Explanation and Apology
A little while ago, here, I posted an article entitled, "The Death of Me Yet..." that somewhat sarcastically narrated some of the recent difficuties that I had been having at work and in proclaiming my Catholic Faith.
I had thought that I had been circumspect enough in not mentioning actual names, so as to not be violating any sort of confidentiality issues, but in my zeal, I did end up giving away plenty to those who knew the situation. Because of this, I aggravated the situation that I described, because certain of the persons involved ended up finding and reading said article. I have been asked to remove that article from this blog, and to be more careful in the future with what I choose to rant about (notably, there is no longer a link to this blog on Grace for the Wayward Heart, the Youth Ministry blog, either). So for those of you who were wondering where that article disappeared to, now you know.
More, I am issuing a public apology to the parties involved who may or may not read this blog ever again. I apologise for my lack of wisdom in detailing the events. I was too specific in my details, and that did unduly aggravate the situation.
That said, I wanted to reflect again on my motives for contributing to Three Nails. Dave, the co-author, and I set up this blog (well, he did the setting up, thus the terrible colour scheme--I had to fight for it to look even this good!) in order to achieve two distinct but related purposes. At least, that was my intent for signing up. My motives were detailed in my initial post here, "I stubbed my toe carrying my cross...", where I said,
These are things that I think are important. Teaching anyone who reads the skills of critical thinking is equally important. So is encouraging or uplifting anyone through my record of my own expericences.
That is why I do what I do here, and I will continue to do so. Only, from here on out, I'll be a lot more careful about what details I choose to include.
For the record:
Jesus Christ is God!
His Crucifixion and Resurrection redeem us from Sin!
It is ONLY by His Grace that we can be saved!
When we live for Him, our reward is eternity with Him in Heaven. If we choose to reject that, then we forfeit that reward, and instead are condemned to eternity without Him in Hell.
I believe that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome, is the one, true Church founded by Christ, and that we cannot pick and choose which aspects of that Church we will or will not follow.
The Passion of the Christ is a wonderful movie which dramatically depicts the love and the suffering of Christ in payment of our sins. It is NOT in any way pornographic or gratuitous in its presentation, but a wonderful vehicle for growing in our love for Christ, and reaching out to those who don't yet know Him.
And finally, I will proclaim the truth, insofar as I understand it, making great efforts to stay true and not contradict the Magesterium of the Church, in all that I teach--no matter what!
There, that distils the message of the deleted post very aptly.
God bless.
I had thought that I had been circumspect enough in not mentioning actual names, so as to not be violating any sort of confidentiality issues, but in my zeal, I did end up giving away plenty to those who knew the situation. Because of this, I aggravated the situation that I described, because certain of the persons involved ended up finding and reading said article. I have been asked to remove that article from this blog, and to be more careful in the future with what I choose to rant about (notably, there is no longer a link to this blog on Grace for the Wayward Heart, the Youth Ministry blog, either). So for those of you who were wondering where that article disappeared to, now you know.
More, I am issuing a public apology to the parties involved who may or may not read this blog ever again. I apologise for my lack of wisdom in detailing the events. I was too specific in my details, and that did unduly aggravate the situation.
That said, I wanted to reflect again on my motives for contributing to Three Nails. Dave, the co-author, and I set up this blog (well, he did the setting up, thus the terrible colour scheme--I had to fight for it to look even this good!) in order to achieve two distinct but related purposes. At least, that was my intent for signing up. My motives were detailed in my initial post here, "I stubbed my toe carrying my cross...", where I said,
For myself, I'm a youth minister at a Catholic Church! On a good day, I'm responsible for the education and direction of the spiritual lives of teenagers like Dave (though not Dave directly anymore...). It's an awesome opportunity to see God grow and stretch these guys! On a bad day, I can fall, and fail, and get totally discouraged as I watch kids lose interest and walk away. On top of that, I have the added pressure of getting married this fall, as well as just the masochistic desire to go out defending the faith on the internet in my spare time! More often than not I get frustrated by the overwhelming stupidity that is the misrepresentation of Christians and their beliefs!What I mean to say is that my posts on this blog are meant to vent about my experiences. So why do that on a blog? Why do it in the public forum? Can't I just vent in a private journal that no one will ever see? Yes, I can. But there's a second purpose to posting here. It is my hope that through my posts the people who read can learn something, either from my mistakes, or from my reflections. That is why I not only rant about my own personal life, but I also post different debates between a Catholic viewpoint and an antagonistic one (whether that be evangelical Protestantism--as in the debate on the Pillars of the Reformation, or on whether Christianity is a "religion" or a "relationship", or, most recently, on the notion of Total Depravity, and just how sin affects our lives), or anyone else (such as the debate about gay marriage posted here).
So here is our haven for letting it all out. Along the way, hopefully we'll be able to encourage, enlighten, or at least comfort you with the knowledge that you aren't unique in stubbing your toes as you carry your crosses and follow Christ.
These are things that I think are important. Teaching anyone who reads the skills of critical thinking is equally important. So is encouraging or uplifting anyone through my record of my own expericences.
That is why I do what I do here, and I will continue to do so. Only, from here on out, I'll be a lot more careful about what details I choose to include.
For the record:
Jesus Christ is God!
His Crucifixion and Resurrection redeem us from Sin!
It is ONLY by His Grace that we can be saved!
When we live for Him, our reward is eternity with Him in Heaven. If we choose to reject that, then we forfeit that reward, and instead are condemned to eternity without Him in Hell.
I believe that the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, under the leadership of the Bishop of Rome, is the one, true Church founded by Christ, and that we cannot pick and choose which aspects of that Church we will or will not follow.
The Passion of the Christ is a wonderful movie which dramatically depicts the love and the suffering of Christ in payment of our sins. It is NOT in any way pornographic or gratuitous in its presentation, but a wonderful vehicle for growing in our love for Christ, and reaching out to those who don't yet know Him.
And finally, I will proclaim the truth, insofar as I understand it, making great efforts to stay true and not contradict the Magesterium of the Church, in all that I teach--no matter what!
There, that distils the message of the deleted post very aptly.
God bless.
posted by Gregory at 11:50 AM
1 Comments:
Hey Matt.
Melissa works most Sundays, and often on Saturday evenings, so I usually go to the 9:00 with her, and then leave to get her to work on time, and then book it back to Oakville for the Drama Team meeting.
Recently, though, I've been asked to help usher at the 12:00 mass because a couple of ushers are sick, so recently, Melissa and I have gone to a morning mass at our old church, and I've then driven her to work and come to St. Andrew's for the noon mass.
Since your family typically goes to the 10:30, that's why you haven't seen me at church recently.
That's my excuse.
So what's your excuse for not coming to youth?
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