Before we get started this morning I wanted to ask you to say a prayer for Pat Schwent. Yesterday morning at mass, Mrs. Balsman (a lovely woman who’s known me since I was about 4 years old) informed me that one of our readers, Pat, is in need of our prayers. She said Pat loves reading our newsletter. Well Pat, thank you so much for reading and you can be assured of all of our prayers for you.
Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory Be…
Good morning,
This past summer I took my family to North Carolina for our first beach vacation. Our fourteen hour road trip to the coast took us two days to complete, stopping in Knoxville, Tennessee to stay the night. I had never been to Knoxville and was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful Cathedral when we arrived for Mass on a hot Tennessee Sunday morning. I didn’t know it at the time, but that grand Cathedral and the Bishop that built it were at the center of an ongoing controversy. A few weeks after my stop in Knoxville Bishop Stika would resign.
I was’t aware of an of these events until I read a recent article in The Pillar:
I suggest you read the entire article, but this quote from a seminarian of the diocese really struck me:
“At every ordination we celebrated in the diocese, for priests and for deacons, Bishop Stika had a habit I think is worth learning from. When it came time for the promise of obedience, he had a habit of interrupting the ceremony, every time, to say: “This is my favorite part, the promise of obedience.”
He’d do that every time. He was joking about it, but in a way that made very clear to us that it wasn’t quite a joke. Obedience was critical to him — and he made that clear in a lot of other comments over the years.“
It’s never enjoyable to read a piece that “shines the light” on the failings of Catholic leadership, but I do think the average Catholic should at least be aware of the kinds of things that take place in our Church - especially when they are happening only a state away. At the heart of the article is a discussion on obedience. What does it mean for a priest to be obedient to his bishop? What does it mean for lay people like myself?
As I pondered the meaning of Christian obedience throughout the week, I was reminded of my own bishop’s most recent articles in our diocesan magazine The Mirror:
The Rite of Installation of a Pastor may be ‘new’ to many
Obedience necessary for diocesan unity
Just something to think about. Pray for the diocese of Knoxville sometime this week.
Articles From This Week
Y’all have to read this one! If you’re a teacher, a parent, or considering ever being one of those things you should read this. For those that don’t know, Fr. Allen Kirchner teaches theology at Springfield Catholic High School and is pursuing his doctorate in education.
Articles Coming Next Week
In the last Rundown I promised we’d be bringing a lot more content focused on the voices of everyday Catholics. Well this week we are making good on that promise! Join us Monday as we sit down with Chris and Rita Jo Horan for an interview about their faith, family, and way of life. Chris and Rita Jo are awesome folks and I think you’ll really enjoy this one.
The rest of October looks a little something like this:
Catholic Anthropology Part 4 - Professor Gideon Barr
Choices: Contraception Part 1 - Dr. Nicole Allcock
The first in a new series where we interview converts to the Catholic faith
Building Community from the Ground Up - and interview with Fr. Charles Peirano about the thriving young adult community in Springfield, MO
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Say a prayer for me if you get the chance and be assured of my prayers for each one of you. Have a blessed week.
Pretty sure that Bishop Sticka and Bishop Rice went to school together around the same time. Probably says something about how obedience was taught in the 80s versus pervious decades.