10-10-06
Greetings!
This prayer card was passed on to me:
No Time
I knelt to pray, but not for long,
I had too much to do,
Must hurry off and get to work
For bills would soon be due.
And so I said a hurried prayer,
Jumped up from off my knees;
My Christian duty now was done,
My soul could be at ease.
All through the day I had no time
To speak a word of cheer,
No time to speak of Christ to friends
They'd laugh at me, I feared.
No time, no time, too much to do—
That was my constant cry;
No time to give to those in need—
At last 'twas time to die.
And when before the Lord I came,
I stood with downcast eyes,
Within His hands He held a Book.
It was the "Book of Life."
God looked into His Book and said,
"Your name I cannot find,
I once was going to write it down,
But never found the time."
-Copyright Fratelli Bonella-Italy
Quite a striking little poem. I have my religious education students fill out a sheet demonstrating their attendance at Mass each Sunday. Those who don't go write out excuses from "we had no time" to "we were too tired" to "we had sports." Of course, at a young age, it isn't the child's fault but the parent who has slipped in their responsibility—(incidentally the responsibility they freely took on when they promised to keep the light of Christ burning in their child at Baptism.).
Now there are all sorts of ways one can argue, cajole, or try to persuade someone to go to Mass every Sunday.
Yet, on a certain level it all boils down to: God said to do it. So do it. Period. End of Debate. Ever try arguing with God? As someone wisely commented, "they're not the 10 Recommendations."
Phil's Tidbits:
Some sad numbers from across the
Atlantic. Notice the number of Baptisms dropped by half and confirmations by 60%. Fewer and fewer people are being introduced to the Christian faith as children.
I recall talking to an Professor of English. She lamented that few of her students understood the Christian symbolism and underpinnings present in much of classical literature.
Things that used to be taken for granted, part of the cultural fabric so to speak, are not there anymore. Similarly, parishes are encountering more and more adults, seeking to learn about Christianity, who have little if any knowledge about God or the Bible stories.
In fact, at times I'll simply encourage them to get a children's Bible and read it (even as an adult) because it gives an overview of the story.
Didn't it used to be that every parent read their child stories from the Bible? Britain
's Dark Night of the Soul
Churches Face a Continuing Fall in Attendance
LONDON, SEPT. 30, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The numbers of Sunday churchgoers is still falling in England, according to a report published Sept. 18 by the British organization Christian Research. The decline, however, seems to be slowing.
The report, the 2005 English Church Census, shows that from 1998-2005 "only" a half-million people stopped going to church. The good news was that this was half the loss sustained in the nine-year period prior to 1998.
The data were collected from surveys sent to 37,500 churches, of which about half responded. The attendance figures are those for Sunday, May 8, 2005. According to the census 6.3% of the population, just over
3.1 million people, are now in church on an average Sunday, compared with 7.5% in 1998.
Catholic problems
A more detailed look at the situation of the Catholic Church came in another report, published this summer by the
Pastoral Research Center. Over a three-decade period Mass attendance has declined by 40%, according to a summary of the report published in the Times newspaper on July 4. The report covered the period 1963-1991.
Over the same period baptisms were halved, while marriages and confirmations plunged by 60%.
As well, first Communions declined by 40% and the number of adult converts fell 55%. According to the Times, more recent figures, from 2004, show little improvement in the situation. Numbers going to Mass on a Sunday in 1991 in
England and Wales stood at 1.3 million, declining to 960,000 in 2004.
The Web site for the Catholic Church in England and Wales also publishes statistics that reveal similar trends. The number of diocesan clergy fell from 4,755 in 1981 to 3,765 in 2003. Religious-order clergy fell from 2,266 to 1,363 in the same period.
The number of marriages in Catholic churches fell precipitously, from 29,337 in 1981 to 11,013 in 2003. The Web site estimated weekly Mass attendance at 915,497.
ZE06093002
Not to pick on our friends across the Atlantic too much, but sometimes they bring it upon themselves. This is just silliness. Is it "science" to allow one's preconceived opinion color the evidence directly in front of you?
UK
"Experts" Discount New Ultrasound Images of Unborn for Abortion Debate
Say images showing pre-born stretching, kicking, sucking thumb are "dangerous"
By Gudrun Schultz
LONDON, United Kingdom, October 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com ) - Startling images of tiny unborn babies sucking their thumbs and "walking" at 12 weeks gestation have no significance for the abortion debate, according to a trio of experts in the neonatal field, the Times Online reported today.
Responding to the recent debate, triggered by the images, on lowering the gestational age for legal abortions --currently set at 24 weeks--the experts said the images do not prove unborn babies have feelings.
The images are the result of new developments in ultrasound technology, led by Professor Stuart Campbell, former professor of obstetrics and gynecology at King's College, London. The four-dimensional images allow viewers to witness details of the unborn child's activity previously hidden to researchers.
Babies can be seen stretching, kicking and leaping at 12 weeks, making intricate finger movements at 15 weeks, and yawning at 20 weeks, the Guardian reported. Babies at 18 weeks gestation were shown opening their eyes.
Prof. Campbell, now head of the fertility clinic Create Health Clinic, said he had seen an image of a child at 18 weeks making a "crying" face, a revelation of potential feeling in the unborn which he says must be examined further.
"This is just a piece of evidence. It's not proof but you can't just dismiss this."
Dismissing the images, however, is just what some neonatal experts say should happen. Calling them "dangerous," the authorities said immaturity of the unborn children's brain functions was not addressed by the revelation of early controlled movement.
"The temptation is to associate foetal movements with adult movements - it's sucking its thumb because it's happy, it's walking because it's going somewhere," Donald Peebles, a feotal medicine consultant at University College London said. "I think it's that step which is extraordinarily dangerous. I don't think in scientific terms these shed any new light whatsoever on the debate."
"Personification of the fetus at that age is dangerous," said Huseyin Mehmet, reader in developmental neurobiology at Imperial College London. "I was worried when I saw those images. To suggest that an early fetus in utero has those kind of human qualities of being able to suck its thumb and move…is very difficult indeed."
A third, John Wyatt, professor of neonatal paediatrics at University College Hospital, London, said the images would not have an impact on the understanding of neuroscience, despite admitting that science "will never know at what point foetal consciousness and awareness start."
Read coverage by Times Online:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2385574,00.html
Cardinal Mahoney of LA puts it very succinctly here. Outside of the morality of abortion, the logic of the current law defies rationality—and were it not true, I'd have a hard time believing anyone could attempt to justify it.
Via Lifesite.net Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles:
Proposition 85, the Parents' Right to Know and Child Protection Initiative, would amend the state constitution to require that at least one parent of a minor girl be notified before undergoing an abortion.
"As you may know, under current California law a minor girl under the age of 18 cannot leave school to go on a field trip, she cannot get a flu shot, a tooth pulled, or even an aspirin from the school nurse without one of her parents being notified," the cardinal said in the taped message. "Yet that same child -- a girl as young as 12 years old -- can be taken by a complete stranger to an abortion center, put under general anesthesia, and undergo a surgical or chemical abortion without her parents' knowledge or consent."
On a brighter note this sounds kind of cool. Check out the website: http://www.life4seekers.co.uk/aplaceforgodinourworld/Miracles.html
There are those who try to debunk the existence of Jesus' miracles. There's only one problem with that approach—to discount Jesus' miracles is to essentially discount Jesus. For his miracles were done to add credibility to His teaching. Read Mark 2:1-12. If Jesus doesn't physically heal the paralytic, they have no proof that He can forgive sins, or that He is indeed the Son of God. Yet, they walk away amazed because He claims to be God and then heals the man. One action validates the other.
Web Page Features Miracles of Yesterday and Today
British Initiative Coincides With TV Production
LONDON, AUG. 23, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The Catholic Agency to Support Evangelization has launched a Web page on the miracles from the time of Jesus as well as from modernity.
Started by the bishops of England and Wales in April 2004, CASE
aims to support dioceses, parishes, schools, groups and individuals in proclaiming the Gospel.
The new Web page was launched to coincide with the broadcast of a BBC television series called "The Miracles of Jesus," which uses drama, special photography and computer-generated images to bring the miracles of Jesus to life.
Monsignor Keith Barltrop, CASE director, is lending his support to the TV series and has asked Catholics to invite non-Catholic friends, family members and neighbors to watch the programs.
"Your invitation could change someone's life," he urged. "Pope John Paul II repeatedly called for Catholics to seek new and dynamic ways of communicating and celebrating their faith so as to be of relevance to people living in these times."
The BBC series "has the potential to serve in precisely this way as a powerful tool of contemporary evangelization," explained Monsignor Barltrop.
The Web page launched by CASE asks: "Do miracles still happen? Did they ever happen in the past? Two thousand years ago, many believed that Jesus Christ performed them. Were they real or just tricks to astonish the crowds? Intrigued? To help you decide, explore the following resources."
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