Diocese of Palm Beach

Yesterday was another sad day in our diocese. A priest (Frank Guinan) was found guilty of stealing church funds to spend on vacations, gambling, jewelry for a female friend, tuition for his friend's daughter, and more. Overall, he was guilty not just of criminal mis-deeds but of moral ones as well that hurt the priesthood and the Catholic Church. Here is a story from one local paper, and honestly, they are not being biased. Often our papers are good at Catholic bashing, this time the truth is bad enough, no embellishing needed.
Sadly, the actions of a few (we have had our share of problems down here) make it difficult for the many. Today a parishioner called the office and said to stop sending her offertory envelopes because she can no longer give to the church. When asked if we had done something to upset her, she said it really had nothing to do with us, but had to do with this conviction.
According to a poll taken one news site, 63% of the people who answered said this theft will definitely make them re-considering giving money to the Catholic church.
One of the most disturbing parts of the trial were priests who were put on the stand who actually saw nothing wrong with what Guinan did as far as taking money from the collection. One priest said, "Well, you have no idea what it's like to be a priest," as to why it was okay to steal the money.
The defense tried to say the diocese was at fault since they give a $50,000 discretionary fund for the pastor to spend without approval from the diocese. However, this is for parish expenses, the poor, or an emergency. Vacationing in the Bahamas is not an emergency.
I hope that our diocese will work toward better parish financial controls and that we can heal from yet another hurt.

Today

Today has been a very good day. I began with Bible Study. We had a guest. Deacon Joe came and taught us Lectio Divina. What an awesome group of women I am privileged to walk with on their faith journeys. We prayed with the upcoming Sunday Gospel reading from Mark 1:12-15. It was amazing how open to listening, hearing, and sharing each of us were. The depths of love and desire to do God's will was so apparent. I am truly humbled.
I had lunch with a friend and her test results came back negative, thanks be to God.
Worked hard this afternoon getting ready for tomorrow's Masses and Ashes. It is so busy on Ash Wednesday at church.
But the best was tonight, I skyped with my daughter in Australia. We only talked about fifteen minutes, she was going to Mass at noon and had to be on time. She is doing well, getting adjusted to the campus and going to classes. She can go to Mass right on Campus and Ash Wednesday, the Archbishop of Western Australia is going to celebrate the Mass. I think that is great. What an honor for all those students.
I think about her frequently during the day. I miss being able to just pick up the phone and call her. But it's great when we skype because this way I can see her.
I also spoke with my son in NY. He wants to come "visit" for Easter. It's strange to think of him visiting, to me this is his home. I guess I am still not certain he is really not coming back here to live. Time will tell.
Thank God for all the goodness, friendships, and yes, even trials in my life. Today was a day I can say, "life is good."

Computer Challenge!

Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.Finally fed up, God said, 'THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job.'
So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.They moused.They faxed.They e-mailed.They e-mailed with attachments.They downloaded.They did spreadsheets!They wrote reports.They created labels and cards.They created charts and graphs.They did some genealogy reports .They did every job known to man.Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.
Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off.Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.Jesus just sighed.Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers.
Satan started searching frantically, screaming:'It's gone! It's all GONE! 'I lost everything when the power went out!'Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.Satan observed this and became irate.'Wait!' he screamed. 'That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?'
God just shrugged and said,
"JESUS SAVES...."

Catholic Carnival

Check it out the carnival this week at Living Catholicism.

Back Blogging

Not sure why I have been avoiding writing anything, but have some random thoughts about it.

One definite reason was helping to get my daughter ready to go to Australia for a semester abroad. You can read all about her adventures on her blog, From the Swamp to the Outback. Though she did most everything on her own, it was mentally and emotionally draining for me nonetheless.

Then there is work and school. And my dear friend moved to Destin, which is almost in Alabama.

Another is that there are so many ideas floating around in my head, I can't seem to focus.

I did produce a newsletter for work, help with our Life in the Eucharist seminar, put together a course for our parish ministry leaders, and have an appreciation dinner for 350 people.

So, there is my little whine and now I can get back to business.