Daily Prayer for Priest O my Jesus, I beg You on behalf of the whole Church ... give us holy priests. You yourself maintain them in holiness.
O Divine and Great High Priest, may the power of Your mercy accompany them everywhere and protect them from the devil's traps and snares, which are continually being set for the souls of priests.
May the power of Your Mercy, O Lord, shatter and bring the naught all that might tarnish the sanctity of priest, for You can do all things. - St. Faustina (Diary, 1052)
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by Fr. Michael Rodríguez; January 31, 2012
Address to El Paso City Council
In the middle of our dark, secular, godless society, there is a light. This light is the Holy Roman Catholic Church. Jesus Christ and His Church teach the truth about homosexuality, and we can summarize this truth in three points:
(1) Homosexual acts are acts of grave depravity; they are mortal sins which cry to heaven for vengeance. Under no circumstances can they be approved.
(2) Homosexuality is an objective disorder.
(3) Homosexual persons are to be treated with respect, compassion, and sensitivity.
In the debate over homosexuality, the dark side seeks to frame the issue as one of discrimination and civil rights. This makes no logical sense. No one has a civil right to do something morally wrong. I don’t have a right to steal. I don’t have a right to lie. I don’t have a right to commit adultery, and I don’t have a right to engage in homosexual acts. As for discrimination, discrimination exists when one is against a person not when one is against actions on the part of a person. The Roman Catholic Church condemns actions of a homosexual nature. She does not discriminate against homosexual persons.
Thus, before anyone speaks about discrimination and/or civil rights, the following questions must be answered:
(1) Do you believe in right and wrong?
(2) How do you determine what is right and what is wrong?
(3) Does society have an obligation to establish law and order in accordance with its best effort to determine right and wrong?
Thus, before anyone speaks about discrimination and/or civil rights, the following question must be answered:
(1) Are homosexual acts right or wrong?
If a Catholic does not believe and hold fast to the truth that homosexual acts are wrong, one is no longer Catholic. Such a “Catholic” must refrain from receiving our Blessed Lord in Holy Communion, because one is no longer in communion with the moral truths taught by Jesus Christ and His Church.
In conclusion, no one on the face of this earth has a greater love for homosexuals that the glorious Roman Catholic Church. But it is never loving to lie. If you lie to homosexuals and tell them that “homosexual acts are o.k,” then you are the one who is showing disdain for homosexuals, because you don’t care about their true good, happiness, and salvation.
Sancta Dei Genetrix, ora pro nobis.
This is the Evil Striking Our Children, Family and Nation
Rev. John A McClorey, S.J., speaks out against birth control – The year is 1925.
A Jesuit Speaks Out Against Birth Control, 1925! Discovered by Sheila Kippley
Birth Control: The Reciprocal Masturbation.
… for though of late it has become quite the ‘respectable’ thing, it is nothing more than what Carlyle would call ‘Pig Philosophy,’ which emphasizes with the insistence of pornographic degeneracy the unveiled passionateness of Sex. Why should I speak equably, with chill and measured detachment, in the presence of an evil that is striking at children, the home, the nation and the race?
Birth control is an unnatural vice because by physical or chemical means it directly and intentionally frustrates the primary end of marriage. If an exception could be made to the natural law against it, it could not be made by men and women under the law, but by God, the Author of the law. We may control nature, not frustrate it. But birth control is birth frustration.
The program of birth controllers is a direct and powerful appeal to sexual indulgence.
Birth control destroys mutual marital affection and respect…Birth control destroys mutual respect. For it is what Bernard Shaw calls ‘Reciprocal Masturbation.’ Birth controllers who surfeit themselves with sexual delight, then defeat the reproductive purpose and consequence of that delight, are more unnatural and disgusting than the ancient aristocracy of Rome who used to feast to repletion, then take an emetic (pardon the reference), vomit and return to another feast.
Birth control is in contradiction to Christ charity.
‘The survival of the fittest’ is plausable. But Christ did not act on that principle. On the contrary, He was the Friend of the down-and-out—the poor, the lame, the sick, the deaf and dumb, the lepers, the weakminded, the vicious, the possessed. He took care of them, saw that they survived, and bettered them. He did not wish to extinguish them by birth control or any other means.
But birth controllers flatter the rich, assuring them that the uncontrolled fecundity of the poor, and their own cupidity, is responsible for misery and poverty. Indeed, they go further into the vice of positive cruelty. For since they do not want an unfit future race; since the unfortunate can procreate only an unfit future race; since the unfortunate will do so if they are sheltered and made comfortable by the charity of the rich, therefore the rich ought to withhold their charity and let the flotsam and jetsam of humanity perish out of hand. This diabolical doctrine can be found in Mrs. Sanger’s latest book.
Christ brought into the world a thing which had not been here before, the sweetest thing on earth: Mercy and compassion in the hearts of the well-to-do towards the victims of fate, and peace, self-respect and humility in the hearts of the unfortunate. This may be called the beautiful soul of Christianity. And its body has been an improved and ever improving condition among the masses of Christianity. If we practice the charity of Christ, we shall not enjoy, it is true, the perfect prosperity of a bourgouis heaven on earth proposed by birth controllers, but we shall have a condition of decent sufficiency.
Please like!
 “What Does It Profit A Man To Gain The Whole World, But Lose His Immortal Soul?” (Mark 8:36)
Catholic Culture.org
“The Catholic Diocese of Peoria now exists in a political reality that is increasingly secular in outlook and today is often specifically hostile to the convictions of our Faith,” he said. “Atheists and secularists have long realized that the Church of Rome is perhaps the largest single institution that still stands in the way of a completely secularized society. In Illinois where politics are notoriously corrupt and whose governmental agenda is so singularly ineffective, intrenched political power happens to be concentrated in a single region that for generations has been immune to reform. This situation has given determined special interest groups a unique opportunity to impose their views on everyone else as they endeavor to exclude faith from any role in the public forum.”
Bishop Jenky continued:
As your Bishop, I now believe it is critically necessary to raise an alarm among the faithful regarding growing threats to our religious freedom due to theincreasing steps toward radical secularization taking place in Illinois. Beside the abrupt exclusion of Catholic Charities from childcare and adoption services and increasing attempts to intimidate Catholic healthcare, I am also concerned about possible future moves that could be made against the independence of our Catholic schools and other public ministries of our Diocese. Eventually it may come to pass that our fidelity to the Gospel of Christ and to Catholic tradition may place us in direct conflict with recent legal definitions of the State of Illinois. There are certainly some in our state whose commitment to [atheistic] secularism is so intense that they may well try to restrict the Church’s role only to the sacristy and sanctuary.
I am especially scandalized by some “Catholic” politicians who willingly collaborate with efforts to restrict the civil liberty of the faith tradition from which they were originally sprung. Many of those in office who were taught to read and write in Catholic schools, now seem entirely indifferent to the consciences of those Catholics who live their faith. On Ash Wednesday, they like to be conspicuous with crosses on their foreheads, but the true Cross of Christ seems far from their hearts and minds. They enjoy parties on March the 17th and wearing green sweaters but in effect are ashamed of Saint Patrick’s unwavering zeal for the Catholic Christianity. They like photo opportunities with the hierarchy, but break their word to them without a moment’s hesitation. They may still use the rituals of Catholicism to mark their happy and sad occasions, but apparently would sell their soul for a vote or a dollar. What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world but lose their soul (Mark 8:36), but eternal loss for the sake of public office in Illinois is an extraordinarily foolish deal with the devil. Such people certainly need our prayers, but they should no longer be able to take our friendship or our support for granted …
Even when our institutions are attacked and our most sacred beliefs held up for scorn, many Catholics sadly remain silent. As your Bishop, it is therefore my duty before God to call faithful Catholics into more assertive action in defense of our religion and those public ministries which we hold to be the work of Christ.
 “Loyal believers are called upon not only to defend the Faith but even to defend the very concept of faith in the face of aggressive secularism and increasingly intolerant atheism,” Bishop Jenky concluded. “It now seems to be the unbelievers who apparently hope to initiate some new kind of inquisition designed to entirely exclude God from the public forum. In the face of growing hostility, practicing Catholics need to recognize that the choices we make and the witness we either offer or withhold will have both temporal and eternal consequences for each one of us. Christ the Lord has promised that the gates of hell will not prevail against the Church he founded on the rock of Peter’s faith (Matthew 16:1), but he also warned that at the end of time he will deny those who deny him (cf. Matthew 10:33).”
“Catholicism is filled with enormous spiritual richness, a cohesive intellectual tradition, and a remarkable commitment to charity and service. It is the Faith for which we should be ready and willing to give our hearts and even to offer up our lives. It is also the Faith by which we all certainly will be judged before the throne of Almighty God.”
Read Entire Article Here:
Bishop Jenky has also ask that all Parishes, Schools, Hospitals, and Religious Houses to Institute the St. Michael Prayer into there intentions at Sunday Mass, to defend and pray for Catholic Freedom in America.
The move comes in response to a new federal requirement that will force many Catholic organizations to provide insurance coverage for sterilizations and contraceptives.
“It is God’s invincible Archangel who commands the heavenly host, and it is the enemies of God who will ultimately be defeated,” the bishop said in a Jan. 24 letter to the Catholics of his diocese.
The prayer should take place in the general intercessions before the concluding prayer, Bishop Jenky said. He asked that the intention of the prayer be announced as “for the freedom of the Catholic Church in America.”
Read Entire Article Here:
By: Michelle Bauman -CNA/EWTN news.
“The Character Of A Nation Revealed By 80% Abortion Rate For The Disabled.”
From: California Catholic Daily
An 80 percent abortion rate of those with disabilities shows the need to restore a fundamental respect for human dignity in America, said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia.
He underscored that the plight of disabled babies highlights “a struggle within the American soul” that will shape the future of the nation.
“These children with disabilities are not a burden; they’re a priceless gift to all of us,” the archbishop said. “They’re a doorway to the real meaning of our humanity.”
Archbishop Chaput delivered the keynote address at the 13th annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life on Jan. 22.
 The conference, which was held at Georgetown University, took place one day before the March for Life, at which hundreds of thousands of Americans annually gather in the nation’s capital to protest abortion and show their support for the dignity of all human life.
“Abortion kills a child, it wounds a precious part of a woman’s own dignity and identity, and it steals hope,” the archbishop said. “That’s why it’s wrong. That’s why it needs to end. That’s why we march.”
He warned that without a strong foundation of faith and morals, America becomes “alien and hostile” to its founding ideals. This threat is clearly demonstrated in the country’s treatment of the poor and disabled, which the archbishop said “shows what we really believe about human dignity.”
In his talk, Archbishop Chaput focused on children with Down syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects development, appearance and cognitive function, and can cause other health problems.
He observed that prenatal testing is now able to detect up to 95 percent of pregnancies that have a strong risk of Down syndrome, and more than 80 percent of the unborn babies who are diagnosed with the disorder are aborted.
These babies are killed because of a flaw in their chromosomes that is “neither fatal nor contagious, but merely undesirable,” he said.
The archbishop lamented the growing tendency of medical professionals to emphasize the possible defects of Down syndrome, thus steering expectant mothers of children with the disorder toward abortion.
Parents and doctors should be realistic about the challenges, understanding that raising a disabled child will involve “some degree of suffering,” he said. However, they should also see the potential and beauty of children with special needs, realizing that no child is perfect.
Archbishop Chaput noted that today, individuals with Down syndrome have longer life expectancies than ever before and can generally “enjoy happy, productive lives.”
“The real choice in accepting or rejecting a child with special needs is between love and un-love; between courage and cowardice; between trust and fear,” he said.
This is a choice that must be faced on both an individual level and as a society, he added, emphasizing that “God will demand an accounting” of how we have used our freedom.
If we really “take God seriously,” we will work to uphold the sanctity of human life and dignity of sexuality in our daily lives, he said.
This means that public officials should live out their Catholic faith in the laws that they support; doctors in the procedures they perform and the drugs they prescribe; and citizens in their actions on public issues, he explained.
He praised the work of people and organizations who aid those with disabilities, recognizing in them “an invitation to learn how to love deeply and without counting the cost.”
Archbishop Chaput urged those present at the conference not to be afraid as they persevere in being an apostle to those around them.
“Fear is beneath your dignity as sons and daughters of the God of life,” he said. “Never give up the struggle that the March for Life embodies,” he added. “Your pro-life witness gives glory to God.”
Although changing the culture is “a huge task,” we must recognize that we are being called by God to do so, the archbishop said. “He’s waiting, and now we need to answer him.”
“Don’t Be Compromised In The Dedication To The Protection Of Human Life!”
By: Michelle Bauman-CNA/EWTN news
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston told over a thousand young people at a prayer vigil in D.C. that the pro-life movement depends on their loving witness in the face of a hostile culture.
“You are a good infection,” the cardinal told the youth gathered at the opening Mass for the National Prayer Vigil for Life. “Do not underestimate your presence.”
More than 10,000 people gathered on the evening of Jan. 22 for Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, including many young people from across the country.
The date marked the 39th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in America.
Cardinal DiNardo, who serves as chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, was the principal celebrant and homilist at the opening Mass, which was followed by confessions, a rosary, Night Prayer and holy hours throughout the night.
The Catholic University of America hosted almost 1,300 pilgrims overnight.
The vigil concluded on the morning of Jan. 23 with Morning Prayer and a closing Mass, at which Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York was the principal celebrant and homilist.
Participants were then able to attend the March for Life in downtown D.C., along Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building.
In his homily, Cardinal DiNardo spoke about the call of Jonah. Although he first ran away, Jonah eventually realized “that the call of the Lord is serious.” When he finally responded to that call, his preaching converted the people of Ninevah.
“We are walking through Ninevah,” the cardinal said, emphasizing the need for “personal conversion.”
With millions of lives destroyed by abortion in the last 39 years, he noted the need for ministries of conversion, as well as compassion and mercy.
Through the work of such ministries, he said, “we witness the miracle of Christ’s mercy and healing grace” as broken hearts are “made whole” and “filled with new peace and hope.”
The cardinal also expressed grave concerns that the pro-life movement is threatened by recent attacks on religious freedom in America.
On Jan. 20, the Department of Health and Human Services finalized a rule that will require virtually all health insurance plans to include sterilization and contraception – including drugs that cause abortion – free of charge.
Cardinal DiNardo explained that this mandate violates the religious liberty and rights of conscience of Catholics and other religious employers by forcing citizens “to directly purchase what violates our beliefs.”
He called for “timely and unwavering actions” to defend religious freedom.
At the same time, the cardinal expressed hope for the future, observing signs of good news, such as the “record numbers” of pro-life laws passed on the state level in recent years.
In many ways, the youth are “weaving Christ into our culture,” he said, urging them to show the loving face of Christ to those who are hostile.
“Don’t be compromised in your dedication to the protection of life.”
Catholic Priest Instructs Religion Hater
Courageous Priest: We hoped this video called “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” could be ignored, but it went viral. Why? Because Christians and Catholics are agreeing with this anti-bibical, anti-Catholic, anti-religion message and sharing it with their Facebook friends. This attack on the Church must be addressed. Note: the article is from a secular source.
by Billy Hallowell, The Blaze: As we’ve noted, not everyone is a fan of 22-year-old Jefferson Bethke’s “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus.” In addition to going viral with over 15,000,000 views, the spoken word artist’s now infamous clip has spawned a plethora of responses. Among the flurry of videos offering rebuttal to Bethke’s anti-organized religion commentary comes one from Fr. Claude Burns, a Catholic priest at Holy Spirit Church in Evansville, Indiana. Burns, whose stage name is Fr. Pontifex, is a rapper who has taken the Catholic hip-hop world by storm (yes, there is, in fact, a Catholic hip-hop genre).
Fr. Pontifex’s response to Bethke is called “Why I love Religion, And Love Jesus,” as it delves into the reasons why holding reverence for both religious structures and the individual who is central to Christianity is, in his view, possible. Rather than opening with a frame that reads “Jesus > Religion,” as Bethke did, Fr. Pontifex’s video reads “Jesus <3 Religion.” (The “<3″ symbol is a text way of sying heart or love.)
“What if I told you, that Jesus loves religion?,” he says. “And that by his coming as a man, he brought his religion to fruition.”
Courageous Priest Note: Here is the video response. I was very hestitant to use the video, until I watched it. Father is addressing this serious attack on the Church using the New Evangelization. It is clean, professional and accurate. Well worth watching. Email Subscribers must go to the site to watch it.
Then he continues, responding to Bethke directly:
“See this had to be addressed, the use of illogical terms and definitions. You clearly have a heart for Jesus, but it’s fueling atheistic opinions. See, what makes religion great, is not errors of wars or inquisitions — it’s that broken men and women get to participate in his mission.”
Fr. Pontifex continues, addressing the original video‘s critique of religion’s handling of poverty and the other related elements. He defends what he calls the the church’s “oceans of compassion.” Then, he maintains that religion is needed to set parameters for those who worship Christ.
“And if I have the jersey and I’m playing for the Bulls, there’s gonna be some boundaries, regulations and some rules,” Fr. Pontifex raps. “You can’t have Christ without his church. You can’t have the king without his kingdom.”
This one should be forwarded via Facebook or email. Sorry, but we will not link to the original video.
What are your thoughts? Go to the site and leave a comment.
Priest May Be Stripped of His Ministry if He Continues
to Disagree “With the Church’s Teaching on Marriage.”
Archbishop John Nienstedt is warning Catholic clergy across Minnesota that there should be no “open dissension” of the church’s strong backing of a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would define marriage as a union only between a man and woman.
In other early signs of the fervent campaign the church intends to wage for the amendment, which will be on every ballot in the state this fall, Nienstedt is appointing priests and married couples to visit archdiocesan high schools to talk about marriage. He has directed parishes to form committees to work for passage of the amendment. He also has warned a priest that he may be stripped of his ministry if he continues to disagree “with the church’s teaching on marriage.”
In a recent letter to priests and deacons, Nienstedt laid out why he believes it’s important that the marriage amendment pass: “The endgame of those who oppose the marriage amendment that we support is not just to secure certain benefits for a particular minority, but, I believe, to eliminate the need for marriage altogether.”
“As I see it, we have this one chance as Minnesotans to make things right,” he said. “The stakes could not be higher.”
With nearly 1.1 million Catholics in Minnesota, the church and its political arm, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, are likely to play a crucial role in whether the marriage amendment wins passage in November.
At the same time, other organizations such as Minnesotans United for All Families, a coalition that includes faith-based groups, are joining forces to defeat the amendment — making it certain that Minnesota will be thrust into the growing national debate over whether states should sanction gay marriage.
Standoff emerging
Besides urging parish priests to form church committees to support the amendment, Nienstedt also wants Catholics to recite a special “marriage prayer” during mass that endorses marriage between a man and woman.
In the coming months, teams of a priest and a married couple are also set to talk to high school students in the archdiocese about why marriage should be a union between a man and woman.
David Meyer, principal of Hill-Murray School in Maplewood, said juniors and seniors are scheduled to hear a presentation by a team in April.
“We don’t have a lot of details other than they’re obviously going to be presenting the benefits of marriage,” Meyer said. “I certainly support that.”
But there is opposition to the church’s strategy.
One vocal critic of Nienstedt is the Rev. Mike Tegeder, who spoke against the amendment at a priests’ meeting with Nienstedt in October.
In November, Tegeder received a letter stating that if he did not end his public opposition, Nienstedt would suspend his “faculties to exercise ministry” and remove him from his “ministerial assignments.”
Marking the first clear standoff over the church’s role in the amendment, Tegeder is not backing down.
He said he believes the church is being too political and contends that it’s inappropriate for its leaders to campaign in support of the amendment.
“That’s not the way to support marriage,” said Tegeder, pastor at both St. Frances Cabrini and Gichitwaa Kateri churches in Minneapolis. “If we want to support marriage, there are wonderful things we can do as Catholic churches and ministers. We should not be focused on beating up a small number of people who have this desire to have committed relationships.”
Some parishes are divided
Other priests in the Twin Cities metro area say many in their flocks believe the state’s bishops are being too political.
One priest, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he fears censure by the archbishop, said he is not reciting the “marriage prayer” during mass. He also said that he has struggled to find volunteers to participate with the pro-amendment committee.
“Too many of us have a relative, a good friend, someone we know who’s gay,” he said. “A lot of churches are not doing the prayer. They’re also appointing shell committees. Churches are creating them … but there’s really no true endorsement of the amendment.”
Archdiocesan officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Jason Adkins, executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference, defends the campaign.
“We don’t believe we’re imposing anything on anybody in terms of ideas,” he said. “We’re simply training … and working in educating and informing our citizens to go out and be good citizens in the public arena and explain to others why we think this is an important issue.
“People are free to object to that … but we like everybody else have a responsibility and the freedom to participate in public debates.”
Church more active here
The emerging campaign by Minnesota bishops is “very unusual,” said John Green, a political science professor at the University of Akron who studies politics ad religion.
“Churches are about spiritual things, and it’s not that churches can’t take positions on human behavior or sexuality,” he said. “But the common complaint I’ve heard in many contexts is if the institution becomes politicized … it can detract from the spiritual mission of the church because you’ll have people having trouble praying with each other, who are going to feel uncomfortable coming to church.”
It is also uncommon for bishops to suspend priests for failing to abide by Catholic teaching. Still, religious scholars say that priests have been suspended in recent decades for supporting the ordination of women and having differing views about church doctrine on birth control.
Rose French
The Long Term Consequences Of Creating A Parallel For Marriage Will Be Severe!
Catholic News Agency
By: Kevin Jones
A Colorado proposal to recognize same-sex civil unions is a “dangerous and unjust” effort to redefine marriage warns Bishop James D. Conley, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Denver.
“We do not know the long-term consequences of creating a parallel for marriage, distinct from its ancient and natural meaning. But we do know they will be severe,” Bishop Conley said in his Jan. 11 column for the Denver Catholic Register.
He said that a renewed legislative push for civil unions in the state threatens to erode the “unique status” of marriage as between one man and one woman.
This upcoming weekend, the Colorado Catholic Conference will ask Catholics to sign postcards to legislators in opposition to the move.
Bishop Conley urged people to participate in the campaign because “it allows each of us to speak the truth – to ask the government to respect the plan for marriage God has given us.”
“Doing so protects children, protects marriage and, ultimately, protects the common good of all of us.”
He warned that recognizing civil unions for same-sex couples would allow them to adopt children and infringe on religious liberties for many groups. Some also view civil unions as “a stepping stone” to endorsing polygamous relationships.
“Redefining marriage means that government will try to redefine truth,” he said.
He then cited Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of Oakland, who chairs the U.S. bishops’ conference subcommittee on marriage.
Bishop Cordileone recently said that civil unions can “in no way” be considered a permissible compromise or an advance for the common good.
“(I)nstead, they directly violate principles of justice and accelerate the push to redefine marriage itself.”
Marriage is “among the oldest human institutions,” Bishop Conley emphasized, saying that “the communion of husband and wife is a unique reality that has no true parallel.”
The Denver bishop observed that throughout history, political thinkers have believed that protecting families is at the heart of government’s responsibility.
He said that laws which protect marriage ensure that families can provide children “the right to two parents, a mother and a father, who can love them and care for them.”
Marriage laws also require men to treat women with dignity, he noted, adding that the “exclusive and permanent bond” of a married man and woman cannot be redesigned by “legal dictate.”
Bishop Conley pointed to Church teaching that Catholics must treat individuals with same-sex attraction with “dignity and love.” Those who have homosexual inclinations are not evil, though the inclination is a “tragic distortion of the great gift of sexuality God has given us.”
The essentials problem with civil union laws, he explained, is that they “endorse and sanction that distortion by suggesting that homosexual relationships are equivalent to marriage.”
The Catholic bishops of Colorado have also stressed that opposition to civil unions is not voiced out of desire to deny fundamental civil rights and is not a condemnation of homosexual people.
“We affirm what our Church teaches – namely, that we must treat our homosexual sisters and brothers with dignity and love, as we would all God’s children,” they said in a joint statement.
Read Entire Article Here
“Chastity And Purity Liberate Us, But Immorality Enslaves Us!”
From OSV Daily Take Blog.
Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan of New York got the attention of worshipers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral yesterday, when he started a homily the Daily News labeled as “fire-and-brimstone” by saying, “I’m going to preach about sex.” And he did.
From the Daily News story:
New York’s cardinal-to-be delivered a no-holds-barred sermon on morality Sunday, telling his flock to stand firm against popular culture’s message that sex outside marriage is okay.
“The one who, with God’s grace and mercy, tries his or her best to be pure and chaste is often thought of not as a hero, not a saint, but as a freak in our culture today,” Archbishop Timothy Dolan said at St. Patrick’s.
“The biblical teaching on sexual responsibility is counter-cultural,” he continued, hailing those who stay true to their moral compass.
“Anyone who tries his or her best to live it can expect a lot of temptation and even ridicule and criticism.”
Dolan linked “sexual immorality” with society’s ills — violence, sex crimes, disease and broken families — and called on priests to do a better job of encouraging the sexually virtuous.
…“The church has at times in the past, sadly, come across as some nay-saying, puritanical nag, always giving a big ‘No, no, no’ to one of life’s greatest joys,” he said.
But modern society often reduces sex to “animal rutting” or its “most popular contact sport,” he said.
He didn’t mention any one show or star by name, but Dolan clearly seemed to be targeting the bed
hopping that’s become regular fare on TV and reality shows like “Jersey Shore.”
“Truth be told, it is chastity and purity that liberates us, while immorality enslaves us,” he said.
Read the full story HERE.
Raise Your Children to “Listen to the Voice of Truth Speaking to
His Heart and Follow it on a Personal Journey
HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It is always a joy to celebrate this Holy Mass with the baptism of children on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. I greet you all with affection, dear parents, godparents and all of you, relatives and friends! You have come here — you said so aloud — so that your newborn babies may receive the gift of God’s grace, the seed of eternal life. You, parents, have desired this. You thought of Baptism even before your child was born. Your duty as Christian parents made you think immediately of the sacrament that marks entry into divine life and into the community of the Church. We can say that this was your first educational decision as witnesses of the faith to your children: it is a fundamental decision!
The parents’ task, helped by the godfather and godmother, is to raise their son or daughter. Raising children is very demanding and at times taxes our human capability, which is always limited. However, educating becomes a marvellous mission if it is carried out in collaboration with God who is the first and true educator of every human being.
In the First Reading, we heard from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, God addresses his people precisely as a teacher. He puts the Israelites on their guard against the danger of quenching their thirst and appeasing their hunger at the wrong sources: “Why”, he says, “do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which does not satisfy?” (Is 55:2). God wants to give us good things to drink and to eat, things that do us good; whereas at times we use our resources mistakenly, we use them for things that are useless, indeed, even harmful. Above all, God wants to give us himself and his Word. He knows that in distancing ourselves from him we will soon run into difficulty — like the Prodigal Son of the parable — and, especially, that we will lose our human dignity. And for this reason he assures us that he is infinite mercy, that his thoughts and ways are unlike ours — fortunately! — and that we can always return to him, to the Father’s house. Thereafter he assures us that if we receive his Word it will bear good fruits in our life, like the rain that waters the earth (cf. Is 55:10-11).
We responded to these words which the Lord has addressed to us through the Prophet Isaiah with the refrain of the Psalm: We will “draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation”. As adults, we have striven to draw from the good springs for our own good and for the good of those entrusted to our responsibility, and you in particular, dear parents and godparents, for the good of these children.
And what are “the springs of salvation?”
They are the Word of God and the sacraments. Adults are the first who should nourish themselves at these sources, so as to be able to guide those who are younger in their development. Parents must give much, but in order to give they need in turn to receive, otherwise they are drained, they dry up. Parents are not the spring, just as we priests are not the spring. Rather, we are like channels through which the life-giving sap of God’s love must flow. If we cut ourselves off from his spring, we ourselves are the first to feel the negative effects and are no longer able to educate others. For this reason we have committed ourselves by saying: We will “draw water joyfully from the springs of salvation”.
And we now come to the Second Reading and to the Gospel. They say that the first and principal education takes place through witness. The Gospel speaks of John the Baptist. John was a great educator of his disciples, because he led them to the encounter with Jesus to whom he bore witness. He did not exalt himself, he did not wish to keep his disciples bound to him. Yet John was a great prophet, his fame was very great. When Jesus arrived John drew back and pointed to him: “After me comes he who is mightier than I…. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit” (Mk 1:7-8).
The true teacher does not bind people to himself, he is not possessive. He wants his son or daughter, or disciple, to learn to know the truth and to establish a personal relationship with it. The educator does his duty fully, he assures his attentive and faithful presence because his objective is that the person being educated listen to the voice of truth speaking to his heart and follow it on a personal journey.
Let us return once again to the witness. In the Second Reading, the Apostle John writes: “And the Spirit is the witness” (1 Jn 5:7). He is referring to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, who bears witness to Jesus, testifying that he is the Christ, the Son of God. This is also apparent in the scene of the Baptism in the River Jordan: the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus as a dove to reveal that he is the Only-Begotten Son of the eternal Father (cf. Mk 1:10). In his Gospel too, John underlines this aspect where Jesus says to the disciples: “When the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning” (Jn 15:26-27). This is a great comfort to us in the work of educating in faith, because we know that we are not alone and that our witness is sustained by the Holy Spirit.
It is very important for you parents, and also for the godparents, to believe strongly in the presence and in the action of the Holy Spirit, to invoke him and to welcome him within you, through prayer and through the sacraments. It is he, in fact, who illumines the mind and warms the heart of the educator so that he or she can pass on the knowledge and love of Jesus. Prayer is the first condition for teaching because by praying we prepare ourselves to leave the initiative to God, to entrust children to him, who knows them before and better than we, and who knows perfectly what their true good is. And at the same time, when we pray we listen to God’s inspiration in order to do our part well, which in any case is our duty and which we are bound to do. The sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance, enable us to carry out our educational action in union with Christ, in communion with him and continuously renewed by his forgiveness. Prayer and the sacraments obtain for us that light of truth thanks to which we are able to be at once tender and strong, gentle and firm, silent and communicative at the right time, admonishing and correcting in the right way.
Dear friends, let us therefore all invoke the Holy Spirit together so that he may come down upon these children in abundance, consecrate them in the image of Jesus Christ and always go with them on their journey through life. Let us entrust them to the motherly guidance of Mary Most Holy, so that they may grow in age, wisdom and grace and become true Christians, faithful and joyful witnesses of God’s love. Amen.
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