Rochester Bishop Addresses Homosexual Issue

Bishop Matthew Clark to Homosexual Priests and Future Priests:
 

* homosexual priests who spend themselves each day in faithful, loving ministry to God's holy people. We deeply value your ministry.

* to gay young men who are considering a vocation to priesthood. We try to treat all inquiries fairly. You will be no exception.

* to all who may have been confused or misled by premature and narrow reporting of the visitation and rumored document. It is always better to deal with fact than with rumor and half-truths.

 

Daddy Gator has Burn't Down the House he Built

From Mike Bianchi in the Orlando Sentinel:

How does it feel, Gators?

How does it feel to be Ray Goff?

How does it feel to be Phil Fulmer?

How does it feel to be Peyton Manning?

How does it feel to be Curley Hallman, Bill Curry, Brad Scott and Gerry DiNardo?

Now the Florida Gators are just like every other coach, player and program that has felt the guile and style of Stephen Orr Spurrier. Now, he has ruined their season, too, just like he has ruined so many seasons for Southeastern Conference teams from the Louisiana lowlands to the summit of Rocky Top.

Except this one is the rockiest of bottoms. This one hurts most of all because it was Spurrier, the ultimate Gator, tearing apart the very program he put together. This was college football fratricide.

Daddy just burned down the family house...

...And now the inevitable comparisons begin. Zook's UF team threw six touchdown passes and beat South Carolina 48-14 last year. The last Spurrier-coached Florida team beat South Carolina 54-17. And the first time Meyer plays here, the Gamecocks turn the Gators into chicken feed.

I guess this Spurrier guy can still coach a little, huh? Don't look now, but Spurrier still has never lost a Florida-South Carolina game. In fact, he led the Gamecocks to their first win over the Gators since 1939. That's when Lou Gehrig made his famous farewell speech at Yankee Stadium and told the world, "I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

From the look of giddy pleasure on his face, Spurrier might have argued that point Saturday.

"I feel so fortunate to be coaching this team," he said. "This is neat. We're defying logic. I knew we had a chance to make history here, I just didn't know we would be making it so fast."

Two weeks ago, the Gamecocks won at Tennessee for the first time ever. And now they've scored more points than they ever have against Florida and defeated the Gators for the first time in 66 years.

Ah, 1939 -- the same year The Wizard of Oz came out.

It only seems fitting, because Urban Meyer is quickly finding out that, "Toto, I don't think we're in Utah anymore."

Meanwhile, the ol' ballcoach is taking South Carolina on a wild and wondrous journey somewhere over the rainbow.

And they would have won the SEC East had they won...

Hard to be impressed with Urban Meyer's first year as the UF head coach. He has taken a team loaded with talent and managed to squeak wins out against Vanderbilt and other lesser talented teams, while at the same time losing to the likes of South Carolina.

Spurrier who could have been coaching the Gators if he hadn't been asked to particpate in interviews like the other candidates (were there ever any other candidates besides Meyer?)...has taken a team with no talent and beat the likes of Florida, Tennesee and came close to beating Georgia.

Why would anyone think that the genius who hired Ron Zook to replace Spurrier in the first place would do any better the second time around--even when given the opportunity to hire Mr. Gator back again?

By the way the USF Bulls are on track to be in the BCS this year...while two of the big three won't be...

Will Ban, Won't

Italian Press reports new document will ban "practicing" homosexuals (I might add that this says absolutely nothing, since practing heterosexuals also are banned from being ordained celibate priests).

 

From ABC News:

 

The Church cannot admit to the priesthood those who practice homosexuality, have deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or those who support the so-called 'gay culture,"' the newspaper quoted the document as saying.

In recent months there have been numerous leaks about the contents of the document but Il Giornale's report by its respected religious affairs correspondent Andrea Tornielli appeared to be the first with direct quotes.

Benedict has them Guessing

From Reuters:

 

But the private Pope, according to several well-placed Vatican prelates who spoke on the condition of anonymity, is another matter.

"The style inside the Vatican now is totally different," said a monsignor. "He is keeping a lot of us guessing."

John Paul would invite visitors to his private mass early every morning and engage them afterwards at breakfast on a host of issues facing the Church and the world.

Before his health declined, John Paul's dinners were legendary for their cultural exchange and lively intellectual banter.

Benedict, by contrast, has precious few visitors to his private apartments apart from his close staff. So, hints of what is on his mind or of impending decisions rarely trickle out.

As private and reserved as he was before his election, he spends much of his private time in the evening reading, and occasionally relaxes by playing the piano.
 

New Bishop for Sioux City

I think this is the first "ordinary" appointed by Pope Benedict in the
United States.

From Vatican Information Service:

Msgr. Ralph Walker Nickless, vicar general and pastor of the parish of
Our Lady of Fatima in the archdiocese of Denver, U.S.A., as bishop of
Sioux City (area 37,587, population 468,549, Catholics 94,186, priests
150, permanent deacons 36, religious 86), U.S.A. The bishop-elect was
born in Denver in 1947 and ordained a priest in 1973.

P.R.A.Y. The Sunday Gospel

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Matthew 25:14-30

P. Prepare
A Man Going on a Journey
1. This parable follows the parable of the ten virgins from last Sunday’s Gospel.
2. It is both a parable of discipleship (how we are serving in God’s Kingdom) and of future judgment (how we will be judged when Our Lord returns).
3. In this parable of the kingdom all are not equal, rather each servant is entrusted with talents commensurate with their ability…literally their power (dynamis)
4. A “talent” was the largest denomination in Greek currency, roughly equivalent to 10,000 denarii. In another parable we are told that one denarius is one day’s wage. We might equate a talent with a million dollars in our economy. The point here being that even one “talent” was equivalent to a persons lifetime of earning. What should not be lost on the modern reader is that “talent” was money, not aptitude.
5. Each servant is entrusted with this enormous gift, i.e. each Christian believer has been given everything they need in life freely from Our Lord whose salvation is a gift to us.
6. The master leaves no instruction on what to do with the money that he leaves to his servants before going on his journey. In the end the accounting will relate to how the master is thought of and how this propels the good servants to use their talents versus the wicked one.
7. “Immediately” the good servants put the money they have received to use and make more, the bad servant buries it in the ground (might this be an indication of believing in death more than life—already a sign of living not with belief in the resurrection and return of Jesus but rather fearing that he will not return and death is the true end?) St. John Chrysostom interpreted this behavior as “selfishness” an unwillingness to help others.
8. It was considered “safe” to bury money in the ground to protect it from thieves, but this behavior is condemned by Jesus. His followers are to let their light shine before all. Belonging to the Kingdom is all about risk because it is belief in the power of the cross not fear of those who can take one’s life but rather fear of him who after our life has been taken can cast us into Gehenna.
10. In the parable the master returns “After a long time”…a theme that at least in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus return, his second coming doesn’t happen when his disciples expect (in Matthew 24 an immediate return is forecast, in 25 a later than expected return is forecast—we know neither the day nor the hour).
11. The confession of the servant acknowledges that what they made of their talents (life?) was made possible first of all because of the gift of the talent in the first place from the Lord. His response “Well done, my good and faithful servant” echoes what every disciple desires and echoes the sentiments of those who felt “joy” at the funerals of both Pope John Paul II and Blessed Mother Teresa who stand as modern examples of the good servants in this parable. Notice the response of the Lord to the second servant entrusted with less talents at the beginning of the parable is the same.
12. One might take the “wicked, lazy servant” as those who believe that God is so all powerful that they literally do not matter. Yet the point of the Gospel is that while God is all powerful he has humbled himself and given us a mission. Our prayers, good works all empowered by Him do matter and we can not stand back asking God why he delays in returning when he has empowered us to do His will on this earth. What are we doing with the power that God has entrusted us? Do we pray like everything depends upon our prayers? Do we work and speak out like everything depends upon our efforts and voice? Or do we wait for those good and faithful servants to do this for us?
13. The wicked servant seems to think that his action was “good” even though it leads to his condemnation. This parable attacks humility when it is used as a pretense for not acting and as a way of using God as a foil for our own inactivity.
14. The wicked servant is cast out into the darkness. Might there be a psychological interpretation for the fruit of a life lived not for others but for self? One does not feel that they have used their lives wisely.
R. Read
Read Matthew 25:14-30 slowly. What strikes you as you read the selection? You might want to read it again before you go to Mass on Sunday.
A. Attend
Listen to all of the readings at Mass. How do the First Reading and Responsorial Psalm add to what the Gospel says? What speaks to you as you hear the Gospel proclaimed? What in the homily touches you or adds to what you were already thinking?
Y. Yield
How can you take the gift of your Baptism and use it daily to add to the Kingdom of God? Where can you bring healing to others? Who needs your prayers? Who needs the money that God has entrusted to you? How can you take what you have been given and have more to give Our Lord when he returns?