Need for far-sighted politics

May 16, 2019

197. What is needed is a politics which is far-sighted and capable of a new, integral and interdisciplinary approach to handling the different aspects of the crisis. Often, politics itself is responsible for the disrepute in which it is held, on account of corruption and the failure to enact sound public policies. If in a given region the state does not carry out its responsibilities, some business groups can come forward in the guise of benefactors, wield real power, and consider themselves exempt from certain rules, to the point of tolerating different forms of organized crime, human trafficking, the drug trade and violence, all of which become very difficult to eradicate. If politics shows itself incapable of breaking such a perverse logic, and remains caught up in inconsequential discussions, we will continue to avoid facing the major problems of humanity.

A strategy for real change calls for rethinking processes in their entirety, for it is not enough to include a few superficial ecological considerations while failing to question the logic which underlies present-day culture. A healthy politics needs to be able to take up this challenge.

Source : Laudato Si'

Msgr. James F. Fetscher

Saint Sebastian Church

Why a Jubilee?

Dear Family,

The first thing on my agenda is a very overdue heartfelt thanks to Ted and Cheryl Abernethy for their kindness in restoring the basketball hoop and backstops that got whacked last Fall by a young person who we haven’t seen since. I’m okay with that because he also did figure eights with his truck on the green field after a rain. For a while it made it very hard for the visiting doggies to find their balls tossed amid the ruts.

Ted did a very cute design on the little kids’ hoop. Somehow, I see Cheryl’s fine hand in this.

I was talking with someone recently about how easy it is to lose a sense of history. Thank God Annie has a good memory. That’s how I found out that Abernethys had done the kids' playground, the basketball court and the tennis court as well. You wouldn’t hear about it from them.

We’ve held off on replacing the kids' playhouse until the kitchen is built and we know where a playhouse might fit better. It costs a few bucks to make sure the playhouse is up to code, etc. I was hoping we might put it in the palm garden we made when we moved the trees to prepare a possible space for the kitchen.

I know some of you think that Jesus will come back the second time before we build the kitchen. Maybe. I just want to get the money in the bank and go from there.

Anyway, this started by saying thanks to the Abernethys. I never stop being grateful for the core members of this parish who make it hum, despite its small size. Maybe that’s what makes it even better.

That brings me to the next item: Our Diamond Jubilee Year of Celebration.

The pastoral Council has been pitching in on coming up with events. Thanks to Connie Reed and Liz Calhoun who have come up with one of the events that promises to be great fun.

Mark your calendar for Friday, January 17, 2020.

We are gathering at Tropical Acres for a banquet. It’s great food and they are celebrating their 70th anniversary as we celebrate 60. Maybe they’ll share a part of their birthday cake with us.

The cost will be reasonable. I want to make sure that anyone who wants to go can go, so we’ll come up with creative schemes to make that possible. The big thing is pulling in as many of the inhabitants of the St. Sebastian Aviary as we can. At that time of year, sunbirds, snowbirds, peacocks and emus can gather around St. Sebastian’s feast day (January 20th) and toast with a vintage birdseed beverage of their choice.

Our real anniversary date is March 12th. On that day, in 1959, then Bishop Coleman F. Carroll sent Monsignor John J. Fitzpatrick the official letter that established the parish of St. Sebastian. Monsignor (later Bishop) Fitzpatrick was the first pastor. That letter is in our parish files and one of my little projects is to get it adequately framed with good weather protection, etc., for the folks in the next 60 years to see an interesting part of their history.

Any parish’s history must be about its future. The reason we gather is not only to celebrate who we are and where we have been, but to do what is often even harder: imagine our future and continue the journey to places unknown.

I hope a basic theme of our jubilee year is seeing how our history has prepared us all along the way. Could anyone have imagined this parish as it is 60 yeas ago? What legacy do we want to give to the folks who 60 years from now will look back on us?

It won’t be something to worry about but only to rejoice over, if everything we say and do is…

In Jesus,

Msgr. James F. Fetscher
Pastor