Disaster Relief | Knights of Columbus

I think that most of my blog followers are also friends on facebook.

Just in case a few are not, I'm sharing this here.  I shared this last yesterday on facebook

Disaster Relief | Knights of Columbus:

'via Blog this'

Country stars make fun of Obamacare on the CMA awards

OK,

This is, what, my fourth post today after not having posted in a long time. I'm going to have to slow down again.

This just about sums up a lot of what seems to be happening with our system today.

You left why?

I will sometimes receive letters from people who choose to fall away from the Church. These aren't the people who just stop going over time, but those who make it a choice. I am reminded about a book of stories of conversions to the Catholic Church. In the forward, the author was sharing a common comment he hears from his Protestant peers. I'll paraphrase it, but the gist of the conversation goes like this.

Protestant: You know, there are a lot of Catholics who are becoming Protestant as well.

Author: How many of those Catholics fully believed and practiced everything that the Church teaches and holds to be true and leave because they think they've found the truth someplace else? Most of those who leave the Catholic Church leave because they disagree with and never practiced the Church's moral teaching, they got mad at a priest or sister, they don't think their is enough fellowship, the parish is not welcoming, etc. It usually has very little to do with finding the truth someplace else. Those profiled in the book were strong in their prior beliefs (some were even vocally anti-Catholic), but upon searching the scriptures and the writings of the early Church fathers followed truth to the Catholic Church.

I have to agree with the author of the book. Here are some of the reasons people have passed on to me about leaving my parishes.

1. Father kept talking about sin
2. Father kept talking about money
3. I don't agree with Father's staffing decisions
4. I don't agree with the Church's teaching on contraception, divorce, same sex marriage, etc.
5. I never hear about Jesus at Mass
6. I don't like the Mass time.

Perhaps you can share some of the reasons you've heard.

10 Nov: Leo the Great

I thought I would share the fact that today is the Feast of Leo the Great.

Fr. Z offers some reflections upon Pope Saint Leo I

10 Nov: Leo the Great

Intentional or Accidental

This past week I was attending the mid-year meeting of the Knights of Columbus for State Chaplains and State Deputies. One of the discussions that took place involved the idea of Intentional Discipleship. This is not the first time that I've heard this idea. A comment was made that many Catholics seem to be accidental disciples. They were born into the faith and they go to Mass each week, but never really seem to do much to learn more about their faith, or really change their lives so that faith has the primary place. Many of the converts to the faith are truly intentional disciples. They chose to be Catholic and follow Christ through his Church. They have delved into the faith to learn all about what it means to be Catholic. They take seriously the precepts of the Catholic Church.

Many of those raised as Catholics do not even seem to know the precepts of the Catholic Church. They may have a vague idea about what they are, but they make little effort to make them the key points of their lives.

I believe that intentional discipleship begins with the Precepts of the Catholic Church. A person can find the precepts by making a quick visit to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Let me give my quick view of the precepts.

1. "You shall attend Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation." This really does not need much explanation.  One had better have a pretty good excuse not to attend Mass on a Sunday or Holy Day of Obligation.
2. “You shall confess your sins at least once a year."  This is especially true if you are in the state of mortal sin.  Each person should be in the practice of going to confession on a regular basis.  The practice of regular confession helps people grow in holiness as they reflect upon their lives and then make efforts to change the lives they've been living for the better
3. “You shall humbly receive your Creator in Holy Communion at least during the Easter season." You will note that while you are required to attend Mass each week, you are not required to receive communion.  One should only come to communion in the state of grace.  The going to communion once a year is tied in with the once a year confession.  They should take place during the Easter Season. 
4. “You shall keep holy the holy days of obligation."  Our focus on these days should be on God and the feast that we are celebrating. So often we put more emphasis on the secular side of many of these celebrations than on the religious side.  It is like those who want to attend the 4 pm Christmas eve Mass so they can enjoy the rest of Christmas day in a secular way.  We need to try to refrain from unnecessary work and spend more time reflecting upon the greatness of God.
   
5. “You shall observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence."  Most Catholics remember that we are to abstain from eating meat on Fridays of Lent. They also remember to observe the two primary fast days of Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.  What a lot of Catholics fail to realize is that we are called to keep all Fridays as days of penance. Catholics should abstain from eating meat every Friday of the year except in those places where permission for a substitution has been granted. In the Untied States we are permitted to substitute another form of penance on Fridays. The norm is still to abstain from eating meat. We are not suppose to completely forget about penance on Fridays. For those who do eat meat on Fridays, an alternative might be to spend a little time in the church on Friday praying before Christ in the Blessed Sacrament.  One might also so some other additional prayers on a Friday, recognizing that it is truly meant to be a penance that is being completed, offering it up for our sins and those of the world.
6. While it is not listed as a specific precept there is one other item listed in the Catechism: 
   The faithful also have the duty of providing for the material needs of the Church, each according to his abilities.  This includes supporting the local parish and the parish school if there is one, the local diocese and the mission of the universal Church. We each know what our own abilities are. I would hope that we take this expectation seriously.  The Church should not have to beg to complete its mission, the faithful should see to it that the resources are provided to get it done, and get it done well.

Let us all take to heart what it means to be an intentional disciple.  These precepts are just the beginning. Now we have to go learn more about our faith so we can continue to grow.

Prayers are answered

As I was trying to put groceries into my pickup at about 2:30 yesterday I had a call from a parishioner who has been helping organize the 40 Days for Life vigils at the Mountain Country Women's Clinic in Livingston. At first, I could not hear him as my bluetooth device in the pickup had kicked in and when I hit answer everything went through that speaker and I was still outside the pickup. After I hung up he immediately called back and I was able to hit the right button to actually speak with him.

He passed on the word that the clinic was closing on Oct. 1. Needless to say, there is a lot of joy in the neighborhood. However, we now need to find a way to replace the clinic with a resource that truly attempts to help women, and not see abortion as a viable option. Please continue to pray that we can find a way to bring a resource for women into Livingston which will meet the needs that are here.

Homily for 18 Aug 2013, 20th Sun OT C

In today’s first reading, we hear about the struggle that Jeremiah was facing as a prophet to the people. The princes, who had the ear of the king, sought to end Jeremiah’s life because they did not like the message he was spreading about the need to change their lives. They were content with the way things seemed to be going, even when it would mean destruction later on. It is not always easy for us to accept the realization that sometimes we get too comfortable with our current way of doing things that we stand in the way of change that may lead to our own survival.

In the Gospel, we hear Jesus telling us that he came to “set the earth on fire” and wishes “it were already blazing!”

It should illicit in each one of us a question about how the fire is burning within our own lives. Are we able to really burn with a zeal that causes us to go beyond our comfort zone to be a part of the new evangelization? One of the commentaries I read about the gospel for this weekend went so far to suggest that when Jesus becomes the first priority in our lives there may be some division within households as some strive to faithfully follow Christ while others stand as roadblocks to the truth, which is Christ. I know from my experience as a priest that there have been many families who have faced these difficulties. There is a tension between a desire for Christ and a desire for the things of this world. Many of us and our family members fall somewhere in the middle of the continuum concerning these two poles. We do not see the full division of which Christ speaks. In a word, most of us are comfortable with where we are at the moment. We are not fully on fire.

As the priest, and more importantly, as the pastor of the parish, part of my task is to help direct you beyond this life and, hopefully help you find the fire of which Jesus speaks and fan the flames so that it may burn all the brighter. It is not an easy task. Sometimes, people respond much like the princes who went to the king seeking to silence Jeremiah. This is because change is scary. Change is difficult. Change sometimes means sacrificing some of our comfort.

Will you today let the fire of change burn in your hearts so that you have the zeal to go out to all the world and tell the good news? It might mean changing some of the expectations you have of yourself and or others. It might mean looking at your faith through a new lens. It might even mean considering serving the Church in a professional way, such as being a teacher at a Catholic school, volunteering to be a part of a parish team or even, if you are not yet married, considering whether or not God might be calling you to serve him as a consecrated religious, or a priest.

Jesus came to set the world on fire. We are called to fan the true flames of faith. We may be treated like Jerimiah in order to get the job done, be we can be sure that God is with us.

As we heard in the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews:

For the sake of the joy that lay before him
he endured the cross, despising its shame,
and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

Let us be filled with the same joy. Amen

Where is your treasure?

Here is a draft of my homily for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2013

As some of you know, yesterday Garrett and I attended Fr. Francis McInnis’, “Fr. Mac’s”, funeral in Great Falls. While I was there, I had the opportunity to visit with Father Guinan and go to confession. With the second reading in mind, I could have some good material for my homily, but I’m going to go in a different direction.

Thinking about the Gospel, and to some extent the first reading, I want to share some things Fr. Guinan shared with me. First, he said to tell all of those who were here when he was the pastor he said hello. He then asked how things were going with the school. I told him that like most small Catholic schools we can always use more money. He said that he wished when he first arrived in the parish about years ago to increase the giving of the parishioners to support the parish and the school. He wished he’d done more to bring the salaries of the teachers closer to a living wage. He was here when the Saint Mary’s Educational Trust was set up. However, there has not been much of an effort over the years to greatly increase our endowments. We have one new endowment that started with a $40,000 anonymous gift and a few additional contributions. The income from these sources pay about half of one of the 24 payrolls we face during the year.

As a parish, we strive to keep Catholic education affordable for our families. In order to accomplish that goal, we need to come up with additional monies from endowments and direct gifts. While I’ve been using the school as the example here, the same applies to all ministries in the Catholic Church. We have to keep in mind the need to support the Church on the local level, the diocesan level and the universal level.

Today’s Gospel and 1st Reading remind us not to get overly hooked on ourselves, but rather to see how we can use the gifts we’ve received from God to build up the kingdom. The gifts we’ve received are not simply so that we can “rest, eat, drink and be merry.” It has been entrusted to us to be used for the betterment of others. We are not expected to starve ourselves to feed others, but we could think about cutting back on some of what we do eat and give some of the savings to benefit others.

But God said to him,

‘You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?’ Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God.”

We need to look at what does really matter to God and find ways to act appropriately with our lives. If you have been entrusted with much, much will be expected. As you think about St. Mary’s school and parish, remind yourself what Jesus said before he told the parable,

“Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Pope to Resign?

This is from Vatican Radio

http://en.radiovaticana.va/Articolo.asp?c=663815

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday said he plans on resigning the papal office on February 28th. Below please find his announcement.

Full text of Pope's declaration

Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

The New Evangelization

It has been a while since I've had a blog post but thought I'd share from last Sunday's homily.

I'd like to repeat the Collect for today and ask that you continue to think about it a I proceed with my homily.

Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God

the constant gladness of being devoted to you,

for it is full and lasting happiness

to serve with constancy

the author of all that is good.

As many of you know I spent last week in Dallas. I enjoyed a show put on by Celtic Thunder, but more importantly, I was able to visit one of our seminarians who is studying at Holy Trinity Seminary connected with the University of Dallas. I also attended the mid-year meeting for State Chaplains and State Deputies of the Knights of Columbus.

A few weeks ago, a Synod of Bishops met in Rome to discuss the New Evangelization. This topic was addressed in various homilies, talks and discussions that took place this past week.

One might ask first of all the purpose of the New Evangelization. In order to do that we need to look back at the first evangelization that took place. After the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the apostles went out to the ends of the earth to spread the "Good News". Much of the world was exposed to the Gospel and became Christian.

In our own time, we see a decline in the practice of Christianity. Much of our society has become very secular in its outlook. Religion has been set aside.

The purpose of the New Evangelization is to help us reconnect with Christ and with his Church.

This past week, Archbishop Lori, the Supreme Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, and the Archbishop of Baltimore shared a story that went something like this.

It seems that after years of persecution and trying to exclude all forms of foreign influence from entering the country, Japan once again allowed missionaries to come ashore. These missionaries started in Nagasaki which had many years before been seen as a center of Catholicity in the Far East. As they worked their way out from the city they came to a small village. They were astounded to see that the faithful there were gathering on Sunday and recited the Apostle's Creed, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary, the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. The missionaries asked them about these practices and were told that long ago these things were taught to them by the Fathers. The Fathers had told them that if anything happened to them (the Fathers) that they should continue these prayers and that someday new Fathers would come to their village.

The missionaries assured the villagers that they were the new Fathers. The villagers responded that the Fathers had left four questions to be asked of anyone claiming to be one of the Fathers. The missionaries said, "Let's try to answer them." So they were asked the first question, "Who is the savior?" The missionaries answered, "Jesus Christ who died on the cross for our sins." The villagers smiled and presented the second question. "Who is his mother?" The missionaries answered, "Mary!" Both the villagers and the missionaries were started to get a bit excited. The villagers continued. "Where does the leader of your Church live?" The missionaries responded, "In Rome, of course." At this the villagers were visibly started to show some anticipation as they asked the last question. "Do you have wives?" and the missionaries answered, "No!" and with that the villagers took them to there hidden church so they could once again be reunited to their faith.

For these missionaries to Japan, the work associated with the new evangelization was was easy because faith still existed among the villagers. Parents had handed it on to their children for over 250 years.

It is much harder in our society today. Faith in one's self seems to have trumped faith in Christ and His Church. Many people are focusing on "What is good for me?" instead of "What is good for us?" We seek temporary happiness instead of eternal joy. We do not seek the common good.

It is important for us to realize that sometimes the common good requires sacrifice on our part. We need only look behind me to the crucifix on the wall to remind us of the sacrifice that God made because he loved us. When we truly start to focus on God's love, and make sacrifices in the spirit of that love, we grow in joy.

It is this joy that enables us to fulfill the mission put upon us to bring about the New Evangelization. AS I've said before in reference to the Second Vatican Council, it is the job of the laity to take Christ into the world. That includes our places of work, our places of socializing, our homes and schools.

While listening to the Catholic radio station this weekend I heard comments made about another issue that was brought out last week. We need to get out of the habit of compartmentalizing our lives. For some of us when we are at church it is ok to show our faith. When we go to work, our faith is the last thing we exhibit. In our homes and family life sometimes we get to busy to let our faith be evident.

We need to let the joy of our faith take over all that we do. Christ needs to be the center of how we do things. Our moral values should be reflected n how we do our jobs and the decisions we make. In our family life we should incorporate our prayer, not only with grace at meals, but at other times during the day. A family that prays together, stays together.

We should work to discover not only what the Church teaches, but why she teaches what she teaches. We need to realize that the "rules" of the Church are not meant to restrict us, but are meant to lead us to the joy that has been promised. If we take time to think about the ten commandments they are truly life giving, when we follow them. When we don't we start to draw ourselves away from God and his Church and start to become more self centered.

As disciples of Christ there is a lot that is expected of us. Let us joyfully follow our Lord. Out of that joy, may we share our faith with all of those we encounter and help with the New Evangelization.

I'd like you to listen one more time to today's collect.

Grant us, we pray, O Lord our God

the constant gladness of being devoted to you,

for it is full and lasting happiness

to serve with constancy

the author of all that is good.