(no subject)
In CT with Katie.... reading my myspace bulletins and found this one from Danielle interesting....
Believers give up to grow up during Lent
BY MICHAEL AMON
michael.amon@newsday.com
February 21, 2007
Time to give it up.
It's Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and, for many Christian believers, the start of the 40-day slog to Easter when they do without something tasty or tempting, be it meat, alcohol or TV.
That said, The Venerable Theodore Bean, an archdeacon for the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, made this remark in his monthly newsletter: "I hasten to point out that eating lobster 'because it is not meat' really rather defeats the purpose of Lenten abstinence."
It's a point about sacrifice that Long Island clergy say they have to make more often.
"We are a society of instant gratification," Bean said in an interview. "We're not a society that views giving up things and taking the long-term view as being good for us."
Lent has been officially celebrated by Christians since the 4th century as a period of repentance and sorrow. It was a little more intense back then, requiring believers to eat only one meal a day and without meat.
"Times have obviously changed," Bean said.
Now priests and ministers say they hope only that people sacrifice something, be it as small as a self-imposed chocolate ban or as inconvenient as donating time to charity as a volunteer.
The point, clergy members say, is making the effort to better understand the sacrifice that Christians believe Jesus Christ made when he died.
"If you sacrifice something, you spiritually grow up," said Msgr. Edward Wawerski of St. Ladislaus Church in Hempstead.
The Rev. William Hanson, of St. Gerard Majella parish in Port Jefferson Station, said he started Lenten programs three weeks ago and prominently featured speakers who tell redemptive stories of past sacrifices.
He said his continuous speeches about sacrifice are "probably something that has caused lots of people to leave our church."
"People don't always like to hear about it," Hanson said. "They want to have control, and sacrificing is giving up control."
During Lent, Sister Mary Alice Piil, director of the faith formation office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, said she talks to parents about making their children sacrifice -- a touchy subject.
"The challenge is to ask yourself: Is my gift one that is going to build up society, or am I creating perhaps a little selfish person?" Piil said. "It's a good thing for our children to learn that they can't have everything."
In religious schools, students are encouraged not only to give something up, but to be nice to someone they don't like or to raise money for a good cause, said Sister Joanne Callahan, superintendent of the Rockville Centre diocese's school system.
"The children tell the other kids, 'Don't ask your parents for this money,'" Callahan said. "This is your sacrifice, not your parents' sacrifice."
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
Believers give up to grow up during Lent
BY MICHAEL AMON
michael.amon@newsday.com
February 21, 2007
Time to give it up.
It's Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and, for many Christian believers, the start of the 40-day slog to Easter when they do without something tasty or tempting, be it meat, alcohol or TV.
That said, The Venerable Theodore Bean, an archdeacon for the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island, made this remark in his monthly newsletter: "I hasten to point out that eating lobster 'because it is not meat' really rather defeats the purpose of Lenten abstinence."
It's a point about sacrifice that Long Island clergy say they have to make more often.
"We are a society of instant gratification," Bean said in an interview. "We're not a society that views giving up things and taking the long-term view as being good for us."
Lent has been officially celebrated by Christians since the 4th century as a period of repentance and sorrow. It was a little more intense back then, requiring believers to eat only one meal a day and without meat.
"Times have obviously changed," Bean said.
Now priests and ministers say they hope only that people sacrifice something, be it as small as a self-imposed chocolate ban or as inconvenient as donating time to charity as a volunteer.
The point, clergy members say, is making the effort to better understand the sacrifice that Christians believe Jesus Christ made when he died.
"If you sacrifice something, you spiritually grow up," said Msgr. Edward Wawerski of St. Ladislaus Church in Hempstead.
The Rev. William Hanson, of St. Gerard Majella parish in Port Jefferson Station, said he started Lenten programs three weeks ago and prominently featured speakers who tell redemptive stories of past sacrifices.
He said his continuous speeches about sacrifice are "probably something that has caused lots of people to leave our church."
"People don't always like to hear about it," Hanson said. "They want to have control, and sacrificing is giving up control."
During Lent, Sister Mary Alice Piil, director of the faith formation office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rockville Centre, said she talks to parents about making their children sacrifice -- a touchy subject.
"The challenge is to ask yourself: Is my gift one that is going to build up society, or am I creating perhaps a little selfish person?" Piil said. "It's a good thing for our children to learn that they can't have everything."
In religious schools, students are encouraged not only to give something up, but to be nice to someone they don't like or to raise money for a good cause, said Sister Joanne Callahan, superintendent of the Rockville Centre diocese's school system.
"The children tell the other kids, 'Don't ask your parents for this money,'" Callahan said. "This is your sacrifice, not your parents' sacrifice."
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.