Comments on: Loving the poor http://angelaharms.com/2010/loving-the-poor/ the personal blog of Angela Harms Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:15:34 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Jonathan Brink http://angelaharms.com/2010/loving-the-poor/comment-page-1/#comment-25293 Jonathan Brink Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:10:47 +0000 http://blog.angelaharms.com/?p=512#comment-25293 Angela, I like what you are trying to say. The only thing I would add is that there are conversations you aren't part of. That doesn't make you less of a person. You aren't a male. That's a reality. So when men say, "We..." they are speaking for a specific group of men, not just for all people. Angela, I like what you are trying to say. The only thing I would add is that there are conversations you aren’t part of. That doesn’t make you less of a person. You aren’t a male. That’s a reality. So when men say, “We…” they are speaking for a specific group of men, not just for all people.

]]> By: Ted Seeber http://angelaharms.com/2010/loving-the-poor/comment-page-1/#comment-25145 Ted Seeber Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:38:37 +0000 http://blog.angelaharms.com/?p=512#comment-25145 I started joining in this kind of conversation due to a wife of a cousin who is very much into "welcoming" the GLBT community into the Church. I am a cradle Catholic who believes in drawing a thin, moveable line between sin and sinner- but one that isn't so movable that in our acceptance of the sinner we erase the sin. Whenever she starts talking in those terms, I'm reminded of a similar event I attended at a very conservative Catholic parish in the early 1990s- a candlelight vigil for those afflicted by AIDS. The message there was quite different: "The Body of Christ Has AIDS". We weren't judging people by how they got the disease (we all knew homosexual behavior and/or illicit drug use was a cause by then). Instead, we were doing what it took to care for people who already had it, and be welcoming to them anyway- because they were US. This weekend, I'm doing something daring. This weekend, I'm going to start a Knights of Columbus Roundtable in a parish that is MUCH more liberal than that one I went to in college. The same Knights of Columbus that on a national level, gave a ton of money to defeat same-sex marriage. We have a priest who guest-spots in that parish from time to time, who is on a ministry for AIDS victims. It will be a *very* interesting conversation to have with him if he's there this weekend. But one thing I will assure him of- that if we do get a council at St. Clare's (I'm still 25 men short) his ministry will be able to turn to us for support. Because it is all about the sinner- which we all are- not the sin. I started joining in this kind of conversation due to a wife of a cousin who is very much into “welcoming” the GLBT community into the Church. I am a cradle Catholic who believes in drawing a thin, moveable line between sin and sinner- but one that isn’t so movable that in our acceptance of the sinner we erase the sin.

Whenever she starts talking in those terms, I’m reminded of a similar event I attended at a very conservative Catholic parish in the early 1990s- a candlelight vigil for those afflicted by AIDS. The message there was quite different: “The Body of Christ Has AIDS”. We weren’t judging people by how they got the disease (we all knew homosexual behavior and/or illicit drug use was a cause by then). Instead, we were doing what it took to care for people who already had it, and be welcoming to them anyway- because they were US.

This weekend, I’m doing something daring. This weekend, I’m going to start a Knights of Columbus Roundtable in a parish that is MUCH more liberal than that one I went to in college. The same Knights of Columbus that on a national level, gave a ton of money to defeat same-sex marriage. We have a priest who guest-spots in that parish from time to time, who is on a ministry for AIDS victims. It will be a *very* interesting conversation to have with him if he’s there this weekend. But one thing I will assure him of- that if we do get a council at St. Clare’s (I’m still 25 men short) his ministry will be able to turn to us for support. Because it is all about the sinner- which we all are- not the sin.

]]> By: Jules http://angelaharms.com/2010/loving-the-poor/comment-page-1/#comment-25144 Jules Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:35:00 +0000 http://blog.angelaharms.com/?p=512#comment-25144 This addresses something I have been talking a lot about. Again, this comes to the definition of church. An individual gathering can be these things. They can be upper class, middle class, poor, they can be unwelcoming, or welcoming. However, there is a large issue within the church universal, which does have a problem with reaching the poor, being inclusive, and even seeing we are all part of the universal church I even speak of now. Some feel a responsibility to address those issues, the ones that make us cringe. I know this, because I cringe at those who say they are an "LGBT church" or they are so cool that they reach the homosexuals. What I have had to learn these past few months of working through this is one, we must be specific in which church we are speaking of (local, universal) and second, there are those who are called to change the conception of their local gathering or even their larger domination. Just something to chew on. :) This addresses something I have been talking a lot about. Again, this comes to the definition of church. An individual gathering can be these things. They can be upper class, middle class, poor, they can be unwelcoming, or welcoming. However, there is a large issue within the church universal, which does have a problem with reaching the poor, being inclusive, and even seeing we are all part of the universal church I even speak of now. Some feel a responsibility to address those issues, the ones that make us cringe. I know this, because I cringe at those who say they are an “LGBT church” or they are so cool that they reach the homosexuals. What I have had to learn these past few months of working through this is one, we must be specific in which church we are speaking of (local, universal) and second, there are those who are called to change the conception of their local gathering or even their larger domination.

Just something to chew on. :)

]]> By: Rachael http://angelaharms.com/2010/loving-the-poor/comment-page-1/#comment-25142 Rachael Fri, 04 Jun 2010 19:01:44 +0000 http://blog.angelaharms.com/?p=512#comment-25142 Beautifully said! There ARE so many assumptions about "who is the Church" in those kinds of statements. Beautifully said! There ARE so many assumptions about “who is the Church” in those kinds of statements.

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