June 16, 2013
11th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Happy Father's Day to Pope Francis and to all good fathers. And may my dad, William Francis Fitzgerald and other good dads, faithful departed, rest in peace.

"The biblical term compassion recalls a mother's womb. Indeed a mother feels a reaction all her own when faced with her children's pain. That is how God loves us." Pope Francis, Angelus Greeting on 10th Sunday of Ordinary Time

"THAT IS HOW GOD LOVES US......LIKE A MOTHER!

The Pope gives women credit for their modeling the compassion that is our salvation. These are words not often heard from male lips.

In 1970 following Vatican II, we formed a rural Team Ministry called Crescent in North East Nebraska. And we did a national search and hired two remarkable, multi talented women from Texas, Sisters Effie and Roseanne as our "associates in ministry." And we functioned together as partners in service to our people. The work they did and the seeds they planted live on on in the farm communities they served.

This comes to mind because today the Gospel mentions the first Christian Team Ministry: the team Jesus formed. The Gospels of course were written by men from the male point of view, and that point of view puts the male Apostles in the spotlight. BUT presence of women in his entourage cannot be ignored by the Gospel writers, so today we read, almost as an afterthought a grudging acknowledgment names of women:
Joanna,
Chuza's wife,
Susanna,
Mary of Magdala,
"And MANY OTHERS who provided for them out of their resources."

And of course in the Gospel, it is a woman who is kind to Jesus rather than a "higher up" in the establishment "Curia" of his day.

I recently attended a joint presentation on gay marriage by Bishop Paprocki who said it could never happen because of Catholic doctrine, and Sister Jean who said maybe the Holy Spirit could move us in a different direction?

They were both interesting and well spoken. Bishop Paprocki is an athlete. He Runs the marathon, and plays as a goalie in hockey. Sister Jean a long time advocate for gay causes.

They were both to be admired for appearing together. For this is an issue needing to be aired.

I make no comments on the theology involved, only on the images that came to my mind at the end: Bishop Paprocki, showing courage, the goalie guarding the net. And Sister Jean, the deft forward skating down the ice, hoping that the obstacles facing her would move away and she would reach her goal.

Jean, a deft woman, feeling compassion for the pain of those described by the catechism as "disordered." Deftness, agility, an intuitive wisdom, a widened compassion, were these often feminine attributes possessed by those scriptural women who surrounded Jesus?

What do you think?

Breakfast Question: How would you react if your sexual orientation was described as disordered?
Personal Reflection: Do you have a homosexual friend? What are they like?