Sunday, December 26, 2004

Newsletter of 12/26/04

Thoughts from Fellow Parishioners of Holy Spirit/

Peace and Justice, Decommissioned:
Within a week of being honored with a national award by her religious community, the Sisters of Mercy, for her work for peace and justice, Sister Moira Kenney was informed by our pastor that "her services as Coordinator of the Peace and Justice Commission were no longer required."

In addition, "after much prayerful thought and consideration," he made other changes to the Commission, with no consultation with any of the members. In fact, our Pastor has never attended a meeting of the Commission, even though repeatedly invited.

These changes, as originally announced, eliminated (among others) the following activities:

Affirmation Night, that honored those in the community working for peace and justice and has brought major speakers to the parish, including Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking and noted critic of the death penalty.

Downtown Good Friday Stations of the Cross. A part of our parish for years.

Labor Issues. Where attention has been drawn to Catholic social teaching, including advocacy for justice in the workplace (maquiladoras and for the farm workers in the field).

Peace and Non-violence Issues. Where information is provided about the Church's teachings on discrimination, hate crimes, capital punishment, war, etc. This has included protesting the Afghan and Iraqi wars (wars condemned by the Church), and protesting the atrocities committed against religious workers and the oppressed of Latin America by graduates of the School of the Americas.

Housing Issues. Parish participation in the Homeless Coalition, the Community Hope Project's Housing Division, and efforts to establish a Catholic Worker House.

Hunger Issues. Parish participation in the Crop Walk to alleviate hunger, our membership in Bread for the World, and plans to establish, in conjunction with other parishes, a soup kitchen.

In his discussion about these changes with Sister Moira, our Pastor indicated that he was unhappy with the people currently involved with Peace and Justice Commission, calling them "divisive."

The inference could be drawn that removing Sister Moira and curtailing the activities of the Commission were not necessarily motivated by principled differences about the implications of Catholic social teaching, but instead, were motivated by personality conflicts that our Pastor has with people active in the Commission who are among those who have been critical of his work in the parish.

On other occasions, our Pastor has characterized some of those who are critical as "evil." A divisive person is one who brings divisions, not one who points them out; an evil person is one who causes distress and harm, not one who seeks to heal and restore.

Charity and Justice:
There is a distinction between the call we have as Christians to be charitable (feed the hungry, clothe the naked, etc.) and the call we have as Christians to hunger and thirst for justice.
Anyone who has spent time working face to face with those in need eventually comes to the realization that those important efforts, though never to be abandoned, are not sufficient.

In many situations, the suffering of people is the direct result of malformed or malfunctioning social systems that violate the principles of justice laid down in the Gospel. In those cases, the Church teaches that we must work to reform the systems—we cannot stand silent and deal only with the results of the injustice.

Such a mandate requires public action; it may even require action in the political arena. Concern for life issues eventually leads to working for abolishing the death penalty and trying to end American involvement in war. Concern for health, housing, and immigration issues eventually leads to political action to reform our government policies that lead to the unjust treatment of people.

These (and others) are Catholic issues, they are not separated from our faith in some other domain. The Vatican and the Bishops of the United States have been very clear on this point, many times risking controversy to call us to action (see Faithful Citizenship at: http://www.blogger.com/app/www.usccb.org).

It appears, however, that our parish will no longer be allowed to be a voice for issues like these and we of Holy Spirit will no longer be allowed to carry out the Gospel mandate for peace and justice as part of our parish life. Someone may be made uncomfortable by the Gospel message—therefore we must be silent?

Dissent.
What has for long years been considered “dissent” in the churches by those who want more answers than questions, more clerical authority than spiritual investment, may not be real dissent at all.

People are not challenging Christianity and leaving the Church. They are not arguing against the need for a spiritual life. They are not denying God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. They are not ridiculing religion and going away. On the contrary. People currently considered “excommunicated” or “suspect” or “heretical” or “smorgasbord” believers, are in many ways, among the most intense Christians of our time.

They do more than sing in the choir or raise money for the parish center or fix flowers for the church. They care about it and call it to be its truest self. They question it, not to undermine it, but to strengthen it. They call for new ways of being church together. They do not dismiss the need for the spiritual life. They crave it. What’s more, they look for it in their churches. But, they crave more than ritual. They crave meaning. They look for more than salvation. They look for authenticity and the integrity of the faith. Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, In Search of Belief, page 9

The Sanctity of Life:
A rose has been placed on our altar to remind us of our church’s teaching on the sanctity of life—that life is a gift and should be respected from “womb to tomb”. Certainly at this time of year, we remember especially the miracle of the womb as we hear stories of the infant Jesus. But just as the coming of the Christ child into our hearts should make a tremendous difference in how we live, the teaching of the sanctity of life dictates a fundamental change in our actions as well.

If we truly accept that all life is sacred, we must not only protect the unborn and the elderly. We must treat every person we encounter with the dignity due one of God’s own. We must even treat with dignity and respect those who disagree with us or those who don’t do things our way.

God’s creation is diverse, unique and infinite - and there is room for all at God’s table. If we cannot gather to celebrate in all our God-given diversity, then the rose on our altar is just a rose. In this season, we muct remember that Christ came for all, to love all. We are called to do the same. From a Parishioner.

Prepared by RGV Parishioners for Progress and edited by Jerry Brazier. If you want an opportunity for prayerful discussion of these or other issues concerning our parish, please contact us at mailto:gbrazier@rgv.rr.com. If you would like to have your comments or correspondence posted on Reflections of the Spirit, please e-mail your post to Kanickers@aol.com, with an inclusion of "Holy Spirit" in your title line.

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