Getting Ready for Chapter 2008

We Franciscan Friars of the Assumption BVM Province are getting ready for our triennial Chapter. A chapter is an official meeting of the community. During the chapter decisions are made which may affect the entire provincial brotherhood. The chapter is bound by certain canon laws, which are given to guide the order of the provincial community and for the benefit of the members.

Our Franciscan documents call it the "supreme legislative body" of the Province. The decision made are then entrusted to the provincial administration (provincial minister, his vicar and the councilors) to carry out. During the week-long meeting all assignments are suspended and the brotherhood deliberates on issues, reviews where we are, elects new leadership and decides on new directions.

This year we will not be electing a new provincial minister or vicar. Their terms are for six years (with the possibility of re-election for another three years). They were elected at Chapter 2005 and will continue in office until 2011. However, we have five elected councilors who have a three-year term limit. These positions are up for election (either re-electing present members or electing new ones).

While very serious, it is also a wonderful opportunity for the Friars to gather for prayer, fellowship, rekindle friendships and celebrate, too!

Boycotting HBO -- Bill Maher bashes Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church

Preparing for the papal visit to the USA almost two weeks ago, HBO's Bill Maher made some rather negative (to say the least!) and outrageous statements about the Holy Father and the Catholic Church.


For his April 11, 2008 live broadcast, (HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher", Maher said of the Catholic Church:

"In fact, whenever a cult leader sets himself up as God's infallible wingman here on earth, lock away the kids. Which is why I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an even LARGER child-abusing religious cult. Its leader ALSO has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats! That's right, the Pope is coming to America this week, and ladies: he's single! . . .

. . . How DOES the Catholic church get away with all of their buggery? Volume, volume, volume! If you have a few hundred followers, and you let some of them molest children, they call you a "cult leader." If you have a billion, they call you "Pope." It's like, if you can't pay your mortgage, they call you a "deadbeat," but if you can't pay a million mortgages, you're "Bear Sterns" and we bail you out."

Someone I know decided to cancel his household subscription to HBO based on this. When he called up the satellite company to cancel the HBO subscription, the agent on the other end of the line tried to persuade him that one month of HBO equals two DVDs. He stated that wasn't the point -- it wasn't about pricing.


The agent continued and asked what the cancellation was about. He stated that he was doing so in protest over Bill Maher's caustically negative remarks about Pope Benedict XVI, the Catholic Church in general and the pope's visit to the USA.


The agent was quiet and then commented that she agreed with his position. In fact, she noted, she had just been working one hour that day and had already received over two dozen cancellations for HBO -- all for the same reason! She further suggested that HBO would likely be hurting over this.


The man who called to cancel his subscription is a Franciscan. And he apparently became an unwitting, yet willing, participant in a movement to boycott HBO!



What do you think about this? How might you handle this situation? Boycotting can be a very powerful instrument -- via the proverbial pocketbook! -- to bring about justice.

Yesterday -- Earth Day -- Everyday Earth Day!

"Praised be You, my Lord, through our Sister Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces varied fruits with colored flowers and herbs."

from the "Canticle of the Creatures" by St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)



Yesterday as I perused the comic section of the newspaper (and I do enjoy the comics!) I noticed that many of the strips referred to Earth Day yesterday, Tuesday 22 April 2008. The characters were planting trees or recycling or some other "green" activity that promoted respect for the planet we call home, with either an overtone or undertone of humor for good measure.



Such reminders are good, and even necessary, for us poor frail humans who are prone to forget (amnesia!). Sadly, Earth Day can be relegated to a one-day affair -- as though care for the planet were limited to a single day or series of events.



St. Francis of Assisi's "Canticle of the Creatures" (sometimes called "Canticle of the Sun" or "Canticle of Brother Sun") echoes Psalm 148 and the Canticle of the Three Youths found in the Book of Daniel, chapter 3 (Septuagint -- in Catholic and Orthodox versions of the Holy Bible). Here, the founder of our Order is not extolling creation for creation's sake. Rather, he praises God for all of creation. God is the author of all life, of all that exists. Hence, to God belongs all praise, glory, honor and worship.



As members of the Franciscan family, we periodically sing the popular hymn, "All Creatures of our God and King", which is an English rendition of St. Francis' Canticle. There have been some others, but none with such endurance (e.g. Marty Haugen's "Canticle of the Creatures"). But care for the earth is not an "option"; it is a necessity. Not being alarmist, but this is our home, a gift from the Creator of all, entrusted to humanity which, as Genesis 1 states, is created in the image and likeness of God. What a tremendous gift we have received! What an awesome responsibility with which we are entrusted!



Many major Christian leaders, including the late Pope John Paul II and the current Pope Benedict XVI have encouraged and exhorted and admonished governments and individuals to foster respect for our earth. Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople of the Orthodox Churches is also a leading advocate of care for the earth.



Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople at the Phanar in Istanbul, Turkey (Constantinople) in 2006


As Christians, following Holy Tradition from Scripture and many Saints, to respect the Earth and care for our planet is genuinely an act of worship. Like the Psalms and Canticles of the Bible and like St. Francis, we praise God for creation and with creation. In doing so we fulfill the great commandments to love God with our whole being and to live our neighbor as ourselves!


In fact, the vocation of humanity is to give conscious and reasonable voice on behalf of creation to the glory of God -- it is a "priestly" act!