May 11, 2018
by Rev. Phil Smith, C.PP.S., Atlantic Province
Do you love me? Then feed and tend my sheep.
The Scriptures are filled with stories of meals. As a student in theology, I was fascinated with the four gospels, especially that of Luke, and the importance given to the place, the function, and the importance of meals. It was not just the meal itself but also what it provided the participants to share as well as who to become. From the changing of water into wine through the post-resurrection stories of meals, there was something that changed those who partook of the meal, whether it was to learn how to treat others and how to live or how to speak with others. Margaret Visser states that at the table not only is there physical nourishment of an individual but there is a cultural challenge as well. “We use eating as a medium for social relationships: satisfaction of the most individual of needs becomes a means of creating community.” (Introduction, The Rituals of Dinner, p. 1) This was also true at the time of Jesus. These meals in the gospels often occurred at a table but not always. Today’s gospel relates one of those incidents.
“…when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, …do you love me?”
Peter, and in turn, all of us learn that the meal does not only give us strength and bodily nourishment but that nourishment is meant to be used for the betterment of all. Peer, who denied three times even knowing Jesus, now is challenged to nourish, care for, and strengthen the community in times of weakness and to support its triumphs in moments of joy.
Let us, likewise, be fed, so that we can feed others with a good work, a pat on the back for a job well-done, and help the weak to become strong. In essence, we not only create community, we sustain it with the life-giving food and drink that only Jesus can provide. “I have given you an example…feed my lambs…tend my sheep … feed my sheep.”
Apr 13, 2016
Earth Day is celebrated this year on April 22nd. We recall the words of it’s founder, Gaylord Nelson, “The ultimate test of our conscience may be our willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.” It has been one year since Pope Francis challenged all our consciences with his encyclical, “Laudato Si.” The pope focused on the morality of climate change and the necessity of protecting the world’s poor. It was the first encyclical to address environmental damage.
What have you done this past year for the good of the environment? Pope Francis challenged us to consider crucial lifestyle changes as needed to protect our planet. Being a “throwaway culture” victimizes the poor and creates an abundance of unnecessary waste. We are to live simpler lives instead of striving for a life of consumption.
There are many small things we can all do to help our Earth like taking public transportation, carpooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights, recycling, and boycotting harmful products. We can also take heed of Gandi’s words of wisdom, “Earth provides enough to satisfy every person’s need, but not every person’s greed.”
Jun 22, 2015
by Fr. Keith Branson, C.PP.S., Publications Editor
As the oversized pages appeared Tuesday morning, April 14, I thought back to Provincial elections past when we posted our challenges and dreams, all the way to the first process I witnessed in 1995. Over twenty years, some of the same things were still on the lists: not necessarily dangerous but testament to our continuing struggle living as a Precious Blood community. The following discussion was a continuation of those conversations past, as we sought together for our identity and shared mission, responding to the signs of the times and our own gifts and challenges.
Then a topic threw a wet blanket on everything: merger. The topic has also been around for these 20 years, and denying the possibility is dumb; Jesus never said, “Blessed are the willfully ignorant.” However, the fire of dialogue was extinguished after that; after all, discussing issues of the future with a dying group is a bit like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. In the 2010 Assembly, merger was the topic that smothered every other conversation and it did it again this year.
Every other issue about our identity, our ministries, our declining numbers and scarcity of new members, our relationship with our Companions, our future in the Church, are issues facing any current or conceivable North American province. Any conversation we could have among any of us would be useful in looking ahead; none of these come off the table in a merger. Some might say we should wait and talk with them about these things, however there has been no drive to organize such conversations yet. Waiting only makes them more difficult.
Merger will change nothing as it stands now: it will not solve our common problems and disputes, but will probably magnify and increase them. It will not save us from ourselves. Unless we confront our issues as a community on every level, personal and corporate, a new American province will be born fatally ill with the same contagion that affects us separately now. Complacency, personal comfort and rationalization will not be cured by a new house.
Smothering conversation is deadly, and this happened in April. Merger talk at this time does nothing but reinforce our complacency, keeping us from looking honestly at ourselves. Pope Francis says that ongoing free dialogue is a key part of the Church’s journey. Unless we are ready to be challenged and transformed, unless we’re ready to confront one another about what the Cry of the Blood calls us to, ultimately we smother Christ.
Feb 26, 2015
Missouri executed death row inmate Walter Storey on February 11th after the US Supreme Court denied his requested stay of execution. He challenged his execution based on Missouri’s refusal to disclose the name of the compounding pharmacy supplying the pentobarbital for use in his lethal injection. Storey also challenged the use of midazolam as a sedative. In the past the Supreme Court granted stays of execution due to the question of midazolam being a strong enough anesthetic to use as part of a lethal injection cocktail. After a rash of botched executions, numerous states have refused to disclose the identities of compounding pharmacies for their lethal injection drugs.
Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty believe these secrecy practices erode the transparency of the death penalty process and inhibits essential government oversight. We believe this far outweighs the argument to protect individuals from being personally harassed for doing their jobs of carrying out the execution. Nonetheless, the string of executions still go on in Missouri and more are to come. Cecil Clayton is scheduled to be executed on March 17th followed by Andre Cole on April 14th.
Cecil lost a significant portion of his brain as a result of an industrial accident when a projectile shot from a working saw shattered the frontal lobe of his brain. The loss of brain tissue deeply altered Cecil’s behavior. He began experiencing paranoid delusions, schizophrenia, and organic personality changes. His current IQ is 71. Pursuant to the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled in numerous cases against executing people with severe mental illness or intellectual disabilities. Missouri law states: “no person condemned to death shall be executed if as a result of mental disease or defect he lacks capacity to understand the nature and purpose of the punishment about to be imposed on him.” Yet the process for determining capacity relies solely on individuals within the correctional system, with no opportunity for outsiders to question those judgments. Experts have found that Cecil lacks the capacity to understand judicial proceedings or aid in his defense.
I encourage you all to come to the Sr. Helen Prejean workshop on March 7th at St. Francis Parish in St. Joseph to learn more about how you can take action against this senseless killing.
Daryl Charron, C.PP.S.
Jan 5, 2015
by Vicki Otto, Precious Blood Companions Co-Director, LGBT Ministry Committee
Every now and then a random lyric from a song pops in my head. When I was in Kansas City in November, a song from the 1980s struck that chord. I don’t know who sang the song, but the chorus was, “The future is so bright, I have to wear shades.” Over the last several weeks we have seen and heard words of division and anger while watching the news or reading the local papers. It almost feels like there is more bad news than there is good news. Words of anger and division seem commonplace and almost normal simply because we hear them so often. So how do we as Precious Blood people maintain hope? I believe when we courageously share our faith and offer places to speak truth, those moments of hope and brightness are possible.
The LGBT Ministry Committee has been working on and developing a process to help groups in our Precious Blood family discuss what it means to be more welcoming, not only for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, but for others who also might not feel welcomed in the Church. Using a model developed by Fr. Joe Nassal, five areas are highlighted during the process: How does a community open the door to welcome others, how do we seek the lost? How can we develop an environment that fosters telling the truth? How do we create a safe space where people can speak the truth? How do we comfortably stand in the breach when division in a community occurs? We also determined that the best way to foster dialogue was to clearly state that we were not advocating for changing Church policies or defying Church policy but simply offering the forum for groups to discuss what welcoming meant for them.
In November, our Committee was invited to offer this presentation at Saint Francis Xavier Parish in St. Joseph, Missouri. Sister Diana Rawlings, A.S.C. and Companion Cathy Pankiewicz from our committee joined me for our gathering. After we gathered and shared scripture and prayer, the community was eager to discuss the different areas of the presentation and what it meant specifically for them as a community. There were many interesting conversations about how individuals can reach out to others who they might not know and how challenging it was to step out of one’s comfort zone to reach out. One of the most powerful moments came after Cathy shared her story as a parent whose daughter is lesbian. She touched many people in her own parish community when she shared the challenges she and her family faced regarding the Church. One woman remarked at the end of the presentation, “We have more rules to keep people out of the Church then we do to welcome them in. We need to change that.” There was a beautiful transgender person named Jade who was also part of the gathering for the evening. She lives in California and was visiting her family in Saint Joseph. She was baptized and received her sacraments at Saint Francis. After the presentation was done, she told me never in her wildest imagination did she believe she would ever hear the words of welcoming and hospitality being shared that evening. Hearing the words of welcome and hospitality made a difference and gave her hope.
Saint Gaspar challenged the community of his time and continues to challenge us as a Precious Blood community to look outside the gate for those who stand at the edge. We are called to be a people of hospitality, to ensure that no one is left outside. On that evening in November, the people of Saint Francis Xavier answered the challenge Saint Gaspar gave us. Our hope as a committee is that more groups will begin this dialogue. In these times when we hear of division and anger in our world, that evening filled me with hope. I look forward to more of these opportunities because I want to believe that the future can be bright.
