I think that one of our goals in life should be to make the world a better place.\u00a0 But how do we know when we have done this?<\/p>\n
I remember being part of a conversation with a group of teenagers where one of them, probably about fourteen or fifteen years old, said her parents were about to get her a cell phone.\u00a0 While I don’t think she used the word, she basically described a cell phone as\u00a0a necessity<\/em>.\u00a0 She talked about how it was a nuisance to have to borrow one of her friends cell phone to be able to text her other friends.\u00a0 I spoke up to say the phone is not a necessity<\/em>.\u00a0 How could it be?\u00a0 There are still places with no cell phone signal and life goes on. I survived the first thirty-one years of my life without one (over twenty of those years I had never seen\u00a0a cell phone except maybe on TV).<\/p>\n Cell phones can be convenient.\u00a0 Serving in a parish with several churches, it certainly is convenient so people can get hold of me.\u00a0 Of course, at one of the churches there is no cell signal and yet parish life continues.\u00a0 Ministry is done with or without the cell phone.\u00a0 Cell phones are convenient<\/em> but not essential<\/em>.<\/p>\n You might be wondering why I even bring this up.\u00a0 I just watched a story on the nightly news about the Serengeti in Africa.\u00a0 It is currently known as a very rural setting.\u00a0 The videos in the story showed elephants, lions, and other animals having free range.\u00a0 Vehicle travel is possible on “trails.”\u00a0 On the far side of the Serengeti are minerals that are used in manufacturing cell phones.\u00a0 The government is getting ready to built a road across the Serengeti for trucks hauling the minerals.\u00a0 The opposition is concerned about the effect on the wild animals.\u00a0<\/p>\n Some might say the animals are not important.\u00a0 I say they are part of God’s creation and have a role to play in the balance of nature.\u00a0 We must ask ourselves is it worth it?\u00a0 We can also ask ourselves are there alternatives?\u00a0 Can the road go around the Serengeti?<\/p>\n God has given us dominion over the Earth.\u00a0 It is a beautiful place.\u00a0 Progress cannot be measured by how many gadgets we have.\u00a0 The only progress that really matters is progress towards fulfilling God’s will for us.<\/p>\n Peace,<\/p>\n Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I think that one of our goals in life should be to make the world a better place.\u00a0 But how do we know when we have done this? I remember being part of a conversation with a group of teenagers where one of them, probably about fourteen or fifteen years old, said her parents were …<\/p>\n