Book Review:
The Life of Meaning
by Fr. Tony Schuerger

The Life of Meaning: Reflections on Faith, Doubt, and Repairing the World, Bob Abernathy and William Bole, Seven Stories Press, 2007.

            For about ten years, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (PBS) has broadcast Religion and Ethics News Weekly, which focuses on the “religious” news of the week. Often, the program includes interviews. Bob Abernathy and William Bole have gathered the wisdom of their interviewees about “the great questions about life and how to live it.”
            Each chapter focuses on a single theme: “The Meaning Makers;” “Evil and Suffering;” “Prayer and Meditation;” “‘I’m Spiritual, Not Religious;’” “Being Religious” (reflections on Catholicism, Evangelicalism, Mainline Protestantism, The African-American Church, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism); “Paths Up the Mountain;” and “Lives Well Lived.” Each reflection is short (most are only 2 or 3 pages) and uses everyday – not theological – language. Each reflection begins with brief profile of the individual being interviewed. Given the short sections and everyday language, this is a book that could be finished rather quickly, despite its length (420 pages). However, this is a book which rewards a slower, more reflective reading. Because the contents of each reflection stimulate thought and can easily lead to conversation, I think it would be a good selection for a book group, a faith-sharing group, a couple or a group of friends to read and reflect on together.
            I personally found this book to be quite informative, and, often, cause for my own reflection and prayer and so have read it over several months. (Fortunately, the library allowed me to keep renewing it!)

A few of my favorite quotations:
“The whole mystery of religion is that it brings us into the presence of God, opening up our whole being to something over and above the immediate. We can therefore rest and be open. That’s what prayer is all about. It’s about presence, to be present to God. As soon as there is a presence to God, there’s wonderment, there’s joy, there’s peace. We can easily get caught up in the world of the finite, the contingent, in brokenness and suffering. Prayer is this opening of a door to something over and above and deeper, which gives meaning to all the pain of the finite. It is something that we can just rest in. I think that, fundamentally, prayer is rest.” (Jean Vanier)
“But I once saw a bumper sticker that said, ‘Spirituality doesn’t make hospice calls.’ Spirituality remains, normally, individualistic. You may gather for a retreat, and then you disperse. You may gather at the coffee shop or the bookstore, and then you disperse. The people who are handling the homeless and dealing with addiction and trying to improve senior care and who care about the training of the young – they have to bond together.” (Martin Marty)
Speaking about Psalm 23, the Good Shepherd Psalm: “The psalm talks about a man whose understanding of God has changed and matured as he went through life, from the person who thinks, ‘God takes care of me, so everything will be perfect,’ to the person who says, ‘Why didn’t God take care of me?’ to the person who realizes, ‘God is taking care of me. He can’t guard me. He can’t protect me from unfairness. He can give me the strength, the resiliency, and the courage to cope with the unfairness.’ … I can survive the worst that life has to deal me, ‘for thou art with me.’” (Rabbi Harold Kushner)
“I see Catholics as able to embrace all of life – the good and the bad – and to kind of bring it all together, bring it to the liturgy, bring it to the Mass, and offer it up and live with the good and live with the bad and say we believe that the good ultimately triumphs, but we acknowledge the bad. And still it’s worth celebrating the good. … I bring whatever is in my life to Mass. So if things are not going well, I’m bringing it all to Mass. If things are going poorly, I’m bringing it all to Mass. So when I approach the Mass, I’m ready to have some distillation of my daily life in this hour or so on a Sunday. … The liturgy always reprioritizes my life. I’m grounded. I feel refreshed. I feel renewed. I feel empowered. And because of this experience I feel like I can tackle the day. At least I can tackle the next six or seven days, and then I’ll have to come back and do it again.” (Eileen Durkin)

Highly recommended.

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Three Angles
by Eva Sierzputowski

(Eva is a member of the Community of St. Malachi.)

Worry looks; Sorry looks back; Faith looks up.

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it!

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Our Father
by Fr. James Gilhooley

(Thanks to Pam Pulizzi for sending this in.)

I cannot say “our” if I only live for myself. I cannot say “Father” if I do not approach God like a child.

I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am not laying up some treasure there right now.

I cannot say “Hallowed by thy name” if I am careless with that name.

I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not working to actualize it in the here and now.

I cannot say “on earth as it is done in heaven” if I don’t look on heaven as my future home.

I cannot say “Give us our daily bread” if I am overanxious about tomorrow.

I cannot say “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” if I am waiting to settle a score with someone.

I cannot say “Lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately put myself in a place to be tempted.

I cannot say “Deliver us from evil” if I am not prepared to pray as though everything depends on God and work as though everything depends on me.

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A New “Online” Community
by Joe Pulizzi

(Joe is a member of the Community of St. Malachi.)

            I often hear the stories about how the Community of St. Malachi was started. The founders met in each other’s homes, in bars, in meeting halls…wherever they could to talk about how they can make a greater impact on their own lives and the lives of others. It must have been an exciting time. Our founders were truly trailblazers…and look what they helped to create?
            The Community has changed drastically since the start, and I think we are all a bit unsure as to how things will unfold as we enter the clustering process. Well, our culture is not one to sit around and wait. And in that spirit, the Communications Committee has launched an experiment that we’d like your feedback on.
            About two months ago, we launched a Web site on an Internet portal called MyChurch.com. What I’d like to do in this article is discuss what MyChurch is, and how it may be of benefit to our Community. In our opinion, MyChurch is just another way we can continue to communicate with and support each other in our journey with Christ.
            One final note before you read the questions below: This is an experiment, or what people in the Internet industry call a “beta” test. We are looking for all kinds of feedback and will improve the process as we go. It’s definitely not perfect and probably never will be, but we are going to give it a shot anyway.

What is MyChurch?
            MyChurch.org is a free online tool for churches to outreach and build community by networking their congregation. It is a place where church community members can meet online to discuss key church issues, share information with each other, and learn more about what is going on within and around the Church.
            There are currently 13 CSM members who have signed up for MyChurch, comprising almost 500 visits.

How do I get to MyChurch?
            Using an Internet connection, type in http://mychurch.org.
            To go directly to the Community of St. Malachi page within MyChurch, type in:
http://www.mychurch.org/csm.

What MyChurch is not.
            MyChurch is not a replacement for the stmalachi.org website. The CSM website is for members and non-members to find out more about the Community of St. Malachi. Ultimately, stmalachi.org should work for membership attraction more than retention. MyChurch is more “inside baseball.”

How can the Community of St. Malachi use MyChurch?
            The CSM page of MyChurch should be used primarily to build up the community and assist with Community communications. At this web location, CSM members can share upcoming events, important member information, committee information, receive church newsletters, and send messages directly to other members in a public or private fashion.

Why not just use email?
            Good question. Let’s give an example. Let’s say that you and a Community member are having a great back-and-forth discussion via email. Once it’s over, it’s over. No one else can share in that information, and most likely, those emails simply get deleted.
            With CSM MyChurch, someone can post a question or comment and get reaction from many members of the Community. Even if the interaction is one-on-one, the other members of CSM MyChurch can read what is going on, thus knowledge is shared.

What are the goals of CSM MyChurch?
To build a stronger community.
To easily share information with and between members.

Who can become members of CSM MyChurch?
            All members of the “brick and mortar” Community of St. Malachi are eligible to become members of CSM MyChurch.

Who oversees CSM MyChurch?
            The CSM MyChurch is moderated by the CSM Communications Committee.

How can someone become a member of CSM MyChurch?
            Any person can go to the CSM MyChurch page and request to become a member, or a current CSM MyChurch member can send a “friend request” email to another CSM Member to urge them to join.
            Once someone requests to be a part of the CSM MyChurch community, the Communications Committee receives this request and will “approve” membership if they are a current member of CSM. The approval process is mainly to prevent spammers from joining our page, since the main CSM page is open to the public.

How do I go through the member process?
            First, go to MyChurch and become a member. To do this, you must complete the MyChurch profile of yourself and set your settings. You can decide whether or not you want to be notified when members add information to the CSM MyChurch page.
            Once you are a member of MyChurch, now you want to become a member of the CSM MyChurch page. If you have not been sent a direct email link from a friend, search for CSM by clicking on “Churches” at the top of the screen.

Once there, just search for the following:

Location: Cleveland, OH
Church Name: Community of St. Malachi
Then click on “The Community of St. Malachi.” Then click on “Join this church.”
            Once complete, the Communications Committee will receive information to approve the prospective member.

What can I do once I become a member?
            Here is a list of activities that a member can do while at CSM MyChurch: You can:
Upload photos – good way to share CSM photos.
Edit profile – edit what other people see about you.
Mail center – email anyone in the CSM MyChurch Community.
Calendar – See the CSM MyChurch Calendar. You can also put in calendar items that only you see.
Settings – change whether or not you want to be notified when someone uploads new information to the CSM MyChurch page.

            By Clicking on “My Church” at the top of the page, you will have options to do the following:
Blog: should be used for ongoing messages from an individual (i.e., Father Tony, Communio posting, etc.). Think of this as a continuous series of announcements or thoughts.
Bulletin: something you want the entire community to see. Like posting a bulletin on a bulletin board.
Upcoming Events:
Member comments: brief thoughts of interest to the CSM MyChurch community.
Messages: these are one-on-one messages only not to be shared with others.  Like direct email.

            Members can also join any one of the CSM MyChurch Groups (like our committees). You can create bulletins and comments within your committee, or for the entire church.

What if I have questions?
            If you have any questions throughout the process, please contact the moderator, Joe Pulizzi, at joe_pulizzi@yahoo.com.
            Some people who are computer-savvy will pick this up right away, while others will struggle.  Don’t worry, if you have any questions, just contact myself or one of the other Communications Committee members.  Remember, when the Community of St. Malachi was first formed, most people who weren’t in the middle of it didn’t understand what was going on either. I guess history does tend to repeat itself.

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Community of St. Malachi, 2459 Washington Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44113–2380
216–781–3110             http://www.stmalachi.org
Sunday Community Mass  11 a.m.   Parish Masses  Sat. 4:30 p.m.,  Sun. 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m.
Holy day:  Vigil 5:30 p.m., 7 a.m., noon.    Weekday:  7 a.m., noon.    Legal Holiday:  9 a.m.
For information on the Sacraments, please call the Community Office.
                THE COMMUNITY OF ST. MALACHI is a lay–directed, non–territorial personal parish of the Diocese of Cleveland. Although separate from the Parish of St. Malachi, we join together for many worthwhile activities. All are welcome to worship at the 11 a.m. Community liturgy on Sunday. Community members are expected to actively contribute of their time, talent and treasure.
            Communio is a monthly publication of the Communications Committee of the Community of St. Malachi. Deadline is the second Sunday before publication. You ease our task by submitting materials by E–Mail or on disk. All viewpoints of interest to our Community in the context of our journey of faith are welcome here. Viewpoints are those of the writers and not necessarily the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. The Communications Committee has a right to edit submissions to fit publication standards.
For email delivery of Communio or Newsletter through CSM’s E–Subscription service, go to http://www.stmalachi.org/email.asp
ã  2007  Community of St. Malachi.  Reprinting of articles originating in Communio is encouraged – please contact the Editors for permission.
Newsletter:   Mary Englert   216–228–8417,
fax   216–861–5340,
14921 Lake Ave  # 10, Lakewood 44107.
E–mail   mtenglert@juno.com
Communio:  Chief Editor: Joe Pulizzi
216–941–5054 E–mail   joe_pulizzi@yahoo.com
Volunteers to collate and staple:
Nadge Herceg   440–930–2781
Volunteers to hand out after Mass:
Kevin Garven  
Copying and attachments:   Kimberly Tatro
216–781–3110
St. Malachi Web Site: Mike May
E–mail  mmay@catholic.org
Prayer Request:   If you have a prayer request, please contact the rectory   216–781–3110
Send articles or comments to joe_pulizzi@yahoo.com. Next issue is Oct. 28. Due date for editorial – Oct. 14.