The Catholic Leader - 21 April 2019 - Issue 5548

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The Catholic Leader, April 21, 2019
Conversations
a sober Gregorian audience; more than just us
flattering a god.
Might true Worship be God leading us away
from that which binds us, giving us new senses,
new desires? Is prayer a movement from worldly,
violent enthusiasm to that particular form of
passivity we call “love”; what St Luke’s Gospel
describes as “attentiveness” – that act of being
stretched beyond where we are to some new
location of being?
enthusiasm of loud music with a strong frequent
beat. Is this form of worship unacceptable to
Gregorian Chant sentimentalists?
Is there common ground?
“Enthusiasm” is originally a religious term. It
relates to the Greek word (“thusia”) from which
we derive expressions like “offering, sacrifice, to
desire eagerly, to offer burningly, to boil, to be
full of god, to be divinised, to be in communion
with the deity, to derive being from communion
with a god, ecstasy, frenzy”.
What do we see when we enter a church
building? Do we see incitement or excitement;
exclusion or inclusion?
What is church? For Catholics it is the cru-
cifix, altar, a priest, the abodes of sacrifice and
sacrificer, people and places of danger, one killed
by the many, lies?
It is the pulpit as a place of God’s thunderous
Word – judgment and separation?
It is Tabernacle as a symbol of betrayal at the
Last Supper and Calvary?
Do we see the baptismal font – a sign of chaos
and death?
Alternatively it is at the same time a table: a
place of friendship, the many gathered as one,
the place to sign marriage and baptismal cer-
tificates, a place of covenant in spirit and truth;
The Ambo: the Creative Word-discernment and
gathering; The Tent of Meeting: Real Presence,
Coming from behind the veil, revealing God as
food and drink; Discipleship.
Mass, like Jesus, is a contradiction to be strug-
gled with.
The Church is called to be in the world but the
focus of religious experience is Jesus breaking-in
on us. He is the measure of our break-in on the
world.
Whether it be chant or a cacophony of rock
music, boredom and enthusiasm are both signs
that we ignore that point.
Should Christians be more than just a crowd,
different from a frenzied (entertained) mob or
Have your Say
Post: GPO Box 282,
Brisbane, QLD 4001
FAX: 07 3236 4897 @
Retweet THE 25th commemoration of the Rwandan genocide was on April 7,
when Rwandans and the international community joined together in
remembrance and prayer. Prayer List
25 years ago, radio stations
in #Rwanda were used to
spread propoganda & incite
genocide. 800,000 were killed
in 100 must remain
vigilant to the immense power
of the media & social media.
There must be regulation &
zero tolerance to hate speech.
This month
pope’s intentions
Evangelisation - Recognition of the
Right of Christian Communities
That Christian communities, especially
those who are persecuted, feel that they
are close to Christ and have their rights
respected.
This week
Sudan – Thousands of protesters have
vowed to stay on the streets of the capital,
Khartoum, in defiance of a curfew imposed
by the country’s new military council.
South Korea – South Korea’s ban on
abortion has been ruled unconstitutional in a
court decision.
Greece – Fertility doctors in Greece
and Spain say they have produced a baby
from three people in order to overcome a
woman’s infertility.
Brazil – Ten Brazilian soldiers have been
arrested after their army patrol fired on a car
carrying a family in the city of Rio.
Sanny Ntaganira Aline
Activist
Sikat Ismo
Security Consultant
Lotte Leicht
Human Rights Watch
Stefan Simanowitz
Journalist
President #Kagame: A young
girl once brought us to tears
asking us where was God on
those dark days of genocide as
a Rwandan proverb says that
God spends the day else-
where but returns to sleep in
#Rwanda.
Looking at today, you can
see that God has come to stay.
Today marks the 25th
Commemoration of the
1994 #Genocideagainstthe-
Tutsi in #Rwanda. It’s a time
to Remember by honoring
the memory of the over one
million victims, Unite through
the strength and dignity of our
brother & sister and Renew our
determination
Today marks 25 years since
the horrifying genocide in
#Rwanda. We stand in solidar-
ity w/ the victims, their families
& survivors in their pain.
Govt leaders pledged #Nev-
erAgain. As we remember the
victims of atrocious crimes,
govts need to do more to live
up to their promise.
Where were they?
I REFER to the story on
page 6 of the April 7 issue of
The Catholic Leader.
Where were these
religious leaders protesting
and resisting arrest when
the laws on abortion were
changed.
Are they protesting with the same vehemence
against changes regarding euthanasia?
Do they advocate voting against the political
parties that support abortion and euthanasia.
Our current prosperity is supported largely
by the taxes and royalties we receive from the
exports of minerals of which gas and coal are a
major component.
This prosperity is vividly reflected in our ma-
jor cities of Sydney and Melbourne, the source
of the largest numbers of protestors.
Talk about the hand that feeds you.
Norway the country featured in the article on
electric cars derives most of their power needs
from hydro.
We have limited hydro which support Sydney
and Melbourne other attempts to put in hydro
schemes in Tasmania and North Queensland have
been thwarted by environmental issues.
Therefore it is a necessity rather than a moral
failure that we use fossil fuels to produce the
majority of our electricity.
Our population about 0.4 per cent of the
world’s population is not “killing the planet”.
Our two most populace states New South
Wales and Victoria have banned gas drilling but
are quite happy to take gas from Queensland and
South Australia.
How hypocritical can our southern states be?
Perhaps we should ask the countries where we
export our coal and gas to reduce their burning of
carbons?
Perhaps our religious leaders should protest in
these countries.
Leadership?
I READ with interest the
story in The Catholic Leader
on April 7, about the Aus-
tralian Religious Response
to Climate Change protest
against the Adani coal mine.
There were several clergy
protesters, but no one from our Catholic clergy.
Where is the leadership? All talk about looking
after our planet but no action.
So disappointing.
Common ground
My question examines the
modern wholesale absence
of modern generations from
church assemblies.
Young people like the
Alan Taylor,
Ashgrove,
Qld Jennifer
Horsburgh
Elanora, Qld
THE Leader Catholic
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Vincent
Hodge
Paddington,
Qld
The Church is
called to be in the
world but the focus of
religious experience is
Jesus breaking-in
on us.
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not necessarily endorsed by and do not necessarily
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