A Must Read for Priests…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

As a person who served two toxic Baptist parishes and two good Orthodox churches I found this article compelling. Those two toxic parishes have definitely affected my own willingness to take on a parish full-time. They lurk in the back of my mind every time I think about stepping out and asking for an assignment.

A sample…

They are called “clergy killers” — congregations where a small group of members are so disruptive that no pastor is able to maintain spiritual leadership for long.

And yet ministers often endure the stresses of these dysfunctional relationships for months, or even years, before eventually being forced out or giving up.

Adding to the strain is the process, which is often shrouded in secrecy. No one — from denominational officials to church members to the clerics themselves — wants to acknowledge the failure of a relationship designed to be a sign to the world of mutual love and support.

But new research is providing insights into just how widespread — and damaging — these forced terminations can be to clergy.

An online study published in the March issue of the Review of Religious Research found 28 percent of ministers said they had at one time been forced to leave their jobs due to personal attacks and criticism from a small faction of their congregations.

The researchers from Texas Tech University and Virginia Tech University also found that the clergy who had been forced out were more likely to report lower levels of self-esteem and higher levels of depression, stress and physical health problems.

 

 

It's True…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

God loves you no matter who you are and what you’ve done.

But why?

God’s love has purpose. The purpose is to draw us up and out of wherever we are, even if that appears to be a good place, and draw us to closer to that which is truly good, a living and vital union with our Creator.

That might entail some difficulty, some transformation and change on our part. We, though we are created in God’s image, still have been made sick by sin and death. Our judgement is not always true. Our insight is not always keen. Our chosen paths, even the pleasurable ones, are not always right.

It is ever so much easier to say “God loves me just as I am” because there is a fragment of truth in that and that fragment can help us keep up the charade while avoiding the possibility of our little worlds being upset. God loves us as we are but the end of that love is not affirming our sicknesses and struggles but rather to work for our healing, our betterment, and perhaps, one day, shine in his uncreated light. Anything less sells both God’s love and ourselves short.

I am here to announce…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

the official end of the world.

I was scanning the channels this morning and came on the Cartoon Network and a program entitled “Looney Tunes” . I grew up on the “toons” so I thought a blast from the past would be cool. Low and behold the program description read:

“Yosemite Sam leans on Bugs when his plans to go off the grid go astray”

No, I am not kidding. I am not on drugs but I’m thinking about starting. No anvils. No shooting. No chase across the desert. No exploding carrots. Now I know why the world is going to hell in a hand basket and with any luck it should end way before December 21.

NO! NO! NO! A thousand times no. That whirring sound is Mel Blanc in his grave.

Now I must go and take a shower, a very long shower to hide my tears.

I Think People Worry…

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too much about what they’re going to be when they grow up. I know I do. Just lately, though, and almost certainly spurred on my encounter with my heart issues I’ve begun to see a few things.

First I don’t think you ever grow up if by that you mean reaching some state where you have arrived at wherever you planned to go. A person might want that but life has this interesting tendency to get in the way of things.  A person always seems to be a product under development, even if they really don’t want to be, so get used to the ride because it’s how things are supposed to be.

And then what does it mean to “be?” We think of this often times in terms of an occupation or a certain status, something external we can achieve. Is it? It may be a part of it but such an idea may also escape the essence of what being is all about because it focuses on externals.

I like the Christian answer, “Be a Christian, be like Christ, and the other things will make sense within that larger context.” What should I be as I grow up? I should be a Christian and the rest of the stuff, what job I have, where I live, my education, it will all find a way to work itself out.

In fact, I’m not really obligated to be anything except for a Christian. There can be good in the rest of the things of life, but there’s no obligation. I can be this one day and that another as I work to make a living but my real occupation is to follow Christ.

There’s a tremendous amount of freedom in that and very little of the “I must get this all in before I die” panic that grips so many. There’s a quote attributed to St. Augustine (at least from my sources) that says “Love God and do what you please.”  There’s a lot of truth in that and as I get older and still  about the whole growing up thing it makes more and more sense.

We're Taking a Car…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

down to Nashville this next week, the plane is just too much and sometimes its good to take some time on the road.

You see things in a different way along the road. Things are as they are, not just little squares of land or city lights 30,000 feet below. You realize that wherever you go is home to someone, the place where they are making their lives. In a certain way you get to be their guest and even if its just for a passing moment you share what they see every day.

Wecause they’re not taking the fast road either. We’ll miss Chicago, on purpose, and head down the middle of Illinois and through the south of the state. I lived in Illinois for two years but never left Chicago and I’m really interested in seeing what life is like in the real world.

Somewhere along the line we’ll make a big left turn and head towards Nashville, Murfreesboro, to be exact. It’s a business trip for one of us but for me its all about the ride. I plan on driving to Mississippi and Alabama  just because they’re there and I have a friend I’d like to see if time works out. Or maybe I’ll cancel it all and just lay around the hotel. I’ll make up my mind when I get there.

That’s why, after all, you take a car, make the ride, and live on your own schedule. That and you won’t be treated by your own government like a potential terrorist. Oh, and don’t forget the sheer pleasure of being able to roll down your window.

I'm on My Way…

~ Fr. John Chagnon ~ Leave a comment

to Tennessee and Johnny Cash’s grave. Nothing morbid but just a chance to pay a little respect.It’s a good thing.

Elvis is okay and I suspect Graceland is nice but if I go there I’ll just think of the King, face down, pants around the ankles, in the bathroom upstairs. I can’t do that because I’d just get mad at all of his “friends” who rode the gravy train and did nothing to stop the fall. I can’t do that because it just seems wrong.

Johnny was headed that way too but he had different friends and the chance to make up for lost time. His grave is sad but not tragic, out in the open with no fee for admission. I’ll stand there and say a few kind words, get in the car, pop in his CD and float all the way back to the hotel.

It just seems like the right thing to do.