QUITE A SNOW JOB

As we were approaching Christmas Eve I was quite concerned about the weather forecast. It seemed like a worse case scenario with snow and sleet predicted for both Christmas Eve and Day. Some churches even cancelled services. Thankfully it was manageable here at St Ed’s. Paul Tasto and his crew from Dakota Sweeping along with our maintenance staff of Gene Vavra, Brian Swain and Miguel Ponce did a great job. Your pastor was even seen with a shovel in hand. I most appreciated that people were able to safely attend our beautiful services.


STEWARDSHIP 2010

This weekend's Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that the magi brought their gifts to honor the new born Christ child. Each week we bring our gifts to worship. Indeed, each day your gifts are shared in wonderful ministries. Your gifts of time, talent and treasure are all appreciated. Thank you for your generous Stewardship.


HAPPY NEW YEAR

It is a new year and a new decade. We leave the decade referred to as the "aughts" (in the past people referred to individual years as "aughts," meaning zero, as in "nineteen aught one," "nineteen aught two," etc.) We now enter a decade of the teens. It should be interesting. God bless us all.

A PASTOR’S CHRISTMAS WISH

During this Christmas weekend, we have much to be thankful for. God so loved the world that He sent His only Son. And as we gather these Holy Days, we give thanks to so many who add to the joy of the Season. Even before the celebrations begin, many parishioners have given their time and talent to make them special including our maintenance and liturgical staffs, the multitude of musicians and the arts and environment volunteers.

At Christmas we remember how Joseph and Mary said ‘yes’ to God. It is obvious that many say ‘yes’ to God at St. Ed’s. In particular, I am thankful for the wonderful ways that parishioners reach out to those in need. That is certainly the main message of Christmas.

And for us as Christians, this is a season of peace and good will to all. May peace come to so many troubled areas of our global village, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan. And may all those serving our country overseas be safe.

Thank you all for your generous support and stewardship. God bless you and your loved ones.    

Merry Christmas! 

GAUDATE WEEKEND

The Third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudate or Rejoicing Sunday. The Scriptures have a special theme of rejoicing in the Lord whose birth is to be celebrated so soon. But the very word, "gospel," means "good news," and as the Gospel of John tells us, Jesus came to bring us the fullness of life and joy. In his first sermon, Jesus gave us the beatitudes which center on true happiness. I just read an interesting article titled, "What Happy People Don't Do," by Ray Williams in the Canadian National Post on December 8. It follows:

The happiest people spend a lot of time doing things like socializing with family and friends, taking part in community activities, reading, and practicing acts of kindness towards other people. What the happiest people don't do a lot of the time, according to a new study, is watch television.

In an article in the New York Times, November 20, 2008, Roni Caryn Rabin reported the results of a study by John Robinson, a professor of sociology at the University of Maryland, who published his findings in the Journal of Social Indicators Research. While many studies have focused on the demographic characteristics of happy people--factors such as age and marital status--Dr. Robinson and his colleagues examined the kind of activities that happy people engaged in. They relied heavily on the responses of 45,000 Americans collected over 35 years by the University of Chicago's General Social Survey and also on published "timed diary"  studies recording the daily activities of participants. Dr. Robinson concluded that "TV was the one activity that showed a negative relationship. Unhappy people did it more, and happy people did it less."

The question that is not answered in the study is whether or not TV may be a cause of changing levels of unhappiness. That answer may come to us from the research by psychologists Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of The How of Happiness. According to her research, up to 40% of the level of happiness for individuals is based on choices--the daily decisions and behaviors within the control of the individual. Lybomirsky found that the happiest people practiced gratitude and positive thinking; engaged in acts of kindness and nurtured social relationships; practiced forgiveness; savored life's joys; honored commitments to life goals; avoided overthinking and social comparisons; and practiced self-care.

Lyubomirsky and researcher Ed Diener found that happiness levels in North America have not improved substantially over the past few decades despite increasing levels of economic well being and that external material things including wealth did not substantially increase levels of happiness. So it seems that the latest TV show, or any amount of TV is unlikely to improve our happiness, even though it may distract us temporarily.

MVP?

We all salute Twins catcher, Joe Mauer, a great athlete and apparently a very nice guy, who was named the Most Valuable Player or MVP for the American League this year. But we have many MVP's here at St. Ed’s - Most Valuable Parishioners. No one appreciates this more than our staff and myself. Our spirit-filled liturgies and many wonderful ministries could only exist with your support and active involvement. Therefore, the staff has requested that we have a special Volunteer Appreciation Weekend on April 10-11 in 2010. More information will come in the new year.

In previous years some of the staff would give out small gifts at Christmas as a token of appreciation.  We hope to now show that appreciation with the Spring weekend celebration to all who volunteer their time and talents.

MY GRANDMOTHER WAS SWISS

My Dad's mother was Swiss by heritage. Her family was from St. Gallen, a very Catholic area near the German-Austrian border. I have always had an interest in things Swiss and even carry a Swiss army knife with me. I occasionally look at an English language website, swissinfo.ch, and recently caught the following headline: Catholic Bishop Calls for Married Priests. The article reported that a Swiss bishop, Norbert Brunner, states that married men should be allowed to be priests in the Catholic Church and that celibacy should be voluntary. Bishop Brunner has much credibility and actually takes over as head of the Swiss Bishops Conference at the start of next year.

He told the NZZ am Sonntag newspaper that, "There should be the possibility of making married men priests."  There was no fundamental link between celibacy and the priesthood, maintained the bishop, but added that it should remain a choice for those who wanted it. Brunner added that the Swiss bishops were "quite unanimous" in their support.

He had proposed the move to Rome several times, but admitted that he had, as yet, been unable to push his solution forward. Knowing my Grandmother, the Swiss do not easily give up.

IRISH EYES ARE WEEPING

Last week an Irish government-commissioned report found the Catholic Church leaders deliberately covered up abuse by 46 priests in order to save its own reputation. Instead of reporting the abuse, clergy suspected of abusing children were simply moved to different areas where they were then free to abuse more children. Father Michael Canny, a spokesman for the Derry Diocese, in the Irish Times, responded, "There is no good in saying other than the truth. The Church at this state has no credibility, no standing and no moral authority...The issue is now one of trust, and that is why it will take the rest of my lifetime as a priest to build up that trust again, because the trust and confidence in the Church has been broken on a fundamental level."

At masses across Ireland on the first Sunday of Advent, congregations heard the reflections of senior clergy on the findings of the report. One such church leader, Dr. Donal Murray, Bishop of Limerick, is facing calls for his resignation after the report strongly criticized his handling of child abuse allegations while he was auxiliary bishop in Dublin. He told the congregation at St. Joseph's Church in Limerick  that whether he resigned or not would be "guided by the priests and people of the diocese."

I found Murray's statement most telling. If the priests and people of our Dioceses had more ability to "guide" who became their church leaders we might have a healthier church all around.

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving this weekend it is good to recall that President Lincoln, in the midst of the Civil War, issued the order to establish a national holiday of Thanksgiving. His message resonates well today. It reads:

By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation.

The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth.

By the President: Abraham Lincoln

HEALTH CARE

The bishops of the United States have issued the following as their main
points of concern over health care reform:

• a truly universal health policy with respect for human life and dignity
• access for all with a special concern for the poor and inclusion of immigrants
• pursuing the common good and preserving pluralism
  including freedom of conscience and variety of options
• restraining costs and applying them equitably across the spectrum of payers