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To strengthen our shared life in Christ through mutual participation and the free exchange of ideas. Community of St. Malachi, 2459 Washington Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113-2380. St. Nicholas Blessing Prayer (Today is the Feast of St. Nicholas. As Kay Vine pointed out when she dropped this off, it flows very nicely from Fr. Tony’s homily last week.)
St. Nicholas, holy patron of children, Bishop of the East, We invite you to come among us And to grant us your holy blessing. Help us in this busy, busy season Not to miss the miracle of the coming of Emmanuel In the days of preparation As well as on the feast itself. Help us not to be blind To the gifts of getting ready. Kind St. Nicholas, Protect us from fatigue. Show us how to take delight in the marketplace, Now transformed in beauty, lights, and music. May the greetings we give Be expressions of love, friendship, and prayer. Save us all from anxiety over what to give So that we may concentrate on how to give. Stand with us As we decorate our homes and trees and lives. May our decorations not be mute But rather singing symbols, Sacred signs of the evergreen coming of the Lord Of Life. Help us to remember that mistletoe, holly, And other ornaments of the season Were sacred signs to ancient believers. But, most of all, jolly saint of toys and treats, Help us to stay youthful, humorous, playful, and As we prepare together for the coming of Christ With Advent longing. St. Nicholas, bless us. Amen. — Edward Hays (The above is from Hays’ Prayers for the Domestic Church. From Hays’ A Pilgrim’s Almanac comes this further information: ""Feast of St. Nicholas, Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor in the fourth century, patron of children, pawnbrokers and sailors. Nicholas, known for his generosity, is also the patron saint of Greece, Russia and Sicily. Today in many European countries this Dutch Sinter Klaus, or Santa Claus, gives gifts of fruit, candy and sweets. Pray today for the heart of a child so as to enjoy this magical and mystical season of Christmastide."")
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The Malachi File Something came up recently that I’d like to address: You don’t have to be a member of the Community of St. Malachi to write for Communio. Someone I corresponded with last week seemed to be under that misapprehension, so I write it here in case any one else thinks that way. In fact, we would love to expand the distribution of Communio beyond Malachi’s, but there is only so much our volunteer, part-time team can do. Maybe someday we’ll get there. The person mentioned above wrote to complain about something Frank Schiros wrote in the last issue, which was fair enough, except I wish that commentary was public. However, one thing I reflected on was how important Frank and his writings are to us here at Communio. From issue to issue, we can never be sure how much material we will have and how interesting it will be. But nearly every time, Frank comes through for us. So a big thank you goes to Frank, and also to Joan Nuth and Chris Schenk for their regular and insightful contributions. While I’m thanking folks, Michael May deserves major recognition for helping us on the Communications Committee with all kinds of computer issues. I hesitate to say it too loudly because I don’t want him to be inundated with calls asking for help with these marvelous machines. But Mike’s generosity with his time and equipment is truly exceptional and we really appreciate it a lottruly appreciate it. Going back to Frank’s commentaries, I’ve been thinking some about his thesis that the super-rich don’t really believe in God, or can’t really live a deep spiritual life. Initially, I thought he was painting with an extremely broad brush, but try as I might, I couldn’t think of a single example to contradict him. Can anybody help out? The Social Concerns Committee has been in high gear lately. Today is the special collection for Honduras, which was devastated by Hurricane Mitch. In case you missed the collection, or if you want to give more (or if you are like me and get to Mass too late to hear the announcement about the second collection), you can still write ""Honduras"" on an envelope and put the donation in the regular collection next week. Also remember the gift tree for homeless children, and, check out the article in this issue about a campaign to end child labor and sweatshop abuses. Council President Greg Gortz reports that Bill McLaughlin has accepted the position of bookkeeper for the Community. Meanwhile, the Clothing Ministry Task Force will meet next on Dec. 18 and will be looking for volunteers. The Task Force is looking into broadening clothing distribution at Malachi’s and is developing a mission statement. Task Force members are Jocelyn Heaney, Pat Daw and Greg from the Community, and Cathy Labianca, Eric Johnson, and Terry Jungquist from the Parish. Also participating are Sr. Francis and seminarian Ed Smith, who is coordinating the effort. Thanks to Kay Vine, John Lucic, Chris Schenk, Frank Schiros, Susan Shipley, Lois Dingman, and Greg Chmura for sending in articles this time. The next issue is Dec. 20 with a Dec. 13 deadline. Somebody please remind us to draw up a schedule for the new year. — Dan Alaimo (Dan and Peter Toomey co-chair the Communications Committee.) v v v v vAdvent Andand Women’s Ordination The ordination of women seems like it is a long time coming. But I have sensed the ""Advent"" of women’s ordination in my lifetime. I believe that the role of women in the Church is affected by our images of God. Twenty years ago, Pope John Paul I reportedly referred to God as female (It supposedly rubbed some in the College of Cardinals the wrong way.). In the last three years, I have heard three different priests refer to God as Mother during Sunday Mass: tTwo of them during prayer, praying to ""God, who is both Father and Mother to us all,"" and another during the sermon, referring to the many images of God — including God as Mother — on Trinity Sunday. I have heard two members of the congregation, during the Nicene Creed, referring to the Holy Spirit as ""She."" As I look around church during Mass I see some of the lips replacing the ""Him"" in prayers and hymns with the more gender-neutral ""God."" During the last two years, St. Malachi’s Community Council adopted an ""Inclusive Language"" policy. During Mass, the readers sometimes read the Old Testament and Epistle readings from the inclusive language versions, while the priests read the Gospel from the standard lectionary. This can make one smirk, or, it can make one wonder, with respect, at the sense of loyalty the lay readers and the priests have to their consciences. The traditional practice of imaging God as male is not surprising when we consider human history. In his book, A Brief History of Everything, Ken Wilber chronicles the roles of the sexes over the past million years. We have bee hunting and gathering societies for most of human history. Wilber reports that 97% of those societies delineated men as the hunters and women as doing most of the gathering and child rearing. When we became agricultural and began to plant with hand tools (about 12,000 years ago), women produced about 80% of the foodstuffs. In these societies, about one-third had female deities, and one-third had male and female deities. Around 6,000 to 4,000 years ago agrarian societies using animal-drawn plows emerged. Men began to be the sole producers of foodstuffs because the use of such plows by females caused miscarriages. Deities at this time became almost exclusively male-oriented. Agrarian food surpluses allowed men the time to develop mathematics, writing, and to engage in sustained contemplative endeavors. The great religious traditions arose during the agrarian period. This is the period when our Bible was written. Now, during the last few hundred years of industrialization, the machine age has made human survival less dependent on sexual attributes and therefore has enabled women to secure legal rights to own property, vote, and have a property in their own selves. During recent history, God has therefore been almost exclusively expressed as male, and the Sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church have been exclusively administered by males. These trends may someday be a practice of the past. The task of humans now, according to Wilber, is to ""balance the [last several thousand years of ]male-oriented spirituality with its correlative female forms."" Some of God’s people are ready for women’s ordination, some are not. Some of God’s people are ready for Christmas, some are not. We need to pass through our ""Advents"" first. Time is whirling, whirling, cycling, cycling, year after year, Advent after Advent, waiting, waiting for God to reveal, reveal again and again, the Coming of the Kingdom; the downloading of Revelation onto History. And we who are so impatient, expect changes to take place quickly. But God is wiser than we are. God makes us wait. God reveals, in God’s time. It seems absurd that a short 100 years ago a woman could not vote. One hundred years from now it may seem absurd that in the past there were no woman priests. But our generation is just a blink in the eye of the history of the world, and even less in the history of the universe. God’s Revelation seems slow. Galaxies forming, plants growing, breads rising, grapes fermenting, climates changing, humans evolving, all seem slow. If we think that justice revealed to a few in this generation means that justice is about to occur world wide, we may be mistaken. It seems to go slower than that. We need to enjoy the anticipation of ""advents."" God is a genius in giving us advents and anticipation: The unwrapping of presents, the warming of food, the undressing of bodies, the firing of clay, the development of conscience, the growth of children, the arrival of FutureChurch newsletters...all joys unfolding. — John Lucic
v v v v vWoman and the Word (Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12) On this ""wolf will lie down with the lamb"" second Sunday of Advent, I think the best that I can share is the following letter from a dear contemplative nun friend living in a Benedictine monastery in the Arab village of Abu Gosh near Jerusalem. Kim (akaa.k.a. Sr. Michaela) is a true ""Woman of the Word,"" who, in her own way, is helping to make real the powerful Jesus promise of today’s first reading: ""... with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth... They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea."" ""Dear Chris: ""We were going to spend today in the desert of Judah. A ‘desert day’ with knapsack and a Bible, walking in the silence and stark beauty of that very monastic place on a glorious sunny and not too hot Friday. I went to our corner grocer’s for pita bread and yogurt and suddenly it was as if the surrounding village was like a film put on hold. Cars stopped. People were silent and still around their radios. I saw our grocer’s hefty son crying. His mother and little sister were at the market in Jerusalem doing the weekly shopping for the things his store doesn’t provide. The pause only lasted a few seconds probably and then everyone seemed to be yelling at once. Another bomb. Where we shop — luckily, never on a Friday as the market is usually so chaotic before shabbat. I waited with the family ‘til they got word that the mother and little girl were fine, not even near. But our pharmacist sustained a lot of damage to his store. ""We didn’t go to the desert. We did pray. I found that a real effort. These things arouse surprising emotions in me. Anger, despair, judgment...One emotion that doesn’t seem to surface is fear. I still believe that what happens, happens and that can just as easily be crossing the street in London or Toronto as shopping here. It really is a battle to choose to enter into the ‘folly’ of God’s Peace and Hope, to continue to praise and give thanks, to refuse to be swept up in the tidal wave of anxiety, accusation, and revenge. Humanly speaking, today, I cannot believe that a genuine peace and reconciliation will ever come into being here. Yet already I am somehow slipping into that center place where I can let go and let God take care of my doubts and whisper a call to trust. ""Please keep this land and all her people in your prayers in these days when it is so important to dare to risk forgiveness and to feel each others’ pain. Faced with these horrors that are so close to home I feel emptied, almost breathless. The surreal becomes real and my only recourse is to cling to the Cross and know that Jesus knew, knows, understands, forgives, is perfect mercy and compassion. Time to go to adoration...perfect timing...I’ll finish this later. ""Ahhhhh...before the Blessed Sacrament I find that all my emptiness and anger is absorbed and healed, and peace returns. I found myself praying for the young man who wasted his life in that act of senseless terrorism, for his parents and family. Jesus flowed his compassion (not mine!) through me for them, and I understood a little better what this vocation of intercession is. If I don’t ‘fight the good fight’ in an ever-renewed fidelity to living this mystery of the Cross and Resurrection, then it is my life that is being wasted. So, pray for me too, please. Love, Kim"" —Chris Schenk v v v v vAn Opportunity Missed? Cuyahoga County and Ohio City Near West Development Corp held a town hall meeting at the Franklin and West 32nd YMCA, on Nov. 12 to discuss the future of the Franklin County Nursing Home. The nursing home, slated to close the end of 1999 (when residents’ transfer to the Metro Campus), will become available to the City of Cleveland, or a developer. This depends on the ideas and proposals offered by Ohio City Residents. One Social Action Committee member was present and hoped to interject a social concern into the brouhaha. A couple of ideas, like, ""let’s consider using the facility to shelter, train, and aid the poor and homeless in the community."" Or a more doable idea like, ""let’s provide reasonable day care for the kids of poor working moms, or for the elderly parents of poor working adults."" Well, the Ohio City Residents had other ideas: ""Let’s build a sports arena, expand our garden, build row houses, build condos affordable to a range of incomes, or how about a park without benches (they attract the homeless) and/or a cultural center."" ""Ah a cultural center,"" I thought, ""time to interject."" I said, ""In keeping with the idea of a cultural center that would be a great place for the community to extend a helping hand to poor moms and provide day care for their kids."" However, this statement was just about lost to the boos, dissses and hisses of the Ohio City residents present. They hate the idea of another social service. They feel there are too many centers that just attract the homeless, the poor, the marginalized, the old, the infirm, and the poor moms, dads and adults with aging parents. Here we see how the move to gentrify the Ohio City area continues to push indigenous poor and homeless to ""God only knows where."" I don’t know. It’s a big problem. Maybe too big for St. Malachi’s community. After all, the problem is not popular with the newer Near West ""gentry"". Comments can be left with Pat Forkas at 216-226-7603, Lois Dingman at 440-333-2359 or Susan Shipley at sship@aol.com. If you have talent, a little time and a social concern, come to the meetings. Attendance has been lagging;; we could use your support. Our next meeting is on Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at St. Malachi Rectory. — Susan Shipley v v v v vAn Apologetic Rebuttal When I first met my father-in-law (a Republican judge), the first thing he asked me was whether I was a Republican or a Democrat. I cautiously replied that I voted as an independent. He then asked me how I could defend that point of view. I replied that I viewed the Republican party as a conservative party and by my definition I would expect them to preserve, conserve, and promote the important traditions and legislation that maintains it: justice for all, the productivity of the nation, reasonable taxation, and equality for all under the law. I also observed that I viewed the Democratic party as a liberal party and I would expect them to protect labor, promote legislation for fair wages and welfare, and attempt to change any abusive laws and practices. I said that was my measure of a candidate for either party. We never talked about party affiliation again. I still use the same political yardstick and I have often in the past been politically active for candidates of both parties. However I must hasten to assure Jerry Sheehan that I have never been a shill for either party. I’m sorry that I gave him the wrong impression that I have a bias for any party. I am very partisan on issues that are of importance to me. What I was trying to impress upon readers was that we cannot allow church and state to be one. It is my opinion that fundamentalist denominations saw an opportunity to gain political power with the Republicans. My theory has been essentially verified by articles written after this last election. Just imagine some fundamentalist preachers who still preach from the pulpit that the Catholic Church is the "" Whore of Babylon"" and the possibility that they could dictate public policy through the majority party. History, past and present, has taught us that church and state are not compatible in a democratic nation. I wouldn’t hesitate to examine any aspect of religion or the Catholic Church if it proves bothersome to me, just as I have raised the issue of the abominable practice of late abortion. It’s my belief that the Democrats lost a lot of voters and, deservedly so, because candidates supported abortion and the party gave implied support to it. I do try to present topics with essentially ethical and moral perspectives in Communio, but I beg your tolerance because most often my focus is very subjective, and as Dan Alaimo has pointed out, we could use more contrary viewpoints. However, I do agree with Jerry that both parties are bereft, by and large, of moral and ethical values and that we have reached a new low in modern politics, where candidates are so invested in their power that they will do or promise almost anything to remain in office. Jerry, if you see your friends from another parish again, assure them that St. Malachi has the greatest diversity in every facet relative to church-going that I have ever experienced. Tell them that if I were introduced to them I would welcome them and greet them with, ""Peace Be With You and all other Republicans."" Of course I might try to convince them of the errors of their thinking !thinking! —Frank Schiros v v v v vChild Labor Andand Sweatshop Abuses Today I wish to draw your attention to the People’s Right to Know Campaign sponsored by the National Labor Committee. We are presenting two flyers: ""Please Help Us End Child Labor and Sweatshop Abuses,"" which explains the campaign, and ""Exploitation,"" which shows what it costs the companies to make an article of clothing. The campaign is a global effort to push large multinational companies, like Wal-Mart, to encourage the suppliers that make their products to provide laborers with living wages and humanitarian working conditions. Wal-Mart has been singled out because it is the largest retailer and it buys its many products from suppliers with factories in 49 countries. Many of the products are made by children and/or teenagers forced to work 15-hour shifts seven days a week, or by super-exploited workers toiling in sweatshops for pennies an hour. The flyer entitled, ""Exploitation,"" tells of the cost of making a garment and the cost of living for these people. The campaign is not a boycott and is not meant to financially harm Wal-Mart. Rather, it is an attempt to redirect large corporations away from paying starvation wages around the world, so that basic human rights and wage standards can be established that no corporation can go below. After the NLC finds out where the factories are that make products for Wal-Mart, it plans to set up a task force to monitor working conditions. Please take the time to read the brochure you received and to mail the cards that were enclosed. If you wish more information about the National Labor Committee, you can write them at 275 Seventh Avenue, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10001; phone: 212-242-3002; fax: 212-242-3821; E-mail: tnlc@erols.com. The following is excerpted from the National Labor Committee’s ""Proposal for Campaign Actions"". (To clarify a point in some of the NLC’s literature, Wal-Mart does not operate the factories in question, but as a major customer, is in a position of influence.) ""Targeting Wal-Mart: If we can move the largest retailer in the world, Wal-Mart, in the right direction, we will change how the entire industry operates. We can hold corporations accountable for human rights and for paying a living wage. ""The Campaign: In the global economy... there is no way to know whether or not the products we purchase were made by children, teenage girls forced to work 15-hour shifts seven days a week, or by super-exploited workers toiling in sweatshops for pennies an hour. (In Indonesia and China, two major Wal-Mart producers, wages are as low as 10 to 12 and a half cents an hour.) To shop with a conscience, we need to know which factories the products we purchase are produced in, under what human rights conditions, and at what wages."" The proposal goes on to note that Wal-Mart refuses to provide such a list. ""Campaign Approach: It is important to realize that this is not a confrontation with Wal-Mart shoppers, who are the very people we want to reach and work with to pressure Wal-Mart to move in the right direction. The median income of Wal-Mart shoppers is $25,000; these are working families, whose heads of household earn about $10 an hour. ""This Is Not A Boycott: Just as this is not a confrontation with Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom may not yet be fully aware of these issues or have many other options, the campaign is not a boycott or an attempt to hurt Wal-Mart financially. Also, this campaign is being coordinated with human rights, religious, labor and women’s organizations across the developing world. We support jobs in the developing world; jobs with justice, with dignity, respect for human and workers’ rights, and a living wage... ""Campaign Time Frame: This will be a two-year campaign, initiated during the second annual Holiday Season of Conscience running from September 1998 through January 1999. This first phase will follow the successful pattern established during last year’s Holiday Season of Conscience to End Child Labor and Sweatshop Abuses. ""Proposed Campaign Actions: Over the five months (of the campaign), we must apply constant pressure across the country on Wal-Mart. It is precisely the persistence and widespread nature of these actions that will win this campaign... ""Post Card And Letter Writing: These standard actions have an enormous impact and should never be underestimated. We are now printing hundreds of thousands of post cards addressed to Wal-Mart with the campaign message... This is how a grassroots movement is built.... ""People’s Right To Know Resolutions: People’s Right to Know/Corporate Disclosure Resolutions could be brought before city councils, state assemblies and senates, schools, religious organizations, and dioceses. Many students leading the struggle to make their universities ""sweat-free"" are now including corporate disclosure in their universities’ codes of conduct, along with calls for truly independent monitoring and a living wage."" — Lois Dingman (Lois is on the Social Concerns Committee.)
v v v v vCommunion Fromfrom Thethe Cup (Our music director Greg Chmura sent the following in to Communio. It has some seasonal information that I for one found helpful. — D.A.) Communion from the cup is encouraged because by both eating and drinking we may join more wholeheartedly in the full celebration of the eucharist. Eating and drinking, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Eating and drinking, we show forth the kingdom we await. Eating and drinking, we realize more and more that we are Christ’s. We become the bread broken and the cup poured out for the life of the world. The question always arises: Isn’t this unhealthy, so many people drinking from one cup? Gerald J. Dorff, MD, writing in the Linacre Quarterly in 1980, reviewed the research done on this and the medical factors involved. He concluded: ""Suffice it to say the strongest argument for continuing the use of the common communion cup is the fact that there has never been a ‘point source’ outbreak of a communicable disease directly related to the common communion cup."" The Rev. Thomas Welbers, writing in Our Sunday Visitor in 1979, made the following points:
Finally, what of children? If children first taste wine at the family table and know it as a sign of joy and festivity, and if they learn from their parents example how to take the cup with reverence, then they too may receive from the cup. (Used by permission. Copyright 1987, Archdiocese of Chicago. All rights reserved. Liturgy Training Publications, 1800 North Hermitage Avenue, Chicago IL 60622; 312-486-7008.) v v v v v
Comic Wisdom It seems to me that since the ""Fall"" Without even thinking it odd That man has had no trouble at all Believing that he can be God. How he would do this I cannot conceive Tho he certainly thinks he can And yet he cannot bring himself to believe That God can become...a Man — Johnny Hart (Thanks to John Lucic for sending this in from the BC comic strip, fall 1997.)
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