Being REALLY Counter-Cultural

Pope Benedict XVI’s Household Theologian, Fr. Wojciech Giertych, OP explains the impossibility of ordaining women to the priesthood and responds to several common objections made against this reality. Good job, Fr. Wojciech!

H/T: Domine, da mihi hanc aquam!.

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Honorable Work

Does work matter? Yes and for more than purely pragmatic reasons. Take a look:

In honorable work we produce not only products for bodily consumption but virtue, heavenly treasure, for our souls. In our distribution, that is, in the purpose for which we exchange the products or wages of our work, we broaden our interests to include the common good and the kingdom of God, especially hope for those who live in darkness. And in our exchanges themselves we remember that the goal is mutual benefit and service, shunning the immorality of monopolistic, one-sided, and anti-competitive advantage, remembering that the commandment, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15), has broader implications than literal burglary.

Now go read the rest here.

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Blog Fan Page

Koinonia has a fan page on Facebook that you can access here. I’ve neglected posting on the fan page because, well, I’ve not been able to figure it out–that is until today (I hope!). Using the IFTTT site, I’ve created a link that automatically updates not only my personal Facebook page but the fan page.

So help a pious priest out and like my blog’s fan page on Facebook!

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

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Stewardship: A Life of Wise and Prudent Sacrifice

Stewardship: A Life of Wise and Prudent Sacrifice

Objective Moral Analysis? – Part 2

Objective Moral Analysis? – Part 2

Spiritual Fatherhood

My latest blog post...

Spiritual Fatherhood

Pope sees the Devil behind timing of sex abuse crisis | National Catholic Reporter

"Since the Catholic sexual abuse crisis erupted a decade ago, there have been numerous attempts to explain its causes, from a lack of fidelity to an over-emphasis on celibacy and clerical privilege. This morning in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI pointed to a deeper unseen force lurking behind the crisis, especially its timing: the Devil.

It's no accident, the pope implied, that precisely as the Catholic church was celebrating a "Year for Priests" in 2009-2010, the sexual abuse crisis once again took on massive global proportions.

"It was to be expected that this new radiance of the priesthood would not be pleasing to the 'enemy,'" Benedict XVI said. "He would have rather preferred to see it disappear, so that God would ultimately be driven out of the world."

The term "the enemy" is a traditional Catholic way of referring to the Devil.

The line drew applause from the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square for a Mass bringing the "Year for Priests" to a close. The Vatican said that some 15,000 priests from more than 90 countries were on hand for the event.

Benedict said that the sexual abuse of minors amounts to a direct contradiction of the meaning of the Catholic priesthood.

"So it happened in this very year of joy for the sacrament of the priesthood, the sins of priests came to light – particularly the abuse of the little ones, in which the priesthood, whose task is to manifest God's concern for our good, turns into its very opposite," the pope said."

Read More: Pope sees the Devil behind timing of sex abuse crisis | National Catholic Reporter

Orthodox-Catholic Consultation Examines Steps to Unity

Orthodox-Catholic Consultation Examines Steps to Unity

Charisms and the Priesthood: More than Technical Mastery

On my main blog site:

Charisms and the Priesthood: More than Technical Mastery

Charisms and the Priesthood: Discernment

Charisms and the Priesthood: Discernment

Charisms and the Priesthood: The Ministry of the Priest

Charisms and the Priesthood: The Ministry of the Priest

Talents and Spiritual Gifts: What Do We Mean By

Talents and Spiritual Gifts: What Do We Mean By “Talents”?

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Talents

Talents & Spiritual Gifts: What Are the Charismata?

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Just A Reminder

Just a reminder for those still coming here, my new blog url is palamas.info.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

New Site Up and Running!

Image via Wikipedia

Koinonia is now being published using Wordpress!

God willing this will correct some of the problems we've been having with comments as well as give the blog a cleaner, more professional look. Thew new url is www.palamas.info.

All of the post have been moved over--I will be working on moving the comments over the coming weeks and months.

I will continue to maintain Koinonia on Blogspot for the foreseeable future. But please change your bookmarks and let folks know we are now are at a permanent site.

Thank you for all of your support here in the past and in the future!

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

Met. Jonah speaks to Anglican Church in North America

Metropolitan Jonah's speech at the recent Anglican gathering in Texas can be seen here: Metropolitan Jonah.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

h/t: Byzantine, Texas

Tommy Tiernan On the State of the Priesthood

While the language is a bit, how shall I put it, coarse at times, I think Irish comedian Tommy Tiernan makes a number of good points about the Eucharist and the priesthood. So putting aside the language, what do you think?

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory



h/t: The Rosemary Tree.

Orthodox Church Leader Rekindles Relationship with Anglicans

From the web site of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) comes the following new release:

The leader of the Orthodox Church in America has re-kindled the oldest ecumenical relationship in Christian history. Addressing delegates and attendees of the inaugural assembly of the Anglican Church in North America, His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah, said, “I am seeking an ecumenical restoration by being here today. This is God’s call to us.” This significant gesture represents the possibility of full communion being exchanged between the churches.

Metropolitan Jonah represents the American branch of the Orthodox Church, a Christian denomination that has a long history of strong relationships with the Anglican Church. “We have to actualize that radical experience of union in Christ with one another,” Jonah said. Speaking for 45 minutes, the Metropolitan addressed the importance of looking past our differences in order to work together for mission. “Our unity transcends our particularity,” he said.

His Beatitude’s message was focused on unity but did not fail to address areas of contrasting beliefs between the two churches. Though united in upholding the authority of the Bible and uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the Orthodox Church and Anglican Church in North America have differing opinions on matters such as the ordination of women and other doctrinal issues. Despite this, the Metropolitan told the audience that “our arms are open wide.”

Following the speech, a representative of an Orthodox seminary, St. Vladimir’s, announced a cooperative effort with Nashotah House, an orthodox Anglican seminary, that would help further these ecumenical relationships and what Jonah described as a “new dialogue between the Orthodox Church in North America and the new Anglican province in North America.

I will post more about this next week after the transfer of this blog to its new host.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory 

Friendship and The Church's Witness, part 4

And this brings me back to where I began, the mystery of friendship transformed.
Just as in the Liturgy bread and wine, “the fruit of the vine and work of human hands,” are transformed to become the Body and Blood of Christ, human friendships can also be transformed by God's grace into something of eternal beauty and importance. But, and again as with bread and wine, these friendships must be properly formed. They must be real and healthy friendships just as the Eucharist must begin as real bread and real wine. At it best priestly ministry grows out of life long friendships transformed by grace. So to, I would argue, with the internal life of the Church and our Christian witness in the public square. Anything less then ministry, and ecclesiastical life and evangelistic outreach ground in wholesome friendships slowly transformed by divine grace is unworthy of Christ and of the humanity He shares with us.
I have seen my own relationship with Christ and my friends transformed by their ordinations and my own.
If we do not love each other, how can the world believe we love it? And if we do not love the world for whom Christ suffered and died, how can we say that we are love Him or our true to ourselves?
But the real question now is this, how will we proceed?
In Christ,
+Fr Gregory

Augustine's Origin of Species

Christianity Today's online edition has an interesting essay by on St Augustine's understanding of the Genesis story of creation by Alister McGrath, Professor of Theology, Ministry, and Education at King's College, London.  McGrath is an Anglican priest who in addition to a doctorate in theology holds a D.Phil. from Oxford University in molecular biophysics.  Given the number of Orthodox Christians who hold to some form of creationism in opposition to the current scientific model of creation, I thought the article worth reading.

In Christ,

+Fr Gregory

This year marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th of the publication of his On the Origin of Species. For some, such as Richard Dawkins, Darwinism has been elevated from a provisional scientific theory to a worldview—an outlook on reality that excludes God, firmly and permanently. Others have reacted strongly against the high priests of secularism. Atheism, they argue, simply uses such scientific theories as weapons in its protracted war against religion.

They also fear that biblical interpretation is simply being accommodated to fit contemporary scientific theories. Surely, they argue, the Creation narratives in Genesis are meant to be taken literally, as historical accounts of what actually happened. Isn't that what Christians have always done? Many evangelicals fear that innovators and modernizers are abandoning the long Christian tradition of faithful biblical exegesis. They say the church has always treated the Creation accounts as straightforward histories of how everything came into being. The authority and clarity of Scripture—themes that are rightly cherished by evangelicals—seem to be at stake.

These are important concerns, and the Darwin anniversaries invite us to look to church history to understand how our spiritual forebears dealt with similar issues. 

Read the rest here.