Mary Kat's skiing accident was described today as an attempt at flight. So now we have a flying Priest. I have heard that taking off is easy, but landing is the hard part. The national Church has been taking us for a ride lately. New blood in the form of new clergy is being installed on the fly. Will the Episcopal Church stick a landing like a gymnast, or will we fall and break apart? I say, make God my pilot, Jesus my flight attendant, and the Holy Spirit the propulsion to keep me aloft and I will be fine. But if you put the P.B., the Clergy, or you and I at the controls we will crash and burn.
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Now that we have a flying priest, the Pewster's previous dismissal of flying primates doesn't seem so far fetched. Or, perhaps Sally Fields can jump in here with her rendition of a flying nun. With God, all things are possible.
ReplyDeleteI was tempted to use the Sally Fields line, but she really did fly. After all, I saw it on TV.
ReplyDeleteSome Things Went Wrong, Some Things Went Right....
ReplyDeleteThe "sermon" itself was deplorable. I have never witnessed a priest's first service after ordination, but it was my understanding that the priest herself/himself gave the sermon. I did not expect a sort of giggling "roast" by the priest's best friend, which seemed both irreverent and beside the point. It is unfortunate that what will probably stick with many people is that tiresome business about Mary Kat trying to fly when she was skiing, words that she neither spoke nor was responsible for. How embarrassing it must have been to be ordained and perform her first service under those conditions; if she was not well enough to speak, then a few gentle words about the priesthood would have been in order.
What I hope will stay with many of us is the beauty of Mary Kat performing her first communion, surely one of the most important moments for any priest. Also I'm sure many noted the gentleness and consideration of the acolytes, "her" youth group, as they helped her up and down from the various seats and stools she had to use, and their careful arrangement of her vestments. If anyone who reads these boards attended the reception, I know they observed the affection with which she was greeted by parishioners and family, and the pleasure her family expressed at her being in such a loving and supportive parish. I think she went about her duties with grace and solemnity, not an easy thing to do when dealing with a broken bone and a cast. So far Mary Kat has been a great asset to the Church of Our Saviour as a youth director, the leader of the Canterbury ministry, and a member of our regular clergy; there seems little doubt that she will continue to be an asset as a fully ordained priest.
I enjoyed the sermon, I loved the personal details. Mercies, you weere merciless in your comments.
ReplyDeleteYou Need to Read it All
ReplyDeleteBorneveryminute, I can only conclude you did not read the second paragraph I wrote, which was about the great value that Mary Kat holds for many of us in this parish. It is interesting that you do not criticize either Pewster or Cato, both of whom are usually fair-minded and gentlemanly posters, who were thrown totally off kilter by the sermon. I am sorry if you were offended by my remarks about the sermon; those of us who support the reverence due to a new priest in the Episcopal Church, and who do not think that Mary Kat's suffering was funny, did not find the sermon "amusing."
At the risk of being deemed less than fair-minded and gentlemanly, I do have one additional concern regarding the sermon.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding has always been that the Church authorizes and permits only an ordained person (deacon, priest, bishop)to preach from the pulpit. Does anyone have a better read on this?
This from the EpiscopalChurch.org site
ReplyDeleteFrom as early as 1792, members of the Episcopal Church were concerned about clergy from other Christian traditions speaking in Episcopal churches. The canon, "Of persons Not Ministers in this Church Officiating in any Congregation Thereof," forbade this. The 1907 General Convention amended this canon to allow Episcopal clergy to invite clergy from other churches to speak in Episcopal churches. Part of the canon stated that nothing should "prevent the Bishop of any Diocese or Missionary District from giving permission to Christian men, who are not Ministers of the Church, to make addresses in the Church, or special occasions." It became known as the "open pulpit" canon and caused considerable controversy in the church. In reaction to this canon, William McGarvey, one of the founders of the Companions of the Holy Saviour, renounced his Episcopal orders and joined the Roman Catholic Church along with some other priests and Nashotah House students."
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