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Day: August 15, 2010

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Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC, , , ,

Knowing your [Church] market segmentation

From Captura: The Digital Divide Represents an Opportunity for Hispanic Online Marketers

The recently published report by the Pew Hispanic Center, The Latino Digital Divide: The Native Born versus The Foreign Born, highlights some important facts and opportunities for Hispanic online marketers.

From a high level, the report shows that there is a significant digital divide between Hispanics who were born in the US and those that were born outside of this country. The Pew Hispanic center indicates that 85% of US-born Hispanics use the Internet and 80% use cell phones. Compare this to foreign-born Hispanics where Internet usage currently stands at 51% and cell phone usage at 72%.

…

Although foreign-born online Hispanics represent a smaller, less affluent and less sophisticated segment, they are easier to reach and represent the greatest upside. Foreign-born Hispanics are more likely to use Spanish language website and search engines making them easy to reach. What’s more, the foreign-born segment is growing much faster than the US-born segment and foreign-born Hispanics tend to be more open to online advertising and are more brand loyal. To reach foreign-born Hispanics, marketers should consider creating and advertising trustworthy, culturally relevant and intuitive online user experiences in Spanish.

It is important to point out that these two segments are by no means mutually exclusive or absolute. Many US-born Hispanics prefer Spanish and are novice technology users while many foreign-born Hispanics prefer English and are advanced technology users. What’s more, most Hispanic households likely have both US-born and foreign-born Hispanics in them.

Most of us view the digital divide as an unfortunate social problem. I view it as an opportunity. Only by proactively investing in, engaging with and educating the less fortunate can we begin to bridge the digital divide.

Of course the same type of analysis applies when considering parish outreach. It is important that we understand the demographic and the needs of the people we mister to and who may be in search of a spiritual home.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

Don’t avoid clergy burnout, embrace it

From the NY Times: Congregations Gone Wild

The American clergy is suffering from burnout, several new studies show. And part of the problem, as researchers have observed, is that pastors work too much. Many of them need vacations, it’s true. But there’s a more fundamental problem that no amount of rest and relaxation can help solve: congregational pressure to forsake one’s highest calling.

The pastoral vocation is to help people grow spiritually, resist their lowest impulses and adopt higher, more compassionate ways. But churchgoers increasingly want pastors to soothe and entertain them. It’s apparent in the theater-style seating and giant projection screens in churches and in mission trips that involve more sightseeing than listening to the local people.

As a result, pastors are constantly forced to choose, as they work through congregants’ daily wish lists in their e-mail and voice mail, between paths of personal integrity and those that portend greater job security. As religion becomes a consumer experience, the clergy become more unhappy and unhealthy.

The trend toward consumer-driven religion has been gaining momentum for half a century. Consider that in 1955 only 15 percent of Americans said they no longer adhered to the faith of their childhood, according to a Gallup poll. By 2008, 44 percent had switched their religious affiliation at least once, or dropped it altogether, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found. Americans now sample, dabble and move on when a religious leader fails to satisfy for any reason.

In this transformation, clergy have seen their job descriptions rewritten. They’re no longer expected to offer moral counsel in pastoral care sessions or to deliver sermons that make the comfortable uneasy. Church leaders who continue such ministerial traditions pay dearly. A few years ago, thousands of parishioners quit Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., and Community Church of Joy in Glendale, Ariz., when their respective preachers refused to bless the congregations’ preferred political agendas and consumerist lifestyles.

I have faced similar pressures myself. In the early 2000s, the advisory committee of my small congregation in Massachusetts told me to keep my sermons to 10 minutes, tell funny stories and leave people feeling great about themselves. The unspoken message in such instructions is clear: give us the comforting, amusing fare we want or we’ll get our spiritual leadership from someone else.

Congregations that make such demands seem not to realize that most clergy don’t sign up to be soothsayers or entertainers. Pastors believe they’re called to shape lives for the better, and that involves helping people learn to do what’s right in life, even when what’s right is also difficult. When they’re being true to their calling, pastors urge Christians to do the hard work of reconciliation with one another before receiving communion. They lead people to share in the suffering of others, including people they would rather ignore, by experiencing tough circumstances —” say, in a shelter, a prison or a nursing home —” and seeking relief together with those in need. At their courageous best, clergy lead where people aren’t asking to go, because that’s how the range of issues that concern them expands, and how a holy community gets formed.

Ministry is a profession in which the greatest rewards include meaningfulness and integrity. When those fade under pressure from churchgoers who don’t want to be challenged or edified, pastors become candidates for stress and depression.

Clergy need parishioners who understand that the church exists, as it always has, to save souls by elevating people’s values and desires. They need churchgoers to ask for personal challenges, in areas like daily devotions and outreach ministries.

When such an ethic takes root, as it has in generations past, then pastors will cease to feel like the spiritual equivalents of concierges. They’ll again know joy in ministering among people who share their sense of purpose. They might even be on fire again for their calling, rather than on a path to premature burnout.

I do not believe it is solely a problem in Churches with a democratic nature, nor solely among Protestant congregations. The cause is, as is typical, in sins of pride, selfishness, and blindness — both the congregations and ours.

I have seen this sort of thing in many different settings, and have heard many a tale of woe. These experiences, and the stories I’ve heard, have spanned the spectrum of Churches, from Protestant, to Oriental, to Roman Catholic. In fact, my earliest recollection was of division in the Roman Catholic parish in which I was raised. A certain faction was fighting over the removal/reassignment of an assistant priest. Of course it caused some to leave the parish, and perhaps the Church. I’ve seen it among pastors who have given it, who have watered down their message, tickling the ears of the congregation with the messages they want to hear. Of course the PNCC gets its share of the problem too. Being a “democratic Church,” on occasion leads one group of parishioners or another to shop for clergy, especially if they do not like what they hear or experience from the current pastor.

While identifying the issue is a start, we as clergy need to find a way to get past the problem to the root causes. We cannot play whack-the-mole with sinfulness. Rather, we need to gently, yet firmly stay on the message that transforms. At the same time, we must avoid the urge to run away from the problem when it rears its ugly head over and over. Vocation is in part about self-sacrifice, as well as leadership by example. Take the time needed to refocus, spend time in prayer, recollect Christ’s commitment (sure, He got burned out and was saddened by people’s failure to respond — but He kept on message), and lean on the support of family, fellow clergy, your Bishop, and those who “get it.” In time, burn out will lead to renewal.

The Young Fogey covers his take on the issue in More on Clergy Burnout. Valid points.

Christian Witness, Poland - Polish - Polonia, Political

Do not manipulate the cross

The Roman Catholic Primate of Poland, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, speaking at the Częstochowa Shrine on August 15th, called on his countryman to stop using the cross as a political symbol. Now if only the politicians, politicos, and the easily manipulated of all countries would heed the message. More information and background on this issue is available from Reuters in: Warsaw archbishop calls for memorial cross removal

From Wiadomosci: Prymas Polski: nie angażujcie się w tę manipulację krzyżem!

Blisko 100 tys. osób uczestniczyło w niedzielę na Jasnej Górze w uroczystościach święta Wniebowzięcia Najświętszej Marii Panny. Prymas Polski, abp Józef Kowalczyk, apelował w homilii o zaprzestanie gorszącej manipulacji symbolem krzyża. Wzywał, by krzyż nie był narzędziem przetargu politycznego…

Roughly translated to: Polish Primate: do not join yourselves to this manipulation of the cross!

Nearly 100 thousand people attended the celebration of the [R.C.] Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Sunday at the Marian Shrine of Jasna Gora in Poland. The Polish Primate, Archbishop Józef Kowalczyk, appealed in his homily to end the scandal of the manipulation of the cross. He urged that the cross was not a political tool up for bid.

Art, Christian Witness,

The Fount of Life is placed in the grave, and the grave doth become the ladder to Heaven

Coptic icon of the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Also remember: at many PNCC Parishes, today is the blessing of flowers, vegetables, and herbs. For instance, at my Parish, Holy Name of Jesus in Schenectady at 9:30am and at St. Mary’s Polish National Catholic Church which will have a blessing of the harvest in honor of the Dormition-Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary today before the 8:30 and 11 a.m. Masses at the church, 200 Stephenson St., Duryea, PA. Check with a PNCC Parish near you.

You are invited and encouraged to bring an item from your garden (vegetables, flowers, and herbs) to be blessed as a way of giving thanks to God for the bounty of the Earth.

Homilies

Solemnity of the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

First Reading: Revelation 11:19 and Revelation 12:1-6,10
Psalm: Ps. 45:10-12,16
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Gospel: Luke 1:39-56

Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.—¨

How like, how unlike?

Today we are celebrating the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate that moment in Mary’s life where her earthly body died, followed three days later by the the Lord’s taking of her, body and soul into heaven. This was Mary’s moment of resurrection.

The question before us, or perhaps better, the confusion, is about Mary. Is Mary like us? Is Mary unlike us, different or set apart from us? Is there any way we can relate to Mary except from giving her due honor as the mother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Does the mere fact that we honor her thus prove that she is unlike us.

Difficult to define:

All of this is very difficult to define, hard to understand. Looking at our first reading from Revelation, it is easy to draw parallels with Mary, the heavens opened and the ark of His covenant could be seen in the temple. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet.

The problem is that this is much too simple an explanation. It is also fraught with the danger of misunderstanding.

What is key is that we see God as having opened heaven to us. The heavens opened and the ark of His covenant could be seen. The seeing of the ark, as our class of first communicants can tell you, is our ability to be in the presence of the Lord. We come here to greet Him each week. We receive him each week. We are not separate from Him, but in a relationship with Him that is personal and intimate.

Artists have made the woman represented in Revelation into Mary, its an easy parallel. Look at her depictions, with a crown of stars, etc. But the woman depicted in Revelation, with the crown of twelve stars, is all of us. We are the totality of what she represents, the chosen people, the tribes of Israel which gave birth to the Messiah, and all of us who now follow Him.—¨

See how difficult it is to get a clear picture of Mary. How easy it is to make her so unlike us, different and apart from us. We cannot see ourselves in Jesus’ presence, but its easy to put Mary there. It is impossible to see ourselves as the bearers of the Messiah, but it is easy to see Mary as bearing the Messiah. Shouldn’t we give up and just concede that Mary is too different from us?

Church errors (make her so unlike us):

Certainly, the Roman Catholic Church has done more that its share to contribute to differentiating Mary from us. There are Roman Catholic believers who wish to make Mary equal to Christ, calling her co-redemptrix and mediatrix of all graces. This means that Jesus was not enough, that without Mary, God would have accomplished nothing. It also means that Mary herself can grant all graces. There is a petition with Rome to solemnly declare this as an absolute truth. This is supported by 550 bishops and 42 cardinals. The Popes have even used such terminology. They have even raised certain traditions and honors given to Mary to the level of dogma.

Do you know what a dogma is? It is an established belief to be held by all believers that is authoritative, not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from. Dogma is a fundamental element of religion, and any divergence from a dogma means that a person no longer accepts the given religion as his or her own. Our dogmas include everything in the creeds, the fact that we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and that He is both man and God.

Now do not get it wrong. We honor, cherish, and esteem Mary, her role as the God bearer, we seek her intercession before her Son in heaven, and we place our trust in her prayers for us. We honor every tradition in her regard, but we do not separate her from us by defining dogmas or by entering into heresy by calling her co-redemptrix and mediatrix of all graces. Rather we rightly understand Mary.

Do you think that we in the Holy Polish National Catholic Church, as well as our brothers and sisters of the Orthodox and Oriental Churches better understand Mary and the fact that she is more like us than unlike us? You would be right.

People’s errors (make her so unlike us):

People too have created error and misunderstanding about Mary. Do the names Fatima, Lourdes, LaSalette, Medugorje, Garabandal, and others sound familiar. They are alleged apparitions of Mary, where she shows up in some out-of-the-way place to give secret messages.

Our Roman Catholic brothers have deemed some of these and others genuine. While their laws do not require that people believe in them, they do state that the reports of individual believers apparitions are worthy of Church-wide belief. They have an entire apparatus set up for judging apparitions.

Do you see how Mary can be made so separate from us, as she floats above a tree or causes the sun to spin around?

Again, we must always honor, cherish, and esteem Mary in her role as the God bearer. We seek her intercession before her Son in heaven. We honor every tradition in her regard, but we do not separate her from us by defining her as a floating spirit come to give us new or secret messages of impending doom. We rightly understand that Mary, whom we love and trust, is more like us than unlike us.

What are we celebrating (Mary, herbs, flowers)?

Today we bring herbs, vegetables and flowers to the Church. We ask Mary to intercede with her Son to bless these gifts of the earth. Interesting, that Mary would understand our need for sustenance and flavor in life. Can you see her cooking with these vegetables and herbs? Can you see her bringing cut flowers into her home in Nazareth? Interesting that Mary, who stands before her Son, interceding for us, would somehow know our hearts and minds. It sounds like she is a lot like us.

Today we honor Mary’s passing from life, her entombment. Do you think that as she was passing from this life to the next she passed with faith in the resurrection of her Son? She did indeed! She would have no awareness of what the Lord would do for her in three days, but she did trust that He would fulfill His promise, that because she believed in Him she would be raised from the dead. She died like us and was raised as we will be raised. It sounds like she is a lot like us.

Today we celebrate the fact that Mary is very much like us. She is like us in life, in the choices we have to make, and in death. She is like us, for we too shall be raised from the dead.

How like us:

How like us is Mary. How much Mary trusted. How she saw that the salvation of the world, the blessings and graces the world was to receive, the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, were to be found in her Son.

Yes, Mary is like us. Like us, Mary plays an essential and vital role in the history of salvation. Her witness was exactly like ours is to be. If Mary did it, we too can do it. We have that same call to bear witness, to play a vital role in the history of salvation.

God asked Mary, she said yes. When we are asked, what will we say? She traveled to see Elizabeth, and then got on that donkey and went to Bethlehem, then on to Egypt trusting in God’s word to her. Will we trust in God’s word to us? She pointed to her Son at Cana and said listen to Him, do as He says. Do we do that? Do we point others to Jesus, telling them to listen to Him and to do as He says? Mary stood witness on the road to Calvary and before the life giving Cross. Are we ready to bear the difficult Calvary road, and to witness to the life that the Holy Cross gives?

She is like us:

The totality of Mary is in her humanity, her likeness to us. She is humanity cooperating with God to bring about the Kingdom of God. Mary’s role and yes is essential, and that makes her like us. It also glorifies and magnifies her.

Jesus is here, and we are in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, nothing will separate us from Him. Mary witnessed the reality of Jesus present to us. She not only saw, but saw with faith His birth, death, resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the resurrection of the body.

All of what Jesus taught, did, and promised can be seen through Mary’s faith and witness. Because she is like us, she is our example. Our faith and witness must be like hers. We are like Mary, Mary is like us. She has been treated no differently than we will be treated. God did not take one woman and did not make His new covenant with her alone. His covenant is with all of us.

Look to Mary! Pray, asking her to interceded for you. Ask her to help you in saying yes to God, in trusting Him, in following Him, in pointing to Him, in witnessing to Him. She will do it because as the perfect mother she does it for all of her children. Honor, cherish, and love Mary. Love her for her yes, her life, her death, and her resurrection. Love her and resolve to follow in her footsteps so that what she has experienced, what she has been given we may also experience and receive. Amen.

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