"So far away..."

Okay, we've done Norah Jones (w/Keith Richards), Gram Parsons, both with and without (the inexplicably deleted) Whiskeytown cover vids, Emmylou, U-2 w/ Mary J. Blige, Bono with Tom Waits and with Pavarotti, Bethy, REM (twice), and Mazzy Star . So, as the Monty Python players might say, "Now, for something completely different". Okay, it's not that different, but it is a great tune for a Friday in keeping our hallowed Καθολικός διάκονος tradition.

To round out this trip down memory lane and since I'm spinning the records, this one is for my dear wife, from whom, especially early in our marriage, I spent so much time apart.

In the near term, we will enjoy more REM, Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Mazzy Star, etc. We'll also (finally) work in some Police and Bruce Springsteen.

Hierarchy revisited

In recent months I have written a few posts concerning the statistical state of the episcopacy in the United States with no commentary. I want to draw attention to an article by George Weigel, dated 23 July 2007 and entitled The Coming Crisis in Episcopal Demographics. As I wrote in my last episcopal post: "Including the Dioceses of Knoxville and Green Bay, along with the Military Archdiocese, the number of vacant dioceses has jumped from seven to ten since the last update." This only covers the span of time between 17 April-21 July 2007. Weigel highlights this and also sets forward several challenges for the Church regarding episcopal selection and appointments.

The highlights of Weigel's article are:

1) "There are 222 months between July 2007 and December 2025. During that period, 165 diocesan bishops and 52 auxiliary bishops in the United States will reach the canonically prescribed retirement age of 75. That might suggest that a total of 217 bishops will have to be replaced between Independence Day 2007 and Christmas 2025 — which is a lot of bishops."

2) After making another salient point on demographics, he concludes: "Taking all of these factors into account, a conservative estimate would suggest that the Church in America must be given at least 250 new bishops between now and December 2025, or one new bishop about every three and a half weeks." We're nowhere close to that, especially when bishops who are ordinaries are moved from one diocese to another, which seems to be a trend. It is certainly understandable, even laudatory, when a bishop from within a metropolitan province is made archbishop of that same province, as with Archbishops Niederauer, Kurtz, and Nienstedt in San Francisco, Louisville, and St. Paul-Minneapolis respectively. Who knows, perhaps such appointments from within will lead to archdioceses reclaiming their rightful ecclesiological standing, instead of being eclipsed by USCCB regions. Nonetheless, all cases of transferring ordinaries add to the current problem, which presently amounts to a vacancy a month, at least between April and July of this year.

One remedy, as I have mentioned in both previous posts, is allowing bishops who are seventy-five, in good health, and who are willing to continue serving to serve. I think this a particularly a good idea in the case of cardinal archbishops, since they do not become super-annuated as cardinals until they turn eighty. The Holy Father actually made the issue of retired bishops in good health, of whom there are now many, a topic of discussion at the consistory of the Sacred College of Cardinals, held just prior to the Synod on the Eucharist back in 2005.

3) Most importantly, Weigel observes, "there seems to have been no strategic plan to guide this process. Appointments to both diocesan and metropolitan sees are handled independently, one at a time; on only the rarest of occasions does consideration seem to be given to how a move on one part of this complex chessboard affects other possible moves down the line."

If you are a Church geek like me, the entire article is well-worth a read.

Friday, again

Diaconal bow to the Ironic Catholic, who got it from Dymphna's Well, who, in turn, acknowledged RECONnecting to the TRUTH.

This is my kind of meme, especially for a Friday.

Minneapolis tragedy

On our parish blog, a prayer request for those killed, for their families, for the survival of those missing, for those injured, and for the emergency responders who are so bravely working for the best outcome of this tragedy. I know several people who live and work in the twin cities, a lovely and lively place, this is a bit worrying on a personal level.

Something to make us smile

As with all things CL my friend Alex is well out in front of me on this. Anyway, here is the new intro. to the Communion and Liberation website. This song really cheered me up this morning. That is a blessing.

"What counts in life is not to avoid mistakes, but not to be false, and falsehood is not to recognize the truth." Msgr. Luigi Giussani, who said in 22 words what it took me a whole, tortured post to express yesterday!

I won't make it to Rimini, but I will be praying for those who will and eagerly look forward to the published conferences. I'd love an actual poster to frame.

My Personal DNA

"You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT"

"Your imagination, self-reliance, openness to new things, and appreciation for utility combine to make you an INVENTOR."


"You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!

Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant."

As Radiohead once averred: OK Computer!

Reflections and ruminations to at the beginning of a new month

We begin a new month today. It is funny how time flies! On 1 July I was making my way back from a wonderful, if intense, two weeks in Minnesota. July was a blur. August also looks like a busy month. School starts for my children, I am preaching two weekends, registration for Children's Education begins- the beat goes on. Even more, as I awoke this morning and sleepily realized it was 1 August, I immediately recalled that it was on this day 32 years ago that my family and I moved to Ogden. Wow! It still seems weird to me that I have vivid memories of things that happened that long ago.

I mention all of this, not to bore you, but to try and somehow link all of this to my several impassioned posts on spirituality, to show that integrating faith into life and life into faith is a constant challenge and struggle. It is paradoxical because at one and the same time it is the easiest and most difficult thing in the world. I make it difficult when I force the issue by suddenly undertaking, on my own initiative, to be someone else, someone I'm not, in the mistaken hope that God will be more pleased with this other person I make out of whole of cloth, this "holy" nobody who does all the right things all time, even if it is all done mechanistically, a "korrekt Christian", if you will. Such a move is false and will not please God; neither will it solve anything for me. It will make me miserable. Nonetheless, false selves proliferate.

Holiness is not following a daily checklist, but that is not to assert that there is no discipline involved. However, the disciplines of the spiritual life (i.e., prayer, fasting, contemplation, study, solitude, simplicity, etc.) are means, not ends and mindlessly observing them yields no fruit. Being the person I am has an element of becoming, but this becoming is not self-driven, it is God-driven, which means, given my impatient and demanding nature, it is bound to be frustrating. Practicing the disciplines of the spiritual life, therefore, is done (writing metaphorically)to clear a space, to open me up to what God is doing, not about getting what I want by being good or pre-determining the outcome of my intentional actions. This is why we talk about surrendering to God, breaking down resistance to what God is trying to do in us. This requires giving up false and sentimental notions about who I am and expelling silly notions about who I'd rather be instead! I know all of that borders on nonsense because it is too dense. So, take it for what it is worth, if unpacking it helps, great. If not, no worries!

Tension abounds. It is good for me, at least the healthy kind of tension, not the kind that induces stress, but the kind that doesn't allow me to become complacent, to become smug, to think that I've arrived, that I have it all figured out, that I am the oracle of God's will to the people around me. Of course, even living with this tension, I should experience moments of peace, of reassurance, of joy and happiness, of silent stillness. I need those times when, to borrow from the language of recovery, I let go and let God.

The one thing I appreciated about reading Chesterton this past week or so is his joie de vivre. If there is any heroic virtue he possessed that makes him a candidate for sainthood it is this virtue that enabled him to revel in being alive, to look at the world, even as a grown man, with a sense of wonder, to truly enjoy the world in all its messiness. I certainly agree with him that God is more of an artist that a scientist. Chesterton was no fan uniformity and order, which is a good thing. Uniformity and order are characteristics of worldly utopias, not the Kingdom of God, where, as God's beloved child, I am free and encouraged to be myself. I think the only necessary provisio here is that I can only be myself in relation to others.