Ch,ch, changes!

And so it goes...around again...sometimes we wonder who the real men are, oh woe, oh woe. 'Joe Jackson, about 1981.' How could we expect anything else. I am not surprise or dismayed, just accepting of the fact that our hierarchy continues to abuse us one way or another; and we, like the victims of abuse, continue to enable the behavior and hope for the best (like well qualified people to develop the educating materials to implement the changes when they come.). I am not as learned as some of the people who subscribe to this honorable source, so I would hope my arguement makes sense. You might have to think about it, but I think you'll get my point.

You might argue, what is he talking about; how can he make this connection between the words used in our worship experience and the sexual abuse scandal? Actually it's very easy. Who has the power and the authority in the church. Who makes basically all of the decisions and truly has to answer to no one in particular.
It's the same people. It doesn't make a wit of difference what the issue is. Until the church hierarchy makes the choice to allow all the voices of the church to be involved in the decision making of the church on a host of important issues, it will continue to be the same old, same old, and I do mean old. Wisdom is not always indicative of age, I know a lot of elderly people who are not the most sensible or wise. Our decision makers are old, not just chronologically speaking, but mentally. We are still thinking like the church from the middle ages, you know, our hey day as it were, when what we said was typically the law of the land. It took the church a 1oo years or so to come to terms with the US way of thinking as a democracy, and now we've chosen to go back. No, thanks.

I remember when I came into the church 20 years ago and was awed with the hope and joy of such incredible documents on the economy, social justice and ecumenism, to name a few. It was inspiring. I can't remember the last time I have been inspired by the leadership in the church. Yes, I was a johnny come lately to the party of the opened windows of Vatican II, but the kind of spiritually enlightened and radical leadership of that time seems to have been wasted because of a few people who have fought successfully to bring us back to pre-Vatican hard line rules and regulations.

I have had my disagreements over the years and lost more than one job in the church as a result, but I always felt somehow that the people of the church who I worshipped with understood, supported, and shared (even when they didn't agree)in the vision of the 2nd Vatican Council. I can't help, but think, that all of our trust and vision as church has been replaced with a vision that excludes us.

Listen, please, as the voices of common humanity grow silent in our liturgical practice, so does the work of Christ in the world. It is all inextricably linked, and the land grows parched, barren and lifeless, before us. Others will take up a cause and we will be left to stand in the dust.

I probably don't make much sense. But, I hope you all can understand a little of what came out of me. God bless !