Speaking My Truth

ReBirth

2012-01-08T09:02:00.001-05:00

Rebirth

True Rebirth

is a release

from

fear, guilt, andego.

Jesus offered us freedomfrom them

and for thisreason

can be called

a Savior.

The only power

that can cause a transformation/rebirth

of thissignificance

Love.

The storehouse ofLove

that exists withinus

is released

by the bombardmentof Love

from others.

If and when I canfeel totally Loved

as I am by myCreator,

fear, guilt, ego

are dissolved.

If at every momentof my life,

I were certainthat

nothing hashappened

or could everhappen

that wouldseparate me

from the infiniteLove

of the Infinite,

-God as Love-

Pure Joy would bemine.

Metanoia

2012-01-08T09:00:00.003-05:00

Metanoia

For thecaterpillar to be transformed

into a butterfly,

it must allow

the dark night ofthe chrysalis

to enshroud it.

There it must waitpatiently

in trustingpassivity

while the work oftransformation

is darkly,secretly accomplished.

It does notanalyze

what is happening,

nor makejudgments.

It must simply be

in the darkness,

waiting peacefullyfor the unknown day

when it willemerge

a beautiful wingedadult

to effortlesslylift itself

to heights above.

The wondrous workof God

takes time,

God’s time.

No wishfulthinking,

no study,

no meditation orother exercise

can transform me.

All I can do isprepare myself

and remain open,

trusting in

God as Love.

Ultimate Mystery

2012-01-06T17:23:00.003-05:00

The Ultimate Mystery

of being,

the Ultimate Truth

LOVE.

It is theessential structure of reality.

There is in myBeing

an infinite desire

to give myself inLove

and this Gift ofSelf

in Love

is foreveranswered

by a return of

Love.

The Triune God,

is Love givingitself,

losing itself andfinding itself

in Love

and

Love returning toitself,

giving itself back

in Love.

This is theeternal pattern

of the universe.

In the depth of myBeing

is a desire,

a longing forLove,

drawn by Love

to give myself

in Love.

This is the rhythmof the universe.

Every one of us

has in his/herheart

the desire to Loveand be Loved.

It is the verystructure of our

Being,

built into thecells of our bodies

and deepestinstinct of our souls.

Sin is

a refusal to Love
or feeling unworthy of Love,

the rejection ofthe rhythm of Love.

Sin is a desire to getand not give.

God as Love

draws me throughhuman Love

igniting me

to give myself

in Love

for the Love Ihave received.

Triune God:

Source of Love,

Love embodied,

Love enacted.

As written in I Jn4, 7-16

When I Live in Love,

I Live in God,

and God in me.

With Honesty

2012-01-06T17:22:00.000-05:00

Moving with Honesty to Realization

I’ve been playingwith light

thinking I wasmaking Spiritual progress.

I’ve beenexploiting mystical ideas

and experiences

for my owndelight.

I did not realize

that the purposeof

all I haveexperienced and learned and written

was to make me aservant

of Divine Love

in action in theworld.

I did not realizethat

Grace has indeedopened

Divine Realms forme

in order that

I can be devotedand humble enough

to dedicate

all my thoughts,emotions, actions, and resources

to helping others

awaken to their own inner Divinity

and responsibilityfor Sacred Action.

I now feel thecall

to jump into thefurnace

of God as Love

that embraces allthings,

to give the restof my life

to spread andembody

the passion of

God as Love,

which lies withinevery human heart.

I know I must takeup the challenge

and live in andspread

Divine Compassion,

God as Love.

God

2012-01-06T17:20:00.004-05:00

God is . . .

God is theeverlasting light

of awareness

in all, behindall, beyond all,

intimate to all,

encompassingeverything.

This totality

is boundless Love

which thrives inits vitality

in the matrix

that is Trinity.

God is beyondhuman comprehension,

though weexperience God

as we are able.

Though God isungraspable, perfect, and free of all limitations,

I experience theDivine

as God

Mothers me,

encourages me,

challenges me,

and consoles me.

God as Love

for me

is intimate andpersonal

given to me

in completefreedom.

God challenges me

to realize andactualize

who I truly am.

In God as Love,

I am

awakened to

Compassion,Sensitivity, and Love.

Spirit of Love

2012-01-04T17:35:00.001-05:00

Spirit of Love

God becomesactively present to me

inviting me intointimate union

through Love.

Whenever I live inlove with an other,

it is the HolySpirit,

God as Love,

that is theSource.

When I love another,

I become

a Gifted Presence of

God as Love

to that person

and that otherperson

Gifted Present to me.

We become Present

to each other

in the deeper anddeeper recesses

of our TrueSelves.

We can share mostintimate thoughts,

moving to Communion

with each other.

God becomes real

for me and the oneI Love

in the expressionof Love.

Triune God

is indeed

Source of Love,

Love embodied,

Love enacted.

Diamond Facets

2012-01-03T12:14:00.003-05:00

Sacred Relationship

I try to treateach encounter,

each relationshipwith an Other,

as a SacredMeditation.

When I can,

a beautifultenderness enters;

Care andCompassion

become part of theencounter.

When I can,

many of themistakes I used to make,

aggression,skepticism, failure to listen,

disappear

because I am ableto focus

on the Essence of the other.

And my opening upto them

brings up thingsin me

that need to behealed;

I gain a deepersense of

my True Self

which brings a Joyand Delight

into therelationship.

A key for me

to spiritualizingmy relationships

has been therecognition

that everyone

is a differentfacet

the Diamond thatis God.

It's more than just riding off into the Sunset it seems

2012-01-02T17:40:00.000-05:00

Perspective near the Tail End

Does having solittle future

in comparison tomy 75-year past

(which seems likebut an instant)

allow me to see

the rites,rituals, prayers, etc.

I experienced

as beingsignificant

on mylife/spiritual journey

in a differentlight,

indeed,

as meaninglessdelusions

or at best

as mere rest-areas

on the

Climb Up?

Trouble with somany of those

rest-areas

(if that’s allthey were)

is that

I resided in them

for far too many of my precious moments oflife,

stalling the ClimbUp.

Wait!

Maybe it’s not aClimb Up,

but a DeepDescent,

and the

rites, rituals,prayers, etc

were hand-holds

that kept me frommaking

the Deep DescentWithin

to where Godresides.

So now withprecious few moments left,

I will just let go

of all those sillyhandholds,

while I still havethe time

and wits

to do so.

Here I come, God .. . one way or another

NB: A Dear Friend pointed out to me that

all of the rest stops, hand-holds,diversions,

missteps, bruises and scratches,

were teaching moments for me

and served to help me be Who I AM today.

OK, OK

To the Peak

2011-12-24T17:10:00.003-05:00

Climbing To the Peak

A lifetime seekingTruth

(climbing themountain of life)

has led me to

I AM

because

LOVE IS

at this moment

(on this plateau.)

This five-wordstatement

seems to embody myreality,

my being,

in relationshipwith the Divine,

My Truth.

But what is Truth?

Is it somethingout there,

something to bediscovered or perceived?

Jesus said he cameto bear witness to it.

He said He was theWay, the Truth, the Life.

Is Truth Being?

Plato said Truthis the memory

of who we are andwhat we know

from all eternity.

In Sanskrit,

Truth is that which is.

If Truth isReality, Pure Reality,

is it one?

Is my

I AM

because

LOVE IS

the one truth forall?

Truth

must be infinite,

unlimited,

and

with an infinitenumber of facets.

Each facet ofTruth

must be True

withoutencompassing

all of Truth

which is infinite.

I believe eachpath

up the Mountain ofLife

is unique

even though we areall headed to

the same peak.

With each pathunique,

the view from themountain is unique

depending on theeyes of the beholder

and the slope ofthe mountain

at a particularmoment.

Truth may be One,

but apprehendedand represented

uniquely anddistinctly by each and every

climber’sconsciousness and position on the Mountain.

The View throughmy eyes

and heart

at this junctureon my climb

I AM

because

LOVE IS.

I will only beable to see

theAll-Encompassing View of Truth

when I reach thePeak.

We can then shareit together.

Divine Verb

2011-12-24T17:09:00.000-05:00

A Non-noun God

St. Irenaeus ofthe second century

told us

We can never seeGod as an object,

only by sharing in

God’s ownself-understanding.

Thisself-understanding of God

is grounded inLove,

in Compassion,

in Loving Kindness

towards others,the world,

and ourselves.

Union with God

is union with oneanother,

with creation,

with the realityof God’s Love.

It is Union withoutloss of personhood,

to unite withoutdestruction of the Other,

the nature of TrueLove.

The Holy Spirit

works within us

helping us togrow,

in knowledge,

in Freedom,

In Love,

leading us to

our fullestpotential.

One of Many Views Climbing to the Top

2011-12-17T12:52:00.000-05:00

Climbing To the Peak

A lifetime seekingTruth

(climbing themountain of life)

has led me to

I AM

because

LOVE IS

at this moment

(on this plateau.)

This five-wordstatement

seems to embody myreality,

my being,

in relationshipwith the Divine,

My Truth.

But what is Truth?

Is it somethingout there,

something to bediscovered or perceived?

Jesus said he cameto bear witness to it.

He said He was theWay, the Truth, the Life.

Is Truth Being?

Plato said Truthis the memory

of who we are andwhat we know

from all eternity.

In Sanskrit,

Truth is that which is.

If Truth isReality, Pure Reality,

is it one?

Is my

I AM

because

LOVE IS

the one truth forall?

Truth

must be infinite,

unlimited,

and

with an infinitenumber of facets.

Each facet ofTruth

must be True

withoutencompassing

all of Truth

which is infinite.

I believe eachpath

up the Mountain ofLife

is unique

even though we areall headed to

the same peak.

With each pathunique,

the view from themountain is unique

depending on theeyes of the beholder

and the slope ofthe mountain

at a particularmoment.

Truth may be One,

but apprehendedand represented

uniquely anddistinctly by each and every

climber’sconsciousness and position on the Mountain.

The View throughmy eyes

and heart

at this junctureon my climb

I AM

because

LOVE IS.

I will only beable to see

theAll-Encompassing View of Truth

when I reach thePeak.

We can then shareit together.

Finding God as Love

2011-12-02T12:36:00.001-05:00

FindingGod as Love

My True Self (and my Creator)Revealed in Action

I am most trulymyself

when I see, hear,think, judge, love, believe, hope.

I access my self

when I act.

By being open toexperience,

by searching formeaning,

by seeking truth,

by giving myselfin Love,

by living infaith,

I find my trueself

as ameaning-making self,

as a truth-seekingself,

as a self in Love.

I am alwaysinteracting with the Cosmos,

never apart.

My open,

self-transcendingself,

disclosed in theconsciousness

of myself inaction

is my first trueinkling about my Creator.

God has meaning tome,

not as a puzzle totest me,

not as an ideathat casts a positive light on all,

but as fulfillmentof

the dynamic self

that I am.

A Self-Transcending Child of aSelf-Giving God

My Self as aself-transcending self

looks forfulfillment

in lfe, meaning,value, relationship, and Love.

Inspired by theSprit.

myself-transcending existence

is enabled

to break free ofcosmic dread

and servitude,

to be Free

with the ultimatemystery of reality

in a nurturingself-giving Love.

The energy of

my Creator’s ownLove

has been pouredinto my heart

through the HolySpirit.

Theself-transcendence I seek

in asking,seeking, knocking at the door,

is fulfilled in

the Self-GivingLove by God.

My ownself-transcendence

is truly aconnection

to the Creator,

the Triune God.

Being Human is Questing

To be human

in aself-transcending mode

means that I mustlive within

an horizon oflimitless mystery.

Even as themystery attracts me,

I must resist theeffort

to possess it or

to comprehend it.

Through humanconsciousness,

the universebecomes

aware of itself

as meaningful,

a limitless realm

ofintelligibility.

My questions canbe answered,

only serving toraise more questions.

Explanations can begiven,

only raising morequestions.

The universeappears to be

just one bigQuestion,

What is the meaning

of all that has been found meaningful?

My Existence in Divine Love

The fulfillment ofmy existence

is akin to

a transcendent

Being-in-Love.

How does thatrelate to the Divine?

God is theOriginal Lover,

loving without theneed for human merit.

As a child of God,

the gift of Lovehas been infused in me,

as mystery.

God’s Love ismanifest in creation

as DivineSelf-Involvement,

Self-Uttering Word.

I have becomeconscious of it

throughrecognition and affirmation of

my worth.

The Word became flesh.

Myself-transcending self

unfolds in thepresence of

the Self-GivingGod.

True Love, DivineLove, is Unconditional,

even to the pointof crucifixion,

ultimateSelf-Giving.

I Respond to suchLove

in my ownself-giving.

Love cannot be notdefeated.

Living in theEnergy of

TransformativeLove,

I can experience

a Peace nothingelse can give,

a Joy no one cantake away.

it is a Love

nothing candiminish,

a Life BeyondDeath.

Love iscommunicative,

inspiring Faith,Hope, and Love

in Truth.

The Gift of Love

forms the Body ofChrist,

True Church,

the People of God.

When I collaboratewith Divine Love,

I am in Communion

with all ofChurch.

The Unconditional DivineSelf-Giving

looks to

a new heaven andearth,

a new creation,

when all shall beone,

when God will beeverything to everyone,

the Kingdom ofGod,

my hope for

the UltimateVision of God.

Being In Love

I can only make myway

through my passionfor human existence

toself-realization

throughself-transcendence

by seeking

Meaning,

Truth,

Value,

Beauty,

Sacredness,

and

Love.

Thisself-transcendence

is not a journeyinto the meaningless,

or the imaginary,

or something

unwise, untrue, orunreal.

It is to be in astate of

Being-in-Love.

When I am in

an authentic stateof Being-in-Love,

I sense the TrueWorth of

the object of myLove.

When I am

a Being-in-Love,

I seem everdisposed

to reach beyondmyself

into the Other’sworld of experience,

manifesting itselfin

compassion andcollaboration.

With the Divine,

it is not that Godhas Love,

but that

Godis Love.

God isunrestricted pure

Being-in-Love.

God asBeing-in-Love

is fullyconscious,

a state of utter

self-transcendence,

an infiniteaffirmation

of the worth ofsuch Love,

an unrestrictedcommitment

to being Love

in everyconceivable instance.

The DivineBeing-in-Love

implies athree-fold subjectivity:

The Creator as theOriginating Lover,

The Savior as theSelf-Expression of that Love,

The Spirit as theInexhaustible Loving in Action.

God is

infiniteself-realization in Love,

where Love andSelf-Transcendence

are utterlyidentified.

Whereas I have toreach and expand

in order toachieve

Being-in-Love,

God is totally inthat state.

The Divine Mystery

is an eternallyself-constituting activity of

Being-in-Love,

One DivineConsciousness

articulated asTrinity.

It is Love

without origin,

uttering itself inTruthful self-expression,

always True toitself in Self-Giving.

The Mystery of God as Love

God as Love

is Mystery

communicated byanalogy

with what I find

in myself.

I am my best self

when

I amBeing-in-Love,

when I am mostself-transcending

to what is Goodand Loveable

as with God.

But God does notsimply have it;

God is this Love

in utter transcendence

in theself-expressive Word,

and theunrestricted Self-Giving

of the Spirit.

The Love

that God eternallyis,

keeps on beingLove.

The DivineSelf-Communication

and my humanself-transcendence

meet

in the context ofthe Mystery of Love.

In my experienceof the reality

of the Self-GivingGod,

the Love that

brings me intobeing

is revealed.

The Triune God of Love

God occurs in myexperience

as Mystery

Love,

an original

self-giving Love,

establishing itsown Truth

and

meaning in theWord,

endlessly creative

in the abidingSpirit.

God is Mystery

Being-in-Love.

This Self-GivingLove

presupposes

a Self in theGiver,

a Self in theGift,

a Self in theGiving,

the Trinity.

The Mystery ofthis Triune God

is the revelationof

Love’s Source,

Love’s Meaning,

Love’sTransforming Power.

Transforming Anger

2011-11-27T17:54:00.001-05:00

TransformingMy Anger

I find that thebest way

to transform myoutrage

at what thehierarchs are doing

to our belovedChurch

into fierce,compassionate

Wisdom Energy

is to work withthe Force

that is Herself

both Loving andFierce,

Tender andFerocious,

The Holy Spirit.

I believe that thesacred roots

of my outrage

are part of

Her Protective andPassionate Love

for all beings andcreation.

I believe that Herfierce Love

is pure and tiedto

Ultimate Wisdom,

but that it is muddiedby

my owndeficiencies,

including imperfectknowledge and impatience.

I believe that theGolden Flame of the Holy Spirit

has ignited myoutrage

inspired by

Her Wild Love ofAll beings

and for Justice.

I try to take Herpure golden passion-energy

into my center,

suffusing my mind,heart, and body

with Her brilliantpower

by praying

Holy Spirit, keep me always in the balance

between fierceness and tenderness and

judgment and compassion,

filling me always through Your Grace

with Your purified passionate

Energy of Wisdom

and Love.

Why do I?

2011-11-16T09:39:00.001-05:00

Tryingto Answer the Question I Keep Getting Asked by Me

As I opt to breakaway

from the group

(children/mice/whatever)

following thealluring call

of the Pied (Papal) Piper

why do I spend any(so much) time

trying toawaken/free

the others(children/mice/whatever)

ensnared by the Piper’salluring call to obey and follow

and/or

trying to get the PPP

to play a tune

that does not lead

the children/mice/whatever

astray (away fromhome)

and instead

play a tune

which frees them

or maybe even

entertains/enlivens/enriches

the children/mice/whatever

when all along

I know

the PPP

may ne’er changehis tune

and

some of those

enraptured by it

really wish

no other music?

So manyothers/friends/family

could not careless

about the PiedPapal Piper’s tune

and those entrappedby it

keep obeying andfollowing

concluding

I’m tone deaf.

You?

No Gurus, Please

2011-10-26T11:51:00.001-04:00

Send me no Gurus, only Fellow Seekers

There’s nothingworse,

nothing moreboring

than being with people

whose minds are made up,

who know theanswers

to life’s burningQuestions.

They either takeyour time

explaining whythey are right

and/or

trying to convinceyou

to accept theiranswers

to life’sunanswerable questions.

True Dialogue isnot possible.

There’s nothingmore interesting,

nothing more exciting

than being with peoplewho,

just like me,

are searching,seeking, questing

the meaning oflife,

our purpose inbeing here,

some answers

to life’s burningQuestions.

We shareexperiences,

missteps along theway,

possible answers,

sorrows and joysalong the way,

pebbles of Wisdom,

learning from

and Listening to each other.

True Dialogue.

I seek no Gurus,only loving friends

who will sharetheir Journeys of Exploration

with me.

Ministry Outside the Box

2011-10-23T17:21:00.002-04:00

MinistryOUTSIDE the Box; LIFE Outside the BOX

Invited to speak at a Conference

with the Theme

“Ministry OUTSIDE the Box,”

I had to ask myself,

How/Why did I move

Outside the Box?

I never planned to move outside the Box.

I was essentially

a Pay-Pray-Obey Catholic

for over fifty years of my life.

All of my formal education

was in parochial institutions

(though the Jesuits at John Carroll University

might be considered resident on

the inner part of the outer edge).

All of my children were Baptized

inside the Box

and dragged to weekly Liturgy

as long as we could do so.

I thought I was content

inside the Box

paying my dues,

praying in the prescribed manner,

obeying the rules

to earn my

pass into heaven.

Thank God,

I was pushed, called, cajoled, forced

Outside the Box;

God was NOT resident in that Box!

What/Who pushed?

The Guys in control of the Box

had a swinging back door out.

They abused little children

and protected the abusers,

perpetuating the abuse.

The “celibate” Guys in control of the Box

were not so celibate.

The Pay part

of my pay, pray, obey,

was not being used for

the Good I thought it was;

much of it spent by and for

the box-controllers.

The Obey part

of my pay, pray, obey,

related to

rules which were

not only discriminatory,

not only man-made,

not only spiritually stifling,

but also,

Totally Un-Christlike.

The rules were created

to keep people

inside the box,

while keeping trouble-makers

outside the box.

Yes, God was not resident In a Box,

But neither was trouble-maker Jesus!

The Pray part

of my pay, pray, obey

pushed me out of the box

and at the same time

called and cajoled me out of it

as being rote, shallow, repetitive, dogmatic,

focused on formulas, superstitions, and beliefs.

I needed more;

My Spirit needed more;

Life was more;

Love was more.

People lived and died

in the box

never questioning their Faith,

never expanding their Faith.

Thanks Holy Spirit,

for blowing my spark of Spiritual Thirst

into a Raging Inferno,

for Seducing me

Outside the box.

After retirement from 32 years in Commerce,

I thought about

Ministry within the box,

joining the box-controllers

albeit only as a subservient Deacon.

Thanks, God,

for that not being a chosen path.

Instead, “I did it My Way”

Hospice Volunteer,

Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministries,

Certified Bereavement Counselor,

Free-Lance Author, Speaker, and Poet,

Spiritual Companion,

Trouble-Maker Rabble-Rouser,

Consoler of those Grieving Loss of Life in the Box,

Helper of those needing to escape it,

Celebrant of the Good Life

Outside the Box.

I don’t know if it was My Way

or the Way ordained for me,

but I’m sure Joy-Full I found it

and am traveling it.

It seems that

the people to whom I Minister

are outside the box

or at least need to be;

those discriminated against

by the box-controllers,

(married men, women,

gays and lesbians, those divorced,

the alienated, and us trouble-makers)

and perhaps most importantly

those the Holy Spirit is helping to discover that

life inside the box

is not life at all,

but spiritual death,

or at best paralysis.

But,

Trouble-Maker Ministry Outside the Box

is not all peaches and cream;

Ask Jesus.

Friends and Family inside the box

separate themselves from me.

The Box-Controllers and their idolizers

deride and exclude me.

There is always a price to pay

and

It can be a lonely path.

But I think the Box may be crumbling;

so many are growing out of it

that it can’t support all the Box-Controllers

sitting atop it.

The Flame of the Holy Spirit

seems to be casting a brightness into the box

exposing the swinging back doors

and the hidden nooks and crannies

maintained by the box-controllers

for all to see,

enabling many inside the box

to see that

a pay-pray-obey fully punched ticket

is good only for a life-time ride

on the merry-go-round

Inside the Box.

There are no two

Ministries Outside the Box

exactly alike, completely identical;

It’s more simply like

using one’s unique God-given Gifts

to help others

wherever the need.

Instead of pay-pray-obey,

I chose to follow the call of the Holy Spirit

(out of the comfort zone onto a Great Adventure)

and to

Go, Grow, and Glow.

Love, JohnChuchman

Leavethe Nest, Join the Quest, And Be Blessed.

Let's Agree on Something

2011-10-15T20:23:00.001-04:00

A Call for Unity

Whetheryou express your Spirituality

byregularly attending weekly liturgies

inprescribed formats

byusing every meal with friends and family

toexpress Thanksgiving

andenhance Community,

Let’sagree

thatWe are all One

withthe Creator of the Universe.

Whetheryou idolize

clerics,the hierarchy, the papacy, church

theOriginal Blessing, All of Creation,

Let’sagree

Weare all gifted and

needto be Thankful.

Whetheryou worship Jesus,

whichHe never requested

EmulateJesus

whichHe did request,

Let’sagree

Heshowed us the way

toLive and Love.

Whetheryou believe

youare part of the one true church

thatwe are all children of God

withmany paths to Spiritual Growth

Let’sagree

torespect each other’s way.

Whetheryou believe

thatonly celibate males can be ordained

thatAll can be called to priesthood,

Let’sagree

thatthe Creator has no gender

and can be envisioned as female and male.

Whetheryou believe

Gaysand Lesbians are disordered

thatwe are All children of God,

Let’sagree

torespect every individual’s

God-Givenrights.

Whetheryou believe

Churchhierarchy can do no wrong

thatthey are human

andcan err,

Let’sagree

theyshould be transparent and accountable

tous.

Whetheryou believe

theold ways are the best

thatwe must seek new ways of being church,

Let’sAgree

thatChange is a normal part of Creation

andhumans need both change and continuity.

Whetheryou believe

weshould all do Liturgy the in the same way

thatGod’s created Diversity

shouldbe celebrated,

Let’sAgree

Weneed to respect and honor our differences.

Whetheryou believe

somewill suffer eternal damnation

wewill All return to Our Creator,

Let’sAgree

notto

condemnpeople in this life.

Whetheryou believe

weare fallen

andneeded to be redeemed

weare simply works in process,

Let’sAgree

wehave the potential for perfection.

Whetheryou believe

Jesusdied because of our sinfulness

becausethe hierarchy feared

lossof control

athis message,

Let’sAgree

Wedid not kill him.

Whetheryou believe the Pope

isinfallible

Not,

Let’sAgree

wemust all

liveby our conscience.

Whetheryou believe

theworld is evil

Creationis Good,

Let’sAgree

tobe Representatives of Good.

Membership NOT Required

2011-10-06T05:18:00.001-04:00

Do I really wantto support and be associated with

AnExclusive Organization

that discriminatesagainst married men and women

called topriesthood,

that discriminatesand demeans people

because of theirsexual orientation,

that names otherorganizations with similar missions

defective,

that misuses ourhard-earned donations,

channeling themonies to suit the needs

of its hierarchs,

that placesconformity to its own made

rules andregulations

above Love andCompassion

practiced andpreached by Jesus,

that places protection of the organization

above caring forthe abused

by protecting theabusers

and perpetuatingthe abuse of children,

that refuses toaddress our needs

and the needs ofour Children and Grandchildren

in today’s realworld,

and instead triesto drag us all

back into themiddle ages,

that places primeemphasis on

worshiping Jesus

(which He neverrequested)

and not onemulating Jesus

(which He wishedfor us all,)

that thinks ofreligious education

solely forchildren,

lest adults trulyunderstand the Faith

and see throughreligiosity,

that expels people
for voicing/living their conscience,

that is run by itshierarchs

without any senseof

transparency andaccountability,

that constantlystrives to make us feel unworthy

(in order tocontrol us)

rather thanuplifting us

to free us,

that is totallyun-Christlike,

and

that makes Godmale

in order to makemales gods?

I don’t think so.

What was I thinking!

(I guess I reallywasn’t)

Thank God,

Jesus’ lifeand message

had nothingto do with Church,

but everythingto do with People,

Life, and Love.

(Nomembership card required)

Love, John Chuchman

Catholic by Baptism, which no cleric, Bishop, nor Pope can undo