An OLD New Approach

This week, I planned to host a show about Good Tidings, a ministry with which I've worked for about 25 years. It has all to do with sexual misconduct of priests, and my schedule was to interview someone who has quite a story to share. However a few things interfered with the schedule, and that caused me to rethink my approach to this show.

Good Tidings is a very limited topic, as mentioned above. I thought of offering it weekly, but in truth, I do not think having it that often would actually help those who need to have this messy fact known by more people--especially Church folk. Somehow, when we are drowning in one tone, we don't appreciate the sound. The same, I think, with the message I'd like known regarding this particular issue in the Church.

Rather, I reconsidered the approach I'd used when we first opened our little religious shop in the Poconos. We wanted to offer the hospitality one would find around the teapot in a family home! Hospitality is the hallmark of Celtic Christians, and I truly want to offer that in all I do.

So, rather than focus only on one particular ministry (Good Tidings), I am opening this show up to the candid discussions shared around the kitchen table. Our family always kept "tea time" and it was Holy Time! We shared our day, children were heard and had a chance to share and listen right there with the adults. With my own daughter I tried to offer that same tradition so she could come home from school to tea with her mom and grandmother, and when her father worked from home--with him as well. It was the best way to share our values with her, and know where her head was at most of the time. It built strong traditions and bonds.

Therefore, this show will be "Spiritu a le TEA!" and out time together will be a time to share about family, our faith, and those topics that affect both. So, yes, sexual abuse by clergy is real, and it will be addressed, along with many other important topics before the Church today.

Join me for a cup of Spiritu a le Tea.

Cait