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Thursday, February 26, 2004 ( 7:57 PM ) Elizabeth Hanel I'll be going to see Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ this weekend, and will post a review here Monday. God bless. # Monday, August 04, 2003 ( 4:34 PM ) Elizabeth Hanel We here at Sheepgate are concerned about the state of the Church in the world today. Though I personally believe that Jesus' promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against us is true and unbreakable, that does not mean we can sit and do nothing as corruption, scandal, and attacks from the material world deal us harsh blows. Now is the time for all those with faith in Jesus Christ to stand firm and hold onto our moral principles. We need to teach true morality with no apologies to those who would call us cruel and judgmental. People walked away from Jesus, too. And when he turned to his apostles and asked if they would leave too, Peter replied, "Where shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Those with faith will stand firm with Christ, because we know His words are the words of eternal life. We all must be willing to face this problem in the Church. We need to teach each individual just how incredibly special they are to Jesus. We need every child to know that the loneliness in their heart cannot be filled with sex, food, video games, or alternate realities. We need to teach every person how to find Jesus, and fill their hearts with him. And that is the goal of Sheepgate's new project. How we will accomplish this we are still not sure, but hopefully, within the next year we will have something new to present; something that teaches each individual just how special they are. More to come... # Thursday, July 03, 2003 ( 4:50 PM ) Elizabeth Hanel My mother, Nancy Hanel, artist and registered nurse, recently wrote a letter to the editor of the Frederick Post. The following is an excerpt: “My daughter, some many years ago, was taught in the Frederick public schools that there were four kinds of sex--including sodomy. She was in seventh grade. And of course, the public schools cannot make moral judgments as part of their value-free education. “Very few small children were abused in Boston. The majority were teenagers. The abusers were a handful of homosexual clerics inadvertently ordained in the 1960’s. “But, of course, 14 year olds can come and go at will, and the age of consent in most states is 16 years of age. So it was always a mystery to me why, once offended, the teenager returned for more. “Perhaps many had this same kind of sexual education class attended by my daughter. “How could I have known or believed that my dear 12 year-old child was learning perversion as a part of her education? How could Cardinal Keeler know that the Church needed to address specific boundaries which were being undermined? “The Church deals with sin--demanding sorrow and atonement for it. Older churchmen don’t think legal or illegal (they do now, of course). “Our [Maryland’s] last governor, whose brother died of AIDS, challenged and abolished most laws that prohibited non-procreative sex--including sex with animals (1999). “Our bishops and cardinals are doing the best that they can, given the government’s war against decency.” In this case, the daughter mentioned was my sister. But I received a very similar education. Why would the public schools do this? What possible educational purpose does it serve to teach twelve year-olds all the different forms of sex? If it is biology they are teaching, the only lesson that needs to be learned is procreation. Everything over and above that is unnecessary. Recreational sex with no moral boundaries is dangerous, resulting in sexually transmitted diseases, emotional damage (a study by the Heritage Foundation found that sexually active teenagers are more likely to suffer from depression and attempt suicide), and unwanted pregnancies, which in turn can result in abortion. And now we have learned of another danger: teenagers who don’t understand that this behavior is immoral, illegal (I don’t remember being taught about statutory rape), and life threatening. It seems that many are finding themselves mixed up with adults who are ready to take advantage of this situation. The public schools are creating an army of teenage victims, primed for abuse. I first heard that pre-marital sex was a sin from the pulpit, not Sunday school, not public school, and not even the private Catholic school I attended for high school. And no, not from my parents either, who assumed that at least my Sunday school teachers would have mentioned it somewhere along the line (my mother learned fast, though). The real answer to the sex abuse scandal--in the Church and elsewhere--is right before our eyes. Our young people must be taught that recreational sex is not all right. It is not normal, it is not healthy, and it is not what everyone else is doing. Parents and church leaders from every denomination must step up to the plate now, and stand between our children and the messages that the public school’s sex education curriculum is sending out. As long as we turn a blind eye to what is being taught, we will have teenage victims that go back to abusers week after week, year after year, into the same situation because they don’t know that what is happening to them is wrong and abnormal. Perhaps victims should start suing the schools that taught them about sex without any qualifications, without any moral or legal boundaries, and without all the information needed to understand the reality. It is as if the schools were to hand out guns with no lesson on why it’s wrong to kill. My sister and I were lucky. We reached adulthood unscathed. Many teenagers, as we are starting to learn the hard way, are not so fortunate. They are victims of abuse simply because they were taught to be victims of abuse. # Thursday, June 26, 2003 ( 3:44 PM ) Elizabeth Hanel I'll be updating in a few days. I will be talking about the team's new project and some issues that we as Christians should be thinking about. Until then God bless. # Tuesday, May 13, 2003 ( 1:43 PM ) Elizabeth Hanel It's been some time since I began this blog, and I know I should have been updating it more frequently. But things have been hectic here this spring, what with spring cleaning and commencement exercises. That's right: though I received my Master's of Arts in Pastoral Theology degree this winter, the actual graduation ceremony was just this past weekend. I decided that I should attend, firstly so that I could serve as an example of achievement to all the other Pastoral Studies students in the program. Secondly, I wanted all my old teachers at St. Joes (I did my undergraduate work in English there as well) to see my achievement, and lastly, my hood was theology red, and I couldn't resist showing it off. I was the only one in the entire graduating class with a totally red masters hood. My classmate, Paul Twomey, also had a red master's hood, but it was differently designed. By the way, I would just like to extend my congratulations to Paul once again. Way to go! So what is next for me and for Sheepgate Publications? Well, one thing that everyone seems to agree on is that there is a crisis in the Church today. There is a lack of knowledge and understanding of what our faith is about, and a general loss of direction. Pope John Paul II is doing his best to pull the Church back into shape, and I have confidence that the gates of hell will not prevail against us, but there is a real need for change. This poses a real problem. What is the best way to do this? How does one person work to change the environment in which they live? Should we start at the local level, or work for the largest audience possible? And more importantly, what is the question? What really is at the root of the problems in the Church? Is it apathy? Illiteracy? The influence of modern society? So before we find the answer, we must try and find the question, or else the problem is just too big. One thing that my mother, the mystic Nancy Hanel, is working on now, is the focus upon the search not for who we are, but what we are. We are each an individual entity in a society full of individual entities struggling through our aloneness. We are in a constant conflict. On one hand, we search for an end to loneliness. We join in with the crowd, we go along with what we are supposed to do, obeying laws and commandments, treating people with kindness, struggling to connect. In this way, we assert that we are part of something, one of many. But on the other hand, there is a part of us that screams against society, longs to show our individuality and our independence, and fights against just going along with the flow. Each one of us struggles with this. Some of us rebel in a destructive way, others merely dress or speak to stand out--but not too far out, because then we would be alone again. It is as if each one of us says, "Look at me but don't stare; see that I am different but include me anyway." We are alone, unique individuals. Science has proven this with the genome mapping. Though 99% of our genes are the same, making us human beings, there is that one percent that varies from person to person, and is never repeated. From the moment of conception, a new and unique DNA sequence has been formed, creating a completely unique individual. We then spend our whole lives trying to figure out how to break through this DNA wall; how to connect with others and eliminate loneliness. But this is impossible for man alone. It is Jesus who breaks through this loneliness. Through the Eucharist, Jesus becomes a part of us, and fills up that lonely place in our heart. In prayer, we connect with Jesus far beyond the connection we could ever share with our fellow human beings. And then, surprise, surprise, we find that the closer we come to Jesus, the closer we come to other people, because He is the vine, and we are the branches. We cannot connect to each other, but as we draw closer to the vine, we draw closer to other branches. So one of the first steps in this long, difficult task is to teach each person that firstly, they are a unique and special individual, beloved to Jesus and worthy of respect. Secondly, they must be taught that every other person is a unique and special individual, beloved to Jesus and worthy of respect. And thirdly, they must learn that through Jesus, we connect to the Love of God and the love of our fellow man, filling up those empty and lonely places in our hearts. Simple, huh? And so I return to my original problem, which is what is the best way to go about this, and what issues need to be addressed first? Teaching about the Church will do nothing if hearts are not open to hear it. But can hearts be opened by anyone but the Holy Spirit? And how then do we teach people to understand what they are, as well as who they are? My ideal solution would be a book of essays and articles on different matters of faith, but whether this is the proper course of action I don't yet know. The only thing I am sure of is that God has a special plan in mind, and I hope to be a part of it. The Church is strong; I know it has been in far worse fixes than the present one, and I know that in the end, the love of Christ will prevail. # Saturday, March 29, 2003 ( 5:01 PM ) Elizabeth Hanel Greetings, and welcome to Sheepgate News! Here we will be sharing not only the latest stuff going on with Sheepgate Publications, but also interesting news and links, and perhaps even our own opinions about current events and the world in general. My name is Elizabeth Hanel, and I am the author of "Who Do They Say I Am," a contemporary look at the life of Christ. Though I wrote this for young people especially, it is for anyone who can find the bible to be a bit daunting, or even someone just looking for a new perspective on a topic that can sometimes seem old-fashioned and irrelevant in today's world. It is also very good for someone who is interested in learning more about Christianity in general. My mother, my sister and I started Sheepgate so we could publish my book the way we wanted it published. It is sometimes a struggle, but if we can touch just one heart with our work, all our hard work will be worth it! If you haven't yet, stop by Sheepgate Books and check us out! # |
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