St. Patrick’s Day
My dear, all German mother Pat used to say that there are two kinds of people: those who are Irish and those who want to be Irish. She caught so much good from the old sod heritage from my all Irish father Bill. I know that every person filled with pride about their ethnic heritage can say the same, but for me, it made me appreciate my own Irish and German background. Many saints are heavily associated with certain ethnicities based on their backgrounds, and as we celebrate their feast days we can come to a greater appreciation of them, through their saintly examples and the cultures they express. We are all Irish this weekend as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and let us celebrate the story, literature, song and humor that are Irish hallmarks!
Lent
As we kicked off Lent on Ash Wednesday and were introduced to the theme, The Return: a radical journey of the heart, I shared an image of this that I would like to repeat. On a recent vacation I was using GPS a lot to get to various golf courses and restaurants. I put in the destination address and BOOM, the electronic feminine voice took me right there—every time. Periodically I would stop for gas, or take a short detour. The voice would respond with three different commands, depending on how far off the original course I had gone. The first is “Make a U-turn;” the second is “Return to the route;” and the third is “Re-routing.”
Our hope this Lent is that through extra reflection, prayer, simplicity and charity that we would all take some time to evaluate where we are en route to our spiritual destination. Perhaps we need to make a U-turn. Perhaps we need to Return to the Route. Perhaps we need Re-routing.
We also may be assuming that the voice leading us is, in fact, the healthiest or best voice. Another assumption that we may be making is that we don’t need to make a U-turn, return to the route or be re-routed. These are assumptions that can cause a stall in our spiritual growth.
The environment of our church is particularly stark this Lent and open to much interpretation. Please take some time to sit with it, to take a good long look at it, to pray with it. Sue Geegan, our Director of Human Concerns, has offered my favorite interpretation so far. She observes that the pallets don’t seem to belong in church. That observation then invites, and certainly challenges us to reflect on how we deal with things and, most importantly, people who don’t seem to belong, here or anywhere.
Lent is certainly a time for Reconciliation. Please be aware that we are offering the Sacrament of Reconciliation every Monday from 6:00-6:45pm in the Reconciliation Room in the back of church. We will continue to offer the Sacrament at that time throughout the year. In addition, we offer a Reconciliation Service (Form B of the Sacrament) every First Saturday at 4:00pm in the chapel. This is a short service including Scripture, a Reflection, an Examination of Conscience, and INDIVIDUAL confession, penance and absolution. In addition, as we do every Advent and Lent, we are offering an All Parish Reconciliation Service (again, Form B) on Wednesday, April 10 at 7:00pm. Please join us for Fish Fry Dinners from 6:00-7:30 on Fridays (except for March 29) through April 5 and for Stations of the Cross following.
On Friday, April 12 I am introducing a special Stations of the Cross for Athletes. These will be led by high school athletes from our parish but are open to ALL and to ALL whose lives athletics plays an important role.
As has been the case for each of our Lenten Social Justice Projects, we once again this Lent ground our project in Catholic Social Teaching. In keeping with The Return theme, I am asking all of us to return to a focus on the tenants of this important Roman Catholic Church teaching. Please see the back wall of our church that explains the various principals of Catholic Social Teaching: The dignity of life, family as the first community, rights that protect the dignity of life, the importance of work, solidarity with those who are isolated, care for our common home-God’s creation, and preferential option for the poor.
Cupich Meeting
Ro Geisler, Mary Whiteside, Sue Geegan and I met with Cardinal Cupich this past Monday regarding the results of our Clergy Sexual Abuse Survey. He definitely read it, studied it and will send us a personal response with specific directives addressing our major concerns. Look for this response soon. More details to follow.