2008 July archive at Being Frank

Archive for July, 2008

Jul

Hands and feet like mine…

By Tuppence 2 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Amongst all the piles of reading material I picked up at WYD was some great food for thought on the fact of Jesus’ incarnation and the implications for us as humans.

Here’s a few points I picked up on…

- God comes to us in and through the body of Christ…the human body isn’t an obstacle to divine presence, but the very vehicle through which God reveals His intimate presence to us. Trying to jump to an ethereal state that attempts to ignore the grittiness of flesh and bodiliness doesn’t match up at all to Christ’s coming to us in his own flesh and blood.

- Jesus was born into a particular culture, in a particular area, during a particular time, to a particular family with a particular ancestry…you get the idea. The scandals of his ancestry, the status of his ethnic background etc all contribute to the context of his life. Our own lives and backgrounds are peppered with heroes and the less than heroic, in a community that shapes who we are, sometimes more than we’d like to admit. We can’t really step outside these things to a place where our faith â€˜is’ – our experience of God takes place very much within the personal context of our lives, as messy as they may be.

- Having become one of us, Jesus understood so intimately the limitations of humanity. He would have experienced just as much as we do, the limitations of time, energy, intelligence and abilities. I am particularly touched by that realization, as someone prone to thinking that there’s an endless amount of time in each day and if I don’t get everything done that I wanted, it’s because I didn’t work hard enough, and that I’m not â€˜doing enough’ for Jesus, because I haven’t got everything done. Sound familiar?

- Jesus lived in a particular society, with similar problems to those we have today. There’s still plenty of war, violence and outbreaks, discrimination, prejudice and more – both in distant places and within our own communities. Once again, our faith cannot be lived in isolation from this context, and we cannot block out these issues in order that our faith may not be challenged by them, and face the challenge of working for a better world, as idealistic as that may sound.

Jul

I hate you and your WYD!

By The Dumb Ox 12 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Wasn’t the closing Mass at WYD something else?!

A beautiful, loving and sacred (apart from that bizarre pop song that was played during the distribution of Communion – what was that all about?) response to the atheists, fundamentalist homosexual lobby groups and the mainstream media, who all try their best to slander. defame and re-crucify Christ and His Church every day in the West.

Having said that, the media just can’t help themselves – like the petulant child that refuses to accept that they have been proved wrong, and their posturing is totally unreasonable and without merit, they throw a tantrum into the mix.

They did this with a passion during WYD because they hate what the Church stands for, and because they know that they Church is an obstacle to the gospel of death that they preach to the world – and when hundreds of thousands of young people slave their guts out for months in order to pay for the blessing of being with the Pope at WYD this just infuriates them no end.

It continued last night with the 6pm News on TV One which reported that “more than 200,000″ people turned up to the closing Mass for WYD. This is an old media trick – when you want to downplay the importance of an event, you completely understate the numbers in your broadcasts.

In actual fact approximately 600,000 people attended that final Mass.

Throughout the report they kept referring to “the Pope and his followers” – which is a great way of making Catholicism sound like some sort of sinister cult – “we love the leader”!

They then featured footage of a tiny group of transvestite males outside the Mass protesting that that the Church was not allowing them freedom (any man who thinks that true freedom is the ability to dress and act as a woman doesn’t actually understand true freedom at all).

During this segment they used another old media trick by showing a tight close up shot of the tiny group of protesting transvestites – which made the protest look more formidable than it actually was, and it never allows the TV One viewers to see a wide angle shot which would show them just how insignificant this group really were.

The fun continued yesterday with a NZ newspaper running a front page story claiming that WYD pilgrims had “flocked” to Sydney brothels last week (never mind the fact that brothel owners claim that the visiting media were actually adding to the increased business).

Oh, and the cracker had to be the Dominion Post which ran an editorial yesterday attacking the Church and blaming her for population explosion.

Brendan Malone from Family Life International has written a response to the editor at the Dominion Post, on the FLI blog, I encourage you to check it out here.

Jul

Okay, so now what?

By James the Least 31 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Well, that’s World Youth Day ’08 done. :) Bring on Spain ’11, eh? :)

After what has seemed like a lifetime of planning and meetings and fundraising and preparation and prayer and anxiety and anticipation, the Holy Father is on his way back to Rome and Sydney will, over the course of the coming week, start to resume normal transmission. I don’t know about all of you out there, but I have found myself often transfixed by the coverage of the event over the last few days – both on the internets and TV – and I have to take my proverbial hat off to the Aussies. :) Didn’t they do well? The events were amazing, the turnout was pretty darn good, and the weather was brilliant!

(For those who say they didn’t have much to do with that last one, apparently a couple thousand nuns have been praying non-stop for good weather since the location was announced! :) )

I’ve been very inspired seeing all those pilgrims, priests and the Pope, and I have to say I’m now left with the title of this post as a question – i.e. okay, so now what? :)

Let me put it another way. Most of (if not all) the 4,000 or so Kiwi pilgrims will be boarding a plane in the next few days and heading back home. That’s right – they’re coming home. So, now what? Do we too just resume normal transmission? Do we just mark this little episode as a fun little holiday for the Pope in Australia? Okay, I don’t actually think that is possible, given the lasting images of the event, but you know what I mean – do we just relegate this to the fond memory section of our collective minds?

Or, do we take the theme set by His Holiness – “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses” – and make it real?

At the end of the closing Papal Mass, Cardinal RyÅ‚ko, President for the Pontifical Council for the Laity, told the pilgrims that they should see themselves no longer as pilgrims but as missionaries. He said that this is a good year to focus on that given that this year that is dedicated to St.Paul – one powerful, missionary! This backed up the Pope’s homily and everything he’s been saying over the last few days – that the Holy Spirit provides them (and us) the power to go forth, and that’s exactly what we should do.

So, with them “going forth” to the airport and coming home, how do we as a country prepare for this influx of power coming? If, as one of the priest commentators pointed out, we’re “emerging from a winter, and it’s now springtime for the Church”, then how do we take advantage of this thawing out?

Seriously…how? Post in the comments any ideas you might have for the legacy of World Youth Day 2008, and let’s see what we can do.

Jul

Masses to Mass

By eyeWitness 22 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Sorry for the late post tonight – I have been enjoying a divine roast dinner with wine to match cooked and eaten with my Australian host family. They are a lovely couple who have even moved out of their own bedroom to accommodate more pilgrims.

The last week has been one I will remember for the rest of my life. With his gentle yet highly intellectual addresses the Pope put his finger directly on the pulse of our world.

In the opening mass he spoke about moral relativism, the environment, sexual exploitation, young people in prison, domestic abuse and other subjects that are highly personal and touching to many, as well as major issues in our world today.

Seeing the pope up close in his motorcade he became not just a figurehead of the Church in the eyes of many pilgrims but a flesh and blood leader whose wisdom is breathtaking – especially when compared with what we’re used to hearing from other political leaders with their squabbles and often trivial agendas.

Stations of the Cross was the highlight for me. It seemed amazing that the Sydney central city was taken over by pilgrims solemnly observing a play out of Jesus’ last days at the Sydney Opera House, Darling Harbour, Hyde Park, and other sites around the city.

The final mass focused on the gifts of the Holy Spirit, imploring us to be open to the Holy Spirit moving in our lives. The statements about it being better to have one mission than many options, and taking the plunge into what God is calling you to do, rung particularly true with me. We live in an age where there are many options we can decide between. Yet even a badly executed strategy is better than one that is never executed I’m sure a wise man once said.

The international speakers here have been amazing – I am disappointed I couldn’t have gone to them all. There has also been a choice between many different concerts every day, some on boats sailing around the harbour at night with live Christian bands. Father Stan Fortuna, the talented rapping priest who grew up in the Bronx has been particularly popular.

The different flags and cultures chanting everywhere in the Sydney streets the last few days has been amazing. I have never sent the Church so vibrant, visible, and alive in one place. I have had so many interesting talks with Sydney people, many of whom have said the atmosphere is much more electric than that of the Sydney Olympics, eager to learn about God, religion, and our beliefs. I think they have been quite overwhelmed by the sheer mass, friendliness and energy of all the pilgrims.

Jul

Universality

By Filia Day 3 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Like a good number of the posters on this blog, I am in Sydney at WYD. I apologise for the lateness, I had a bit of blonde moment realising at 10am Sydney time that I really should have posted already.

For me WYD has been such a great experience. Unfortunately, because I studied for 6 years straight and then I went straight into my first job, I haven’t had much of a chance to travel and neither have I experienced (although I know the theory) the universality of the Church. I think for the first time in my life the universaility of the Church has become a reality! This was particularly evicent for me at the Papal arrival – the Holy Father was only a metre away from me and the affection of all the young people for our Holy Father is just astonishing. Walking down the streets of Sydney one sees pilgrims dressed in their national colours and flags shouting Benedicto! Viva el Papa! I’m not talking hundreds, I’m talking thousands! It’s nothing short of mind blowing!

Tonight is the Vigil where all the young people will join with the Holy Father in prayer. I am particularly lucky as I was given VIP tickets to be close to the Holy Father in the time that he will be at Randwick racecourse. My prayer will especially be for the state of the Church and nation in New Zealand. May there be a downpouring of grace on Our Country

Jul

“That crazy old coot in church was right!”

By Methuselah's Beard 2 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

I think there’s something inside all humans that drives us to ruin everything good. Take the Tour de France for example. Once a gruelling test for man and his machine, now it’s more fascinating to try and pick which riders are drug free. TV? Ruined by ads and lack of free to air sport. KFC? Ruined by warnings that it may be bad for your health. And so on.

Now I’m not usually one to jump on the ‘protect-the-earth-at-all-costs’ band wagon, but I thought I should make mention of it today seeing as how the Pope has recently called for “young people to respect life by safegurading all creation”.

I will apologise upfront for the ugly link. I can’t find the linky button, I think it’s because I use Explorer (Boo… hiss) and BF plays up on it all the time. Thanks Bill.

http://www.nzcatholic.org.nz/viewDocument.aspx?DocumentID=1539

I particularly liked the part where PBXVI said that ‘safegurading the environment is important, but the centre of God’s creation is the human being, whose life and dignity must be safeguarded first of all’.

“How can it be that the most wondrous and sacred human space — the womb — has become a place of unutterable violence” through abortion?” he asked.

Preach it PBXVI! You may not have as catch a moniker as PJPII but we love you all the same.

So in the current environment that we live in, whereby all efforts are being geared towards safeguarding the earth, let us be mindful that there are other things first and foremost, that we should be looking at safeguarding as well. What’s the point in having a pretty place to live in if there’s noone to live in it?

(Trying to address a serious issue has left a funny taste in my mouth. Normal transmission to resume next week)

Jul

Purposeful prayer

By The Captain 10 Comments

Categories: Being Frank...

Struggling for inspiration a bit this week – which makes me tempted to look over last year’s posts to see if it’s just a time-of-the-year thing…

I’ve been finding it difficult to pray lately. Generally it’s because I’m not quite sure what to say to the big man upstairs and I feel like I need to be clear before I start.

Then it hit me: He gave us a prayer to pray. So, I’ve just been doing my Our Fathers and Haily Marys, not know what I’m praying for, just that I’m praying.

Not sure about how effective/useful/beneficial this is. But I do know I’d rather be saying something to Him everyday, than nothing at all!

Happy Thursday everyone. Hope (and pray!) our pilgrims are having a grand time.