The End

introduction - part 2

The Bible:
"The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen" 1 Peter 4:7-11

Father Darby:
Today I visited the slum area in my parish. Poverty has become a problem in my area. We used to be the richest country in the world and yet there are more and more poor people. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. This is so sad to experience. The politicians seem to not have any solutions or they stopped caring. The poor people have a challenge to survive every day. It is worse for the old people and the children. When you do not have proper meals and you live in cold and wet conditions, it makes you would think that life is a misery. Despite this, I see so much Christian love and compassion in the slums. The people do their best to help each other. As a priest, I do my best to bring hope to these people. There are food banks where shops donate food and we distribute this food to the needy. There is also a church club for the children where they can do some fun activities. We had some activities for the old people but had to close this because of lack of funds. Throughout history, there have always been poor people. As humans, we have never learned how to share.

Andrew:
It's sad when you no longer can go shopping in peace. A woman and her young child were outside the shop begging for money. I heard that these beggars can get so much alms in an hour that I can make in a day! When she asked me for some money, I got mad at her. I told her that it was shameful she used her daughter to help beg. The girl should be in school! The woman herself could stop being lazy and get a job. I imagined that she used her day begging to get money for her drugs and alcohol. It's these people that make this country an embarrassment. They expect hard-working people like me to pay high taxes so they can get welfare benefits. Even with the welfare benefits, these people tried to squeeze more money out of hard-working people. Needless to say, I arrested the woman and her child is now in the custody of child services. She begged the wrong person.

Chloe:
Love is a strange thing. When I got married to my husband, I was deeply in love. This lasted 6 years and then I started to see his true colours. My parents tell me that marriage is for life and it means that I should work at making the marriage work. Why should I do this? You either love a person or you do not. You either have feelings or not. I could have tried marriage counselling or tried to change him. The thing is that marriage is such an old-fashioned concept. Life-long marriage has been forced upon us since the beginning of time. Often the women had no say in a marriage. There are even forced marriages in today's world. In some countries, young girls get married! I am not letting traditions or the Church force me to keep loving a man. I no longer love him. I will not waste my time rekindling a love that is dead when there could be a man out there who will suit me for the next stage of my life.

Bishop O'Keeffe:
I am a sinner and weak in many ways. Why do I say this? Today I was with a young priest that I have known for a few years. We have been having a gay relationship. The church thinks that homosexuality is a sin. This can be true. I am a bishop and a leader within the church. It is my responsibility to show an example to people. I am only just a human. A human being is a sexual feeling. We have sexual needs. We can suppress these and promise to be celibate, but suppressing these life needs cannot be good. It has to affect people's mental state. I will be so controversial as to say that Jesus must have had sexual desires. Many people believe he had a relationship with Mary Magdalene. This theory shocks and disgusts many believers. I say who cares? It shows that he was human. The problem is that the Catholic Church tells its priests not to marry or be in love with anyone. Is this not an impossible promise, Maybe if I had more faith it would help me. The fact is that have very little faith. Most of the time, I doubt there is a God. The strange thing is that I was informed that I would be a cardinal. Why would God want someone who doubted so much in this position?