[Dialogue] Dialogue Digest, Vol 44, Issue 7

Tue Nov 10 18:59:14 PST 2015

Clicked too soon on a previous response.

This reflection is not exactly what Jim Wiegel is looking for but it will be in the Saipan Tribune Thursday, and might be of interest to some.

Francis X. Hezel, SJ

I listened to our Micronesian Jesuit at Charley's CabaretTuesday night relate the beginnings of the Church in the Marianas.  My Protestant colleagues will, of course,argue that the Jesuit Father was referring to the Roman Catholic Church, whichto them is hardly "church". Won't get into that debate.  Ecclesia, the household of God, is avery comprehensive category, not limited to the Christian understanding.

In fact, the Pinoy "bahalana" that fitted well to the Spanish sense of que sera sera (what will be, will be) was originally derived from aprovidential reliance on "Bathala na" akin to the Islamic Anshallah, and my evangelical friends'"God will provide".

Pagan in Myanmar, and Pagan in the Rafaluwasch Northern Islands, are probably from the same language stream,made a geographical term before our European colonizers turned them into hostileor non-conversant infidels in the Christian belief system.  This is not unlike the word "Asia",its etymology derived from Europe's designation of the area beyond them tomean, "that which is not Europe", the landmass from Asia Minor to theUrals of the Tsar and east to the Pacific.

We appreciated the Father's historical sense of balancingthe "violent conversion" (e.g., Hispanic Quiroga on the recalcitrantlocals), on the one hand, and the opposite notion that a stranded Choco (whoseancestry might have traded with the islanders before Spain came) fanned therumor that the padres murdered children with their rites of baptism to eternal blessednesswith water that was allegedly poisonous.

Our Padre Hazel's historical sense walked us through theSpanish mission's original intent to be a blessing more than a curse, and the observationthat the military would do more harm than good. The tragic consequences of the gentle Fr. Vittores and 31 volunteers whointended to bring the Christian mission in the manner that Europe understood paganislanders of the Pacific, ensued the "Spanish-Chamorro 30-year Culture War"in historical accounts, two months after Padre Vittores made landing.  Fr. Fran suggests that neither protoganistside was singularly homogenous.

A culture clash, written in a tract that revisits the"Spanish Chamorro Wars", covered in the 700+ pages tome that DonFarrell produced for PSS to update of the text we used in 6th grade class atPSS' SVES.  Don was in the audience alongwith former members of the sponsoring Humanities Council Board who served whenI was a member, including Refaluwasch LinoOlopai, legal luminary Robert Torres, NMC regent Elizabeth Rechebei, and theever-vivacious Lynn Tenorio.  CurrentNMHC executive director Scott Russell introduced Fr. Fran and Honora Tenoriastaffed the registration table.

Fr. Hezel met the faithful of the CK RC Wednesday.  He explored with the faithful the theologicalsignificance of the start of the mission, a direction I might have pushedfurther had I the chance to ask Fr. Hezel to speak more as a creature of 2015rather than as the distinguished MicroSem scholar poring over ancient documents.  In fact, our reflection title is on the beingof the man rather of the roles he played and the litany of accomplishments inhis name.

To ground us on the personal level, I met Fr. Fran in Truk(now, Chuuk) more than 30 years ago when I was a member of the briefdevelopment "blue shirts" in the Marshalls, at Xavier High School,and had watched his scholarship unfold.

As creatures of 2015, we partook of the what has since beendubbed as the "earthrise consciousness", a consequence of the 1968 Apollophoto of the earth rising on the lunar horizon, which addressed our separatenational and colonial identities into the unity of a global citizenship.  An "earthbound commitment" followedthe consciousness that fueled such preoccupations as the health of the planetin light of climate change, the balancing of the social process as economiccorporations make the political and cultural subservient to its monetaryallegiances, and profound humanness a willful option to everyone.

Theology is clothed in the metaphor of the eternal realm andPtolemaic storied cosmology rather the sociological reality of shrine-likefunctions of skulls in many AustroPolynesian homes, to wit, it points to thesymbolic power of our innate human profundity, an other world in the midst ofthis world, rather speculations of a world beyond this one from which we escapewith the help of a savior like Moses, Jesus, Mohammed, and the Papal Laudato Si'.

We had previous eras of giants; it is time to praise theordinary.  Fran Hezel is in my list!

Thus, my push for profound humanness for those who deign tochoose, and not revert to the automatic mode of bahala na, the previous era's metaphors of transcendence,immanence, and piety, notwithstanding.

OK, we've gone a little abstract here, and that's why thephysicality of a sandal-thong memory-challenged Jesuit before a Charley Cabaretaudience resonated authenticity more than all the angels in heaven, IMHO.

j'aime la vie

yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate! in all, celebrate!

-----Original Message-----
From: via Dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
To: dialogue <dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Sent: Wed, Nov 11, 2015 4:10 am
Subject: Dialogue Digest, Vol 44, Issue 7

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Today's Topics:

   1. You are invited to participate in an
online
      study/conversation focused on Laudato Si, Pope Francis's

encyclical related to our changing global reality
      (James Wiegel via
Dialogue)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message:
1
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 2015 22:02:17 +0000 (UTC)
From: James Wiegel via Dialogue
<dialogue at lists.wedgeblade.net>
To: James Wiegel <jfwiegel at gmail.com>
Cc:
Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>,	Colleague
	Dialogue
<dialogue at wedgeblade.net>
Subject: [Dialogue] You are invited to participate in
an online
	study/conversation focused on Laudato Si, Pope Francis's
encyclical
	related to our changing global
reality
Message-ID:
	<107954391.2278059.1447106537049.JavaMail.yahoo at mail.yahoo.com>
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset="utf-8"

Back on May 24 (my 70th birthday), Pope Francis
issued a letter (240 + paragraphs) not only to the 1.5 billion members of the
organization he heads, but also to the rest of us, asking us to consider the
situation on our planet, and what we bring and what we can do. ?In skimming
through the text, I really like the tone and the inclusiveness of it. ?Who would
think of writing something about climate change and using the word "Praise" in
the title?
Ellen Howie, Steve Harrington and I are organizing this study /
conversation. ?Won't you join us? ?We are planning a getting started session
either THIS WEDNESDAY or NEXT MONDAY.

Join us if you can.? Just
follow this link?An online conversation -- Laudato Si (Praise Be) Survey

| ?
|
| ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| An online conversation -- Laudato Si (Praise Be)
SurveyWeb survey powered by SurveyMonkey.com. Create your own online survey now
with SurveyMonkey's expert certified FREE templates. |
|  |
| View on
www.surveymonkey.com | Preview by Yahoo |
|  |
| ? |

Want to invite a
friend or colleague?? Forward this email
Need more detail?? Continue
reading
APPROACH TO THE STUDYInviting folks from any or all of the following
groups1. ?alive today and interested in what is going on here on Earth2.
?associated with Institutes of Cultural Affairs around the world, present and
past3. ?practicing and using ToP methods as facilitators, trainers or
champions4. ?friends and associates of any of us -- Ellen, Jim, Steve, or
YOU
Organize the time from now to the end of 2015 to go through the
encyclical.? There are 6 chapters, plus a beginniing introduction and a couple
of prayers and notes at the end.? We are suggesting the following:Focus one week
on each chapter, perhaps with an online session of an hour to an hour and a
half, either on Free Conference Call, Google Hangouts or Skype. ?One or two of
us would take each chapter (a partner would make it more interesting)Whoever was
doing the chapter would?????go through it and create and share online a visual
image of what is being said along with some guiding questions for a conversation
or dialogue or charting/study of that chapter? ? guide the online session
? ?
perhaps also be available a couple of times during "their" week via email or
twitter or phone for questions, conversations, tweeting, etc.

We are working
on the technology end: ?way to hold the weekly dialogues, share collaborative
documents, keep in contact, welcome broader participation
Simple visuals,
lively questions, collegial dialogue.? Join us. ?
Praise be!

Jim Wiegel
?
?If you want an adventure . . . what a time to be alive!?. Joanna Macy
401
North Beverly Way,Tolleson, Arizona
85353623-363-3277jfwiegel at yahoo.comwww.partnersinparticipation.com
Upcoming ToP
training opportunities in Arizona
More info on:
ToP? Facilitation Methods?ToP?
Strategic Planning:?Mastering the Technology of Participation ?
Register on
line / see the ToP National ScheduleAICP Planners: 14.5 CM for all ToP?
courses
The AZ ToP? Community of Practice meets the 1st Friday, of every month,
1-4 pm, at ACYR, 648 N. 5th Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85003

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