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u o The Southern Cross, Page 4 Thursday, October 5, 2000 Growth as my goal By John McCormack cceptance involves changing my mind about how I see you or me. Whereas once upon a time 1 saw something in you or me I dis liked and judged to be blameworthy or intolera ble, I now experience this same piece as under standable and tolerable, perhaps even valuable and to be appreciated. If I am to grow in accept ance, I must be open to changing my mind about how I see our faults, yours and mine. Unfortunately, I am at times driven by irra tional beliefs commanding me to accept nothing less than perfection. Oh, I may say that no one is perfect and it's OK to make mistakes so long as I learn from them, but deep in my heart I harshly chide myself, and you too, when we fail to be perfect. Sometimes I drive myself to the brink of despair with irrational commands such as: “I should be good at everything I do.” “I should not make mistakes.” “Basically there are two ways to do things, the right way and the wrong way. “I should meet all my family's needs.” “I should never be upset,” and many more. All are irrational standards, impossible to attain. Yet I demand them of me daily, and then whisper wounding criticisms to myself when I fail. I punish myself for being less than perfect. Some say perfection is the goal of true Christians. “Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect” {Matthew 5:48). Anything less is settling for mediocrity, luke warm Christianity. I pray that this is an aspira tion not an expectation, something to aim at but never expecting to reach. We are mistake-makers. It is part of the human condition. Sometimes I pound my fist on the arm of my chair and hate to admit this truth. Yet, I am challenged to accept my mistakes, learn from them, and grow. Peter accepted his mis takes, asked forgiveness, and became the rock. He lived and lead in spite of his human frailty. Judas did not accept his mistake and killed him self. Perhaps the sin of pride is in expecting to be perfect, like God, and refusing to accept our imperfections. For peace of mind and spiritual growth I must soften my impossible demands for perfection. I want to grow in my compassion and acceptance of my mistakes and limitations. I also want to stop judging you so harshly when you fail to meet my expectations. My prayer is: Please God help me to accept me as I am. Renew my efforts to follow your will in my limited and imperfect way. Help me to recognize and accept my failings as You do, and grow beyond them. Replace the negative whispers that I rain on me with whispers of compassion and self-acceptance. Teach me that I do not have to whip myself into shape to be your child. Make growth, not perfection, your goal. John C. McCormack, PhD, PC, is a parishioner of Saint Mary’s on the Hill, Augusta. 601 E. Liberty St. Savannah, GA 31401-5196 More comments on declarations Dear Editor: I would lovingly like to respond to Pansy Bird’s letter in your 21 September edition. She states that, “No church is necessary for salva tion.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 846) states, “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” Upon examination of the writ ings of Saint Paul... his body, which is the Church, Colossians 1:24. He is the head of the body, the Church, Colossians 1:18, l Corin thians 15:20, Ephesians l:22f, this statement in the Catechism makes sense. I’ll let the theologians debate the opening lines in the Gospel of Saint John. Most people will acknowledge that some period of time elapsed from the day of Pentecost to Saint Paul writing his First Letter to the Thessalonians. The Church came first before the canon of the New Testament. The great commission given by Jesus in the last chapter of Saint Matthew s Gospel did not tell the disciples to write this down, but to teach, preach, and baptize. “Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read’st black where I read white.” —William Blake (1757-1827), English poet, artist, and mystic. This underscores why it’s important that it’s the “Magisterium’s task to preserve God’s peo ple from deviations and defections and to guar antee them the objective possibility of profess ing the true faith without error” {Catechism of the Catholic Church 890). For “the Church, . . . is the pillar and foundation of truth” {1 Timothy 3:15) Kenneth Beck Lyons *** Dear Editor: Is Pansy Bird a Catholic? If so, Bird’s letter on the recent declaration declares a shocking Letters lack of understanding of the Catholic Faith. That The Southern Cross give space (quite a bit of it) to views that are anything but Catholic without at least an editor’s note qualifying them as such could be seen by many as a confirma tion of their validity. What Pansy Bird presents is the teaching of Martin Luther and the glue of Protestant oral tradition. The only thing remotely Catholic I can relate to Bird’s comments is that the three bible passages can be found in my Douay- Rheims! No other source for quotes is offered. They could be taken from the writing of Martin Luther. They have a Lutheran ring. I sincerely hope that The Southern Cross, having inked this effluence of scandalous com ment, will see fit to refute it with true Catholic teaching on such items as justification and sal vation by faith alone, and our works as having everything to do with our justification and sal vation. It would probably be too much to hope that the doctrine of “no salvation outside the Catholic Church” also be affirmed given the current level of ecumenical fever within the Catholic Church; which one could say is what led us to this point in the first place. Pansy Bird’s letter seems to have been moti vated by a very bad reception to Cardinal Ratzinger’s recent declaration. The only “insult to Christ” emanating from his document is that it has been so long in the coming. For too long a time now the Church, specifically the CDF, has been relatively silent in this arena. The Catholic Church has bent over backwards to give non-Catholics the impression that Catholicism has come to hold that one religion is as good as another and that the Catholic reli gion is only slightly better than any other reli gion. Now they are shocked to hear that it real ly isn’t true after all. It never was. If Bird’s letter is not enough of a shock there is also the Headline Hopscotch brief (same FAX: (912) 238-2339 E-mail: DClark5735@aol.com Southern Cross issue,) Pope meets with, reas sures Reformed leaders on ecumenism wherein it would appear that the Holy Father’s response is to throw a bucket of cold water on Ratzinger’s declaration. It would seem that John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger do not see eye-to-eye on some very basic Church teach ings. This should be troubling to Catholics. We need to pray constantly for the Holy Father and all our bishops. George Roth Savannah *** Dear Editor: There have recently been a number of letters appearing in The Southern Cross critical of actions taken by the Hierarchy, of announce ments made by Cardinal Ratzinger in particular, and of the Church in general. These objecting individuals deserve and seriously need the guidance which only the Church can give. I am astonished that [the] Southern Cross would print such letters and not accompany them side- by-side with the explanations and instructions so desperately needed by these troubled souls. Surely it is better that a cry for help receive immediate attention. W. M. Cochran Lizella Editor’s Note: This note is to make it clear why we do not usually respond with an editor s note to the letters published in this column. It is universally understood that letters to the editor do not necessarily represent the views of the editor or publisher of a newspaper. Only edito rials, signed or initialled by the editors or pub lishers, represent the views of the newspaper. The editorial that appeared in the issue of September 14, accompanying the news story, represents the paper s stance.