The Catholic Church in Belgium has been battered by scandals and missteps over the past year, and now its new leader, the conservative Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Brussels, has sparked a fresh controversy with comments declaring that people afflicted with AIDS are receiving “a sort of immanent justice” for their sexual practices.
The third Evangelist is Luke, who was a physician in the world,
and dwelt with the apostles, and with Paul afterward,
serving the Almighty without any sin
in a pure life, ever without a wife, filled with God’s Spirit,
There are some who think frequent Communion apt to produce too great familiarity, and consequently abate of the reverence with which we should approach the dreadful Mysteries: ’tis true, familiarity amongst men, creates many times contempt; because the more we are acquainted with one another, the more we discover our infirmities and defects, and that lessens our esteem.
In San Francisco, most of the large, established non-profits who feed the hungry have big budgets, lots of staff, lots of overhead, many government contracts and grants, and a professionalized, social-service approach. The neighborhood food pantries, on the other hand, are run very cheaply, almost entirely by volunteers, many of them poor; they don’t employ development directors or staff to do screening and intake.
Oh, dear brother, seeing the time is now come when it pleaseth the heavenly Father, for Christ our Saviour his sake, to call upon you, and to bid you come, happy are you that ever you were born, thus to be awake at the Lord’s calling. O dear brother, what meaneth this, that you are sent into your own native country?
Bishop Lawrence’s thinking is problematic. An Episcopal diocese is no more independent of the Episcopal Church than a state is independent of the federal government. This is nothing short of an attempt to craft ecclesiastical nullification. And of late, we have had too much practice in that with four other dioceses claiming nullification on the road to secession.
I would advise those who give themselves to prayer, particularly at first, to form friendships; and converse familiarly, with others who are doing the same thing. It is a matter of the last importance, even if it lead only to helping one another by prayer: how much more, seeing that it has led to much greater gain!
1. Marriage is down because of the recession? Not. 2. Gays more likely to have multiple partners? Guess again. (Plus other interesting comparisons.)