Fr. Bob's Corner

A little over a month ago, the “Deepwater Horizon” drilling rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico. Since that date The New York Times reports that 210,000  Gallons of crude oil have been gushing into the gulf each and every day. I don’t think there has ever been a more catastrophic environmental disaster – and it just keeps gushing! Last Sunday night (May 16th, 2010) CBS reporter Scott Pelley of 60 Minutes interviewed a fellow by the name of Mike Williams. Mike was the chief electronics technician aboard the drilling rig who narrowly escaped with his life and some horrific memories.

Just seven months before Mike Williams had been part of a team that had drilled the deepest under water well in history (35,000 feet). On that day I am sure that Mike and the team had felt a great pride in their human achievement, but a few months later he tells a humbling, courageous, and revealing story of individual human survival amidst death and destruction. It is also a story that I believe reflects these three adjectives: mistaken, greedy, and stupid. It is a story that hopefully will remind the human race that co-creation is serious business, and can not to be taken lightly.

I am not a scientist, but from what I can gather from recent media reports, scientists are now capable of taking the simplest living cell and theoretically turning it into any kind of cell they want.

Theologians have identified us as co-creators with God, and indeed, I think we are. In some ways one could say it is part of being human and should be celebrated as the dignity of human life. On the other hand, humans are finite individuals who often lack the wisdom of the big picture. We act, but often with great immaturity, pride, and selfishness. We are co-creators and not creators! Let us hope and pray that scientist will have the humility to act and co-create with great caution, and recognize in all sincerity and absolute practicality the limitations of the human situation.

The Canadian Catholic Bishops along with the Bishop’s from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Scotland, England &Wales, and the U.S. have just sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper encouraging him and the Leaders of the upcoming G8 Conference to deepen their commitments and actions to reduce global poverty and address global climate change:

19 June 2008
The Right Honourable Stephen Harper
Prime Minister of Canada

Technorati Tags: G8,Prime Minister Stephen Harper,Poverty,Climate Change

House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6

Re: Letter from Catholic Episcopal Conferences to G8 Leaders

Dear Prime Minister:

As the G8 Summit in Japan approaches, we write on behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conferences to the leaders of our respective nations to urge you to deepen your commitments and actions to reduce global poverty and address global climate change.

As our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI said at his visit to the United Nations in April: “[Q]questions of security, development goals, reduction of local and global inequalities, protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate, require all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law, and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet. I am thinking especially of those countries in Africa and other parts of the world which remain on the margins of authentic integral development, and are therefore at risk of experiencing only the negative effects of globalization.”

Our religious and moral commitment to protect human life and promote human dignity moves us to be particularly concerned for the poorest and most vulnerable members of the human family, especially those in developing countries. The experience of the Catholic Church in serving the needs of poor communities leads us to applaud the Summit’s focus on development and Africa.

It is critically important that you reaffirm and build upon the substantial commitments made in Gleneagles in 2005 and in Heiligendamm in 2007. In 2005 the world’s richest countries promised to spend an additional $50 billion per year on development assistance by 2010, with half that amount going to Africa. This commitment must be met and additional commitments should be made in the areas of health care, education and humanitarian aid. The September 2008 UN summit on the Millennium Development Goals will offer a crucial opportunity to mobilize more broadly the international community.

The global food crisis, which disproportionately devastates poor communities, and the terrible toll of HIV-AIDS, malaria and other diseases, make concerted action even more urgent. We ask you to consider concrete proposals that mitigate the impact of the world food crisis on poor communities, increase health and education spending, and move towards just world trade policies that respect the dignity of the human person in their working life. To ensure long-term success of these measures, the poor must be empowered to be drivers of their own development. Promoting their self-help capacities

and their participation in economic, social, political and cultural processes are essential prerequisites for development.
Once again the agenda of your Summit includes global climate change, an issue of particular concern to people of faith based on our commitment to protect God’s creation. As Catholic Bishops, we have a special concern for the impact of climate change on the poor. The poor, who have contributed least to the human activities that aggravate global climate change, are likely to experience a disproportionate share of its harmful effects, including potential conflicts, escalating energy costs, and health problems. This is true in our own countries as well as in Africa and elsewhere in the developing world. The costs of initiatives to prevent and adapt to the harmful consequences of climate change should be borne more by richer persons and nations who have benefited most from the emissions that have fueled development and should not unduly burden the poor. Specific mechanisms should be created to help poor persons and nations adapt to the effects of global climate change and adopt appropriate technologies that will enhance their development in ways that do not contribute to global climate change.
The G8 Summit will explore many issues of critical importance to human life and dignity. We pray that your meeting will be blessed by a spirit of collaboration that enables you to advance the global common good by taking concrete measures to reduce poverty and address climate change.

Sincerely yours,

Most Reverend V. James Weisgerber
Archbishop of Winnipeg
President
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

Jointly with:
- His Eminence Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris,
President of the Bishops’ Conference of France (Conférence des évêques de France)
- Most Rev. Robert Zollitsch, Archbishop of Freiburg,
President of the German Bishops’ Conference (Deutsche Bischofskonferenz)
- His Eminence Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa,
President, Bishops’ Conference of Italy
- Most Rev. Peter Takeo Okada, Archbishop of T?ky?,
President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan
- Most Rev. Joseph Werth, Bishop of the Diocese of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Novosibirsk,
President, Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Russian Federation
- His Eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal O’Brien, Archbishop of Edinburgh and St Andrews,
President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland
2
- His Eminence Cormac Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster,
President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
- His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago,
President, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3

Strange as this title may be, it does not condone sin, but points to moments of conversion. The following is an excerpt from an email sent by Sr. Joan Chittister to subscribers to Benetvision.

“It is not that sin is not sin. It is simply that sin is not the end of the world?and, in fact, may actually be the beginning of a number of things that can be gained hardly any other way in life and without which life is a pitiful place. A bout with greed may be precisely what teaches us the freedom of poverty. A struggle with lust may well be what, in the end, teaches us about the real nature of love. A strong dose of anger may be what it takes to teach us the beauty of gentleness.

There are, in other words, things to be learned from sin. One is compassion. Another is understanding. A third is humility. A fourth is perception. Without the ability to own our own sins, these qualities are all hard to come by indeed.

Sin gears us to suffer with those who suffer from the folly of their own weaknesses because we have smarted from the folly of our own. Once we can admit our own sins, once we face those things in ourselves that if ever brought to light would be our social downfall, we can companion those for whom the darkness of night has not been so kind. Sin enables us to understand the murderer, to deal justly with the criminal, to control the passion for blood that masks the sins of the righteous with a patina of virtue.

In the end, however, it may be humility and perception that are the best consequences?the intended consequences?of the surfeit of sin. Humility not only identifies us with the human race and confirms the earthiness of the human condition, but it erodes the very basis for hierarchy as well. Humility knows that there are no lords-of-the-manor at all; no one of us at all entitled to subject the rest of us; nobody at all good enough or pure enough to evaluate the rest of us. We are all in struggle. We are all attempting to kill within ourselves the very toxins that poison the human race in general. We are all at the mercy of the God of mercy. We can all learn something from one another.

Among the Hasidic tales one stands out for its compassion. ?Once upon a time,? the tale tells, ?the Jews of a very pious congregation criticized their rabbi for giving money to the town ne?er-do-well, whose use of the coins, the people knew, would not be for good. ?What?? the rabbi said, ?Shall I be more finicky in the giving of this coin than was God who gave it to me???

What we really need to kill in life may not be sin at all. What we may really need to avoid like the plague may be the temptation to a bare and brutal sinlessness that threatens us with heartlessness, the greatest sin of all.”
– from There Is A Season by Joan Chittister (Orbis)

HOMILY – FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY
2007

Christmas is a special and memorable time for children. Santa Claus, bells and reindeer, trees and lights, bows and ribbons, and of course the baby Jesus capture the imagination. This child, born to poor parents, birthed in a stable, laid in a manger, watched over by angels, stars, shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph and even sheep on the hill is adored and cherished.

For children Christmas is a never forgotten magical season, and for us, a time to remember this Child’s message. For this child, we know, is special. But this specialness brings with it the uncomfortable reminder of other children not so loved and cherished. Today we celebrate the feast of the Holy family, and although we know little of Jesus’ childhood and family life, we know from the bible that Jesus was loved and cherished, and his presence in our midst reminds us of the millions of unloved and uncherished children who suffer so terribly.

This Christmas parents worried about how safe the toys were they placed under the Christmas tree. In shock and amazement we all heard of millions of toxic toys being recalled from store shelves. For many, hopefully, it was a wakeup call to the plight of millions of children in our modern world.

In our own Country children suffer because of materialism, drug abuse, greed, poverty, neglect, ignorance, marital break-up, etc. etc.. And around the world millions of children suffer for a host of similar reasons, including war, poverty, racism, bigotry, ignorance, and religious – ethnic persecution In some countries children are raised for the sex trade, forced to work in factories almost from infancy, denied education, and placed in the front lines of the battles of war.

Perhaps never in our lives have we had to live with the knowledge of so much violence to children: children beaten, children abandoned, children violated, children unwanted, children starving, children murdered, Children burned, children mutilated, children orphaned — children forgotten, ignored, used, and abused. We wince at the very thought of it. We turn away, turn the dial, and turn the conversation in other directions. It is simply too much to think about, too much to deal with.

But why the urge to turn away? Why the horror? Why the anger? Why the revulsion? After all, people are being exploited, beaten, killed, raped and murdered everywhere. Children are just one more class of the same degradation. So what’s the difference?

The difference is the future – Our future. Children in our own land, the innocents of our own country are being sacrificed by the breakdown in medical and mental health systems, by the permissiveness of our society, by our greed for material goods and pleasure, by the toxicity level of the environment, by the violence we take for granted, and by the refusal of many to live in justice and love of neighbor. Every child who suffers costs us another piece of hope in the future. Every child we lose marks the loss of a piece of our own life, and our children’s lives.

Maybe that is why Jesus came as a child: to remind us that what we do not care for from infancy will rob us of the future we seek, and it will rob us of its intelligence, its creativity, its joy, its sense of possibility, its promise. Let us resolve this New Year to take even more seriously our responsibility to our own children and the children of the world for this is one inspiration that comes from the crib of Jesus and reminds us of his adult plea to let the little children come to him.

Christmas, the birth of Jesus, tells us that every child born is another chance to save the future, to make it better, to bring it joy. No doubt about it, the birth of Jesus and the feast of the Holy Family is a reminder and call to all of us to care for the innocent, to protect the defenseless, and to recognize all children in the infant Jesus who loves and saves, and commands us to do the same.

Adapted from the Christmas Message of Sr. Joan Chittister – email message to subscribers of benetvision.org

Last Weekend ‘Our Lady’s Missionaries’ made a visit to both our Parishes. Sr. Christine Gebel gave us an update on their work since her last visit with us about two years ago. As she spoke at all our Masses, she reflected on the Gospel passage of the lady who had seven deceased husbands and the Sadducees question: “In the Resurrection whose wife will the woman be?” (Lk. 20:27-39) Now in Jesus’ time a wife was more or less the property of a husband, and therefore the question not only enquired about the marriage bond in eternity, but had a connotation of ownership. As she pointed out, no one owns anybody in eternity, and in God’s kingdom in the here and now. As Christians we are called to love our neighbor as our selves, and to live in freedom, as children of God. Her insights came from the Sisters work with oppressed people around the world who are often owned by another. An example being prostitutes one of the Sisters works with in one of their missions. And, from a personal point of view and her involvement in Muslim Christian dialogue in the Philippines, she offered the insight that no one even owns God.

As I reflected on this statement, I thought of the many ways, as humans, we tend to take ownership of another, rather than living in mutual respect, trust, and love. And, even in religion, as we profess and cling to our faith, we assume a certain ownership of God. As we come to the end of our Liturgical year and the feast of Christ the King, it behooves all of us to reflect on our relationships with God and neighbor, and to remind ourselves of this very important insight from a woman who has given her life to Christ, and the building of God’s Kingdom. After all, wasn’t that one of the biggest problems many had with Jesus when he reached out to the sinners and tax collectors. We still hear their shock and complaint week after week in the Gospel: “He eats with sinners and tax collector.”

Originally posted Oct 5th, and updated on October 19th, 2007

I just read an article in the New York Times about secret documents that allow and condone abhorrent interrogation practices which can only be described as torture.

First we hear from President Bush about Iraq’s weapons of Mass Destruction. Then we find out that we were really being manipulated and lied too by this government.

For years I have heard the President vehemently deny any manner of torture. But if the New York Times has got it right, this was one big lie too.

It seems we have entered into the era of ultra-relativism: Do whatever you believe works, keep it secret, and lie if need be. (More commonly known as the end justifies the means.) Now isn’t this a grand way to build public trust and confidence, gain international support, and foster freedom, democracy, and human rights. What a mess! New York Times

Update: Sr. Joan deals with this issue: From where I stand, torture is too unreliable an item to build the morality, the credibility, the integrity of a church — or a nation — on it. Read full article

Do you ever wonder if you will be one of the poor unfortunate souls to live or die in excruciating pain? In the last couple of decades modern science in the western world has improved to such an extent that this should no longer be as great a worry. Yet, even though we have made great improvements in pain management, we still need to be concerned. For various reasons many still suffer, but not like those that live in the third world.

In COLF’s recent publication, Living, Suffering, and Dying, we are reminded that life is a gift from God, and that human suffering has been transformed by the Cross of Christ – no suffering is useless when joined to Christ’s suffering. But this by no means advocates unnecessary suffering. The Christian Gospel is about loving God and neighbor. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine you did for me. (Matt.25:40) All Christians, and men and women of good will should be concerned about so much untreated and scandalous suffering and advocate for greater global concern.

The World Health Organizationestimates that 4.8 million people a year with moderate to severe cancer pain receive no appropriate treatment. Nor do another 1.4 million with late-stage AIDS. For other causes of lingering pain — burns, car accidents, gunshots, diabetic nerve damage, sickle-cell disease and so on — it issues no estimates but believes that millions go untreated.

About half the six million cancer deaths in the world last year were in poor countries, and most diagnoses were made late, when death was inevitable. But first, there was agony. About 80 percent of all cancer victims suffer severe pain, the W.H.O. estimates, as do half of those dying of AIDS.

Figures gathered by the International Narcotics Control Board, a United Nationsagency, make it clear: citizens of rich nations suffer less. Six countries — the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Britain and Australia — consume 79 percent of the world’s morphine, according to a 2005 estimate. The poor and middle-income countries where 80 percent of the world’s people live consumed only about 6 percent. (This excerpt is from the New York Times - read full article)

In this last year the Vatican and Benedict XVI have been increasing their advocacy on behalf of the environment. On Sept 2, 2007 the Pope called on people to make “courageous decisions” on the future of the planet at an address to 300,000 Roman Catholics at an environment festival in

Loreto, Italy. We need a decisive ‘yes’ to care for creation and a strong commitment to reverse those trends that risk making the situation of decay irreversible,” he stated. 

Surprisingly, or maybe not so surprising, there is a great furor in Austria about five small trees that were planted at the time of John Paul II’s visit to Austria ten years ago. The trees were cut to build the public platform for an outdoor Mass.  Some how or other many seem to feel this action smacks of hypocrisy. (Say one thing and do another – isn’t that just like him, they are saying.) I suppose, if one wants to find fault and to be critical, a way can be found, and they found it. It’s too bad that some loose focus and can’t see the forest for the trees, literally speaking.

Most serious environmentalist are applauding the Pope and the

Vatican’s actions on behalf of humanity and the planet. Let us pray that the human family will wake up before it is too late. The this week the New York Time reported that biologist in the last 250 years have only been able to identify and categorize only 1.8 million species of plants, animals and micro-organisms which is estimated to be about 10 percent of the planet’s life forms. The good news is that with recent technological advances it is now going to be possible to identify and classify the other 90 percent in the next 25 years:“Why bother making such an effort,” asks the NY Times? “Because each species from a bacterium to a whale is a masterpiece of evolution. Each has persisted, its mix of genes slowly evolving, for thousands to millions of years. And each is exquisitely adapted to its environment and interlocks with a legion of other species to form the ecosystems upon which our own lives ultimately depend. We need to properly explore Earth’s biodiversity if we are to understand, preserve and manage it.”

Meanwhile bulldozers and chainsaws are furiously competing with the Scientist who are trying to preserve and understand God’s creation. Each day unknown species become extinct as their habitat fall prey to the ruthless rampage of so called developers. Maybe our Austrian friends should stop worring about five trees and rally behind church leaders who are trying to save the world’s forests and their inhabitants.

“What will we and future generations lose if a large part of the living environment continues to disappear, asks the Times.” And the answer they provide from the scientific community should make all men and women of good will applaud the Pope’s efforts to halt our planet’s destruction. “Huge potential stores of scientific information will never exist. Novel classes of pharmaceuticals and future crops will be thrown away. Ecological services like water purification, soil renewal and pollination — which are approximately equal to the world gross domestic product, and given away by natural ecosystems — will be diminished. Environmental stability will be harder to achieve.

If you would like to know more about the Pope’s visit to Austria go to this link.

The Secular world is beginning to recognize the need for ethical principles. Read Full Article