The Practical Parson

  Those of us who have been involved in the ministry for any great length of time can all agree that one of the most difficult aspects of what we do is to try to convince people to come to church.   It seems easy enough on the surface: just go invite them!  The unfortunate truth of the matter is that the vast majority of people we encounter seem to not be able to care any less about the Church or Christ in general.  Oh they claim to be spiritual, many even claim they have that so-called "personal relationship with Jesus" that televangelists are wanton to sell: But ask them to take 5 minutes out of their day to pay a visit to Jesus in the sacrament or even just to stop into his house for a brief prayer of gratitude, and it's too much for them to bear.   I have been a mission priest for over 10 years now, and trying to build up a small congregation is always increasingly difficult.  Yet in spite of seemingly insurmountable difficulty given the way of modern man, I and other

 Cardinal George Pell of Australia passed away in Rome this past week, and the media has shown its typical classless act of condemning his soul and memory to hell; because he was a Roman Catholic Bishop.  I must preface my opinions on this by reminding the reader that, as a survivor of many forms of abuse myself at the hands of evangelical Christian abusers when I was young; I have a particular insight into the matters at hand in this story.  That being said, here's my take on the BS that has surrounded the liberal outrage and delight on this poor man's passing into the next life: Cardinal Pell was the principle figurehead of the Australian Catholic Church for many years, before he was called to answer on trumped up charges of sexual abuse of 2 choir boys which allegedly occurred in the 1990's, in 2017.  He was convicted, and spent 404 days in solitary confinement before the charges were dismissed completely upon appeal.  Now when you take those facts in isolation, it seems

 Modern man believes money can solve past mistakes.  To do so, he impoverishes his neighbors to make himself feel righteous.  -Practical Parson This week, the head of the institution formerly known as the Church of England announced that he was earmarking 121 million dollars (100 million pounds) to address the Church's apparent past benefiting from the transatlantic slave trade.  This is a new step in the modern notion of reparations; one that ignores truth, while enshrining hatred as a foundational value of the modern church and hierarchy.   Were there people in the church involved in the slave trade?  Undoubtedly. Were there donations that came from the success of the slave trade?  Most assuredly.  The trouble with demanding that money today be spent in reparation for what those men did is that you are not taking money away from those who committed the act; but rather from your own neighbor.  It is akin to a judge sentencing a criminal for theft, but making another take his place

 Many years ago, when I was but a young child, my parents decided to send myself and my older brother to a private, christian school in North Carolina.  They were promised an academically inclined, superb learning environment for their children, one in which college preparation was well in hand and all students were equipped to succeed after graduation.   What they got, was sadly none of what they were promised.  Instead, their children were mistreated, bullied, abused, and even suffered academically because of that hellhole's agenda.  You see, the agenda of that particular so-called school was not so much to educate young minds for the future, as much as it was to condition our minds into their perfect, ideal, cookie-cutter little evangelical christian soldiers; who would never oppose them and always do whatever they say.   From the time I was in the seventh grade, until halfway through my junior year; I was brutally bullied, abused, and mercilessly harassed: all by older students