[Magdalen] P.S. Re: Update

[Molly Wolf]

Barbara is one of our associate clergy and the closest to me in peppery Episcopalianism.  She said that we really need more and younger people on the Pastoral Care Committee.  I mean to make an issue of this when I'm well enough, because the parish knows it has a problem but doesn't have a clue about what to do about it. 

Molly

The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way. -- Mark Twain

> On Feb 18, 2017, at 3:06 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> (((((Molly)))))  I am glad you spoke with Barbara...is she your priest?
> 
> I think another important part of all this ministry thing is that things
> need to be kept current.  I don't just mean who is on the prayer list or
> who needs soup.  Rather, I mean that lots of very excellent information is
> 'out there' on how to do lay ministry in a parish and found it on all
> manner of scriptural references....as in love your neighbor as yourself.
> Churches can be clueless about that.  The foundation is love.
> 
> Love you,
> Ginga
> 
> On Sat, Feb 18, 2017 at 2:54 PM, Lynn Ronkainen <houstonklr at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> ((((Molly)))) I am glad that you reached out and I am pleased that you
>> will be ministered to. It's complicated isn't it? Maybe your situation will
>> impact things in your parish going forward.
>> Hugs and love
>> Lynn
>> 
>> On Feb 18, 2017, at 2:37 PM, Molly Wolf <lupa at kos.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Grace, I am undergoing treatment for breast cancer.  I am on the parish
>> prayer list.  No ESP required.
>> 
>> I just had a long, fruitful, and satisfying conversation with one of our
>> associate priests, which covered all of my concerns.
>> 
>> The parish does have a Pastoral Care Committee, median age 80+, which is
>> tireless in looking after the pastoral needs of its age cohort but not so
>> good at remembering younger folk.  (This is also true of ACWs in the
>> smaller parishes.).
>> 
>> Fear of being intrusive inhibits people from calling.  This, I suspect, is
>> one of the most deeply established holy cultural shibboleths in our local
>> culture:  that suffering is supposed to be private.  It's true of physical
>> suffering ("stiff upper lip") but it's especially true of emotional,
>> psychological, or spiritual suffering.  Sitting with someone else's
>> suffering terrifies people because they expect to have to fix the sufferer.
>> So people care, but they don't act.
>> 
>> It took some courage to call Barbara, but I've done it.  So I can now
>> expect soup, at least.  Which is great.
>> 
>> And ESP? It's two way.  How is the sufferer supposed to know that people
>> care if nobody does or says anything?
>> 
>> Molly
>> 
>> The man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no
>> other way. -- Mark Twain
>> 
>>> On Feb 18, 2017, at 2:11 PM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Oh. Well, I guess their clergy *did* have ESP then...
>>> 
>>>> On Feb 18, 2017, at 10:44 AM, James Handsfield <jhandsfield at att.net>
>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> No, there were a few people who insisted that clergy should simply know
>> when someone is in need of a pastoral visit, and neither they, nor he would
>> let it go.
>>>> 
>>>> -------------------------------------
>>>> Education is its own reward, both for the individual and for society.
>>>> 
>>>> Jim Handsfield
>>>> jhandsfield at att.net
>>>> 
>>>>> On Feb 18, 2017, at 9:54 AM, Grace Cangialosi <gracecan at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> What, Jim...no one visited him?
>>>> 
>> 
>>