Girl Scouts Media Matters

One of our parish's teens in Texas exposing the Girl Scouts recently on Fox News~!
So proud of you, Sydney Volanski!

Are you aware of the Girl Scouts' promotion of the liberal news website www.mediamatters.org? Despite their claim to be politically neutral, Girl Scouts recommends this liberal news resource to girls.

GSUSA has claimed that the reference will be removed on reprint, but the books promoting Media Matters are still being sold in local council stores throughout the United States and thousands of girls already have the book endorsing Media Matters in their hands. 

There are also Girl Scout links to Planned Parenthood.
http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/GirlsScouts_PlannedParenthood.htm
http://www.opposingviews.com/i/relationship-between-girl-scouts-planned-parenthood
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZKiQub0ZnA
http://www.honestgirlscouts.com/
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/05/18/new-pro-life-web-site-links-girl-scouts-with-planned-parenthood/

ARCH Houston Homeschooling Conference (April 29th and 30th, 2011)

Visit the Event Web Page

Host's Message:	We have so many ways you can see what is happening regarding the conference! We have a website, www.arch-homeschool.org , a blog, http://archinfohouston.blogspot.com/ a facebook, http://www.facebook.com/pages/ARCH-Apostolate-of-Roman-Catholic-Homeschoolers/93616462060 and we also have an even... more >
Date:	April 29th, 2011 @ 6pm to April 30th, 2011 @ 6pm
Location:	The University of St Thomas
Address:	University of Saint Thomas 3800 Monstrose Houston, TX
Map:	Link to google map

Relics Exposition by Treasures of the Church

Treasures of the Church is a ministry of evangelization of the Catholic Church.  Run by Fr. Carlos Martins of the Companions of the Cross, its purpose is to give people an experience of the living God through an encounter with the relics of his saints in the form of an exposition.  Each exposition begins with a multi-media presentation on the Church's use of relics that is scriptural, catechetical, and devotional, leading to a renewal of the Catholic faith for many people.  After the teaching those in attendance have an opportunity to venerate the relics of some of their favorite saints.

 

An exposition involves some 150 relics, including those of St. Maria Goretti, St. Therese of Lisieux (the "Little Flower"), St. Francis of Assisi, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Faustina Kowalska.  The supreme highlight is one of the largest relics of the Church's claim to the True Cross in the world and a piece of the Veil that, according to sanctioned tradition, is believed to have belonged to Our Lady.

The veneration of relics is a communion with the heroes of our Christian faith, asking for their powerful intercession.   Many people have reported outstanding blessings and conversions through this ministry, and many have reported healings.  Attendees are encouraged to bring their articles of devotion (such as rosaries, holy cards, etc.) and pictures of ill friends/family members which may be touched to the reliquaries as a means of intercessory prayer.

The ministry is based out of Houston, Texas, and travels throughout North America by invitation.

WHAT ARE RELICS?
Relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with Our Lord. They are usually broken down into three classes. First class relics are the body or fragments of the body of a saint, such as pieces of bone or flesh. Second class relics are something that a saint personally owned, such as a shirt or book (or fragments of those items). Third class relics are those items that a saint touched or that have been touched to a first or second class relic of a saint.
Scripture teaches that God acts through relics, especially in terms of healing.  In fact, when surveying what Scripture has to say about sacred relics, one is left with the idea that healing is what relics “do.”  

• When the corpse of a man was touched to the bones of the prophet Elisha the man came back to life and rose to his feet (2 Kings 13:20-21).
• A woman was healed of her hemorrhage simply by touching the hem of Jesus’ cloak (Matthew 9:20-22).
• The signs and wonders worked by the Apostles were so great that people would line the streets with the sick so that when Peter walked by at least his shadow might ‘touch’ them (Acts 5:12-15).
• When handkerchiefs or aprons that had been touched to Paul were applied to the sick, the people were healed and evil spirits were driven out of them (Acts 19:11-12).

In each of these instances God has brought about a healing using a material object.  The vehicle for the healing was the touching of that object. It is very important to note, however, that the cause of the healing is God; the relics are a means through which He acts.  In other words, relics are not magic.  They do not contain a power that is their own; a power separate from God.  Any good that comes about through a relic is God’s doing.  But the fact that God chooses to use the relics of saints to work healing and miracles tells us that He wants to draw our attention to the saints as “models and intercessors” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 828).
•  Download and read a Companions of the Cross Newsletter article on the Treasures of the Church Ministry.
•  Download and read a National Catholic Register feature article on the Treasures of the Church Ministry.
•  You can download a copy of the list of the Saints on Display at the Treasures of the Church Exposition.

Upcoming Expositions

The date and location of the next expositions are as follows:    

Sunday January 30 at 1:00 pm
St. Philip the Apostle Church
2308 3rd St.
Huffman, TX  77336
(281) 324-1478

Tuesday February 1 at 7:00 pm
St. Clare of Assisi Church
3131 El Dorado Blvd.
Houston, TX  77059 )  near Pearland?
(281) 286-7729

Thursday February 3 at 7:00 pm
Shrine of the True Cross
300 FM 517 E
Dickinson, TX  77539
(281) 337-4112

Friday February 4 at 7:00 pm
Shrine of the True Cross
300 FM 517 E
Dickinson, TX  77539
(281) 337-4112

Saturday February 5 at 12 noon
St. Mary of the Miraculous Medal Church
1620 9th Ave. North
Texas City, TX  77590
(409) 948-8448

Friday February 18 at 7:00 pmSt. Aloysius' Church
11 Traynor Avenue
Kitchener, Ontario,  CANADA  N2C 1W1
(519) 893-1220

Saturday February 19 at 10:00 am
St. Aloysius' Church
11 Traynor Avenue
Kitchener, Ontario,  CANADA  N2C 1W1
(519) 893-1220

Sunday February 20 at 7:00 pm (tentative time subject to change)
St. Patrick's Church
4597 Perth Road 145, R.R. #1
Sebringville, Ontario, CANADA  N0K 1X0
(519) 345-2972

Monday February 21 at 7:00 pm
St. Mary's Church
56 Duke Street West
Kitchener, Ontario,  CANADA  N2H 3W7
(519) 576-3860

Saturday February 26 at 6:00 pm
Annunciation of Our Lord Church
280 Limeridge Road West
Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA  L9C 2V2
(905) 388 2078

Sunday February 27 at 4:00 pm
Annunciation of Our Lord Church
280 Limeridge Road West
Hamilton, Ontario, CANADA  L9C 2V2
(905) 388 2078

Monday February 28 at 7:00 pmSt. Francis Xavier Church
304 Highway 8
Stoney Creek, Ontario, CANADA  L8G 1E6
(905) 662 - 8593

Monday March 14 at 7:00 pm  *** bilingual presentation in English and Spanish ***Queen of Peace Church
141 N Macdonald St.
Mesa, AZ  85201 
(480) 969-9166

Tuesday March 15 at 7:00 pm
Queen of Peace Church
141 N Macdonald St.
Mesa, AZ  85201  
(480) 969-9166

Wednesday March 16 at 7:00 pm
Resurrection Church
3201 South Evergreen Rd.
Tempe, AZ   85282
(480) 838-0207

Thursday March 17 at 7:00 pm
Christ the King Church
1551 E. Dana Avenue
Mesa, Arizona 85204
(480) 964-1719

Friday March 18 at 7:00 pm
Saints Simon and Jude Cathedral
6351 North 27th Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona 85017
(602) 242-1300

Saturday March 19 at 6:00 pm
Saints Simon and Jude Cathedral
6351 North 27th Avenue
Phoenix, Arizona 85017
(602) 242-1300

Archbishop Gomez is Going to Los Angeles

As a “back-to-basics” shepherd who is intent on combating the errors of the secular world by teaching the content of our Catholic faith, the appointment of Archbishop José H. Gomez (of San Antonio) is a timely and wonderful blessing for the people of Los Angeles. 

A quote I really liked taken from an interview with His Excellency.  Most Reverend José H. Gomez, S.T.D. said  . . . . .

"I think that the challenge that Catholics have now days is education in the faith. We really need to know our faith. Most Catholics do not know the teachings of the Church. In the old times we not only had Catholic schools, we also had a culture that was supportive of Catholic teachings. The whole life of the cities and towns was built around the religious life.

Now we have these huge metropolises and television and movies and the media and so many things that have nothing to do with the Catholic Church and Catholic teachings. People live in a society that is often opposed to the Faith, and so our challenge is one of formation; bringing people to Christ and then helping them to deepen their understanding of His life and His teaching; the content of our faith."

The whole article is @ Catholic Exchange.
The interviewer was: Louie Verrecchio

Louie Verrecchio is a Catholic speaker and the author of Harvesting the Fruit of Vatican II; an internationally acclaimed adult faith formation tool, endorsed by George Cardinal Pell, that explores the documents of the Second Vatican Council. For more information please visit: www.harvestingthefruit.com.

OK -- so, obviously,  I cannot stop with just one quote from the article. Here is another . . . .

Verracchio: You’re a member of the “USCCB Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis.” Similarly named offices exist on the diocesan and parish levels as well. Why is evangelization so frequently coupled with catechesis?

Archbishop José H. Gomez: Because that is the experience of the encounter with Christ. Consider the history of the Catholic Church; the Apostles first had a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and in a sense that was what their evangelization efforts were all about – bringing people before the person and the life of Jesus Christ. But it doesn’t end there. After this initial personal encounter you have to complement it with the education of the faith; that’s catechesis.

Related Sources for Reference:
http://www.opusdei.us/art.php?p=9287

Rev. Euteneuer, Abby Johnson Speak at Houston Coalition Fundraiser

A Homeschooling Mom who is in my Yahoo Group posted this. . . . It NEEDS to be shared.

  Last night I attended the fundraiser for the Houston Coalition for Life at the Galleria Westin Hotel.  Those several hundred in attendance gathered for encouragement after a busy year, to break bread and to hear Reverend Euteneuer, president of Human Life International, and Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood administrator, speak.  

     As Abby Johnson walked to center stage, she was greeted by a standing ovation.  For those of us who know the policies and methods of operation of Planned Parenthood, we marveled at a radically changed heart and mind as she recalled the day that she witnessed an abortion being performed through the use of an ultrasound.  

 The ultrasounds at Planned Parenthood are always silent, she said.  Better that a mother doesn’t hear the beating of that small flicker on the screen which is her baby’s heart.  But it doesn’t matter, for the mother never sees the flicker, for they are not allowed within the mother’s sight.  It is a proven statistic that over 60% of mothers who are considering an abortion change their minds when they see their baby on an ultrasound.  

     The abortion proceeded and to her horror, the baby moved away from the instrument.  One of the most often asked questions during an abortion encouragement session is, “Will the baby feel it?”  Planned Parenthood counselors are instructed to answer no.  That day, as she watched this life move away, she had to ask herself what she had been promoting for eight years.  Johnson was being groomed  to become the chief administrator of the largest Planned Parenthood Clinic in the world right here in Houston, Texas.   

   When the encouragement for an abortion session ends, the mother goes to the cashier and she is asked for the payment of $130.  To many of us, that doesn’t sound like much.  However, most of these women are on one income and have other mouths to feed.  So, the pitch isn’t over.  For in that confused moment a statement like this from the cashier hones in for the close:  “Or if you decide on an abortion, we won’t charge you today.”  

   To make matters more difficult, Johnson said, she was informed that abortions at the new facility on the Gulf Freeway would take the lives of unborn children up to 24 weeks.  She questioned this statement as she had been told that it would be 20 weeks.  She was told the timeframe of 20 weeks was given so that the public could get used to the idea; that 24 weeks wouldn’t seem so bad afterwards.  

 She had always told her family that she would quit her job the day abortions exceeded 20 weeks.

As we all know, Abby Johnson walked away from Planned Parenthood a few weeks later and has never looked back.  Today, her witness is invaluable to what Rev. Euteneuer called the Church leadership's responsibility to become Joshua, and us, the Church Militant to follow that leadership.  

Abby Johnson agreed, saying that as she worked at Planned Parenthood, she never heard a word from the pulpit against abortion.  When she later asked why, her pastor responded that he was afraid of offending the congregation.  I tried to recall when Christ was afraid of offending the people with the truth.  Didn’t he offend them so badly that we mourn and fast as I write?  Was the cross a convenient prize for the act of social graces and political correctness? 

Rev. Euteneuer wasn’t the man I’ve always pictured.  He is small in stature, he blessed the gathering and prayed over us before he left, and every word he spoke was embraced in love and grace.  Among his many stories was that of Joshua (the Church leadership) defeating Jericho with his army (the Church militant).  He spoke of the Mayan ritual of sacrificing babies to their gods; how the Spanish tried to stop this and then how it ended with the appearance of Our Lady of Guadalupe.  There was always a drum beat during the sacrifices to drown out the screams as the priest passed the baby over the fire.   

   After listening to the witness of Abby Johnson we know what the drum beat of today’s Planned Parenthood is:  lies and deception.  For if this is the protocol for their abortions, what then, is the goal of their “health care”?   We only need to extend the logic.  In doing so, the next question is, when do they come for you?

   Reverend also related the story of how Nicaragua, removed abortion from their books of Law.  It took a few years and the process went something like this:  unite a strong church leadership, under which is a strong Church militant to show up at these mills and then the laws will be changed.  Johnson wisely related that if Roe vs. Wade were overturned tomorrow, abortions would still take place.

     

 Action must start in the Church!

 

What do we do?  After Reverend gave us the formula of 80% prayer and 20% work, we were beseeched to go to our pastors, to our priests, to our leadership to expose this crime; we must proceed under Church leadership.

   One has to ask themselves as the 45-50 babies scream today as they are being suctioned, torn, and sliced from their mother’s wombs at Planned Parenthood downtown:  “What can I do?”  Don’t we?

   The drum beats have to be deafening to the American conscience.  Don’t they?  To look in the mirror is painful, so maybe that’s why we walk away when we do, myself included.  Planned Parenthood has done their job well and my business and thoughts are not about my neighbor.  Or the legal murder of her baby.  

  It was the images of the praying Church on the sidewalks of Planned Parenthood that were burned into the mind of Abbey Johnson.  They appealed to her conscience and brought her to the gates of the Coalition for Life in Bryan, Texas when she needed support  for her decision to choose life.  The sidewalks in front of Planned Parenthood are the front line against abortion.  It is there that minds are changed and lives are literally saved.  

Joshua could have stayed home and prayed.  And we need prayer, but we also need to work.  This is a real battle for truth, justice, and human dignity.

This is a call to the Church militant.  Joshua sounds the trumpet!  God forgive us and grant us the wisdom, grace, and energy to work and pray for what is the primary litmus test of our society and culture:  life!

 

Carol        

"Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision." - G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

The Doctrine of the Catholic Kennedy Worthless? AND -THE VOCATION OF CHRISTIANS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE

In 1960, he theorized the most rigid separation between Church and state, in order to be acceptable as president. Half a century later, Archbishop Chaput is accusing him of causing serious damage. An essay by Professor Diotallevi on the limits and shortcomings of secularism
by Sandro Magister

ROME, March 2, 2010 Precisely fifty years after the memorable speech, preserved in the anthologies, that John F. Kennedy gave to the Protestant pastors of Houston in order to convince them and the entire nation that as a Catholic he could be a good president (see photo), the archbishop of Denver, Charles J. Chaput, has returned to the scene of the crime, in Houston, for a Baptist conference on the role of Christians in public life.

The "crime" was precisely the one committed by Kennedy with that speech, Chaput maintained in his talk, given yesterday evening at Houston Baptist University and reproduced in its entirety further below.

"Today, half a century later, were paying for the damage," said Chaput, who of all the bishops of the United States is the one most active in the area of relations between the Church and political leadership. He has also written a book on this topic, "Render Unto Caesar," the central thesis of which is that Caesar must be given his due, but that a Christian serves his nation by living his faith in political life in complete consistency and visibility, without hiding or diluting it.

In Chaput's view, the rigid separation between Church and state exalted by Kennedy has nothing to do with the origin and history of the United States. It is a concept introduced only in the middle of the twentieth century by a secularist current. Kennedy submitted to this current, opening the way to the privatization of religious belief in the individual conscience and to its definitive collapse, even among Catholics.

Today the paradox of these Catholics in love with secularism in the United States and elsewhere is that they espouse and exalt this paradigm in an uncritical fashion, even applying it to the Church, precisely when it appears to be increasingly in crisis everywhere.

In contemporary culture, the word "secularism" can be traced back to the "laicit" typical of France, highly aggressive toward religion and determined to exclude it from the public sphere or in any case subject it to its own command.

But this concept is under revision in France itself, and elsewhere it has been duplicated in significantly different versions, all of them rather unstable.

Not only that. In Europe itself, as well as in North America, "laicit" has always had to face a very different model of relations between Church and state, the "religious freedom" of Anglo-Saxon origin that has thrived most in the United States.

Both of these models were born within Christianity, but they have produced different forms of the Church's role in society.

The United States is the nation where today the confrontation between "laicit" and "religious freedom" is most vigorous and decisive. And the Catholic Church is part of it.

In Italy, the scholar who is most insistently calling attention to this confrontation is Luca Diotallevi, professor of sociology at the Universit di Roma Tre, vice president of the scientific committee of the "Social Weeks" for Italian Catholics, and an expert in high demand among the leadership of the bishops' conference.

Diotallevi has entitled his latest essay, published by Rubbettino and in bookstores for a month, "Una alternativa alla laicit."

He published an enlightening preview of his essay, with references to Europe and America, in the magazine of the Catholic University of Milan, "Vita e Pensiero":
Se possiamo non dirci laici

But here is the talk given by the archbishop of Denver on the evening of March 1, 2010, at the Baptist University of Houston:

THE VOCATION OF CHRISTIANS IN AMERICAN PUBLIC LIFE

by Charles J. Chaput


One of the ironies in my talk tonight is this. I'm a Catholic bishop, speaking at a Baptist university in America's Protestant heartland. But I've been welcomed with more warmth and friendship than I might find at a number of Catholic venues. This is a fact worth discussing. I'll come back to it at the end of my comments. [...]

I need to offer a few caveats before I turn to the substance of our discussion.

The first caveat is this: My thoughts tonight are purely my own. I don't speak for the Holy See, or the American Catholic bishops, or the Houston Catholic community. In the Catholic tradition, the local bishop is the chief preacher and teacher of the faith, and the shepherd of the local Church. Here in Houston you have an outstanding bishop a man of great Christian faith and intellect in Cardinal Daniel DiNardo. In all things Catholic tonight, I'm glad to defer to his leadership.

Here's my second caveat: I'm here as a Catholic Christian and an American citizen in that order. Both of these identities are important. They don't need to conflict. They are not, however, the same thing. And they do not have the same weight. I love my country. I revere the genius of its founding documents and its public institutions. But no nation, not even the one I love, has a right to my allegiance, or my silence, in matters that belong to God or that undermine the dignity of the human persons He created.

My third caveat is this: Catholics and Protestants have different memories of American history. The historian Paul Johnson once wrote that America was born Protestant (1). That's clearly true. Whatever America is today or may become tomorrow, its origin was deeply shaped by a Protestant Christian spirit, and the fruit of that spirit has been, on the balance, a great blessing for humanity. But it's also true that, while Catholics have always thrived in the United States, they lived through two centuries of discrimination, religious bigotry and occasional violence. Protestants of course will remember things quite differently. They will remember Catholic persecution of dissenters in Europe, the entanglements of the Roman Church and state power, and papal suspicion of democracy and religious liberty.

We can't erase those memories. And we cannot nor should we try to paper over the issues that still divide us as believers in terms of doctrine, authority and our understandings of the Church. Ecumenism based on good manners instead of truth is empty. It's also a form of lying. If we share a love of Jesus Christ and a familial bond in baptism and Gods Word, then on a fundamental level, we're brothers and sisters. Members of a family owe each other more than surface courtesies. We owe each other the kind of fraternal respect that speak[s] the truth in love (Eph 4:15). We also urgently owe each other solidarity and support in dealing with a culture that increasingly derides religious faith in general, and the Christian faith in particular. And that brings me to the heart of what I want to share with you.

*

Our theme tonight is the vocation of Christians in American public life. Thats a pretty broad canvas. Broad enough that I wrote a book about it. Tonight I want to focus in a special way on the role of Christians in our countrys civic and political life. The key to our discussion will be that word vocation. It comes from the Latin word "vocare," which means, to call. Christians believe that God calls each of us individually, and all of us as a believing community, to know, love and serve him in our daily lives.

But theres more. He also asks us to make disciples of all nations. That means we have a duty to preach Jesus Christ. We have a mandate to share his Gospel of truth, mercy, justice and love. These are mission words; action words. Theyre not optional. And they have practical consequences for the way we think, speak, make choices and live our lives, not just at home but in the public square. Real Christian faith is always personal, but its never private. And we need to think about that simple fact in light of an anniversary.

Fifty years ago this fall, in September 1960, Sen. John F. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate for president, spoke to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association. He had one purpose. He needed to convince 300 uneasy Protestant ministers, and the country at large, that a Catholic like himself could serve loyally as our nations chief executive. Kennedy convinced the country, if not the ministers, and went on to be elected. And his speech left a lasting mark on American politics. It was sincere, compelling, articulate and wrong. Not wrong about the patriotism of Catholics, but wrong about American history and very wrong about the role of religious faith in our nations life. And he wasnt merely wrong. His Houston remarks profoundly undermined the place not just of Catholics, but of all religious believers, in Americas public life and political conversation. Today, half a century later, were paying for the damage.

Now those are strong statements. So Ill try to explain them by doing three things. First, I want to look at the problems in what Kennedy actually said. Second, I want to reflect on what a proper Christian approach to politics and public service might look like. And last, I want to examine where Kennedys speech has led us in other words, the realities we face today, and what Christians need to do about those realities.

*

John Kennedy was a great speaker. Ted Sorensen, who helped craft the Houston speech, was a gifted writer. As a result, its easy to speed-read Kennedys Houston remarks as a passionate appeal for tolerance. But the text has at least two big flaws (2). The first is political and historical. The second is religious.

Early in his remarks, Kennedy said: I believe in an America where the separation of Church and state is absolute. Given the distrust historically shown to Catholics in this country, his words were shrewdly chosen. The trouble is, the Constitution doesnt say that. The Founders and Framers didnt believe that. And the history of the United States contradicts that. Unlike revolutionary leaders in Europe, the American Founders looked quite favorably on religion. Many were believers themselves. In fact, one of the main reasons for writing the First Amendments Establishment Clause the clause that bars any federally-endorsed Church was that several of the Constitutions Framers wanted to protect the publicly funded Protestant Churches they already had in their own states. John Adams actually preferred a mild and equitable establishment of religion and helped draft that into the 1780 Massachusetts Constitution (3).

Americas Founders encouraged mutual support between religion and government. Their reasons were practical. In their view, a republic like the United States needs a virtuous people to survive. Religious faith, rightly lived, forms virtuous people. Thus, the modern, drastic sense of the separation of Church and state had little force in American consciousness until Justice Hugo Black excavated it from a private letter President Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1802 to the Danbury Baptist Association (4). Justice Black then used Jeffersons phrase in the Supreme Courts Everson v. Board of Education decision in 1947.

The date of that Court decision is important, because Americas Catholic bishops wrote a wonderful pastoral letter one year later in 1948 called The Christian in Action. Its worth reading. In that letter, the bishops did two things. They strongly endorsed American democracy and religious freedom. They also strongly challenged Justice Blacks logic in Everson.

The bishops wrote that it would be an utter distortion of American history and law to force the nations public institutions into an indifference to religion and the exclusion of cooperation between religion and government. They rejected Justice Blacks harsh new sense of the separation of Church and state as a shibboleth of doctrinaire secularism(5) . And the bishops argued their case from the facts of American history.

The value of remembering that pastoral statement tonight is this: Kennedy referenced the 1948 bishops letter in his Houston comments. He wanted to prove the deep Catholic support for American democracy. And rightly so. But he neglected to mention that the same bishops, in the same letter, repudiated the new and radical kind of separation doctrine he was preaching.

The Houston remarks also created a religious problem. To his credit, Kennedy said that if his duties as President should ever require me to violate my conscience or violate the national interest, I would resign the office. He also warned that he would not disavow my views or my church in order to win this election. But in its effect, the Houston speech did exactly that. It began the project of walling religion away from the process of governance in a new and aggressive way. It also divided a persons private beliefs from his or her public duties. And it set the national interest over and against outside religious pressures or dictates.

For his audience of Protestant ministers, Kennedys stress on personal conscience may have sounded familiar and reassuring. But what Kennedy actually did, according to Jesuit scholar Mark Massa, was something quite alien and new. He secularize[d] the American presidency in order to win it. In other words, [P]recisely because Kennedy was not an adherent of that mainstream Protestant religiosity that had created and buttressed the plausibility structures of [American] political culture at least since Lincoln, he had to privatize presidential religious belief including and especially his own in order to win that office (6).

In Massas view, the kind of secularity pushed by the Houston speech represented a near total privatization of religious belief so much a privatization that religious observers from both sides of the Catholic/Protestant fence commented on its remarkable atheistic implications for public life and discourse. And the irony again as told by Massa is that some of the same people who worried publicly about Kennedys Catholic faith got a result very different from the one they expected. In effect, the raising of the [Catholic] issue itself went a considerable way toward secularizing the American public square by privatizing personal belief. The very effort to safeguard the [essentially Protestant] religious aura of the presidency.. . contributed in significant ways to its secularization.

Fifty years after Kennedys Houston speech, we have more Catholics in national public office than ever before. But I wonder if weve ever had fewer of them who can coherently explain how their faith informs their work, or who even feel obligated to try. The life of our country is no more Catholic or Christian than it was 100 years ago. In fact it's arguably less so. And at least one of the reasons for it is this: Too many Catholics confuse their personal opinions with a real Christian conscience. Too many live their faith as if it were a private idiosyncrasy the kind that theyll never allow to become a public nuisance. And too many just don't really believe. Maybe its different in Protestant circles. But I hope youll forgive me if I say, I doubt it.

*

John Kennedy didnt create the trends in American life that Ive described. But at least for Catholics, his Houston speech clearly fed them. Which brings me to the second point of my talk: What would a proper Christian approach to politics look like? John Courtney Murray, the Jesuit scholar who spoke so forcefully about the dignity of American democracy and religious freedom, once wrote: The Holy Spirit does not descend into the City of Man in the form of a dove. He comes only in the endlessly energetic spirit of justice and love that dwells in the man of the City, the layman (7).

Here's what that means. Christianity is not mainly or even significantly - about politics. It's about living and sharing the love of God. And Christian political engagement, when it happens, is never mainly the task of the clergy. That work belongs to lay believers who live most intensely in the world. Christian faith is not a set of ethics or doctrines. It's not a group of theories about social and economic justice. All these things have their place. All of them can be important. But a Christian life begins in a relationship with Jesus Christ; and it bears fruit in the justice, mercy and love we show to others because of that relationship.

Jesus said, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets (Mt 22:37-40). That's the test of our faith, and without a passion for Jesus Christ in our hearts that reshapes our lives, Christianity is just a word game and a legend. Relationships have consequences. A married man will commit himself to certain actions and behaviors, no matter what the cost, out of the love he bears for his wife. Our relationship with God is the same. We need to live and prove our love by our actions, not just in our personal and family lives, but also in the public square. Therefore Christians individually and the Church as a believing community engage the political order as an obligation of the Word of God. Human law teaches and forms as well as regulates; and human politics is the exercise of power which means both have moral implications that the Christian cannot ignore and still remain faithful to his vocation as a light to the world (Mt 5:14-16).

Robert Dodaro, the Augustinian priest and scholar, wrote a wonderful book a few years ago called "Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine". In his book and elsewhere, Dodaro makes four key points about Augustine's view of Christianity and politics (8).

First, Augustine never really offers a political theory, and there's a reason. He doesn't believe human beings can know or create perfect justice in this world. Our judgment is always flawed by our sinfulness. Therefore, the right starting point for any Christian politics is humility, modesty and a very sober realism.

Second, no political order, no matter how seemingly good, can ever constitute a just society. Errors in moral judgment can't be avoided. These errors also grow exponentially in their complexity as they move from lower to higher levels of society and governance. Therefore the Christian needs to be loyal to her nation and obedient to its legitimate rulers. But he also needs to cultivate a critical vigilance about both.

Third, despite these concerns, Christians still have a duty to take part in public life according to their God-given abilities, even when their faith brings them into conflict with public authority. We cant simply ignore or withdraw from civic affairs. The reason is simple. The classic civic virtues named by Cicero prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance can be renewed and elevated, to the benefit of all citizens, by the Christian virtues of faith, hope and charity. Therefore, political engagement is a worthy Christian task, and public office is an honorable Christian vocation.

Fourth, in governing as best they can, while conforming their lives and their judgment to the content of the Gospel, Christian leaders in public life can accomplish real good, and they can make a difference. Their success will always be limited and mixed. It will never be ideal. But with the help of God they can improve the moral quality of society, which makes the effort invaluable.

What Augustine believes about Christian leaders, we can reasonably extend to the vocation of all Christian citizens. The skills of the Christian citizen are finally very simple: a zeal for Jesus Christ and his Church; a conscience formed in humility and rooted in Scripture and the believing community; the prudence to see which issues in public life are vital and foundational to human dignity, and which ones are not; and the courage to work for what's right. We don't cultivate these skills alone. We develop them together as Christians, in prayer, on our knees, in the presence of Jesus Christ and also in discussions like tonight.

*

Now before ending, I want to turn briefly to the third point I mentioned earlier in my talk: the realities we face today, and what Christians need to do about them. As I was preparing these comments for tonight, I listed all the urgent issues that demand our attention as believers: abortion; immigration; our obligations to the poor, the elderly and the disabled; questions of war and peace; our national confusion about sexual identity and human nature, and the attacks on marriage and family life that flow from this confusion; the growing disconnection of our science and technology from real moral reflection; the erosion of freedom of conscience in our national health-care debates; the content and quality of the schools that form our children.

The list is long. I believe abortion is the foundational human rights issue of our lifetime. We need to do everything we can to support women in their pregnancies and to end the legal killing of unborn children. We may want to remember that the Romans had a visceral hatred for Carthage not because Carthage was a commercial rival, or because its people had a different language and customs. The Romans hated Carthage above all because its people sacrificed their infants to Baal. For the Romans, who themselves were a hard people, that was a unique kind of wickedness and barbarism. As a nation, we might profitably ask ourselves whom and what weve really been worshipping in our 40 million legal abortions since 1973.

All of these issues that Ive listed above divide our country and our Churches in a way Augustine would have found quite understandable. The City of God and the City of Man overlap in this world. Only God knows who finally belongs to which. But in the meantime, in seeking to live the Gospel we claim to believe, we find friends and brothers in unforeseen places, unlikely places; and when that happens, even a foreign place can seem like ones home.

The vocation of Christians in American public life does not have a Baptist or Catholic or Greek Orthodox or any other brand-specific label. John 14:6 I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me which is so key to the identity of Houston Baptist University, burns just as hot in this heart, and the heart of every Catholic who truly understands his faith. Our job is to love God, preach Jesus Christ, serve and defend Gods people, and sanctify the world as his agents. To do that work, we need to be one. Not one in pious words or good intentions, but really one, perfectly one, in mind and heart and action, as Christ intended. This is what Jesus meant when he said: I do not pray for these only, but also those who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me (Jn 17:20-21).

We live in a country that was once despite its sins and flaws deeply shaped by Christian faith. It can be so again. But we will do that together, or we wont do it at all. We need to remember the words of St. Hilary from so long ago: "Unum sunt, qui invicem sunt", they are one, who are wholly for each other (9). May God grant us the grace to love each other, support each other and live wholly for each other in Jesus Christ so that we might work together in renewing the nation that has served human freedom so well.

__________


(1) Paul Johnson, An Almost-Chosen People, First Things, June/July 2006; adapted from his Erasmus Lecture.

(2) Full text of the Kennedy Houston speech is available online from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

(3) John Witte, Jr., From Establishment to Freedom of Public Religion, Emory University School of Law, Public Law and Legal Theory Research Paper Series, Research Paper No. 04-1, 2003, p. 5.

(4) Ibid., p. 2-3.

(5) U.S. Catholic bishops, pastoral letter, The Christian in Action, No. 11, 1948; see also Nos. 12-18; reprinted in "Pastoral Letters of the American Hierarchy, 1792-1970," Hugh J. Nolan, Our Sunday Visitor, 1971.

(6) Mark Massa, S.J.; quotations from Massa are from A Catholic for President? John F. Kennedy and the Secular Theology of the Houston Speech, 1960, Journal of Church and State, Spring 1997.

(7) John Courtney Murray, S.J., The Role of Faith in the Renovation of the World, 1948; Murrays works are available online from the Woodstock Theological Center Library.

(8) Robert Dodaro, O.S.A.; see private correspondence with speaker, along with "Christ and the Just Society in the Thought of Augustine," Cambridge University Press, 2008 (first published in 2004), and Ecclesia and Res Publica: How Augustinian Are Neo-Augustinian Politics?, collected in "Augustine and Post-Modern Thought: A New Alliance Against Modernity?," Peeters, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 2009.

(9) Referenced in Murray, The Construction of a Christian Culture; essay originally delivered as three talks in 1940, available as noted above.


The complete text of the speech given by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1960, to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association: 
"While the so called religious issue..."

On the book "Render Unto Caesar" by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput: 
How to Conduct Politics as Catholics. The Denver Memorandum (13.8.2008)

On a recent appeal from representatives of various Christian confessions of the United States: 
The "Manhattan Declaration" : The Manifesto That's Shaking America (25.11.2009)

The latest essay by Professor Diotallevi on these topics:
Luca Diotallevi, "Una alternativa alla laicit", Rubbettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2010, pp. 162, euro 14.00.

An article from one year ago by www.chiesa on the question of secularism, with references to Nancy Pelosi's visit to Benedict XVI and to the case of Eluana Englaro, and with texts by cardinals Camillo Ruini and Angelo Scola, and by professors Ernesto Galli della Loggia and Pietro De Marco: 
Secularism in Danger. Two Cardinals Are Running to its Defense (23.2.2009)

English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.

Prayer Rally and Justice March in Houston

January 17th and 18th, 2010 Prayer Rally and Justice March in Houston

A coalition of pro-life advocates and religious leaders plan to gather in Houston on Jan. 17^th and 18^th to oppose what will be the largest abortion facility in the country. The coalition is hoping for several thousand people to participate in the two day event. Lou Engle from The Call and several high profile national figures will lead the march. This will be preceded by a Prayer Rally the evening of January 17^th. The schedule is as follows:

January 17th

6-11PM:    Prayer Rally led by Lou Engle at Grace Community Church, 14505 Gulf   

                Freeway in Houston.

 

January 18th

9:30AM:     Gather at the Catholic Charismatic Center parking lot (1949 Cullen) for

                Praise and Worship and to hear from the national figures who will lead the

                Justice March.  

11:30AM:  The Justice March will begin and go through some of the neighborhoods of

                the East End , while a prayer vigil at Planned Parenthood, 4600 Gulf Fwy.,

                will occur simultaneously.

1:00PM:     Press Conference with the national leaders of the Justice March at

                Planned Parenthood, 4600 Gulf Freeway.

 

Please join this peaceful Prayer Rally and Justice March as we pray for an end to abortion, and publicly oppose and expose the huge expansion of Planned Parenthood in Houston . For more information, visit www.boundforlife. org.  

Wyoming Catholic College (RSVP today)

I am passing on this invitation to those who might be considering Catholic colleges in the new future.

You are cordially invited to a private reception to meet Rev. Robert Cook, President of Wyoming Catholic College.
Wyoming Catholic College is the nation's newest Catholic college.

Friday, October 23, 2009 ---> 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm
@ The Briar Club ---> Wine and cheese to be served
2603 Timmons Lane, Houston, Texas 77027
Hosted by: Mr. Larry W. Massey, Jr. - Board member: Serra Club of Houston, San Jose Clinic, St. Dominic Village

Wyoming Catholic College:
Founded in 2005, WCC features a unique Great Books liberal arts curriculum combined with a challenging Outdoor Adventures Program and a rich Catholic environment. Students start the year with a long retreat in the mountains of Wyoming to center themselves in Christ before they begin studies.

Daniel Cardinal DiNardo presided at this year's Convocation Mass. College representatives will be on hand to answer questions.

Kindly RSVP by 10/21/09 to Mark Randall at Wyoming Catholic College.
phone: 877-332-2930 or email rsvp@wyomingcatholi ccollege. com

Cardinal DiNardo spurs Catholic involvement in Bible listening

Catholics in Houston, Texas, following the lead of Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, have begun a city-wide Bible listening campaign.


More than 50 Catholic parishes are participating in the campaign, called “You’ve Got The Time Houston.” Leaders from more than 100 non-Catholic churches have joined the program to listen to the entire New Testament.

Church leaders challenge parishioners to listen through the entire New Testament, 28 minutes a day over 40 days.
Churches then collect offerings to support recording the New Testament in the native languages of poor and illiterate people around the world.

Morgan Jackson is the international director for Faith Comes By Hearing. He said,
“There has been a tremendous, immediate response from the Catholic community in the Houston area."
Jackson also reports that the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston has planned an “extensive” Bible engagement effort for 2009 called “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.”
“Faith Comes By Hearing's 40-day Bible listening is a big component of their outreach," Jackson said in a press release.
Jackson also praised Cardinal DiNardo’s involvement with the effort, saying, “His active encouragement of this program is giving many Catholics new opportunities to study the sacred Scriptures, deepen their faith and increase their knowledge of God's Word.”
Jackson said he expected that more than one-third of all 3,000 Houston-area churches will participate in the Bible engagement outreach.
"If we can reach America with God's Word we can reach the world together," Jackson said.

source: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14974
February 4, 2009 / 02:00 am (CNA).

Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart

Today our students sat together in our commons watching the dedication and Mass at Houston's new Co-Cathedral. How beautiful it looks!

I think the children feel like they know Cardinal DiNardo because he said Mass at our school. He was also our guest of honor at this February's (2008) Gala. My daughter was confirmed by Arch Bishop Fiorenza. Our parish priest, Monsignor George, left our parish to assist (the then) Arch Bishop DiNardo.
As I am sure you can tell, the dedication touched our hearts in many ways!
AND - It was wonderful to see our Catholic Church get some respectful news coverage.

Here is the post dedication schedule .

Here you can find more information on the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.

Why Bother to Call Yourself Catholic

This is post from Adam's Ale. I have copied and pasted it here, in its entirety, so that my middle school students can read it. They are NOT allowed to roam the web and getting a site approved takes more time than I have since this information is very timely!
A big H/T to A Cleveland Priest

You do not join the Catholic Church. People who do so do not know what they are doing. You do not join. Joining is for health clubs. You become part of the Catholic Church. It is part of who you are. It is a lens from which we view the world like being male or female. Being Catholic cannot help but inform what you do because it is part of who you are.

Tomorrow is voting day here in the great state of Ohio (and Texas) and some people have mentioned being part of conversations in which someone says, “The Catholic Church is not going to tell me how to vote.” This is an utterly ridiculous statement for someone who wants to be called Catholic. We cannot put ourselves outside of the Church because we are the Church. We might as well say, “My body is not going to inform me how to live in this world!”

Being Catholic brings with it certain standards in morals. It is a high bar and even if we do not always measure up to it, it is there for us to aspire to. There is not office or group of “Church officials” that are sitting around trying to decide how they want to make you vote. However we all are to remind each other (and it is the duty of those charged with the care of souls to do so in a special way) that we have these standards: that there are good ways of living and there are evil ways of living. There are things that will bring life and dignity and worth to the human cause and that which will degrade and harm us. It is an act of forming a conscience in the fashion that Jesus Christ taught us which we do in the community of the Church that He established.

Once again, to say that the “Church is not going to tell me how to vote,” is not saying that I am not aligning my vote with something some ecclesial overlord is telling me I must do, it is saying that I am making a firm break with the faith and morals with which I have been entrusted.

True, on issues from time to time we may vote differently than a recommendation from, say, a council of bishops. But for a Catholic it is not because we are making a break with Church (The Church won’t tell ME how to vote) but rather it is (or should be) that we are using the same information concerning faith and morals as someone who makes a recommendation and have made an educated, informed, and well thought out decision that is at odds with said recommendation. But one only acts on it because of the belief that it is closer in keeping with the will of Christ and what He wants of us as Church.

Obviously then this person is not putting himself outside of the “power” of the Church but acting fully as a member therein. To simply say, “The Church is not going to tell me how to vote” then is either pure laziness, ignorance, or an indirect denial of the faith the way we believe Christ established it and this should leave others scratching their heads as to why such a person would even bother calling themselves Catholic.

Ode to the Lost Trees

I think that I shall never see

A billboard lovely as a tree.

Indeed, unless the billboards fall

I'll never see a tree at all.

Ogden Nash

The Most Beautiful Woman in the World

An old, old, fairy tale from Russia tells the story of a young boy (or sometimes told from the point of view of a young girl) who was lost. He couldn't find his mother.

Villagers who wanted to help asked the child, “What does your mother look like?” Tell us, so that we can help you find her.” The little boy answered, “My mother is the most beautiful woman in the world.”

The villagers were very happy with his reply. They now knew that the mother would be easy to find.

So they went far and wide with the little boy, searching for her. Each time they found a very beautiful woman, they were disappointed. It was not his mother.

Finally, they came across a wrinkled, weather-beaten woman with a scarf on her head. The little boy ran to her with great joy. Beaming, he turned to those who had been helping for so long and said, “See, I told you she was the most beautiful woman in the world!”

At Casa Juan Diego they identify with this story because so often the person who seeks them appears dirty from a journey or bent and lined with age by suffering and worry and work that is too hard for them. When they ask the age of a new guest, they are often very surprised to find that they are 20 years younger than they appear to be.

When their guests have had a chance to shower and put on clean clothes and know that they have a place to stay for a time, their appearance changes. They are more beautiful or handsome. But, as in the story of the little boy and his mother, the beauty is so often on the inside. Sometimes it takes a little while for them to speak and share their stories, and sometimes it takes time to get to see the beauty.

Even when people who do not fit into middle-class values, even when people who do very irritating things, even when self-esteem has been very damaged by life experiences, the beauty shines through, even if it is the humiliated and disfigured face of the suffering Christ.

source:
Casa Juan Diego Houston Catholic Worker, Vol. XXVII, No. 6, November-December 2007.

What is Casa Juan Diego?

Casa Juan Diego was founded in 1980, following the Catholic Worker model of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, to serve immigrants and refugees and the poor. From one small house it has grown to ten houses. Casa Juan Diego publishes a newspaper, the Houston Catholic Worker, six times a year to share the values of the Catholic Worker movement and the stories of the immigrants and refugees uprooted by the realities of the global economy.

• Central office for donations of food or clothing: 4818 Rose, Houston, TX 77007. To send a check: P. O. Box 70113, Houston, TX 77270.
• Women's House of Hospitality: Hospitality and services for 50 immigrant women and children, especially serving pregnant or physically battered women and their children.
• Assistance to paralyzed or seriously ill immigrants living in the community.
• Padre Jack Davis Men's House: Hospitality for immigrant men new to the country.
• Casa Don Bosco for sick and wounded men.
• English classes for guests of the houses.
• Casa Maria Social Service Center and Medical Clinic, 6101 Edgemoor 77081
• Dorothy Day Medical Clinic.
• Food and clothing centers: 4811 Lillian (Tuesdays at 6:30 a.m.) and 6101 Edgemoor (Fridays at 8:00 a.m.). For 500 families weekly (open to the public).
• Liturgy in Spanish Wednesdays at 7:00 p.m.

Funding: Casa Juan Diego is funded by voluntary contributions.

God Bless Cardinal DiNardo!

Pope Names 23 New Cardinals
VATICAN CITY (AP) By NICOLE WINFIELD – zenit.org—Pope Benedict XVI named 23 new cardinals on Wednesday, tapping two Americans, the patriarch of Baghdad, and archbishops from five continents to join the elite ranks of the "princes" of the Roman Catholic Church.

Eighteen of the 23 are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pontiff. Benedict said he would elevate the prelates at a Vatican ceremony Nov. 24.

Among the under-80 new cardinals are the archbishops of Paris; Mumbai, India; Nairobi, Kenya; Valencia, Spain; Barcelona, Spain; Monterrey, Mexico; Dakar, Senegal; Sao Palo, Brazil; the primate of Ireland; and a handful of Italians.

The two Americans include Archbishop Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, and Archbishop John Foley, a longtime Vatican official who was recently named grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a lay religious community that aims to protect the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in the Holy Land.

DiNardo's nomination was something of a surprise and appeared to be an indication of Benedict's desire to reach out to the large Latino community in Texas.

DiNardo, 58, who for six years worked at the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, was only named archbishop last year. There are several other U.S. archdioceses that usually have cardinals leading them, including Washington and Baltimore, but the pope did not elevate their archbishops.

In addition to the 18 electoral cardinals, Benedict named five prelates over age 80 who he said deserved particular merit, including the Chaldean patriarch of Baghdad, Emmanuel III Delly.

Delly has been outspoken about the need to protect minority Christians from Iraq's spiraling violence — a concern voiced repeatedly by Benedict in recent months. Just this past Sunday, Benedict appealed for the swift release of two priests kidnapped in Mosul.

The Christian community in Iraq is about 3 percent of the country's estimated 26 million people.

Also named for commitment and service to the church was the emeritus archbishop of Parana, Argentina, Monsignor Estanislao Esteban Karlic. Benedict named another Argentine cardinal as well, Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Eastern Churches.

Benedict said he had wanted to also name the elderly bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg, Poland, Bishop Ignacy Jez (pictured on the right), but he died on Tuesday, the eve of the announcement.

"We offer our prayers to him," Benedict said.

Several Vatican officials were named, including the German Monsignor Josef Cordes, who heads the Vatican's charitable works as president of the Pontifical Council "Cor Unum"; Polish Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for Laity; and Italian Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, former Vatican foreign minister and current governor of Vatican City.

Rylko was a good friend of Pope John Paul II and was at his bedside when he died in 2005. Another new cardinal also had close ties to John Paul: Argentine Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Eastern Churches. Sandri was for several years the "voice" of John Paul, stepping in to deliver his speeches when the ailing pontiff was unable to finish them.

Wednesday marked the second time Benedict has named new cardinals. His first consistory was held in March 2006, and he said he hoped to name more in the future.

"There are other people who are very dear to me who because of their dedication in the service of the church surely warrant being elevated to the dignity of a cardinal," Benedict said. "I hope to have the opportunity in the future to show my esteem and affection for these people and to their countries in this way."

Cardinals have been the sole electors of the pontiff for nearly 1,000 years and it remains their most important job. For centuries, they have elected the pope from their own ranks, as they did on April 19, 2005, when they chose Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to be the next pope.

Following the Nov. 24 conclave, there will be a total of 202 cardinals in the College of Cardinals. Of them, 121 will be of voting age, one over the limit set by Pope Paul VI.