Quintessential Quinciensis
by The Rt. Rev. Keith L. Ackerman, SSC

I have recently been introduced to “Throwback Thursday.” Forgive me for being so “behind the times,” but being introduced to these concepts gives me a chance to observe without prejudice. I am amazed at how technology is misused by the clergy today. Looking back at history is a good thing, but doing so nostalgically is a bit peculiar. Some clergy tend to revisit the external elements of history, much of which is not their own history, and portray it as if it had been their own particular experience. This is not bad, in and of itself, but all too often this nostalgic approach excludes the possibility of making history. Parishes, for example, have proclaimed a “golden age” in their history, and give more enthusiasm to that by-gone era than to the present and the future. God is a God of the past, the present and the future, and the only significant “throwback Thursday” takes us to a table in an Upper Room. This is a history that continues and ultimately leads us not to the extrinsic realities of the Last Supper but to the intrinsic realty of Christ’s Real Presence.