Main Feature
This and That
Gerry Archibald, Edmonton
Volume 34 Issue 1, 2 & 3 | Posted: March 27, 2020
The Opioid Crisis: In Canada, “one death every two hours was related to opioids' in 2018…364 more people died of opioid related causes in the first quarter of 2019, than the first quarter of 2016” (Broadview, March, 2020). Can churches help with this in any way?
Church and struggling workers: In the first half of the century, working and unemployed workers and families were a mainstay of Churches. “Christians should recall the time when following Jesus meant loudly throwing in with workers',(Perspective, Bring Back the Labour Church, Broadview, March 2020)
Faith, Doubt, and Asking Questions: “What faith means for me is always asking questions. I'd say the unexamined faith is probably superstitious. (J. D. Crossan )
The Opioid Crisis: In Canada, “one death every two hours was related to opioids' in 2018…364 more people died of opioid related causes in the first quarter of 2019, than the first quarter of 2016” (Broadview, March, 2020). Can churches help with this in any way?
Church and struggling workers: In the first half of the century, working and unemployed workers and families were a mainstay of Churches. “Christians should recall the time when following Jesus meant loudly throwing in with workers',(Perspective, Bring Back the Labour Church, Broadview, March 2020)
Faith, Doubt, and Asking Questions: “What faith means for me is always asking questions. I'd say the unexamined faith is probably superstitious. (J. D. Crossan )
Preaching a Cheap Gospel: As a pastor I refuse to separate the reality of this world from the reality of the Bible by preaching a “cheap gospel” that neither challenges the present reality nor is challenged by it. (Mitri Raheb, Richard Rohr, Feb 11, 2020)
Facing your Shadow: Therese Descamps asked Fr Richard Rohr seven questions in Broadview (p.35, March 2020).
Therese: “You’ve said facing your shadow shifts your view of the word. What does this shift, this changed consciousness, look like?
Richard Rohr: I’d sum it up in this softening of the heart, and joy, People feel so liberated when they get, the true Gospel instead of religion. When they finally discover the real deal, its very joyful. When you can stop judging and stop fearing, you've got a nice life ahead of you. Although you carry a whole new set of burdens: the burdens of those who are suffering outside of your own self”.
Interpreting the Scriptures from a different point of view (and a necessary point of view): When Scripture is read through the eyes of vulnerability—what we call the “preferential option for the poor” or the “bias from the bottom”—it will always be liberating and transformative. Scripture will not be used to oppress or impress. The question is no longer, “How can I maintain the status quo?” (which just happens to benefit me), but “How can we all grow and change together?” Now we would have no top to protect, and the so-called “bottom” becomes the place of education, real change, and transformation for all. The bottom, or what Jesus called “the poor in Spirit” in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3), is where we have no privilege to prove (Richard Rohr, Feb 10-2020).
Pope Francis and the Amazon Married Priests Initiative: It appears Pope Francis has lost his hope to have married priests in the Amazon. Vast regions of the Amazon (as well as many other isolated areas in the world) have no priests, and no religious services to speak of. A very strong group of Cardinals openly opposed Francis’ initiative, and as a result he backed down. As a result the region will continue to flock to other churches, mainly evangelical ones, and have no Catholic presence.
Healing Contemplation and Meditation: Thomas Keating describes what happens in stillness and silence before God in unworded presence as divine therapy. It may involve an unloading of the unconscious, but this is only the visible face of the invisible process of reworking your unconscious, a process that is going on as you sit in stillness before God and yourself… This isn’t the time to try to understand the things that float to the surface of your consciousness. Instead, it's the time to simply note them and then release them to God. But as you recognize their presence, you become aware of what exists within you, and you have an opportunity to peek at the deep hidden work of healing and transformation that God is doing in your soul. This is the transformational way in which contemplative prayer works. (Richard Rohr)
The early early Church: Garry Wells uses early historical documents and a deep study of the New Testament to create a picture of how the early church functioned. It was a ‘Jesus Movement’. Small groups of people would gather in people’s homes to share stories about Jesus. These were the foundations of the gospels. Sharing and telling stories, singing praise songs they made up, and eating a meal together. These small communities were encouraged by apostles (emissaries), learners and followers (disciples), elders (informal representatives of the house churches), and deacons (servants in most epistles). Basically, our early heritage comes from small house based communities that supported each other, learned more about the Lord by sharing, being joyful, and sharing a common meal. They were also very egalitarian and outward looking. (Why Priests?, 2017, pp 7-17)
Homelessness: Last winter in Alberta, it was the coldest two months in generations. There was a crisis happening regarding how to look after the homeless people, especially at night. Not one Catholic hall or basement opened their spaces to help this situation. However, in Edmonton, the Islam community opened up their mosques to help this dire need. (reported in several editions of the Edmonton Journal, February 2019)
Australian Bishops have a Transparence Problem: The bishops must look beyond their impregnable positions in Canon Law and take on a much more open mindset. (La Croix International, February 1, 2010)
Gerry Archibald, Edmonton