Discernment

Reading “The Wounded Healer” by Henri Nouwen, I came across something that struck me spiritually. On page forty he brings to mind that “liturgy is much more than a ritual”. I cannot express how true that is to me personally. During the Eucharist I feel the Spirit move through me. I have a great need to share this immense feeling of great joy and peace. To share my experience of the Holy Spirit with others is my greatest joy. Having the ability to celebrate the Eucharist is something that over the last couple years has been burning in my soul. I have prayed in personal discernment to determine exactly what I feel is my calling in this direction. Many friends and family have expressed that I would make good Priest. I have been very disturbed these last couple weeks that in my personal discernment process, my diocesan leaders feel that I am not ready and that I need a couple more years in leadership development before actively becoming a candidate in the discernment process. I have prayed a lot in these past couple weeks and have made a determination that I cannot continue in this process. There are some issues that I need to convey in my thinking on this matter. This decision has not come lightly to me and I wish to put these out there. I sincerely want your feedback on these items and pray for you to discern with me as well on my decision. In a couple years I will be right at the cusp of 60 years old. I will still be working my current position that entails 45 – 60 hours each week to put bread on my family’s table. In order to show leadership in my community/congregation I will need to begin and conduct ongoing ministries that will take up additional hours of my time and energies. After a couple years of this, and if I get accepted into the discernment process proper, I will have to attend the Bishop’s School which will include online and classroom training in theology. I am not sure how many hours each week this will entail but it will be in addition to the 50 hours each week and my day job and probably 10 hours or so in my ministry work. The Bishop’s School will consume three additional years in which I will be reading, studying, praying, etc. At the end of this journey I will easily be pushing 65. I cannot begin to guess the physical and mental toll this will place on me as well as my family. My wife has been great through this process I have been in so far and I cannot put her through another five to six years. In addition to this, there is no guarantee that once I go through this half decade of discernment and study that I will even be ordained. The hardest part of this writing is that I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never celebrate the Eucharist. I serve as a Lay Eucharistic Minister at my current church and that is the closest I will come to what I feel so passionate about. There are many in my Cursillo group that were very disappointed when I told them of the diocesan position as well as my own decision to personally remove myself from further consideration. There are many in my last congregation who were pulling for me knowing who I am and the passion I have for serving Christ. Living in Christ with them for 8 years I grew so much during that time. They will be sad at this news as well. I can only say to those who have prayed for me during this time that the people making the decisions regarding my entering the process must know me much better that my friends and church family. I sound very bitter but I am praying for that to eventually go away. I must interject something here that has me the most upset about this entire process within the diocese. The chair of the Commission on Ordained Ministries had a discussion with my priest regarding my needing more leadership experience. She also expressed that she needed to speak with me. My priest spoke with my wife, regarding this decision as he felt she would be better able to tell me this decision than he could. I looked at my priest as a leader for me spiritually. Two weeks later, neither my priest not the chair of the Commission on Ordained Ministries has had a conversation with me. There are obviously some pastoral care issues that need to be worked on with “leaders” in the diocese. The people I looked to for guidance, are the ones that I feel have let me down the most. I request everyone to continue to pray for me and Sandy as we continue to lend ourselves to grow in the body of Christ. We will continue to be leaders and examples of Christ in our lives as well as in our community. Thank you to everyone who has believed in me and prayed for me during the last couple years. God blesses you all, always.

Archbishop OK with gays marrying lesbians, so that solves everything

This guy must be on crack!!!

Archbishop OK with gays marrying lesbians, so that solves everything

For Profit colleges may face tighter rules

Redlands Daily Facts 06/20/2011, Page A06

For-profit colleges may face tighter rules

tighterfederaloversight may see For-profitcolleges

By ANDREW EDWARDS

Staff Writer

The federal government is moving toward tougher regu­lations of for-profit colleges, an industry that has greatly expanded its presence within the Inland Empire during the past few years.

The Department of Educa­tion’s new, and still controver­sial, “gainful employment” rule announced this month requires graduates of for-profit career colleges to meet certain loan payment standards to gain access to federal financial aid.

The government’s thresh­olds are aimed at ensuring for-profit schools and their students are channeling fed­eral aid toward lucrative careers.

But the rule could cause profits to decline at for-profit schools, which count on fed­eral financial aid dollars for up to 90 percent of their reve­nues.

Career colleges and critics also decry the rule as a regula­tion that will limit students’ access to job training.

However the rule’s conse­quences play out over time, the Education Department’s action is sure to affect an industry that has grown quickly even in the economic downturn.

In the Inland Empire, the expansion of for-profit schools has breathed some life into an otherwise strug­gling office scene.

“Within the last 10 months over 100,000 square feet have been leased to schools in this market (Ontario and Rancho Cucamonga),” said Carol D. Plowman, a senior vice presi­dent of commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates’ office in Ontario.

A number of career college representatives said they were not yet prepared to comment on how the U.S. Department of Education’s “gainful employment” rule may affect their business practices.

“The best I can tell you is we’re still reviewing the infor­mation and how it may affect our students,” University of Phoenix spokesman Rick Cas­tellano said Thursday.

In a statement issued June 8, Penny Lee, managing direc­tor of the pro-career college group Coalition for Educa­tional Success, defended for-profit schools’ roles among institutions of higher education.

“While there is no single right answer on how to train workers for tomorrow’s jobs, career colleges offer access and choice to millions of stu­dents who otherwise would not have a pathway to a higher education or a career,” Lee stated.

From a job recruiter’s per­spective, a traditional univer­sity degree is generally more valuable than one from a career college, although courses taken at career col­leges can have value, said Sarah Cullins, president of Rancho Cucamonga-based Finesse Staffing.

“I think some of the good things about these schools is that if you’re already employed, they can help you in the career where you’re at,” Cullins said.

For-profit schools are where 12 percent of the nation’s college students take classes, according to the Edu­cation Department.

Students at for-profit insti­tutions have taken out 26 per­cent of the nation’s student loans, but owe 46 percent of the student loan dollars in default.

The “gainful employment” rule would tie for-profit stu­dents’ loan payments and bal­ances to career colleges’ abili­ties to receive federal aid.

The rule requires the schools to meet one of three standards: at least 35 percent of former students are repay­ing the loans, the estimated annual loan payment of a “typ­ical graduate” does not exceed 30 percent of his or her discre­tionary income, or the esti­mated annual loan payment of a typical graduate does not exceed 12 percent of one’s total earnings.

andrew.edwards@inlandnewspapers.com, 909-483-8550

Copyright © 2011 Redlands Daily Facts 06/20/2011