June 21
Year of the Priest 6/19/09 – 6/19/2010
Archbishop Timothy Dolan
Posted on 06/21/2009 3:01:38 PM PDT by NYer
June 21
Year of the Priest 6/19/09 – 6/19/2010
Archbishop Timothy Dolan
Today was Father Groeschel’s fiftieth anniversary as a priest - one of my favorites, and I’m not even Catholic......
How did this go last night?
It was a wonderful program. Archbishop Dolan made an astute observation about the priesthood, saying priests need to be happy and filled with joy. Grumpy priests do not attract vocations.
Indeed it was his Golden Jubilee. He is an extraordinary person, both amusing and insightful. Do you usually watch his program? Have you read any of his books?
And he knows what he believes and doesn't hesitate to speak his mind. I drifted away from the Methodist Church over the years when it became obvious that what they stood for and believed varied from week to week and church to church; who needs religious guidance like that!? The final straw came a few years back when their Board on Social Responsibility essentially donated a million dollars of Church money to Fidel Castro's legal fund to get the little Gonzales boy sent back to Cuba, at the same time my mother, a Methodist for most of her 92 years, was spending down her meager savings in a Methodist-sponsored nursing home. In any event I've been pretty much religiously indifferent and unaffiliated for years, although wife and daughter work subtly but relentlessly to attract me to the Faith whenever possible - they even have a couple of local nuns praying for my salvation. I was hooked on Father Groeschel when I watched his series on "Hope in the Lord" a few years back. I especially enjoyed his discussion of Sister Faustina and her assertion (if I'm remembering correctly) that "In that millionth of a millionth second between life and death when the Lord calls, if the soul answers, then you will be saved." When wife gets too concerned about my soul I quote this bit of hope to her and say it's all the religion I need. For now at least.
I did start to read one of the Father's books a while back - something about stumbling blocks and stepping stones, but got seduced by another read and never finished it - will have to get back to it some day......
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