This is from last week's bulletin. We're just late putting it up.

"Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, St. Paul delves further into the mystery of the Church, showing to be a supernatural institution with divine, transcendental dimensions which make it different from any merely human institution; the Church is Christ's spouse." (from the Navarre Bible, Captivity Epistles, p. 27)

This is why the diocese is not part of the Church because it makes itself out to be an organization similar to any other corporation. It is locked into the ways of this world. Therefore, the diocese falls into the trap of the devil, who wants us to fear human power. The second temptation of Our Lord in the desert shows the fragility and sinfulness of such a life. Those who follow the Lord must reject such a life and the resulting frustration. We must return to the aggressive assault against the devil. The unity expressed in the Letter to the Ephesians is essential in any pastoral planning, i.e. saving souls. The unity found in the Spirit, the Lord and the Father. We find our way through true worship of the Trinity. How can we express this true worship? By following the guidance of the spirit as is illustrated by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. He demonstrates that maturity of faith keeps a person on the stable path to eternity. All of our actions are guided by this goal--to honor God in order to save our own soul and help others to do the same. Our relationship with the Lord must be--as the epistle demonstrates--ongoing and nourished daily with the food of the soul as we receive in the sacraments, personal and communal prayer, and the consecration of all our thoughts, words and deeds. The word is INTEGRITY (no compromise). Yes, there is a purgatory, Virginia. There is a hell, Joseph. We cannot save souls without that INTEGRITY of Faith based on the Unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them." (Ephesians 5:11) There is an obligation on the follower of Jesus to speak the Truth. The house built on sand is the life built on a lie. Whenever we find that there is anything based on nature we find the lack of that firm foundation our Lord speaks of in the Sermon on the Mount. when we're told that a pastoral plan is based on scientific proof, we immediately know that it won't work. our life, our thoughts, our plans, our goals, our everything must be solidly founded on Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Therefore, we immediately become the enemy because we are telling people what they don't want to know--that they are wrong in displacing Our Lord with something so shallow and ephemeral as a human construction. The present plan in the diocese for the Priests' Convocation is a further display of the apostasy in the diocese. Dr. and Rev. Wally Fletcher, a Protestant minister is the main speaker. He has already demonstrated his lack of respect for the Church by his persistent generalization in his "findings" in his meeting with some of the priests of the diocese. He displays the usual fallacy of those who don't follow Our Lord by placing those who take him seriously in a state of bewilderment, not knowing where to go. As a Catholic priest I know I can't learn anything from Dr. and Rev. Wally Fletcher. Do you think he'll be appointed auxiliary bishop?

Praised be Jesus Christ!
Now and Forever.
Fr. Charles Jerome Romanowski