"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
Over the last year and a half of blogging I’ve pretty much restricted myself to theological issues. However, today I’ve decided to take my life into my own hands and finally start to address a question that I’ve often heard among my female friends: “Why doesn’t that nice Catholic boy ask me out?”
The other night I had a meeting with some of the Young Adult leaders in the Diocese. We shared dinner together and were offered a reflection by a Miles Christi priest.
The evening was opened with a meditation by the recently beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman. Newman is someone I’ve like for some time. I haven’t read any of his works in their entirety (yet), but I’ve always enjoyed the excerpts I’ve come across.
One thing I’ve always admired about Newman was his single-minded determination to follow the truth where ever it lead him and to serve Christ whatever the cost…
God has created me to do Him some definite service;
He has committed some work to me which He has not committed to another.
I have my mission, I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.
My Dad’s birthday party (2007)
Today’s article is one which I’ve wanted to write for some time. You see, 2015 has been a very eventful year for me, but unfortunately much of it has been less-than-pleasant. In fact, I think I can say without exaggeration that this year has featured some of the most painful experiences of my life. Not least of these events was the death of my father in July. Up until now I haven’t said much about this publicly, but I would like to share a little bit about it today…
I had spent Independence Day with friends on Whidbey Island. It’s a truly delightful part of the world and I had a wonderful time there. We spent the day at the pool and had an evening of fine food and board games, followed by fireworks at the beach. The following morning, for some inexplicable reason, virtually everyone in the house rose early and went for a three-mile run. Since it was early on the day after a national holiday, we pretty much had the island to ourselves and in the crisp, early morning air, we passed several deer as we made our tour of the island. It was beautiful.
It was after breakfast that I received a message from my family back in England, asking me to call. A knot formed in my stomach; I had a suspicion as to the reason for this message. I excused myself and went out to my car, where I called my Mum. She confirmed what I had feared: my Dad was dying.
You see, my father had been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma several years before. After several rounds of chemotherapy, his health seemed to be under control, but in recent months things hadn’t been looking so good. Infections had become increasingly common, necessitating numerous speedy trips to the hospital. My Mum said that Dad had suffered yet another infection, but unlike the previous ones, this one was certain to kill him. She told me that the hospital staff said that there was nothing more they could do and that it was unlikely he’d last another twenty-four hours. After hanging up the phone, I composed myself and went back into the house, said my goodbyes and was soon on my way back to Seattle.
As I was driving into work today I realized that I never posted the handout from Theology On Tap. This is a single sheet which broadly outlines the approach to Bible study which I suggested in my talk. Here it is:
Picking back up my notes for C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”…
1. “Be ye perfect” does not mean that God isn’t going to help us until we get our act together
“Some people seem to think this means ‘Unless you are perfect, I will not help you’; and as we cannot be perfect…our position is hopeless. But I do not think He did mean that. I think He meant ‘The only help I will give is help to become perfect. You may want something less: but I will give you nothing less'”
(a) Jack wouldn’t go to his mother with a toothache because he knew he’d get something else in addition to the relief from immediate pain…
(i) He’d wait until the pain got really bad
“When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother – at least, not till the pain became very bad…”
(ii) …because he knew he’d also get a trip to the dentist…
“I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin; but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want…”
(iii) …and the dentist wouldn’t restrict himself just to that tooth…
And I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache… if you gave them an inch they took an ell”
(b) God is like a dentist
“Our Lord is like the dentists. If you give Him an inch, He will take an ell. Dozens of people go to Him to be cured of some one particular sin which they are ashamed of (like masturbation or physical cowardice) or which is obviously spoiling daily life (like bad temper or drunkenness). Well, He will cure it all right: but He will not stop there. That may be all you asked; but if once you call Him in, He will give you the full treatment”
We are now drawing to the end of my suggested Do’s and Don’ts of leading Bible study (Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4). Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday..
DON’T: Shoot people down
Sometimes you’ll ask a question or someone will be sharing and they will say something which is just objectively incorrect.
Love is patient, love is kind, …
Yesterday I wrote a post about the importance of parish websites and how they can play a key role in attracting people to your parish and integrating them into parish life.
Today I would like to follow up on this topic and speak a little bit about some of the thought which should go into the construction and structure of your website. Having a website is not enough. It must also be functional and engaging.
With that in mind, here are my top five tips for parish websites:
1. “When’s Mass?”
If I’m going to a parish’s website, chances are I’m looking for the Mass and Confession times. Please don’t make me have to click around for five minutes and dig into submenus before finding them.
