The OLMC Tempe Blog

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He, She or...

Dear Friends,

Admittedly I am stupefied by the lightening speed with which the issue of transgender and transsexual lifestyles has been normalized in our culture. The issue is probably best symbolized by the very public transformation of former Olympic Gold medalist Bruce Jenner known now as Caitlyn. The way in which the media has promoted his change to her with thunderous applause and the highest accolades outdoes any other historical issue in my lifetime. And as expected no journalist has dared to report on the dark underside of making such a lifestyle change. There are plenty of people who went down this road and deeply regret it (see: "Sex Change Surgery: What Bruce Jenner, Diane Sawyer and You Should Know" www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2015/04/14905/).

This is a major cultural shift that is the crowning achievement of those who want to deconstruct the Judeo-Christian understanding of the human person. And I say cultural because culture is what drives everything: change the culture and you will change people's value system. Pope John Paul II understood this well and it is why he so heavily challenged us to shape a culture of life. Our efforts in that area have certainly born fruit, though there is still a long way to go. As with Abortion, trans/lifestyles, once you understand fully the issue and other solutions you have to ask yourself, "what really is the most loving thing to do" in order to help those with this struggle?

Recently I listened to a discussion that centered on the issue of religious practice and bigotry. The high water mark for Church attendance in the US was in the mid 1950's and at the same time our culture was teeming with bigotry, think of the Jim Crow laws. One of the debaters then concluded that this was proof that religious practice furthered bigotry since after all our society today is less religious and in his mind less bigoted. Well that is a stretch. If you look at the actual religious teachings and doctrines that were taught in the 1950's bigotry and discrimination were considered serious moral offences. Still religiously observant people certainly despite the teachings of their faith bought into the cultural mindset of the age. Or look at Germany in the years leading up to WWII. Hitler and the Third Reich changed the German culture that despite being mostly Lutheran and Christian got German Christians to be accepting of genocide and mass murder based mostly on race despite their obvious violation of the basic religious tenets of Christianity.

It is cultural and not religious values that most people will support when there is a contradiction. So in the 1950's even though the Church clearly taught that racism is sinful many Catholics were overt racists. I remember reading some of the documentation that was put together for the canonization of St. Katherine Drexel who opened schools for Blacks and Native Americans throughout the US and did so with her own money. She would always asked the local Bishop's permission before she opened a school in his diocese. One Bishop who was from the south (and this was in the 1930's) wrote back to her stating: "Madam, I may be a Christian and a gentleman but I am first and foremost a southerner, permission denied". Even for a Catholic Bishop the culture superseded the teachings of his religious practice.

Things are not much different today. When surveys are taken we learn that most Catholics go along with the culture on issues like contraception and abortion and now the redefinition of marriage despite the teaching of the Church. So it would seem that most people go along with the culture first and then whatever part of their religion that does not conflict with the culture. Granted it is hard to stand against the culture when required but that is at this point in history our calling as Christians.

That's why being a Christian is counter-cultural. Back in the last century plenty of Catholics stood against the racist values of the culture. St. Katherine Drexel was certainly one of them along with many Bishops who made sure their Catholic schools were integrated. And they paid the price of being vilified and marginalized, often cut off from the favor of the ruling classes.

So all this is to say that if you plan to adhere to current Church teaching you will be counter-cultural. Maybe this is why Jesus always referred to his followers as the "little flock" and the "salt of the earth" or the "leaven in the dough". We may not be many, that is the faithful who stay adhered to the Shepherd, but we will be the light of the world, offering clear guidance to those who seek to navigate the distorted vision of the human person that our culture so intensely promotes.

It's a long-term strategy and things may get worse before they get better. But success is not the measurement. All that is required is simple faithfulness. Simple but not easy.

Love, Father John B.

[olmctempe]

Music Ministry Pick of the Week

Andrew Osenga - Amazing Grace

I started this entry like I do many, I Googled something. I Googled the word “grace”.

Grace is an amazing thing. It is powerful. It is something we all need in our lives. It is something we should all strive to both give and receive. With any luck, we will receive it from our peers, but you should know that the grace of God is ever present.

No, I didn’t need Google to tell me that.

What Google did tell me was this:

Grace is

To do honor or credit to (someone or something) by one's presence.

The free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and the bestowal of blessings.

Deliverance from enemies, affliction, or adversity.

My personal definition of grace is the ability to willingly overlook one’s inherent flaws by the recognition of their inward and outward blessings.  I say inherent flaws because we are all sinners. Original sin aside, we all have sinned and we all will sin.

Even the Pope goes to confession.

Beyond sin as we recognize it and as we reconcile it, we all from time to time fault ourselves with things beyond our control, even if we feel they are things we can or should control. It’s in these moments when we truly need to recognize God’s grace. It’s in these moments we need to allow grace of ourselves. We all have our down and out moments where we feel helpless to the circumstances of the world around us, and for some it is worse than others. The thing is God doesn’t discriminate. He loves us all.

To the men and women afflicted with mental instability, who feel the weight of your world is crushing what you have built as you’ve attempted to do God’s will.    His grace is with you.

To the incarcerated who have done acts that may feel beyond forgiveness from those you have harmed.   His grace is with you.

To the resented, the hated, those who feel truly unloved.   His grace is with you.

No matter how much weight you feel on your shoulders, it is nothing in comparison to the amount God carries for you. No matter how far you’ve gone, no matter how far you might need to come, His grace is salvation.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

Wherever you are in your life and whatever struggles you’re facing, His grace is with you.

- Eric Capehart Audio/Visual Director

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ASK A PRIEST

Blog reader Liz submitted this question to our blog:

Quite simply, would you advise your parishioner to bake the cake or to lose their business, if it came down to that?

Here is the response from our priest:

There was recently a case where a Catholic baker refused to decorate a cake with an anti-gay message and was sued for refusing. Interestingly she was represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal organization that defended her right not to violate her conscience and perform a service by decorating a cake with hateful words. She even offered a reasonable accommodation, she would make the cake and give the customer the decorating equipment to write on the cake himself. Maintaining ones deeply, sincerely and consistently held moral principals is part of what constitutes liberty and surrendering your integrity is never a good thing.

Simply put, I would advise a parishioner not to bake the cake even if it meant having the entire coercive power of the US government to bear down on them. That might seem very harsh, telling someone to suffer such loss over a moral principle. But how much am I going to love myself if I knowingly compromise my core values?

But what about the person who knows that asking someone to perform a service such as baking the cake will put that business owner in such a situation? Why would they want to force someone to do something they know they would refuse and then lose their business especially when they know other accommodations could be made with another business? Is that person being harsh too? Or are they just teaching a bigot a lesson? That would also be a kind of strange way to win people over to your side. 

It seems to me that the way to solve this problem is not to force the issue but to respect each other’s sincerely held moral beliefs. Unfortunately our society seems to prefer the power of the government and intimidation  over the power of good neighborliness, tolerance and understanding.

Many questions arise every day–Struggles of faith, family and regret, or even simple curiosities of life and religion. It is always okay to ask those questions.

Submit your own questions to our priests here.

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Final Exam

Dear Friends,

Graduations abound this time of year. Here's a reminder that education is supposed to teach you how to think. The student who took this test apparently learned how to think and quite humorously but not exactly as the teacher would have liked:

In which battle did Napoleon die? His last one

Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? At the bottom of the page

River Ravi flows in which state? Liquid state

What is the main reason for divorce? Marriage

What is the main reason for exams? Failure

What can you never eat for breakfast? Lunch or Dinner What looks like half an apple? The other half

If you threw a red stone into the Blue Sea what would it become? Simply a wet stone

How can a man go 8 days without sleeping? Easy sleep at night

How can you lift an elephant with one hand? You can never lift an elephant that has only one hand

If you had 3 apples and 4 oranges in one hand and 3 oranges and 4 apples in the other hand, what would you have? Very large hands

If it took 8 men 10 hours to build a brick wall, how long would it take 4 men to build it? No time at all, the wall was already built

How can you drop a raw egg on a concrete floor without cracking it? Anyway you want because a concrete floor is very hard to crack

Did he answer the questions correctly? Well he didn't give the answers the teacher was looking to get. But then again he answered most of the questions correctly as written. You need to know something about the rules of grammar to understand that (verbs go with the nearest noun etc.). Still the teacher gave the student an F but an A for creativity. Somehow I think this kid will go far in life!

Let's keep all our graduates at any level in our prayers and challenge them to go out into the world and make a difference.

Let's also remember and thank all the teachers who helped form and shape the minds and hearts of our children.

[olmctempe]

ASK A PRIEST

A blog reader submitted this question to our blog:

Why did Confirmation get moved to an age where the child hardly has a sense of the decision they are making? 

I was confirmed as a teenager, when I was doing the most exploration of my faith, and I felt the decision to be confirmed in the Catholic faith was a well-conceived decision. I hardly think I could have confirmed my faith in the same manner if I had done so in the third grade.

Here is the response from our priest:

In order to understand why Confirmation was “moved” it is important to understand a little about the theology of the sacrament and its history.

Confirmation is part of the sacraments of Initiation along with Baptism and Eucharist. The three fully incorporate a person into the Church. As we see in the Acts of the Apostles, some received baptism, but not the out pouring of the Spirit. So the Apostles laid hands on them and confirmed them in the faith. Later this would become the anointing after baptism that was done by the Bishop. As the Church grew the Bishop could not be present for all the baptisms so the anointing with chrism was done at a later time when the Bishop could be present and so baptism and confirmation got separated. But historically confirmation always followed baptism.

In the early part of the 20th century Pope St. Pius X lowered the age for First Communion from around 14 or 15yrs old to the “age of reason” at about 7yrs old. Prior to that children were confirmed at some point before they received first communion. At that point the order of the sacraments was reversed. What was done recently was to restore the older order of the sacraments, something that for a long time needed to be done but was put on the shelf. While some dioceses in the US have restored the order, the practice is not uniform throughout the US.

From that point on Confirmation took on the feel of a sacrament of Christian maturity or an adult ratification of baptism done when one was an infant. The problem with that is the theology and scriptures don’t support that view of the sacrament. The Sacrament is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

In light of that why not have a person receive the Holy Spirit as soon as possible this way they can grow with the gifts of the Spirit ? Also it became apparent that many of our young people were not being confirmed ever, so moving the age to before Communion helped solve that issue.

The other issue you raise is a valid point: how do we help people arrive at an Adult Faith or take ownership for themselves? That is something that we are looking at and need to proceed with quickly. While the sacraments don’t require as you put it “a well conceived decision”, living the life as a Christian certainly does and we need to help people do that and possibly find a ritual way of expressing that. 

Many questions arise every day–Struggles of faith, family and regret, or even simple curiosities of life and religion. It is always okay to ask those questions.

Submit your own  questions to our priests here.

[olmctempe]

The Road Less Travelled

Dear Friends,

The "road less traveled" is not the smoothest road. Anyone who takes being a Christian seriously will eventually find him or herself on that road. I don't just mean because of the challenges that come from without, whether persecutions, hostility or suffering personal loss because of your beliefs. Often the most difficult part resides within our own spiritual journeys. God has a way of being very exacting of his children. And for good reason: He wants us to live the abundant life. It's just that sometimes it seems as though He makes the grade in the road especially steep!

One of the reasons for this is that the Christian life is a life of virtue. And virtue is honed through experience. It is very easy to be virtuous when all is well; the road is smooth and difficulties scarce. It's another thing when the road less traveled is rough and uphill. That is where our true character is revealed and we see whether or not we have really internalized the life of grace and virtue.

It's relatively easy to practice charity when you have a lot to give. But when times are lean are you still willing to give? Remember the "widow's mite", Jesus praised her willingness to give from the little she had. She did not rationalize withholding her gift but despite her meager circumstances she freely gave and did not consider not giving. She practiced virtue when it mattered.

How about the virtue of chastity? Again rather easy to practice it when you are a single person. But when you get involved in a romantic relationship it becomes a lot more of a challenge. And if you get engaged to be married it becomes even easier to rationalize not remaining chaste with your fiancée. Then there is the practice of viewing pornography. We can easily justify it by saying no one will know or it's only pictures and doesn't involve another person. Being virtuous when no one is looking is probably the hardest of all. But that is precisely the place where we will know who we really are. That will spell the difference between loving or loathing ourselves.

We begin to walk the road less traveled when we commit our lives to Christ. But have we really committed all of our life to Christ? We can only know as we walk the road and encounter the difficulties of the journey. Have I really surrendered everything to Christ, am I willing to do whatever it takes to be faithful even when it is inconvenient? Or have I only given part of my life to Christ, the nice neat easy part?

What happens say if my marriage ends in divorce? Am I willing to live by the teaching of Christ that to remarry (without having the first marriage declared null) would be to commit adultery? Am I willing to walk that road less traveled? Or do I tell myself "I deserve to be happy" and then do what I want?

What happens when things don't go your way? Do you act like a teenager and become rebellious and hostile and ungrateful for all that has been done for you? Does your speech deteriorate into gossip and slander; do you plot revenge to get back at the one who wronged you? Or do you continue to walk the road less traveled with grace and dignity despite the loss? How about when a colleague undermines you? Do you react with bitterness and antagonism or do you practice the virtues of love and tolerance, forbearance and mercy?

This Pentecost Sunday our newly baptized and confirmed complete their formal period of formation in the Christian way of life. They set out now on the road less traveled. For them there will be struggles and setbacks. They need the rest of us to show them how to walk the road. But we can't be of service to them if we ourselves have ceased to walk the road less traveled.

The gifts of the Spirit: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety and fear of the Lord have been bestowed upon us. But we only know if we have activated them by the fruits they bear or not. Are charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control and chastity evident in our life when the road is difficult or no one is looking? If they are then you are walking the road less traveled and that will make all the difference.

Love, Fr. John B.

[olmctempe]

Music Ministry Pick of the Week

Lily & Madeleine - The Devil We Know

This weekend, we celebrate Pentecost. If you don’t know what that actually means, it is a celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. 

Acts 2:1-4

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 

They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 

All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

The Holy Spirit is a very important element in our lives. We pray for it to fill our hearts and our entire being to enable us to follow the will of God. It is with the Holy Spirit that we can, in fact, be warriors for God. Because without the Holy Spirit we can only pretend to be true warriors. With the Holy Spirit, we are strengthened in the teachings of Christ, the ability to pray for our enemies and to not be fooled by the devil’s impersonation of what is right and just. 

You see, the devil is pretty good at hiding in plain sight. He often tries to make a mockery of our faith, and tries to saturate our hearts, as to not allow the Holy Spirit to enter. It’s for this reason we must acknowledge the strength of the Spirit whole-heartedly, and allow it to overcome the anguish that is sometimes stirred in our hearts and minds when we turn to Christ.

It’s inevitable that the sorrows we have known will come to mind when we try to fill our hearts with the Holy Spirit. 

Lower the curtain, let the rain come down like a spirit Let it hit the ground Come the memories, come the shivering cold, let the rain fall 

It's the devil we know

When we open our hearts, many will try to enter, but if we only allow the Holy Spirit in, we will be filled with the strength of God.

- Eric Capehart Audio/Visual Director

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The Wild Goose - A new video series on the Holy Spirit with Fr. Dave Pivonka,TOR. - http://kck.st/1JT8xdn

[olmctempe]

ASK A PRIEST

Blog reader Joseph submitted this question to our blog:

How does it feel when you deny absolution and communion to one of your own???

Here is the response from our priest:

While rare, denying absolution or holy communion is never easy. But the reason I do it is not to be mean, but to help a person straighten out their relationship with God. Jesus told us: “Whose sins you shall forgive are forgiven, whose sins are held bound are held bound.”

The whole reason for binding is to help free a person from the grip of sin or wrong behavior. Hopefully whenever that has to occur the person can realize the seriousness of his or her circumstances and take the right action. I would never do this lightly or without trying to help the person understand clearly the reasons and the assistance available to them.

Many questions arise every day–Struggles of faith, family and regret, or even simple curiosities of life and religion. It is always okay to ask those questions.

Submit your own questions to our priests here.

[olmctempe]

Become a Stewardship Household

Stewardship, a concept as old as the Bible and it has the potential of changing the way Catholics live-and give- in the world today.  We know from the Bible that everything we have is a gift from God.  We are stewards-manages of the many gifts God has given to us.  As Christian stewards, we recognize that all that we are-all that we have-belongs to God, and we are accountable to Him for the use of all things.

Stewardship at Our Lady of Mount Carmel is a way that we can help all parishioners see that they have received so many blessings from God and out of gratitude they can give back through their time, talent, and treasure. After all, God let us keep 90% of all he give us.

We promote a simple theme here at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, ‘The Rule of One’.  

This allows a person to take concrete steps to improve their faith by prayer, ministry, and supporting the parish with their financial resources.  We ask that you commit to on hour of prayer (outside of Mass) per week, one hour of service per week, and the first hour of your weekly wage to the church in the form of a tithe.  Through giving back to God by prayer, service, and finances conversion will take place in our lives and we will see that we are becoming the person God created us to be – a steward uniquely His own.

To find out more about becoming a Stewardship Household, and the many benefits that come with it, email Deacon Jim by June 20.

[email protected]

[olmctempe]

Who is at Fault?

Dear Friends,

I’ve seen this scenario too many times unfortunately: Dad’s a heavy drinker and Mom and the kids know that when Dad comes home from work or wakes up on Saturday or Sunday there better be beer in the refrigerator or else there will be hell to pay. Mom is dutiful in making sure the refrigerator is well stocked at all times. Except one day the kids are sick and Mom has been running around to doctors and pharmacies and forgets to restock the beer. Dad goes to get a beer and doesn’t find any and proceeds to beat the hell out of his wife. Now some of Mom’s friends and family will tell her that she brought that beating on herself. After all she knew what would happen and should have been more responsible. She is even called a dumb, insensitive b#$!% who provoked Dad.

This is classic blame the victim rationale. It is exactly what I have been hearing regards the latest incident in Garland Texas. The organizers of the “Draw Mohammed Cartoon” Contest have been blamed for the violence that took place. They have been told that they “brought it on themselves”, “they only have themselves to blame”, “they knew what would happen and should have been more responsible”. And the main organizer has been referred to as a “dumb, insensitive b#$!% who provoked the terrorists.” Blame the victim.

There is really no difference in the logic displayed in the two scenarios: the way to handle potential violence is to cower to the demands of the abuser. The same crowd who is blaming the victim seems to have no trouble supporting the publication of political satire aimed at things sacred to Jews and Christians. Their logic here is that Jews and Christians won’t react violently. So the only reason they would protest satire directed at Muslims is out of fear. That is called caving into the bully. Like blaming the victim, catering to the bully does not create peace in relationships.

But let’s look at the behavior of the victims. In the first scenario, Mom, by keeping the refrigerator stocked with beer for Dad is enabling a bad situation to get worse. The solution is for Dad to take responsibility for his drinking habits. If Dad refuses and continues to erupt in violence then Mom needs to find a new address. Maybe then Dad will accept the fact that Mom is serious about changing the situation.

In the second case if cartoonists and satirists cease depicting things Islamic the terrorists will still hold the threat of violence over their head. If the satirist backs down and no longer exercises the well-honored tradition of satire then the terrorist is enabled to continue his terroristic behavior. The terrorist will only continue in his pursuit of silencing all speech he finds objectionable. What has to happen is that the terrorist has to be disarmed and live within the bounds of a free society that includes free speech. If the satirists and cartoonists simply continue to create satire and refuse to back down maybe like Dad above the terrorist abuser will get the message that we take free speech very seriously.

In the past I have seen cartoons and satire that mock the Church, the Pope, the Virgin Mary in disgusting ways that cross the line beyond poor taste to vulgarity. Yet while it saddens me and angers me it does not move me to violence. It inspires me to defend the dignity of our sacred things, appeal to reason or use the tools of capitalism and participate in a boycott to send a message or maybe find legal remedies if it crosses the line into calumny or libel.

What I keep hearing is that if we just stop criticizing radical Islam then the violence will stop and peace will ensue. Peace however will not ensue if one side capitulates to the other by surrendering its deeply held values. Peace happens when each side respects the dignity and cherished beliefs of the other.

It looks like, though, that many in our society want to be more like the friends of Mom and insist that the rest of us know our place, be more responsible and keep the refrigerator well stocked and spend the rest of our lives walking on egg shells and do our best not to “bring violence on ourselves”.

Love, Fr. John B.

[olmctempe]

Is Today a Holy Day of Obligation?

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ASK A PRIEST

Blog reader Sandra submitted this question to our blog:

Hi, I need advice please. My 49 yr old brother passed away last month. Unfortunately :( I can't help but be mad at him, he was in advanced stages of alcoholism and I can't help but think he could have have just stopped. Why didn't he stop? He might still be here for his kids...How do I stop being mad at him??

Here is the response from our priest:

I’m sorry for your loss. Alcoholism is truly a terrible disease, and one that affects family members in a profound way. Think of it like this, while the alcoholic suffers, the disease has a way of harming anyone in its path, which is what you are experiencing. 

One thing to remember is that the true alcoholic has no control over his drinking, will power is not enough to break the stronghold it has on the alcoholic. That is the meaning of the first of the 12 Steps: We admit we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives have become unmanageable. 

This sounds  pretty hopeless, and it is, and that is why the only help can come from God for the alcoholic.

The anger you feel is appropriate and logical. Try to see your brother as a very sick man, and maybe you can direct your anger more to the disease of alcoholism. I would also encourage you to attend a few ALANON meetings where you can hear how others came to peace over their loved ones disastrous dance with alcohol, which includes knowing and accepting that you too were powerless over your brother’s behaviors and drinking. 

Be assure of my prayers.

Many questions arise every day--Struggles of faith, family and regret, or even simple curiosities of life and religion. It is always okay to ask those questions. 

Submit your own questions to our priests here.

[olmctempe]

Here Come Everybody!

Dear Friends,

Within the span of one minute I often hear: "Hey Father, from all the screaming babies I heard during Mass your parish has a great future, lots of life here!" and then the next person, "Hey Father, can you tell these parents to control their children?" Frankly I get whiplash.

To the latter statement I often think, "Good luck with that. Did you ever try to control a squirrelly 3 year old or a 2 year old that is having a melt down?" The fact is that taking little children to Mass, which tends to be on the adult level is challenging and I admire the parents that do. At any given Mass a young child will decide to have a melt down, scream so loud they break the sound barrier or just decide that they need to talk as loud as the priest. Then there are those ones in diapers that will have a bowel movement that would make a horse jealous. And everyone around them knows it! So it goes with the baby human.

As far as I can see parents do their best to help shape their child's behavior in Church. But how can they do it if they don't ever bring their child to church to learn? Sometimes during Funerals people I don't know will come with their adolescent children and just by the way they act I can tell they have no idea how to act in public settings like a Church. Obviously they were never brought to Church as children. So while we offer childcare during Mass as an option it is an option and does not need to be a must.

Parents often tell me we live in a very child unfriendly culture. Show up at some places with three or four little ones and be prepared to get stares of shock or a scolding for not "controlling" your children. That should not happen in a Catholic Church. But sometimes now and then it does. And it often comes from those who are a little older and have raised their children already.

But rather than scolding a parent or telling them curtly to take the child to the back or even outside why not say something like: "I can see you are having a challenging time, can I help you?" Or maybe even, "You know my kids won't sit still either, here are some things I did that worked." I know that a lot of you who have raised your children have lots of tricks up you sleeve that a young parent could really learn from. You are often and untapped source of wisdom for the next generation, so share it with them.

And remember that young parent struggling with a cantankerous toddler or a colicky infant was probably you or your mother at some point. And maybe that young mother had a really crappy week or was stuck at home all week with two sick children and her husband was on a business trip and Sunday Mass was her only chance to be with other people and get a little peace. Or maybe she just doesn't know what she is doing and your kind advice and encouragement will be the difference between her going home depressed and frustrated or light and joyful.

When the great Irish writer James Joyce was asked to describe the Catholic Church, he quipped: "here comes everybody"! When you come to Mass in a typical Catholic Parish you get everybody, young and old, smart and not so smart, PhD's and plumbers, those who sing like angels and those like me that don't. And yet somehow it all works and we worship our God and we hear the Word and we receive the Sacrament.

Jesus founded the Church to continue His saving mission in the world. Is this the Church he wanted? Maybe, maybe not but it is the Church he got! I know a lot of us, myself included would like to tell the Lord he should rethink planning and development but we know better than to do that.

So next time you attend Mass in a Parish Church just remember "here comes everybody"!

Love, Fr. John B.