Fall Up/ Regressive

I thought I should probably state up front that this blog is evolving. A couple of parishioners intended to find a way to communicate during the closings, and a more techy person than I suggested blogging. During ( what I feel is) this transition phase, I will be chatting about what I am encountering on my journey and relating it to a couple of parishioners who are on their own expeditions.


On with Rohr.......


"In the Roman Catholic Church, we are now involved in an enormous example of what some would call "the regressive restoration of persona," a desire to return to the 'good old days' when we were supposedly on top, secure, sure of ourselves, and marching together." The problem he goes on to say is "When some have not been able to do the task of the first half of life well, they go back and try to do it again--and then often overdo it."

"A recent study pointed out that a strong majority of young men entering seminaries in the last ten to twenty years came from single parent homes, a high percentage having what we would call "father wounds'.

"All has been in flux since about 1968. Then add to all of that fifteen years of nonstop public scandal over the issues of pedophilia and cover-up by the hierarchy. Such bishops, priests and seminarians often had no chance to do the task of the first half of life well. It was a movable famine to grow up in, so they backtracked to do what they should have been able to do first---second! They are out of sequence through no fault of their own. They want a tribe that is both superior and secure---and theirs!"


'Oh, Karen, priest bashing?' AGAIN??!! Heavens no, my fingertips nearly trembled as I typed away on this section, I heard a couple of parishioners in my head lamenting, "Not all priests are like that." I know that. I have great respect for people who give their lives for ministry. A couple of priests meant the world to me. But , out of respect for them, I will never not probe the words and concepts offered by others for a glimpse of insight. Without the benefit of insight,from a variety of sources, I would be sitting in a corner not ministering at all. Why the corner? Blind adherence to "Father knows best" by people with the power to make decisions would have left me there...sitting with unopened gifts to share.


I am intrigued with "Falling Upward' because it deals with an issue that is rapidly becoming front and center with me: "How do I take what I have learned in the first half of my life, and glean from it what is necessary to complete the second half of my life? What I find in the pages of this book of Rohr's will not replace the Bible, but it may give me a little more clarity in the area of ministry. Rohr stated at the end of this chapter that the church should not become a "compulsive substitute for actual divine encounter or honest relationship. So, let's look at a way through all of this, because spiritually speaking, there are no 'dead ends.' God will use this too--somehow--and draw all of us toward the Great Life. But there is a way to move ahead more naturally, if we can recognize a common disguise and dead end."