceptability of doctor-assisted suicide was found at 49% with 44% believing it wrong. The study also found that Americans are nearly evenly split on acceptability of "homosexual relations" with a slight majority (49%) believing such relationships wrong and 47% suggesting the behaviour as acceptable.
The survey was conducted via telephone interviews with 1,003 American adults, from May 10 to May 13, 2007. The margin of error is 3 per cent.
Respondents were asked, "Next, I'm going to read you a list of issues. Regardless of whether or not you think it should be legal, for each one, please tell me whether you personally believe that in general it is morally acceptable or morally wrong."
(with files from Angus Reid Global Monitor)
Yet more reasons to avoid the new HPV Vaccine….
Judicial Watch Uncovers Three Deaths Relating to HPV Vaccine
Event Reports Obtained from FDA Detail 1,637 Adverse Reactions to HPV Vaccination Gardasil
WASHINGTON, May 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil.
Three deaths were related to the vaccine. One physician's assistant reported that a female patient "died of a blood clot three hours after getting the Gardasil vaccine." Two other reports, on girls 12 and 19, reported deaths relating to heart problems and/or blood clotting.
As of May 11, 2007, the 1,637 adverse vaccination reactions reported to the FDA via the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) included 371 serious reactions. Of the 42 women who received the vaccine while pregnant, 18 experienced side effects ranging from spontaneous abortion to fetal abnormities.
Side effects published by Merck & Co. warn the public about potential pain, fever, nausea, dizziness and itching after receiving the vaccine. Indeed, 77% of the adverse reactions reported are typical side effects to vaccinations. But other more serious side effects reported include paralysis, Bells Palsy, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, and seizures.
"The FDA adverse event reports on the HPV vaccine read like a catalog of horrors," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Any state or local government now beset by Merck's lobbying campaigns to mandate this HPV vaccine for young girls ought to take a look at these adverse health reports. It looks as if an unproven vaccine with dangerous side effects is being pushed as a miracle drug."
Judicial Watch filed its request on May 9, 2007, and received the adverse event reports from the FDA on May 15, 2007. Judicial Watch has posted the adverse event reports on their Internet site at: http://www.JudicialWatch.org .
I confess to not understanding the hysterical response to this. A bishop did this in Washington State a few years ago as well. Whatever happened to "truth in advertising". If you're a Catholic school, shouldn't you espouse Catholic beliefs? And you can't get away with saying such things belong in religion class only, for a Catholic worldview encompasses every subject. Indeed, as most schools seek to emphasize subjects across the whole sphere..i.e. English writing can be practiced in science class, as well as Compositon, there is no reason Catholic books can't be read in Literature class.
It is with disgust that I have seen and heard teachers in various Catholic schools bad mouth the Church, or the bishop, or misrepresent Catholic teachings. Obviously, Cardinal Pell and others are seeking to correct such things.
Again, they're called "Catholic" schools for a reason. There are lots of public schools available for those who don't agree. So what's the problem?
Australian Cardinal
Pell Asks School Principals to Sign Oath of Fidelity to Church's Life and Family Teachings
Plan will take effect in 167 primary and secondary schools
By Elizabeth O'Brien
SYDNEY, Australia, 4 June 2007, (
Lifesitenews.com
) - The Archdiocese of Sydney Australia, under the leadership of Cardinal George Pell, is putting into motion the Archdiocese of Sydney Pastoral Plan 2008-2011. Counteracting the increased secularization within the Australian school systems, the Plan requires senior staff, such as principals and religious education coordinators, within the Catholic school system to take an oath of fidelity to the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church.
The Bay Post reports that the Plan will take effect in 167 primary and secondary schools and will require senior educational leaders to declare loyalty to controversial Church teaching on homosexuality, birth control, and women's ordination.
The Plan aims at evangelizing lukewarm and poorly formed Australian Catholics in order to bring about a spiritual rejuvenation within the Australian Church through solid Catholic education. The oath is meant to safeguard the educational system from secular influences by requiring teachers to have "religious submission of intellect and will" and encouraging them to live as virtuous examples for students.
According to the NSW/Act Independent Education Union (IEU), the oath of fidelity is a valid requirement for teachers within the Catholic School System. National Nine News Reports quotes IEU General Secretary Dick Shearman saying, "The position as I see it doesn't impact upon any agreements, awards or employment conditions of principals or religious education coordinators… It doesn't matter what religion it is, if you're a rabbi you can hardly claim you've been discriminated against it you're expected to follow the teachings of the Jewish faith."
In 1998 under Pope John Paul II, the community of Australian bishops met in Rome to discuss the situation of the Church in Australia. The final report concluded that there was a "crisis of faith" and recognized the need for reform especially in the area of education. (see original press release
http://www.zenit.org/english/archive/documents/AustralianBishops.html
).
In support of Rome's concerns, Cardinal Pell focused on the lack of proper Catholic education within his Archdiocese and the nation as a whole. Last September he addressed the National Catholic Education Commission's annual conference, "Too many young Catholics have been led by the pressures of contemporary propaganda, whatever might be said about the inadequacies of family life and Catholic religious education, so their religious confusion is worse than that of all other young Australian Christians."
He recognized the lack of proper Catholic formation as being at the heart of modern moral decay, saying, "They are also poorly equipped for any return to the fold when they have little instinct for or understanding that there are truths of faith and morals, which are to be sought after and judged according to rational criteria." The new Pastoral Plan and the Oath of Fidelity are a means by which the Cardinal hopes to remedy the Church's situation in
Australia and prepare for World Youth Day 2008.
God bless you! Phil Lawson For the latest info on St. Peter's, check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com (You can also find old editions of the Areopagus here)
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