Fr. Ted Replies...
This is a video about the Second Vatican Council in response to those who protested outside the Cathedral Church of Saint Augustine. I hope that it is helpful for those interested. Sorry about the audio/video not syncing. The quote of Pope Paul VI can be found at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/audiences/1966/documents/hf_p-vi_au...
Saint Teresa of Avila Prayer
God alone is enough.
Let nothing upset you,
let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins
all it seeks.
Whoever has God
lacks nothing:
God alone is enough
let nothing startle you.
All things pass;
God does not change.
Patience wins
all it seeks.
Whoever has God
lacks nothing:
God alone is enough
- St Teresa Avila
Servant of God Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen is now “Venerable”
The announcement of the decree marks a significant step in the canonization cause of Peoria, Ill.-born Archbishop Sheen (1895-1979), the Emmy award-winning televangelist whose program, “Life is Worth Living,” was broadcast from 1951 to 1957.
The Vatican now has to recognise a miracle has occurred through his intercession for him to be beatified, the penultimate step to canonization. Alleged miracles have been reported, which are now being assessed by experts in Rome.
Sticking to the Commitment of Love (Scottish Catholic Observer, May 1994)
By Monsgnr. Cormac Burke
Young people need to realize that when they marry, they are going to marry someone with defects; and therefore, when they fall in love, if they think that the other person has no defects, they are wrong. Just as they would be wrong if, after marrying and beginning to discover the other person's defects, they let themselves think that love is at an end. On the contrary, it is then that love has come to a turning point towards - or away from - maturity.
Young people need to realize that when they marry, they are going to marry someone with defects; and therefore, when they fall in love, if they think that the other person has no defects, they are wrong. Just as they would be wrong if, after marrying and beginning to discover the other person's defects, they let themselves think that love is at an end. On the contrary, it is then that love has come to a turning point towards - or away from - maturity.
In marrying one has to be prepared to love the other person with his or her defects; otherwise it is not a real person that one wants to marry. To learn to love someone with defects is of the essence of true love and loyalty between spouses. A family where the spouses learn to live so, becomes truly a school for the children, preparing them for life, specially for modern life, where people are running out of patience with one another, where there seems to be an obsession with other people's defects, where intolerance seems to becoming almost a code of social behaviour.
A special point here is that to love a person - to learn to love him or her - with his or her defects, is to learn to love as God loves. God doesn't love us because of our defects, he loves us because of our virtues. And though, if we may put it that way, he has a keen eye for our defects, he has a keener eye still for our virtues. He doesn't love us because of our defects, but, as Blesssed JosemarĂa Escrivá never tired of repeating, he loves us with our defects. All of us should try to do as God does in this; especially married people in the way they consider each other. If we see many defects in other people, we should try to see many more virtues. The person in contact with God, the person who prays, will be given a keen enough eye to see them. To do this perseveringly in married life, over a lifetime, is to follow a way of sanctity. The final result of such a persevering effort should be two people well prepared, well matured, for heaven.
Binding oneself to love
Happiness is a result of learning to love; and love means giving - and sticking to the gift. That is why any true married love must express itself in a commitment. Married commitment is by nature something demanding. The words by which the spouses express their mutual acceptance of one another, through "irrevocable personal consent" (GS 48), bring this out. Each pledges to accept the other "for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health... all the days of my life".
Vatican II says that what makes married love an "eminently human love" is the fact that it is "an affection between two persons rooted in the will" (GS 49). Love tends to begin on the level of feelings; but it can never mature and become truly deep if it remains on that level (which after all is the surface level of human relations). In order to grow, love must not remain a purely emotional affair; it needs to become a matter of deliberate and voluntary choice - and one that is stuck by. Indissolubility is certainly the law of God. But it is poorly understood if taken simply as a law; it is not only that, but also a call to generosity, a pointer to love, and a safeguard against selfishness. It says to a married person, "Love in marriage is a duty as much as a right. Therefore you have no right to give up the effort to love even if marriage proves difficult or runs into unforeseen obstacles, least of all if the obstacle is simply your spouse's unforeseen defects. He or she has the right to be loved with those defects: that is, as the true person he or she is; and you have the duty to love him or her so. That is what genuine love consists in. Therefore, in the face of difficulties and defects, you have no right to quit: have no right to let your spouse down, or your children down, or other people down... And, finally, you have no right to let yourself down; to think you can find a better happiness than the one God has planned for you. You won't be happy that way. It won't work".
It is certainly not easy for two people to live together for life, in a faithful and fruitful union. It is "easier" for each to live apart, or to unite casually or for a short time, or to avoid having children. It is easier, but not happier; nor does it contribute to their growth as persons. One of the thoughts in God's mind, if we can put it that way, when he instituted marriage is that "it is not good for the human person to be alone" (Gen. 2, 18). It is not good for man or woman to live alone, or in successive temporary associations that tend to leave him or her more and more trapped in self-isolation. Married commitment is not an easy endeavour; but, apart from normally being a happy one, it is one that matures. It matures people for happiness on earth; and, even more importantly, for happiness in Heaven. Those who don't learn to love are not qualifying themselves for Heaven.
The challenge of the difficult moments
If God has made the marriage bond unbreakable, therefore, it is because it contributes so powerfully to the good of the spouses. God wants them to remain committed to one another even when commitment seems pointless (perhaps there are no children) or impossible; that he wants them to keep loving one another even when all feelings of love seem to have died. That too is why the "bad" moments of marriage the hard moments can also be specially good moments, always provided a person is prepared to rise to the challenge they pose.
Indissolubility, we might say, is God's plan to defend the spouses themselves from selfishness: and for happiness. God knows that happiness depends on love, on the ability to love, on developing this ability. And his design for marriage is that it should be a constant spur to this development of the capacity to love. Indissolubility therefore is not meant for the easy moments, when the two spouses want to be together; then they don't need the help of a law. It is designed for the difficult moments, precisely to be the force that keeps them together; then they need the reminder of God's law and its positive purpose, and the encouragement to seek the grace of abiding by it.
The Church therefore, in defending indissolubility, is defending people against the constant temptation to softness and selfishness, which are major enemies of personal growth and fulfilment. A person is more undone by being unfaithful to a hard marriage bond, than by remaining bound by it. God knows what he is doing in making the bond of marriage indissoluble. He knows that love means giving, and being faithful to one's gift; and therefore he wants husband and wife to be bound to the liberating task and saving effort of learning to give and learning to love.
Pope John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio, speaks of indissolubility in terms of something joyful that Christians should announce to the world: "It is necessary", he says, "to reconfirm the good news of the definitive nature of conjugal love" (no. 20). If many today find this statement surprising, it is because contemporary society has so largely lost its understanding of the divine plan for man's authentic good. Reconfirming in their own lives and in those of others the good news that married love is too sacred and too important - also for human happiness - to be broken, is a special mission facing Christians today.
MARRIAGE: THE GOOD WINE (a wedding homily), Part I By Cormac Burke
"You have kept the good wine until now".
In these words the steward expressed his amazement to the bridegroom at Cana. And his amazement was redoubled when he found the bridegroom just as surprised as he was. The words should, of course, have been addressed to Jesus, who had just let himself be persuaded by Our Lady to work the first of his miracles.
After thirty years of hidden life, Jesus begins to reveal the divine power that is his by nature. Surely it can be no accident that he works his first miracle on the occasion of a human celebration, and in order to provide more of what would make people merrier still at a party already filled with merriment?
Is it too much to suggest that Our Lord chose this moment because he wished to make it clear that he had come to bring men happiness; not just the ultimate and perfect happiness of heaven, but also the passing though real happiness of earth? He had come to give a divine touch to human things, so that man's store of happiness, even if at times in danger, need never run out.
God became man not to destroy man, but to save him, not to limit or inhibit or frustrate man, but to show him the way to fulfilment and to freedom: to the final and limitless freedom and fulfilment of heaven, to be sure; but also to that relative but true freedom and happiness which God himself wants us to achieve on earth. Christianity, when all is said and done, does not devalue human things, but leads them to their true fulfilment (which can be so easily missed), and far beyond.
Most people's dreams of happiness are dreams of human love. The instinct to look for happiness in love and marriage is rooted deep in the human heart, and has surely been placed there by God. Our Lord's choice of a marriage feast as the setting for his first miracle seems a good proof not only of the obvious fact that he is in favour of marriage (his own institution, after all!), but also that he wants people's hopes of happiness in marriage to be fulfilled. I am certain that Jesus rejoiced in the noble and pure love of the young couple at Cana, just as he most certainly blessed it with his presence. I am sure that this marriage, with Christ and his Blessed Mother present at its inception, was one of the very many happy marriages of history.
But our Lord did more on this occasion. He worked an evident miracle in favour of this marriage. And he worked a deeper miracle still, in favour of all subsequent marriages... (to be continued)
I’d like to buy this priest a beer…
Fr. Ted faces off with Kim Franke, organizer of a rally to support the sisters and the LCWR, at St. Augustine Cathedral (Kalamazoo, Michigan) on June 10, 2012.
Fortnight for Freedom
Two weeks of
prayer in support of our sacred and civil right
to practice our
religious beliefs!
Hyscience: Catholic Women Speak Out For Religious Freedom
Via Kathryn Jean Lopez and Hyscience... A Fortnight for Freedom began Thursday night -- two weeks of prayer and education for the preservation of religious freedom, designated by the Catholic bishops of the United States. But it's just not bishops who are Fortnighting. Lay Catholics are, perhaps, the most important voices involved, particularly in the political realm. Maureen Ferguson, a spokesperson for the Catholic Association, which is playing a pivotal role on the political-education front, is among the women defending freedom in the face of a mainstream narrative that has the Obama administration saving her from reproductive oppression.
Watch the TCA commercial here:
The Catholic Association (TCA) is dedicated to being a faithful Catholic voice in the public square and the public arena. TCA is responding to the call of the Catholic Church for members of the lay faithful to apply Catholic teaching, wisdom, and principles to the issues of the day.
Watch the TCA commercial here:
The Catholic Association (TCA) is dedicated to being a faithful Catholic voice in the public square and the public arena. TCA is responding to the call of the Catholic Church for members of the lay faithful to apply Catholic teaching, wisdom, and principles to the issues of the day.
Introducing the Pro-Life Movie '40'
40 is a film that will take on the heated issue of abortion in our nation that refuses to go away. Is abortion merely a religious or political issue or is it the most important fundamental human rights issue of our times? The film will take on the arguments of young people who believe in "a woman's right to choose," countered by pro-life answers from a wide and diverse array of pro-life activists, leaders and youth. 40 will also feature inspiring stories and deeply personal interviews with leaders of the Pro-Life movement.
40 will investigate some of the difficult questions in the abortion debate such as: Doesn't a woman have the right to choose what she does with "her body"? Is there a dispute about when human life begins or does human life begin at conception? Is the fetus just a glob of tissue or a person with inalienable rights? Can morality be legislated and if abortion is outlawed, will it still go on in back alleys? Was the Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion good for women? 40 will answer these and many other important questions about abortion.
http://the40film.com
June 15th: Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus
"I promise you in the excessive mercy of my Heart that my all-powerful love will grant to all those who receive Holy Communion on the First Fridays in nine consecutive months the grace of final perseverance; they shall not die in my disgrace, nor without receiving their sacraments. My divine Heart shall be their safe refuge in this last moment" (Jesus to St. Margaret Mary).
Sixteenth century Calvinism and seventeenth century Jansenism preached a distorted Christianity that substituted for God's love and sacrifice of His Son for all men the fearful idea that a whole section of humanity was inexorably damned.
The Church always countered this view with the infinite love of our Savior who died on the cross for all men. The institution of the feast of the Sacred Heart was soon to contribute to the creation among the faithful of a powerful current of devotion which since then has grown steadily stronger. The first Office and Mass of the Sacred Heart were composed by St. John Eudes, but the institution of the feast was a result of the appearances of our Lord to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in 1675. The celebration of the feast was extended to the general calendar of the Church by Pius IX in 1856.
CNN Asks If Catholic Church Is Waging 'War on Women'
Once again promoting a dissenting nun's struggle with the Vatican, CNN made it clear that it is siding with liberal American nuns after the Catholic Church has announced a reform of the Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR). Anchor Christine Romans tossed softball after softball to liberal Sister Maureen Fiedler on Tuesday's Starting Point, and mocked the Vatican's criticism of the LCWR.
"Let me ask you, women can't be priests. Women – if you follow church teaching, can't use contraception," Romans stated before noting the irony of the prominence of statues of Mary in Catholic churches. "[W]omen in the church when you look at some of the teachings, is there a war on woman within your church?" she asked Fiedler. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Read more here
"Let me ask you, women can't be priests. Women – if you follow church teaching, can't use contraception," Romans stated before noting the irony of the prominence of statues of Mary in Catholic churches. "[W]omen in the church when you look at some of the teachings, is there a war on woman within your church?" she asked Fiedler. [Video below the break. Audio here.]
Read more here
‘God Is Dead’: Catholic Priest Slams Atheism in New Spoken-Word Video Performance
This video is in response to the claims of the "New Atheism." One that has been presented by the likes of Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens. One who holds faith is NOT irrational. Science and reason are not incompatible with faith in fact they compliment each other very well because they come from the same source, God. We hope that this video touches the hearts of many people. If you seek to dialogue in the commentary below please be respectful of those you are communicating with. Slander, foul language and the like will not be tolerated. May God, who is fully alive, bless each viewer.
Mary Immaculate Patroness of Our Country Pray for Us
O GOD OUR CREATOR,
from your provident hand we have received
our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people and given us
the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God,
and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be "one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
Stand Up For Religious Freedom" Rallies. SPECIAL GUESTS: Eric Scheidler & Matt Yonke
Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of Pro-Life Action League and Matt Yonke, PLAL Communications Director join Josh via Google+ to discuss the HHS mandate and what pro-lifers can do to stand up for religious freedom via public rallies on June 8th.
Questioning the Timing on the Times' Attack on Cardinal Dolan
It's hard not to see the invisible hand of progressive punishment behind a recent NY Times story attacking Cardinal Timothy Dolan. You only have to look at the timeline to wonder if this is really just a coincidence that this old story is suddenly news again.
The White House has been in a months-long battle with the Catholic Church over the issue of providing contraceptives. Sandra Fluke and the "war on women" were all White House driven media plays designed to spin a losing political battle into a win. It hasn't been working very well if polls are to be believed.
Two weeks ago, the Catholic Church took the issue to a new level when it sued the administration on religious liberty grounds. Right there in the forefront of the Times' coverage is Cardinal Dolan, "We have tried negotiations with the administration and legislation with the Congress — and we’ll keep at it — but there’s still no fix."
The next day, May 22nd, the Times published a Maureen Dowd column titled "Father Doesn't Know Best" which attacked the Catholic Church in general and the "pugnacious" Cardinal Dolan in particular. The gist of the piece is straight from DNC talking points, i.e. the lawsuit is part of a war on women by the bishops.
For more go here
The White House has been in a months-long battle with the Catholic Church over the issue of providing contraceptives. Sandra Fluke and the "war on women" were all White House driven media plays designed to spin a losing political battle into a win. It hasn't been working very well if polls are to be believed.
Two weeks ago, the Catholic Church took the issue to a new level when it sued the administration on religious liberty grounds. Right there in the forefront of the Times' coverage is Cardinal Dolan, "We have tried negotiations with the administration and legislation with the Congress — and we’ll keep at it — but there’s still no fix."
The next day, May 22nd, the Times published a Maureen Dowd column titled "Father Doesn't Know Best" which attacked the Catholic Church in general and the "pugnacious" Cardinal Dolan in particular. The gist of the piece is straight from DNC talking points, i.e. the lawsuit is part of a war on women by the bishops.
For more go here
Good website for info about the attack on the Church through the HHS mandate
I see that CNA has a piece about their site.
Religious liberty group launches massive HHS mandate site By Michelle Bauman Washington D.C., May 30, 2012 / 02:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).-
A legal group that aims to defend religious freedom has launched a new website offering a wealth of resources on the contraception mandate, and the various lawsuits that have been filed against it. “There was a lot of misinformation out there on the mandate,” said Emily Hardman, attorney and communications director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a D.C.-based organization. Hardman told CNA on May 29 that the Becket Fund “wanted to provide an accurate, concise and useful resource for reporters and the general public.” She explained that when the information “is laid out clearly in one place,” it is evident that the mandate’s requirements violate the First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom. On May 22, the Becket Fund launched a webpage to serve as a centralized resource for information surrounding the contraception mandate. The webpage tracks the lawsuits that have been filed against the mandate by plaintiffs ranging from EWTN to seven U.S. states to two private business owners.
[...]
Read the rest there.
Religious liberty group launches massive HHS mandate site By Michelle Bauman Washington D.C., May 30, 2012 / 02:11 am (CNA/EWTN News).-
A legal group that aims to defend religious freedom has launched a new website offering a wealth of resources on the contraception mandate, and the various lawsuits that have been filed against it. “There was a lot of misinformation out there on the mandate,” said Emily Hardman, attorney and communications director for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a D.C.-based organization. Hardman told CNA on May 29 that the Becket Fund “wanted to provide an accurate, concise and useful resource for reporters and the general public.” She explained that when the information “is laid out clearly in one place,” it is evident that the mandate’s requirements violate the First Amendment’s protections of religious freedom. On May 22, the Becket Fund launched a webpage to serve as a centralized resource for information surrounding the contraception mandate. The webpage tracks the lawsuits that have been filed against the mandate by plaintiffs ranging from EWTN to seven U.S. states to two private business owners.
[...]
Read the rest there.
Homily – Trinity Sunday, June 3, 2012
Excerpted from Father Michael J. Woolley's Trinity Sunday homily. Read it in its entirety here:
[ ... ]
And so today we celebrate this wonderful and central mystery of our Faith: that the One True God is a community of Persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit.
The Bond of Love that Unites these Three Persons into One is like a Triple Linked Chain that nothing could ever break.
This Strong Love of the Most Blessed Trinity has been poured into our hearts at Baptism. And so long as we remain united with the Trinity through loving God and loving our neighbor, even now in this life we get a foretaste of that Love we will abide in forever in Heaven.
But while chains of Love uniting the Persons of the Holy Trinity with each other are unbreakable, the chains of Love which unite us to God are not.
As the saying goes, a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. And when we commit sin, we may break only one link in the chain that binds us to God, but that one link can make our whole relationship to God come crashing down like that one link in this chain almost made our Cross come crashing down.
On this Trinity Sunday, may we examine each link in the chain which unites us to Jesus crucified and through Him to the Father and the Holy Spirit. May the Blessed Trinity help us to strengthen any weak links and repair any broken ones, that we may receive fully into our hearts the Love and Power of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
And so today we celebrate this wonderful and central mystery of our Faith: that the One True God is a community of Persons, Father Son and Holy Spirit.
The Bond of Love that Unites these Three Persons into One is like a Triple Linked Chain that nothing could ever break.
This Strong Love of the Most Blessed Trinity has been poured into our hearts at Baptism. And so long as we remain united with the Trinity through loving God and loving our neighbor, even now in this life we get a foretaste of that Love we will abide in forever in Heaven.
But while chains of Love uniting the Persons of the Holy Trinity with each other are unbreakable, the chains of Love which unite us to God are not.
As the saying goes, a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. And when we commit sin, we may break only one link in the chain that binds us to God, but that one link can make our whole relationship to God come crashing down like that one link in this chain almost made our Cross come crashing down.
On this Trinity Sunday, may we examine each link in the chain which unites us to Jesus crucified and through Him to the Father and the Holy Spirit. May the Blessed Trinity help us to strengthen any weak links and repair any broken ones, that we may receive fully into our hearts the Love and Power of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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