I'm Done on This Side

This week we celebrated the feast of St. Lawrence, who was famously reported to have said, while he was being tortured to death over a slow roasting pit of coals, "Turn me over, I'm done on one side already!"

Whether this be lore or legend, one can almost hear this most famous of deacons thumbing his nose at authority with these or similar words, as he did when asked to turn over all the riches of the church to the Emperor Valerian in 258 AD.  Deacon Lawrence gathered the poor and presented them to the Emperor.  "Here are the riches of the church."  The man who was to become a saint had a special place in his heart for the poor, and little use for unreasonable civil authority.

We, today, face the same command from society.  "Turn over the riches of your church!  Renounce your faith.  The Catholic church needs to get with the times!"  Litigating the church into receivership will not end the faith any more than it will end poverty, as history has proven.

Catholics are being slowly roasted on the gridiron of popular opinion because of our stand on the slaughter of the unborn to the culling of the human herd and the human condition between.  Get with the times?  No, it is the times that need to get with the Church.

When we are accused of being Catholic and our crimes against modern mores listed, we can start with a prayer to God in thanks for the opportunity to suffer for Him.

And as we weary of the incessant nattering, I for one, will be quoting St. Lawrence.

"Turn me over.  I'm done on this side."

Just One Side of Your Mouth at a Time, Please

If it's OK with everyone, let's just talk out of one side of our mouths for a moment.

Gay-Straight Alliances in Ontario schools
Far from being the champions, the homosexual agenda should be actively objecting to differentiation based on sexual orientation.  Separate boys and girls entrances to grade schools are quaint reminders of a time long past.  Now we divide and define by hetero or homosexual attraction?  The good work of the homosexual lobby of the last thirty odd years in ending discrimination will have been for naught when this happens.

The Most Loving Place for one who Suffers from Same Sex Attraction is the Catholic Church
...and anyone who suggests otherwise isn't paying attention, and yes, I said suffers.  It is not an easy life.  We hold to God's truth that we should love one another, and that homosexual orientation, in and of itself, is not a sin.  Neither is temptation a sin; however acting on it is another story.  We believe that God is the final judge, and we love each other in spite of our failings and differences, and because God commands us to.  Let me clarify - we are to love one another.  We frequently fail.  We should never stop trying.

Critics Claim Catholic Bishops are "Out of Step" with Society
Of course they are, thank God.  Pray that all Catholics are.  We must carefully consider each step, not blindly march to the current whim and changing fancy of modern society.  We are called to be in the world, not of the world.  Truth is, as the Bishops prayerfully consider our world and God's will, I suggest they are actually closer to feeling the true pulse of the people than are politicians. 

The End of Catholic Schools in Ontario?  Not Yet
It is suggested that Separate Schools should no longer be funded by the taxpayer because Catholics refuse to act against our tradtion and beliefs.  In fact the exact opposite is true.  A Catholic school system that goes against it's own beliefs and bends to public will is one that should have it's funding removed, it's union disbanded, it's administration dismissed and the crosses removed from the classroom.  When there is no longer any discernible difference between a Catholic school and a public school we're just going through the motions, aren't we?

A Public Accountability to be Catholic
An educated electorate of all faiths and beliefs should scream bloody murder, clamour, protest and object to funding a Catholic school system that isn't different, to bankrolling one that doesn't put the Catholic faith first, to footing the bill for a Catholic systtem that doesn't obey the local ordinary (the Bishop) or one that doesn't offer a religious objection to the practices of the secular world. 

Pray for the day, but don't hold your breath.

"That Deacon Flies a Jet"

At the ordination of the seven today, Deacon Doug leaned over and whispered to me.  It wouldn't be an ordination unless Doug leaned over and whispered something simply insightful, and often funny.  He's been doing it at every ordination since ours two years earlier, and before that frequently during our five years of formation together.

"That deacon flies a jet," he whispered.  Brilliantly understated, he captured in a few words the essence of the transformation that had just taken place in the Cathedral and at every deacon's ordination.  "That deacon flies a jet."

Yes, he does; he's a pilot.  And that one is a jeweler.  The deacon two seats down is a farmer, and the one back there is a retired teacher, as is the one just across from us next to the retired autoworker.

That one works with prisoners, and that guy over there with students teaching them how to pray the Rosary, and the quiet one has a special place in his heart for the migrant worker.

We're everywhere, friends, serving the poor where they are found.

In the air and on the ground.