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Group Discussion Guidelines

- When given a turn, I may pass, but my thoughts or experience may be more valuable to others than I imagine.

- When I take a turn, I limit how much of the group's time I take up.

- When it is another's turn, I listen with respect and without interrupting, receiving what they say as coming from their experience and their grasp of the faith.

- If I disagree with another's view, I may give mine during my turn, but I do not set out to shame them or to convince them to change on the spot.

- However, during my turn I may contend that someone else's alleged fact is mistaken.

- Things shared in the group remain confidential or anonymous.

---

An atheist was seated next to a little girl on an airplane and he turned to her and said, "Do you want to talk? Flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger."

The little girl, who had just started to read her book, replied to the total stranger, "What would you want to talk about?"

"Oh, I don't know," said the atheist. "How about why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death?" as he smiled smugly.

"OK," she said. "Those could be interesting topics but let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, but a horse produces clumps. Why do you suppose that is?"

The atheist, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, "Hmmm, I have no idea."

To which the little girl replies, "Do you really feel qualified to discuss why there is no God, or no Heaven or Hell, or no life after death, when you don't know crap?"

And then she went back to reading her book.

 

St. Mary of the Valley Men's Study Group

All men of the parish (and their guests) are welcome to meet for this mutual support. The group is centered on study and discussion of topics related to our Catholic faith and life.

We gather from 7:00-8:30pm on the third Tuesday of each month, but you can certainly attend only those sessions that are of interest to you or work out for you. We meet at St. Mary of the Valley.

Information about the group will be found here or by contacting Larry Dimock: 425-333-4400 (or 800-270-8660) or email Larry.

The subjects we dealt with this past year were: listening to God, the Church's teaching authority, forgiveness, prayer, the Eucharist, leading the family, Christians and civil authority, building up the body of Christ, abortion, spritual battle, and converts.

Here are the dates and topics for the 2011-2012 year:

• Oct. 18- The Calling of the Layperson
• Nov. 15- Our Lady of Guadalupe - Mercy in a New World
• Dec. 20- Christmas in the Bible - How Do You Read It?
• Jan. 17- Morality, Charity, Social Justice - What is the Difference?
• Feb. 21- What Matrimony Is That "Marriage" Is Not
• Mar. 20- by Fr. Bloom
• Apr. 17- The Church - An End, Not Just a Means
• May 15- Fatima - God Wants to Establish Mary's Heart in the World

Regarding the upcoming meeting on February 21

What Holy Matrimony Is That "Marriage" Is Not

Christ's engagement to the Church and ours to him could be called romantic. But it is much more than the sentimentality of Valentine wishes or the starry eyes of young love. Jesus weds us at a level deeper than the charms of this world -- at the level of the divine love that created us and longs to redeem us into his eternal kingdom.

From the beginning, at the creation of humankind, God was ordering marriage to be a union of persons patterned after that of the Trinity itself, with a nature that knows and begets within it a similar communion of love. Although sin weakened this natural good, marriage remains honorable and of great value in this life.

But between persons baptized into him, Christ means marriage to be baptized also -- with the holiness that is his bond with the Church. Here his graces are to make marriage not just honorable for this life, but holy:

• For sanctifying the two persons by each other,
• A little communion of saints, that includes their children,
• To make them indissolvable from the Lord's own life, even though their own marriage covenant will end at death.

Into this sweet-sounding ideal and calling, enters our human reality. Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well was hopeful as they spoke about living water and eternal life, but when she wanted to receive this gift from him, he turned the subject toward her five marriages and the fact that she was now living with a man to whom she was not married. He was conducting a little Church Tribunal.

Christ still interrogates us about our fidelity to God's will in our marriage commitments. He does this partly through those laws of the Church that are for the protection and sanctification of marriage, a protection therefore of our faith and of our souls, a protection of our union with him.

Q: In the eyes of the Church, what makes a given marriage valid and what makes a marriage sacramental?

Q: With "marriage" meaning less and less to our society, can we begin to see more in the Church's sacrament of Holy Matrimony?

To prepare for our discussion of these and other questions, please read paragraphs 1601-1654 of the Catechism (online this begins here) or parts 47-52 of Gaudium et Spes (Vatican II) or Canon Law beginning here.

More On the Idea of This Catholic Men's Study Group

Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors [wisdom] speaks, saying: O you men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men. O little ones, understand subtlety, and you unwise, take notice. Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things. My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness. -Proverbs 8:3-7

Although we directly study Church teaching on a topic, the wisdom we seek gets revealed to us in a special way in the course of our discussions. As we sit in the gate of the City of God (the Church) wisdom corrects us in each other and gives us a courage for giving our lives in service to God. Knowing weaknesses of faith in ourselves, we are merciful toward others in their ignorance or fear. Finding gifts of God in ourselves, we offer them for the Holy Spirit to distribute as he will to our brothers.