Sunday, December 24, 2006

What if....

Mary and Joseph had had a baby girl?

Maybe then images like this:



And this:




And this:

Are You Called to Serve?

The Boston Archdiocesan's Lay Ministry
Program at St. John's Seminary in Brighton.



Wouldn't bother me so much.

And if you are wondering what the Lay Ministry Program teaches...well I just happened to find it:

* A capacity for self-acceptance and tolerance of the imperfections of others,
* The ability to work with others in a spirit of cooperation,
* Healthy personality: honest sensitive communication, observance of professional boundaries, emotional stability, the ability to trust others, freedom from the need to control people and situations,
* Recognition of and respect for authority, and the ability to exercise authority in an appropriate manner,
* Competent leadership skills,
* Conflict management skills,
* The capacity for empathy,
* Self-awareness of the dynamics of human sexuality,
* A balanced commitment to family, and to recreational and spiritual values for a holistic life,
* A commitment to further self-development and professional enrichment.

If this is what the Seminary has been teaching it sure explains some problems in the priesthood and now the laity will be the beneficiaries of this kind of wisdom. When "service" is all about a "capacity for self", and don't forget the "self awareness of the dynamics of human sexuality" now THAT is what's lacking. Tolerance, sensitivity, balance, holistic approaches, and frankly power.

1 comment:

Thomas Coolberth said...

This lay ministry program is engaging in the devious task of training lay people to give homilies. The scandal is that they do this inside the Roman Catholic Church, I happen to know of one of their priest/professors.

Instead, they should they be setting up think-tanks to work on the vocations problem. There could be sub-committees on problems "Why Catholic women are not having babies at suitable levels" and "Why are so many Catholic men spineless?". What is the cause of this? How can it be ameliorated? How can lay people work with other lay people and help build the kingdom in this Post-protestant, Secular-Masonic nation of ours? How to do we build Christendom?

There's lots of work to do but these people are setting fires behind the walls of the castle when they should be helping manning the bulwarks and dousing the evil invaders with boiling oil and pitch.