Bl***y good for you!

I was raised in a home in which swearing or cursing of any type was forbidden. Even the TV, which we only had access to late in my teens, was censored in this way. A single swear word was enough for the program, movie or documentary to be switched off and that program banned. I recall one incident when I had my arm shoulder deep in a rabbit burrow attempting to retrieve my pet ferret, when the feisty little fellow decided to lock his considerable bite on my hand to teach me not to interfere with his hidey hole. I couldn't help it, I spat out the word "Damn!" before biting my tongue. Dad clipped my ear fairly solidly saying "That's enough of that language!" I felt a certain justification and pointed out that the circumstances warranted a little leeway in my opinion. He was unbending. "No son of mine has been raised to talk like that!"

People who know me well, know I am no saint in this area. But I've always felt guilty about letting a word slip, never believing it to be a good or acceptable thing. Some years later, a Catholic friend challenged me to demonstrate clearly why swearing is sinful, and where it is clearly forbidden to Christians. I confess I was stumped. Even after a year or so of friendly arguments about the matter, the best I could come up with was that swearing tends to take something we normally protect from the public eye due to shame or intimate privacy and splashes it about in a cheap fashion. Most swear words take something we don't generally talk about in polite conversation and splash it about in a sort of verbal in-your-face manner. Aussies in particular seem to overuse swearing as a replacement for adjectives and adverbs when discussing any topic one feels strongly about. There was a popular comedy routine
at the Melbourne comedy festival a few years back which explored the way Aussies use [a slang word for urine] and its variants to cover just about every kind of adjective, emotion or even adverb. The word is so overused in such a variety of ways that it has long since lost most of its original meaning to become a kind of multipurpose emphatic.

Though this doesn't seem convincing enough to insist that swearing is a sin exactly, it seems to suggest that it shouldn't be a regular feature of a good sentence. This means I need to work on my vocab and my fitness before I get back into contact sports.

Imagine my surprise when an article pops up about swearing being good for you. Apparently swearing can help us deal better with pain.

Volunteers withstood pain for longer when they swore than when they used anodyne words, in a study at Keele University in the English Midlands. He said: "The volunteers who swore had an elevated heart rate, so it could be increasing their aggression levels.
"Increased aggression has been shown to reduce sensitivity to pain, so it could be that swearing helps this process."
The researchers asked 64 students to submerge their hands in a tub of ice water for as long as they could while repeating swear words of their choice. They carried out the task again while repeating non-offensive words.
The volunteers who swore kept their hands submerged for an average of 40 seconds longer. When questioned about their perceived pain they rated it as being lower.
The researchers also measured the volunteers' heart rate and found that it increased while swearing

I'm not trying to make an excuse for more swearing, but it's a very interesting point to consider. Imagine if they follow this study up with other studies which show that the words we say have a significant effect on the way we cope with particular situations and challenges. Won't that make an interesting point about manners, polite phrases and forms. Even more so about meditative prayer or mantras.

The Secret Life of Moses

I have been laid low with a nasty virus lately, possibly due to having one day off in 20 but that's another story. So two of my children decided to put on a 'Mass' for me at home. David is yet to start school, but seems to have the rite more or less in hand, while Anastasia is Year 1 and ... well ... you be the judge.

[David] In name of Father, Son and Hooooooooly Spiwit
[Anastasia] Amen
[David] Dear God, help all people who .... um ... Amen
[Anastasia] Readings time!
David sits down gratefully
[Anastasia] Reading Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall want. He makes me green pastures.
[Dad] Err...
[Anastasia] Shhhhhh
[Dad] right.
[Anastasia] The Word of the Lord!
[Dad] Err, .. wondering about material cooperation in the innocent mistakes of children. Thanks be to God
[Anastasia] whispered David! Time for the homily!
[David] Ummmmm I don't know any.
[Anastasia] louder whisper Just say something about your life!
[Dad] Err, I think it has something to do with the Bible doesn't it?
[Anastasia] With a scathing look at Dad Do you know any Bible stories David?
[David] considers carefully Not ones for Church!
[Dad] ...
[Anastasia] Never mind, I have a homily ready.
[Dad] Wonders if his daughter has a vocation to the female religious orders
[Anastasia] There was a guy named Moses. He was born a long time ago, then he was tempted in the wilderness.
[Dad] Err ... (wilts under stern glare of 'sister' Anastasia)
[Anastasia] .. tempted in the wilderness by the devil... from a burning bush.
[Dad] Umm
[Anastasia] Dad! You always tell us to be quiet in the homily!
[Dad] smiling as he gives in Yes sister!
[Anastasia] What?
[Dad] Nothing, carry on.
[Anastasia] glares some more... from a burning bush. And he was hungry. And he went to the top of the temple, where he couldn't see the burning bush any more, and the devil told him to throw himself down. But then there was a great flood, and Moses took the Ark to the Zoo and picked up all the animals.
[David] Nooooo, only TWO of the animals!
[Anastasia] giggles It's MY homily David! You can do one later!
[David] happily OK! sits and begins dreaming up HIS version
[Anastasia] So then Moses went to Egypt because his brothers hated him, and they dreamed he would get the best wheat and stars... um...
[Dad] ...
[Anastasia] So in Egypt he got in trouble for putting messing up the river by turning it into blood. And Pharaoh didn't like him. So they went to a different country and took it over and made a temple there... with lots of money changers who sold doves. But he threw them out ... because... um ... why DID he throw them out Dad?
[Dad] desperately trying to keep up
[Anastasia] Why did Moses throw the dove changers out?
[Dad] Umm... maybe he preferred pelicans? slumps back, defeated
[Anastasia] Really? Cool!
[David] What's a Pelican?
[Anastasia] Shhhh David, it's the homily!
[David] When is MY bit?
[Anastasia] Almost David, almost. This is the Word of the Lord. Now for Communion!
[David] I know this bit!
David gets up, dressed in his mother's white dressing gown, and begins a remarkably accurate preparation of the gifts.
[Anastasia] loud whisper David! You're supposed to say 'blessed art bow'
[David] holding the paten Blessed art thou among women and blessed...
[Dad] unable to contain himself I think it's "Bless are you, Lord God of all Creation, by your goodness we have these...
[Anastasia] SHHHHH Dad! rolls eyes
[David] grins wickedly at Dad Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the Lord of Creation.
[Dad] Please excuse me... I think I hear the phone.
[Anastasia] Dad! You know what Father says about phones in Mass!
[Dad] moving away as fast as dignity allows

Later that night as David goes to bed
[David] Dad... what did they use Pelicans for?

"I Have Jumped into the Tiber to Swim Across"

On the topic of swimming the Tibre, Via Creative Minority Report comes this

I am writing to make the announcement that I am becoming a Roman Catholic along with my wife Rhea and our six children. I realise that this decision is going to make some really happy, some very sad and others possibly angry. But, I have made the decision with the deepest sense of integrity and by conscience. I would like to share a bit of my faith journey though there are many gaps here, it is descriptive of my heart over the past few months.

Read the full post at the writer's own blog

Narcissism?

Mark Shea offers an amusing graphic on social media




I couldn't help wondering where blogging fits into this diagram. Maybe with a fourth circle named "Obsessive Compulsive" interlocking with Narcissism? Perhaps that is over the top but, where does it fit?

While you think about that, check out this clip provided by Karen at Some Have Hats.

Why do Catholic Priests sometimes go elsewhere?

For those who have been living under a rock for the last fortnight, Fr Cutie, Catholic priest, syndicated TV show host and popular figure in Spanish speaking America has been received into the Episcopal Church shortly after photographs of him canoodling on a public beach with his secret girlfriend.

David Schütz, comments that,

Fr Cutie (please tell me that isn’t his real name…) clearly isn’t joining the Episcopalians because he is convinced of the truth of the Episcopalian faith (whatever that may be).

and describes a similar situation where an ex-Anglican-now-Catholic priest was placed on a radio show with an ex-Catholic-now-Anglican who claimed the had basically 'the same' story.

To which Fr Fleming responded, “Excuse me, there is a world of difference. I left the Anglican Church and became a Catholic because I was convinced of the truth of the Catholic Faith. You, on the other hand…”

In fairness, there are some evangelicals who began life as nominal Catholics and spend their life campaigning to 'save' Catholics from Hell, (since that is where we are all heading), but ever one of them I have spoken to, read or researched has such a warped understanding of the Catholic faith I doubt they could accurately be described as being anti-Catholic, since what they are reacting against is simply not Catholicism.

What we are talking about here, however, is the idea of a Catholic priest leaving to join a mainstream Protestant group in order to continue his 'ministry' while enjoying the benefits of some more relaxed standards in certain areas. Most often, so a priest can marry. As Father Fleming says above, this is not the same.

As G.K. Chesterton pointed out, we are morally compromised when a belief, policy or decision just happens to correspond with some material or, in this case, marital benefit.

In this case there is an additional betrayal. In the case of Fr Fleming, a prominent media personality in his own right at the time, his reception to the Catholic Church was a discrete private affair. Fr Cutie has been paraded around by Episcopalian bishops who are smirking like the cat that found the cream. In my own journey to the Church, the respective authorities of both Lutheran and Catholic were in conversation and agreed to handle the matter with respect and discretion. How successful they were is another matter. In this case, I will leave Fr Cutie's own Catholic Archbishop to fill us in.

When Father Cutié met with me on May 5th, he requested and I granted a leave of absence from the exercise of the priesthood. Because of this, he could no longer be the administrator of St Francis de Sales Parish or the General Director of Radio Paz. For the good of the Church and to avoid the media frenzy, I chose not to impose publicly an ecclesiastical penalty, although his admitted actions clearly warranted it. Since that meeting, I have not heard from Father Cutié nor has he requested to meet with me. He has never told me that he was considering joining the Episcopal Church.

I must also express my sincere disappointment with how Bishop Leo Frade of the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida has handled this situation. Bishop Frade has never spoken to me about his position on this delicate matter or what actions he was contemplating. I have only heard from him through the local media. This truly is a serious setback for ecumenical relations and cooperation between us. The Archdiocese of Miami has never made a public display when for doctrinal reasons Episcopal priests have joined the Catholic Church and sought ordination. In fact, to do so would violate the principles of the Catholic Church governing ecumenical relations. I regret that Bishop Frade has not afforded me or the Catholic community the same courtesy and respect

Why are so many Lutheran ministers becoming Catholic?

From 1998 to 2001 a group of three Lutheran Ministers would meet weekly to pray the Divine Office and translate the Gospel reading for the coming Sunday from the Vulgate (St Jerome's Latin translation), and discuss the theological and pastoral issues fizzing in our minds at the time. When one of those men left to pursue further study overseas in 1999, and I was assigned to a parish nearby, I was privileged to join the other two and continue the trifold translation.

One of the big issues was that Jerome's translation, from the early fifth century, is effectively a very early verse-by-verse commentary on the Biblical text by one of the most respected Biblical scholars. It was a fascinating time and a joy to share those discussions with the gentlemen involved. The most significant reason for creating this blog was an attempt to continue that kind of discussion in some form.

It is interesting to note that three of those four men have now been received into the Catholic Church. In fact, my historian friend tells me, only four Lutheran ministers have become Catholic in Australia for at least the last 150 years. (Those who know their Australian history will know that there isn't a lot of history before that!)

So when the only member of this small group who is still a Lutheran Minister is asked "why are so many Lutherans becoming Catholic?" you can be sure his answer will be very interesting to read.

Why are so many Lutheran pastors becoming Roman Catholics? And not just in Australia? Why, around the world, are a number of Lutheran pastors, some of them leading theologians, resigning their calls and being received into communion in the Catholic Church?

Not, it seems to me, because they have rejected the things that we hold dear: the Scriptures as the Word of God; the Sacraments as the means of the Holy Spirit; even the teaching that we are justified by God’s grace alone on account of Christ through faith. At least in their own understanding, they continue to confess the very things that are of central importance for us, and that have power to bind us together as God’s people in this world.

Not, it also seems to me, because they feel frustrated by a church that doesn’t suit their taste. Many Lutheran pastors leave congregations in which they feel at home not only spiritually but also culturally. They move into churches where the songs at worship are unfamiliar and often poorly sung; where they have no or few family connections; and where their own wishes regarding the style of worship or the structure of church government count for naught.

Why then? Well, let me offer this way forward: To understand why Lutheran pastors are becoming Roman Catholics it’s a good start to understand what it’s like to be a Lutheran pastor in the first place – and especially to be a Lutheran pastor who is self-consciously committed to proclaiming the Gospel in line with the Lutheran Confessions. (Lutheran pastors who neglect the Lutheran Confessions – who deny, for example, the inspiration of Scripture, the efficacy of the Sacraments, or the divinity of Christ, do not, as a rule, yearn to be reconciled with Rome).

Here I’ll simply offer three aspects of being a Lutheran pastor that may help lay people understand why some Lutheran pastors are becoming Roman Catholics.

Firstly, it seems to me that to be a Lutheran pastor is to be somewhat Catholic to begin with.

Lutheran pastors, especially in our own Australian Lutheran Church, are conscience-bound to teach, for example, some outrageously Catholic-sounding doctrines such as that the bread and wine of Holy Communion are the true body and blood of Christ; that in baptism God really makes people His children; that Christ really was born of the Virgin Mary – that He was and is true God and a real human being; even that God really forgives sins through the absolution.

Pastors who in good conscience teach these things are very far from the Bapticostal churches on the one side, and from the mainline liberal churches on the other. They are not, however, so far from the Catholic Church, especially as it has been developing since Vatican II under the papacies of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification stands as a witness, however imperfect, to the way things have been moving.

Secondly, to be a Lutheran pastor is to have an awareness of responsibility not simply to an individual congregation, but also to the LCA and beyond. It is to be particularly aware of the ‘catholicity’ of the church.

In the ordination rite Lutheran pastors promise to accept the doctrinal and pastoral oversight of their president. In other words, pastors understand that however much they may be fond of their own opinions, they have been called by Christ through the church to proclaim not their own teaching, or the teaching that their particular congregation may want to hear, but the teaching of the church.

Now in the Lutheran Church of Australia the presidents evaluate the teaching and preaching of the pastors in their care on the basis of the Scriptures and in line with the Lutheran Confessions. But the question naturally arises: to whom are the presidents accountable?

On the one hand the presidents are clearly accountable to the district pastors’ conferences and the synod. But how does this state or national accountability fit in with the world wide unity of the church willed by Christ? A Lutheran pastor who thinks about this sort of question will at least listen respectfully to the Roman Catholic Church when its bishops, unified throughout the world with each other, and in communion with the bishop of Rome (the Pope), call others into fellowship with them.

Thirdly, to be a Lutheran pastor is to have the responsibility to give moral guidance in difficult situations. This can be a lonely job, and the temptation can be to abdicate this responsibility, unless there is some clear and authoritative teaching that brings the light of the Gospel into the murkiness of human life.

Thankfully in the Lutheran Church of Australia we have well thought out, Scripturally-based, and Gospel-centered statements on a number of moral issues that arise in the life of any congregation. Thankfully we also have a pastorate that is relatively unified in its teaching from the pulpit.

Even so, the Roman Catholic Church does stand out as a church body that, for all its manifold failings in practice, clearly upholds the dignity and worth of all human life, and calls all people to a life well lived. The Catholic Church stands out as a church body that does not in its teaching easily capitulate to cultural fashions or trends. This reality can be attractive to Lutheran pastors who, through serving their people in difficult and tempting times, are aware that clear teaching and guidance can’t be taken for granted.

Of course, none of these three aspects of what it is like to be a Lutheran pastor can explain why any particular pastor makes the very serious (and no doubt anguish-filled) decision to resign his call and seek fellowship in the Roman Catholic Church.

In offering my thoughts on the matter I’ve aimed at helping to give some understanding of how this might happen – of how a Lutheran Pastor, exercising his office in good conscience and conscientiously, may yet take the path to Rome.

I think my dear friend neglects to mention the key reason why a person would consider becoming Catholic. In fairness, this article seems to have the goal of providing existing Lutherans with a few ways to rationalise the departure of ministers they respected. He has offered here some reasons I can imagine many Lutherans welcoming as part of coming to peace with the departure of a minister. It is unjust of me to expect he, a Lutheran Minister, use a Lutheran publication to unsettle Lutheran parishioners with the questions which ex-Lutherans found so unsettling.

My problem is precisely that people might believe the reasons he presents are the main reasons a minister chooses to leave the comfort and community he knows, loves and which has defined him for so long in order to join what is almost an alien culture (in terms of culture, fellowship and work). The insights offered above might explain why a minister might be interested in the Catholic Church's way of dealing with things, but it hardly explains why he would leave everything he has and seek to unite himself to that same Church.

I have reproduced the post in full from the author's blog, it has also been reproduced in part on another friend's blog which should make for an interesting com-box over there! :)

PS: I love the word "Bapticostal". I think I'll use that! :)

It's time for new wheels!

After finishing up a series of lectures I gave last year the host, a dear friend, walked me to my car. Upon seeing my car she exclaimed "Oh!... You are SO humble!" My immediate confusion must have been clear in my facial expression because she explained herself immediately. Apparently she had been feeling that her vehicle wasn't reliable and comfortable enough for her use. (Fair enough, I thought, a lady needs a reliable car on Sydney streets these days.) Seeing my car, however, had convinced her that she was being proud to think so. Still confused, I pressed for her to explain herself further. Apparently my car is so old, shabby and unreliable that, if I could be content in such a car it must be a symptom of my humility.

The trouble is, I didn't feel the least bit humble about my car. In fact, I felt annoyed that I should have to be humble to drive my car. It is a piece of machinery that gets me from A to B. It keeps the rain out and has a sun shade to flip down for summer. Sure it's not a shiny new car with fancy modern gadgets. Or, at least it hasn't been since the original cassette player started chewing all my old favourites. OK OK... it is a fairly old make and model. A 1986 4 cylinder station wagon is probably never going to cut it as my mid-life crisis wheels, but it does what I ask of it. It gets me from A to B - dry and relatively unshaken.

The more I thought about it the more annoyed I felt. Why should I have to have to be humble to drive my little car? I remembered my first parish when, as a younger Vicar, I was instructed to purchase a 'better' car because parishioners felt embarrassed seeing me turn up at their house in my rusted up Holden Gemini. Apparently it was good enough to drive my wife and firstborn son home from hospital, but not good enough to sit outside the homes of parish council members during finance meetings.

After a few days of feeling vaguely annoyed I sheepishly admitted to myself that I was being rather pathetic. My dear friend had graciously attributed humility to me where none existed. I can claim no such humility in driving my beaten up old car. I simply don't care! As soon as she observed the beaten up state of the car it was my pride that kicked in and reacted against any suggestion that my car was less than adequate. Far from being humble, I was prideful. Credit to her for graciously assuming such virtue in me where none was evident, but I don't deserve her praise.

Telling the story to some friends, I got some interesting reactions. Most would chuckle ruefully along with me at my lesson in humility, but every one of them would pause thoughtfully and add "... Peter, you could probably have a think about replacing that car you know" or something to that effect. I was busy sharing my exasperation with my wife about my about all the people hinting that I need to update my wheels and she paused... "Oh NO!" I said, "Not you too?" She smiled and answered quietly "I do worry about you out there late at night in that thing..."

That thing? That THING? Sigh. Maybe it's time to admit that I am being too proud and stubborn to admit that I should care about my wheels a little more. I need to take into account the concerns of friends and family rather than simply ignore them because I don't care about the state of the car.

Sigh. I guess I'm looking for replacement wheels.