Friday, March 30, 2012
Pro-life provisions in US bishops' grant ruled unconstitutional
Pro-life provisions in US bishops' grant ruled unconstitutional. Abortion and contraception are so much a right, that the Church which has provided the largest, most qualified assistence to these women victimized by the sex trade, has been effectively cast aside from receiving money to support the effort. Sad...
Obama Praises Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz in New Video | LifeNews.com
Obama Praises Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz in New Video
How sad it is that those who place profit over the people they claim to serve, those who would see the only choice as murder (versus adoption or taking responsibility) are praised. While I agree with the president that women are not a special interest group, he must remember that the only interest of PP is money, murder, and self.
How sad it is that those who place profit over the people they claim to serve, those who would see the only choice as murder (versus adoption or taking responsibility) are praised. While I agree with the president that women are not a special interest group, he must remember that the only interest of PP is money, murder, and self.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Divorce
What does the Church teach about divorce? Marriage, again, is a sacrament in the Church. Assuming the couple was free to marry, and had the correct intentions (wanting to be married, knowing what they were entering, etc), they are married until natural death. Once the sacrament occurs, it is only ended in the death of one of the spouses. When a couple divorces, it only ends a legal marriage, and does not affect the sacrament. This means that they are presumed to be married until it is shown that the sacrament did not occur. A divorced man or woman (who remains unmarried) remains in good standing with the Church and can receive the sacraments. The Church treats them as if they are little more than legally separated. See the next weeks’ articles for more on this.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Pastor's Notes for 3/25
Dear parishioners,
Our sympathy to the family of Hank Bernardy, who died a few weeks ago. We held a memorial service for him this last Friday. May he rest in peace.
This is the last week before Holy Week already. Are you prepared? I encourage you now to review the liturgical schedule if you are a lector, server, etc., for next week. Make time next week to attend especially the Triduum services. With the new translation, they will be 'new' for all of us! If you haven't yet, make time, too, for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We will have our communal celebrations next Sunday (1 at St. Mary, 2:30 at OLV, and 4 at St. Anne's). I am still looking for help to prepare a meal for the 5 priests in attendance.
This week is also the Chrism Mass at St. Anastasia's in Hutchingson. It is a beautiful liturgy, and you are welcome to attend. If you do, could you help me collect the sacred oils? Call me!
Last week, I finished my first revised draft of the book I am in process of writing. I have it in the hands of a proofreader currently, and will be taking it from there. It has proven to be a challenge, but I like how it seems to be coming together. I hope that many will find it useful for it years to come.
In Christ,
Fr. Todd Petersen
Our sympathy to the family of Hank Bernardy, who died a few weeks ago. We held a memorial service for him this last Friday. May he rest in peace.
This is the last week before Holy Week already. Are you prepared? I encourage you now to review the liturgical schedule if you are a lector, server, etc., for next week. Make time next week to attend especially the Triduum services. With the new translation, they will be 'new' for all of us! If you haven't yet, make time, too, for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We will have our communal celebrations next Sunday (1 at St. Mary, 2:30 at OLV, and 4 at St. Anne's). I am still looking for help to prepare a meal for the 5 priests in attendance.
This week is also the Chrism Mass at St. Anastasia's in Hutchingson. It is a beautiful liturgy, and you are welcome to attend. If you do, could you help me collect the sacred oils? Call me!
Last week, I finished my first revised draft of the book I am in process of writing. I have it in the hands of a proofreader currently, and will be taking it from there. It has proven to be a challenge, but I like how it seems to be coming together. I hope that many will find it useful for it years to come.
In Christ,
Fr. Todd Petersen
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Religious freedom rally draws a crowd in San Francisco
I was unable to attend the rally for Religious Freedom, but was able to take some time for prayer. I was pleased to read the linked report, and laughed at the 'miracle' attributed to President Obama:
At the rally, Father Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press told the crowd that when Obama was elected, "some people thought they were voting for a Messiah."
"Last month, he performed a true miracle," Fessio said. "He united all of the Catholic bishops in the U.S."
Friday Fax: US Bullies “Contraceptive Mandate” on International Community
US Bullies “Contraceptive Mandate” on International Community
Contraception is being treated as a paramount right, and fertility is treated as the worst disease… We face a tremendous battle, not over contraception (alone, anyway) but over the very culture. May sanity prevail.
Contraception is being treated as a paramount right, and fertility is treated as the worst disease… We face a tremendous battle, not over contraception (alone, anyway) but over the very culture. May sanity prevail.
Further evidence of a lost understanding to Marriage
New Marriage Mockery: Bride Marries Self
If we every needed to have a conversation of the true definition of marriage, it is now!
Last week, Nadine Schweigert married herself in a symbolic wedding ceremony. The 36-year-old divorced mom of three wore blue satin and clutched a bouquet of white roses as she walked down the aisle before a gathering of 45 friends and family members in Fargo, North Dakota.
She vowed to “to enjoy inhabiting my own life and to relish a lifelong love affair with my beautiful self,” reports Fargo’s InForum newspaper . After the ring was exchanged with the bride and her inner-groom, guests were encouraged to “blow kisses at the world,” and later, eat cake.
Schweigert, who followed the ceremony with a solo honeymoon in New Orleans, claims the wedding was her way of showing the world she’s learned to love and accept herself as a woman flying solo.
“I was waiting for someone to come along and make me happy,” she told reporter Tammy Swift . “At some point, a friend said, ‘Why do you need someone to marry you to be happy? Marry yourself.’”
If we every needed to have a conversation of the true definition of marriage, it is now!
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Marriage
What does the Church teach about marriage? Marriage is a sacrament (visible sign of invisible reality) in which a man and a woman vow to each other and to God to give themselves to each other until death shall separate them. Marriage has as its ends procreation (the gift of children in the natural order) and union (the gift of the unity of the couple). It is a unique relationship, and remains as the first gift of God to humanity – the complementarity of the sexes for the rearing of children.
Monday, March 19, 2012
Obama Admin Finalizes Rules: $1 Abortions in ObamaCare | LifeNews.com
Obama Admin Finalizes Rules: $1 Abortions in ObamaCare
For those that wanted the article that stated that the ObamaCare would require $1 abortions, here it is:
It’s official. The concern pro-life organizations had about the ObamaCare legislation funding abortions has been confirmed, as the Obama administration has issued the final rules on abortion funding governing the controversial health care law.
Nestled within the “individual mandate” in the Obamacare act — that portion of the Act requiring every American to purchase government — approved insurance or pay a penalty — is an “abortion premium mandate.” This mandate requires all persons enrolled in insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage to pay a separate premium from their own pockets to fund abortion. As a result, many pro-life Americans will have to decide between a plan that violates their consciences by funding abortion, or a plan that may not meet their health needs.
The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a final rule regarding establishment of the state health care exchanges required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
As a knowledgeable pro-life source on Capitol Hill informed LifeNews, as authorized by Obamacare, “The final rule provides for taxpayer funding of insurance coverage that includes elective abortion” and the change to longstanding law prohibiting virtually all direct taxpayer funding of abortions (the Hyde Amendment) is accomplished through an accounting arrangement described in the Affordable Care Act and reiterated in the final rule issued today.
“To comply with the accounting requirement, plans will collect a $1 abortion surcharge from each premium payer,” the pro-life source informed LifeNews. “The enrollee will make two payments, $1 per month for abortion and another payment for the rest of the services covered. As described in the rule, the surcharge can only be disclosed to the enrollee at the time of enrollment. Furthermore, insurance plans may only advertise the total cost of the premiums without disclosing that enrollees will be charged a $1 per month fee to pay directly subsidize abortions.”
The pro-life advocate told LifeNews that the final HHS rule mentions, but does not address concerns about abortion coverage in “multi-state” plans administered by the Federal Government’s Office of Personell Management (OPM).
“There is nothing in the Affordable Care Act to prevent some OPM (government administered) plans from covering elective abortion, and questions remain about whether OPM multi-state plans will include elective abortion,” the pro-life source said. “If such plans do include abortion, there are concerns that the abortion coverage will even be offered in states that have prohibited abortion coverage in their state exchanges.”
The final rule indicates: “Specific standards for multi-state plans will be described in future rulemaking published by OPM…”
Set to go into effect in 2014, the unconstitutional provisions found in Section 1303 of the Obamacare Act compel enrollees in certain health plans to pay a separate abortion premium from their own pocket, without the ability to decline abortion coverage based on religious or moral objection.
That provision was the subject of a legal document that Bioethics Defense Fund’s Dorinda C. Bordlee, lead counsel for the group, submitted to the Supreme Court in February.
“This violates the Free Exercise Clause because religious exemptions are made for groups such as the Amish who morally object to purchasing any insurance, but no exemptions are made for Americans who have religious or moral objections to abortion,” Bordlee said.
“President Obama’s healthcare overhaul includes an ‘abortion premium mandate’ that blatantly violates the conscience rights and First Amendment religious rights of millions of Americans,” AUL president Charmaine Yoest said. “Nowhere in the Constitution does it require Americans to violate their beliefs and pay for abortions.”
ADF Senior Counsel Steven Aden says Americans should not be compelled to pay for other people’s elective abortions.
“No one should be forced to violate their conscience by paying for abortions, but that’s precisely what ObamaCare does,” he explained. “ObamaCare requires that employees enrolled in certain health plans pay a separate insurance premium specifically to pay for other people’s elective abortions and offers no opt-out for religious or moral reasons. Such a mandate cannot survive constitutional scrutiny.”
BDF president and general counsel Nikolas Nikas said the individual mandate not only forces individuals into private purchases, it also effectively mandates personal payments for surgical abortion coverage, without exemption for an individual’s religious or moral objections.
He told LifeNews in an email, “Like a Russian nesting doll, the individual mandate has nestled within it a hidden, but equally unconstitutional scheme that effectively imposes an ‘abortion premium mandate’ that violates the free exercise rights of millions of Americans who have religious objections to abortion.”
For those that wanted the article that stated that the ObamaCare would require $1 abortions, here it is:
It’s official. The concern pro-life organizations had about the ObamaCare legislation funding abortions has been confirmed, as the Obama administration has issued the final rules on abortion funding governing the controversial health care law.
Nestled within the “individual mandate” in the Obamacare act — that portion of the Act requiring every American to purchase government — approved insurance or pay a penalty — is an “abortion premium mandate.” This mandate requires all persons enrolled in insurance plans that include elective abortion coverage to pay a separate premium from their own pockets to fund abortion. As a result, many pro-life Americans will have to decide between a plan that violates their consciences by funding abortion, or a plan that may not meet their health needs.
The Department of Health and Human Services has issued a final rule regarding establishment of the state health care exchanges required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
As a knowledgeable pro-life source on Capitol Hill informed LifeNews, as authorized by Obamacare, “The final rule provides for taxpayer funding of insurance coverage that includes elective abortion” and the change to longstanding law prohibiting virtually all direct taxpayer funding of abortions (the Hyde Amendment) is accomplished through an accounting arrangement described in the Affordable Care Act and reiterated in the final rule issued today.
“To comply with the accounting requirement, plans will collect a $1 abortion surcharge from each premium payer,” the pro-life source informed LifeNews. “The enrollee will make two payments, $1 per month for abortion and another payment for the rest of the services covered. As described in the rule, the surcharge can only be disclosed to the enrollee at the time of enrollment. Furthermore, insurance plans may only advertise the total cost of the premiums without disclosing that enrollees will be charged a $1 per month fee to pay directly subsidize abortions.”
The pro-life advocate told LifeNews that the final HHS rule mentions, but does not address concerns about abortion coverage in “multi-state” plans administered by the Federal Government’s Office of Personell Management (OPM).
“There is nothing in the Affordable Care Act to prevent some OPM (government administered) plans from covering elective abortion, and questions remain about whether OPM multi-state plans will include elective abortion,” the pro-life source said. “If such plans do include abortion, there are concerns that the abortion coverage will even be offered in states that have prohibited abortion coverage in their state exchanges.”
The final rule indicates: “Specific standards for multi-state plans will be described in future rulemaking published by OPM…”
Set to go into effect in 2014, the unconstitutional provisions found in Section 1303 of the Obamacare Act compel enrollees in certain health plans to pay a separate abortion premium from their own pocket, without the ability to decline abortion coverage based on religious or moral objection.
That provision was the subject of a legal document that Bioethics Defense Fund’s Dorinda C. Bordlee, lead counsel for the group, submitted to the Supreme Court in February.
“This violates the Free Exercise Clause because religious exemptions are made for groups such as the Amish who morally object to purchasing any insurance, but no exemptions are made for Americans who have religious or moral objections to abortion,” Bordlee said.
“President Obama’s healthcare overhaul includes an ‘abortion premium mandate’ that blatantly violates the conscience rights and First Amendment religious rights of millions of Americans,” AUL president Charmaine Yoest said. “Nowhere in the Constitution does it require Americans to violate their beliefs and pay for abortions.”
ADF Senior Counsel Steven Aden says Americans should not be compelled to pay for other people’s elective abortions.
“No one should be forced to violate their conscience by paying for abortions, but that’s precisely what ObamaCare does,” he explained. “ObamaCare requires that employees enrolled in certain health plans pay a separate insurance premium specifically to pay for other people’s elective abortions and offers no opt-out for religious or moral reasons. Such a mandate cannot survive constitutional scrutiny.”
BDF president and general counsel Nikolas Nikas said the individual mandate not only forces individuals into private purchases, it also effectively mandates personal payments for surgical abortion coverage, without exemption for an individual’s religious or moral objections.
He told LifeNews in an email, “Like a Russian nesting doll, the individual mandate has nestled within it a hidden, but equally unconstitutional scheme that effectively imposes an ‘abortion premium mandate’ that violates the free exercise rights of millions of Americans who have religious objections to abortion.”
Men Model Their Lives After Christ | Daily News | NCRegister.com
Men Model Their Lives After Christ
March 11 issue feature on how Catholic conferences prompt conversions.
Share by JIM GRAVES 03/18/2012 Comment
– Shutterstock
Five years ago, Richard Lane of St. Louis attended an event with Promise Keepers, a Protestant organization that helps men develop a relationship with Christ. It drew 15,000. He was inspired by the event, but wondered why the Catholic Church didn’t have a similar movement.
So he went to his archbishop, Raymond Burke, and asked him if he could launch an annual Catholic conference for men in the archdiocese. The conference’s purpose was to get men excited about living their Catholic faith, and then to return to their parishes to form Catholic men’s apostolates that would meet regularly and support and encourage one another in the faith. Archbishop Burke (today a Rome-based cardinal in charge of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s highest court) gave him an enthusiastic “Yes.” That was the beginning of Catholic Men for Christ (CatholicMenforChrist.org).
The first conference was held in 2008, with 1,200 attending. The conference featured many prominent Catholic speakers, such as Detroit deacon and convert Alex Jones. The conferences have continued annually and still draw many: The 2012 conference was just held Super Bowl weekend. The featured speakers included the current archbishop of St. Louis, Robert Carlson.
“The men really enjoy it and can’t wait for it each year,” said Lane.
The successful story of the men’s conference movement over the last decade has been repeated in many major cities and dioceses across the country. Father Larry Richards, one of the most popular speakers on the men’s conference circuit, called it “the biggest movement in the Church.”
Lane, himself a sought-after speaker, remarked, “Men’s conferences give Catholic men the opportunity to share the fire of the Gospel with other Catholic men.”
His own experience fuels his evangelization zeal. Lane was raised a Lutheran and converted to Catholicism in 2003. He began passing out Bibles and preaching on street corners. Today, he has a full-time Catholic apostolate, Qorban Ministries.
Lane is the son of NFL Hall of Fame member Dick “Night Train” Lane (1927-2002), and he frequently uses sports analogies in his talks. In one of his talks, for example, he speaks about the “six inches of daylight” a running back in football looks for to break through a defensive line: “Matthew 7:13 tells us the road to heaven is narrow and the gate to hell wide. When that running back sees his ‘six inches of daylight,’ he hits it hard to break through and score. When we recognize that narrow road, we have to hit it hard and break through to heaven.”
Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers is also a favorite speaker at men’s conferences. He is a deacon serving the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., and also has an evangelization apostolate (DynamicDeacon.com).
He recognizes how vital faith formation is for men: “Men are sucked into the many lies of our culture. They get involved with the culture of pornography, contraception and abortion and get pulled away from the men they’re called to be.”
He seeks to be “a witness of Christ and Christ crucified” and “to encourage men not to just know, but live the Catholic faith.” As he puts it, “The Holy Spirit can transform us, and we can turn the culture around.”
Burke-Sivers’ experiences with his father, who was hostile to religion and divorced his mother, taught him from an early age the importance of men accepting the responsibilities of fatherhood. He lamented, “My dad loved alcohol, women and cigarettes more than us. Men need to be servant leaders to their wives and children and be an example of Christ to them.” (Burke-Sivers would later have an emotional reconciliation with his father, who came to embrace religion after watching a series his son did for EWTN.)
Burke-Sivers was naturally drawn to the Catholic faith, became an altar boy and even spent four years in a Benedictine monastery. “I found the life of a monk appealing,” he recalled. “The Benedictine’s motto is ‘Pray and work,’ a wonderful combination.”
He chose marriage as his vocation, moved to Portland, and today is the father of four children. He works in college security, but devotes much of his free time to the diaconate and his apostolate.
He said there has been an “explosion” in the number of men’s conferences in recent years, perhaps due to more men “recognizing the emptiness of their lives and wanting to be free from the power of Satan.”
Burke-Sivers said the end goal of the conferences is to “create a spark to get men to be active in men’s groups in their own parishes, so that they can continue to grow spiritually when the post-conference feeling goes away.”
Hector Molina is another popular men’s conference speaker. He became active in the Catholic faith at age 15, after having a conversion experience on a retreat. He worked as a pastoral associate at a Brooklyn parish for 11 years. He became director of Hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and then was appointed by then-Archbishop Burke as head of the Office of New Evangelization.
Two years ago he became a “freelance” apologist (HectorMolina.net): “I discovered I had a passion for evangelization, preaching the Good News.”
He speaks regularly at men’s conferences and retreats and also leads seminars. He is dedicated to men’s ministry because he believes “it is the most under-served community in the Church.”
He wants to reach the men who conclude that religion is “a woman’s domain.” He sees a direct correlation between men not going to church and their failure to fulfill their proper roles in society, such as not taking responsibility for their offspring.
The good news, he believes, is that “the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction.” More men do want to assume the role of shepherd and guide to their families, and those involved in evangelization, including bishops, are seeing the need to reach out specifically to men. Men’s conferences are a tool in “awakening the sleeping giant” of well-meaning but misguided men, teaching them what it means to be Catholic men.
Molina recently led a men’s retreat in Phoenix. Many attendees told him, “If I’d only heard this when I was younger.”
“Men need to be mentored, to be properly formed,” Molina said. “They need to know God has a plan for their lives and that they should follow Christ, the ultimate model of manhood.”
He said that Christ teaches men such things as heroic virtue, self-sacrifice, devotion to others, and how to be a “suffering servant.” Men, in turn, need to be an image of Christ to their wives, models of virtue and protectors of their families. The role of the evangelist, Molina believes, is to point men to this noble end: “A man needs another man to call him to manhood.”
Jim Graves writes from Newport Beach, California.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/men-model-their-lives-after-christ1?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+National+Catholic+Register#When:2012-03-18#ixzz1pZZTIcay
March 11 issue feature on how Catholic conferences prompt conversions.
Share by JIM GRAVES 03/18/2012 Comment
– Shutterstock
Five years ago, Richard Lane of St. Louis attended an event with Promise Keepers, a Protestant organization that helps men develop a relationship with Christ. It drew 15,000. He was inspired by the event, but wondered why the Catholic Church didn’t have a similar movement.
So he went to his archbishop, Raymond Burke, and asked him if he could launch an annual Catholic conference for men in the archdiocese. The conference’s purpose was to get men excited about living their Catholic faith, and then to return to their parishes to form Catholic men’s apostolates that would meet regularly and support and encourage one another in the faith. Archbishop Burke (today a Rome-based cardinal in charge of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s highest court) gave him an enthusiastic “Yes.” That was the beginning of Catholic Men for Christ (CatholicMenforChrist.org).
The first conference was held in 2008, with 1,200 attending. The conference featured many prominent Catholic speakers, such as Detroit deacon and convert Alex Jones. The conferences have continued annually and still draw many: The 2012 conference was just held Super Bowl weekend. The featured speakers included the current archbishop of St. Louis, Robert Carlson.
“The men really enjoy it and can’t wait for it each year,” said Lane.
The successful story of the men’s conference movement over the last decade has been repeated in many major cities and dioceses across the country. Father Larry Richards, one of the most popular speakers on the men’s conference circuit, called it “the biggest movement in the Church.”
Lane, himself a sought-after speaker, remarked, “Men’s conferences give Catholic men the opportunity to share the fire of the Gospel with other Catholic men.”
His own experience fuels his evangelization zeal. Lane was raised a Lutheran and converted to Catholicism in 2003. He began passing out Bibles and preaching on street corners. Today, he has a full-time Catholic apostolate, Qorban Ministries.
Lane is the son of NFL Hall of Fame member Dick “Night Train” Lane (1927-2002), and he frequently uses sports analogies in his talks. In one of his talks, for example, he speaks about the “six inches of daylight” a running back in football looks for to break through a defensive line: “Matthew 7:13 tells us the road to heaven is narrow and the gate to hell wide. When that running back sees his ‘six inches of daylight,’ he hits it hard to break through and score. When we recognize that narrow road, we have to hit it hard and break through to heaven.”
Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers is also a favorite speaker at men’s conferences. He is a deacon serving the Archdiocese of Portland, Ore., and also has an evangelization apostolate (DynamicDeacon.com).
He recognizes how vital faith formation is for men: “Men are sucked into the many lies of our culture. They get involved with the culture of pornography, contraception and abortion and get pulled away from the men they’re called to be.”
He seeks to be “a witness of Christ and Christ crucified” and “to encourage men not to just know, but live the Catholic faith.” As he puts it, “The Holy Spirit can transform us, and we can turn the culture around.”
Burke-Sivers’ experiences with his father, who was hostile to religion and divorced his mother, taught him from an early age the importance of men accepting the responsibilities of fatherhood. He lamented, “My dad loved alcohol, women and cigarettes more than us. Men need to be servant leaders to their wives and children and be an example of Christ to them.” (Burke-Sivers would later have an emotional reconciliation with his father, who came to embrace religion after watching a series his son did for EWTN.)
Burke-Sivers was naturally drawn to the Catholic faith, became an altar boy and even spent four years in a Benedictine monastery. “I found the life of a monk appealing,” he recalled. “The Benedictine’s motto is ‘Pray and work,’ a wonderful combination.”
He chose marriage as his vocation, moved to Portland, and today is the father of four children. He works in college security, but devotes much of his free time to the diaconate and his apostolate.
He said there has been an “explosion” in the number of men’s conferences in recent years, perhaps due to more men “recognizing the emptiness of their lives and wanting to be free from the power of Satan.”
Burke-Sivers said the end goal of the conferences is to “create a spark to get men to be active in men’s groups in their own parishes, so that they can continue to grow spiritually when the post-conference feeling goes away.”
Hector Molina is another popular men’s conference speaker. He became active in the Catholic faith at age 15, after having a conversion experience on a retreat. He worked as a pastoral associate at a Brooklyn parish for 11 years. He became director of Hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and then was appointed by then-Archbishop Burke as head of the Office of New Evangelization.
Two years ago he became a “freelance” apologist (HectorMolina.net): “I discovered I had a passion for evangelization, preaching the Good News.”
He speaks regularly at men’s conferences and retreats and also leads seminars. He is dedicated to men’s ministry because he believes “it is the most under-served community in the Church.”
He wants to reach the men who conclude that religion is “a woman’s domain.” He sees a direct correlation between men not going to church and their failure to fulfill their proper roles in society, such as not taking responsibility for their offspring.
The good news, he believes, is that “the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction.” More men do want to assume the role of shepherd and guide to their families, and those involved in evangelization, including bishops, are seeing the need to reach out specifically to men. Men’s conferences are a tool in “awakening the sleeping giant” of well-meaning but misguided men, teaching them what it means to be Catholic men.
Molina recently led a men’s retreat in Phoenix. Many attendees told him, “If I’d only heard this when I was younger.”
“Men need to be mentored, to be properly formed,” Molina said. “They need to know God has a plan for their lives and that they should follow Christ, the ultimate model of manhood.”
He said that Christ teaches men such things as heroic virtue, self-sacrifice, devotion to others, and how to be a “suffering servant.” Men, in turn, need to be an image of Christ to their wives, models of virtue and protectors of their families. The role of the evangelist, Molina believes, is to point men to this noble end: “A man needs another man to call him to manhood.”
Jim Graves writes from Newport Beach, California.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/men-model-their-lives-after-christ1?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NCRegisterDailyBlog+National+Catholic+Register#When:2012-03-18#ixzz1pZZTIcay
Citizens Prepare to Rally for Religious Freedom Across the U.S.
Citizens Prepare to Rally for Religious Freedom Across the U.S.… Please, if you are not able to attend, take some time to pray on Friday at noon...
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Touchstone Archives: Designed for Sex
At our Pastoral Leader Days yesterday, we were referred to an article from Touchstone Archives entitled Designed for Sex by J. Budziszewski. It is well written, thoughtful explanation of marriage and sexuality.
Sacraments
What are sacraments? Sacraments are gifts of Christ to the Church to help us experience His grace. They use things that can be sensed to help us encounter God which is beyond sensation. There are sacraments that make us members of the Church (Initiation: Baptism and Confirmation), help us live God’s call (Vocation: Marriage and Holy Orders), or bring us healing (Healing: Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick). The sacrament of Eucharist giving to us that we may receive Jesus Christ in Body and Blood (see John 6), and in reality brings us the fullness of initiation, vocation, and healing!
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Pastor's Notes for March 11
Dear Parishioners,
Congratulations to Brendan McKeown, son of Krista (Mahlow) and Chris McKeown, who is baptized this weekend.
This Lent seems to be going fast. The best way to enter into Lent is participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What a great sacrament, a great gift to us! There, we experience God's overwhelming mercy and love, as we confess our sins and are assured of God's forgiveness through the ministry of the priest. As I grow older, my appreciation of this sacrament has only deepened. Even as a confessor, I am often moved to humility. As Fr. Barron states in the video series, as we move toward God, we see our sins more readily like the specks of dirt on a windshield as we are driving toward the setting sun. As we grow in holiness, we become more aware of our sinfulness - seemingly contradictory, certainly, but an important dynamic in the spiritual life. This is why even minor sins should be confessed. As we grow in holiness, all the little missed acts of charity, all the little thoughts of anger, take on weight. But God is good - He does not leave us desperate like a fish out of water, but gives us grace of forgiveness. So, whether it has been a month, a year, or even a decade, give yourself the gift of experiencing God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
In Christ,
Fr. Todd
Congratulations to Brendan McKeown, son of Krista (Mahlow) and Chris McKeown, who is baptized this weekend.
This Lent seems to be going fast. The best way to enter into Lent is participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. What a great sacrament, a great gift to us! There, we experience God's overwhelming mercy and love, as we confess our sins and are assured of God's forgiveness through the ministry of the priest. As I grow older, my appreciation of this sacrament has only deepened. Even as a confessor, I am often moved to humility. As Fr. Barron states in the video series, as we move toward God, we see our sins more readily like the specks of dirt on a windshield as we are driving toward the setting sun. As we grow in holiness, we become more aware of our sinfulness - seemingly contradictory, certainly, but an important dynamic in the spiritual life. This is why even minor sins should be confessed. As we grow in holiness, all the little missed acts of charity, all the little thoughts of anger, take on weight. But God is good - He does not leave us desperate like a fish out of water, but gives us grace of forgiveness. So, whether it has been a month, a year, or even a decade, give yourself the gift of experiencing God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
In Christ,
Fr. Todd
Friday, March 9, 2012
Benedict XVI: Address to U.S. Bishops (including Bishop LeVoir)
Benedict XVI: Address to U.S. Bishops
Pope Benedict XVI on Friday met with U.S. Bishops from Regions 7, 8, and 9, who are in Rome for their ad limina visits.
Below please find the full text of the Holy Father’s remarks. Click for full audio:
Dear Brother Bishops,I greet all of you with fraternal affection on the occasion of your visit ad limina Apostolorum. As you know, this year I wish to reflect with you on certain aspects of the evangelization of American culture in the light of the intellectual and ethical challenges of the present moment.
In our previous meetings I acknowledged our concern about threats to freedom of conscience, religion and worship which need to be addressed urgently, so that all men and women of faith, and the institutions they inspire, can act in accordance with their deepest moral convictions. In this talk I would like to discuss another serious issue which you raised with me during my Pastoral Visit to America, namely, the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family, and, more generally, of the Christian vision of human sexuality. It is in fact increasingly evident that a weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant, and the widespread rejection of a responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity, have led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost.
Yet, as Blessed John Paul II observed, the future of humanity passes by way of the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). Indeed, “the good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded on marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 29).
In this regard, particular mention must be made of the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage. The Church’s conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation. Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike. In our conversations, some of you have pointed with concern to the growing difficulties encountered in communicating the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family in its integrity, and to a decrease in the number of young people who approach the sacrament of matrimony. Certainly we must acknowledge deficiencies in the catechesis of recent decades, which failed at times to communicate the rich heritage of Catholic teaching on marriage as a natural institution elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament, the vocation of Christian spouses in society and in the Church, and the practice of marital chastity. This teaching, stated with increasing clarity by the post-conciliar magisterium and comprehensively presented in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, needs to be restored to its proper place in preaching and catechetical instruction.
On the practical level, marriage preparation programs must be carefully reviewed to ensure that there is greater concentration on their catechetical component and their presentation of the social and ecclesial responsibilities entailed by Christian marriage. In this context we cannot overlook the serious pastoral problem presented by the widespread practice of cohabitation, often by couples who seem unaware that it is gravely sinful, not to mention damaging to the stability of society. I encourage your efforts to develop clear pastoral and liturgical norms for the worthy celebration of matrimony which embody an unambiguous witness to the objective demands of Christian morality, while showing sensitivity and concern for young couples. Here too I would express my appreciation of the pastoral programs which you are promoting in your Dioceses and, in particular, the clear and authoritative presentation of the Church’s teaching found in your 2009 Letter Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan. I also appreciate all that your parishes, schools and charitable agencies do daily to support families and to reach out to those in difficult marital situations, especially the divorced and separated, single parents, teenage mothers and women considering abortion, as well as children suffering the tragic effects of family breakdown.
In this great pastoral effort there is an urgent need for the entire Christian community to recover an appreciation of the virtue of chastity. The integrating and liberating function of this virtue (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2338-2343) should be emphasized by a formation of the heart, which presents the Christian understanding of sexuality as a source of genuine freedom, happiness and the fulfilment of our fundamental and innate human vocation to love. It is not merely a question of presenting arguments, but of appealing to an integrated, consistent and uplifting vision of human sexuality. The richness of this vision is more sound and appealing than the permissive ideologies exalted in some quarters; these in fact constitute a powerful and destructive form of counter-catechesis for the young.
Young people need to encounter the Church’s teaching in its integrity, challenging and countercultural as that teaching may be; more importantly, they need to see it embodied by faithful married couples who bear convincing witness to its truth. They also need to be supported as they struggle to make wise choices at a difficult and confusing time in their lives. Chastity, as the Catechism reminds us, involves an ongoing “apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom” (2339). In a society which increasingly tends to misunderstand and even ridicule this essential dimension of Christian teaching, young people need to be reassured that “if we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, absolutely nothing, of what makes life free, beautiful and great” (Homily, Inaugural Mass of the Pontificate, 24 April 2005).
Let me conclude by recalling that all our efforts in this area are ultimately concerned with the good of children, who have a fundamental right to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. Children are the greatest treasure and the future of every society: truly caring for them means recognizing our responsibility to teach, defend and live the moral virtues which are the key to human fulfillment. It is my hope that the Church in the United States, however chastened by the events of the past decade, will persevere in its historic mission of educating the young and thus contribute to the consolidation of that sound family life which is the surest guarantee of intergenerational solidarity and the health of society as a whole.I now commend you and your brother Bishops, with the flock entrusted to your pastoral care, to the loving intercession of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. To all of you I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of wisdom, strength and peace in the Lord.
Pope Benedict XVI on Friday met with U.S. Bishops from Regions 7, 8, and 9, who are in Rome for their ad limina visits.
Below please find the full text of the Holy Father’s remarks. Click for full audio:
Dear Brother Bishops,I greet all of you with fraternal affection on the occasion of your visit ad limina Apostolorum. As you know, this year I wish to reflect with you on certain aspects of the evangelization of American culture in the light of the intellectual and ethical challenges of the present moment.
In our previous meetings I acknowledged our concern about threats to freedom of conscience, religion and worship which need to be addressed urgently, so that all men and women of faith, and the institutions they inspire, can act in accordance with their deepest moral convictions. In this talk I would like to discuss another serious issue which you raised with me during my Pastoral Visit to America, namely, the contemporary crisis of marriage and the family, and, more generally, of the Christian vision of human sexuality. It is in fact increasingly evident that a weakened appreciation of the indissolubility of the marriage covenant, and the widespread rejection of a responsible, mature sexual ethic grounded in the practice of chastity, have led to grave societal problems bearing an immense human and economic cost.
Yet, as Blessed John Paul II observed, the future of humanity passes by way of the family (cf. Familiaris Consortio, 85). Indeed, “the good that the Church and society as a whole expect from marriage and from the family founded on marriage is so great as to call for full pastoral commitment to this particular area. Marriage and the family are institutions that must be promoted and defended from every possible misrepresentation of their true nature, since whatever is injurious to them is injurious to society itself” (Sacramentum Caritatis, 29).
In this regard, particular mention must be made of the powerful political and cultural currents seeking to alter the legal definition of marriage. The Church’s conscientious effort to resist this pressure calls for a reasoned defense of marriage as a natural institution consisting of a specific communion of persons, essentially rooted in the complementarity of the sexes and oriented to procreation. Sexual differences cannot be dismissed as irrelevant to the definition of marriage. Defending the institution of marriage as a social reality is ultimately a question of justice, since it entails safeguarding the good of the entire human community and the rights of parents and children alike. In our conversations, some of you have pointed with concern to the growing difficulties encountered in communicating the Church’s teaching on marriage and the family in its integrity, and to a decrease in the number of young people who approach the sacrament of matrimony. Certainly we must acknowledge deficiencies in the catechesis of recent decades, which failed at times to communicate the rich heritage of Catholic teaching on marriage as a natural institution elevated by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament, the vocation of Christian spouses in society and in the Church, and the practice of marital chastity. This teaching, stated with increasing clarity by the post-conciliar magisterium and comprehensively presented in both the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, needs to be restored to its proper place in preaching and catechetical instruction.
On the practical level, marriage preparation programs must be carefully reviewed to ensure that there is greater concentration on their catechetical component and their presentation of the social and ecclesial responsibilities entailed by Christian marriage. In this context we cannot overlook the serious pastoral problem presented by the widespread practice of cohabitation, often by couples who seem unaware that it is gravely sinful, not to mention damaging to the stability of society. I encourage your efforts to develop clear pastoral and liturgical norms for the worthy celebration of matrimony which embody an unambiguous witness to the objective demands of Christian morality, while showing sensitivity and concern for young couples. Here too I would express my appreciation of the pastoral programs which you are promoting in your Dioceses and, in particular, the clear and authoritative presentation of the Church’s teaching found in your 2009 Letter Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan. I also appreciate all that your parishes, schools and charitable agencies do daily to support families and to reach out to those in difficult marital situations, especially the divorced and separated, single parents, teenage mothers and women considering abortion, as well as children suffering the tragic effects of family breakdown.
In this great pastoral effort there is an urgent need for the entire Christian community to recover an appreciation of the virtue of chastity. The integrating and liberating function of this virtue (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2338-2343) should be emphasized by a formation of the heart, which presents the Christian understanding of sexuality as a source of genuine freedom, happiness and the fulfilment of our fundamental and innate human vocation to love. It is not merely a question of presenting arguments, but of appealing to an integrated, consistent and uplifting vision of human sexuality. The richness of this vision is more sound and appealing than the permissive ideologies exalted in some quarters; these in fact constitute a powerful and destructive form of counter-catechesis for the young.
Young people need to encounter the Church’s teaching in its integrity, challenging and countercultural as that teaching may be; more importantly, they need to see it embodied by faithful married couples who bear convincing witness to its truth. They also need to be supported as they struggle to make wise choices at a difficult and confusing time in their lives. Chastity, as the Catechism reminds us, involves an ongoing “apprenticeship in self-mastery which is a training in human freedom” (2339). In a society which increasingly tends to misunderstand and even ridicule this essential dimension of Christian teaching, young people need to be reassured that “if we let Christ into our lives, we lose nothing, absolutely nothing, of what makes life free, beautiful and great” (Homily, Inaugural Mass of the Pontificate, 24 April 2005).
Let me conclude by recalling that all our efforts in this area are ultimately concerned with the good of children, who have a fundamental right to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place in human relationships. Children are the greatest treasure and the future of every society: truly caring for them means recognizing our responsibility to teach, defend and live the moral virtues which are the key to human fulfillment. It is my hope that the Church in the United States, however chastened by the events of the past decade, will persevere in its historic mission of educating the young and thus contribute to the consolidation of that sound family life which is the surest guarantee of intergenerational solidarity and the health of society as a whole.I now commend you and your brother Bishops, with the flock entrusted to your pastoral care, to the loving intercession of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. To all of you I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of wisdom, strength and peace in the Lord.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Fr. John Hollowell Takes on Cecile Richards
Creative Minority Report: Great Vid! Fr. John Hollowell Takes on Cecile Richards. She invited women to post videos requesting the HHS Mandate.
New Evangelization
The Catholic Church uses the term “the New Evangelization”. What is this? There are few who have not heard at least something of Jesus Christ, but there is at best an indifference among many, even baptized, to Him. The New Evangelization is the term given to the process of proclaiming why God is important, why we are created to know, love, and serve Him. Those involved in the New Evangelization seek to reengage people’s hearts and minds.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Monday, March 5, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
What you should be thinking when you hear noisy kids at Mass
What you should be thinking when you hear noisy kids at Mass? Matthew Warner gives a great answer! My thoughts exactly!
Pastor's Notes for March 4
Our sympathy to the families of Michael Miller and Emery Pistulka. May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.
I will put on my 'other hats' briefly for these notes. We are currently reviewing the applications of 3 young men who are applying to the Diocese for college seminary, and are anxiously awaiting the reception of a fourth application for pre-Theology. While I am happy with 4, we need many more. Please continue to pray for our seminarians, our applicants, and for many more to discern a vocation. May the Lord call many more to serve our Diocese, perhaps even calling more young men from our parishes and families!
I also invite you to mark your calendars for the 18th of March: the Bishop Lucker Lecture will be held at 7 pm at St. Catherine's, Redwood Falls. The speaker is Jim Ennis, the executive director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and the topic is on the "New Evangelization" in rural communities. It promises to be very complementary to the projects we have already begun. Of course, the Lecture is free and open to all.
As I write about this lecture, some might note that there is a conflict that night with the Catholicism video series. We decided not to re-schedule the movie, but if there are more than four that would want to see the video and go to the Lecture, I would consider re-showing it on Monday, March 26, after the 6:30 pm Mass. If there are only a few that are conflicted, I will make the video available for home viewing.
I will put on my 'other hats' briefly for these notes. We are currently reviewing the applications of 3 young men who are applying to the Diocese for college seminary, and are anxiously awaiting the reception of a fourth application for pre-Theology. While I am happy with 4, we need many more. Please continue to pray for our seminarians, our applicants, and for many more to discern a vocation. May the Lord call many more to serve our Diocese, perhaps even calling more young men from our parishes and families!
I also invite you to mark your calendars for the 18th of March: the Bishop Lucker Lecture will be held at 7 pm at St. Catherine's, Redwood Falls. The speaker is Jim Ennis, the executive director of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, and the topic is on the "New Evangelization" in rural communities. It promises to be very complementary to the projects we have already begun. Of course, the Lecture is free and open to all.
As I write about this lecture, some might note that there is a conflict that night with the Catholicism video series. We decided not to re-schedule the movie, but if there are more than four that would want to see the video and go to the Lecture, I would consider re-showing it on Monday, March 26, after the 6:30 pm Mass. If there are only a few that are conflicted, I will make the video available for home viewing.
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