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Pete2
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I enjoyed this article from my bishop, thought I’d share it:
The Rules
By THE MOST REVEREND WILLIAM E. LORI, S.T.D., BISHOP OF BRIDGEPORT, CT
Just before Thanksgiving, on the busiest travel day of the year, I was at Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ, to catch a flight to Louisville, KY. My hope was to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with my parents. Intent on getting home, I tuned out most of the noise and confusion all around me. But one public announcement received my undivided attention: “Continental Flight #1187 to Louisville has been cancelled.” I heard that one announcement over all the others because it affected me. It was about my flight and my destination. So I paid attention.
The Church is something like a public address system in a bustling airport. Its principal role is to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ to busy, distracted people living in a frenetic world. If the Church presents herself merely as a venerable institution doing a lot of good work, it will attract only a limited amount of attention. But if people perceive that the Church’s message has something to do with their own lives and destinies, then they are more likely to pay attention to the Gospel of Christ.
A dinner conversation I recently had with a parishioner from Fairfield County leads to the same conclusion. I was describing for this individual the various efforts under way to continue improving the effectiveness of diocesan administration.
He listened politely and agreed with the steps I was describing. But then he added, “Bishop, that is the easy part. The hard part is winning the minds and hearts of your people. That’s where the Church needs to do a better job.”
I confess to nearly choking on my salad when he said this. But, of course, he was right.
To some, perhaps to many, the Church is baffling. People may or may not be aware of the Church’s tremendous success in providing a sound education to the young and social services to the needy. All they see is a very large institution with a lot of rules. And the Church’s rules do not appear to be the rules they are used to.
As a result, they may not give the Church’s message much of a hearing.
Like every other organization, the Church has rules and these play a necessary role in the Church’s life. There is Church law (known as Canon Law), liturgical law, diocesan policies, and regulations. To some, even the Church’s moral teaching may seem like a mere set of arbitrary rules designed to limit one’s freedom of choice.
But rules aren’t the place to begin in trying to understand the Church. If that’s where we start our quest to understand the Church, we’ll end up seeing it as a sort of spiritual regulatory agency. The rules only really make sense after the Church’s essential message of salvation in Christ has overtaken our minds and hearts with its truth, beauty, and goodness, and its power to save us.
Consider this example. Suppose you are learning to play golf. It’s a game that has a lot of rules. But if your instructor begins your lessons with a detailed explanation of the rules, you might consider asking for a refund. The pro’s principal job is to help you learn how to swing a golf club, to help you internalize in your mind and body the right moves, so that the club solidly addresses the ball. One you’ve been thrilled by your first 225-yard tee shot that lands in the middle of the fairway or a chip shot that comes close to the pin, you won’t mind the rules of golf at all. In fact, you’ll study them carefully in the hope of becoming a better golfer.
In other words, once you love the game, you’ll love the rules.
article continued:
bridgeportdiocese.com/column7.05.shtml
The Rules
By THE MOST REVEREND WILLIAM E. LORI, S.T.D., BISHOP OF BRIDGEPORT, CT
Just before Thanksgiving, on the busiest travel day of the year, I was at Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ, to catch a flight to Louisville, KY. My hope was to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with my parents. Intent on getting home, I tuned out most of the noise and confusion all around me. But one public announcement received my undivided attention: “Continental Flight #1187 to Louisville has been cancelled.” I heard that one announcement over all the others because it affected me. It was about my flight and my destination. So I paid attention.
The Church is something like a public address system in a bustling airport. Its principal role is to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ to busy, distracted people living in a frenetic world. If the Church presents herself merely as a venerable institution doing a lot of good work, it will attract only a limited amount of attention. But if people perceive that the Church’s message has something to do with their own lives and destinies, then they are more likely to pay attention to the Gospel of Christ.
A dinner conversation I recently had with a parishioner from Fairfield County leads to the same conclusion. I was describing for this individual the various efforts under way to continue improving the effectiveness of diocesan administration.
He listened politely and agreed with the steps I was describing. But then he added, “Bishop, that is the easy part. The hard part is winning the minds and hearts of your people. That’s where the Church needs to do a better job.”
I confess to nearly choking on my salad when he said this. But, of course, he was right.
To some, perhaps to many, the Church is baffling. People may or may not be aware of the Church’s tremendous success in providing a sound education to the young and social services to the needy. All they see is a very large institution with a lot of rules. And the Church’s rules do not appear to be the rules they are used to.
As a result, they may not give the Church’s message much of a hearing.
Like every other organization, the Church has rules and these play a necessary role in the Church’s life. There is Church law (known as Canon Law), liturgical law, diocesan policies, and regulations. To some, even the Church’s moral teaching may seem like a mere set of arbitrary rules designed to limit one’s freedom of choice.
But rules aren’t the place to begin in trying to understand the Church. If that’s where we start our quest to understand the Church, we’ll end up seeing it as a sort of spiritual regulatory agency. The rules only really make sense after the Church’s essential message of salvation in Christ has overtaken our minds and hearts with its truth, beauty, and goodness, and its power to save us.
Consider this example. Suppose you are learning to play golf. It’s a game that has a lot of rules. But if your instructor begins your lessons with a detailed explanation of the rules, you might consider asking for a refund. The pro’s principal job is to help you learn how to swing a golf club, to help you internalize in your mind and body the right moves, so that the club solidly addresses the ball. One you’ve been thrilled by your first 225-yard tee shot that lands in the middle of the fairway or a chip shot that comes close to the pin, you won’t mind the rules of golf at all. In fact, you’ll study them carefully in the hope of becoming a better golfer.
In other words, once you love the game, you’ll love the rules.
article continued:
bridgeportdiocese.com/column7.05.shtml