Peoria bishop asks Catholics, 'What will it take to get us mad?'

Catholic News Service ^ | September 3, 2003 | Tom Dermody

[OpusatFR]

Thank you! We don't get it in our area and I had no idea it was on webcast.

After attempting to reason with a poster on another thread, I need the spiritual lift! I feel like I've been slogging through mud.

[Aliska]

I thought about that after I posted. You are right about the diocese, so Rock Island is within the bishop's jurisdiction.

[american colleen]

Add Jenky to the "good guy" list! I think you (saradippity) are currently in charge of keeping track of the list? ;-)

Would that every bishop in America gave a similar speech to each function that they speak at.

[ThomasMore]

Do you plan to deliver more of these

Most certainly! :^)

If you liked that one, my pastor gave this homily one week later, this past Sunday. HERE

[Snuffington]

....and if you're stuck in Rock Island, it is well worth the time to tour the Arsenal--at least their museum.

And if you grow up there, and your Dad works at the Arsenal, somehow you never get around to it. At least that was my experience. :-)

[RobbyS]

Well, at last a bishop with fire in his heart rather than between his legs.

[Salvation]

**"Jesus asks each and every one of us today, 'Are you with me or against me?'"**

Amen!

[Salvation]

That is a wonderful sermon! Wow, I am impressed.

[NYer]

Well, at last a bishop with fire in his heart rather than between his legs.

ROFL ... (tears streaming down face!!) !!!

[Salvation]

Your pastor's sermon is good too!

[madprof98]

Four days earlier, Bishop Jenky had expressed "profound horror and enormous dismay" at plans to name a local bar "Hail Mary's Last Chance Sports and Spirits."

Dan Jenky and I were in the seminary together many years ago, and I was happy to learn that he became a bishop. But he always was the kind of guy who would honestly have been "horrified" and "dismayed" by a sports bar called Hail Mary's. Putting that sort of thing on the same level as the real cultural horrors he named in his sermon--like family breakdown and abortion--makes him seem like a silly Old Maid . . . and, more importantly, makes his cause seem marginal and extremist.

[NYer]

Putting that sort of thing on the same level as the real cultural horrors he named in his sermon--like family breakdown and abortion--makes him seem like a silly Old Maid . . . and, more importantly, makes his cause seem marginal and extremist.

Perhaps ... but the bigger message here is that the audience, a/k/a catholics, rallied to the cry. In other words, catholics are starved for sermons of this nature, corny or otherwise. At least Bishop Jenky had the courage to speak out, which is more that we can say for most of our bishops in the US.

[madprof98]

At least Bishop Jenky had the courage to speak out, which is more that we can say for most of our bishops in the US.

I agree. I think American Catholics are starved enough for leadership on ANY issue that they would even jump at the chance to shut down "Hail Mary's" because it would at least provide a focus for their frustration at a culture that is--as Jenky rightly says--at war against Christ.

[thoughtomator]

I think when you mention that the Christ-on-a-stick symbol that they nail to anything vertical violates God's commandment not to make graven images of Him, they get mad.

But gay marriage? Nah.

[As you well know...]

The last sermon dealing with the fires of Hell was delivered in 1955. I was there to hear it.

[Aliska]

Four days earlier, Bishop Jenky had expressed "profound horror and enormous dismay" at plans to name a local bar "Hail Mary's Last Chance Sports and Spirits." Area Catholics also protested the plan, with 2,600 people signing letters delivered to the Rock Island City Council Aug. 25. Developers of the bar said the name refers to a sports play.

Update. Church +1, barowners 0. Plans to name the bar as above have been scrapped and the public is being asked for suggestions for a new name. It was too offensive to catholics in the area.

[GirlShortstop]

I think when you mention that the Christ-on-a-stick symbol that they nail to anything vertical violates God's commandment not to make graven images of Him, they get mad.

But gay marriage? Nah.

back away from the bong....

[AlguyA]

I was present to hear this homily and let me say that in the fifteen years I've been a Catholic, I've never heard a better homily.

Afterwards, I spoke with His Excellency, and let him know that if he were to persist in preaching homilies of similar quality in the future, then he better expect that sooner or later a convert like me is bound to eventually yell something along the lines of, "Amen, you preach it brother."

Peoria has truly been blessed with some excellent bishops -recently, Archbishop Myers(now in Newark) and now, Bishop Jenky. You don't suppose His excellency, Archbishop Sheen, is up there watching out for his old stomping grounds, do you? -)

[GirlShortstop]

You don't suppose His excellency, Archbishop Sheen, is up there watching out for his old stomping grounds, do you? -)

What a guy and what a blessing that would be!  There's a person I wish I could have met.  FReegards.

[needtopraymore]

Bishop Jenky is a sorry hypocrite. He beats up on a tavern owner that wanted to name a bar after a football pass, but is utterly silent when the most pro abortion man on the planet wears Our Lady’s name and is given an honorary degree from Our Lady’s University, where Jenky is a board member. No word, no protest, no resignation from this alleged Catholic University. What say you Jenky?