David Ancell / Tuesday, July 22, 2003 / Comments(0)
Well, I just had someone tell me that I was being offensive on Busted Halo. I guess I should have figured I was offending someone. I don’t think I’ve been booted yet. She told me that I was dismissing real people with real feelings by denouncing homosexual behavior. My offending comment was that I said that it may be a cross for a person with a homosexual tendency to have to go without sex, but not only must such a one bear it, but it is an opportunity to demonstrate great holiness.
The irony is that I could just as easily be offended by her dismissal of those who believe in the authority of the Church as people who “blindly follow rules.” This is especially true given that I have taken great pains on this forum to give an explanation of the teaching. I didn’t just stop and say “Oh, it’s bad.” It just goes to show you that one must convert one’s will in order to be open to the teaching of the Church.
UPDATE: Here is my response:
I know not what to make of the fact that you find my statements offensive. You say that I am dismissive of real people with real feelings. Am I not a real person with real feelings? Do you think that I do not have struggles against disordered desires of another kind? I may have these desires, but my point is not so much that I am sinless as the fact that I understand indulgence in disordered desires as reasons to go to confession and to resolve to change. This is what I am getting at.
I could easily take offense at you for suggesting that those who believe what the Church teaches are “blindly following rules.” Can you so easily dismiss me? I have labored to provide as full an explanation as I know how to give for why the Church teaches what she teaches. Have you read through it all? Although I have arrived at this teaching at least in part by my conviction that the Church has been given to us by Christ as the authority, I do not believe the Church simply because she says she has authority. I had to arrive at that conviction some other way. Even Jesus acknowledged that the teachers of the Law have the keys to the kingdom of Heaven and that there every teaching must be followed. It’s their actions that were not to be imitated. The conflict of Jesus and the Pharisess was not because the Pharisees were really concered about the Law (They weren’t; they made exceptions in certain aspects that suited them.) but because of their hypocrisy.
It is not my intent to push people off any more than it was that of Jesus. However, we know full well that Jesus offended people so much that they crucified him. If I denounce sins, it is only so that people will turn towards Christ and the Church. It is not to tell people they are in a hopeless situation. I do not believe such. Jesus told us that we have to deny ourselves and take up our crosses. To follow Jesus is to go where he led. He went to the cross. Therefore, self-denial is a part of what it means to follow Christ.
Neither am I trying to stifle or oppress people. I oppose not people but sin, including my own. I oppose sin because I know that ultimately it will not lead to greater happiness. We know this from what God has taught us. So many people try to fill their God-shaped vacuum with sex, drugs, and other things that may numb their pain but will not lead to their happiness. If you have a friend who is involved in destructive behavior, you will no doubt tell the person that what he/she is doing is destructive. This is far more compassionate than the alternative. I wish to help as well.
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David Ancell / Tuesday, July 22, 2003 / Comments(0)
We have just had a colossal storm here in Memphis. It went through the whole city and caused all sorts of damage even though there was no known tornado. I am currently without power and am connecting by dial-up running on my laptop’s battery power. The running water isn’t working so well, either.
I didn’t know how bad this storm was until I took a short drive through a main road (Germantown Parkway). I saw a big metal church sign down. All of the stoplights were down, and some of them were torn off their posts or even split in half (i.e. the part with the green and yellow light was torn off the red light). I saw fences down and a lot of tree limbs on the ground. I heard on the radio that some people have trees in their living room now. I also heard that some power lines fell and shattered windshields and partially crushed cars, but I did hear that those people appear to be okay.
If you are reading this, please pray for us in Memphis. Please pray that we get our power back soon and get things repaired. I am okay, but others aren’t so lucky.
UPDATE:Check this report out.
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David Ancell / Monday, July 21, 2003 / Comments(0)
I don’t think I posted the fact that I was able to have a nice, brief conversation with Dr. Alan Schreck while in Steubenville. For those of you who do not know him, he is the chairman of the theology department at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is the author of the well-known book Catholic and Christian.
I was able to confirm that he has two new books coming. The first is a version of Catholic and Christian for teenagers. I figure this will be perfect for my 14-year-old cousin. He is also writing a badly-needed book on Vatican II and what it said. I told him that I was glad to hear that he was doing that because that book is badly needed. The only downside is that it will be next year before we see either of these books per Dr. Schreck. Oh well, I’m glad to see they are coming.
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David Ancell / Sunday, July 20, 2003 / Comments(0)
I made it home about an hour ago. The morning was great, with Marcus Grodi talking about his Coming Home Network and Kimberly Hahn talking about Life-Nurturing Love. Then we had the closing Mass. Fr. Benedict Groeschel gave the homily. This made for a great end to the conference.
I had a long time before my plane left, so I stayed behind to pray. I met some people from New Orleans while doing the Stations of the Cross and prayed it with them. They were a great group of people.
I hope to post some more thoughts on the conference as more things come to mind. I did make one observation. The field house where our main sesions were held really looks more like a church than some churches do. The outside is shaped kind of like a church. The inside actually has an apse above the stage where the altar is placed for Mass. No, it doesn’t look that much like a church, but I’m sure there are plenty of churches that look like gymnasiums.
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David Ancell / Saturday, July 19, 2003 / Comments(0)
Another person on the Paulists’ Busted Halo site is questioning the Church’s teaching on homosexuality. She has then expressed complaints about being told to just accept things without question. Here is my response:
Sometimes our commitment to Christ requires us to accept teachings that we do not understand and perhaps don’t seem right to us. This is when we have to have faith that the Holy Spirit is still in charge. Often the litmus test of faith is that we believe what we don’t want to believe or do what we don’t want to do. This doesn’t mean that faith consists entirely of doing what we don’t want. However, if we just do things that we wanted to do anyway, there is no way to discern if we acted out of love for God or were just doing things that we would have done anyway.
We can and should question things. We should have “faith seeking understanding.” We should always believe what the Church teachings because Christ said that the gates of Hell would never prevail against her and gave her the power to bind and loose. When we have areas that we are having trouble believing, we must pray and study. Keep in mind, though, that the idea that if, after prayer and study, it is then okay to reject the teaching is false teaching.
Remember that Christ called us not to form opinions about everything but to follow him. He called us not to follow our personal feelings, but to follow him. He told his apostles that he who hears them hears him. Therefore, the teaching of the Magisterium must be believed in order to be in communion with the Church.
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David Ancell / Saturday, July 19, 2003 / Comments(0)
I’ve already blogged about how I got up this morning and could have hung meat in this room. The outside was that way, too. I never thought I’d see the day when I ran the heat and wore a jacket in July. However, it didn’t take long for the weather to turn beautiful. Apparently, there has been a lot more rain in the area this year, so the grass is green instead of brown like last year. I wonder if this year is more typical of Steubenville than last year or vice versa.
In fact, not only is the weather better, but the conference is worlds better. Last year’s theme was about building a civilization of love, and I must say that I thought it was a strange topic from the beginning. The topic of growth in holiness is much more interesting.
The morning started off with a skit on the Luminous Mysteries of the Rosary. It was mildly entertaining, but I can’t say that it was edifying. However, after the skit we prayed the Rosary. It was just beautiful. I’m going to suggest they do it again next year. After that, we had Kristine Franklin talk about being holy in our culture. She basically talked about the importance of work. It was very good.
The Mass this morning was celebrated by Bishop Donald Wuerl of Pittsburgh. He is enough to make one seriously consider moving to Pittsburgh. He was awarded the Courage in Faith Award at the beginning of Mass. His homily was about how one must accept all the teachings of the Church to be Catholic. It was amazing. Hymns sung before and during the Mass included Holy, Holy, Holy, Be Thou My Vision, All Creatures of Our God and King, and Lift High the Cross. It was great.
I won’t spend much time talking about the workshops because they were the low point of the whole day. Maybe I just went to the wrong ones. I did manage to get books autographed by Scott Hahn and Regis Martin. Confessions were held in their big tent. It’s the first time that I’ve been to confession in a tent.
The evening concluded with Scott Hahn’s talk on the Our Father and then the Holy Hour. The Blessed Sacrament was kept in the Portiuncula Chapel for adoration, and the chapel was packed. I wish every adoration chapel were packed like that, but then again I kind of enjoy having my space when I go adore the Lord. Scott Hahn began by telling people that if they didn’t have their Bibles they could look off the convert next to them. After he talked, we saw a five minute trailer of the Passion by Mel Gibson. I was kind of indifferent to it, but now I really want to see it.
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David Ancell / Saturday, July 19, 2003 / Comments(0)
I must say that I am glad to be here and out of Memphis where we have 90+ temperatures and 900% humidity. It isn’t anywhere near that hot here in Steubenville. As a matter of fact, I haven’t used the air conditioner since I’ve been here. It was so cold when I woke up that I had to turn on the heat. I wonder how many times that will happen in the middle of July.
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David Ancell / Friday, July 18, 2003 / Comments(0)
So far, the conference in Steubenville is great. I made the early bird sessions where Jeff Cavins talked about sin and how it is a suicidal act. Marcus Grodi talked about barriers to conversion. They were so true.
We had our traveler’s Mass at 4 PM. While the music wasn’t what I like to see used at Mass (“Lord I Lift Your Name on High”, “Shout to the Lord”, “Days of Elijah”, “Here I Am to Worship”), it was better than having that eardrum-breaking soprano opera-soloist render it impossible for me to pray. I could pray at this Mass.
The official start was just as great. It started out with Alan Schreck talking about Vatican II and everyone’s call to holiness. He mentioned that it was a great irony that before Vatican II, many people lived very holy lives but also thought that holiness was for priests and religious. Now, people understand the universal call to holiness, but fewer actually live it.
The night ended with Alex Jones. He is a former Pentecostal minister who converted and took many of his congregation with him. He was just plain awesome. He talked about the power of the Holy Spirit. There was too much to cover at this late hour.
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David Ancell / Friday, July 18, 2003 / Comments(0)
Well, it looks like I can blog just fine from Steubenville. I will give some coverage for the conference. For now, I had better get my tail to registration. Luckily, I found a hotel in the city this time, so I don’t have to drive down the highway.
The plane ride went well, and the plane landed early. Baggage claim wasn’t too bad for Pittsburgh. The only problem is that the wiper blades on the rental car aren’t the best.
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David Ancell / Thursday, July 17, 2003 / Comments(0)
I have just returned from the reason I stayed in Memphis today instead of going ahead and going on my trip. Bishop Peter Sartain of Little Rock came down to Memphis to celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving for 25 years as a priest. The place was absolutely packed. If you didn’t get there by 6:10 PM (Mass was at 6:30 PM), you got to stand in the aisles.
Some readers may be wondering why the Bishop of Little Rock is in Memphis celebrating Mass. Well, it just so happens that he was our pastor and Vicar General for our diocese before becoming a bishop. He is to this day the only bishop who knows my name (and the name of everyone else he meets just one time–methinks it’s a charism). He was also the first priest whom I can remember sitting down with a group (in this case, the Frassati Society) and explaining real Church teachings.
Hmmmmm . . . maybe he could replace Archbishop Rigali in St. Louis. It would be kinda cool. Our parish church is named St. Louis, so for him to become Archbishop of St. Louis would give him quite a story. Now I hope he doesn’t read this.
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