What Do Men and Women on the Street Say about the Marriage Amendment?

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Deacon Bob

Here is an interesting video capturing what men and women in Minnesota are saying about the Minnesota Marriage Amendment!

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Minnesota Marriage Minute – Look at What Occurred in Canada

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Deacon Bob

This video takes a look at the impact “same-sex marriage” laws have had in Canada in the past number of years. Please view this Minnesota Marriage Minute video, be informed, think clearly and cast your “yes” vote in November. Remember, a blank ballot is considered a “no” vote so be sure to mark the “yes” oval.

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Quote for the Day

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Deacon Bob

“You are God, teach me to do your will.” – St. Francis of Assisi

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Congratulations, Diocese of Erie!

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Deacon Bob

The Holy Father announced today that the new bishop of Erie, Pennsylvania will be Bishop-elect Lawrence T. Perisco. Bishop-elect Perisco is a priest of the diocese of Greensburg, Pennsylvania and until now the Vicar General for that diocese.

Perisco succeeds Bishop Donald Trautman whose resignation, as required by canon law, was accepted by the Holy Father.

Congratulations, Diocese of Erie!

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The Catholic Vote… We Must

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Deacon Bob

The upcoming election has so many very important issues at stake, issues that, if resolved in a manner at odds with our human nature, religious liberties and human life, will have disastrous effects for generations. That is why it is so important the Catholics be informed, think clearly, and vote.

I have spent considerable time and space in this blog on the Marriage Amendment before Minnesota voters this November. This is one issue that must be decided favorably. Please vote “yes” on the ballot. Our religious liberty is being threatened by the federal government’s HHS mandate forcing us to pay for abortion and contraception despite strongly held religious conviction that prohibit us from doing so. There are the issues of abortion, taxes, the environment, jobs, etc.

Here is a video that so well demonstrates the need to be knowledgeable of the issues as Catholics and to vote.

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Courage Ministry

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Deacon Bob

I attended for the first time the annual Courage conference, this year at Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Maryland. It was a four day event, the last day of which I had to skip because of travel arrangements back to Minnesota. I found the whole experience fascinating in that I was able to meet, eat with, pray with and speak with hundreds of men and women who are either members of this ministry or who are working in it as priests, deacons, or bishops. Some internationally known writers, theologians and mental health professionals were in attendance and presented a good deal of information.

Courage is the Catholic Church’s ministry to men and women with same-sex attractions. Courage avoids using the terms homosexual, gay or lesbian as much as possible because our Catholic anthropology affirms the individual’s dignity as a man or a woman. Thus, the phrase same-sex attracted is what you hear, i.e., men and women with same-sex attractions.

What I discovered, among other things, was that those involved in Courage have wonderful combination of mind and heart. Their way of knowing and upholding the beauty of human sexuality in light of the Church’s teaching on chastity is wonderful to see. Their deeply held compassion for the individual same-sex attracted person, might I say the friendship love that they offer, is something that so often is lost in our ecclesial and public discourse.

The goal of Courage is to reach out to all men and women who experience same-sex attractions and who wish to live chastely in accord with the Church’s teachings on human sexuality, and in doing so embracing the fullness of what it means to be men and women, and to provide these individuals with spiritual support, a program of living that supports chaste friendships, and to grown in holiness of life.

Courage is not an attempt to change an individual’s sexual orientation although we believe that such a change is possible for some individuals with the proper psychological care. This is so important to emphasize. Courage is not the Church’s effort to change sexual orientation; rather it is the opportunity for individuals with unwanted same-sex attractions to receive the spiritual and psychological support they need to live chastely and develop healthy friendships.

I will post more as time passes. For more information in the meantime, log on to: www.couragerc.net

If you are from the diocese of Winona, are experiencing same-sex attractions and desire to receive spiritual and emotional support to live chastely, email courage@dow.org All contacts are confidential.

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Cardinal Saraiva Martins optimistic about the beatification of Paul VI and John Paul I

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Deacon Bob

Here is a video from RomeReports on the possible beatifications of John Paul I and Paul VI. (Can you tell I am excited?!) Click on this link to view.

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Papa Luciani to be Beatified Within the Year of Faith?

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Deacon Bob

The Catholic News Agency a couple of weeks ago reported that it is quite possible the Pope Benedict will beatify Pope John Paul I (Papa Luciani) this upcoming year. For all of us who have been praying that Luciani’s holiness of life be formally recognized by the Church, this is good news indeed!

If this occurs, I will need to start saving my pennies for a trip to Rome to be at the Mass of beatification. How I would wish to be able to assist at that Mass as deacon….

Here is a couple of excerpts from the article which you can read entirely at: www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/year-of-faith-could-see-beatification-of-john-paul-i-paul-vi/

Rome, Italy, Jul 10, 2012 / 12:11 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A former head of the Vatican’s congregation on saints’ causes says Pope Benedict XVI could beatify his predecessors Pope John Paul I and Pope Paul VI during the upcoming Year of Faith…..

On July 6, Msgr. Enrico Dal Covolo – the postulator of the cause for Servant of God John Paul I’s beatification – said documents for the late pontiff have been completed and will be delivered to the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato.

Monsignor Dal Covolo, who is also rector of the Lateran Pontifical University in Rome, said the document, or “positio” is divided into two volumes. The first focuses on the heroic virtues of the pontiff, and the second is an account of his life.

Although it is not yet official, the miracle that could lead to John Paul I’s beatification is the healing of Giuseppe Denora, an Italian man who was cured of a severe gastric tumor after praying to the late Pope….

Papa Luciani, pray for us!

Posted in Church News, Papa Luciani (Pope John Paul I) | 1 Comment

Catholic Coffee, Anyone… Mass Included!

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Deacon Bob

Here is a video of the new St. James Coffee House that has opened in Rochester Minnesota, not far from Pax Christi Catholic Church.

The video is great! (So are the coffee and the spiritual benefits.)

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Quote for the Day

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Deacon Bob

“Purity of heart, carefully and constantly guarded, becomes the rule, and the radiance, of our whole life, and of every word and deed.” — Blessed John XXIII, SFO

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Congratulations, Archdiocese of San Francisco!

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Deacon Bob

The Holy Father today has appointed as the new archbishop of San Francisco Salvatore Cordileone, until now bishop of Oakland.

Archbishop Cordileone was ordained a priest for the diocese of San Diego back in 1982. He became auxiliary bishop of San Diego in 2002, then bishop of Oakland in 2009. He studied at the Gregorian University in Rome.

He speaks English, Italian, Spanish and Latin.

Congratulations, Archdiocese of San Francisco!

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Did You Know Jesus Had Grandparents?

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Deacon Bob

Today is the memorial of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the traditionally honored parents of Mary, and thus the grandparents of Jesus. Have you ever used as a source of meditation the fact that Jesus Christ had grandparents?

Joachim and Anne’s names are known to us from an ancient Christian document called the Protoevangelium of James. This non-canonical writing dates from the second Century AD, in other words about 70 – 170 years after Jesus’ death. Joachim and Anne were our Blessed Mother’s parents. Some legends have it that Mary was born not far from the Temple in Jerusalem. Other accounts place her birth elsewhere. What we are told is that Joachim and Anne were a childless married couple who longed for a baby. God granted their request in the birth of Mary Immaculate.

If you would, meditate on this: Imagine being married and infertile. You pray for a miracle, that God would give you a child. Alas, you find yourself pregnant and later give birth to a beautiful baby girl. Your daughter grows up the apple of your eye. When she is about 15 or 16 years old, she walks in the door and says, “Mom and Dad, I’m pregnant although I do not know any man! An angel told me so.”

What would you think? What would you say? What would you do?

If you have the faith of St. Joachim and Anne, you will find yourself protecting your daughter, loving her, shielding her from the condemnation of others and welcoming her unborn child into life. This is what Joachim and Anne did. They believed, and because of their faith, Mary was born, Mary said “yes” to the angel, Mary gave birth to our Savior, and we were saved by the grace won for us by Jesus life, death and resurrection.

Unfortunately, in contemporary society, many families find themselves in similar circumstances….. a teenage daughter comes home to announce a pregnancy with being married….. and the outcome is very different. The daughter is condemned, the baby is aborted, life is terminated in so many ways.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Joachim and Anne didn’t have faith? Mary would have been exposed to condemnation, ridicule and possible death. There would have been no cooperation with God’s plan for redemption and salvation.

St. Joachim and Anne, then, also were important figures in salvation history.

Here are two prayers, one to St. Joachim and another to St. Anne:

Prayer to Saint Joachim

O great and glorious Patriarch, Saint Joachim, what joy is mine when I consider that thou wast chosen among all God’s holy ones to assist in the fulfillment of the mysteries of God, and to enrich our earth with the great Mother of God, Mary most holy! By this singular privilege, thou hast become most powerful with both the Mother and her Son, so as to be able to obtain for us the graces that are needful to us; with great confidence I have recourse to thy mighty protection and I commend to thee all my needs and those of my family, both spiritual and temporal; and especially do I entrust to thy keeping the particular favor that I desire and look for from thy fatherly intercession. And since thou wast a perfect pattern of the interior life, obtain for me the grace of interior recollection and a spirit of detachment from the transitory goods of this life, together with a lively and enduring love for Jesus and Mary. Obtain for me in like manner a sincere devotion and obedience to Holy Church and the sovereign pontiff who rules over her: to the end that I may live and die in faith and hope and perfect charity, ever invoking the holy names of Jesus and Mary, and may I thus be saved. Amen.

DAILY PRAYER TO SAINT ANN

O glorious St. Ann, you are filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer! Heavily burdened with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present intention which I recommend to you in your special care.

Please recommend it to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and place it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue. Continue to intercede for me until my request is granted. But, above all, obtain for me the grace one day to see my God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the saints to praise and bless Him for all eternity. Amen.

Our Father, . . . Hail Mary . . .

O Jesus, Holy Mary, St. Ann, help me now and at the hour of my death.

Good St. Ann, intercede for me.
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LCWR and the Vatican

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Deacon Bob

Here is another topic I have resisted posting on for many weeks. Those of you who have been following Church news sources will know that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – a Vatican congregation appointed by the Pope to safeguard the faith from heresy – conducted an extensive study of the religious congregations and orders for women in the United States and earlier this year came back with a report that indicated serious concern about aspects of the life and work of our women religious. Many religious women reported a good deal of surprise and chagrin about this finding. The Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), which is an umbrella organization of papal origins representing a majority of the congregations of women religious in our country, has been in dialogue with the Vatican since.

A lot of uproar has ensued. A former colleague from the Gregorian University in Rome, Archbishop J. Peter Sartain of Seattle, is now heading a group to dialogue about this matter. Assisting him are two other bishops, one of whom is Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo, Ohio, who, by the way, was a CDF delegate who oversaw the commission conducting the original four year investigation.

I think it is appropriate to hear directly from Bishop Blair about this issue. In line with this, I discovered this link to an interview of him by NPR. When you click on the link, you will be taken to a page on the top of which you can click again to hear the audiotaped interview. It is a bit lengthy, but worth, perhaps your time. After listening, leave a comment as to your thoughts.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/25/157356092/bishop-explains-vaticans-criticism-of-u-s-nuns

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Quote for the Day

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Deacon Bob

“To think on Jesus is like a breath of new life. His kindness fills one to the brim. His sweetness is in overflowing measure.” — St. Clare of Assisi

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The Colorado Shootings

Posted on July 24, 2012 by Deacon Bob

I have not wanted to post on this topic for various reasons, including waiting until the shock and awe of  it all settled down. The tragic news of 12 people being shot down in a theater near Denver last week has left us all stunned at the evil that is all too evident in this incident.

God did not create death. It is the result of sin and its effects. It is the sure sign of evil and Satan at work. God is the master of death, for it has no hold on him.

I am not saying that the perpetrator of this crime is evil. I am not judging his soul or the complexity of his condition. I am speaking of his actions and his behavior. Actions and behavior do not define the person and because of this he too is a child of God and is loved by God as such.

I am judging his behavior, though. We must render judgment on it. If we do not, then we avoid the truth and in doing that, we avoid facing the reality of evil which must be condemned.

A colleague of mine this noon asked me whether I thought the perpetrator was mentally ill. Others are attributing this atrocity to what they see as lax gun laws. Others will no doubt be looking at this young man’s parents or others in authority and see root causes there. We always seem to reflexively turn to these to find cause and blame. I don’t think it does any good to do so, except to excuse ourselves from sharing in responsibility for this tragedy.

I believe that we all share responsibility for such occurrences in this way: We fail to root out evil in our own lives, we fail to speak the truth to others in failing to call evil evil when it exists, and we avoid our own need for conversion.

I know that seems harsh…. perhaps it is, but the question upon which we need to reflect in all seriousness is, “Have I turned from evil and embraced good? Have I made use frequently of the sources of grace I need in the sacraments to help me on my road to conversion, and have I spoken openly about this to whomever I meet?”

The corresponding question becomes, “Do I love the sinner enough to welcome him and to challenge him to mutual repentance?”

Let us pray for all the victims and their families. Yes, let us also pray for the perpetrator of this evil crime.

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