St. James Kansas Anniversary
Today is the one year anniversary of the day when the Diocese bolted the doors at St. James Kansas, OH. If you are not familiar with their story, I think you should be. On the links to the right I have listed their blog. From there you can get to their home page. I decided to put the link to their blog because they have links that I was going to post here.
On the St. James blog, I encourage you to read "Vigil at Our Lady of St. Vilnius in NYC." (Or click on the link in the "Sounds all too familiar post"). Consider the perspective in the post titled, "The Five Stages of Liberation". And definitely click on the link in that post to "Voice from the Desert". If what you read raises your blood pressure, that's a good thing in my book... if you never look at or try to understand a different perspective, how can you explain or support your own?
posted by Marie @ 6:59 AM
14 comments
14 Comments:
Thanks for your post. I enjoy reading your blog I'm linking to it on our sites as well.
Attending the candle light vigil of the one year anniversary was a humbling experience.Renewing ones sense of hope seeing so many young people in attendance. The majority of those who spoke were St James newest members who had found something special in that community of believers.Never give up hope lives eternal.
It was a honor to be apart of the candle light vigil. The bishop may have locked the doors of their church building but he can't take away their community . These people are truly living their faith. They have not chosen the easy road, but instead have chose to stand up for what they believe is right. Many of us do not agree with the way the bishop is dealing with parishes and priests, but most people have chosen to sit quietly and say nothing. I consider it a privilege to know the people of Kansas and to have the opportunity to be apart of their prayer service. I continue to pray that the diocese will take time to look at the gifts that are at Kansas and the other parishes he closed. To realize that it is not about the bishop, priests or buildings but about the journey to heaven that we are all on. There is no one path that leads to heaven. We are all called for that journey and it is truly important that we listen to God. Take time to pray, reflect and ask yourself what is it God is asking of you. Then follow God and see where God lead you. God bless
When we have done all we can, we must still wait for God to accomplish His purposes. As we wait, we can fix our eyes on Jesus as a companion who empathizes with our suffering and a Savior who is working behind the scenes. Difficult circumstances seem to increase our ability to experience intimacy with Christ.
-Ruthann Ridley
In my opinion, those of us that followed the bishop's orders are living the faith far more than those that fight tooth and nail for nothing. It is not the easy road, but the right road.
If you believe that just following the bishop is right then you must also believe that priest abuse is alright also. After all they have been telling you for years, that they are being responsible, but in fact they have been lieing to us about that. Do you know that some of the priests that were removed from ministry were brought back and reinstated; and then given time to retire on your money. We rewarded these men for raping our children. Last weeks gospel John 8 1-11 talks of Scribes and the Pharisees who brought a woman that had been caught in adultery and said according to Moses law they were commanded to stone such people. According to anonymous we should start throwing stones. But Jesus challenges us to search out the truth. First of all where was the man or men that were also guilty. Today is not so much different then it was 2000 years ago. We still tend to want somebody to tell us what to believe in. We left our spiritual needs up to the priests and bishops in the past, because we were uneducated and could not read Latin. Today we are educated and have tremendous opportunity to get information off the internet. We can leave our spiritual needs up to the bishop, but I believe God wants a personal relationship with each of us. If you read church history you will begin to see that bishops and priests are human just as you and I. We are all called not just a few.It is only when some have too much power and control that things start to fall apart. I have just recieved a book called Sin, Shame,& Secrets by David Yonke. It shows how the misuse of power and money has brought us to where the church is today. I truly beleve that we are called to stand up for what is right. We have been lied to by our priests and our bishop. By no means are all priests and bishops guilty. There are many great priests out there but they are being threatend to keep their mouth shut. If I had not been involved in the clustering process in the Diocese, I too might have fallen for the lies they told us. I invite anyone to call me and talk with me. I never thought that I would be fighting the diocese on telling the truth. But I truly believe that we are all called to speak up and find out the truth. We all have different paths in life, but we all want to end up in heaven with JESUS. And as far as fighting for nothing, I wish someone would of stood up a long time ago to stop all the abuse . Ask anyone that has been abused if it is for nothing. GOD BLESS!!!
When did I say we should start throwing stones? Also, you cant compare parish closings with sexual abuse at all.
If standing up for what is right is "called fighting for nothing" count me in as one who will stand behind Dan "tooth and nail" 100%. Since when is standing up for what one believes in (or doesn't beleive in) mean that a person is not living their faith? Anoynmous should get the log out of their own eye before trying to remove the speck from the eyes of those who see the world differently than they do.A good movie to see to put this whole issue into perspective is "Kingdom of Heaven" it's based on a true story of the Holy Crusades. The problems within our church are nothing new they have been going on for centuries mostly fueled by power,greed or both.Today I make a stand by posting on this blog using my name. Many times before I have been an anonymous contributor but I don't want my comments to be mistaken from the anonymous contributor who got Dan so riled up
Further more, I think I would like to talk to you, Dan. Why dont you send your number to: orthodox_roman_catholic@yahoo.com.
Well, if you read Dan's post you will read that they are "living their faith" for standing up. My view is quite the opposite. I believe it is not right to fight the parish closings. We need to set our personal preferences aside for the good of the Church.
Where would we be today if Jesus had set His personal preferences aside for the good of the Jewish church?
We would all be Jewish, because that would have been the way Jesus made it.
Anonymous (Jude) said:
"Also, you cant compare parish closings with sexual abuse at all."
Jude, it is good to see that you now feel comfortable using your name with this community. I know many of these folks personally and this is a good group who is open to having honest dialogue, even with those with whom they disagree.
I will respectfully disagree with your statement that sexual abuse and church closings cannot be compared. On a high level, both are tied to the unfortunate consequences of institutional corruption.
In another light, you are also equating faith in God with faith in the institution. When the two do not square up, one must choose to follow God or the institution. Protecting sexual offenders and usurping the assets that were built the good faith of communities are not acts of God, but they are the acts of the institution.
It's doubtful we would be Jewish, for Jesus was opposed to the views of those in power during His lifetime, those whose actions declared, "Do as we say not as we do."Jesus would have preferred not to suffer. Remember He asked that He wouldn't have to drink from the cup of suffering that granted our salvation. He put His personal preferences aside to make the ultimate sacrifice for ALL of us.He chose to do the will of God. The Catholic church today seems more interested in the will of the almighty dollar than the good of it's parishioners.Each of us is proven by the fruits we produce. A sad harvest is being reaped from our leadership at this time.
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