When the parusia arrives

Have you ever had the experience of sitting in on a meeting that you know will be an absolute waste of time? The truth is that meetings such as these are pariah when it comes to using scarce resources (such as time) and trying to use them in the most wise manner.

One of my mentors once used to remark (especially when he was caught in the midst of a marathon of meetings) that 'the parusia is coming, and when it arrives I'll be at a meeting'. Meetings are good things. They allow us to brainstorm, to share ideas and to expand horizons based on shared wisdom, but they can also be exhausting if the energy created is not creative in and of itself.

Imagine our surprise when we discovered that this afternoon's meeting turned out to be anything but a waste of time. Among the highlights today there was a presentation made to the gathered priests by local members of Development and Peace, a Canadian organization who has recently had to face considerable fire over alegations (advanced by Lifesite News) of misappropriation of funds consigned to their care. In fact, a commission of inquiry was set up by the CCCB in order to investigate the allegations, and the result was an exoneration which D&P still has to work really hard at promoting so that the people in the pews might truly understand what really happened.

Having received the report of the Commission of Inquiry, the President of the CCCB also published his comments on the subject, but many in the trenches perhaps haven't heard about them until now.

Considering the fact that this was a kind of fact finding mission for most of us who were seated around the table, the converstion and the questions that ensued kept us all on the edge of our seats. What's clear is the need for D&P to continue their vigilence about promoting the reasons for their existence, something that is not all that easy considering the fact that many of the younger generations today haven't even heard of D&P much less their raison-d'être.

Papal encyclicals such as Populorum progressio and Solicitudo rei socialis which outlined the Church's teachings on social justice are the basis for the work of D&P and other such organizations throughout the world, but whereever there is good in the world, there are also challenges to this good. What's more, young people (teenagers and young adults) today have not even heard about the Church's social teachings, much less been exposed to the work of its organizations. Where there is lack of understanding, there is always room for confusion.

All this lays the foundation for D&P and their partners to do a whole lot more work to make themselves known before they and their achievements can be appreciated much less lauded and shared by the newest generations.