Saturday 23 September 2017

A VERY INSPIRING ELDERLY PRIEST

FATHER  ED THOMPSON

1924 - 2016

PRIEST - ALCOHOLIC - FRIEND OF ARCHBISHOP FULTON SHEEN


I was deeply moved and inspired watching this video yesterday

I beg you to watch it in its entirety of 22 minutes

It will one of the best 22 minutes you ever spend.

Critical readers are always complaining that I do not publish "inspiring" blogs - especially on Sundays.

WELL! HERE YOU ARE TODAY

Pat



44 comments:

  1. Pat, thanks for this video. Very touching and inspiring. This priest would represent many priests in their personal, hidden struggles and who are often afriad to say so. Priests are only human who carry great fragility and vulnerability. Yes, there are some who deserve criticism and reprimand but the majority would strive to live their vocation well. They need support, encouragement and affirmation and prayer. That is why this blog needs to be more positive and highlight similar stories as on this video.

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  2. Pat,
    I am still weeping after that most moving video. What a wonderful testimony to the redeeming power of Christ.I cant hep wondering if having watched it you feel any sadness at your break with the church? Tomorrows Gospel is a message of hope for you and for us all!

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  3. Monsignor Ed has since sadly passed away. He has entered the paschal mystery and is now in the presence of Jesus Christ. May the light of heaven shine upon him

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  4. Wonderful Pat, what a life and ministry. He highlights the climb, but also the dark periods, still holding on when all seems failed. The Holy Eucharist.

    As a priest my heart went out to him - every priest should watch this and know there can be light at the end of the struggle

    Bless you Pat

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  5. As a young alcoholic, I find this Priest's words, words of wisdom yet, as much as I pray, I struggle to stop drinking.

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    1. Recently I helped a very confirmed alcoholic of 30 years to stop drinking. If can be done.

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    2. 00.39 It can be done. Of course pray and ask for the grace of God. Also seek help like AA and or GP. It is not one size fits all. Every alcoholic is different. I pray for you and wish you every good wish. PS You are not a bad person or a failure.

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    3. Sean is so right. Many millions have been helped by the AA, their GP and Community Addiction Teams. I know some people who have been off alcohol for decades but who still attend AA meetings regularly for support and to hear the testimonies of those struggling with drink.

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  6. This was lovely today,Pat!
    Thank you for a truly inspirational video. Fr Edward has gone to his eternal reward RIP.
    He has "fought the good fight. He has run the race.." His story will be a great encouragement to everyone to hang on in there when times are tough. Every now and then we may be asked to put our shoulder to the Cross. But we can keep going with God's grace and the example of a genuinely good and worthwhile role model.

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  7. Thanks Pat. I hope everyone enjoys the video as much as I did!

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  8. Ah for fuck sake Pat, have a nice vodka and tonic, you are off with the fairies on this one...

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    1. There has to be something wrong with you.

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    2. 02.03 It sounds as if you've already had too many vodka and tonics. Away and get your head examined you gansh. I was very touched by all he said and agreed with it including the bit at the end.

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    3. 2.03: the hour of the morning says it all about you!! In after a night out. Flat drunk on your back! You should pray to Fr. Edward for help and guidance and healing. You need it badly. God bless the wonderful witness of Fr. Edward. A most amazing inspiration for all who suffer in any way. Strength through CHRIST in the EUCHARIST - a most precioys gift.

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    4. I agree with you @ 8.50 and others who have been helped and inspired by that video above and who are very grateful to Pat for sharing it. We are not happy when there's too much unbalanced negativity so let us give full recognition and credit for the inspirational choice of Pat on this one! The naysayers will always try to pull you down and destroy your optimism and hope.
      Don't allow them to do that!

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    5. 2.03. I'm inclined to agree with Pat

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  9. Thanks, Bishop P. .

    This priest has truly lived, but only because he has truly died.

    Don't agree with with what he said at the end of the video: the Roman Catholic Church is not the only body to have Christ in the Eucharist.

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    1. I don't agree with his final statement either. But he was 92 and old school. But I was deeply touched by his struggle.

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    2. Magna at 02.28 Who cares what you agreed or disagreed with! You are just a gong clanging away who people don't want to listen to or treat seriously. Have another drink and go back to bed.

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    3. The Orthodox/Oriental/Coptic rites most certainly have a valid Eucharist and even Cardinal Coccopalmerio seems not entirely convinced of Pope Leo XIII's null and void stance in relation to Anglican orders.

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  10. 2.28 I would be inclined to agree with the Old Boy about Eucharist. We concentrate on the host and it is to be revered. Sacraments only "work" in believing communities of which there are many.

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  11. Pat, THANK YOU for sharing this beautiful video. I hope it profoundly touched everyone that watched it - just as it touched me. We're not all bad!

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  12. I have prayed this morning for the poster @ 00,39 who self-described as "a young alcoholic." (I hope he/she can get real help to sort out the background cause of the need to reach to the bottle to drown out mental anguish...The cause could be loneliness, disappointment or anger about some unfairness..)

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    1. Wise words. Lots of people, including many atheists and members of other Christian denominations have been helped by the various centres established by Sr Consillio.

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  13. Fr Ed was right in saying that the Catholic Church, rather than the catholic church, teaches doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is literally and wholly present—body and blood, soul and divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine. Evangelicals and Fundamentalists frequently attack this doctrine as "unbiblical," but the Bible is forthright in declaring it (cf. 1 Cor. 10:16–17, 11:23–29; and, most forcefully, John 6:32–71).
    A community in Christ is not the same as Christ being sacramentally present rather than symbolically present as its Head, Foundation, Way.
    One Church, One Baptism, One Faith in all things but the doctrine of the Eucharist.
    Christian Unity is strong, but not in full agreement

    And 02.03 you should respect Fr Ed's courage and witness and not be so disrespectful x

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    1. Jesus is SACRAMENTALLY present. That's the operative word.

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  14. 13:30, are you suggesting a real ontological difference (a lesser divine presence) between Christ's being in a 'community in Christ' and Christ's being in the Eucharist?

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    1. 13.35 MC A mind that asks proper questions😀

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    2. Thanks, Sean.

      When asking my question, I had in mind the ecumenically offensive remark by G.K. Chesterton, through which he denigrated Anglicanism (from which he had converted to Roman Catholicism): comparing the 'ambience' in Catholic churches with that in Church of England counterparts, he referred to it (in a play upon the Catholic belief in the Real Presence) as the 'presence of the real absence'.

      Superficially funny, yes; but deeply sectarian and unchristian. (Did I say 'also untrue'?)

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    3. @16:01
      Can you provide a reference, please.

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  15. This priest was a good, humble, human man. The mawkish music didn't enhance his testimony, but maybe I'm just being pedantic. Anyway, it seems the most humane people are the ones touched by the humanity of Christ. By his wounds, we are healed.

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  16. MY EMAIL ADDRESS FOR THOSE WHO ARE ASKING:

    bishopbuckley1@outlook.com

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  17. Finally Magna u said something sensible, thank you

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  18. Well Pat, you've outdone yourself on this one. Fr Ed has lived a great testimony to the mercy and grace of God. We all have our struggles to follow Christ, and Fr Ed I found inspirational. He had been beaten down so many times and yet kept through the grace of God picking himself back up and walking with Christ again. He reminds me of a certain Br Jim, who's resolve and determination to beat the bottle also inspires me.

    I love the line near the end when he says "Hold onto Jesus Christ in the most Holy Eucharist." Really that sums it all up for me. While we complicate things, the faith is actually simple. Prayer, Sacraments, Devotion to Our Lady, Works of Mercy, and constant conversion through the grace of God. It's not about where we started but where we end.

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  19. MC:

    extra ecclesiam nulla salus

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    1. Magna, you've added nothing relevant, affirming, interesting or inspiring today. Who are you trying to impress with your attemp at humour and "supposed" enlightenment? You and you image in the mirror!! Your comments today - totally unfeeling and inappropriate. What's new....

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    2. Really? What about the patriarchs and prophets? And John the Baptist? If we take Luke's chronology, Pentecost was the birth of the church. So those who died beforehand?

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  20. Excellent blog today.

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  21. Yes. I agree with you that today was a refreshing change and made me feel a wonderful sense of kinship with all the good posters who appreciated the video and Pat's efforts to make sure we saw it. This was a day when the things we hold sacred were exalted. I will leave it at that.....

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  22. Pat, I have reflected on this story about Fr. Edward. An inspiring story of redemptive peace and healing found through an inner conviction about the power of Christ in the Eucharist. In my own struggles I have found similar inner strength through the reality of Christ in the Eucharist. For all who feel the fragility and cross of being human I urge them to seek professional help but also encourage them to embrace the presence of Christ in prayer and the Eucharist. "No one is an island" as the poet says and that's why I believe we are better human beings when we face our struggles, share with trusted friends, seek help - and PRAY! Today's blog brought out immense compassion and empathy - good qualities that always nurture and enrich our lives. Long may this continue...let us pray for all who are in pain tonight.

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  23. I reckon week be treated to a triple dose of nastiness in tomorrow's blog, too counteract the positivity of today. brace yourselves!

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  24. This is a truly inspiring story of one man's attempt, with the help of God, to reclaim his life and revitalize his priestly vocation.

    The biblical image of the 'desert' is the locus classicus of a process of facing the truth of helplessness. It provides an image of a landscape of testing, of being lost, a context for wandering, temptation and confrontation.

    However, it can also be a place of encounter, of undistracted listening; a place of balance and awareness that can help to identify and curb the chaotic turbulence that can dominate our inner world.

    Anyone one who actually sees and experiences themselves as they really are have no difficulty in being humble, of choosing a "masks off" time.

    Profound dedication is the only remedy for the monotony of repetition, of using a formula of improvement that really works, over and over again, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, whose programme can be applied to any struggle in the spiritual life.
    life.

    Jesus' parables of searching begin from noticing what we lack. We have to start HERE on our journey and I have often do so with determined reluctance. The journey must begin by admitting that alone we can do nothing. Our reluctance to do so is the project of conversion.

    Over the course of several years, I was invited, cajoled and encouraged by you Pat to join AA. I thought that it was a secret society like the Masons and wouldn't hear of it. I also did not want there to be any ambiguity about my use of alcohol, but I wanted it to be unambiguous in my favour not at my perceived expense.

    Instead of being a closed group, AA is very open. I do not believe that among the various groups that I have attended, that I have met a more warmly receptive, rigorously honest, non-judgemental and supportive group of people gathered together in one place at the same time. Most people have an inchoate sense of the divine in the mundane, but the rooms of AA supply a witness to the providential care of God for each member as expressed through the presence and support and shared wisdom of the other members.

    If our faith statements are to speak to us of a God who became one of us, with us,(incarnate immanence) then they must help us to understand the events that happen to us as the first place to look for God working in our world and in our lives, and that includes the arena of addiction.

    To anyone who feels powerless over their use of alcohol or that their life has become unmanageable for that reason, I would devoutly urge them to give AA a try with an open mind. You can't love two masters - alcohol and obriety - because you will love one and hate the other. Choose wisely.

    In faith,
    Brother Jim

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