Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Whine To The Bishop
You'd think the first letter-to-the-new-bishop from our parish would be a liturgical complaint.
Well.
You'd think it, but no.
The complaint was that our clergy didn't preach this weekend on Embryonic Stem Cell Research as requested by the Missouri bishops. What the three priests did do, including the diocesan vicar general, was speak on it briefly after the post-Communion announcements. In one nearby parish, ESCR went unmentioned.
I don't know if the complainers realized that we have an adult ed session on this very topic planned for January. As I see it, a sensible plan would be to hit the advertising hard once the event is nailed down. Our pastor was criticized for saying the issue was too involved to do it justice in a few minutes. Two minutes seemed about right, but if someone's concerned enough about following church teaching, you don't even need that. Just say, "The Church is dead-set against it, and if you want to know why, come to the meeting."
The First Sunday of Advent is significant enough for a preaching topic. Other intrusions don't belong. If ESCR is deemed as such too, it should've been preached on last month already. Now it can wait for the new year. Period.
