Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Church Renewal
I read about a group of "experts" in parish renewal who came together in a conference to talk about what was wrong with parishes, and why people were leaving or not attending much. The focus was on the laity. People needed to be on fire for Christ and then the parish would build. Well, I have another take on this. I meet few people who said they got malaise or dropped out because no one was on fire for Christ. They left because the preacher was ill-informed, uneducated, insulting, boring, prejudicial toward women among other groups, and so on. Maybe we need a conference for the preachers, but once the the poorly formed ones get out of the seminary, they think they know it all. I was a bit like that once. I probably drove a few out, but fortunately, those ladies in Houston, Texas did a nice job of kicking my butt gently. They were my priestly formation. Boulder, San Francisco, Knoxville built on it. I might be slow to listen or change, somewhat willful to say the least, but graced people kept coming into my life to save me from myself. I am still on a slow learning curve. I might not burn.
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I think the clergy of all faiths are the root of most problems with religion - they are much like doctors, of whom a surgeon friend once said, "Too many doctors think MD stands for Made Divine!"
ReplyDeleteThey still call the guy who graduated at the bottom of his class in medical school "Doctor"
So many people in important positions think they need to sell or impose their stuff. They need to know what is going on with the sellee to see if it fits first. You are doing ok. Your sense of humor saves you but, can also get you in a little trouble. You worry so much. It must be a Catholic thing.
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