PEOPLE OF GOD : CREATED, CALLED, CHOSEN, CONSECRATED, TO GIVE GLORY AND PRAISE TO THE DIVINE ON OUR CONTINUING JOURNEY OF LIFE AND FAITH...........

God the Father and Creator of the Universe, made Humankind in the Divine image and likeness, to be the ultimate act of Creation, and share a close, abiding, intimate relationship of Life and Love.  The Divine Intention from the very Creation of the World, was for the Supreme Being, we acknowledge as the Living and True, Universal God, to be in a fully shared loving relationship with the all Human Being, unfettered by any obstacle whatsoever, in the freedom of Grace and Goodness.  But then Sin entered into the human experience and caused a breach of detachment between Humankind and the Divine, that could only be reconciled and resolved by the perfect act of atonement and sacrifice by God's Co-Eternal Son, Jesus The Christ's Paschal Mystery.  As Catholic-Christian Believers and Disciples, we are on an unfolding Journey of Life and Faith, through this World, with confidence and hope, of attaining a share in God's Kingdom of Eternal Life.  Our response to making and keeping ourselves on the right path during this earthly Journey of Life and Faith, is the foremost challenge and prime goal, we face, if we are  truly practicing the Catholic-Christianity we profess to believe in and follow.  This week, this month, and ever more regularly, due to their personal detachment and non-  practice of the Catholic Faith the parish is confronted by persons, deficient in any sense of the Community of Believers, and religion and the sacred, and make requests of all but a profane, or secular naturem, in regards to use of the church edifice, in the most stated words simply because it is, "a bigger place, or beautiful space, and the best   background", for the wedding, funeral, or other function, they want to, "rent", the church to hold.  What I consider and respond to as, "teachable moments" to briefly catechize and evangelize the Catholic persons involved in the unusual request, of the teachings and norms of the Catholic Faith, in the parish, diocesan-wise, nationally and universally.  I feel in that way I am fulfilling my priestly and pastoral responsibility to impart to them what the Church teaches and practices, and why we do so.  Not often do those persons accept or agree with the need to change their request, believing they should be made an exception for, placing their priority on the secular celebration as they want it, devoid of any appreciation or commitment, to the liturgical, sacramental, pastoral, norms; and the holiness, spirituality, and sacredness, of the occasion for us as Catholic-Christians, that are the reason weddings, funerals, baptisms, or any other event is held in the church edifice.  I cannot speak to what other Catholic churches or other Christian denominations do, regarding - "renting" out the church building itself for functions not pertaining to the prayer, worship, and ministry, of the Community of Believers, - but I have, and will, always continue to preserve the dignity and decorum necessary in God's House, and maintain the proper and appropriate use of the parish churches I am the priest and Pastor of, with a clear and faithful conscience, that to allow it to be compromised otherwise only re-enforces wrongminded thinking and avoiding turning the church edifice into public auditoriums, soundstages, or merely beautiful backdrops, devoid of their essential sacred purpose...........Fr.  Troy