1-9-07
Greetings!
We are called to proclaim the Good News of Christ everywhere. That's Jesus' command (see Matthew 28:19-20). Today there are more ways then ever before to spread that message. The internet is one of those forums for spreading the Good News. Check out the Vatican website sometime www.vatican.va It's one of the best sites out there. It's also one of the more popular ones on the internet.
The next frontier is "blogging." And we now have our first Cardinal with his own blog. Cardinal Sean O'Malley, archbishop of Boston has launched his own blog. In it he shares reflections, stories and commentary. Yet another way for him, as a shepherd, to connect with his flock and help spread the Good News.
I had to smile when I saw this posting of his. It's a true story from when he was a younger priest:
As I mentioned before, I was a prison chaplain for two years in the 1960s in Butler County, Pennsylvania. I always tell the story about giving my first sermon in prison. I was very nervous and searching for a topic when I had this inspiration of great escapes in the Bible. So I talked about Daniel in the lion's den, the three lads in the furnace, St. Paul going over the wall in the basket and St. Peter in chains. I had their rapt attention, but the problem was, that night six prisoners escaped from the prison. I thought my first prison assignment was going to be my last!
http://www.cardinalseansblog.org/
Rabbi Yehuda Levin recently put out a press release before a meeting at the Vatican to deal with the widespread "homosexualization" of the Holy Land and Western Civilization. Rabbi Levin is a widely respected Orthodox Jewish leader. He obviously has a great respect for Pope Benedict. His comments on the leadership role of the Catholic Church concerning morals in the world are striking:
Hence, the Rabbi has addressed himself to the Catholic Church. "I might seem now to be speaking in almost a prophetic way. I have the blood of prophets in my veins. I am saying with certitude—with a logical certitude—that the group in Western Civilization and perhaps in World Civilization with the most potential to act as a catalyst for a moral counterattack, pushing back the barbarians who stand against the gates of
Rome and Jerusalem . . . are Catholics. You don't have to be a prophet to understand that.
"And the personality whom God has placed at the top: I couldn't have prayed, as an Orthodox Jew, for a better person."
"We need bishops and cardinals to be out there, leading the flock. This is the martyrdom required in 2007: just to come out into the streets."
-Via Lifesitenews.com Jan. 4th.
-This reminds me of a comment I heard at the March for Life in DC some years ago. The dignitary stood at the microphone, looked out at the massive crowd of all types of people, and said, "Without the Catholic Church there is no pro-life movement in this country." And the crowd cheered. And Jesus said, "to whom much is given, much will be required…"
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Pope Benedict has shown a willingness to speak "off the cuff" in numerous situations. His comments to the Swiss bishops, answering some of their questions, gives us a further look into his mind. Love, as his first encyclical pointed out, is at the heart of everything.
VATICAN CITY , DEC. 7, 2006 (Zenit.org).-
Addressing the present crisis in the Church, Benedict XVI recalled how, "when I used go to
Germany in the 1980s and '90s, … I was asked to give interviews and I always knew the questions in advance. They concerned the ordination of women, contraception, abortion and other such constantly recurring problems.
"If we let ourselves be drawn into these discussions, the Church is then identified with certain commandments or prohibitions; we give the impression that we are moralists with a few somewhat antiquated convictions, and not even a hint of the true greatness of the faith appears."
The Pope continued: "I therefore consider it essential always to highlight the greatness of our faith -- a commitment from which we must not allow such situations to divert us."
Understood from this perspective are the important documents of this pontificate, particularly the encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" and the forthcoming book on Jesus to be published this spring.
"God is Logos and God is Love -- to the point that he completely humbled himself, assuming a human body and finally, giving himself into our hands as bread," the Holy Father explained. "We know that God is not a philosophical hypothesis, he is not something that perhaps exists, but we know him and he knows us. And we can know him better and better if we keep up a dialogue with him.
"This is why it is a fundamental task of pastoral care to teach people how to pray and how to learn to do so personally, better and better."
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-South Korea takes over the dubious distinction of having the fastest declining birthrate. Also of interest is the government's efforts to correct the downward spiral---television. While I doubt this effort will have much of an effect, anyone who doubts the power of television to shape people should read the last sentence below.
The New Global Leader in Demographic Decline - South Korea
South Korea's total fertility rate has reached an unprecedentedly dismal 1.08
By Joseph A. D'Agostino
"Last month, the Planned Population Federation of Korea held a two-day seminar for writers of TV soaps and dramas and urged them to create more situations that show happy mothers with their children. The aim is to counter an anti-baby mood that is leading
South Korea down the path to being, well, a smaller country."
"The idea of leaning on TV writers for social engineering followed the release of a government study of 50 South Korean dramas that shows a television landscape in which single life is portrayed as cool, children as a burden, and love as something that does not always have to lead to marriage and a family," said the Times. "And that's important in a country where the audience of potential mothers--women in their 20s and 30s--is known to be heavily influenced by TV dramas."
How influenced? Go Bong-hwan, a female screenwriter, said, "They tend to see the TV character's problem as their problem, to the point that some Korean husbands worry that their wife might have an extramarital affair just because her favorite character in a drama is having an affair."
Via Lifesitenews.com
From Fr. Richard John Neuhaus—gently pointing out our own laziness:
I had some fun in my book Catholic Matters with the rationale offered by the bishops of England and Wales when, many years ago, they rescinded mandatory Friday abstinence from meat. The gist of their explanation was that the practice might make Catholics feel that they are different. The elimination of Catholic differences has done wonders for church life in the UK. The logic is that making it easier to be Catholic will generate greater interest in being Catholic. It obviously doesn't work that way. Never mind, the bishops of England and Wales have now decided to move holy days—Epiphany, Ascension, and Corpus Christi—to the nearest Sunday. The press release says that the change is needed "to boost Mass attendance on Holy Days." Boosting Mass attendance on holy days by eliminating holy days is a neat idea. The release continues: "The circumstances of modern life in England and Wales has made it impossible for a large proportion of the Catholic community to attend Holy Days." Impossible or just inconvenient? Inconvenience is part of doing one's duty. It has always been the case that the obligation in what are called holy days of obligation does not apply to those for whom attendance is truly impossible. Christmas Day, the Assumption of Mary, and All Saints will not be moved to a Sunday of convenience. It doesn't say so, but one assumes that Ash Wednesday and Good Friday will also continue to be observed on their respective weekdays. -–Source First Things, Rev. Richard John Neuhaus, "While We're At It" October 2006
-This reminds me of a passage I recently saw in a Children's Bible describing John the Baptist, " John was not a normal person, he talked about God all the time." Hmmmm. I wonder what that makes me? And indeed all Christians who live their Baptismal calling out? I suppose being "normal" is overrated anyhow. –to be Christian, to be in the world, but not of the world, to be a light amidst the darkness, to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ---abnormal? Sounds good to me!
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)
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