My Experience Street Preaching in Southend with the Baptists
The Problem is the Bishops - Dr Janet Smith.
Dr Janet Smith is a true gift to the Church. She is an American classicist and philosopher, and former professor of moral theology at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan. She is now retired and works helping victims of the sex abuse crisis where she does amazing work. It's my great pleasure to count her among my friends and I can assure you she loves Jesus and His Church with an incredible depth and honesty. She is wonderful company especially in that she is as sharp as a tack but also extremely warm and funny. This is a talk she gave recently at the Coalition for Cancelled Priests Conference at the end of June in Chicago. It's a must listen talk if you want to know the painful reality of the corruption in the Catholic hierarchy, corruption of all kinds, sexual, financial and spiritual/ theological. Having defended the Church during the paedophile crisis she was devastated when, after the Dallas Charter, the McCarrick scandal broke. She addresses the critici
Thank you for that, Mark. Doing such work, while initially uncomfortable, will strengthen your own faith and thirst for further opportunities to share the treasures of the Christian life. It is a joyful and life-giving task so to do.
ReplyDeleteYears ago I remember a Baptist minister describing the thrill of doing such a witness in the street. "It's like one starving man telling another starving man where to find free food of the best kind."
Back up the work with prayer; next time you do this ask a parishioner or two to pray specifically at the time you're out; that the Lord's Word may touch the hearts of those you meet.
We do need more Catholics on the streets preaching the gospel, people desperately need to experience the love of Christ in a world that is starved of beauty. Well done Mark.
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