[Magdalen] P.S. Re: Update

[Lynn Ronkainen]

In this morning's brief digest email for "On Being" with Krista Tippet a blurb:
The American Conservative
Catholics, Orthodox, and the Benedict Option
There's a swath of Americans who feel that Christianity has been corrupted and is being marginalized; they feel powerless against the tide of secularism in the 21st century. But, in this eloquent post, Rod Dreher says most people — Catholics, in particular — turn their back on what they have:
"Far too many of us treat our patrimony like it’s no big deal. We are ignorant of what we have, and don’t care. The people who are supposed to be teaching it to us failed. And we fail ourselves. Mediocrity is rampant. Unlike many of our Evangelical brethren, we lack zeal. We lack zeal for our own Christian lives, we lack zeal for the Bible, and we lack zeal for teaching the faith to others. We don’t have a sense of community, not like Evangelicals do. Our parishes become little more than sacrament factories or meeting halls for the tribe to plan its ethnic festival. All those sacraments, all that beautiful liturgy, all those profound prayers and deep thought — it means nothing if it does not draw us to a life-transforming relationship with Christ.
Thrive Global

Lynn 

On Feb 17, 2017, at 10:26 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com> wrote:

God is still there amd worthy to be praised and glorified.. It's  the people who claim to follow him who fall very short and give him a bad name..

Marion, a pilgrim


> On 2/17/2017 9:30 PM, Molly Wolf wrote:
> And why should church survive, except as an odd form of musical theatre?
> 
> Molly
> 
> The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. -- Mark Twain
> 
>> On Feb 17, 2017, at 8:53 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> I certainly understand that.  When good people do nothing .... where does that place them on that Love scale?
>> 
>> Marion, a pilgrim
>> 
>> 
>>> On 2/17/2017 8:46 PM, Molly Wolf wrote:
>>> I think I'm just about done with church.  If we talk about love and don't do it, what's the point?
>>> 
>>> Molly
>>> 
>>> The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. -- Mark Twain
>>> 
>>>> On Feb 17, 2017, at 8:43 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> It wasn't meant to.  Sorry if it wasn't helpful in the moment.  I think I was looking for the suggestions you did make in your reply.
>>>> 
>>>> Marion, a pilgrim
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On 2/17/2017 8:16 PM, Molly Wolf wrote:
>>>>> That capitalized "DO" sounds exasperated.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Molly
>>>>> 
>>>>> The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. -- Mark Twain
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Feb 17, 2017, at 7:46 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> What do you want church to DO?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Marion, a pilgrim
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On 2/17/2017 6:25 PM, Molly Wolf wrote:
>>>>>>> Louise, the answer is "both".  There is situational depression, which is a normal response to serious stresses, and there is endogenous depression, the result of neurotransmitters messed up by too much bad stuff, genetics, or some combination.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I called a friend who hauled me out of the pit, and now I'm just pretty seriously pissed off with church.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Molly
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. -- Mark Twain
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Feb 17, 2017, at 4:59 PM, Louise Laughton <llaug at twcny.rr.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Question, Molly: Is it depression when a person has every reason to be depressed? This isn’t a smart-Aleck crack — it’s a real question. I’m with you on the waiting to see the doctor complaint. It’s terrible when the wait stretches into more than an hour after the app’t time.
>