respublica

5 new saints

Tomorrow Pope Benedict will canonize 5 new saints, one of whom is from Hawaii.

No.  Not him again.

Golden Comfort Dogs

About a year ago, Lutheran Church Charities in Addison, Illinois, a non profit Human Care ministry, began a program using Golden Retrievers in local parishes.  Called the Parish K-9 Comfort Dog Ministry, the organization now has 20 Goldens who are involved in any number of things like visiting elderly shut-ins, schools, hospitals, trauma situations.

They began using the dogs during the disaster response to the shootings at Northern Illinois University and realized these dogs could be a comfort and mercy in many ways.  Thus began a very fuzzy and effective way doing ministry.

LCC has a video explanation of the program, but the web page features some of the most wonderfully pettable dogs you'll ever see in a church setting. 

Fishing at Good Shepherd

What a wonderful accident.  For only a few weeks in May, the center aisle of Good Shepherd Lutheran church in Collinsville is filled completely with the Greek fish symbol.  The sun hits the altar window perfectly in May and although the window is not fish shaped, some phenomenon of nature forms a fish perfectly.  A beautiful photo by Steve Nagy of the Belleville News-Democrat.

Democratic virtues of the Christian right

The New York Times reporter, Peter Steinfels thinks a new book, The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right, is provocative.

Why?  Because liberal academics, journalists and politicians won't want to hear what the author, Jon A. Shields has discovered about the Christian right. 

"The vast majority of Christian-right leaders,” he writes, "have long labored to inculcate deliberative norms in their rank-and-file activists — especially the practice of civility and respect; the cultivation of dialogue by listening and asking questions; the rejection of appeals to theology; and the practice of careful moral reasoning."

Provocative to those who do not care to know because it upsets their preconceived ideas.  This is the second time this week I've seen a new book on the Christian right come out which stands many of the notions about this group on its head. 

Maybe the journalists among us have been listening too long to the academics and politicians make unfounded claims about what they think is true about those they do not agree with rather than checking into things more thoroughly.  Provocative.  Heh.

Thoughtful words for Good Friday

From Pastor William Weedon's blog.  Pastor Weedon is pastor of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Hamel Illinois.

It is finished.

IT was one of the tense moments in history when time in some strange manner feels more like eternity….There is always a touch of that at the hour of death….At the death of the Son of God in a world where nothing is ever finished there was more than a touch of eternity….His cry came from Calvary, but it had echoed in the heart of God as He watched the angel in the Garden close the gate upon the lost parents of a lost race….The door had closed, the children were gone, the years of separation had begun….Now that had ended….He took the last step on the world’s altar stairs, and eternity was before Him….

Here above all there must be good theology….You see, this is atonement….This is the triumphant end of an infinite plan which comes to perfect consummation when at the close of the third hour the Author and Finisher of our faith breaks the silence with the news that His quest has ended and the yearning of His heart has been stilled….Nothing remains to be done….Not for Him and not for us….Only to believe….Every hour now in the passing of time, at the deathbed, in cathedral, in chapel, in metropolis, village, or wilderness, at the ends of the earth, and to the end of time comes the voice which has cried these nineteen hundred years: “It is finished.”….You have nothing to do but believe…

Is this really the end?

Is this really the end of Christianity in America?  Newsweek's Jon Meacham argues yes, it is.

While on the morning dog walk, a couple of us were talking about how journalists, commentators and comedians cover religion and we all agreed that in order to make their stories work-get readers or laughs-they stayed out on the religious fringe.

Whether they write or talk about the Christian faith or the Jewish faith they tend to bring in spokespersons who make those of us in our hometown pews find the  doctrinal conversation unrecognizable.  There is much more effort on the part of these reporters to stay away from such fringes when writing or talking about Islam, HInduism, Buddism etc.  They rarely make Islamic, Hindu, Buddist, religious jokes while feeling no compunction to waste an opportunity to use Christians or Jews in a joking manner.  See last night's Daily Show for the Passover skit.

When the news media do their annual Easter cover stories, I'll be more apt to read them when they talk to real people, real pastors, real priests, real rabbis.  Not those clerics who are on the outrageous fringe.  And when they talk to the person in the pew in anywhere town who understands his faith and practices it out of the spotlight.  Understand what they believe.

As for today, Good Friday, I will ignore this attempt to undermine faith.  Good Friday is a day of observing the greatest gift of all.  There would be no Easter without Good Friday.

De-Baptism

In Europe, any number of countries are seeing a growing 'renunciation of baptism' movement.  More than 100,000 people in Britain have downloaded de-baptism forms, the same in Argentina, 60,000 in Italy.

Countries now have organized groups who's purpose is to help people get an official piece of paper signifying that they have been de-baptized.  Argentina's secularist movement is calling their efforts, "Not in my name."

In Britain, the National Secularist Society sells parchment certificates for $4.35.  So far they've sold 1500 which means they've already found a way to make $6525 by doing almost nothing.  

Suckers.

St. Patrick's Day

From the Breastplate of St. Patrick and an historic hymn of the church.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday

Today, the day before the beginning of Lent, is variously known as Shrove Tuesday (Ireland, Great Britain and Australia), Fat Tuesday, and Mardi Gras (Latin countries). 

What other countries eat today:

Germany-Fasnacht Day-fried potato dough with syrup.

Iceland-Bursting Day-salt meat and peas.

Sweden-Fastlagsbulle-sweet bun filled with almond paste and whipped cream.

Poland-Fat Thursday-Paczki-powered sugar covered variation on jelly donuts.

Italy-home of the oldest "Carnival" in the world-Venice.  The origin of the famous mardi gras masks.

Historically this is the day for Christians to obtain absolution before Lent begins with its fasting and prayer and giving up of fat and eggs. 

This is why pancakes play such a big role today.  In past years Christians, mostly Catholic Christians, would have to use up their rich foods such as butter, dairy, oil and eggs before Ash Wednesday and so used these items to make pancakes. 

Collinsville's former Episcopal church always had a Shrove Tuesday pancake day.  That congregation is long gone and so are the local pancakes. 

But.  The International House of Pancakes is offering a free short stack of pancakes all day.  The company hopes those who take them up on the offer will donate the cost of the meal to the Children's Miracle Network.

Indulgences make a comeback

The practice of offering indulgences to Catholics is returning in many dioceses around world. 

Indulgences are partial remission of temporal punishment for sins already forgiven and include in these modern times, prayers and good works.  Back in the bad old days preceding the Reformation, indulgences were often abused, requiring payment rather than prayers.

The re-emergence of indulgences is symptomatic of something, it remains to be seen just what that is.

In some ways it makes no sense in view of what Americans think of religion these days.

Jesuit pastor, Rev Tom Reese said, "the church wants the idea of personal sin back in the equation. Indulgences are a way of reminding people of the importance of penance."

The hard sell will be to convince people of personal sin.  So much of the debate in American circles, at least, is whether the Church can define what is sin and what is not.