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No comment!
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I just got my May 3, 2007 issue of the Archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Spirit and there is a brief interview by Maria Wiering with Coadjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt in it. I found this particular exchange interesting. Read it all at the Recovering Dissident Catholic
Thursday, May 3, 2007
How do I get a Lawyer?
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More than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled since March 16 because they were contaminated with melamine. An unknown number of dogs and cats have been sickened or died after eating chemical-laced pet food. MSNBC
It sure sounds to me like my ship has come in! I should be able to sue because of all those meals that I ate off of dishes made from melamine back in the 70s! Party Time! Not sure of the date and time yet, though.
More than 100 brands of pet food have been recalled since March 16 because they were contaminated with melamine. An unknown number of dogs and cats have been sickened or died after eating chemical-laced pet food. MSNBC
It sure sounds to me like my ship has come in! I should be able to sue because of all those meals that I ate off of dishes made from melamine back in the 70s! Party Time! Not sure of the date and time yet, though.
Catholic Parents OnLine has posted some talks by Father Robert Altier
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Fans of Father Robert Altier, currently serving as the pastor of the Regina Medical Center in Hastings, MN, will be happy to know that Catholic Parents OnLine has posted some talks by him at his recent CPO Retreat. I was there and blogged on it. Transcribers: Man Your Keyboards!
Great news! We now have several of the CPO Award Winning TV shows on DVD and recent inspiring talks on CD by Father Robert Altier from our Luncheon and Retreat.
For more information please go Here.
God bless you and yours,
Colleen
Fans of Father Robert Altier, currently serving as the pastor of the Regina Medical Center in Hastings, MN, will be happy to know that Catholic Parents OnLine has posted some talks by him at his recent CPO Retreat. I was there and blogged on it. Transcribers: Man Your Keyboards!
Great news! We now have several of the CPO Award Winning TV shows on DVD and recent inspiring talks on CD by Father Robert Altier from our Luncheon and Retreat.
For more information please go Here.
God bless you and yours,
Colleen
Fargo Monsignor honored for military service!
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Monsignor Brian Donahue, vicar general for the Catholic Diocese of Fargo and pastor of parishes in Kindred, N.D., and Wild Rice, N.D., will be recognized Friday for his service as a military chaplain in the North Dakota Army National Guard.
Monsignor Brian Donahue, vicar general for the Catholic Diocese of Fargo and pastor of parishes in Kindred, N.D., and Wild Rice, N.D., will be recognized Friday for his service as a military chaplain in the North Dakota Army National Guard.
The “Answering the Call” presentation will be at 1 p.m. at St. Benedict’s Catholic Church in Wild Rice, and includes Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, Chaplain (Col.) Jeff Franko and the Most Rev. Samuel J. Aquila.
Donahue, 51, is retiring from military service after 20 years. He served in active duty during the Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and in 2005 was awarded the Bronze Star medal for his service as battalion chaplain in Iraq. He was ordained a priest in 1983.
There will be a barbecue lunch and tours of the church from noon to 1 p.m. Reservations are required for the lunch. Call the church at (701) 588-2488. Fargo InForum
The Armed Forces of the United States Needs More Catholic Chaplains, badly!
The Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis needs more Monsignors with some red on their cassocks and surplices, badly!Katherine Kersten: On the subject of indispensables, there's St. Agnes
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At this time of year, you stop counting the pro sports teams, big corporations and malls that claim to be irreplaceable Minnesota institutions, and so entitled to hefty public subsidies. But the hungry crowd at the Capitol doesn't include one truly indispensable institution -- St. Agnes High School, a landmark in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood since 1938.
At this time of year, you stop counting the pro sports teams, big corporations and malls that claim to be irreplaceable Minnesota institutions, and so entitled to hefty public subsidies. But the hungry crowd at the Capitol doesn't include one truly indispensable institution -- St. Agnes High School, a landmark in St. Paul's Frogtown neighborhood since 1938.
St. Agnes is a victim of the financial and enrollment squeeze that is hitting inner-city Catholic schools around the country. Eighty-five percent of its 200 high school students and 220 K-8 students receive tuition assistance, and in recent years the parish that operates the schools has incurred a debt of more than $1 million in subsidizing them.
On May 8, a decision will be made to close the high school unless something dramatic happens to improve the financial situation, says the Rev. John Ubel, St. Agnes Church pastor and school superintendent. The grade school will stay open.
Is St. Agnes worth saving? Star Tribune
Happy Centennial to You, Dear Cathedral, Happy Centennial to Yooooooooouuuuuuu!
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The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St Paul - Minneapolis is chronicling the centennial celebration of the construction of the Cathedral in St Paul in the year 1907. See the following articles with even more to follow:
Fireworks to cap first day of centennial celebration
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The Catholic Spirit, newspaper of the Archdiocese of St Paul - Minneapolis is chronicling the centennial celebration of the construction of the Cathedral in St Paul in the year 1907. See the following articles with even more to follow:
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Fireworks to cap first day of centennial celebration
Urban Renewal in a Parish (Part I)
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Cathy of Alex, who blogs at Recovering Dissident Catholic, speaking from the experience of having been a member of several urban parishes, speculates on what "modern liturgical innovations" might do to the elderly and the immobile who cannot easily change their parish; or don't want to. Pray for them.
Imagine you are an elderly Catholic widow who has lived in your urban home for 50 years. You enjoy it because it's comfortable to you, your garden looks nice, you are close to a grocery store and your doctor's office. You smile at the memories of all the children you raised; who went to the Catholic school down the street. Your late husband is buried in the Catholic cemetery 3 blocks away-close enough for you to visit for prayer and flowers. The house is paid for. You are not wealthy but you are independent and financially comfortable. You don't have any serious health issues though you cannot drive due to some eyesight issues. But, it's fine, you are on a busline. Your grandkids visit on occasion. You can walk to daily Mass and receive the Sacraments at your Catholic parish down the street. The same parish you were wed in, your husband's funeral Mass was in, and that your children received their Sacraments of Initiation in.
Sure, some of your old friends have died or moved away. Yes, registrations and attendance at your parish and its school is falling because fewer of the people moving into the area are Catholic or practicing Catholics.
Eventually, your Pastor of many years retires. You look forward to the new Pastor with the usual slight apprehension but you've seen many new Priests come to this parish over your decades of faithfulness. You will be just fine. Your parish will be just fine.
You go to daily Mass one day and discover that Father Hip-Hop Side Your Head has decided to do away with daily Mass because it's not worth his time setting it up for only a handful of people. He has better things to do with his free time like: oh, working on his book about the "Errors of Every Council Before Vatican II" and working with his architect buddy on how to get rid of all the statues in the church as well as totally modernizing the Sanctuary. Read the entire post here.
Cathy of Alex, who blogs at Recovering Dissident Catholic, speaking from the experience of having been a member of several urban parishes, speculates on what "modern liturgical innovations" might do to the elderly and the immobile who cannot easily change their parish; or don't want to. Pray for them.
Imagine you are an elderly Catholic widow who has lived in your urban home for 50 years. You enjoy it because it's comfortable to you, your garden looks nice, you are close to a grocery store and your doctor's office. You smile at the memories of all the children you raised; who went to the Catholic school down the street. Your late husband is buried in the Catholic cemetery 3 blocks away-close enough for you to visit for prayer and flowers. The house is paid for. You are not wealthy but you are independent and financially comfortable. You don't have any serious health issues though you cannot drive due to some eyesight issues. But, it's fine, you are on a busline. Your grandkids visit on occasion. You can walk to daily Mass and receive the Sacraments at your Catholic parish down the street. The same parish you were wed in, your husband's funeral Mass was in, and that your children received their Sacraments of Initiation in.
Sure, some of your old friends have died or moved away. Yes, registrations and attendance at your parish and its school is falling because fewer of the people moving into the area are Catholic or practicing Catholics.
Eventually, your Pastor of many years retires. You look forward to the new Pastor with the usual slight apprehension but you've seen many new Priests come to this parish over your decades of faithfulness. You will be just fine. Your parish will be just fine.
You go to daily Mass one day and discover that Father Hip-Hop Side Your Head has decided to do away with daily Mass because it's not worth his time setting it up for only a handful of people. He has better things to do with his free time like: oh, working on his book about the "Errors of Every Council Before Vatican II" and working with his architect buddy on how to get rid of all the statues in the church as well as totally modernizing the Sanctuary. Read the entire post here.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
It Makes Me Want To Holler! What? Progress!
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Cathy of Alex, who blogs at Recovering Dissident Catholic, blogs today on the issue of those folks in inner cities who are unable to move when progress occurs in their parish. That has been in the news recently and probably will be again tomorrow.
Imagine you are an elderly Catholic widow who has lived in your urban home for 50 years. You enjoy it because it's comfortable to you, your garden looks nice, you are close to a grocery store and your doctor's office. You smile at the memories of all the children you raised; who went to the Catholic school down the street. Your late husband is buried in the Catholic cemetery 3 blocks away-close enough for you to visit for prayer and flowers. The house is paid for. You are not wealthy but you are independent and financially comfortable. You don't have any serious health issues though you cannot drive due to some eyesight issues. But, it's fine, you are on a busline. Your grandkids visit on occasion. You can walk to daily Mass and receive the Sacraments at your Catholic parish down the street. The same parish you were wed in, your husband's funeral Mass was in, and that your children received their Sacraments of Initiation in.
Sure, some of your old friends have died or moved away. Yes, registrations and attendance at your parish and its school is falling because fewer of the people moving into the area are Catholic or practicing Catholics.
Eventually, your Pastor of many years retires. You look forward to the new Pastor with the usual slight apprehension but you've seen many new Priests come to this parish over your decades of faithfulness. You will be just fine. Your parish will be just fine.
You go to daily Mass one day and discover that Father Hip-Hop Side Your Head has decided to do away with daily Mass because it's not worth his time setting it up for only a handful of people. He has better things to do with his free time like: oh, working on his book about the "Errors of Every Council Before Vatican II" and working with his architect buddy on how to get rid of all the statues in the church as well as totally modernizing the Sanctuary. Read it all
Cathy of Alex, who blogs at Recovering Dissident Catholic, blogs today on the issue of those folks in inner cities who are unable to move when progress occurs in their parish. That has been in the news recently and probably will be again tomorrow.
Imagine you are an elderly Catholic widow who has lived in your urban home for 50 years. You enjoy it because it's comfortable to you, your garden looks nice, you are close to a grocery store and your doctor's office. You smile at the memories of all the children you raised; who went to the Catholic school down the street. Your late husband is buried in the Catholic cemetery 3 blocks away-close enough for you to visit for prayer and flowers. The house is paid for. You are not wealthy but you are independent and financially comfortable. You don't have any serious health issues though you cannot drive due to some eyesight issues. But, it's fine, you are on a busline. Your grandkids visit on occasion. You can walk to daily Mass and receive the Sacraments at your Catholic parish down the street. The same parish you were wed in, your husband's funeral Mass was in, and that your children received their Sacraments of Initiation in.
Sure, some of your old friends have died or moved away. Yes, registrations and attendance at your parish and its school is falling because fewer of the people moving into the area are Catholic or practicing Catholics.
Eventually, your Pastor of many years retires. You look forward to the new Pastor with the usual slight apprehension but you've seen many new Priests come to this parish over your decades of faithfulness. You will be just fine. Your parish will be just fine.
You go to daily Mass one day and discover that Father Hip-Hop Side Your Head has decided to do away with daily Mass because it's not worth his time setting it up for only a handful of people. He has better things to do with his free time like: oh, working on his book about the "Errors of Every Council Before Vatican II" and working with his architect buddy on how to get rid of all the statues in the church as well as totally modernizing the Sanctuary. Read it all
Yesterday was "Blogging About Disablism Day"
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Sister Edith, Professor of Sociology at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth who blogs at Monastic Musings didn't miss it. I did. Here's what she had to say about it:
Sister Edith, Professor of Sociology at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth who blogs at Monastic Musings didn't miss it. I did. Here's what she had to say about it:
Can a Person with a Disability Hear a Call to Religious Life?
[A post for Blogging Against Disablism Day]
In the Church, we hear often about the shortage of vocations to religious life and the priesthood. Most dioceses and many parishes hold prayer vigils, Come-and-See programs, urge parents, teachers, religious ed leaders - everyone - to speak positively and openly to young people about religious vocations. Because of the shortage, people in middle age (like me) and older are accepted into religious life - I know one Benedictine who was 72 the day she made her perpetual monastic profession.
Most vocation pamphlets, though, listing the characteristics they seek in a candidate, include "good health" while a few refer to the rugged nature of the work of the community. The tacit meaning is that people with a disability that might require adaptations, limit the type of work they can do, or require special care should not apply.
Do religious orders shun the disabled? No - if a monk or nun becomes disabled, communities work very hard to continue to include them in their communal and prayer life, and find ways to enable them to participate and contribute. But - very few offer an open door to people with a disability. The Benedictines of Jesus Crucified, whose only U.S. monastery is in Branford, Connecticut, is the only one I know about.
Does it make sense to have only one, or a very small number of religious orders open to people with a disability? A century ago, when there was less awareness of adapting work environments, when religious life involved unimaginable feats of manual labor, when formation programs were applied like a cookie cutter to each postulant, like the army, no one thought about whether a person with a disability might have a vocation.
Beginnings: Paris , France, 1930. In a number of young women coming to him for spiritual direction, Father Maurice Gaucheron, a priest on the staff of the Basilica of Montmartre in Paris recognized a call to the monastic life that, for reasons of insufficient health, remained unfulfilled. Fragile health necessarily excluded these young women from existing monasteries. Father Gaucheron believed that monastic life could and should be open to young women such as these. In illness and physical frailty he saw a means of following Jesus into the mystery of his Pasch.
I wonder, though, how that can continue to be true in the 21st century. With less rigorous manual labor, many roles in communities performed on computers, and much greater availability of adaptive technologies, it seems as though that barrier should be falling. Maybe it is, and I simply haven't heard about it.
Among those I have seen enter religious life, though, there have not been any people who were blind, profoundly deaf, or unable to walk. There are always concerns, I'm sure, about assuming responsibility for medical bills - some communities are so stretched financially that elderly sisters have to use Medicaid - but should that prevent them from considering an applicant whose stable work record is evidence of her ability to contribute?
I hope that communities can, at the very least, stop putting the automatic "no" in their literature and on their web sites, and begin the conversation with applicants whom Christ might very well be sending to them. This may be a long way off, but it's worth praying for.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Homosexual Hands Off Poland! Sign the petition...
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The power of the radical homosexual movement in Europe has just been shown. The European Parliament just voted to condemn Poland on what they term “homophobia.” What was Poland’s crime? The Polish Prime Minister said that Polish school children should not be subject to “homosexual propaganda.”
Polish authorities have also resisted demands from radical homosexuals that they be allowed to march in the streets. If you live in any major city you know these marches where leather boys and pedophiles march freely and disruptively through the streets.
The response of the European Parliament was to pass a resolution calling these sensible actions “hate speech” and asks competent legal authorities to take action against these officials and the government of Poland.
This is outrageous and all people of good will must stand with the Polish people against the radical homosexual movement in the European Union.
I ask you to go immediately to the petition “Homosexual Hands Off Poland” at www.c-fam.org/handsoffpoland.php.
The petitions will be delivered to the Polish authorities on Thursday, May 10. I will personally deliver them to Polish Members of the European Parliament and to members of the Polish government when I am in Warsaw for the World Congress of Families.
We only have a few days to get as many names as possible. I urge you to go to www.c-fam.org/handsoffpoland.php and sign the petition, then send this message to everyone you know. We need to deliver thousands of names of supporters from all over the world. I especially urge those in the EU countries to get this message to everyone you know. We must tell the radicals in the European Union to keep homosexual hands off of Poland!
Go to www.c-fam.org/handsoffpoland.php and sign the petition and send this email message to everyone in your address book.
Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute
The power of the radical homosexual movement in Europe has just been shown. The European Parliament just voted to condemn Poland on what they term “homophobia.” What was Poland’s crime? The Polish Prime Minister said that Polish school children should not be subject to “homosexual propaganda.”
Polish authorities have also resisted demands from radical homosexuals that they be allowed to march in the streets. If you live in any major city you know these marches where leather boys and pedophiles march freely and disruptively through the streets.
The response of the European Parliament was to pass a resolution calling these sensible actions “hate speech” and asks competent legal authorities to take action against these officials and the government of Poland.
This is outrageous and all people of good will must stand with the Polish people against the radical homosexual movement in the European Union.
I ask you to go immediately to the petition “Homosexual Hands Off Poland” at www.c-fam.org/handsoffpoland.php.
The petitions will be delivered to the Polish authorities on Thursday, May 10. I will personally deliver them to Polish Members of the European Parliament and to members of the Polish government when I am in Warsaw for the World Congress of Families.
We only have a few days to get as many names as possible. I urge you to go to www.c-fam.org/handsoffpoland.php and sign the petition, then send this message to everyone you know. We need to deliver thousands of names of supporters from all over the world. I especially urge those in the EU countries to get this message to everyone you know. We must tell the radicals in the European Union to keep homosexual hands off of Poland!
Go to www.c-fam.org/handsoffpoland.php and sign the petition and send this email message to everyone in your address book.
Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute
Argument of the Month Club, St Augustine's, SSPaul, May 8, 6:30-9:00sh
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The Argument of the Month Club
A MEN’S FORUM FOR CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS
On Tuesday May 8th Brings to You Our Final Presentation of the Year
THE
LOSS
OF THE
SACRED!
BY THE HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:
FATHER DAN GRIFFITH
Fr. Dan Griffith graduated from William Mitchell College of Law in 1997. He was ordained a priest in 2002 for the Archdiocese and is currently the pastor of Holy Redeemer. Some of their member may be interested in questioning Father Griffith about the proposed merging of the parish with St Peter's in North St Paul
Come for the Fireworks!
Join us at 6:30pm for Social (beverages and appetizers) and Dinner at 7:00pm, Basement of St. Augustine Church in South St. Paul
Total cost for the evening is $12 at the door
There will be time for you to agree or disagree with our speaker during the Q&A, which starts immediately following dessert. But you are all encouraged to enjoy the good humor, food and fellowship. We enjoy the company of men from all different creeds and ages. Priests and seminarians get in for free but are not shown any partiality in debate. Fathers may bring their sons as long as they accompany them.
THE CHURCH PARKING LOT IS ON 5TH AVENUE, JUST PAST 3RD STREET NORTH.
PLEASE ENTER THE CHURCH BASEMENT FROM THE EAST SIDE.
FOR DIRECTIONS TO
ST. AUGUSTINE CHURCH
CALL 651-451-1212
AOTM RUNS OCTOBER - MAY ON THE SECOND TUESDAY OF THE MONTH
(NO MEETING IN DECEMBER)
www.aotmclub.com, email us at info@aotmclub.com
The Indignity of Work
Mitchell here.
May 1 is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, where by Joseph's example we celebrate the dignity of human labor.
Unfortunately, for many in Corporate America, dignity is the last thing one finds, in an environment that sees work not as a reflection of God's greatness, nor as something to be offered to God, but merely as a tool to generate profit. Likewise, the employee is seen not as having been made in the image of God, but as a statistic, to be manipulated in whichever way possible in order to improve the bottom line.
From the Our Word blog, here's a 2004 piece on an all-too-common situation: the indignity of work.
One of the challenges of being a conservative is being expected to defend the occasionally indefensible idiocy of Corporate America. A case in point is this entertaining Human Resources document given to me. For obvious reasons, both the employee and the company will remain nameless. Anyway, what we have here is a manual on career orientations, specifically a section regarding being a “balanced-oriented” employee (meaning, I suppose, that you have a life outside the workplace). The following paragraph is called “Entitlement Mentality:”
There is such an arrogance about this statement. Oh, I suppose technically they’re right. In my pocket copy of the Constitution I don’t see the right to a balanced life anywhere (unless it’s next to the right to privacy that guarantees you the right to an abortion).
But look at what the words are saying. You don’t have the “right” to a balance between your home life (hereinafter referred to as “real” life) and your work life. We all suspected that most employers felt this way, but you seldom get to see it printed in black-and-white like this. The Catholic Church has always affirmed the dignity of work, as far back as “Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor)” by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. And yet it’s hard to see how, when you’re confronted by an attitude like this, you can find much dignity in what you do.
For an opposing viewpoint, let’s take a look at what Pope John Paul II said regarding the dignity of work in his 1981 encyclical “Laborem exercens (On Human Work)”
As Pat Buchanan once said, America needs to worship at a higher altar than the bottom line. When an employee is viewed merely as a statistic, an economic commodity, rather than a human being, then the system loses moral credibility. I’ve often thought that one of the turning points in capitalism came when we started moving away from “Personnel Department” towards “Human Resources,” turning the employee away from his personhood and instead into a resource, like a roll of Scotch tape.
Not to this company, apparently. Let’s look at that last sentence again:
Hmm, that’s what I thought it said – your work life takes primacy over your personal life, and your personal life must be adapted to cause the least possible interference with your work life.
See how easy this is? Let’s continue:
Boy, you have to hand it to the author – writing something like that really takes guts. The best way to achieve a balance in life is to become a workaholic! That may not be what it actually says, but let’s read between the lines. How many companies are enlightened enough to realize that “top contributor” is not synonymous with “long hours”? In response, let’s look at an excerpt from the Labor Day 2001 Pastoral Message of Bishop Michael Saltarelli, Diocese of Wilmington:
Ironically, I heard of a company that recently had an internal promotion asking everyone to make a commitment to spend one day eating dinner with their family. This while the same company specializes in producing food products designed to make it as easy as possible to eat on the run without being bothered by such annoying things as “family time.” This chicken-and-egg question – whether companies are responding to or creating such needs – is something we can pick up another time.
It doesn’t have to be this way, of course, and there’s encouraging evidence that some companies are breaking out of this mold. Best Buy is in the process of rolling out a new way of looking at productivity and the workplace, as was pointed out in a November 8 Minneapolis Star Tribune article about ROWE, which stands for Results-Oriented Work Environment.
According to the author of the article, ROWE came out of Best Buy’s attempt to answer the question: How can we be the employer of choice?
This coincides nicely with the following comment from the Holy Father:
Don’t get me wrong – the employee has definite obligations to the employer, many of them found in the Ten Commandments. When you’re at work, your time belongs to the person who’s signing your check. If you’re getting paid for work you’re not doing, that’s stealing. As the Pope says, “Work remains a good thing, not only because it is useful and enjoyable, but also because it expresses and increases the worker's dignity.” And therein lies the rub. The employer has responsibilities to the employee as well, the responsibility to treat him with the dignity befitting a person, not simply a resource. Part of that dignity is to create a workplace in which the employee can deal with what it means to be a person – problems at home, problems with loved ones. Even, heaven forbid, problems in maintaining the proper balance between work and home. Bishop Saltarelli:
Well, why shouldn’t they? I had a boss tell me once that the only thing the company owed you was a paycheck, and that if you weren’t willing to play by those rules you were free to leave, because that’s all you owed the company as well.
In conclusion, there’s an important message here, one that, however unintentionally, this particular Human Resources document brings up: Just because the company owns your time, it doesn’t mean it owns your life or your soul. That’s a message all too often lost on Corporate America.
For the complete text of the Holy Father's encyclical, click here.
May 1 is the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, where by Joseph's example we celebrate the dignity of human labor.
Unfortunately, for many in Corporate America, dignity is the last thing one finds, in an environment that sees work not as a reflection of God's greatness, nor as something to be offered to God, but merely as a tool to generate profit. Likewise, the employee is seen not as having been made in the image of God, but as a statistic, to be manipulated in whichever way possible in order to improve the bottom line.
From the Our Word blog, here's a 2004 piece on an all-too-common situation: the indignity of work.
*****
One of the challenges of being a conservative is being expected to defend the occasionally indefensible idiocy of Corporate America. A case in point is this entertaining Human Resources document given to me. For obvious reasons, both the employee and the company will remain nameless. Anyway, what we have here is a manual on career orientations, specifically a section regarding being a “balanced-oriented” employee (meaning, I suppose, that you have a life outside the workplace). The following paragraph is called “Entitlement Mentality:”
Work/life balance is not their birthright. Sorry, but the company’s shareholders probably aren’t concerned about their hobbies or outside interests. To carve out a job role that doesn’t interfere with their other life needs, they should find a way to achieve their balance that has positive (or at least neutral) impact on business results. Encourage them to be a top contributor, to stay at the cutting edge of their profession. This will give them some bargaining chips for the flexibility they crave.Well. I’m not quite sure what bothers me most about this paragraph – the condescending nature of it, or its sheer stupidity. After trying to figure out just how to address this mess, I finally decided the best way was simply to go step-by-step.
Work/life balance is not their birthright. Sorry, but the company’s shareholders probably aren’t concerned about their hobbies or outside interests.
There is such an arrogance about this statement. Oh, I suppose technically they’re right. In my pocket copy of the Constitution I don’t see the right to a balanced life anywhere (unless it’s next to the right to privacy that guarantees you the right to an abortion).
But look at what the words are saying. You don’t have the “right” to a balance between your home life (hereinafter referred to as “real” life) and your work life. We all suspected that most employers felt this way, but you seldom get to see it printed in black-and-white like this. The Catholic Church has always affirmed the dignity of work, as far back as “Rerum Novarum (On the Condition of Labor)” by Pope Leo XIII in 1891. And yet it’s hard to see how, when you’re confronted by an attitude like this, you can find much dignity in what you do.
For an opposing viewpoint, let’s take a look at what Pope John Paul II said regarding the dignity of work in his 1981 encyclical “Laborem exercens (On Human Work)”
But above all we must remember the priority of labor over capital: labor is the cause of production; capital, or the means of production, is its mere instrument or tool. (#12)
Yet the workers' rights cannot be doomed to be the mere result of economic systems aimed at maximum profits. The thing that must shape the whole economy is respect for the workers' rights within each country and all through the world's economy. (#17)
As Pat Buchanan once said, America needs to worship at a higher altar than the bottom line. When an employee is viewed merely as a statistic, an economic commodity, rather than a human being, then the system loses moral credibility. I’ve often thought that one of the turning points in capitalism came when we started moving away from “Personnel Department” towards “Human Resources,” turning the employee away from his personhood and instead into a resource, like a roll of Scotch tape.
To carve out a job role that doesn’t interfere with their other life needs, they should find a way to achieve their balance that has positive (or at least neutral) impact on business results.First of all, it’s clear that in the mind of whoever wrote this atrocious paragraph, “other life needs” are optional – something that only a few of us have. Furthermore, it’s a pretty distasteful thing to have other needs, isn’t it? How dare you! Don’t you know that you should only live to work? Again, the Holy Father writes:
We must pay more attention to the one who works than to what the worker does. The self-realization of the human person is the measure of what is right and wrong. Work is in the first place "for the worker" and not the worker "for work." Work itself can have greater or lesser objective value, but all work should be judged by the measure of dignity given to the person who carries it out. (Laborem exercens, #6)
Not to this company, apparently. Let’s look at that last sentence again:
“To carve out a job role that doesn’t interfere with their other life needs, they should find a way to achieve their balance that has positive (or at least neutral) impact on business results”
Hmm, that’s what I thought it said – your work life takes primacy over your personal life, and your personal life must be adapted to cause the least possible interference with your work life.
See how easy this is? Let’s continue:
Encourage them to be a top contributor, to stay at the cutting edge of their profession. This will give them some bargaining chips for the flexibility they crave.
Boy, you have to hand it to the author – writing something like that really takes guts. The best way to achieve a balance in life is to become a workaholic! That may not be what it actually says, but let’s read between the lines. How many companies are enlightened enough to realize that “top contributor” is not synonymous with “long hours”? In response, let’s look at an excerpt from the Labor Day 2001 Pastoral Message of Bishop Michael Saltarelli, Diocese of Wilmington:
Workaholism is a specifically American form of spiritual lukewarmness rooted in the consumerism of our culture. Seeing our careers and work life as a way to holiness prevents us from turning our work into an idol that alienates us from our faith, our spouses, our families and ourselves. Workaholism results in a damaging fallout. Marriages fail or are strained. Children do not receive the attention and nurturing they need. Families experience little or no time together. Family meal times rarely occur. Family celebrations are few and far between.
Ironically, I heard of a company that recently had an internal promotion asking everyone to make a commitment to spend one day eating dinner with their family. This while the same company specializes in producing food products designed to make it as easy as possible to eat on the run without being bothered by such annoying things as “family time.” This chicken-and-egg question – whether companies are responding to or creating such needs – is something we can pick up another time.
It doesn’t have to be this way, of course, and there’s encouraging evidence that some companies are breaking out of this mold. Best Buy is in the process of rolling out a new way of looking at productivity and the workplace, as was pointed out in a November 8 Minneapolis Star Tribune article about ROWE, which stands for Results-Oriented Work Environment.
"Most employers should be able to say, 'All right, this is your job. This is the value created by your job. It is a full-time job, but if you can get it done in 25 hours well, mazel tov, congratulations,' " said Paul Rupert, a workplace flexibility consultant in Washington, D.C. "But the number of companies in which that scenario happily plays out could be counted on one hand.”
According to the author of the article, ROWE came out of Best Buy’s attempt to answer the question: How can we be the employer of choice?
Workers responded with a chorus of "We want to be trusted to do our work the way we feel is best for us, that can get the best results," said Cali Ressler, who leads work-life programs at the consumer electronics retailer. "They also said, 'We want to be able to balance our personal lives with that work.' "
This coincides nicely with the following comment from the Holy Father:
Workers not only want fair pay, they also want to share in the responsibility and creativity of the very work process. They want to feel that they are working for themselves -- an awareness that is smothered in a bureaucratic system where they only feel themselves to be "cogs" in a huge machine moved from above. (Laborem exercens, #13)
Don’t get me wrong – the employee has definite obligations to the employer, many of them found in the Ten Commandments. When you’re at work, your time belongs to the person who’s signing your check. If you’re getting paid for work you’re not doing, that’s stealing. As the Pope says, “Work remains a good thing, not only because it is useful and enjoyable, but also because it expresses and increases the worker's dignity.” And therein lies the rub. The employer has responsibilities to the employee as well, the responsibility to treat him with the dignity befitting a person, not simply a resource. Part of that dignity is to create a workplace in which the employee can deal with what it means to be a person – problems at home, problems with loved ones. Even, heaven forbid, problems in maintaining the proper balance between work and home. Bishop Saltarelli:
By contrast, workers find the connection between faith and work more difficult to make when they feel that management lacks integrity or does not respect the opinions and ideas of the workers. In those cases, people are more apt to see work as a means of economic survival and not as God's gift.
Well, why shouldn’t they? I had a boss tell me once that the only thing the company owed you was a paycheck, and that if you weren’t willing to play by those rules you were free to leave, because that’s all you owed the company as well.
In conclusion, there’s an important message here, one that, however unintentionally, this particular Human Resources document brings up: Just because the company owns your time, it doesn’t mean it owns your life or your soul. That’s a message all too often lost on Corporate America.
For the complete text of the Holy Father's encyclical, click here.
Anonymous Benefactor Gives St Agnes $500,000 in "Challenge Grant"
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An anonymous benefactor has offered a $500,000 "challenge gift" to spur others to donate and help save St. Agnes High School.
An anonymous benefactor has offered a $500,000 "challenge gift" to spur others to donate and help save St. Agnes High School.
The donor, whom school officials would not name, has no official connection to the St. Paul parish or the K-12 school, said the Rev. John Ubel, the Frogtown parish's pastor and the school's superintendent.
Officials at St. Agnes have said running deficits for years and a projected enrollment drop would make the high school unsustainable and threatened it would close at the end of the school year. About 200 students now attend the high school. Lower grades would be kept open.
"This gift is not a cure-all," said Ubel, who met with the benefactor late last week. "But it's the first piece of evidence that some people are willing to make a major financial commitment. It means an awful lot to the school."
Contributions to support St. Agnes should be sent to the attention of Father John Ubel, St. Agnes Schools, 530 Lafond Ave., St. Paul, MN 55103. PioneerPress
Monday, April 30, 2007
Bishops' survey shows average age of priests to be ordained in '07 is 35
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Results of a survey released April 30 show that the average age of the 475 priests expected to be ordained in the United States this year is 35 and one-third of this year's new priests were born in another country, primarily Vietnam, Mexico, Poland or the Philippines.
The national study of the ordination class of 2007 also shows that the men are well educated. More than six in 10 completed college before entering the seminary and some have advanced degrees in law, medicine and education.
[...Snip]
Seven in 10 respondents reported their primary race or ethnicity as Caucasian, European American or white. Eleven percent are Asian/Pacific Islander; 11 percent are Hispanic/Latino; and 5 percent are African-American.
According to the survey report, nearly all of the new priests have been Catholic since birth; 6 percent joined the Catholic Church from mainline and evangelical Protestant traditions and one converted from Buddhism.
Half of the ordinands attended Catholic elementary school, as have almost half of all U.S. Catholics, the report said. They attended Catholic high school and college in larger numbers than the overall U.S. adult Catholic population.
About two-thirds of the ordinands had full-time work experience, primarily in education, before entering the seminary. Almost one in 10 of them served in the U.S. Armed Forces and some have been directly impacted by the U.S.-led Iraq War.
The brother of Matthew Fasnacht, who will be ordained for the Diocese of Winona, Minn., was killed in Iraq in 2005 by a remote-controlled bomb. Michael Fasnacht was an Army Ranger.
[...Snip]
The average age for the seminarians is 35; the youngest in the group is 25 and the oldest is 68. The Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., will ordain two men in their 50s and one who is 60. [...Snip] Catholic News Service Read it All
Results of a survey released April 30 show that the average age of the 475 priests expected to be ordained in the United States this year is 35 and one-third of this year's new priests were born in another country, primarily Vietnam, Mexico, Poland or the Philippines.
The national study of the ordination class of 2007 also shows that the men are well educated. More than six in 10 completed college before entering the seminary and some have advanced degrees in law, medicine and education.
[...Snip]
Seven in 10 respondents reported their primary race or ethnicity as Caucasian, European American or white. Eleven percent are Asian/Pacific Islander; 11 percent are Hispanic/Latino; and 5 percent are African-American.
According to the survey report, nearly all of the new priests have been Catholic since birth; 6 percent joined the Catholic Church from mainline and evangelical Protestant traditions and one converted from Buddhism.
Half of the ordinands attended Catholic elementary school, as have almost half of all U.S. Catholics, the report said. They attended Catholic high school and college in larger numbers than the overall U.S. adult Catholic population.
About two-thirds of the ordinands had full-time work experience, primarily in education, before entering the seminary. Almost one in 10 of them served in the U.S. Armed Forces and some have been directly impacted by the U.S.-led Iraq War.
The brother of Matthew Fasnacht, who will be ordained for the Diocese of Winona, Minn., was killed in Iraq in 2005 by a remote-controlled bomb. Michael Fasnacht was an Army Ranger.
[...Snip]
The average age for the seminarians is 35; the youngest in the group is 25 and the oldest is 68. The Diocese of Knoxville, Tenn., will ordain two men in their 50s and one who is 60. [...Snip] Catholic News Service Read it All
60th Annual May Day Rosary Procession, Sunday, May 6
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What: The 60th Annual May Day Family Rosary Procession. The procession began in 1947 at the Cathedral of St. Paul as a public demonstration of prayer in response to the rise of communism in Eastern Europe, according to the event’s Web site. Today, this Marian prayer of the rosary is used to strengthen family life. The procession will be held simultaneously in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Where: In St. Paul, participants will assemble at the State Capitol and process to the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave.
What: The 60th Annual May Day Family Rosary Procession. The procession began in 1947 at the Cathedral of St. Paul as a public demonstration of prayer in response to the rise of communism in Eastern Europe, according to the event’s Web site. Today, this Marian prayer of the rosary is used to strengthen family life. The procession will be held simultaneously in Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Where: In St. Paul, participants will assemble at the State Capitol and process to the Cathedral of St. Paul, 239 Selby Ave.
When: Sunday, May 6. Assemble at 1:30 p.m., procession begins at 2 p.m.
Who: Families, parish groups and youth groups are welcome to walk together. First communicants are especially welcome.
=======Where: In Minneapolis, participants will assemble at Dunwoody College of Technology, 818 Dunwoody Blvd., and walk to the Basilica of St. Mary, 88 N. 17th St.
What’s new? Multi-lingual rosary and benediction will follow the procession at the Basilica of St. Mary.
Need more information? Visit the event’s Web site .
New Bloggers in Our Region
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When I started Stella Borealis a little over a year ago, one of my original intentions was to promote the local bloggers who have been doing such great work. I've done a bit of that, but I've become lax and haven't done much for a long time. Although I have added them to my sidebar, not necessarily as soon as I've heard about them.
Most of my regular visitors probably are familiar with the familiar "stars" of our area, most of whom were there at the beginning before I started blogging in March, 2006.
Here is a list of most of those who weren't there at the beginning. Check them out and blame me if they wonder why you didn't stop by sooner. And don't forget us oldtimers, too. Check us out on the Stella Borealis sidebar.
Basso Family, Anne, Minnesota
Believe and Profess - Dan, Twin Cities
Butterfly Net - Clairity, MN
Catholic Geek....For God and Others, Phil, Minnesota
A Catholic Harvest - Paula, MN - Home School
Catholic Wife and Mom - Twin Cities
Christian Democracy - Richard, Twin Cities
Debate, Relate & Pontificate - samrocha, Maple Grove, MN
Dogpatch of the North, Gerald, South Range, WI
Drama Unfolds Here, Erin Marie, Minnetonka
Father Dennis, Dubuque, IA
Hello, Blog World, Bethski, Grand Forks ND
My Perfect Weakness - Anne, MN
Orbis Catholicus - John Paul, MN, studying in Rome
Our Lady's Tears - Sanctus Belle, Diocese of Winona
Quantitative Metathesis, Female Graduate Student, St Paul
Recovering Dissident Catholic - Cathy of Alex, St Paul
Reflections and Revelations, Study of the Theology of the Body - Tiffany, Minnesota
So Many Devotions...So Little Time - Jayne, MN
Somewhere Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Jen, UST, St Paul
Standing Thunder - Geometricus, Twin Cities
Therapeutic Preoccupation, Tiffany, Minnesota
Vocations Views, Father Todd, New Ulm
When I started Stella Borealis a little over a year ago, one of my original intentions was to promote the local bloggers who have been doing such great work. I've done a bit of that, but I've become lax and haven't done much for a long time. Although I have added them to my sidebar, not necessarily as soon as I've heard about them.
Most of my regular visitors probably are familiar with the familiar "stars" of our area, most of whom were there at the beginning before I started blogging in March, 2006.
Here is a list of most of those who weren't there at the beginning. Check them out and blame me if they wonder why you didn't stop by sooner. And don't forget us oldtimers, too. Check us out on the Stella Borealis sidebar.
Basso Family, Anne, Minnesota
Believe and Profess - Dan, Twin Cities
Butterfly Net - Clairity, MN
Catholic Geek....For God and Others, Phil, Minnesota
A Catholic Harvest - Paula, MN - Home School
Catholic Wife and Mom - Twin Cities
Christian Democracy - Richard, Twin Cities
Debate, Relate & Pontificate - samrocha, Maple Grove, MN
Dogpatch of the North, Gerald, South Range, WI
Drama Unfolds Here, Erin Marie, Minnetonka
Father Dennis, Dubuque, IA
Hello, Blog World, Bethski, Grand Forks ND
My Perfect Weakness - Anne, MN
Orbis Catholicus - John Paul, MN, studying in Rome
Our Lady's Tears - Sanctus Belle, Diocese of Winona
Quantitative Metathesis, Female Graduate Student, St Paul
Recovering Dissident Catholic - Cathy of Alex, St Paul
Reflections and Revelations, Study of the Theology of the Body - Tiffany, Minnesota
So Many Devotions...So Little Time - Jayne, MN
Somewhere Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Jen, UST, St Paul
Standing Thunder - Geometricus, Twin Cities
Therapeutic Preoccupation, Tiffany, Minnesota
Vocations Views, Father Todd, New Ulm
Pro-Life Action Ministries Purchases Home Next To Robbinsdale Abortion Factory; Opening a Perpetual Adoration Chapel!
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Pro Life Action Ministries, located in St. Paul, MN has purchased the house right next to the Robbinsdale Abortuary.
Praise God! Archbishop Harry Flynn has given them permission to have Perpetual Adoration inside the house. However, they need money to renovate the old house to make room for the 24 hour adoration chapel. They would be very grateful for any help.
If you can make a contribution to this very worthy cause, please send your donations to:
Pro-Life Action Ministries Inc.
1163 Payne Ave.
St.Paul, MN 55130-3600
Ph.651 771 1500
Thanks and God reward you!
Colleen
Catholic Parents On-Line
Pro Life Action Ministries, located in St. Paul, MN has purchased the house right next to the Robbinsdale Abortuary.
Praise God! Archbishop Harry Flynn has given them permission to have Perpetual Adoration inside the house. However, they need money to renovate the old house to make room for the 24 hour adoration chapel. They would be very grateful for any help.
If you can make a contribution to this very worthy cause, please send your donations to:
Pro-Life Action Ministries Inc.
1163 Payne Ave.
St.Paul, MN 55130-3600
Ph.651 771 1500
Thanks and God reward you!
Colleen
Catholic Parents On-Line
The Non-Pursuit of Happiness
Mitchell here.
Last week, following Msgr. Schuler's funeral, Ray mentioned in private correspondence a site in particular, which shall go nameless, in which a Mass attendee catalogued a series of objections (some might call them nitpicks) suggesting that the funeral Mass wasn't orthodox enough, and a general concern (bordering on despair) for the future of the Mass, and the Church.
Now, goodness knows there are things to complain about (or perhaps to look upon as challenges) at St. Agnes, as there are at every parish. That includes the liturgy. It is rare, however, to hear someone conclude that the Mass wasn't orthodox enough. The rubrics of the Novus Ordo at St. Agnes are celebrated about as closely to the Tridentine Rite as possible (even enough to suggest that in some cases it isn't a good fit); the only difference being that the Mass itself isn't Tridentine.
Michael Lawrence, at the brilliant The New Liturgical Movement weighs in on this kind of "nothing is good enough" mentality in this excellent piece. Excerpt:
The kind of carping that Michael is referring to is not only tiresome, it's tiring. (I want to make clear, by the way, that Michael is not writing about Msgr. Schuler's funeral; read the entire pice to find the genesis of his observation). One is tempted to suggest that these kind of people won't truly be happy unless everyone is as unhappy as they are. The most troublesome aspect of such analysis is that it distracts from real problems: it's like the boy who cried wolf; after a time you become immune to this constant complaining, and wind up ignoring something that is of real import. Even The Wanderer is not immune to this kind of pessimism, which is one of the reasons we dropped our subscription a couple of years ago.
Readers know that I don't like namecalling or constant snarkiness in the blogosphere, so I'll offer this in the spirit of fraternal suggestion. To those who seem never to be happy about things, you've got two choices - you can be part of the problem, or part of the solution. Divorcing yourself from the life of the Church, constantly holding it up to your - human - expectations, insisting on a litmus test for everything and everyone - ask yourself if that helps the Chuch solve the problem.
Last week, following Msgr. Schuler's funeral, Ray mentioned in private correspondence a site in particular, which shall go nameless, in which a Mass attendee catalogued a series of objections (some might call them nitpicks) suggesting that the funeral Mass wasn't orthodox enough, and a general concern (bordering on despair) for the future of the Mass, and the Church.
Now, goodness knows there are things to complain about (or perhaps to look upon as challenges) at St. Agnes, as there are at every parish. That includes the liturgy. It is rare, however, to hear someone conclude that the Mass wasn't orthodox enough. The rubrics of the Novus Ordo at St. Agnes are celebrated about as closely to the Tridentine Rite as possible (even enough to suggest that in some cases it isn't a good fit); the only difference being that the Mass itself isn't Tridentine.
Michael Lawrence, at the brilliant The New Liturgical Movement weighs in on this kind of "nothing is good enough" mentality in this excellent piece. Excerpt:
This leads me to wonder: Do such Trads want to be an integral part of the Church, or do they want to have their own little special club in which they can pat themselves on the back for being better than all those lowly Novus Ordo Catholics? Do they want to help build up the Body of Christ or their own egos? How do they expect traditional ideas to gain acceptance in general if they, the ones with the knowlege and skill, refuse to share their talent? How could they possibly see their attitude toward the new Mass, disrespectful in the extreme, to be much different from the attitudes of those who presume to abuse the liturgy at will with their various innovations?
What will happen if the motu proprio is released? I suspect that, no matter what it says, it will not be enough for many. What would happen if the Traditional Mass were untouched but parts of the New Mass were revised to bring it in line with Tradition? Would the "fly-in-amber" traditionalists be happy? Would they at least acknowledge the progress? Would they then "deign" to attend a Novus Ordo Mass?
We are all familiar with the phrase, "Some people aren't happy unless they're complaining." It is only natural to have complaints in the circumstances in which we now find ourselves. But how much complaining is useful? Unfortunately, I fear that some Trads will always find a reason to complain and to find excuses to stay on the fringes of the Church's life rather than immerse themselves in the heart of it. (I take well the point that many have been forced to the fringes--including me, but as circumstances change, please God, this is going to be much less of an issue.)
The kind of carping that Michael is referring to is not only tiresome, it's tiring. (I want to make clear, by the way, that Michael is not writing about Msgr. Schuler's funeral; read the entire pice to find the genesis of his observation). One is tempted to suggest that these kind of people won't truly be happy unless everyone is as unhappy as they are. The most troublesome aspect of such analysis is that it distracts from real problems: it's like the boy who cried wolf; after a time you become immune to this constant complaining, and wind up ignoring something that is of real import. Even The Wanderer is not immune to this kind of pessimism, which is one of the reasons we dropped our subscription a couple of years ago.
Readers know that I don't like namecalling or constant snarkiness in the blogosphere, so I'll offer this in the spirit of fraternal suggestion. To those who seem never to be happy about things, you've got two choices - you can be part of the problem, or part of the solution. Divorcing yourself from the life of the Church, constantly holding it up to your - human - expectations, insisting on a litmus test for everything and everyone - ask yourself if that helps the Chuch solve the problem.
Slate Internet Magazine Admits It's "Killing Babies": Ultrasound and the Future of Abortion
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Pro-lifers are often caricatured as stupid creationists who just want to put women back in their place. Science and free inquiry are supposed to help them get over their "love affair with the fetus." But science hasn't cooperated. Ultrasound has exposed the life in the womb to those of us who didn't want to see what abortion kills. The fetus is squirming, and so are we. Slate
Pro-lifers are often caricatured as stupid creationists who just want to put women back in their place. Science and free inquiry are supposed to help them get over their "love affair with the fetus." But science hasn't cooperated. Ultrasound has exposed the life in the womb to those of us who didn't want to see what abortion kills. The fetus is squirming, and so are we. Slate
Sunday, April 29, 2007
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