Sacred Heart

The Centennial Celebration!

Click here to see what the Progress had to say about our parish being 100 years old!
This should be fun! Both Saturday (after the 5 p.m. Mass) and Sunday (after the 11 a.m.) include celebrations. I'm going to bring my camera and see about posting a photo album. I'll include any digital photos sent to me.
6/3/05: Here's what the Herald had to say today (and today, they did NOT note, is the Feast of the Sacred Heart.)

On a Wing and a Prayer

That’s the name of this year’s Sacred Heart's Ski to Sea team. Not that Sacred Heart sponsors the team, actually. It’s just usually made up of folks recruited at Mass. In 2002, I wanted to get to know the people at Sacred Heart better, and putting together a race team was one way to do it! Ginnie Parine joined on the canoe leg with Scott Ronson, Bill Banasky, Joan Parrish and Janelle Moran. We asked Fr. Frank to join, but the race being on Sunday left him out. We did have a priest, though – Fr. Harry Geib, a Jesuit friend of ours came and did the running segment. (Almost wrote “running leg.”)

The most important part of a team is, of course, it’s name. Ours: “We’ll be home late tonight” and indeed, we were the dead last finishers of the race, a bare 90 seconds short of the 11 hour deadline. Hey, as Nick said, “It’s supposed to be fun” (and as Bill Banasky came back at him, “ but winning is fun.”)

Ginnie Parine shouldered the work of organizing the 2003 team– called “Not quite as late” (or something like that) (and they weren’t!) and the 2004 team – “The Sacred Heart Attackers.” The 2005 team races tomorrow, “On a Wing and a Prayer.” Cheers to the captain, Ginnie, and hats off to the racers: Jaime Schwandt, Betsie Upton, Analiese Volpe, George Mariz, Diane Mauer, Ginnie Parine, Mary Ann Ruf and Tom Spenser.

Trinity Sunday

Weren’t the readers wonderful yesterday? (yesterday being Trinity Sunday, May 22, 2005.) Both Bridget Adams and Carol Gavareski did an outstanding job. One can sense that these are readers who prepare themselves prayerfully. Deacon Larry preached his best homily yet; it was full of ideas that I need to think about it and couldn’t remember; if I was braver, I would ask him for a copy to post here. He started with picking up Fr. Dave’s theme from last week - this idea of breath. Jesus breathed on those in the upper room. God breathed on the clay to create human life. He ended with a thought about the Holy Spirit at its best in us. I was thinking about this and then I read Alice.

Ever read Alice? Alice Camille who writes “Exploring the Sunday Readings.” They are in a pile by the front door. I DO have a copy of that and here’s her reflection on John 3:16-18 for Trinity Sunday:
"God, the divine Son, and the church imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit – now there's an indivisible Trinity worth celebrating! We usually think of the Trinity as a pure expression of God apart from us: what God sees in heaven’s mirror first thing in the morning, so to speak. But it’s hard to speak of the Holy Spirit without including ourselves, since the activity of the indwelling Spirit takes place within humanity. God may be in his heaven, and Jesus once walked on earth, but the Spirit lives in the church today.

To speak of the Trinity without adding ourselves, therefore, takes something essential out of the story. We know God as Trinity precisely because Spirit has been given to us; otherwise we’d speak of the Great Duality and never guess that God has chose to take up residence in the world at our address."

Sexual Ethics

Sexual Ethics: how about some simple guidelines?

Years ago I listened to a tape which talked not about sexual rules, but about the questions we should be asking to determine whether or not a relationship is ethical. I found this to be useful over the years, when confronted with situations which begged for guidelines.

I forgot some of the questions and that bothered me. The tape had long since vanished.

At the Women’s Convocation I chose the session “Contemporary Catholic Christian Ethics” by Margaret A. Farley. As she started off, I realized these were the questions on the tape! The tape is in the process of becoming a book, fully developed!

Here are the questions as I took notes on them. The WORDS IN CAPS are her words. The questions are my summary, not her exact words. She is not responsible for how I process what I hear!

(1) FREE CONSENT: Is this decision truly free? Are both parties free to make this decision?

(2) MUTUALITY: Does this relationship involve mutuality, or are the benefits one-sided?

(3) EQUALITY: Is this a relationship between equals?

(4) COMMITMENT: Does the relationship express itself in commitment?

(5) FRUITFULNESS: Does this relationship turn in on itself or give life?

(6) SOCIAL JUSTICE: How does this relationship affect the larger community?

I’ve tried these questions on other ethical issues that come up in our daily lives and the lives of our friends.  They seem to be a place to start the discussion of "What is the right and good thing to do?"

Just Faith

This Sunday Nick Mele, Lee Langdon and Dan Larguier are making announcements about Just Faith. What is Just Faith? Well, I've started another blog, linked here, and that's where I'll post the details, but in brief, it's a nationwide spiritual formation program of 30 weeks (approved and supported by the Catholic powers that be)  which seeks to answer the questions - who is Jesus? What is my relationship with Him today? Who is my neighbor? How is my relationship with my neighbor affected by my relationship with Jesus? 

This morning's Herald had an article on the front page about Pope John Paul II being on the fast track for sainthood. It concluded with a snippet about Catholic doctrine, all couched in negative terms, that made me wonder: is this the essence of what I believe? No. What I believe is deeper and richer than this twaddle served up for sensation on the front pages of the paper. This is why I want to participate in the Just Faith formation process, to deepen my understanding of the treasure of our faith.Download just_faith_information_.doc

The Annual Appeal

I’ve heard a couple of great sermons these past few weeks for the Annual Appeal. One of them was at St. Mary’s in Seattle, which started out with – “Here are 4 good reasons NOT to give to the Annual Appeal” (and I was ready to give by the end) – and one by Fr. Frank Schuster last night at Assumption. I missed this year’s appeal at Sacred Heart but last year’s pitch by Richard Wilson had me doubling our contribution. The theme this year seemed to stress the cost of education for seminarians. It is ironic that Kathy Ernst, who has served Assumption as the pastoral associate for many years received no financial  support from the diocese to get either her Masters in Divinity nor her PhD.

It is interesting to me that the homilies for the Annual Appeal are so, well,  appealing; I’m wondering why this is. Perhaps it’s because they’re about something concrete: we can visualize seminaries, we have come into contact with the good work of Catholic Charities, we understand the responsibility to support those retired from church service.  We respond to direct connections with results we can see. I'm wondering how this affects our spiritual life and how we listen to homilies the rest of the year.

Who was that guitar player?

Last Sunday at the 11:00, I was in the back, and so I couldn't see, but I could hear, that unusual solo guitarist sing, "Were you there when they crucified my Lord?" This Sunday we are going to Assumption to celebrate Mother's Day with my mother, so I won't be able to quiz the choir. Does someone know? Put the answer in the comments!