10-23-07
Greetings!
A striking example of the results from the logic of "the world" versus the logic of the "Creator":
Here is an example of just how wrong the UN and its organ the World Health Organization.
AIDS victims in 1987: Philippines 135 / Thailand 112
In 1991 the WHO predicted the Philippines would have 80,000 to 90,000 cases and Thailand 60,000 to 80,000 AIDS victims.
Thailand promoted the use of condoms in massive campaigns where Catholic Philippines promoted 'Abstinence' and 'Be faithful'.
The prognosis of the WHO was wrong for both countries:
1999: Philippines 1,005 / Thailand 755,000 AIDS victims
Source: British Medical Journal, volume 328, April 10th 2004
Source: The Curt Jester Blog http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/
Interesting note…Louisiana just elected Bobby Jindal, a 36 year old Catholic as their new governor. Jindal's parents came to America from India. He's completely pro-life and not apologetic about it. The other interesting detail is how his political opponents campaigned against him. They tried to label him as intolerant and indeed hostile to protestants—specifically because of his fidelity to Catholicism. It didn't work, and in fact, Jindal won by a handy margin.
I've written about St. John Vianney Seminary before here. The good news continues to flow! The seminary, located in St. Paul, MN continues to grow, reaching an all-time high. Strikingly, enrollment is increasing, not due to lowering their standards, but in raising them.
Filled to overflowing
By Maria Wiering The Catholic Spirit
They've increased their housing; they've increased their staff; they've increased the rigor.
And the men keep coming.
St. John Vianney Seminary's enrollment is at an all-time high, with 154 men from 28 dioceses, which currently gives it the largest college seminary enrollment in the
United States. It has more than doubled in size in the last six years.
Seminarians at college seminaries are typically in their late teens and early 20s, studying for their bachelors degrees and gaining backgrounds in philosophy. This preceeds major seminary, which is where seminarians study theology and work toward ordination. Not all major seminarians have attended college seminary.
An attitude of adventure
"There is a strong heroic sense of calling among these young men," said Father William Baer, SJV's rector since 1998. "They have a love for the church and the Catholic faith that strikes them as a mission, a battle, an adventure."
It's no secret SJV life is challenging. The men attend a 6 including phones and e-mail -
a.m. holy hour daily; they fast from technology - on Fridays until the evening; they fast from the Friday midday meal; they undergo room inspections and maintain a tightly ordered schedule. They're encouraged to embrace difficult studies with prayer, grow in fraternity with the other men, get in shape, and face their social fears.
And the men rise to the occasion, said Father Rolf Tollefson, a "formator" and spiritual director, who lives with seminarians on SJV's fifth floor. "The men don't want to live a life of mediocrity," he said.
Matt Kuettel, 19, a freshman seminarian from Maternity of Mary in St. Paul, said that seminary is an adjustment.
"They throw a lot at you at once, they expect a lot of you," he said. "A lot of times you're more busy than you think you should be. But, if I had to do this all over again, there's no doubt in my mind that I would.
"It's not that you're busy and you regret it, it's that they give you the skills and they give you the help to accomplish more," he added.
If seminary were easy, a healthy man would leave because he wasn't challenged, added Father John Klockeman, who also serves SJV.
"The initiatives and the heroism sound too strong for some, but that's exactly what young men and women want," he said. "They want a faith to die for. They want a faith for which to live. And they want a God that is real."
The local seminary's enrollment upturn mirrors national trends, which indicate an uptick in the number of Catholic seminarians in undergraduate college programs, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, based at
Georgetown University.
Father Baer attributes the seminary's growth to an increase in students coming from other Midwestern dioceses. This year 35 of SJV's seminarians are from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis
. This is the largest group of archdiocesan seminarians at SJV in at least 25 years, Father Baer said.
He credits the increased number of archdiocesan seminarians to Archbishop Harry Flynn's dedication and support, vocations director Father Tom Wilson's work, and parishes and families encouraging vocations.
"There is a renewed commitment to the Catholic faith by high school and college students,"
Father Baer said, attributing the phenomena to events like World Youth Day, more young people participating in eucharistic adoration and vocation directors and bishops actively promoting vocations.
A cut above
More dioceses are sending their college seminarians to SJV than ever before, Father Baer said.
Father Burke Masters, vocation director for the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., has 11 men at SJV. He said he is impressed with Father Baer's leadership and the personal attention he gives the men.
"He's able to talk about each of our 11 guys in a way that they're not just numbers," Father Masters said.
Father Jerry Vincke, the vocations director of the Diocese of Lansing, Mich., described Father Baer as dynamic, faithful and courageous, listing his leadership as one of the greatest reasons his diocese sends their 21 college seminarians to SJV.
"The seminary is centered on Christ," Father
Vincke said. "Our seminarians love it there."
Their SJV graduates are well prepared to begin their theology studies in major seminary, and they are formed in the spiritual, academic, pastoral and human levels, both Father Masters and Father Vincke said.
"St. John Vianney is very well respected among the bishops," Father Masters added.
The seminary has outgrown its own building at the University of St. Thomas: 103 men live in the on-campus seminary dorms, 41 live in six rectories and houses in nearby neighborhoods and 10 men are currently studying in
Rome.
I love reading stories about Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta. This one is a tad longer, but completely worth it. Have to admit, I can't see Mother Teresa being a "docile" patient J You don't achieve the amazing things she did via God, without being strong-willed!
Mother Teresa: Saintly woman, tough patient
Cardiologist tells the tale of revered sister's final years
Monday, October 08, 2007
By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
In the last seven years of her life, Mother Teresa was often near death but saw some of her most heartfelt prayers answered. Only the hope of establishing a home for abandoned and forgotten people in China persuaded her to accept advanced medical care, her cardiologist said.
"She was the worst patient I ever had," said Dr. Patricia Aubanel from Coronado, Calif., who often traveled with her from 1990 until her death in 1997.
Many people who were close to Mother Teresa told stories of her life last weekend at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe. College President James Towey, who once served as Mother Teresa's legal counsel, organized the gathering.
Dr. Aubanel was originally from Tijuana, Mexico, and in 1990 the Catholic bishop of that city called her in California. The bishop asked her to see an elderly friend of his who had been in Tijuana and had gone to the San Diego area, was very ill and had not seen a doctor. She found Mother Teresa in a Missionaries of Charity convent, suffering from pneumonia and popping about 20 nitroglycerin pills a day for chest pain.
She refused to go to the hospital.
"I'm happy to go to Jesus," Mother Teresa said.
"Are you finished with your mission?" the doctor demanded.
For years Mother Teresa had been asking nearly everyone she met to pray that her sisters would be able to get into China. Now she asked, "Would you help me to go to China? Imagine all the souls for Jesus."
"I said that I will do everything that is possible so you can get to China," Dr. Aubanel said. Mother Teresa finally consented, entered Scripps Clinic and had five blood vessels to her heart unblocked.
During this same period, Mother Teresa saw the fulfillment of another long-held desire, the establishment of a house for her sisters in Albania. She was born in 1910 in Skopje, which was then in Albania, later in Yugoslavia and now in Macedonia. Much of her family had remained in Albania, which was the most militantly atheistic nation in the world under Enver Hoxha.
Even private practice of faith was punishable by death. For 40 years, Mother Teresa could not go home to her family, and her mother could not get to her. Her mother died calling her name.
Mr. Hoxha died in 1985, and four years later she made her first visit home. Her greatest desire was to visit the graves of her mother and sister. As her car entered the cemetery in the capital, they were waylaid by an unexpected ceremony at Mr. Hoxha's tomb, said Jan Petrie, her traveling companion. "Mother said a little prayer," she said.
A few hours later she went to lunch with the late dictator's widow. "This woman was partly responsible for keeping her apart from her family," Ms. Petrie said. "The first thing she said to her was, 'I prayed for your husband today.' "
On a later visit, the Albanian president told her it was against the law to have a religious center of any kind in Albania. Ms. Petrie said Mother Teresa replied, "I'm ready to break that law."
She persevered and eventually got a house, which became a home for disabled people. She also accepted government help to move her mother's remains across the cemetery, next to Mother Teresa's older sister. Because of the law against religion there was not a single cross in the cemetery, but Mother Teresa insisted.
"Those were the first two graves in the country to have a cross on them. Now the cemetery is full of crosses," Ms. Petrie said.
By late 1996, Dr. Aubanel believed Mother Teresa could not live much longer. She urged her to make arrangements for a successor as superior of the Missionaries of Charity, and ordered a new invention, a small, portable ventilator. There was great difficulty getting it to Calcutta, and it arrived Dec. 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Mother Teresa didn't want to use it. Dr. Aubanel protested that she had prayed for this equipment and her prayers had been answered by the Virgin of Guadalupe. To thank the Virgin, she said, Mother Teresa would have to use it while Dr. Aubanel prayed the rosary. Mother Teresa agreed, and, ever after, she would only use the ventilator while the doctor prayed the rosary -- which she did, very slowly.
After Sister Nirmala Joshi was elected to succeed her, Mother Teresa insisted on going to Rome to introduce her to Pope John Paul II. The pope was not only her superior but also her close friend and spiritual soul mate.
Dr. Aubanel protested futilely that her lungs and heart were so fragile that the flight would likely kill her. When they landed in Rome in June 1997 Mother Teresa was vomiting and they had to set up the ventilator in a room at the airport.
When she had stabilized, Pope John Paul was waiting for her. As she entered the room, he knelt before her.
"He kissed her hand and said, 'Mother. My mother,'" Dr. Aubanel said.
At a June 29 Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. Mother Teresa was in a wheelchair and so clearly ill that the pope's aides did not call her forward for his blessing. She was heartbroken, and buried her face in her hands, Dr. Aubanel said.
Then the pope, who was frail from Parkinson's disease and had great difficulty walking, rose and began walking unsteadily toward her. Told he was coming, she looked up and pushed herself to her feet. They literally fell into each other's arms.
"The whole church was able to see this great love that they had for each other, and respect," Dr. Aubanel said. "Every single person was crying. That was the last time they were together."
Three days later they heard the news that Hong Kong, where the Missionaries of Charity had a house, had reverted to the control of the People's Republic of China. The sisters and Dr. Aubanel brought Mother Teresa the news: "Mother! Mother! You are in China!"
She repeated, "Oh, I'm in China. I'm in China. [God] loves me so much that I'm in China," she said.
"Yes Mother," she was told. "He loves you so much that, since you could not go to China, he brought China to you."
At that instant, Dr. Aubanel said, she remembered her promise seven years earlier. "I had promised to get her into China. This is the end," she thought.
When she was stable enough to fly, she returned to Calcutta.
"A month later, she died peacefully," Dr. Aubanel said.
First published on October 8, 2007 at 12:00 am
Ann Rodgers can be reached at arodgers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416.
God bless you! Phil Lawson For the latest info on St. Peter's, check out the parish website: www.saintpetercatholic.com (You can also find old editions of the Areopagus here)
The Areopagus is a regular email for adults that includes various reflections, tidbits, news and events. Hope you find it fruitful!
If you would like to be added to this list, send an email to lawsphil@gmail.com
On the other hand, if you would like to be removed, send an email to the same address indicating that.