The 11th Sunday of Ordinary Time
From The Font
"The seed would sprout, he knows not how.”
Jesus is being a little unfair to the farmers of His time. The basics of horticulture were well understood by the Greeks and that knowledge was broadly known in the Jewish cities of the time. Of course, they didn’t understand the finer aspects of biology, genetics, and the like, but it’s a little unfair to say they didn’t know how the seed would sprout.
On the other hand, it’s true that while we know and understand the fine details of how some of these biological processes work, we still don’t really understand why the processes work the way they do. Botanists can explain photosynthesis and the ways in which cell biology and division work, but they don’t have much to say about why things happen the way they do. Mostly, they rely upon “evolution” as a catch-all for why plants do what they do...
Now, to be clear, there’s nothing broadly wrong with evolution as a general theory. The general theory of evolution is that whichever biological specimens best adapt to the environment around them will be more likely to reproduce. That’s fairly self-evident. What that theory does not answer is why things work the way they do. Evolutionary biologists tend to argue in a circle: things are the way they are because that’s what the circumstances dictated... If something seems impossibly unlikely, then they say well it can’t be impossible because it is... That’s bad philosophy, but it’s also bad science. The good scientific answer is “science doesn’t care why things happen, it studies how things happen.”
And that brings us back to the words of Jesus. People at the time didn’t really know how or why. They simply knew that seeds had to be primed and buried in certain types of soil at certain times of year in order for it to grow. Even today, with so much new knowledge in the field of agriculture, the science of how doesn’t help us answer the question of why.
And that realization of how-not-why is something that many great scientists including Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, and Albert Einstein have argued is the reason that modern science has devolved from great theories into the production of mere technology and confirming whatever nonsense the person who funded the studies wants confirmed...
Thoughts from Fr. Ryan
I am an avid fan of great speeches. Obviously, I’m interested because a lot of my job is speech- giving, but I’ve always been enamored of great oratory. This Sunday, June 16 is the anniversary of one of the greatest speeches in world history. In Springfield, Illinois, an attorney named Abraham Lincoln addressed the Republican Party who had just nominated him for the Senate. Lincoln lost that election, but he gave one of the finest speeches in history. It came to be called the “House Divided Speech.”
"A house divided against itself, cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”
Of course, Lincoln didn’t invent the phrase. It’s from the Gospel of St Mark (3:25). Interestingly, it’s also used by St Augustine in his famous Book “The Confessions.” Lincoln was a Christian man and he likely had read Augustine as well. But even though his words weren’t original, they were deeply relevant.
I’m not interested in weighing in on politics, but I do want to very briefly correct a common error made by political pundits and casual observers about our divided house in the US: our political divisions are not a difference of opinion. Let me restate that to be entirely clear: we don’t have a mere difference of opinions on this or that issue... What we have are radically divergent ways of seeing the world. Americans today do not have a shared worldview and so when we disagree, we’re not simply differing in matters of taste or disagreeing that one plan might solve some problem than another plan can’t. The reason our politics have become so angry is that we disagree about what the world is and what our place in the world is... And those disagreements function as threats to our self-perception and our perception of the way the world works.
In our modern diversity-obsessed world, we no longer share even the most basic worldviews. In Sweden, for example, the language, culture, family traditions, etc are basically homogenous. That’s why Sweden and other homogenous countries have such mild political drama. In the US, though, we don’t have the same language, the same family traditions, the same religious or cultural base. And so when we disagree here, we tend to threaten and be threatened by the fear of undermining not just our opinion but our way of life and our self-perception. Psychologists call this Ontological Instability and it’s the single most threatening disorder there is.
Diversity is not universally healthy. It has some very serious and detrimental side-effects. One of those side effects is that small disagreements can smash onto open and exposed nerves and cause outsized reactions from otherwise good people.
We’re not just liberals and conservatives... We’re people who see the world from a certain point of view and we NEED to feel like that is stable and certain. Many modern political disagreements aren’t matters of opinion - they’re threats to our own sense of who we are as human beings...
Mass Intentions for the Coming Week
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Thomas Trichell/Tommy
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Deceased Members of our Parish
- Mon NO MASS
- Tue 9:00a In memory of Rosa and Gus Gremshell and May DiTomasso
- Wed 9:00a For special intention of family of Matthew Schnur
- Thurs 9:00a In memory of deceased members of the Howington family
- Fri 5:30p In memory of Becky Lancaster/J Williams
- Sat 5:30p In memory of Mary Ernst/Magoun
- Sun 9:00a Pro Populo for the Living & Dead members of our Parish Family
ALTAR CANDLES this week are burning for the special intentions of MaryAnne Gilfoil
Assistants at Holy Mass
| Date | Servers | Lector(s) | EMHCs |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6/15 5:30p | None Scheduled | L Bullard | A Keene |
| 6/16 9:30a | Kathleen & Evelyn | Youth -Thomas Meyers | - |
| 6/22 5:30p | None Scheduled | A Farlow | M Ernst |
| 6/23 9:30a | Annie and Thomas Meyers | C Guizerix | - |
| 6/29 5:30p | None Scheduled | MA Gilfoil | L Magoun |
| 6/30 9:30a | MaryKatherine and Courtland | D Hamilton | - |
Stewardship Like the sower in today’s Gospel, I scatter as seed my gifts of time, talent, and resources; and, I trust that, by God’s grace and in God’s time, these small gifts of myself may grow and flourish and help to bring about the Kingdom of God.
Our Return to the Lord
| Weekly Budget FY 2023-2024 | $ 2,111 |
| May Budget | $ 8,444 |
| May Income | $ 8,572 |
| May Expenses | $ 11,940 |
| June Budget | $ 10,555 |
| June 8-9 Collection | $ 855 |
| June Income To Date | $ 4,080 |
Upcoming Events
- Confessions every Friday & Saturday from 5p until Mass and on Sunday from 9a until Mass
- Wednesday Morning Catechism about 9:30 a.m in Church and on Facebook and YouTube
- June 16 Father’s Day
- NO Pastoral Council this month
For Your Information:
ROSARY GROUP… a group of parishioners is meeting on Monday at 5:30 p.m. to pray the Rosary. Everyone is invited to join the group. If you need additional information, please contact the Coordinator, Louise Magoun, at 318-341-2403.
PILGRIMAGE!... Fr Ryan is leading a Pilgrimage to Assisi and Rome in Italy in September, 2024. Father has more information. Please pass the word around!
FORMED.ORG… FORMED has an entire page of weekly featured videos that are worth checking out at https://watch.formed.org/this-week-on-formed. Remember to sign in using our parish’s zip code (71282) at http://signup.formed.org
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY
Let us Rejoice in the Lord!
Happy Birthday Connie Copes (June 15), Margaret Gilfoil (June 16), Matt and Josh Hall (June 18), Robert Wood (June 18), Cindy Howington (June 23)
Happy Anniversary Beth and Chip Sullivan (June 19)
In Our Daily Prayers…
Please let us know of anyone who is ill or hospitalized and would like to receive a visit from Father. Also, help us keep our prayer list up to date by advising us of those who should be added or removed.
Our Pope, Francis; our Bishop, Robert Marshall; and our Diocesan leaders, our President, Governor, Mayor and national, state and local elected representatives
Our parishioners who are sick, shut-in, or otherwise in need of our prayers: MaryKathryn and Nap Book, Connie and Dan Copes, Elizabeth Crothers, Leslye Ellerbee, Susan and Johnny Gilfoil, Margaret and Pat Gilfoil, Terry Farlow Hall, C.W. and Alyce Keene, Bill Kennedy, Hannah Wood McCarty, Ed Mills, Terry and Susie Murphy, Bobby Reynolds, Sue & Mike Rome
Those under full-time care: Frances Kennedy
Our friends and relatives who need our prayers: Lee Adams (Smith), Ashley Alexander (Regan), Graham Allen (S Gilfoil), Kathryn Wood Allsopp (D Wood), Pam Amacker (Gilfoil), James Arceneaux (Book), Marie Farlow Bellard, Tommy Bickham (C Copes), Kay Boolos (S Gilfoil), Dick and Sue Boyd (S Gilfoil), Chris Breard (Gilfoil), David Cagnolatti, Willetta and Mac Cagnolatti, Sarah Cannon (Gilfoil), Fran Castile (Keene), Jeannie and Donald Collins, Teresa Carney Condra, Jami Cook (Wilks), Bobbe and Gene Cox, Marla Evans Cummings, Carol Dipert (Rome), Mac Donaldson (Ellerbee), Joe Farlow, Mike Farlow, Patty Farlow, Monique Florence, Jimmy Fordham (Gustafson & Fordice), Judy Fortenberry, April Franklin (Wilks), Thom Gilfoil, Wyly Gilfoil (Gilfoil), LaVonne Givens, Gail Gilfoil Graugnard, Charlotte Green, Theresa Gunter, Rita Hargrave, Ralph Harris (Gilfoil), Arlice Evans Headley, Evie Hilburn (Lancaster), Charles Howington, Will Irby (P Gilfoil), Diane Johnson, Chelsea Keene & Andrew Lewis, Carla Leese (S Gilfoil), Emery and Kale Kirkland (Gilfoil), Calvin “Beans” and Lynn Lisonbee, LaLa Lopez (Hernandez), Caroline Marcello (Watts), James Albert Martin, Ruth McDonald (Copes), Michelle McGuire(Gilfoil), Kiely McKellar (S Gilfoil), Mona Martin (MA Gilfoil), Boyce Miller, Vickie Morelli (Ernst), John Neill, the family of Caryn Oliver, Wayne Pitre (Gilfoil), Bailey, Scott and Tiffney Rome, Dianne W. Roper (Murphy), Janie Saxon (Lancaster), Tuleta Sasser(Wilks), Debbie Kedrick Sims, Gannon Sims and Robbie Sims and Keri Post, Tommy Trichell, LeeAnn Rome Tranchina (Rome), Mary Claire Warner and her parents, MaryBeth and Steve, Randy Watts, Jr
Our collegiates: Aidan Collins, Preston Collins, Henry Ellerbee, Callie Ezell, Lilly Falgout, Jag Gilfoil, Bruen Johnson, Matilda Johnson, Caroline Marsh, Emmy Lu Marsh, Charlize Richardson, Blake Sullivan, Carter Sullivan, Walker Sullivan, Chandler Wood
