Thank you, Cincinnati!

It was very heartwarming to see the support for us sisters! We are all Church. Let us stand together! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0lx_fTjlYM

There Will Always Be Pharisees

I have many friends who have left the church. Though I understand why, I am saddened non-the-less. For some of them, it's a matter of finding a place to worship where they feel welcome and accepted. For others, it's a matter of leaving an institution that has become toxic for them. I am sad, because it doesn't have to be this way. I am sad, because very fine people are walking away from a church that sorely needs them. They have so much to offer.

A number of years ago, one of my friends asked me how I did it--meaning, how do I remain in a church that has become so polarized, reactionary, and less than welcoming. At one time in my life, I struggled with remaining in the church. In fact, I walked away for an entire year. But it was a funny thing. I discovered I couldn't get the 'catholic' out of me. It was as though that 'indelible mark' I had been taught about in childhood which baptism conferred on the soul, really was just that--something that could never be blotted out. Something that was a part of me and would remain there in the deepest fabric of my being no matter what I did. No matter how hard and how far I ran in the opposite direction, I would not escape it.

I came back to the church, because I realized the church was just as much mine as it was anyone else's. The church belongs to all of us. We are all church. I think I intuited what Flannery O'Connor so aptly observed: "The fleas come with the dog." Yes, indeed, and a very flea-ridden dog it is! To put it another way, there will always be Pharisees.

So, what is a Pharisee? Scripture tells us pretty clearly. It's the occupational hazard of anyone who seeks to live a religious life, but particularly of those who hold positions of authority. Here's the scriptural description of a Pharisee:

• teaches as doctrine the precepts of men
• makes void the Word of God for the sake of tradition
• is a blind guide
• is unable to read the signs of the times
• binds up heavy loads for others to carry and never lifts a finger to help
• do everything with an eye to being seen by others
• love to embellish religious garb with fringe and lace
• love to take the seat of honor at feasts and the best seat in the church
• love to be greeted in the streets and to be called teachers
• close up the kingdom of heaven to others, neither entering, nor allowing others to enter
• travel far and wide to make converts and then make the converts even worse
• tithe in small things, while neglecting the greater: justice, mercy, and faith
• strain out gnats, while swallowing camels
• is clean on the outside, but polluted within
• appears outwardly righteous, but is inwardly full of hypocrisy and iniquity
• builds the tombs of the prophets, canonizes saints, and adorns monuments of the righteous
• congratulates self on the observance of the law, thinking of self as better than others

This is scary stuff--and there's probably a little of the Pharisee in each of us, if we're honest enough to admit it. 

The Eighth Beatitude for Our Day

Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.                                                                                                                                                            Mt. 5 :10-11

Blessed are those who are persecuted for doing what is right:

• Feeding the hungry
• Clothing the naked
• Healing the sick and wounded
• Visiting those in prison
• Providing water to the thirsty
• Welcoming the stranger
• Working for justice
• Reconciling and making peace
• Defending the poor, the orphan, and the widow
• Consoling the sorrowful
• Comforting the abused
• Showing mercy to sinners and the outcast

for you have entered the kingdom.

Blessed are you when you fulfill the commandment of love, when men revile you and persecute you, because you are loving; when men utter all kinds of evil against you falsely, because you are fulfilling my commands. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven and men cannot take that away from you; for just so, men persecuted the prophets who were before you and you will be counted among my prophets.

An open letter to women religious

My dear sisters in Christ,

     These are very trying days for all of us in the Church as our brothers, the bishops and cardinals of Holy Church, look upon us with distrust, censure, and condemnation. While we experience this as hurtful and insulting, let us not forget that they are our brothers in Christ. Let us look upon them with the compassionate eyes of Christ. Let us look upon them as Mary, our Mother in the Lord, would look upon them: with utmost, tender love.
     My sisters, consider how our brothers must be hurting, how fearful and threatened they must feel, how deeply wounded are our brothers. How in their fear and woundedness, they grasp ever more desperately for power and control, unlike Him '"who though He was in the form of God, did not deem equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied Himself," relinquishing all, in order to become one like us in all things but sin; unlike Him, who willingly became utterly and completely vulnerable to us, His creatures.
     I am writing this letter, my sisters, to invite all us us to pray and to intercede for our brothers, to pray for their healing and the healing of our Church. Let us make August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of our Most Blessed Mother, a day of prayer and intercession for our brothers, a day of prayer and intercession for the healing of our Church and for an end to the injustice of misogyny. Let us ask Our Blessed Mother to intercede for all of us, her children.

**disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of my community or my sisters in community.