The pursuit of social healing includes the preservation of historical memory and the restoration of victims’ dignity.

There is a double meaning of restorative justice:
--finding a path to justice that restores collective dignity, and 
--restoring justice to the victims of historic gross human rights violations.

One measure of authenticity for white Christians is whether we link reconciliation with justice and repair.

It's one thing for a white Christian leader to jump in a march and put his/her arm around an African-American pastor. But will we begin a conversation that reflects on the ugly parts of our history?  How do we white Christians free our faith from privileged claims of whiteness?

I believe we can change the world if we start listening to one another again. Simple, honest, human conversation. Not mediation, negotiation, problem-solving, debate, or public meetings. Simple, truthful conversation where we each have a chance to speak, we each feel heard, and we each listen well.
– Margaret J. Wheatley
    Turning to One Another

"GOODNESS IS A FIRST PRINCIPLE OF THE UNIVERSE. GOD DECLARES IT ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE STORY OF CREATION."  BARBARA HOLMES

GOD IS ABOUT WHAT IS GOOD.  GOODNESS IS A FITTING WORD FOR TODAY AS WE HONOR OUR PASTOR, FATHER BILL GRANEY, WHO WAS ORDAINED ON THIS DAY 49 YEARS AGO.  THERE ARE MANY SUPERLATIVES TO DESCRIBE BILL.   HE WOULD PREFER THAT I NOT USE ANY OF THEM. THAT’S HIS AUTHENTIC HUMILITY (AND A LITTLE BIT OF ‘THE IRISH'). 

BUT “GOOD” I CAN GET AWAY WITH.  “GOOD” IS MODEST, SIMPLE, AND WITHOUT PRETENSE.  AND SO IS BILL.

BILL GRANEY IS GOOD.   THANKS BE TO GOD.  IN A WORLD WHERE PEOPLE OFTEN JUSTIFY OR DEFEND ANY SELFISH OR RUDE THING THEY SAY OR DO,  IT’S INSPIRING TO KNOW SOMEONE WHO IS GENUINELY AND CONSISTENTLY GOOD. 

GOOD PEOPLE BRING OUT THE GOOD IN OTHERS.  WHEN YOU’RE WITH BILL, YOUR BETTER SELF EMERGES.  YOU TALK IN KINDER, MORE SUPPORTIVE WAYS.  YOU FIND YOURSELF MORE UNDERSTANDING AND LESS CRITICAL.  YOU COME AWAY FROM YOUR TIME WITH BILL AND YOU REMEMBER SOME GOOD THING HE SAID.

BILL IS VERY BENEDICTINE IN HIS WAY OF LIFE.  THEIR MOTTO IS “ORA ET LABORA" (PRAY AND WORK).  SAINT BENEDICT BELIEVED THAT PRAYER AND WORK ARE PARTNERS, THUS EMPHASIZING CONTEMPLATION WITH ACTION.  BILL HAS ALWAYS BEEN FAITHFUL TO A LIFE OF PRAYER THAT SHAPES THE GOOD WORK HE DOES.  SAINT BENEDICT WROTE, "THE LORD WAITS FOR US TO TRANSLATE HIS TEACHINGS INTO ACTION.”   THAT’S THE ESSENCE OF BILL GRANEY.

LET US GIVE THANKS TO GOD FOR THE BLESSING OF ONE AS GOOD AS FATHER BILL GRANEY.  LET US CONTINUE OUR PRAYERS FOR HIM AND FOR HIS INTENTIONS.  MAY WE SHOW OUR APPRECIATION BY EMULATING THE QUALITIES AND VIRTUES THAT MAKE HIM SUCH A REMARKABLE AND DEDICATED SERVANT OF GOD.

WE LOVE YOU!

INTERNET PRAYER
There is much blessing these days thanks to the internet.  Access to spiritual services, a diversity of prayer experiences and catholic masses are available online like never before.  Formats like Zoom, FaceTime and many more are helping people gather for prayer.  We are learning to “do community” in creative new ways.
This weekend we have a wonderful video mass for Resurrection  parish.  Please check it out.  The video begins with a special thanks to our presider, Rev. Thomas Kane, CSP.  Many of you will recognize Tom, having seen him at the Sunday 10:30 mass.
Tom has a distinguished career, having been a professor for more than 30 years at the Weston Jesuit School school of Theology (Boston College), as well as the Director of Landings International, a Paulist Fathers ministry. We are so grateful to have Tom leading us in prayer.  He continues an amazing worldwide ministry which includes teaching online courses through Boston College.   I hope both John Falkowski and I can learn from some of the courses he teaches on preaching!
Special thanks also to John and Laura Palombo for providing wonderful music and proclamation of the word, to Ed Schieffer for videotaping and editing and to Ruth Sanders for all the good things she does.
Peace,
   fr. greg
 

Over the past few years, Fr. Bill Graney has blessed the Resurrection community by sharing with us books by Matthew Kelly.  In simple yet inspiring words, Kelly’s book reminds us that what we are really about is Jesus the Christ.  However, in our quest to become a successful church, we can lose our focus on Jesus and become misdirected about things like “success” and “church.”
Kelly writes, “The post Resurrection disciples were about a lifestyle.  They shared meals together, they played together, and they cared for those who were sick, in need, and/or hurting.  It was not a perfect world.  Deacons were assigned to seek out and care for the widows and orphans (who were being ignored). 
There was a vitality among those followers of “the Way.” 
Are we vigorously seeking the best ways to follow the Way of the Lord?”  Catholicism is not merely a religion, or a set of rules.  When small minds and smaller spirits try to legislate the meaning of Catholicism, we find ourselves stifled.  The essence of Catholicism is dynamic transformation. You cannot become more like Jesus and at the same time stay as you are. 
God constantly calls us to a new life.  At supper with his disciples for the last time, Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment:  Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you should also love one another.  THIS is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).
The church’s problems are real.  We are not here to solve the church’s problems; the problems are here to solve us. 
There are a great many people who think the problem with the world today is that people don’t come to church.  They think the challenge is to bring people to church, but the real challenge is to bring Jesus to the people.
If people are not coming to church, it is because we are failing to feed them and engage them. 
What we are doing is not OUR business.  We are not here to pass on to others what we think is best.  The church is not something that we inherit from generations past.  It is something that is on loan to us from future generations. 
The future of the church is in our hands and you can be certain it will be what we make it. 
Will it be the love of Jesus?  Will it be the image and likeness of God?  For that to happen, all we must do is be the love of Jesus.” (Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly, 2010). 
Let us become the image and likeness of God…. Isn't this what God intends?
Peace,
   fr. greg
6.27.2020
 

The community of Resurrection is so wonderful, so good, so loving, so generous-- and I am so grateful!
I posted a video on Mother's Day.  I was outside here at the barn and the video showed some of my laundry hanging outside on a clothesline.   In the video I mentioned how it reminded me of my childhood.   I can remember my mom always doing laundry, always cleaning, always cooking and working so hard for her family.
About the time that the pandemic started, my combo washer/dryer broke down.  So I've been washing my clothes in the bathtub and I hang them out to drip dry.  I actually got the dryer working again (thank you YouTube!) but to put soaking wet clothes in the dryer is too much, so I hang them outside for a few hours.
Well, in response to seeing that video, I've gotten so many calls/emails/texts from friends at Resurrection--  “somebody knows somebody who can give you a washer dryer;”   Another great person has offered “to come and fix it!” and somebody has offered to buy me “a new washer!”  I am overwhelmed by such great goodness!
But let me tell you-- I believe that this experience of being without a washer and dryer (and now just the washer) I think it's a part of what I'm supposed to be learning through this difficult time; or maybe it’s about helping me remember what a lot of people have to do each day to get by.  
In my prayer, I think and worry about all the poor people who have never owned a washer and dryer.  I think about so many Mexicans I know here in Kennett Square who don't have a washer and dryer.  What do they do during this pandemic, during this time when so many of the businesses they depend on are closed? 
People like me think of doing one’s laundry as a basic entitlement.  We take it for granted.  And yet, so many people have no way to clean their clothes, they have nowhere to go.  Typically, they might go to laundromats.  But the laundromats are closed.
So I've been doing my clothes in the bathtub-- Thanks be to God!   And I have been drying clothes out on the line-- Thanks be to God!  And I have people who are so good they want to help me-- Thanks be to God!  And I want to stretch and share that goodness so that, somehow, we might be able to do something for others who really need the help… Thanks be to God!
Let me know what you think.
Much love,
fr. greg

 

How does one react to the news of a terminal diagnosis?  Fear, panic, overwhelming anxiety?   The devastation that is brought on when a person receives word that they are going to die is understandable.  So how you explain a reaction that is not only without distress, but is filled with trusting faith?

On November 14, 2019, Father Bill Lawler sent an email to friends.  He wrote,
“NOT EVERYDAY IS A GOOD DAY!  Yesterday I got the diagnosis.  There is no easy way to say this, so let me do it in typical Bill Lawler fashion.
QUESTION:  What is the difference between Bill Lawler and Lou Gehrig?
ANSWER:  Lou Gehrig did not have Bill Lawler’s disease.  However, I do.”

Father Bill Lawler died yesterday.  Bill was an easygoing, gentle person.  He had a great sense of humor and brought laughter with him wherever he went.  He had a relaxed, comfortable manner which drew people to him.  He loved being a priest.  He was down to earth and welcoming.  He brought true friendship to the parishioners with whom he ministered.   He also brought an authentic faith, a deep and trusting love of God.

In that November note, Fr. Lawler wrote, “I would not have chosen this.  I have seen and ministered to people with this illness.  (The worst part is that Gehrig was a damn Yankee and I am a Phillies’ fan.  Why didn’t I get Ryan Howard’s disease?  He tore his Achilles’ tendon.  I could have handled that!).”

He continues,  “I know that asking “Why?” doesn’t help.  Why? is a science question that looks for causes.   Faith instead says God’s love includes this.  Our/my brokenness, weakness, sin… is included in God’s love.  God wants all of me: the good, the bad and the ugly, and God wants to love all of me and you.  God not only loves the good me or you, when I am in my Sunday best, but also whatever is broken and needs healing.  When I don’t or won’t have a leg to stand on, all I can do is fall at the feet of the Master.  This I believe and this will I do. 
Let us be strong in caring for one another.
Bill”

When I read Bill's note, I was blown away.  I wrote in my journal, “Bill Lawler is an inspiration. He sees it as it is... "God's love includes our/my brokenness...".  Despite all the brokenness in the world, Bill is grounded in trust, even gratitude.  He challenges us to be thankful for the brokenness.   This is the Way of Jesus.  Through Christ we can learn to love even the brokenness in our world. 

Because of the pandemic, Father Lawler's funeral will be minimal, like so many others during this time of restrictions.  I have reminded families at such graveside services that the burial of Jesus was minimal, even disregarded.  What matters more is our confidence in the promises of God.  Although our prayers of farewell may now seem limited, the song of angels and saints resounds both in heaven and on earth.  “Holy, holy, holy” is their continuing triumphant hymn.  “Hosanna in the highest.”

As Father Bill Lawler reminds us, “God's love holds all of us,” everything.  Even our brokenness and all the unanswered questions of this life will find fulfillment in God’s love.  “This I believe…”  

Thank you Father Lawler for your profession of faith.  May choirs of angels welcome you to paradise.

Core Modules

April 6, 2020
Monday of Holy Week
Today, we hear from the prophet Isaiah, “Thus says God, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, who gives BREATH to its people and SPIRIT to those who walk on it:
I, G-d, Elohim, YHWH, have CALLED YOU… I have GRASPED YOU BY THE HAND.
I FORMED YOU.   I HAVE SET YOU AS A COVENANT for the people,
YOU ARE A LIGHT FOR THE NATIONS,
YOU ARE TO OPEN THE EYES of the blind,
To FREE people from their CONFINEMENT—all those who are locked away, who LIVE IN DARKNESS—
BRING THEM INTO THE LIGHT!”  Isaiah 42: 1-7
Wow!
My thanks to the scholars at textweek.com who helped me with this translation.  My thanks to the holy Spirit for giving us TODAY!   This text is good news for ears and hearts that continue to endure the restrictions imposed by the pandemic:  isolation, confinement, anxiety, fear.
I am outside as I write this letter to you.  What a joy to listen to the morning song of creation, to breathe in the cool air of a new day, to gaze upon the beauty of springtime as it is happening.  I think of Gerard Manley Hopkins’ exciting verse, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God!”  And so it is.  It is not a scene of beauty that we witness, like a photograph… it is an experience of ‘beauty happening’ and we are invited to participate in this living, moving event.
Isaiah imagines what the Creator is doing (creation is not a done deal…. It evolves, unfolds, it is always moving forward…).  We experience what the Creator is doing as we look up to the heavens, the sky, the galaxies; as we see the earth, the land which is “spread out with all its crops”… food for our nourishment, for our pleasure.   THINK ABOUT THE EARTH, OUR MOTHER!  
When we feel locked away, or closed in, open your eyes, go outside and SEE!  Our Mother is saying, I AM showing you LIFE as it happens, as it is being renewed… You are surrounded by Creation—which is healthy and holy and good…  and YOU are part of Creation.  YOU are healthy and holy and good!  Isaiah speaks to us as “Earth’s” people… We belong to this precious Mother… She who gives us BREATH and SPIRIT so that we may walk the great journey of life.
G-d, LOVE, Trinity, Being (there are no words to describe the Source of All)…  It is that fullness of Love and Life who is forming us, and calling us, who has GRASPED US BY THE HAND (we are held!, we are not alone!), who is committing, us, entrusting us, identifying us as the LIGHT for those who are locked away in their darkness. 
Regardless of the physical circumstances in which we find ourselves, we are FREE, and we are given the LIGHT and LOVE and RESPONSIBILITY to help break others out of their confinement. 
Today, make this day holy by bearing the beams of love:  Shine with the beauty of Creation; Live in the freedom of the children of LOVE.
Peace,
   fr. greg
 

A Small Gift
My Uncle Jim loved the catholic church and everything about it.  He lived a hard life and was alone in his last years.  When he was diagnosed with cancer, my Dad moved Uncle Jim from Texas to Wilmington so he would be close to our family.   Jim gave me his 1973 Gran Torino so I felt obliged to visit him in his city apartment.  At the time, I was studying for the priesthood, which made Jim so happy.  Even though I was such an arrogant smartass, Jim loved me very much.
One day I went to visit him and there was a small brown paper bag at his door.  As I went into his apartment I said, “Uncle Jim, someone left you something.”  Looking in the bag, I said, “It’s a roll!  Somebody left a stupid sandwich roll.”  Jim said, “Oh that was Father Biad.  I was still in bed and I heard him at the door.  He said he was leaving me a little gift and that he would check back another time.  He is such a wonderful, holy priest!”
“He left you a roll!  That makes him holy?”  Sarcasm flowed out of me like stink from a garbage dump. 
Father Robert Biad was an old priest whom I remember as an assistant at our parish.  He had an accent, eastern European, and I thought he was a boring preacher.  I never once considered his visiting my Uncle Jim, or bringing him a roll, an act of lovingkindness.  I thought it was a silly thing done by an odd priest, an old minister who no longer had anything worthwhile to do.
Recently, my friends Vicki and Jack Corrozi brought me a huge container of homemade Italian cookies.  Awesome!   I love anything made with anise or almond flavoring.  The gift they brought was abundant and I decided I should share it with others.  We are all dealing with social distancing and the effects of isolation.  More and more I find myself thinking about so many elderly folks I know, especially those who live alone, wondering how they are doing through all of this.
I put cookies in small plastic bags and made some deliveries.  To insure the safety of others, I did not go into their homes.   I left the cookies in mailboxes or in doorways, along with a note from me.  The responses I have gotten have been so uplifting.  People have been so incredibly grateful for such a small gift.
Of course, my heart eventually found its way to Father Robert Biad.  I looked him up in the Diocesan directory.  He was born in 1908 in Austria.  His family moved to Italy and he was ordained a Discalced Carmelite priest in 1931.  He was forced to leave Europe in 1939 and made his way to Washington, D.C. where he taught at Mount Carmel Seminary and served as community superior for thirteen years.  Because he was fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and German, he also served as chaplain to German and Italian prisoners of war at Fort Meade, Maryland. 
He was invited to say mass in a store-front church for the people of Kent Island in 1953.  The people adored him.  He went to Bishop Edmond FitzMaurice and asked permission to build a church on Kent Island.  Bishop FitzMaurice told him to come back when he had $20,000.  Not much later, he went back to see the bishop with $25,000 and three acres of donated land.  Before I was even born, Father Robert Biad had built St. Christopher Church, becoming its founding pastor. 
Father Biad died in 1985, one month before I was ordained.
There is no such thing as a small act of kindness.  Everything we do shapes the world. 
gmc 4.22.20

     Rev. Robert Helvius Biad