Saint Matthew's

Last weekend, professional wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his wife and 7-year old son, then turned inward and committed suicide in his Atlanta-area home. When the police entered the house, they not only found the bodies but also clues to what could have precipitated these acts. And if anyone doubts the presence of evil in this world, all you have to look to Benoit and his household.

• Anabolic steroids were in the home, drugs that make a person’s muscles bigger and tempers hotter. They also destroy a person’s organs, including hearts, livers, kidneys, and the like.
• The Benoits presumably argued over the care of their 7-year old son who was diagnosed with a form of mental retardation.
• The dead 7-year old had needle track marks on his arms because, apparently, mom and dad thought the kid was too little for his age and they wanted him taller.
• Benoit’s wife was bound to a chair and had blood behind her head.
• Their son was found in his bed, presumably killed when dad put him in a choke hold and snuffed out his little life.

Throughout the ensuing week, Benoit’s employer, World Wrestling Entertainment of Stamford, CT, tried to push themselves away from this tragedy and from a possible linkage to steroids that could have caused Benoit to snap. And they should. What employer wants to be tied to a murderous rampage?

When I was growing up, my brother and I used to watch pro wrestling on Saturday mornings on Channel 9, WWOR. Each week, cartoonish characters – both in character and appearance – came into our living room as they body slammed, jumped off the top rope onto their prone opponents, and used “sleeper holds” to “win” matches. The bad guys would use “weapons” like salt and walking canes to win matches, and sometimes good guys would duck from these “attacks” and cleanly win their match ups.

Of course, who didn’t like Hulk Hogan? He was this huge guy with big muscles who preached the “gospel” of training, praying, and eating vitamins to get big and strong. There was only one problem with this credo – Hogan didn’t use it. He popped pills and stabbed himself with needles filled with steroids to get his muscles huge. Of course, as kids, we didn’t care how the Hulkster got so large; we just wanted him to beat Rowdy Roddy Piper and Cowboy Bob Orton.

Today’s wrestlers are larger than Hogan, and does anyone doubt how they got so big? Unless the leaders at World Wrestling Entertainment are all blind, they know how many of their stars got so large and bulky. Tacit denials aside, the company has to take responsibility for their employees abusing themselves in order to keep up with the rigors of their profession.

And we can thrown Benoit into this mix, as well. As a smaller wrestler to begin with, he is now accused of using steroids to build up his muscles so he could attain “main event” status from within the wrestling world.

We’ve heard all week that there have been many pro wrestlers have died during the past few years, dying from the after-effects of steroid and prescription painkiller and alcohol abuse.

Why would people pump themselves up with chemicals to get bigger muscles in the first place? Why would Barry Bonds, who is probably the greatest home run hitter in a generation, allegedly pump himself up with this stuff? And what about Jason Giambi of the Yankees? What about those high school sports players who have gotten caught taking this garbage? Why do people do this?

It is lust. They have this urging to be better than the next and they will do anything to get that way. There is this internal thought process that pushes someone so hard to take the easy way out in order to get noticed. They want to be the best, thinking that they only way to climb the ladder of success is to cheat.

They lust for power and greatness. Whether it is the high school football player getting caught with pills or a pro wrestler who dies of heart ailments caused by years of steroid abuse, their lust for power and greatness is what drives them.

Lusting after greatness … it is sinful.

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”

Why did these scientists do this?

Why did they mix the DNA of a horse and zebra? OK, they’re from the same animal family. But come on – this animal should make everyone nervous.

(The photo is taken from this morning’s New York Post, page 41 of the Late City Final)

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Been a slighting busy Monday – especially for my day off.

First, my father entered the hospital over in Yonkers to begin chemotherapy treatment. He had a port “installed” near his right shoulder today – a quickie surgery, if there ever was one – for the chemo drip that he will either start tonight or tomorrow. His doctors weren’t too sure as to when it will all begin. Right now, his schedule is to be in the hospital 3 days for the treatment and then return home.

If you don’t know, my father had colon cancer surgery on May 2nd; the cancer had spread somewhat to his lymph nodes. To me, if it spread, it spread. I hate dealing with these weak words like “somewhat” and “kind of.” Just give it to me straight. He is scheduled for four “three day” sessions of chemotherapy over the come four to five months.

He is doing fine tonight. No pain in the shoulder. He definitely wants this entire “chemo thing” to be over and done with.

Second, I’m trying to figure out this weekend’s service. With my traveling over to New York to visit my father during the coming days, I’ve got to speed up my schedule of  “To Do’s” an get some things done.

Third, my Verizon bill is all messed up. The telephone part of the bill is OK; but the TV and my wireless are all messed up. And to speak to a customer service representative to try and clear it up … please!

And finally, I’m trying to clean up my computer’s Address book, my iChat (my instant messenger; you can add me on AOL’s AIM using ajiovine), and my Plaxo (online address book) account. It is a pain and could take me a while.

Otherwise, just a typical Monday.

A dog from Sewell, NJ won the world’s ugliest dog contest.

Why do they do this to animals? Putting them in an “ugly” contest. Do they do this to make people laugh? Or to scare them?

Did you happen to catch the lead story in this morning’s Record?

“Exit 16XXX: East Rutherford Wants to Establish An Adult Entertainment District.”

Very creative headline, the Exit 16XXX part (for those of you not from around here, East Rutherford, the home of Giants Stadium, is Exit 16 off the New Jersey Turnpike).

However, why would this little town want to be known as an “adult entertainment” town?

Sad.

Apparently soon-to-be-former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is going to convert to the Roman Catholic faith next week. He’s been a member of the Church of England.

I understand the political motivations of waiting (it doesn’t sound good in England to have a Roman Catholic running things), but if you’re converting, just convert already!! People will get over it. He’s only in power for another week.

The State of New Jersey is one step closer to bonding $450 Million to fund 10 years of stem cell research, including studying embryonic stem cells and their “potential” on curing diseases.

Even though embryonic stems cells have shown no capacity to do anything in terms of curing or dealing with diseases, our State Legislature doesn’t seem to care.

Why propose wasting money on studying something that has shown zero promise in actually curing disease?

Why not spend additional money on stem cell research that actually does work and has shown to reduce the impact of more than 70 different diseases, like, say, adult stem cells research?

Including this embryonic stem cell funding line item in the bond request means that a lot of Christians will be voting against this bond act.

Usually, one day in my week is hectic. Other days are basically busy. Even my free day, Monday, can be classified as a fixer-upper day since I try to complete everything that I haven’t done for myself during the previous six days. However, one day in the week is just blotto-busy.

And today can be characterized as such.

I missed my regularly scheduled meeting of the New Milford Senior Advisory Committee at the Senior Center on River Road. I had a visit that ran way over because I got there way late. So, I apologize to Pat and the committee for my failure to attend. You can punch me at the next meeting in September.

Earlier today, I visited with Pastor Wangerin at the Oradell Healthcare Center. He is at a point where his mind is way ahead of his body in terms of therapy. His brain tells him to run a marathon; his body is telling him to take baby steps to the restroom. It is a battle that all people fight who have been forced to stay in bed for two months. Yesterday, he found out that he has pneumonia in his left lung – one of those potential sicknesses that people can catch rather easily in a rehabilitation or nursing home. He’s receiving the proper medication and hopefully, in short order, his lung will be clear. Keep him in your prayers.

I attempted – with my fifteen minutes of free time – to visit a few members just on a whim. My whim was wrong – no one was home.

But all of the above is normal. Nothing out of the ordinary.

However, I had a visit to a hospital to visit a teenager who has terminal cancer. One of the things that rips me up inside is visiting a young child or a teenager with a terrible sickness. It breaks my heart when I see them suffering from an “adult” disease, if diseases can be classified as such.

Today I visited with one such teen. He was told two months ago that he has a rather aggressive form of cancer. The doctors are doing all that they can to beat it back and force it into remission, but they’ve not given him any sort of guarantee that the drugs will work.

When I heard of this young man who had this terrible disease, not only did my heartbreak, but I couldn’t even think about what I could say to him. One of the hardest things I find in my ministry is figuring out what to say to someone who is sick. Thank goodness, the Holy Spirit is there it put those words in my mind and on my lips. But still, I still get nervous when dealing with these situations. I walked into his room this morning feeling a little uneasy about what I would say. When I speak with “adults,” I find it easier to pull something out of the synapses of my brain. But what to say to a teenager who was for all intents and purposes, dying?

When I walked into his room, he turned to look at who was knocking on the door, and he said in a straight forward way, “I hope you’re a clown in your other life because I ordered a clown today.”

The comment made me laugh. Here is a youngster, all of 14 years old who is battling cancer, and he’s trying to make some pastor laugh at a cheesy joke.

We ended up talking for about an hour and fifteen minutes before his parents walked in. He is an extraordinary young man. Even though he knows that there is a possibility that he’ll never see his 15th birthday, he still had such a glowing outlook. Several times I steered the conversation to Christ; he’s a baptized believer. He said he is Roman Catholic, but his family wasn’t the “church-going” type. Yeah, they went on the big days like Christmas Eve and Easter. But the rest of the time, they didn’t bother.

When we spoke of his faith, he was a little perplexed. He questioned me in regard to the difference between just believing on your own and believing because of faith. I have to say, most adults never get this insightful! In the end, he guessed he was a believer because of faith. He actually understood the meaning of the Third Article of the Creed better than some Lutherans!

I really enjoyed my time with him. Maybe it was because it was early in the day and in the waking hours of the day I’m usually more alert. I don’t know. But the young man put a smile on this pastor’s face.

When his parents came in, our conversation shifted a bit. They were all waiting for the latest test results to come back that would detail if anything the doctors were doing was working.

“My mom cries a lot. So does dad,” he said. Then he ranted on that his dad hasn’t shed one tear for the Mets, their favorite baseball team that is going through a slump. He made some fun of the Yankees – that raised those little hairs on the back of my neck a little – and said he has one dream: To see the Mets win the World Series. He laughed when I told him that if was waiting for a Mets’ World Series, he’d be around for a long time. (NOTE: This was not an attack on the Mets; I was just trying to have a little fun. I lost a bet with a local pastor and I cannot make fun of the Mets all season long).

After saying a prayer with him, I got in my car and drove back to church.

My goodness! A teenager with a terminal disease has a better sense of humor than some adults who haven’t been sick in years!

I found out later in the day that the young man has reason to be happy. His dad left a message on my home answering service that the doctors told them that he may actually be beating the cancer into remission.

Even as I sit here at 8:17pm, the smile is still on my face.

This Thursday was an interesting day.

I got notice of this article via email this morning. It was printed earlier this week in the Hartford Courant newspaper:

You won’t hear Weight Watchers spokeswoman Sarah Ferguson talking about Jesus walking on water to inspire her followers to stick to their diets.

But that’s how the Rev. Joy Wright does it.

Delivering a taped sermon to a group of African American women gathered in a Hartford church social hall, Wright, of the city’s Phillips Metropolitan CME Church, tells the story of Christ’s encounter with the disciple Peter in a boat. Jesus challenges Peter to demonstrate his faith and courage by getting out of the boat in the midst of a storm.

“Are you ready to get out of the boat?” Wright asks the participants. “God will give you the power to reach your goals; he’s waiting on you to make the first move.”

Wright isn’t talking about sin. She’s talking about food.

That’s it! The Jesus Diet!

You’ve got to love the Vatican. The Holy See has introduced a new document entitled: “The Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road.” In this wonderful document they introduce the Ten Commandments of driving. I kid you not.

Drivers’ “Ten Commandments”

61. In any case, with the request for motorists to exercise virtue, we have drawn up a special “decalogue” for them, in analogy with the Lord’s Ten Commandments. These are stated here below, as indications, considering that they may also be formulated differently.

I. You shall not kill.

II. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.

III. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.

IV. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of accidents.

V. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

VI. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.

VII. Support families of accident victims.

VIII. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.

IX. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.

X. Feel responsible towards others.

Or you can roll all of these and their entire document into one sentence: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

A loving neighbor doesn’t need more rules – they just show love without being told to.

[via Hot Air blog]

This is one of those "You’ve Got to Be Kidding Me" moments that should make every Episcopalian – and members of their fellowship, including the ELCA – really, really angry.

Shortly after noon on Fridays, the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding ties on a black headscarf, preparing to pray with her Muslim group on First Hill.

On Sunday mornings, Redding puts on the white collar of an Episcopal priest.

She does both, she says, because she’s Christian and Muslim.

Redding, who until recently was director of faith formation at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, has been a priest for more than 20 years. Now she’s ready to tell people that, for the last 15 months, she’s also been a Muslim — drawn to the faith after an introduction to Islamic prayers left her profoundly moved.

What?

Memo to Rev(?) Redding: YOU CAN’T BE A CHRISTIAN AND A MUSLIM AT THE SAME TIME.

This issue makes me more angry than the Episcopal Church in America approving of an actively homosexual clergy because the church, for if it continues to condone this heresy, will show that it stands for absolutely nothing. It has already disrespected God’s Word by completely ignoring it when it comes to homosexual unions and an actively homosexual clergy, among other things. But if they condone this action, they’d not only be  throwing God’s Word out, they will be using it as toilet paper.

You cannot be a Christian and a Muslim. The basic tenets of either faith are completely different. One says Christ saves; the other says Allah saves the good ones who follow his law. One says that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the other says Allah is the supreme being. One promotes the freedom won by Christ; the other promotes slavery to the law. It is apples and screwdrivers, not even in the same ballpark.

This is just sickening. Say a prayer for Mrs. Redding for clarity of faith.

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I have this personal policy not to answer those goof-ball “tags” that bloggers get every now and then. What are “tags?” They are a  list of questions that a person is supposed to answer on his blog. After answering, the blogger person is supposed to “tag” someone else to answer the same list of inane questions.

Me? I ignore the tags. Since I started writing on Saint Matthew’s blog, I have to say I’ve only answered one tag. The others – I think I’ve gotten tagged five or six times – I’ve ignored them completely.

But this morning, when answering email, I received a list of 6 questions from a reader (yes, people actually read this thing) who lives somewhere in New Jersey. The suggestion by the emailer was to answer them on the blog. Since it is Monday and my day off, I figured I could spend the time answering these questions.

Don’t get me wrong – I hate the fact I am answering them. But I’m doing it because I’m a nice pastor:

1. How have your experiences at being a pastor been different from your life before becoming a man of God?

To define an experience, I have to dig a little deeper. Before seminary and the parish, my experiences were conceptually different than they are now. In my life before Fort Wayne and seminary, I was more worried about myself. Of course I cared about other people, but there was a greater point in my life where I was at the center of my life. I was someone who tried to make myself happy. When life is centered in this realm, it takes a different road to gratification. While my spiritual life was fine, it wasn’t as dramatically pronounced as it is in my life now.

Today, living the role of Christ’s undershepherd, the experiences are different. Primarily, my focus on “me” is not pronounced. My heart is focused on the greater. I deal with the care of souls. On the “sad side of life,” I deal with sickness, death, pain, and suffering of members of Saint Matthew’s. But I also experience incredible joy and happiness of the members when the good things happen in their lives.

My experiences today fall under the category of “Christ’s servant.” And that means a heck of a lot more than my previous “me servant” outlook.

2. Who is the most profound philosopher who has impacted your life?

Ah, the “philosopher” question. When President George W. Bush was asked this question, I cringed when he said that his favorite “philosopher” was Jesus Christ.

To clarify my cringe-ment: JESUS IS THE SON OF GOD. HE ISN’T A PHILOSOPHER. HE’S THE SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. When we start thinking of him in any other way, we begin to lose sight of who He is.

Me? I don’t have a favorite philosopher, unless George Carlin can be considered one. Why? In his comedy, he always seemed to drag me into thinking about the world in a different way.

3. You’ve written that you are a subscriber to XM Satellite Radio. Why?

Ever listen to terrestrial radio lately? The music stations are hideous and filled with commercials. The formats are cookie-cutter and narrowly focused. Soft adult contemporary music with touches of 70s and 80s? Even softer adult contemporary music that has more hints of modern music? Rap and hip-hop, narrowly casted to either a greater urban audience or to a broader audience? Classic rock with modern rock mixed in? Dance music in all its forms that are dissected to reach either moms with teens or just teens and twenty-somethings.

Please. Give me a modern rock station that isn’t afraid to be a modern rock station. What about music station geared toward the music I grew up on – the 80s? And please, give me a modern adult contemporary station that doesn’t treat me and all listeners like dorks (think: WPLJ). 

That is why I am an XM subscriber. They give me all that, and more. I love baseball – and they air every baseball radiocast. I love listening to sports talk, and XM gives multiple choices of sports talk. And rock music - every genre you can think of and more. 

Right now as I type this, I am listening to the 80s channel on XM – Dennis DeYoung “Desert Moon.”

4. If you can pick one place in this world to live, where would it be?

Before seminary, if I couldn’t live in New York, I would have loved to live in Italy – whether near Naples or further north, it wouldn’t matter.

Today, it is anywhere God sees fit to place me. He’s placed me here in New Milford to serve His people. That’s the greatest place in the world to live, at least to me, because I am serving the Lord.

5. Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh? Bob Grant or Sean Hannity?

Rush Limbaugh – he’s the godfather of talk radio. Bill O’Reilly is good, but I find him better suited for TV than radio.

The other part of the question is hard. On Bob Grant – he was the quintessential New York radio voice. I can never see myself going against him in a poll. But I have to say, during his WOR days, I found myself listening to Sean on a nearly daily basis. Today, Hannity is a part of my radio listening lineup. If I could pick both, then I’d do that. If I can’t, I pull the lever for Bob because of what he meant to talk radio in the New York area.

And yes, I listen to a lot of radio. When I’m working in the office or at home or driving in car, I have the radio on. Mostly XM – except for Rush, who is on WABC.

6. Where did you do your undergraduate studies and why did you choose to attend that particular school?

I graduated from Saint John’s University in NYC as a communications major (journalism).

I was torn between Saint John’s and the School of Visual Arts, also in New York City, and Boston College. I was accepted at all three. What pushed me to stay close to home was my mother. She started to get sick and I didn’t want to be far from home. Do I regret not attending Boston College? No.

The School of Visual Arts appealed greatly to me. They were spread out all through Manhattan. I would have been completely immersed in the lifestyle of the City, something that I always longed to be a part of the culture that was New York. SoVA would have allowed me a greater access to the media world because it was so tied into the media world, something that budding journalists long for in their studies. That appealed to me soooooo much.

But Saint John’s offered a more traditional college experience. When I met the professors, they all seemed to actually like themselves and the areas they were teaching. Two of the leaders in the journalism department – Drs. Frank Brady and Roger Wetherington – showed a true care for their craft and taught from their love of the field. The campus just seemed to fit me. Everything was just ‘there.’ The library was opened late. The student center was relaxing. The school paper (the Saint John’s Today, not the student paper, “The Torch“) and the people who worked there were just wonderful to interact with. And the school actually had a moral center – I guess since it is a Roman Catholic institution, it should have a moral compass leading it.

In the end, it came down to where I would feel more comfortable. While longing for the free-styling educational experience of the School of Visual Arts, I felt I would be better suited for a more traditional system at Saint John’s. And as I type this, I don’t regret a moment of my decision.

Don’t ask me about last night’s Yankees-Mets game. I got through the first inning (watching A-Rod park one out in left field), and then I fell asleep. I woke up around 10:30p, noticing that the TV was still on and that somehow my arm must have changed the channel. “LA Law” was on the tube. But then I shut down for the night. I was happy to learn that the Yankees won.

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The head of the New York Archdiocese, Edward Cardinal Egan, wants to stop a bill going through the New York State legislature that, if passed, would reduce the time to get  a divorce. Right now, it takes upwards of a year to get a divorce in New York. The legislature’s bill would reduce that to 3 months.

In a memo circulated to all lawmakers, lobbyists for the Catholic Conference argue the bill would jar “the very foundation for social stability.”

“Marriage is not a disposable commodity; it is a public legal commitment, a powerful protector of children, and a blessed sacrament to many people of faith,” the conference argues.

“The state ought to be looking for ways to strengthen marriage, not weaken it,” said Dennis Poust, spokesman for the Catholic Conference.

Egan is right. We are treating marriage less and less like it was intended. The government is treating it more like a non-binding contract that you can get out of when “things don’t go right.”

More over at the New York Daily News.

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Loved this story in the Post: 

A prostitute once locked St. Patrick’s Cathedral rector Monsignor Robert Ritchie in a hospital room and begged him to pray for her protection from the dangers of her job, he recounted yesterday.

Ritchie, who told the story during a Father’s Day sermon at St. Pat’s, said the odd but enlightening incident took place in the 1960s, when he was a 19-year-old seminarian and working as an orderly at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village.

Why would I love a story like this?

This shows that even those engaged in sinful behavior know that they need someone on their side to help them. And that person is God.

It is so much easier to ignore the sinner than to pray for them. We love to condemn sin, but when it comes time to think about the sinner, we seem to always direct our thoughts on the sin.

That’s why in our daily prayer life, praying for sinners is important.

The sidebar on the right side is back.

Don’t know why it went missing or why it’s back.

I do know that it is a little messed up. But I’ll deal with that tomorrow.

Church starts at 10.

See you there.

Just noticed that the entire sidebar is missing.

I checked the index, it’s gone.

Huh.

Gotta deal with this later.