Posted on 01/28/2019 1:54:04 PM PST by Gamecock
Nearly 800 New York Catholic priests received a message about how to maintain their moral integrity from Pastor Rick Warren, who used Scripture passages and his experiences from 40 years as an Evangelical Christian pastor, to speak personally to fellow pastors.
His talk, “Maintaining the Moral Integrity of the Ministry to Which God Has Called Us,” was delivered during the archdiocese’s biennial Safe Environment Convocation at St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie June 6-7.
“Brothers, what we do matters more than what anybody else does in the world,” said Pastor Warren at the outset of his presentation.
“That’s because the only thing that’s going to last on the planet is the Church of Jesus Christ.”
He said the job description for a pastor can be boiled down to three basic criteria: having a message worth remembering, a lifestyle worth considering and a faith worth imitating.
“That’s our calling,” he said simply.
Pastor Warren, author of the best-selling book “The Purpose Driven Life,” is the founder and longtime senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of the largest religious congregations in the United States.
The pastor told the archdiocesan and religious order priests before him that, in his four decades of ministry, he has conducted training sessions with 480,000 pastors in 160 countries. He noted that there were at least “a dozen homilies” in the handout materials he was providing. “I willingly give this away to you…Use whatever you can. We are all in this together.”
The context for his discussion with the priests was that Satan has no new temptations. The three worldly temptations are outlined in 1 John 2:15-17, which says, “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes and a pretentious way of life, is not from Father but is from the world. Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.”
The temptations can be boiled down to passions (pleasure), possessions and positions (power, prestige).
Antidotes to the three temptations are integrity, generosity and humility.
To illustrate the importance of the virtue of integrity in a pastor’s life, Pastor Warren said, “All leadership is built on trust, not title.” The first thing that happens when you go to apply for a loan is the bank runs a credit check to see if you are credit-worthy, he said.
“The people in my congregation do a credit check on me 24 hours a day,” the pastor said. “If I betray their trust, then I forfeit my right to lead them.”
Early in his presentation, Pastor Warren told the priests, “We need all of you to make it to the finish line,” with their integrity completely intact.
Later, he gave them an eight-step guide to protect themselves so they can accomplish that goal. He suggested sharing it with their staffs and parish leaders.
The third item on the list was to “know” their personal patterns of temptation, so they can be avoided. The priests were given a checklist of questions to consider:
• When am I most tempted?
• Where am I most tempted?
• Who is with me when I am most tempted?
• What temporary benefit do I get if I give in?
• How do I feel right before I am tempted?
Pastor Warren shared openly about “the worst day of my life,” when his youngest son, Matthew, committed suicide in 2013. The Cardinal Spellman Center, where the convocation was held, became pin-drop quiet, as he told the priests about the 16 weeks he went without preaching or teaching. He said he spent 12 hours a day alone with God.
“If I hadn’t handled my grief well, I would have been very vulnerable to temptations,” the pastor explained.
Pastor Warren, speaking briefly with CNY following his talk, said Christians must stick together in a world that is taking on an increasingly secular outlook. “We’re on the same team,” he said. “The enemy is not other believers.”
Father Francis Samoylo, pastor of St. Columbanus parish in Cortlandt Manor, said he likes the strategies Pastor Warren offered for dealing with temptation.
“We all have temptations,” Father Samoylo said. “The idea of refocusing and replacing that temptation with something else was good. You think about resisting temptation, but that keeps the temptation in your presence.”
Msgr. Leslie Ivers, director of ongoing priestly formation in the archdiocese, called Pastor Warren’s presentation “the best talk we’ve ever had.”
“He loves Christ and he loves the Church. That’s what we all need to be about.”
Jealousy is never pretty. Work on it.
‘I was waiting to read something about “sin”’
Ha. That would be a long wait.
Warrenism is often more about what’s missing than what’s flat out wrong. Although he sometimes manages to do both.
If you’re attempting to be clever you’re missing the mark.
Wealth was measured in a few ways in biblical times: cattle, land and actual currency like gold and silver. Abraham had all of that in huge numbers, and once even had to split some of his land with his nephew Lot because, as Genesis 13 puts it, “their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together” (and as Biggie put it, “more money, more problems).
Isaac inherited his father’s wealth and it continued to expand, to the point where the Philistines once politely asked him to move because he’d gotten “too powerful” (Genesis 26:16). Isaac moved, but he couldn’t seem to stop accumulating wealth. As God told him in Genesis 26:24, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bless you and will increase the number of your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
This one’s a little complicated because Job is most famous for the relatively brief period of his life in which he had nothing except misery. But that instructive season was bookended by a time during which the Bible calls him “the greatest of all the men of the east.” He held an early record for richest man in the hemisphere—a record he apparently later broke, when God gave Job back double the amount that he’d lost.
Wisdom. Wealth. Solomon truly had it all, including a number of wives that might be charitably described as, uh, “plenty.” 2 Chronicles 9:20 describes Solomon as being so rich that silver literally lost all value. In 1 Kings 10:10, the Queen of Sheba—not exactly impoverished herself—went on a sightseeing tour of Solomon’s lands just to see if the rumors were true. His name is still associated with money today, and at least a few Crusades set out with the express purpose of finding and reclaiming his vast wealth.
One of the Bible’s most famous rags to riches stories, Joseph was a rich kid who was sold by his brothers into slavery. Then he ended up in jail and then, well, he became the second most powerful person in the ancient world’s most powerful country, Egypt. Joseph had a head for economics and used his savvy to prepare Egypt for a drought God had warned Pharaoh about in a dream.
Thank you for the link, I will look at it.
Interesting, thank you for posting that. I will definitely look into this.
No, I’m not trying to be clever. I’m quite serious.
“No, I’m not trying to be clever.”
Ah. I see. Well at least you’re succeeding there.
I guess if I was in competition with Rick Warren then your accusation of jealousy could make sense. Since I’m not, it doesn’t. You should try finding a more fitting denigration for my low opinion of the Church Growth Movement and Rick Warrenism.
Do you find Rick Warren’s long time association with Peter Drucker at all curious?
I used to read Drucker, he wrote some great stuff on modern management theory. But nothing at all on Christianity, unless someone’s idea of the church is to be General Motors with a growing bottom line and a cross stapled over the door.
Shouldn't you be spending your time evangelizing instead of condemning?
I walked out of a bible study years ago that was using his book. They were mad at me for judging him, but all one has to do is read the Bible and see for yourself.
God’s word speaks truth.
So, how's that Chrislam working out for him? I stopped paying any attention at all to Rick Warren when he laid down with the muslims.
The pastor at the church I used to attend was a personal friend of Warren's and he distanced himself from him when "Chrislam" started up ....
Rick Warren is lost. Sorry.
Yes he did. That should've told everyone all they needed to know about Warren.
That is very sad to hear. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, I will look into this. Thank you.
You’re fooling yourself, insult boy. There’s a reason that Lukewarm Rick chose for his mentor the existentialist non-believer Peter Drucker.
It’s all about the marketing. Adjust the “message” to the marketing survey and reward the customer’s felt needs. It seems to have worked on you. Walmart would be impressed.
You haven’t addressed my post at all.
You haven’t addressed my post at all. I wasn’t insulting, either.
Warren praying to the phony islamic "jesus" at Obama's inauguration
Thank you for taking the time to post this. I had no idea he spoke at zero’s fake inauguration, I did not watch a second of it. I am truly disappointed in Rick.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.