October 3, 2009 – Just to Update You (Again)

Hi all.  Just wanted to give you the latest on what has been happening with me and where things stand.  Healthwise, things are still pretty much status quo.  I have been sticking to my new diet (lost 5 pounds thus far) and my blood pressure readings have been better, but I’m still experiencing the pressure around my sinus area and head that I have had for about the last month.  I had a CT scan of the sinuses and it was negative, so I’m still searching for answers.  I went on a new medication last Tuesday, but to this point I still haven’t seen improvement.  So… I’m sure I’ll be making yet another visit to the doctor early next week and see what else we can do.  It certainly has been a frustrating few weeks, not only healthwise, but it is hard to explain to people what is wrong because I still don’t have a definite answer.  It is also hard to explain to people why I haven’t been in church and why I haven’t been able to resume my normal schedule.  At times I get a little excited because I think there is slight improvement, only to see that improvement disappear, sometimes in a matter of minutes. 

It has been a frustrating time to say the least, but I am so appreciative of everyone’s prayers and well wishes.  I keep telling myself that there is a reason for this, and that sooner rather than later this whole thing will be resolved.  But until then, please be patient with me and I will do my best to get back up to par again.

Because of my situation, I had to miss our Parish Mission this past week.  I have heard many, many good things about it.  I am so thankful to everyone who helped in any way to make it a success, and I am especially thankful to everyone who attended.  My biggest fear was how the crowds would be, and I am so grateful that so many people took time out of their busy schedules to attend.  Fr. Pete was gracious enough to send me a set of CD’s which have his sermons from each night – not from this Mission, but a prior Mission with the same themes – so I don’t feel totally left out.  I hope that the Mission will serve as a springboard to a spiritual renewal for our parish. 

Being “down and out” the last few weeks has afforded me the opportunity to keep up on my sports.  Today is an especially good day – the Cardinals are on first, then the Blues, and finally tonight the SIU football game.  I’m enjoying it while I can – when I do get back in the saddle I’m going to have so much paperwork, etc. to catch up on it, well, I’ll worry about it when the time comes.

Thanks again for your concern and especially your prayers.  I hope to have better news to report to you next time.  Enjoy the beautiful fall weather.  No pumpkin pie for this kid this year!  Well, maybe a sugarless, crustless pie.  Yum, yum!  Take care.  Peace.

September 19, 2009 – Just To Update You

Well as you have noticed I haven’t been very faithful the last couple weeks in posting a blog.  Those of you familiar with my situation know that I have not been feeling 100% the last few weeks, and I continue to experience problems with my sinuses.  After 3 visits to 2 different doctors, a course of antibiotics, and now using a nasal spray every day, I still haven’t made much progress.  At times, especially in the morning I don’t feel too bad, but as the day goes along the pressure in my sinuses worsens, and I just don’t feel too hot.  Also, in the midst of my doctor’s visits, my blood tests revealed that I have high blood sugar, and I am now also on blood pressure medication.  I didn’t want to bore you with a lot of medical details, but I just wanted to let you know my situation.  It has been frustrating not being able to do all of the things that I normally would occupy my time with.  If my situation does not improve by Monday, I will be calling the doctor again, and I hope I can get to the bottom of what is going on.  Please keep me in your prayers, as I certainly keep you in mine.

I was truly shocked yesterday to hear of the sudden passing of Fr. Tom Stout.  I had blogged a few weeks back about the impact Fr. Tom had on my life.  I have known him since my freshman year in high school, and he was a dedicated, faithful priest who did so much wonderful service for the people of our diocese.  Especially in the midst of this year for priests, please pray for the repose of the soul of Fr. Tom, and pray for the health and well-being of our other dedicated priests.

Well during my health induced semi-hiatus, I have been concerned about whether or not the planning for our Parish Mission has been sufficient, and whether things have been completed that need to be completed.  I keep telling God that this is no time to be below par, but I guess there really is no good time to be under the weather.  I think we have done a pretty good job in planning, and ready or not, the Mission is coming a week from tomorrow.  I sincerely hope that I am able to fully participate, but I hope even more that our parish is energized and renewed by the experience.  Please pray for its success, and participate in whatever way you can.

Well one bright spot during my down time is that I have caught a lot of Cardinal baseball on the tube.  What a great game last night, a 9th inning home run against the Cubs to knock the magic number down to 6.  It is shaping up to be a great October.

Finally, tomorrow is Catechetical Sunday around the country, a day in which we honor those who faithfully teach religion to our children and our adults.  We thank our school teachers, our PSR teachers, our RCIA team, our DRE Cheryl Gross and Fr. Gene for their dedication  in spreading the good news of Jesus’ message.  We have a dedicated group of individuals who perform this task for our parish – most who have been doing this for many, many years. 

Well I think I’ll stop here.  I hope my next blog contains good news and clear-headed thoughts (at least a clear as you can expect from me).  Have a great week.  Peace.

August 29, 2009 – Just a Few Quickies

The blog this week will be fairly short, as I have been stricken with one of the great “gifts” that Southern Illinois has to offer – the Southern Illinois sinus congestion.  We certainly can’t complain about this beautiful fall-like weather that we have been blessed with, but when it is still August and it was summer-like just a day or two ago, well sometimes the body doesn’t adjust as well as you would like it to.

Staying in this morning allowed me the opportunity to watch the coverage of the funeral Mass for Ted Kennedy.  It was a beautiful and moving service.  His family did a wonderful job in remembering him.  I know myself having delivered several eulogies how difficult it is to put emotions aside and publicly state your feelings about someone.  You want people to be moved by your words but at the same time you do not want to go down the lane of sorrow; you still want the occasion to be a celebration of a life well-lived, and I thought his family did a great job in doing that.

The Kennedys may be the most famous, most public Catholic family in history.  However, it is also no secret that Sen. Kennedy’s liberal stance on issues put him at odds with some of the teachings of the church.  Yet, for at least today, that was all put aside as 1500 people crowded into the church, and many priests as well as Cardinal Sean O’Malley reverently did the rites of the Mass of the Resurrection.  The church that I saw today was the church that I love, the church that I envision for the future.  A church that welcomes everyone, even if not everyone agrees with what the church teaches.  Does the church have the right to attempt to convince us that its teachings when dealing with issues such as abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, etc. are proper?  Absolutely.  However, does the church have the right to turn away people who truly believe that there is one true God, that the Eucharist they receive is truly the Body and Blood of Christ, yet may not totally agree with all that the church teaches?  Would Jesus have turned away these people?  I think our duty as Catholics is to know what the church’s teachings are, to convey them to others as best we can, and to continue to welcome those who even though they may not agree with all that the church teaches, that still have a hunger for Christianity, that hunger for the peace and reconciliation that God can bring. 

Just four weeks and counting until our Mission!  As I have said before and will continue to say for the next few weeks – the more people who attend, the more people who are involved, the greater the mission experience will be.  Have you signed up to be a greeter for one of the services, or to carry a symbol, or perform one of the other ministries?  Please consider doing so.  None of the roles are complicated.  We were talking the other night at Parish Council meeting about how long it had been since we last had a Mission.  Eight years ago, we did the Renew mission, which was done ourselves as a parish.  It probably has been over a decade since we had a mission when a priest from outside our community came to lead the Mission for us.  It is truly a unique and special event.  So again, I hope you can put at least some of the week aside for this experience, I hope you invite anyone you think would enjoy the Mission, and I hope you will be involved in some way.

Finally, I want to thank you for continuing to support our website, www.maryhoc.org.  We have had a lot of traffic on the website this month, more than we have the past several months.  As always, I am open to any suggestions you may have to improve our website or to see something added.  Also, if you have any photos from parish events, etc., I am glad to post them (people love to look at the photos). 

With next week being a holiday weekend, I plan to take a week off from the blog and re-charge the creative batteries.  If there is any newsworthy information to post, I will put it on our Twitter page (www.twitter.com/maryhoc).  Have a happy and safe Labor Day weekend, and I will be back at the keyboard in a couple of weeks.   Peace.

August 21, 2009 – Doubt is OK

“Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!”  I am so glad that a few weeks back I predicted that we would see blazing hot temperatures when school started, because my predictions are rarely right.  A little reverse psychology on the ol’ webmaster’s part!

The rest of the chorus from the old show tune that I started the blog with is of course “I’ve got a wonderful feeling, everything’s going my way!”  It would be great if we could get up every morning with this attitude, but in the real world, it doesn’t always work that way.  More often than not doubts creep into the picture – what will I have to deal with at work today? What will the report from the doctor say?  Is my healthcare plan in danger?  And certainly, there are those times when we doubt God – why can’t He make the situation better?  Why can’t He put an end to war and violence?  Is He listening at all?  I’m sure there isn’t one person, Christian or not, who hasn’t struggled with doubt.

I am tackling this topic because this Sunday’s gospel finds many of Jesus’ followers struggling with doubt.  In last Sunday’s gospel Jesus proclaimed that “I am the living bread that came down from heaven … and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”  Many of Jesus’ disciples could not grasp this concept, and ended up returning to their former way of life.  They took the “easy” way out – they ignored their doubts and ran away from them.

When I was younger I had similar reactions to situations that caused doubt to enter my mind.  But in my 39 plus years here on earth I think I have learned a least a few things, and one thing I have come to know and to accept is that doubt does not have to be a bad thing.  In fact, it can be a good thing if we embrace it and do something constructive with it.  Doubt should cause us to ask questions and to seek answers to those questions, even though we may not always find the answers on our own terms and the answers may not be the ones we are looking for.  As Christians it is not wrong for us to have doubts –  what is expected of us is to trust in the Lord and to take our doubts to Him, and to share with others the ups and downs of our faith life. 

In a few weeks I will once again be teaching our 7th/8th grade PSR students, and one of the first things I will tell them is that one of the biggest challenges they will face as Christians is to continue to trust in the Lord even when they have doubts.  But they will find that if they stick with Him, there is no other better deal around.  In the gospel, when Jesus questioned the remaining 12 apostles as to whether they would leave Him also, Peter responded “Master, to whom shall we go?”  For us to say “Yes” to Jesus is not easy.  We feel we may not be able to justify our decision. 

Our Parish Mission which will take place in about 5 weeks offers us a unique opportunity to seek answers to our questions.  Coming together as a community of faith for 5 consecutive nights in prayer and in listening to the preaching of God’s word will provide us an opportunity to focus on our faith in a way which we may not have ever had the opportunity to do otherwise.  And when we do gather, we can take solace in the fact that we are gathered with fellow Christians who have experienced the same triumphs, joys, doubts and fears as us.  Please join us for this great event and invite others to experience this wonderful opportunity!

Speaking of doubts, I’m sure the Cubs fans are experiencing a few right now, although after 101 straight years without a championship, the doubt of what would happen should pretty well be erased.  The question now isn’t whether the Cardinals will make the playoffs, but how far they will go in the playoffs.  Can’t wait until October!

Finally, an ”almost” dramatic church moment – earlier this afternoon I stopped at church to put out the sign-up sheets for folks to put their names to fill roles for the Mission.  As I was taping them on the radiator, all of the sudden this huge burst of light appeared over me.  Was someone turning the lights on?  Could this be … well … a supernatural moment?  Alas, I looked up and it was just the sun coming from behind the clouds.  Guess I never realized how much the sun can penetrate through the stained glass.  Oh well, keep daring to dream!  

Until next week, Peace.

August 14, 2009 – Where Has the Summer Gone?

Well I think the title of the blog this week kind of says it all – where has the summer gone?  All of the sudden we have school starting next week, the Popeye Picnic coming in a little less than a month, our Parish Mission in about 6 weeks, and of course football is starting to get into swing again.  Time always seems to go so fast, but I think it goes especially fast in the summertime.

I offer my prayers and best wishes to our school teachers, staff, parents and students for a great year in 2009-2010.  I continue to be amazed at what our school accomplishes each year.  It is always a struggle for a parochial school to keep the doors open, much less to thrive, especially considering the current economic climate and the relatively small size of our parish.  We are truly blessed to have such a dedicated group of teachers and staff, most of who have been here for a number of years and who could have easily gone to other places for more money.  We are also blessed to have great kids in our school and to have caring parents who encourage their children in their studies and activities and who also volunteer so much of their time for fundraisers, etc.  And we also must recognize all of the other folks who give of their time and money even though they do not have children in school.  In particular we need to give a shout out to the crew who has been working to install the new library roof (finally got some dry weather!) and those helping to clean-up.  Our school is a very special place, and the love and generosity of so many great people will keep it that way for years to come.

OK, last week I mentioned that I was struggling to find a topic to talk about.  Well this week one landed right in my lap.  As you know I am a HUGE sports fan.  I admit that I am actually looking forward to the Rams pre-season game tonight.  I admit that when I am in my office at work that I sometimes flip on sports-talk radio.  I admit that I am in need of a psychological evaluation (that’s a topic for another time).  Today, however, most of the conversation was about issues taking place off the field.  First there is the Michael Vick story.  Michael Vick was a one-time exciting quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons who spent 18 months in  prison for running a dog fighting operation.  He was just recently released from prison and has been signed by the Philadelphia Eagles, and will make over a million dollars this year.  There is also the story of Rick Pitino, head basketball coach at the University of Louisville.  There are conflicting stories, but apparently in 2003 he had a one-time “fling” with a woman in a restaurant, the woman ends up pregnant, has an abortion, and the coach pays her money to cover the abortion (the coach is Catholic by the way).  Now there are charges against the woman for extortion, and the woman now claims that she was raped.  Great stuff, eh?  So most of the conversation this morning was centered around whether Vick should be allowed to play football again, and whether the coach should be allowed to continue coaching.

My first reaction to all of this was to turn the radio off.  One of the main reasons that I love sports so much is that it is a nice refuge from “real world” stuff.  When I sit down to watch a game, I’m not thinking about how much money the players are making, or who is taking steroids, or who cheated on who’s spouse.  When I watch a game, I watch because I want to be entertained.  So after I flipped the radio off, I thought to myself – is it wrong for me to root for players and other sports figures who I know have committed a wrong, whether it be a criminal or moral wrong, or should I just ignore it because again, I just want to be entertained?

This is another situation where there really is no black – and – white clear answer.  I think in any form of entertainment, whether it be music, TV, movies, etc., there will be people involved who have committed wrongs, so it’s really impossible to avoid supporting someone by watching or listening to them, or buying tickets to a game in which they are involved.  I think the important thing for us to remember is to be a witness to others by living our lives as God has taught us, and to stand up for our own moral beliefs.  I think our Parish Mission will be a great opportunity to renew our sense of moral values and to help us sort through some of these tough questions.  I love to know what you think of this topic – feel free to leave a comment.

Thanks again for reading, and for continuing to spread the word about our website, which has had quite a bit of traffic so far this month.  Until next week, Peace.

August 7, 2009 – Mumbo Jumbo

Welcome back to my blog.  As I sit at my computer this Friday evening life from this perspective is pretty good – I’m listening to the radio and Matt Holliday just homered for the Cardinals, and I’m looking out my window at the sun setting on a niceFriday evening.  Good stuff.  I also just looked at my blog statistics and it shows that this the 80th blog that I am filing.  I’m not sure if it is because I have already touched on a lot of subjects, or if it’s just one of those days, but normally when it is time to file a blog I usually kind of just start thinking about things maybe a day or so ahead of time and I try to pay a little more attention to things I observe or hear and see if they would make interesting subject matter.  I’ve been doing that the last day or two and well - nothing, nada, squat.  I don’t know if its because I just haven’t picked up on things, or if there really hasn’t been anything interesting cross my eyes and ears.  Knowing me, I probably just haven’t picked up on things.  So for this blog I will just be winging it as I go along.  Keep reading if you dare!

One item I have been paying attention to on the news is the use of “Twitter”, especially in the sports world.  As you probably know our website, www.maryhoc.org, has its own Twitter page on which I occassionally post updates or random thoughts.  It’s nice for me because I can be at any computer with internet access and post items.  You can also post from a cell phone (although I haven’t quite reached that point yet).  It’s also a convenient way to follow other websites that have their own Twitter page.  If you have visited our Twitter page, www.twitter.com/maryhoc, you see that I follow about 10 other Twitter accounts, including EWTN, Catholic News Service, and of course the St. Louis Cardinals page.  I can click on these icons and see what is new and interesting on these other websites.  So it is certainly a valuable tool.  However, like most internet tools, there are people who try to go out of bounds in their intended use, such as trying to post offensive materials.  It has also gotten a lot of conversation in the sports world.  The Green Bay Packers have banned their players from “tweeting” if they are participating in any football-related activities.  A player from the San Diego Chargers was fined for posting how bad the food was in training camp.  ESPN has banned their reporters from tweeting any updates because they want the information posted on their official website before it gets out anywhere else.  So I will keep tweeting because I think its a valuable tool, and believe me, you’ll never get any complaints about the food at my house!

As I mentioned before, with this year being declared the Year for Priests by Pope Benedict XVI, from time to time I will say a few words about the priests who have impacted my life.  Today I want to recognize Fr. Tom Stout.  Fr. Tom was a teacher and chaplain at Gibault High School my Freshman and Sophomore years.  Fr. Tom is a soft-spoken and generous priest.  Until I got into high school my perspective of priests was that they were devout, pious men who lived lives very different from lay people.  Fr. Tom helped me discover that priests are “real” people also, who deal with the same ups and downs, the same triumphs and problems that everyone else does.  Fr. Tom was the first priest who I was comfortablepulling up a chair with and talking to about everything from school to religion to sports.  He truly cares about young people, having done much work with CYO and youth retreats.

Fr. Tom was also Vocation Director when I was toying with the idea of enrolling in the seminary.  I eventually did not follow that path, because I knew in my heart of hearts that I just could not 100% commit myself to a vocation that requires so much dedication.  Fr. Tom certainly did a wonderful sales pitch, but he also made it clear that the Lord will tell you what path He wants you to follow, and I think I followed the right path.  Fr. Tom recently transferred to Sacred Heart Parish in DuQuoin.  Please pray for him and all of our priests that find happiness and fulfillment in their ministry.

Well as I have been sitting here the Pirates have scored 4 runs to take the lead on my Redbirds, so I better end this quickly.  With the forecast being a hot, hot weekend, it will be a good time to work on some Mission stuff, such as sending info to neighboring parishes, writing articles for the newspapers, etc., etc.  Can you believe the Mission is only 7 weeks away?  Can you believe that school is about a week and a half away?  Time marches on.

Oh, one more thing – heard a cute joke to share, even though the timing is a little off.  An Irish gentleman always ordered three beers at a time when he was at the local pub.  Finally curiosity got the best of the bartender, who asked him why he always ordered his beer 3 mugs at a time.  The Irishman said “well, you see, my one brother is in Australia, and my other brother is in Scotland.  We made a promise to each other that when we weren’t together, that we would drink a beer for ourselves and a beer in honor of each other.”  A few weeks later the bartender noticed that the Irishman was only ordering two beers at a time.  The bartender assumed that one of the brothers must have passed on.  So the bartender approached the Irishman and said “I don’t want to pry, but I just wanted to extend my sympathies to you on the loss of your brother.”  The Irishman looked confused at first, and then realizing what was going on, said “Oh don’t worry.  My two brothers are fine and dandy.  You see, I gave up drinking beer for Lent!”. 

Stay cool this weekend! Peace.

August 1, 2009 – To Tell Or Not To Tell

Thanks again for visiting my blog.  As I had told you last week my entry is coming a little later than usual today.  I had a meeting this morning (which went a little ways into the afternoon) in Belleville with the Diocesan Pastoral Council.  I had not thought about what I was going to write about today because I figured that I would have plenty to talk about coming out of the meeting.  Well, I have plenty that I could talk about, but most of it I cannot yet talk about (does that make sense?).  In other words, most of the issues we discussed are still in infant planning stages and will not be available for public consumption until planning is finalized on them.

I can tell you the topics of the things we touched on.  We talked about the 125th anniversary of the Diocese, which is January 7, 2012.  There will be events that will take place leading up to this date, but how many and their extent is still undetermined.  There are many factors that weigh in to this, including the economy and how much is reasonable to spend on such celebrations.  We also touched on a plan by Bishop Braxton to begin parish pastoral visits.  These visits would be in a different format than say a Confirmation, or other formal occasion, but again the Bishop does not want to release details until there is a more concrete plan in place.  We also touched on a couple of general interest items such as the Pope’s latest encyclical.

So I sit here in sort of a quandry.  One side of me says to respect the Bishop’s wishes and let what he intends to be confidential remain confidential.  Another side of me, however, can hear the voices of people who feel that the state of the Catholic Church has been greatly affected by a lack of transparency and a sense that lay people and even clergy cannot be “trusted” to be given information and discuss it and distribute it in an appropriate way.

I have in the past and still continue to enjoy my role on the Pastoral Council.  We have good, frank discussion and it helps me to stay in the know with what is happening in the Diocese and the universal Church.  But clearly the role of the council has changed over the last few years.  When I first joined the Council, the agenda was for the most part driven by us and our Deanery Reflection Groups that we met with to discuss issues in the local church.  Now the agenda is basically driven by the Bishop.  He does listen to our input and I think he appreciates our time with him.  But I think now we are more of a “sounding board” instead of a group that initiates ideas and addresses concerns.  So when I tell you that there is not a whole lot I can share with you from meeting, it is not because I do not have the desire to do so, but because I do not have the authority to do so.  But please trust that a little ways down the road these plans will be finalized and released.

There was another meeting this past week that I can share some information about, and that is the Mission planning meeting that took place last Tuesday.  I thought it was a very good meeting.  Basically everyone who is overseeing some part of the Mission was there, and to my delight they all have already been planning their various ministries.  I gave a report to Fr. Pete this past week on our progress, and he was very pleased and excited.  As he said, just the fact that folks are talking up the mission in July/early August is reason for optimism.  He is confident that our Mission experience will be a blessed one, and I think we should be confident also.  Many plans have already been set for childcare, providing transportation, refreshments, liturgy, publicity, etc.  Much more needs to be done here in the next 8 or so weeks, but I know that it will come together and that the Mission week wll be a truly graced time.  Remember to keep doing your part and invite, invite, invite.  Check the bulletin in the coming weeks or go to our Mission webpage, www.maryhoc.org/Mission2009 for all of the latest.  Also, we will be putting out sign-up sheets shortly for people to be greeters, symbol bearers, and to perform other ministries during the Mission.  Please consider filling one of these roles.

OK, that’s all I have on my mind today.  Next week I will actually think about what I am going to write before I sit down at the computer!  Have a great week.  Peace.

July 24, 2009 – Better Late Than Never

Well even though it is late July the trees and the grass still look as green as they did 2 months ago.  My prediction is that we will enjoy this refreshing weather until around August 19 (first day of school), when I think we will probably see temperatures close to 100 degrees and humidity of 80%.  Can you believe that school is less than a month away?  I’m sure that the students, teachers and parents can’t believe it.

Well I have been promising for the last couple of weeks to write a little bit about Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical “Caritas in Veritate” (truth in charity).  In scanning the internet, many people have already thrown in their 2 cents worth through various reports, articles, blogs, etc.  So I thought it was time to throw out a thought or two of my own.  Have I read the entire document?  No.  Am I a big expert on documentation that comes from the Vatican?  Hardly.  But I feel I have grasped many of the main points of the encyclical and can still throw out my observations.

The encyclical is a response to the global economic crisis.  The Pope calls for a global economic system that puts the importance of the common good ahead of individual profits.  I certainly do not believe that the Pope is saying that it is wrong for people to profit from their business ventures.  On the contrary – if the business is not profitable, it will not survive.  However, I think the central message being conveyed is that our economic system cannot be guided solely on profit-taking.  Quoting from the encyclical: “Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”  I think this gets to the teeth of what led us into this crisis – greed.  Many people saw opportunities to line their pockets – whether it be through speculation or other means – without taking into regard the circumstances that would follow and the people who would be hurt in the process.

The Pope touches on many issues in this document.  Any one of them could lead to a lengthy discussion.  A few of the other themes from the encyclical are:

-  the failure of world leaders to successfully deal with migration, which often is provoked by the terrible situation in under-developed countries, and is made worse by the inability of developed nations to protect the dignity of immigrants

-  the wrongful exploitation of international aid, which often does not reach the intended destination

-  the attitude of de-valuing life, particularly in developed countries which can produce a society that “ends up no longer finding the necessary motivation and energy to strive for man’s true good.”

-  the importance of allowing Christian faith to be a moral guiding force, which can occur “only if God has a place in the public realm.”

In the reading I have done and in the opinions I have seen, it is no surprise that the typical person will see things that they agree with, and some that they do not.  People will read the same material, yet take different views of it.  And in the end, will this encyclical result in a radical change in how the global economy works?  Probably not.  When I was in college I remember talking to one of my older professors.  He said that so much is written – journals, theses, books, etc., but in the end analysis nothing really changes.  However, I think what documents such as this do is to promote thinking and discussion, as evidenced by all of the internet chatter.

It is also OK to have opinions that may differ from what the Pope tells us in the encyclical.  For example, the point is made of the right for groups of employees to organize into a labor union.  Personally I work for a non-union company,  and feel that in at least some cases unions have been exhorbatant in their demands and that this has led to the downfall of some companies and thus jobs.  However, anyone who is a Catholic Christian should be in agreement with the basic premise of the encyclical: that charity is the principle that Catholic social teaching is based on, and that we should make the effort to apply this principle to real every day life situations.

I hope you take the time to read at least part of the encyclical and if you do, leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Next week I have a meeting Saturday morning in Belleville with the Diocesan Pastoral Council, so my blog entry next week will probably come a little later than usual.  I should have some information to pass along from the meeting.  Until then, have a good week.  Don’t forget about our Mission planning meeting this Tuesday.  The time is drawing near.  Peace.

P.S.  So much for the Cardinals not making any moves!  Playoffs, here we come!

July 18, 2009 – The Good Old Days

Wow, what a beautiful day!  This is one of those days when you walk out the door and all of the sudden you have a little better outlook on things.  The cool fresh air, a Cardinal victory last night, ah life is good!  I had mentioned last week that I had hoped to read at least part of Pope Benedict XVI’s encyclical “Caritas in Veritate”, and to blog about it.  Well, I’m still hoping to do this.  Some very important things got in the way this past week – home run derby, all-star game, etc. etc.  Anyway, hopefully I can get to that topic in the near future.  Our prayers by the way go out to Pope Benedict as he recovers from his surgery on his broken wrist.

This month of July has certainly seen its share of celebrity deaths, with the latest being Walter Cronkite.  I can remember as a little kid that we would have supper around 5:00PM and then Walter Cronkite would come on TV to deliver the news.  With all of our means of getting news now, whether it be by TV, internet, cell phone, etc., it was kind of nice back in those days to just have a set time and a set person to get our news from.  You felt like you could trust the information you were getting and you trusted the person delivering the news.  Now there are multiple news sources such as Fox and CNN, and of course all of the internet sources, that try to get our attention by sensationalizing the news and worrying more about getting to a story first than getting a story right.  That’s one of the things I miss about the way the world was years ago.

I’ve said before and I still believe that things moved at a slower pace say 20-30 years ago.  Now it seems everyone has 100 things on their plate to do at once.  But of course there are some things we have now that I wouldn’t want to give up.  I would not want to be without my cell phone, especially in an emergency such as car failure.  I would not want to go back to the old vinyl records.  You first had to say a quick prayer that all the mechanisms on the record player worked, then you had to try to find the song you were looking for, and finally when it all worked, you had a scratchy, muffled version of a song.  Give me my CD’s and I-pod any day!  I also would not want to go back to the old cars with no fuel injection.  The first car I drove was a 1970 Mercury Marquis.  The thing would take up 3 parking spaces the way lots are laid out now.  And in cold weather – well if you pumped the gas pedal too little, no go.  Pump it too much, engine flooded.  I’m grateful that you can now pretty much count on hopping into vehicle and being ready to go.

I guess my point this week is that there is nothing wrong with being nostalgic, while at the same time embracing the advances that continue to take place.  As they say, life is about change and nothing ever stays the same.  And there is always some type of loss that comes with change.  But there is also something to be gained with what is in the future also.  One Sunday morning I was flipping through the channels and of course there was the usual lot of TV evangelists on.  One of them was particularly energetic so I stopped to listen a little bit, and he said something that continues to stick with me.  He said “we are always so worried about tomorrow, because we forget about what happened yesterday.”  In other words, God has guided us from our past to today, and there is no reason to believe that He will not do the same for us tomorrow.  Then the TV evangelist asked for my money (ha, ha).

I’m a little late in cranking this blog out so I’ll leave it at that.  The first letter with information about our Parish Mission went out early this week, so if you didn’t receive yours, you should be shortly.  Please share the information with anyone you think would enjoy the Mission experience.  Even if it is someone you assume would say “no”, ask them anyway.  Make them tell you no.  And who knows, maybe they will just say “yes.”  After all, life is about change.

Thanks again for reading.  Enjoy the gorgeous weather.  Peace.

July 11, 2009 – More Random Thoughts

I threw another curve ball at you – back to a Saturday blog.  Have to keep everyone on their toes!  I see on my blog report that 3 people already checked the blog today, so I guess I better get cranking.  The problem is that I really don’t have a lot to talk about this week, so I’ll just throw out some random bits and see where it goes.  I have to admit that this past week was somewhat of a lazy one for me.  I didn’t have any meetings or anything to attend and I was pretty well caught up on other things, so I spent my evenings catching up on my Cardinal baseball and other somewhat useless activities.  I’m looking forward to watching the All-Star Game on Tuesday (Monday night I will be conducting a prayer vigil in hope that Albert Pujols doesn’t blow out his elbow in the Home Run Derby).  Another sign I’m getting old(er) – 10 years ago if someone offered me a chance to attend an All-Star Game, I think I would have jumped at the chance.  Now I’m content to huddle by the TV with my favorite snacks and enjoy in the peaceful solitude of home.

-  Good luck and best wishes to those who will be attending and conducting our Vacation Bible School this coming week.  At last report there were over 50 kids who registered – right around the same number as last year.  We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our DRE, Cheryl Gross who always does a fantastic job in organizing the event.  She literally works on this for months to make sure that everything is set and ready to go.  We also must of course thank all of the volunteers who will be giving up their summer evenings for a week for the benefit of our kids.  Thanks a lot everyone!

-  Be watching your mailboxes for the first mailing about our upcoming Parish Mission.  It will include a letter from Fr. Gene as well as a brochure jam-packed with information about the Mission.  And as I always remind you – keep reminding your friends, neighbors, co-workers, etc. about the Mission.  It is not too late if you would like to submit the name of someone you would like to have an invitation sent to for the Mission.

- Keep sending out your prayers this week to all of the priests who are taking on new assignments effective this Tuesday the 14th, including of course our former pastor, Msgr Dennis who will now be pastor at Red Bud.  Also pray for our cluster parishes who will see changes in leadership.  St. Boniface in Evansville will now have Fr. Rafi Kuttukaran as their new administrator (Fr. Jack Joyce is moving to St. Barbara’s in Okawville).  Also, St. Pius in Walsh will now be joined with Our Lady of Lourdes in Sparta, with Fr. Lawrence continuing as administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes and now also assuming administration of St. Pius.  In this year for priests, pray for them and all of priests for contentment in their ministry and for their health and well-being.

-  You may have seen on the news or on the internet that Pope Benedict XVI has released his third encyclical titled “Caritas in Veritate”, or “Charity in Truth”.  I have not read a lot of it yet, so I think I will save commentary on it until I have studied it a little more.  It is basically a writing in response to the global economic crisis.  To read the encyclical and to read comments about it, you can click on this link:

www.usccb.org/caritasinveritate

I am not worried about having material for blogging over the next few weeks.  As I look at my calendar, I see after this week that the meetings start in again, and of course there’s still a lot to be planned for our Parish Mission.  Thanks again for visiting and reading each week.  There was one day this week in which there were 14 hits on the blog!  Must have been a slow, slow day!  Have a great week!  Go Cardinals!  Peace.