Today I found myself as a lone wolf among a vocal Twitter mob talking about the fees that most Western civilization parishes charge to conduct a Catholic wedding.

It was truly disturbing to see so much ignorance about what goes on behind the scenes in preparation for a wedding, to see how sunk we are in consumer mentality rather than collaborative mission, and to see how little the time and service of the priesthood was valued. Even those in clerical office whom I expected to know better weighed in on the wrong side, which means that their parish/episcopal staff have been shielding them effectively from the nitty gritty of wedding preparation, especially the financial bits.

Here is a brilliant article which I had high hopes of exonerating me from writing about this topic: https://canonlawmadeeasy.com/2013/11/07/stipends-and-sacraments/
It includes all the canon law references that pertain to stipends for Mass offerings and sacramental celebrations. Please read it.

Let's go back to the plan of God in the scriptures.

We see Melchizedek provide Abraham spiritual services of a ritual nature, and Abraham in thanksgiving to God for the battle victory and for all else God had done for him including the post battle blessing, gave to God through Melchizedek a tenth (tithe) of everything.

We see in the offerings and sacrifices made according to the law of Moses, that specific portions of it were to be set aside for either the consecrated priesthood, or for them and their families. It was the way God designed for the priests and their families to be able to give themselves fully to the requirements of the ritual worship of Israel.

If you want to delve deeper into the meanings of Temple worship, this article by a Presbyterian scholar is helpful. https://www.fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/priestly-pay-the-priest-s-portion-of-the-grain-offering

And this article on the tithes of the Old Testament is useful also, https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1958/09/the-three-tithes-of-the-old-testament

Now I need you to comprehend how this tithe and offering process and the spiritual impetus behind it is very different to the crime of simony we see in Acts 8, where Simon the magician notes that people that Peter and John impose hands upon receive the charisms of the Holy Spirit. He wants to be able to do what Peter and John do, and offers them money. Simon would be set for life being able to charge for passing on these valuable charisms to others. Peter gives him a vehement rebuke.

The Church still takes this seriously, eg if an object has been blessed it can no longer be sold.

The closest thing I see to simony today is people doing 'prophetic activations' online, and charging money to be part of them. The promise is that your capacity to receive prophecy, dreams and visions etc will be unlocked through prayer. That is very different to attending a paid conference or seminar that has times of prayer ministry where such things might happen but are never guaranteed to happen, and would only happen if it was God initiated.

'What you have received without charge, give without charge' has to be balanced with 'the labourer is worthy of his hire'.

The tithes and offerings are made first and foremost to God, and then generally the tithes keep the families of priests and the temple and its furnishings and other requirements for worship (vestments, musical instruments, offering vessels) in good repair, and part of the offerings goes directly to the priests.

From this thinking comes our first collection for the upkeep of the priests and our second collection for the upkeep of the parish, and by extension the diocesan services. It isn't paying for sacraments as much as keeping the mechanisms going that make receiving the sacraments possible.

I really hope you get that distinction, because that is what underpins the thinking on marriage fees.

In a perfect world couples getting married would naturally express their thanksgiving to God for such a priceless gift. That expression could be through money, or in offerings in kind (cattle, produce), manual labour as often happens in rural impoverished areas, and given to God through both parish and priest, and also to the poor and needy. But it falls under the keeping the mechanisms that make receiving the sacraments possible thinking, not under the payment for sacraments thinking (which would be simony).

So let's look now at what goes on behind the scenes in a parish to make a wedding possible:

There is paperwork to be done to apply for the marriage certificate for the civil side of the marriage dealing with government laws and regulations. Then there is the paperwork to determine whether the bride and groom are sacramentally capable of contracting a Catholic marriage. That's why you need baptism certificates, confirmation certificates. They usually have to be verified by the parishes in which those sacraments were received. Rarely is this simple, usually it entails significant time for parish secretaries to complete. If there have been prior marriages it is even more complicated. If the paperwork cannot be verified, then the spouse to be without the verification is invited to have a conditional baptism and chrismation (Dear God we don’t know whether this person was validly baptised or not, but You do, if they weren't baptised back then open up the gift of Holy Baptism for them now, and if they were validly baptised back then, please bless them for recommitting themselves to You).

The priest is obliged to do all he can to ascertain whether both bride and groom are both able and capable of giving full consent to the marriage. Often this is done through a series of marriage preparation meetings and talks, and depending on diocesan policy attending some kind of marriage preparation course eg Engaged Encounter. Frequently this process time with the priest is the only time a couple gets to focus on preparing for the marriage, and not just the wedding, and the insights and advice are useful for a lifetime. Everything else (invitations, wedding cake, formal gear, photographer etc) is focussed on the wedding day, only this is attempting to set you up to succeed in married life.

Then there is the work to be done selecting scripture readings and hymns and which of the various options for prayers during the Mass or Liturgy of the Word are preferred.

The priest has to prepare a homily. Ditto if a deacon is presiding over the ceremony. Preparing homilies takes time and effort.
Then there is the time the priest gives to the wedding ceremony itself, getting there early, often doing part of the set-up.

These are not inconsequential commitments of time by both priest/deacon and parish staff, and it doesn't stop there.

Those doing the music have to be contacted and scheduled, they have to practice the music. They also have to submit the copyright permissions for the music chosen, and there are fees to use music depending on what kind of copyright payment mechanisms the parish already has. Popular hymns would already be paid for under parish licence, less common hymns may attract additional charges. If the musicians don’t already have the music desired, they have to pay for the sheet music. Copyright is charged whether the music if live or pre-recorded, because no matter the delivery method it is still being utilised in a public setting.

In high summer or deep winter the bills for lighting and air-conditioning will be higher, but even outside of those intense climate times there will still be light and power usage.

Altar servers may be required, and they give of their time too.

If there is a wedding practice beforehand, then that is additional time given by priest, musicians and others.

The parish also has to cover itself in case things go wrong, and that happens more frequently than you imagine. Normal things like a child spilling a drink, or throwing up, or lots of grassy detritus leftover from weddings of people from Pacific Island heritage. Someone has to clean them up, and sometimes the damage is costly to repair.

Then the other things that can go wrong include a wedding guest having a fall, breaking a bone or two, or similar calamity, and then suing the parish. Public liability insurance is no longer cheap, and the more times unfortunate things happen the dearer it gets.

For particularly eye catching chapels and churches the waiting lists tend to be longer, and in the meantime the couple can split up (and not tell the parish, it happens more than you think) or find another venue they want more (and not tell the parish, it happens more than you think), so these were the first places to ask for some kind of deposit to reserve a place on the parish's marriage calendar. If you have paid for something, you are more likely to show up, and more likely to contact a place to get your money back.

For cathedrals there might be extra costs due to forgone revenue from tourist donations when the wedding is taking place and non-guests are dissuaded from entering.

Those eye-catching chapels and churches usually have a high annual maintenance bill, and some of the 'fee for use' will go towards that bill.

Often parishes help with putting together a wedding booklet, and that alone is a time consuming task taking many hours even if working from a basic template, and even if there are no alterations and changes of mind about readings and hymns etc along the way. Add printing costs to that.

It definitely isn't free for a parish to provide the wherewithal for a marriage to take place. Expecting all of those services to be provided gratis even for a super active member of the parish is unreasonable.

Generally there is a flat fee that encompasses all these things, and in reality it is a token only and not the full cost at all. The suggested voluntary and yet expected stipend for the priest technically should be separate, but parish secretaries are pragmatic and they know that bundling things into a single fee reduces the amount of time they have to spend explaining why a fee is necessary in the first place. Explaining one is hard enough, explaining two, forget it! Let alone all of the histrionics and other verbal abuse that exudes from people stressed out over wedding preparations that such fees illicit and the parish secretaries cop.

With weddings of two practicing Catholics running at around 1 in 10, or less, you have to factor additional time educating brides and grooms with minimum understanding of Catholic ritual.

Because the knowledge of how things are done has rapidly decreased with each virtually unchurched generation, parishes were finding that the priest's stipends were not even on the radar. Even the best of us gets upset after receiving no tangible appreciation for time and effort five or more weddings in a row. In former days (many decades past) providing a stipend was just general knowledge and expected behaviour. People back then knew what amount was a reasonable offering, they don’t now. And it is not just weddings. Parishes have had to introduce the fee structure for funerals as well to ensure that the priest gets a minimum token of appreciation/stipend.

Cases of genuine hardship will always be accommodated somehow, if requested respectfully.

So what is reasonable fee wise? A lot of people are going to be putting in a lot of hours from the parish making your wedding day possible. May I suggest that you take the average hourly wage/salary of bride and groom and multiply it by 10. Even though 10 hours is an extremely conservative estimate, the vast majority of fees will be under that. Be grateful, and cheerfully give. If over, then the parish you are dealing with has high maintenance and security costs and/or a recent spate of very expensive bad experiences.

Some people have suggested taking up a once a year collection to subsidise the fees for weddings and baptisms. I suspect you will find that the user pays principle has been so embedded in Western civilisation that the average parishioner will be outraged, because the people most likely to be subsidised are obviously absent from weekly Sunday worship. It would also take away that biblical notion of expressing personal gratitude to God.
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If you still think that fees for church weddings are utterly wrong, then go and consult an expert. Contact a parish secretary, bring her (or him) a cup of coffee, ask them about why that parish has wedding fees and be prepared to listen and listen and listen as they tell you the stories behind each and everyone one of the fee decisions the parish has reluctantly had to make.

This wasn't even on my radar until this morning.

That is, until a mid-20s, confident, athletic, law degree-d youth leader happened to visit the Blessed Sacrament chapel while my son and I were still doing our weekly holy hour. Said son is non-athletic like his parents (bless him!), and has much less confidence. Said youth leader did the 'fish in the barrel' thing that greatly upsets me, ergo, 'I need another bloke to make the fraternity part of Exodus 90 work, here's a bloke, he's here, maybe it is meant to be, let's go ask him' without taking into account any discernment of whether Exodus 90 was a good fit for my son's needs and personality and his current place on the spiritual journey of life.

Life is not at all easy for young men who go to church and who aren't athletic and don't ooze with confidence.

Case 1: Every visiting priest does the 'fish in the barrel' vocation chat. Listen, please, you only have the right to do that chat if you have taken the time to get to know the young man in question, and have attained a good grasp of his strengths and talents, and can say with truth 'I think you have what it takes to be a good (insert vocation here) because (insert observed behaviour A), (insert observed talent B), (insert observed charism C), would you please consider it, or at least come and have a deeper chat with me about it.'

Case 2: Then the young men who go to church and who aren't athletic and don’t ooze with confidence go to various Catholic summer school offerings that are presented by gung-ho extrovert on-fire young men that make the others feel woefully inadequate and lacking in faith and commitment.

End of mini rant.

But a brief look at the Exodus 90 program got my hackles up, and it has taken me a few hours and reading blogs on the topic to get a better handle on why.

I can understand that for a unmarried Catholic male who has walked The Camino, and who is ready for an equally satisfying challenge, that this is cat-nip.

I can understand that if your life was out of order, and you have had a massive conversion experience, then the desire to get your life into God's order, and the desire to do significant penance for past mis-deeds, would make Exodus 90 a really good fit for you.

I can understand that if you have an inkling that a vocation in one of the rigorous religious orders might be in your destiny, then doing the Exodus 90 would be a prudent step on the discernment path. But with the caveat that the temptation to do it on human power alone, with human boasting of same when completed should be enough to make a wise person run in the opposite direction.

I can understand that if you have a major prayer intention (eg return of a prodigal child, return of a separated spouse, needing clear direction on vocation, starting up a new ministry) that an Exodus 90 process would add lots of power to those prayer intentions.

I can understand that if you have a major habit or addiction that you want to break, that Exodus 90 could be very helpful with that.

But I can also see

That it is suited to unmarried men, particularly if they are living alone or in a household of like-minded individuals.

That you will have to have very strong social relationships, capable of surviving lack of maintenance for 90 days, because snacks, dessert, going to a movie, sharing a soft drink, re-posting a joke on social media,  are the ways we usually connect with our loved ones and friends for fun and conversation. The fraternity part of Exodus 90 is going to be focussed on survival, mutual support and spiritual growth, and not on those lighter moments that make life worth living.

That the Exodus 90 days of deprivation are as tough as an elite warrior boot camp, and most will not be able to complete the challenge and feel or be made to feel that they are failures and have let themselves, God and their loved ones down. That's a pretty big risk if you are already emotionally or mentally fragile.

I am concerned

That although there is a component of prayer and spiritual reading, there is no overt commitment to sacramental life.

That those whose livelihoods depend on regular blogging or posting on social media (artists, journalists, interior designers) would be greatly disadvantaged career-wise.

That the Exodus 90 lifestyle is unsustainable, you can't continue at that pace, and those who in actual life do so are specially called and gifted by God for the rigours of such a penitential lifestyle in religious orders or as hermits.

That too many will take up the challenge because a buddy invited them, and try to achieve it on human power alone, rather than as a response to a call of God, depending on Him for the grace and power to complete each day.

That going 'cold turkey' on so many ascetical practices at once is a recipe for disaster. It would be better to commit to three of them over the first 2 weeks of the challenge and then decide in the fraternity group whether to add another one in week 3 or not.

That keeping going for the Lenten distance of 40 days is hard enough, and that there's some ancient wisdom in our liturgical cycles of feasts and fasts.

That there are reports on YouTube of people having major counter-reactions to the extreme disciplines when they reach day 91 and beyond; think about the behaviour of boarding school types when they hit the undisciplined life of university because that's what the counter-reaction looks like. People who go on long fasts with liquid diets know that when the fast finishes that it is important to return to normal eating patterns at a slow and gradual pace.

That there are many housebound people who depend on social media for their connection to the outside world, and for whom the departure of swathes of good people from social media for Lent or Exodus 90 vastly impoverishes their lives. Fasts from social media don't have to be total, limiting it to only after 6pm of an evening or for an hour daily are quite effective.

The bottom line?
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I don't doubt that God can do great things in the lives of those who undertake an Exodus 90 process, as long as the goal is God and not a bucket-list item or a badge of honour or bragging rights, but a response to a personal call from God to go deeper through penance and reparation for a specific purpose.

​Yesterday I was asked a question about the validity of incorporating rituals from Australian indigenous culture into church events, especially 'welcome to country' and 'smoking ceremonies'.

The questioner had recently read this article, and understandably was disturbed by it https://blog.canberradeclaration.org.au/2019/11/25/australia-my-country-the-smoking-ceremony-and-its-effects

I mistakenly thought that his worries were due to this report about the recent Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Perth http://bernardgaynor.com.au/2019/12/18/observations-from-the-australian-catholic-youth-festival/

That's one side of things.

Then there is this other side summed up by St John Paul II in his address to Australian indigenous peoples: "You are part of Australia and Australia is part of you. And the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others."

http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1986/november/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19861129_aborigeni-alice-springs-australia.html

and also in

http://romawaterman.com/the-black-stallion/

Both of these positive visions are worth re-reading slowly.

How I replied to my friend went something like this. When it comes to these ceremonies, intention matters, and the careful selection of who leads them matters. As always we need to discern if malice is intended, and if so, to act decisively against that.

Yet we are also called to embrace the good in the cultures that we find, and to preserve and use that good. The Maori's have greatly enriched New Zealand, and the world, with their wisdom, rituals of welcome and the Haka.

So what we are looking for is a carefully discerned 'both/and' not an either/or; and I do recognise that we all shy away from the things that are strange to us.

There are plenty of examples of bad inculturation around, which means that we have to do better and work harder at producing healthy inculturation which is genuine and not just done because it is seen as being politically correct.

When it comes to 'Welcome to Country', there are good values worth preserving. It is good for us to acknowledge that we are part of a continuum, and that we owe much to those who have gone before us, whether they Aboriginal elders past and present, or whether they are the ones who built our parishes, schools, shopping centres and transport infrastructure. We inherit legacy from both sides, and as we partake of the fruits of those labours of theirs, it is only right and just to acknowledge and give thanks for that – although we should go further and actually pray for them too, and for ourselves that the dreams and visions that God implanted in them for this city, municipality, school, parish, diocese, recreation area would be completely fulfilled.

It would do us all good to grow in this type of respect. In the lives of St John Francis Regis and St John Vianney we read that whenever they came to a parish or diocesan boundary they would pray and invoke the assistance of the holy angel to whose care that parish or diocese had been entrusted.

Smoking ceremonies and indigenous sprinkling rites I admit I am more ambivalent about, firstly after reading about the possible dark sides of those rites, and secondly because we have legitimately good holy water that is far more spiritually effective anyway if used in faith.

However I admit that the more bush fire seasons I live through, the more the symbol of smoke as cleansing and uniting becomes meaningful. Smoke speaks of facing unknown dangers together in solidarity. Smoke speaks of the abundant renewal that comes to our bushland once a bush fire has come through it. Smoke speaks of holding onto what is essential as you rebuild life after a fire, and letting go of what is not essential. Smoke speaks of managing resources for the good of all generations, by regularly keeping the build-up of undergrowth under control with hazard reduction fires.  It makes sense to substitute sprinkling rites in places where there is high fire danger.

Definitely there are good values embedded in these ceremonies, but we do need to exercise prudence and get any chants and indigenous language used in them translated carefully from several translators.

It certainly doesn't hurt for us to relearn the truths that our actions have both natural and spiritual consequences, to learn greater respect for the Holy Spirit and to remove anything occult from our lives.

There are still treasures from indigenous culture that have yet to be fully valued, evaluated in light of the Gospel and welcomed into the kingdom of God. And there are still treasures of the Gospel that have yet to have their turn of enriching indigenous culture. We still have much to learn on both sides.

​May the Holy Spirit and the holy angels of God always assist us as we take up this challenge. Amen.

St John Paul the great, pray for us.
St Paul VI, pray for us.
All holy friends of God from the Australian indigenous nations, pray for us.
Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.

​Unless you have been hiding under a rock, you will have heard talk about God preparing to act in a great and mighty way. This expectation comes from many places and is clothed in all types of language. In Catholic circles we have 'In the end my Immaculate Heart will triumph', and talk of the Warning and the Chastisement. There is the 1947 Wigglesworth prophecy that when the Spirit and the Word come together, there will be the biggest move of the Holy Spirit that the world has ever seen. Others talk of a promised billion soul harvest.

As Peter Herbeck reminded us back in 2016, 'Did you know that the Church has an infinite capacity for regeneration? Did you know that? Did you know that the Church has right now all the power, every resource it needs, to conquer every enemy strategy the enemy brings against Her.' And it is precisely when the Church is looking the deadest and most bedraggled that we can expect the resurrection power of Jesus to come upon Her.
There are heightened expectations at the moment for something like this to begin before the end of 2019, with Brexit when it actually happens, as some form of a catalyst.

Consider:
https://lanavawser.com/2019/10/30/i-heard-the-lord-say-the-last-few-months-of-2019-are-going-to-be-explosive/
and https://www.openheaven.com/2018/07/10/three-waves-of-a-coming-baby-boom-and-strategies-for-preparation-by-christy-johnston/

Now for the chicken and the egg paradox: Are we in the 'if and when it happens we will deal with it then' camp or are we in the 'is some of this dependent on us being like Noah and taking God at His word and doing some practical stuff in preparation' camp? Is our lack of preparation part of the delay problem?

Consider the following scenario: an act of God causes 1000 consciences to awaken and they all rush to your church community to get themselves right with God. What do you do?

And what if it is 10,000 people? That's a lot of people who will expect us to know what to do to help them all.

When the active presence of God manifests itself in a place, people have life-changing encounters with God, and no one, but no one, wants to leave a place that is experiencing divine visitation. So expecting people to go down the shops to get supplies just isn't going to work, you need to have the supplies stockpiled already. Call it 'The Noah Storeroom' or the 'When God Shows Up Cache' or similar, expect to get laughed at like Noah was, but do it anyway. Also think long term, God is wanting to add these people to your community permanently. There is also no guarantee that you won't be overwhelmed by God and unable to function as a leader, marshal or administrator, so talk to your teams and make them aware of what your strategy is for when the Flood of Grace comes. Ask God what that strategy should be.  

So here are some thoughts, just looking at things from a practical perspective and a decidedly Catholic one because we need to do more preparation than anyone else.

The number one thing people will want is the sacrament of penance, and lengthy confessions. There might be a humungous crowd, but they each need to hear the blessed words of absolution personally. While they wait for their turn they are going to need some refresher teaching on how the sacrament works, how to prepare, what to confess, why the given penance is important etc. Many of them will be in a blubbering mess, before, during and after they get into the confessional.

A practical thing to do is for dioceses and parishes to audit how many non-active priests are within their diocesan and parish boundaries, get in contact with them, and have them on some kind of group alert system. They may be retired, if so, keep in regular contact with them. They may have been laicised for various reasons, but in emergencies, and this would qualify for an emergency, they can exercise priestly faculties. You are going to need them hearing confessions. If you are a bishop, then you should start working out what needs to be done canonically now to get laicised priests as sacramentally active as possible, as quickly as possible, in such a scenario.

The best people to do the refresher teaching on the sacrament of penance will be those who are already on the parish sacramental preparation teams. Parish priests should talk with the parish sacramental preparation co-ordinator about how to handle such a scenario. They would already have some experience in ushering primary school children for their first confessions.

Do you have brochures for people returning to the sacrament of penance after a long absence? Start looking for good examples of them online, or get new ones written. Have them ready to print. Put all the links and files you need in a special folder on your computer, so that you can quickly find them all in one place. Have a back-up paper version in your filing cabinet.

Begin a stockpile of tissues, a stockpile of scripture booklets (like the ones they provide for World Youth Day pilgrims, with a Gospel, another book from the Bible and a Psalm or two) and a stockpile of toilet paper.

Talk to your parish team about setting up triage protocols, because you are going to need to quickly ascertain who has never been baptised, who can't remember if they were baptised, those baptised under other traditions, lapsed Catholics, fringe Catholics and committed Catholics. Baptism (and conditional Baptism), could reduce the strain on the confessionals, but you will need a diocesan approved video presentation on what living out the Nicene Creed means as a minimum preparation for the baptism of those who have reached the age of reason and beyond.

Purchase additional baptismal registers and baptismal certificates at both parish and diocesan levels.

Space is going to be at a premium, so as quickly as possible, get all the cars out of the parish car parks and make them pedestrian access only. You could have several groups learning from different group leaders across the car park - weather permitting. 

People are going to want Jesus. Setting up a monstrance with a consecrated host in the church will help with that. If you have a spare or secondary monstrance, set up an additional adoration space in the parish hall as well. You may need to set up wardens or guards from the ranks of acolytes and senior altar servers around those monstrances to keep order. People under the influence of religious zeal have been known to do some mighty crazy things, especially if that zeal is coupled with ignorance. 

People are going to need to learn how to pray. Having an area set aside with a Marian shrine/statue and a continuous Rosary being prayed with scripture meditations prior to each decade mystery will help. Stockpile inexpensive sets of rosary beads.

If the repentance is Holy Spirit genuine, then practical steps to change lives will be needed. Wherever you normally have the paschal fire for the Easter Vigil can be the place people can bring unholy objects to have them burned, bad magazines, bad books, crystals, occult items etc.

People in non-married relationships may come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to get married. You will need teams of people to listen to them, to ascertain if they are free to enter into sacramental marriage, and then organise groups of couples for marriage ceremonies and renewal of vow ceremonies.

Purchase additional marriage registers and marriage certificates, at both parish and diocesan levels.

Under a move of God of such a magnitude, people are going to start manifesting the charismatic gifts of the Holy Spirit. Make sure you have literature and links on hand for them to be able to begin to understand what the Holy Spirit is doing in them, and how to co-operate with it. You are going to need protocols for how to discern and release prophetic words.

Some people may also manifest demonic influence. To deal with that, the diocesan bishop should have a plan in place. He is the chief exorcist of the diocese, and should have already appointed other exorcists. Training should begin now to enable more priestly exorcists to be appointed, and for all diocesan priests to be trained in what they are already authorised to do in such circumstances, and in what must be referred to those with specialist training.

Once the Holy Spirit activates hearts in repentance, then they will experience a hunger for catechesis. Start researching now to discover what good programmes are out there, and purchase or subscribe to them. Then when God's grace hits, get a quality video series set up for viewing in a large meeting room with automatic repeat.

Mobilise those who have been on team for RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) to be the 'go to' people for those that have specific theological questions or hurdles that they need to overcome in order to take the next step on their journey of faith.

You will need printed and laminated lists of good books for people to download on their mobile phones and similar devices on topics such as prayer, sacraments, catechism, charisms, scripture, conversion testimonies that are highly recommended. The last thing you want is for people hungry for catechesis to find online teaching resources that contain doctrinal errors.

It is our duty to help people get to the best sources of teaching quickly. Many people have mobile phones with internet capability, help them use that technology to help them get the recommended teaching that they need.

People on fire with the Holy Spirit are going to want to be active in evangelisation, immediately. Remind them that even St Paul went off to pray, fast and study first. Work out in advance a way to get them into teams to do the necessary preparation, preferably each with an experienced evangelist as a leader, and then send them out in teams. Each sent out team should return together for debriefing, further teaching based on their experiences, and prayer for those they reached out to.

Real repentance will want to express itself in acts of penance, viz prayer, fasting, almsgiving, service to the poor. It will be far better to give people direction on how to respond to this call to penance and reparation, than to leave them without guidance. Think now about how best such holy responses could be channelled to the greatest good, and pray for divine wisdom as you work on that. Consider where the greatest needs in your community are, and which local service organisations are the best ones with track records of integrity and effectiveness. Some people will want to go beyond what prudence suggests, and they will need to be helped so that they bank that fire a bit so as to become sustainable rather than flaming out quickly.

People are going to need to tell their stories about how God's grace rescued them. So you will need teams of listeners and recorders. The better stories should be publicly told, as ongoing encouragement to the church community and in praise to God. Discernment will be needed for who, when, and how such stories are to be released, and whether his/her conversion has deepened enough for it to withstand notoriety.

When such moves of God happen, it can get very chaotic and messy in a good way. The more we can help people ground the profound God experiences they have had in daily prayer, reading of scripture, and frequent recourse to the sacraments, and in the accountability of regular sharing of experiences in small to medium groups, the more fruitful and lasting that grace will be within them. But it takes all hands on deck to steward extraordinary moves of the Holy Spirit like this, far more than just the priest and a handful of helpers. Training up people now who could be effective leaders of small to medium groups would be very prudent.

Many ministry teams will need to go on 24/7 rostering initially, in shifts, especially the music ministry teams. Whatever normal was will have to be suspended for a while until a new normal settles.

The chances of big increases in people asking questions about the validity of past marriages are significant. Beginning to train extra people for the diocesan marriage tribunals would be a wise thing to do.

What needs to be prevented is a decision making bottle-neck focused on the person of the parish priest. Start thinking carefully about what decisions can be devolved to trusted people in senior parish leadership positions and which decisions absolutely must go to the parish priest, and what kind of communication structures would facilitate that. For common requests maybe a pre-prepared checklist of requirements for approval could be very useful. 

The more preparation gets done, the fewer people will dissipate the extraordinary grace and slip through the cracks unchanged and without being incorporated into the parish community of faith and into the mission of Jesus.

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​I will add to this when I can, especially useful links and file downloads.
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​Examples of small booklets of scripture:

Act of Contrition
Three versions suitable for Sacrament of Penance
4 per A4 page

Prayer for a Good Confession
6 per A4 page

This Christian Writing seminar with Larry Sparks from Destiny Image Publishing on 16 Nov 2019 contained a lot of good content, since it is rare to hear a publisher tell us not only what he is looking for - but also why those criteria are so important.
While he was talking about non-fiction Christian publishing in the Christian Living genre, the same principles are largely applicable to secular publishing as well.

If you are considering submitting a manuscript or a book proposal to Destiny Image Publishing, make sure that your work fits their mission statement, viz.

Destiny Image has been called to publish biblically sound, prophetic words to the Body of Christ. To that end, we seek to create a community founded on content that has an anointing to direct, encourage and strengthen the church as a whole.

These notes are only edited summaries of this seminar. The way the day went, Larry gave us introductory comments on why writers write and publishers publish, and then went on to talk about the 7 non-negotiable things he looks for when signing up a new author. As he spoke about those 7 green flags he is looking for, he often digressed. Those digressions I have put at the end under General Writing Tips.

Around Jan-Feb 2020 Larry is releasing a course that goes into far more detail than a seminar can accomplish. https://larrysparksministries.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/LarrySparksMinistries/ will soon have information about how to access that new course.
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Introduction
When people are looking for a book they are seeking a tangible solution to a problem.
Your written testimony about how you partnered with God and saw His power to bring breakthrough into your circumstances is valuable because:
•it reveals that God is a good father
•it releases hope to people who previously had no hope
•it contributes to filling the earth with His glory.
Books rarely become key revenue generators, but they are an opening up of a funnel that has the capacity to launch careers and brands.
Readers will want to know what the next step is to take after reading a book. They want to be on the journey with the author.
You must have a clear idea what your book is for and who it is for. Some books deliver nations from evils, some books redeem family bloodlines. Be OK with that, if God's purpose in calling you to write a book, is primarily to help a descendant of yours learn how to partner with God at some point in the future.
Psalm 101 (102):18 'Put this on record for the next generation, so that a race still to be born can praise God.'
Do not be afraid of niches, because you need to know what audience your book is written for. Your niche can be far bigger thank you think it is.

There are 7 green flags that a publisher needs before committing to publishing a Christian book.

1st Flag: The message has God's burning fire upon it.
It has to be in a subject area that you have authority in, that you come alive in, which contains the core message God is speaking through your life. It has to be a message that you have finished the journey on, and can show someone else the path to the same results. You only have permission to share the process if you also share the solution.
How do you know you have a burning message?
•It may be in your gifts, talents and expertise.
•It may be where you are experiencing a holy irritation as a catalyst/motivator.
•It may be something God has been speaking to you for some time but you are unaware of. To find it, take some unscheduled time with the Holy Spirit, several hours, a weekend, no longer than that, (because if it is a burning message from God it will carry some urgency) and intentionally ask Him to walk through your history with Him, your journals, your writings, your experiences of Him. Ask Him, what are the 4 most common themes? Pay attention to the memories that have a fire/weightiness upon them. As you ponder them, let the Holy Spirit renew those past encounters with Him in you, and lead you into deeper encounters with Him.
Also ask Him, 'What is the problem I am seeking through writing to solve'? Write down the answers that come to mind and get feedback on them from truth tellers you trust.

2nd Flag: You have identified your core message.
This is what you are most called to write about. Be very true to what God has called you to do, and stick with it. There is grace in your lane. If God decides to open up additional lanes, that is His job, not yours.
Consider what you talk about the most, what you blog about the most, and what most resonates with your readers as expressed through likes and comments.
It is possible to express the one message in many ways e.g. Renew your mind: in family, in business: in relationships.
Even if there are many books on your topic, there is only one you, and how you dealt with that topic is unique to you. However you must study the others in your market, and demonstrate that you present a unique angle and perspective on this topic.
Don't try to be someone else. God gives unique assignments and messages.

3rd Flag: Know your audience.
Learn to be content with the audience God gives you, and let Him grow it.
Visualise in as much detail as possible the type of people who will read your book. Is it primarily for Christians? Is it primarily for non-Christians.
Does it go on the Christian shelf in the bookstore or on the Self Help shelf?
If you try to write for 2 different audiences in the same book, you lose both of them.
If you are on social media or blogging, study what types of people are already in your audience. Ask others you trust to give you feedback on who they think is the best audience for your writing.
Do not despise the day of small beginnings nor the small niche. Often you will find that small niche is bigger than you expect.
Write for the benefit of your audience and be clear about what the features, advantages and benefits of your book are.
Eg Features: This book has 25 chapters on prayer and reflection questions at the end of each chapter. Advantages: What will this book help the end user to do, eg pray with specificity. Benefits: Where this book connects with the reader's life: what it promises to add to the reader's life.
Your blurb must clearly articulate the benefits to potential readers. If you read this book will it change your family? Will it give you a new vision for the possible? What new way of living the Christian life will it give you?
Believe it or not, the primary reason a person picks up a book is not to seek God.
In order of importance, these are the reasons a person picks up a book:
•Does it speak to their current predicament, the immediate problem in their lives (marriage, teens, dieting...)?
•Does it connect with something bigger, more transcendent, reveal the bigger picture?
•Is it concretely applicable? Does it give me the next step/show me how to change the world?
A book like 'The Purpose Driven Life' by Rick Warren covers all three reasons.
Remember: Some books solve the problem of 'I want to learn more about ……….', and that could be the life of Winston Churchill or how to be a better gardener.
Avoid 2 common ditches:
•The desire to make your book into an autobiography
•To give all teaching and no story or case studies.
Be a practitioner not just a theorist. Aim for a story per chapter, but the story must illustrate the transferable teaching of that chapter.

4th flag: Alignment (Character)
You can't be a lone ranger, and you do need to learn how to activate your endorsements in a healthy way. Identify 3-5 people who will stand with you, and help you get your message out to others, and vice versa.
At all costs protect your heart from opportunism, from relationships for the sake of gain.
I want to publish works from people who have vouch-able characters, subject mastery and theological protection.
There are 4 levels of alignment that I look for, in order of importance:
•Spiritual accountability to mothers and fathers in faith which includes ministry covering.
•The ministry networks with whom you are affiliated.
•Who your spiritual peers are, the people you do life and ministry with, and
•Endorsements from well-known names.
If you are in the right lane, blessing and favour from God will be upon it.

5th flag: Marketing and Building a Platform.
Find the 3 areas where people are currently engaging with you, and build there.
Use your social media accounts to funnel people to those online places you have control over (email list, website, podcast).
Make sure where you build is where your audience is.
Consistency in content builds a voice.
Find out how your audience likes to engage with you: do they prefer audio, video, visual, written? Start with online media where you feel most comfortable first.
Ask for feedback on your social media effectiveness from truth tellers.
Read the 3 star reviews of books in your field of expertise. They will give you very good ideas and help you avoid many pitfalls.
Some messages create demand where previously there was none e.g. James Goll and 'The Seer'. It called many people with the prophetic seer gifting 'out of the cave' and gave them and others language to talk about that gifting and realise that they weren't alone.
God may want you to write for the 3% who are early adopters. It won't sell as well as one written for the 70% adopters. Do it anyway. It may be God's plan for your work to open a breach for others to come through after you.

6th flag: Teachability
This has 2 dimensions:
•The ability to receive open and honest correction.
•The ability to be open to co-operation.
Being immovable on things like title and subtitle (eg 'God told me the title has to be …….') prevents you from getting the best solutions through the collaboration of a team of experts. Make it your goal to produce the best book possible, even if that means relinquishing control over the parts that currently matter most to you or having to re-write your favourite chapter from a different angle.

7th flag: Clear vision of a product funnel
Do you have a vision of the end result of someone reading your book?
What is the journey that you want to take them on?
These days a book functions a lot like a business card, as a way of introducing people to you, your message and your ministry.
Even if you don't yet have a vision for a product funnel, keep communication channels open about it.
A funnel can be broken down into price points:
The entry point is a freebie, something useful to your audience in exchange for their contact details.
The 2nd level is your book, with a price $9.99-$26.99.
The 3rd level is a course, an e-course, a coaching programme, anything to keep the conversation and engagement going, at a higher price, at least double the book price.
The 4th level is one-on-one consultations, at the highest price.

General Writing Tips
Become familiar with the traditional and the self-publishing processes.
If you self-publish go as excellent as you can on book cover and editing.
Avoid generic words in your title (e.g. faith, hope, love).
Your first book is often your experimental book, expect to improve in your subsequent books.
Covers need to be visible and clear at thumbnail level.
Traditional publishing normally takes 9-12 months. If you have a shorter than book length message that needs quick release, consider self-publishing, especially if you are a pastor or have a ministry. A 60-70 page message on a single topic that is currently relevant lends itself very well to self-publishing.
•Highly recommended reading:
Building a Story Brand by Don Miller
Platform by Michael Hyatt
and Tribes by Seth Godin
Complexity is the enemy of execution.
Seek to get your elevator pitch down to 90 seconds or less.
Study the top 50 books on Amazon and their subject matter, it will give you valuable insight in to what problems people are seeking solutions for: metrics like that don't lie.
On social media people want to feel like they connect with you.
Research until you find a publisher's mandate that matches your message: and send your manuscript/ book proposal there.
Embed links to your e-books for your website and freebies that feed your email list.
Keep your Introduction short.
Chapter 1 lays out the vision for your book.
Chapter 2 lays out the mission for your book.
Each chapter should have a problem-solution blue-print; even consider treating each chapter like a keynote speech.
Don't let your voice be edited out of the book, keep its unique parts intact.
Pique curiosity in your title.
Check with others that your title does not confuse about its content e.g. Happy Strife has connotations of marriage and wife about it, if that isn't your message, get a more effective title.
Be open to the possibility that you have only been given 1/4 of the book and that you might need to seek testimonies and case studies from others to compile into the book.
Ask God for whether His strategy for the book is just to produce that book, or whether He wants it to be stewarded into a brand.
Ask God to release the discernment you need.
Do not shy away from doing due diligence research, it is part of being faithful to your calling. Ask Him to release graces of fresh presentation and fresh language for ancient revelation. God is raising up people who will evangelise through writing; 'writing evangelists'.

'If you want to get published with Destiny Image' Tips
My publishing speciality is in Christian Living books, the kind you find at Cornerstone bookstores. Books I publish must have both testimony/stories of grace AND transferable teaching.
Harrison House is an imprint of Destiny Image that publishes rarer niche messages and shorter ones especially in the charismatic/pentecostal genre.
If your book doesn't fit our publishing mandate, and I believe it will do much better with a different publisher, I will refer your book to them.

Conclusion
Every assignment from God carries with it significance.
If you want to break writer's block, know that the times you write under obedience and cannot feel the flow of grace are just as sacred and blessed as when you do feel that anointed flow.
Be faithful; write the 1st chapter if that is all you have, the other chapters will come.
The outcome of a book is God's business; our task is to be faithful to the assignment He gives us.

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​A printer friendly version is available below (6 x A4 pages)

Remember, this is only an edited summary of what was given in the seminar.

Firstly a rough transcription of the prophetic words given that night; some prior to the talk, some afterwards:

•Find your shout and declaration again. Angels are putting trumpets to our lips. Declare what God is saying and not what anything else is saying. The truth of God is being rewritten over minds and hearts. God: 'But what do I say?' Pay attention to that and not to your circumstances. Echo what God is saying over us.
•(sung) There is a mighty echo. Come up higher. Can you hear the echo? See His angels all around. Let the trumpets sound. Let the people gather round. The Lord is coming on the clouds. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord. Holy ones I am calling You to Myself. Re-sound the sound of the trumpet sound. Holy mantles. Holy mandates. High and holy ones, you are My hope.

(the talk took place, see below)

•This council of the Lord is not just for church services, it is a realm that God is inviting us into as parents, and business leaders throughout the week, an invitation that doesn't require a building or a worship CD as access points. I am training My people to be supernatural in a very natural way.
•There are so many angels here. We have so much authority because we are in Jesus and He is the supreme authority over everything. In the story of Daniel it says, 'As soon as you prayed a command was given'. The angels are waiting for us to pray and declare so that they can be given their assignments.
•We were in the throne room, all of us, with Jesus on the throne. The four beasts with wings were there and the lampstands. The angels were singing, and we were singing with them. The elders bowed down and worshipped Him, and all their crowns came off because they were so bent before Jesus. When we come before Him in worship we are to be like them and bow down so low before Him that our crowns come off. As we walk closer and closer to Him we are bowing further before Him. We need to be bare before Him in order to receive from Him and give to Him.
•In a similar way to how native American wind-talkers were used in WW2, God wants to give us messages that the enemy cannot decode.
•God is repositioning us into different levels and areas of our lives e.g. spiritual warfare, intimacy, intercession, spiritual realms. We need to do something in the natural to co-operate with, appropriate and come into agreement with this action of His. (It was suggested that as a sign of our Yes we swap places with the person beside us).
•Isaiah 51:16 'I put My words into your mouth. I hid you in the shadow of My hand, when I spread out the heavens and laid the earth's foundations and said to Zion, 'You are My people.'' It is time for rain. Contend with Him for the promised rain. The rain will be a sign in the natural of what He is doing in the supernatural. God wants us to be reminded of the prophetic words that have been planted. He is raising up blueprints and strategies and He was a holy 'DO' partnership, people who don't just listen but who act upon His word. This is a multigenerational thing. A time when newer generations pick up the neglected/forgotten/as-yet-undiscovered destinies embedded in their families and run with them; to take on the family legacies given by God and to see them happen.
(This was primarily for the Central Coast, but for people all over the world as well.)
 
Secondly a rough transcription of the talk given by Larry Sparks, international speaker and publisher at Destiny Image  Publishers who studies how God has acted in past movements of the Holy Spirit and who seeks out the prophets God is raising up in our day in order to help relay the messages of God to the people of God. He is an American, married, and has a much loved daughter:
 
Australia is a testimony nation to the earth.
(speaking to the HopeUC worship team): Worship teams have the capacity to be key leaders in the council of the Lord, places that are reserved for His friends. He invites you there, and desires to share His secrets with you there. Songs birthed in the council of the Lord release the thunder of Heaven. We want those songs. They carry God's active power. The gift and inspiration of those songs belong to those who want to be a friend of God far, far more than they want to be professional, successful musicians.

This message is for Australia, but also for the nations.
Be obedient.
God is reforming or language a bit, explaining what standing in the council of the Lord means.
'Holy, Holy, Holy' is the song of Heaven that never gets stale, tired or old.
New encounters with God often occur when we tap into the ancient songs.
You can tell that someone has had a genuine encounter with God if they tremble with the awe and reverence of God upon their lips.
In this atmosphere tonight there is a sense of reverence.
At a recent prophetic roundtable I met a young woman named Hannah Brim, granddaughter of Dr Billye Brim, and she said, 'I see myself as a friend of Jesus, not as a prophet'.

Our identity in God has three levels.
First identity: friends of God, those who see and hear the Word of God in the council of the Lord.
Jer 23:16-18 'The Lord God of hosts says this: Do not listen to what those prophets say: they are deluding you, they retail visions of their own, and not what comes from the mouth of the Lord; to those who reject the Word of God they say, 'Peace will be yours', and to those who follow the dictates of a hardened heart, 'No misfortune will touch you'. But who has been present at the council of the Lord? Who has seen it and heard His Word? Who has paid attention to His Word in order to proclaim it?'
Second identity: intercessors with God, who know what to do with what they see and hear - including who to share it with, and when, and how. They ask Him, what you have revealed to me, is it for me alone? There are some secrets that God wants to share with us personally that are for us alone. Is it something I should share with four crazy faith-filled friends to help me process and steward this revelation? Is it for someone else, of for a group? Or is it for me primarily, and shareable with others later on?
Third identity: prophet of God, declaring what God authorises you to declare.
In our times we have great need of people secure in these three identities who can reliably and reputably receive God's messages for our region, our city, our church community, our nation, and who are in right relationships with church authorities and not itinerant lone rangers.

The realm of the council of the Lord is available to everyone, but highly exclusive, because it belongs only to those who prize their relationship with God above everything else.
Study Abraham and Moses, who are friends of God. Their bold prayers were actually high reverence because they knew the character of God so deeply. They were able to 'be confident then, in approaching the throne of grace, that we shall have mercy from Him and find grace when we are in need of help' Heb 4:16.
Friends of God are invited to know what is coming. If it happens to be negative, then they pray for that situation not to happen or for it to be mitigated, because they know God's delight is to show mercy. They appeal for mercy, even when judgment is deserved, eg Abraham concerning Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses concerning God's repudiation of Israel after the golden calf incident. If no one ever finds out that their prayers for this potentially negative situation were effective, then that doesn't bother them at all. They remind God what He has promised until that promise is fulfilled, no matter how long that 'until' takes. They contend for those promises with supernatural grit. They know that God has not forgotten the promises He made, even if it feels completely otherwise.

The Hebrew word for council means 'a circle of familiar friends'.

What distinguishes a true prophet of the calibre of Isaiah, Ezekiel etc from the rest of the prophets are their throne room encounters with God and their ability to stand in the council of the Lord where He reveals His plans. What qualifies prophets like this, are the encounters with God that leave a person completely undone.

For friendship with God obedience is necessary viz John 15: 14-15 'You are My friends if you do what I command you. I shall not call you servants any more, because a servant does not know his master's business; I call you friends because I have made known to you everything I have learnt from My Father.'
Amos 3:7 'No more does the Lord God do anything without revealing His plans to His servants the prophets.'
God wants us to know, 'You are welcome in My room'.
Heb 12:22-23 'What you have come to is mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a 'first-born son' and a citizen of heaven.'
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All of us are invited, but responding to that invitation requires much from us, including that we seek Him solely for the prize of the pleasure of His company.

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​Below is a printer friendly version (3 x A4 pages)

Remember, these are but rough notes that give the gist of the content of that night.

The following notes were compiled from various official Ehlers Danlos Syndrome websites, medical journal extracts, and blogs by people living with this genetic condition.

They were compiled to assist a friend, because many of the available websites are either too difficult to navigate or too full of precise medical terminology.

But the notes remain useful for anyone with this condition who needs to bring a new medical service provider up to speed quickly, and as a way of spreading awareness of the condition.

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Ehlers Danlos Syndrome
This syndrome belongs to a group of genetic connective tissue disorders.

Connective tissue is any type of biological tissue with an extensive extracellular matrix that supports, binds together, and protects organs.

In biology, the extracellular matrix is a three-dimensional network of extracellular macromolecules, such as collagen, enzymes, and glycoproteins, that provide structural and biochemical support of surrounding cells.

These tissues form a framework, or matrix, for the body, and are composed of two major structural protein molecules: collagen and elastin. There are many different types of collagen protein in each of the body's tissues.

Connective tissue diseases can have strong or weak inheritance risks, and can also be caused by environmental factors.

Collagen is the main structural protein in the extracellular space in the various connective tissues in the body. It is mostly found in fibrous tissues such as tendons, ligaments and skin.

Depending upon the degree of mineralization, collagen tissues may be rigid (bone), compliant (tendon), or have a gradient from rigid to compliant (cartilage). It is also abundant in corneas, blood vessels, the gut, intervertebral discs and the dentin in teeth.

A group of genetic disorders cause Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which results in a defect in collagen production.

In most cases EDS is an inherited condition. The minority of cases are not inherited. This means that they occur via spontaneous gene mutations. Defects in the genes weaken the process and formation of collagen.

All of the genes listed below provide instructions on how to assemble collagen, except for ADAMTS2. That gene provides instructions for making the proteins that work with collagen. The genes that can cause EDS, while not a complete list, include:

• ADAMTS2
• COL1A1
• COL1A2
• COL3A1
• COL5A1
• COL6A2
• PLOD1
• TNXB

 
People with EDS may initially be misdiagnosed with hypochondriasis, depression, PoTS (postural tachycardia syndrome) or chronic fatigue syndrome.
  
What are the symptoms of EDS?

•Fragile tissue:
 Skin tearing,
 small blood vessels bursting,
 easy bruising,
 osteopenia (weaker than normal bones)

•Pain:
 Joints and muscles affected,
 loss of elasticity,
 disrupted signalling
    (e.g. proprioceptive dysfunction (difficulties in sensing where body parts actually are, clumsiness),
    dysautonomia (malfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which is responsible for maintaining a constant internal temperature, regulating breathing patterns, keeping blood pressure steady, and moderating the heart rate. It is also involved in pupil dilation, sexual arousal, and excretion),
    and dystonia (a movement disorder where muscles contract uncontrollably. The contraction causes the affected body part to twist involuntarily, resulting in repetitive movements or abnormal postures.))

•Other major symptoms:
 Fatigue,
 haemorrhaging (bleeding),
 constipation,
 gastro-oesophagal reflux,
 dyspnea (shortness of breath/ 'air hunger') ,
 respiratory and sleeping disturbances,
 random bradypnea (abnormally slow breathing rate),
 tachycardia (heart rate exceeding normal rate)
 bradycardia (heart rate slower than normal rate),
 unstable blood pressure,
 cognitive difficulties (eg brain fog)

Collagen holds the body together, so it's no wonder EDS patients' symptoms can be so diverse. With numerous medical specialities, it's easy to miss a collagen defect presenting in various ways within potentially every bodily system.
 
Not all EDS patients suffer from frequent dislocations.
A subluxation is an incomplete or partial dislocation of a joint or organ.

People with EDS may be constantly subluxing joints, and not be aware of it because to them it is normal. Subluxations in EDS involve the joints easily sliding in and out of position.

Treatment and management of EDS
There is no known cure.
Treatment is supportive in nature.

Physical therapy and bracing may help strengthen muscles and support joints.

While some forms of EDS result in a normal life expectancy, those that affect blood vessels generally decrease life expectancy.

The genetically non-typical collagen causes no degeneration in the body.

It is the damage that accumulates from the body compensating for the non-typical collagen which results in degeneration.

Collagen is stretchy-gluey stuff so a rubber band analogy may aid understanding.

Most of the time when you stretch a rubber band, it goes back to its original shape and position. However, as the rubber band ages the time taken for it to return to that original shape and position lengthens. Then eventually either the rubber band stretches and stays stretched or it breaks.

Collagen is affected by hormones, so its natural strength waxes and wanes. This means someone with EDS will have good days, bad days, and truly horrible days. Collagen is definitely impacted in a woman by her menstrual cycle, strongest at ovulation, weakest at pre-menstruation.

If you have seen a puppet or marionette on a set of strings, it is a useful image for describing EDS. Because the usual connective tissue is weak (tendons, ligaments etc), the muscles have to do extra duty to keep the body in alignment. With weak connective tissue the default is for the body to slump, so it takes extra effort from the muscles (and consequently extra energy) to stop the body from slumping.

Someone with EDS has to tread a fine line between not doing too little and not doing too much. Keeping still isn't an option because that reduces muscle tone. At the same time doing anything that over-stretches the muscles risks a subluxation, dislocation or muscle damage. This is why getting into and out of a vehicle can be very troublesome and why carrying anything remotely heavy is risky.

For the same reason keeping away from crowds, where the risk of being bumped out of alignment is high, is a good thing.

Anything that can be done to prevent a person with EDS from being pushed or pulled beyond what they know his/her body can take is important. They know what pace is within their limits, so any request for them to hurry is ultimately counter-productive.

Soft flexible braces to help the muscles keep the body in alignment and prevent major subluxations and dislocations are good, but can often be beyond the person's ability to put the braces on by themselves.

Mobility aids can be helpful on bad days, or when traversing distances beyond what energy levels can tolerate. However, if by using the walking stick or activating the wheels on the wheelchair too much pressure goes on the various parts of the upper limbs, any benefit can be negated. It is all a very fine balancing act to get the optimum mix of aids and effort.

The pain levels a person with EDS experiences are similar to or worse than rheumatoid arthritis.

Non-typical collagen has a big impact on the digestive system because collagen is a major component of the valves that open and shut in the various parts of the digestive tract, and in connecting the muscles that push what is inside the digestive system along. So if the valve between oesophagus and stomach isn't working well, gastric reflux happens (heartburn); if the stomach doesn't empty properly then bloating happens; if the contents move too slowly then pooling happens, the contents get harder and constipation results. With this kind of scenario for constipation you can also get the situation where there are spurts of watery leakage around hardened stools.

The jaw is also subject to subluxation and dislocation which can impact upon chewing and speech.

Surgery for someone with EDS is very risky due to how fragile and prone to tearing his/her connective tissue is. Recovery times are also longer than average post-surgery. In particular, orthopaedic surgeons need to be reminded that their EDS patients have non-typical muscle function.

Extreme caution should be exercised in helping get someone who has EDS up from a fallen position. Anyone likely to face such a task (eg family) should study and get training in how to help someone with EDS up from a fall correctly and/or be familiar with how to call for an ambulance and inform them how prone to subluxation and dislocation the patient is.

Getting in to and out of chairs and beds and vehicles is always something a person with EDS is cautious in doing. Should they begin to experience sudden changes in blood pressure when doing these activities, then they will need someone to watch over them carefully when they attempt these activities for the purpose of preventing falls.

If at all possible, exposure to infectious people should be reduced. The last thing a person with EDS wants is the extra worry of getting neck and jaw out of alignment due to sneezing or coughing.

Advancing stages of degeneration may see trouble with swallowing, voicing and speaking. To suddenly not be able to call for help is a frightening thing, so plans should be put in place to minimise this eg. Small bell to ring; ICE button on mobile phone set up, someone else within line of sight, one of the various Vital Call or Medical Alert systems in place.

When swallowing becomes troublesome, dental care becomes crucial due to food parts remaining in the mouth that didn't get swallowed. Mouth washes and similar may be needed. Dentists need to be informed why a patient cannot open mouth as wide as others and why their dentin is more fragile.

Physiotherapy with someone who understands the need for gentle exercise to maintain muscle tone, and can give guidance as to how to exercise gently at home, will be beneficial and help maintain quality of life.

Anything that can be done to help a person with EDS to keep their body in good posture is beneficial.

Even a regular person tires of holding a phone to the ear for too long. Some kind of blue-tooth ear piece for phone calls would make receiving anything longer than a short phone call more comfortable for a person with EDS.

Sometimes a person with EDS will experience bouts of 'brain fog' and disorientation. It is something they have no control over.
Rearranging a bathroom so that it is possible to shower while sitting down, can reduce levels of muscle fatigue in people with EDS.

Headaches and migraines are rather common, and sensitivity to light (photophobia) caused by dry eyes is also frequently reported by people with EDS.
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Advancing stages of degeneration will see people with EDS deciding to no longer drive vehicles. This is because the fast and sudden requirements to put on the brakes or to swivel the head to check for danger become more difficult, and the increasing risk of having a dislocation that takes time to fix (which produces the fear 'Will I be able to get home?')
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Please offer up a prayer for all of those living with this condition and their families:

Dear God,
Please grant to all of those living with this medical condition the gift of swift and accurate medical diagnosis.
Their sufferings are normally silent and unseen, but very debilitating, and we know that You see what others do not,
that they are called by You to be imitators of the hidden life of Your Son Jesus who offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears on behalf of us all.
Please grant them special strength to deal with the uncertainties they face every day, and the pains and discomforts that attend those uncertainties.
Please send them assurance that they are loved by You, and that they have a special part in Your loving plan, and that You will always provide for what they need, down to the smallest details, and as lavishly as only You can. Amen. 

​In my roving internet travels I came across a post that grabbed by attention. The gist of the post was that an intercessor wanted a seat at the leadership team table, and the response was 'No', with the major argument being all leaders are intercessors but not all intercessors are leaders.
 
It struck me that the situation was handled poorly, when it could have had quite positive outcomes if handled better. The context seemed to imply that the leadership felt a bit threatened and weren't too keen on the personality of the intercessor.
 
So I want to come at this situation from 2 angles. The first angle is where intercession sits in the body of Christ, and the second angle is 'Why would a request like this be made in the first place?'
 
Each believer in Jesus Christ who has been incorporated into His Body through baptism shares in the priestly, prophetic and kingly ministry of Jesus. The priestly ministry is offering up prayer and sacrifice for others, the prophetic is telling of God's good news of salvation, and the kingly is service of the needy and vulnerable (eg traditionally widows, orphans and strangers).
 
We know that Jesus is continually interceding for us. Heb 7:25 'His power to save is utterly certain because He is living forever to interceded for all who come to God through Him'. We know that we are to follow Him and to imitate Him, our leader and Head.
 
This means that intercession for others is an expected and normal part of being a Christian. But just as with the prophetic and kingly ministries of Jesus, we share in them in various degrees according to the call of God upon our lives.
 
There is the ordinary call as given in 1 Tim 2:1-2, 'First of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone – petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet'.
 
To some the Holy Spirit gives a charism of intercession, which can take the form of a gift, ministry or office.
 
The gift normally manifests itself in an impulse or nudge from God to pray for a certain person or situation, and that impulse or urge lifts when the breakthrough is obtained. These tend to be short in duration and carry a degree of urgency eg You get woken up in the night with the need to pray for your nephew, you pray until peace comes, and the next day you find out he had been in a life and death situation. God can operate a gift like this in anyone at any time. You have a certainty that God wants you to pray for this person or situation, to pray right now, and even an understanding of how you are to pray – including what tools in your prayer arsenal you are to use in prayer. This is far beyond sitting in a circle and praying one after each other for your best guess at what the greatest needs are and your best guess at what prayers are aligned with God's will.
 
The ministry is the next level of charism where the Holy Spirit places prayer burdens upon a person, with some regularity and frequency, and involves responding with fasting and commitment and can include the experience of travailing in prayer. Generally the community catches on that when this person prays, God seems to answer quickly and powerfully, and those with a ministry of intercession get invited to intercessory prayer meetings.
 
The office is the next level of charism where it becomes increasingly obvious to the person and to the community that there is a special anointing upon their lives to pray for 'big stuff', think John Sanford and his intercessory metron for weather patterns and natural disasters. Other metrons could be for a city, a region, a nation or for particular groups of people (law enforcement, catechists) or particular situations or causes (cessation of abortion, conversion of teenagers, prayer partnering a ministry of the community). Those with an office like this usually develop mentoring and impartation roles to others less experienced in being used by the Holy Spirit with this charism.
 
If we recall the parable of Jesus about the persistent widow and the unjust judge, Luke 18: 1-8, then you can expect those with this charism to be people of perseverance, 'pester power', a bit intense at times, and maybe even a little pushy (think Abraham in Genesis 18:22-33). But if you remember that God made them this way for His special intercessory purposes, then you won't take too much offence at them, and give them a bit of leeway because you don't know just how heavy a burden God has placed upon them, and such a burden makes a person less able to see the big picture and wider perspectives. That is why they need good and understanding leadership which takes time to really listen to them - when the temptation is to fob them off at the first opportunity because they feel like an annoyance.
 
All leaders have a duty to intercede and pray for those who have been entrusted to their leadership. It is part of the job of a leader. Often those prayers are at the ordinary level unless there is a major threat or opportunity coming towards the community, when the charism at gift level will manifest. Leaders with prophetic gifts will have associated intercessory gifts because many times the promises of God require long term intercession in order to come to fruition.
 
Frequently a prophetic charism will lead to growth in intercessory charisms and an intercessory charism will lead to growth in prophetic charisms.
 
Why would a request like this be made in the first place?
 
It could be a genuine request according to the Will of God.
It could be a symptom of something lacking in the way leadership is conducted.
Or a bit of both.
 
A good leader will know whether the person claiming to be an intercessor has the charism of intercession and at what level he/she has it. If you don't know, then you will have to ask questions, listen carefully, and pray for discernment. It is part of the task of a leader to see the beginnings of ministry level charisms, to notice them, to nurture them, and to put boundaries, protections and communication channels in place to enable them to grow safely.
 
A wise leader will have communication channels in place so that regular updates of what God is doing in and through the prophets and intercessors in the leader's community are received. If independent reports from your intercessors show a shift to several intercessors praying for unmarried mothers, then that's probably a heads up from God about where He wants to develop the community's next outreach ministry.
 
If your leadership pipeline has stalled, and there have been no changes in senior leadership team in the last 5 – 10 years, then this request could be a symptom of not raising up the next generation of leaders.
 
If there has been a leadership emphasis and community culture of honouring those in visible positions of ministry leadership (preachers, pastors, worship leaders, youth leaders, administration) and not giving honour to the invisible positions of ministry (intercession, street evangelism, caring for the infants, sick and elderly, hospitality), then there is going to be various levels of frustration and not feeling valued among those in invisible positions of ministry and corresponding desires to be seen and appreciated. There is a human tendency for this imbalance to happen, and it has to be consciously fought against on a regular basis.
 
The request could be a disguised plea for help in discerning where God wants them to serve and/or the manifestation of a desire to be more involved and committed.
 
Therefore the first thing to do when a request like this comes to your leadership is to see it as a gift and opportunity, and not as a hassle.
 
Then you do your due diligence and work out whether at what level of charism the person is experiencing God's action in his/her life. The higher the level, the more likely God is in the request.
 
Then you do your due diligence and determine whether there are other charisms of the Holy Spirit regularly active in his/her life. The more there are, the more likely God is in the request.
 
Then you obtain some objective assessment of leadership potential. The StrengthsFinder questionnaire is a very good tool for this. The presence of influencing themes means that he/she should be in some form of leadership. Your task is then to work out where that should be happening, and the other theme results will give good clues to that answer. For example if the person is high in empathy and harmony, and has a theme from the influencing domain, then leadership of a hospital visitation or aged care visitation group might be the answer.
 
However the absence of influencing themes doesn't let you off the hook. You then need to look at the mix of themes of everyone on your senior leadership team and compare them with your intercessor requester. If the themes of the intercessor requester fill in the domain weaknesses of your senior leadership team, then God is in the request and you need to at least give it a 3 month trial and see how it goes.
 
If there no influencing themes and the themes they do have will not bring greater balance to the senior leadership team, then that's not where they are called at the moment. But there could be other ministry teams in the community for which they are a perfect fit. Work out where that is and plug him/her into it, reminding them that every leader is only as effective as the team they have around them, and every 'supporting the leader' role is important.
 
The bottom line is that if a person comes to you with a request to join your leadership team, you do them, yourself and the community a grave disservice unless you help get them into the ministry role that God has uniquely equipped them for.

On the evening of 16 September our family piled into the local independent cinema to watch the movie 'Unplanned'. It was the only local showing of the movie, made possible by the Fan Force website (it is something similar to crowd funding for special interest movies to prove to the cinema that there are enough movie patrons to make a showing worthwhile).
 
I had followed the build up to the movie, and its release in the United States through Instagram, and the buzz had been very positive. I had been especially impressed from comments made by people working in abortion clinics about how realistically and sensitively abortion workers had been portrayed. Also noted were the comments from mothers that it was safe to bring children of high school age to the movie.
 
Apart from knowing that it was the story of how a former Planned Parenthood clinic director had an experience that changed her into an incredibly effective pro-life activist, and that it had been one of the fruits of the 40 Days for Life campaigns, I really didn't know the details of the story.
 
Before the movie started we were warned that the first 15 minutes of the movie would be the toughest part of the movie to watch. There is some truth to that if you are only counting scenes where there is depiction of blood, but not if you are counting moments of moral horror.
 
I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen the movie for many reasons.
•to understand the many good yet misguided motivations of those who work in the abortion industry
•to begin to understand how horrendous a chemical abortion (RU486) actually is
•to rejoice in this modern day Damascus Road conversion experience and the story of God's grace, providence and bigger-than-could-have-been-imagined plans
•to be reminded that God does answer long term 'will it ever happen?' prayers in a spectacular manner
•to see the background of the story that I had experienced in real time at broad-brush level through the 40 Days for Life emails during the post World Youth Day 2008 campaigns
•to add another layer of determination and commitment to eradicating abortion from our world
 
I have no reservations about recommending the movie to anyone:
https://www.amazon.com/Unplanned-Ashley-Bratcher/dp/B07VGKNQLV
 
At the first opportunity after the movie, I read the book which was the source for the screen play. The book is even better than the movie, but I am glad I saw the movie first; and the movie is very faithful to the book.
https://www.amazon.com/Unplanned-Dramatic-Planned-Parenthood-Eye-Opening/dp/1414396546
 
Since then I have watched the two Journey Home episodes that interviewed Abby Johnson about part of her story that the movie and book do not touch upon, ie her conversion to Catholicism. The first one is from 2014 soon after the release of the book, and the other is from 2019 not long before the movie was released. Both are worth watching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khSiL9pwLhU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItYF1jJ4tLg
 
Her website is worth browsing:
http://www.abbyjohnson.org/
 
Abby Johnson has a subsequent book of compiled stories from former abortion workers. I have yet to read further than the first 10% of it, but that has been enough to get it onto my purchasing wish list.
https://www.amazon.com/Walls-Are-Talking-Abortion-Workers/dp/162164250X
 
This latter book is one of the fruits of Abby's ministry to those who want to leave the abortion industry. The 2019 Journey Home episode talks about how that ministry came to be.
​Here is the website for it:
https://abortionworker.com/
 
For another redemption story of God's mercy following the experience of abortion:
https://chnetwork.org/story/a-fathers-forgiveness/
This story depicts how much coercion plays a part in abortion.
 
Something that strikes me about these stories is how often women are put in the role of Pontius Pilate, faced with an innocent life that influential people and the crowd are insisting receive the death penalty; and yet the greater guilt is found with those who put the women in this role. What of the boyfriends, husbands, sexual opportunists and sexual predators who have been either active or passive in this coercion? What of their souls? Is there anyone calling them to redemption and conversion?
 
Dear God, please may we soon see abortion as illegal and unthinkable as slavery. Amen.

Towards the bottom of this blog-post is the 43 x A4 page document that contains the combined reference material from the Plenary Council Theme 6 cycle of blog-posts.

The links for each part of the cycle of blog-posts are here
Vision, Interview List and Pre-Requisite Reading
Open to Conversion
Open to Renewal
Open to Reform
Topics of Controversy
Sample Response re Women in the Church
Sample Response re Women in ministry and leadership 

A few of the blog-posts prior to 12 Aug 2019 also refer to the Plenary Council and Theme 6.

My hope is that this gathering of reference material may assist those working on the Plenary Council for Theme 6: Open to Conversion, Renewal and Reform at national, diocesan, deanery and parish levels. 

This particular part of my Plenary Council journey is now done.
I place whatever happens next in God's hands.