Gregory Matthews' Retirement

[M. T. Cross]

MT, here is the bottom line: As a Federal Chaplain, I was expected to know something about the beliefs and practices of other religious groups.

Certainly, I spent more time learning about those groups which whom I had to deal with on a regular basis.

So, as to the Roman Catholic Church:

1) I kept in my library the Priests Manual that governed the practices of Roman Catholic Federal Chaplains and I kept an updated version. How did I get it? Easy. The division of the RC Church that governs the practices of priests authorized to work as Federal Chaplains maintains a current, updated Priests Manual on the Internet.

2) I have in my library a book of Canon Law for Roman Catholic priests which governs how they do their ministry.

3) I maintained a relationship with our contract clergy whereby I could contact them and ask them for clarification as to a point of belief or practice.

As to the Roman Catholics, that came to the point where the priest would ask me what I thought, because as he said, I was typically asking him questions on which I already knew the answer. My response was that yes, I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted him to verify it. Sometimes he would modify my understanding.

4) I would often read a RC publication, St. Anthoney's Messenger. It had a priest who would respond to questions from church members about their faith. I learned from reading his responses that some of what I considered to be RC Doctrine was not obligatory.

Oh yeah, I imagine that you would have a lot more Catholic service people than most other religions, and I imagine the majority of those you dealt with were of a Christian faith of some type.

I think maybe, from reading your posts here, that one of the problems pagan service people may run into is that there is not a lot of defined practices and answers. One group of Wiccans may do things very differently from another, I know a lot of Heathens have very different practices than others, ect. Outside of some very basic stuff there is a very wide range of directions it can all go in.

What I appreciate however is your willingness to provide services to those that sincerely want them, even when it is very different than your own belief system. My hat is off to you for that.

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

What I appreciate however is your willingness to provide services to those that sincerely want them, even when it is very different than your own belief system. My hat is off to you for that.

I do not want to nit-pick over words, but I would like to clarify so that there is not misunderstanding.

When people see the word "provide" they often think of someone personally doing it. E.g. There is a local agency that provided meals to elderly people. They actually deliver the meals. In that sense of the word, I do not provide. If I were asked to hear the confession of a Roman Catholic, it would be deceptive of me to agree. That would be unfair to that Catholic.

What I do is to facilate that need of the Roman Catholic to have a RC priest hear the confession. E.g. I worked with a local Roman Catholic parish for 6+ months to get Extra Ordinary Ministers (EOM) into our hospital on a regular basis to provide services to our RC patients.

The services actually provided by those EOMs was between them and the patient. Under RC practice, the EOMs did not hear confessions. But, if they chose, they could ask a priest to come and hear the confession. Typically, they did not. [NOTE: It is not considered an emergency need for a priest to hear a confession.] In any case, I had fulfilled my obligation to the patient by providing them with the services of an EOM.

NOTE: As an interesting aspect of this, If I thought that the patient really needed to confess, I could get a priest to come. I would simply tell the patient that the priest would not be able to hear the confession. However, I would then tell the patient that if the patient wanted to receive the Sacrament of the Sick, I could get a priest to come for the purpose. [The Sacrament of the Sick, is considered an emergency need.] Sometimes the patient would tell me that they did not want that sacrament. Other times they would agree.

Folks, a simple case in which knowledge of denominational belief and practice results in meeting patient needs.

[Gregory Matthews]

Quote:

I think maybe, from reading your posts here, that one of the problems pagan service people may run into is that there is not a lot of defined practices and answers. One group of Wiccans may do things very differently from another, I know a lot of Heathens have very different practices than others, ect. Outside of some very basic stuff there is a very wide range of directions it can all go in.

If I am going to allow you to represent yourself to our patients and a representative of a specific group, I am going to have to know that you are authorized by that group to represent them.

That is fundamental to U.S. law. Under the 1st Amendment the government cannot establish a religion. For me to determine your authorization would be an establishment issue. That determination has to be made by the group that you claim to represent.

Many of these groups have not registered with the government an agency to represent them and to provide the authorization for people to provide their services.

[Johann]

Gregory, I first "met" you on this forum about 10 years ago. I discovered you did much more than moderate, you also did pastoral work for those who posted here.

In your work as a Chaplain you have been a pastor as well. Besides that your work on various forums you have done more than your "duty" in this independent ministry. Here you have appeared as a Seventh-day Adventist minister, something you may have, at times, been prevented from on military duty.

Never have I noticed you deviating a fraction of an inch from the teachings expected of an Adventist minister. I have said elsewhere that you have frequently employed your devoted Dale Carnegie type of diplomacy in you attempt to guide the "sheep" in the right path.

Looking forward to more.

[Gregory Matthews]

Thank you. Indeed, I do look at my posting on the Internet as ministry.

[Jeannieb43]

Do you have any big projects you plan to take on, now that you're retired? Volunteer work of any kind? Writing, perhaps?

[Gregory Matthews]

I have stated that I am going to take a year off before I commit.

The pastor of the congregation that I attend has said he will give me 3 months.

My projects at the moment are:

1) Eye surgery done earlier this week, follow-up will be involved.

2) Transitioning from my office to our home--in process now. I have a lot of stuff to unpack and to throw away.

3) Begin an exercise program as we have a number of exercise machines. I have been retired for 14 days. I have ran on our treadmill for 13 of those days, missing only the day of my eye surgery. My typical use of the treadmill is 30 minutes beginning at 4.4 miles per hour and ending at 5.0 miles per hour with a cool-down after. I expect later to work into programs on our weight machine and or a couple of others that we have. But, I have not yet done anything substantial on these.

4) At a later time this year to make some decisions as to whether or not I will have some surgery on a foot. At the moment I just do not know.

5) Some of my experiences are publishable. I will give some thought to doing so.

The above is a partial list.

[phkrause]

Awesome Gregory, and I agree with Johan post.

[Gregory Matthews]

Thank you.