The Solemnity of Our Lord OLPH November 22, 2020 Jesus Christ, King of the Loving / Sharing / Praying Together Universe Seek, Share, Rejoice! Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish 1775 Grove St. Glenview IL 60025 Parish Office 847-729-1525 olphglenview.org seek, share, rejoice - pastor's letter... “I will tend my sheep, I will rescue them from every place.” Dear Parishioners, Things are changing! Our own Cardinal Cupich has assumed an international influence in addressing the lack of This weekend the Church accountability of deacons, priests and bishops to the norm of celebrates the Feast of Christ the transparent protocols. While much progress has been made, King. It is both an ending and a bishops cannot supervise bishops. We need mandated lay beginning. boards of oversight. It is an ending because it marks the We have the most credible lay people here in the US; conclusion of the liturgical year. It they must be delegated with the authority to call a bishop began last year on Dec. 1, 2019 on to accountability. The current model places that primary the First Sunday of Advent. responsibility on the Metropolitan Archbishops. Unfortunately Jerry Boland, Pastor The liturgical year reflects on the some of the most serious offenders have been Metropolitan dying and rising of The Kingdom Archbishops, ie McCarrick, Bernard Law, Rembert of God in the course of a year. Weakland, etc. Let the lay people take the oversight authority. We remembered his birth, his public ministry, his passion and Period. death, his Resurrection and the birth of the Church. It is complicated. Insecure clerics are drawn to the vestiges Never in my life has this dynamic been more revealed than this of clericalism. While I sympathize with their insecurity, they past year! We began Advent in the context of our centennial cannot abuse the faithful. Enough is enough! Reflect on the and faced Easter isolated as a result of COVID 19. Just when Good Shepherd!! He will lead us to the gate of eternal peace. we seemed to have turned the corner we are now in the grips Our new Auxiliary Bishop, Robert Lombardo exemplifies this . of the second wave. I am confident with leaders like Cardinal Cupich and a new How powerful that the scriptures entrust us to the Good generation of episcopal leadership; change will happen. The Shepherd. There has been much dying and rising to new life. church has suffered a generational catastrophe. We must We must trust in his abiding love for us. liberate the church from the crippling grip of clericalism. Enough is enough! This Feast calls us to the big picture of the Kingdom of God that transcends everything we know. As we launch into this I am grateful for my brother priests and deacons who abhor new liturgical year we have the reality of COVID and the reality the scourge of clericalism. We are here to serve not dictate. I we are a deeply divided country. am a fellow disciple, a brother. We must transcend political and cultural divisions. We can’t This Feast is also a beginning! We enter a new liturgical year withdraw to tribal corners that threaten our unity from both next Sunday with the beginning of the Advent Season. Our sides of the political spectrum. We must find a common theme is, “let every heart prepare Him room.“ Given all that is ground of mutual respect and resolve that has escaped us in happening, this challenge is daunting. recent years. We must look to the Good Shepherd to lead us. We cannot lose sight of the power of Christ being born again A case In point is the recently released Vatican report on the in our midst. We enter this advent never so anxious. The Good investigation into Theodore McCarrick. He began as a parish Shepherd will prevail! Let’s make room for him in our hearts. priest and rose through the ranks to become one of the most Thanks to all who made Holly Fair and the Men’s Club Raffle influential bishops and Cardinal’s on the national and global great successes! Thanks for your faithful stewardship of OLPH, stage. He was also a deeply dysfunctional and compromised through your regular contributions and the “Catch Up Sunday person. He abused countless people and this was not a Appeal”. secret. How did this happen? This report is an unprecedented view into the inner world of the ecclesial process and is well Don’t forget the Evolve Virtual presentation with Dr. Pauline worth reading. It is a painful insight into the dysfunction of the Viviano on the Beatitudes; it is excellent! Thanks to the Men’s hierarchical world. Spirituality Group under the leadership of Bill Harlin that assembled many bag lunches for the homeless. The report is a case statement against the pathology of clericalism. We must rid the church of those who are Thanks to all that our supporting the Thanksgiving effort of the obsessed with vestments, titles and unwarranted authority. Jewel in the Glen. Hundreds of Thanksgiving Dinners will be The Good Shepherd knows the smell of his sheep and abhors distributed to our Sharing Program. the clerical culture of privilege. This plague infects the ordained Let the new year of proclaiming the Kingdom of God begin! clergy of deacons, priests and bishops. We can’t tolerate these obsessions of power. This is not the church Jesus calls us to. Fr Boland 2 November 22, 2020 • olphglenview.org seek, share, rejoice - thanksgiving reflections... A Thanksgiving Reflection in the Time of Covid Thanksgiving - Needy Family Fund 2020 At our Thanksgiving Masses, the This is certainly a difficult time for choir sings a song that begins, everyone. No one was prepared for “Thou that hast given so much to the events of the last ten months. The me, give one thing more, a grateful pandemic has been a great challenge heart. Not thankful when it for people. pleaseth me as if thy blessings had Those who are out of work worry spare days.” These words ring especially true this Thanksgiving about going back or finding another in the time of COVID. So many lament how different the job. Some people have gone back Sr. Paulanne holidays will be this year. Not able to celebrate with friends to work part time and lost their or extended family, they look forward to a time when things unemployment. They do not make enough money to cover are “normal” again. Waiting for the future, however, and not their bills. People live in fear and have a feeling of hopelessness. celebrating the present assumes that our “blessings [have] spare days,” that if we just wait, everything will be better. We, the Church, must respond. Where is our “grateful heart” today? In these unsettling times, We must continue to help families move forward and give can we find nothing to be thankful for? them Hope. Mothers continue to come from our community, in need of food and hygiene products, laundry We have witnessed so many essential workers Thanksgiving putting their lives on the line every day for our detergent, gas in the car, and more. Some families welfare; for this we can be grateful. In many ways, Day Mass tell me they do not always have enough food for this virus has forced us to reassess our values as schedule: their evening meal and children go to bed hungry. members of a family and as members of a society; Thank you for your support in helping families. for this we can be grateful. Even those who will 9:00 am God needs to be the center of our lives every day. have an empty place at the table because of the 11:00 am We need to give strength and hope to those who loss of a loved one can remember with joy the have none. As difficult as it has become, Mass and blessing of that loved one’s life; and for this they in the church Eucharist must be the center of our lives. Without can be grateful. Look around you and see the gifts (Please register on the it, we have a huge void. Our children need to learn that God has given you. Raise your eyes to your November Sign-Up how important their faith is. They learn it from Father in heaven and say, “Thank you”! Genius schedule.) knowledge and good example. I tell my students God does not leave us during times of trouble. He their faith is like being an athlete. you get better at is here with His grace, giving us strength and filling us with it if you keep practicing it. hope. We may not be totally pleased by the reality of this time Family is key in giving children the security and confidence in which we are living, but each day gives us the opportunity they need. Children do much better when they are motivated to do all that is within our power to make our world a better and challenged. They do not function when they lack the place — a place of love, compassion, and peace. “Thank you, necessities of food, clothing, and shelter; when they live in a God for this new day,” should be the first words on our lips car or on the street. We wonder why there is so much violence every morning. We must stop anticipating “spare days” and, in communities; why children pick up guns and kill; why they instead, seize this day, seize this Thanksgiving, seize this belong to gangs and are on drugs. holiday season, and recognize all that is good in our lives.