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On the 5th Anniversary of my Election as Presiding Bishop

In Church Stuff, Reflection on January 13, 2012 by admin

Five years ago today I journeyed to the basement of a church in Louisville KY. Once there, I was elected by a sum total of seven people to be the presiding bishop of  the North American Old Catholic Church- this new expression of progressive Catholicism in the Old Catholic tradition. It was an auspicious start to be sure.

The formation of this denomination came out of a conversation amongst friends who talked about what their dream church would be. How would it operate, evangelize, develop and support clergy and their ministries? How would it embrace the good parts of our Catholic heritage, and do away with the ills that have faced the church for millennia? We prayed, we dreamed, we shared our vision, we talked and came up with a plan to do it different- do it right.

And then the journey began.

I truly believe that I am the luckiest priest on the planet. I get to live my calling full throttle, “all in” as it were, and I get to do it with the full support of family, friends, and with perhaps the greatest group of sister and brother clergy ever assembled since the Apostles themselves shared their journey of faith, hope, and love with each other and with Christ. Imagine that experience! The greatest journey and the greatest story ever told and the Apostles lived it!

Well, I believe that our journey has a story to tell as well. Like the journey and great story of Jesus and the Apostles, our story  is full of love, blessed with redemption, committed to radical acceptance, and working on a new evangelization.

And so, our journey continues.

Together, we will continue to find new ways to reach those who have been falsely led to a place where they believe that they are no entitled to the love of God. We will bring them to the light of God’s presence, arms wide and hearts aching for the love of God. And they will join our journey…

Thank you all for being on this journey with me. It has been an amazing five years for me.  Five years full of love, grace, and fellowship. There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel the prayers and love each of you offer me. There is also not a day that goes by where I don’t feel the love of God and His Son, Jesus Christ in the work that I do. The grace and peace that I receive each day is nothing short of astonishing for me. As it says in the book of Wisdom, “God loves us with sighs too deep for words,” and I feel that deep and abiding love from Christ every day of my life, and it is quite simply miraculous.

Blessings and Peace!

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Social Media Prayer- Does #Christ follow you on Twitter?

In Church Stuff, Reflection, Social Media on January 3, 2012 by admin

But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. – Matthew 6:6

I have been getting more and more into the social media realm as a means to raise the awareness and distribution of the message of #progressive #christianity and about the #oldcatholic church.

See how I did that, three #hashtags in one sentence. #irockthesocialmedia.

Ok, I’ll stop.

So in addition to sending out tweets, and cross posting them to Facebook, Google+ and the like, I have been following different hash tags on twitter to see what people are tweeting about, and to on occasion offer comment on the relevant stuff.

It really is amazing. I find that I am, or at least I feel like I am more aware about relevant and breaking news, politics and church issues because I sit in front of the computer with Tweet Deck running than if I had CNN on the telly.

It’s certainly less filtered than a newscast, where the anchor, reporter and editor choose what you see and hear, and how it is presented. Twitter is certainly a rawer venue, where you see people’s views and information as it happens without much of a filter. Any news operation who doesn’t employ three college kids who do nothing but monitor twitter is missing out for sure.

One thing I have noticed in following the hash tags, especially in the #catholic tag, that people pray- or offer snippets of prayer as tweets. It’s not uncommon to see part of the Our Father, Hail Mary, Chaplet of Divine Mercy and other mini-prayers flying into the “twitterverse”.

So, Does Jesus follow #catholic, #christian or any other relevant tags? Or is this just a way for people to make sure other people know that they are ‘praying.’

Social Media Prayer is the Modern Day Church Poser

I have an aversion to what I call “Sunday Church Hat” people. You know the ones I mean… All dressed up, the men in the nicest of suits, and the women in those well-appointed and over the top couture hats. They always sit in the front row so everyone can see them… everyone knows they are in church, because you can’t miss them!

They aren’t there to pray, they are there for a show. To make sure people know they are church going folk. They like the attention, and often receive it. Pastors and congregants always flock to talk with them- I am even guilty of it. We always need to remember that a well-dressed Christian does not mean they are a good Christian! It’s the age old judging a book by its cover.

I think that Social Media praying is akin to Sunday Church hats- attention getting, but of little actual substance because underneath the pretty, well decorated hat is nothing but an empty space. Or as my dearly departed brother bishop, Archbishop Jim West used to say, “All frosting and no cake!”

What’s even odder about Tweet-praying is that some people will send long prayers – very long prayers through multiple, sometimes dozens of tweets! Now, you have to wonder if the sender is praying while they cut and paste and click send!

You see, there really is no way that you can effectively tweet and pray. I really don’t believe that God hears or answers prayers with such little thought and emotion in them that you put them on Twitter.

Prayer is a deep thought- not 140 characters of afterthought.  In prayer we open our hearts and bear our souls to God. Prayer can and should always be public and private, sacred and special. While tweeting a prayer or part of a prayer is certainly public, it isn’t in anyway sacred or special.

And let’s be clear; twitter prayer can never replace the act of worship and community action. And why would we want it to? The wonderful occasion of coming together with fellow travelers and praying together, receiving the sacraments of forgiveness and the Lord’s Table together, and taking those sacraments deeply and internally which allows us to carry that grace forward and transform it into action for the betterment of our species and planet all in the Greater Glory of God our Savior and Redeemer is something that can never ever be replaced! I couldn’t even describe it 140 characters, so there is no way anyone can do it in 140 characters!

So, is social media and prayer always a bad combination? No, absolutely not.

One thing that social media is good for our in our Christian experience is calling people to prayer. I believe it’s a great venue to ask people to pray for things that are important to you- illness or a death in the family; prayers of Thanksgiving for a new baby, a new job, or for the abundant blessings God gives you and your family.

It’s also a great way to ‘gather the Nations into the Peace of God’s Kingdom[1]’ as well. If you want to public witness your Christianity through social media, tweet and post to Facebook something like “I am going to church tomorrow at 9, let me know if you want to join me in thanking God for all He has done for us!” or invite people who follow you to a picnic, bingo, bible study, pastors talk, to clean the sanctuary… whatever your church has going on! Gather ye the multitudes my sisters and brothers!

Finally, social media is an indispensable tool when arranging a community response to social ills. Everything from the occupy movement here in the US to the trans-formative actions we have seen in oppressed nations around the globe to assisting families displaced by fire or disaster has either been made possible or greatly enhanced by the use of social media. It’s a great tool to call Christians to action for those who need it.

So be sure that you don’t lose your prayer life in the social media experience! Social Media is a great tool for evangelization, outreach, prayer and organizing action. It is not a replacement for true, authentic prayer, worship or social justice action.

So be a Christian in the twitterverse, and in the universe, and allow one to assist and compliment the other.

Now, go to your room and pray!


[1] The Penitential Rite of the Catholic Church: B.ii.

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Alleviate your Pain

In Advocacy, DC, Homeless, Local, Social Justice on January 3, 2012 by admin Tagged:

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?  When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?  When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

-Matthew 25:37-40

I live in Washington, DC on Capitol Hill, in the Lincoln Park area. It’s a nice, middle to upper middle class area with typical DC row houses… blocks and blocks of row houses. It’s a nice area- relatively crime free and quiet. My neighbor on the left is a Congressman from Texas, and on the right are two guys with the cutest two little kids. We have court clerks, paramedics, pastors, a tattoo artist and even a Navy pilot, and everyone knows everyone else on the block. It is a small town in a big city.

Most of us in one way or another are involved and engaged in our community. Thanks to DC’s Metropolitan Police Department, there are many ways to stay engaged in the happenings in our enclave, and in our larger police district. It’s not uncommon to get a beep and waive from a passing patrol car, or to have the officers on foot, bike, or Segway patrol stop and see how everything is when they are passing by.

One of the ways we have to communicate with the police is an email list for our district. It is often on that list where you first hear about what the siren was about the evening before; about new community efforts; and the police department’s response (and many times positive results) to requests for increased patrols or attention for a specific problem.

So, over the Christmas Holiday on the police email list, a DC resident complained about how the presence of panhandlers in front of the local grocery store “upset her” and she wanted the store manager, the police, and whoever else to “deal with them” before the area, recently re-vitalized with new construction and this new grocery store, went back to the “old days.”

She expressed concern that shoppers would go somewhere else because of this- assuming that others were as bothered by the presence of panhandlers as she was because their presence made for an “unpleasant environment.”

All this during the Christmas season.

The police response was great. You see, panhandling is not illegal in DC, unless you do so aggressively with a threat of harm, or near an ATM. Likewise, loitering is not illegal in DC.  The police did suggest that perhaps if people didn’t give them money, they would move on to another place where people might be more generous. Sensible advice from a well prepared and trained department.

There were other suggestions as well: Can the grocery store file a “Bar Notice” and then the police can arrest them- No. Even a lawyer chimed in and called the person out stating, “I have come to believe that your post represents a horrible trend in this city away from compassion and working toward mutually agreeable solutions that benefit all members of our community, including those less fortunate and educated as you, and toward deploying limited law enforcement resources away from addressing serious crimes in favor of nuisance quality of life issues.” He went on to call her on her “level of compassion…”

Imagine, from a lawyer!

Of course, I had to chime in, so here is what I sent to the woman, the police department, and the grocery store manager:

Why does the idea of someone simply asking for assistance bother people so? Why do so many people on Capitol Hill and its related environs have such a dispassionate attitude and disregard for your fellow man? The elitist attitude on the hill is really much more disturbing than the presence of those who beg for money is.

Is it perhaps that you are not motivated to an ethos of helping someone less fortunate, educated, or well-off as you are? People really need to examine why helping someone who needs it is an issue for you?

If you feel you don’t want to give a panhandler money, then perhaps you can buy them something to eat while you are in the store! That way you will have not vacated your “high moral ground” and “sense of neighborhood character” and can still in some way, feel warmth in that otherwise cold, dead, self-serving soul you walk around with.

While I think there are better ways and more efficient services for the homeless to access and receive those things they need… here in DC, quite literally in the shadow of and blocks from those documents and institutions that allow us to be free and make our own decisions on how to live and comport ourselves, the homeless who put aside their dignity to ask their fellow American for help should be allowed to do so in whatever peaceful manner they choose- which is the spirit of the law here in DC.

Father Mike Seneco

Yea, if you couldn’t have told, I had about enough of this woman’s issue.

What ever happened to helping your fellow man? Where did the Spirit of Christmas go, and why did it go so quickly? Scrooge is certainly alive and living in DC, and apparently he shops at my neighborhood grocer.

It’s obvious that this citizen, who was upset by the mere presence of a panhandler- a fellow human- a child of God, wasn’t really, truly upset by their presence.

I think that what she is in pain. She is in pain because deep down, she does not possess the ability to look beyond her own prejudices and misconceptions and see that this “panhandler,” this life – this gift from God to us all has a real need and she does not care to help.

I think that she is in pain because she may see some of herself in the eyes that stare back at her from behind the momentary glances of hope.

I think she is in pain because she is afraid she may one day be that person- alone, and in need, and that people will ignore her need just as she ignores others today.

We often experience our own personal pain when we recognize the pain of others as being harbored deep inside ourselves. The thing is, we best alleviate our own pain when we help others with theirs, but most people don’t realize that.

The need for food, clothing, warmth, and shelter are all really transitory and temporary. The need to have our pain lifted, which allows us to better understand and receive the creators love is an eternal need of our souls…

Let’s all try to alleviate each other’s pain shall we?

Happy New Year.

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The Time has Come…

In Advocacy, Church Stuff, GLBT, Religious Rights on December 16, 2011 by admin

Earlier in December I had the great joy of ordaining three new Old Catholic priests. It was a beautiful day- crisp late fall with a few umber colored leaves hanging about, and just a hint of winter briskness around the corner.

The church was packed with people from all over the region; local parishioners and church leaders greeted the attendees, some of whom came from as far away as Boston and Atlanta.

The congregation was well dressed and in high spirit! One whole pew was adorned with a collection of the finest Sunday church hats as I have ever seen.  Every pew occupied- they were there to celebrate these new priests and their willingness to serve those who search, long, and cry out to know the love of God through Jesus Christ.

It was a wonderful, spirit filled service. Led through hymns by a wonderful gospel group accompanied on the piano, the church was alive and surely, God was in that place with us.

During my sermon, I spoke of the dedication and commitment of these new priests- that they were standing today before the gathered community and before God, committing themselves, to the end of their lives to the service of the people of God.

I then spoke about churches… and how some churches do not welcome the gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender children of God into God’s house to receive their portion of the heavenly inheritance.

I told the congregation that they can be sure that in any church that excludes any of God’s children, that God indeed does not live there.

I told the congregation that any minister, priest, bishop or elder that tells them that they are not welcome in their congregation has an empty soul, void of the knowledge and the love of God. That minister does not have the right to speak on behalf of God and that they are indeed are perpetrating a fraud.

I told them that the time has come…

The time has come for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender Christians to stand up and tell those churches that exclude them from their portion of grace that they are indeed empty of the Love of God. That these “ministers” are as arid as the desert… the desert in which our ancestors wandered… lost, broken and forsaken. And when our ancestors were brought in from the wandering and to the feast,  that those ministers were surely left behind a sand dune!

The time has come for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians to tell churches that use special labels like “welcoming” and “open and affirming” that these labels allow people to think that perhaps we should be treated differently than other Sojourners.  Churches need to know that separate but equal, or special recognition is not enough, and never has been. We don’t want to be the subject of ‘special outreach’ events; we just want to be like every other Christian believer- hands joined in prayer- looking to heaven.

The time has come for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians to stop begging churches to accept us! Why do so many of us want to be part of institutions that don’t want us? We own our rich Christian traditions, and don’t need the approval of large, burgeoning and controlling institutions to make our worship valid, our prayers heard, and to receive from the Altar every grace and blessing.

The time has come for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians to inform those who think they need to “protect” God and his church from “the likes of us” that from Manger to Calvary to the Empty Tomb on Easter morning that it is OUR RIGHT to be able to worship God, to receive his love, acceptance, kindness, and forgiveness on our own terms.

The time has come for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians to stand up and declare that we will no longer attempt to worship OUR GOD on their terms or under the conditions beset upon us by those who do not understand the breadth and depth of God’s love for all of us.

At the end of the sermon, the time had come for the three new priests to lay down on the sanctuary floor before God and pledged themselves to a life of service.  No one asked them if they were gay or straight… just as no one asked Christ or the disciples… when their time had come, and they laid down their lives to serve God, and God was well pleased.

The time has come…

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Ring your bell!

In Church Stuff, General, inspirational, Reflection on September 1, 2011 by admin

I wrote this message for one of my parish newsletters. The parish pastor, who serves as a Hospice Chaplain, has been verbally attacked by the Roman Catholic Church for doing his job. -+M.

 

I was recently invited to bless a new Church bell, which I am completely jazzed about.  You see, I have a thing for church bells, and all they represent.  I love reaching up and pulling on the bell rope, and hearing the peal travel across the neighborhoods and countryside calling to all who hear it to pay attention.

Tradition tells us that the peal of bells is an “expression of the sentiments of God’s people as they rejoice or grieve; as they offer thanks or petition; and as they gather together to outwardly show their oneness with God.”

The prayer used in blessing a bell reads in part: “May their voice direct our hearts toward you and prompt us to come gladly to this church, there to experience the presence of Christ, listen to your word, offer you our prayers, and in both joy and in sorrow, be friends to one another.”

The closing blessing of the people when a bell is blessed reads: And may He grant that you will celebrate the divine mysteries united in spirit, putting aside all division, and accepting one another in sincere charity.”

Recently, my good friend and your Pastor Father Dan has experienced some unwanted attention from our friends “across the road.” I am guessing by their treatment of Father Dan that they haven’t blessed a bell in a long time!

Not everyone likes it when they hear the ringing of a bell as the bell calls to people’s attention that perhaps they have forgotten, neglected or ignored the voice of the Saints represented in each bells diatonic tone.

The church bell is supposed to bring people together! The call of the peal across the landscape is melodious yet familiar; It rings – resonates into our souls. When one hears such bells calling out, we all know that it is God calling to us… calling us to be friends, to accept each other in sincere charity, to put aside all division… and to be friends to one another.

So my message to you today is to RING YOUR BELL! Let’s not worry about our friends across the road who no longer feel the resonance of the bell in their soul and have lost it’s meaning in their hearts.

Let’s pray for them… pray that they open their hearts and souls when the bell comes to toll, that they will again allow their souls to sing in tune with the bells we ring through our open hearts, minds, and doors.

So go ahead, ring your bell. It will continue to call people to the good work that you have begun at Saint Anthony’s- it might even call the people across the way- as bells are known to do.

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I’ve said yes and I’ve said oh hell no!

In Church Stuff, General on August 8, 2011 by admin Tagged: ,

Not the title one would expect when talking about sacred music, eh? Well, let me tell you a story about my commute to the office this morning.

I was dropping off a good friend and aspiring Methodist minister at a Metro station. He goes to school in the San Francisco area, and is here in DC doing summer internships, and surfing our couch. So while we are in the car I asked him if he had heard the new pop hit song “Save me, San Francisco” by the group Train.  His response, “is Train a singing group?”

Now, I am not a devote to most pop music- I am a mixture of classic rock/ Christian rock/ Crooners/ Palestrina guy myself- but I do know who Train is… from movies to the charts, they are a pretty consistent producer of music that most people like and many have heard- but he had never heard of them.

The next thing my Methodist in waiting says is this: “If it’s not by Marty Haugen or David Haas, I won’t like it.” After I recovered control of the vehicle, which I lost due to the rapid draining of blood from my brain, we had a little convo about sacred music and what it should be, and this is what I said…

When people go to church it should be akin to a rich, filling, and well prepared meal. We are after all, approaching the altar of God to have our souls fed in word and sacrament, to see that we are spiritually healthy and ready to greet Him when he comes again, or when we are called home to our Father- whichever comes first.

So why then, do we choose to have our music program more resemble cheese-wiz on a ritz cracker than as a full course of our spiritual feast?

Sacred music should be just that – Sacred. It should carry us away and bring us closer to God. Sacred music should make our souls resonate, and it is our soul that sings – sings with a longing to someday be part of the choir of angels in heaven… it should not pander to the least common denominator, or contain ‘bumper sticker’ theology, and it should never imply that we need to “build a house where love can grow” when God has already done so!

So my Methodist nemesis, smugly reminds me that I like Christian Rock and Contemporary Christian music, (which I do) and he points out that it is full of bumper sticker-ism’s.

I think contemporary Christian and Christian Rock should have a place in our Christian experience. These musical genres reach the youth and young, single adults- a group of disaffected Christians that might not think about God and Jesus Christ as often as they should.

The thing about these types of music is the songs motivate people to go to Church through well- singing about going to church- praising God in worship, and being part of a community of believers. Yes yes yes… they are a product of, and an effective evangelization tool for the Protestants, and it is certainly by and in large bumper sticker theology-  but hey, you have to give those Protestants credit- they have used music effectively to fill their pews on a Sunday with young families, kids, teens and tweens.

And for the record, I would never use Christian Rock or Contemporary Christian music during Mass.

So back to Haugen and Haas- I feel like I am picking on these guys, when really, it started much earlier… Repp, Wise, the early works of the STL Jesuits, the Dameans, Schutte, Foley… the list is long.

I believe that a good portion of the more popular hymns from this movement really represent everything that is bad about Vatican II. So much of Vatican II was misinterpreted and when applied, it ended up being more about throwing out everything that is old- because simply its age made it bad, when really, it was supposed to be about making the church relevant to late 20th century Catholics.- to take our deep, historic and sacred traditions and make them applicable to the present day Catholic.

Of course, my Methodist friend disagreed.. so in proper Catholic fashion, I reminded him he was a Protestant, and just didn’t have the capacity to understand.  :-)

And with that, we were at the end of our trip, and we parted in peace- with him humming “Gather us In”, and me singing the line from the Train song, “I’ve said yes and I’ve said oh hell no!”

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The Debt Ceiling Crisis

In Politics on July 30, 2011 by admin Tagged: , ,

I really really don’t want to make a habit of commenting on political things here in this blog, but today is different. In an email thread within the church, I was asked about the issue in preparation for the release of a statement on the matter, and this is what I wrote:

Our country is in turmoil, and the attempt to fix the financial crisis on the backs of the poor and marginalized is un American, and goes against the very basic Christian principals. Our country has a long, rich and well established tradition and history of taking in “your poor, tired, and huddled masses” and offering them the new deal. We have, for 235 plus years, cared for the poor, and we should continue to do so. Further, any elected official that wants to abandon that cornerstone of the American ideal should be given a pink slip by the voters.

Certainly as a church, we cannot sit idly by and watch those who make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year pay less in taxes, and then watch the poor, elderly, and sick get sicker and more systematically ignored. to borrow from our protestant brothers, we need to ask “What would Jesus Do?”

This system of higher taxes on the rich to support and care for the poor isn’t new. It was and is the tax plan designed by President Abraham Lincoln – a republican.  The Revenue Tax Act of 1862 put into place the graduated income tax we have today.

 Some people say that public assistance is used for the wrong purpose by those who receive it. One of the great things about being an American is that you get to do what you want… so if someone on public assistance decides to use their welfare check to buy another TV then they get to do that… is that right, prudent or helpful?? No… is it the essence of being an American, that we get to control our own destiny, and make decisions, good or bad, right or wrong. There are/were governments that controlled what their people did with their money and their lives… but that’s not here.

This debt ceiling isn’t about politics but it is… it isn’t about economics but it is… and it isn’t about the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer – but it is. For us, it’s none of those things… it’s about what’s right for our neighbors, and treating them the way we wish to be treated. We as Christians are called to love our neighbors as ourselves and as God does. In the book of Romans, we are told that the Holy Spirit loves us with sighs “too deep for words.” The least we can do as representatives of Christ on earth is to care for those God places in our midst.

Would a system of help-up as opposed to hand-out be better? Yup…  but this debt ceiling issue isn’t about that either- because time is short.  In 72 hours we will have people who will have no food, no shelter, and no medication. That’s what this is about… and it’s an emergency that congress allowed to get this critical- and they need to get on their horse and fix the emergency, before we all go down.

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The Uncle in the Corner…

In Reflection on July 27, 2011 by admin Tagged:

And that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him, he sent the Holy Spirit from you, Father, as his first gift to those who believe, to complete his work on earth and bring us the fullness of grace. -From Eucharistic Prayer #4

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. -Romans 8:26

Have you ever been to a family reunion? My family stopped having them a few years ago… a combination of the generational change- aunts, uncles and the older relatives passing away, along with the advent of the internet and the more recent social media revolution has made many family reunions go the way of the family album, and summer gatherings to see slides of your recent trip to Yosemite.

For those of you who have had the pleasure of going to a family reunion, you may well remember your favorite aunt, cousin and special moments with your grandmother or grandfather – now long gone home to their heavenly reward, those memories are some of your most cherished memories. I know they are for me.

You probably also vaguely remember other perennial attendees at these reunions… aunts, uncles, 2nd cousins, 12th cousins… people that were always there but you never really knew who they were, or how you were related… they were just there. I remember at one family reunion, I discovered I was related to someone I went to school with… it was weird!

Like that uncle in the corner of the reunion, the Holy Spirit is just there… always. Catholic-Christians spend time, lots of time, praying to God and asking the Angels, Saints, and the Mother of God herself to intercede for us and bring our prayers to God… when in reality God, the Holy Spirit is here with us at every moment of every day!

And yet, even though the Holy Spirit is with us, we treat him like the Uncle in the corner at the reunion. He’s there… we know we are related to him somehow… but we never sit down and talk with God.. God with and God within us!

The Holy Spirit is that first gift from God to those who believe. He is that uncle and we are related to him. We are God’s child and God is our parent in heaven. Always with us… always there for us… always here for us!

I discovered years after the reunions stopped, and the uncle in the corner who became a distant memory had always wanted to be a priest. Having never reached that goal, he spent his single, life working in an office, and praying for his family… all his family, and that the reunions were the most cherished events of his life. Sounds like the Holy Spirit to me.

So go, walk over to the corner, and talk to the uncle who is always there… you will be glad you did.

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I know what you read last Summer…

In General, Reading on July 24, 2011 by admin Tagged: , , ,

… ok, maybe I don’t.

People often ask me, “what are you reading…” Sad to say, I don’t read nearly as often as I would like, or should- something I am going to strive to correct. Part of that correction, will be to blog a little about the books I choose to read, whether it be for work, general education, or to simply get lost in a tome as a flight of fancy.

One of the hang-ups I think I have about reading is the slow and painful death of the book. We just watched Borders close all their stores, thanks in no small part to the advent of “E-books.” I was given and Kindle, and I do understand the convenience and draw of them. I mean, to be able to carry dozens of volumes with you, especially when traveling on vacation or a business trip is a great convenience, but it’s just not the same for me.

I will give you an example: I am writing this blog post from a hotel room in Wilmington, Delaware. I am here for a day of meetings with the rector of the denominations seminary, Saint Wolbodo Seminary for Old Catholic Studies. With me, I have my Ipad, which has the Kindle software on it, and a total of ten books on it. I also have a book, “Linchpin- Are you indispensable?” which was passed to me from Matt, who recommended it as a good book to read. He borrowed the book from the DC Public Library.

The book Linchpin is a book! I can hold it, touch it, smell. it.. it’s a book! The Ipod-Kindle-that-killed-books is well, not a book…

I guess I am old fashioned… I like the look, feel, and smell of a book. I don’t know that I will ever get used to my books being battery powered…

So, what am I reading. Well, I haven’t cracked the Linchpin book just yet. I am in the process of reading three books (yes, E-books…) They are:

  • The Conciliarist Tradition: Constitutionalism in the Catholic Church (church history – dry);
  • Curse of the Narrow – the interesting story about “The Halifax Explosion” during WW2.
  • Words to Eat By: Five Foods and the Culinary History of the English Language
Hmmm, quite the history theme in those…  I will let you know what I think of them…

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Sink or swim, I’m Divin in….

In General on July 21, 2011 by admin Tagged: , , , ,

So here I go….

It was suggested to me by several contemporaries and confidants that I begin (again) to write via a blog.

I’m getting old, and I need to keep the old grape sharp- never turning down a chance to stretch the neurons. I have even begun to do crosswords on the Ipad… yea, it’s that bad.

So, here I go. I can’t promise cathartic revelations for you, or for me for that matter. I am just going to endeavor to, with some regularity, to come here and let the river flow… I hope you enjoy the ride.

Blessings!

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