[Magdalen] P.S. Re: Update

[Molly Wolf]

Sorry, Grace, for taking your words amiss.  My bad.  I do understand the problem you're talking about.

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 4:45 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Molly wrote, "the parish knows it has a problem but doesn't have a clue
> about what to do about it.'
> 
> Keeping everything The Same (It's a tradition) is so common in Christian
> communities.  One of the really good things that has happened in missions
> and parishes in SC who were left without familiar churches is that things
> have had to change.  IME, death comes when change is needed and is not
> made...fought out yes, but discussed, argued, gospel taught in meetings of
> our call as lay persons, etc.  This sort of change is good for the
> community.  A good goal to hold Molly.
> 
> One of the most powerful (excuse this word) spiritual experiences I've ever
> had what at my former parish when we needed to call a youth .  The rector
> called a meeting to discuss this concern.  Probably 75-100 people, mostly
> dissidents, showed up.  We lined the parish hall with chairs, the associate
> rector kept us focused, the rector asked the questions, and we had a free
> for all exchange.  Most of the people were against the expenditure and at
> the end of the meeting, with very few execptions, the group gathered felt
> the need to hire a youth minister.  We did and this was a very good thing
> for our parish, not just the youth.
> 
> Ginga
> 
>> On Sat, Feb 18, 2017 at 3:18 PM, Molly Wolf <lupa at kos.net> wrote:
>> 
>> 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?
>>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>> 
>>