The Desolate City: Life Among the Ruins

nordog.com, The Wanderer ^ | Rev. Joseph F. Wilson

[Brian Kopp DPM]

hope-ping

[history_matters]

me hope-ping too.

[ELS]

I got a link to this in an e-mail today. I thought about posting it. Good job.

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Great article. Rebirth always emerges out of death. I truly believe we will see some wonderful times and great saints and mystics after this ugliness passes.

[redhead]

Bump for later reading...

[Romulus]

There are plenty of good candidates for bishop. No need to agonize over the present set of dominoes toppling. Bring it on.

As Robert Graves wrote, in another, fictional, tale: "let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out."

[tiki]

This is the kind of stuff I've been telling everyone who will listen. God always has a plan. We don't understand it but we don't have to understand, we just have to keep on being as Catholic as we can be and as faithful to God as we can be and He will take care of it. It may be painful and we might think we know the answers but God is in charge.

[american colleen]

Thank you! People look at me funny when I say what you said (although I am not as eloquent as you) - but it is true. Sometimes it is just hard to understand, and that is when I stop trying to understand and just walk along after Him.

[nickcarraway]

I saw this yesterday, but I was reluctant to post it, because I know that some will pounce on a thread like this to insult the Church.

[Aquinasfan]

If one is ordained and in this situation, there will always be some quiet corner to which one can go and where one can quietly serve, and by patient, humble, quiet service gradually rebuild the reputation and put back together the shattered pieces of one's useful ministry.  Not to realize that this is what is called for is evidence of a breathtaking personal impoverishment.

This quote and this entire article is right on the money.

One delightful irony in all of this is that the media, in its hope of destroying the Church by bringing these crimes to light will in fact only make the Church stronger. The media is doing the right thing for the wrong reason. But in the process they will help to cleanse the Church, something the hierarchy has been unwilling to do.

Indeed, this is a time of grace.

[NYer]

Fr. Wilson bump at St. Luke's where I taught computer instruction for 4 years!

At least two generations of Catholics have grown up almost entirely ignorant of Catholic doctrine, and securely in possession of a do-it-yourself morality.

I see the effects of this statement in my younger coworkers, many of whom have abandoned the church. It is also evident in the poor religious instruction, doled out in today's catholic schools and religious education programs. My 15 year old has been in both catholic school and religious ed. for 11 years. She lacks the fervor and strength of faith we received from the nuns in pre vatican II.

[eastsider]

There are plenty of good candidates for bishop. No need to agonize over the present set of dominoes toppling. Bring it on.

Amen!!!

[ventana]

To each and every one's post, especially Brian's, I can only say: Amen! V's wife.

[AlguyA]

First, allow me to add my own, "Amen," to this piece. As with many of the posters on this thread, I, too, see in our current darkness the hope for a new dawn in the Church. In some respects, it's "Saturday Morning," or, maybe late Saturday afternoon, and we (and by "we" I mean Catholics faithful to the Magisterium of the Church) are huddling in the Upper Room waiting to see what comes next.

I can't speak for others on this thread, but for myself I now have a far greater appreciation for what the Apostles went through between Friday and Sunday. I've found myself wavering between despair, anger, sadness. But through it all, is faith. Faith that before too long we will discover the tomb is empty.(And maybe a few chancelries as well?)

The mystics and saints who will be the rays of light on this coming Sunday morning are with us even now. And we won't have to wait much longer to see them.

Truly, as the author above notes, we are a blessed generation.

[Askel5]

Thanks.

I trust the trials many good priests will be enduring thanks to their Bishops will make them only stronger.

[history_matters]

Thank you for a beautiful post. You said what I haven't been able to say. God bless.

[Gophack]

Excellent, hope-filled, inspirational piece. I'm glad I took the time to read it ... God bless.

[pegleg]

let's you and I get on with it -- the wonderful privilege of living our Catholic Faith.

AMEN!!!