Catholic Faith and Reflections

I would like to direct your attention to an article published by the Culture of Life Foundation www.culture-of-life.org/content/view/639/1/ on some research about the social consequences of internet pornography. Worth your time reading.

In my psychotherapy practice, I am seeing more and more the destructiveness of pornography, especially in marriages but also in the individual. It becomes for some a real “addiction” that the individual is willing to maintain despite severe repercussions. We are only beginning to understand all of this, although we see its impact.

By the way, you might want to bookmark this website. Seems to have some good content.

This weblog has had approximately 6000 visits in about 12 days time. I will have to get my computer wizard (my son) to give me the breakdown of from where these visits originate, length of time per hit, etc.  

I am pleased whoever is logging on has the opportunity to read what is available here.  

I hope a few minds and hearts are closer to God because of it.

I’d like to refer you to an interesting article published in the May 10, 2010 edition of America, the national Catholic weekly of the Jesuits. It is entitled, “Twelve Things the Bishops Have Learned from the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis.” The article is written by Bishop Blase Cupich of Rapid City, South Dakota.  He is the chairman of the Committee for Child and Youth Protection for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

To read the entire article, log on to: America Magazine.

The following is an excerpt from the Pope’s homily in Portugal recently. 

“This is the mandate whose faithful fulfillment ‘must follow the road Christ himself walked, a way of poverty and obedience, of service and of self-sacrifice even unto death, a death from which he emerged victorious by his resurrection’ (Ad Gentes, 5). Yes! We are called to serve the humanity of our own time, trusting in Jesus alone, letting ourselves be enlightened by his word: ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide’ (Jn 15: 16). How much time we have lost, how much work has been set back, on account of our lack of attention to  this point! Everything is to be defined starting with Christ,as far as the origins and effectiveness of mission is concerned: we receive mission always from Christ, who has made known to us what he has heard from his Father, and we are appointed to mission through the Spirit, in the Church. Like the Church herself, which is the work of Christ and his Spirit, it is a question of renewing the face of the earth starting with God, God always and alone.”

Yes, isn’t it true.  God alone is the starting point for all we do. Everything is defined by starting with Jesus who reveals the Father to us in the power of the Holy Spirit.

To read the entire homily, log on to: www.oecumene.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=392808

Well, the voting is over.  I think Catholic Faith and Reflections came in second, although I haven’t seen the official results.  We were 8 votes ahead later last night.

Although we didn’t win outright, I did accomplish what I had set out to do after having been nominated by Chiara, namely, to make this blog more widely known to the entire Catholic community, and perhaps to reach out to readers who will follow and comment on this weblog in the future.

Catholic Faith and Reflections is a part of my diaconal ministry. A form of spreading the Good News, hopefully. The success of this will depend on me being able to post intelligently and in faithfully about things that matter to our Catholic faith and your daily lives. The success of this ministry will also depend upon you, the readers, and what you may have to offer all of us in our  journey of faith.

Of course, ultimately, God’s will will be done as he sees fit to use this means of  communication and evangelizaton.

Thanks to everyone who voted in the Cannon Ball Awards.  I appreciate the outpouring of support.  The winner of the Best Under Appreciated Blog played the game well, and shrewdly. 

Congratulations to the winner.

Over 110,000 visits have been made to this weblog since its beginning a couple of years ago. Thank you all for your interest in what is printed here, and especialy for your continued faith in Christ and his Church.

(Yes, I know the counter says about 11,000 visits. It was accidently reset to zero when it reached 100,000 a few weeks ago!)

Blessings on all of you.

Deacon Bob

Well, it is almost over.  Today is the last day of voting. I am for all practical purposes in second place and have to get 80+ votes today to win. We can do it!! VOTE NOW.

Go to: www.thecrescat.blogspot.com and click on the stain glass like 2010 Cannon Ball  Awards icon on the upper right of the page. This will take you to the voting page.  Scroll down to the category, “Best Under Appreciated Blog” and look for Catholic Faith and Reflections.  Click on the bullet next to it, then scroll down to the bottom of that category only and click on “vote.”

Thanks to all of you who have supported me in this effort!  God bless…

Deacon Bob

The Catholic News Service is reporting the following was said by Pope Benedict:

“Among the new things that we can discover today…… is that attacks on the pope and the church come not only from the outside, but the suffering of the church comes from inside the church, from sins that exist inside the church… This, too, we have always known, but today we see it in a really terrifying way, that the biggest persecution of the church doesn’t come from the enemies outside but is born from sin inside the church. And so the church has a profound need to learn penance, to accept purification, to learn on the one hand forgiveness but also the necessity of justice.  And forgiveness does not substitute justice.”

See, http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1001965.htm  to read the entire report.

The polls are open now to cast your  ballot for the 2010 Cannon Ball Award for various categories of Catholic blogs.

I humbly ask for your vote in the category  of “Best Under Appreciated Catholic Blog.” 

Vote early and vote often my friends.  The competition is fierce.

To cast your vote, log on to “The Crescat” by clicking on the blue type below.

The Catholic Church is growing wildly on the continent of Africa. One report (click on link below) says that in the past ten years, the Church has grown 33%. One can only ask why.

Perhaps the easiest answer is that God is at work there for his greater purposes.  No doubt that is the case. What then do we need to learn from the Catholic Church in Africa?

I believe we in the United States need to fan into flame the fire of the Holy Spirit.  The American Church has been given no  less of the Spirit’s gifts than anywhere else in the world.  But like a dam in a mighty river, we are holding back.  We need to open our hearts, open the flood gates and boldly proclaim our faith, let loose the Spirit that has been given to us.

We have so much in terms of brick and mortar, money and material.  We live in a country of religious freedom where, despite the anti-Catholic bias in our contemporary society, we are in fact at liberty to fully live out our faith.  

I am afraid though, that we are not disposing ourselves well to bear the fruits of the Spirit, and thus, we erode our credibility and our persuasiveness.  We clergy need especially take a look at this.

The African Church from what I understand, is a church who is intent on spreading the Gospel. They are on fire with the Holy Spirit, and allow that Spirit to penetrate their lives and local faith communities. 

We could learn from them.

Click on this link for another view. African Church

Thanks to you folks, a few weeks ago someone of you was the 100,000th visitor to this weblog.

(Even though the counter on the bottom of the page only registers some 13,350 visits to “Catholic Faith and Reflections”, the actual count is now over 100,000. Due to server problems, etc. in the past couple of years, the counter was reset a couple of times. Once, it read 20,000+, then more recently nearly 80,000 only to be reset again a few months ago.)

I want to thank all who have visited and especially all who have left comments. I am pleased and humbled that so many find what is written and discussed here of enough importance to stop by time to time.

Blessings in abundance to each of you.

” The poet Rilke was afraid that if he got rid of his demons, he would lose his angels as well. Of course, the danger of clinging to our demons to save our angels is that our demons may well take over.” — Tim Farrington

There is a radio station that has a local radio celebrity doing the “Lead Balloon Show” every morning. It features a very humorous fellow who is one string of funny jokes after another. The reality is the show goes over very well providing a lot of good cheer to us who listen.

Well, today was my day to provide a lecture to the department in which I work. My talk, entitled, “Powerlessness, Interdependency and Healing,” truly went over like a “lead balloon.” Silence when I finished except for a brief comment by a colleague that lent a bit of support for my efforts, and a quip from another who missed the first half of the talk.

My point was to try to get us thinking of the importance of working together as a team rather than getting so isolated in our practices that we run the risk of “system failure” and potential poor outcomes for our patients, for whom I believe we have mutual responsibility.

O well….. a good lesson in humility for me. God works as he wills in all things.

The Pope met today with alumni of the North American College in Rome. The college, called NAC by its students, has graduated hundreds in the past 150 years of its existence.  There is a reunion going on there now in celebration of its 150th anniversary, and the Pope met with them today at the Vatican.

One quote from the Holy Father: “… the Church in America is called to cultivate ‘an intellectual culture’ which is genuinely Catholic, confident in the profound harmony of faith and reason, and prepared to bring the richness of faith’s vision to bear on the pressing issues which affect the future of American society.”

Amen to that.  We desperately need church leaders who are prepared to show how our faith and our ability to reason work in harmony to show us the path to take in so many thorny social and moral issues of our day.

As an aside, I studied at NAC and the Gregorian University from 1977-1978. Men who have studied at NAC are called “bags” derived from the Roman word, “bagarocci” (cockroachs). The native Romans thought that seminarians looked like cockroaches, dressed in their cassocks and the particular round hats that were required for so many years, so the name stuck. A student who prematurely discontinued his studies was called a “paper bag.” A student who studied there during a papal election and coronation is called a “golden bag.” I am both. I saw the deaths, funerals, elections and installation of three popes:  Paul VI, John Paul I and John Paul II.

I prefer to think of myself as a “golden bag”!

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!  I truly hope that the newborn child of Bethlehem may find a warm place in your hearts and lives to reside and grow to full maturity.  May God bless you abundantly.

I assisted at all four Christmas Masses in our parish cluster the past couple of days. What an honor to serve you, the People of God, in this corner of Southeast Minnesota and to share in the ministry of Word, Sacrament and Charity of our bishop, John Quinn. The expressions of faith and love in your faces as you approached me for communion were reflections of the presence of Christ already present in your lives. Keep the light of Christ burning brightly.

For those of you from other parts of the country and world, the upper Midwest of the United States has been hit with a BIG storm the past couple of days.  Lots of snow, rain, sleet and ice. Despite it all, people came to Mass in droves. Unfortunately, the storm put a crimp in my holiday travel this year. Really wanted to head out this afternoon to see extended family, but the report from our place of destination was, “Stay home! The roads are no good.” So home we are.

God is good. He gives us what we need each second of our lives. He never provides what is deleterious to us. Today, he has given us the greatest gift of all, His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ the Son of God and Son of Mary.

Thank you, God!

“What does evangelization mean if not to carry to all peoples, after first to the cities of Judah, the good news of the coming of Christ on earth?” –Eusebius of Caesarea, writing of John the Baptist and by extension to us.

We need to first evangelize our own local communities and then go out to the whole world and do the same.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like at Christmas if:

For every dollar spent on a Christmas present, a dollar would be spent on the poor.

For every hour spent shopping, there would be an hour spent with the Lord in prayer.

For every ounce of emotional energy spent on anger or worry, an ounce of spiritual energy would be released into the world to uplift one another.

I sometimes wonder……

A Happy Thanksgiving to each of you on this day for family and friends. Let us be especially grateful for the many men and women of faith who have gone before us and given of themselves for our benefit.

I extend a special greeting to my good friends Mike and Eileen, Deacon Gordon and Alma, and all my diaconate family in the Winona Diocese. If Deacon Jim from North Dakota sees this, I hope all is well for you!

A diaconal blessing to all.