Funny Guy Friday... Religion and politics, if you will...

    Funny Guy Friday is written by my husband Mark.  So... I married a funny guy....
    This may be my most controversial FGF ever.
    Full of politics and religion.
    Before I get started, I will acknowledge that some of my opinions might surprise some of you and that this may not be as funny as some of my previous posts. I will further acknowledge that my opinions could be totally wrong... but I don't think so.
     This all started about six weeks ago when Cheryl and the boys went to a Saturday evening Mass.  I stayed home and was not present when it was announced that the pastor from our church for more than eighteen years was getting transferred to a different church. Now, it is not uncommon for priests to get transferred; in fact, it happens every three years or so. But our Father Parry seemed to have dodged this bullet for several cycles.  I always surmised that he had some compromising photos of the Pope or something.
     Apparently, he does not!
     Noah was first to deliver the news to me. I think Noah was able to hold the big news for about three seconds before he blurted it out. I am sad to say that my initial reactions were not shock or surprise, but instead I immediately began to wonder why the archdiocese did not consult with me as head of the Sacred Heart Labor Day Festival before making such a drastic move. Second, why, at this time, would the archdiocese elect to move him... after such a long period of time.
     Father Parry is a good man who did a beautiful job of leading our traditional Catholic parish... he did a beautiful job... I mean it, he did a beautiful, wonderful job of leading our congregation.
      Now I repeated that three times for a reason. Father Parry has this teeny tiny... itty bitty... you wouldn't notice unless you listened real hard... habit of repeating things. Three times. He does... he says things three times if he feels it is important... three times, right out there, he will say it... four if he deems it real important.  Yep, you would hardly notice!
      As far as Father Parry goes, a few things are universal. First, as I repeated three times, he is a good man. Second, he has done a wonderful job of guiding this parish spiritually and financially. I have some inside knowledge of the church finances because as you might have heard, I was the head of the Labor Day Festival that generated tons of cash... well, maybe not tons of cash but a pretty hefty sum... maybe not hefty but nothing to sneeze at... I suppose you could sneeze but we turned a profit... we never lost money... Hey, it was really more of a fun-raiser than a fundraiser.
      Back to Father Parry... Third, and most important, he loved this church.  And by this church I mean both Sacred Heart with its history and its beauty and the Catholic church with her history and her beauty.
      So... back to my original thoughts of why. Well, at this time, there is a contemplated sale of property that surrounds Sacred Heart to developers. My understanding is that it spans more than a hundred acres and involves tens of millions of dollars. The Jesuits own the property, and I had heard Father Parry mention in the past that he would have liked to have had Sacred Heart purchase a portion of that property to expand Sacred Heart's cemetery and to eventually build among other things, a small section of housing for the elderly.  The Jesuits weren't selling.
       For those of you that don't know, Jesuits are an order or congregation of men of the Catholic Church. They engage in ministry, education, intellectual research and cultural pursuits. Unfortunately, they engage in ministry, education, intellectual research and cultural pursuits. I refer to Jesuits as the section of the Catholic Church that doesn't really like the Catholic Church. In my opinion, you rarely
find a conservative Catholic who loves the history and the teachings of the Catholic faith, who defines himself as a Jesuit.
     Pope Francis is a Jesuit.
     I digress.
     I could digress further... but I won't.
     As I mentioned, the Jesuits are now interested in selling this property to developers. It is a bit of a controversy in the city of Bowie because of infrastructure, water rights, and the typical argument of developing and when is enough enough. I am the first to admit that I am not an expert on local
politics, but I read... and I listen... and suffice to say, it is a fairly big debate in the city of Bowie. Preserving the land is probably more of an issue for the people who belong to Sacred Heart Church. And it is probably even more of an issue to Father Parry because of his love for the history and sacred nature of this holy land.
     So my theory is that the archdiocese has no problem with the sale of the land by the Jesuits. My theory is the archdiocese wants no interference with the sale of the land by the Jesuits,  My theory is that the archdiocese is willing to help resolve problems that may hinder the sale of the land by the Jesuits.
      Thus the transfer of the potential fly in the ointment.
      Like I said, I could be wrong but I don't think so. If nothing else, the optics are bad, but I guess the archdiocese does not really care about the optics. There is money to be made and if the local parish suffers, so be it. If a dedicated priest gets inconvenienced (and I think it is more than an inconvenience), so be it.
      Oh by the way, this past week, our associate pastor announced that he too is being transferred. He is actually becoming the administrator of a different church in Bowie, so it appears to be a promotion for him. Not so much a good thing for Sacred Heart, as we are now losing our parish priest from the last eighteen years and our associate pastor.
     Hmmmm, does that make any sense to transfer them both at the same time? Wouldn't you want the associate pastor to stick around for a few months to help with the new priest coming into town. Or if you are going to transfer the associate pastor to a new parish, wouldn't you keep the old priest around to continue his good work and provide consistency to the parish, if you will?
     I have heard we are not getting a new associate pastor so wouldn't that mean keep the old guy who knows how everything works and who in the parish can do what to help out if, in fact, we are not getting a new associate priest? It all could just be one big coincidence but remember the optics of it all!
      Cheryl often says that God has the master plan and Father Parry is going to a church that is also affiliated with an elementary school. It is Cheryl's theory that God knows that the children of that school need Father Parry more than Sacred Heart does. She could be right. I certainly am not going to argue with God... or Cheryl... but I think there could be more to it. I would also point out that Cheryl's point of view and my theory are not mutually exclusive.
     This is not the first time that I have struggled with decisions made by the leadership of the Catholic Church. I often joke with Cheryl that we are one more bad decision away from becoming Lutheran. If you know Cheryl, you know that she hates that joke. If you know me, you know that I like to repeat that joke. But Cheryl always reminds me that no man or men run the Catholic Church and there is going to be a day of reckoning.  Then she mutters something about Vatican II and going to a Latin mass... "The way the Mass was intended."
      So we are not leaving the Catholic Church nor are we leaving Sacred Heart. We love everything about that place and I am sure we will like our new priest. I don't know his name but I lovingly refer to him as Father Everyoneisgoingtohateme.
      This, of course is not true. The people of Sacred Heart Parish will open up their hearts and their homes to the new priest. After all, we have, for the past eighteen years, heard God's message loud and clear. We will accept God's plan because He knows better than we.  God is all knowing and all powerful and he has a plan that may not fit in with Man's plan. Who are we to substitute what we think should happen versus what God knows is going to happen.
     We have heard it once, twice, three times. And if it was really important, we got it a fourth time!
     God bless you Father Parry! We will see you at your farewell Mass this Sunday at noon, but we will miss seeing you every week.